Language Learning & Creativity

Reading time 3 mins

Not going to lie, 2024 was a tough year for me. I moved to Spain at the beginning of 2024, then ended up living in Italy later that year due to personal reasons. So this year, 2025, I want to dust off the bad year I had and reconnect with you all again. Monthly blog posts are what I promise myself I can do, and if you are reading this, I have made myself proud.

Now, back to the topic I want to write about: How learning a new language sparked my creativity.

Throughout the year of uncertainty, the only certainty is my need to learn a new language in order to connect with others in a new country. It was Spanish and now it is Italian.

For Spanish, I used different apps and platforms for a year, yet I cannot order a coffee confidently. Learning a language without real-world progress is disheartening, no matter how much gamification and how many progress reports with stars I got from these platforms.

To learnt from my mistakes, I replaced apps with books (not grammar books, but fun ones, like comics), podcasts, YouTube videos, movies, songs, and ChatGPT as a writing tool to learn Italian.

Using AI tools as a writing teacher is my favorite “hack” so far, because it removed the pressure to get it right the first time in front of a human teacher. (Self imposed unrealistic expectations, I know, I know…)

This new way of learning helped me make real-life progress in a few months. I’m thrilled to say that I survived my Italian language assessment test today! It wasn’t much, but it was a huge confidence boost for me!

This intense language learning process unexpectedly boosts my creativity. I’m not sure about the science behind it (If you know, please share it in the comment below!), but when I use a new language daily, I feel like I can be a child again and be playful with it.

Pic.: An old piano walking slowly up the stairs.

For example, one day after I tried to say something in Italian but messed up and apologised, the nice Italian lady said, I will learn Italian “un po’ ogni giorni, piano, piano”, (It means “A bit everyday, slowly, slowly” in English). When she said that, my brain immediately shows me a piano - as in the musical instrument - walking slowly, slowly! So I had to draw it out.

Over time, I started to pick up on all these little language quirks. I had enough to make a whole series of funny language drawings now.

Pic.: WIP Basta Pasta! (Enough Pasta!)

I’m currently working on the last one of this series, ‘Basta Pasta!’. I cannot wait to put them all together and share them with you!

Also, I am planning to redesign my site and add my collections of different kind of drawings to it as opposed to just my blog posts.

Any ideas on how my site can capture your interest? Leave a message below.

That’s all for Jan 2025. See you in Feb 2025.

- With Love, Vienna