Speaking a foreign language is really fun. It is an amazing feeling to get passed that frustrating point of fumbling among the words you are trying to get out, passed mispronunciation, passed the long pauses needed to turn your native speech message into words you actually know in your target language. Oh, am I implying that I know what that is like? I'm sorry. I don't speak a foreign language, and I often tell people that I hardly speak English. However, I have had some glimmers of this amazing feeling, and the experience of making mistakes has helped me develop a better strategy for language learning. Let's walk through some of my issues because I think my failures can bring some of you a shortcut or two.
I don't want to sound stupid! - Mispronunciation and Grammar
Often times we forget that failure and mistakes actually help us learn. Wasn't it Einstein that said something about the person who has never failed never tried? Thus, just trying makes all the difference. All of those little failures lead up to success, especially with language. The only language we never had to try to learn was our native one, and even then there is quite a bit of learning. I think a lot of this fear comes from avoiding making errors and not wanting to sound 'stupid.' I know from trying to speak a language that exists in a vastly different linguistic realm than my native one that it is inevitable that one will sound ridiculous. The further away your target language is from your native language, the more ridiculous you are going to sound, which means that you will fail more and make more mistakes before you reach success. Don't let that stop you! The sweet feeling of communicating with someone in your target language triggers a massive endorphin overhaul on any negative feelings you have about failure and mispronunciation.
Will somebody talk to me? - Exposure and use
When I started studying French in high school, I didn't know a single person that spoke the language. Taking it over Spanish was a direct result of my delusion that I would study abroad. Little did I know that exposure and use are great influences when one is trying to learn a foreign language. So, target a language that you can use in your community. If you want to go beyond that, there are amazing resources online that pair you with native speakers (italki, Lang-8, LingQ, etc.) that connect you with people using video chat to assist you. Ask a question, have a conversation, exchange languages, etc. Learning is possible because resources are available if you seek them out. Now, why are you seeking them out?
You need a little motivation - Intentions
Unless you are the polyglot, Benny Lewis, or the boy-wonder hyper polyglot, Tim Doner (YouTube video that will awe you here), you aren't learning a language for the sake of learning a language. You have a reason, and many of us started in high school when the reason was "because it's required." Now you are an adult and nothing is required in the foreign language department. Maybe there are some people in the kitchen at the restaurant you work who speak Spanish. Maybe you are second or third generation European and you want to speak to some relatives. Whatever the case, you get it. There needs to be some internal motivation for your learning that second language. If you don't have a reason, you need one.
How the hell am I supposed to remember that? - Memory
This is an obstacle for anything, people's names at a dinner party, let alone language learning. It's usually the component to language learning that makes people think, "I'm just not wired with the language gene." That is nonsense. There is no language gene, only hard work and persistence. Just like an athlete reaches the professional realm by perfecting technique and strategy, so too does a language learner shorten their learning curve by developing a system that works for them when they target a new language. For example, if I have never learned a foreign language (and I haven't) I am not going to know where or how to begin when I decide to learn a new language. Conversely, when someone who knows two or three languages at a conversational level targets a new language, they learn faster because they have the experience of acquiring language. Now you are thinking, "But how?" Let me offer what I've learned.
Your study buddy ... on crack! - The Internet
In today's technocratic society it is no wonder that the Internet has made life easier for language learners. All kinds of study assistants are popping up almost daily (Quizlet, Memrise, Anki, Duolingo, etc.). These Internet based forums do everything from provide a new way to study flashcards (Spaced Repetition System, or SRS) to combining learning styles into a game-type platform to accommodate for all types for learners (Memrise and Duolingo). I really enjoy Memrise because it uses varied SRS and a game-type platform that has home computer and mobile versions for all operating systems. Most of these helpers are going to have mobile apps, so instead of playing Candy Crush you can improve your Spanish vocabulary. Also, a great resource for memory methods is Gabriel Wyner's book, Fluent Forever: How to Learn Any Language Fast and Never Forget It (check out the book and his website here).
Make a pleasurable routine out of it - Your system
It is really important to think about what you want to accomplish with language learning. I think about this everyday because I teach English, live in Thailand and have a Brazilian girlfriend. That's two languages to learn and one to teach, all three of which require a healthy understanding of each of the aforementioned aspects of the learning process. As a teacher I try to use topics (which isn't always easy when you teach 15-16 year old teens) that appeal to my students to disguise course material so it seems more enjoyable. Likewise, as a language learner, I approach learning Thai through my day to day experiences and what I enjoy to do or talk to others about. What do I need to say? Who am I communicating with? Then I take baby steps with vocabulary and test it in conversation.
Now get out there and use a foreign language! At least watch a movie in your target language and turn on the English subtitles. You'll surprise yourself with how much you already know. Communicating with others is really an exciting experience, so find a language you can use, set realistic goals, implement methods that help you retain it, maintain your practice, and most importantly, have fun!
Tales from Khao San Road, Hooka Havoc
The time had finally come when a friend from university and I would cross paths in Bangkok. Upon realizing that I was in the country he was backpacking through I was excited at the idea of an overseas reunion. Since I moved to the city we had been close to meeting up, but it was yet to happen. Today was our day, and with the next day being a public holiday it was bound to get rowdy.
I waited for Dino outside of the Chatuchak subway station to unload the big bus that was bringing him. This place is truly a transportation hub. Drivers holding destination signs calling out to prospective passengers to load thirteen or more people into minivans headed to outlying districts. Droves of commuters transferring between the subway and sky train. Taxis, motorbikes and city buses creeping through to grab passengers. I was getting antsy as the time passed his expected arrival by over twenty minutes. At last I saw a bohemian looking young man, tan and as rough as the road had made him. A fedora covered his buzzed dome, and a six month old beard covered his jovial face. After hugs and greetings we continued the conversation in a taxi headed for his friend's house, exchanging tidbits of linguistic and cultural observation on the way. We exited and grabbed beers at small family shop as we walked down a quiet and dimly lit alley toward the house. Our spirits were high and our conversation was continuous. He had been on the road through a handful of countries for about eight months, and I had only been in Thailand (my first ever trip abroad) for two and a half months. His stories were like the words of Kerouac falling on the ears of eager young beatniks listening attentively.
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| Bright eyed and bushy ... bearded |
Eventually we sat down at an outdoor table where we could share shisha and view the sites of the international vagabonds intertwining with the locals. Within minutes we were getting approached by the infamous Mr KhaoSan, an eccentric man with a face that says he is of forty and a spirit that says he is a teen. Upon first glance you might think that he is on his way to a rave, with his loud colors, patterned attire, big women's sunglasses, headband tied around his head and tassels hanging down from the back of his head. He wants us to buy ganja but we are all too familiar with the scams of selling what someone can't see for an all too high price. We aren't having it but he is insisting. As he continues to disappear and reappear we continue to turn him away, and he hovers while talking to security, hoping that his presence will wear us thin. In retrospect, this may have been the first step toward our night's conflict.
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| Mr KhaoSan and Dino |
At this time nobody had ordered drinks from the bar hosting the street side table. We just got the shisha. While puffing from the hose I see a young attractive western girl talking to the security guy in front of the bar. Of course I didn't think anything of it at the time. Who would have? Within a few minutes the girl had sat with us, and the Canadian guys are entertaining her while I took a phone call. I got up from the table so I might have a chance to hear whoever was on the other end of the line. After talking for a moment, I was wrapping up the call so I could return to the table. As I face the table I see the girl nudge it quite intentionally, sending the hooka to the pavement. Immediately the security guard is up my nose confronting me for an amount of money that could have replaced three hookas. He wants 4000 Thai Baht, or about USD $120. Without a doubt the fee was outrageously high, even for a shisha aficionado. I'm not having it, so we continue to bicker back and forth as I have no idea how this is about to end.
Dino returns and approaches this confrontation with haste, which has three security guards involved now, and he is met with the fists of one of the security guards landing firmly on his face. I quickly grab him by the back of his shirt and pull him away from the blows, followed by some face to face screaming. I don't know why he got hit and I didn't, but I still feel like I deserved it more than he did. Security continues demanding the same sum of money and we are both convinced that we aren't paying it. Dino discretely says to me that we'll have to run to get out of this, and tells me to be aware of our chance. Seconds later, with at least five security guards surrounding us now, another security guard exits the bar dragging a tall Swedish guy on his ass. This was our chance. As soon as the security guards diverted their attention to the second conflict, we split! I ran to the side of the road and jumped behind one of the many stalls selling whatever nonsense can be pawned off to someone with impaired judgement. I took the next left down an alley, running as fast as I could in sandals. Before I made it to the end, one came off. I went back for it feeling like I was going to see guards rounding the corner any second, and that was when I realized Dino and I were separated. I turned down the next street after the alley ended, crossed it and then went down another alley, sat behind a heap of broken furniture and rubbish, then started calling Dino as I listened for approaching footsteps.
Paranoia is hitting me heavily as I come out of the alley and assume any headlights I see are possibly out to get me. I keep calling Dino. After trying for more than ten minutes, I realize I'm not going to reach him and it is well into the morning hours. I decide to take a taxi back home. A few minutes after reaching my apartment I receive a call from Dino. He tells me he ran straight down the street through the crowd and was caught. The security guards surrounded him and took him to the ground with fists and feet. Punches and kicks riddled his body until one of the Canadian guys agreed to pay the requested sum just so the guards would stop. At the end of my friends recount he reminds me that he has a flight back to the US that day and will have to endure the trip with his fresh bruises and cuts. No doubt excruciating and mildly humiliating. I still feel that it should have been me that got the beating, but I'll never know why it wasn't.
It was shocking to see how fast things changed. Having clear memories from the night, I now believe that Mr KhaoSan shared less than kind words about us to the security guard. I believe that the young girl that tipped over the hooka was propositioned by the guard to create a opportunity for extortion. I believe that the reason for our troubles was mostly because we weren't the run of the mill foreigners spending money on whatever we looked at, namely the ganja and drinks. Most of all, I believed that this place was not at all what I had imagined and I won't be going back ... that is until I do.
Another average day
Waking up early has never been my thing, and my father would be the biggest proponent of this claim. However, conditioning has changed my norm. Now I am lucky if I can make it to 7:30 on an off day, and work days I'm up at 6:30. Yuck.
Curiosity did not kill the cat
I understand the logic.
A cat starts doing something out of curiosity, an interest in the unknown outcome of whatever has caught its attention. The implication is that unfortunate conclusion, the death of the cat.
What if the cat lives? It is a question we don't apply to this old saying enough.
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