International Self-Publishing

This blog is about the joys and challenges of self-publishing worldwide

The Power of Networking

By Leave a Comment

Some incredible figures

When it comes to work-related recommendations, nothing beats personal contacts. Yes, it is good to make connections online, but in my experience, personal meetings are even more effective. I first learned about this many years ago, when I attended a talk by Sabine Asgodom, who is a well known  book author and coach in Germany. She presented the audience with these figures:

So what are you waiting for?

In the beginning, I could hardly believe it, but the more I got into networking myself, the more I actually understood that this was not exaggerated. Of course, the 10 % achievements are still vital, but never underestimate the power of networking.

When I think of all the contacts I have made over the years, the opportunities that have come up and frelance jobs that I was able to do just because someone recommended me for something, I can definitely confirm these figures from my own experience.

Is it ethical?

Sometimes I meet people who have moral doubts about networking, they apologize for taking opportunities through contacts and believe they should have achieved everything in a “better” way. Don’t feel guilty, this is how most opportunities come up for everyone else as well, you were just not aware of it.

Those who have doubts are usually thinking of some kind of corruption and taking advantage of others, but this is not networking.

A book with networking advice

Now let’s talk about how to proceed when you are approaching someone you would like to network with. I would definitely think first what you have to give them and only afterwards what they may have to give you.

The book Give and Take gives valuable information and networking advice. And author Adam Grant is also providing a strategy to make sure others are not walking all over you after you have been generous first.

Useful organizations for authors and translators

Joining relevant organizations can make networking easier and I have tried out a numer of them. I am a member of the Society of Authors in the UK, because I find their legal advice and networking opportunities are just what I need – and they give legal advice to both translators and authors.

You can nowadays even join as a self-published author, if you have sold a certain number of books – just check out their eligibility criteria. And they have a network for emerging translators as well.

As a self-published author or someone who would like to beome one, you might also like to join the Alliance of Independent Authors.

Male and female networks

Networks have a long tradition and in the past they were often known as “old boys” networks, which excluded women and therefore women founded their own networks, for example Women in Publishing or Women in Journalism in the UK. A while ago, a man said to me: “It’s not fair, I want a network like this for men as well.” My answer was easy: nobody prevents you from setting up your own “new boys” network. 😉

You can argue whether female networks are still necessary today – theoretically women and men should now be equal, at least where I live. Conditions have definitely improved for women, but we are not quite there yet.

I believe we still need women only organizations, especially with the current influx of refugees in Europe. Although I am very much in favour of supporting refugees, I feel strongly about not going backwards, as they are usually from countries where females have far fewer rights than in our part of the world. In my opinion, women’s organizations can make a positive impact.

 

Related article on a female network: Happy Birthday, Buecherfrauen!

 

 

If you like this article, please share it:

Haroldo Conti’s “Southeaster”: Talk with Translator and Self-Publisher Jon Lindsay Miles

By Leave a Comment

 

A few days ago, I attended an event at the Free Word Centre here in London with Jon Lindsay Miles as the translator and self-publisher of  “Sudeste”, a book that was originally published in Spanish. He talked to senior editor Sophie Lewis of And Other Stories, the publishing house that has now picked up this book.

Everything started, when Jon Lindsay Miles discovered the long forgotten Argentinean book at his local library in the South of Spain. He was immediately gripped and wanted to translate it into English. But first he needed permission from the author’s heirs and travelled to Argentina to meet them in person. They were happy to grant him the right to translate and self-publish “Sudeste” – even though Haroldo Conti is well-known in Argentina, none of his books had ever been translated into English.

Conti was one of the people who disappeared in Argentina without a trace in 1976 after the military coup and was then probably murdered. The translator, however, stressed that he was not focussing on this fact, but on the book’s content and on the way he himself as a reader interpreted it.

In the story, atmosphere is important, the bleakness of the environment including a river and the reclusion of the protagonist. When Jon read part of the book, you could really tell how passionate he was about it. And when he spoke about his own life in a remote area in Spain, I couldn’t help thinking there might be some parallels between him and the main character.

In order to self-publish “Southeaster”, Jon even set up a little publishing house called Immigrant Press. At first, he did everything on his own, but now that the book was taken on by UK publishers And Other Stories, the new edition was going to involve an additional editing process. Editor Sophie Lewis confessed they had been a bit worried how Jon would react to any changes made to his work. But there was no need: the translator had no problem with it.

 

It was great to see how dedicated everyone involved is to “Southeaster”. Of course first of all the translator, because without him the book would never have been published in English. But then there are also the lovely people of And Other Stories, who can now help to find more readers for the book. And I met more interesting people at The Free Word Centre. This place is really, in their own words: a unique “international centre for literature, literacy and free expression in the world”.

 

If you like this article, please share it:

Overcoming Language Barriers with Pictures

By Leave a Comment

It’s a visual world and we may use it to our advantage

If you are reading this, I assume you like the written word, but let’s face it, what captivates and inspires our imagination more than anything? Pictures evoke immediate emotional reactions. They can therefore draw attention to material in foreign languages and spark curiosity.

Book covers can make an impact around the world

In my opinion, book covers can play an important role in achieving global success. One example is the cover of Er ist wieder da with the now well known Hitler image. The picture draws you in, even if you do not understand the language and you just want to know what this is all about. Unsurprisingly, the book was translated into many languages and they kept the idea of the image for all foreign editions.

Music is different

I used to think that English is accepted around the world and if in doubt, I would still go for it, but I discovered that hardly anyone of those who read my German blog are interested in what I say in English on social media.

When it comes to texts like books and blogs, I have the feeling that most readers are still expecting discussions in a language that they are really comfortable with, and this is usually their mother tongue.

In another article I touched on how social media in English works for international music, but I have now come to the conclusion that you cannot always compare it to books, articles and other texts. Like pictures, it appeals more directly to our emotions and in most cases, lyrics are not that important and they don’t have to be understood to enjoy the songs. Once the audience really likes or dislikes a piece of music though, people are more willing to discuss it in English, however basic their English knowledge may be. Sometimes they comment in their own language, even if hardly anyone else is able to understand it. And many listeners seem to care more about the visual appearance of musicians than about song texts. On the other hand, music itself can bring people from differnt countries together.

Pinterest is a visual social media platform

Thanks to blogger Renate Oetjens, who explained the benefits to me, I have now joined Pinterest. This social media platform relies very much on pictures and images do indeed often speak louder than words. I am still a newbie on this platform and I am learning more every day.

On Pinterest, you usually discover pictures before persons, although you can follow individuals if you want to. Therefore it shouldn’t be a problem to use the platform in more than one language, whereas this can sometimes frustrate people elsewhere if they have no clue what you are talking about and might feel left out when something interesting seems to happen in a language they do not understand.

At the recent Problogger conference, one of the speakers even described Pinterest as a “must” for bloggers. As much as I like it myself – in my opinion, nobody has to use a certain platform if it is not for them for whatever reason. For example, most people say you have to be on Facebook, but I disagree. I think it helps to really like what you are doing, otherwise you might give up sooner rather than later or readers can tell that you are doing something only half-heartedly. If you want a strong focus on pictures but don’t like Pinterest, you might prefer Instagram or Flickr instead as visually focused social media platforms.

Videos are popular and don’t always need spoken words

When it comes to visuals, one medium holds special attraction for many and that is videos and they can be shared on Pinterest as well. Therefore I have experimented again and created a new mini video with images and subtitles to show you another way to combine visuals with more than one language. This time, the film has no spoken audio, but comes with subtitles in English and German. You could even add more languages, if you wanted to. In case you are wondering: the music that I am using is from YouTube’s own audio library and I took the pictures myself, therefore I didn’t have to worry about copyright.

You can activate and deactivate the subtitles by clicking on “CC” at the bottom of the video once it is playing and if it doesn’t show the language you are looking for, the settings can be changed via the icon next to it.

 

 

If you like this article, please share it:

Social Media For International Self-Publishers

By 2 Comments

It’s been a while since I last posted anything on this blog, but I needed some time to figure out what to do next, as communicating in more than one language isn’t always straightforward, especially when it comes to social media.

 

Multilingual communication can be challenging

I have done a lot of experiments and research and there is much information about social media on the internet, but unfortunately, most of it doesn’t work well for me. Especially Facebook has never been something that I enjoyed very much and I have given up on it for the time being. I tried to create different pages in different languages, but it was too much work and didn’t really lead anywhere. I still have a private Facebook account, where I find posts in different languages due to my very international contacts, and sometimes I see interesting posts that I can hardly read and often not at all, let alone comment on them. As much as I am in favour of learning as many languages as possible, there is simply a limit to it. Nobody can speak every language on the planet. I had to find a different solution for my needs, as I do not have one dominant language, but I communicate about as much in German as in English.

YouTube videos with subtitles in different languages

I have now decided to create a YouTube channel with audio in either English or German and subtitles in at least the other language. The following short video was mainly created for my German blog about London, therefore I have recorded the audio in German, but by clicking on CC you can choose to watch it with English subtitles. The subtitles allow me to use videos for my English as well as for my German blog at the same time and I am planning to do more subtitled videos in various other formats in future.

Here is my first short and humble video:

 

If you like this article, please share it:

London Book Fair 2015 part 2: Some Industry Trends

By Leave a Comment

Even more globalisation

At this year’s London Book Fair, Harper Collins’ announced their takeover of publishing houses in various countries. They intend to launch books in different languages simultaneously. Teams in a number of countries will cooperate to leverage the marketing.

I think launching books in different countries at the same time is an interesting model also for international self-publishers for maximum global reach and to make the most of their efforts.

And the general increase in globalisation means more translations are needed as well.

LBF 2015 lecture in Tech Theatre scaled

London Book Fair 2015, lecture in Tech Theatre

Content is vital – form can change

We saw the introduction of ebooks and audiobooks in the past, and new options like interactive content are now becoming more widespread. When signing contracts, you should bear possible future developments in mind, which can mean technical developments that do not currently exist. So it is actually a good idea to be prepared and stay up to date with technical innovations, whether you intend to use them or not.

Shorter forms are becoming increasingly popular

As I mentioned in my article about the London Book Fair and literary translations, there is a trend towards micro-payments, for example reading and paying for individual book parts and being able to stop buying more at any time, if you want. I have started reading a book in this way via Pigeonhole, the company that I wrote about last time, and I am enjoying it.

And especially when it comes to non-fiction,  the so-called Millenial generation seem to prefer shorter books even more than other age groups.

I must admit that I like shorter non-fiction books myself, which do not repeat certain aspects again and again, just to fill the pages or to remind me of something that I read earlier in the book. I would actually love more shorter non-fiction that contains the information I am looking for in a more compact way that doesn’t take so long to read. I think this is actually a good trend for self-publishers who have an advantage since they do not need to write a book of a certain length for a publisher, but can concentrate first and foremost on the value they intend provide for their readers.

 

Related article: London Book Fair Part 1: Literary Translation

If you like this article, please share it:

London Book Fair 2015

By

Part 1: Literary Translation

 

London Book FairLondon Book Fair took place last week and as it was on my doorstep, I went all three days. My obvious first place to go was the Literary Translation Centre and one of the events I attended was called:

“Meet The Innovators”

The panelists were representatives of small British publishing houses that publish books in translation. One of them said he didn’t speak any of the languages they were dealing with and the language barrier was a problem which had led to legal problems. They were sued due to libel and copyright infringement. Now they are asking their translators to alert them to potential problems. At the end of the day, however, translators are not responsible for any legal matters. The whole issue did not surprise me and is one of the reasons why I believe that self-publishing could help to get more books translated into English. Some of the panelists were wondering why they had even been invited to this event in the first place – maybe because literature in translation itself is still regarded as innovative in English-speaking countries?

There was one true innovator on the panel, though: Anna Jean Hughes, the co-founder of The Pigeonhole. Her company was not even a year old and had already been nominated for the London Book Fair’s International Excellence Awards. The Pigeonhole call themselves “Your Global Book Club” and specialize in book serializations. You can subscribe via micro-payments for parts of a book, read them as you like, e.g. on your computer, via Kindle or iPhone app, and discuss the content with other readers and the author if you like. By the way: micro-payments are one of the new trends in publishing that I will write more about in my next article.

At The Pigenonhole, you get additional benefits like author interviews, audios and other material that is supposed to immerse readers in the world of the book. They take on books in English and foreign languages, which will be translated into English and the translations are funded by grants. Anna said they had 6 different native speakers among their staff, therefore I suspect they have fewer problems with language barriers than other companies. The book groups will be in various languages as well. Anna said books will only be published in hard back once they have reached a minimum of 5000 subscribers, which cuts out the risk. They work on a 50/50 royalty basis with authors and if a translation is involved, the publisher gets 40 %, the writer 40 % and the translator 20 % in addition to their translation fee. Sounds interesting to me.

And here is an interview with Pigeonhole’s other co-founder Jacob Cockcroft at the London Book Fair:

Another event that I attended at the Literary Translation Centre was the following:

“What Works In Translation?
The Critics’ Perspective”

First the panelists talked about something obvious and vital: a translation needs to promise commercial success, otherwise publishers won’t take it on. And the book should read smoothly like an original, but with some foreign flavour. If a book was not written at roughly the same time as the translation, the translator shouldn’t even try to translate into an old language version, it’s not doable. I agree, but I think you can still add a little flavour of the other time to the translation, similar to the way contemporary authors tend to write historical fiction.

Dialects are very tricky in translation. Everyone acknowkledged that they are actually untranslatable, but there are nonetheless a few cases out there, where people tried to translate for example Scottish English into a dialect of another language and the result was simply dreadful. So here is a word of warning for authors whose books contain a lot of dialect: it will be lost in translation, because even a flavour of the original dialect is difficult to achieve in translation.

The panelists went on to say that authors and translators should ideally be a good match and translators are almost like writers. A few translators are actually sometimes writers and vice versa. Just think of this famous example: Mark Twain translated several German books into English. I can even imagine the author-translator model as a great way for self-published authors who translate someone elses’s book if they happen to be fluent in that language and have an affinity to the author’s voice. In addition, I can say from my own experience that translations are good exercises for developing writing skills.

Finally, the panel mentioned that footnotes were no longer popular to explain something that is hard to translate, especially in fiction, because readers want a smooth reading experience.

And here are some legal aspects from:

“Please Sign On The Dotted Line”

In my last article about retrieving translation copyrights I assumed ebooks and print on demand would make it more difficult to retrieve translation copyrights from out of print books. There is a solution, however, that was mentioned at this event: just state in the publishing contract what out of print means, for example under 200 copies sold over a 12 month period. This addition can be important for translators’ and authors’ contracts alike. It was said, however, that smaller publishing houses tend to be more flexible if they are asked to adapt contracts than bigger ones.

When it comes to royalties, 25 % are common for authors and of this a translator should get 5 %. I have to say that unfortunately from my own experience and that of other German translators that I know, contracts often contain clauses that state, the percentage of the translators will decrease substantially or they still don’t get any royalties in case a book becomes a bestseller.

Last but not least, the panelists talked about the same issue as mentioned before: difficulties due to a lack of language skills at publishing houses that result in legal problems and translators are asked to help out. I would like to add, however, that nobody can speak gazillions of foreign languages and this means that to a certain extent publishers have to rely on translators in any case – or they translate only from “bigger” languages, which seems to happen a lot. As I said earlier, therefore I believe self-published translations could solve this problem.

 

 

In my next article (London Book Fair part 2) I will tell you more about new developments in the book industry.

 

 

If you like this article, please share it:

Retrieving Translation Copyrights: Important For Both Authors And Translators

By 2 Comments

Some authors are now retrieving their copyrights of out of print books and become self-publishers. But what happens to book translations that are no longer in print?

The current situation

If you are an author, you may feel lucky if a foreign publisher is publishing your book in translation. And for me as a translator for German publishing houses, it was always a great feeling once a new book that I had translated came out and I could see piles of them in many bookshops. Most of the time, however, these books disappeared as quickly as they turned up.

Translations are a lot more popular elsewhere than in English-speaking countries, and publishers often like to take on successful foreign books for translation. A book that is already successful as an original minimizes the risk and there is sometimes a big marketing push when the translation first comes out. But bookshops have limited space and there will always be new books that need to be promoted. In addition, foreign authors can’t usually help as much with marketing as domestic authors. Threfore it doesn’t come as a surprise that many of these translated books go out of print after a while. Up to now this has usually meant the translation was lost forever.

Retrieving copyrights

Copyright in handAs I have learned a bit about self-publishing by cooperating with self-published author J.F. Penn, I was curious to find out whether I would be able to self-publish one of the out of print books that I translated in the past.

Book translators normally own the translation copyright by law, but most of the time they have to sign it away to the publishing house, at least in Germany, otherwise they don’t get the job in the first place. Therefore my initial step was to contact the German publisher in order to retrieve my copyright. After a while, they sent me a letter confirming they didn’t intend to publish the book anymore and they returned the translation copyright to me.

I knew that I needed to come to an agreement with the author as well, but she had died, I couldn’t get hold of her heirs or her former agent either and I wasn’t sure how to proceed, so I asked the UK Translators Association for advice. They said I needed to find the original copyright holder in any case, otherwise I could still infringe their rights, even though the author was dead and I have now contacted the original Australian publisher and asked them whether they know about the rights and I am also trying to find other ways to search for the original rights holder.

Self-publishing out of print translated books – a model for the future?

Whatever happens in my case is not the main issue here. The author is dead, which makes everything a bit more complicated than usual, but I would like to point out your options, whether as an author or as a translator.

Let’s bear in mind that it is necessary for the original author (or rights holder) to come to an agreement with the translator, who needs to hold or retrieve the translation copyright, and both should agree on how to split royalties as well.

By the way: Nowadays I would not want to give away any rights for good anymore, only for limited time periods, if at all, because due to ebooks and print on demand, books might theoretically never go out of print and I suspect it will be more difficult to retrieve rights in future.

 

I have contacted many people in the industry, including a large number of translators, and none of them knows of anyone who has used the approach I have mentioned so far, therefore it looks as if this idea is still new – but nobody discouraged me either! Why should we not make use of our rights after all? If you have heard of any case, however, where someone has already done what I am trying to do or if you have any other thoughts on this matter, I would love to hear from you.

If you like this article, please share it:

London Book Fair 2015: Free Tickets For Industry-Related Bloggers

By Leave a Comment

The London Book Fair 2015 takes place from 14 to 16 April and like last year, there will be interesting events for self-publishers. Did you know that you don’t have to pay for your ticket, if you are blogging about something that is related to the book trade?

Register as a member of the press

You can save a bit of money and register as a member of the press, if you can prove you are blogging about something that is relevant to the industry, and I got my ticket yesterday. In order to receive a press accreditation, go to this page, scroll down, click on the link and insert your details. In case you have a long URL like me, it might not fit into the provided box, but no worries – once you have registered, you will get a contact email address – just send them your full details.

New main venue: Olympia

I made a mistake many years ago and went to the wrong venue. It can be confusing, as they changed it various times. When I went to Olympia one year, they had moved to Excel and during the past few years it was Earls Court. When I got it wrong, some people where handing out leaflets with directions to the right location – I wasn’t the only one! It is of course much easier and faster to find the right place straightaway and I am not sure whether they will have this service for disorganized people again 😉

And if you go by tube, you always have to change at Earls Court underground station, as there are no other direct trains from anywhere else. You can also use an Overground train, though. Check Transport for London for more information and have a look at the website of the London Book Fair for everything else.

Please note that the London Book Fair press accreditation is for the Book Fair itself. There are special events that still require a separate ticket.

 

And here is a little flavour in advance:

 

Maybe I will see you there?

 

If you like this article, please share it:

7 Ways How Writers Can Benefit From Foreign Language Skills

By Leave a Comment

 

All writers can benefit from foreign language skills and authors, who aim for international self-publishing success, have even more advantages. Read on to learn more.

 

1. Become a better writer and editor in your own language

Language structures can vary a lot and if you are new to learning foreign languages, it may feel odd when you find out that you cannot simply translate word by word. You may also come across metaphors that are very different from the ones you are used to. But all of this is great for authors, as you have to think outside the box and develop the skill to juggle with language in a new way, which enables you to express yourself more creatively in your own language as well.

2. Boost your brain power

Scientists have found out that foreign language skills can contribute to developing a sharper mind, improved memory and your overall creativity may benefit as well.

In addition, people with a predisposition for Alzheimer’s usually develop the illness later, if they speak a foreign language, regardless whether they learned it as a child or as an adult.

It is not enough, however, if you acquired your knowledge in the past and forgot about it later – you have to actually use it. But don’t think you are ever too old to learn a language or brush up on rusty skills: I have seen students at retirement age who were better than many young people. In my experience, motivation and passion are more important than anything else.

earth-in-leaf-scaled3. Discover new markets and earn more money

If it has never occured to you to publish a book in a foreign language, you may want to reconsider, as it can give you extra income.

What if your book could be as popular or even more popular abroad than in you own country, because it covers something that people are particularly interested in elsewhere? Wouldn’t you regret missing out on this? Well, if you don’t speak the language, you might never know…

You have three options to check out foreign markets: you could hire someone to do this for you and the second way would be to wait until information about your area of interest becomes available in English, but this might never happen. The third alternative, i.e. doing research yourself on foreign markets in the language of the country, is by far the most efficient one. It gives you the added benefit to stay up to date with any new developments. As we all know, things are changing very fast in the publishing world.

And when it comes to international book fairs, Frankfurt is certainly the most important one. Last year, they offered a two day programme for self-publishers in English. In addition, there was a lot more information available in German during all 5 days of the Fair, which I found really useful.

Germany is also currently the most promising country to self-publish a book after English-speaking markets, although I am sure that other countries will catch up. Many people find the language scary, though, as the grammar is not the easiest in the world. But if you want to learn it, don’t be discouraged, there is a rather pleasant way to do this. And consider this: German has fewer words than English, which means it becomes easier when you progress.

4. Find a translator of your choice

English native speakers have an advantage when it comes to getting their book translated, because there are more translators out there who translate from English than from any other language. However, is is not necessarily easy to discover them.

Most experienced translators can only be found via websites and social media in their own language. I do have a few links to other translators on my blog, if you click on “Links” above. If you have skills in the relevant language, you can use it to find translators yourself and check out what kind of books they translated in the past. Reviews on Amazon and other sites might then tell you whether these books have been successful.

Recommendations from other authors can help to find translators as well, but these writer colleagues may specialize in a different area and ideally you want to find someone who is good at translating exactly your type of book.

If you are not a native speaker of English, on the other hand, and you want your book to be translated into English, you will often have different challenges, which can be overcome. I have written another article about it.

5. Publish and market your translated book yourself

Once you have your book translated, you might like to have full control and upload it to platforms yourself, which is a lot easier if you know at least a little bit of the language. You might then also get occasional emails from these platforms, which are naturally always in the language of the country. And as far as marketing is concerned, most self-publishers are doing it themselves and even those who are with publishing houses are often doing a lot of it themselves, provided it is a language they are familiar with. If you can contribute at least a bit to it in another language, you have a distinct advantage. Your own contribution comes with the added benefit that you have more say in how exactly you would like to be perceived elsewhere in the world.

6. Read reviews

Once you have published your book in a foreign market, you certainly want to know what people think about it and read your reviews, which won’t be in your native language either.

cross cultural flags7. Gain cross-cultural knowledge

Learning a foreign language is not just limited to speaking the actual language itself. It also provides more insight into another culture. You discover that certain ways of human behaviour and interaction that you always took for granted can be quite different in other parts of the world. This knowledge can help to understand how your book is received elsewhere, even if you acquire only basic skills and any actual communication takes place in English. Accessing a culture through its language can provide a broader view and you will see more cultural nuances that go beyond the general stereotypes.

 

And finally some words on Google Translate

Google Translate and other automated translation can sometimes help, but you will very often see strange or even funny results. These are not the biggest problem, because you can immediately spot that something is wrong. It is worse to deal with translations that seem right, but are actually not. You assume you know what this is all about, but you don’t. Therefore an actual knowledge of the language, however modest, is always an advantage.

If you like this article, please share it:

How I Learn Foreign Languages Easily and Efficiently

By 5 Comments

My frustration about the lost language

My native language is German, I have lived in England for many years and there is hardly any better way to learn a language than living in a country where it is spoken in everyday life. English is also useful as a lingua franca in many other parts of the world. So why would I bother with another language?

My frustration started when friends from France came to vist me and I was not able to say just one sentence in French, even though I could speak at an intermediate level in the past. I was determined to talk French again, but because my life was busy, I almost gave up on it. Things finally changed when I started teaching German and I found out several things about learning languages…

Grammar is important and it doesn’t have to be a pain

In my experience, most people dislike learning grammar and therefore some of my students had avoided it as much as they could before they began learning with me. They had been studying German for quite a while and were able to make themselves understood, but they made many grammatical mistakes. Because the errors had not been corrected, they had become so ingrained that it was very difficult to get rid of them. These students could have saved a lot of time and money if they had learned grammar early on.

Some language learning programmes promise to teach languages without any grammar and claim that you can learn it simply by communicating with native speakers, but I don’t agree with this. The students mentioned above were all regularly in touch with native speakers. Unfortunately they still didn’t have anybody to correct them. Native speakers generally use grammar subconsciously. They acquire the language automatically as a child, and hardly anyone is able to explain the rules or answer more than basic questions. Here is the good news, though: You can actually learn grammar in an enjoyable way and I will tell you more about it further below.

I prefer translated vocabulary

Grammar is not the only important thing – about 70% of learning a language is vocabulary. In textbooks, new words are often only listed in the foreign language. Students are then expected to use a dictionary and translate the words which they do not understand. I have never met anyone who likes doing this, including myself, because it is boring and time-consuming.

In addition, so-called “false friends”, words which seem to have the same meaning in the other language, can be easily overlooked and mistunderstood. The German word “Roman” is an example: it has nothing to do with the city Rome, but is related to books and means “novel” in English.

Admitting mistakes can be embarrassing

Everyone makes mistakes and especially those who do not learn as fast as others often feel uncomfortable in a group when others become aware of it. Even one-to-one students sometimes feel uneasy when they are corrected.

Most people have little time

And last but not least, learning languages can take time and is often not regarded as a priority in our busy lives. When work gets in the way, students are easily tempted to give up.

Due to my own irregular working hours, traditional language courses were not for me anyway. But after learning what works well and what doesn’t for my students and thinking about my own needs, I searched online, read reviews, tried out several courses and eventually I found what I was looking for.

Learn Languages Easily and Efficiently With BabbelBabbel

The online language course Babbel convinced me for various reasons:

Professional structure

Babbel allows you to learn grammar as you go in a playful way and it can be applied immediately.

You learn all the vital elements including listening, writing, speaking and reading.

After finishing individual courses, you know where you stand, because they are structured according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. This scheme determines which kind of knowledge you are supposed to have at which level and if you want, you can download certificates after finishing courses. In addition, you could even switch to traditional courses afterwards if you wanted to, as the Framework is generally acknowledged in language schools.

And not only that:
The EU sponsors the programme through the European Regional Development Fund – they have recognized the benefits.

Efficient spaced repetition of vocabulary

Before I started with the programme, I was already familiar with the flashcard system according to Sebastian Leitner, which I find really useful. You are reviewing flashcards with vocabulary translations at increasing intervals (called “spaced repetition”), and the words that you don’t remember are repeated more often than others. Babbel integrated this system into their online programme, which makes it is even more efficient.

More variety helps to learn better

Babbel does not just teach you to read and write, but you can practise your pronunciation with audio files, and there are images as well – using many senses is an efficient memory tool. You will find dialogues early on and advanced learners may write texts and answer questions relating to what they have just read or listened to. All of this makes learning more varied and interesting. In addition, you can choose specific courses if you want to, for example for holiday or job purposes.

Freedom and flexibility

As mentioned before, I wanted to learn at my own pace. Once I even took a longer break and was able to continue easily just by repeating a bit more. The option to repeat anything at any time is also useful if there are certain things that you find more difficult to understand.

Another advantage of Babbel is the fact that your learning progress is secured in a Cloud. You can work with different devices  and switch between them, like PC, Mac, laptop, tablet or Smartphone, whatever suits you. I personally prefer my laptop with a bigger screen rather than using my Smartphone.

The courses are also well suited if you learned a language at school and want to brush up on your knowledge. I am refreshing my French right now and was very happy when I started being able to speak the language again! I can speak to friends again and as France is in the focus of the world public at the moment, I am glad that I can read French news websites to get to know a bit more about what is going on in this country.

I have been a Babbel user for a while now and I like it so much that I am now learning Dutch and Turkish as well. Dutch comes rather easily as it is similar to both German and English. Turkish is a challenge with a very different structure and vocab, but I am loving it. And my multi-language subscription gives me the added benefit of English. I am using it for words that I find hard to remember. You can add words yourself, by the way. If you are not a “language junkie” like me, though, you might consider using Babbel just for one language, or at least start with one language, especially if you are new to learning languages.

Some more tips on Babbel from my experience:

  • Even in case you only manage to learn 10 minutes per day, you can benefit a lot if you do it regularly.
  • Don’t get upset when you make mistakes – use them as learning opportunities instead – nobody else needs to know about it. (If you knew how many mistakes I make in Turkish…)
  • There are different options to learn vocabulary, so think about what you want. In Dutch and Turkish I decided not to write the words and sentences anymore, when I repeat them, as it is faster like this. Alternatively, you can also work with audio speech recognition. You will see what I mean when you give it a try.
  • At some point you should start speaking with real people in the foreign language. One way of doing this is by attending so-called Meetups, which you can find in various languages in many cities worldwide. You can talk to others in a relaxed atmosphere there and most of these meetings are free. This allows you to improve your existing skills, even if you decide not to do any language course. Alternatively you may also use Babbel’s forum to get in touch with people that speak the language of your choice and help each other to make progress.

And here is my most important tip:
Find out whatever works best for you and have fun with it!

Learn languages easily and efficiently with Babbel

Did you know that foreign language skills can even help to make you a better writer in your own language?

I will tell you more about this and other benefits for authors in my next article.

 

If you like this article, please share it: