A Language Learning Tale

Listen on Spotify: Spotify Link Listen on YouTube: YouTube Link Hi, I’m Juliet. Join me on my language learning journey and discover my thoughts on different aspects of language learning with the A Language Learning Tale Podcast. Today, the subject is … Understood or Correct? What is the purpose of learning a language? Okay, let’s break that down a little more so you know where I’m coming from. Is the purpose of learning a language to be understood by the person you’re talking to, or to be correct? I’m hoping you answered to be understood to that question, because the likelihood is that you’ll never be entirely correct, with anything but the simplest of sentences. And what is correct, anyway? Many people don’t speak entirely correctly in their own language. How many times do you hear someone on TV, or in a drama, pronounce a word in a way that you think is incorrect? I’ll bet it’s a lot. Or perhaps it isn’t pronunciation, perhaps it’s sentence construction. They say things in a really ...

Listen on Spotify: Spotify Link Listen on YouTube: YouTube Link Benvenuti, Bienvenue, Croeso and Welcome. Hi, I’m Juliet. Join me on my language learning journey and discover my thoughts on different aspects of language learning with the A Language Learning Tale Podcast. Today, the subject is … I have to wait until everything’s perfect Are you waiting to learn a language until everything’s perfect, the stars are aligned, you win the lottery? Stop. No, I mean start. There is no perfect time, no perfect way, no perfect state for learning a language. You just have to get on with it.  There are many situations in which people wait for the perfect time to do something. They wait to get married, because they need to save up for the wedding. They wait to have kids, because they need to save up to buy all the things. They wait to learn a language, because … well, why? What’s stopping you? You can pretty much learn a language for free, these days, so that’s not an excuse. At least, if you’r...

Listen on Spotify: Spotify Link Listen on YouTube: YouTube Link   Benvenuti, Bienvenue, Croeso and Welcome. Hi, I’m Juliet. Join me on my language learning journey and discover my thoughts on different aspects of language learning with the A Language Learning Tale Podcast. Today, the subject is … Is Meaningful Interaction Just Speaking? In order to become proficient in a foreign language, it is said that you need to have meaningful interaction with it. But what is meaningful interaction? I think we can all understand meaningful easily enough, but what does interaction actually mean in this circumstance? The Google definition of interaction is: communication or direct involvement with someone or something. So, in its basic form, which I believe was first put forward by Stephen Krashen, this is communicating back and forth with someone in the language - in other words speaking - in a way that means you can get some benefit from the conversation. In other words, it’s not too difficult...

Listen on Spotify: Spotify Link Listen on YouTube: YouTube Link Benvenuti, Bienvenue, Croeso and Welcome.   Hi, I’m Juliet. Join me on my language learning journey and discover my thoughts on different aspects of language learning with the A Language Learning Tale Podcast. Today, the subject is … Do You Have Multiple Personalities? Can your personality change when you learn another language? Or, more specifically, when you use another language? There seem to be differing opinions out there on this. Some say yes, your personality can change. Others, no, not really. And is this changing of your personality for better, or worse, depending, obviously, on your concept of these things. I do think that this is an interesting topic, so today we’re going to think about some ways this might happen, or be perceived to be happening. First up, I’d say the way a language is spoken could, at least superficially, change the way your personality is perceived. Some languages are very expressive in t...