Travel & Language Learning Q&A
In case you missed my recent email newsletter, I sent out a note asking you to send me your language learning and travel questions. Many of you replied – thanks so much, you all are awesome – and I had a lot of fun both chatting with you and answering your language-related questions.
I’m hoping to turn this into a regular thing, so if you have anything language learning or travel-related that you’re stuck on, feel free to send me a note and I’ll see what I can do!
I will also use this as an opportunity to shoutout to those who got in touch with me and to thank them for taking the time to send me their questions.
While the questions below are not all the questions I was asked (I am only posting those I received permission to re-post), there were definitely some interesting topics that came up.
So let’s get started.
Here are the questions I was asked:
- Do you have anything specific for learning German and how to live in Germany?
- I’m currently a month into my planned 4 month trip and I’ve been trying to continue to learn/maintain my French. Any tips on keeping up with it as I travel?
- Do you have any recommended websites or tips on traveling throughout Europe? Are there also any groups of backpackers/travelers that meet up in various cities throughout Europe? Any tips on meeting other people while traveling?
- Any tips on making extra cash while traveling?
I started my own blog about my travel reflections: any tips/advice/ways to publicize it more? - Any rewards programs that you recommend that can help me in my travels?
- Any tips on spending less per day in London?
- Help with characters, grammar and culture, any help would be greatly appreciated.
- I’m learning Norwegian actually! Do you recommend any sources to more get involved with this language?
Carolina asked:
Do you have anything specific for learning German and how to live in Germany?
I have a page specifically dedicated to German here, but I also like to collect resources for various languages over on Pinterest. Many of my Top 8 resources are available for German, so I always recommend them as they have really worked for me. Every learner is different, so don’t be afraid to try out different resources to see what works for you.
As far as tips for moving to Germany, there are a two posts I’ve found that might be helpful to you.
These are links to several bloggers who are expats in Germany, you may find their experience helpful.
Here are general tips for moving to Germany, including what you need to do if you’re bringing a pet over.
Relokate also has a lot of posts on her experiences moving to Germany.
Briana S. asked a few questions, so I did my best to tackle each of them.
I’m currently a month into my planned 4 month trip and I’ve been trying to continue to learn/maintain my French. Any tips on keeping up with it as I travel?
When I travel, I like to bring my Lonely Planet phrasebook along with me. It’s small, compact and fits easily into any bag or pocket.
If I’m more advanced in the language, then I try to strike up conversations with strangers (as naturally as possible) to get some speaking/reading practice in. You can do this by asking for directions or the time in most cases (even if you don’t really need to know the answers to these questions). You can also load some French language books onto your Kindle/Tablet if you have one to do some reading in your downtime. If you will have internet access, however, there are tons more options for you.
Do you have any recommended websites or tips on traveling throughout Europe? Are there also any groups of backpackers/travelers that meet up in various cities throughout Europe? Any tips on meeting other people while traveling?
To Europe and Beyond and Overseas Escape are both great travel websites geared towards Europe. Depending on where you’re going, I have a few posts up as well (Spain, France, Italy).
Try Meetup as a way to connect with other people while traveling as well as Couch Surfing.
Any tips on making extra cash while traveling?
It all depends on how long you’re staying in one place. You can look for tutoring options, but if you’re not in any one place for long, I’d look into ways to make money online (teaching through Skype, blog monetization, etc.).
I started my own blog about my travel reflections: any tips/advice/ways to publicize it more?
This is a good question, and something I’m still working on myself! There are a ton of great blogs out there that write about this like The Nectar Collective, Elle & Co, XO Sarah, and Femtrepreneur.
Any rewards programs that you recommend that can help me in my travels?
If you’re American, Chase Sapphire has been the best rewards program that I’ve used. I really recommend Chris Guillbeau‘s book.
Any tips on spending less per day in London?
Check out these posts:
- http://travellingbuzz.com/30-free-things-to-do-in-london/
- http://www.ontheluce.com/2014/05/15/budget-luxe-accommodation-in-london/
- http://www.timeout.com/london/food-drink/londons-best-cheap-eats?DCMP=OTC-cheap-eats&
- http://souvenirfinder.com/2013/11/19/i-got-it-at-primani-dahling-why-frugal-tourists-love-londons-primark/
Anonymous asked,
I am learning Chinese Mandarin. It is not easy to learn and I am not as young as I use to be. So in asking others I speak to in Chinese, they say one of my biggest issues is my grammar. My sentence structure is on a 2nd grade level and it goes between bad and worse. So I need help with characters, grammar and culture, any help would be greatly appreciated.
There are two Chinese grammar sources that have helped me immensely!
The first is a book available for free through Google books.
The second is this website.
As far as characters go, I personally use Memrise for flashcards, but I also really like Tuttle’s book, “Learning Chinese Characters”.
For culture, I recommend Culture Smart! as a great place to start. These books are short introductions to countries around the world and their cultures. I have them for several countries.
Sarah asked,
I’m learning Norwegian actually! Do you recommend any sources to more get involved with this language?
I haven’t personally studied Norwegian, but there are resources available for it that I’ve used for other languages. Here are the tools that I recommend:
- Easy Norwegian // I know there is only one video thus far, but they’ll hopefully add more. This is a great series.
- If you speak French, Assimil is a really great option. They unfortunately don’t have an English-Norwegian text, but it looks like they have resources available in at least French or German, if you speak either of those languages.
- Norwegian Class 101 is also a good resource.
- You also have the Teach Yourself series.
- Or the Colloquial series (which is a favorite of mine because they often include cultural tidbits)
- These books have great reviews as well: 1 and 2
- A nice podcast with basic lessons.
All right, that’s it for now, you all!
Keep an eye out for our next Q&A in November. If you have any questions you’d like answered as part of the next post, please feel free to get in touch. You can also leave them in the comments below or Tweet them to me!
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