Love, Joy, and Languages

In today's episode I talk about extensive reading for effective language learning. Like I said in last week's episode, extensive input can be an excellent part of any language journey, but it can also go wrong. I feel very lucky that I didn't give up when it went very wrong for me. During my year-long project to boost my Italian to B2, extensive reading was one of my main (and favorite!) methods. Today I share a bit of my language journey and the early struggles I had trying to read in Italian, and then I share exactly what I did to make this method work for me in improving my language throughout the intermediate levels. I talk about all the reading sources I used, and also the ways in which I saw my Italian language improve.

Language learning can be a very long journey, and it can feel like we're never going to get where we want to be. So it's very exciting and motivating to be able to look back and see exactly how my language has improved and what worked to get me there. I hope to inspire you all, as well, not just to read more (though that's always something I hope to inspire), but also to keep going. Find what brings you joy in languages, stick with what's working for you, and take note of all the ways your language journey is improving. I guarantee it really is improving.

Other content mentioned in this episode:
E76: Good Advice Gone Wrong: Input, Input, Input: http://www.lovejoyandlanguagespodcast.com/
E67: Let's Talk About Flashcards: http://www.lovejoyandlanguagespodcast.com/episode-67
Profondo Come il Mare, Leggero Come il Cielo, by Gianluca Gotto
List of International websites for National Geographic here
Simple Italian Podcast, by Simone Pols
Vaporetto Italiano Podcast, by Francesco Cositore
Stivale Italiano, by Alessandro and Carolina
iTalki, where I find language teachers and tutors (this is my Refer a Friend link)
Italian CILS B2 Exam Prep Book I used: Traguardo CILS B2

Where to find me:
Love, Joy, and Languages Blog
All podcast episodes can be found at http://www.lovejoyandlanguagespodcast.com/.
Instagram: @love.joyandlanguages

Affirmations, or statements that affirm positive beliefs to you about you, are an excellent way to build yourself up. I use affirmations in many areas of my life, both general and specific, inlcuding language learning. They help remind me of my truth and keep me aligned with my morals and identity. Affirmations aren't about lying to ourselves or trying to fake it 'til we make it. They're about affirming true statements that we believe, at our core, so that we don't forget who we are, and that help us act in accordance with our true selves.

Today's episode is full of meditative affirmations geared toward language learners. Have you ever considered what you believe about yourself as a language learner? Especially when things are stressful, and we feel like we're failing, we start to believe things that aren't true. We start to believe that we can't learn a language, that we're failures, that we're lazy, and so much more. These negative thoughts, while they feel true in the moment, aren't our real truths. Affirmations help keep us grounded in who we really are and in what we're really capable of. They pull us out of the negative spiral more quickly and remind us that negative moments don't define us.

I hope you enjoy today's episode and are able to find many affirmations that you know are true to you. Take what you know to be true, what you really believe, and let that be a foundation of truth that you can tell yourself always, especially when you start feeling out of alignment with who you know yourself to be. Write out more affirmations that you know are true, and don't forget to be kind to yourself.

If you want to read more about affirmations, here are a few sites to get you started:
Using Affirmations, from Mind Tools
Positive Affirmations: Too Good to Be True? by Crystal Raypole
Affirmations: The Why, What, How, and What If? by Kathryn Lively, PhD

Where to find me:
Love, Joy, and Languages Blog
All podcast episodes can be found at http://www.lovejoyandlanguagespodcast.com/.
Instagram: @love.joyandlanguages

In this episode, I get the pleasure of chatting with Marjolein Benschop of The Language Community to talk about being a multi-passionate person and language learner. Marjolein is a Dutch Polyglot, Language Coach and MSc in Psychology of Social Relations from the Goldsmiths University, London. Marjolein has worked in various countries (the Netherlands, Spain, England and Peru), teaching and helping students learn more effectively. She has given workshops on how to learn languages while managing one’s expectations, and co-founded an online environment for language learners called The Language Community. Having managed to learn 8 languages to a conversational or even near-native level, she has discovered several key factors to staying motivated and reaching your language goals.

In this interview, Marjolein gives us a glimpse of her experiences, struggles, and perceptions as a multi-passionate language learner. She also shares so much insightful wisdom regarding limiting beliefs and how to shift our mindset to allow for progress and growth, making room for fulfilling all the passions we have in our lives. We discuss how passion can be discovered in any number of life situations to create a more enjoyable experience and how gathering community can build inspiration for accomplishing the things you want.

Multi-passionate resources mentioned in this episode:

• How to Be Everything: A Guide for Those Who (Still) Don't Know What They Want to Be When They Grow Up, by Emilie Wapnick
• I Want to Do All the Things: Finding Balance as a Polymath, Multipotentialite & Renaissance Soul, by Arcadia Page
• Podcast Français Authentique, by Johan Tekfak

Where to find Marjolein:
Instagram: @marjolein.polyglotinsights
Instagram: @the.languagecommunity
Podcast: Polyglot Insights Podcast
The Language Community: https://www.thelanguagecommunity.mn.co

Where to find me:
Love, Joy, and Languages Blog
Instagram: @love.joyandlanguages
X (Twitter): @LoveJoy_Lang

All episodes of the show can be found at www.lovejoyandlanguagespodcast.com.

Do you set New Year's resolutions for your languages? Better yet, do you set long-term language goals no matter the time of year? For years, I tried every goal-setting method I could find, yet over and over I found myself avoiding anything I had formally set as a goal, especially in language learning. In today's episode I recount this (failed) goal-setting history of mine. This time of year, we're bombarded with all sorts of advice for setting and reaching goals with the underlying message that goals are the only way to make real progress. We went from December's tips and tricks for reaching our 2022 goals with what little time was left in the year (even if we hadn't habitually worked on them all year) to January's tips and tricks for setting specific goals for 2023 with rigid plans and pressure to hold ourselves accountable because otherwise we're doomed to fail from lack of motivation.

Yet, goals have never really motivated me. In fact, they more often cause me to freeze. Something inside of me is so afraid of failure and afraid of what it might say about me if I don't reach a goal that I have a difficult time taking the steps necessary to work toward the goal. Perfectionism paralysis, some call it. So over the years I tried setting SMART goals, incremental goals, tiered goals -- anything to become a goal setter (or, more specifically, a goal achiever), but it just never worked. I avoided my goals every single time. Finally, I gave up. I just stopped setting language goals because I kept avoiding them. I simply wasn't motivated by the idea of reaching an deadline where I would feel obligated to claim victory or failure according to some pre-determined standards.

Throughout this entire journey, however, I was definitely making progress in my languages. It's just that the progress wasn't associated with a specific goal. I was doing the work of learning my languages and making progress just because I wanted to. I wanted to study and practice my languages, so I was studying and practicing my languages, and goals had nothing to do with it. At the end of 2022 I intentionally decided to give up on trying to set language goals, or any life goals, really. Instead, I just want to focus on the actions I can take to improve my languages and my life. I want to speak more Italian, so I'm speaking more Italian. I want to study more German grammar, so I'm studying more German grammar. And Korean? I want to learn more words and phrases, so I'm learning more words and phrases. I don't need a goal of speaking a certain number of minutes, completing a certain number of chapters in a grammar book, or learning a certain number of words in a specific amount of time. I'm just doing it. All of this doing in my languages has been so much fun. I love accessing my languages every day. I love speaking and studying and learning. I love not feeling tied to a goal or rigid plan. And mostly, I love every bit of the progress I notice in all my languages every week.

Setting goals can be incredibly motivating for some people, but I think many of us have received the message that it's the only way to stay motivated or make progress. But I'm proof that this isn't the case. If you're a goal setter, and you joyfully progress in your languages with your goals, then that's fantastic. Keep doing exactly what you're doing. But if you tend to give up on your goals, ignore them, or feel pressured by them, then it's worth considering that goals may not be for you. Maybe you're more motivated by just taking action or by only focusing on progress. Progress can be the only goal, and it doesn't have to have a finish line.

Where to find me:
Love, Joy, and Languages Blog
All podcast episodes can be found here.
Instagram: @love.joyandlanguages
Twitter: @LoveJoy_Lang

In this Season 1 Finale, I share and celebrate language learning wins from listeners across the globe. Real life stories from real life language learners, inspiring us to see every bit of progress along our language journeys. In this episode, you'll hear stories from six language learners who recognize a huge variety of wins in their language journeys. The achievements they've shared with me for this episode are inspiring for language learners of all types, ages, and levels. The languages they're celebrating include French, Italian, Catalan, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, and German. Some are still in the beginner phase of acquiring their languages, and others are futher along. Some are working on their first or second non-native language, and others their fourth or...eleventh.

This episode is made for you, my listeners. Every win we have matters. No achievement is too small. Every success is significant. And every win is worth celebrating. Join me in today's episode by cheering on those who shared their stories with me and for everyone else out there working on your new language. Take a moment to reflect on your own wins, and celebrate them! Feel the pride. Give yourself a round of applause. Brag about it on social media. You're doing great, and you can be proud of yourself and your achievements.

Instagram accounts for those who shared success stories in this episode:
@cory.viento
@something.polyglot
@lingo_mama
@ninakpeacock
@fayefran_x
@liza.learns.languages

Find me on:
Instagram: @love.joyandlanguages
Twitter: @LoveJoy_Lang
www.lovejoyandlanguages.com

Some of my favorite language podcasts for you to check out:
Language Chats Podcast, co-hosted by Penny from today's episode & her friend, Bec
The Language Confidence Podcast, by Emily Richardson
Speaking Tongues Podcast, by Elle Charisse
Insecurities About Language, by Alexandria Robinson
The Future is Bilingual, by Heather Koziol
The Fluent Show, by Kerstin Cable
Language Stories, by Lindsay Williams
Language Hacking, by Benny Lewis & Shannon Kennedy

My favorite podcasts in Italian:
Simple Italian Podcast, by Simone Pols
The Teacher Stefano Show, by Stefano
The Italian Effect Podcast, by Agata
News in Slow Italian, by Linguistica360

My favorite podcasts in German:
Natural.Fluent.German & Deutsches Geplapper, by Flemming Boldbecher
Slow German, by Annik Rubens
Sprach Venture, by Markis Galli