Tonight I had drinks with a woman who told me I speak “hyper bien français.” When taken with a grain of salt – as all compliments about language skills should be – this means that I actually speak “bien français.” And that’s good enough for me.
Not three months ago, I wrote about how I would consistently peter out after two or three hours of French conversation, but these days I feel like I don’t really have a time limit. Comprehension is still not at 100%, but it’s getting continuously better. And I now have enough evidence of attaining new language heights to convince myself not to get too frustrated or feel too stuck at any one point. I am reminded of this Mari Andrew drawing I saw on Instagram recently. Like life in general, language learning requires resilience:
And I have built up this resilience. I can swim across this ocean of a language gap. (Other oceans, less clear.)
talk foreign to me 
It always feels so good to receive a compliment on your language skills! I know you will be able to swim across the language ocean soon!
Aww, thanks, Shelby!
Great to hear Ruth! I often see my own journey learning Chinese and Spanish like the diagram you included. Thanks so much for sharing!
Because I am super interested in languages and cultures, I’m currently working at an EdTech startup called FlipWord (flipword.co), which was actually created because of our founders’ frustrations with learning languages and teaching languages.
I’m wondering if you are interested in writing about our platform that is pioneering the concept of passive language learning. This is something unique that no one has ever tried before and can make your blog stand out/potentially go viral. We would also be open to sharing/promoting your blog.
FlipWord currently exists as a Chrome extension that integrates learning into people’s daily online activities to solve the issues of knowledge retention and use of the language outside the classroom. Here’s a demo clip showing our extension in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub6JRFkRQHs
Would you be interested in testing out our Chrome extension and writing a review about it? If this sounds intriguing to you or if you have any questions, please let me know. Thanks so much, Ruth!