I don’t just teach you the grammar, I teach you how to be confident speaking from day ONE.

I’m going to let you in on a secret: I failed French at school.

Back then, I thought it was impossible for me to speak another language fluently. In my head, I wasn’t at all a language person; a sports billy at best, and that was it.

As much as I wanted to get fluent in French, I felt so despondent. I desperately wanted to speak, but when I tried, I couldn’t understand people and felt completely disheartened.

Not for one second did I believe I had the potential to learn foreign languages.

My mind was plagued with thoughts like:

“My memory isn’t good enough”

“I’m awful at accents”

“Learning is hard for me”

It wasn’t until I watched other normal people online speaking multiple languages that I discovered I too could learn a foreign language.

Now as a language coach, I always instil that same belief into clients by getting them speaking from the first minute. Why? Because this normalises using the language from day one and really is the best remedy for any nerves.

I help adults gain confidence and fluency in foreign languages by reprogramming their brains to embrace mistakes, instead of fearing them.

I do this by combining skills gained from studying counselling and psychotherapy for 4 years and from my own experience learning languages.

So, how did I go from being failing French to becoming a polyglot?

At school, I used to hate making mistakes, I put so much pressure on myself to speak French with a proper French accent that I stopped myself from speaking. This, plus the backward method taught at school really held me back.

I only made the breakthrough with French and started learning it properly when I began to make it about communication rather than perfection.

The polyglots online inspired me enough to let me know I could learn a foreign language, but it wasn’t until I dropped the idea of having to get it right all the time that I really made strides with my French.

I stopped measuring my worth from how well I spoke and instead focussed on using the language to connect with another human being.

This happened to be a French girl who lived on my street and spoke very broken English. I used the tiny bit of French I had to try to communicate with her and in that moment I realised I had it all backwards.

It was never about the language, it was always about the people. The language is just a tool used to connect one human being with another.

With this revelation, I was able to stay much more relaxed and present when speaking, which in turn drastically improved my listening skills; this has allowed me to go on to learn even more foreign languages, and FAST!

Communication and connection before perfection; that is the way to go with languages, and that is exactly how I approach my Laid-back Language coaching sessions.

I started Laid-back Languages to help adults learn their first foreign language over 4 years ago and now have a team of language people helping me with my mission.

Meet the Team

  • Patrick Creighton

    LAID-BACK LANGUAGES FOUNDER & LANGUAGE COACH

    I teach all the language sessions at Laid-back Languages. You’ll meet me during our first language session on Skype.

  • Mike Cawood

    LAID-BACK LANGUAGES AMBASSADOR

    Mike’s the guy you'll meet when you book a call. He'll tell you all about Laid-back languages and help plan your language program.

Where languages have taken me

Aged 19, teaching English in Senegal. I didn’t speak Wolof so had to use French as a lingua franca (common language).

It’s not hard to pick the Italian out of this line up…

Joining in the local festivities in a small village in Spain. They didn’t even speak Spanish here! Only Valenciano!!

A German, an Englishman, two Italians in Gibraltar whilst living in the south of Spain. We all used Spanish as our lingua franca! So cool!

I learnt a lot of Mexican slang from this guy! Gracias wey!

In the famous 100 Montaditos in Spain. The cerveza is hit and miss but the little sandwiches are great!

Hear from others who became ‘language people’

  • I have been learning Spanish with Pat for seven months. He is a fantastic teacher. His teaching style is relaxed and supportive which is so empowering in helping me to become a Spanish speaker very quickly! It is lots of fun and something that I thought I would never (or couldn't!) achieve as my experiences of language learning at school are not positive. If you want to learn a language I can highly recommend Pat to help you with your journey!

    Steve Anderson

  • I have studied French with Laid-back Languages. I’ve really enjoyed the experience learning!! Pat is a very enthusiastic teacher and provides endless levels of support either inside the lessons or even outside of them. Learning a language with him is so easy, he teaches very differently to any other course/teacher I’ve experienced before and it works! He focuses mainly on speaking/listening side at first and it gives you such a kick in the right direction! If you are one of those who thinks that they will never be able to learn another language then you can’t be further from the truth! Just about to start a second long course with him, so if that doesn’t convince you that he’s worth it then I don’t know what will!

    Lewis Banyard

  • Just finished my first course with Laid-back Languages and I have thoroughly enjoyed it! I never thought I'd be able to learn another language but Pat has built my confidence up and through his fantastic teaching style I am confident that I will become fluent in Spanish! I'm just about to start my next course and I cannot wait to continue my language learning journey! Muchas Gracias Pat!!

    Megan Alexander

  • We started learning to speak Italian with Pat during the pandemic and decided to take on the 9 month course to get the max out of our learning! We had an initial ‘taster session’ and were hooked! Pat adapts to your learning ability and has such a relaxed chatty style of teaching that you almost forget it’s a lesson and not just a catch up with a friend - clue’s in the name; Laidback! I was convinced that I was ‘rubbish at languages’ and would be the one unteachable student, but Pat was adamant otherwise and of course proved me wrong! It was hardly any time at all before my partner and I were conversing in fluent Italian and shocked ourselves at how much we could say and understand! Highly recommend Pat for guaranteed results! Iscriviti ora!

    Kelly-ann Herbert

  • A fantastic tutor. I've been learning Italian with him for almost a year now and have yet to feel like language learning is a chore! It's learning languages without feeling like you're stuck in a classroom trying to pass a test. I have recently visited Italy and am proud to report thanks to Pat, I managed to have a fairly high level conversation with a native Italian who didn't speak a word of english!! Devi imparare con lui!

    James Belchamber

  • Having loads of fun learning French with Pat! He’s a great tutor - really patient and supportive. Whether you’re a complete beginner or like me, wanting to build on some (rather distant!) school language lessons, I can thoroughly recommend getting involved with Laid-back Languages. The clue is in the name - laid back learning with loads of support and some interesting study aids!

    Simone Murray

  • I have just had my 6th lesson and I can now hold short conversations and beginning to string together sentences in Spanish. Its been great fun so far and I intend to keep going. Also my vocabulary and reading has improved without trying. I highly recommend learning with Laid-back Languages.

    Tony Brown

  • I have been learning Spanish with Patrick for around a year and could not recommend him highly enough. His teaching style is very different to my previous experiences of trying to learn a language, with a focus on speaking and listening. This has been great for me personally as it has given me confidence to try and communicate (even if I don't always get it quite right), and I feel like it is a more practical way to learn than reading through textbooks. Patrick is a really encouraging and enthusiastic teacher, and has been really patient when there have been things I've struggled with. Learning with Patrick has made me feel like I am learning the skills to help learn a language as well as the language itself.

    Jonathon Watson

  • I would highly recommend Patrick's language lessons. Not only a lovely person but he has really cracked the way of how to teach people to learn a language. Couldn't recommend him enough. If you are serious about learning a language then he is the person for it.

    Tom Sullivan

  • Awesomeeee lessons! I’ve come on so much with my Spanish since having lessons with Pat, I can see the progress myself and every session is fun at the same time as actually feeling like I’m learning something step by step. Couldn’t recommend enough!

    Lauren Donnelly

  • Just had my second lesson with Pat and I already feel like I'm learning French fast with his laid-back fun approach.100% recommend

    Georgia Marshall

  • Prior to Laidback Languages, I had been studying on duolingo for over 2 years for around 10 mins per day. My results were not great at all for the amount of time I’d been practising. I visit Spain every year and prior to laidback languages, I struggled to have any conversation with any locals. Since having lessons with Laidback Languages, my Spanish has improved drastically. Patrick has taught me several techniques of learning the language and the simple act of talking constantly in Spanish during a lesson, has been the best way for me to learn. He’s also provided constant videos, messages, voice notes, songs and exercises for me to look at on a daily basis. I have learned the more realistic vocabulary and techniques which would be useful for me in Spain. I can now have plenty of fluent conversations with the Spanish locals every time I visit and could get any point that I wanted across to a Spaniard and have a conversation about pretty much anything. I’ve realised the best way to learn is simply speak Spanish as much as possible and think in Spanish every day. However much, if I speak it every day I do feel a big improvement. I’ve even started to dream in Spanish and three times now my girlfriend has told me I’ve woke her up in the middle of the night because I’m talking in Spanish in my sleep! So the lessons are definitely working. Thanks to Pat again for all his help.

    Sam Lavelle