Language Coaches: What They Are and How to Work With Them

Language coaches are the hidden treasure of the language learning world.

An amazing coach can train you up, just like a sports coach, to be an incredible language learner.

But if you don't pick a great match (or don't work with them in the right way), you can end up frustrated and out a lot of money.

In this master post, you’ll find everything you need to figure out exactly what a language coach will do for you and how to get the most out of every session.

By the end of this guide, you will have:

1. an actionable plan to start with a language coach,
2. how to get the most out of your investment, and
3. how to use alternative products to get better at language learning.

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What is a Language Coach?

Before we get into the super helpful topics on this list, let’s explain what a language coach is and isn't.

That's because there are a ton of misconceptions about what a language coach's responsibilities are and confusion about the differences between a language coach and language teacher.

Pretend you are an English speaker learning French. You would need a French teacher who also speaks French, right?

Well for a language coach, it doesn't matter if they speak French or not.

You could even be working on a language that that language coach had never even heard of before! That's because a coach isn't going to teach you any specific language skills.

So what are they going to teach you?

To put this into perspective, what sets strong adult language learners apart is their ability to troubleshoot their own problems; come up with unique solutions; and build strong study habits.

A language coach will help you become that strong language learner. Unless you bring up specific problems with grammar, vocabulary, or any language learning skills, those won't be the focus of your sessions.

Sure those rules can be broken, but in general, a teacher will help you catch and fix errors by explicitly telling you the "right" way to do something.

But because we are all individuals with our own personal learning styles, busy lives, language goals, and language anxieties, a language coach will more likely focus on solving your problems with you: but not necessarily telling you the one "right" way to do something.

There's also the question of what makes someone a language coach.

With language teachers, there are large institutes, recognized accreditation programs, and achievable diplomas to show a student that they are qualified to teach a certain language. Not all language teachers have these, but many do.

But with language coaches, there is no universally recognized accreditation or certification program.

So how do students decide if the coach is the best expert for them? All language coaches speak several languages so they know your struggle and have been in your shoes. They usually have blogs, YouTube channels, podcasts, or books on the subject so you can judge their expertise for yourself. Because of all of this, language coaches are a bit harder to qualify. (But don't worry: we'll give you some good tools for how to do so below.)

Finally, neither a language coach nor a language teacher can fix your problems themselves.

Language learning is one of the most egalitarian skills in this world because you cannot buy it from anyone.

Sure, people with more money may also have more time: but it's truly a question of who is willing to put in the effort.

So before you consider going any further, you must ask yourself: if I work with a language expert, am I willing to put in what it takes to train myself into an amazing language learner?

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How to find a language coach you love

Now that we've cleared that up, follow this roadmap and you are bound to find a language coach that you love.

Follow along and see what your next steps might be:

The most important thing here is that you find the best-fit coach for you yourself.

So outside of a quick Google search, our advice is that you follow potential coaches outside of social media and see what they really have to say.

No matter what, we highly recommend learning more about language learning whether or not you find a coach.

To do so, check out The Fluent Show (a podcast about loving, living, and learning languages) or any other number of linguistics podcasts or linguistics books.

The most important thing you are building with a language coach is your metacognitive and metalinguistic skills - that means knowing more about how language learning works and how to set up the right study systems for yourself.

And while a coach can be an amazing investment along the way, ultimately it's up to the student to truly learn and practice their skills.

Next up, the best tips to help you prepare for a future coaching relationship.

But if you're looking for an alternative to language coaching, you’ll find those in the final section of this article.

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What To Expect & How To Prepare for Working With A Language Coach

If you've never worked with a language coach before, it can feel vulnerable to open up about your problems to a stranger. Here’s what to expect from your first language coach meeting:

A Chat with Nicole: Illustrator and Language Coachee

Nicole began studying French at university, but after moving to the UK wanted to dedicate more time towards her language studies. Her problem? How to find time and dedication for solo learning after the beginning stages. How do you get really good?

If you're a podcast fan, listen to this Fluent Show episode either in-browser here or where ever you listen to your favourite podcasts. In it, Nicole and I talk more about what working together to solve Nicole's problems was like.

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A Talk with Suzanne: Grad Student and Language Coachee

Suzanne (@suzanne.linguist on Instagram) is a self-proclaimed language dabbler, who's hobby has always been trying out little bits of languages here and there.

But as she moves closer to finishing her Master's in Library Science, she wanted to take her linguistic curiosity to the next level and work towards fluency in several languages.

That's when she began working with me as her language coach. Here are some of the tips she laid out for anyone thinking about trying out coaching for the first time.

1. Feeling a little nervous is normal.

Suzanne admits she was excited, "and also feeling a little anxious." Not knowing what to expect is normal, and with time going into sessions will feel more and more natural.

2. When booking your session, leave a note to your coach about what you want to talk about.

When using an online booking platform, most coaches have a place where you can leave a note. If you have an idea of what you want to discuss during your session, you can drop it there for them to glance at before the session.

3. During the days before your session, reflect on your problem.

Suzanne's two biggest tips involve preparing yourself for your session.

"First and foremost, come with questions," she says. "Second, have some idea of your topic priorities. My best sessions with Kerstin are when I’m very well prepared."

And how can you go about thinking about those questions?

"I’ve tried different methods [of preparing]," says Suzanne. "I once did a mind map. Usually I brainstorm in a digital note. And always I ask a polyglot friend or two, which is invaluable, as they’ll remind of things I brought up but had forgotten about."

4. Be present and truthful.

There might be a bit of nervousness in the first session or two, Suzanne reflected. But she also joked: "Stay calm... you’re in good hands!"

Remember: language coaches have seen plenty of problems before, so if you openly share your roadblocks or frustrations with them, that's not admitting failure. In fact, it's the first step to fixing the problem!

Straying off-topic a bit of thinking out loud might be a normal part of this process. "I can get off on tangents," admits Suzanne.

But part of working through these problems is also helping you explore different angles while saying on the right path.

5. Have a scrap paper nearby, but don't worry about it.

"I don’t usually take notes," says Suzanne.

The goal is to be present and thoughtful. But jotting something down might be helpful every once in a while.

6. After your session, take time to reflect and plan.

Coaching tends to get your creative juices flowing. For some people, pausing post-session to journal or talk to someone can be a great extension of what you worked on with your coach.

"In the hours following a meeting, I often brief polyglot friends on any new ideas or directions," says Suzanne. "I also put any time-bound items in my task manager, which is where I organize my language hobby."

7. Use your new skills and solutions during the coming weeks

Remember: a language coach can't magically teach you a language. (Teaching you a language isn't even their job!)

So it's important to take ownership of your own learning process. See what works, see what doesn't, and see everything through.

Then, bring in those new experiments and experiences into your next session.

8. Connect with other language learners

Over and over in our interview, Suzanne kept bringing up one thing: the online language community.

First, and most obviously, there are the native speakers of the languages we want to learn.

"I'm motivated to learn modern languages because I'm fascinated by cultures and communities. Interacting with native speakers, I've learned so much about their lives and the way they think."

But outside of just language exchanges or tutoring relationships, there are also huge communities on Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, and Tumblr of other people who, regardless of language, want to connect with us.

"Language learning for me brings more joy when I can geek out with those who 'get' me," she says. "I love the mutual encouragement [and] the camaraderie."

With this community, you don't necessarily need to speak the same language--just love to talk about struggles, victories, and new experiences.

"Sometimes we're too close to ourselves to see the bigger picture," says Suzanne. "Language friends and coaches inspire and inform us!"

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3 Alternatives to Language Coaching

If language coaching is out of your budget, that doesn't mean that you can't benefit from the advice of experts.

Here are the top 3 alternatives to language coaching.

1. Language podcasts

There are plenty of language learning podcasts hosted by experienced language learners and coaches who will fill your feed with awesome educational material.

PROS: My own podcast, the Fluent Show, has a massive back catalogue of over 200 episodes, many of which answer the most common questions you have about language learning. It's inspirational, educational, and will always be free.

CONS: Unlike one-on-one coaching, there's no one to address your specific problems or help with follow-up questions.

Click here to listen to The Fluent Show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or search your favourite podcast platform today.

2. Linguistics Books

Plenty of language learning experts have written some amazing linguistics books specifically for language learners.

PROS: Linguistics books are thoroughly researched and edited by professionals, meaning the quality of content and advice is going to be much higher than other platforms like YouTube.

CONS: Since your library is unlikely to stock this niche category of books, you'll likely have to invest a few dollars into buying them.

But as a starting point, check out these in-depth interviews with two awesome book authors who specialise in language learning!

Becoming Fluent by Dr Roger Kreuz

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Ultralearning by Scott Young

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Find more linguistics book recommendations for language learners here!.

3. The Language Habit Toolkit

Finally, there's the Language Habit Toolkit.

The Toolkit is designed to help students solve the 10 most common problems they are likely to see a language coach about, and costs less than a first coaching session might. It includes (1) a multimedia training on Teachable.com, (2) printable worksheets and accountability trackers, and (3) plenty of annual goodies like live trainings, study sessions, and pop-up community groups.

PROS: It will help you solve the most common problems language learners have for a price that's better than coaching. It's not only a training, but comes with monthly activities, planners, and trackers.

CONS: It requires more self-discipline than working with a coach since you have no human holding you to using it.

Conclusion: What Do You Do Next?

This article was designed to give you the most in-depth understanding possible of what language coaching is and how you could use it.

But ultimately, you won't know if it's a good fit for you until you try it out.

As you leave this article, consider reviewing the above flow chart and picking your next action based on what makes the most sense for you.

Click here to contact me about a trial session, click here for the Language Habit Toolkit, or check out The Fluent Show on your favourite podcasting platform.

2020: An Honest Review of a Maddening Year

Prost Neujahr!! Let me raise my glass of wine-with-fizzy-water to you and imagine a virtual hug to say "wow, that was something." Happy new year 2021! Over the last few days, I have been taking stock and going through my review of the year.

Winter/Spring 2020

Things started off so well!

Fluent Language Life

I kicked off the year with Your Solid Vocab Memory, a brand new online course I had created over the winter holidays. Over the month, I was delighted to welcome the first students and even host a brand new live round! Live rounds were a new concept that Iearnt about in 2020. You’ll read about them again!

In the springtime, I also became a co-host of the Language League membership group (now closed). My first lesson was about applying the lessons of the Four Tendencies framework by Gretchen Rubin to language learning, and it was a success!

💡 By the way, you can get access this lesson as part of the Language Habit Toolkit!

In my podcast world, I pre-recorded some interviews before moving house and published my long-awaited interview with Marc Okrand, creator of the Klingon Language. Along with Marc’s episode, this one with Lindsay is one of my favourites for the year.

I concluded late spring with a highlight and a challenge:

🥳 Highlight: I taught and created the Language Dabbler’s Guide to Welsh, my first ever class dedicated to the Welsh language which I love soooo much. It was daunting and incredibly exciting to teach this language to others, and I’m delighted about how it all came together.

😭Challenge: About halfway through March and before the Polyglot Cruise was cancelled by Kris Broholm (for obvious and very sensible reasons!), I decided to withdraw my own attendance on the ship. Having looked forward to this cruise for many months, it was a really hard and sad decision. I struggled with anxiety over safety on a cruise, and sadness over the loss of this innovative event.

Personal Life

🏡 Right in the last week of March, we finally got the news that our new home was ready. I remember standing in the new house having to keep a 2-metre distance from the house builder’s rep, and the absolute chaos and anxiety and stress of trying to ensure a smooth move in the same week our government issued “stay at home” orders.

🎊 I enjoyed lovely days out around the UK in London, Leeds, and Folkestone, and a week at home helping my mum celebrate her 60th. This was just a few weeks before the world shut its doors and borders, so I’m grateful I was able to celebrate her birthday as a family in Germany.

Language Learning

My winter and spring of 2020 were dedicated to quiet study of the Chinese language. I used plenty of LingQ and Yabla, which were fantastic resources giving me understandable input even at my beginner level.

I wasn’t really in love, but happy to plod along. Here’s where I was at by the end of it all.

In hindsight, I don’t mind that there wasn’t a huge blissful progress rush. The spring was a fulfilled time but also a challenge, and I found that the work I did with Chinese helped me later in the year when I started speaking more. Whatever you learn in a language now will always serve you down the line, no matter if it feels like “progress” in the moment or not.

Spring / Summer 2020

April started off marked by anxiety and exhaustion. The country, continent, globe were in a bad place. Every day, my heart broke for people suffering with the disease.

My mum always said that whatever you dream in the new home comes true. I dreamt I was in hospital with covid, so let’s just hope there are exceptions to that one.

Fluent Language Life

I had chosen to pause the Fluent Show for a few weeks while settling into the new space, but recorded a bunch of cool interviews behind the scenes. Speaking to incredible people like Sara Maria Hasbun helped me connect to my own motivation again. I also produced a little mini series called “Fluent in Isolation”, which you can get through the Fluent Show’s Patreon page

During April, I wasn’t ready to run or create new programmes yet, but I dedicated my time to sprucing up the Fluent Affiliate programme, which now boasts a few great features that I’m proud of. If you’re ever interested, here’s where to sign up.

In May, I created my first ever 1:1 coaching programme, the month-long 30 Days to Fluent. It felt incredible to give learners that structured support and I learnt a lot to take forward.

Besides that, a highlight and a challenge:

🥳 Highlight: The Teach & Thrive Summit! Teach & Thrive was a membership I ran together with Lindsay Williams, my only offering for online teachers in 2020. The Summit event was our way to boost online teachers for two days straight, and we had so much fun and met a few amazing people doing it.

Black Lives Matter

This was the challenge, but to call it a “challenge” feels like an understatement. Events happened in the USA and reverberated around the world in June 2020, and I think it made a lot of people reflect not just on their own practices as teachers and business owners, but also as people on the internet.

It is worth clarifying that I actively want to support anti-racism and will highlight and advocate for the equality of all. Language learning means committing to tolerance of other world views, and this open mind is a core value for me. This topic deserves well considered words so here are the best I managed to put together.

Personal Life

New blinds! Sometimes it’s the little things that make your day.

Well, it was lockdown. I learnt how to make sourdough bread, bought some roller-skates, went paddle boarding. I didn’t travel. I went to the pub, just once. I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary with my husband…in our living room. I felt restricted, but made the most of it. The time passed…like bubblegum.

Language Learning

After all the events I wanted to attend in Wales got cancelled, I picked up online lessons in Welsh again in the summer and threw in Chinese lessons on top.

I participated in the italki language challenge, which was an excellent way to get more fun into my language world without having to struggle to concentrate on a book.

Summer/Autumn 2020

In the hot hot heatwaves of August, I made the lovely decision to join the business programme Profitable Playground - this was the biggest business commitment I made to Fluent Language in 8 years and I’ve been delighted about the ways it’s improved my work. When I am better at all that, all my students get better results!

Fluent Language Life

The biggest event of the late summer was Women in Language, the annual online conference I co-organise with Shannon Kennedy and Lindsay Williams. With 789 participants from 65 countries this year, we broke all the records. Women in Language is an incredible event and we love everyone who made it along this year. (We’ll be back in March 2021 by the way.)

I followed up Women in Language with a few days of rest and a dive into something I had worked towards for many months: Updating the Language Habit Toolkit!

The Language Habit Toolkit is one of my favourite ever courses and a cornerstone of how I teach and coach languages. In October, I invited everyone who owns the course to a live round, added a brand new training on productive language learning, and even added another professional worksheet. The course is the best it’s ever been!

The Language Habit Toolkit live round was an all-round delight, and I’m looking forward to running more of these in this new year.

One more highlight to note in this period is the 200th Fluent Show episode. We made it!!!

Personal Life

Like in the summer, I have little to report here. I was proud to give blood for the second time this year, but overall this time was dominated by the monotony of life at home. There were some home improvements, and more exercise. It’s all good, but I look forward to leaving my street a little more in the summer of 2021.

Language Learning

The eye of the storm on a Welsh study night

Over autumn, I kept up my weekly Chinese lessons as much as I could, but Welsh definitely took the pole position again when I joined a weekly evening class run by Welsh for Adults.

The course runs for 2 hours every Thursday night, it’s based on a traditional textbook, and in all honesty it’s been a delight to meet new people and chat away in this language once a week.

I’m now learning Welsh at level B2, and that is enough to call myself a Welsh speaker. What a joy! I don’t regret learning this language for a second.

Autumn/Winter 2020

THEY INVENTED A COVID VACCINE!! But this isn’t a review of medicines, so let’s get back to Fluent Language.

Fluent Language Life

In November, I found myself in a massively exciting situation as a speaker at the Language Show 2020. This was my first year as a speaker at this particular event and I was overwhelmed with the positivity, engagement and joy of 1000 live viewers who tuned in to see my talk about boosting your vocab memory. What a joy!

The good vibes continued in December as I gave the year just one more fun event, the Crack the Grammar Code live training. I had so much fun and was absolutely delighted to share my honest best practices about how to really learn grammar when you’re learning languages.

Personal Life

After spending most of my year in a very small world without personal transport, I finally ordered a new car which was delivered in November. It hasn’t completely changed my life, but there’s a definite change in the quality of every day as I can now allow my world to grow a little bit more.

Having personal transport has meant that I’m also back in the sea! I love the bracing adventure of swimming outside, and even in the British winter it never fails to put a smile on my face. Having done without access to the coast for most of 2020, I feel like this small change is making a big difference.

Undeniably cold

Even though the festive season was spent without any family and friends as the UK had to increase its covid restrictions in our second wave, things still felt like there was a dawn after the cold night. The US elections, the covid vaccine, the new year are giving me hope for 2021. We can do this!

My Languages

During one of the total of 3 italki challenges I took in 2020, I started working with tutor Jie who took one look at my speaking skills and declared “HSK 1! Start book!”. With her help, I worked my way through the full HSK 1 book and easily completed the HSK 1 exam paper (at home, by myself) in December 2020. My year of Chinese learning has been fun, though I’m not sure where to take it next.

In Welsh, me and the language continue to be best pals. I’m proud to be a Welsh speaker and confident that my level is B2 (upper intermediate). The weekly evening classes weren’t always easy to fit in, but I look forward to starting back up in January 2021. I’m currently reading Cyfession Saesnes yng Nghymru.

In Conclusion

✨ I dedicated myself to language coaching and sharing psychology and mindset training for your language success. In 2020, I did more of this than ever with 2 new courses (see all of them here).

🎊 I had lots of fun in my business with workshops like the Language Dabbler’s Guide to Welsh, the Language Habit Toolkit live round, and our record-breaking Women in Language conference. And I learnt that when I have fun, my students benefit!

👩🏻‍🏫 I co-ran two membership groups...both of which closed to make more space for the new, exciting work that comes next.

2020 was a huge challenge, but we got through it and we all learnt a lot. The highlights were a little more hidden. No trips around the world speaking 5 new languages, but perhaps the kind of work that will serve me and you for years to come.

My Thank You

Throughout the year, I was supported by you as my readers, students, Patreon backers, podcast listeners, blog readers and language buddies.

Stay healthy, all of you, and tell me what’s been your highlight of the year 2020 with a comment or a message!

What You Need To Know About Duolingo In 2020

The other day, I heard from someone who’s got a 1336 day Duolingo streak in French. That’s over 3 years of daily mini-lessons in another language, and a guaranteed confidence boost for her the next time she wants to say something in French.

Duolingo is award-winning, market-leading, venture-funded and impossible to ignore, so I got together with my podcast co-host Lindsay to collect a bunch of unmissable Duolingo tips for you.

Want to hear our discussion? Listen to our episode of the Fluent Show podcast to learn more:

Note: This is not a review of Duolingo Plus. Personally, I have not signed up to Duolingo Plus but my impression is that it can be a worthwhile investment if you want to skip the many ads and give yourself offline access.

Why Download Duolingo for Exploring Another Language?

Duolingo has also come a long way since it first started out. Here are just a few good reasons to download Duolingo and try it out:

• The app is free and it works on every mobile device
• The range of languages is great, with lots of small languages and even constructed languages such as Esperanto and Klingon. Switch your source language to access even more courses in unusual languages, such as Guarani and Catalan through Spanish.
• When you practice your language with Duolingo, there’s no judgement and no risk of embarrassment in front of other people. Great for shy learners!
• Duolingo offers lots of reasons to come back to the app - it rewards your usage with virtual coins and hot outfits for its mascot, Duo the owl
• The cute design and bite-sized lesson style makes Duolingo feel very different to learning a language with a big textbook or 20-week evening class

Tips for Learning a Language with Duolingo

Some people love to commit to the Duolingo language learning streak. Some ignore the streaks completely. Don’t worry, both ways will work just perfectly for who you are.

Adding up a long, long streak alone is not what will teach you a language. But it will keep you connected and interested. You need to make sure that you are combining Duolingo with a productive language learning routine if you want to speak your language in real life. Break out from the apps now and then and get curious about what people who speak your target language like to eat, watch, listen to, and what the world is like for them.

If you do NOTHING else, make sure you download at least one more language learning app to your phone. You want to enjoy a bit of variety every day, and the range of great apps is huge these days. (Need inspiration? Check out our Top Tools Hall of Fame.)

Make More of Your Experience With Our Duolingo Tips

Get Unlimited Hearts:

Use the "Practice" button to get unlimited hearts and review what you've learnt before, without having to watch more ads or sign up for the paid version of the app. This is great if you don’t want to run out of practice time yet.

Take it Out of Duolingo

Got a notebook? Write down sentences from Duolingo lessons by hand or start your own digital practice folder. This will take all those sentences you are learning out of the app environment and help you use them in conversations with real people.

Don’t Miss the Tips

Finally the Duolingo tips are available on the app! These helpful explanations have long been a bonus for web version users, but you can now get Duolingo tips right in the app. If you make the same mistake again and again, the tips will help you understand why.

Use Duolingo as a Level Checker

If you are studying a language outside of this app, you can use it to check your learning progress. Simply jump to the next “Checkpoint” feature in the app and see if you can skip to the next level. If you fall short, you know you’re working on suitable lessons for your level.

Discover Duolingo Stories

Duolingo now offers mini stories in a very limited number of its courses. These little stories are essential practice to help you learn more for longer and break out of the rut of “Sally and Juan go to the market to buy apples” again and again.

Boost Your Gems with Extra Features

Motivated to get more gems? Want to keep that streak going and going? Use the Streak Freeze and Double or Nothing features to boost your gems and keep that momentum for longer.

If you find the streaks too stressful, don’t worry. Here are my tips for becoming a consistent learner without any language apps.

Check the Forums

Duolingo’s community features are limited, but the community of users is fantastic! They make vocab lists and explanations based on the courses and give advice to users from around the world. Start with this unofficial Wiki and FAQ page

Want to Take Your Language Learning to the Next Level?

Your first stop is the Fluent Show, my awesome language learning podcast where we talk about loving, living and learning languages. This show will give you lots of inspiration and ideas.

If you struggle with motivation and routine in your language, check out the Language Habit Toolkit. It’s a proven system to help you set and achieve every language goal you create for yourself. The Language Habit Toolkit works with any language and any course so it’s perfect if you want to boost your Duolingo results.

My Duolingo History

I cannot remember the first time I downloaded the Duolingo app, but I know it wasn’t love at first sight. I had studied French all the way to an undergraduate degree in the UK and thought it might be a fun way to get in touch with this language.

Working my way through my first ever Duolingo exercises in 2014 was bewildering. I had not used a language app before and I didn’t understand how these disjointed, mechanical sentences were supposed to keep me excited about a language.

Over time, I learnt more about language apps as a general concept. They play an important role in getting 10,000s of people started with a new language. When I started learning Welsh, it was a great resource for quick exercises in my new language.

I’ve now completed the Duolingo skill trees in French and Welsh, and am about 30% through the Mandarin Chinese skill tree. I’ve also tried it out in a bunch of other languages like Esperanto and Spanish.

Clear The List June 2020: This is Fine for Chinese and Welsh

Hello there! Why don’t you grab a cup of very gentle camomile tea and join me on my latest post in the Clear the List series. Clear the List is a monthly language learning round-up where I share my goals and progress.

If you’re inspired to try your own check-in, why not join our #clearthelist blog round-up hosted by Shannon Kennedy and Lindsay Williams.

Previously On Clear The List..

I barely remember typing my last Clear The List entry. That was back in early April, so I missed a month on documenting. As you probably know, it’s almost impossible to grasp all the many things that have happened in the world since then.

During lockdown, I’ve celebrated Easter, my birthday and my 5th wedding anniversary. This also makes it nearly 5 years of learning Welsh and I’m very happy to call that TWO love affairs in my life.

The Fluent Show

The podcast has been back on its usual weekly schedule with renewed energy.

Here are 3 highlight episodes for you:

1. How to Learn a Language Every Day
2. An interview with the lovely Sara Maria Hasbun on languages, lockdown and long-term success - perfect episode for world travellers who love languages
3. A special statement about racism, only 6 minutes long and inspired by recent events

I’m very very proud and grateful to the Fluent Show patrons. There are 36 of them now, making a real contribution to the podcast. Patrons of the Fluent Show get extra show notes, news from behind the scenes, and discounts and bonus audio on a regular basis.

If you are interested in becoming a patron, go to www.patreon.com/fluentshow to get involved.

How I Learnt Languages in April and May

Having moved house during the truly frightening anxieties of Coronavirus overwhelming the UK, I didn’t find it easy to focus on languages for the first half of April. But slowly, the stars started to align again.

italki Language Challenge

90% of language learning will have to happen online for the foreseeable future. Fun events like cultural festivals are cancelled. It’s a GREAT time to make friends with online lessons.

During lockdown, lots of new teachers opened the doors to their very own one-person language schools. This included my friend Dafydd who shared that he’d just started teaching on italki. Dafydd has been a super patient practice partner for my Welsh on several occasions, so it felt like the perfect time for me to book some classes.

If you’ve never tried italki before, check out my review here for more information.

And while I was over on italki, I spotted that they were running a new language challenge and signed up on the spot! This challenge isn’t complicated: simply set a goal of at least 12 lesson hours during the challenge period and work towards it.

During the last italki challenge, I didn’t manage to hit 12 hours. Travel commitments got in the way, and I found it hard to fit it all into 4 weeks. This time, italki offered an extended challenge period of 6 weeks and obviously I wasn’t going anywhere.

Welsh Speaking Progress

Since April I’ve been taking regular one-hour practice lessons in Welsh, chatting about everything and nothing with Dafydd. Just like every other tutor I’ve worked with on italki, he’s fab and very patient. I’m comfortable with Welsh now and that hour a week is a great way to keep going and get better.

Chinese Speaking Progress

In Chinese, April was a great time for me to try again in terms of speaking. I booked new classes with my old “Google translate read out loud” partner Zuo, who’s always fun to talk to. And behold, this time I was able to say that much more!

I’m still far from “conversational” in Chinese, but it’s always nice to feel that my work has actually paid off.

The conversation based lessons are fairly loose and chaotic (and short!) and I wasn’t going to reach 12 hours that way alone, so in addition I signed up with a more established teacher in China. She took one look at me, said a few incomprehensible things, and then exclaimed “HSK 1!” and sent me a huge PDF containing the full HSK1 materials. These lessons are different, they mostly consist of us working through the textbook and there’s a LOT of non-entertaining content. But as I had misplaced my textbook anyway during the move, it felt kinda right to bring in this element of structure.

The “start right at page 1” approach might have been disheartening to some, but my ego was restored very quickly as I found I’m breezing through pages 1-50.

Language Goals for June

Nearly halfway through the year, I’m still refusing to give up on learning Chinese. No, we’re not on cloud 9 together yet. But I have hope, or at least I have my ambitions! It’s great to be learning my first Asian language, too.

Chinese Language Goals

My most important commitments are to improving my listening, reading and speaking skills. I’m a natural doodler, so I’ve found that writing down vocab and even practicing Chinese characters tends to happen as standard with me. That’s enough for now.

Listening

I’ve got into episodes of iPartment on Yabla and neglected them during the italki language challenge, but I’ll be happy to return to these. I do love Yabla because of the super easy rewind and loop functionality!

Yabla used to be my morning activity and I’ll aim to bring it back for 10 minutes (minimum) on weekday mornings.

Speaking

In terms of my pronunciation, I’m happy. People can understand me and make positive remarks. Now if only I could express myself better… the goal is simple here: Take 3 Sunday lessons with my HSK1 teacher and 2 conversation classes with community teachers, all through italki

Reading

My favourite study app for Chinese is Lingodeer and I’m about halfway through their HSK1 skill tree. They’ve also added more reading exercises, so my goal is to focus on Lingodeer practice and reach the next checkpoint in the app.

Having finished all mini stories, I’ve got a bit of a Lingq gap at the moment, so let’s save Lingq practice for July.

Welsh Language Goals

Usually around this time I’d start to get excited about planning my Eisteddfod trip to Wales, but due to Coronavirus this was not to be. I have lots of Welsh in my life through conversation lessons and exchanges, television and social media.

The only extra goal I’d like to add for the summer is to find a new book to read! After finishing Ffenestri last year, I had planned to buy a new one in Wales and again Coronavirus blocked me there. So it’s time for a trip to Hive.co.uk to find new entertaining Welsh writing.

What are Your Language Learning Goals?

I hope you’re safe and healthy, and finding consolation and calm in a linguistic refuge right now. What are your language goals? Did you put a tenner on my commitment to Chinese? Leave me a comment below or say hi over in my Facebook Group to chat more!