Your Journey Begins Here
Language learning is a journey and it can be amazing. By questioning the myths, embracing its messiness, and being in growth-mindset, you can make it an enjoyable and memorable experience for yourself. Remember, there is no one-night transformation or one secret handshake to master a language. It is beyond memorizing vocabulary and grammatical rules. Have patience. Understanding subtlety of language can take years. It is the journey of counting your learning steps. Dive headfirst into your language ideologies, hold fast to your motivations, believe in yourself, and keep going.
Before we end this chapter and you get ready for the next chapter, I want you to grab your journal and a cup of coffee. Sit in your favorite corner and think of a metaphor for your own language learning journey. Thinking of a metaphor will help you see your challenges and possibilities at the same time. More than that, your own metaphor can be a roadmap for you while you walk on this road.
See some metaphors below, people came up with during LinguaMania activity with Dr Linda Fisher
| Name | Language Learning is like… | Metaphor | Because |
| Stella | Painting a picture | because it starts off as something simple and pure but by the end it’s complex and beautiful | |
| Unnamed | having teeth implanted | because it hurts for ages but you are more attractive for it | |
| Melina | an oyster | because it might take a while for it to open, but when it does you find a pearl inside | |
| Unnamed | getting to know a city | because first you become familiar with the main areas, then you get to know other areas and eventually all the bits link up and you understand all of it | |
| Calypso | playing the violin | because the more you practise the easier it will become |
Now pause for a moment and ask yourself the same question. “Language learning is like… because…” And before you dive into it, there is a downloadable page for you to use it and wordify your own metaphor. We encourage you to grab your printout copy, pen down your insights, hang it somewhere you can see every day, and let the metaphor guide you forward i your journey.
