Okay, I didn't really start with French in terms of language learning, but it was the first language I actually made any significant progress on. A group at my work started meeting after hours to learn French, and I figured why the hell not. As with many things in my life that I've thought this about, it certainly ended up being a bigger deal than I anticipated.
The group started off using the free course from Open Learning Initiative. I ran into a problem early on with remembering the vocabulary. Not to mention that French can be really, really, unintelligible to the untrained ear. So yea, while I kept going to the weekly meeting, I wasn't doing enough outside of class to keep up with it.
Around the end of 2013, I read the book "Mindset: the New Psychology of Success" by Carol Dweck. I go on at length about what I got out of that book here, which rather changed my approach to language learning. Rather than just assuming I wasn't any good at it because it didn't come easy, I was going to spend 2014 seeing how far I could get with something I've always wanted to do, which was language learning. And since I was still in the group for French, it seemed as logical a place to start as any. And it wouldn't be a reflection of my self worth if I still wasn't fluent by the end of the year. After all, I was just in it to see how far I could get.
So, I started with French because I was learning it already. I've been told repeatedly that French isn't the easiest language to learn, but I don't always take the easiest path. And I've managed to keep up the language learning habit, which is probably the best thing I've done in 2014.
Learning French has opened a whole new world for me. I can't wait to prod at the boundaries of my understanding in all three languages.
The group started off using the free course from Open Learning Initiative. I ran into a problem early on with remembering the vocabulary. Not to mention that French can be really, really, unintelligible to the untrained ear. So yea, while I kept going to the weekly meeting, I wasn't doing enough outside of class to keep up with it.
Around the end of 2013, I read the book "Mindset: the New Psychology of Success" by Carol Dweck. I go on at length about what I got out of that book here, which rather changed my approach to language learning. Rather than just assuming I wasn't any good at it because it didn't come easy, I was going to spend 2014 seeing how far I could get with something I've always wanted to do, which was language learning. And since I was still in the group for French, it seemed as logical a place to start as any. And it wouldn't be a reflection of my self worth if I still wasn't fluent by the end of the year. After all, I was just in it to see how far I could get.
So, I started with French because I was learning it already. I've been told repeatedly that French isn't the easiest language to learn, but I don't always take the easiest path. And I've managed to keep up the language learning habit, which is probably the best thing I've done in 2014.
Learning French has opened a whole new world for me. I can't wait to prod at the boundaries of my understanding in all three languages.
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