{"id":4300,"date":"2016-05-18T08:00:46","date_gmt":"2016-05-18T12:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/?p=4300"},"modified":"2020-10-02T14:03:33","modified_gmt":"2020-10-02T18:03:33","slug":"parental-advisory-how-language-parents-help-you-learn-like-a-kid-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/2016\/05\/18\/parental-advisory-how-language-parents-help-you-learn-like-a-kid-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Parental Advisory: How Language Parents Help You Learn Like a Kid Again"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m a big believer in learning a language on your own<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But even learning a language independently, you can’t do it all by yourself: all of us can benefit from some on-the-fly coaching from those who’ve been in\u00a0the game for years and know it well.<\/p>\n

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Image via Pixabay<\/a> under CC0 (public domain).<\/small><\/p><\/div>\n

Entrepreneur and language coach Chris Lonsdale argues that one of the most important things you can do for your own language learning is to recruit a ‘language parent’ or two. In his TED Talks<\/a> and elsewhere, Lonsdale highlights\u00a0the crucial role played by parents and ‘motherese<\/a>‘ in a child’s language learning process, and how this is one of the things we must actively seek to compensate for as adult language learners.<\/p>\n

Language parents are a simple and pretty intuitive idea: they’re the people you feel safe speaking with in the language you’re learning, who are willing to help you along informally with the language and, in a figurative but important way, ‘raise’ you as one of their own.<\/p>\n

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Image via Pixabay<\/a> under CC0 (public domain)<\/small>.<\/p><\/div>\n

Your ideal language parent and your relationship with them should have a few important qualities. Here are some of the basic requirements for\u00a0an MVP (most valuable parent):<\/p>\n