Our students who know why they’re learning a language get results. Do you know what your “why” is?

When learning a new foreign language, you need to identify why you’re learning a new language. It’s easy to say that you want to learn Spanish because you’ve always wanted to or study English because you think it’s an important language. As valid as all these points are, it’s beneficial for whoever is teaching you to be able to drill down why exactly you want to learn your chosen language.

Success story: knowing your reasons to learn a language gets you far

For example, business student MariLuz's reason for learning English is relatable. She's Spanish, lives in Madrid and is the CMO for Rastreator, Spain’s leading online insurance comparison website (they're part of Admiral Group Plc). She decided to begin intense online English lessons with us after an unfulfilling experience at a marketing conference in Cardiff two years ago. During this conference, she explained that it was a total disaster for her where she felt completely out of her depth. Not only did she have to use English all day long but she also had to cope with the various accents because there were lots of European peers attending as well. In her head, she knew what she wanted to say but couldn’t get her message across. Much of what she said had to be simplified.

She came to My Language Lab and said she wouldn’t want to attend another marketing conference where she felt that she couldn’t contribute or get much out of it. Fast forward to this year and MariLuz attended another conference. Presenting entirely in English, in front of 90 people and sitting next to the Chairwoman and CEO of Admiral. When we spoke to her about how she felt, she said that everything went really well and she felt she could convey what she wanted to, both from a business and social perspective.

She was comfortable, at ease and could hold her own. She understood the nuances of the English language, she could make jokes and she was witty. At another event shortly afterwards, MariLuz had to talk about business developments and the challenges the business and the insurtech industry faced, discussing Brexit and the Spanish elections. These discussions were solely business-oriented and it was about the business landscape as a whole, including Spanish politics and the economy.

She now feels really confident and has realised her hard work is paying off. She was able to have conversations in scenarios where previously she would be very anxious or nervous. This time round, she felt really comfortable, at ease and it flowed.

‍By understanding her ‘why’ we could create a structured plan. After understanding the experiences MariLuz went through and knowing how she wanted to improve, we devised a timetable for her which included a lot of listening and reading skills, conversation and communication skills. Other areas of focus were also based on marketing and data trends, economic climate, business practices and trending topics within insurtech. The most important thing for her was to improve her level of confidence so that she could speak up in business scenarios and also social situations.

When we’re teaching our students business English, we don’t just focus on the typical scenarios that they might find themselves in, but also on areas where you can build rapport with clients or colleagues.

Before you start classes, we want to get to the heart of WHY you want to learn a new language and what your main motivation is. Our free Assessments allow us to drill down and ask these types of questions so we know where you want to ultimately be. Watch our video here if how we helped MariLuz.