EVERYONE STRUGGLES, BUT SOME STRUGG

EVERYONE STRUGGLES, BUT SOME STRUGGLE MORE EFFICIENTLY
Those of you who will have seen my first video attempt at Mandarin, will see in my face how much I’m trying to think to force basic words out of me (or in this case… ba…sic….syll…a…bles), and may appreciate that maybe there is no quantum leap of merrily skipping through frustration for anyone. This is why I shared that video with you, and will likely make another one again in two weeks – just one video at the end could not possibly tell the whole story.

Everyone struggles, and I hope you can see that I’m going through the same problems any language learner has to go through, and actually many other issues that most language learners don’t have to go through because of my intensity and avoiding of English speakers, leading to all of my interactions throughout the day being superficial.

There is a huge difference in how I’m approaching this. Instead of skipping frustration, I do what few others will – I charge into it and fill my entire day with it. It’s like tearing off a band-aid; most people do the “hard stuff” of feeling like an idiot in early stages of language learning in very small doses. I’m doing lots of study of course, but what really defines my day is what I do away from the books and audio and comfy chairs.

While I got the usual Internet “warmth” of people laughing at me, or reminding me… again… that what I’m aiming for is impossible (seriously people, look impossible up in a dictionary or figure out what it really means will you!) after uploading that video, I also got some useful feedback of what to focus on next, and having produced the video forced me to learn things I hadn’t before, that no book could EVER teach me.

The video isn’t so impressive and that’s the point. I’m not pulling any rabbits out of any hats in this mission and I’m not merrily skipping my way up to higher spoken levels overnight. I’m struggling, but doing so more efficiently and more consistently than most learners would. When learners tell me that it takes “at least 5 years” to speak Mandarin, I have to ask them frankly – what the hell were you doing for those five years? I’m not smarter than you, I’m just more willing to take more punishment and feel like a complete idiot most of the day.

I feel like the myth that you are “smart” if you learn languages, makes too many people unwilling to accept that they will not be able to argue politics and deeply share their feelings if they dared to speak in their first weeks, before they are “ready”. Any idiot can learn a language, and knowing this means that I can accept that perhaps I have to be that idiot.

You feel really stupid when you try to use a language in situations that are outside of your comfort zone, and that’s precisely why you need MORE of these situations, not less of them.

If you charge into the frustration, embrace it, and fill up all your free time with it, then you WILL get to the other side much quicker. Too many learners only do these annoying practice things, once in a while, and it’s what slows them down tremendously. Doing it the hard and intensive way is damn stressful, and I can confirm that. I’m not interested in the easiest way to learn a language, I want the most efficient way.

Enough of this easing yourself in gently nonsense. That’s precisely why it’s taking you so much time.

Hopefully my next video will be much more interesting (unlike the first one, something I’d be very happy to show to a native) and it will be because I’ve been through hell to get to it