Courseless: Minimalist Language Learning

Books by Kuznietsov

About every three months I tend to gauge my language progress, and then I switch up my learning methods appropriately. This may take place sooner, if need be. Typically, I tend to lean on having 1 good workbook, or self-learning textbook. But these books often do not contain everything you need to learn, and furthermore, the internet has a seemingly endless treasure trove of language resources. So how can one remain minimalistic and focused with so many resources available?

NIE! World Poetry: An Anthology of Verse from Antiquity to Our Time

There are times when a reader runs out of books. When she is shuffling around the library, trying to pick out a new title to take home. This quest can be many times more difficult if she is searching for a translated work - a category that probably does not have its own section.

One solution is to seek out an anthology. And one of the best anthologies I've ever purchased is World Poetry: An Anthology of Verse from Antiquity to Our Time, edited by Clifton Fadiman, John S. Major and Katharine Washburn. This volume, composed of 1376 pages of sweet and tumultuous words, will be one book you will not regret reading.

Language Log: The Objectives

Hi everyone! In mid-February I began my language log for this year on Fluent in 3 Months (Fi3M). I have two language goals this time around, so I've decided to give myself plenty of time to work on them. This is partially because 1) learning two languages will make the process slower, and 2) I have work/life commitments as well. 

Here is the breakdown:

3 Amazing Instances of Cultural Exchange

An Arabic translation of a Greek text.

One of the most underrated joys, at least for me, is noticing the vast amount of cross-cultural sharing that exists in society. Modern views of "Globalism" that resound in the media tend to portray the topic as some mystical development springing from the advent of advanced communication. It's true that the internet has widened the scope of the world for the ordinary man, but cultural exchange has been around since the beginning of time.

Now, some may point out that cultural sharing can be the byproduct of violent colonialism. And that's true. But much of it also developed through other means, such as trade agreements or scholarship. Here are some of my favorite examples of successful cultural exchange.

Courseless: How To Master Grammar In Any Language

By Jazmin Quaynor on Unsplash.

In all of language learning, one word incites fear, disgust and exasperated sighs; one word that causes learners to steer clear of some languages; one word that dominates student study sessions: Grammar. Throughout my experience in the classroom, I've noticed that grammar is the greatest hurdle for students - regardless of language. It's what teachers spend the most time explaining, what self-learners put of learning. It's a stumbling block.

But it doesn't have to be.

NIE! "Nothing More To Lose" by Najwan Darwish

Title: Nothing More To Lose
Author: Najwan Darwish

Translator: Kareem James Abu-Zeid 

Web Dev: PHP Scraping & Quizes

In addition to taking a beginner-intermediate course on Udemy for PHP and MySQL, I've also been reviewing some projects I created in Rob Percival’s tutorial, The Complete Web Developer’s Course. My first run-through the PHP projects ended with quite a few errors, so I wanted to repeat the tutorials and create working demos. One of those projects I discussed last time –the PHP contact form.