5 Things I wish I knew before learning languages (pt 1)

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I'm Joanna Franco, aka Jo, a multilingual storyteller, documentarian, language lover, and lifelong learner. If it's going to grow my mind, wellness, global understanding, finances, or love, I'm all about it. You may know me from my Netflix Show, The World's Most Amazing Vacation Rentals, or from Shut Up and Go, my former channel and company with over 1.2 million subscribers and 600+ videos in travel! Welcome to the next chapter.

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[Chappainnn]

“If you feel exhausted then it’s working” Thank you for this 🙏🏾🙏🏾

[DANGJOS]

Nice to know the woman from the pimsleur commercials really is a committed language learner.

[terrenceharris-hughes]

I do worry about getting overwhelmed and I struggle with how much I should practice a day

[TheBaritonoAssoluto]

I love the micro-immersion way of learning. Because it allows me to be lazy and the language surround me.

[CookieFridays]

One thing I noticed about myself was I have kind of gone through different phases, like in the beginning I listened to a lot of music and movies, I did try to translate some songs by myself and I bought lesson books (which still remain unfinished, because I felt like I knew the basics already, even though ideally I needed more reinforcement and practice with it). For the longest time I felt like reading in Spanish was a burden and I wouldn't even bother if I saw Spanish comments on a video, for instance. I also spent over 12-13 years not even speaking Spanish out loud? I'm not very social so that's another reason. But my parents do speak Spanish, so not that much of an excuse.

My advice would be to learn in a various of ways, get an easy novel or book, watch series, listen to music, learn the grammar and also practice speaking without being too worried and obsessed about making mistakes. I'm finally at a point where I'm improving in the areas I was lacking, especially reading and speaking. But I did go several years kind of neglecting certain areas of learning, I could've been further along by now if I had been giving it my all. But it's all a process anyway.

[aniawilczynska]

I really love this! Especially the point re neurodivergence, because SO many classically "good" methods are impossible for a neurospicy mind

[TonyNes]

Nice video!

I have one tip however : in French, when we say _À tout à l'heure_, that means the person will have an appointment on the very same day, or, logically, in the same hour (hence the "heure"). In your case, it would be better to say _À plus tard_, which literally translates to "See you later" ;

[wolfxlover]

Woah this is crazy, I just looked this up and you happened to have uploaded this video today.

My biggest difficulty with language learning is spending too much time learning languages. I realized as I did an exchange year that after speaking in a foreign language, I had nothing to talk about besides my life, because I'd spent all my time learning the language. I couldn't even tell people my hobby was language learning because that language was my first language learnt, and it just wasn't impressive to speak two languages since it's nearly expected.

And so I began a third to which I've been spending my summer towards. As well as a fourth that I haven't worked on in a long time but can still mostly understand everything I hear. But what I really want to be doing is learning Hungarian -- but every time I try to learn Hungarian I get distracted by Japanese, because it is just that cute.

So I end up spending my whole day learning languages, and it is a privilege and I do see the progress -- but ultimately... I wonder if it's become an unhealthy hobby. I want to learn science but I can't balance learning science and learning languages, because one of them takes over my life for an extended period of time.

*sigh*

Well, thanks for this video and for reading this comment haha! It's so cool to see your videos again after it being so long on my part since I have viewed them. It's comforting that you're still there with me on my language journey. Before I watched your videos, I only spoke one language, and now I speak 2 fluently and understand another 2 quite comfortably! :D Thanks!

[Robin-ipyp]

I've been learning Italian on my own for a while now, I'm now at the point where i can try forming some sentences and vocab sticks a little better, but I notice that I mainly tend to 'translate' while i talk, meaning that i can make a sentence by translating it from my own language word for word. This means that when i listen to italian, I tend to lag behind in understanding because i'm still translating the words i recognise, instead of actually knowing them. It's making me a little bit frustrated, because i feel like it's not getting any better with practice. I know i should be patient but sometimes it can feel a bit hopeless😅

[topnotchqueen]

Yayyy Jo is back
I just love your videos so much

[solidworksdrawing]

Thanks for the Principles, stratégies, and tips for language learning. I'm learning SPANNISH, and I'm grateful to see you as my inspiration

[alinebone]

I’m glad I found this channel! I’m on my journey to learn Italian and Dutch. Apart from keeping practicing English. :) I'm living in the Netherlands but as a native Portuguese speaker, considering studying Belgian Dutch because of your videos 😅 the accent is softer and easier for me to speak.

[athinaboumpoureka]

Γεια σου ! As a Greek I want congratulate you for learning my language ! I am Greek living in Germany and now I still learning German and I am level C1, but as I speak this language 8h /day I don’t have enough motivation to learn more after work 😢 have you a tip ? ❤

[lucassnappys]

Your energy and creativity towards learning is uplifting and inspirational intellectually and emotionally. Thank you 😎👍

[HydraCoffee-wjir]

Thank you! We all learn differently im so glad you appreciate that thank you so much! Your videos have helped me so much!

[victoriaouste]

¡Jo, chica siiii! Estoy apprendiendo español ahora y acuerdo con usted. Perdon mi Espanõl po fa vor, lol. Praticando. Pero, si it is sometimes scary but i literally have been putting myself out there and trying to speak to every spanish speaking personin spanish when i tell you each one has been kind and helpful and this has helped me to improve. I go to my local Hispanic stores and this helps me to so yes doing that and making the language apart of your life does help

[shakalangajoahmed]

I had my first French lesson on Sunday and I really enjoyed it. Now my niece wants to learn a new language thanks.❤❤

[larxleysashakai]

This video changed my perspective on a lot of things thank you! ¡Also reactivated my travel urge!

[absotivelypawsilutely]

For people who can't travel and don't really have anywhere near them that they can reach that might have their target language in the wild, there are actually videos/streams of people walking around grocery stores, or streets, or museums etc which can be helpful. Especially since some of them are for people who are interested in that country and its culture where the person filming might spend a bit of extra time looking at things closely. As well as being able to look at and read things, you can also usually hear people around. Closest thing to actually going somewhere when you can't go yourself.

It also turned out, after many stops and starts with languages that for me it was actually better to learn more than one language at a time because even when I might be feeling a bit demotivated with one I'm usually still motivated with another and then I might see something in that language that reminds me of something in another which can boost that motivation and then I'm actually consistent. It has it's limitations, obviously I'll probably gain proficiency more slowly than someone studying just one language, it's time consuming, it takes extra energy, and I have to be careful about which ones I'm doing at the same time (avoiding anything too similar), but if it's between that and giving up without meaning to I'll take the downsides just so I can actually stick with it.

[msmoe]

This is a really good video. I definitely agree that you need to find your own way of learning.