How To Learn A New Language With Smart And Useful Goals
For a long time, I had a difficult relationship with goal-setting. As a fully-fledged questioner, I find it hard to take anything at face value, let alone the idea that I must have a goal to achieve anything.
When I was learning languages in full-time education environments like school and university, the goals weren't on my mind. My school sorted that out for me: turn up to classes, write essays, take exams. But since I've started working with independent language learners (and since I became one), goals have taken an entirely different role.
As an independent language learner, you need to know what to do. It's easy to think that you're already doing the work by stating what you want to achieve. But let me have an honest moment with you here:
Those goals don't help you do things.
In this article, you'll learn about the two types of goals you need for language learning.
Goal Type 1: Vision Goals
Let's have a look at those language learning goals I see online again and again.
- "I want to become fluent in Spanish"
- "I want to have a 15-minute conversation in German" Or here is one that I set for myself last year:
- "I want to speak Welsh at the Eisteddfod festival in August"
I am sure you have often heard about SMART goals. In many areas of life, our goals will only serve us if we make them specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound.
In my mind, these fail the SMART list on a bunch of counts:
They're not specific and realistic enough because they are your inspiration
They aren't measurable, because concepts like "fluency" or "fluent conversation" just aren't
They aren't time-specific either, unless you want to make yourself sad by setting a painfully ambitious deadline
None of this is a bad thing in itself. If you are motivated and driven by a vision of your future self speaking a foreign language without hesitating, then that is an amazing image to hold on to. It should be one of the many vague and inspiring concepts you hold dear, and in fact I would even advise you start visualizing your success.
But those visions aren't useful goals, because they just won't help you when it gets down to doing the language learning work. You need that vision.
And for times when you've carved out that half hour to get to business and really learn a language, you need goals.
The Little-Known System for Success in Language Learning
Goal Type 2: Path Goals
In my Welsh studies, I've been completely independent from the start. I don't have that external structure of tutor, group class, exams, and it took a while before I found a way to use my time for language learning. At first, I tried ideas like "I want fluency" and even "I want to speak Welsh at the Eisteddfod in August". They worked as a motivator, but failed to give me a clear idea of the steps I wanted to take to learn a language.
My current path goals in Welsh
I needed something that would help me know what to do when my study time comes. These goals are what I call path goals. They guide you when you're in study mode and mark the milestones on your path.
Here's what you need for making good path goals:
Structure
Structure is the thing that stops you from starting every study session wondering what you'll work on today. It's absolute gold for independent language learners, because you simply don't have the time to faff every single time. Decision fatigue is real, and it's going to paralyze you if you allow it.
Learn more about how this works when you study more than one language.
- Schedule the days when you're going to study your language, so you can treat them like any other appointment.
- Use your path goals as simple "next steps" so you spend zero time deciding what matters.
- Get some external structure. Follow an established course, work with a tutor, or use a textbook or online course. Even without that, you can be just as successful. Set your goals up to match the four core skills, and this should provide you with the sense of variety and progress you need.
Core Skills
The four core skills are the essential set of everything that makes language learning a success for you. You will want to focus on some more than others, but ultimately you need to put work into all four for becoming that inspiring future self.
The four core skills are listening, speaking, reading and writing. (I wrote a book about this!) Structure your goals around improving in each one, and you're guaranteed to succeed.
There might be other areas you want to focus on too, such as improving your pronunciation and vocabulary. But if you've got the four core skills covered in your goals, I would advise you not to worry too much about any others. They will come naturally as you improve and respond to your needs in every situation.
Variety
Variety is a key component of the path goals you set for yourself. It's realistic to acknowledge that moods, motivation and focus can vary from day to day. So on one day you might be excited to crack open the textbook and work your phrases, but on another day all you want is speaking practice with a tutor.
Having varied goals (I recommend at least 4 to cover each core skill) allows you to pick from a short, focused list of tasks and make progress in every single study session.
Recap: The 2 Goal Types You Need for Learning a Language
So there you have it. Goal setting isn't the holy grail of productivity. But when you do it right and know your goal types, each step can give you the right support you need to progress today.
1. Set Vision Goals
You can call this an intention, a vision, a goal. This is the imagined, vivid image of your future self that will keep you going.
2. Set Path Goals
Path goals are not big visions, they are the structured next steps that will help you when it's time to work on studying
Frequently Asked Questions
How to Set a Smart Goal for Learning a Language?
Start by creating your big and inspiring vision goal. This is about where you see yourself once you have mastered your language. This grand vision will help you get excited and keep you motivated throughout your language learning journey.
Next, break down this vision into SMART path goals. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. These smaller, well-defined goals act as stepping stones towards your ultimate vision, making the learning process manageable and less overwhelming.
What is an Example of a SMART Language Learning Goal?
Let’s create a SMART goal example: suppose you have a language learning podcast you enjoy. Instead of a vague goal like “listen to a language learning podcast,” make it specific and actionable.
Instead of saying “listen to language learning podcast”, you could try and say: “Listen to episode 4 of the [Podcast Name] and write down 5 new words by Friday.”
This goal is specific (listen to a particular episode), measurable (5 new words), achievable (within a week), relevant (improves vocabulary), and time-bound (by Friday).
Such SMART goals keep you focused and make your progress trackable. For more detailed guidance, consider exploring the full Language Habit System® I created specifically for language learners.
What is the Best Way to Learn a Language?
The best part about learning a language is that everything will work a little bit. Rule one should be to do what you enjoy the most. You are NOT doing it wrong. The beauty of language learning lies in its flexibility, and almost any method can contribute to your progress.
It will help you massively when you set yourself goals that help you along the way. Think about why you are learning the language, and where you want to be in the future. For the day-to-day process, add in SMART “Path Goals” that make it easy to take action.
How to Structure Your Language Learning Routine
Do you want to follow the system I explained in this article and start to discover your ideal language learning routine? Then I recommend you check out the Language Habit System, my hands-on course to help you learn any language with personalized milestones.
--> Click here to learn more about the Language Habit System® <--
How I Study Languages: A Quarterly Check-in for Welsh, Italian & Chinese
This blog post is an my own language learning goals and progress.
Read on to hear about
- what happened in my life and business so far this year
- which languages I’m learning and how I’m doing in them
- which courses I’m taking and creating
- what I’m planning to do next!
I’ll be referring to January-March as “Q1” from here on, since it was the first quarter of 2021.
Lockdown Language Life in Q1 2021
I live in the UK, and our winter was not exciting. Shortly after the new year started, our country went into a pretty strict coronavirus lockdown which is only now beginning to ease.
Cue…another 3 months spent in and around the home. I’m unbelievably lucky to have space and quiet available in my home, and the rules allowed for just enough outdoor activity to help me avoid loneliness and depression.
I am so happy to know that our vaccine programme is progressing well, and the relief it’s going to bring vulnerable people, their carers, and all who work in healthcare.
We held another Women in Language online conference!
Let’s start with the biggest event first: Women in Language 2021! The conference was another smash hit and we learnt SO much over the course of 4 days - it’s impossible to sum up everything, but here are some of my personal highlights.
- Kaché Knowles from The Bahamas helped us kick off the event in the best possible, sunniest, most celebratory mood. I loved her energy!
- I moderated the “Language Learning in Australia” panel and learnt just SO much about languages down under from Michele Frolla, Bec Howie & Karla Zuluaga. Australia is a 360 degree language space with so many indigenous, regional, and immigrant languages. Wow wow! Loved it!
- We added our first ever bilingual presentations with contributions in Spanish, French and Mandarin
We had an entrepreneurial streak running through many presentations, including
- Inspired Teachers Create Inspired Learners! by English language icon Lindsay McMahon
- A 5-Step Manifesto on Becoming a Language Teacher Rebel by Swedish teacher and Author Anneli Haake
- A wonderful conversation on Mindset and Self-Worth as you grow your language business by Gwyneth Jones & Marija Dobrovolska I found myself engaged and excited for the many baby language businesses in the chatroom, loving the opportunity to share my knowledge through mentoring.
Stats round-up: 599 participants, 34 speakers, 56 countries, 1145 Facebook group comments over 4 days. PHEW! It is really cool to see more and more men attending this event each year.
Mobile Mentoring by Kerstin Cable
Through February, I have been quietly trying out a new mentoring offer for online teachers and I’m so excited to share that this is now LIVE! I have offered coaching/mentoring for online teachers for a few years now. It’s the perfect mix of
- Talking shop
- Helping language business owners find the answers that they need for all those decisions about prices, offers, marketing and more
- Lighting that fire of excitement in them about the many fantastic ways they can create a business that makes a difference in the world (and makes some money, that's important too)
Long story short, you should consider booking one!
It’s a 1:1 deal with a twist: you get a whole day with me and we’ll be chatting via voice message! Want to learn a little more and try it out? Here’s my booking page link!
Learning Languages in Lockdown 3
When you don’t plan ahead and set myself manageable goals, you don’t achieve as much either.
But when languages are a habit and always form part of your life, you never stand still even in a super busy month.
Closing the 书 on Chinese for now
At the end of last year, I had just completed level HSK 1 in Mandarin Chinese and I wasn’t sure whether to take it any further. Well, after sitting on a very vague intention to do something or other with Chinese, in the end I decided it was time to pack it in.
I am really happy that I took 2020 to learn my first East Asian language, and I’ll happily return to Chinese at some point in the future. I didn’t find it scary or uninteresting, but equally I never quite found my Chinese passion either.
Guess for now we’ll choose to stay friends. 谢谢for the good times, 中文！
La signora nuova on the scene…it’s Italian!!
One of the reasons I wanted to let go of Chinese was to create space for just one of the many languages on my list: Italian! I studied Italian for 2 years as a teenager and I’ve got plenty of cross-language skills from learning other Romance languages over the years. But speaking Italian? Quasi ninety!
In 2021, I’m finally spending a little time with Italian again. I had a really lovely time with it in the late 90s, so I'm looking forward to playing around with Italian again!
I’m not ready to speak to anyone quite yet, but will get there in the next 3 months. Until then, I’m working with my own Vocab Checklist to build a bank of essential phrases and listening to a few learner-friendly podcasts to get into the groove.
Want to find out what I love for learning Italian? Click here to view my page for Italian learners!
My 6th Year of Learning Welsh (Y 6ed blwyddyn yn dysgu Cymraeg)
I love learning Welsh! Yes, even 6 years in I still do. My language level is B2, and I reached it without ever pushing super hard. I have so much fun with Welsh.
My attendance at the Advanced 1 course continues, a friendly weekly evening with other learners. I’m the only one who is joining the group from England, so I’m getting a great treat here from the 2020 online lessons.
My Welsh conversation skills and my grammar have improved. I now feel more confident and competent expressing myself in the language, and I CANNOT WAIT for everyone’s vaccinations and all those festivals and trips I’m going to enjoy after covid. C’mon, world!
Also on the Scene: Le Français
In French, I’m in the lucky position that I’ve got a strong basis to fall back onto even if I don’t study for ages. In Q1, I practiced my French mostly with Call My Agent/Dix Pour Cent on Netflix, and in March by listening to Cathy Intro’s awesome My Polyglot Life podcast.
Every now and then, I practice speaking or writing French but it’s not at the top of my priority list.
Want to find out what I love for learning French? Click here to view my page for French learners!
In Conclusion: Steady Effort Wins for Me
That’s it for reviewing my Q1! After many months thinking I’m ready to move on from Chinese for now, I’ve finally done it. It feels good to have taken the pressure off myself, though I want to continue to look beyond Europe for my language education in the future.
A 4th language I’m eager to learn is BSL (British Sign Language), but I’ve decided I’d like to start that in an offline class so it’s on hold for obvious reasons.
2021 is off to a great start, with a successful Women in Language event under our belt, and I’m excited to dive into more support for online teachers and language entrepreneurs through my mobile mentoring days.
Courses & Classes I Use for Languages
- A few italki lessons in Chinese and Welsh
- In Chinese, lessons used this (not so riveting) textbook and sometimes I also used Assimil Chinese False Beginners which is a good resource
- Welsh for Adults Uwch 1, where we’re also reading Cyffeision Saesnes Yng Nghymru
- The Intrepid Guide Italian course
- Bought Italian Tutor (not started yet)
- Using my own Language Habit Toolkit to stay organised
- For added input, I watch Yabla, listen to breakfast radio on Radio Cymru and watch the odd show on S4C
Believe it or not, I don’t watch YouTube. some of these links above are affiliate links
Courses & Programmes I Created / Promoted
- Women in Language 2021 (our 4th one)
- Mobile Mentoring for language teachers and businesses
- A new live round of the Language Habit Toolkit (including BINGO with prizes…I love games!)
- How to Get Fluent When Life’s Chaotic (free class, link coming soon)
Blogs & Podcasts
- Language Coaches: What They Are and How to Work With Them
- The Languages of Western and Central Asia with Erin Morgan
- Our big line-up of Words of the Year 2020
- The amazing story of how your brain processes code-switching
- 5 Ways to Set Your Language Goals for 2021
- Top Tools: Winter of 2021
- Stylistics: The Science of Hemingway and The Wire
This post is part of the #clearthelist round-up hosted by Shannon Kennedy and Lindsay Williams. I used to do these check-ins on a monthly basis, but since I’ve found relaxing the pace recently, I decided that a quarterly check-in is just as good.
The world is feeling like that cloud over our heads is starting to move a little. What about you? Do you feel the same? Leave me a comment below if you have any thoughts or questions for me!
#clearthelist February 2020: Slow and Steady (缓慢稳定)
Welcome to #clearthelist, my monthly update on my language learning goals and progress. This month it’s going to be a pretty speedy update because January was pretty full of good stuff! Spoiler: I feel better about my Chinese!
Welcome to #clearthelist, my monthly update on my language learning goals and progress. This month it’s going to be a pretty speedy update because January was pretty full of good stuff!
Fluent Language Updates
The biggest project I worked on in January was Your Solid Vocab Memory, my new online course about learning and remembering vocabulary. We’re running a live round right now with group calls and a pop-up forum - great way to light a 🔥under everyone's 🍑.
On the Fluent Show, there were so many awesome episodes. My favourite is “How to Find Fantastic Language Tutors in Your Network Right Now” - catch up here if you haven’t heard it yet!
In my personal life, I was lucky to have the opportunity to swim in the sea several times! 🌊 Winter swimming without a wetsuit is fairly new to me and I still struggle to make myself dive in, but every year it’s a little bit easier. Have you ever tried it?
My Language Goals and Progress
After it felt like January was about 60 days long, this month is promising to be almost the opposite: short and bursting with activity! I’m typing this on my way to London for an exciting new project. It’s also a big birthday for my mum this month, meaning I’ll be spending a week travelling to Germany.
I struggled with high stress levels towards the end of last year, so in terms of language goals I’m going to keep it loose in February and just study when I feel like it. Luckily, something has started to feel like….fun!
Chinese: Loose Ends Come Together
If you look back at my goal from last month, you’ll see that I had some difficulty staying committed to Mandarin Chinese. It’s no surprise that this language isn’t full of instant success moments, and I had to revisit my reason for studying it.
My decision at the time was to stay persistent with this language for another 3 months, and it’s been pretty good since!
I added the Teach Yourself Chinese course to my list of resources, and its structured guidance is the glue that’s bringing all my learning together. After about a month, I’m in chapter 6 and making good progress. I’m also beginning to feel all the benefits of 10 months of study, as I finally put together all that loose knowledge.
It can’t be said enough….learning another language means consistent progress over time, rather than a blast of knowledge forced into the brain all at once.
What I’m Using for Chinese Right Now
I’m enjoying Memrise Lingodeer and the Teach Yourself Beginner’s Chinese book I mentioned. I’m also using LingQ and it’s excellent, but I prefer printed materials most of the time. Just this week, I tested out of 13 Duolingo skills. I’m not learning with the Duolingo course at all, but using it to check in on my progress through an external marker.
What’s Next in Chinese?
I know I’m supposed to get more speaking practice already and I really want to do it, so that’s one for March probably. I’m enjoying the language content of the Teach Yourself book so I’ll try and push past chapter 8!
Welsh Practice
Although I still LOVE and practice Welsh all the time, I will no longer focus as hard on it during #clearthelist. My level is roughly B1-B2, so I’m absolutely functional and it’s a joy to speak Welsh.
In January, I watched and LOVED the S4C drama “Craith”, which you can also get in English. It’s probably WAY better in Welsh though, and good enough for me and my husband to binge several episodes. The show is set in Blaenau Ffestiniog and it’s so pretty!
What About You?
How was your January 2020? Leave a comment below!
This post is part of the Clear The List series, the monthly language learning round-up about language learning goals and progress. You can join us! Find out more about#clearthelist, which is hosted by Shannon Kennedy and Lindsay Williams.
Clear the List November 2019: No-English Lessons as a Beginner?!
Welcome to my latest check-in on language learning goals. In October, I studied three languages: Mandarin Chinese, Welsh, and a wildcard language that you can read about in this article. Join me in setting new goals for the month!
Clear the List November 2019: No-English Lessons at My Level?!
Hello and welcome to another blog post in the Clear The List series, the monthly language learning round-up about language learning goals and progress.
That’s right - NOVEMBER goals! October was a very interesting month for my language learning as I tried out something I had never tried before. Exciting stuff!
This check-in is part of the #clearthelist round-up hosted by Shannon Kennedy and Lindsay Williams.
What Happened in October?
I was busy signing up participants for the next Fluent German Retreat, and then I travelled to the USA again! This time, my time was spent at a retreat in Colorado and it took up about half of the month. So that means I had half of the month for studying languages.
I don’t usually allow a lot of my weekend to become language study time as I want to spend it with my husband and my inner lazybones, but this month I challenged myself and took several lessons on Saturday afternoons. It was actually great fun, and definitely a time of the week that now feels open for languages.
The Fluent Show in October
I travelled to London to record my first ever interview in person! The interview was with David Peterson, the remarkable creator of languages for TV shows like Game of Thrones, The 100, and Defiance. The resulting show is out on 11 November so look out for it in your usual podcast locations.
Recording in person was a new adventure for me and I travelled up to London with brand new microphones, cables, and mic stands! It’s worth it for a special recording atmosphere, I can’t wait to record in person again soon. If you listen to just one episode from October 2019, I recommend this deep dive into finding a perfect language teacher with my co-host Lindsay Williams.
Reminder: The Fluent Show has opened a Patreon page. This allows all listeners to become involved in making the show with a small monthly pledge. If you want to become a part of the community, please visit our Patreon page.
Language Goals and Progress
During the month of October, I pushed myself to take as many italki lessons as possible in the italki language challenge.
If you’ve never heard of italki, click here to find out more and get $10 credit - it is a platform for finding online language teachers, and it’s excellent.
Now before the big reveal, lemme tell you a thing: italki sets the challenge goals in lesson hours. But for me, language lessons are rarely an hour long when I’m crouching around somewhere at an early level. With the approach I took in Chinese, an hour would have felt very exhausting for me and the tutor so I chose to take lots of lessons but many of them were half an hour long.
And on that note, I totally didn’t meet the goal of 12 study hours. But I hadn’t expected to.
Instead, I took 6.25 hours of study time split over 9 lessons. The results were surprisingly positive, I felt reinvigorated and reminded how much I love languages! Here are the specifics.
Mandarin Chinese
Wow! Considering I was tutor-less a month ago, the italki challenge absolutely pushed me to find a new style and tutor that worked for me. And in Chinese, I tried a whole new approach this time.
Instead of choosing an experienced and formally qualified tutor, I decided to go with what italki calls a “community tutor”, i.e. someone who is ready to help and teach but who hasn’t formally studied the language as much.
This was 100% the right decision for someone like me who is
- an experienced language learner
- already working with 1 or 2 guiding resources
- pretty confident about knowing what to do.
Going for a tutor who approaches teaching less formally suits my own informal style perfectly, especially since I tend to follow up after class and do my own homework without prompting.
By the way, you can learn more about the differences and what they mean in this month’s podcast episode about language teachers.
No-English Lessons at My Level?!
I took inspiration from Scott Young’s interview on the Actual Fluency podcast (episode 164). In this interview, Scott mentioned that he used to hire tutors and tell them beforehand that he doesn’t know a lot but he wants to eliminate English during the class, so he will heavily use google translate.
I had previously taken lessons that involved a tutor working through a textbook with me, and I did not enjoy them so much. So I figured “what the heck” and decided to throw myself in at the deep end and speak terrible internet Chinese to a few people. They get paid, after all!
And the result was totally positive! I enjoyed each class, had lots of fun, experimented, and understood almost nothing my partners said to me. But it didn’t matter! We came away after 30 minutes feeling like there had been some level of conversation.
I am NOT speaking well yet, but or the first time since I started, I was having fun in Chinese.
If you want to try this out for yourself, go for it! The key is having good follow-up.
Each tutor was very diligent about typing what they said for me, so that after the lesson I took time to copy it into my notebook and I reviewed it for myself. This added about 30 minutes of follow-up time to the lessons, but it’s how I was able to remember things, and it’s also writing practice. Worth it!
App and Book Update
I’m enjoying Lingodeer and Assimil’s “Chinese False Beginners” workbook.
LingQ has fallen by the wayside because I’ve now finished the beginner’s material and there is a big gap between beginner and intermediate. No one wants to review 50 expressions after every page.
Welsh
I also took online lessons with a new Welsh teacher, who was lovely! After my US trip I noticed that I was particularly rusty, so getting right back into an hour of conversation was crucial. Looking forward to more!
In other goals, I have finally booked my next trip to Wales! I’m going to Cardiff/Pontypridd for a Sadwrn Siarad on 23 November and I cannot wait. Love Cardiff, and it’s been too long.
Wildcard Language!
My wildcard language for the italki challenge was BSL (British Sign Language), and I loved each of my 2 classes so much that it left me very eager to learn more and more. In reality, this would come at the cost of either Welsh or Chinese…what to do? Maybe I end up being a learner of all my local languages?
Language Goals for November 2019
Let’s get into detail then! November is a month without international travel, and I’m grateful for it.
Listening
When I’m a beginner in any language, listening without the visuals makes me feel more lost than supported. So this is all about my intermediate/advanced language, Welsh. I regularly listen to the radio and watch TV in Welsh, so my goal is to continue the good work with radio 2-3 times a week and TV for at least 2 hours without subtitles.
When I’m in Cardiff, I’ll also see if I can’t make it to a gig in Welsh.
In Chinese I’ll take a bit of Yabla practice but it’s not my main focus.
Reading
In Chinese, I read a lot as it’s my main source of information. My goal is to complete 2 more chapters in the Assimil workbook and to review the handwritten lesson notes I make.
In Welsh, once again I will finish Ffenestri. I WILL!!! It’s an important goal because then I can take it to Cardiff, give it away to another learner, and get a new supply.
Speaking
I want to build on the good work from October and take another 4 italki lessons in Chinese.
In Welsh, I’m obviously going to a whole day about siarad (speaking), and will also try to hang out with local friends when I’m in Cardiff. I am so excited.
Writing
This is one for Chinese study, where I want to continue my discipline in terms of following up on each lesson with hand-written notes that I can review easily.
What About You?
How do you work with online tutors? How was your October? Leave a comment below or if you’re an Instagram fan, click on the post below to share your own goals in your stories with my template.
#clearthelist September 2019: The Eleven Languages I Spoke in One Month
Welcome to my language progress and goals update for the new month. My focus languages are Mandarin Chinese and Welsh.
You’ll read about the 11 languages I spoke in August 2019 and catch up with top episodes of the Fluent Show podcast.
Imagine you’re on a long-distance cycling trip, perhaps through all of a country or state. You know the destination and you’re pedalling every day, always pushing ahead even if you know you may not arrive for many days. On a journey like that, what would you be without a necessary stop to find yourself on the map now and then? Can you do it without GPS? I don’t think I could!
Learning a language is a lot like navigating a long trip like that. We often know our destination before we get going and we set off in the right direction. But without regular check-ins, we may pedal and pedal until we fall over.
Here on the blog, I write a monthly check-in like that to keep you up to date with my own language learning goals. It’s part of the #clearthelist round-up hosted by Shannon Kennedy and Lindsay Williams.
Want to try out this check-in process for yourself?
Why not check out my Language Habit Toolkit, an in-depth course designed to help you set useful language goals, track them easily and achieve a new milestone every month.
What Happened in August?
Last month was dominated by my biggest trip of the year, visiting the USA and Canada to participate in two conferences. First, I attended Podcast Movement in Orlando to learn more about how to make great podcasts and support myself well while doing it.
And while I was across the pond, how could I have missed Langfest in Montréal, Canada? Impossible!
The trip in between these two cities was a lot of fun: I took Amtrak to Charleston in South Carolina, having long wanted to try the American train. My impression was…that Europeans love the train even in America, haha!
The Langfest team another excellent language event this year, with so many highlights including meeting the creators of Klingon and Dothraki, and running my own creative writing workshop with María Ortega Garcia.
The Fluent Show
First of all let me say how amazing it was for me to meet so many listeners on the road in August. I’m over the moon to know that the Fluent Show is popular!
This month contained a whole range of amazing episodes so let me share two with you today:
- Langfest 2019 captured in audio, with almost a dozen interviews and voices directly from the show
- What is the Right Mixture for Language Learning Success?, an episode about why so many methods feel like they’re THE best method
If you’re not a Fluent Show listener already, you’ll find lots more exciting shows to listen or subscribe to at www.fluent.show.
Language Goals and Progress
I had pretty clear goals for August 2019, so this time I’ll run through them without breaking it down too much into listening, speaking, reading and writing.
Mandarin Chinese
- Listen to Mandopop
I neglected this, spending more time on podcasts.
- Get 100 Lingqs on the LingQ app
Overall I now have lots of LingQs, the challenge is becoming more about noting and remembering them all! Still enjoying this app and using it in the mornings.
- Post 2-3 speaking videos on Instagram
I only posted one, then travel threw me off the wagon. I did learn some more Chinese from a new friend at Langfest though, so I feel positive about my speaking.
- Find a new Chinese tutor
So here’s what happened: I wanted a new tutor but felt guilty about ghosting the current one. Then as if by magic, she decided she’s taking a break and sent a messaging saying she won’t be available until December. So yay, I was free for a new tutor.
But then I didn’t book one. Hah! I count this as a goal half achieved 😅
- Figure out how to type Chinese characters on the iPhone
Done!
- Practice characters by hand every week
In the weeks I was at home, this was done.
Welsh
- Book a class to practice speaking
Sadly no, but I still got my speaking practice on one occasion this month in conversation with a Langfest buddy.
- Read the book Ffenestri
This book is LOVELY and I’m nearly finished. I’m reading well at all 3 levels, as I should :)
- Plan my next trip to Wales
Sadly this fell through as I prioritised visiting my family in Germany first. Chwarae teg, wouldn’t you say?
- More stuff!
I can now watch Welsh TV without subtitles! 🎉
Other Languages
It’s impossible to travel without practicing other languages, so August also became an opportunity for me to speak my long-neglected languages.
Counting in Klingon
In bilingual Montréal, I spoke lots of French with people from all over. Québécois French is never 100% comprehensible to me, but as always when I speak French I felt reassured that I’m entirely capable.
I bungled my way through a taxi ride with a lovely Colombian in Spanish, though I never did end up where I originally wanted to be. But I blame Lyft and GPS for that instead of my language skills, haha.
And talking of bungling, I also spoke more Italian than I have done in 20 years. The Italian sounded like that, too. It’s R.U.S.T.Y. and has essentially turned into bad Spanish.
I also attended basic workshops on the fictional languages Klingon and Dothraki, as well as Breton and Signed Languages.
Language Goals for September 2019
It’s handy to start setting goals by remembering the time frame available. In other words, the question is “What do you want to achieve in the next 30 days?” - seems a little less intense than wondering how to achieve a lot.
This month I’ve been inspired by intense learning projects and the book Ultralearning by Scott Young (interview coming up on the podcast). What can I commit to that would stretch me, challenge me?
Listening Goals
In Chinese, I’ll look for a tutor and ask them to help me listen, perhaps through some dictation rather than the pressure of conversing instantly.
In Welsh, I’m getting so much better so I’ll keep up what I’m doing.
Reading Goals
I don’t have firm goals here and want to focus on other skills, so I’ll just commit to the tools and say I want to finish Ffenestri in Welsh and use LingQ 4 days a week in Chinese.
Speaking Goals
Here I would like to take it up a notch!
In Chinese I am still fairly shy about speaking - I wish I had a few sample conversations to practice with. Comment if you can recommend any? Meanwhile it’s a good idea to push ahead and find that new tutor!
In Welsh I so want to practice speaking and everything, so I’m going to book myself 3 sessions to speak bad Welsh at people. Yay!
Writing Goals
I’ll go easy on the writing beyond what I usually do, which is to text people. In Chinese I’m also making vocab lists by hand now and writing down set phrases in characters and pinyin.
Here’s an instagram slideshow showing my vocab system in more detail:
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And that’s it for September’s #clearthelist!
How are You Getting On in Language Learning?
Comment below and tell me how your month of August went! Did you come to Langfest? Would you like to attend it some time? Have you got any strong speaking goals?
Looking forward to hearing from you!
