Have you lost your motivation?

Is anybody reading this? For some people it’s a question of motivation. A subject fit for this very blog. How does one motivate themselves to learn a new language? I struggled for ages, gormlessly staring at that green owl on that app that’s meant to catapult you into the stratosphere of the linguistics. After only three days I was informed that I was 8% fluent in German…my Deutsche Freundin merely laughed – not a confidence booster! So, after the eleventh time of being told by the owl (let’s call him Trio for copyright’s sake) that “mistakes are all part of learning” I threw down my phone deciding that another course of action had to be taken. The main problem was that Trio was not up for a chat, and isn’t that all part of what it means to be human? When we’re not staring into our phones that is! Being in a group allowed for that very interaction, with not an owl in sight – don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against owls. I digress! Making mistakes with other people was what gave me confidence. That sense that you are all in it together, wading through the muddy quagmires of grammar and conversation as a team. And as a team you carry yourself through. Not only do you learn the language together, you learn about each other, you make friends and you do all of it in your target language. And when that inevitable time comes that you all decide to grab a coffee or beer together, you continue outside of the classroom. For some of you it maybe the only way you can communicate. I have an Armenian friend and we have never shared an English word together – and this is one of the things that motivates me to keep going.

At Speakeasy we want to inspire this kind of love for language learning! We are, after all, the social language school. Tandem learning is very much a part of what we want to inspire at the school – check out our Community Board and find your perfect match; someone you can grab a coffee with and have a natter, be it in German, English, Arabic or even Mandarin. We aim to match people together, to not only practise their target language but to make friends.

For those of you unable to commit to the times of a group course but don’t want to miss out on that group dynamic (that aspect that I’ve been waffling on about above) why not consider joining a Semi-private course? It’s important for us to be able to offer you that flexibility, so that we can meet your busy schedule and allow for you to be motivated in your pursuit of your chosen language. Why not book with a friend? Motivate each other!

Whatever you choose, we want to connect you with other people on this your language learning adventure! Make friends with people not owls.