Managing to speak 2-3 languages is normal these days, at least among people who are not indifferent to the current and future state of the world.

The ability to communicate clearly in words and letters, particularly in English, puts us on the same starting line with a billion other “competitors”. Nothing more, nothing less. Knowledge of a language only qualifies us to enter the competition (this is intended metaphorically – not everyone is a competitive type). Many of us have been competing in this long-haul race for many years. For many of us, the race will soon end. Our children will soon approach the starting blocks.

How ready are you for this imaginary race?

Are you able to recognize, develop and measure your talent for languages?

If so, you have nothing to worry about. To continue reading this article would just be killing time. Go and take care of more important things. For example, the development of the language talent of your children.

In terms of today’s quick and painless solutions to language education, we mainly hear about how students can co-create and fulfill learning goals, how to motivate students, encourage their engagement during lessons, and how to dive into language in an entertaining way.

Here are three elementary questions that I ask students long before I go into the above-mentioned points.

Can you describe in some detail 2-3 activities for which you have talent?

How could these talents be used in learning a foreign language?

What is your personal definition of talent with languages?

My 22 years of lecturing and managerial practice tell me that clear answers to these questions are prerequisites for the successful mastering of any language. 

For an explanation, let’s take a look at the following positions of two students.

“I have a talent for languages, but no time to improve.”

“I have been studying this language for many years, but I have not really learned it.”

Two sides of the same coin, right?

How much do you believe people who answer this way?

How much do students believe in this position themselves?

The next time you are faced with this type of language mantra, don’t hesitate and immediately turn to these three elementary questions. You can choose the order of questions yourself based on the situation. Carefully write down the answers and think about them during the preparation for each of your lessons with a given student. An emphasis on recognition, development and finding a suitable way of measuring talent at the beginning of each language course will save you and your students a heap of time, money and energy that you would have to use later to motivate and engage.

Talent is in fact a big puzzle. There are many individual pieces, such as an ability to identify various scales of sounds, analytical thinking and a good memory; each of these (more or less) fit with each other. The speed at which we can solve the puzzle depends on our observational skills, systematic progress and patience when working with individual pieces.  

An example from real life? Our four-year-old Samuel started to speak in his second year. The nursery school teacher, my parents and relatives in the Czech Republic have admired and still admire his ability to clearly articulate his emotions and ideas. Very early on, he started to formulate questions at the level of child a year and a half older. This experience is nothing exceptional. My Swedish wife Petra and I know a number of bilingual couples who have had a similar experience with their young ones. Petra is more talented than I am with languages. Living seven years in Prague, she learned my native Czech such that she was correcting my grammar until just recently.

What pleases us the most with Sam is the fact that he started to speak English by himself in the last year. His vocabulary stems mainly from YouTube series for children that he likes and watches regularly. He often wants to play in English, especially his favorite “Sidewalk Cops”. Snippets of a foreign language, such as “Roger that!” or “What is it?” are used appropriately in situations where he could easily speak Swedish or Czech – his native languages. For the English language, which Petra and I speak very well, but not much at home, he has a definite sense. Moreover, he tries to bend this language to meet his needs. Sometimes, it doesn’t work, such as his “Let’s go to the on a trip”. We appreciate his efforts and, in identifying other important pieces of the language puzzle, we continue systematically and with love. One could say that Sam is creative and has a good combination of skills. This is true, but only in the area of language. In terms of building with Lego, his talents have not yet fully flourished. The grandson of an acquaintance of ours was able to assemble Lego sets meant for six-year-olds at the age of three. His language skills were not so impressive, but his creativity and combination of skills were more developed in comparison with our Sam.

Putting together the complete language puzzle for our son will take us a few more years. For a start, we have identified a few important pieces that fit perfectly with each other. Which other pieces will come next?

First discover your talents. Then master your language. I’ll show you how in our online course  “Running the Railroad“.

Martin Norling, LOS Founder & CEO