I cannot communicate enough the value of mistakes! We learn from them. No, it is not pleasant making them, but it is possible to change the way that you think about mistakes.
Remember when you were a baby? No? OK, let me paint the picture for you… you couldn’t speak. You had only a cry to communicate your needs. You had begun to hear the language though, it surrounded you as you developed in the womb. The sounds of language will have filtered through to you as you developed, before you were born. As soon as you appeared, people were speaking to you. They repeated the same words over, and over again and hoped for you to name them as your first word. You said all the wrong things, but did it bother you? No, you carried on practicing.
Your mother-tongue started like that. Maybe it was Mama or Dada or Papa and you gradually had to get used to the sounds around you and you replicated them. You did so Without Fear. Yes, sometimes with frustration, but usually with support from your language parent.
I have good news! Language parents can also be found for second language or third language acquisition. All you need to do is find a native speaker or somebody learning the same language as you but of a higher level. They will understand where you are on your language journey and can teach you a lot. They can also simplify the language. They do not need teaching skills, just patience and a good sense of humour.
It is important to practice with a language partner because there is only so much you can learn on your own before conversation becomes necessary to progress. When I say “on your own” I mean: only one speaker. However, you can also be the Second speaker… what do I mean? I mean that you can have a conversation with yourself.
This is possible by using a mirror and by recording yourself, asking yourself questions, both by video and by audio. If you are too shy to speak to somebody else why not speak to yourself?
When you are confident speaking sentences to yourself why not send those recordings to a Japanese native speaker in an app such as HiNative or HelloTalk or join an Online Conversation Club like Nihongo Connection for the initial experience of speaking Japanese.
Start making mistakes and start speaking Japanese today 🙂
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