There is something deeply bizarre about being a student. The need to know José Ortega y Gasset, one of the most famous contemporary Spanish philosophers, posits that we have two kinds of needs: internal needs and external needs. We have the ‘needs’ that come from us – our desires – and needs that are imposed … Read More “Help! I want to speak a language but I hate studying it” »
Category: Language
Laura-Jane started learning languages for one reason: she believed that she couldn’t do it.
Having learned 3 foreign languages beyond a conversationally-fluent level in 4 years while studying full-time, she strives to help others get over that biggest hurdle in the polyglot journey: from 1 to 2.
Due to the unique linguistic position of English in the world (it’s everywhere, and everyone speaks it), Laura-Jane focuses on helping native-English speakers break out into multilingualism, with her tools being inspiration, encouragement, empathy and compassion.
Laura-Jane strives to help as many people as possible overcome the limiting belief that they just can’t do it. She aims to demystify the process of language acquisition with her infamous leadership style:
Why do I want to learn a language? What’s so appealing about Japanese? You don’t need to learn it. It probably won’t help you develop in your career. You never need to talk to anyone in Japanese. In fact, you have no friends or family members who speak Japanese. Maybe you’ve never even met a … Read More “Yearning to Learn a Language for No Good Reason” »
Yes. Absolutely. Don’t believe me? Everybody knows that too much TV is bad for you. Sure, that’s definitely true. But, when you want to get natural, authentic, spontaneous fluency in a foreign language, packed with vocabulary and authentic expressions, I say it’s time to ignore that. It’s time to watch more TV. And, like, a … Read More “Can I really learn a language by binge-watching Netflix?” »
What is lexis? What are lexical items? How are they different from vocabulary? Are you learning vocabulary or lexis when you study foreign languages? 1. The problem with learning vocabulary, rather than lexical items There are just so many words to remember! This article was requested by one of my readers. When I asked, “What … Read More “What a “lexical item” is and why you need to know about it” »
So you’ve been learning your target language for a while, but you’re not seeing much progress, and the dream of being able to converse fluently just feels so far out of reach. Sure, you can say a few words and phrases, and maybe even understand basic conversations, but fluency feels like something you can never … Read More “4 free ways to improve your vocabulary: intermediate” »
So you’re a complete beginner and you want to learn a foreign language. How do you get started? How can you start learning vocabulary (and, crucially, how can you do it for free)? Which resources should you start with? Firstly, congratulations. You’ve done one of the toughest steps: actually getting started with learning the language … Read More “How to start learning vocabulary in 4 steps: beginners (free resources)” »
So, you’ve decided that you really want to learn a foreign language. But, as a native English language learner, there are struggles that you face that non-native English speakers simply don’t understand. They don’t realise how difficult it is for you. They don’t realise that you face obstacles they don’t even realise that, half the … Read More “3 more struggles only the native English understand” »
As a native English person, it’s hard to learn a foreign language. In fact, really hard. It’s a struggle. Let’s talk about 3 struggles that only native English language learners understand. A few days ago in a bar, I met an Italian-Polish lady who, quite frankly, really irritated me. We had started talking about foreign … Read More “3 Struggles only the native English understand” »
Do you want to learn multiple languages at the same time? How do you do it? Are there tricks for learning multiple languages at once? What if they all interest you? Will it work? Is it possible? These questions are really, really common, especially among polyglots. They want to speak all the languages, and they … Read More “7 rules for learning multiple languages at once” »