GamesforLanguage's Most-Read Posts in 2014

This is our 200th blog post. Every January, we'll publish our 10 most popular blogs of the previous year.

2014 has been a wonderful year at GamesForLanguage, not just because we've grown our number of followers on Facebook and Twitter, but - as of December 2014 - our blog has gotten over 36,000 views.

Thanks for your interest and support! That's what fuels us - as well as the thousands of monthly visitors that come to our free language learning site.

We started GamesForLanguage 4 years ago as an experiment combining (fun) games and (serious) language learning for adults - and enlisted native speakers of French, Italian, and Spanish to our team.

Yes, language games are very popular with kids, but we've been delighted by the positive and constructive feedback that teens and adults have given us about our approach. We always want to hear from you, and we'll get back to you quickly.

We look forward to another great year. It'll include creating new courses and lots of new Quick Games. 

Last but not least, we're both going for a spurt to fluency in Spanish and for a fresh start with a new language - Swedish for Ulrike and Dutch for Peter. It's a good way to stay sharp and humble, language learning wise.

Here are our 10 most popular blog posts of 2014:

1. La Paloma Lyrics – Learning Spanish With a Song 
2. 5 Key Steps for Re-Learning a Language 
3. Fluency vs. Proficiency in Foreign Language Learning 
4. Three (3) Ways to Better Engage in a German Conversation 
5. 3 Steps for Training Your Ear When Learning a Language 
6. Learning French - Cézanne and Banking 
7. 12 Social Media Terms When Learning Spanish
8. Si tu n'existais pas – Learning French with a song 
9. The “Context Approach” for Language Learning 
10. Not enough time? Really? Language Learning and Setting Priorities 

While several of the posts date back to previous years, it's surprising that #10 "Not enough time? Really? Language Learning and Setting Priorities" made it on the list, as it was only published on December 17, 2014. Apparently this post hit a nerve.

The La Paloma post has been a front runner since it was published in June 2013. Learning a language via well-known songs is clearly compelling. There are several other websites using this idea.

We recently published a post on French Social Media terms and are interested to see how it does this year. Social Media sites continue to be great places to practice and improve a language and being familiar with social media language is a good tool.

We welcome your comments and suggestions for new blog post topics! Wishing you an excellent and fun new language learning year!