*Edit this is an old post I meant to post a while ago oops*
Hi everyone! I have extremely exciting news!
A while back I shared my idea of hosting a series called "Teens in Languages" where I feature teen language learners from all over the world and share their language learning journey. While this idea has been in the back of my head for a while, I was a bit hesitant to start. Who would I interview? How do I actually host a podcast? Will anyone actually want to listen?
However,being stuck in my home for the majority of the summer,I strived for more social interactions. As I scrolled through the language studygrams on my Insta page, I thought to myself: how cool would it be to actually get to meet and talk with such inspiring language learners? I suddenly had the desire to learn more about their experiences, whether it be studying abroad or how they managed to learn so many languages. I wanted to know more about what inspired them to learn languages and share their unique insights to the world as well.
And hence, my first ever language podcast came into being
The process
To backtrack, this was a huge milestone for me. Personally, I've always been somewhat of an introvert. The idea of randomly holding conversations with strangers online was an idea completely out of my scope.
And hence why it took me about 2 months to get it started (#procastination at its finest)
If you hear my first episode, sure enough, you'll hear some stumbles or how my voice quivers at some points. Afterward, I even had to cut out parts of the audio where there were awkward pauses when I didn't know what to say. But all in all, to my surprise, it really didn't go as bad as I thought. Sylvia was a wonderful person to talk with and it was truly inspiring listening to her talk about her language journey and experiences abroad. I remember a moment where we shared our love for Dimsum and afterward, I remembered messaging 5 other language learners to schedule the next interview.
It was a sense of accomplishment similar to one when I started this blog: I've stepped out of my comfort zone to do something that turned out to be an extremely rewarding experience.
What I´ve learned so far
I wanted to start this podcast as a way to share advice from inspiring polyglots from all over the world, but I've gained so much more through the process. The stories that I've heard and shared from my own experiences allowed me to realize how interconnected we still are despite all the diverse backgrounds we come from.
The best parts are when we discuss relatable moments like trying to be perfectionists when mastering grammar topics or feeling like giving up when trying to memorize endless lists of vocaulary. Even from just 20 minute conversations and hearing people's unique stories and language journies, I felt like I've met a new friend. Truly, the language learning community is a diverse, friendly community and if you haven't already, I would highly recommend you reach out to some!
I've published 6 episodes so far and I hope to get 10 by the end of this year. You can check the most recent one here: https://anchor.fm/dashboard/episode/e1b0fq3
Signing off,
Claire
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