I have heard people say that they can only learn a word if they use it. I do not agree. I know far more words passively in my foreign languages, than I use actively. There is nothing wrong with that. I enjoy my listening and reading and feel that understanding what I hear and read is essential. I do not mind struggling to find words when I speak. I find that the more I listen and read, and review my words and phrases, the greater my passive vocabulary, and therefore the greater my potential active vocabulary. When I have more opportunity to speak, I find these passive words gradually migrating over into the active category. Here is the podcastDownload Passive vocabulary

Source: steve@thelinguist.com (Steve Kaufmann)

What kind of content do we need when we start learning a language? Can we learn how to introduce ourselves, or what to say in a restaurant, at the train station and other such situations?

I do not think so. I do not think this kind of content is necessary, although there is nothing wrong with it. It really depends on what the learner is interested in. The point is that the learner needs to get used to the language through a lot of exposure. The learner is unlikely to remember a set of phrases for different situations. As soon as a real person talks back, the learner is usually lost. So what to do?

Download Introductions or watch the video.

Source: steve@thelinguist.com (Steve Kaufmann)

Pimsleur, Assimil, Teach Yourself, Michel Thomas,Colloquial, Berlitz, Hugo, Rosetta Stone and many more. There is no shortage of language learning systems. What do I think of them? Here is a podcast on Learning systems

Here are two videos.

1)

Source: steve@thelinguist.com (Steve Kaufmann)

Download the podcast
In my book The Way of the Linguist, A Language Learning Odyssey, I talked about the need to get outside your own culture and not resist the language you are learning.  Here I get into more detail on this subject, so important for language learning success, much more important than having an "ear" or "talent" for languages.

Source: steve@thelinguist.com (Steve Kaufmann)

Download Lazy language

I did not mean the post on advice for lazy language learning to be demotivating. Here is a video on it.

Source: steve@thelinguist.com (Steve Kaufmann)