Just Start Talking!

When it comes to learning a new language, one of the greatest challenges can be speaking it.  Logic sets in, and through it, we tell ourselves, “I’ll practice speaking when I know enough vocabulary or when I can pronounce the words correctly.”… yada, yada, yada, the list is endless.  This kind of thinking is what really stunts our growth in learning a new language.  We let our feelings get in the way, we don’t want to embarrass ourselves by saying something wrong.  We let self image take over, and we somehow talk our way out of doing the very thing that would propel our language learning into overdrive.

Will learning grammar rules and a large vocabulary improve your speaking?  Not really! Will you make mistakes? Of course you will!  Will you embarrass yourself?  Maybe?  WHO CARES? Will you get better at speaking, by NOT speaking?  The answer is No…!  You’ll never get there without speaking, it will not happen.   Does a guitarist learn to play, by not playing the guitar?  The only… and I mean ONLY…activity, that will improve your speaking,… is SPEAKING!

 

 

I am exactly where you are on this topic, I have by no means, met my goal in this.  That’s why I am qualified to speak about it, out of my own failure. I have been learning Russian for almost five years now.  I have yet to learn how to speak the simplest of sentences.  Why?  Because I did not make it a practice of speaking.  Don’t get me wrong, by speaking here, I mean speaking to someone, speaking to another human being.  Speaking to a native speaker, someone who can speak back to you.  I have had plenty of practice by me speaking into Google translate to check my pronunciation and try to practice speaking some form of dialogue.  But this is not the same as having a one on one conversation with another person.  For some of us, this type of activity can be quite intimidating, and I admit that this is true in my case.  But we must venture outside our comfort zones if we wish to accomplish the goal of learning the language.

 

 

Ask yourself this question… “Why am I learning this language in the first place?”  However you answer this question, therein lies the reason for all the hours that you have invest in learning it.  This very reason, should be strong enough for you to put down your inhibitions and do what you must in order to succeed in reaching your language goal.  I hope this goal, means that you wish to interact with other human beings on this great planet of ours, for the sole purpose of engaging in interesting and heart felt conversations.

The world is a vast and interesting place.  By learning a foreign language you open up another piece of this great puzzle, and learn about interesting places, cultures and people.  There is nothing more exciting, than to travel to other countries and see how others live.  Everything about them revolve in and around the languages they speak and the places in which they live.  To be a part of that, is an exciting adventure!  When you learn another language, you also learn about the people who speak it.  And with no surprise, you will find that they are no different than you, having the same feelings and desires of life.  Happy and sad moments, we all share in common, our likes and dislikes, hopes and fears, are all a part of humankind.

 

So in conclusion, remember that speaking is as effortless as breathing and as common as eating.  It is an intimate part of our lives.  We use it to express our wants and desires.  We express our feelings toward one another.  We share ideas, and future plans.  The desire to talk about what interests us with other human beings, should never cause us stress or anxiety.  On the contrary, it should be something that we eagerly embrace, like meeting an old friend.  So when these feelings try to surface and intimidate you, just remember, like you, they are people too.  And you never know, maybe that person you talk with, will soon become your next best friend.

-Eugene