Living And Speaking French Just Like In France + 11 Everyday French Expressions

Let's be honest: We all dream of speaking perfect French. To communicate in melodic sentences, move along the boulevards and feel right at home, and essentially turn into Amélie for a day.

But if you've been learning the French language for a while, maybe you've found that it's hard to feel at home with this language. You know all the vocabulary, you have practiced the grammar...but something feels like it's missing.

In today's episode of the Fluent Show, I've got a special guest who is going to help us find that missing piece, in a bilingual episode dedicated to France and French culture. My guest is Géraldine Lepere, an online French teacher at Comme Une Française.

Her French lessons are for anyone who values the French language and culture, and her online courses help learners at any level go beyond grammar and "double their Frenchness."

Start listening here:

Bilingual? How does that work?

It's simple. Throughout this episode of the podcast, Géraldine and I will switch between speaking English and speaking French. 

You will hear me make mistakes, forget words, and be right there in the truth of making mistakes. I am a French speaker and have studied French for 20+ years, but my French is NOT perfect.

In this episode you will learn

• how to swear and how to say "that's awesome" in French
• what you need to know about French food
• why understanding French culture makes the difference when you practice your language
• what real French people think about studying French grammar
• where to find the best restaurants and the best music in France
• how Géraldine's website can help you speak French comme une française

Here are a few things to listen out for:

Cross-Languaging

As soon as I started speaking French to Géraldine, I threw in all sorts of other languages! On the recording, you can hear me say things in Welsh, then German, and then finally in the language I was looking for. When you are out of practice speaking any language, this type of "interference" is actually pretty normal.

Everyday Expressions In French

I learnt French in the 1990s from an experienced (though perhaps middle-aged) French school teacher, so I used this opportunity to refresh my Français familier: the colloquial language that was neglected when my education focused on professional environments.

Here are a few of the expressions I learnt in this episode:

• Greetings and Goodbyes - Coucou, À plus
• "quite a while ago" - il y a longtemps
• Swearing (hehe!): mince!, or putain/merde (but those are not suitable for foreigners)
• awesome! - trop bien, génial, chouette
• cute - mignon
• great, but also awful...depending on the context! - terrible
• funny - rigolo
• to confuse - confondre
• around here - dans le coin

Living in Three Languages

Géraldine is more than your average French woman: she grew up conversing with her parents in French and in Spanish, and now runs a business helping English speakers too. For her, every language comes with a slightly different outlook: French for love and life, English for business and strategy, and Spanish for speaking to family.

Setting Good Goals

For learning French, it pays to be structured and organised about learning other languages. Géraldine and I discussed how a clear Vision Goal and Path Goal can serve you as you're sitting down to learn. When you set yourself the goal "I want to speak French", you run a risk of big failure because things are so vague.

Make sure that you capture the vision and document what motivates you to learn French - le désir, but then get specific and create les buts de chemin, goals that guide you on the path to everyday fluency.

The Language Habit Toolkit is my structured product giving guidance and worksheets so you can create your own goals and study plan, step by step.

Speaking a Language Means Having Respect

French people often get a reputation for "rudeness", but is that really true or are they simply acting in a way you're not familiar with? For example, small talk is less common and a French speaker's silence is often meant to communicate respect for you. When you're learning French, knowing these important things about the norms of communication in a country are a lot more important than knowing the gender of every single noun.

Understanding France

Learning French as a language is one thing. Learning real-life French with all the little things that help you sound like a real human instead of a 1950s textbook, that's another. Géraldine mentioned how many times her students struggle trying to get that natural touch in the French language, and how many times they get frustrated because the French keep replying to them in English.

Once you start working on your cultural competence, you'll find that this changes. You'll be able to hook in to that extra layer of fluency that makes everyone around you relax. And voilà, they start answering in French too.

Want To Lean French Language and French Culture? 🇫🇷

If you have been putting in the hours on French duolingo and feel nearly ready to speak the language to real people, here is something that will get you exactly where you want to be.

Géraldine has got a programme fantastique, a brilliant course designed to speak real French. It's perfect for intermediates who want to start speaking French for real.

Oh and best of all, she's included a 15% discount for listeners of the Fluent Show! 

Click Here To Discover How To Speak French Like In France (15% Discount)

Loved The Show?

I look forward to hearing your feedback. Did you enjoy this bilingual podcast episode? Did you understand anything...and how did you feel if you did not?

7 Tips For Learning A Language From Your Girlfriend or Boyfriend

If I had 5p every time I read someone telling someone else that the best way to learn a language is to "get a native speaking girlfriend", I think I could retire at 35.

Today, you'll hear from Nick Vance, who is in the lucky position of having one of those handy "native speaker girlfriends". So, how's it working out?

In this article, Nick will share 7 useful tips to help you understand how to learn a language with your sweetheart.

Learning German from My Girlfriend

As an American living in Berlin with my German girlfriend, Natalie, people constantly ask me the same questions.

Where did you two meet? In Costa Rica - surprising, but true!

Did you move to Berlin to be with her? Nope - it took us many years to finally fall in love.

Is she the reason you speak German fluently? Jein - a combination of the German words “ja” and “nein” (“yes” and “no”).

Natalie did indeed play a huge role in helping me reach fluency in German. However, she didn’t actually teach me very many things about the language. She “just” talked with me for thousands of hours, giving me the opportunity to practice. I learned German grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation in a language school, through self-study online, and in private one-on-one lessons.

Your partner can be a big help in you learning their native language, but it’s important to be careful about expecting too much from them. Today I’m going to share some concrete tips for how you and your partner can work together to learn each other’s languages.

Speaking Practice with Your Partner

Once you’ve reached about B1 level, you can start having real conversations about real topics. Awesome! This is the area where your partner can really help you, and you can start making lots of progress really quickly.

Set Up Some Rules

There’s no right or wrong way to set up your plan on how and when you speak which language, but they need to be agreed upon by both people. For a long time Natalie and I would alternate weeks. Every Sunday night at midnight, we would switch from English to German, or the other way around. Yes, I would sometimes look at the clock and switch at exactly 12:01 am, mostly just because I thought it was funny. Other people might agree to always speak Spanish at the dinner table, or to speak French on weekends, or whatever. My advice: the simpler the plan, the better.

Focus on What You Say (Not How You Say It)

This part of your language practice should be fun and focused on improving your ability to quickly form sentences and communicate them. Avoid correcting the other person during this time. If you BOTH agree, take some time maybe once a week for the native speaker to share some feedback on what you can improve.

But what if you’re still at level A1 or A2?

Honestly, your conversations aren’t going to be that interesting. However, you can still have some short conversations to get used to the idea of speaking in that language. For example, speak in the language for the first 5 minutes when you see each other in the evening. Depending on your relationship, that’s often how your day was and what you did. You’ll quickly get used to this vocabulary and be able to feel more comfortable in the language.

Your Partner Isn’t the Perfect Teacher

Teaching Is a Skill

I’ve heard lots of stories from friends in similar relationships who were frustrated that their partner wasn’t able or willing to teach them their native language. Some of them even blamed their partner, calling them lazy, uninterested, or simply unhelpful. The more likely explanation is that teaching is a skill that not everyone has.

If you’re just starting out in a language (A1 / A2 level), your partner probably doesn’t understand pedagogically how to teach a language. Should you first focus on learning all of the tenses and their uses? How important is learning vocabulary compared to improving your pronunciation? What books are appropriate for your level? These are questions that a normal person just doesn’t know about their language.

Additionally, your partner might not know exactly how their language works, even if they speak and write it perfectly. For example, what’s the difference between “while” and “during” in English? I only learned this when I became an English teacher. Before then I always used the correct word, but it was just because it “felt” right.

Different Roles

In your relationship, you and your partner have specific roles. Perhaps you make vacation plans while your partner just shows up at the airport and follows your lead. But that’s made up for by your partner cooking dinner every night for the both of you. Everything is great as long as both sides are comfortable with the arrangement.

Teacher-student is a very special role that comes with lots of built-in assumptions. If your partner (acting as the teacher) tells you to work on your pronunciation of “th,” and you don’t practice it, what happens? If the person is just a teacher, that disappointment, frustration, or embarrassment is left in the classroom. If that person is also your partner, it can bleed into the rest of your relationship and cause bigger problems.

Give It a Shot!

This all is not to say it’s impossible. If you both are willing, give it a shot. Maybe your partner is actually quite good at explaining when to use what tense, and you develop a teacher-student relationship that doesn’t does lead to any other issues. Learning the language from your partner could then be a great way to spend time together and strengthen your bond.

But if it feels like a struggle, don’t force it. Accepting this limitation is important for preventing feelings of resentment.

Their inability to teach you about subordinate clauses shouldn’t be seen as a lack of love for you, but only their inability to teach subordinate clauses.

It’s not language learning, but I recently learned how to drive in Germany - both the rules of the road and how to drive stick shift. I’d been driving automatic cars in the US for 15 years, but had never needed to drive stick.

Once again, I hoped to profit from Natalie’s knowledge. We decided that she’d try to teach me a couple of times, and if it didn’t work out, I’d pay for driving lessons from a professional. Even though she had no experience as a driving instructor, she was an amazing, patient teacher, and it was a fun experience. And now I can drive in Germany!!!

No More Borders

No more borders - Nick (from the US) and Natalie (from the former East Germany) on a bridge that once marked the border between East Germany and West Germany.

Being a Supportive Language Helper

If your partner is trying to learn your language, you have a unique responsibility. Even if you don’t act as their teacher or even speak the language with them, there are things you can do to help or hurt their progress. Here are some things that you should definitely avoid.

Don’t Make Fun of Their Language Ability

I’m sure you don’t intend it to be mean, but little comments or jokes can make your partner feel self-conscious and kill their desire to speak. This doesn’t mean you can’t laugh about the language, but just be extra careful you’re laughing with them. Like when I asked Natalie if she had used the helicopter to clean our apartment (I meant vacuum cleaner but had somehow mixed up the words Hubschrauber and Staubsauger… they still sound similar in my head, but apparently in no one else’s).

Don’t Talk about How Difficult Your Language Is

This is usually meant in a helpful way, letting your partner know that they shouldn’t feel bad about struggling or to show them how impressed you are at the progress they’ve made. However, it often comes across as “why are you even bothering.” I can’t tell you how many people have told me that German is “so hard” and “impossible for foreigners to learn.” Yes, there are some things that take time to learn or do 100% perfectly, but there are millions of immigrants in Germany today proving them wrong. If you need help with this language in particular, Kerstin has some great German learning resources.

Conclusion

In the end, there are plenty of ways your partner can help or hurt your language learning. Find out what works best for the both of you, and don’t try to force something that isn’t working. They might be the love of your life, but that doesn’t mean they have to be your language teacher.

If you’d like some more tips, check out Kerstin’s article about helping your partner learn your native language. And I’d love to hear about your experiences.

Share with me in the comments your ups and downs about learning a language from or teaching a language to your partner. Especially if there were any hilarious misunderstandings!

Nick Vance is originally from the U.S. but has been living in Germany the last 6 years. For him, being able to speak German fluently has been a key to feeling at home in Berlin. Learning a language as an adult is much different than learning in school, and Nick uses his own personal language learning experience when he teaches English. You can find more information about his online English lessons at Skype Englisch (in German) or English with Nick (in English).

#clearthelist June 2018: Learning Languages When Busy

Welcome to my latest language learning update through #clearthelist. Clear the List is a support and accountability blog group sharing monthly language learning goals.

I’m writing this article a few days later than I would have liked, but that doesn’t mean I can’t review and set my language goals.

What Happened In May

Looking back at the diary, here is a list of what happened over the month. It was a B U S Y one.

• I recorded an awesome episode of the Fluent Show with Ellen Jovin, and several episodes with Lindsay, plus a new bilingual episode that you guys will hear soon
• My beloved car Polly got the rust and failed MOT, meaning I’ll have to say good bye 🚙
• I visited Manchester, one of my favourite cities, and ran the Great Manchester Run (a 10k) in support of Manchester University’s access funds
• Olly Richards and I started working on the launch of German Uncovered, which is my new German course — of course now everything needs to be done faster than ever
• I prepared a talk and presented at the 5th Polyglot Gathering in Bratislava!
• We filled all spaces on Fluent’s first German Retreat 🇩🇪💕🍺 in Munich. The Retreat is now fully booked and I’m looking forward to announcing the next one in a few months.
• I finished the book Getting Through, about pragmatics in intercultural situations. It’s very good! Sadly no time for a thorough review.

Buy on Amazon

A Polyglot Gathering is always such a fantastic experience, where you get to meet many new friends, practice your languages, and feel as if you’re not a weirdo because other people there get excited about diphthongs too!

Shout out to the lovely James who patiently let me practice my Spanish on him in Bratislava. I was encouraged to be getting sentences together. I also practiced very basic greetings in Russian, and spoke Welsh, German, and French,=.

How I’m Trying A Bit Of Chinese

True to the spirit of a month that ended in the Polyglot Gathering, this one contained some dabbling in a new language. Inspired by a mention of the LingoDeer app by Lindsay during Fluent Show 89, I’ve been learning my first ever Chinese words, letters and phrases.

The Fluent Show

On the podcast, there were some great episodes with both guests and co-host. Don't miss out on my conversation with Ellen Jovin, reminding us all what matters most in language learning. She has studied over 20 languages, all from her apartment in New York City.

Listen To The Episode About Learning And Speaking 20+ Languages In New York City

Thank you, Ellen!! You're awesome.

Welsh Language Goals: Review For May 2018

These were my previous goals

Listening

Hah! Last month I declared that watching TV wasn’t working out for me as a goal. This month I got straight into watching TV, starting with an idle viewing of a Welsh triathlon (for some reason I enjoy sports commentary), and moving on to Ffit Cymru - a sort of “Biggest Loser” show for the whole country of Wales.

And what’s best is that I managed to watch a significant chunk of it without even the subtitles. When switching off the subtitles, I don’t worry so much about understanding 100%. For me, it’s about getting more time to watch before I get tired. So with 15-20 minutes subtitle-free at a time, things are looking great in the listening department.

Complete at least 2 intensive listens to the Pigion podcast This was the original goal and I did listen to one or two of the podcasts, but unfortunately the vocab list links were missing for a few episodes in May. So I didn’t quite get it done as planned.

Still, happy with my Welsh listening comprehension!

Reading

Start reading Ffenestri or Sgwp Result! I am finding my choice Sgwp a lot easier to read than the previous choice (Bywyd Blodwen Jones), and the story is great. The chapters are a lot shorter than expected, so instead of 1-3 I managed to get up to 23 so far.

Read poetry in Welsh! Sadly, this one fell by the wayside. But I’m not ready to give up yet.

Speaking

Have at least 6 (!) short conversations in Welsh only Remember those 6 conversations I was going to have in May? Omg. Fail o Rama. Even though I now have a few people to access as language tutors and exchange partners, I just didn’t make the arrangements to actually let them know I want to practice. Lesson learnt: When you want to practice speaking in your target language, turns out you’ve got to go and arrange speaking practice.

I spoke some Welsh at the Polyglot Gathering and got good feedback, but overall I felt I wasn’t performing how I’d like. The noise levels, spontaneous nature of conversation, and mix of languages flying around my mind meant I was a lot slower. Plus, I still can’t handle those bloody yes/no questions!

All in all, maybe 2 out of 6.

Look for a book club

The book club is in contact, we’re regularly writing to each other and had a date in the diary. Sadly we missed that date, but apart from that it’s mission accomplished.

Writing

Write 2 language poems, and more considered ones. Uhhh, no that didn’t happen. I got intimidated after hearing an excellent BBC documentary about the cynghanedd poetry form, and then I thought I better not bother. Look below for a VERY simplified goal, because I am NOT ready to give up on #languagepoems.

Daily Contact Goal

In May, I logged 20 days of contact with the Welsh language. I lost track a bit towards the end, but I believe about 3-4 days were unlogged. My most used language apps were Ap Geiriaduron, Duolingo, and SmartCards+.

Language Goals For June 2018

June is another month that’s looking like it will be intense, with continued work on German Uncovered for the latest parts of the course and a well-deserved holiday in there too.

Check out the goals:

Welsh

Welsh is still my focus language, but this month I’m reducing the goals to make space for French and Chinese.

Listening

Follow The Ffit Cymru Series on S4C My goal is just to watch it, and I will switch off subtitles if I’m feeling up to it.

Reading

Try and Finish The Book Sgwp I’m enjoying this book and got about halfway through in crazy busy March, so let’s see if I can aim for finishing this month.

Speaking

2 30 Minute Conversations With My Tutor I tend to have a dislike of binding myself to a schedule, so I hadn’t booked regular classes. But noticing how that led to some serious slacking, I’ve now taken action and booked in the next 2 classes with my italki teacher in one go. They’re both in for this month.

Writing

My Welsh writing practice is now regular as I send emails and DMs to a few people in the language, but as a goal, I’m adding.

Write 1 Haiku I overshot last month and want to keep it super easy so I can achieve this one. If I write 1 and there’s time, I’ll write another. Easy!

Non Welsh Practice

There are two other languages I will probably work with this month.

French

La Belle France

Going to see the Calanques!

I’m going on holiday to France, so there’s no way I won’t be speaking a lot of the language. My French is a “rusty C1” kind of level, but especially the spoken language is very rusty. Read here for more about my French practice and tips.

My goal is to book a guided hike of the Calanques, all in French.

Chinese

In Chinese, I’m only dabbling and it feels intimidating to actually commit to a goal. I will keep playing with Lingodeer and see what I can retain.

So, in a nutshell that was the month of May! What about you?

How was your month?

If you want to join the linkup and share your own goals for the month, hop on to Clear The List with Lindsay Williams and Shannon Kennedy. I would love to read about what you’re up to in the comments below!

What Is Fluency, What Is Mastery...And How Do You Get There?

If there is one question that haunts language learners, it must be this one:

"How many languages do you speak fluently?"

Often asked innocently by people who are interested, it can strike terror in your mind. Will they test you on your languages? Are you allowed to say you're fluent if you still make mistakes?

Oof! Those are heavy questions, and none of them are difficult to answer. Even for those of us who have studied for decades, the question of fluency still causes confusion.

This week on the Fluent Show, Lindsay and I went deep on those questions.

It's a great conversation, and will provide you with a new sense of clarity and inspiration, so you can confidently go out there and do what you need to do: learn languages and feel great about it!

Press play now, and don't forget to leave us a comment below to share what you thought of the show.

Podcast Notes

Our warm-up discussion revolved around the labels we see in our space, and whether they apply to you.

If You Travel And Work On A Laptop, Are You a Digital Nomad?

A digital nomad is a person who travels and works online, right? But for some reason, the term can feel icky to us. In this week's episode, we discussed how some words walk that line between being descriptive and defining.

When being a digital nomad (or "polyglot", y'know..?) becomes a label that you like to put on yourself, it's worth taking a second to consider who that YOU really is underneath. After all, at some point everyone might want to stop travelling and settle up with a nice cat, just two target languages instead of 12, and a garden and a veg patch. And that is super cool, because that's you.

If you thought that this discussion of who YOU are was deep, wait until you hear what we moved on to!

How Will You Get Fluent? How Can You Achieve Mastery?

I have received several messages from listeners recently, asking the Fluent Show to weigh in on how we can achieve goals such as fluency and mastery. And interestingly, each one of them asked another question:

"How do I know when I have achieved it?"

What Is Fluency In A Language?

Our first question came from Evan, and he wondered when one can consider oneself fluent in a language. In the question, Evan considered quite a range of definitions from "making no mistakes" to "dreaming in your target language".

Our discussion starts off with this fluency mindmap I drew:

Bet you love my handwriting. Here's more about our take on fluency..

• "Fluency" implies speed and ease when using a language, which comes out most strongly when you're interacting with someone in person
• Usually interacting with someone in person means speaking
• The concept includes intercultural awareness that helps you put your conversation partner at ease and how to interact in a way that is appropriate for their style
• It implies confidence, meaning you have strategies to keep a conversation going

Fluency In A Language Is A Moving Target

Ultimately, your own definition of what fluency means to you is personal and unique. We believe that there are different points of fluency. These can relate to your goals and the purpose of your language learning. They can relate to what you are aiming for next, or what you're finding around you right now.

Just as life is forever changing, you may constantly evaluate your requirements for being "fluent".

What Is Mastery Of A Language?

Moving on from the fuzzy concept of fluency, we turned our minds to "Mastery" and how it is different from the former.

Madeline wrote in and asked:

What counts as mastery? Does every native speaker even possess it?

Our Thoughts on Mastery

This one was even trickier to nail down, believe it or not!

• Mastery is a point of pride and confidence for many, something we actively aim for and
• The word implies comfortable command, being able to use a skill (i.e. a language) with ease
• Mastery includes understanding beyond the literal meaning of the words in a target language
• But it can also imply superiority, like being the best out of everyone who uses that target language. Which isn't quite right in this context.
• For me, mastery is about more than just conversation and personal interaction. It encompasses the four core skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing

Our Conclusion

Both fluency and mastery are wonderful concepts to consider, but as Lindsay says, she is happy to not be fluent or masterful in every language. There is so much to discover and learn, and we can take a lot of joy out of appreciating the way that's ahead of us.

Yes, you can always get better. But there's no point in stressing about whether you are a fluent master - walk your own path, keep moving forward, and allow yourself to feel fluent on your own terms.

#clearthelist April 2018: Now I Know My Welsh Language Level

Welcome to my latest language learning update through #clearthelist. Clear the List is a support and accountability blog group sharing monthly language learning goals. I have got LOTS OF GOALS this months, so let's get going.

What Happened in April 2018?

First of all: I went to Wales!

My big April goal was Book a day in Wales: SMASH SUCCESS PARTY, I went and attended a 2 day Easter Course in Wales in early April. You may have heard about it on the podcast I recorded there, which I was so happy with. The course I attended was awesome, so great to spend 2 days in the classroom with others who are also at my level in the language.

Talking of level, I have more good news. I chose to sign up for the course at intermediate level (“Canolradd” or roughly B1). I was not convinced, thinking I’m actually a little lower. But having taken a short self-assessment test, I figured I might as well be ambitious and downgrade if necessary. Turns out, I didn’t have to downgrade.

After 2.5 years of self-study I now know B1 level Welsh! This is so exciting, because I’ve never 100% self-studied a language to this level before. I still enjoy learning the Welsh language so much, and have a long way to go.

If you’re also a self-studier, see if there’s a top-up course like this available in your target language. They are great fun, and the tutor knew exactly which parts learners at our level are struggling with the most.

German Course Creation

I am currently working on a new German course. A lot of my working time was spent working with this story and creating resources for our students. German Uncovered in collaboration with Olly Richards from I Will Teach You a Language, and we're coming close to opening the course for the first time.

The Fluent Show

On the podcast, there were some great episodes during April, but the most exciting one has to be the episode Welsh is Not English.

I had never tried this “radio documentary” style of editing and was so proud of the result. Give the show a listen and subscribe for more episodes if you like it. The Fluent Show is now available on even more platforms including Spotify and TuneIn Radio.

Most “Fun Fact” of The Month

Welsh has 50 ways of saying yes or no. I can correctly use about 1.5 of them. Sigh.

How Did It Go With My April Goals?

In addition to the 2 day course, I also had some other goals:

Have 3 natural conversations with my tutor/exchange partner and listen carefully: Ohh gosh, oh my, I missed the one session I’d booked and never even rescheduled. So that’s 0 out of 3.

However, I had conversations in Welsh while travelling there. I actually tried to use Welsh in 3 or 4 shops and restaurants, and couldn’t find any server who actually knew the language. So my conversations were with enthusiasts, i.e. all the people you heard on the podcast. Thank you so much to Gavin and Steffan, Morfydd and Janet, for speaking Welsh to me.

Practice Welsh listening by playing with no-subtitle TV, and reviewing the Pigion podcast vocab before I listen: I didn’t watch any good TV, I need to stop even setting this goal as it’s just not what I get up to right now. But I listened to 2 Pigions and made good use of the vocab supplied with the show.

Write a longer Welsh poem and continue playing around with different poetry formats: I managed one longer poem, but it was supremely nonsensical. Well, better than nothing, right?

Finish my easy reader novel and read all of the latest Lingo Newydd magazine Yep! I finished Bywyd Blodwen Jones, my first ever book in Welsh! Also did well with the magazine, which continues to be such a joy in my house. Great to add a bit of Welsh over breakfast.

Daily Contact Goal

In April, I logged 19 days of contact with the Welsh language. My most used language apps were ApGeiriaduron, Duolingo, SmartCards+, and Clozemaster. Followed by Instagram and Twitter.

Goals For May 2018

Sometimes there’s nothing special or grand to be aiming for, and those are the hardest times to keep going. It feels like “another month of the same”, without that fizzy excitement of a fixed goal.

I find that my goals get more exciting when I share them with others, and when I join a group. So it’s time to search for accomplices.

They’re also more exciting when they are a challenge, so I made sure to include challenging things in the Speaking and Writing sections for May.

Listening

Complete at least 2 intensive listens to the Pigion podcast This podcast publishes a vocab list for each show, so intensive means I’ll read through the vocab, add some words to my lists, and then listen until I feel like I’ve understood 75%. This is natural, full speed, native content. No shame in not understanding it all.

Reading

Start reading Ffenestri or Sgwp I bought two books for learners when I was in Wales, and then I got stuck because I can’t decide which one to start with. Goal: Pick one and just bloody start.

Read poetry in Welsh! Great job writing wonky poems on Instagram, Kerstin. But it’s time that I expanded my education here and learnt to appreciate what the language is like when used by a true expert. I love poetry more and more each day, and will

Speaking

Have at least 6 (!) short conversations in Welsh only This month I’m aiming to increase the frequency, not the length of my exchanges. I’ll take any opportunity from tutor sessions, friends, exchanges, and group chats using the Say Something in Welsh Slack group. By short, I mean 15 minutes (but you may make your own definition of “short”).

Look for a book club I mentioned new books above, and I am going to hit the forums at Saysomethingin and social media to see if anyone would like to have a book club meeting to chat about what we’re reading.

Writing

Write 2 language poems, and more considered ones. I have proven that I can write wacky, slightly nonsensical poetry in the Welsh language.

Anything Else?

Note to self: I need to start getting organised and booking my accommodation for the National Eisteddfod in Cardiff nice and early. I'm planning to volunteer again this year, which means a chance to speak and hear lots of Welsh.

I don’t have any goals in a language other than Welsh, but I do have something special and linguistic. to work on. I am reading several books that will help me with my general understanding and appreciation of language, and the English language in particular.

The first one is Getting Through by Roger Kreuz and Richard Roberts, a sequel to their book Becoming Fluent, which I LOVED and reviewed here on the blog (read the review).

There are two poetry books, too: Lifesaving Poems by Anthony Wilson,Collected Poems by Carol Ann Duffy. I’m also interested in finding more great French, German, and Spanish poetry. Great way to discover new worlds in my existing languages!

How was your month?

Is there anything you’re curious about? What did you learn in April? Leave a comment below or join #clearthelist to share your own language learning journey.

If you want to join the linkup for the month, hop on to Clear The List, hosted by my friends and language inspirations Lindsay Williams and Shannon Kennedy.