[My new book release, The Art of Learning a Foreign Language, is now available on Amazon!] Today, there more opportunities than ever before to travel and connect with people from all around the world. There is also greater access to quality dictionaries and language learning resources than at any point in history. The benefits of being bilingual and multilingual — culturally, economically, intellectually, and personally — are myriad. Foreign language study is a regular part of many people’s lives, and it is rare to meet someone who never studied a language for any length of time.

Today, I transcribed a clip from WatchMojo.com that ranks the Top 10 most useful languages in the world. Your list may vary depending on where you live, your ethnicity, your interests, and other individual considerations that inform the highly personal decision to study a foreign language.

Check out the complete video and transcript below, in descending order! What languages did they leave out and how would your list — and its underlying rationale — differ?

10. Portuguese

This Ibero-Romance language can be traced back to the Kingdom of Galicia and is rooted in variants of Vulgar Latin with a splash of Celtic phonology for good measure. This, thereby, makes it unique from the language it’s most often compared to, Spanish. While it’s considered more difficult than Spanish, it isn’t much harder than English or French, and shouldn’t be too much trouble to those interested in learning. With over 230 million speakers and the official language of many countries across the globe, including the upcoming economic force of Brazil, Portuguese is fast-becoming a very attractive language to master.

9. Russian

Considered the “easiest” of the hard languages, Russian is spoken by over 250 million people. Understanding Russian and the Cyrillic alphabet can aid in the learning of other languages and is a great foundation to have. It’s also considered a politically important language. Furthermore, if you’re into scientific and technical literature, then Russian is for you, as some of the world’s largest collections on both those subjects are in these East Slavic tongue. Or you could stick with the works of Tolstoy, Bulgakov, and Dostoevsky. As it’s geographically the most widely spoken language of all the Slavic languages, you can find native Russian speakers throughout Eurasia.

8. Japanese

Spoken by 125 million people, Japanese remains useful not only for business and Asian studies but also thanks to the ever-increasing influx of Japanese media in Western culture. Plus, it’s an enjoyable language to learn. On top of all that, you’ll be able to watch your favorite anime and Kurosawa films with the subtitles off. There is a catch, however. Japanese is arguably the most difficult language going. So, get ready to study a lot. Mixing three complex writing systems, levels of formality in speaking, and complex grammar, there’s a lot to know. Don’t let all of that discourage you. Ganbatte — that’s good luck to you.

7. Hindi

Along with English, this Indo-Aryan language, is one of the government of India’s two official languages, and it’s also one of the Republic’s 22 scheduled languages. Boasting over 260 native speakers, it’s one of the top 10 most spoken languages in the world. So, in short, you’d have a lot of people to talk to . While most commonly found in India, it’s also Fiji’s official language and is spoken significantly throughout Mauritius, Diana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. So, if your travel plans have you venturing to any of those countries, Hindi suddenly becomes a useful language to learn. Or, at least, to master a couple of its phrases.

6. Arabic

This ancient Central-Semitic language was first spoken in North-Western Arabia all the way back in the Iron Age. Arabic continues its robust tradition and remains an important and well-used language. With up to 420 million speakers, it’s in increasingly high-demand, especially in the energy and security sectors. However, with its difficult writing system and very complex grammar, and dialects varying greatly, it’s an incredibly difficult language to learn. However, it’s not as foreign as you may think, as it’s already influenced Spanish and has given loanwords to English.

5. German

While previously though to be a language in decline, German is becoming more useful than ever as Germany gains a foothold as a major powerhouse in the EU. Spoken as a first language in several European countries, it’s the most used native language in the European Union. After English, Spanish, and sign language, it’s also one of the most studied languages in the US. Furthermore, understanding German will help to increase your comprehension of other Germanic languages. It’s considered on pa with English in terms of learning difficulty. It’s grammar is more complex, but then it’s also more logical, as well, and so it balances in the end.

4. French

Before English started to take over, French was the lingua franca of much of Europe. While the lion’s share of the 80 million native speakers of the language of love are in France, others can be found in North America, such as the Canadian provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick, as well as Africa, Southeast Asia, and parts of South America. It’s also a very important language in the European Union. Outside of travel, it’s very useful to those studying philosophy and for diplomats. On top of all that, it’s also just a very lovely language in general, giving any speaker a certain “je ne sais quoi.”

3. Spanish

A must for travelers to Latin America, South America, the Southern United States, and Spain, this is the language of Borges, Marquez, and Cervantes. As a bonus, this language, with the second greatest number of native speakers, after Mandarin Chinese, is considered one of the easiest to learn with straightforward grammar, pronunciations, and writing system. Of all the Romance languages, Spanish is thought to be one of the closest branches from the Latin roots, although it went from an evolution when the Moors brought over roughly 4,000 Arabic loanwords during the time of Al-Andalus. The official languages of 20 countries all over the world, Spanish is a very accessible and desirable language to have in your repertoire.  

2. Mandarin Chinese

Mandarin Chinese is the official language of the People’s Republic of China, with over 950 million native speakers. With China on the rise as the next global superpower, Mandarin is becoming increasingly desirable as a language for both business and travel. Once you master the tricky tones, which can drastically change the meaning of a sentence, it’s considered relatively easy to speak, with practice. Likewise, the grammar system is considered easier than some of the other difficult languages. However, the writing system is notoriously tough. But, if you get this one down pat, you’ve earned some serious bragging rights.

1. English

Nearly anywhere you go anywhere in the world, most people will understand at least a little bit of this beautiful mess of a language, a true hodgepodge. Modern English has adopted a little of everything. While Old and Middle English are almost incomprehensible even to native speakers modern English is now the language of international business. And, in many countries, it’s hard to hold down high-level business and diplomatic jobs without knowing at least a little of this new lingua franca. Good thing it’s relatively easy to learn, if you ignore the non-sensical grammar and spelling rules.

I know this post will concern a relatively small number of readers, but I want to get it out there because I think it may be a help to people who were once where I was.. Students of Arabic typically start with the classical for a few years and then progress to spoken dialects. This sequence makes a lot of sense for most people, because formal Arabic is universal throughout the Arab-speaking world, whereas dialects are a lot more local and diverse. In addition, many universities do not offer classes on dialects, due to a lack of interest, quality curriculum, and an overall emphasis on formal Arabic.

That said, anyone who wants to connect with ordinary Arabs will need to learn a dialect at some point. Arabs prefer speaking in dialect 99% of the time in non-formal settings. Arabic professors, journalists, clergymen, poets, and otherwise highly educated people, are good at accommodating people who only know classical Arabic, but you will have a hard time communicating with most people on the street. Even if they understand you, they will likely respond in the dialect, and communication typically breaks down soon after that.

It used to be that you had to live in the Middle East for many years, hire a private tutor, or have really patient Arabic-speaking friends to make serious progress in the dialects. Today, that is simply no longer the case. A number of quality resources have come out in recent years that have changed the game for students of Arabic dialects.

FYI, I included a list of some of my favorite colloquial YouTube channels/Podcasts in Levantine and Egyptian Arabic at the bottom of the article..

Without further ado. . .

The Best 5 Resources To Learn Spoken/Colloquial Arabic

1. Lughatuna (LivingArabic.com)

A crowd-sourced project by Hossam Abouzahr (which I myself supported), this electronic dictionary was a godsend when it came out a few years ago. The first of its kind, Lughatuna contains tens of thousands of colloquial definitions and sample sentences in Egyptian, Moroccan, and Levantine Arabic (Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria). You can search using both English and Arabic script. The app costed ~$2 last I checked, and you can use the dictionary for free online, at LivingArabic.com. The project has grown a lot since its inception; it now contains a substantial amount of entries and is my first recourse for looking up new words in dialect. See the pic below for a screengrab of the mobile app.

2. The 101 Most Used Verbs In Spoken Arabic: Jordan And Palestine (Fridrik E. Tiedemann Jr.)

This book was the first colloquial resource that really helped me advance in Levantine Arabic. The most recent Fourth Edition of the book, which you can find on Amazon, has dozens of sample verb conjugations in all of the ten verb forms for Jordanian/Palestinian Arabic. It also contains numerous definitions and sample sentences of more than a hundred commonly used verbs in Jordan/Palestine. In addition, there are thousands of additional colloquial vocabulary items, and a few grammar explanations as well. I can say that the 60+ hours I spent with this book over the years was time well spent. Note that Syrian/Lebanon verb conjugations are very similar to Jordanian/Palestinian.

As far as Egyptian, I never consulted a book, but there are similar resources available on Amazon. Search “Egyptian Verbs,” by Matthew Aldrich, for example. The dialects tend to be closer to each other than they are to classical Arabic, so you will find a lot of similarities between Egyptian and Levantine verb conjugations, as well.

3. A Dictionary Of Syrian Arabic: English-Arabic (Karl Stowasser and Moukhtar Ani)

This 2004 publication (first published in 1964), is another game-changer. It contains approximately 15,000 entries (probably closer to 25,000 if you count synonyms?) in Syrian Arabic spoken in Damascus. The entries include the definition of the word and sample sentences, many of which are idiomatic in nature. Syrian is very similar to the other Levantine dialects, so you will improve at all of them using this book. Egyptian also shares many words and expressions with Levantine. Note that you need to have a solid background in Arabic for this book to be of help.

I will say that the font of this book is extremely small, almost to the point of being unreadable (see photos below). The text is also Romanized, instead of being in the Arabic script, which I don’t like. However, it’s not that hard to learn the Romanized system, and it is actually more precise with short vowel sounds than the native Arabic script. Due to the small font/Romanization, it took me a few weeks after buying the book to bring myself to start using it. However, I’m glad I did. I recently finished the entire book after spending 120+ hours over the course of several months.. My myopia may have gotten worse, but my spoken Arabic has gotten a lot better..

A good dictionary is the single most important thing to learn a language. Lughatuna and A Dictionary of Syrian Arabic largely solve that problem for spoken Arabic.

Note: Lughatuna added almost all the entries from A Dictionary of Syrian Arabic into its database (they’re labeled [S] for Syrian). The entries in Lughatuna also use the Arabic script, including the short vowels. However, since Lughatuna is an electronic resource, you cannot study it in the same general way to improve in the language. With Lughatuna, as with all electronic dictionaries, you need to know which word you want to look up in advance.

4. Idioms and Idiomatic Expressions In Levantine Arabic: Jordanian Dialect (Elham Alzoubi)

My family is from Jordan, so maybe I’m a little biased. However, this book, which was published in 2020, is undoubtedly the first of its kind for spoken Arabic. The book contains 2,000 of the most common idioms used in Jordanian/Palestinian Arabic. It is complete with not only sample sentences, but sample passages, for every single entry, written in the dialect for extra practice.. I ran many of the idioms by native speakers, and a lot of them are extremely common. I went through this entire book (~60 hours?), and I notice many of them being used all the time in the Levantine dialects.

Note that the book is not perfect. It does not contain the literal English translation of most expressions, which is important. The sample passages also do not contain short vowels (which is understandable, given how much work that would take to add.) The literal English translations, though, should be included in any future edition, in my opinion. The font is also kind of small, but nothing in comparison to #3 above..

If you know of a similar resource on Egyptian idioms, I’m all ears..

5. Shou fi ma fi? Intermediate Levantine Arabic (Rajaa Chouairi)

This one is my least favorite of the list, but it makes the cut because it includes a good amount of Levantine Arabic grammar. This was the curriculum for Levantine Arabic at The Ohio State University. Given how few good resources there are on Levantine grammar, I would check it out.

Colloquial grammar is nothing in comparison to classical in terms of complexity.. If you have a strong background in classical Arabic, you shouldn’t have too much trouble with it–you just need to learn a number of conventions. The biggest challenge for spoken Arabic is the vocabulary (including verbs and idioms). The challenge is also training your ear to understand what is being said because native speakers of dialect enunciate a lot less clearly than the classical Arabic you are probably used to hearing from your professors and Al Jazeera.

Honorable Mention: Levantine Colloquial Arabic Vocabulary (Matthew Aldrich and Yumn Samman)

This book contains “over 4,500 items (words, phrases, and example sentences)” in authentic Levantine Colloquial Arabic. The vast majority of entries are simple definitions. However, I found it helpful to have these items organized by topic. With a vocabulary like this, you get the most common/conventional way of saying something, which can help refine/sharpen language skills. They also include the transliteration for more accurate dialect pronunciation. The book is tailored toward Lebanese Arabic, but the vast majority of entries work throughout the Levant. Good for beginner and advanced-level students.

FYI, I also bought and read “Egyptian Colloquial Arabic Vocabulary” by the same author Aldrich. As I recall, 75% of the entries were pretty much the same, but can be helpful for people learning Egyptian.

Bonus: Colloquial YouTube Channels And Podcasts

YouTube and Podcasts have been the biggest help to me with the dialects. It’s spoken Arabic, after all. While textbooks can be dry and boring, entertainment media tends to have the opposite effect. Once you get some exposure to the dialects with resources like #1-5 above, you can check out some content-based channels in the dialect. Here are some of my current favorites:

YouTube Channels:

Too many to list here, but my favorite Levantine right now are “Tashweesh Wadeh” (weekly Jordanian political satire show); “Salam Katani” (scientific content in Jordanian/Classical Arabic); “Ibn Hattuta Travels” (Jordanian traveler who visits interesting places; he speaks very clearly and simply); “Ahmad Massad” (high energy Jordanian comedian); “Ahmad Aburub” (another high energy Jordanian comedian, and super popular); “NourStars” (The most popular Arab YouTuber. Iraqi Arab living in the US. She grew up in Syria and speaks Syrian in her videos. I find some of her vlogs interesting because they cover topics relevant to life in the US).

As far as Egyptian, my faves right now are “Joe Show” (Egyptian Comedy show, similar to the Daily Show); “Sam Samouy” (Egyptian bodybuilder with educational and inspiring fitness content); Mamdouh NasrAllah (Egyptian commentator on international football; FYI, he speaks crazy fast); and my favorite Egyptian channel, “Dr. Mona Mashall,” who publishes self-help, life-advice, and inspirational content. Nothing but love.

Honorable Mention: Arabic rap battle has become a big thing in the Middle East, if you didn’t know.. “The Arena ME” features a bunch of Arab rap battles in some combination of Levantine/Egyptian/English. Very entertaining and good for the dialect (Some of the lines are quite difficult to understand).

Podcasts:

“Kefaya Ba2a” by Alaa El sheikh (One-man Egyptian comedy show)

“Awwal Shi Bonsoir” and “Taboo” (Lebanese talk shows on current events/pop culture)

“Wallah Miaow” (Jordanian interviews with beatboxers, musicians, creatives, hip hop artists, rap battlers, etc.)

“Eib” is also very popular out of Jordan. Like Taboo, it talks about issues of popular interest that are often considered taboo in the Middle East.

“Hay al Matar” (Syrian drama, sponsored by the EU, consisting of 150 15-minute episodes following the lives of various Syrian refugees. (The characters speak very clearly since it was a radio program where audio is the only input).

That’s all I got for this post. Good luck to you on your Arabic learning journey! I’d be interested to know what resources you have found most helpful with the dialects, as I am always trying to get better. If you liked this article, I invite you to check out other articles in the language section of this blog.

On April 1, 2021, the US Department of State recognized April as National Arab-American Heritage Month to celebrate the culture of Arabs living in the US, and their contributions to society. According to the Arab-American Institute, there are currently ~3.5 million Arabs in the country, and some 93,000 Jordanians per the 2019 American Community Survey. I personally enjoy talking about language, culture, and lifestyle. It’s the world I’ve been immersed in during the last decade, as an academic, linguist, and human being. Rather than give my two cents on the topic as someone who was raised in an Arab-American household, I thought it would be better this time to consult a primary source.

This week, I asked my mother, Ms. Hala, if she’d be willing to talk about some of her experiences as an immigrant to the US. My mother was born in Amman, Jordan. She moved to the US in her early 20s and ultimately settled in Columbus, Ohio. My mother’s experiences and perspective shed light on some of the challenges and opportunities of immigration, in general, and immigration from the Middle East to the US, in particular. The following is the account of a live 90-minute interview conducted in person. I trust you will find her answers to be funny, direct, and insightful.

[For the complete archive of interviews, click here.]

You’ve been living in the US for around three decades. Can you recall any funny, strange, or awkward encounters that happened as a result of you having grow up in Jordan?

I remember when I first came to America, and I worked at the Christian bookstore. I was driving home one day. I guess I was speeding on the Old Brice Road. It was 25. It’s still 25 today. A cop flashed behind me, and I didn’t realize that he was trying to pull me over. I was new in the country, and nobody tails you like that in Jordan. The cop followed me all the way home. He gave me a ticket. He said he wouldn’t have given me a ticket if I had stopped. I did not have that realization or understanding. I was in my mid-twenties at the time. Since that day, I have not been pulled over a single time.

I also used to cut people off in conversation all the time. In Jordan, we’d have a room full of people with everybody talking at the same time, and everybody understanding everybody. I don’t know if it was a Jordan thing or just my family. I came to America, and I started realizing after cutting people off all the time, they would start looking at me funny. They would get real quiet. People were not trying to be rude, but you could tell by their body language that they did not appreciate me interrupting them. I started to have the self-awareness that “Oops, this doesn’t work.” Since then, I’ve been working on my ability to listen all these years and not interrupt people. I think I’ve come a long way.

What is one thing people don’t know about Jordan, the Middle East, or Arab culture?

Jordan is a dry country with very little rainfall. We cherish water. We don’t waste it. When I used to see people in the US leaving the faucet on hot for half an hour while rinsing and shaving, I would think “Man, people here just waste water. They let the faucet run and run.” In Jordan, we used to use a bowl to shave. You would dip the razor in and out to conserve water. There were water tanks on top of the house. If you ran out of water, you would have to call a company to come bring you more.

Another difference has to do with the church in general. As Christians in Jordan, we were a minority. Living in that environment puts you on guard. When I came to the US, I felt people were more relaxed spiritually. They didn’t have to feel what we felt and deal with some of the things we dealt with. When America is all people know, they often take for granted resources and privileges that everybody in the world doesn’t have. Freedom. Education. Job opportunities. Financial blessings.

You’ve been involved in Christian ministry for more than a decade. What inspired you to take that route?

I’ve had a desire to do ministry since I was a teenager. It was something I felt the Lord was calling me to do. After I graduated high school in Jordan, I went to Switzerland for a few months to attend a child evangelism program. When I came back to Jordan, I led children’s ministry at my local church and in other parts of the country. I loved working with the youth.

Ministry has always been a part of my heart and what I’ve wanted to do. I love to teach the Bible, and I have a heart to see people restored, discipled, and have a deeper walk with the Lord. When I came to the US, I continued on that same path, but in a different capacity, now with adults instead of children. I’ve been pastoring/teaching/reaching adults for the last 12 years.

I still have a heart for the younger generation. Even though I don’t teach children, I have a heart to see God’s purpose in their life. I believe we need to keep the younger generation at the forefront of what we do, because it will eventually come time to pass the baton on to them.

I was also busy first raising my own children. That, in itself, I felt, was a big part of my ministry. For a big portion of my life, they were the priority in everything I did.

You also work at family-owned HSU & CO Natural Health Store, a local retailer specializing in nutrition and wholistic health. What is it like to work there?

HSU is an educational ground for me. I learn from the industry, from other employees, and from the customers. I get to build relationships with people. It’s very busy, and I’m interacting with people all day long. I find it engaging to get to help people feel better health-wise. It’s been amazing to learn about all the natural herbs and medicine that enable people to depend less on pharmaceuticals. I still have so much more to learn, of course.

Some people are already fluent in the language when they migrate. For others, it takes years of full immersion before they attain proficiency. Did you have a background in English before you arrived in the US?

I started studying English in Jordan in the 1st grade. I attended a private school, called the Greek Orthodox School. Many people who went to public government schools did not receive the same quality English education. The curriculum consisted of one English class, taught in English, while everything else was in Arabic.

I didn’t speak English around family or friends, but another way I had exposure to the language was through missionaries who came to Jordan. There was this one lady I connected with from the US, in particular, who felt God wanted her to teach me how to play the organ. I got to practice my English with her, and I ended up playing the piano at church for years.

Many people don’t know that Britain influenced our culture a lot, including the school system. I remember one of my English teachers was from Britain, and he taught us an Oxford-style English. When I lived in Jordan, not everybody studied English, and not everyone who studied English spoke it well, so it wasn’t something you could take for granted. I know today there are many American schools in Jordan with American teachers, so maybe that is no longer the case.

Did you have any difficulty communicating after you first arrived?  

I think most people could understand me. If they were talking too fast, sometimes I had a hard time understanding them. The issue in communication often has to do with culture, not language. People don’t understand where you’re coming from, even if they understand the words you’re saying. Our way of thinking and mannerisms do not always translate.

Arabic is notoriously hard for English speakers to learn. Is the same true in reverse?

I think it is easier to learn English because there are a lot more words in Arabic than English. Arabic also has more complex grammar and accents. In English, when you say the word “You,” it can apply to one person, two people, or many people. In Arabic, you use a different verb form for singular and plural. Written Arabic also has a separate language and case system you have to learn alongside the spoken dialects. Arabic is a whole different ballgame. You don’t have to deal with any of that in English.

How do you keep your Arabic fresh?

I keep my Arabic fresh by talking to family members. I actually should do more than that because it’s not enough. I should be reading books in Arabic, but I read in English, and I pray in English. They say the language you pray in is the language you’re most comfortable in. Since I’ve been praying in English for a long time, I guess you can say I’m more comfortable in English at this point.

Your accent has gotten less pronounced over the years, but it’s still noticeable. Do you feel like people treat you differently when they perceive that you are a foreigner? 

I think people are sometimes afraid of what they do not understand. When people hear the accent, they have preconceived ideas about who you are. It’s not always negative. Some people are loving and welcoming, while others keep you at a distance.

I’m a very sociable person. Whether I was at my kids’ school or baseball games, I always tried to interact with people and talk to them, even if they didn’t come talk to me. That was good in a sense, but sometimes I still felt that I was an outsider and wasn’t fully included in whatever they were doing.

I will say that some people went out of their way to make us feel welcome and loved when we first came to Ohio and attended World Harvest Church. For example, we met a guy named Glenn and his wife, Marilyn. Glenn and Marilyn showed us love and grace. When you come from a different country, a different culture, speak a different language, have a strong accent, people don’t always welcome you with open arms. Now maybe people are more welcoming to immigrants, but that wasn’t always the case.

What is one of the biggest challenges of living in the US?

In the US, you have to work harder to build your community and relationships. If you don’t do that, you can quickly find yourself isolated. In Jordan, it seems that families are more close-knit, and relationships are easier to come by. Everybody is busy here, so you can easily go a long time without talking to someone. There’s also the geographic dynamic. I’m so blessed to have all my boys in the same city, at the moment. Many people I talk to have family scattered all over the US.

People here also work long really hours, and it affects social relationships. In the US, people work from the morning to the evening. In Jordan, many people used to work in the morning, take a lunch break, go home, and eat, before going back to work. You could even have a siesta [nap] if you wanted to. I don’t know if that’s how it still works. I always used to think it was weird here that people worked in the morning straight until 5. People here seemed to be having health issues, and they seemed to be really stressed out. And then eventually I became a part of that system.

Have you been involved in any extracurricular/civil society activities?

In 2015, I was selected to do leadership training for the inner city with a program called DVULI [DeVos Urban Leadership Initiative]. It was a faith-based, 15-month program that consisted of trainings, workshops, and events. The focus was on empowering leaders to work with youth, particularly in urban communities.

In the last few years, I’ve served on the committee of Young Life Ministry for the Southeast area of Columbus. Young Life seeks to reach youth in high schools through various activities, camps, and community engagement. My committee supports leaders with these efforts. Sometimes we cook food for events. We also help with event planning and execution.

You visited Jordan a few years ago. How did the country compare to your memory of it three decades ago?

The thing that stood out to me the most was the influence of other peoples. I saw the influence of people that came to Jordan from Syria and Iraq and the Gulf. They started businesses. For example, there were many more Syrian restaurants. Also, it was more crowded. Amman was as hectic as ever.

What is the thing you’ve missed the most about Jordan?

My family who still live there.

I’m going to ask you several questions in quick succession. You can limit your answers to no more than a few words or sentences.

Favorite Jordanian food?

Falafel.

Favorite American food?

Pizza.

Favorite TV show?

I don’t have a favorite, but I like police and detective shows.

Favorite thing about Ohio?

The four seasons.

Least favorite thing about Ohio?

Slick roads in the winter.

If you had to move to another city or country, where would you go?  

Somewhere not too far away from my kids.

Does pineapple belong on pizza, yes or no?

No.

What are some of your favorite memories growing up in Jordan?

There was a surprise birthday party that my family and church threw for me when I turned 18. It was so much fun. So many young people were in attendance, and we played all kinds of games. I was not expecting it at all. They did a really good job.  

When I was teaching children’s ministry, I would go to different parts of Jordan, and the kids would all run to my car and carry my keyboard and all my teaching materials. I would play the keyboard, teach them, and do everything ministry-related. The kids were so excited to learn and to have the meeting.

Youth camps were also one of my favorites, both attending and as a leader. We had a wonderful time learning about the Lord and growing in our relationship with God. We used to go to England every summer when I was young and attend kid’s camp there. It was such a fun time.   

What are some of your favorite things about living in the US?  

I like the freedom. I like the space. The whole country is full of space and freedom. Even the roads in America are bigger. I like order. In Jordan, there could be 4 cars in 2 lanes, or even 5. The nature here is also beautiful. There’s green grass. We didn’t have green grass in Jordan–nobody learned to cut grass because there wasn’t any. Jordan is a desert. People here seem to learn how to do all kinds of stuff.

I also love meeting people from all over the world. There’s so much diversity in the US. I cherish the relationships I established while living in the US, and the community of believers I am a part of. People, in general, are kind and loving, and raising my children in the US and seeing the opportunities they received has been a blessing.

Do you think America has changed you?

In some ways, I’m more American now. My friends, community, and church family are American. I watch American TV. I speak American English. I’ve learned more about American people and culture. I’ve learned more about navigating various life challenges in the US. I’ve also learned more about myself. I’ve grown in many ways, spiritually, while living here, as well.

I find that people everywhere are similar as far as their experiences. They have the same aspirations in life. They face the same struggles. The only thing different is the language and culture.

[You can follow me on Twitter @creatorvilla.] Human beings are constantly thinking, and many of those thoughts consist of words. According to The National Science Foundation, the average person thinks anywhere from 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts a day. That’s a lot of action between the ears, and with it comes a lot of opportunities to improve language ability. There’s a reason almost all humans are proficient in at least one language. Our brains have evolved to utilize language at a prolific rate, both as passive recipients of the communication of others, and also as active creators of our own. Thinking is something we are already doing all the time, and requires no special time provision.

In the prequel to this article, Lifestyle Of A Linguist: An Atomic Habit To Take Your Language Skills To The Next Level, I talked about the daily habit of interpretation. Many of us studying a foreign language live in a country where our native language is spoken. Practicing interpretation on a daily basis–that is, translating in our minds from our native language to a target language, is an excellent way to advance language skills. I did this for years in college, from English to Spanish, and from English to Arabic, when I was in a lecture that wasn’t particularly important. And I do it from time to time today, if I am watching an English broadcast or otherwise feel like honing my foreign language skills. Check out the article ^ for the complete scoop on interpretation.

Today, I want to talk about another daily language habit that also yields great dividends over time: thinking in a foreign language. When we think in a language all day, it becomes a second nature. Our level of comfort, ease, and fluency in the language dramatically increase over time.. As with interpretation, you want to be at an intermediate level before you begin this process, so you have something of a linguistic base to fuel your efforts.

Thinking in a foreign language, like interpretation, will be laborious at first. There will be a lot of words you don’t know, and it may take you a while to formulate sharp, coherent thoughts. However, in the weeks and months that follow, you will find that both processes get a lot easier, and also more enjoyable. What started out difficult, like running, will wind up being easy, like breathing.

While interpretation and thinking can help us better organize what we already know, they should also be a prompt for further language acquisition. When you first start interpreting and thinking in a foreign language, you will quickly be able to identify words you do not know, or words that you may be able to recognize passively, but that have not become a part of your active vocabulary. Start looking them up. As you research words, structures, phrases, etc. that surface in these processes, your active vocabulary will increase dramatically. As active vocabulary goes up, language level rises.

It’s one thing to hear and recognize a word once a week. Or once a month. That is a kind of passive knowledge. It is another thing to actively create words in context via interpretation or thinking on a regular basis. There is a special fluidity and ease that accompany words that we ourselves routinely use. Words, put differently, that have become a part of our active vocabulary. Interpretation and thinking in a foreign language, to build on the idea of the previous paragraph, help grow and sharpen our active vocabulary.

Today, my level is C2 in Spanish and C1 in Arabic. Lately, I’ve been thinking primarily in Spanish, although some days I will switch over to Arabic. Occasionally, I will interpret from English to Spanish or English to Arabic, as time and interest allow. I can say that these two skills have helped advance my level significantly during the last 7 years. They have also helped me to maintain my language skills when life would otherwise have gotten in the way.

Have you ever experimented with either of these habits?

If you like this post, check out How To Score Superior (C2) On Official ACTFL Listening Proficiency Test (LPT) (5 Pro Tips!).

The American Council On The Teaching Of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) is one of the most popular advocates of foreign language education. ACTFL creates official standards and administers exams to assess language competency in over 120+ languages. Language Testing is their official partner, and they offer official proctored, on-demand exams seven days a week, that test reading, listening, writing, and speaking skills.

You may already be familiar with the CEFR Scale (Common European Framework of Reference), which ranges from A1 to C2. See the following graph for translating results from ACTFL to CEFR.

A quick note on the ACTFL LPT (language proficiency test) itself. The listening exams consist of around ~15 short audio segments ~one minute a piece, followed by three questions each. You may find that your exam gets easier as you progress, more difficult, or more or less stays the same, depending on how you perform early on. The listening, like the reading, is a dynamic exam designed to “probe your level. If you are in the Advanced High / Superior range, the listening “clips” are likely to get progressively more difficult.

Recently I took LPT tests in Spanish and Arabic. In Spanish, I scored Superior (C2), whereas in Arabic I scored Advanced High (C1). I’ve posted the certificates down below, complete with a complete description of each level. I figured I would make a post outlining some important things to keep in mind, both in preparation for, and on the day of, the exam. While the title of this blog is tailored to advanced learners, these tips will help you do better at any level, and some of the tips are transferable to both the reading and speaking exams.

FYI, the first three tips are relevant before the day of the exam, while the last two apply to test day.

5 Pro Tips To Improve Your ACTFL LPT Score

1-) Master The Material You Will Be Tested On. Both the Spanish and Arabic exams, and I’m pretty sure all the listening exams ACTFL administers, are tests of the formal variant of a language. In Spanish, that means the kind of language you will hear on CNN En Español, the news more generally, cultural and educational programs, and some informal exchanges using standard Spanish. What you will likely not hear is any slang characteristic of Central America, South America, the Caribbean, or regional pronunciation. None of my knowledge of Mexican Spanish, which is pretty vast, helped me in any way with this exam.

As far as Arabic, all of the passages are in Modern Standard Arabic. A few passages had superficial traces of dialect, like the Egyptian pronunciation of the letter qaaf, but nothing more substantive than that. Again, knowledge of spoken Arabic will not help with this exam, unless it is also coupled with direct exposure to formal Arabic, in which case the differences between the two can be worked out.

FYI, all of this info can be found in the prep material provided by ACTFL, which you can access here. ACTFL provides sample audios and a complete description of each level for every language.

2-) Practice Active Listening. This tip applies to training. Obviously, during the test day you will be zeroed in on every audio sample. However, in advance of the test, practice active, not passive listening. It’s one thing to hear something; it’s an entirely different thing to listen to it actively. Listening involves focus and concentration. On the other hand, when we are distracted, we only draw on a fraction of our mental abilities, and our practice time becomes much less productive. When we actively listen, we are able to pinpoint the words and the sounds that give us difficulties.

3-) Look Up New Words. It doesn’t matter how good you are at audibly deciphering words. if you don’t know the meaning, you will either be one, totally clueless; or two, liable to make errors (when you think you understood one thing, but the meaning was different or nuanced). In simple terms, having a broad vocabulary is vital to scoring high. The speakers in the recordings speak clearly, so pronunciation is not really a challenge, but you need to know what most of the words mean right away in order to do well. For years, I made a habit of looking up words all the time, both in Spanish and Arabic (see here), and that made exam day a lot easier.

That said, no matter how advanced you are in a language, you will likely not understand every single word being said; or you may understand what was being said only to forget it, so pay special attention to the next two bullets.

4-) Study The Questions In Advance. Each audio recording will play automatically, but you are given thirty seconds to study the questions in advance (just the questions, not the possible answers, so you don’t have to worry about information overload). Context is the most important thing to understanding any communication. These 30 seconds help you establish the context in advance, which knowledge is a huge aid during the listening portion. The title of the clip and the questions are typically short and relatively simple, so meditate on them during those first 30 seconds so you know exactly what you will be looking for when you listen. Since you only get one listen for each section, it is extremely important to be as clued in on the context as possible.

Remember, you do not need to understand everything to pass each section. You just need to know the answers to the specific questions they ask, which range from the main idea to more specific details.

5-) Take Targeted Notes While Listening. During the exam you are provided a notepad to take notes on each section. Utilize it strategically. You don’t want to be typing too much while listening because you may miss important details, and won’t have the chance to go back and listen again. At the same time, you don’t want to neglect what matters. I jotted down a few words during each clip, which helped me stay focus and remember the key details I was zeroing in on having studied the questions in advance.

For the listening and the reading, the results become available right away, as with a complete description of your level. You are supposed to wait 90 days before taking the same test again, but you may be able to take an individual exam a second time before 90 days, so check their policy online, and give them a call if you are not sure.

Lastly, language is far more dynamic than any exam could ever let on. Doing well or poorly on an exam most directly reflects your ability to take that exam. If you do well, enjoy your result, but don’t think a Superior result means you’ve arrived. The certificates, after all, are only valid for two years, during which time your level can go up or down. Similarly, just because you didn’t get the result you wanted, it doesn’t mean you won’t in the future. And it doesn’t necessarily mean your language level isn’t higher, especially if you are proficient in informal, non-standard varieties that speakers of a language commonly communicate in.

Here are my results as promised from September, 2021:

Have you taken an ACTFL exam before? Drop your two cents down below! If you liked this post, be sure to also check out The Psychology of Speaking In A Foreign Language | The Magic Of Speaking In A Foreign Language | I Have Multiple Personalities (Confessions Of A Linguist) | Travel Is Not The Best Way To Improve Your Foreign Language Skills (The Myth of Immersion) | How Long it Takes to Become Fluent in a Foreign Language | This Daily habit will dramatically increase your foreign language proficiency! | Confessions of a Bilingual: Raw Perspective From A Persian-American Linguist.