James Hutchinson

What we tend to do as humans is overthink what we're doing...

If you approach a group of native speakers or to a single native speaker with the idea of practicing a language with them, you may already have a feeling that they're going to reply in a nasty way. This is only because of negative past experiences where your mind has learnt to protect you in the future.

However, this is a better approach:

Say, "Hi, I'm practicing a bit of," insert target language, whether it's Italian or Spanish, "and I'd like to practice with you if that's okay, if you've got some spare time."

Then you'll either get 2 responses:

You'll get, "Oh, yeah, that's fine. Absolutely. Yeah. It's great to practice."

Or you'll get, "Oh, sorry, I'm just in a conversation," or, "I'm just busy at the moment, do you mind if, if we do it a bit later?"

And then that's fine because that's not you that's being bad at the language.

That's them not having enough time.

They might be a nice person just busy at the moment. But what happens then if they say yes is you can practice with them and then you can build up more evidence that they're actually nice people, native speakers.

A lot of people think that native speakers are horrible and if you make a single mistake they'll be really annoyed at you.

In some cultures that might be true, but most of the time they'll appreciate you putting effort in to speak with them in their native language anyway, and that outweighs any negativities.

It also means that you build proof to yourself that you can speak the language.

Ps. I created a 2 minute quiz that tells you the exact next step that you should take to learn your target language in less time. It's free: nextstep.jameshutchinsonlanguages.com/.

Cheers,

James.

1 day ago | [YT] | 2

James Hutchinson

It's very common if you're learning a different language and you're watching TV shows and movies to look up words, to pause what you're watching and look up a word.

However, the drawback is that that interrupts your mid-flow and it's more important to stay in the flow of what's going on than to pause it and look up words, because that takes effort and it takes effort getting back in to understand what's happening.

Imagine when you're watching something, a movie, and someone steps up and interrupts you, you've lost the flow....


You can't quite remember what was going on.
You're having to get back into it.

You might even, if you're watching Netflix and, and your partner offers you a snack or something, you might have to pause it, answer their question, and then get back to it.

But you might find you even have to rewind a few seconds to remember what was last said and get back into the emotional flow of it.

And that's the reason why you shouldn't look up words when watching your TV show or movies in a different language, because it's more important to stay in the flow, than to try and understand every single word.

It's fine as long as you get what's happening and you can see subtitles and you understand 70% of it.

Just move on from words that you don't know.

And if it's a common word spoken in everyday conversation, you get exposure to that word over time, so you'll learn it anyway.


If you want to learn a language quickly, then over the next 30 days I'll send you a daily practical tip via email, for free, so you can learn any language in less time. Here's the link: jameshutchinson.kit.com/30days.

Cheers,
James.

3 days ago | [YT] | 3

James Hutchinson

Learning a language can be overwhelming. How do you know if what you're learning right now is the best thing to get you closer to your goal?

- What if there's a quicker route?
- What if there's a more enjoyable route?
- What if there's a better way to learn more aligned with your learning style?

There's a lot of options. How do you know which one to pick next?

I've created this short free quiz to help you understand the next step you should take, to help you reach your language goal in less time: nextstep.jameshutchinsonlanguages.com/.

It's based on my 12 years of language learning experience.

Cheers,
James.

5 days ago (edited) | [YT] | 2

James Hutchinson

I recently made a free language learning quiz that can identify the exact next step that you should take to reach your language goal.

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

It takes less than 2 mins, and works for any language.

Cheers,

James.

1 week ago | [YT] | 3

James Hutchinson

I've made a free tool that tells you exactly what next step you should take, to get you closer to your language goal in less time. Here's the link:

nextstep.jameshutchinsonlanguages.com/

Takes 2 mins: asks you a few questions then gives you a tailored recommendation at the end based on your answers.

Give it a try...let me know what you think!

Cheers,

James.

1 week ago | [YT] | 3

James Hutchinson

When you're learning a language it can be tempting to compare your progress to others.

Don't.

If you've spent 2 years learning Spanish but you chat with someone and they say they've started learning it 3 months ago, but when you hear them speak they seem fluent....

You also have to consider:

- How many hours a day have they committed?
- Are they using a method they know they're naturally good at (eg. speaking/listing/reading/writing).
- Which parts of the language have they studied? (have they focused on a specific area which would take less time).

There's so many factors that you don't know about when someone just gives you a hight level 'I've been learning for X time period'.

The risk is, it demotivates you. You think you're bad at language learning because you've spent more time and made less progress.

However, to make comparisons it has to be in equal environments. Otherwise, it's not fair.

If you want to compare, compare you NOW to how you were X months or years ago. You versus you.

P.S. For 30 days of free language learning advice, delivered to you every day via email, head here: jameshutchinson.kit.com/30days.

Cheers,

James.

1 week ago | [YT] | 2

James Hutchinson

The idea that courses from language schools are sized and priced based on the 'hours' that they include doesn't make sense to me.

It should be based on the outcome that you achieve as a student, as your progress through the course and also at the end.

Firstly because 'hours spent learning' does not directly equate to progress. Different people progress at different speeds, and using different methods.

Secondly, many course promise that they'll get you to a certain level (eg B1) by taking their course. However, if you don't reach that level the risk is on you, not them.

Therefore, it should be 'We'll make sure you reach level B1 or we'll refund you' because after all, the students goal is to 'reach level B1', not to 'spend 40 hours learning the language'.

It's charged based on time, rather than how effective it is. That makes that the quality of the language course can drop, but as it's the same time period, the cost is the same.

If they charged based on OUTCOME of each student, it would be a win-win. The language school would have an incredibly high standard to make sure every student reaches the desired level, and each student would then feel the benefits and spread the word about how good the school is.

My advice: Taking a language course is great, but it's not the be all and end all, and it might not be suitable for everyone's learning style. It's a cost effective way of 'giving it a go' learning a language, but really it's what you do OUTSIDE the classroom that counts (watching TV, listening to podcast in target language etc).

Anyway - if you want 30 days worth of language learning advice based on my 12 years of experience learning Spanish and Italian (for free), here's the link:

jameshutchinson.kit.com/30days.

Cheers,

James.

1 week ago | [YT] | 2

James Hutchinson

You may relate: You often finish people's sentences while they're talking because you can guess what they want to say.

This is often an ADHD trait (thinking fast), and can be a superpower when learning a language:

If you're listening to a native speaker in your target language and after every word they say, you guess what the rest of the sentence will be, you can plan your response before they have even finished their sentence.

For example, you're talking about sports and the native speaker says:

"Tomorrow morning I am going to the...."

You can assume the next word will be 'gym'.

So if that's the case, you can mentally prepare your reply to that full sentence, before they finish it.

That's just one word - but sometimes you can guess many words ahead.

This buys you a few seconds, to think of a response.

So next time you're listing to a native speaker (mid-conversation) try and be ahead of the game and predict the next few words they're going to say.

If you're wrong, you're just back to square one. Adjust your response. Nothing bad happens.

If you're right, you've just helped yourself 'respond to natives more quickly' which helps keep the conversation flowing and you seem and feel more fluent.

For more tips, I've made a free email course on how to learn any language in the next 30 days: jameshutchinson.kit.com/30days.

Cheers,

James.

1 week ago (edited) | [YT] | 2

James Hutchinson

If the thing you're scared about when responding to native speakers is awkward silences:

Then have a couple of 'filler phrases' that buy you time when you have to think about the answer. Find out what they are in your target language and remember them.

Something like:

"Can you repeat it please"
"Sorry, I couldn't hear you"
"Say that again"

This does two things:

- It gives you more time to think about what they said. Even if you heard 2 words out of 10, if you understand the context of the conversation, you'll be able to work out what they MIGHT be saying.

- It means that they will slow down and speak more clearly the second time round, so you'll have a better chance of understanding it.

That way, you're not sat in silence feeling pressured to respond.

It takes away some of the anxiety of an awkward silence, because you have something to say while you think.

For more tips, I've made a free email course on how to learn any language in the next 30 days: learnwithlingoers.kit.com/30days.

Cheers,

James.

2 weeks ago (edited) | [YT] | 2

James Hutchinson

Would you rather...

(P.S. I have a free email course to help you to stop freezing up when responding to natives: learnwithlingoers.kit.com/confidentwithnatives).

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 3