Working From Home. Is it what it's cracked-up to be ?

I used to be a freelance translator. It was incredibly boring, I used to have to translate contracts, certificates, instruction manuals and such. I stopped because I didn't get regular work anymore, as companies have switched to using good old Google Translate to save money, lol. I'm studying art and design at college at the moment, I'd quite like to be a freelance artist or illustrator.

Really interesting ,the country needs more good teachers

Thats so interesting! I'll need to do more research to learn more

JT That's why around 70% of the English language is French, and we have two words for everything, one from Saxon (usually short and consonantal) and one from Norman (usually longer with more vowels). 

sea = ocean (l'océan)
school = academy (l'académie)
hill = mountain (la montagne)

And, because the Normans ruled us, almost all of our words in these so-called higher areas of life are of French origin (monarchy, royale, parliament, science) whereas the everyday words (used by us the peasants) are of Saxon origin: (king, queen, etc.) That's also why we use Saxon words such as sheep, cow and pig to describe animals in the field; but then as soon as they are transferred to the dining table, we use the French words mutton, beef and pork (modern French: mouton, beof and porc). 

Thanks for this, really cool of you. I have grabbed Audible and I'm giving it a go, when I get chance. But I guess I just need to up my committment and as he says, dont fret about remembering, just surround myself to more of the language.

Always knew my French lineage to be there, but never committed myself to properly.

Found it amazing that when the Normans invaded England they brought French language to the UK and for a time this country was bilingual! Amazing to think

Thank you, I'll look into that.

Hello JT

Nice to know someone else feels the way I feel about France. I first went to France at the age of 19 and it was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life and one that changed me irreversibly. Travelling the length and breadth of the country, I'm still in awe of the diversity of geography and climate of each region.

Here's the good news. Language is hard-wired into our DNA. The only requirement for language learning to take place is meaningful exposure  for prolonged periods. By meaningful exposure, I mean total immersion in the spoken language in authentic settings. If you were to relocate to France and never use English, you would naturally and spontaneously start to use French without any effort in a very short space of time. That's how we acquire our first language, and it's the only way to acquire a second or third language.  Alas, because it's not practical for everyone to up sticks and spend time in France, my whole role as a teacher is to simulate being in France by creating authentic target language environments for the duration of our weekly sessions. If you're interested in learning to use French, I would suggest you do not waste either your money or time on any of the ever-increasing glut of commercial language courses. I can say with absolute certitude that they are useless.

That said, there is one I do recommend for adults interested in acquiring another language.

https://youtu.be/O0w_uYPAQic

It is the method created and practiced by Michel Thomas (he has a fascinating personal history too). His method is truly unique. It's the only commercial language learning course I've ever encountered that comes anywhere close to capturing natural language learning. So, when people ask me how they can learn a new language quickly, effortlessly and naturally,  I signpost them to Michel Thomas. If you are a member of Audible, you can find his stuff on there.  The only negative side of his courses is that the content can be quite boring, but his delivery is revolutionary because his focus is not on vocabulary but on acquiring the basic structures of a language. As he says, once you've internalised the structure, decorating it with vocabulary is best left up to you. 

For self-study, I insist upon my learners setting aside a minimum of five-minutes a day (longer if they wish, but not less than five minutes) and ask them to set a timer. For these five-minutes, I tell them to immerse themselves in some aspect of the target spoken language —this could be watching a film, or Youtube video, listening to a song, an audiobook or radio station—anything that resonates with their own interests and which they will enjoy. I emphasise that the aim is not for them to try and learn anything, but to simply immerse themselves in the language at regular intervals during the week. This is the most important activity you can ever do to learn a new language because you are naturally activating the linguistic centres of the brain to prime it to recognise and accept the new sounds of structures of a the language. It's a form of neurological magic. Once you prime your brain, it will start to run the innate linguistic programs it used to acquire your native language and your language learning during sessions will become turbo-charged.

It's not necessary at all, but if you're a language nerd like me, you might want to check out Noam Chomsky (you'll find hundreds of his videos on Youtube). Chomsky is disgustingly intelligent and is often referred to as "the father of modern linguistics".  As well as being an esteemed linguist,  he's also a renowned philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian and social and political activist. His studies of the brain, the mind and the manipulation of societies by politicians and powerful elites is fascinating.

Excellent!

That's such a coincidence Michael I thought I was alone in this. Since being a child I've always felt connected to my distant French ancestry ...and drawn more to that country than to the British part of me. My French, I'm sorry to say, is still very poor through lack of exposure to it, but I would like to be fluent one day.

What are your recommendations for learning successfully? I tend to hyperfocus and then burnout on subjects, so I find slow ongoing progression difficult to maintain generally, but then I remain very frustrated that I can't speak it well enough to talk confidently - think it's a part of being ADHD as well.

PS: I work from home as a UI designer and am finding that now we don't have physical meetings to go to, the requirements are workflow have gone to 100% all the time. I'm working much longer hours and am being given continuously more work to do, generally I feel very stressed out now. I hadn't realised how the commute actually gave me a mental detachment from the work day. Now it's all here together and it's much tougher than I expected

That's really interesting to hear that you have a degree in modern languages, Dawn. French is my second passion in life after music. I have a whole theory about what attracted me to learning foreign language.

In essence, it was as if I had discovered secret codes when I was a teenager - and even at the age of 13, I went full tilt in learning both German and French. Already feeling like a stranger anyway in my small town, and already feeling like I was surrounded by strangers, it felt natural to learn these new languages. In my autistic brain, I'd come to the conclusion that I had been displaced at birth in the wrong country. Learning French (and German) was like a quest to discover my real language, hoping someday they would lead me to the place I truly belonged. As I grew older, and visited these countries, I felt so at home surrounded by different cultures and by people speaking different languages. I now know that this is how I have always felt in the UK, a foreigner. But as an adult I get to be a foreigner in the place of my own choosing.

Sorry for the late reply, but I've been having major issues trying to access the forum.

Hey, Turtle!  I've worked from home since 2006, as I'm an agoraphobe and cannot drive.  It takes a lot of discipline, but works for me.  I do transcription, which is something you don't want to do, but it works for me.  You can try UpWork and Freelancer to find creative work. Writing is another option, but it's very difficult to break into.  Good luck!  

WOW Michael,

That is so interesting.  One of the reasons why I'd have previously thought anyone who suggested I might be on the spectrum a year ago was bonkers, was the same reason my friend gave when I discussed it with her; "But you're so articulate.  You're a linguist.  You've taught.  You talk to people".  I have a degree in modern foreign languages, despite my dyslexia.

But I am beginning to understand now how both things might be true.  It could be that I've survived well on the spoken interactions, because they are explicit and make up for what I'm not 'reading' in other ways, I guess.  We'll see what they say when I'm assessed, I suppose.  But it's nice hear that there are others with a capacity for modern foreign languages out there, regardless of any other traits. I'm teaching myself Italian now so I can pursue my Italian family history.

Oh, and I do also do data.  I'm a data manager.

Thanks for posting this.  It's a revelation :-)

Hiya Turtle,

That's an interesting one.  Whilst COVID has sent my medical phobias into overdrive to the point I've been terrified to leave the house, lockdown and working from home did not bother me one iota at first.  My hobbies are all at home and I always worked from home a couple of days a week anyway. 

I've always found it easiest to have a couple of days in the office at the beginning of the week so I can have those meetings and get a handle on what I need to do.  Then have two or three days at home at the end of the week so the hyper focus can go into overdrive, whilst the world can get lost and leave me alone while I produce the goods.  It suits the job and produces the goods.

Since the autumn, though, it's been tough.  It's the lack of fresh air, change of scenery and the fact that my body hasn't moved for so long...My boss seems to think we all need team 'coffee mornings' via MS Teams, to make sure our mental health isn't suffering from lack of social contact, bless him.  But, well, I'm always happy to hear from my colleagues when they need me, otherwise I'd rather just crack on.

For a more creative field.... Good luck!  I've no suggestions but it's got to be do-able.  My lovely step-daughter is an illustrator and artist.  For the want of other employment she's been painting and selling online really well.

Ethan said:

Frankly it can be done anywhere where there's a PC.

That sounds like my ideal way of working, preferably with a lot of working hour flexibility and a good degree of independence. I'm not sure I'd want to work from home if it meant chained to the computer all day 9-5 though. I get it would work for those glad to be shot of the actual office. I've never experienced that so for me it would be just like taking an office job so I'm not sure what I'm looking for actually exists.

Maybe I'd need to create something myself or go self-employed in some way. I wasn't brought-up with all this technology, working remotely and so on, so when I look at job listings of working from home online, it looks like a scary world I don't understand. I don't even know what half of the job titles mean and those I've looked up are about as appealing as chewing sandpaper. 

I realise the job market is huge today with a million different job titles but from what I see, the majority of them would have me stuck at a computer all day, working for employers or to deadlines and basically doing an office job for the sake of it. It's hard to know where to start to find something more than that, as at this stage, I'm not looking to jump from one hamster wheel to another. It's pretty overwhelming and daunting as I feel like I'm starting from a blank sheet of paper so late on.

What did you do working from home and is that what you'd prefer in the future ?

Heh. My degree was in maths and french (but it was a combination that only two of us took in the year!).  It's been such a helpful combination for work (but not necessarily in the way you'd expect)

I always said I'd never work from home given the option because I needed the commute to "switch off" from work. After around a year of doing it I can't imagine ever going back into the office.

I do data crunching and report writing (it's various outputs of management information and ad-hoc question answering which keeps it interesting) Frankly it can be done anywhere where there's a PC. Even though I was based in an office my actual team was scattered all over the country, so a lot of our work was done virtually anyway. With working from home I've found I don't have the background chatter behind me (I frequently wore headphones in the office to block other people out when I was working on something), I'm not experiencing the sheer discomfort of physically being around folk and doing small talk (it's amazing how much of that I don't miss) and I now have the ability to take time away from work exactly when I need it. Even if it's just 5 mins to annoy the cat, make a brew or just stand outside in the garden to get air. My away time from everyone is exactly that. 

The other big difference is not having to manage the travel when I'm stressed. I've been finding things horribly difficult over the last few weeks because of an irreversible work-fudge I had to deal with. My saving grace was being able to switch everything off and crash straight onto the bed at the end of the day. The last time I had work issues and had to manage the daily commute - when I factored in the frustration of cancelled connections, noisy stations and navigating the town center with various people constantly approaching to try and get me to sign up for stuff - I felt constantly exhausted and was almost on the brink of psychological collapse. 

I've no desire to return to the office anytime soon. I'm kind of adjusted with it now so I'd be resistant with going back in and would get my psychologist to weigh in to recommend to my managers I stay put. 

I used to work from home, now I study from home. It can be difficult to motivate yourself working from home... I would recommend, if you can, having a separate office to your bedroom, and getting changed as if you're going to work!

Thanks for that Michael. That's useful to know.

I mainly teach from home, although a handful come to me for private lessons: teaching English as a foreign language. 

So, no lore commuting, best of all, Jo lore commuting at the crack of dawn, though currently it can mean so have very little time to go out to shop for necessities, or to go very far. 

So things have narrowed a great deal since the pandemic started.