Study Arata!
Today I want to teach you a way to greatly accelerate your language learning.
You need to find ways to interact with local people native to that language you want to
learn.
Before explaining specifically how you are going to do this, we need to make it very
clear why this step is decisive for your language learning and fluency.
I will use a metaphor for you to understand better.
Imagine for example that you want to become an excellent basketball player.
So, you spend the whole day throwing the ball into the basket, trying to improve your shooting
skills.
However, when you go to a real game, your opponents easily steal your ball and you don't
have enough breath to run after them.
In this case, in spite of having done an excellent training of your aim to throw the ball to
the basket, you do not have physical conditioning to be able to run and you also do not know
how to dodge your opponents.
Your training, therefore, of just throwing the ball into the basket was not a smart way
to prepare.
Similarly, when you go to a classroom and just interact with other students who do not
speak the language fluently, you are doing something very similar to just throwing the
ball into the basket.
The same thing happens when you only try to study the language by listening to podcasts
or audio books, or taking classes online.
If in your day-to-day studies you do not have the constant practice of interacting with
native speakers, you will have a great difficulty in applying the language in real life.
Take a moment to realize the huge number of people with whom you do not yet have the skills
to communicate.
Our planet already has more than 7 billion people.
Most of them do not speak your mother tongue.
In fact, do you know what are the most widely spoken languages ​​in the world?
The first, as you might imagine, is Chinese.
Then there is Spanish with a little more native speakers than English.
Next are Hindi, Arabic and Portuguese.
If your native language is one of those languages ​​and you can learn another one as a second
language, you can connect with people from all over the world.
Now, if you don't know these languages, you are not building bridges, you stop communicating
with different types of people.
Or else, you will only be able to have a superficial relationship with these people.
In addition, people who are in other regions of the planet and who speak other languages
​​are sources of different cultures, traditions and points of view.
They are different people.
All of this enriches your experience and helps you to mature.
Your process of improving your self-knowledge becomes richer when you have the chance to
meet new people.
The quality of the communication is different when you don't need to use English as an intermediate
language.
Imagine that you are friends with a person from China.
And you two use, for example, the English language to communicate.
Even if there is fluency, it would be quite different if your Chinese friend could speak
your language fluently, or if you could speak Chinese fluently.
This is one of the reasons why travelers strive to learn a little of the local language of
the country they intend to visit.
Imagine that a Indonesian goes to Denmark, Germany and Belgium on vacation.
He knows he can handle English well in most situations.
However, by learning the basics and essentials of the local languages, he will be showing
his interest and respect for the local culture.
Understanding the language is one of the doors to understand new cultures and people.
Your experience as a traveler in new territories will be completely different when you can
truly communicate with the locals, immersing yourself in the place, the people, the culture
and the historical tradition.
This is what separates tourists from travelers.
If you want to speak a foreign language, it is essential that you put your learning into
practice as soon as possible.
You need to gain experience in your ability to express your ideas.
Have conversations - and it can even be with yourself at the beginning - as long as it's
out loud.
Speaking is a fundamental part for you to communicate.
So it is important to find new ways to communicate.
If you don't speak, you limit your learning process.
You can look for other people who also want to improve your fluency in that language.
It's easy and I show you how to do this in the course How to Speak Languages.
And even better: you can search for native speakers of that language to talk to you.
There are several websites for finding these people.
You can set up online conversation sessions - and still take advantage of the fact that
they are excellent teachers to give you tips on your learning.
It is not enough to just say that you can understand what people are saying.
To be fluent you need to be able to verbalize your own ideas.
This is a very common mistake for those who try to learn languages.
People focus on “learning to understand”, and forget the important tool of speaking
and communicating.
This often happens out of shyness.
So, to speak well you cannot be afraid of being ridiculous.
Another big mistake for those who try to learn a language is to be ashamed or afraid of making
mistakes.
You are learning, it is normal to say something wrong or to use an ugly accent.
It's okay if you pronounce a word wrongly.
Or using the grammar inappropriately.
Understand that you are still learning.
This is normal.
No one will expect you to be fluent on the first day.
Fear of making mistakes can block your practice.
That way, you will not be able to progress.
To communicate, use real-life situations.
Apply your learning to real life situations, preferably involving other people and topics
you like, as we saw in the episode of Study Arata 25 [https://arata.se/study25 ].
For example, if you are a fan of comics you can try to go to an international convention
in the language you are learning and try to understand the lectures there, talk to other
fans, buy magazines to read.
Or you can start submitting to real situations by taking trips and exposing yourself to certain
circumstances.
Think about the following situation.
You are travelling.
You begin to feel sick and do not have access to a doctor or hospital.
However, there is a first aid box near you.
Inside, you will find several pills with packages written in the foreign language.
Which of the pills is for headache, nausea, cold, contraceptives, or who knows what?
Only with a minimal knowledge of the language can you find the right medicine.
Now imagine another case.
You are walking alone on the street and some stranger near you starts to feel sick.
You are the only person around who can help, but the stranger does not speak your language.
Your mastery of a second language can save a life.
You will be able to better understand what the emergency is and what kind of reaction
to take to get help.
Fluency in the language can also help you avoid scams and escape from inconvenient situations
more easily.
Anyone who travels the world a lot knows how there are bad people who do everything to
take money from unsuspecting tourists.
If you know the local language, you can get rid of these pitfalls and save yourself time,
money and headaches.
And even though emergency situations never happen, the fact that you know how to deal
with them will make you more confident to travel.
Since I started posting videos on YouTube in Portuguese, English, Spanish and Italian,
I have received many emails from people asking for tips on how to learn new languages.
And I tell you that fluency in a foreign language is acquired through different ways of preparation.
I'm sure you are already a type of person who has access to good books, dictionaries,
videos and podcasts.
However, this will not be enough if you are missing the practice of communicating with
local people.
I invite you to learn about our How to Speak Languages ​​training by visiting https://arata.se/speaklanguages
​​and you will understand how to take these first steps to meet and communicate
with local people.