@mirka
Raised bilingually in Japan
(Japanese/English)
Co-Director at
Women Who Code Tokyo
Software Engineer at Automattic
LENA MORITA
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@mirka
Uruguay
United States
Spain (living in UK)
Slovakia
Romania
Japan
Philippines
MY TEAMMATES
BY COUNTRY
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@mirka
NAMING THINGS
WEB+DB PRESS VOL. 110
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BAD AT LANGUAGES?
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SCHOOL
DIDN’T WORK
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TEXTBOOKS
DIDN’T WORK
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2017
READY TO TRY AGAIN
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@mirka
THINGS I WAS “BAD” AT
Piano
Mastering Piano Technique
by Seymour Fink
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@mirka
THINGS I WAS “BAD” AT
Programming
AppleScript 1-2-3
by Sal Soghoian
JavaScript:
The Definitive Guide
by David Flanagan
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@mirka
I’M PROBABLY JUST DOING IT WRONG
BAD AT ____?
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@mirka
LANGUAGE SKILLS
Produce Understand
Written Writing ✏ Reading
Spoken Speaking Listening $
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@mirka
LANGUAGE SKILLS
Produce Understand
Written Writing ✏ Reading
Spoken Speaking Listening $
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BUILDING VOCABULARY
WITH TEXT-FREE
FLASHCARDS
LARGELY INSPIRED BY GABRIEL WYNER’S “FLUENT FOREVER” METHOD
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@mirka
“SRS”
SPACED REPETITION SYSTEM
We forget new information very fast
The “forgetting curve” flattens out
with each successive review
Each review can be spaced out
in longer intervals
OSMOSIS.ORG
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@mirka
APPS.ANKIWEB.NET
ANKI
Open source
Cross-platform
Has more features than you will ever use
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@mirka
WORD 㲗 TRANSLATION
TYPICAL FLASHCARD
consecutive
Front
ʢதஅͳ͠Ͱʣ࿈ଓͨ͠,
Ҿ͖ଓ͍ͯى͜Δ
Back
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@mirka
WORD 㲗 TRANSLATION
TYPICAL FLASHCARD
Hard to memorize
Associates imperfect translations
rather than concepts
Ignores pronunciation
consecutive
ʢதஅͳ͠Ͱʣ࿈ଓͨ͠,
Ҿ͖ଓ͍ͯى͜Δ
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@mirka
— GABRIEL WYNER
PRONUNCIATION IS
IMPORTANT
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@mirka
PRONUNCIATION IS IMPORTANT
Necessary to understand spoken words
→ Minimal pairs: rock/lock, cut/cat, den/then, etc.
Repetition on a bad foundation
reinforces bad habits
Learn it first!
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@mirka
AUDIO 㲗 IMAGES
TEXT-FREE FLASHCARDS
Front Back
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COMPREHENSION
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PRODUCTION
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LET’S
MAKE OUR
FLASHCARD
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@mirka
ENCOUNTER
STEP 1
Keep track of new words you encounter
in a note app like Evernote
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@mirka
LEARN
STEP 2
When back at your computer,
pick a word from the list
Learn what it means
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@mirka
ILLUSTRATE
STEP 3
Google Image Search is your friend
Find an image that resonates
with you
Images for abate
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@mirka
PRONOUNCE
STEP 4
Download an audio clip,
either from a real speaker or
a text-to-speech (TTS) system
forvo.com — Real speakers
soundoftext.com — TTS
%
%
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LaunchBar
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Return spoken string as audio file
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Return spoken string as audio file
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@mirka
HOW MUCH DID I LEARN?
1800+ words/phrases
93% are mature
(in long-term memory)
Average review interval is 1.6 years
(will likely remember for at least that long)
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@mirka
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@mirka
MORE WAYS TO LEARN BY EAR
Pimsleur — Basic grammar, building reflexes
italki — Conversation practice