Going through the journey of learning a language has never been easier.
This is my perspective, not only as a teacher, but also as a language learner because I was, I am and I will always be learning a new language in order to communicate my truth and a good way to do that is by speaking directly to the audience, in their Language.
Please take this article with a grain of salt as I am going to tell what I think works for me and most of the people all around the world to connect with whatever they want to.
For example, the way I am learning/practicing German is by watching a Netflix series called Dark, I play it in its original language and use the subtitles in English, so here is what happens:
- My hearing is focused on understanding the words that are being said.
- In case something is not understood, I resort to the subtitles and I also practice my English.
“Inglourious Basterds” is a movie I have watched, give or take, 12 times already, then again, this is something that works for me and allows me to stay in touch with both languages and helps my brain to stay active.
This is me, you do you, find something that you like and start looking for videos, tutorials, articles, podcasts and kill two birds with one stone, learn and work on improving your skills by using the language you are learning as a vehicle to get that knowledge inside you.
This moment in time has made everything frictionless.
There are some apps out there that give the user an option to dive into a language: Duolingo, Babbel, Memrise, and the list continues.
One more thing about technology that gets me super excited is that a lot of things, if not everything, are available online and let me explain what I mean by that, there is a website that came up some years ago that holds a huge amount of information and is available for free at the tip of your fingers, are you ready for it? it goes like this: G-O-O-G-L-E.
There, you can type the following: how to (insert activity) and millions of results will come up giving you the information you are looking for in video, audio or written form, your choice.
By this I mean, you can practice a language you are currently learning or want to learn by educating yourself or going deeper in a topic you like, for example: I practice my English and my German by looking for videos or courses about Digital Marketing on youtube or on Google and let me tell you, if you say you can’t find a place to practice a language you are just being lazy and are not willing to put in the effort .
I implore each and every one of you who reads this to stop demonizing technology, robots are not going to kill us (yet) so let’s have fun with it and take advantage of what is happening in this wonderful era of globalization and connectivity. We are one Whatsapp call away from our loved ones, you can sell whatever you no longer us on Facebook Market Place, our life expectancy is higher than ever, we can make it easily to 105.
In the past we needed to go to a University to acquire specific knowledge for a certain topic, now, we have the opportunity to learn self-taught. Our parents had to get loans at ridiculous interest rates to get a title all because it was “the norm”, it was what made you someone in life, the Lawyer, the Engineer, the Doctor.
Please don’t get me wrong there, I am not against that, I went through it myself, finally I am graduating in October (after 7 years, Mom, We made it!) but I consider that to be happy and follow your passion, there is plenty of content available FOR FREE to test and try and determine what is it that you like, work on your craft and be happy doing what you reeeaaaaaally enjoy for the rest of your life.
Por Iván Lalinde, Coordinador Académico Sede Cedritos – WiseUp Bogotá.