I'm currently studying at a Japanese immersion program. I'm now in the 4th week of it, and am doing a little language escape by writing this blog. Please forgive me, but I have a good reason.
I want to talk about the magic of riding without training wheels. When it comes to language, immersion is the most natural way for us to learn. It's the way we learned English, so why have we come to favor learning just in a classroom? To be sure, the classroom has its merits and shouldn't be downplayed, but I can speak from experience that "students" of language are often scholarly gifted in the language, but when it comes to actually using it to communicate, they're practically incapable.
Like I said, I've been here about three weeks now, and I've had a few instances of riding without training wheels. The experiences are exhilarating, and I'd recommend the feeling to anybody. During class and mealtimes, I'm surrounded by teachers who are aware of my immersion, so I'm sure they speak very differently from how they would if they were with natives. Therefore, when we have guests and I have chance to meet with them, I'm really on my own. It's a pretty sublime feeling to know that I am communicating with people as a result of all this work and study I've been doing.
My point in writing this post, I guess, is to encourage you to take risks. If you want to learn a language, don't just do the easy stuff (learning by rote, but never using). Go on conversationexchange.com and find a penpal. Find someone to get coffee with. Make videos to test out your language skill. Go to the country and resolve not to speak your mother tongue (except for occasionally talking to family and friends, and other reasonable accommodations). Push yourself. You obviously want to speak it, so don't just settle for coasting somewhere in the gray area of not really assimilating the information. You can do it!
If your fear is being embarrassed, it's a fear you'll have to overcome because you will be embarrassed from time to time. But native speakers of the language are, by and large, very supportive, encouraging, and enthusiastic toward people trying to learn. Maybe, instead of saying a fruit, you said a sexual body part. Maybe you invited someone to a parking garage when you wanted to tell them not to go there. There will be miscommunications, but I challenge you to remember a time when you were a child and you miscommunicated. We all did it, and we all got over it. You can do it!
Do something everyday to use your new skills and you will thank yourself for it. And then comment here and tell me about it!
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