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BRAVE Blog

Where’s Your Soap-Box? Spoken Word Poetry in Foreign Languages

Today, it’s personal. I’m sharing my biggest passion with you, and I’ve got reasons.

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BRAVE Blog

Self-Reliance in Language Learning: 5 Lessons from Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

In the middle of a snowy, dark winter, many years ago, Yours Truly spent many days and evenings in a cafe near a university – drinking gallons of latte, smoking his lungs out and reading everything he could borrow, buy or photocopy. Such were the joys of university life.

Fast forward several years, and many of the literary gems read during that period are already fading from memory. I loved English and American literature, but there was just too much of it for one boy to devour at once. There is one essay, however, which I can still quote at length; one brief account whose clarity and boldness still inspires me.

Today, I want to try to connect my admiration for Emerson’s “Self-Reliance” with language learning. It is clear to me that Emerson’s thoughts are useful guidelines for most people – and that language learners could do worse than to look to philosophy for inspiration. I hope that by the end of this brief post, it will become clear to you as well. I have selected my five favourite quotes – and will try to explain how they link to language learning.