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Language Learning Quotes

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Language Learning Quotes

“I was beginning to think in Greek. That is the great Rubicon to cross in learning any language. Those in whom the Greek word lives only while they are hunting for it in the lexicon, and who then substitute the English word for it, are not reading the Greek at all; they are only solving a puzzle.”

GreekComprehensionLanguage LearningLanguage AcquisitionGreek Literature
Book:Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life
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“Increasing numbers of developmental researchers observe that when parents read stories on e-books with their children, their interactions frequently center on the more mechanical and more gamelike aspects of e-books, rather than the content and the words and ideas in the stories. Most parents are simply better at fostering language and helping to clarify concepts when they read physical books to their preschool children.”

Language LearningPrint BooksE BooksParent And ChildReading To Children
Book:Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World
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“If you want big improvements, she said, chew gum. Gum? Sure enough, chewing gum has been shown to improve a person's immediate recall of learned words by some 24 percent. Long-term recall improves by a larger 36 percent. To get the benefit, you actually have to chew gum as you are studying; for some reason you can't merely move your jaw up and down. I also discovered that drinking sage tea increases one's recall of words modestly, as does the odor of rosemary. Something as mundane as coffee provides a benefit, too. Drinking two cups of coffee increases neuronal activity in the frontal lobe, where working memory is controlled, and in the anterior cingulum, where attention is controlled.”

MemoryGumLanguage Learning
Book:Babel No More: The Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Language Learners
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“Sanskrit is a beautiful contextual language. It is called “Dev Bhasha” the language of the soul. Here, meanings of the words must come from the heart, from direct experience – dictionary meanings or static meanings have not much value. Meanings of the words vary depending on mind-set, time, location and culture. The words are made to expand the possibilities of the mind.”

LanguageYogaPossibilitiesYoga InspirationLanguage LearningYoga PhilosophySanskritPossibilities In LifeDirect ExperienceSanskrit LanguageLanguage Of The HeartLanguage Of SoulLanguage Of The UniverseDictionary MeaningsContextual LanguageDev BhashaPossibilities Of The MindYoga Language
Book:Yoga The Science of Well-Being
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“...before most of us possess an inkling that babies could be listening to us, infants are making astonishing connections between listening to human voices and developing their language system. Think how much more can happen in those regions when parents slowly, deliberately read to their children, *just to them*, with mutually focused attention. This disarmingly simple act makes huge contributions: it provides not only the most palpable associations with reading, but also a time when parent and child are together in a timeless interaction that involves shared attention; learning about words, sentences, and concepts; and even learning what a book is. One of the most salient influences on young children's attention involves the shared gaze that occurs and develops while parents read to them. With little conscious effort children learn to focus their visual attention on what their parent or caretaker is looking at without losing an ounce of their own curiosity and exploratory behaviors. As the philosopher Charles Taylor notes, "The crucial condition for human language learning is *joint* attention," which he and others who are involved in studying the ontogenesis of language consider one of the most important features of human evolution.”

AttentionParents And ChildrenLanguage LearningInfantsBrain DevelopmentReading To Children
Book:Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World
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“The Whirling Linguist (Naskaristana 2670-2671) Language is a paradox, by ambition it is expansive, but by neurology it is restrictive, and language tied to ideology, is downright decrepit. I live in six languages, and occasionally dabble in a few more, and I learnt none inside classrooms, I just outgrew the jungle memberships. What makes a language native is not flawless syntax or grammar, but a shameless flow of passion. For example, yo soy humano, por que humano? cunku benim icin bi tek insanlik onemli - sesangi sarang, sarangi sesang - and to hell with armchair linguists and grammar nazis, who can't tell day from night without consulting textbooks - I'm the center that the dervish whirls around, I'm the flame that syllables dance around, I'm the immeasurable that your complex-obsessed psychology books patronize with analysis, and philosophy books desecrate with ivory-tower, lifeless logic disconnected from soil, most of whom are more interested in calculation and condescension than the elevation of human condition. You think Naskar writes me, Naskar is an idiot, I'm beyond Naskar, beyond every single puny mortal brain, I'm the original sentience that occasionally seeks out fitting vessels, with a dominant tendency of expansion and a tinge of naivety, and makes them whirl at my whim, so that your little toddler species doesn't crawl back into jungle slime.”

GrammarLinguisticsLanguage LearningPolyglotLanguages And CultureMultilingualismMultilingualLinguistic DiversityPolyglot Poet
Book:With Love From A Blue Rock
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“In a fast world, learning should move fast too.”

Self ImprovementPersonal GrowthProductivityModern LifeLanguage LearningLifelong LearningSkill DevelopmentEducation MotivationLearning MindsetFast Learning
Book:In English as in Russian: 1000 words with explanations - ПО-АНГЛИЙСКИ КАК ПО-РУССКИ: 1000 слов с пояснениями
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“A new language doesn’t always begin with study. Sometimes it begins with recognition.”

Language LearningCross Cultural UnderstandingLearning LanguagesSecond LanguageLanguage And IdentityLanguage MemoryCultural RecognitionLinguistic IntuitionMultilingual Experience
Book:In English as in Russian: 1000 words with explanations - ПО-АНГЛИЙСКИ КАК ПО-РУССКИ: 1000 слов с пояснениями
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“While one lives in a foreign country, language's main function is as a means of self-protection and a weapon in one's fight with the world. You can't fight without a weapon. But perhaps its human instinct that makes it even more imperative to somehow express oneself, convey meaning, connect with others.”

CultureFriendshipLossIsolationLanguage LearningWords Have PowerSelf ProtectionExpressing YourselfImmigration ExperienceHuman Instinct
Book:Farewell, My Orange
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“In an uncertain world, English is a reliable direction.”

Self ImprovementPersonal GrowthEnglish LanguageLanguage LearningLearning EnglishInternational TravelGlobal CommunicationEducation MotivationModern Life SkillsWorld Languages
Book:In English as in Russian: 1000 words with explanations - ПО-АНГЛИЙСКИ КАК ПО-РУССКИ: 1000 слов с пояснениями
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“Fear of appearing stupid, ignorant, or childish is a nemesis of learning, and language learning is no exception. Frustration is inevitable, but it doesn’t have to be final. It’s always a letdown when a language learner loses motivation, stops engaging in the target language, or abandons the endeavor altogether. It follows that learning how to manage our emotions and take a long view of situations (i.e., “respect the process”) is critical to weathering the storms of acquiring a new skill. Like a baby learning how to walk, we deserve credit for every milestone we attain and for mustering the courage to confront the unknown.”

FearLanguage LearningLinguistForeign Languages
Book:The Art of Learning a Foreign Language: 25 Things I Wish They Told Me
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“Worldly knowledge, reasoning ability, and linguistic creativity quickly convert into a target language as soon as they are given a vehicle for expression. A 24-year-old, for example, who traveled, went to college, and and gained life experience has a much higher linguistic ceiling than the 16-year-old version of themselves. While they both start from square one, the one with stronger native language skills is going to progress further and faster.”

Language LearningLinguistForeign Languages
Book:The Art of Learning a Foreign Language: 25 Things I Wish They Told Me
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“The hardest foreign language you will ever learn is your first one. And the second hardest foreign language you will ever learn is your second one. In other words, language learning gets easier with each subsequent iteration. This phenomenon owes to the fact that languages, especially those belonging to the same family, share a great deal in terms of grammar, syntax, phonetics, and vocabulary. . . Not only are many of the concepts repetitive across languages, but learners become more adept at recognizing patterns, formulating sentences, and memorizing information.”

Language LearningPolyglotLanguagesLinguistForeign Languages
Book:The Art of Learning a Foreign Language: 25 Things I Wish They Told Me
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“Childhood is analogous to language learning. It has a biological basis but cannot be realized unless a social environment triggers and nurtures it, that is, has need of it. If a culture is dominated by a medium that requires the segregation of the young in order that they learn unnatural, specialized, and complex skills and attitudes, then childhood, in one form or another, will emerge, articulate and indispensable.”

IfsNeedsFormYoungOrderCultureLanguageSocialAttitudeEnvironmentChildhoodSkillsBasesComplexesMediumsNurtureIndispensableSegregationTriggersUnnaturalLanguage LearningSocial Environment
Author:Neil Postman
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“Language is the blood of the soul into which thoughts run and out of which they grow.”

SoulInspirationRunningLanguageGrowsLearningBloodCommunicationTongueEnglish LanguageLearnersForeign LanguageLanguage LearningMother TongueHuman LanguageInspirational LearningLearning LanguageLanguage WordsLanguage And CommunicationLanguages CommunicationCulture And LanguageLanguage CultureLearning EnglishInternational LanguageEnglish WordsLanguage Arts
Author:Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.
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