by Dwane | Aug 8, 2022 | Uncategorized
Whenever I am learning a new language, one of the first things I do is look for a grammar of the new language. I know I am going to have to learn the grammar anyway, so I don’t avoid it. Many language programs mock grammar in their advertisements. “Learn a language...
by Dwane | Jul 30, 2022 | Tip of the Week
I woke up super early this morning, and just couldn’t go back to sleep. I am sure you know what that’s like. Naturally, I spent some time binge watching archaeology videos on YouTube. It’s what we all do when we can’t sleep. I want to share with you my new favorite...
by Dwane | Jul 29, 2022 | Uncategorized
I received this question: Is there any Etymology connection between the word ‘Romance’ (Implying Love) and ‘Romance’ to Describe the Romance Languages? Or is it just a co-incidence that these two words are spelled and pronounced the same?...
by Dwane | Jul 23, 2022 | Tip of the Week
You are familiar with hibernating. Hiberna, in Latin, means winter quarters. Military term. When animals hibernate, they go into “winter quarters”. The Latin word for summer is aestas. From aestas, English gets the word aestivate. Aestivating is the same as...
by Dwane | Jul 19, 2022 | Uncategorized
I received this question: I am having my 7th grader start your Visual Latin this coming school year and am planning to add in Lingua Latina part way through per your recommendation. Can you send me a link to exactly what book(s) I will need for Lingua Latina? Will I...
by Dwane | Jun 18, 2022 | Uncategorized
Some time ago, I listened to a podcast on the Radical Personal Finance podcast. The title of the episode is: How I Taught My Children French in 1 Year By Reading. Here’s the...
by Dwane | Jun 11, 2022 | Uncategorized
Honestly, I thought I had tried all of the language courses out there. Then, about a month ago, a reader told me to check out Language Transfer. (Thanks, Mary!) It took me a while, but this week, I decided to check it out. I like it. Language Transfer reminds me...
by Dwane | Jun 7, 2022 | Uncategorized
I received this email last week: My son has completed VL 1&2. Not knowing where to continue after that, he has been reading through Lingua Latina and (attempting to) translating Proverbs into Latin but without the exercises. I am hoping to have him take the NLE...
by Dwane | Jun 4, 2022 | Uncategorized
I received this question: Hello. My sister and I are taking your Lingua Latina course and are having trouble figuring out how to conjugate verbs. For example: The tree cant drink the water. How would we translate the word drink? Is there a paper or video or maybe even...
by Dwane | Jun 4, 2022 | Uncategorized
If you’ve been reading my ‘Τip of the Week’ email for long, you know I am a big fan of audiobooks. (I missed almost the entire month of May, so I suppose I should call it the “not so consistent tip”). Whenever I am looking for a new audiobook, I always check...
by Dwane | Jun 3, 2022 | Uncategorized
I made a mistake in Visual Latin, Lesson 18 Exercise B, question #4. Here, I explain my mistake and what it should have...
by Dwane | Jun 2, 2022 | Education, English
Words are the symbols of knowledge, the keys to accurate thinking. Is it any wonder then that the most successful and intelligent people in this country have the biggest vocabularies? It is not their larger vocabularies that made these people successful and...
by Dwane | May 7, 2022 | Uncategorized
You are probably familiar with the 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto principle. According to the 80/20 rule, 80% of the consequences come from 20% of the causes. Put another way, 80% of the work is done by 20% of the people. Or, think of it this way. Look at...
by Dwane | May 5, 2022 | Uncategorized
This week, someone asked me if many English words originate from Greek? Here is my reply: As best I can tell, the breakdown goes something like this. English is about 50% Latin and 50% German. But, that is very broad. The real story is a real mess. 🙂 I’ve heard...
by Dwane | Apr 30, 2022 | Uncategorized
A few days ago, I discovered the site Chatterbug.com. If you are attempting to learn French, Spanish or German, you may want to check it out. Using live streams, and short videos, the hosts offer lots of opportunity to practice. For the past few days, I’ve been...
by Dwane | Apr 16, 2022 | Uncategorized
I didn’t send a weekly email last Saturday. I was on the road all day driving home from Colorado to Nashville. I had gone to hang out with my son in the Rocky Mountains. He taught me to snowboard. I am now, officially, the world’s slowest snowboarder. On the way...
by Dwane | Apr 13, 2022 | Uncategorized
While writing the Word Up series, I often consulted the book Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis. (Unfortunately, I cannot recommend the book to students. There are, oddly enough, too many innuendos in this book.) In the introduction Mr. Lewis writes this:...
by Dwane | Apr 2, 2022 | Uncategorized
Last week I talked about French. Even if you are older, you are likely not too old to learn French. If you missed it, that tip (along with hundreds of others) is here: https://dwanethomas.com/tip-week-archives/ This week I am here to talk about German. I am not...
by Dwane | Mar 30, 2022 | Uncategorized
“Words matter. They help us define meaning. We think with words. We learn with words. Words are the fundamental tools we use for communicating. If we use them well, we can cut and shape and polish our ideas precisely and beautifully. If we use them sloppily we put...
by Dwane | Mar 28, 2022 | Uncategorized
Are you qualified to teach online? Maybe. Probably. What do I mean? Maybe you have a degree in your chosen field. Maybe you are certified in your chosen field. That’s fine. But, what if you aren’t? If you aren’t certified, maybe you should consider...
by Dwane | Mar 26, 2022 | Uncategorized
Dr. Mary Hobson is one of my language heroes. Whenever I feel too old to learn a language, which is often, I read her story again. It’s here: https://markrwayne.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-inspirational-story-of-dr-mary.html Dr. Hobson decided to take on Russian at age...
by Dwane | Mar 21, 2022 | Uncategorized
If I were starting over online, on the very first day, I would start with an email list. If you are starting out online, start building an email list. Set up a free account with MailChimp, or Aweber, or with one of these guys:...
by Dwane | Mar 19, 2022 | Uncategorized
Spring break is coming up on my site. From April 4 through April 9 there will be no classes. I’m planning to drive out to Colorado to spend some time with my son. I am also going to try, again, to learn to snowboard. Because, I don’t want to admit I am getting...
by Dwane | Mar 16, 2022 | Uncategorized
Are you an AMC stubs loser? Sometime ago, my wife and I went to see the movie Reminiscence at our local theater. Since this post is not about the movie let me just say a few quick things about it. It was OK, I suppose. The movie did what it was supposed to do. It...
by Dwane | Mar 14, 2022 | Uncategorized
Last week, I received this note. Thank you thank you thank you!We are back to Classical Conversations after 2 years off.I hadn’t expected to come back and your videos are a total life saver!I have a student in Henle 2 and Henle 4, and although it is too late for...
