Framing Your Future Self
Analysis techniques from the business world for conscious and efficient language learning
I am the fruit of my labour.
My experience with language has been likened to a tale of long-lost lovers, littered with regret.
I can thankfully say, that near 20-year absence from the thing that brings me the most joy is now actively under repair. I now consciously make decisions to be more aware of myself, my goals and my time. That’s not to say this doesn’t come with its own new set of challenges.
So, let me ask you this – Do you experience study fatigue, imposter syndrome, anxiety with speaking in your target language, not having enough time, frustration with lack of focus or dissatisfaction, too?
How many of us feel like the volume of our input doesn’t match the quality of our output? …or does it?!
Thought so.
Let’s explore some tools and techniques to that will help improve visibility, accountability, reassurance, self-awareness and ultimately, satisfaction.
Sharing simplified Business Analysis frameworks applied to my own endeavor with Persian (and examples of personally curated resources and planning), we can demonstrate common challenges to language learning and how to overcome them with efficient solutions and practices.
We’ll talk about why it is important that you build systems/frameworks tailored to you and you alone, and the importance of checking in on just how much closure you are to that framed picture of success of yourself.
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22 Comments
Nice presentation Candace! So many good tools!
Apart from some of the ones you’ve mentioned, I also use the SMART goal method: Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based. I’ll definitely try your point 9 on setting up a matrix of words!
Finally, agree with busy-ness is not business. I also spend a lot of time “learning how to learn” instead of actually learning the language 😛
ps.. nice hand writing, and LOL@ One Punch Man!
Hello Candace,
Very interesting. Thank you.
Greetings from South Africa.
Thank you Candace. Beuatiful presentation!
This was great Candace! And there was a lot in here that I can apply to my uni studies outside of language learning!
I really enjoyed this presentation. I fear that I would get too wrapped up in planning that I would forget to make time for the actual doing. I like the idea of taking a broader and narrower perspective when looking at language goals. I may have to do a quick analysis soon. Thank you very much for sharing.
Loved the presentation! I’m a mind-mapper and spread-sheet thinker myself. Loved the interface between visuals, sound and muscle memory, definitely a great way to absorb new vocabulary.
Very interesting en enriching presentation, are you considering to create a digitally accessible version of your presentation? I use a lot the BUJO and SMART / IKIGAI methods for personal life and for my teaching job… you definitely gave new insights on how to improve it in a more systematic way and support both my learning process and my students. Thanks a lot!
Wonderful presentation, enjoyed every minute of it. I love adding different charts and trackers to my bullet journal. Definitely looking forward to doing a SWOT analysis for Chinese. Thank you for sharing your different skills for analyzing and organizing language learning.
Everyone is so very sweet and encouraging. I am truly thankful for the lovely feedback and enjoy reading that you’ve found something helpful here. 🥰
Great presentation Candace I will definitely use these concentration tools later on!
This was super cool! Thank you for sharing!
That last one from “Candace” was from Alexander. I must have accidentally typed her name instead of mine? Rookie move!
Great presentation, Candace! Great to see ways to integrate good business practices into language learning. I’m also a big fan of color-coded spreadsheets and handwritten trackers, so you just made my day. I’m studying persian right now (we’ve already chatted some in the forums), and I would love to talk about Persian, resources, experiences, etc some time. I’ll reach out.
Thanks!
Hi Candace!
Nice to meet you in the Moon cafe earlier today during the pop-up Afrikaans story time. 🙂
Thank you for a well-structured and engaging presentation, which resonated with me. I find I was/am doing a lot of this subcounsciously with regard to my language interests. But it is great to see it spelled out in a clear, step-by-step planning/evaluative framework.
I will play around with it as well, as I think it will help me to better identify possible hurdles in advance. Key message to take away for me: tailor, be specific, and regularly evaluate your language learning – and keep going!
PS: I’m a big “One punch man” fan – Genos: ‘Hai, Saitama-sensei!’ 🙂
One a final note, loved your last point: mindfulness in language learning – this is also touched upon by Dr. Harold Bloom in his presentation on the Michael Thomas method. For me, the ability to notice and take note, i.e. one way of being mindful, is one of the key things in language learning. Maybe an interesting forum/room discussion: Mindfulness in/and language learning? What do you think? Anyone else?
I love your vocabulary wheel. What a great idea for learning adjectives. I think you were saying in the chat room yesterday that sometimes you can’t always directly translate something from one language to the other. I can see that visually, this is a great way to map knowledge and understanding of those expressions. Actually, rather than trying to directly translate in the first place, you could just place the vocabulary of the new language on the circle without having to compare with another language.
I’ve used SWOT and Balance Score Cards in previous jobs. I recently did a presenation about setting SMART objectives in terms of language learning. After doing the presentation, I realised that I hadn’t set clear goals for my own language learning, so went back to revisit!
A great presenation with lots of tools for assisting and focusing language learners on our journeys towards fluency. Thank you.
Such a beautiful and nicely-structured presentation! Thank you!
Great presentation Candace! I’m glad that I spoke to you last night so I knew to mark your talk to listen to today. I really enjoyed your advice on habit tracking.
I REALLY enjoyed your presentation Candace, thank you! I love how you’ve brought together your business analysis world into your language learning and shown us all some really great tracking and assessment tools. Love the SWOT and matrix too. You are very inspirational!
Great presentation, Candace – thank you!
Thank you for taking the time and your kind comments.
Note! This presentation has both English & Persian subtitles available.
Very interesting. Thank you!
Very good presentation Candace 🙂