The Fluent Show

“If we can produce proficient, correct language, it seems all is great no matter how we feel about it.” My guest for this week’s podcast is María Ortega Garcia, who you will get to know well during the course of our interview. María is a rebel. She encourages you not to break the rules, but to look beyond the rules. Here are some questions we discussed: How could you play with a language you love? Who owns the rules of a language? Can we see beyond the need to be correct, to achieve a higher level of connection and an authentic self-expression? Does being so touchy-feely mean we'll miss all our goals? This was a fascinating conversation about permission, ownership, and what we think we’re all allowed to do in another language. It helped me understand my role as language coach and language teacher in a whole new way. “It doesn’t need to have any specific goal or purpose. It’s just pleasure and self-expression.” “For me, a foreign language has to come along with my own personality and background. I can’t be fo