My blogging was on and off for the last 3 years. There were moments of being extremely active, and there were moments when I was silent. As my mobility is rather limited at this point (old injury kicked back), I am literally suffering from boredom. Being an active person, training a lot, walking 2 hours… Continue reading Blogging Challenge. Day 1. Intro.
Category: language
Why Do We Have Accent?
Traveling abroad we become more conscious about different accents. But why do they exist? You can read it in my other blog, which is related to language learning.
A very distinctive part of non-native speakers’ speech is accent. You probably heard a foreign person speaking your native language and struggling to pronounce some sounds correctly. The same occurs to us when we speak a foreign language.
Accent is something that distinguishes native-speakers from non-native. But why do we have an accent? We are born with the ability to pronounce any sound; however, our mother tongue ‘filters off’ the sounds which it doesn’t contain. This means that after 6 years old, our ability to learn other sounds (ones which are absent from the own language) is declining. Thus, we end up having accent in a foreign language in adulthood.
The accent is shaped by the peciliarities of the mother tongue, and the level of accent varies depending on the language we learn. What does this mean? Here is example: I am Russian, and I noticeably will have accent speaking…
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2 Language Learning Myths
Here is the start! Two contradictory misconceptions on language learning.
Today I will discuss the 2 misconceptions on language learning that I hear frequently.
1. “Languages are not for me”. I met many people repeating this phrase over and over again. Wrong! Languages are for you, for me , and for anyone else. The “not for me” misconception is usually based on:
- Self-belief, which affects all our activities. “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right.” -Henry Ford.
- Lack of desire to commit or simply lack of motivation.
- Unappropriated learning strategies. We have our unique way to learn, what works for one person, may not be suitable for another.
2. “There are magic tools, which will make me speak the language within a week”. There are definitely tools and practices, which assist our learning immensely. However, the main aspect is still COMMITMENT. You do need to make an effort to acquire vocabulary and understand the…
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New Blog
Hello! I have briefly introduced my career path in one of the posts. Now I am starting the second blog, which name is 'Learning Languages with Elena'. The blog is about foreign language learning, where I cope with stereotypes about the learning process and introduce practices, which can be useful for a language learner. I… Continue reading New Blog
Who Am I? Identification through Career
Hello! In this post, I will tell you a bit more about my career path and education I accomplished to have it. Like I already wrote, my first qualification is a teacher of English and German, and I worked one year accordingly (in Russia). After that, I moved to Finland for Master degree in Education,… Continue reading Who Am I? Identification through Career
Who Am I? Identification Through Places. Finland. Part 2.
This time I will share the differences between Finland and Russia which shocked me, when I just moved to Finland. 1. Finnish people smiled a lot. Almost all of them. Almost always. It was a significant difference from Russia where people look serious, way too serious sometimes. It doesn't mean that Russian people are angry,… Continue reading Who Am I? Identification Through Places. Finland. Part 2.
Who Am I? Identification through places. Finland. Part 1
This time I really don't know how to start. So I am 'going back' to my childhood. When I was small, my parents were reading fairy-tales to me. Those fairy-tales were from all over the world, representing the cultures of their country. Among my favourite fairy-tales and stories, there were Nordic ones. There were trolls… Continue reading Who Am I? Identification through places. Finland. Part 1
New Year!
Happy New Year! My best wishes for 2019! I don't think I have ever been so happy to greet a new year as this time. I had a clear feeling that all bad stayed in 2018, and all the great changes are to start in 2019! 😍😀 But all the changes and achievements do require… Continue reading New Year!
First Day in Portugal
As I promised in my previous post to tell you briefly about the cultural shock I experienced on my arrival. No matter where I go, I need around 3 days to cool down and get used to small talk and short distance between people during communication. As I am in Finland almost 8 years, and… Continue reading First Day in Portugal
The Portuguese Language
I decided to make a separate post on the Portuguese language. Being a linguist, I am very curious about any language I was exposed to in one way or another. Language is not only the way to communicate, language refrects the culture and how people think. Elaborating on the language is my favourite approach to… Continue reading The Portuguese Language
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