2014 New Years Language Challenge has Started!

2014 New Years Language Challenge has Started! Ready! Set! Go! The italki 2014 New Years Language Challenge has now officially started! Review the rules here. Today marks the beginning of italkis biggest and baddest Language Challenge yet!    All in all weve got hundreds of Challengers learning more than 30+ languages on italki!   We have representation from Challengers from all over the world, including the following countries: Angola Argentina Australia Austria Barbados Belgium Brazil Canada Chile China Czech Republic France Germany Indonesia Ireland Israel Italy Japan Korea Lebanon Mexico Netherlands New Zealand Norway Peru Poland Romania Russia Rwanda Saudi Arabia Singapore South Africa Spain Sweden Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine United States United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Vietnam As you start the challenge we wanted to share some tips to make sure you finish the Challenge.  A great post about what to expect in a Language Challenge can be found here from our friend Lingoholic who pointed out some lessons learned from the Add1Challenge.  The original blog post is a great read and below is a quick summary of it: 1. Realize you will experience Ups and Downs! We get all fired up when we first start to learn a new language. Then life gets in the way, excitement fades, all of a sudden we don’t have any more time, we beat ourselves up for not being excited anymore, and then we stop learning.  The secret to overcome the ups and downs of the inevitable enthusiasm (or motivation) curve is: Expect and accept the ups and downs, there is nothing wrong with it When you are at the bottom of the curve, focus on figuring out  what it will take to get excited about learning your language again. 2. Practicing with a Native Speaker Online makes the Challenge Fun and Easy Lingoholic actually did the Add1Challenge but he noted that what made learning fun were his italki sessions.  Just speaking with a native speaker online was all he needed to do and then  boom, 30 minutes or an hour is gone in the blink of an eye.  He even goes on to say, It is very affordable, it’s totally worth it and anyone can do this. Thanks for the props Lingoholic! 3. Focusing on your mini-steps one day at a time We all know that it takes a lifetime to master and be REALLY fluent in a language.  It’s like climbing a huge mountain, Mt. Fluency.  In Lingoholics case, he knew that he needed to work on was building a routine that worked for his schedule, as well as making time out of my day dedicated to language learning. His  mini goal became to take 1 hour a day and do something related to his target languages (Japanese and German), every day. Your goal might be to log on to italki every day and make sure that you have an upcoming session scheduled at least 2-3 times a week.  Or do an Instant Tutoring session once a week.  Its up to you, but make sure that you take those mini-steps to reach your goal! Follow Lexies Challenge! We know that the biggest obstacle that Challengers will face with the Language Challenge will be motivation. For that reason, our very own Marketing Manager, Lexie, will be publicly sharing her experiences and all her ups and downs on this blog to help motivate you to Complete the Challenge with her! One last note there is still time to make a Public Video Pledge and earn an extra 50ITC! Lexie and many of our Challengers already did. The whole idea is to use peer pressure (in a good way) to help our Challengers finish the Challenge .  The theory is that if you put yourself up to something by doing it in public, you follow through because others are watching.  Things that you put on the Web have a better chance of getting done!  What have you got to lose?  Make your Public Video Pledge now! 2014 New Years Language Challenge has Started! Ready! Set! Go! The italki 2014 New Years Language Challenge has now officially started! Review the rules here. Today marks the beginning of italkis biggest and baddest Language Challenge yet!    All in all weve got hundreds of Challengers learning more than 30+ languages on italki!   We have representation from Challengers from all over the world, including the following countries: Angola Argentina Australia Austria Barbados Belgium Brazil Canada Chile China Czech Republic France Germany Indonesia Ireland Israel Italy Japan Korea Lebanon Mexico Netherlands New Zealand Norway Peru Poland Romania Russia Rwanda Saudi Arabia Singapore South Africa Spain Sweden Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine United States United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Vietnam As you start the challenge we wanted to share some tips to make sure you finish the Challenge.  A great post about what to expect in a Language Challenge can be found here from our friend Lingoholic who pointed out some lessons learned from the Add1Challenge.  The original blog post is a great read and below is a quick summary of it: 1. Realize you will experience Ups and Downs! We get all fired up when we first start to learn a new language. Then life gets in the way, excitement fades, all of a sudden we don’t have any more time, we beat ourselves up for not being excited anymore, and then we stop learning.  The secret to overcome the ups and downs of the inevitable enthusiasm (or motivation) curve is: Expect and accept the ups and downs, there is nothing wrong with it When you are at the bottom of the curve, focus on figuring out  what it will take to get excited about learning your language again. 2. Practicing with a Native Speaker Online makes the Challenge Fun and Easy Lingoholic actually did the Add1Challenge but he noted that what made learning fun were his italki sessions.  Just speaking with a native speaker online was all he needed to do and then  boom, 30 minutes or an hour is gone in the blink of an eye.  He even goes on to say, It is very affordable, it’s totally worth it and anyone can do this. Thanks for the props Lingoholic! 3. Focusing on your mini-steps one day at a time We all know that it takes a lifetime to master and be REALLY fluent in a language.  It’s like climbing a huge mountain, Mt. Fluency.  In Lingoholics case, he knew that he needed to work on was building a routine that worked for his schedule, as well as making time out of my day dedicated to language learning. His  mini goal became to take 1 hour a day and do something related to his target languages (Japanese and German), every day. Your goal might be to log on to italki every day and make sure that you have an upcoming session scheduled at least 2-3 times a week.  Or do an Instant Tutoring session once a week.  Its up to you, but make sure that you take those mini-steps to reach your goal! Follow Lexies Challenge! We know that the biggest obstacle that Challengers will face with the Language Challenge will be motivation. For that reason, our very own Marketing Manager, Lexie, will be publicly sharing her experiences and all her ups and downs on this blog to help motivate you to Complete the Challenge with her! One last note there is still time to make a Public Video Pledge and earn an extra 50ITC! Lexie and many of our Challengers already did. The whole idea is to use peer pressure (in a good way) to help our Challengers finish the Challenge .  The theory is that if you put yourself up to something by doing it in public, you follow through because others are watching.  Things that you put on the Web have a better chance of getting done!  What have you got to lose?  Make your Public Video Pledge now! 2014 New Years Language Challenge has Started! Ready! Set! Go! The italki 2014 New Years Language Challenge has now officially started! Review the rules here. Today marks the beginning of italkis biggest and baddest Language Challenge yet!    All in all weve got hundreds of Challengers learning more than 30+ languages on italki!   We have representation from Challengers from all over the world, including the following countries: Angola Argentina Australia Austria Barbados Belgium Brazil Canada Chile China Czech Republic France Germany Indonesia Ireland Israel Italy Japan Korea Lebanon Mexico Netherlands New Zealand Norway Peru Poland Romania Russia Rwanda Saudi Arabia Singapore South Africa Spain Sweden Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine United States United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Vietnam As you start the challenge we wanted to share some tips to make sure you finish the Challenge.  A great post about what to expect in a Language Challenge can be found here from our friend Lingoholic who pointed out some lessons learned from the Add1Challenge.  The original blog post is a great read and below is a quick summary of it: 1. Realize you will experience Ups and Downs! We get all fired up when we first start to learn a new language. Then life gets in the way, excitement fades, all of a sudden we don’t have any more time, we beat ourselves up for not being excited anymore, and then we stop learning.  The secret to overcome the ups and downs of the inevitable enthusiasm (or motivation) curve is: Expect and accept the ups and downs, there is nothing wrong with it When you are at the bottom of the curve, focus on figuring out  what it will take to get excited about learning your language again. 2. Practicing with a Native Speaker Online makes the Challenge Fun and Easy Lingoholic actually did the Add1Challenge but he noted that what made learning fun were his italki sessions.  Just speaking with a native speaker online was all he needed to do and then  boom, 30 minutes or an hour is gone in the blink of an eye.  He even goes on to say, It is very affordable, it’s totally worth it and anyone can do this. Thanks for the props Lingoholic! 3. Focusing on your mini-steps one day at a time We all know that it takes a lifetime to master and be REALLY fluent in a language.  It’s like climbing a huge mountain, Mt. Fluency.  In Lingoholics case, he knew that he needed to work on was building a routine that worked for his schedule, as well as making time out of my day dedicated to language learning. His  mini goal became to take 1 hour a day and do something related to his target languages (Japanese and German), every day. Your goal might be to log on to italki every day and make sure that you have an upcoming session scheduled at least 2-3 times a week.  Or do an Instant Tutoring session once a week.  Its up to you, but make sure that you take those mini-steps to reach your goal! Follow Lexies Challenge! We know that the biggest obstacle that Challengers will face with the Language Challenge will be motivation. For that reason, our very own Marketing Manager, Lexie, will be publicly sharing her experiences and all her ups and downs on this blog to help motivate you to Complete the Challenge with her! One last note there is still time to make a Public Video Pledge and earn an extra 50ITC! Lexie and many of our Challengers already did. The whole idea is to use peer pressure (in a good way) to help our Challengers finish the Challenge .  The theory is that if you put yourself up to something by doing it in public, you follow through because others are watching.  Things that you put on the Web have a better chance of getting done!  What have you got to lose?  Make your Public Video Pledge now!