Photo by Hello I'm Nik on Unsplash
By Federica Lupis, https://www.federicalupis.com/
Author of "Fluent On The First Try" and "Why You're Not Fluent and How To Fix It"
Language trainer, interpreter and translator.
I love Christmas. I’m not into the tree-gifts-decorations thing, but I like seeing how it puts everyone in a good mood.
The cashier who used to bag your groceries with robotic movements now looks at you as if you were a superstar. The driver who was ready to jump out of the car if you took ‘their’ spot now smiles at you as you park. Even the neighbour’s dog who sang his serenade at the most inconvenient times has stopped barking.
Everyone is happy, you can feel it in the air, and you get sucked into this vortex whether you like it or not.
I guess for some people, the idea of taking a break from work (or having to deal with fewer customers) is as good as winning the lottery. Students forget about their exams; children can anticipate the joy of tearing the wrapping paper as their grandparents watch them with full hearts. It’s like a parade of the best feelings humans have to offer.
After Christmas, with our bellies full of panettone, pavlova or whatever the traditional dessert of your country is, we embrace the euphoria of a new year coming.
Who cares if we bought a gym membership that we never used? What’s the problem if the diary we got to stop procrastinating was left untouched on our desk? And the spare room we were supposed to tidy up? Well, we can always close the door and forget about it!
It’s time for a fresh start! We can unleash our wildest dreams and imagine that the most exciting future is yet to come.
I hope by now, you feel the excitement of having New Year’s resolutions (or ‘revolutions’, as I called them while talking to my partner Ash).
Today, we’ll talk about the most enticing – and realistic – New Year’s resolutions for language learners.
Enjoy!
1. Be a Tortoise
Remember ‘slow but steady wins the race’ from Aesop’s tale ‘The Hare and the Tortoise’? When it comes to language learning, we often try to be the hare who tries to get things done quickly but burns out before the finish line.
The truth is, we can’t become fluent in a language in three months unless we have nothing else to do.
What if we decide to be a tortoise this year?
Let’s set aside 10 minutes a day to do something to improve our language skills. Let’s build a routine and improve gradually and with patience. Let’s be the tortoise that beat the hare!
I can guarantee that this attitude will make you feel a lot more positive about language learning.
2. Scene 1, Take 1, and…action!
Have you ever listened to a recording of your voice in the foreign language? Chances are you haven’t, and it’s time to do it!
Make 2022 the year you finally recorded yourself speaking a foreign language! Pick up your phone, talk about anything and then listen to your voice again and again.
This is a great way to polish your pronunciation and notice what you’re struggling with. Can’t you think of the words? Are you playing eenie meenie, miney moe with tenses and pronouns? What’s stopping you from speaking?
Do this exercise regularly, and I promise you’ll make progress faster.
3. Where’s Rome again?
I met people who stopped learning a language because it became a chore. They got so absorbed by grammar and the idea of becoming a flawless speaker that they forgot why they were learning a language in the first place. They could tell me the conjugations of verbs in the blink of an eye but had little to say about the country where the language was spoken.
Why are you learning a foreign language? I guess part of the reason is that you get fired up when you think about the country where it’s spoken. Maybe it’s the lifestyle, the food, the history, the music… It could be anything, but it is because of that ‘anything’ that you are learning a foreign language.
This year, find ‘the fire in yourself’ and make sure it becomes an essential part of learning a language.
If you’re learning Spanish and love Spanish singers, fill the house with Spanish music as you’re tidying up. If you are an avid painter learning Dutch, immerse yourself in the history of new and old Dutch artists. If you’re learning Italian and love Italian food, watch Italian chefs teach their recipes and share your creations with your loved ones.
Bring the passion back into language learning!
~ ~ ~
To sum up, here are my top three tips for this year:
· Practice regularly and be patient.
· Discover your voice in the foreign language and use your recordings to improve.
· Get your mojo back. Make language learning fun!
Thanks for reading!
I hope you had a great break!
See you next month.
If you enjoyed my article, you can discover my tried and tested language learning strategies in my books:
and here are this month's book offers:
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