The Abundate Vision: Language as a force for good in creating opportunities, transformation, and connection
This blog post was originally published on LinkedIn for the launch of Abundate’s LinkedIn Page.
What was your first memory growing up? For me, one of the first things I can remember as a child was reading a word out loud. Considering how big a role language, if not specifically reading, now plays in my professional life, I like to think there’s a nice symbolism to how one of my very early memories is about my relationship with my mother tongue.
I would have been maybe five years old, sitting in the back seat of my mum’s car. In the pocket built into the back of the seat, there was an old ice scraper. A white, rectangular piece of plastic, it had a brand name written on it in big red letters. It had probably been a promotional giveaway at some point. (In case you’re thinking, “Who would choose ice scrapers as the perfect freebie?” - let me just say: In Norway, an ice scraper for your windshield is an essential item for all car owners during winter).
What I remember is looking at those red letters on this white piece of plastic and reading to my mum the word they spelled out. I put the stress on the wrong syllable, apparently - I think my mum corrected me - but whatever, I read something out loud and I felt so proud.
This was the first of many instances where I’ve felt and experienced the magic, power and beauty of learning and mastering a language - whether it was my first, second, third, or beyond.
The magic, power, and beauty of language
Through my work, I explore ways to achieve what I’ve begun to call the Abundate Vision: I believe that the more people, especially leaders, individually develop their linguistic and cultural awareness, the more we can collectively foster empathetic leadership, social cohesion, and inclusive societies. (And for anyone thinking about the ‘bottom line’, I seem to remember that social cohesion is good for economies, too).
In our work-lives, personal lives, politics and everything else, language plays a much greater role than we usually consider: Language can help us become more self-aware and adaptable to changing environments. Once you recognise this ‘magic’, you begin to develop your own awareness around how to use it to stimulate expansive, adaptive and creative thinking, perhaps even building bridges and connections in new ways:
There’s magic in planting a smile on the face of a Hungarian barista by using a word or phrase from her mother tongue. As Nelson Mandela famously said, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” (I’m sure he meant to include all genders in that statement).
There’s beauty in discovering the clever patterns in the Korean written language, where each syllable is spelled out by squeezing the different sounds into one character*. Exploring a new language in any of the myriads of ways to do so is beautiful. Learning to enjoy the learning process is beautiful; learning to fail and make mistakes and keep going anyway is beautiful.
There’s tremendous power in language, to the point where one word can be the difference between life or death, citizenship or statelessness**, empowerment or oppression. Studies suggest that language interacts with and influences identity, emotions, perception and behaviour. There’s power, also, in becoming aware of these interactions and learning how and when to make changes. We change the world a little bit every day through our use of language.
As I’m writing this, I hope I’m evoking some of the different emotions in you that I feel about the true power and potential of language.
* To see what I mean about the Korean writing system, Hangul, "90 Day Korean has a good overview.
** Many times in history, such as during the holocaust and persecution of marginalised groups during the Second World War, a pen stroke over a person’s nationality made the difference between national citizenship and being sentenced to concentration camps.
Humility and diversity when every brain is different
My path into language education has been a winding one with several offshoots into other fields. I remember being at university, studying linguistics and thinking, “If only everyone learnt languages the way I do - like a linguist!” It took me a few years before I realised, not only that ‘my way’ of doing things is far from perfect, but in fact, what might be perfect for me at a certain point in time will be completely ineffective for someone else.
One lesson life keeps throwing at me is this fact that everyone is different - every brain is different - my idea of ‘a perfect solution’ is unlikely to work for you. My advice usually isn’t that great. Your ideal way to learn new vocabulary may be my idea of hell, and vice versa.
The process of getting a Neurolanguage Coaching® certification in 2019 confirmed something I had already begun to realise: That people, especially adults, learn best when they are empowered to leverage their own strengths and experiences, come to their own conclusions, and figure stuff out for themselves. There’s no ‘one size fits all’ approach.
We’ve all developed learning habits from childhood and adolescence, and our challenge as adult learners is to understand when these habits might need an ‘upgrade’ or ‘update’: Sometimes we will need to change our learning habits to fit in with our changing lifestyles, priorities, goals, and brains. It starts with awareness and grows with mindset shifts and specific, goal-oriented actions. The word “Abundate” was invented to express how life-changing a growth mindset - sometimes called an “abundance mindset” - can be.
Common language and communication goals
Language or communication proficiency is usually about some combination of these three bigger ‘Umbrella Goals’: Wanting better access to opportunities, wanting some kind of identity transformation, and/or wanting some sense of connection or belonging.
1) Access to opportunities:
The most common reason people come to me for language coaching is to broaden their opportunities in some way. To perform better or advance in their work or studies, to fulfil visa or citizenship requirements, or improve access to travel opportunities. There’s also a lot more to this idea of ‘access’ than simply being able to do something - your own narrative and mindsets around what options seem to be available to you come into play. These things can sit pretty deep and relate closely to point #2.
2) Identity transformation:
The second umbrella term includes goals around how you define and see yourself. These are aspirations such as building confidence in another language, feeling like the best version of yourself, building self-awareness and language awareness, and relating and communicating better with people around you. This second point is also a common ‘side-effect’ of working towards point #1, because through trying to create more opportunities for yourself, and through language coaching, what naturally tends to happen is that learners start to become more aware of their learning mindsets overall. They start to rid themselves of previous uncertainty, insecurity, even sometimes shame and trauma around their language (in)abilities.
3) Connection and belonging:
Feeling at home in a new language and culture takes time and hard work. For instance, I learnt from a recent discovery call with a potential client that many internationals living in Norway struggle to integrate into Norwegian society. Language plays a significant role in integration, belonging, and a sense of kinship. In my experience, language can act as a bridge to human connection.
Trying to make “Abundate” happen
In working with clients to meet their language and communication goals, I love helping them with those ‘nitty gritty’ language-specific challenges while also addressing those bigger mindset shifts involved in successful learning. In a recent conversation with a coachee on my new group programme, we recognised a deeper motivational issue because there was a mismatch between the goal, which was something they needed, and who they actually wanted to be as a person. It’s hard to make real progress towards an end goal if it clashes with a deeper idea about who you are or want to be.
My mission is to spread the idea that there is an abundance of ways to reach your language learning goals, and that the learning journey can take you to wonderful and unexpected places. In other words, learning a language is not (just) what you think*** - but so much more.
*** You can listen to my Podcast "Abundate: Learning a language is not what you think", where my guests and I explore the breadth of possibilities and opportunities for language learning - whether it's how to learn or improve in your first, second, or 'Nth' language.
AUTHOR'S BIO
Hedvig is a language and learning coach on a mission to make language learning almost as normal as breathing. She is the founder of Abundate.org and host of the Abundate Podcast, where she interviews language learners, educators and researchers about the magic, power and beauty of language learning. She also shares her personal reflections on language learning in her newsletter. Learn more about private coaching in English or Norwegian, or her group programme for learners of any language.