How to become fluent in multiple languages

Have you ever wondered how many languages you can learn and speak fluently?. There are people who claim that they can speak up to 50 languages. That might be beyond the capability of a regular person.  But all of us can learn up to five languages without much difficulties. Learning additional languages has some benefits that you may not have heard so far. Please check the video below to see some benefits of learning another language.

There are different techniques that are popular for learning different languages. But I am going to give you the techniques that I used to learn five languages. Please follow below steps to learn any language. This is very consistent and independent of language you are trying to learn.

• Find a person who is around you and already know the language that you are trying to learn. He can be a friend , co-worker, a native speaker in the language or a learner in the language. Make sure that you are speaking to the person only in the language that you are trying to learn.
• Keep your shame aside and understand that making mistakes is okay while learning new language.
• Install Google translate in your smartphone and make use of it whenever you want to learn the translation of some word or sentence. Make use of other language learning tools like Rosette stone application if it is there at your disposal

New language learning myths/excuses
    There are many myths/excuses about learning new languages. You can find some of them below. So don’t let any of the below myths hold you back.

• Children can learn languages faster and once you are an adult it takes far more time – It is true when it comes to gaining native fluency. But there are studies proving that it is faster for an adult to learn a new language to average fluency.
• It  is better to move to a new country to learn new language – Being in country where the language is spoken, helps from a motivation perspective. But there are some people who did not learn to speak foreign language after moving to a different country, who later learned it after coming back to home country. It is simply a matter of the effort you are willing to spend on learing new language.
• Bad memory to learn new vocabulary – Keeping words in memory gives you some advantage. But with proper repetition any of us can remember any number of words and their pronunciations in our memory.
• You might frustrate a native language speaker – It is very rare to find someone who is frustrated by the fact that you trying to learn their language and in that attempt mispronounce or disrespect the person.
• Multi language fluency is a genetic thing/talent – It is not true. There is no gene or talent corresponding to your language learning skills. There might a very minor advantage for some people because of their ability to learn new things fast and remember. But other than that there is no genetic factor at play here.

How much of a vocabulary should I have in a new language?
    There are studies proving that 1000 words in English is all we use 85% of the time. Also 3000 words are what you are going to hear 98% of the time. Remaining 2% you can easily guess from context. So if you know 3000 main words in the language and can use them, we can say that you are fluent in the language.

How to add a second monitor to your Laptop or PC

  Now a days it is very common to use a second monitor with your laptop or PC. If you have the habit of working on your laptop for long time, it is advisable to get an additional monitor and use that as extended display or mirrored display. Laptop does not give you the right sitting posture while typing. So if you have the habit of working for long hours including considerable typing consider buying a secondary monitor. Below video will help you to find right postures while using laptop.

You have two options to while connecting an external monitor to laptop or PC. First option is to extend your laptop display to the monitor(It will help you to drag windows from laptop to the external monitor and continue work there). Second option is to use only the external monitor(this is useful when you are using a big monitor with better resolution and do not want to switch between laptop and external monitor). There are some other ways also to use external monitors with laptop or PC, but these are the common ones. If you are using windows 8, you can access all the options by pressing Windows + P. It will give below options in the right,

 

PC Screen Only – Does not show anything in external monitor
Duplicate – Show the same display in monitor
Extend – Use monitor as an extension to your desktop
Second screen only – Laptop screen goes black and full display moves to monitor
In Mac also you can find similar options under “System Preferences” –> Displays.

Extending laptop/PC display to external monitor

    It will allow you to use monitor as an extension to laptop display. You can drag application windows to monitor from laptop display and continue work there. It works very well if both laptop and external monitor has same resolution. But usually laptops will have low resolution an external monitors have good resolution. In such cases, display in the monitor will look grainy. Same problem will come if you duplicate your display.

Using only external monitor

   “Second screen only” option comes handy if you mainly intend to work only in the external monitor. This is useful if external monitor has a better resolution. It will avoid the problem of resolution mismatch between laptop and external monitor. If the monitor is of better resolution, your display will scale to the better resolution. You can change the resolution settings by right clicking on desktop and selecting screen resolution

Once you have clicked “Screen resolution”, you will get below display

In this display you can control monitor settings. Resolution option gives you the ability to increase or decrease resolution. In the above setting only monitor 2 is used which is an external monitor.

Managing connectivity

We discussed about changing resolution and connecting in different modes, but how to connect external display to your laptop or PC. It depends on which ports are supported in both monitor and laptop. If both has HDMI, it is preferable. It allows you transfer voice and even some commands through the cable to monitor in addition to display. It will be helpful, if your external monitor has speaker. VGA and DVI are also common input methods. Also keep in memory that you can always get converters to convert one type of input to another type. So practically, you can connect any type of laptop ports to any type of monitor ports using the right converters.

Micromax a110 canvas 2 Price and Review

Micromax A110 Canvas 2

Micromax Canvas2 A110

 

Micromax knows really well, how to catch Indian market. Their recent phone models clearly shows that. The products, which are released by Micromax recently like Micromax canvas 2 mobile, 3D LED TV etc are excelling in their quality and amazing in case of their budget price. This has attracted a lot of Indian buyer to Micromax. Micromax a110 canvas 2 has got a response from Indian market, which is comparable to flagship models of Samsung like Galaxy S 3. To understand the reason of the phone’s success, have a look on the specifications of the phone in the picture below,

Price Rs.10200 ($105)

        The price of the phone is the most attractive feature of the phone and reason behind its success. There is no other phone below 15k with such excellent features. It just cuts out all the competition. Everybody is still wondering how Micromax managed to release a phone with such configurations, at such a low price. Just two or three weeks after the release of the phone it is out of stock in most of the online and offline showrooms. That indicates the popularity of the phone in Indian market.

Operating System (Android 4 (Ice Cream Sandwich))

        This phone is running on Android 4 (Ice Cream Sandwich), which is not the current latest Android version available. It comes with certain drawbacks like there is no standard 1080p playback capability. But still you can install free apps like MX player and play full HD videos. If you are a more techie person, you can root the phone and install jellybean ROM which is available in internet free of cost for the phone. This will also enable other new features of jellybean. In XDA developer forums you can get more details about custom ROM available for the phone.

Processor (1 GHz, Dual Core)

     This phone is powered by a 1GHz dual core Mediatek 6577 processor. There is an additional POWER VR Series 5 GPU for good graphics support in video playback and gaming. Because of the powerful processor, you will not feel any delay or lag in user interface. Even with good number of applications running in backend, the phone responds well to new apps. Also you can run HD games, which will be supported in high end phones only, in this phone.

Memory (512 MB RAM)

     The phone comes with 512MB RAM and 2 GB internal memory. Internal memory is expandable using microSD card  upto 32 GB. 512MB RAM offers a good amount of multi tasking but you cannot expect the multitasking capability of high end phones like Galaxy S3. Still you can see around 100MB free RAM, even while 10 apps(apps like message, chat, music etc) are running in the back end. Some people are complaining that with 2GB internal memory you cannot install much HD games. But there is a work around for that problem. There is a tweak in XDA developer forum to convert memory card memory into internal memory, so that you can use your memory card to install data, which should otherwise be installed in phone internal memory.

Camera (8 MP main and 0.3MP front)

      This phone comes with an 8MP primary camera and 0.3 MP Secondary Camera. Main camera is average in terms of quality of pictures. When lighting is good, camera is giving good pictures, but clarity is little bit low in low light photographs even with Dual LED flash. Main camera offers other features like Auto Focus, Touch Focus, Face Detection etc. Front camera of 0.3MP will be quite useful for video calling. Video quality in main camera is little bit lower than what is expected from an 8MP camera

Display (5 inch, FWVGA, 854 x 480 Pixels)

         The phone with 5 inch screen should have some more resolution than 854x480px. But the IPS Display manages it well. Even though the resolution is little bit low for the screen size, we will not feel that while using the phone. Display has other features like 5 Point Multi-touch, AGC Sodaline Screen Protection, Touch Sensitive Controls. But the display is not scratch resistant. It will be a really big task to keep that big screen from not getting any scratch.

Battery (Li-Ion 2000mAh)

     The battery capacity is good enough to power the dual core processor and 5 inch display for long time. With normal use of the phone, you can expect a backup of two days. If you are a heave user also the phone will last upto one day with single charging.

Internet Connectivity 

It offers all the regular connectivity like GPRS, Edge, 3GY, Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n) etc. Internet is pretty fast in the phone. In case of speed of internet you cannot compare the phone with high end models, but still it offers good speed

I/O Ports 

In addition to normal 3.5 mm audio jack, micro USB. It supports USB OTG connection. Using this if you purchase USB OTG cable from some online website, you can use any normal usb 2.0 pen drive with this phone. So you can use it as a mini computer itself or at least as a tablet. Also the 5 inch screen is good to watch movies.

Other Features 

It comes with sensors like Accelerometer, Gravity Sensor, Proximity Sensor. But it does not have Magnetic sensor. So compass applications will not work. Also in Google map, if you are turning the phone pointer will not change direction, because of the same lack of magnetic sensor. All other sensors are fine. It would have been good if it had an ambient light sensor also to control the brightness according to the surroundings.

Overall it is a phone which has already become a hit in market. It offers more features than any other phone provides for this price range. In online and offline stores also its stock is emptying more faster than we have seen for any other phone.

Sylvania Android tablet priced Rs- 3400 ($68) Review

It is another popular budget Android tablet available in the market. This Android tablet running on Android 2.2 and 1GHz processor is priced only Rs.3400($68). It provides many other interesting features like 7 inch 800x480 pixels WVGA resolution resistive touch screen. 4GB internal memory with the support for external memory card slot which can support upto 32GB. RAM is 256MB.

This tablet can provide excellent internet browsing experience with the help of built in wi-fi support or with the help of external 3G modems. It also comes with a front camera of 0.3MP which is helpful for video chat over internet using apps like skype. As SIM card slot is not available, phone functionality over mobile networks is not possible. The lack of SIM slot also denies the probability of having GPRS capability in the tablet. Another one drawback about the tablet is its 6 month warranty. For most of such low budget tablets now manufacturers are providing at least 1 year warranty.

Please have a look in the specifications of the tablet.

This tablet is a good buy for the price. But there are some other tablets also available for the same price with almost similar specifications. Check them also before you are buying and make sure that  you are buying one with all the features you need. Also if you can stretch your budget a little more bit, you can try for capacitive touch screen tablets which will make the touch effect more smooth.

Watch a video review of the tablet

Android tablet 'Zync Pad Z-909 PLUS' review

Zync Pad Z-909 PLUS is one of the most cheap Android tablets available in the market. Like most of the other budget Android tablets, it also comes with some basic set of features. Even though it is built of plastic, its build quality is good. This tablet comes with a price of Rs.3400 ($66). But it provides most of the features, that are provided by other budget tablets. See the pictures of the tablet

This is the front view of the tablet

You can see the ports in the tablet in the picture above. It comes with a micro and macro USB port, memory card reader slot, charging and 3.5mm headset jack etc.

Specifications of the tablet

If you check the specifications of the tablet, you can see that even though it is one of the cheapest tablets, it provides features that are available in most of the similarly priced Android tablets. Some disadvantages are you cannot make video call and GPS functionality is not available. SIM card slot is also not available. 3G is possible only through external USB dongles. But there are many positive sides for this tablet like, it supports flash and there are preloaded apps for handling office documents. Gravity sensor gives good gaming experience. Also the built in speaker is also an added advantage.

See a video review of the tablet

Android tablet Apad 701 review

Apad 701 is an entry level ‘7’ inch Android tablet from Adcom. It comes with pretty decent configuration for the price you pay. It is available for a price of Rs.3700 ($72) from sites like homeshop18.com. It runs on a 1GHz processor with 256MB RAM and 4GB flash memory with additional expandable memory card slot that can support upto 32GB. The resistive touch of the tablet will not be responsible as capacitive touch screens, but multi-touch and 800x480 resolution offers clear display.  Give a detailed look into the specification of the tablet.

This Android 2.3 tablet comes with a built in camera of 1.3MP which can be used for video calling. Also the presence of gravity sensor gives good support to motion sensing games. This phone supports external 3G dongles but SIM card slot is not available, so you cannot make voice calls over mobile network. Battery of 2500mAh is also good for this price. The  absence of graphics chip is a drawback, but that is far more than you can expect for this price. Checkout the picture of this tablet

From the picture of the tablet you can see that it has aesthetically appealing design even at such a reduced price. You may feel doubt about purchasing a tablet from a new manufacturer, but this tablet comes with 1  year manufacturer warranty, which will ease your doubts about the tablet.

How to transfer contacts to android phone?

Smartphone platforms like Android, iPhone are getting more popularity these days. Many people are moving to these smartphone platforms from base phone models like Nokia. In this article you can check different ways to transfer contacts to Android phone from different platforms.

1) Exporting contacts as CSV from your current phone and import in Android phone.

 This is the easiest option, which will help you to finish the process within 5 minutes. First thing you have to do is, go to contacts menu in your phone and check whether there is an export to CSV option. CSV is comma separated file. If such an option is there, you can export all your contacts into one CSV file and then copy that file to your Android phone and in every android phone there is an option to import contacts. So different steps are:

• Open contacts in current phone
• Find Export option in contact options.
• Export as CSV file
• Copy that CSV file to Android phone. (If same SD card you are using in both phones, put that memory card in Android phone.)
• Open contacts in Android phone
• Give import option in contact menu. (for Android versions 2.1 and before path is Contacts -> Menu -> More ->Import/export. For Android version 2.2 or newer ones, Contacts ->Menu ->Import/Export.)
• For Android version 2.1 and previous this option will open following window.

 

• For Android version 2.2 and newer ones this option will open following window.

• It will import all your contacts in the CSV as contacts in Android phone. As you can see android versions like 2.3 are offering much more options like send namecard via. It will allow you to send all your contacts via bluetooth, email message etc.
  

Note : Some times while importing to Android phone an error may be shown, that is because while exporting in the CSV file too many columns may come. In that case open the CSV with some spreadsheet software and delete unnecessary rows. Or you can use some software like Samsung Kies, where you can map the columns in the CSV to different contact fields like First name, last name, email etc.

2) Exporting contacts as CSV and import in Android phone via Samsung Kies.


If you have exported contacts as CSV file from your old phone, and importing directly to your android phone as specified above, is not working and showing some errors, you will need to use Samsung kies or some CSV editing software like Microsoft Excel.

Once Kies is installed, when you connect your Android phone, it will be automatically detected. For example see the picture below.

   As you can see, it will automatically detect your phone model. In the picture it is detected as GT- I9001. Once phone is detected, when you click on 'Contacts' from the menu in the left, it will show and option to import from PC. Using this option you can import CSV and other contacts stored in your PC. While importing like that you can map different columns of CSV to different fields of contact. So if direct import of CSV is failing in Android phone, you can try this.
Samsung Kies, can be used with Samsung Android phones. If your Android phone is of some other manufacturer, you can download their mobile pc integration software and then import contacts.

2) Exporting contacts as CSV and import in Android phone via Google Contacts.

Another way to import CSV contacts to Android phone is through Google Contacts. You can synchronize Google contacts from your Android phone just by entering your Google user name and password in the phone. So the first task is to get your contacts in CSV format to Google Contacts.

For moving you contacts to Google contacts, first go to the Google contacts

https://www.google.com/contacts

Login with your Gmail username and password. Then at the top you can see more option on clicking which following menu will come.

Then it will ask to upload contacts in either CSV or vCard format,

Once it is successfully imported, you have moved all the contacts to the cloud. Even if  you loose your local backups, your contacts will be available in Google contacts always. Whenever you want you can export it to CSV format or directly synchronize with your android phone, just by adding your Google account in Settings -> Accounts&Sync ->Add Account ->Google Account.

Even if your contact is in your Nokia phone you can export as CSV using Nokia PC suite export contact option. If it is synchronized with outlook, then also you can export as csv. So to move from anywhere to Android, first try to convert it is CSV file and then import to Android phone using any of the methods specified above.

Read more about:

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Android tablets with SIM card slot in India
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