Listeners share their language learning wins, including overcoming pronunciation challenges and advancing beyond the beginner stage. The importance of patience and traditional methods in language learning is highlighted. The speaker encourages celebrating language learning wins and shares their own accomplishments in Italian and German.

Guest co-host Lindsay Williams of Lindsay Does Languages joins the podcast to talk about the joys of language learning. They discuss current language learning wins, favorite languages, and connections to them. They also highlight the importance of finding joy in the process and celebrating new language discoveries. The challenges of learning Korean and the importance of self-reflection and self-awareness in language learning are also explored.

The podcast discusses the importance of recognizing when a resource is too advanced, overcoming limiting beliefs and time limits in language learning, and embracing language challenges. It emphasizes the need to focus on improving skills first and celebrates language learning wins.

Today I'm talking about multitasking and monotasking. Multitasking, for me, is becoming something that really stresses me out. More often than not, I make mistakes and have to redo something, get easily distracted and frustrated, or completely forget what I'm doing. Multitasking affects our language learning not only when we're trying to do multiple language things at once, but also because all parts of our lives come together to affect each other. Every area of our lives that's vying for our time, attention, and thoughts, affects all other areas. So today I'm breaking down the ways in which I find myself multitasking, share how they affect my language progress, and talk a bit about what I'm trying to do to be more mindful in my language life...and all other parts of my life. Multitasking certainly has its place in life, and it isn't always bad. But being aware of the potential negative consequences and knowing how it makes us feel or negatively impacts our progress is the first step to creating a joyful language experience. Links from this episode: The Language Confidence Project, S1E18: Eliminate the monor irritations, by Emily Richardson of The Language Confidence Project (<- check out her website because her work is awesome, she has so much to offer, and she's networking with language learners and teachers to grow her business...this is a much-needed effort in language spaces!) E50 - Listening, Speaking, and Overstimulation - Love, Joy, and Languages (link to Spotify) 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.

Today's episode is an extremely joyful chat with Tiara Younbgblood of Speak in Spades. A passionate langauge learner and card/board gamer, Tiara shares where her love of games and puzzles began in childhood and how they’ve been a stable foundation of curiosity and knowledge throughout her life. She takes us on her language journey, which includes Latin, Antient Greek, Spanish, Italian, French, Japanese, and Korean. Tiara now teaches English in South Korea, and you’ll hear how she brings games into her classroom, as well as the benefits of being able to work with language students in this fun and engaging way. One of the best things Tiara brings us in this conversation is complete joy, and it’s contagious! I love her outlook on language learning, her thirst for knowledge, and her creativity when sharing her passions with others. She has an incredibly refreshing view of making language learning fun and removing the usual stressors through the addition of games. Check out Tiara's website, shop, and YouTube through the links below. Her language learning journals and cards are uniquely enjoyable! Where to find Tiara: Speak in Spades website Shop for Tiara's langauge journals and decks of cards here Speak in Spades YouTube channel Instagram: @speakinspades 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. Also mentioned in this episode is Matt Boyle of Language Card Games.

This month has been an absolute whirlwind. Things are so busy, and every day there are so many things that need my attention, between work, kids starting school, general parenting, appointments, and house chores. Honestly, it's just all too much. I recently realized, however, that as my to-do list grows but my time and energy shrink, I've started asking myself this one simple question to be really honest with myself about my expectations. "What really matters?" Some days I try to do it all, and I feel defeated (and angry, negative, powerless, frustrated) when I can't do it all. Other days I realize that it's okay not to do it all because I was never meant to in the first place. My expectations were too high. So asking this quesiton, "What really matters?" allows me to focus on the things that matter most and put off other things until my time and energy allow. It's been a lifesaver this month. This question can be so valuable to language learning. Whether I'm stressed about not reaching the highest levels of Italian or not being what anyone would consider "fluent" in German, if I ask myself what really matters, then I realize it's okay. I'm doing okay. I can still keep working toward the highest levels of Italian, but what really matters is that I can converse with my Italian-speaking friends. I keep working on my German, but what really matters is that I feel comfortable communicating in the situations that arise living in the country. I can do both of these things, so keeping that in perspective helps me progress from here in a joyful, low-stress way. Because everything else doesn't really matter right now. They're just extras. So I can give them my attention when my time and energy are higher. Where to find me: Love, Joy, and Languages Blog All podcast episodes can be found here. Instagram: @love.joyandlanguages X (Twitter): @LoveJoy_Lang

Though "parent" is in the title, this is an episode for all. Language learning was the first area in my life where I started being able to face some of my personal demons and really start on a path to self-acceptance and growth. The skills I've gained through this journey of learning languages have absolutely been useful in other areas of my life, as well, like in parenting. There are so many similarities between how I used to approach language learning and how I've approached parenting. While it may sound odd at first, this shouldn't be surprising because there's one common factor here - me. The perfectionist language learner in me is also the perfectionist parent. The part of me that lacks confidence and always assumes I'm wrong when it comes to languages is the same part of me that always assumes I'm screwing up in parenting. And the side of me that beats myself up over language mistakes and just wishes I could go back in time to prevent the mistake? Yep, she's there in my parenting, as well. It just so happens that, for me, language learning was the first area of my life where I could start facing these things, questioning them, and figuring out how to overcome them or at least live with them in a better headspace. So when I started finding better ways to deal with these things in my language life, of course I eventually started asking myself if they'd work in my parenting, as well. I'm not at the end-state of this story, though. I absolutely still have down days and troubling times when I fall back into my old ways, both in languages and in parenting, and I'm not here to paint a picture of perfection that simply isn't reality. But let's start talking about these intersections of life because none of the challenges we face exist alone, and recognizing what challenging parts overlap can be incredibly useful to accelerating your personal growth, as well as your language growth. Links from this episode: New Year New Language Summit, Online, 10-14 January 2024 Multilingual Parenting Websites: The Language Preservation Project Bhasha Kids Multilingual Parenting Multilingual Family Multilingual Parenting Podcasts & Videos: Talking to Grandma Podcast The Future is Bilingual Bilingual Parenting Podcast Speaking Tongues Podcast (Not multilingual parenting specifically, but Elle has tons of guests who grew up multilingual and/or are multilingual parents, so there's a wealth of resources and networking here) Multilingual Family on YouTube Multilingual Parenting on YouTube Where to find me: Love, Joy, and Languages Blog All podcast episodes can be found here. Instagram: @love.joyandlanguages X (Twitter): @LoveJoy_Lang

In today's episode I'm talking about building habits and routines. This all started with me wanting to make a habit out of going to the library every week with my kids, getting books, and reading them. Sounds simple, right? But after a few weeks of the kids complaining and us bringing home books that were then never opened, I started to feel like this was a useless endeavor. I was clearly failing at such a simple activity, so I might as well just give up. This all-or-nothing thinking doesn't work for me anymore, though, so I gave it some thought and identified what was really going on, and it all came down to expectations I had that were rooted in the word "habit." So today I talk about the difference between habits and routines and why that could be important to your mindset. I share how I've worked to turn this library and reading thing into a whole process that, little-by-little, is actually working for us to do the thing that I've desired to repetitively and frequently do for so long. Where to find me: Love, Joy, and Languages Blog All podcast episodes can be found here. Instagram: @love.joyandlanguages X (Twitter): @LoveJoy_Lang

German teacher Kris of Deutsch mit Kris shares her journey into the German language, struggles with speaking despite academic knowledge, and how she overcame language learning anxiety. Topics include cultural misunderstandings, fear and lack of confidence in learning a new language, methods of acquiring vocabulary, and Kris' experiences in teaching German.

Discover practical ways to track your language learning progress and boost motivation. Learn about creating benchmarks, note-taking, and selecting specific topics for practice. Discover techniques for tracking growth, such as recording, dictation exercises, and word count tracking.