Learning to Learn

Quick tips: Is talking to yourself a good way to learn a language? Hi, everyone! How are you all doing? I hope you are doing great. Today, I'm going to discuss something interesting, even though it is not a new concept for anyone: talking to oneself, or more specifically, can talking to oneself help improve language learning? Additionally, I will be sharing my experience with a beverage loved by the whole world. Yes, we will be discussing coffee. I can already smell the pleasant aroma of coffee in the air. Coffee smells like morning and fresh beginnings. But why coffee? What does coffee have to do with this topic? First of all, we all know that speaking is essential in language learning because, at the end of the day, it is all about communication. If you are afraid to speak, you will never improve. Here is a summary of how talking to oneself can help in learning a language: 1- You don't need to worry about making mistakes or the way you speak. One of the worst fears of languag...

How writing a blog can help you learn a language When I decided to start a blog about my language learning process, my primary goal was to stay motivated to study. Norwegian was my main focus, but I also planned to share my experiences learning other languages. However, as I continued writing in English - my second language - about my language learning journey, I noticed something surprising. Writing blog posts actually improved my English more than any other aspect of my language learning. Despite feeling fluent and confident in my English communication skills, I didn't expect that writing would have such a positive impact on my language abilities. As a result, I have taken my English language skills to a new level of proficiency that I never thought was possible before. Writing blog posts now has become a valuable tool for improving my English language abilities, and I finally recognize its importance in my language learning journey. Through my experience, I have identified seven...

Learning a language while dealing with personal problems: Today I told ChatGPT my feelings and this is what he told me... Today was a hectic day, filled with numerous real-life problems that left me feeling overwhelmed. Unfortunately, it's challenging to focus on studying when feeling down, and as a result, I fell short of my Duolingo goals for the month. I also neglected my language learning blog, failing to post new examples or update it altogether. To make matters worse, I haven't been properly studying Norwegian in quite some time, and my progress has stagnated. As usual, I turned to my boyfriend to vent my feelings and concerns, but I realized that it's unfair to continually burden him, especially as he's already helping me with financial issues. I need to find alternative coping mechanisms and sources of support to avoid placing too much responsibility on him. In my previous post, I shared that my boyfriend and I are currently working towards living together in hi...

Level Up Your Language Learning: 5 Strategies for Balancing Gaming and Productivity Games have been one of the most fun hobbies from my childhood that I've carried into adulthood. They have the potential to benefit your brain and help you develop various thinking skills, but they can also become quite addictive. My favorite online games include League of Legends and Teamfight Tactics. I also enjoy playing puzzle games such as Super Hexagon and A Dance of Fire and Ice.  However, regardless of how good games can be, their addictive nature can have a negative impact on productivity. While they can also be useful for language learning, we will delve into that topic in a future post. Today, we'll focus on how to avoid letting games interfere with productivity and studying. Over the years, I've tried multiple approaches to prevent this from happening, each with varying levels of success. There is no one superior method, but each can work in different situations. That being said, ...

Is Duolingo good? Is Duolingo super worth it?   So, Duolingo is a free language learning app that has been available for a while. With a quick Google search that I just did, I discovered that it has been around since 2011, became popular around 2014, and now has more than 500 million users. So, at this point, perhaps most people who care about learning languages already know what Duolingo is or have at least heard about it once. By now, everything there is to say about Duolingo has been covered on other websites. I couldn't possibly say anything new here, right? However, questions like "Is it worth using Duolingo to learn X languages?" still pop up frequently on popular forums such as Reddit, where people ask questions and express their opinions.  As I mentioned in my previous blog post, I first used Duolingo several years ago to learn English. I eventually stopped using it because I found better ways to learn the language. So, if I quit using Duolingo, why am I recommend...

Daily quick tip to learn languages Part1: Wash your dishes!  Hi, guys! Today, I'm here with the start of a fresh new blog post series that just came out of the oven. I'll be sharing quick tips that will help boost your language learning. All of these tips are ones I've applied to my own life, and they've helped me become fluent in English. Without them, I wouldn't be here today, writing this article in English. Since these tips are supposed to be fast, let's jump right into the action without further ado! First of all, who hates washing dishes? If I could hear you guys right now, I bet it would be a resounding "me too!" I definitely hate washing dishes as well. While it's an easy task, it takes way too long, and it always feels like there are better things you could be doing with your time. At least, that's what my boyfriend says when he's avoiding doing the dishes. As if I don't have a life of my own! But since I was so fed up with thi...

Learn Norwegian quickly with super easy stories for A1/A2 beginners! Part4. Look who is here again with more short stories in Norwegian for beginners! As you guys already know, at the end of the two stories, I've added a special vocabulary section to help you learn some new words and phrases. I understand that learning a new language can be challenging, especially when you're constantly translating everything. So, instead of relying on translation all the time, my aim is to make the learning process fun and engaging for you. That's how I learned English and now I'm learning Norwegian! I really hope you enjoy these stories as much as I did, and find the vocabulary section helpful in your language learning journey. Thank you for reading and for your support! Frosken som elsket å hoppe Det var en gang en frosk som het Frode. Frode elsket å hoppe og tilbrakte mesteparten av dagen med å hoppe rundt i dammen. En dag bestemte Frode seg for å hoppe høyere enn noen gang før. Ha...

Learn Norwegian quickly with super easy stories for A1/A2 beginners! Part3. Here we are back once again with more easy Norwegian stories for you! Enjoy! As a reminder, I included a vocabulary section at the end that'll help you learn new words and phrases from those two stories. I totally get that it can be tough to learn a language when you're constantly translating everything, so my aim is to provide you with a fun and engaging way to learn without relying on translation all the time. After all, that's how I learned English and am now learning Norwegian! I really hope you find these stories as helpful and enjoyable as I did. Thanks so much for reading and supporting my work! Katten som likte å sove Det var en gang en katt som het Misse. Misse elsket å sove og kunne sove hele dagen hvis hun fikk lov til det. Hun sov på sengen, sofaen og til og med på gulvet. En dag bestemte Misse seg for å utforske nabolaget. Men hun var så trøtt at hun ikke orket å gå så langt. Så hun fan...

The book is on the table: or is it really? Why so few Brazilians can speak English? Why YOU can't speak English? Hi, everyone! As you may already know from following my blog, I am from Brazil and in this post, I will be sharing my views on the country's education system for learning foreign languages. Although I will be specifically discussing Brazil, I believe that this article can be helpful for people from all countries. Meanwhile, many foreigners may be thinking at this exact moment that Brazilians speak Spanish as their second language. However, here in Brazil, we are often locked into our Portuguese bubble, unable to speak even the most famous language in the world: English, let alone Spanish. That is fair. Perhaps some people think that Brazilians are like Americans, who have no interest in learning any language other than their own. And while there are certainly Brazilians who react defensively to suggestions that they learn another language and who believe that all tou...

How to finish a DUOLINGO tree quickly in just 3 months: you just need to do this one simple thing!   That sounds like a clickbait title, doesn't it? Well, it kind of is. But hang with me because I'm not lying; I'm just playing around with a simple mathematical concept, as simple as counting 1, 2, 3. Let me explain: At the time of writing this post, I currently have a 62-day streak on Duolingo and I'm at unit 32 of the Norwegian course. So, you can tell that I have an average of half a unit a day, literally. It was not intentional; sometimes, I did more lessons, and sometimes, I did less. And here is my profile in case you want to follow me: Bianca318082. Getting Duolingo friends is a good way to keep yourself motivated to learn, as Duolingo actually states on their webpage: My streak is not long by any means, but the truth is that I'm not new to Duolingo. I tried it several years ago for the first time in hopes of learning English. I will write a long post in the fu...

How to not lose motivation when learning English: with my 3 tips for you! Hey there! Today, we're going to talk about how to keep your motivation up while learning English (or any other language). As you probably already know, I think I'm pretty good at English - I haven't taken a test recently or anything, but I'm pretty sure I'm at a C2 level. At least, I can travel to other countries now with confidence. Of course, I still make mistakes here and there! Right now, I'm also learning Norwegian because I want to live in Norway someday. Anyway, I wanted to share my top three tips on how to become bilingual like me. I've written this post in simple English so that even beginners can understand it. Oh, and for all the Portuguese speakers out there, I'm also going to create a Portuguese version of this article. I'll make sure to add a link to it here when it's ready. Hope these tips help you on your language-learning journey! Thanks for reading! Compa...

Learn Norwegian quick with super easy stories for A1/A2 beginners! This method is very effective! Hey there! I'm back again with more short and easy stories for you to enjoy. Each story comes with a vocabulary section that includes translations of the more challenging words, along with new example sentences to help you learn. I believe that it's important to learn a language without always translating everything, which is how I learned English and am now learning Norwegian. I hope these stories will be just as helpful for you as they were for me. Thank you for reading! Trollet som ville danse Det var en gang et lite trolle som het Trolle. Han var ikke som de andre trollene i skogen, fordi han likte ikke å skremme mennesker og spise geiter. I stedet elsket han å danse! Hver dag, når sola sto opp, ville Trolle danse og hoppe rundt i skogen. Men de andre trollene lo av ham og sa at troller ikke danser, de skremmer mennesker. Trolle ville ikke lytte til dem, fordi han var så glad i...