The Everyday Language Learner Interview Series: Gaby Cortinas

I love being able to hear the stories of language learners throughout the world.

The inspiration and new ideas I get whenever I am able to interact is always amazing.

And over the last few months I have been hearing a bit of the story of one of the readers of the blog – Gaby Cortinas.

Gaby’s story is interesting, inspirational and a lot of fun – and it is not just because he is an opera singer.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to sit down with Gaby and ask him a few of the questions I have been wondering about:

  • How singing opera benefits the language learning journey
  • How it has been to raise two trilingual kids
  • How Gaby would advise a new language learner

Those are just a few of the questions we talked about in our interview.

Resources and Ideas Gaby Talked About

Say Something In . . .

Moses McCormick

Luca Lampariello

Open Culture

Activities and Strategies for Everyday Language Learners

Dubbed Movies: A Language Learner’s Best Friend

  You know what your problem is, it’s that you haven’t seen enough movies – all of life’s riddles are answered in the movies.  -Steve Martin Movies.  They have become a tremendously influential piece of our culture – of nearly every culture around the world. They have the power to move us, to entertain and…

The Everyday Language Learner Interview Series: Neil Rees

It is not very often that you come across someone who is both extremely experienced in learning other languages but also knowledgeable and talented in teaching others how to become an independent language learner. Neil Rees is both of these. Neil has learned to varying extents a handful of languages and has worked over the…

How To Learn Language Through Food

Today’s guest post is from Lizzie Davey, a language learner and writer at Languages Abroad.  Enjoy! Travel and food go hand in hand, so incorporating the local cuisine into the language learning process is a great way to discover the traditions and culture of the native-speaking country whilst picking up new vocabulary and learning how…

Postcard Outreach: Iowa and Macedonia

I received two more great postcards recently.  The first was from Jamie of Des Moines, Iowa. The second was the first international postcard, coming all the way from Lew who is a PeaceCorp worker in Macedonia! Very cool! Send your postcards to: Aaron Myers 102 N Main Marion, SD 57043 USA

Skill Development and Language Learning

Last fall I was contacted by Alexis Morin asking if he could interview me as part of his Master’s Thesis research.  We had a great conversation which you can watch HERE.  Alexis is diving deep into self-directed language learning for his research and so I asked if he would consider writing a guest post for…

The Everyday Language Learner Interview Series: Alan Park of FluentU

After my recent post, 10 Free Resources for Learning Nearly Any Language, I got a lot of great feedback on other resources not on that list.  None was mentioned more than FluentU.  I’ve probably gotten ten emails from the EDLL community saying how great of a site that it is. I had to do some…

Postcard Outreach: Orlando, Florida and Traverse City, Michigan

I’ve been receiving quite a few postcards from the EDLL community and it is encouraging and exciting to know that so many folks are reading the blog and finding real value in it.  I continue to look for ways to create a more robust resource for language learners across the globe.  Let me know your…

Language Learning Activity: How Word Field Practice Can Help You

If you are looking for ways to grow your vocabulary, today’s guest post by Kerstin Hammes will give you a great new tool to do just that.  Kerstin writes at Fluent Languages and is a great resource of information and new ideas.  Enjoy! _________________ “Oh, I know this word…. “Arghh…..let me think…. “I can’t even…

10 Free Resources For Learning Nearly Any Language

Fifteen years ago, if you wanted to learn another language you needed to either sign up for a course or fly to the country in which the language was spoken.  Resources were sparse and firmly in the hands of the teachers.  Access to books, to recordings, to courses, to anything that would be useful for…

Postcard Outreach: Salem, Oregon

I received another great postcard in the mail today. This one came from Salem, Oregon where Annette Harrison is teaching coaching students as they learn Indonesian, Korean, Spanish and Mandrin. I am chomping at the bit to get Annette on the phone and hear all about her classroom.  If you read my past article, 9…

6 Quotes For The Language Learning Journey

When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind.   -Seneca Knowing your goals for learning the language will go a long way toward helping you remain committed to mastering the language and provide the direction you’ll need to stay the course. Setting specific targets allows you…

Postcard Outreach: Oceanside California

I put out a call for postcards about a week ago and received my first a few days ago.  I’ve moved to a new home and for the first time have a home office space of my own from which I now work.  The walls are bare though and I would love to cover them…

Language Learning Activity: Everyday Question Cards

If you’ve ever traveled or lived in the country of your target language, you’ve experienced the frustration of being asked a simple personal question and struggling to answer it effectively – especially at the beginning. Or perhaps as a new language learner, you get asked common questions and you are not even understanding the question…

Fail Early, Fail Often and Keep Moving Forward!

Click here to watch video if you can’t see it above. Failure. It is a word that we fear. Our culture – especially our school culture – has taught us this fear of failure, has burned it deep into our consciousness so that we live lives marked with an acute avoidance of it. We live…

About
Welcome to The Everyday Language Learner. My goal with this site is to empower everyday folks to learn language well and to point language learners toward great resources, activities, information and ideas. My name is Aaron Myers and my family and I live in Istanbul, Turkey where we too are everyday language learners. My hope is that I am able to help you be a more effective, more efficient language learner and to help you have a lot more fun on the language learning journey. Have an amazing day! -Aaron
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