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 … 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...

Spotify Link: Click here for Spotify Podcast YouTube Link: Click here for YouTube Podcast   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 … NOT THE FIRST THING TO DO Or IS IT TIME TO GET COLLOQUIAL? One of the first things some people do when starting to learn a language is to go on a search for colloquialisms, slang and swear words, in the language they’re learning. But is this a good idea? And if not, why not? So, the first thing you’re going to go up and say to a native is something only the locals ever say, or, swear at them? You do realise that if you do that, bad things might happen? The problem with any slang, offensive, or not, is that it’s just too easy for a foreigner, with little knowledge of the language, or even with a significant amount of knowledge, to get the context completely wrong. ...

Listen on Spotify: Link to Spotify Listen on YouTube: Link to YouTube 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 … Am I Speakin’ Proper, Mate? Or How to Improve Your Accent in Your Target Language We might all have a little bit of affection for Dick Van Dyke’s questionable cockney accent in Mary Poppins, but, honestly, no one really wants to end up with such a bad result, do they? So, how do you improve your accent in your target language? I say improve, because it’s unlikely you’ll ever sound like a true native speaker. Well, you have to speak, obviously, but that doesn’t mean that you have to speak to another person. There are plenty of ways to practice before you get to that stage. Well, the first key to speaking is to listen. You cannot possibly know how to pronounce words in a foreign language wit...

Listen on Spotify here: Spotify Link Listen on YouTube here: 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 … Don’t Make Me Talk! Or Oral Exams and Being Forced to Speak in Your Target Language In a previous podcast I talked about language learning in school, but I didn’t mention anything about the exams. Honestly, I don’t remember much about the exams, except for one part. That part is etched in my memory. I’m talking specifically about the oral exams that we had to complete. So, talking in the language. Being an introvert, these were, as you might imagine, a nightmare scenario for me. You literally had to sit there - actually, I think we had to stand for at least one of them - and talk to the examiners in the foreign language. If my memory serves me right, it was your course tutor...