In my fifties I decided I wanted to learn French and made up my mind that I would speak it no matter how ignorant I appeared (and actually was). I would say that for learners older than 10 or 12 a sense of humor and the ability to laugh at oneself is critical to learning to speak another language. After a year of college French, 2 Elderhostel French programs in Quebec and France and Rosetta Stone software, I managed on my own in France for a month - rarely having to resort to English. The French were very patient with me, and I grinned and gestured a lot. I also learned a lot of French. The key to success for me was getting over my fear of making a fool of myself. So what if I sounded like a retarded preschooler with a deformed mouth; the French could almost understand me even if I couldn’t always understand them. “Lentimente, sil vous plait!” [”Slowly, please!”]usually worked.

So, for teen and adult learners, I’d say the psychological element is critical.

We have received 473 nominations for the top 100 language blog 2009 competition. For each category, we have admitted 100 blogs into the voting phase. You are amongst the 100 blogs in the ‘Language Technology’ category, congratulations!

As stated before, 50% of the final score will be based on user voting. You can promote your blog with the following voting button on your page. Simply add the code to a blog post (similar to embedding a YouTube video) so that your readers can vote for you directly.

[Find the HTML code on our website]

The voting phase starts today and ends July 28. Winners will be announced July 30.

Good luck for the competition!

Kind regards,
Marc
on behalf of the bab.la and Lexiophiles team
[http://bab.la]
[www.lexiophiles.com]

Marc Lütten

bab.la GmbH | Baumwall 7 | 20459 Hamburg | Germany
Phone: +49(0)40-707080950 http://bab.la/
Handelsregister AG Hamburg | HRB 101207
Geschaftsführer: Dr. Andreas Schroeter, Dr. Thomas Schroeter, Patrick Uecker

you are nominated for the “Top 100 Language Blogs 2009″ competition. Congratulations! After last year’s success the bab.la language portal and Lexiophiles language blog are hosting this year’s worldwide language blog competition once again. We are confident to surpass more than the 350 blogs which entered the competition in 2008.

We have made two major changes to last year:

1. Due to the amount of blogs we have created categories.
(Language Learning/Language Teaching/Language Technology/
Language Professionals)
You are in category Language Technology
2. User voting will count 50% towards final score

Voting will start on July 8, leaving you enough time to prepare your readers for the upcoming voting. Voting will close on July 27 and the winners will be announced on July 30.

For more information on the 2009 competition and what it is all about visit [http://www.lexiophiles.com/english/top-100-language-blogs-2009-nomination-started]
So now you may ask yourself what you can do. Here are some suggestions

-Nominations are open until July 6, so feel free to share any blog you like with us
-Each blog will have a one-sentence-description for the voting. If you would like a special description to go along with your blog, just send me an email [marc@bab.la]

Kind regards,
Marc
On behalf of the bab.la and Lexiophiles team
[http://bab.la]
[www.lexiophiles.com]

Marc Lütten

bab.la GmbH | Baumwall 7 | 20459 Hamburg | Germany
Phone: +49(0)40-707080950 http://bab.la/
Handelsregister AG Hamburg | HRB 101207
Geschaftsführer: Dr. Andreas Schroeter, Dr. Thomas Schroeter, Patrick Uecker

In other words, no-one ever seems to notice from whose perspective the story is told from. One blind man grabs the elephant’s trunk and says the elphant is long and flexible—another blind man grab’s his foot and says ‘no the elephant is thick and round and tough’, and another grabs his ear and says its thin and leathery.

Yet this story is told from the perspective of a man who assumes that he is not blind. So in an effort to state that no-one has the truth, at the same time you are affirming that you yourself have the truth and can see clearly enough to know that others do not have the truth. Ironic is it not?

–Jared

I recently discovered chinesepod, as with many others for personal reasons, and tracked back to your blog. Your focus on mobile is right on! We have been working on mobile learning at the MIT Media Lab where I am a visiting fellow for some time on all types of phones, and the future is bright.

I also wanted to get you views on on CAEL.CA as a test for english language. I recently jointed Carleton university (carleton.ca) as international director and am engaged in a variety of discussions in China about its extended use. Appreciate any thoughts….congratualations on such a success with Praxis and your language schools!!

–Randy
(sorry about posting this in wrong place - but figured you can edit it out)

http://tesl-ej.org/ej37/r5.html

The idea that each learner is different and the teacher should tap into a variety of resources to help the group as a whole. More about the multiple intelligences theory:

http://www.thomasarmstrong.com/multiple_intelligences.htm

The role of language learning professionals would then be 1) to connect learners with these resources and 2) to provide small modules that require as few prerequisites as possible. 1) is certainly tricky for a company but with respect to 2) Praxis Language is doing a pretty good job.

So the grammar/conjugation/vocabulary approach isn’t always the best starting place… especially when you’re learning your first foreign language, and the very concepts seem so different from what you’re used to.

There’s always a need for grammar, conjugation, vocabulary, and the rest–but I think learning happens faster when that need’s situated. If I can recognize specific setting where I’ll want to say (or read or write) something about the price of objects, then I’m all the better primed to pay attention to price-related concepts in action.