In my previous entry, I discussed what I experienced when I learned German in high school. I do want to discuss one of the most important aspects of learning a new language, however, and I feel that this single point is so important that I have decided to devote an entire entry just to this one point.

Long after I stopped studying German, I made a new friend who lives here in Tokyo. He is from Switzerland, and German is his native language. Although his English is quite excellent, I did try to speak to him in German once. When I attempted this, however, I found that I had forgotten almost everything that I had ever learned and my pronunciation was quite poor, as I had not spoken the language in well over a decade. He laughed and told me that my German, particularly my pronunciation, was terrible, but I did something that might surprise quite a few Japanese students of English: I also laughed, told him in English that I had not practiced in over a decade, and proceeded to speak in German anyway.

The important thing to note here is that I did something that I think many Japanese students of English may have difficulty with, which is that I did not let the opinion of the person that I was talking to affect me or my feelings despite how bluntly he phrased it, and I continued in my attempt to speak in German. Now, since we are friends, him bluntly telling me that my German is terrible will not hurt me, as I know he is trying to help me, but in general, I think that many Japanese students will have a similar experience when attempting to use English outside of the classroom.

The students that I have spoken to at Youyou and my Japanese friends that I have met in my years living here frequently tell me the same thing: Japanese students do not have confidence in their ability to use foreign languages, so they prefer to not attempt to use them. This is where what I did makes a difference; rather than worry about sounding strange or saying things that may not be entirely correct, I attempted to do it anyway, even though I knew my pronunciation would be bad before I even started talking.

The reason that I did this, and the reason that I was able to do it, is that I understand something that I feel that a lot of Japanese students of English perhaps do not: I am not afraid of making mistakes, and this mindset is perhaps one of the single most important aspects of learning a foreign language or even your own native language. I think many Japanese students are afraid of making mistakes or are afraid that they will sound strange when speaking in foreign languages. Perhaps one of the most important things that you can do when learning a foreign language is to not be afraid of making mistakes. It will happen. The best thing you can do is to not be afraid of these mistakes. You should still be aware of your mistakes, however, and you should attempt to correct them or at least take note of them so you can find out how to do it properly. This is the correct mindset to have, and using these mistakes as an opportunity to better yourself is something that you can only benefit from.