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BRAVE Blog

Guerrilla Language Learning: A Very Brief Introduction

I meet a lot of language school owners and directors – and I’m constantly in touch with several language teachers. Recently, the recurring theme in our conversations is quite pessimistic. The way people say this always differs – but the thing they are trying to say is always the same:
“People don’t have the money to spend on language learning nowadays.”
Today, I want to tell you why this is good news – and how this sentence can be a beginning of an awesome learning adventure.

Categories
BRAVE Blog

The Linguistics of Melancholy – Memory, Language and Loss

As I’m writing this, I watch the sun rising over my city. I see the roofs change colour and I see thin mist rising over the bay. If I opened the window, I could smell the sea from here.
I’m moving out in less than a week’s time. Which means that – despite my determination to keep coming back to this charming bit of land – there are some things that I’m currently doing for the last time ever.
It’s a powerful feeling, and I’ve noticed that it changes the way you perceive and remember things. Sights, conversations, meals – everything seems to have more value if you know this might be the last occasion for it! This made me wonder – is there a way to tap into this emotional state that would benefit your language learning?
As it turns out, there might be. Read on for a brief discussion of how melancholy impacted memory (several distinguished memories, in fact), how psychology defined what’s going on – and for a few suggestions that could make your everyday language learning a lot more memorable.