Finding What Works for You as a Learner
Multilingual speaker Urmi Hossain joins us to share her experiences learning multiple languages and the personalised strategies she’s developed. Urmi’s learning journey highlights the importance of finding methods that resonate with personal goals, interests, and cultural backgrounds.
Key talking points
Learning with Purpose
Urmi discusses how each language she’s learned holds a different significance in her life, from family connections to career advancement. By setting clear goals, she maintains motivation and purpose in her studies.
Overcoming Dialect Differences
Living in Canada, Urmi encountered distinct French dialects that challenged her listening skills. She shares how she adapted to these variations, gaining confidence in her ability to comprehend diverse accents and expressions.
Staying Motivated
Urmi stays driven through vision boards, regular goal check-ins, and strategic reminders. She believes motivation plays a vital role in language learning success, especially when progressing independently.
References & Resources
Hossain, U. (2022) Discovering Your Identity: A Rebirth From Interracial Struggle.
Hossain, U. (2024) My Ways. Access: https://www.myways.ca/
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All hyperlinks listed were accessed on 30/10/2024.
Watch the video with closed captions or refer to the transcript below.
Transcript
00:00:00:04 - 00:00:23:07
Laura
TESOL Pop season ten, episode seven. Hello and welcome to TESOL Pop, the mini podcast for busy teachers. My name is Laura and joining me today to talk about finding what works for you as language learner is Urmi Hossain. In this episode, we're doing something different. Instead of talking about teaching tips, we're actually talking about the learning journey. Now, as Urmi speaks lots of different languages and is a passionate language learner.
00:00:23:10 - 00:00:30:20
Laura
There's so much we can take away as teachers and as learners ourselves. So let's join the conversation where I asked her me to share a bit about her learning journey.
00:00:31:00 - 00:01:09:19
Urmi
I do speak 4.5 languages. The point five being my Spanish and the other four languages that I speak are Italian, Bengali, English and French. And some of the languages that I have learnt were by choice and some others were not by choice. My journey with Bengali and Italian. It starts from when I was a kid and my parents are from Bangladesh and I grew up in a South Asian household, so they taught me how to speak Bengali because I was our way to communicate with each other.
00:01:09:21 - 00:01:35:19
Urmi
And I was born and raised in Italy, so I spoke Italian since I went to school, and I was the one who brought Italian at home. So I would speak Bengali with my parents and I would speak Italy with my sister. And Italian is a language that I am most comfortable with because it's a language that I have basically learnt from, from when I was there, from when I was a kid, and I studied always in Italian.
00:01:36:00 - 00:01:55:14
Urmi
So I always say Bengali is my mother tongue but Italian is my adopted mother tongue. And afterwards, of course, I basically learned how to speak English because it's it's a language. We start, back at school in Italy, but I was also in UK for a year where I had a chance to go to school, and I actually learned English for a full year.
00:01:55:16 - 00:02:13:05
Urmi
And when I came back to Italy, I still had to, like, work on it, because one year was not enough. And then I also learned how to speak French, back when I was in school. But now, since I live in Montreal, French, it's like Montréal is a lingual city. That. So I need to know how to speak both languages.
00:02:13:07 - 00:02:41:15
Laura
It's incredible how you've collected languages as you've gone into your teens and adult life, like English and French, and you mentioned Spanish as well as the 0.5 that you're learning now. I'm really interested to hear how those language learning journeys may be different or have differed, because obviously we've talked about this before recording today for our listeners. And I think it's really interesting that you have different ways into each of those language learning journeys.
00:02:41:15 - 00:02:48:12
Laura
And what's worked for one, has it worked for another? Could you share what has worked for you for some of these languages that you've learned?
00:02:48:13 - 00:03:19:08
Urmi
Yeah, definitely. Each one of them had a different journey. And I can speak more about English, French and Spanish. For English, I learned that. That's cool. And it was it was taught to us in a in a very honest, strict way, meaning that our teacher, she would make us do conversation in English. She would make us learn the literature in English, converse in English.
00:03:19:08 - 00:03:48:09
Urmi
We would watch videos in English. We would watch movies in English, listen to English songs, and we would have neat conversation with native English speakers. And so we were fully immersed in the whole, like English, world or English culture without being in England or any English speaking countries. Then when it came to French, it was slightly different because we need to differentiate the French from France and the French from Quebec.
00:03:48:09 - 00:04:09:11
Urmi
There are two completely different from each other, from when it came to, the French. I, the one that we learned at school was basically just like the French from France. So we basically ran the grammar, we learned how to speak. We also spoke with natives. But then when I moved to Canada, I realised that it's not here.
00:04:09:11 - 00:04:28:03
Urmi
They don't speak the French. In fact, they speak the French from Quebec. So that was a completely new journey for me because it was like I could not understand the accent. And I would tell people, yeah, yeah, yeah, I can speak French, I speak French, but then I would be in a conversation. I would feel lost for this.
00:04:28:05 - 00:04:45:10
Urmi
This is when I have to find a different way to approach this. And I was like, I don't want to go back to school to learn this because I know the basic, I know the foundation. It was more about speaking and, communicating with each other. And so for that, I took a different approach. Like I say, to listen to podcasts.
00:04:45:12 - 00:05:10:22
Urmi
I watch a lot of YouTube videos, and I basically had a friend with whom I would speak just in French, just to basically work on my speaking in to the point that I became comfortable. And so that took a bit of time because the keep it quiet accent is it's very, very different from the French accent. But I realised with the work that I have done that now I'm able to differentiate the different French accents.
00:05:10:22 - 00:05:41:22
Urmi
Because you have the one from Belgium, you also have the one from Switzerland, you have the one from Morocco. So like can I can distinguish the different accent right now because I worked of my active listening skills. And then there is the Spanish, which is the language that I have chosen because I wanted to. And with Spanish, I took some classes at school, but now I do it sort of like a Do-It-Yourself type of thing, where I watch videos on YouTube and I take notes every time I listen or watch something.
00:05:41:22 - 00:05:43:15
Urmi
So that's a different approach as well.
00:05:43:19 - 00:06:05:00
Laura
It's really interesting how with French, you were in an environment where you noticed there was a difference and you just decided what you needed to do to make it work. And you mentioned like, increasing your exposure to listening and practising spoken words. I wouldn't do with Spanish because it's different for you because you're not in a Spanish speaking country.
00:06:05:02 - 00:06:08:23
Laura
Now. What motivated you to learn Spanish? First off.
00:06:09:03 - 00:06:29:15
Urmi
It was my curiosity. I was just super curious about Spanish and I used to listen to Spanish songs. And then. Then I was like, you know what, let me try and take a class. And I took Spanish as an elective because I wanted to have like a nice, like easy grade, especially because I knew how to speak tannins.
00:06:29:15 - 00:06:49:02
Urmi
I was like, oh, it's going to be an easy way. And I didn't realise how much I enjoyed learning the language. But I also think my professors, they made it really easy because I had a professor from, I think, Colombia, and the second one that I had was from Peru, and they are very like warm and welcoming. So they made it fun and easy.
00:06:49:02 - 00:07:12:00
Urmi
So you're like, oh my gosh, like, how can you not fall in love with this class? And then afterwards I was like, you know what, I want to continue with this journey. And I realised how much I love learning about the Spanish culture. And I think also because the people are just generally really warm and, heartwarming. And so that's what made me, stay in this environment.
00:07:12:00 - 00:07:40:01
Urmi
So every time, like I'm listening, like, even with the Spanish, I have to say, I can I can distinguish not the differences, because you have this Spanish from Barcelona, which has a different accent from the one, spoken in Latin American countries, like in Mexico, you have a certain accent. In Venezuela you have a certain accent. And I didn't realise this until, like, I was like watching several videos, like, spoken by different people and say, oh my gosh, is not the same.
00:07:40:03 - 00:07:43:03
Urmi
So it was interesting. It was really interesting to see that was.
00:07:43:03 - 00:08:11:06
Laura
Really inspiring about your journey is that you have had contact with obviously a classroom based practice with, professors, as you've mentioned, but there's a lot of your learning that seems to be very independently led. You mentioned, watching MTV series, music podcasts. I wondered how you kind of discovered this because even myself as an independent, German learner, and in my case, it can be a bit tricky to navigate and find what works for you.
00:08:11:12 - 00:08:17:05
Laura
How did you discover these strategies, as techniques that work for you as a learner?
00:08:17:09 - 00:08:43:12
Urmi
I it was a trial and error. Because, like I have, for instance, books. I also like watch stuff on YouTube, but I don't watch like I tried different things even when it came on, like watching things on YouTube. Because there was, there was this, YouTuber who does speak, just about general things, but I didn't like it.
00:08:43:18 - 00:09:05:14
Urmi
And then there was another one where they would speak about the Mexican culture. So I felt it was much more interesting. So I had to like, try different things until I found my my right fit, basically. I very much enjoy like is a Spanish. I don't know if you're familiar with this YouTube channel. They have like is a Spanish is the German is it is Italian.
00:09:05:16 - 00:09:22:12
Urmi
And this speak really, easily and spontaneously, like they go around the city and interview people and I like and I, I want to learn the the language is spoken everyday. So I felt like that was the right fit because I need that in case I'm travelling to a Spanish speaking country.
00:09:22:14 - 00:09:40:07
Laura
That's really inspiring how as a learner, you've gone through a process of trial and error and not afraid to like, let things go if they're not working and try something else. I think that whole process is quite cyclical, isn't it? In not being afraid to try different things and let them go, but it can be difficult to remain motivated.
00:09:40:09 - 00:10:00:23
Laura
I think I'm speaking for myself, maybe for other teachers and learners that I interact with that you know, learning a language is hard. There's a lot of ambiguity, uncertainty, and it's not like, instant inclined. Sometimes you get to a level you plateau, sometimes you dip a bit and then, you know, it's it's a struggle, isn't it?
00:10:01:00 - 00:10:06:22
Laura
What things help you remain motivated? Do you have any particular insights on that? Yeah.
00:10:06:24 - 00:10:31:01
Urmi
There are two things that I do at the beginning of the year. One of them is the vision board. Yeah. And the second one is I write down all of my goals and and me learning Spanish. It's how it has always been there. So I always, like, have, like a Spanish, speak like I have the flag of a Spanish speaking country.
00:10:31:03 - 00:10:53:19
Urmi
And I always write down how, like I want to improve my Spanish. And throughout the year. And I know it's really easy to basically, fall back like you don't feel motivated is really, really easy. And what I do is that I also have, like a weekly reminder on my calendar that I have to do a little bit of Spanish and I put it on my calendar.
00:10:53:19 - 00:11:11:09
Urmi
So every time I put something on my calendar or on my weekly to do list, I get it done, I get it done. And so I always have that reminder that, okay, I have to do at least ten minutes of Spanish. And that's how I, I try to like, be accountable for my own actions and why I don't do it.
00:11:11:09 - 00:11:29:03
Urmi
And I see that a week went by and I have not done this. I'm like, okay, today I'm going to sit down and learn a little bit and when I forget, I always go back to my why. Like why I started doing this. And that's how I, I stay motivated because I also have met a lot of people who struggle to learn and language.
00:11:29:03 - 00:11:48:20
Urmi
And unfortunately, the reason why it's like that is because we don't make it a priority. Like it's not true that we don't have time. It's just it's not our priority. Right now. So we just let it go. So you really have to be responsible for your actions. Like if you want to achieve something like it, you cannot betray yourself.
00:11:48:20 - 00:12:06:13
Urmi
You know, like that. You have a goal of achieving, you know, B2 of like Spanish. You need to be accountable for your own actions, and you need to be disciplined for what you want to do. So, so that's how I stay motivated throughout my language language journey.
00:12:06:15 - 00:12:29:04
Laura
That's brilliant. So the vision board, setting goals, scheduling time for learning and really kind of showing up for yourself. Yeah that's brilliant. Thank you so much, Urmi for sharing your learning journey with us. It's really inspiring for teachers and teachers who are language learners themselves to get this insight. I'm sure there's lots of things they're thinking about for their learners.
00:12:29:08 - 00:12:35:22
Laura
Finally, to close today, if this is one to follow your work and find out more about what you're doing on your learning journey, where can they find you?
00:12:36:00 - 00:13:01:20
Urmi
Yes, I'm available on YouTube. It's called Urmi Hossain and I have a lot of interviews with Language Coach, so if anyone wants, you know, follow my YouTube channel and find my language coaches. You can find those interviews there. I also have my LinkedIn profiles called Urmi Hossain. I have my Instagram account called urmamio and I have my blog called myways.ca
00:13:01:22 - 00:13:20:14
Laura
That's lovely. And as always, those links are in the show notes so you can find them easily. Now, if you have a question or an idea that you'd like to pitch for the podcast and you can contact us just like Urmi did on social media or on our website tesolpop.com, finally, you can support the work we do by leaving a rating and review wherever you listen to the podcast.
00:13:20:20 - 00:13:32:08
Laura
By sharing today's episode with your teaching community to continue the conversation, or by even buying us a coffee at ko-fi.com/tesolpop
Finally, you can support the work we do by leaving a rating, a review wherever you listen to the podcast, by sharing today's episode with your teaching community, or by even buying as a coffee, by going to ko-fi.com/tesolpop
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