Alan Palmer's Language Chat Podcasts

Hello everybody, Today I wanted to talk about my ideas on increasing fluency (which in my opinion is about how easy you can use a language at a high level) I wanted to tell you about a new idea I have had about building up vocabulary and fluency at the same time. I have a lot of trouble remembering words and I believe that everyone agrees that the secret to learning a language is knowing enough words and enough of the structure of the language (sometimes call rules of grammar) Some languages have complex grammar (like German) and other languages have simpler grammar (like Mandarin Chinese) Whichever language we learn, we need a knowledge of enough words and grammar to converse with others who speak the language. Of course other areas of language ability are important - such as pronunciation, but generally speaking, with some words and grammar and a reasonably understandable accent - most people could make themselves understood and understand what was being said to them. In English this is often called "