More than most fields of learning, language learning is a matter of attitude. In a way it is an escape from reality. Reality is your native language. The new language is make believe, at least at first. You are pretending to be something you are not, a natural speaker of another language. You are imitating the behaviour of another culture. You become an actor, so you need to let go of your inhibitions.

As a university student in France 40 years ago I had to give a speech in class. Every time I went to say the word “responsable” in French, I said it wrong. I said “responsible” as in English. Every time I said it, the whole class laughed. I used that word many times. I could not understand why everyone would just burst out laughing each time. Afterwards I was told. I did not mind, but I never made that mistake again. By making mistakes, and sometimes through repeatedly making the same mistakes, we eventually learn.

When I lived and worked in Japan I was frequently in meetings where I was the only non-Japanese. Once I became fluent in Japanese, I was never conscious of not being Japanese. I felt as if I were part of the same group as I saw around the table from me. You do not just try to imitate the people of the target language, you almost try to become one of them. The barriers are removed and you leave the real world of your native language behind to join the new world of the other language.

People who resist the new language, who ask “why do they say it that way?”, these people have trouble. People who are happy joining the new group will find that they are able to absorb the new language with much less effort. So lighten up and enjoy it.

I enjoy learning languages and I am sure one reason is because I have had success. I certainly enjoy learning languages more now than when I was a high school student learning French in Montreal in the 1950s. In those days I had no strong desire to communicate in French with anyone. If I had to deal with French speaking Montrealers it was more comfortable for me to speak English.

Today that is different. Even for a language that I can hardly speak at all, like Korean, I prefer to struggle with my Korean than to speak English. I enjoy doing it and I do not mind appearing to be awkward. So I enjoy learning languages but I recognize that it might be an acquired taste. Language learning at first seems a daunting task in terms of the work involved and the damage to our egos.

I am convinced that to achieve anything in language learning, to overcome the obstacles, requires intensity. When I take on a language with the intention of raising my level, of achieving a breakthrough, I have to commit to doing it almost every day for a period of three months at least. I see so many people who go to class once a week, or even once a day, but do not achieve any intensity Interior designers. They are passive learners, going through the motions of learning. They are not deliberate, motivated, high-intensity learners. They do not get to that feeling of weightlessness, the breathrough stage.

Now I guess you could argue that not everyone is motivated to speak a foreign language. But then if the learner is not motivated why even bother going to the language class in the first place. If you are going to spend the time, do it with intensity. Develop the habits of intensity.

A big part of intensity is the efficiency of your study methods. Much of traditional language learning is not efficient and therefore does not enable the learner to achieve the required level of intensity. When we designed The Linguist system we designed it for intensity and efficiency.

Some people learn faster than others. Some people pronounce better than others. Why is this?I am more and more convinced that it is a matter of attitude rather than talent. There is something that good language learners have in common. They can let themselves go. They are not afraid. They achieve that independence from their mother tongue. They do not ask questions about why the new language is this way or that way.Now the question is, can you teach this attitude. I do not know. I think that if you can just turn on the switch in the learner’s brain, everything else becomes easier. Of course it is still important to learn in an efficient way. It is important to learn from context and not from rules and vocabulary lists. But the key is the attitude.I am trying to find the way to turn people on, to loosen them up, to make them more flexible. Next time I meet with learners I will be looking to see how to best do that. My book The Linguist, A Personal Guide to Language Learning was written for that purpose. It seems, however, that only natural language learners really understand it. How do I reach the others?

Zhuangzi’s Crooked Tree

Zhuangzi, the Taoist philosopher, lived in

China

over 2,300 years ago He taught the Tao, or way, an approach to life based on effortlessness and harmony with one’s nature.  He was down to earth and had a tongue in cheek sense of humour. He made fun of ritual, dogma, and pretentious moralizing. His epigrams and parables praised those who achieved mastery through constant practice of a skill, following their own inclinations, He scorned complicated explanations and theories.

Zhuangzi’s famous story about the crooked tree appeals to me for many reasons. Being in the forest industry, I know that a crooked tree is not suitable for making standard commodity lumber products, but it can make high quality decorative products which feature its natural beauty and individuality house painting.

People who follow their natures and pursue their own path to language learning will be happier and more successful than learners who try meet goals set for them by others. A true language learner must be like the crooked tree of Zhuangzi, not seeking perfection of form, but prospering by taking advantage of surrounding resources. Think of the crooked tree. Please read this book to learn how to take advantage of the abundant language resources and opportunities for communication that surround you. And most of all just enjoy yourself!

This was in the introduction to my book, The Linguist, A Personal Guide to Language Learning which I wrote a few years ago. I cannot stress enough the importance of being an independent individual in order to achieve success in language learning.