Today's The Day

So I finally had the guts to go ahead and make public my YouTube channel.  My hopes are to better my Spanish speaking abilities, inspire others to improve their own spoken abilities in foreign languages, and to go forward in learning other languages, as deep down I have always wanted to speak more than just Spanish and English.

I'm hoping to find more people interested in reading my blog here and hopefully interested in offering their own stories and advice here, or on Facebook, or wherever we can find a forum to express ourselves.

I've been nervous abut posting videos of myself for some time.  It's quite a bit scarier than posting a blog.  Suddenly my face is out there for everyone to see and all my mistakes are a lot more obvious.  I still have to record and post my first official video, as what I posted today was only an introduction.  I would like to post weekly and focus on topics that pertain to how language learning benefits us.  I'm not so interested in learning grammar or focusing on vocabulary, there are plenty of sites for that.  Here, I want to just talk about how languages effect us all and hopefully I can build a following based on that premise.  My videos, at least right now, are very basic as I really don't know much about editing, but hopefully that too ill improve over time.

I'd love to hear your thoughts here on how I can best offer an entertaining channel while at the same time improving my own speaking ability.  (Of course I will be speaking in both English and Spanish.  I want everyone to be able to follow along.)

OK, that's it here for now, but hopefully the comments will start rolling in soon.  Hasta luego!

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!

It's Up To You

When feeling down about my progress in speaking Spanish, I often turn to forums and Facebook groups for encouragement.  Recently, I have found myself being the one offering advice and encouragement to those who are struggling to learn Spanish (or any other language for that matter).  Many times I come across posts from those who have been studying for what seems to be an eternity yet feel like they have made no progress.  Despite all their best efforts, when it comes to striking up a conversation with a native Spanish speaker, their brain freezes, their mouths lock, and nothing comes out.  Sometimes, something comes out, but it's nothing like what they had in mind as to what they wanted to say.  So often after moments like this, we just want to bury our heads in the sand and give up.  What's the point anyway?  Why are we trying so hard to do something that appears will never come along?

I moved to Spain one year ago and while I didn't have the hopes of speaking perfectly, I would have hoped that by now I would be speaking a little better.  In my frustrations, I started making excuses.  I spent too much time alone.  My wife spoke to me in Spanish, but I replied in English.  I worked with native Spanish speakers, but my job was to teach them English so I didn't have the opportunity to practice Spanish.  The radio in Spain only played English language music!  Yes, I told myself that all of these things were holding me back, but what was really holding me back?  I was. It was nobody's fault but my own that I wasn't making the progress I wanted to make.  I was living in a country where I should have had no choice but to speak Spanish, but I found myself shying away from striking up conversations with strangers.  Don't get me wrong, it's not easy to walk up to a total stranger and just start yapping away, especially in a foreign tongue, but if I really had all the desire I said I had to speak the language, this would have to happen.  And sure, speaking English made our conversations easier, but I really should have been speaking entirely in Spanish to my wife right from the start.  Sometimes she may be a little hesitant to correct my mistakes, but she can't correct me if I don't at least try.  As far as my job, sure I was supposed to be teaching English, but what's wrong with a little small talk before and after the lessons?  I'm sure it would have relieved the students to relax and speak a little in their native tongue for a few minutes.  Oh, and the radio.  OK, that's just a poor excuse.  The only thing holding me back was me, and in recent days, I have been doing my best to force myself to use the language as much as I can.  (I know, as I write this in English.)

It's too easy to get down on ourselves.  It's too easy to throw our hands in the air and say, "This is just too hard for me I can't do it."  We've heard all of the excuses and we know all the easy ways out.  So what's the solution?  I say, make it easy for yourself!  Instead of saying it's too hard, it's too hard, find a way to make it easy.  If studying grammar rules is making your head hurt, try something else. Find a book or magazine that you like and try reading that.  Memorizing lists of vocabulary won't help you unless it's vocabulary you actually plan to use.  Instead of memorizing lists of items in your closet, start looking up words you want to know.  Talk to yourself.  Often.  Don't be afraid to make mistakes, it will help you get over your fear of talking to strangers.  I started setting up a video camera in my house and I would set a timer for 5 minutes and force myself to talk to the camera for 5 minutes without stopping.  If you have the guts, watch the videos and pick out your mistakes.  You'll be surprised at how quickly you improve.

Attitude is absolutely the most important part of learning a new language.  If you tell yourself it's too hard, you've already given up.  I know, because I was telling myself it was too hard for a long time.  Embrace your mistakes, don't be afraid of native speakers, and make all that you do fun.  It's your best bet.  Don't worry how long you have been studying.  It will all come to you sooner than you think.  I'd love to hear others thoughts on this!  Keep me posted!

Like A Sponge

When it comes to learning a second (or third, or fourth) language, we all have our different methods.  When I started learning Spanish, I googled every possible method available to learn the fastest and most effective way possible.  I looked for free resources, but I also spent my share of cash on various programs and books "guaranteed" to help me reach fluency as quickly as possible.

A little more than eight years later, there are still days when I am hesitant to call myself fluent in Spanish, however, I will say that with years of practice, I have reached a level I am pretty satisfied with.  Even though there is always room to improve, I feel like I have found my most effective methods of practicing.

I may be crazy.  Well, I certainly have my quirks, and some might call me crazy, but recently I became inspired, and that's where the craziness lies.  I want to start learning Italian again.  I started (and gave up) learning Italian roughly four years ago.  Despite some success, I decided my passion for Spanish outweighed my desire to be multi-lingual, so instead of dividing my days with Spanish verb conjugations and Italian vocabulary drills, I packed away my Italian learning resources and went full speed ahead with Spanish.  There were days I regretted it, but overall, I found Spanish to be my true love when it came to foreign languages.  So why the change of heart?  Why now?

I have been living in Spain for almost six months.  My Spanish is good (although I should note, I don't necessarily attribute that to living in Spain) and I am constantly surrounded with opportunities to speak Spanish.  It's more or less natural to me, even if I don't understand everything I hear and I can't always say what I would like to say.  Unlike my level of Spanish four years ago, when I tried to challenge my brain with Italian, I am comfortable enough now with my Spanish that I am not worried I will confuse the two languages or start to forget Spanish in order to make room in my brain for Italian.  In other words, I feel my Spanish is locked in place and I can move forward with another language.

While I am excited to move forward with Italian, I should note, I am not taking it on with the same seriousness that I have with Spanish, nor am I concerned with a specific timeline for learning or even reaching a specific level.  I want to learn in the most laid back way possible.  Since I returned to reviewing my Italian material, I simply let my mind absorb the words and slowly let it come back to me.  I am attempting to learn like a sponge, and instead of racking my brain with verb charts and vocabulary lists, I simply listen and repeat much of what I hear and I study briefly each day my Anki deck, which goes over vocab and basic phrases but in a fairly random and spaced out order, which allows me to recall much of what I learned four years ago without too much effort.  To ensure I keep my Spanish sharp, I use Spanish translations for Italian words and phrases when I can, which helps me work on both languages at the same time without too much stress involved.  Since I don't plan on talking with any native Italian speakers anytime soon, it's difficult to gauge my level, but since my goal here is much more relaxed, I don't feel any pressure to necessarily test myself to see where I fall.
I want this time around to be fun.  While I am not giving myself specific goals, I do have a collection of audio CD's I am working through, and once completed, I will see where I stand.  In the past, I put too much pressure on myself to reach a certain goal at a certain time.  While I may still need to be a little more rigid when it comes to Spanish, only because it is a language I am using everyday, I feel I can go a little more softly on the Italian.  If I miss a day of studying, it's no big deal, I will just pick up where I left off the next time.  I think this is the key, for me at least, in learning a third language after my second.  That is to say I had to be pretty intense with Spanish since I had never learned a second language before, but now that I more or less have it down, the third language is a lot easier.  We shall see now, won't we?

Powerless

I really wish I had come across this video two or three months ago.  It would have made me feel much better about my situation.  Living in Spain has been a challenge since day 1. Don't get me wrong, I have no regrets about coming here.  It's a beautiful country and I see something new everyday, however it can be a bit overwhelming trying to keep up with the native Spanish speakers.  Back home in the U.S., while I was surrounded by plenty of Spanish speakers, I could always fall back on English if I ran into trouble.  Here, that just isn't the case.  I have to challenge myself each and every day to express myself as clearly as possible in Spanish.  While I practiced speaking the language for many years before moving here to Madrid, nothing could have prepared me entirely for what I would face.  Sure, I had learned how to ask for a table at a restaurant, but as far as being able to identify all of the items listed on the menu?  Not a chance.  The best I could do was seek out "pollo," and hope for the best.

Like Gordon, in the video above, I had always been the protagonist of my life.  I paid the bills, I drove, I knew where places were, and I knew how to find my way around.  Here in Spain, after living here for four months, I am just now gaining the confidence to drive around on my own.  I know how to get to a few places, but I fear if I take a wrong turn, all my accumulated Spanish knowledge will be useless if I can't ask for directions home.  And when the phone rings at home?  Forget it.  I know I can do it, but the thought of trying to maintain a phone conversation just give me a headache.  I know I shouldn't be avoiding these situations, I should be diving in head first at this point, but it can be very difficult to be confident when you feel so powerless.  It's amazing just how important language is in our lives each and every day.

I wonder how many out there face these struggles when it comes to learning a second language?  It's one thing to learn it as a hobby, but something entirely different to learn it as a matter of survival.  Thoughts?

It's Not A Race

This afternoon I finished reading* the first book of the Game of Thrones series that has become so popular worldwide.  I don't watch the television show, although I have seen a few episodes here and there, and my interest in the book was rooted in the fact that I was able to purchase it written in Spanish, not that I am a big fan of fantasy novels.  That being said, I enjoyed it and I am proud to have completed it, as it is over 700 pages long.  Now, I should probably add that I purchased the book well over a year ago, possibly closer to two years ago.  Why has it taken me so long to finish?  Well, I suppose the first reason is that, like I said, I am not a huge fantasy fiction fan.  I didn't read hundreds of pages at once, and I would often go weeks without reading it at all.  The second reason it took me so long is, well, it was hard!

Game  of Thrones is not the first novel I have read in Spanish, but it is the longest and most difficult novel I have attempted to this point.  That's why when I say I finished reading it, I put an *.  Yes, I read the words on the pages, and yes, I comprehended the plot, but did I understand every word?  Of course not.  Were there times I read entire pages and realized I hadn't understood a single word of it?  Surely.  I even cheated a few times and went online to view plot summaries just to make sure I really was following along with the plot.  Despite some difficulties, I am proud to say I followed along very well.

In a moment of exaggerated optimism, I purchased the second novel many months ago and made it one of the few books I was able to pack in my bags when I moved to Spain.  I plan on starting it this afternoon, but with a better plan of attack in mind.  This time around, I want to really focus on learning as I go, so I plan on reading only one chapter at a time, but focusing on picking out words and phrases I don't know and adding them to my list to study.  As they say, slow and steady wins the race and while it may take me just as long, if not longer to complete this novel, I am hoping to get more out of it than I did from the first.  Sure, I managed to finish the first novel, but was I successful in learning much from it?  That's debatable.

I think too often, especially when it comes to languages, we try to move too fast too soon.  I know, I was right there in the beginning, trying to cram as many new vocabulary words as I could into my head, but the fact is, it's not a race.  Learning a language should be fun, and it shouldn't have a finish line.  Sure, it's great to have goals, but what's going to happen if you DON'T memorize 500 new words in six months?  So what if after two years you can only use the present tense of the verbs?  No one is going to come and punish you.  You're not a failure just because it takes a little longer to finish reading your first novel in a foreign language.  I think goals are great.  In fact, I think they're crucial, but we shouldn't be disappointed in ourselves if we fail to hit the mark each time.  I see so many posts of people who are disappointed for not hitting such and such goal in such and such time.  Instead of lamenting over what you haven't accomplished, why not celebrate what you have?  Just my thoughts.  Anyone else?

What Voice Do We Listen To?

One of the biggest boosts in confidence I have had when it comes to speaking Spanish is social media.  Ever since I started dedicating my time to improving my Spanish, I have tried to use social media as a way to boost my confidence and give me the kick I needed to keep going when the going got tough.  I have discovered websites, such as The Mixxer that offer free search engines to reach out to other language learners and in turn we are able to use tools such as Skype to set up intercambios where we can take turns practicing our second or even third languages.

I have found Facebook groups who love to discuss learning Spanish, and countless YouTube videos that offer lessons and advice on how to improve your language skills.  All in all, I have found that reaching out to others is a great way to find the inspiration, motivation, and confidence to push on when I find myself in a rut.  Unfortunately, there are also negative aspects of social media.  There are those who find pleasure in bringing others down.  Instead of inspiring, they discourage, ridicule, and belittle those that are seeking positive reinforcement.  Fortunately for me, I have not come across all that many of these individuals, although I have heard plenty of stories from others.  I do my best to ignore those who thrive on negative energy, and when I do stumble across someone who wants to bring me down, I find ways to ignore and avoid that person.

All that being said, there is one voice I have found that is nearly impossible to ignore.  Despite my very best efforts, there seems to always be a way for this one voice to get to me.  That voice is the voice inside my head, and I have discovered recently that I am not the only one affected by my own worst thoughts.  My point in mentioning social media before introducing this topic was that it was on Facebook that I discovered just how overpowering ones inner voice can be, even when surrounded by positive energy.  While I have found encouragement from others to be a great motivator, sometimes all the encouragement in the world won't help if you allow your inner thoughts to bring you down.  I have seen posts from individuals who have nothing but negative things to say about themselves.  Despite all the encouragement the other members of the group try to offer, there seems to be no hope in changing their negative self outlook.  It bothers me greatly to see this, as the only person standing in their way from excelling is themselves.  I have learned from my own experience, we are our own worst critic.  If we allow ourselves to accept our own criticisms, we will never be able to advance.  Yes, it takes confidence to go out there and speak in a foreign language, but we have to overcome our own insecurities, our own self doubt, and take a very scary leap forward.  Yes, it's frightening, but we can all do it.  This was something I had to teach myself, but I also owe a lot of thanks to those who encouraged me along the way.

So, in the end, don't be afraid to reach out to those on social media for encouragement, but more importantly, don't be afraid to be your own positive motivator.  Don't let your inner voice scare you.  Challenge yourself and be positive.  Negative thoughts will get you nowhere.  Who's with me?