Lisa's LEX Story... and how the different parts of LEX fit together

Finding LEX

Lisa (center) with friends in Japan on her first LEX exchange.

When I returned from the Peace Corps as a young adult, I started looking for local language learning options. I was most interested in Spanish and Chinese, but every time I thought about committing to just one of these, I felt a sense of loss. It seemed that it would take a very long time to achieve anything like fluency while not living in a country where the language was spoken. If I immersed myself in one language at a time as I had done so far, how long would it take before I could even touch some of the languages I wanted to experience? What would happen to the languages I already spoke if I didn’t do something to maintain them? And how would I have time for all of that?  

​One day on a community message board I saw a sign that read, “Anyone Can Speak 7 Languages.” I felt like it was speaking directly to me. Yes, I want that! 

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LEX Exchanges

I Met Amazing People 

I joined LEX in 2008.  In 2009 I was privileged to attend LEX's Multilingual Youth Friendship Camp in Shanghai, China and participate in a week-long homestay in Japan.  During that trip, I met many Japanese young people who had grown up as LEX members.  I was impressed with their familiarity with many languages and level of comfort interacting with many cultures, and I was determined that my future children would grow up with that opportunity.  ​

Meaning Through Experience

When we learn languages through immersion, we build relationships to the words we learn. Instead of a word's meaning being fastened to a word in our native language, a word's meaning is built from life experiences. 

Lisa tried wearing a kimono in Japan.

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My first full day in Japan, my host family invited a group of LEX members to their home for a delicious pot-luck lunch. Someone brought a hula-hoop, and everyone at the party tried using it. As each person stepped up to the hula-hoop, he or she declared "dekinai" or "dekimasen". After several people said the same thing with the same look of embarrassment, I didn't have to be told that they were saying they weren't good at hula-hooping. Of course, I won't think of that day every time I use that very common word, but the word for me is not a dictionary translation of the English "I can't.” Instead, it has intrinsic meaning attached to experience.

Adventures as a Family

As a family we have hosted interns from both Japan and Mexico, and recently my three year old, Evan and I spent a week on a LEX homestay in Korea.

Evan in traditional Korean clothing.

On the way to the airport to come home, Evan was crying not wanting to leave Korea, so I think it was a successful first trip for him.  

My children are now on their own paths towards multilingualism and openness to other cultures.  

LEX Audio Materials

When I Was Single

​When I first joined LEX.  I enjoyed listening to all of the available stories in a number of different languages.  I played them on a CD player in the background at home while doing other things and loaded them onto my iphone to listen during my commute. Depending on my schedule and motivation, sometimes I listened (or overheard the CDs) several hours a day - and some days not at all.

​More than any other program I have seen, LEX offers opportunities for getting out and using multiple languages. 

Immersion Environment

Before going to Japan, I used a multi-pronged approach to acquire some basic Japanese.  I listened to and mimicked the LEX CDs, and learned from other LEX members in Boston.  
It wasn’t until I was in Japan that I realized how close the LEX CDs come to real immersion.  The LEX CDs had given me a large body of unconscious vocabulary—words just waiting to click into place when I heard them used in real life.  Also, listening to the LEX CDs gave me a general comfort and familiarity with the sounds of Japanese. Even when I didn’t understand, it didn’t feel like a “foreign” language. ​

Lisa's son Colin surrounded by adoring fans at a LEX Language Project club.

Today, With My Children

​These days I listen to the CDs with my children.  They particularly enjoy the “Kabajin” story, which is aimed at younger members. Again, we go through periods where we play the CDs more, mostly in the background, and others where we don't listen as much.  My children notice the parts that they especially like. They repeat a lot in English, some in Spanish, and a bit in other languages as well. When Evan was 18 months old, he particularly liked the part when Kabajin leaves on his trip, and he’d pick up a bag and walk around, saying “On a trip, on a trip!” ​

​Both of my kids have some favorite non-linguistic parts of the LEX CDs. Evan said the other day, "If I were in Limei's wedding, I would be the horn." Colin has fallen in love with the animal sounds on the 4-H camp track in Korean. He keeps pointing to my phone demanding, "Again piggies!"

The LEX story CDs do a good job of reproducing the immersion effect (intrinsic meaning attached to experience) as closely as possible without actually interacting with native speakers. The stories are full of emotion, and the phrases we remember the best are the ones with the most emotion.
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LEX Clubs

​I joined just for myself, before I was thinking about having kids. Now that I have two young children, I am able to share one of my greatest passions in a way that is engaging and beneficial to them

Lisa with her son Evan at LEX.

Benefits of LEX

I am eight years into my journey with LEX and I have no regrets. I now speak enough Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese and Korean to approach a stranger and attempt a conversation, and I have retained the German and Russian I already spoke. I have also picked up phrases here and there in other languages. When I think about the road not taken, there are so many reasons I am glad I took this one:

​Broad learning:  I have established speaking and learning multiple languages as a constant in my life. Even during months and years when my motivation is low or life gets in the way, just by showing up every week I can maintain what I learn during the times when I put in real effort.  ​

​The family aspect:  You can’t exactly take your two-year-old with you to a traditional language class. I joined just for myself, before I was thinking about having kids. Now that I have two young children, I am able to share one of my greatest passions in a way that is engaging and beneficial to them.

Lisa's whole family was excited to host LEX Intern, Antonio from Mexico.

The exchanges: By the time I found LEX, I was past the point in my life when I could uproot myself and live in another country. LEX offers bite-sized homestay exchanges short enough for a working person. So far with LEX I have traveled to Japan, China and South Korea, and I have hosted visitors from Japan and Mexico. The exchanges gave me the opportunity for true immersion learning as well as increasing my love for the language by connecting me to the culture in which it is spoken. 

Lisa with LEX founder Yo Sakakibara.

​If you are  looking for an opportunity to make multilingualism a way of life for yourself and/or for your children, I hope you will give LEX a try.