I first fell in love with South Africa in 2011 when my now husband, a South African, took me to visit his home country. South Africa and Afrikaans have both completely captured my heart, and so I have started this blog to create a place where I will post things about both Afrikaans and South Africa that I find interesting, and that will hopefully be of interest and help to others, and where learners and tutors of Afrikaans can come together and share ideas. It is also a way of keeping myself accountable on my Afrikaans language learning journey.
Here is my introduction video, I hope you enjoy my blog,
What can you do if you have to learn a language for work or for school that you don’t enjoy? Is it possible to learn to love a language?
Hi! Today I’m going to be answering a question that I had come through after my last video “Head vs Heart Motivation” in language learning. You can watch that video here https://youtu.be/D15Vv3Ax578
And this is a fantastic question and it comes from one of my subscribers Katie. Katie thank you so much for asking. The question was “is it possible to turn extrinsic motivation into intrinsic motivation?” To give you a bit of a backstory Katie is having to learn French at school, she’s not enjoying it at all but she has to keep it up to pass her exams. So this was not something I’d ever thought about before so I’m glad you asked because it made me do a lot of thinking. My short answer is yes I think it could be possible to turn extrinsic motivation into intrinsic motivation, because there can be times when we have to learn a language that we’re not passionate about. Obviously it’s much better if you can learn a language that you are intrinsically passionate about from the beginning, but if you’re not then yes I think it might be possible to turn extrinsic motivation, having to learn for logical reasons such as work or to add a skill to your resume, I think it could be possible to turn it into intrinsic motivation.
So how would I go about it? Firstly I would look at my hobbies. So for instance I’m interested in golf, so if I had to learn French I would try to find articles on golf in French. Or I would go onto Google and I would look at golf courses in France. I’d look at the vocabulary they were using and try to build my interest for French that way. So I’d look at the vocabulary and the sentence structures and then dissect them. And you can do this whatever your interests are, so if you’re interested in cooking you can find french recipes, or if you’re interested in a particular point in history you could find articles on it in French. For beginners this might seem difficult but you can take the article first word for word, and then sentence for sentence and dissect it that way. So although you might not be interested in the language you will be interested in the topic and that would be what would drive you to learn, and to want to be around the language.
Secondly, which I think is even more powerful, I would try to build up a connection with somebody whom you can communicate with in your target language. I think the biggest and most powerful reason for wanting to learn a language is to use it to connect with people. When finding someone to speak with make sure you enjoy speaking to them. A good indicator of this is if you both spoke the same language would you still want to chat to that person? If the answer is yes then you’ve found the right person. Websites like italki.com are great for finding language partners or community tutors. Even some less formal teachers will happily let you practice conservation with them. I would say to veer away from traditional teachers as they are likely to be very grammar focused, and that’s not going to help you when you are trying to develop your passion for a language.
I did make a video on how to find people to practice speaking with, it’s called “Speaking to Actual People When Learning a Language” and you can find it on my YouTube channel. Here is the link https://youtu.be/WKxOWCfzONM
And thirdly it’s very easy to get stuck in your own little bubble. I’ve been very guilty of this recently with my Afrikaans. It’s easy to stay stuck at your desk with your books and CDs, just doing listening, writing and reading and not really use the language. And that’s a really quick way to get yourself bored and demotivated because the magic of language happens when you actually use it. Nothing feels better than speaking to somebody and thinking “Holy cow I’m actually speaking this language!” You need that spark of excitement because that’s what’s going to help keep you motivated.
So to recap.
1)Think about what your hobbies and interests are and try to find material on them in your target language.
2)Find somebody who you can connect with and talk to. If they share your same interests as well then that’s even more powerful.
3)Use the language. This goes hand in hand with number two, finding someone to talk to. Don’t stay shut away use the language whether it be verbally talking to somebody, or with the internet you can find Facebook groups, Instagrammers, or YouTubers in your target language and interact with them online. But keep in mind that speaking face to face, or over Skype is going to be much better than writing.
If anybody else has any other ideas then please share them we’d would love to know, and Katie let me know what your experiences were and thank you again for the question.
If anybody else has any more questions then please feel free to ask. If this has been helpful then please give it a like and feel free to share it so that we can all learn from each other. I’ll see you next time, bye for now.
There’s two types of motivation Intrinsic motivation and Extrinsic motivation, you can almost think of them as head and heart motivations, or logical and illogical motivations.
Extrinsic, or head, or logical motivation is learning a language for reasons such as furthering your career, to add another skill to your resume, or to look impressive in front of your friends because who doesn’t want that! They are all rational reasons, they make sense, they’re obvious to people from the outside and quite often they’re measurable.
Intrinsic motivation comes from within, it comes from your heart and like falling in love it’s not necessarily logical or rational, and is driven by emotion not reason. It’s having a passion for the language and a desire to learn it for the language itself, or the culture and people attached to it.
I think Intrinsic motivation is real motivation because it comes from such a personal place. Yes it’s nice to have the extrinsic benefits of speaking another language, I’m not saying that extrinsic motivation is bad, but from my own experience intrinsic motivation is what’s going to carry you further, it’s what’s going to keep you going when things get difficult because it’s driven more by emotion and passion rather than reason, and from my own experience emotion and passion are a much more powerful motivator than reason.
So If you’re struggling to learn a language be honest about what your motivations are. I struggled to learn French for ten years at school and then for a further two years as an adult. In those two years as an adult I was also learning Afrikaans which I was doing really well with but French I was struggling with. I knew I could learn a language because of the Afrikaans so I looked at my motivation, it was all extrinsic. It made sense for me to learn French because of the UK being so close to France, and from a business point of view it makes sense for me to speak French. Living in the UK there’s no reason for me to learn Afrikaans but I just feel a pull to the language, I love it, I love the sound, the people attached to it, and so it’s much more of an intrinsic motivation and that’s what’s allowed me to get as far with it as I have with it. With the French it was all extrinsic motivations.
To show you how powerful intrinsic motivation is. Three weeks ago I switched from French to Spanish. I’ve always had a love for Spanish dance and music. I really enjoy Latino music. I’m interested in Latin America, and my fondest memories of childhood are our holidays to Spain. I feel a strong pull towards the language that I didn’t feel towards French. Also a good friend of mine is from mexico, her native language is Spanish and although she speaks fluent English I would love to be able to communicate with her in her native language as well. I’ve been learning Spanish for just three weeks and already I can say the same amount in Spanish as I can in French after 12 years. So it just shows how powerful intrinsic motivation is.
Also with Spanish there’s been an intrinsic and an extrinsic motivation. It would make far more sense for me to learn Castilian Spanish because of how close the UK is to Europe, but because of my friend and just because I’m more interested in Latin American than I am in Spain I’ve got more of an emotional pull to learn Latin American Spanish, so I’ve been concentrating on Spanish from Mexico.
If you’re struggling to learn a language then go back and just be honest with yourself about what your motivation is. There’s nothing wrong with Extrinsic motivations but Intrinsic motivation I feel is what really carries you through and gets you results.
Let my know if you’ve had a similar experience with motivation and also what languages you’re learning and your reasons for learning them as well.
See you soon, Bye for now.
I coach people on how to learn languages. Here is how you can get in touch with me.
Email: kelly@fruitfulfunfluent.com OR kellyclearly@gmail.com
In this video I talk firstly about how to use a language tutor, this can be applied to learning any language. I then talk about my four Afrikaans tutors and the different things I use each of them for. I hope you enjoy and find it useful 🙂
*Eugene – great for teaching pronunciation through reading, finding materials he knows you will be interested in, interesting person to speak with, kind teacher.
Language learning is like getting fit, you want to but it seems painful. You have all these limiting beliefs holding you back and so it never happens. You need someone to motivate you, keep you accountable and on track to achieve your goals so you get a Personal Trainer. What if there was a Personal Trainer for language learning? A language fitness coach to
Help set you on the right path.
Help you set clear goals.
Help you work through your blocks.
Help you find learning materials and methods right for YOU.
Help you set a learning schedule you’ll ENJOY and actually DO.
Help you develop the confidence to start SPEAKING.
Someone to give you a friendly kick up the butt when needed. Who you can vent to without about being judged about things such as “how ridiculously complicated the French language is” or “Oh god why can’t we just stop this whole masculine/feminine business!” Well the great news is that there is
In this video I share some of my tips that I have collected over my almost three years of learning this beautiful language. I strongly believe that learning a language must be fun and Afrikaans is a language that makes this really easy. I hope you enjoy this video and find it useful. If you have any questions about learning Afrikaans, or if you are learning it, or have learnt it in the past, and have any recommendations, tips, or tricks please feel free to share them so that we can all help each other. Until next time Kelly 🙂
-The Moomins (sadly a lot of the other episodes seem to be blocked in England but they may be available in your country 🙂 ) https://youtu.be/t4lgWyYs7h8
Have you had this dream too?
How awesome would it be if you could walk into a coffee shop and whether in Paris, Rome, Prague, or any other place you’re chatting to the locals? Imagine you’re in Paris, and so coffee in hand you linger there talking to the owner in French about a film you saw last night. But, you had the same French class as me, the Tricolore textbook with the flag. I would stare at it hoping a little beret wearing French man would spring out to liven things up. Fingers cramping from long vocab lists and grammar rules dutifully copied from the board, longing for the last three minutes of class when we got to utter the six words we’d been practising all term
“Café au lait s’il vous plaît”
We knew it must be a phrase of great importance in France, why else would Mrs smith have dedicated an entire term to it.
What languages do you dream of?
Perhaps for you it’s travelling through South America using Spanish and Portuguese, a rail journey across Europe changing language with each country, or maybe you just want to understand what your Czech girlfriend’s father is actually saying about you!
How can I help you?
I help people to start speaking the languages they dream of and have the confidence to speak with native speakers. I coach people on fun ways to learn languages, and help them to find the ways that best suit their personalities and lifestyle so that they can reach their speaking goals without getting bogged down by memorizing long vocab lists and lots of grammar rules.
I won`t judge you if you want to vent about things such as how ridiculously complicated the French language is, or “Oh god why can`t we just get rid of this whole masculine/feminine business!” I cannot be the only person who thinks this?!
I will help keep you accountable and give you a friendly kick up the butt when you need it!
Welcome to my world. If you`re Interested in finding out how I can help you then feel free to email me on the addresses above or just follow the link below https://www.fruitfulfunfluent.com/
A little bit more about me and FAQs
*How old are you? – 38 at the time this video went out.
*Where do you live? – Near Cambridge, UK
*If you could live anywhere where would you love to live? – Around Cape Town in Camps Bay, Llandudno or Big Bay. Or maybe somewhere in America or Canada. Oh I don’t know I want to live everywhere!
*Where would you like to travel to next?
Namibia, Hawaii, America or Canada
*Do you have any pets? – Unfortunately not because we live in an apartment, but I would love dogs.
*What languages are you learning? – Afrikaans, and I have just started Spanish today in fact! So far I like it 😉
*Why Afrikaans? – My husband is South African and so we visit his family there yearly. Also I wanted a language that I could use regularly, but really I just love it!!
*Why Spanish? I love Spanish music and just feel a draw to the language.
Thanks for watching and reading, you’re awesome! Xx
*Series I enjoy on KykNet ShowMax:
-Jan Braai
-Leef Jou Reis
I help people to start speaking the languages they dream of and have the confidence to speak with native speakers.
I coach people on fun ways to learn languages, and help them to find the ways that best suit their personalities and lifestyle so that they can reach their speaking goals.
I work with people who`s main goal is to speak a language, and so they don`t want to be bogged down by writing and lots of grammar rules.
My aim is to
*Help guide you.
*Help you set clear goals and work out what needs to be done and when.
*Help you understand why some things work for you and some don`t.
*Help you set up a learning schedule you will actually enjoy and stick to.
I am someone who won`t judge you and who you can vent to about things such as how ridiculously complicated the French language is, or “Oh god why can`t we just get rid of this whole masculine/feminine business!” I cannot be the only person who thinks this?!
I will help keep you accountable and give you a friendly kick up the butt when you need it!
To download my FREE PDF: 6 Step Plan for Fitting Language Learning into Your Everyday Life, or to book a FREE 30 minute consultation with me to see how I can help you reach your speaking goals, visit this page on my website.
Fed up with flash cards? I get it I`ve been there too. In this video I talk about how I now use flash cards, which has been much more successful and enjoyable 🙂
I realised on editing that my normal mic was not working hence the fishbowl sound from the webcam mic.
Colloquial Afrikaans is available from a number of different places online including Amazon and prices do vary.
About me.
I love coaching people on fun ways to learn languages and reach their goals. I work with people who`s main goal is to speak a language, and so they don`t want to be bogged down by writing and lots of grammar rules. I also coach English as a foreign language.
To download my FREE PDF: 6 Step Plan for Fitting Language Learning into Your Everyday Life, or to book a FREE 30 minute consultation with me to see how I can help you reach your speaking goals, visit this page on my website.
*If you could live anywhere where would you love to live? – Camps Bay, Cape Town, Llandudno, Cape Town or Big Bay, Cape Town. I can`t decide which one!
*Where would you like to travel to next? Namibia, Hawaii, America or Canada
*Do you have any pets? – Unfortunately not because we live in an apartment, but I would love dogs.
*What languages are you learning? – Afrikaans and French but I am considering changing to Spanish.
*Why Afrikaans? – My husband is South African and so we visit his family there yearly. Also I wanted a language that I could use regularly, but really I just love it!
*Why French? – I lived and worked in France at Disneyland Paris, and so I want to keep that part of me alive.
*Why Spanish? I love Spanish music and just feel a draw to the language.
I Apologise for the sound glitching in places. It only seems to do it when uploaded to YouTube? Any tech people out there who might know why feel free to write me 🙂
Ed and I talk about our experiences with learning languages that are less commonly learnt on a worldwide scale. In my humble opinion these are the best languages to learn, and for me the most fun! We share what we have found are the advantages and disadvantages of learning these languages, plus we share a few tips for getting started with your learning. We hope you enjoy this video and find it useful.
If you have any questions please feel free to reach out and ask us. We can be reached at the following:
Both Colloquial Afrikaans and Colloquial Serbian are available from a number of different places online including Amazon and prices do vary.
About me.
I love coaching people on fun ways to learn languages and reach their goals. I work with people who`s main goal is to speak a language, and so they don`t want to be bogged down by writing and lots of grammar. I also coach English as a foreign language. Here is how you can get in touch with me
Email: kelly@fruitfulfunfluent.com
To download my FREE PDF: 6 Step Plan for Fitting Language Learning into Your Everyday Life, or to book a FREE 30 minute consultation with me to see how I can help you reach your speaking goals visit this page on my website.
Ed is a language coach on italki and coaches people learning English, Japanese, Afrikaans and occasionally Mandarin Chinese. He is very supportive and passionate about language learning, and has a wealth of knowledge and tips to share. Ed can be contacted on the link below.
In this video Ed and I talk about our experiences with learning languages that are less commonly learnt on a worldwide scale. In my humble opinion these are the best languages to learn, and for me the most fun! As you know I am learning Afrikaans and Ed is learning Serbian, but he has also learnt many other languages. We share what we have found are the advantages and disadvantages of learning these languages. We hope you enjoy this video and find it useful.
I will be making some videos specific to my experiences learning Afrikaans in the coming months. I would also like to write a little more in Afrikaans on here if you will excuse my mistakes 😉
If you have any questions please feel free to reach out and ask either one of us. We can be reached at the following:
Both Colloquial Afrikaans and Colloquial Serbian are available from a number of different places online including Amazon and prices do vary.
*Ted Talk – “How Social Media Breathes Life into the Irish Language” by Teresa Lynn https://youtu.be/LM3ISST2eg8
About me.
I love coaching people on fun ways to learn languages and reach their goals. I also coach English as a foreign language. Here is how you can get in touch with me
Email: kelly@fruitfulfunfluent.com
To download my Free PDF: 6 Step Plan for Fitting Language Learning into Your Everyday Life, or to book a $5 trial coaching session with me lasting 30 minutes visit this page on my website.
Ed is a language coach on italki and coaches people learning English, Japanese, Afrikaans and occasionally Mandarin Chinese. He is very supportive and passionate about language learning, and has a wealth of knowledge and tips to share. Ed can be contacted on the link below. http://www.italki.com/edosensei
Here I talk about the materials I started using at the beginning of my Afrikaans learning and what I am now using 3 years on. If you are interested in different and fun ways to learn a language then I have a website dedicated to this at http://www.fruitfulfunfluent.com/
I want to share my own experiences, and the experiences of others who learn in a fun way, both here, on my YouTube Channel, and in the 1 to 1 coaching sessions I offer, in the hope that it will be useful to others.
I want to help people to become independent learners by teaching them how to learn languages in the right way for them.
I am passionate about encouraging more people to learn languages because I believe it can help us all to get a better understanding of each other, and through gaining a better understanding of each other perhaps we might begin to live together more peacefully.
You can connect me by email:
kelly@fruitfulfunfluent.com
kellyclearly@gmail.com
If you could live anywhere where would you love to live? – It keeps changing! maybe Camps Bay, Cape Town, Llandudno, Cape Town or Big Bay Cape Town, I cant decide! I also think some places in America look beautiful but I`ve never been to America so I don`t know.
Do you have any pets? – Unfortunately not because we live in an apartment, but I would love dogs.
What other languages are you learning? – French, and I would also like to start Spanish and Welsh when my Afrikaans and French are better.
Why Afrikaans? – My husband is South African and so we visit his family there yearly, also I wanted a language that I could use regularly, but really I just love it!!
Why French? – I lived and worked in France at Disneyland Paris, and so I want to keep that part of me alive.
Why Welsh? – My Granddad was Welsh, sadly he is no longer around but I still want to do it for him. Plus I also love the less common languages, hence Afrikaans.
Why Spanish? I love Spanish music and just feel a draw to the language.
learners and lovers of Afrikaans 