What language fluency looks like

On my adventures around Pinterest, I recently came across this image which is filled with thoughts of "language fluency". It addresses a question every learner asks him- or herself lots of times - What exactly IS fluency? So many of you quote fluency as the ultimate learning ambition, so have you defined what it means to you? 

Giant beret is not a symbol of fluency

A word about SMART goals

If you have taken on challenges in the past, you may have come across this very corporate acronym before. SMART stands for specific - measurable - achievable - relevant - time constrained. Generally speaking, this is considered to be the best possible way that you can formulate a goal. "Fluency" therefore needs to be made measurable, and it's really important that you try and spell out to yourself what exactly it means to be fluent.

For example, a vague and not very effective goal would be "I want to be able to have a conversation with a French person soon." 

Now compare that to this goal, which can be considered worthwhile and functional: "I want to be able to have general small talk about the weather and travel methods (specific and  achievable ) with my French aunt (relevant ) when I go and see them in a month (time constrained )." And even with that, the question of how you measure it is not too clearly answered. Measuring fluency is up to you. Like a self-fulfilling prophecy, fluency happens when you believe it's happening.

Checklist - what makes you fluent?

In the image shown above, you can see a few good indicators that you could take as measurements of fluency. For me, these are the most important ones:

• You are able to communicate without hesitation and without long gaps, and feel confident to compensate for words you don't know
  
  
• You are secure enough in your understanding of grammar and word order that you can produce sentences without wondering where the words go or what tense the sentence is supposed to be in
  
  
• You feel that you connect, share information and understand your partner's responses in a conversation
  
  
• You find that using your language brings you a sense of achievement and confidence, which increases your core skills 

If you are a language learner or educator, what would you add to this list? Or would you take something out?

Remember it's attitude and skill combined

Finally, there are two parts to becoming that fluent speaker you dream of being. It's in your attitude, trying and going for it without worries of whether your verb endings are spot on or not. But there is also an aspect of practice and expertise, so don't think that with the right attitude you could completely neglect the study part. Once you get both of those up to the right level, you will just know that it's working. Until then....invisible progress. 

5 great reasons for language learning with a buddy

When you are learning a new language, your motivation is often rooted in appreciation of how people connect and communicate. Language learning is social by definition, and it's clearly most fun when you can practice and learn with others. All good on paper, but what if you don't know any fellow learners?

5 great reasons for finding a learning buddy

Just like a lot of language learners, I'm not averse to a bit of a challenge. Teaching yourself from books is definitely one of those, but my advice would be that you stay away from challenging yourself to learn in isolation. Here are 5 good reasons why sharing the language learning journey with a buddy (someone at your level, a friend or tutor) makes a lot of sense.

img ©D Sharon Pruitt on Flickr

1. You'll open up
   Expressing your feelings is super-beneficial, no matter if it's through talking, drawing, writing or singing. In the context of language learning, this means you will benefit a lot from speaking about the language learning experience. Shared frustrations and worries are often halved when you have the chance to talk to someone who knows what you mean.
   
   
2. You'll keep going 
   Giving up is much less of an option when people know about your commitment to really making this work. Yes, this tip is just one of my whole library of tips that work both for diets and language learning :)
   
   
3.  Double the research power
   Have you been on the internet these days? It's so full of great resources and media and music and articles that I barely have time to watch Game of Thrones! Even if your chosen buddy isn't one who shares your fluency ambitions, they can help you by keeping an eye out for the best resources, recommended tutors or fellow learners. A network is a powerful thing, and it's so easy to start.
   
   
4. They can quiz you
   There is rarely a thing more efficient than asking a friend to quiz you on your vocabulary lists - they'll be able to engage with your experience with all the pressure taken off, play teacher, set challenges or even grade you.
   
   I can imagine that this works particularly well in married couples - wouldn't you just LOVE to have the licence to educate your other half?! From my own experience, I also love how it enables my partner to help me with things like my Russian, without having to understand any of it himself.
   
   
5. You might save money
   From borrowing dictionaries to taking cheaper private classes with a tutor (like me), you might find that sharing the language learning experience can really save you a lot of money. This doesn't have to be an expensive experience and not every book or course will do the same for all people, but even if you spent no coins at all on it, you might benefit from a shared cost trip to the exciting destination of your dreams!
   

How to make it work

There's no straightforward recipe for success for learning with a friend or loved one. Some of us are reassured by having fellow learners, others feel particularly shy about it. You might also want to learn at a different pace to your friend, or work best at different times. If you aren't attending classes together, consider texting in the other language or sitting down just for a monthly catch-up. And if you have found someone who is not a learner him- or herself but wants to cheerlead and support you, how about planning that great trip together?

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6 odd Moselle slang expressions they teach in no German class

Hello language lovers, yes it's a late blog post today. I'm writing this in Germany after a weekend full of family goodness: a wedding, a lot of time with a small child, and then a long-awaited new life came into this world. All is well then. And on the linguistic front, I have noticed that, once I return all of my good grammar goes out of the window. Wanna know why?

German dialects are strong

The German language plays host to a range of dialects as varied as the country they are from. This place used to be so scattered in different kingdoms and duchies that even across a few miles the language would have varied strongly. 

Are strong dialects cool?

To this question, I would vote quite an emphatic yes. I love being able to understand Mosel German, and in the UK I like hearing the differences between a Scouse (someone from Liverpool), a Geordie (someone from Newcastle) and a Londoner.  Dialects, just like language choices, are all about identity.

In celebration of all that dialect goodness, here are your essential Mosel phrases - if you ever want to sound local around Trier, make sure you say one. 

1. Bei dich
   This is used where high German would say "zu dir". Note how we use the dative case after the word "bei", so that indicates that the usually stationary "bei" (at) is being used as a "zu" (to).
   Example: Ja, ich komm morgen bei dich. (yes, I'll come to yours tomorrow)
    
2. Was ist das denn für Zahnpasta?
   Hmm, this one is quite odd indeed. Jumbly word order meets omission of indefinite article and mixes in nicely with a "für" thrown in. The correct German version of asking this would be "Was für eine xx ist das?", meaning "What type of xx is this?"
    
3. dem Leon sein
   The Genitive case, who needs it around here!? Why not just cut it and randomly use dative + possessive? Really, this will make you sound so local. Practice now, then keep it quiet from your German teacher.
   Example: Ich will das T-Shirt anziehen, aber das ist dem Ludwig seins. (I want to wear the T-Shirt but it's Ludwig's).
    
4. langsam
   You know this one, it means slow. But when you talk to little kids around here, we also want them to be quiet. I guess it's the Mosel musicality, basically telling a child to go "Adagio".
    
5. die Kerstin
   This slang phenomenon is common all over Germany - basically we put a "the" in front of the first name of whoever we're referring to. It's quite informal and very common among children and friends. 
    
6. ich hab 20 kilo abgeholt
   We really prefer "holen" to "nehmen" around here, and even use it where no other German would think that holen is a thing that you do...you lose weight, that's abholen (yep, abnehmen in your dictionary), you take medication, that's einholen. Read up about it here (in German language, but it's high German!). 

That's it for today guys, I hope you enjoyed the short insight into how Germans really speak. Use these liberally if you want to tear up the rulebook, but never with "Sie", because slang and the polite form of address don't mix.

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So, are there easy and hard languages - or not?

​Today I want to share a Youtube video created by Richard Simcott, a native English speaker who has studied an inspiring 16 languages!

Richard is a helpful language learning speaker, consultant, and also one of the founders of the Polyglot Conference (see you there next year?). The video he presents guides viewers through a great summary of why a language is considered hard or easy to learn for native English speakers.

​But wait, you said there are no hard languages!

​If you rewind a little bit through the archives of this blog, you will see that I have happily proclaimed "There are no hard or easy languages!" So before I go contradicting Richard's very valid points, let me explain what I mean:

The reason why you will find a language easy or difficult to learn can vary. There are the tangible factors of grammar, pronunciation, writing system and how familiar the words are. Those can't be ignored, they'll make your life easier or harder every day. But there is another attitude, much closer rooted in your own mind: The learner makes his or her learning easy (or difficult).​

You are in charge of what's easy

​Positive thinking is highly effective in language learning. If you believe that you're tackling a language that is difficult to learn, you may have a harder time. Instead, look at your motivation, consider why you're on this adventure and make yourself look at the bright side.

• An unfamiliar writing system - did this attract you to the language in the first place?​
• A completely foreign vocabulary - could you consider this your new secret code, a fresh way of looking at the world?​
• When you catch yourself dwelling on the difficult parts of your new language, try going back to something you're already good at until the confidence returns.​

Okay, so I admit this won't make Korean any easier than Spanish, but hopefully it can help fend off any big worries if you find your language in a class 1 or 2! Which language are you learning these days?

Eurovision is letting language learners down

It's the best song in Europe, honey!

What were you doing last Saturday night? If you are like 125 million Europeans, you may have spent a few hours in front of your television following one of the continent's best-loved TV traditions: the Eurovision song contest! It features bilingual presenters, entrants from European countries such as Azerbaijan and Morocco, and one of the largest tele-voting networks outside the USA.​

Eurovision stage ​©wikimedia

Is Europe ruled by English?

But there is one thing that bugs me about the contest: The rules were changed in 1998 to allow countries to submit entries in any desired language. As a consequence, a lot of countries opted for the widely understood English language. And the numbers don't prove them wrong - the Economist reports that most of the winning songs were sung in English, only followed by French on a far-off second place. The article says "whether you find this linguistic convergence cheerful as an Abba foot-stomper or depressing as an Icelandic fishing trip will say as much about your politics as it will your views on language."

“Most winning songs were performed in English - songs (mostly) in English won 24 times. French is also popular, with 14 victories. Dutch and Hebrew songs won 3 times each”

— eurovision.tv

Why Eurovision entrants should sing in their official language

​This may not come as a shock to Fluent blog fans, but I say let's get the old rules back and give so many countries a voice in their own words.

1. ​Europe is one of the most beautifully diverse continents in this world (top 5 I'd say!) and its languages are one of the strongest symbols of that diversity. If we don't support languages from every country, we risk losing them.
   
   
2. Eurovision is not a popularity contest - or at least it shouldn't be. In a world where the voting is so skewed by silly political considerations, I believe that singing in English can mean trading in a little bit of your national identity for bland conformity.
   
   
3. ​Inspiration can strike in the language learner anywhere, and this is one of the most famous platforms for some countries to show off their beautiful languages. The brave countries took the decision to submit an entry in their native tongue this year, and to me, each of them stood out: Iceland, Estonia, Italy, Spain, Greece, I salute you!
   

What do you think - is winning the Eurovision with a bland English-language track better than flamboyantly celebrating what your country has to offer? Are there any entrants that combined both?​

Read more about Music and Language Learning on the Fluent blog:​​

​Where to look for inspiration

Musical Language Learning Hacks​

And you can see me speak 25 European languages on this Youtube video: