How to help your significant other, spouse, etc. enjoy language-learning?

[philomath]

My boyfriend has expressed tentative interest in learning German with me, and I’d love for language-learning to be a hobby we can do together. I really want to find a way for us to learn German that he’ll enjoy. He’s one of those people who took a language in high school (French), but didn’t make much progress, and thinks poorly of his ability to learn foreign languages. However he really enjoys linguistics and took many linguistics courses during university. He also loves Berlin and wants to go back and be able to speak German. I’m a firm believer that a lot more people would enjoy language-learning if they just found the right methods and motivation for them. Does anyone have experience trying to help their significant other enjoy languages?

[IronMike]

I just found your question, so sorry no one every answered you.

I was lucky in that my wife and I were both linguists in the Air Force (met in Berlin, actually!) so I already knew she was interested. Now, her Russian and German reading proficiency are still strong, but she doesn't study them, unless we have a reason. Maybe that's a way? You guys could plan a trip to Berlin (once able) and then maybe that will persuade him to study with you? When we got our assignments in Russia and Kyrgyzstan then the studying (re)started in earnest. And we both took Kyrgyz together and drilled together and had a great time. Good couple time.

Now, if the question is what methods and all that, I guess you'll have to judge that as it goes. I know for sure what didn't work for us was any pressure, either from me or from her. We each had our own ways of studying/learning, and both know what works for us.

If you find any German speakers in MA, please PM me. I'm about to start a 10-week full-time German course which'll run till end of May. Then I'd like to keep working on the language. I know there is Karl's Sausage Kitchen in Peabody, but I can only go there so many times before I run out of money.

[philomath]

Sorry I missed your reply!

You're right, actually booking our trip may give my boyfriend the motivation he needs. And me as well--I made this thread nearly 8 months ago and am only starting German now.

I'd never heard of Karl's Sausage Kitchen, but it sounds like it's worth the trip to Peabody! I've looked for German conversation groups in MA (specifically in Boston, where I live), but unfortunately haven't found any.

[DaveAgain]

I've looked for German conversation groups in MA (specifically in Boston, where I live), but unfortunately haven't found any.

The Goethe Institut in Boston lists a book club on their website.

https://www.goethe.de/ins/us/en/sta/bos ... r/bcb.html

They might be able to suggest other groups too.

[KaseyBear]

I've looked for German conversation groups in MA (specifically in Boston, where I live), but unfortunately haven't found any.

The Goethe Institut in Boston lists a book club on their website.

https://www.goethe.de/ins/us/en/sta/bos/ueb/ser/bcb.html/employee monitoring

They might be able to suggest other groups too.

Danke!

[verdastelo]

My wife is learning Sanskrit and Hindi and I'm focused on Russian. In the early days, we had much hopes from each other. They fizzled out quickly. It turns out that even when you have a native speaker in your family, you still have to sit down with your textbook and study through it. For some inexplicable reason, her Russian never rubbed off on me. Neither my Hindi and Punjabi rubbed off on her. Turning your spouse into a teacher doesn't always pan out well. My Hindi is either too simple or too complicated and her Russian jokes usually turn out to be harder than listening to radio. After much experimentation, here's what we found that works for us.

Editing. She writes and I edit. I write and she edits. For example, I wrote (Output Challenge) Россия: страхи и стереотипы путешественника из Индии recently and she edited it. That's more effective than figuring out lessons from scratch. That's the job of a pedagogue, not your spouse. You do the grunt work and your spouse helps you refine it.

Listening and Speaking. It was never the rule, but most of the time, the language used at home is Russian now. Although we often speak in English, Esperanto, and Hindi as well. It helps when you can listen to your target language 24x7.

Literature and Movies. She suggests books to read and movies to watch. I don't think I would have found Далека дорога твоя without her. Absolutely stunning music. She has suggested dozens of movies and cartoons. I usually end up liking them myself.

Jokes and Slang. A spouse is a trillion times better than X LANGUAGE THEY DON'T TEACH YOU IN SCHOOL. Recently, when someone told my wife "This dog doesn't say anything.", she was confused. I had to explain that their English phrase is a literal translation from Hindi. They mean: "This dog doesn't bite."

We'll find more ways to supplement each other's studies in future. That's what I hope.