What is a Language Learning Encourager (LLE)?
- Mary
- 4 days ago
- 10 min read
Launch India is passionate about helping people like you maximize not only their growth towards their language goals but also to maximize their joy in the journey. We currently have four Language Learning Encouragers connected to our company and positioned to help you feel encouraged in your language learning.
What is a Language Learning Encourager?
There are a few basic qualifiers of a language learning encourager as defined by us at Launch India:
1) A language learning encourager has completed an 80 hour course all about the Growing Participator Approach (GPA)- it's foundations, the phases and how to encourage others in their language learning journey.
2) A language learning encourager has used/ is still using/ plans to keep on using the Growing Participator Approach for their own learning of language and culture. In other words- we have personally experienced and are still experiencing the joys and difficulties of using the GPA approach. We are in the trenches with you!
3) A language learning encourager is ready to simply LISTEN to you! We have a high value of helping you feel seen and heard in whatever you are experiencing as you learn another language and culture. Sure, we have access to lots of resources and tips- but mostly we just want to hear how you are doing and let you feel heard as you process how you are doing in your journey. We hope that you feeling heard will help you feel encouraged!
What does a Language Learning Encourager at Launch India do?
Our preference is to work hard behind the scenes equipping our Nurturers as well as we can so that you can experience joy and encouragement in your regular interactions and language sessions with our staff. So some of this behind-the-scenes work includes:
We regularly read the Nurturer reviews you fill out and use this feedback to create content, resources, and training for our staff that will help them better meet your needs.
We conduct quarterly review meetings with each Nurturer to anonymously discuss the feedback you provide - both encouraging them in the things you say they are doing well and helping them make plans to improve in the areas where they need to grow.
We conduct quarterly trainings for our Nurturers to help them stay fresh on the GPA approach and to practice using new tools and resources that will make your experience learning another language more smooth.
We keep track of your hours with us so that we can provide orientations to new phases at the right time to keep you moving through the GPA Phases at a pace that will keep you in your growth zone where each session is both slightly challenging and hopefully lots of fun!
We are also always trying to improve our resources that you use for your sessions which includes updating our Phase 1 in person and online resources, finding new wordless picture story books for Phase 2, adding new Phase 3 stories of interest to you, and creating videos and recordings for Phases 4 and 5.
The other side of our role is one that includes direct interaction with you such as:
We send occasional messages just to check in on how you are doing and feeling about your language learning journey.
We pop into your language sessions to observe how you are doing. While this can feel intimidating, we are truly there just making a list of all the things you are doing well and keeping an eye out for anything we can help our Nurturers do better to help you maximize your growth.
We plan little celebrations for you especially when you complete Phase 1 and when you complete Phase 5. Both of these milestones are the end of one phase of learning and the start of years and years of more learning. We love to celebrate your progress!
We are always open for a call or a meeting to just LISTEN to you! Learning another language and crossing into another culture can be hard work. Language learning both affects and is affected by every other area of your life. We are here to hear you out! If helpful- we are happy to share more about our resources or help you develop a plan for your language sessions.
We invite you to events and parties in Delhi with our Launch India staff just to have fun together!
We remain available to provide coaching and encouragement in your language learning even after you leave Launch India.
We asked our Language Learning Encouragers to reflect on a few questions and share a few take-aways from the GPA course we attended together recently. Below are their insights!
Why do you enjoy encouraging fellow language learners/growing participators?
Brooke: I enjoy connecting relationally with fellow language learners/growing participators in general, but I think getting to encourage them is a extra fun because I have a chance to listen to them celebrate milestones, process frustrating things and think about the future. Coming alongside them as an encourager also allows me to problem solve and thing strategically of how we can best help them to achieve their personal goals!
Rajat: I feel that encouraging people is meaningful! I have seen people come and work hard and have a great time when they started learning language, but as they start feeling it is hard, they find it discouraging and disappointing. If they have people around them who could just say simple words like: "You are doing really well," and "We see your hard work, and your understanding and speaking are growing," it means a lot to them!! I naturally feel happy when I see any foreigner speaking Hindi/Urdu, I always want to appreciate them for the efforts they have been putting towards learning a language! It is a happy thing for me!!
Michael: Before moving to India, I talked with multiple people who lived in cross-cultural contexts. They emphasized how important it is to make it a very high priority to learn language and culture especially for the first year or two. I am incredibly grateful for their advice. Having been in India now for 4 years and still learning, I cannot think of a better investment of time than giving it to language and culture learning. Since I have been blessed by other people encouraging me in growing in being a participator in the host world, I also want to bless others by encouraging them on this journey. There are many obstacles which makes it hard to learn language and culture, therefore everyone on this journey is in need of much encouragement.
Mary: Learning another language and living in another culture is a very humbling process. I am continually inspired by those who are willing to set aside their pride, their appearance of competency, and their home world in order to build relationships in another language and culture. It is always a joy to check in on language sessions or have a quick chat over chai break or schedule a coaching call where I can just be someone who is happy to attune to someone else’s journey- a listening ear who can help people process all that they are experiencing as they become a new person in a new language. We are all in this together! I am still learning Hindi Urdu myself. So it is a privilege to connect over a shared goal, and for us all to learn from and encourage one another!
What is one thing you learned at the recent GPA training that you personally found interesting or helpful for your own growth?
Michael: Naming one thing is not easy, since there were so many things that were helpful. I really liked a session that was about the importance of understanding “low frequency words” in understanding what is being said. Research shows that if you understand 500 of the words most frequently used in English, you will understand about 83% of the words you hear in a stream of English speech.
For example, if someone told a story with 1000 words, you’ll understand approximately 830 of those words.
If you understand 800 of the most common words, you’ll understand 85% of the words you’ll hear.
If you understand 1600 words, you’ll understand 90% of the words.
If you understand 4000 words, you’ll understand 95% of the words you’ll hear in the story.
We were asked how well we will understand the story at these different stages. Looking at the percentages, I thought you’ll understand a decent amount if I understand 500 words (83%) of speech. We listened to a story where the low frequency words were left out. We were all shocked to realize that we needed to understand at least 95% before we could even begin to make some sense of the story.
This activity helps me to know why it is essential to learn a huge amount of vocabulary to understand a language. Understanding low frequency words is needed to understand speech. Learning low frequency words takes a long time, because we hear them less than the most common words. This lesson helped me to understand why it initially felt like I’m growing fast in language learning and then the growing gradually slowed down. The reason is because I have to learn exponentially more words to understand a greater percentage of language.
Mary: There was a whole session at the training that was really powerful about the value of words that don’t occur very frequently in a language. Long story short- these words really matter for understanding! So now- when I am in a language session and I hear a Nurturer say “this word is not common” instead of saying “no worries, you don’t need to write it in the word log”- I press into this word and try to have as strong an encounter with it as possible. I also try to give myself grace as I think something in us starts to feel- “I studied 1500 hours of Hindi Urdu, I really should not still be getting this many new words out of a recording as I am.” But that’s the thing with low-frequency words- you don’t hear any one of them super often so it takes years and years of listening to Hindi Urdu before that word may occur again. This is also why re-listening to old recordings is so valuable. It helps refresh those words in a context you understand so that when you hear those low-frequency words again in a new context, you are more likely to understand them. So I am trying to work it into my weekly rhythms to listen through to old recordings again as this is one of the best things we can do for our growth.
Brooke: Regarding my own growth, I was reminded at the GPA training that it’s not uncommon to experience a plateau, especially after finishing Phase 5, but thankfully it’s not impossible to continue growing. Increasing the amount of time speaking the target language isn’t necessarily going to increase my growth, but being able to ask questions, negotiate word meanings and continue learning only takes a few changes to my normal rhythms to ensure continued growth.
Rajat: I really appreciated the concept of two "walls of noise" when anyone tries to cross a language and cultural barrier to make new friends. There is obviously one "wall" around the host people when they are speaking their native language and living out their culture. Foreigners cannot understand what they are saying and also mis-interpret what they are doing. Initially, it all just feels like "noise" to the foreigners and creates a "wall." But there is also a second "wall" around the foreigners whenever they speak their home language around local people. If local people cannot understand the language of the foreigners, then the foreigners are actually making themselves invisible to the host people thus again separating themselves from those they are trying to get to know. So we must be willing to stop speaking our own home language around host people. And we need a willing host person- a Nurturer- to speak with us in a way we can understand so we can break through both walls of noise and start to get to know people whose language and culture are different from ours.
What have you seen to be one of the most common discouragers of Growing Participators (GPs)? What can GPs do to help protect against this and have more joy in their learning?
Mary: GPs often expect too much from themselves from too little time spent learning another language. It is uncomfortable to feel like a child for a long time and it can start to feel like surely you are doing something wrong. So I would encourage GPs to relax and have fun and trust that with time and intentionality, you will continue to grow into a new person in the eyes of the host people of you are seeking to get to know.
Rajat: I think the most common discourager of GPs is comparison with other fellow learners :( This really hits bad and discourages the most. Some other discouraging things I've noticed are: 1) not being able to understand someone when they want to talk, 2) not being able to fully convey their thoughts, 3) feeling like an outsider all the time, 4) lacking community, 5) being laughed at (they don't show but it hurts them), and 6) not being appreciated by their Nurturers or people around them. There are so many reasons that a GP may end up feeling discouraged. But I think the biggest discourager is GPs comparing themselves with other learners. If we are able to help GPs somehow avoid comparison and rather focus on how they are growing in the eyes of local host people, that will be really helpful for them. I know this is hard to do, but if GPs could try to stop comparing and start celebrating things that they are all learning and things they doing well, it would be more motivating!
Brooke: One thing I think is a common discourager among GPs is comparison, but to take an interesting slant on that - I think we as language learners can sometimes have an idea in our head of how we should be doing or what we should be able to say that is often slightly ahead of what is a reasonable expectation. One way I think that we can protect about this is to celebrate what we can do and be reminded of how far we have come in our learning journey!
Michael: I think one of the most common discouragers of GPs is time spent in home world contexts. When we can “get by” using our home language, we find ways to avoid learning host world language. The more time we spend in our home language, the less motivated we are to learn the host language. I think to protect against this and have more joy in learning, is by spending more time with people of the host world. By this our joy grows in learning as we grow in being able to relate with these new friends.
Conclusion
Language Learning Encouragers (LLEs) are people just like you who are forever on the journey to become new people in another language and culture. We have recently been equipped with new resources meant to help us better come alongside and encourage other learners. We are excited to commit more time and focus to helping you have more joy and feel less alone as you learn something new!