Day 43

Don't treat new words as if they correspond directly to words in your language. Words mean concepts, not other words.

A word in your target language may translate to a word in your native language, but it may only translate to one meaning of that word, and it may have additional meanings.

For example, in English, the word "time" means the concept of time in general, as well as an instance of something occurring, like "this is the third time you've asked me." That is not the case in German and French. Both languages have separate words for these concepts. (Zeit/Mal in German and temps/fois in French.)

In general, developing a sensitivity to what you are doing when you use language will help you.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 16

Action or being words Every sentence has at least one word that expresses action or being. That word is a verb. Candice loves her engagement ring. (loves = action word) She will be pleased with your work. (will be = being word)
Read more

Day 13

For a while, I was having trouble in writing proper English. My tutor pointed out the importance of being consistent with tenses. Not to mix tenses in a sentence or a connected group of sentences. For example, if I use the past tense at the start of a sentence, I should use the past tense until the end. Mixing and changing tense mid-sentence confuse my listeners and readers.
Read more

Day 18

JAM Today I learned a technique called JAM. There are many ways to help students' speaking fluency; one of them is Just a Minute (JAM).  JAM is an imprompt speech activity where the speaker is supposed to express their ideas on the given topic, within the duration of a minute, without hesitation and repetition.
Read more