Episode 46: Back to the Beginning

Love, Joy, and Languages

In this epsiode, I share my current situation with German. For a long time I felt like I was at an impasse with the language, and I needed to decide to either commit to pushing forward or circle back around to the beginning to strengthen my abilities. I distinctly remember being at this place with Italian, and that time, I pushed forward. The problem was that I did it out of fear. I was afraid of being behind where I should be. I was afraid I didn't have time to go back and review or pass through old material. I was afraid that going back would reveal too many failures of things I didn't know. I struggled to face those things that I thought I should know by that point. So when I reached this point with German, I decided it would be valuable to do things different. My intuition told me that I had missed several things on my first pass through the beginner level and that it would be beneficial to me to go back through and pick up on more of those things. So I listened.

But what does "starting over" even mean when I can already function in the language in a country where it's spoken? How does one start over when they're already at the cusp of an intermediate level understanding of the language? Listen in to discover all my thoughts and perceptions, including what exactly I've done and how it's going. I promise, it's not quite as boring and crazy as it sounds.

Also, enjoy the sporadic sound of birds chirping in the background. It was such a pleasant day when I recorded this episode, and I couldn't bring myself to shut the windows or hide away from the fresh air and feelings of nature!

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