The Flemish polyglot

I have decided to do another immersion week, the fourth this year, and maybe stretch it to the end of the year and thus make it 2 weeks (80 hours …). After my first three attempts, I came to 2 conclusions. The first being that I really like the focus on one particular language for a definite amount of time. It helps to dive into the language, to fully immerse yourself and to actually up your level. That happened to me after my first challenge back in July with Spanish. I could only do this though because I have a lot of resources for Spanish and my level was already a very good B1 – almost B2. This meant that I could watch a lot of movies, listen to podcasts, really make use of my italki classes and thus get the most out of the challenge. The second realisation however was that focusing on 1 language only was a bit ‘boring’. I am someone who needs variety (I moved 10 times in 10 years, I had 5 jobs in 7 years …). That keeps me focused and enthusiastic. During the Spanish challe...

It’s a thing, language learning burn-out. I was suffering … very hard … My own fault, I admit, because I always dive in 200%. When I crushed in the spring of 2019, the reason was that I had planned my months ahead, on a daily basis, mapped out exactly what chapters in what books I had to study per day. Monday-Friday 1 language per day, in the weekend 2 per day. And just like that, something broke. I stopped. I literally didn’t have the energy to pick up a book, let alone have a look at the vocabulary lists or the dialogues. I just couldn’t. The weirdest feeling I had ever had, because I had always loved learning languages. The problem was that gradually I had started focussing more on the end result than on the journey itself. I stressed out whenever I didn’t manage to do everything I had planned for myself. I started to hate the weekends, because that meant more and more studying to keep up with my self-imposed schedule. So I quit. This time things are a bit different. I have ha...