James Hutchinson

There's something called the Goldilocks rule. It's something that applies to learning anything but in terms of language learning it's extremely useful to know, if you want to get better in another language.

How it works is you should aim for a level that's just above your current level because if it's too easy you'll get bored and if it's too hard you'll give up because you'll lose motivation.

This is easier said than done and the trick is to work out what your current level is and understand how you're feeling when you're practising a language. Think to yourself: Is this too difficult for me, or is this too easy, or am I enjoying it enough but it's pushing me 'slightly'?

It matters because if you're doing activities to practise a target language now, you might be close to giving up.

Or you might be using a method which is too easy for you and you might be getting bored.

This is another way to help your brain stay engaged, which in turn means that your brain is more receptive to new words and phrases.

Anyway I've made a free 5-day email course on how to stop freezing up when speaking with natives. I cover more about this rule within the email course.

Here's the link: conversations.jameshutchinsonlanguages.com/

18 hours ago | [YT] | 0

James Hutchinson

For many people they know the words and the phrases that they want to say but they freeze up when it comes time to say it.

This is because they're trying to aim for perfection. They're trying to get it perfectly right but then when it comes out their brain freezes up because it struggles to achieve perfection in their target language.

The same happens when you have something important to say or you are presenting something to people you consider important. Your brain freezes up because its filter is too strong. It wants to get everything perfect but it puts pressure on your mind at the same time.

One approach is to accept being imperfect. Essentially, if you know a couple of words to get your point across when you're speaking with natives, start with that.

You'll find that, naturally, over the next few seconds, you'll become more confident, and more words will come to you.

Anyway that's just the tip of the iceberg. I have a free five-day email course giving you actionable advice on how to stop freezing up and speaking with natives. Here's a link:

conversations.jameshutchinsonlanguages.com/

1 day ago | [YT] | 0

James Hutchinson

I've been working on a big project for the past few months.

It's to help with the hardest bit of learning language, the conversation side:

www.speakwithvoco.com/?ref=yt-community.

I've spent 13 years learning languages and done tonnes of research on how our brains learn languages best.

There doesn't seem to be anything out there to join everything together and make conversation practise as easy as possible.

Plus when people say they want to learn a language, the most common use is speaking and listening. You want to have conversations with native speakers to feel included.

But most apps and platforms and resources don't make this easy. They focus on games or absorbing content rather than actually having conversations.


So I created this platform which allows you to have spoken conversations where you speak and the system responds back to you with an AI persona that you can choose. It learns about you over time and feels like you are speaking to a friend.

It also shows a transcript of what the AI is saying to you and also what you're saying back.

The AI never judges you and if you ever get stuck replying, there is a list of suggested responses that you can use to keep the conversation going that are directly relevant to the moment.

Anyway it's live now so feel free to give it a go yourself. The first session is free for you to get a taste of it.

After that the subscription is £20 a month for unlimited practise time (literally). For me it is a similar price as a gym membership, but with the ability to maintain my Italian and Spanish skills and as much as I want, any time, 24/7.

It's currently best on a big screen like a laptop or desktop because you can see more on the screen but it also works on your phone if you just navigate in your browser to the website.

I'm also open to any feedback so I can make it better.

Cheers,
James.

1 week ago (edited) | [YT] | 4

James Hutchinson

I've mentioned before that strong emotions help us to learn languages because it helps our brain have an association with the new vocabulary.

However which emotions are best?

Well generally any emotions which spike curiosity or your interest or happiness are best because this is what makes your brain engaged and when your brain is engaged it acts like a sponge.

You can probably relate to this if you used to try and learn language at school but you found the classroom boring. You were not engaged and this was not a good emotion so you didn't learn that much.

However you might relate if you've been on holiday to a different country, you have probably learned more by being curious and interested in that language than you have done from when you were in school.

The main takeaway is to try and practise a language when you're in these emotions. Watch content or consume content that makes you feel curious, interested, excited in some way.

Here's a link to the full book that I wrote based on my 13 years of language learning experience: www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0GX3DLKHW.

1 week ago | [YT] | 1

James Hutchinson

Naturally you'd think that you'd need a certain level of being able to speak the language before you should practise with native speakers.

However this isn't true. Think about babies or young children when they're trying to communicate with their parents. They might only need to say one word, for example, "water" or "thirsty", and the parents understand exactly what they want.

This proves two things:

Firstly the baby or young child now knows that they only need to say that one word to get water or a drink. They now have more confidence that they can communicate and get what they want.

Secondly the best way we can learn a different language is by actively using it rather than looking at a book and trying to memorise it, in the same way that if you want to practise a martial art or get better at swimming, you have to do the thing.

The issue is that most people who want to learn a different language are too scared to use a language in case they make mistakes in front of natives. However a native speaker will appreciate your effort in trying to communicate with them in their native language.

Anyway, this page is from my book, No Bullshit Language Learning.

Here's a link: www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0GX3DLKHW

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 0

James Hutchinson

You'll notice that so many people say that a great way of learning a language is by watching TV shows and movies.

This is true because first of all it gives you context as to what's happening and you can learn new words and phrases through context.

But then secondly in TV shows there's more drama. There are more ups and downs. There are more emotions and when your brain associates emotions with different words and phrases in your target language, it's easier to remember it.

Our brains learn best when there's an emotional attachment to it. This applies to anything. In the same sense that if you're abroad and you hear a fight or a rude word, you'll remember that word because there's a strong emotional attachment to it.

Anyway this page is an extract from my book.

Here's the link: www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0GX3DLKHW.

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 1

James Hutchinson

You think you're getting good at speaking a different language, until you get in a conversation with a group of native speakers.

Or you're out and about in a restaurant in another country and there is just too much background noise to understand what the other person is saying. You freeze and forget everything you know.

Sometimes it's not your language ability that is letting you down. It's the situation itself.

There's a lot that is out of our control but the thing to understand that will help you is that it's not your fault. There are ways you can make it easier for yourself to have a flowing conversation with a native speaker.

I've experienced this quite a lot when on holiday and travelling in Spain and Italy and speaking with natives.

Many times I've been unable to say the right things or hear what's being said and I blamed it on myself and my ability.

So I've created an email course designed to help people overcome this. It's free because each email takes only one minute to read and you'll get one per day delivered to your inbox over the next five days.

Short and to the point with actionable advice that you can use immediately.

Here's a link. I'll never spam you and you can unsubscribe at any time:

conversations.jameshutchinsonlanguages.com/

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 0

James Hutchinson

If you're trying to get better in your target language for a job or for work, it can be hard to know what to focus on.

However the stakes are higher because it literally is your source of income.

Maybe you want to move abroad and you're looking for a job or work but you need to reach a certain level.

Or maybe you've got a job abroad. You're living in the country but you struggle to understand what's happening in meetings. Natives speaking at full speed is very different to learning in the classroom or via an app.

I've created a free 5-day email course specifically helping people with this. Each email takes about one minute to read and will be delivered to your inbox every day over the next five days.

I have condensed my 13 years of language learning experience into these emails so every piece of advice is actionable immediately and relevant.

Here's a link if you want to take a look. I will never spam you and you can unsubscribe at any time:

work.jameshutchinsonlanguages.com/

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 0

James Hutchinson

The biggest barrier that most language learners face, especially when they're early on, is aiming to be perfect right from the start: perfect grammar, perfect pronunciation, etc.

However across my 13 years of experience learning Spanish and Italian as a native English speaker, I've realised that you can be incredibly bad at speaking in a sense of having really bad grammar but still be understood.

Ultimately your goal when you're starting out learning a new language shouldn't be to be perfect but it should be to be able to communicate even if it's really bad.

Even if it's one word at a time, along with body language, that's the key because that gives you some evidence that you can communicate in your target language.

Then obviously as you have more conversations that are really bad, you realise that you can communicate and you can listen to what's being said to you.

That will grow your confidence. It will speed up your progress and eventually you can learn via the process of having conversations how to get better at grammar.

So at the start aim for imperfection. Don't try and be perfect.

Here's the link to the book: www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0GX3DLKHW#averageCustomerRevi…

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2 weeks ago | [YT] | 2

James Hutchinson

The way in which you think about yourself, your identity, what you're good at, bad at, shapes your daily habits and the amount of effort and motivation you have to do certain things.

This doesn't just apply to language learning but it applies to any skill or anything you do. If you see yourself as being good at that thing or as being capable of learning that thing, you'll naturally put more effort into it.

It is like if you identify or see yourself as a marathon runner, you will naturally practise more, do more long-distance runs, and that will be part of your identity, which helps shape your habits on a weekly basis.

Many people, especially when it comes to language learning, had a bad experience at school or in the past and think of themselves as not capable of learning a different language. However everybody is capable because you were able to learn your native language.

This is an extract from my book and it leans on the book Atomic Habits. It's about the psychology of language learning so it applies to any language.

Here's the link: www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0GX3DLKHW#averageCustomerRevi…

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3 weeks ago | [YT] | 0