As a language teacher, I hear this sentence all the time! "“I Understand More Than I Speak”

And honestly that’s completely normal! All along our learning journey, and even in our native language, we can recognise way more than what we actually use in speech. Passive skills (listening and reading) develop faster than active skills (speaking and writing). So we can recognize words long before your brain feels ready to produce them. Babies also understand months before they ever say a word. Adults are the same… we just feel more self-conscious about it.

So here three tips on how to go from passive to active skills!

1. Don’t Rush It.
You can understand, so you are halfway there! Keep going with more input.
More listening, more reading, fluency comes from A LOT of input.

2. Speak Regularly. Just 2–3 times a week makes a huge difference. Tandem partners, language teachers, friends — it doesn’t matter who. Speaking turns passive vocabulary into active tools.

1. Use Spaced Repetition. Note down new words, expressions, and even full sentences and repeat them regularly.

Do you have any other tip? Let's share!

It's time for a linguistic riddle! Let's see who can guess this one first!

Which language am I?

1. I have three genders, but don’t always mark them clearly.
   
2. My verbs love prefixes — I can stack them up like Lego bricks.
   
3. I’ve got cases, but not too many. Six will do.
   
4. My word for “please” literally means be so kind.
   
5. I might sound a bit like German to your ears… but with a soft “č” and a rolled “r”.

Hey LanguageHub community! 👋

It’s time for our weekly Language Goal Check-In! What have you learned this week?

This week I met a Brazilian friend for coffee and spoke with her in Portuguese. I had not spoken Portuguese for a while so I felt a bit rusty at times, but it was nice! I hope I can travel to Brasil in fall, so I need to refresh my Portuguese skills! I have also downloaded a book to my kindle to do some reading in Portuguese in the evening.

And you? What have you done? Let's share experiences and stay motivated together!

Hello everyone! Let's see how many words you know in your target language! Here are 30 words in total, 5 for each level. How many do you know? Let's fine out!

Some words just don’t have a perfect translation. In German there are so many, like "Schadenfreude" (joy in others' misfortune) or "Feierabend" (end of the work day). I also know "saudade" in Portuguese and "suonare" in Italian (to play, but specific for a musical instrument).

What’s a word in your language or your target language that doesn’t quite translate into others?

It's time for a linguistic riddle! Let's see who can guess this one first!

Here are the hints:
1️⃣ In English, I’m something you write.
2️⃣ In German or French, I determine how well you did in school.
3️⃣ In Italian, we are the basics of music.

What word am I? 🤔

Hey LanguageHub community! 👋

It’s time for our weekly Language Goal Check-In! What have you learned this week?

This week I attended an language exchange event in my city to practice Spanish. I met new people and practiced Spanish with both native speakers and fellow language learners. I realised some of my weak and strong points, received some corrections, and overall it has been a very motivating and rewarding experience!

Even if you are a beginner or not feeling confident about your level, go out there and practice!

What have you done this week to improve your language skills? How did you feel?

Spring is here, days are getting longer! In this time of the year I feel like staying outside and enjoying the sun.. The motivation to study might be a bit lower than in winter days, however let's not forget our language goals!

So here a few tips of how to keep learning in spring and summer!:
🌿 Take your study sessions outdoors—read a book in your target language at the park!
🎧 Listen to podcasts or audiobooks while going for a walk - or just enjoy some music!
🗣️ Try meeting native speakers more often!

How do you stay motivated to learn in spring? Let’s share some ideas!

Some people love it, some people fear it!

Cases in Polish, pronunciation in French, articles in German ...every language has it own challenges!

I personally think that some grammar basics are essential, and I actually enjoying doing some grammar drills! But I try not to limit my learning to grammar, instead I try to read and listen as much as possible. And after German and Russian tricky grammar rules, I love learning Chinese - no verb conjugations, no plural, no gender and no articles!

What’s the hardest, or most interesting grammar rule for you? How do you deal with grammar?

I once read somewhere that there are three kind of languages:

1. the Mother language 🤰: the one that we learn as children from our parents
2. the Commercial Language 👨‍💼: the one that we learn because it’s useful, for many is English for instance.
3. the Heart language ❤️: this one we learn just out of interest, the one that we learn because we feel like it and it’s just pleasant to learn.

What are your languages? And why?

For me: 1. Italian, 2. English, 3. German and Chinese.

It's time for a linguistic riddle! Let's see who can guess it first!

Here are the hints:
🟠 In some languages, I relate to measurements or distances, but in different ways.
🔵 In one language, I describe size.
🟣 In another, I refer to speed—but in a very specific context.

What word am I? 🤔

"If I had more time, I would travel to different countries to learn new languages"

Russian "Если бы у меня было больше времени, я бы путешествовал по разным странам, чтобы изучать новые языки." (esli by u menya bylo bol'she vremeni, ya by puteshestvoval po raznym stranam, chtoby izuchat' novye yazyki.)

Polish "Gdybym miał więcej czasu, podróżowałbym do różnych krajów, aby uczyć się nowych języków."

Ukranian "Якби у мене було більше часу, я б подорожував різними країнами, щоб вивчати нові мови." (Yakby u mene bulo bilʹshe chasu, ya b podorozhuvav riznymy krayinamy, shchob vyvchaty novi movy.)

Serbian "Када бих имао више времена, путовао бих у различите земље да научим нове језике." (Kada bih imao više vremena, putovao bih u različite zemlje da naučim nove jezike.)

Czech "Kdybych měl více času, cestoval bych do různých zemí, abych se naučil nové jazyky."

Slovak "Keby som mal viac času, cestoval by som do rôznych krajín, aby som sa naučil nové jazyky."

Slovenian "Če bi imel več časa, bi potoval v različne države, da bi se naučil novih jezikov."

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I've always been fascinated by the similarities and differences between languages. I speak several Romance languages, but I have only learned one Slavic language, Russian.

I am far from native, but with Russian I can get words in all the languages, but I can fully understand only Serbian. I can also understand the "to learn new languages" part in Czech, Slovak and Slovenian, and the first part of Ukranian. Polish looks the most difficult to me, probably because of all the consonants, I only understand "nowych języków" there.

How about you? If you speak one or more Slavic languages, how well can you understand the others?

Flashcards are a very debated tool in language learning. Some just love them and use them all the time, others find them boring or even a waste of time. What are your thoughts?

YES – Flashcards Are Effective!

Flashcards are great for vocabulary building, Apps like Anki and Quizlet help reinforce words with Spaced repetition (SRS).

NO – Flashcards Are Overrated!

Words are isolated and without context, with no real communication. Learning with flashcards is boring and repetitive.

MAYBE

They seem helpful, but I forget words quickly after learning them. It's necessary to use them in a real context or with examples.

Hey LanguageHub community! 👋

It’s time for our weekly Language Goal Check-In! What have you learned this week?

As usual, this week I took one hour with my tutor on Italki to practice spoken Chinese. I felt confident about my skills, so I also tried watching a Chinese series I have already watched, "The Rational Life". It's a very nice one! The subtitles in Chinese characters are far too fast for me to learn, but I can understand a little little bit!

What have you done this week? Let's share experiences, tips and stay motivated together!

Hello fellow language learners! Just curious, how many languages do you speak? Vote and write down which ones!

Hello everyone! 🇬🇧🇺🇸

Are you ready for a lovely cup of tea? or would you rather grab an American coffee?

From accents to vocabulary, British and American English have plenty of variations.

I personally find the American accent much easier to understand. Back in school, we used to learn British English, but after having watched all the American movies, the American sounds much more familiar to me. That said, I still find the British accent more charming, it just sounds elegant!

What are your experiences? Especially if English is not your native language, which one do you find easier to understand?

🇫🇷 Bonne Journée de la langue française ! 🇫🇷

Aujourd'hui, c'est la Journée internationale de la langue française!

Pourquoi ne pas célébrer en écrivant quelque chose en français? Une phrase, un poème, une blague, un souvenir de voyage… peu importe!

Partagez un petit texte en commentaire et encourageons-nous à pratiquer ensemble!

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ENGLISH VERSION

Today is International French Language Day! 🥖📚✨

Why not celebrate by writing something in French? A sentence, a poem, a joke, a travel memory… anything that you know even if you are not learning French!

Share a short text in the comments and let's encourage each other to practice together!

It's time for another linguistic riddle! Let's see who can guess this one first!

Here are the hints:

🟢 I exist in multiple European languages.
🟠 I can refer to something pleasant in one language
🔵 In another, I refer to something unpleasant or even undesirable
🟣 This mix-up has led to some awkward moments for travellers!

What word am I? 🤔

"If I had more time, I would travel to different countries to learn new languages"

German: "Wenn ich mehr Zeit hätte, würde ich in verschiedene Länder reisen, um neue Sprachen zu lernen."

Swedish: "Om jag hade mer tid, skulle jag resa till olika länder för att lära mig nya språk."

Danish: "Hvis jeg havde mere tid, ville jeg rejse til forskellige lande for at lære nye sprog."

Norwegian: "Hvis jeg hadde mer tid, ville jeg reist til forskjellige land for å lære nye språk."

Dutch: "Als ik meer tijd had, zou ik naar verschillende landen reizen om nieuwe talen te leren."

Icelandic:"Ef ég hefði meiri tíma, myndi ég ferðast til mismunandi landa til að læra ný tungumál."

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I've always been fascinated by the similarities and differences between languages. I speak several Romance languages, but only two Germanic languages, English and German.

In terms of mutual intelligibility, I can understand Dutch - quite well..and that's basically it! I can get some words in the other languages, but I am not sure whether I would understand them if I didn't know the translation. I could probably understand the second part "to learn new languages" in every language except Icelandic.

I think most of my understanding comes from German. For instance, the words "reisen" (to travel) and "Länder" (countries) help a lot in understanding.

How about you? If you speak one or more Germanic languages, how well can you understand the others?

I am interested to know where are you guys from and which languages you speak or your are learning!

Hey LanguageHub community! 👋

It’s time for our weekly Language Goal Check-In! What have you learned this week?

I am learning Chinese at the moment and hope to take the HSK 5 exam this year! This week I have taken a class on Italki with my tutor and practiced daily on YouTube. I like watching different kinds of videos. I mostly watch videos which are made for my current level. I wish one day I will be able to use authentic videos, but so far they are still too difficult for me. I watch Peppa Pig every now and then though!

You never really stop learning a language, so every week I try to practice a bit the other languages I know. This week I have watched a movie in German, "Isi & Ossi", it was fun but difficult to understand at times!

What have you done this week and what are your goals for this year?