TONGUE PRO

Aaaah, the motivation, the motivation! 

 

We KNOW we SHOULD do something - and we don't do it. 
Many of us KNOW that we should go to the gym. Nobody needs to convince us of all the benefits; we know them. Similarly, we KNOW that it's advantageous to learn another language, - but who is ever going to drag us there? Who gets us over that biggest of all hurdles?

We would wish to have a sports teacher of language teacher to simply come knock at the door, and to drag us out. Relentless, not giving us any other option. This is the success of Personal Trainers: we KNOW that we could also train on our own, that this would be far, far cheaper, that the whole world is an ocean of space and time and possibilities for us to use... but there you go, motivation is the hardest thing to ignite. "The heaviest weight of all, is the door to the gym". 

 

The motivation to learn Spanish 

My own final kickstarter to learn Spanish was the one at the bottom of this page (*). 

Since everyone is different though, I offer 2 motivational tools to others: The 1st one is to give people the opportunity to become member of a WhatsApp Group: right now there are 30+ participants, combining 30+ levels of Spanish, from absolute 0% understanding up to 50% fluency. All have one thing in common: dissatisfaction with the level of their own Spanish, and eagerness to share fun, little lessons, and motivate one another. As a "Spanish pub" of people who are actually not (yet) Spanish. Nothing better than to surround yourself with people who are in the same boat, and who long to make the sail easy and fun. 

The 2nd one is the Speed Spanish session: as a personal trainer flying in for 2-4 hours, 
taking away all the self-imposed hurdles, that "auto-sabotage" of beginning language learners ("I can't", "I don't have the head for it", "I forget", "I'm too embarrassed") that condemns them to a lifetime of being stuck in DuoLingo without ever advancing. Speaking 5 languages myself, and having had a thousand opportunities to lose motivation, I know that the 2 tactics that work best are: speed and a love for the language, a love to spend time with it. So as "personal language trainer", these are the 2 domains I tackle. 

 

The motivation to speak better 

Also here I operate a (new) Whatsapp Group. 
For the same reasons: we all KNOW that the quality of our life, is related to the quality of our communication: we KNOW that it would be advantageous if we were able to introduce ourselves in a persuasive, appealing way, or speak in public in a way that people listen, etc. etc. 
But here we are: most of us speak in public as a bullfighter walking into the ring: with a big smile plastered on the nervous face, while all thoughts go to the 500 kg bull that runs faster, turns on faster, and who will not stop until we're trampled on the floor. 
WHO will ever motivate us to start improving the voice, diction, attitude, confidence, the tactics of persuasive rhetoric? Who will even show us that road, put us on it, and give us the confidence to start jogging on it, and with enthusiasm? 

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(*) OVERCOMING THE LACK OF CONFIDENCE

Here's auto-sabotage unlike any other: "I'd be embarrassed to make mistakes", "people might think that I'm dumb". 

It's a complete trap. For it is simple: who is embarrassed to make mistakes, will not learn another language; a language is learned by making all the mistakes under the sun. NOT speaking that language equals never speaking that language. 

Now people might not think you to be dumb... but also not courageous, not courteous, not amusing, not likeable, not wishing to connect with them, not having any interest in their culture, not giving them the possibility to be a helper in your process. 

ALL THOSE THINGS THAT YOU ARE ACTUALLY SAYING, in all silence, while you think to be foolishly stumbling through a phrase in Spanish: I want to connect with you, so much so that I'm learning your language; this is how much I respect your culture, that I spend time, energy, practise in order to become part of it. My wish is to be a neighbour, or someone who will listen to the same music as you, who will watch the same YouTube videos - ad infinitum. 

By the way, people like people who are shy, courageously struggling, need them to help them out or to be their teacher. And while we're at it: SHOULD someone somewhere act negatively, let them, for YOU were the one learning, and overcoming fear, YOU went to "the language gym", so all advantages were still on your side. Yes, the advantages of that so-called "embarrassment", outweigh all other perceived advantages at a ratio of 10 to 1. 

"JUST DO IT": a slogan that you most see on the T-shirts and sneakers of people who are not athletic at all, but decided to aim at being so. Me I only act as the person getting you to say that: "How fun, how easy, how interesting, yip, let's just do it". 

And if you really, really have an issue with embarrassment: assign one plant, dog or cat that you'll talk Spanish to. This is how I got to B1 in Portuguese - admittedly also for not having any Portuguese speaker around me, which is also the reason why I never needed more than a B1 level :)