Am glad that it was! And looking forward to talking about all things Tolkien in due course!

Thoroughly recommend Kintsugi - here are some of my recent efforts (I am very new to this art)

8. Embrace your mistakes! I guess it’s a universal truth - but I’m definitely hardwired to focus more - and do better - having got something wrong. So I try to give new vocab and grammar a go “in the wild” before I feel 100% confident - however uncomfortable that feels (and it does)

Ah yes - that’s great advice - thanks

So do I 😂 - I’m a Jill of all trades and mistress of none!

I think the short version of all of my language learning advice is: make it fun. Find ways to do what you love in the language you’re learning - and I absolutely LOVE Le Seigneur Des Anneaux

7. Make grammar fun - I think there’s a fortune to be made by whoever designs the app with enjoyable grammar games. Meanwhile, I’m experimenting with asking ChatGPT and similar to make up fun games and quizzes for me (it’s a slog, though - better suggestions appreciated!)

6. There is also a whole world of graded listening podcasts and apps out there now too - for various levels and at various speeds. I remember “the Chairman’s Bao”
being a real blessing when I was learning Mandarin - news read slowly, graded according to various levels

5. Another precursor to the feature-length movie is the best possible soap or series in your target language you can get your hands on. Even if you generally hate soaps - it really helps to hear the same voices over and over in 30 minute installations

4. Disney animated movies are a great precursor to the wonderful (but often quite complex) world of foreign movies. They are available in a range of languages, easy to follow and beautifully translated

3. Make good use of graded readers, then dive into your favourites - for me that’s Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, JRR Tolkien…Reading something I already know well in English is initially less daunting than a great work from that culture - and I don’t need a dictionary on the bedside table!

2. Spaced repetition apps are amazing. When I learned French as a toddler, there wasn’t such a thing, of course - I annoyed my parents with my « dictée magique » instead. But space repetition apps are a different kind of magic - definitely essential to the modern language student!

1. Do it for love: learning a language is super-difficult (for me at least 😂) and needs a lot of passion and energy - so strong motivation - and an end-goal - is essential. For me, I haven’t embarked on learning a language that doesn’t already fascinate me

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