Surviving the ups and downs

It is not like learning the world’s capitals by heart in your geography class. Learning and using a foreign language is often extremely frustrating due to the lack of consistency in our own performance. It is not that we maintain now and forever a certain level, once we have passed the respective standardized tests.

The use of foreign languages – and even our native language – is full of up- and downswings all the way through. We forget words we have repeatedly used before, we commit basic grammar mistakes, we become blocked, we stammer and stutter. In our native language, we normally do not pay attention to fluctuations in our language use. Whether we observe increases in mistakes and reduced fluency or not. We seldom doubt our native language abilities. We attribute the former to stress, tiredness, being ill or even being in love. We don’t start questioning whether we will be ever able to speak proper English (or what our native language may be) in the future.

Somehow, speaking a foreign language we don’t consider all the above and tend to self-sabotage, fill ourselves with self-limiting beliefs and doubt.

However, as in sports, art or any other human endeavor, there are always ups and downs.

So, whenever you feel uneasy about being on a rollercoaster language-wise, try the following:

1)      During “highs”: celebrate your successes, but keep in mind that hard times are inevitably ahead. “Vaccinate” yourself for future failures;

2)      During “lows”: keep a gallery of idols (sportsmen, entrepreneurs, musicians, public figures) and study their biographies, learning about  how they overcame obstacles;

3)      Take a step back and focus on more basic measurable topics.


Check out our book “The GO Method” on Amazon.

Tip number three – You are going to make mistakes.

“Some of the best lessons we ever learn are learned from past mistakes. The error of the past is the wisdom and success of the future.” Dale Turner

Raise your hand if you started walking without stumbling or falling. Which of us learned to speak by using full, complete sentences and correct conjugation? When did we decide that in order to be successful, we cannot make mistakes?

Every ‘self-help’ author, every guru of self improvement, all of the most successful people out there say that we must make mistakes in order to succeed. They are the material from which we build the foundation of our experience. It is even said that we cannot truly learn without making mistakes. This is especially true for language learning.

·         Experience is making mistakes and learning from them. Bill Ackman

·         If you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything. I'm positive that a doer makes mistakes. John Wooden

·         You can only go forward by making mistakes. Alexander McQueen

As Gerhard Ohrband says in The Go Method, ”Our quest for perfection will always lead to frustration.”

So what do we do about it?

·        

      Understand that you are going to make mistakes.

·         Laugh at your errors. There are thousands of very funny situations where people have misused language. I recall once when I wrote an essay in Spanish about my favorite food – shrimp – and my professor told the whole class how much I enjoyed eating little people.

·         

           Learn from your mistakes. Keep a journal of the words or phrases that you have completely botched.

·         Ask others to correct you if there is a misunderstanding.

·         Don’t confuse having an accent with making mistakes.

·         Above all, don’t be embarrassed of your errors to the point that you stop speaking.

Push through your errors, and like the runner in the marathon, you will reach a second wind. We’ve all had those breakthrough moments when suddenly all the words fall into place. Shoot for those moments.

Keep learning –

Tim 

Check out our book “The GO Method” on Amazon.

Get out of your comfort zone

We often hear life begins outside of our comfort zone. However, much of current Western civilization is geared toward making us stay in our comfort zones or safe spaces. As American Tyler Cowen shows in his latest book, “The complacent class”,  Americans are less mobile and flexible than ever.  Germans, too, are well known for risk-avoidance and for preferring to stay their whole life with one morning newspaper, one company and one cozy house - with a carefully mowed lawn.

We feel threatened when we are obliged to leave our comfort zone: forced to change our profession, to move to another city, to listen to new ideas, or to live with people from other cultures.

In language learning, our comfort zone may be:

• ·         Clinging to a certain accent, intonation or speed while speaking in a foreign language;
•        Preferring visual over audio material;
•       Avoiding unstructured tasks of producing our own sentences, and sticking to multiple-choice grammar exercises;
•        Avoiding difficult audio material, while clinging to Youtube videos for beginners;
•        Refusing to move on to more difficult grammar;
•        Avoiding situations where we might be forced to speak to foreigners.

Successful foreign language speakers take “risks” all the time. So, let’s emulate them and orient ourselves upwards.

Tip 1: Schedule one activity per week that takes you out of your comfort zone.

Tip 2: Choose one language learning technique that makes you feel “uncomfortable”.

Gerhard

Check out our book “The GO Method” on Amazon.

Tip number two – Ask lots of questions

Tip number two – Ask lots of questions

“The art and science of asking questions is the source of all knowledge.” – Thomas Berger

There are lots of reasons that people don’t ask enough questions: 1) We are taught not to be a pest by parents and teachers, and to stop asking so many questions; 2) We believe that we will be perceived as stupid; 3) We are afraid we won’t understand the answer to our questions; 4) We don’t think we know what the correct question is.

But consider for a minute how children acquire language. Isn’t through asking questions? First comes “what,” then we move onto “where,” later to the pesky “why and when” and then a transition to the more intelligent “how”. If our imaginations are encouraged, we might explore the occasional “what if”.

The same works for language acquisition at any age. And, what freedom we experience, what growth, when we can ask for a translation or how to properly pronounce a foreign word.

·         What is this… in XYZ?

·         How do you say… in XYZ?

·         What does … mean in XYZ?

These are the questions that we want to learn early and to use often in our target language. They are the keys to moving beyond pointing, hand gestures and facial and physical expressions in order to communicate.

Keep learning –

Tim

Check out our book “The GO Method” on Amazon.