Photo by William Moreland on Unsplash
By Federica Lupis, https://www.federicalupis.com/
Author of "Fluent On The First Try" and "Why You're Not Fluent and How To Fix It"
Language trainer, interpreter and translator.
Last week, I was searching for Spanish exercises on the Internet. After a bit of research, I found a comprehension exercise and started reading it to make sure I could use it with my students.
The exercises seemed good, they included a multiple-choice quiz, some questions, and a section of useful vocabulary for those interested in exploring the topic more.
As I was about to print the comprehension, I quickly skimmed through the vocabulary.
‘Pechuga? Pechuga what?’, I said, breaking the silence that reigned in the study until a few seconds before.
‘Mmm?’ Vanessa said as if she had just woken up from a dream.
‘Pechuga’ I repeated ‘Pechuga doesn’t mean chest*. Who wrote this?’
(*To my knowledge, the word pechuga can be used colloquially to refer to a woman’s breast but it can be offensive depending on the circumstances.)
‘Are you okay?’ my friend asked, visibly concerned.
In short, the comprehension was about a doctor’s appointment and the vocabulary section listed additional body parts in Spanish. Under ‘chest’ there was pechuga (bird breast) a word that is widely used in the kitchen for ‘chicken breast’ (pechuga de pollo).
‘Why are you getting so fired up? It’s just an oversight…’ Vanessa said. ‘Some people will go to the doctor and ask them to look at their bird chest. It’s funny, isn’t it?’
‘I guess…’ I said, taking a deep breath, trying to regain control of my ‘teaching spirit’. After all, the comprehension and the exercises were good. I just had to make sure there were no other ‘oversights’.
Meanwhile, Vanessa had begun to stage a conversation between a chicken and a doctor. I laughed so hard that I ended up being grateful for finding that comprehension.
In honour of the Spanish chicken breast, this week we will see how to choose the best Internet resources for learning a language.
1. Who are you dealing with?
These days we have become increasingly dependent on reviews. It would be fun to just walk into a restaurant, but the reality is that most of the time we want to be sure the food is going to be excellent before we even try it.
Unfortunately, the same doesn’t apply to the information we seek on the Internet. Sometimes, we get information from unreliable sources and don’t question its validity.
The reason may be that finding reviews for a website isn’t as fast as opening Google and checking a star rating. With a language learning website, for example, we need to do research and visit many other websites before we can tell if it’s worth our time.
You’ll have to ask yourself:
Is this website recommended by many people on the Internet?
Who created the resources?
Can I trust that the information provided will be accurate and up-to-date?
The good news is that once you’ve done your due diligence, you will have a source of information that you can use in the long term. So your time investment will pay off.
2. Just because mayonnaise is good, it doesn’t mean you can put it on everything.
One night, at a birthday party, I was having a chat with one of the girls there. We were having a lot of fun until she said: ‘You should come to our housewarming so you can try my mayonnaise pasta’.
I paused for a second then shook my head convinced I had misunderstood.
‘Your pasta?’, I said.
‘Yes! I make a great mayonnaise sauce. You should try it!’
I spent the next half hour shaking my head and laughing at the idea of eating pasta covered in mayonnaise.
When it comes to food, I know I can be close-minded, but my point was that just because mayonnaise is good, it doesn’t mean you can put it on everything.
The same goes for language learning websites. Just because a website is great at explaining grammar, it doesn’t mean it will be as good at presenting vocabulary.
I’ve made this mistake before and limited my progress until I realized I needed to expand my horizons.
Once you get a good grammar website, don’t forget to find great vocabulary and listening resources. It will help you speed up your progress.
3. Keep up with the times.
Illecebrous, groovy, pismire … when was the last time you heard these words?
(By the way, while looking for outdated English words, I found ‘vomitorium’ and loved the explanation “A vomitorium is not a room in which ancient Romans would throw up halfway through a banquet in order to make room for the next course. That’s a myth. A vomitorium is simply a passage by which you can exit a building, usually a theatre.” Good to know ^_^)
Languages change over time and old words are left behind to make room for new ones.
Do you know any recent words that have become part of the foreign language that you’re learning?
Once you have your grammar, vocabulary and listening covered, it’s a good idea to find a reputable website that focuses exclusively on recent words.
In terms of new Italian words, for example, the Accademia della Crusca, the society of scholars of Italian linguistics and philology, has a dedicated page.
I quickly scrolled down the page and saw ‘influencer’ is now a common word in Italian.
While hoping that this word will soon disappear from the face of the Earth, I can confirm that it is a common word in Italian and is often used in conversations and in the media.
Staying up to date with new words will help you with using and understanding a language so don't underestimate this aspect!
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To sum up:
Before you start using a website to learn a language, check if it’s trustworthy.
Sometimes it’s best to use different websites for different aspects of a language
Find a website that helps you keep up with recent words (and don’t misunderstand the word ‘vomitorium’).
Thanks for reading! It’s always a privilege to share my stories with you!
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