Hi. I’m Rebecca and I’ve been interested in languages for as long as I can remember. Kind of funny because I come from the UK where unfortunately language learning is being pushed further and further down the educational curriculum and as a result, we’re not exactly known for our amazing linguistic abilities. For me, however, learning foreign languages was always something fascinating. Like being given a special key to another world. I was always interested in travelling and the two things just went hand in hand.

When I was 18 and choosing which course to take at university, I was only interested in courses that involved a year abroad. German was the only foreign language I had at that point so I did that and started Spanish from scratch so I could learn something new and get a semester in the sun. Win-win! Since then, I’ve learnt Japanese and have also tried my hand at some Polish, Turkish, and Swahili. These days, living and working as a Language Coach in Germany, my job and my life completely revolve around languages. You can read more about me and my work here.

Of course, there are so many ways to learn a language. In the beginning, I followed the traditional university path of lectures and course books. Vocabulary was learnt using post-it notes and handwritten flashcards. I shared a flat with 2 other girls doing languages so our bathroom and kitchen were covered in French, German, and Spanish notes. It worked pretty well but the number of notes and cards mounted up pretty quickly and was in no way as practical as the app versions you can use today. Back then there were no apps or digital solutions.

We used a box system for our flashcards which was basically the original way of doing spaced repetition learning. i.e. the cards were put in different sections of the box, depending on when you felt you needed to repeat them again, so maybe tomorrow or maybe a week or 14 days from now. There were boxes of vocabulary cards in this kind of system available to buy but it's always better to create your own cards with your own words/phrases and notes on them. Learning vocabulary has a lot to do with creating mnemonics (a kind of memory "hook" or aid) and only you can create those for yourself.

These days I still find it good to make my own cards but I now do this using a website/app called Quizlet. Quizlet allows you to make flashcards to learn just about anything but a lot of people use it for learning languages. You can add words, images, and audio files to the cards and then organise them into learning sets and it also has a handy translation function. There are then various ways of learning the cards e.g. multiple choice quizzes, games, spelling exercises, etc.

When I started learning Japanese a few years ago, I was excited to try a different approach. I planned to combine evening classes with some app learning but I quickly realized that lessons in a group were not the most effective way for me to learn. I was often tired after a long day at work and realized I needed more opportunities to speak. So, I decided to build my own course with a combination of resources.

I arranged a conversation exchange with a native speaker who wanted to improve her English. I also watched a lot of YouTube videos to practice listening and pronunciation, learn phrases and vocabulary, and combined it with regular use of Duolingo. YouTube and Duolingo are great, free resources, and I use both of them to maintain my different languages. So, in the end, I had a good combination of resources and they were all free! (Meina has some great tips and reviews of resources here on her site)

I also focused a lot more on learning practical phrases that I could use on a trip to Japan rather than concentrating on grammar like we did in classes. So, more “We’d like three hours of karaoke at the flat rate please” “Some more white wine please” “Do you have any tambourines?” and less “Mariko went to an event at the Japanese embassy last night with her friend who’s a lawyer” (a phrase from our course book during my evening classes!). Of course, grammar and sentence structure are important but they can come later.

My advice would always be to start with something fun and see how the language feels and if you want to continue or not. Then you can decide how much time you want to invest and in what.

When I learnt Polish, I decided to jump straight in at the deep end and met a native speaker for a few hours a week. The only Polish word I knew before I met him was vodka and as it turned out; I was saying that wrong too! I told him the type of things I wanted to learn to say and we just got started. I was already saying basic phrases after my first hour and that was really great. Of course, I was doing this through the parrot method of listen and repeat but to have that feeling of success in such a short time was really motivating.

A lot of people are afraid of speaking right from the get-go as they think they will sound stupid. But if you can get over that (see my 4 tips below) you can progress really quickly. I took a similar approach with Swahili while on holiday in Tanzania.

When I tell friends that I’m learning a new language, they often say, “oh well, that’s easy for you, you’re good at languages”. I don’t really see it like that. I’ve figured out my own way of learning and being successful at languages but I would never say it’s easy or I have some kind of language gene in my head. I truly believe anyone can learn a language if they find the right method for themselves and put in the time; there’s just no getting around that. But most importantly, like a lot of things in life, learning languages is all about attitude. It is about how you mentally approach the task. I would say that’s the main thing I’ve realized as a learner and a teacher and also what led me to get a coaching qualification.

I noticed that my clients didn’t just need language instruction, they needed coaching. Coaching helps people to understand where they are now and where they want to go. More importantly, it tackles why they have struggled up to now. Once these points have been established, we can come up with strategies to overcome those issues and help them reach their personal target. Classic coaching but applied to learning a language.

So, rather than recommend a book or an app here, I’d like to share some “attitude” tips that I practice with my clients. In general, we associate language learning with memory but I also think there are some things you actually need to forget:

1. FORGET the past. When I say this, I mean the negative things you might associate with language learning from the past. The nasty French teacher who always made you feel like you weren’t good enough, the person who laughed at your accent, the confusion and despair you felt when reading a grammar book. These things are in the past and will hold you back if you don’t let them go. They don’t matter anymore. They don’t define you. Move on, create some positive new experiences and start a new chapter.
   
   
2. FORGET perfection. As adults, we find it hard to make mistakes. We’re conditioned to believe that we should know everything and making mistakes is a sign of weakness. Learning a new skill like a language is simply impossible without making mistakes. And the hardest thing to accept is, that even as you get better and get to a really high level in a language, you will still make mistakes. Think of it like being an Olympic ice-skater (without the make-up and sequins!). No matter how good you are, there’s always the chance you might fall over. It’s important to accept it as part of the process. You just have to pick yourself up, carry on and like everything in life, learn from your mistake and try to do better next time. After all, making a mistake is proof you are trying. Correcting a mistake is proof you are growing.
   
   
3. FORGET shame. So, of course, if you forget perfection then you also have to forget the shame. If you feel ashamed and embarrassed every time you make a mistake, you’re going to struggle with languages. Go back to that image of ice skating. You will fall over: sometimes it will be just a slip and other times it will be a momentous fall on your face. Accept it as part of the process, take it with a large dose of humor and move on. You will handle it better the next time.
   
   
4. And finally FORGET the magic pill. No matter what system people try to sell you, the magic pill to fluency does not exist. There’s no quick fix or easy shortcut. Great systems and useful tools, yes. But no magic. No hocus pocus, just focus. Understand this and accept this from day 1. You’ll save yourself a lot of time and money and it will keep your targets and expectations in check.

I hope you find these tips useful. The next language I’m planning to tackle is French. I’m hoping that once the Covid travel restrictions are lifted I can head back to Paris and éclair my way around the Marais district from patisserie to patisserie. I guess you know what kind of French phrases I will be starting with right? You can read more stuff about languages on my blog and maybe it can support your language learning journey too. Good luck!