I've always ALWAYS loved languages, specifically English. This might be because I've always had great teachers at school, who were fun and engaging, and I soon realized that knowing another language was not just a subject or task at school, but definitely something that would stick with me for life. Soon enough, technology developed into videos, TV series, and social media being available from a useful (and dangerous) device on our hands, and most things that interested me were in English. Therefore, I learned while having fun. I wrote lyrics for my own imaginary songs, I noticed that artists always use the same words to make rhymes (yes, there are more words besides "December" that ryhme with "remember"), translating, listening, and listening, again and again until I had it right.
When the time came to pick a university course, I decided to study Languages because, in my mind, what else could I do? I had no idea what I wanted to do anyway... There, I learned Spanish and Russian. Oh, and what an adventure it was!
10 years later, here I am. I decided to help people learn/practice Portuguese and my impostor syndrome always gets the best of me. I always think I'm not doing enough, despite getting the opposite feedback. I started from 0, going from teaching the daily life basics, to realizing that it is useful to spend a couple of days focusing on Portuguese sounds, to getting fit walking and speaking Portuguese for hours, to having tea and cookies with lovely groups of people while we just speak Portuguese.
But, I wanted to go back. I wanted to go back to being a student and to be in my students' shoes. To see if I got overwhelmed, scared of making mistakes again, to exercise this muscle that is our brains and, truth be told, our soul. So, I did! One day I thought, "This is it! There is nothing stopping me from doing this, excect my own excuses and my lack of organisation skills."
Last year I created a facebook group, which purpose is to connect people who want to learn or practice the other person's language. One friend who found a language buddy told me that she had a friend who spoke Russian. I immediately thought this was probably God telling me to try it out. When the opportunity is right in front of you, it's hard to not look at it. I am now in the process of re-learning Russian (which I don't remember at all), through reading, listening, and speaking on the spot.
Here are three pieces of advice that you can apply on your Portuguese learning journey;
1. ACCEPT YOUR MISTAKES AND THE UNCERTAINTY OF NOT KNOWING
There is nothing that I teach my child more than to try new things, and feel okay with making mistakes. It's a learning opportunity and the same mistake won't happen again, or it will reduce its frequency. However, things are always easier said than done. And, when I had to read something I felt my whole body shaking and screaming silently "nooooooooo"!! Turns out, I survived and never heard the scream again. Instead, I heard "You got it!"
One Portuguese student keeps saying "it's all practice!" when she gets something wrong, and I now understand even more the feeling. By saying that out loud, it takes the emotional consequence of feeling failure. It turns into happiness for trying!
2. LESS IS MORE
Going through this process, also made me understand that I do offer more than necessary. In some cases it's good, but when learning a language, even though it might look like you are not doing much, or the teacher is not offering much, it is beneficial to stay in one subject, detail, or rule, for a while and go over it. Repetition is important!
So, if you have to keep reading the same sentence for a week; or if you have to keep writing sentences with the same verb in different scenarios for a month, that is totally okay! What you are doing is creating the foundation for a more solid and stable learning process.
3. NO ONE CAN TEACH YOU A LANGUAGE
No one can teach you a language if you don't study it yourself.
Yes, you can hire a teacher or someone native to talk to you every once in a while. But, those people do not have magic wands and there is nothing they can say or explain that will automatically allow you to speak that language.
Learning a new language is a very intimate process that requires auto-motivation, discipline and fully immersing in it - by being in contact with it daily as much as possible.
As for me, I will keep these things in mind and continue my journey! I am listening to children's stories on YouTube. I brought back my russian grammar book from university "para matar saudades"; and I will practice the paragraph from the last session so I can be better next time we meet.
If you would like to learn Portuguese, download our free ebook here: http://8600950.hs-sites.com/e-book-food-out-a-bite-into-european-portuguese
If you would like to join the Language Buddy PT/EN Facebook group: :The Rooster Talks (EN/PT Conversation group)
