Three Reasons Why Language Learning is Just Like Skateboarding
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I bought a skateboard. And not just so I can start calling myself "the skateboarding Japanese teacher".
I've wanted to learn to skate for a long time. I'm turning 30 this year and I thought I should probably get on with it.
You know that Chinese proverb, "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now"?
Well, I should probably have started skateboarding 20 years ago, because it turns out skateboarding is really hard. I didn't start when I was nine though, so now will have to do.
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Like many people in the UK, I studied French in school. I liked French. I thought it was really fun to speak another language, to talk with people, and to try and listen to what was going on in a new country. (Still do!)
When I was 14 we went on a school exchange to the city of Reims, in northeastern France. I was paired with a boy, which I’m sure some 14-year-olds would find very exciting but which I found unbearably awkward. He was very sweet and we completely ignored each other.
That was nearly 20 years ago, and I didn’t learn or use any more French until, at some point in lockdown, I decided on a whim to take some one-to-one lessons with online teachers. Here are some things I learned about French, about language learning, and about myself.