Hey guys, what’s up?
Ethan here from RealLife English.
And today I wanted to talk to you about something that I have been thinking about a lot lately.
So, as many of you who have been following us for a while might know (or if you don’t
know), I actually myself am a language learner, not just an English teacher, and I have learned
6 different languages, foreign languages.
And the best ones are probably Spanish, Catalan and Portuguese.
But I get all the time when I tell people this, they tell me, “You must be a very
talented language learner to have learned all of those languages.
It must just come naturally to you, right?”
And I’ve always found this a little bit surprising.
The reason is that in school, I was always kind of an average language learner.
I always just got kind of mediocre grades in my Spanish and German classes in High School
and College and even when I went and lived abroad, I certainly didn’t see myself as
the study abroad student that picked up the language the fastest.
And I can certainly say that people like my brother and close friends of mine were much
more talented language learners than I was.
My brother, for example, as kids to Mexico or to Italy, would be the one to always communicate
with the locals, trying to speak the local language.
So, despite this, I am the one who speaks different languages fluently, I speak Spanish
much better than my brother does now.
And it appears from the outside that languages just come easy to me.
But, I’m sorry to say, it’s just not true, I can’t let people make the excuse that
they’re just a bad language learner anymore.
So, if it’s not talent, if I’m not just naturally a good language learner, what is
it?
Well, my secret is pretty simple.
I just LOVE learning languages!
And even more than this, I love immersing myself in other cultures.
I love meeting locals and being able to communicate to them in their own language.
I love trying the local food, and understanding the local music.
And actually USING the language, not so much as something that I have to learn in school,
but as a tool for communication.
A tool to truly understand the place where I am traveling.
Or even when I meet people in the United States, a way to better help them understand my culture.
And of course, also as a teacher, it helps me to understand the struggle that my students
go through.
So I’m motivated because my learning helps me to be a better teacher, to help people
to better learn the English language.
So what does this mean for you as an English learner?
Well, I want to tell you that motivation ALWAYS wins!!!
Although someone might be very talented at language learning, this is going to help them
to learn a lot at first, but over time they’re going to plateau.
Their learning is going to flatten out because they’re going to get to a level where the
learning just doesn’t come easy anymore and they are probably will give up.
It’s not true of everyone, but it usually happens.
Most of the successful learners that I have met, they’re not actually innately talented.
But they are VERY passionate!
When they get to that same point where they kind of plateau, they find new ways to make
their learning interesting so that their learning keeps taking off.
The person who is motivated, the person who is passionate, the person who cultivates a
deep, burning desire in the long-term will always be better than the person who just
has a natural talent or ability for something.
That said, saying that you just “Aren’t a good language learner,” that “English
is just ‘too hard’,” is a really bad excuse.
You’re giving up too easily.
So then what is the secret to improving?
You have to become really passionate about the language!
You have to find people who support your learning, and motivate you to take it much further than
you ever could have done alone.
For me, this is extremely crucial, having friends who speak the language, either natives
or non-natives, because this really pushes me to want to be able to communicate better,
so that I can have better conversations with them.
You can’t get by just always having the same, “Hi, how are you?
What do you do?
How old are you?”
kinds of conversations.
And so, it definitely makes me expand the range of topics that I’m able to communicate
about.
And, as I said before, you have to find other parts of the culture, the history, that really
fascinate you.
For example, this could be getting really into cooking, maybe picking up some local
dance.
Maybe reading some of the literature, getting really interested in the history of the culture.
And doing it all through English, all through the language you are learning.
Without a doubt, having a deep desire to learn the language is going to push you through
all of the struggles.
Through the most difficult parts of learning the language so that you succeed.
Talent just cannot do this alone.
So, just to wrap this video up, I really love it if you could COMMENT below, let me know,
what is some of the things that you have done to make yourself more passionate about learning
English?
Or any other language that you’re learning.
I would also love to hear, what will you do?
After listening to this video, maybe you’ve gotten a little bit motivated, so what can
you start doing, RIGHT NOW, to make yourself more passionate, to cultivate a really deep
desire, and to be a really kickass English learner.
All right guys, thanks so much for taking the time to listen to this, I’m really looking
forward to seeing what you guys comment below.
Now go out there, and kick ass with your English.
Aww yeah!