S3E31: You’re not starting from scratch
Full transcript:
Good morning, happy Monday and welcome to the Language Confidence Project, the daily dose of language courage for people who love languages, and those who really don’t, but have to learn one anyway. And as promised, language learners, doors are opening today to get your tickets for our What’s In Your Inventory Workshop on Monday 27th February and I am so, so excited to invite you to join in, so keep listening for more details on that.
Now, in honour of the What’s In Your Inventory Workshop, all this week, we are going to be looking at our skills, our personality traits and all the silent helpers in our language learning journey. And today, I wanted to kick off the week with a really joyous reminder which is that no matter how new this seems, no matter how out of your comfort zone you feel, you are never starting from complete zero.
When you are doing something for the first time, like learning a foreign language, it’s easy to feel like you’re starting with absolutely nothing in your toolbox. And those fears are often amplified by tons of jargon and technical keywords which mean that phrases or instructions that you’re perfectly capable of understanding on a conceptual level go over your head. You’re thrown off the strength of opinions that people hold, the cacophony of advice and sales pitches and regrets on the internet and if we’re not careful, it can leave us feeling like we have nothing to give, and that we’re completely dependent on other people to not only guide our journey but pull us through every tiny decision until we’ve proven ourselves enough to advocate for our own needs.
But you are starting with so much, language learners.
Okay, you’ve never learned a foreign language before. But you’ve learnt plenty of other things over the course of your life and your work and your studies and your hobbies. Through just living your life as you’ve lived it so far, you’ve become an authority on how learn, who you are, and where your interests lie. You know enough to pick out at least a few resources and tasks that you’re going to enjoy, even if hopefully, you’re going to discover more things as you progress. So bring all of that knowledge in. It all counts, and it can help you in so many ways as you carve your own path in your language learning. It can help you to set your own goals, to prioritise what to study and how you want to study it, to choose resources that will actually be right for you, and to set and the sorts of habits and routines that fit you, fit your current lifestyle and that you can actually keep. That you enjoy enough that you want to keep.
So if you are feeling a bit down as you go into this week, please know that you have so much to offer your language.
And I am so excited to tell you that tickets are now on sale for the What’s In Your Inventory Workshop, which is a two hour workshop taking place next Monday, so Monday 27th February, at 7pm GMT, which is 8pm Central Europe and 2pm Eastern Standard Time. It’s going to be a super relaxed and informal workshop where we mix journaling and discussion to really dive into how our personality, experiences and current life circumstances can work for us in our language learning. Tickets cost £28, there are ten spaces available, and all language levels are welcome, even if you haven’t quite started yet or you’re taking a break. You can find more details about the workshop and how to sign up in the shownotes, or check my bio on Instagram at @teawithemily.
Have a wonderful day, and I will see you back here tomorrow.