HOW IMPORTANT IS ACCENT WHEN LEARNING A LANGUAGE?

learning a new language

How important is your accent when you learn a new language? Obviously you want to be understood, but how essential is it to actually sound like a French-, German-, Italian-speaker? It’s been preying on my mind lately as I try to start using more and more German.

There are languages where it seems essential, such as Chinese where an inflection can change a meaning – but in European languages, it is heading further and further down my to-do list (right under doing my German verb drills).

Continue reading HOW IMPORTANT IS ACCENT WHEN LEARNING A LANGUAGE?

FIVE EXPAT SURVIVAL TIPS

expatsurvival1

I will have been in Switzerland for six months tomorrow. This time last year I had no idea that this is where I would end up. It is an adventure. And like most adventures, it has its up and downs. Most days I love it, but there are times when I also hate it (sometimes simultaneously). I’m lonely,  I’m bored, I miss MY life and the things I did that made me ME. Because whatever those seemingly seamless expats tell you, at first, it’s HARD. But, you know what? I think that’s ok.

Continue reading FIVE EXPAT SURVIVAL TIPS