international – In my Fearless Twenties.

Learning a new language is tough. One of the most enjoyable and kick-in-the-butt experiences I’ve ever lived. Creativity will be your best friend against boredom when learning a new language and immersion one of your most powerful means.

When people ask me how did I learn English or since when I’ve been learning, I am a bit speechless. All my life? Properly since a few years ago? I don’t know. Finding the specific point on my life-line is a bit too much asking but I can say something for sure:

I started loving this new language since I was 11 or so.

When I was in secondary school, oh boy, the time of ‘crushes’ began and I had no one better than Taylor Swift to walk along with me on this painful journey. Yes, that’s right, I would listen to every single one of her most cheesy songs possible and sing along with the lyrics. I had one big challenge for my self-pity start moments: ENGLISH.

My first Taylor Swift song ever? ‘You belong with me’ and the video was so epic that I had to understand what she was saying! “She wears short skirts, I wear t-shirts. She’s cheer captain and I’m on the bleachers” (Yep, the struggle was real).

Continue reading “Your best tips to learn a new language and stay (mostly) sane.” →

Last week we talked about the two most wanted-to-know questions about bilinguals, if you missed them, you can check them out first and then carry on with this post with the mystery title with it. Maybe I am overreacting a little, but that’s the fun part of it.

After reading the first post, it’s already crystal clear that life it’s not always fancy for those strange beings –the bilinguals. There are the messy beginnings, but I suppose that’s just life.

Before coming to Scotland I had all sorted out in my mind:

In one or two months I will be an official bilingual.
In one year I will be already over-qualified to start a degree in English.

It’s funny how learning a language in the actual country is not what is cracked up to be. It’s like, by magic, the fact that you are there, maybe something in the air, or the British tea (hmm) will make you release the tongue and your posh English will come out, out of the blue.

How did I manage to learn English (or rather get a plain decent level of communication)? That’s another post, stay tuned!
But how do we manage to stay (mostly) sane while learning the language and what we don’t tell you while we smile politely and nod? That’s the real deal here.

Continue reading “What your bilingual friend never tells you.” →