Failure. This word literally has the worst feeling floating behind it, at least in my opinion. However, when learning a new language, it shouldn’t be something to fear nor avoid. Fearing failure would hinder you rather than help you in learning a new language. “Learn from your mistakes”, everyone has heard of this saying, but don’t just learn from it, live with it. People don’t expect you to be a 100% fluent perfectionist in a language. Even in English, almost everyone makes mistakes in writing and speaking… even *gasp* natives. Of course this article is quite loose while informative, but even the sentences can be edited and therefore can be corrected and written better. If possible, try talking to someone who is fluent in the language you wish to speak in, and have them correct you. This way you can learn both faster and more efficiently, while having fun and laughing at your horrible mistakes. For people who attempted to learn or know mandarin/cantonese, you would know about the difference that one tone mark makes and how it would affect the sentence you just said. You’re not a surgeon or a rocket scientist where one mistake would cost lives (if you are one and are currently reading this, then I would like to thank you, but the aspects of your career does not apply to learning a new language). You will eventually fail so much times that you become successful, something that doesn’t happen too often in life.
Learn how it sounds before you know what it means. Repeating the word and knowing how it sounds helps incredibly in learning overall. It’s pretty much the same thing that happens when you see a new word in a language your know and become curious in its meaning. Let me give an example, “floccinaucinihilipilification”, who has even heard of this word? You know how it sounds (or can guess how it sounds) and proceed to learn its meaning and how to spell it/write it. If you don’t know how it sounds, all it would look like it a jumble of lines and shapes that will never be used. If anything, just watch a whole lot of foreign dramas and slowly incorporate the meanings that come with sentences or words. Later connect these words to it’s written form and boom, you learned a phrase that would ( or would not ) be used in daily life. You could probably break apart that sentence and use pieces of it in other sentences. Just keep doing it for every sentence (if it’s fun for you, because having fun is the best way to stay motivated) you want to know, and you’ll eventually have things down in concrete. Think to yourself, “what would be a cool thing to say in this language?” And put those thinking caps on and the internet ready for research. Learning a few sentences every week in both speech and written form could be a goal of yours, and by learning about 6 sentences every week (which actually isn’t that much, only about 2 hours a week or to make it seem even smaller, nearly 1/4 of an hour a day) for a year, you’ll have near fluency (of course this is exaggerating, but 312 sentences is more than enough to get by, as long as there’s variety in word usages). In truth, I didn’t even use that many words, only about 400 unique words are in this article currently and look how long it is! By knowing 312 sentences with about 4~5 unique words in each, you’ll have an easy time going through books of that new language.