June 2024 Inner Circle: The Right Mindset for Language Learning Success

Lesson Transcript

Welcome to the Inner Circle.

This is the monthly No-holds-barred newsletter, giving you tried and tested learning methods to help you reach your language goals this year.

I'm Kyejin and I'm joined by my co-host, the founder of Innovative Language, Peter Galante.

Hi everyone, Peter here.

So last time we talked about the best way to practice speaking, Kyejin, which is?

Shadowing.

And today, you'll learn about the mindset needed to succeed in language learning.

We'll talk about both good and bad examples, and some of which you may be doing.

So keep watching to see if you have the right mindset, which Kyejin I think is personally the most powerful tool in reaching your goals.

Okay, interesting. Let's talk about it very soon.

Yes, and not just language learning, but in life in general.

Okay, so today's lesson, today's Inner Circle is about life lessons.

About the life.

Okay, so Kyejin, shall we start?

Of course, but I have a question.

Why do you want to talk about the mindset?

Did something happen?

So, yeah, I think we're five months into a new journey, or six months now into a new journey.

And you know, when you start a new journey, it's very exciting.

Motivation is high.

Right.

But as time goes by, it kind of gets a little tough now.

That's true.

It's a little tough now.

That's true.

I heard many of language learners give up in February and March.

So I think what you're referencing is most people start in January, right?

Yes.

Yeah, so it's a very popular time to start a new goal, not just language learning, but getting in shape, etc.

So January, we will have a lot of motivation.

Okay.

Month one, then month two, February, month three.

Yeah, usually by month three, most of the people have given up.

So now is the time to refresh your mindset.

This subject of mindset is kind of like grammar in your own language.

Okay, what do you mean?

You kind of know how to use it, but often you don't understand how it works.

Ah, okay.

That makes sense.

It makes sense, right?

Yeah.

And if someone asks you, hey, can you explain the present progressive versus the past perfect?

You're like, wait, what?

But you're using them every day.

Yeah, naturally without any problem.

And I think mindset is very similar.

It's something that we're using every single day, but we never really kind of dive deep, dissect, and look at, and understand why it's so important.

True.

So what is mindset?

So I always like to start with a dictionary definition.

So mindset is attitudes held by someone or the way of thinking.

So attitudes and way of thinking.

So does that kind of make sense?

Yes.

So let's take the first one.

This is kind of a very interesting one.

So we have a growth mindset, which would be a positive thing, and a fixed mindset, which may or may not be as positive as a growth mindset.

So do you want to try and guess what a growth mindset is?

So something you want to improve yourself and change in your life?

Yeah.

So believing that you can grow, right?

So it seems natural to you as an ambitious person, Keiji, you know?

Hopefully, yes.

So yeah, this idea that every year we're starting and learning a language, that's maybe not so common, right?

But that's a growth mindset, believing that you can, that you're here right now, and in one year you can be here.

I see.

Whereas a fixed mindset?

I guess you don't really pursue the changes, but you just want to maintain what you have right now.

Yeah, you kind of think that, I'm at the ceiling, I, you know, things are good, and it's not necessarily a bad mindset.

Right.

It's conservative in a way, but yeah, it's kind of thinking that, this is it,

I'm going to keep going, I'm going to keep going, I'm going to keep going.

This is it, I'm going to keep doing this.

So, but here's an example of a mindset.

And I think a growth mindset is quite important for pushing yourself.

Right.

And for you and me, well, you and I, when we're studying these languages,

I think the growth mindset is what you need to succeed.

Mm-hmm, true.

I mean, really, in one year to get to a proficient level in a language, you really have to believe in yourself.

Yeah, and you have to try hard.

Very, very hard.

Right.

You know, this is a, you know, not such an easy thing, to be honest, between me, you, and all the people watching this, right, to learn a language is quite a challenging thing.

True, so how about the fixed mindset?

Do they usually keep learning the language, or?

I think a fixed mindset would stay more within what they know.

I see.

We know this, and we'll stick to this, rather than pushing out further.

I see.

Right.

Mm-hmm.

So, now we're getting, and I could probably delve, we should probably delve a little deeper into this, this fixed and growth mindset, but I was just trying to give an example.

Yes.

But let's talk about a few key things that mindset really, where mindset really plays an important role.

So, Keiji, when I say the word resilience.

Resilience?

What is it?

Oh.

Okay, another way is perseverance.

Perseverance.

In short, these are words that mean you don't give up.

I see.

In the face of difficulty.

Okay.

So, resilience and perseverance are keys not giving up when things get difficult.

This is key to succeeding, not just in language learning, but in life.

Ah, right.

How can we get that?

Is it just based on the person?

Is it depending on the personality, or is it something that we can get it if we try hard?

All right, now we're getting into a philosophy course.

So, some people, yeah, this is a good question.

How can we get it?

I believe that it can be learned.

That it's, again, and that's why this mindset is so important.

If you train your brain, I really do believe you can overcome most obstacles.

You can reach your goals.

So, in high school, I studied Italian.

Seven years, maybe, French for one year, and I did terrible.

Why?

Was it difficult or you're not motivated?

You just didn't like these languages?

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Okay, I see.

Well, school, you're kind of forced to study language.

Again, you don't really, you're doing something because you're told to.

Yeah, yeah, I totally agree.

Actually, in school, English was the most difficult subject for me because I was forced to study the grammar and vocabulary.

I never spoke English in class.

I just remembered, memorized the grammar and vocabulary and that's it.

So, I didn't like it.

Wow.

And my score was not good, and that's why I started learning English when I entered university.

That was the most difficult subject, and I wanted to overcome.

I couldn't believe.

Well, you just defined resilience and perseverance.

Ah, so these words can be used in this situation.

It's a cornerstone.

So, for me, I didn't do very well, but now I speak upper intermediate Italian.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I heard that from our Italian teacher that you talked to, so.

Yes, yeah.

And look at you.

I mean, you're way beyond my level.

This is amazing.

I'm still trying.

And you're doing so well.

So, why do you keep trying?

I have motivation.

For English, I have to use it at work, and that's big motivation for me to survive.

And also to communicate with my colleague that I really like.

And also, I get used to using English at work.

So, when I search for any information, I always use English just naturally.

So, let's kind of divide these two.

Motivation and mindset.

So, motivation is the driving force behind your action and behavior.

So, there is some relationship here.

But let's focus back on that mindset.

You did not, as you say, particularly enjoy English, right?

So, why did you not give up?

Why did you persevere?

What made you keep pushing on?

For me, I just didn't like myself having big difficulty.

It's like English is always a big obstacle.

And I want to overcome it.

I like, if I try hard, I want it to prove that I could overcome.

And that was the start.

And that's mindset.

Because there are people who are in the same situation as you that quit.

That said, English is too hard.

I'm never going to use it.

Never.

That's it.

And it's what I did for a while with my French.

And at some point in the Italian, too, the journey, it's like, it's too difficult.

But I'm very competitive.

So, at some point, I was like, similar to you.

It's like, I need to, I cannot let go.

Exactly.

That I'm not able to, I don't accept that I can't do this.

Exactly.

Yeah.

And this mindset is of key importance, not just in language learning, but in being successful and getting what you want out of life.

It's like not accepting it.

Right.

And trying hard.

Yeah.

Then once you get past a certain inflection point, then it's on to motivation.

It's like, well, I'm getting more friends, or I'm getting a higher paying job, or I'm doing a podcast all in English.

Like the motivation then becomes part of it.

But that mindset is what pushes you and propels you.

And then it's about getting that motivation in.

I see.

So what is this good mindset exactly?

Okay.

So we covered one part, this resilience and perseverance.

You know, another one is confidence.

So this is a very, very complicated one.

Confidence is very, very tricky.

It's believing you can do it.

So if we go back to the resilience, it's like, I can do it.

I don't want to lose.

But at some point, you know, it's the same thing.

You can pick 10 languages and try and study them all at once and keep telling yourself,

I can do it.

But that might be too hard of a task.

So at some point, this confidence, you have to believe in yourself, but then the results have to come too.

So taking your example, how did you believe in your English ability?

Was it test results or what encouraged you?

At what point did you believe I can do this?

And that's a little different than saying, I don't accept, I cannot do it, right?

That's like, that keeps you going.

But at some point, you need that confidence.

Well, actually, I haven't tried really hard on English before.

So I wanted to try hard first.

And in my opinion, if I try hard for at least one year, two years, I thought I could do that.

I think I was very young at that time.

That was like long, long time ago.

So I tried.

Yeah.

So resilience leads you to not give up.

Perseverance leads you to not give up.

At some point, your results, whether it's your grades getting better, or the fact that you've been doing it for a few years, gives you a certain sense of confidence.

And that confidence can push you further.

Now, it's still not the motivation yet.

There's another important part of mindset.

It's, you heard this expression, open-minded or openness?

Yes.

This is another key factor.

In order to pursue something that you have no expertise about, you kind of have to have an open mind, right?

Yeah, yeah.

So can you think of a time when your open-mindedness helped you?

Open-minded helped me.

Given you opportunities?

So when I learned the language, open-minded, well, I decided to go abroad, that's pretty open-minded, no?

Yeah, that was a big decision because before going abroad, I mean, before I decided to learn English, I'd never been abroad.

So that was a big thing.

Leaving my country is a big thing first.

First, there will be nobody that I know in the country.

My family will be in Korea, and I will also need some money, and I always have to deal with everything in English.

So that was the first thing.

Yeah, and so this is a key, one of the key pillars of mindset.

Having an open mind, listening to something you might not agree with, and not to try and help them understand the error of their way or why they're wrong, but really try to understand why they have that position.

Learning about new cultures, listening to something that you've never heard before, this opens you up.

Then pursuing something, we have sort of open-mindedness, we have resiliency, helps you get traction.

Starting and stopping, that doesn't get you where you want to be, but not accepting it and keep pushing forward, this resiliency to get to the point of confidence that, okay, this is now something I have shown results in, I'm getting better at.

So this is, these are some of the key foundation, fundamental importance of mindset.

Mm-hmm, I see.

And do you use this mindset when it comes to your Korean learning?

Yes.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, it's very challenging to learn a new language.

Right.

Korean is very different from English, right?

Yeah.

The letters, pronunciation, grammar.

You have to have some resiliency and perseverance.

And, but also too, you know, when you first talk to someone, your teacher, or you're using the material, at first it's so exciting.

After 20 hours together, if you're not putting in the work, the conversation can become a little dull.

You're looking at the same book that you should know and you're forgetting words, and that's where the resiliency and perseverance comes in.

And that's why it's so important to just remember how the mindset works and why you need to keep thinking and seeing the different areas where mindset can help you in your learning.

The resiliency, perseverance, the open-mindedness, that you can go watch a Korean drama or a language drama.

That you don't understand, but still you're immersing yourself in it.

Yeah, that's true.

And then building towards that confidence, the fact, hey, I've done this for six months.

You know, yes, I might not be where I want to be, but I should be proud of the work, the body of work that I've done.

So these are some of the foundation, like some of the pillars that you need before you can then get to the next level, which is motivation.

I see.

So are we talking about the motivation now?

Well...

Or will it be the topic for next time?

Well, there's sometimes motivation, like we're going to talk a little bit about it because there becomes a point where you want to apply some techniques to power your motivation, right?

And motivation, again, might be you're studying for your partner, you're studying for personal growth, you're studying...

So you have that goal, slightly different than mindset.

So I want to talk about something called intrinsic motivation.

So it's not quite motivation yet, but...

And this is kind of like your mindset focuses on enjoying the journey.

Yes.

So motivation sometimes can knock you down a bit.

It's like you set your goals and you want to be where speaking an hour, you want to be... you keep focusing on where you want to be.

But this intrinsic motivation is like you're kind of focusing on this journey.

You're enjoying the class with your teacher.

You're enjoying your class.

You're enjoying reading.

And this is the single hardest thing to do, not only in language learning, but in life.

Everybody wants a certain dollar amount in the bank.

Everybody wants to get to the house.

Everyone, or whatever your dream might be, everyone keeps focusing on that dream all the way up at the top of the mountain, rather than enjoying the view at every step.

Does this make sense?

Yes.

So for you, how can you apply this for your learning then?

Yeah, so we have a class every Wednesday.

It's enjoying that class.

I'll give you... here's mindset, right?

Do I do my homework every class, Keiji?

Not every class.

Okay.

So when I don't do the homework, I put the pressure on myself and I get a bit nervous and I show up to the class and the class isn't as good as I want it to be.

So I don't enjoy the lead up to the class.

I don't enjoy the class and I beat myself up afterwards.

This is like a negative mindset.

Whereas a positive mindset, it's like, okay, it's easier if I do my homework.

I show up, I have a great class and that makes me happy for the whole week and it gives me a great memory of us studying together.

But yeah, I should really do my homework.

That's beside the point.

But even if I don't do my homework, I should be upfront.

Sorry, Keiji, I didn't do my homework, but I'm still so happy to be here.

I'm still so happy to learn with you and focus on all these wonderful aspects of learning together with you.

Studying the material after class.

Right.

And by learning to love the journey, then it doesn't become a chore anymore.

Now, sometimes the homework is a chore, even though I do like our classes.

But that mindset of appreciating everything you're doing, appreciating the time together, appreciating that every minute spent on Korean or whatever language you're learning is going to help your mindset become really engaged and reinforce that this is something positive that you like to do.

Right.

Did that make sense?

Yes.

Okay.

So you have very good mindset, by the way, to learn a language, very motivated.

Well, again, it doesn't start this way.

It's like anything in life.

It doesn't start this way.

Someone has to point it out, then you have to learn how to do it.

But once you do, it's a very different experience.

I see.

Yeah.

Actually, there are a lot of things that I can learn from you too.

Many things I can learn from you.

But Keijin, last year we did the French together.

Can you apply some of the things we spoke about to your French and how you kept going with your French and maybe just to try to apply some of this?

Yeah.

One of the things is, well, it's also related to some kind of motivation that I have inner circle with you, which means I have to show you how I'm doing.

And that was my big motivation.

So last year, we did the inner circle together and we learned the French together.

I mean, separately, but we talk about it every month.

For those of you who are new, it was Keijin and I both had a goal to reach a certain level in French.

Keijin reached her goal and I did not.

What was the goal?

Do you remember?

Keijin was supposed to pass B1.

I was supposed to pass B1, proficiency test.

And I did not reach my goal, even though I lowered it to A2, which is a certain level of French proficiency.

But actually for me, the important point is not to pass or not pass the exam, but more like learn how to enjoy learning journey, learning French.

So that's one of the mindset points we spoke about.

So tell us how you learned to enjoy that more.

Ah, one of the ways, as you just mentioned, the exam.

Exam is hard, but that made me study hard.

Keijin, if you learn to enjoy an exam, then you have achieved the ultimate mindset, like positivity.

This is like, I don't think anyone enjoys an exam.

So you actually learned to enjoy the exam.

Yeah, actually, I like it.

I like it, I really like it, I enjoy it.

And the other thing is a trip.

So if I go on a trip, some country where they speak the target language that I'm learning, then I'm so excited to learn the language.

That really, really helps the mindset.

But yeah, if we go back to the test, I think this is probably the best example of a truly remarkable mindset.

I recall from when we were doing the Inner Circle last year, you would practice the test questions with your teacher, is that correct?

Yes, that's right.

She was an examiner before, so she could help me very effectively.

So learning to enjoy the test, and then when you took the test, you had fun?

Yes, actually, I liked that excitement.

Yeah, so this is a very, very powerful thing, because I would say over 90% of the people out there have bad experience with tests.

It's something that, much like in my case, sometimes we do our lessons I don't properly prepare for.

Even if people prepare, some people are bad test takers.

It does make people nervous.

I enjoyed that nervous moment, but yeah, it makes sense.

So it's easy to develop a negative mindset about a test-taking experience, but here Keijin illustrates how through preparation, tactics, you are able to change your mindset to something that this is enjoyable, and you actually enjoy the experience itself.

And so this is what we're talking about today, the mindset.

So Keijin, let's just go over a few things about mindset.

And this is a nice segue into maybe talking about motivation next in a circle.

So first we have this resilience and perseverance.

And again, these skills are applicable, not just to language learning, but anything that you want to achieve in life.

Number two, confidence.

So at some point, and again, you might be naturally good at something, which gives you confidence, and then as you start your journey, you might hit a difficult patch and you need the resilience.

So there's no order to these, but these are kind of the foundational things you need for a good mindset.

Next, so the second one we had was confidence.

Third would be openness to new experiences, openness, open-minded.

And finally, we have this intrinsic motivation.

And what we mean by that is kind of enjoying the journey, learning how to appreciate the steps, taking a few steps, enjoying it rather than looking where you want to wind up.

And I can tell you this from someone who's reached a lot of goals.

The journey is the best part, but learning how to appreciate it is a very, very difficult skill.

Yeah, yeah, I agree.

So take some time.

If you have any questions about this, please email us, or send us some questions.

But this appreciation of each step will give you the most reward out of any of the things we spoke about.

Yeah, I hope our Inner Circle viewers can apply these to their language learning journey or even life.

So listeners, if you can think of a way that you're using a positive mindset, or that you want to try to use a positive mindset, please email us at inner.circle at innovativelanguage.com

And stay tuned for the next Inner Circle.

Bye, everyone.

Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time.

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