making mistakes
September 29th, 2005 by heatherI was rooting around looking for language learning materials in the English speaking market, knowing that this area is far more developed in terms of products available. In doing so, I came across probably the worst advice I’ve ever heard for learning anything:
Step 3: No mistakes: Avoid mistakes. Try to use correct English from the beginning. from this crazy company
That stuck in my mind recently as I dealt with a crisis in my growing fear of actually speaking Japanese; my fear of making mistakes.
In contrast, I got some of the best advice I’ve ever heard from Raize on kenkyuukai: (at the bottom of this page)
1) It’s not English, you don’t know it, so enjoy the discovery
2) Screw up and have fun doing so!
3) When in doubt, see 1 and 2
September 29th, 2005 at 1:34 pm
I think the trouble is that to become a good speaker of a new language, you need to do both of the following, and they almost seem contradictory:
1. Avoid making mistakes. Work hard on using good grammar.
2. Never let fear of mistakes keep you from practising your new language.
If you ignore #1, you’ll end up lapsing into poor constructions that are “good enough” to be understood but will permanently hold back your language proficiency. If you’re going to cement sentence patterns into your head, make sure you’re cementing *good* patterns. I know so many non-native English speakers who will never be able to speak well because they got lazy and didn’t avoid broken English when they were learning.
If you ignore #2, you won’t make very fast progress on your new language.
It’s helpful to find a native tutor who will make you speak Japanese for a full hour once or twice a week, and correct your sentences when appropriate. By repeating and learning the corrections, you can establish good speaking habits.
By the way, “enjoy the discovery” is excellent advice.
And everything in Japanese is a fresh new discovery!
September 29th, 2005 at 2:12 pm
point taken about the laziness! heh,
are you studying in japan or elsewhere?
September 29th, 2005 at 2:26 pm
I’m in Japan, which definitely helps for finding speaking tutors. (I’m the guy who was considering a Japanese podcast, by the way.)
And I mangle Japanese grammar every day! But at least I’m getting better.
September 29th, 2005 at 2:43 pm
*slaps her forehead* i knew that!
how’s it coming along, by the way? just give it a go!
i always say “start small; start now” you’ll know much better after you do a couple.
did you ever notice “the mistake pancake”… it’s when you’re making pancakes and the first one tends to come out wrong? so i always accept this, and just make a small “mistake pancake”.
September 30th, 2005 at 1:51 pm
Mistake pancake, that’s a good analogy.