I think it is very difficult to pinpoint the exact moment when I fell in love with languages as it is something that has grown very slowly.
A very important moment was for sure when my secondary school organised an exchange with a school from Tricarico, Italy. After two weeks in Tricarico, I was already able to speak some basic ๐ฎ๐น. Immersion really helps to pick up a language.
More importantly…
How did this new adventure of mine start?
How did I end up teaching 500 lessons to almost 100 different students in less than 3 months?
I am an introvert. No, I award myself the title Mr. Introvertโ83. I have no idea how some people donโt start sweating when they meet new people. I start sweating when I know there is a POSSIBILITY, I MIGHT have to meet someone new sometime in the future.
The other day somebody in one of the language groups on Facebook that I am member of asked, โWhat are some of the methods you use to learn a language?โ.
Well, here is my very very very short answer in ๐ฌ๐ง and ๐ฎ๐น, adapted to the Instagram Reel reality of 30 seconds. Enjoy the video(s) or you can also continue reading under them.
Get ready for me on an English High Speed Train and/or an Italian Frecciarossa.
โญ Music. A lot of music.
โญ Singing along with the songs of The Lion King in every language I know. These songs are usually the first ones I turn to when I start a new language.
โญ Reading Le Petit Prince in every language I study. Every time I read it, I discover something new.
โญ Rereading books I really like in my new language(s): Angels and Demons, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Crusade in Jeans, โฆ. To name only a few.
โญ This might sound strange, but it really works and definitely underrated as a language learning tool: I talk to myself while taking our dogs for a walk. But you could also do while showering or brushing your teeth.
โญ Listening to Podcasts, whenever possible: while running, while cleaning, while cooking, while gardening (but I keep some time for meditation; my mind does need a break every day at least twice).
โญ Making mistakes (and trying to ignore the fear of sounding ridiculous).
โญ Writing on Twitter in my target languages and hoping someone wants to check for those mistakes. In my experience, even if nobody gives feedback (but usually I get some), it is a good practice to add some writing and/or speaking to your language learning. It forces you to focus on sentence structure, you have to look up words you didn’t know and if you make a voice note or video you might have to check the pronunciation of some words (using for example Forvo.com).
โญ Classes on Italki with great teachers. Donโt go for good, go for the best for you. Keep in mind that weโre all different and unique and a great teacher for your friend (with or without benefits) might be not your cup of tea.
โญ Participating in language challenges as they force you to focus a bit more on your language(s) during a certain amount of time.
If you want to study 40 hours in 7 days, you’d better prepare yourself. Actually, it’s doesn’t matter what you study, how you study or how much you study, prepping yourself properly is ๐ KEY ๐ and will save you precious time. It took me about an hour to get a proper schedule ready for this challenge (and an extra hour to get the design right).
This is WHY I use the Google Home and Google Assistant apps during my language learning adventures.
The Google Home app provides the possibility to program the latest news. As a result, with a single voice command you can ask your Google Assistant to play the latest news on your smart phone or on your (Google) smart speaker.
If you don’t know how to program it, I explain it in a short video on Youtube.
When I started with Danish and Catalan in 2020 I immediately added both languages to my list. I selected news programmes that update each hour (some trial and error here) to have the most up-to-date information and then I put them at the end.
At the end, because the same subjects often return: elections, (natural) disasters, big events, wars, sports, … So when I reach my newer languages I already know what might be mentioned and that really helps.
Not all languages and countries are available, but the list is growing. If you aren’t really into current affairs, politics and economics, no worries as they also provide other categories.
Back to the WHY.
Even if you didn’t have the time to study a language a certain day/week or certain days/weeks, you will have had a minimum exposure to your target language(s) for usually anywhere between 5 and 10 minutes. I usually listen during the washing-up in the morning, so even if time is really scarce this is an activity you can perfectly do while cleaning ๐งน/commuting ๐/gardening ๐จโ๐พ/working out ๐ช/running ๐โโ๏ธ… You choose!
Newsreaders speak slower and clearer than the general population, keep it formal, hardly use slang, pay attention to using the right words and grammar (but are still humans and errors and mistakes do join the party) and as such are easier the understand. You can opt for ๐ซ๐ท RFI‘s Journal en franรงais facile or ๐ฉ๐ช DW‘s Langsam gesprochene Nachrichten, but here you get immediately real people, speaking as they speak to native listeners.
Here is my experience with ๐ฉ๐ฐ:
“I don’t now what they are talking about. No, that’s not right, I don’t even now where words start or end.”
“I recognised a word! And another one!”
“I think I know the subject they are talking about.”
“It’s going to snow in Denmark.”
“The prime minister made an announcement.”
“I know what the prime minister said. I think.”
You won’t see or hear your progress every day. That’s right. But I can tell you this from my experience: slowly but surely you will start to recognise words, phrases; and one day you’ll realise you get the gist of it and finally the day will come when you’ll be able to understand most of it. And that is a great feeling.
Same singer, other language.
๐ง๐ช singer Axelle Red released the album Con solo pensarlo, which contains ๐ช๐ธ versions of some of her ๐ซ๐ท songs: the evergreen Sensualitรฉ (Sensualidad) and the ever beautiful Je t’attends (Te esperรฉ) and many more to discover.
Multilingual, my all time favourite, responsible for my best concert ever (Rome, Stadio Olimpico, 2016) but Laura Pausini is also the first ๐ฎ๐น female artist to win a Grammy Award ๐, 2021 winner of a Golden Globe and in her home country known as La regina ๐ della musica italiana.
Almost all her songs exist in an Italian and Spanish version, some in Brazilian Portuguese. Too many to mention, but I won’t let you go without a short trilingual overview.
 |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Due innamorati come noi | Dos enamorados | Apaixonados como nรณs |
| Incancellabile * | Inolvidable | Inesquecivel |
| Invece no | En cambio no | Agora nรฃo |
| Le cose che vivi | Las cosas que vives | Tudo o que eu vivo |
| Nel primo sguardo | A simple vista | No primeiro olhar |
Her latest song Io sรฌ (Seen) is nominated for an Oscar and more importantly a multilingual feat, released in 6 versions, 5 languages ๐ฎ๐น๐ช๐ธ๐ง๐ท๐ซ๐ท๐ฌ๐ง and the soundtrack of La vita davanti a sรฉ (The Life Ahead) casting Sophia Loren.
Many ๐ฎ๐น singers soon followed in her footsteps and released Spanish songs and albums; Nek, Tiziano Ferro and Alessandra Amoroso being the most famous and successful ones. Why stop in the land of ๐ and ๐ if with slightly adapting the song gives you access to the ๐ช๐ธ speaking world?
The woman our Google ๐ก wakes us up with on weekdays, sometimes in ๐ซ๐ท, sometimes in ๐ฌ๐ง. Some songs you available in fish and chips version as well as pain, vin et boursin:
She has a similar voice in my opinion and like Cรฉline she has ๐จ๐ฆ citizenship (next to ๐ง๐ช) and while singing mostly in ๐ซ๐ท Lara Fabian‘s biggest succes was I Will Love Again ๐ฌ๐ง, also released in ๐ช๐ธ as Otro Amor Vendrรก.
Saying that the combination ๐ช๐ธ๐ฌ๐ง is popular is the understatement of this and the former century.
As a teenager I had Jennifer Lopez‘s first CD (On the 6) and ๐ค and ๐บto the lyrics of Waiting for Tonight (I did turn of the lights and closed the curtains first), but when I reached the ๐ช๐ธ version on the ๐ฟ (Una noche mรกs) I had to limit my lip-sincying to the title (I only started stuyding ๐ช๐ธ at the age of 33). But whenever, wherever I hear it now I’m proud to say I know the lyrics. ยกOlรฉ!
Talking about Whenever, Wherever Shakira sang Suerte to the same lyrics and to celebrate the FIFA World Cup 2010 โฝ Waka Waka (Esto es Africa) became Waka Waka (This Time for Africa).
Enrique Iglesias tried to Escape in ๐ฌ๐ง y intentรณ Escapar en ๐ช๐ธ, but dancing was in both languages Bailamos.
Multilingual Mika turned Staring at the Sun ๐ฌ๐ง into Tant Que J’ai Le Soleil ๐ซ๐ท (or the other way around) and Elle M’a Dit ๐ซ๐ท became creatively Emily ๐ฌ๐ง.
So now, voulez-vous danser ๐บ๐๐ฏ๐ฉฐ avec moi?
These guys and gals are the ones I turn to when I’ve just started a ๐ language.
Disney has an abundance of songs available and what’s more important to you as language learner/lover/addict (delete as appropriate) they exist in a myriad of languages and often also in different versions of the same language (๐ช๐ธ and ๐ฒ๐ฝ, ๐ง๐ท and ๐ต๐น, ๐ณ๐ฑ and ๐ง๐ช…).
I recently rediscovered Timon and Pumbaa, the ๐ฉ๐ฐ way. My fav is Can You Feel the Love Tonight. Not only because I like the song, but also because the happy couple (they are a couple, right; or is that just an impression only I have?) have a short conversation before and after the song; a conversation I know by heart in ๐ฌ๐ง, ๐ง๐ท, ๐ช๐ธ and ๐ฎ๐น (not yet in ๐ฉ๐ฐ, but don’t worry I’ll get there). Ain’t I a strange ๐ฝ guy, right?
Still haven’t had enough of The ๐ฆ๐? On Youtube you can find a multi-language version in 16 (!) languages.
If you don’t like Simba’s adventures, well… who’s strange ๐ฝ now? No just kidding of course. It really is l’embarras du choix as we say in ๐ซ๐ท . There’s Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast ๐น, Moana… and…
aka Frozen’s Let it go in ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ซ๐ท๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ๐น๐ฆ๐ฉ and many more as you might have already seen on Youtube or in this Spotify playlist. There are 44 official versions but who’s counting?
You know the melody (it really helps!), you know what it is about (or you quickly check the lyrics in another language).
โผ๏ธ Mind you, this can also be a first step to watching a ๐ฌ๐๏ธ in your target language: it becomes easier when you’ve already listened to the songs.
So put the songs on ๐ and ๐ค along!
Main article about music and language learning is just one click away.
But there are more songs to discover…