Hey reader,
I recently had a follower reach out to me asking for my “expertise” on language apps and to give feedback on the app they were developing. I do not consider myself an expert, but I have spent a lot of time thinking about what works and trying things out. Before they reached out, I hadn’t considered that I might actually have useful advice on the topic. Have you ever had a similar experience, where someone asked you for help on something and you ended up sharing knowledge you didn’t know you had? Maybe you have some great hidden insight about your hobbies.
Anyway, a previous edition with the same name looked at NotebookLM and its use for language learning. Today’s title continues the theme and refers to a neat video from a linguist about how he uses AI for language learning. I recommend you give it a watch.
Like him, I was quite a sceptic about the usefulness of AI, and like him, I have also found the more modern AIs have mostly bridged the competency gap that existed.
🛠️Resource spotlight: Xefjord’s free Anki decks
This is a collection of great free Anki decks you can use if you are starting out at a language. Over 100 decks are available.
🌐Language learning
What are your study methods for the advanced/middles stages?
How do I start thinking in my language and stop translating in my head? Consensus seemed to be it is a natural consequence that comes with time and experience, and is not something to force, though someone recommended trying it consciously as an exercises.
How to use AI for language learning: video.
🔦Spotlight: The Xuanji Tu
A 29 by 29 grid of 841 characters that can produce over 4,000 different poems, all of them rhyming. You can read it in any direction, including spiralling out from the centre.
Talk about constrained creativity 🤯
💻From around the web
Escher sentences, sentences that sound correct but upon closer inspection don’t make sense. More people have been to Russia than I have.
Doublets: words that got ported into English twice, forming two similar words with different meaning. E.g. fashion/faction, zealous/jealous, persecute/pursue
Hungary’s plummeting birthrate.
Michael Neilsen’s notes on writing well.
Till next time!
Mondecast is a twice-monthly newsletter for curious language learners.
Did you know you can reply to this email? I read every response, and interesting responses can be featured in future editions.
Follow Mondecast