Today I'm happy to bring on a fellow language learner whom I have gotten to know via the Facebook groups and communities that relate to language learning. It's an amazing feeling to be part of the community and I feel like I'm meeting people I would have otherwise never met.
Today's show also marks the first community guest. Previously all the guests were fairly recognizeable names in the community, but I decided that this approach was a bit too confined and ultimately lacked guests.
It's awesome to have people like Steve Kaufmann on the Podcast, and I consider it a great honour. But there just isn't that many Steve Kaufmanns in the community, so what I came to realize was that you do not need to be a well-known figure in the community, to have an amazing story or advice to share.
My guest today: Dani is exactly like this. She's studied over 9 languages and has a lot of experience with learning a new foreign language and even translating foreign languages, so her story is just as exciting and valuable as any ‘celebrity' member of the community. I encourage you also to visit her blog, which features a wide array of articles about language learning, some of which are even available in multiple languages.
The Episode
Show Notes
In this episode you will hear about:
- Dani's story of learning 9 languages to various degrees
- How she motivates herself to keep learning
- Her learning process from reading an unknown word to knowing it fully
- How she makes her own Anki decks for optimum learning
- Her biggest a-ha moment(s) in language learning
- How she would learn a language starting from scratch
- Her strengths and weaknesses as a language learner and how to overcome them
- and Much more!
Resources mentioned in the Episode
- Anki – Vocabulary
- Memrise – Alternative for vocabulary
- Lang-8.com – For submitting native text to be corrected
- Italki – For finding high-quality paid tutors or free language exchanges
- Dani on Facebook
Kris is the founder of Actual Fluency, and has spent the last 8 years becoming an expert in language learning software, methods, and techniques.
He lives in Denmark and speaks 5+ languages at varying levels. His other interests are Wine, Online Marketing, and Travelling.