Hi, I’m Hedvig.

My mission is to make language learning as normal as breathing.

I wish to help you discover the abundance of ways to reach your language learning goals. The learning journey can take you to wonderful and unexpected places.

If more people embraced language learning as a practice, I genuinely believe that the world would be a better place. Yes, seriously.

So if you're open to making language learning work for you in new and unexpected ways, then you've come to the right place.

 
 

My journey so far

I've worked as a barista, a telephone salesperson, a designer, a marketer, a customer success consultant, and now a language coach, course creator and business owner. It was my experience working in a tech startup that really prepared me for starting my own language coaching business in 2019. That’s when, at the age of 27, I began to pursue my dream of changing people's perspectives on language learning.

 

Combining innovation methods and usability with language coaching?

Sounds wild, right?

Wrong. Though I've left the tech startup world behind (for now), I've taken with me several 'souvenirs' which I use to help language learners reach their goals:

  • The idea that a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is much better than no product at all. Thinking about learning goals in this way can help to simplify the learning process and reduce the load of high expectations and perfectionism that we often put on ourselves as learners.

  • Even before you have an MVP, maybe all you need is a prototype. Something that will work, for now, to test your assumptions and adjust your plans and expectations accordingly. We prioritise usability over perfection.

  • Embracing failure as an opportunity to learn and grow, rather than as a setback. We language learners make big and small blunders on our path to fluency, so how we respond to them is essential.

... to give you just a few examples.

 

"So Hedvig, how many languages do you speak?"

I'm fully bilingual in English and Norwegian, and throughout my teens and twenties I also picked up conversational French, Spanish, Italian, British Sign Language and some now very rusty Swahili. Depending on my mood, I'll say I speak 5 languages, or 6 if I'm feeling confident. But my personal approach to language learning is what I call dabbling, meaning I try to learn a little bit of any language I encounter. Throughout my twenties I dabbled in another 10+ languages, learning what I needed to learn in Hungarian, Greek, Mandarin, Korean, Sami, Arabic, Russian and several others.

But honestly, that's not the point. People often ask me about “how many” languages I speak, and this number can be an indication of something - expertise, skill, experience, validity, passion? The way I see it, the purpose of language learning is whatever you want it to be - communication, confidence, brain exercise, fun, or anything you like.

Though I've got my own approaches to language learning, I've discovered that there really is no limit to the number of ways people can embrace it - whether as a practice or as a means to an end.

 

I’ve been featured in:

🎙️ “How learning a language can build your resilience” - My Perfect Failure with Paul Padmore.

🎙️ “The power of language (to change the world)” - Creating Social Impact Podcast with Kat Luckock

🎙️ “🍃 but you're fun even though you're foreign” - Inbetweenish with Beatriz Nour

📹 “Neuroeducation and languages” - Words off Limits with María Ortega García

📚 “Multilingual is normal: An anthology of voices talking about talking” - compiled by Cate Hamilton

 

Still here? Let’s connect.

I’d love to hear from you! You can learn more about improving your English, language coaching for teams, learning any language, or simply contact me here.