Going Forward

It's been sometime since I've posted on this blog, but I wanted to take an opportunity today to discuss a project I have in mind and hopefully will bring to fruition over the next few weeks.  As always, my goal here has been to share my own personal stories about language learning in the hopes I can inspire others in their quest to expand their language capabilities.

I have been studying the Spanish language for several years and I am lucky enough to now be living in Spain where I can speak the language everyday.  Unfortunately, sometimes simply living in the country isn't enough.  In order to really develop fluency in the language it takes more than a simple stroll through the neighborhood to gain that fluency.  One has to interact and really immerse themselves in all aspects of the language; reading writing, speaking, and listening.  That being said I have decided I really need to do more if I want to truly speak with the confidence it takes to be fluent.

For many months I have been trying to develop a plan that would not only help me to increase my level of fluency in Spanish, but a plan that would also allow me to assist others and potentially gain new friends and acquaintances.  I'm not a professor nor do I plan on giving lessons on Spanish or any other language for that matter.  There are literally hundreds of websites available out there for those who are interested in learning a second or third or fourth language and I'm sure those sites would do a better job teaching them than me.  What I want to do is simply start a dialogue.  It can be in English, it can be in Spanish, and once I start working on other languages, (Italian, French, Portuguese, German, and Mandarin are just a few I have in mind) it can be in those languages in well.  I would like to start a multi-faceted community if you will where I can go to share my thoughts and hopefully receive feedback from those of you out there in situations similar to my own.

The first part of my plan is obviously this blog.  I plan on continuing writing here when I have the opportunity on topics involving languages and how they have impacted my life.  The second part of my plan, and this is the more difficult aspect, is that I would like to develop a YouTube channel where I can periodically upload videos of myself speaking in well, whatever language I feel like babbling on in.  The idea is not to offer lessons, because as I said, I am no teacher, however I would like to use the videos as a way to practice my own speaking abilities as well as receive feedback from viewers.  What they like, what they don't like, how they go about learning, and maybe even challenges to me on how I can further improve and expand my language abilities.

In addition to the blog and YouTube, I am hoping to use social media like Facebook and Google + to get the word out and grow my audience.  I'd love to have groups set up where we can discuss our thoughts and ideas in whatever language we feel comfortable with.

I would like to turn Learning To Live Through Language into more than just a simple blog.  I would like to expand to a wider audience and hopefully help myself to become a better language learner as well as help others to achieve their language goals.  My hopes are to get my first videos uploaded by the end of the month and hopefully start to grow a following.  I should point out that I know very little when it comes to creating YouTube videos and my little experience will certainly show through initially, but my hope is to improve as I go and make better videos just as I improve on my language skills.

All right that's all for now, but hopefully this will inspire some readers to come forward with their own language learning stories.  As always, talk to you soon!