Love, Joy, and Languages

Episode Archive

Episode Archive

81 episodes of Love, Joy, and Languages since the first episode, which aired on 25 February 2022.

  • Episode 32: Impostor Syndrome, Part 2

    5 December 2022  |  Season 2  |  21 mins 48 secs

    Discussing impostor syndrome and what I actively do to work against it in my own life, but especially when it comes to being a language learner. I briefly talk about what impostor syndrome is and recap the thoughts I shared about it in Episode 31. Then I dive into three things that I've been working on in my life to handle those feelings of being an impostor, including mindfully working against negative confirmation bias; claiming my own labels or titles without additional qualifiers; and deeply knowing ourselves as we are in order to leverage our identities, histories, personalities, and preferences to live authentically and genuinely as ourselves.

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    Episode 31: Impostor Syndrome, Part 1

    28 November 2022  |  Season 2  |  17 mins 46 secs

    Discussing impostor syndrome in our language lives, especially with respect to certain aspects of language learning. I briefly talk about what impostor syndrome is and a bit of my experience with it. I also explore things I've noticed – conversations, thoughts, and ideals – within the language learning community that, in my opinion, sort of breed impostor syndrome, things that I think can easily lead to this phenomenon in a person’s language journey, even if they’ve never before experienced it in other areas of their life

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    Episode 30: An Open Letter to Beginner Me

    21 November 2022  |  Season 2  |  8 mins 28 secs

    Reading a letter I wrote to "beginner me." She was excited and scared. She jumped in head-first, and she needed some words of wisdom to keep her from drowning. These are the words I wish that version of me -- that Heidi of 5 years ago -- had heard. It's going to be a beautiful and exciting journey full of struggles and uncertainties. But it'll change your life, and you're going to succeed.

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    Episode 29: Sunk Costs in Language Learning

    14 November 2022  |  Season 2  |  18 mins 58 secs

    Discussing the sunk costs -- resources that can't be recovered -- in language learning and how the sunk cost fallacy may influence our paths ahead, sinking more of our time, money, energy, and emotions into something that may not be working for us. I give examples of how I made language decisions based on the sunk cost fallacy mentality, which led to more wasted resources and time spent chasing a path that wasn't right for me. I give my thoughts on the importance of working around this mentality and making language learning choices based on our needs and desires, not on what we've already put into the process.

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    Episode 28: Good Advice Gone Wrong, Round 2

    7 November 2022  |  Season 2  |  18 mins 43 secs

    Second episode of "Good Advice Gone Wrong," a segment in which I highlight some really good language learning advice that can also go wrong. There are countless methods for learning a language, and I believe that all of them are good, but they aren't all good for everyone. Instead of just giving language learning advice, this recurring segment focuses on reasons specific pieces of good advice may not work for everyone. I also brainstorm some ideas for how we can mold the advice and shape it into something that does work for us, hoping to inspire you to discover your own creative, personalized language journey.

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    Episode 27: The Meaning of Multilingual Mastery - Interview with Jamie

    31 October 2022  |  Season 2  |  54 mins 25 secs

    Discussion with language coach Jamie of Multilingual Mastery. Jamie shares how she got into language coaching after realizing that she’d been approaching her own language learning all wrong. She had followed all the standard advice, used all the typical resources, and even lived in the country where her language was spoken. After everything, however, she still didn’t feel fluent. Instead of throwing in the towel, she decided to start talking about language learning on her blog, and today she shares a lot of what she discovered about language apps, language advice, and language learners through her experience researching about learning languages, and how that led her to start Multilingual Mastery.

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    Episode 26: Your Most Limited Resource

    24 October 2022  |  Season 2  |  6 mins 45 secs

    Discussing your most limited resource in language learning and in your entire life, at that. No matter what language you're learning, resources directly related to learning or acquiring the language are limited (even if it seems overwhelmingly the opposite). No matter our life situation, we all have limited time, money, energy, and motivation. But there's still one resource I don't think we consider often enough, and I believe it's the most limited resource for each of us. Listen in to see if you agree.

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    Episode 25: What Is "Fluency," Anyway?

    17 October 2022  |  Season 2  |  19 mins 19 secs

    Digging into the dictionary definition of "fluency" and what it means for language learners...or rather what it doesn't mean. Fluency is something many of us strive for. It's a goal or and end-state we imagine ourselves in. We're often asked my well-meaning monolinguals if we're "fluent" in the language we're learning. But as we progress, fluency starts feeling further away than before, and we start to wonder if we'll ever get there. Here, I address why this word is problematic for language learners, and how we can change our perceptions and usage of the word to better fit the reality of what it is.

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    Episode 24: Testing a New Language

    10 October 2022  |  Season 2  |  22 mins 29 secs

    Sharing my 7-day jump into Korean with an overarching analysis according to the fear of missing out (FOMO) I talked about last week. Why did I decide to start learning Korean? Is it even reasonable to begin when I have two other languages that take priority? Am I just giving in to that pull of a shiny new language? Listen in to see how I take my own advice (given in Episode 23) and work through testing out a new language.

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    Episode 23: FOMO - Fear of Missing Out

    3 October 2022  |  Season 2  |  28 mins 42 secs

    Sharing my experience and thoughts on fear of missing out (FOMO) in language learning. This can show up in so many ways, and it can also be really difficult to recognize it and even more difficult to understand why it's showing up. Fear of missing out can deeply impact our language progress because it keeps us focused on what we're missing or what we don't know instead of allowing us to move forward and tackle those things for forward progress. Here, I share how FOMO has shown up in my language journey, the signs I know to look out for, and a couple tips to combat it.

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    Episode 22: Am I Even Making Progress?

    26 September 2022  |  Season 2  |  21 mins 50 secs

    Sharing the difficulties of feeling like we aren't making progress in our languages. Talking about why progress can be hard to see, how this can affect our language journey, and what we can do to bring mindfulness into our everyday language lives in order to show ourselves that we are, indeed, making progress.

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    Episode 21: Our Summer Language Activities

    19 September 2022  |  Season 2  |  19 mins 57 secs

    I'm back with Season 2! Doing a bit of a re-cap of my family's summer break with respect to languages. In Episode 19 I talked about my language plans for us during the break, so I'm starting off this season by talking about what we did, what worked, and what didn't work. Most importantly, I take a good glance at what all we accomplished without allowing myself to feel like a failure for not doing it all.

  • Episode 20: Celebrating Your Wins!

    25 July 2022  |  Season 1  |  21 mins 44 secs

    Sharing language learning wins submitted by listeners across the globe. Mastering verb tenses, successful conversation practice, kids interacting with languages, speaking progress, returning to a beloved language...it's all here, and I'm celebrating every success story!

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    Episode 19: Revisiting Overwhelm in Parenting, Languages, and Parenting with Languages

    18 July 2022  |  Season 1  |  18 mins 42 secs

    Discussing my thoughts on our upcoming summer break, where the kids and I get completely out of routine, and I'm starting to feel overwhelmed with doubt of how I'm going to manage. Working through my own advice from previous episodes, I use this space to clear my head and look at my real priorities for the summer -- spending quality time with my kids, taking time to recharge my own batteries, and keeping us immersed in the German language.

  • Episode 18: Finding You in Your Languages - Interview with Emily Richardson

    11 July 2022  |  Season 1  |  58 mins 59 secs

    Discussion with linguist, teacher, author, podcaster, and all around colorful soul, Emily Richardson. Emily shares her journey learning Brazilian Portuguese during the pandemic using only language exchanges. We dive into the concept of her book series and podcast, which serve to guide language learners to discovering themselves — their whole selves — in their new languages.

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    Episode 17: The Words We Speak

    4 July 2022  |  Season 1  |  18 mins 16 secs

    Discussing the power of the words we speak to ourselves about ourselves and about the languages we're learning. Our core beliefs about ourselves as language learners often show up in how we speak to ourselves. If we believe we're too old to learn a language, we'll tell ourselves we're too old, and we'll feel too old. If we believe a language is difficult to learn, we'll say it's too difficult, and we'll focus on all the hard things about the language. These words do not serve us. They hold us back, reduce our confidence, and have the power to negatively influence our entire language journeys. Learning to pay attention to these words and find ways to change them into positive, believable statements is the first step toward challenging the limiting core beliefs we hold.