Making mistakes, when speaking or writing a new language, is not the same as making certain other kinds of mistakes, at least to me. Making mistakes in language learning is not only necessary, it is a good sign. If you are not making mistakes, you are not trying hard enough to use the language.
If you are trying to master a new language, there are certain things that you are not going to remember, or get right, until your brain is ready. Al you can do is to continue to use the language as much as possible, to read, to listen and to speak and write. Eventual y that elusive word, or that difficult phrase, will start to become natural.
Each time you make a mistake, and get corrected, is a chance to remember that word or phrase. This is easier in writing than in speaking. If you are corrected when speaking you are already a little tense so you do not remember too much. You are keen to say what you want to say, so the corrections are a bit of a distraction and can even discourage you a little bit. A t best you can remember one or two things from each conversation.
However, if you write and have your writing corrected, you have time to real y look at what you wrote. You have the time to think about the mistakes you made. You can look at the learning opportunities you created. If you take it the right way, your mistakes are your opportunity to improve. Some mistakes you wil have to make over and over. The most important thing is not to be upset over mistakes. They wil correct themselves eventual y with enough exposure, but only when your brain is ready. So just keep enjoying the language.
I was asked to talk a bit more about my experience as I went through the stages of language acquisition.
One thing that al learners have in common is the feeling that there are always situations where they do not understand what is going on, or words they do not understand. I often hear people complain of frustration that they are not doing better.
?I have been studying English for eight years and I use it in my work, and yet when I go out for a drink with my col eagues I cannot fol ow their conversation very wel , or I do not feel confident enough to real y jump in with my own comments.' I hear this kind of comment often.
I never felt this way. As I struggled to understand and express myself, often the language was just flying by me and I did not understand most of it. This never bothered me. There wil always be situations in another language when you have trouble fol owing the conversation. It stil happens to me, even for languages that I speak quite wel . It stil happens. It does not matter. I participate to the extent I can and feel happy that I am able to do so.
The more familiar you are with a certain context, the better you wil be able to communicate. Maybe you can talk about your work, but you cannot talk about sports or politics.
I lived in Japan for years, did al my business in Japanes e, and yet for a long time could not understand television dramas.
You learn to recognize that even when you are having difficulty understanding, just hanging in there and listening is helping to train your mind to some extent. To improve in a certain context, you need to expose yourself to it, and even to 'overload' in this context area. Read up on politics. Listen to the news more. Learn the key words and phrases. Then you wil be able to discuss politics. This only works if you are interested in the subject.
A deliberate effort to 'overload' a particular type of context wil certainly help you, but in the meantime do not worry about it. Relax and give yourself credit for the success you already have achieved. A positive and relaxed attitude wil only help your learning.
Chris asks ?What do you mean speak without fear? If you haven't mastered the language and you're nervous about being in a situation, how do you overcome that?'
It al depends on your goals. Stage one of using a new language is what I cal the 'hit and run' stage. You are just want to try out saying 'hello', or 'what is the time', or a phrase you just memorized, or perhaps a vulgar swear word that you heard. You throw it out and then smile and throw up your hands when the answer comes back at you. This is not communication. It is just test firing a new gun. You have limited expectations and therefore you are not disappointed.
In the next stage you would like to have a limited conversation, to try out what you have been learning. Usual y this is in a classroom or with friends. You do not expect to cover too much ground, but you do expect some conversation. You struggle and you are frustrated by your inability to use al of the words you have learned. But stil your expectations are limited and you are facing a friend or teacher, so there is no fear, just frustration. Hopeful y this frustration drives you back to more studying.
The fear stage happens when you want to use your new language to communicate in a real situation, where the native speaker may not have the patience of your teacher or friend. Here you do not want to fail. You want to understand and you want to be understood. It matters to you, so you get nervous. The more nervous you are, the more poorly you do.
In this situation your expectations of yourself are often unrealistically high, and your evaluation of your own performance is probably too critical. So just relax. Just pat yourself on the back for even being able to communicate at all in another language.
Recognize that this stage will continue for a long time. It started when you entered the ranks of the intermediate learner. You have put a lot of work into your language studies and want to be able to use it. You expect it of yourself and you think that others expect it of you. So lower your expectations and do not presume that others are so unforgiving. So what, if they ask you to repeat yourself a few times, or you have to ask them? But do make sure that you commit to improving.
Here is the strategy to overcome the fear of speaking
1. Do not al ow yourself to get too uptight. Learn to enjoy your language learning at every stage. Do not just focus on that happy day when you wil be fluent. Perhaps you wil never be as fluent as you would like to be. My wife practices piano every day. She is improving gradual y but she enjoys it every day. Do not be impatient to get to the end of your studies. Choose learning activities that are enjoyable.
2. Put a lot of effort into input activities, like listening and reading and vocabulary study, based on interesting and enjoyable content. Make sure you enjoy those activities and believe that, if they are continued, they wil help you to improve.
3. When you have a less than satisfactory encounter in the new language, make sure you go back and redouble your efforts to absorb more of the language. Build up your abilities for the next encounter. It is like playing sports. If you are playing your friend in tennis, you are not self-conscious of how you look, you just want to win. Whether you win or lose, you wil want to improve your technique, so that you wil win the next game. Whether you win or lose you can stil enjoy the game.
4. Learn to accept uncertainty. That is key. You wil forget words. You will get the structure wrong. You wil find yourself in conversations where you are lost. This wil go on for a long time. If you are not prepared to accept that level of uncertainty, you should stay in the comfort zone of your own language. If you prefer the comforts of home, do not travel. However, no pain, no gain. But the surprising thing is that the more relaxed you are, the better you wil remember what you have learned. The more confident you feel, the more natural you wil sound.
You probably talk to yourself quite a lot during the day. Try doing it in the language you are learning. Repeat some of the phrases you have been noticing in your listening. Or just say something sil y. Do it out loud or just to
