I often feel that the greatest weakness of the blog format is that old content tends to be forgotten and needs to be repeated. Regular readers rarely access old materials for whatever reason.  I am not much different.  On sites in my rss feeds, there are a handful of posts that contain information that I want to go back to and I will usually email them to myself, but aside from that I only go back to most sites when there is new content to read.  While I hope to continue creating good content, I feel that I’m nearly always asked the same questions.  People learning their first 2nd language tend to ask the same questions.  They don’t really know what to do and simply telling them isn’t enough for them to believe it and find the discipline to actually do it.  I completely understand this as I often feel that I spread myself far too thin by always dabbling in a too many languages and could always be spending more time than I actually do.  So in order to streamline the process for newer readers, I’m going to provide links below to older posts that should anticipate and hopefully answer some of those questions that come up while you are climbing the language mountain.

Sometimes people seem to want me to tell them exactly what to do.  I then expend a lot of time and energy creating routines and flashcards for them, but then they don’t do it.  While this can be frustrating, it doesn’t really matter as long as you are doing something.  Chances are there will always be ways to improve on what you are currently doing so it doesn’t hurt to experiment.  If one way up the mountain seems impassable, go back down and find another way.  Master the basics, don’t fly through them.  Don’t just learn them.  Absorb them, conquer them.  Be able to run circles around the bottom of the mountain with ease before trying to make it all the way to the top.  This isn’t a race.

Don’t let anyone discourage you.  They will try.  This is normal as people tend to be pretty lame and rarely actually know what they are talking about.

Basic Tips/Concepts –

The Rules of the Game

Be a Cheater

Consistency –

Don’t Stop

Remembering Stuff –

Spaced Repetition System

Stages of Learning

Thai Tips –

Rhythm

De-Farang-ify

Tools to Get You There –

Tone Drills by Class

Anki – So ya don’t forget

Reading Stuff –

How to Start

News