Language Failures

I just finished reading a book entitled “El Lado Positive del Fracaso” (the Positive Side of Failure) by John C. Maxwell and it got me thinking about my language learning journey. I had always wanted to learn a second language, but the path to success wasn’t a straightforward one for me. Before finally succeeding in learning Spanish to an “advanced” level, I had already failed at learning 6 other languages:

1. Irish – I was quite young when I began learning Irish; in fact, it was the first second language I was ever exposed to. Unfortunately, I was also young enough that when my family moved to New York at the age of 6 I never used it again and I lost it all forever.
2. Latin – Strangely enough, I never studied language again until high school (that’s the American education system for you). There I was subjected to 3 of the most useless years of Latin education that anyone might receive. We had 6 different teachers in those three years, and I learned nothing. I also convinced myself that languages were too hard, boring, and not for me.
3. Italian – Despite my Latin failure, I tried again in college, this time with Italian. After a year and a half I realized that my interests lay elsewhere so I dropped it. After almost 10 years of disuse I of course have forgotten it all.
4. South Korean – I eventually made my way to South Korea. For the first few months I really studied hard, but I eventually came to the conclusion that English was sufficient for surviving, travelling and enjoying myself in the country, so regretfully I stopped studying and now I’m left with a good knowledge of the alphabet, but that’s about all I can remember.
5. French – Through my travels I made many French friends, had a French girlfriend, and eventually moved to France for a month to travel and do volunteer work, so I thought that it would be a good idea to learn the language. Like Korean, I gave it a good effort, but the second I left the country I stopped using it and the bit I had learned quickly disappeared.
6. German – My first attempt at German is similar to that of French and Korean. I met loads of Germans on my travels and was fortunate to work in Germany for a month with a good friend from college. However, Germany wasn’t very necessary for my life in Germany and once I left the country my need for the language dropped to zero and I lost all that I had learned.

Success – How I Did It…

The good news is that I eventually did learn a 2^nd language. I moved to Mexico in March of 2011 with absolute zero knowledge of Spanish. I survived for the first 3 months based on the fact that I was working in English and living with other ex-pats; however, I felt like I was just repeating old habits and that I really wasn’t moving forward towards my language goals. I was more motivated than ever before to learn the language, so for my summer vacations I enrolled in 6 weeks of intense Spanish classes in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.

There, for the first time ever, I devoted myself entirely to the study of a 2^nd language. I enjoyed it thoroughly and quickly started seeing results. I was able to understand more and more, and could communicate most ideas, albeit with not-so-perfect grammar. Nonetheless, for the first time ever I was able to use the language, and I found that to be incredible satisfying.

Furthermore, the more I learned the more enjoyable my life in Mexico became, and the easier it was for me to perform my job. I could understand my students when they chose to speak Spanish, and I could communicate better with parents and Spanish speaking co-workers.

It was enjoyable, so I kept studying. I also met my girlfriend, Leslie, and we communicate almost entirely in Spanish. I can talk with her parents, co-workers and friends who moslty do not speak english, and I have made lots of Mexican and Guatemalan friends through the language which I never could have done otherwise.

Techniques – Reading

Well, the intensity of the Spanish classes I took in Guatemala definitely helped. I would study 5 hours a day, and then in evenings I would continue using the language via reading books, watching movies, or reviewing my notes, etc…

For me, the most beneficial (and often enjoyable) way for succeeding in the language was to find something that I wanted to read and to read it in Spanish. For example, I suffered through the Percy Jackson series, Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, and am now working on the first Game of Thrones book in Spanish, among others. At first it was difficult, but eventually it got much, much easier. Now I can, for the most part, pick up any of those books and tear through them without a dictionary, although I still do prefer having one to help continue to increase my vocabulary.

I wanted to read those books so the frustrations caused were tolerated, yet the end benefits substantial.  Many people believe that reading is the best way to increase your knowledge of a language, especially vocabulary and even grammar (see Steven Krashen)… I tend to agree, and credit reading for my Spanish vocabulary and general comprehension abilities.

Not Afraid To Make Speaking Errors

Having been a teacher and musician in the past, I am no stranger to speaking in front of groups. That, I believe, was super beneficial in my improving my Spanish abilities quickly. I would just start talking in Spanish and I would keep going even if I made mistakes. Hopefully people corrected me along the way and little by little I improved.

I know too many people who are too timid to speak in a second language that they never improve, and at the end of 6 months of classes cannot say a thing. I believe it is super important to talk, and talk a lot… and fearlessness in making errors is the first step.

The Next Step

I feel like with each failure I learned a little bit more about how to learn languages, and now that I have my first taste of success I am super motivated to continue learning. I have begun re-learning French again, and have been dabbling in German and now Quechua, an indigenous Peruvian language. Hopefully things will be easier the 8^th time around ; )