Love, Joy, and Languages

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

In this episode, I talk about how overwhelm has started creeping back into my life as summer break approaches, and the kids will be out of school for several weeks. When I think about my own language learning time, travel plans, keeping a clean house, preparing healthy meals, providing lots of activity time for the kids, minimizing screen time, working on their English reading and writing, while also keeping German a central language for them outside of school -- everything has started feeling completely impossible. So today I use this space to talk myself through what really matters, getting honest with myself about the crazy expectations I'm putting on myself. By defining my real priorities for the summer -- quality time with my kids, restoration for myself, and more contact with German and Italian -- I'm able to clearly see realistic opportunities for time, energy, and resource management that previously felt impossible. Brainstorming activities we can do to foster these priorities helped stop the overwhelm spinning around in my head and instead allowed me to come up with a very manageable summer plan that leaves room for mood, energy, and personality shifts throughout our weeks out of the school year routine. Note: If you have a language learning win to share with me for next week's season finale, reach out to me on Instagram or Twitter by Wednesday, 20 July 2022, and I'll give you and your success a shout out in the episode! Instagram: @love.joyandlanguages Twitter: @LoveJoy_Lang

In this episode, guest Emily Richardson tells us about her early experiences learning French, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, and Korean. She has eight years of classroom experience teaching languages. After a brief spell in the Artificial Intelligence industry, the 2020 pandemic hit, and she found herself unemployed with no income, no stable home, and feeling very lost. Against financial, emotional, and personal odds, Emily started learning Brazilian Portuguese in response to the challenges she faced. Emily shares her joirney learning Brazilian Portuguese using only language exchange apps, and she shares some tips that have worked for her when finding a language partner. Emily uses her language knowledge and experience to author and publish a book series “How to Be Me" which is available on Amazon in English and French. Spanish, German & Brazilian Portuguese. This series serves as a guide for language learners to find their voice and preserve their whole selves in their new languages. Emily is also the creator and host of "The Language Confidence Project," a podcast for all language learners, whether they have to or want to learn a language. In her short, daily episodes, Emily provides tips, tricks and tons of encouragement for all language learners throughout every step of their journey. Thanks to Emily for taking the time to chat with me and share so much of her story and work. This conversation is packed with incredible insights and take-aways, and I'm thrilled to be able to share it with you. Links: Find all of Emily's work, including links to her website, books, and podcast here: https://campsite.bio/teawithemily Emily on Instagram: @teawithemily Find me on Instagram: @love.joyandlanguages Find me on Twitter: @LoveJoy_Lang

In this episode, I talk about the power of the words we speak to ourselves about ourselves and our languages. Beginning my language learning journey, I held core beliefs about what that journey would look like and about myself as a language learner. Such things as, "I'm too old," "Language learning is difficult and time-consuming," and "I'm not gifted at languages" were at the center of all my beliefs about language learning and what it meant for me. I often found that the words I spoke -- both out loud and in my head -- upheld these beliefs, and confirmation bias had me focusing on things that seemed to affirm them. Learning to pay attention to these words was the first step I took to halting this destructive pattern. I learned how to pay attention to how I feel in a language moment, which is often a signal that negative thoughts are swirling around my head. Next, I gave this callous voice a name, allowing myself to disassociate from the pessimism and self-doubt and look at things from a more realistic and constructive perspective. Finally, finding positive, believable words to replace the negative ones was something I knew I needed to practice in order to move forward with a growth mindset. Links: Lindsay Williams of Lindsay Does Languages Kerstin Cable of The Fluent Show Emily Richardson of Tea With Emily

In this episode, I talk about the importance of forging a joyful bond with your languages as early as possible. My first year learning Italian, especially, was rife with pressure, self-doubt, and beliefs that language learning is hard, that it's a struggle. By the time I started learning German, though, I had worked through much of this negativity, and my first year was full of positive energy, fun, and believing in myself. Today, even though my Italian is stronger than my German, I still get nervous and hesitate when speaking Italian. I still feel a pull to use Google translate, subconsciously believing that I can't do it on my own. With German, though, a language in which I'm still a beginner, these feelings don't exist. I feel no hesitation to just jump into a conversation, and I completely forget translation apps are available. Instead, I just charge forward with what I know. This stark difference in how I interact with my languages is connected to my early beliefs about myself learning each one. The limiting beliefs that overshadowed my early years with Italian still exist. I've proven to myself over and over again that I can learn and speak this language, that I am learning and speaking it, but those negative beliefs formed a bond that I must actively and intentionally work against. With German, though, I knew I could do it from the beginning. It's challenging, of course, but I've believed in myself and my abilities from day one, and the result is that I'm more likely to enter a conversation with ease and not worry about mistakes or judgment. I find this disparity in my underlying feelings of my ability in each language interesting, and the more I think about it, the more I believe in the importance of forging a joyful bond from the beginning. What we say to ourselves and what we believe matter. To me, I think they matter just as much as what resources or methods we choose for learning a language. We have to believe we can do it, and it's important to make sure you're speaking truth and kindness to yourself both about your language and yourself. No matter where you are in your language journey or what your reasons are for learning a language, I think the take-away from this episode is something that can benefit us all. 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.

In this episode, I talk about 5 language learning activities that I tend to do while on vacation. While I absolutely don't advocate "the grind" or doing intensive language learning tasks every day without a break, language-related activities are a part of my daily life that relax me. They ground me, and they help me recharge and reset. So for me, touching my languages daily is still part of my holiday time because it supports my relaxation. During vacation time, I don't stress about doing specific language activities, feel obligated to do them, or guilty if I don't do them, but if this isn't for you, don't worry! Enjoy your vacation and down time, taking complete breaks from all language things as needed for your life. While on vacation, I tend to still use language apps daily because a 5-10 minute session of practicing vocab or sentence structure keeps my brain sharp and allows me to disconnect from the high energy my kids bring to our travels. Reading for pleasure in my target languages often comes up while on vacation. From magazines to social media posts, I love this connection to my languages no matter where I am. Listening to music and podcasts in Italian or German are so ingrained in my daily life that they naturally find their way to me on vacation. I also often send audio messages to friends in Italian while on vacation because I've finally slowed down enough to take time and make those important connections. And not always, but sometimes I even sent text messages in my target languages or write out my vacation grocery list in German as we travel. Even these small things count for me because it's all about connection. Connecting to my languages is one of the most therapeutic things I do. Some of my favorite language podcasts for you to check out: The Future is Bilingual Speaking Tongues Podcast The Language Confidence Podcast The Fluent Show Language Stories Language Hacking

In this episode, I sit down with guest Sarah Knight from Language Immersion Abroad, who shares her experience navigating life as an immersion program student in France. Sarah shares her discovery of immersion as a way to learn a language and how being part of a host family in the U.S. inspired her to take the immersion leap for herself. She brings us through the emotional and linguistic process of living in an intense immersive environment, including unexpected challenges and how she worked through them without losing herself. Even though our immersive experiences are different, Sarah skillfully describes thoughts and feelings about living abroad that I have never been able to put into words, showing that we're never alone in our experiences and that tapping into our subset of the language community to share stories and experiences is valuable, inspiring, and healing. While her experience was in an immersion program in the country, Sarah explains the concept of an immersion spectrum, allowing me to identify my experience along the spectrum. We compare and contrast various aspects of our diverse experiences learning a language while living abroad, talk about the role of family in our language choices, and what we envision for the language community. Sarah is on a mission to use her experience as an immersion student to build support and community for others going through or thinking about immersion. She values connection within the language community and wants to share all the facets of language immersion, both the exciting aspects and the challenges, in order to support and build strength amongst those living abroad. WHERE TO FIND SARAH: You can follow more of Sarah’s journey on Instagram @languageimmersionabroad, where she shares insights, tips, and stories about living immersed.

In this episode, I dive deep into my experience as a first-time expat parent figuring out how to support my children in their acquisition of the community language while I learned it alongside them. Our early years learning Italian were rife with fighting, negotiating, and bribing when it came to learning Italian. I constantly felt like I was failing, and I was failing my kids. But the more those negative feelings crept up, the more I pushed myself and my kids to work harder and do more. In hindsight, it's easy to see that I wasn't failing. I just had the wrong expectations in every aspect of our language lives. I had expected myself to learn Italian quickly and be able to speak it at home with my children. I expected my very young kids to be excited about learning another language, do language activities as I dictated them, and take command of their own language journeys. I expected immersion alone to make us fluent, and I expected our community to meet us where we were. I thought native speakers around us would all be patient with us as we learned, jump at the chance to help teach us, and adjust their conversational lives to cater to us. Over time, as our language lives became too overwhelming and stressful, I realized that the way I approached my children's language journey (and my own) wasn't sustainable. I was doing more damage than good, and it all came down to my expectations. In this episode, I discuss how changing these expectations was a dramatically positive (and necessary) turning point for our family. My kids are responding to my change of expectations, and they're genuinely excited now to learn German, our new community language. They're making incredible progress in both the language and in school, and the entire mood of our household is lighter and happier. This is the language journey I wish I'd tapped in to years ago when we first set foot in Italy, but it's never too late to analyze and alter one's language or parenting expectations. LINKS: Overview of my multilingual parenting journey: http://www.lovejoyandlanguagespodcast.com/episode-2-my-story-part-2 Interview w/another expat parent, Nina Peacock: http://www.lovejoyandlanguagespodcast.com/episode-12-multilingual-parenting-non-native

In this episode, I sit down with Nina Peacock, a U.S. American expat experiencing acquisition of the community language alongside her children in Japan and now in Germany. She talks about learning Japanese while her children attended Japanese preschool, and then working to keep learning it together when they moved back to the U.S. Nina describes some of the challenges she faced teaching her children a language that isn’t her native one while also no longer being immersed in the country. She shares her discovery of TalkBox.Mom, a language learning program that guides families to speaking a second (or third or fourth...) language together at home from day 1, no matter where you live. Nina and her family found so much success using this program for Japanese while living in the U.S. that they brought it along for their transition to Germany, using it in both languages now. We talk about the struggles we’ve experienced trying to share our love of languages with our kids, what “fluency” can mean for multilingual children, setting goals for ourselves and our kids, and also the benefits of using one language to teach another. Nina’s journey as both a language learner and parent of expat children is full of discovery, growth, challenges, and celebrations. I’m so grateful to have the pleasure of hosting this chat, and we both hope to give other parents tips, hope, and inspiration for their own multilingual parenting journeys. WHERE TO FIND NINA & TALKBOX.MOM: You can follow more of Nina’s journey on Instagram @ninakpeacock, where she shares her family’s language life, especially with TalkBox.Mom. As a brand ambassador and avid user, she is a wealth of knowledge for any parents interested in the program, and you’ll also find coupon codes and other opportunities for trying this program on her page. You can also visit this link for more information and a free starter pack.

In this episode, I share my language learning routine. (SPOILER ALERT: I don't have one!) After seeing so many gorgeous, detailed, color-coded language study routines on social media, I tried creating my own routine, but time after time, something got in the way, and I couldn't get back on track with what I'd planned. I felt like a failure and struggled with the idea that I needed a routine way of studying languages in order to succeed. After years of negative thoughts and feelings about my lack of a language routine, I finally decided to embrace my language life (and the chaos of my daily life in general) and have an intentional language learning non-routine. Routines are really great for building good habits, reducing procrastination, and navigating periods of waning motivation. By not having a routine, it's easy to become habitually unfocused, put things off, and give up when motivation is low. So today I talk through a few reasons why creating a language learning routine has never worked for me, and I explain how I make this work for me and still reap the benefits of routine. Accepting my language learning journey for what it is and not trying to forcefully structure it like others' journeys was the first step to making this work. In addition, I had to become intentional with everything I do with my languages. Intention is just as powerful as routine. Intentionally filling the spare moments of my day with languages, always knowing what I want to study, and being prepared to face those things have propelled me forward despite not having a study routine. Tracking everything I do with my languages and becoming intentionally clear on what counts for me in language learning has ensured that I acknowledge my hard work and progress, and I'm able to push through periods of low motivation while still respecting my physical, mental, and emotional stability. I track my language habits in Notion (no affiliation), and here's a copy of the template I use, which you can duplicate and customize with what counts for you. Links: Love, Joy, and Languages Habit Tracker If there's one take-away I've gained from this language non-routine experience, it's that every language learning path is unique and valid, and finding what works for you (no matter what anyone else is doing) is critical to success.