A huge part of language learning is talking and communicating and that can be very intimidating when you're shy or even when you're an introvert
Recently when I was filming a video with Valaria about the dark side of language learning. So comparison, jealousy, feeling inadequate
You can check that video out here if you haven't seen. It after our talk
she asked me a question about being an introvert in language learning and sometimes finding it difficult to talk to people and essentially
what she was getting at is: is it really important to have to speak in the language
you're learning. What if you're really shy and just don't want to use it in that way?
So I thought our conversation was very interesting and I'll share it with you here and I hope it'll be useful for you.
Yesterday I liked a tweet from one of my friends from college and she was like:
"Like this and I'll roast you in some way"
And her roast was basically, like: "you call yourself a polyglot, but you don't talk to anybody."
And I was like, oh, that's true, though
Yeah.
I don't know if I'm just shy or an introvert or, like, whatever, but I don't
want to usually
randomly talk to people that I meet in the language that they know. Like, for example:
if there's a way-it's very different from, like, Jonathon, like yeah, see
Oh, yeah
He or, at least, he's like talked about how he's so into,
if there's someone at a restaurant he likes that is from a different country, he wants to talk to them in that language.
Yeah
And I have, like, zero interested in doing that.
Even if they speak a language that I'm learning and like... I can't do it. I don't evendo we want to. And if I try, I'm
just, like, extremely uncomfortable. I don't know. So I feel like I
like to learn languages more to understand stuff and learn about different cultures and people and like consume their
media and things out here
but less so to actually,
necessarily converse randomly a lot with those people of those different languages
So, I don't know. I was wondering about you.
If you relate to that somehow. About being an introvert, but also a polyglot.
Yeah, absolutely like you just touched on it and I was going to say there's no reason you should
put yourself in a situation that makes you uncomfortable or something that you don't enjoy just because it's the norm or expected.
And you're learning languages for a reason that is unique and personal to you
And if that means reading books, listening to podcasts, chatting to people online
and not going out and talking to any, like, random stranger. Totally fine!
You're using your hobby in a way that is unique to you and I don't see anything wrong with that
I am an introvert as well, like you mentioned, but I
Okay, a specific example I remember is: I was at a coffee shop in South Africa
like back in high school and I was sitting with my dad and I was like
Oh
those people are talking Korean and I was like three years into learning Korean and
He was like, "go up there and talk to them!" Like, it was very rare at that time to encounter
like native Korean speakers in South Africa
And he was... my dad was approaching it from the perspective of : this is awesome practice for you and you can make some friends.
I was so scared. Like, I was quivering. I was trembling, and my dad was like- he was doing it lovingly and and, you know,
encouragingly, but I felt very very pressured by my dad and he'll almost forced me to go up and talk to those people.
And I did, but I was very very scared and,
eventually, like I'm grateful for that because I did make friends and I did practice and, you know,
I hung out with him a few times after that
But I was very very scared and I don't think that was the right way to approach it out of a point of fear
But then again, I don't know what I would have been ready. So it was good
But also I realized I'm not the type of person to go out there and talk to random strangers
So something like a language exchange app has actually been better, where you
create this relationship with this person
You form a friendship with this person online first and then you maybe do a video call and then you meet in person
That is something that's worked for me as an introvert, but, that being said, over the years
I've realized it's actually a waste of time
To try and feel ready when I should just put myself out there and it'll be better and the same thing with public speaking
I used to be extremely
like. I would quiver onstage, but the more I do it, the more I get invited to speak at events; the more I realized:
Hey! It's actually not that bad. So it just takes practice. You have to put yourself in that painful situation and
Like get over it before you're able to do it. So that's my experience from, I guess, both perspectives.
So do you think it's... So there are things that are naturally uncomfortable because like you're just
Your body rejects it. You don't want to do it
And there's things that you'd need to do despite them being uncomfortable because you know that they're good for you generally.
Absolutely
How do you figure that out? Which one?
There's a really fine line between that. I think it would be the result or how you feel about it afterwards
For example, let's say, I don't know... cliff diving, if that's a really fun for... or, like, going on a roller coaster
Initially, you feel super super scared and
You might feel like nauseous and you don't want to do it, but afterwards, if you can say, "that was amazing,
I would do it again",and, if you do it again,it's still scary.
But the result of it is it was fun. It was amazing. I would look at the results
So that's what I did at that situation at the cafe. I was, like, afterwards, I learned new words, I made friends,
I talked to them, even though initially I was so scared
If you have the situation and the result is "I still feel uncomfortable.
That was not fun. I didn't gain anything from this. I don't like what just happened",
I want to say: that is where you should draw the line.
It makes sense. Yeah
Awesome.
What do you think? I think we touched on some really sensitive issues
It is hard being an introvert in the language learning sphere and
Sometimes you feel like you have to be an extrovert to communicate with people and that's okay
Many of you don't know that I'm an introvert too
just because I'm a youtuber it doesn't mean I still get very tired from
Talking to people. And part of me is still quite shy, so I really hope that this was useful for you
I'm rooting for you. You can do it. And just take everything in its stride and do what works for you
Thank you for watching. By the way, I made a video about tips for introverted language learners
It's a very old video. The aspect ratio is super weird
It's from a few years ago, but the tips are still valid
So please do check out that video if you want more tips for introverted language learners
And if you want to see more language learning, please subscribe and I'll see you in the next video. Thanks for watching.
Bye! :)