Ep #007 - Dabbling: Why It’s Ok To Not Commit
About this Language Chat
In this episode of Language Chats, we talk about dabbling in a language and why there’s nothing wrong with just learning a few words without committing to larger, long-term goals.
Penny is dabbling in French at the moment and, by not fully committing to learning the language, she admits that it’s taken the pressure off - she can just enjoy just having fun and mucking around with the language without thinking about whether or not she’s making enough progress.
We chat about:
What ‘dabbling’ even means to both of us
How an initial dabble can take the intimidation out of starting to learn a language (which can sometimes be the biggest hurdle!)
How dabbling in a language can create a deeper and more meaningful travel experience
Why only learning small amount doesn’t make the learning any less interesting or useful
When does dabbling stop and ‘serious learning’ begin? And when is the right time to make that transition? (For Penny, a potential upcoming trip to a French-speaking country might just get her over the line…)
Are you currently dabbling or playing around with a language? Get in touch! We’d love to hear your story!
Episode Links
Arabic Script Hacking (Teach Yourself) by Judith Meyer
Language Bites events (Greek and Vietnamese) - Language Lovers AU
Polyglot Conference - October 2019, Fukuoka, Japan
Episode published: 8 Jul 2019