Good morning!

The language tag is here! I wasn’t sure if you could do tags on a blog, however, I really wanted to get everything I wanted to say out to you all, and I couldn’t do that on a YouTube video. I get too nervous. So, let’s get right to the questions:

What do you consider to be your native language?

English. Definitely English. I grew up in a monolingual household, in a monolingual neighborhood, in a monolingual town in the US. I never thought I’d even have the experience to create a language blog, (and I don’t) but here we are!

What was your first language learning experience?

My mom always surrounded me with languages the best she could. I really admire the resources she used when I was little. We had the best days. Anyways, so what my mom would do is rent movies and books from the library, unless they were something I really enjoyed like Dora the Explorer or Madeline. She would rent movies teaching sign language, and would always watch and repeat the Spanish words in Dora with me, or the French in Madeline. I still have the first Spanish vocabulary book my mom got for me, called My First 100 Words in Spanish. My mom has stories of how I’ve embarrassed her in front of other people when they’d ask about my Spanish. Of course, my dad knew some basic Spanish vocabulary, the words his mom used when he was little.

What languages have you studied and why did you start them?

Spanish: I began learning Spanish when I was little, as I said in the previous question. My dad would always incorporate the most Spanish he knew or could say in our lives. Then, when I grew out of Dora, and couldn’t read the one resource I had, I took a break for a few years. When junior high/middle school/last year of primary school came around, I took Spanish for my language. However, I was super unmotivated and did not do great in that class. So, I took two years off, and then I went to Thailand, to get my stem cell transplant. Those hospitals are so international, I actually learned some Spanish. I did Duolingo there, and we’d always laugh at the phrases because, at that time, I was a false beginner.

French: Since I was little and watching Madeline with my mom, I have wanted to go to Paris, and learn French. I actually wanted to take French in middle school, however, my parents told me I needed to learn Spanish because that’s what my grandma speaks. Well, after I got back from Costa Rica, and was happy with the amount of Spanish I’d learned, I decided if I passed the CLEP test, that I would begin learning French. Well, I barely passed, which meant I got to learn French!

American Sign Language: I began learning ASL because when I was little my mom would rent the DVDs from the library, and I’d watch them, and copy all of the signs. I’m also visually impaired, so I knew a lot of deaf/heard of hearing people, so learning ASL was almost a given.

Thai and Mandarin: I put these both together because they were for the same reason. I began learning them because my mom and I were going to China and Thailand for a month, and I wanted to be able to communicate with a few words.

Latin: I wanted to start studying Latin, for religious reasons, as well as for linguistic reasons. I really wanted to learn Latin so I could process what some larger words meant for my SATs. I took it in school along with French for four months. It helped greatly, and I’d GREATLY appreciate it if anyone had finished with Teach Yourself Latin and wanted to give it to me!

Catalan: I started studying Catalan because I really want to study a lesser known language. When you think Spain, I know a lot of people think Spanish, but they also speak Catalan. I think that’s so cool. There are so many new things to learn. I only studied it for about a week, and I remember hello, goodbye, and how to say “I speak a little Catalan”.

How do you think your personality effects you how you learn languages?

I’m a perfectionist introvert, so that should say something right up front. I feel I would’ve learned so much more Spanish if I would have only talked in Spanish. I’m not going to lie, in Costa Rica, we’d switch to speaking English since it was a language we spoke in more often, it was easier to communicate, and I didn’t want to make mistakes in front of friends that were more advanced in Spanish than me. I’m also an introvert if I don’t know people. I don’t like talking to people in English, especially not in a language I’m not thinking/talking in 24/7.

What are your favorite language learning materials

Lonely Planet phrasebooks, all of Benny Lewis’s language hacking books, as well as Teach Yourself books. However, for online, I’d say InnovativeLanguage is my favorite. I would use only that and Italki for languages, but they don’t have a few of the languages I’ll be learning next, but Arabic, innovative language, Italki, and ArabicPod101 for sure. Duolingo is great if you are learning a language for fun, and don’t plan on using it for preparation for a trip, or an italki lesson, or anything practical. Simply if you want to dip your toe in a language, before spending money on resources that will actually help you. However, I love Duolingo just to keep Spanish and French a part of my day.

What are your short term and long term goals?

Short term, six months, B2 in French, learn basic phrases in other languages for summer vacation. Nine months, pass the DELE exam, 15 months, pass the DALF exam.

Those were all of the questions on my language tag template! I hope you enjoy! See you next week!

Marina.