Dearest Language Lab,
It is so sad to see you go… or me go? Perhaps I’m glad and relieved that I’m graduating. I will sincerely miss this basement, with its lack of sunlight and abundance of candy. Before I leave, I would like to impart some sage wisdom (thank you Patricio for the inspiration) from someone who has taken an unreasonable number of language courses and still wants to learn more.
Continue reading “Leilani’s final blog post… it’s been a good run!”Truthfully, the idea for this blog post came from my own experiences from learning French as a second language. I noticed that I could speak and write fine in my academic work, but when it came time to engage with small talk or casual conversation, I felt like a mess! There seemed to be some kind of gap between my proficiency in formal situations versus that in informal situations. On the flip side, I noticed that my peers who were heritage learners—students who learned French at home as a child, not academically as an adult—seemed to flourish in small talk, but appeared to struggle more with formal academic contexts. These questions made me curious about how L2 learners versus heritage learners approached their target language, depending on linguistic register—language used in a particular setting or context. This post is a bit more technical than the usual television recommendation, but hopefully, you’ll learn something new about how our environments affect the way we speak!
Continue reading “Writing entire papers in French… yet struggling with small talk?”
Do you find learning a language to be embarrassing? It’s a very normal human emotion, but embarrassment seems to be worse than death for some. Just thinking about embarrassment makes me feel embarrassed! So why do we feel embarrassed when we learn languages, and what can be done about it?
I read a paper titled “Embarrassment in English language classrooms” by Khajavy et al. (2025) to learn more about what embarrassment is and why it stops me in my tracks during my language classes. Embarrassment is defined as “a social, self-conscious emotion in which a person feels some level of discomfort and awkwardness” (Khajavy et al. 2025:182). I hate to say it, but embarrassment is just all in our heads. It can feel difficult to even explain why we feel embarrassed since it’s entirely based on how we imagine what others are thinking. Overall, it’s an emotion that depends on how we assess situations that we’re experiencing in the moment, so it might vary from person to person. For me, I get super embarrassed when I’m unprepared for class, but others might not feel the same way. This isn’t to say that feeling embarrassment isn’t valid—we all experience it, whether it’s visible or not.
Continue reading “Embrace embarrassment!”
Today we’re speaking with Qiuyi, our drop-in French tutor! We chatted about the experience of learning French from the beginning level, adjusting to intermediate classes, and Marguerite Duras. Meet Qiuyi in the Language Lab during her drop-in tutoring hours!
Leilani: Hi Qiuyi! To begin the interview, could you tell me a little bit about yourself and how long you’ve been speaking French?
Qiuyi: Yeah! My name is Qiuyi, and I’m a sophomore majoring in Comparative Literature. This is my second year learning French, so I’m a new learner.
Continue reading “Learning French to read Duras with Qiuyi!”
Have you been wanting to attend the Language Houses’ many fun language events, but don’t know where to start? Check out the new (!) Language Scholars Events page on the International Programs Office website! Here, you’ll find information about big campus-wide events (including ours at the LangLab) as well as regular weekly conversation hours in the Language Houses. I know the Language Scholars put in a lot of work in compiling all events into a single place, so I highly recommend you check it out!
P.S. for all my loyal Google Calendar users out there, you can also add their Calendar to yours!
As we approach the end of the semester, I thought I’d recommend a for-funsies book to read over winter break: In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri (2015). Last semester, I wrote a blog post on journaling as an effective language-learning strategy. Jhumpa Lahiri’s memoir expands on this idea of writing in a second language (Italian), and also talks more on her experience living in Rome, Italy, to immerse herself in the language. Lahiri is the author of The Namesake (2003) and Interpreter of Maladies (1999), and this is her first nonfiction book.
Continue reading “Book recommendation: In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri”
The LangLabbies invite you to our end-of-semester study session! The Language Lab will be open for all students to prepare for finals, meet with study groups, and enjoy a cup of hot chocolate. Come for the cozy study vibes and stay for the snacks! We hope to see you there!
When: Friday, December 12 (during reading week!) from 3-5 pm
Where: Language Lab (Library lower level 1)
It’s official, the K-pop (Korean pop) craze has arrived at the Language Lab. I’ve become enamored with K-pop’s fan-cams, shiny photocards, and the trendy choreography. Fortunately at the Language Lab, the K-pop culture has spread worldwide, and I made a list of international pop groups to keep an eye on. These groups have taken the popular model of K-pop but with a local flair that makes the music appealing to its country of origin. Give them a listen!
Argentina: K4OS
Chile: Q_ARE
Thank you everyone for attending our highly-anticipated Karaoke Night event! We had so much fun sharing songs and experiencing songs from around the world (I still have 小蘋果 stuck in my head…). Special shoutout to our Language Scholars, who got the party started! We hope to see you at future karaoke events… stay tuned!
If there was a song that you heard and wanted to add it to your own international playlist, here’s everything that was sung at Karaoke Night: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMUR5lJ3P0glCteY-6fTG2iZ-NAcLb4ZK&si=M7tgTaJz0KjTUhkC
Maybe you’ve been wanting to start learning Chinese, but don’t know how to get over the initial hurdles that make it seem impossible. Never fear, for I am here to help demystify this incredible language! I started learning Chinese at Reed from the beginning level and studied abroad this past summer in Taipei, Taiwan. Trust me when I say that it’s a challenging language to learn, but not impossible! (And I might even argue that it’s been the easiest and most fun language to study…) Here are my personal strategies for approaching Chinese as a beginning student, while keeping it fun!
Continue reading “Chinese summer isn’t over yet … some pointers for Beginning Chinese students!”