Imagine you are in a new country and you can communicate only in the local language. How would you feel? Would other people judge you or would they help you? How can you go about learning a new language?
Moving to a new country and learning a new language
When I was 10 years old, I moved to Sweden with my family. Have you had a similar experience when you are in a completely new country, surrounded by a foreign language and a different culture? As you can imagine, at first, I felt alone and without friends.
After living in Sweden for 3 to 4 months, I became interested in sports, particularly in handball. Given I lived in a small town, it was a little tougher to get into groups and make friends with others. “Will they accept me if I am from another country?” – I thought. And even more: “Will they accept me if I don’t speak their language?” I just knew a few words in Swedish and therefore had a hard time communicating.
When I entered the gym, the handball team was practising, and I felt like everybody looked at me.
But at that very moment, I learned that I had to start somewhere.
I simply started using words I already knew. It was mostly Swedish at a basic level. It was easy to use, simple words like: here, there or I can, I cannot. In the beginning, a lot of people found it funny, as they were not used to communicating in this way.
And then, I had an idea. I looked for a person on the team that was smiling. A tall blond guy with freckles. Daniel became immediately my friend and helped me feel less afraid.
If I could not express myself in a way, I could sometimes point to something and ask him for help. He in turn went to the coach and said something to him. This led to the coach to come to me and ask me what I wanted.
Sometimes Daniel tried to teach me different words. He pointed, for example, at the ball, the bench, the water bottle. This was a very simple and effective way to learn the language. I repeated what I heard, which led me to learn more. You can get far by taking small steps!
Have you ever learned a new language with paper flashcards?
On one side, you write down a word in the language you learn; and on the other side, the translation in your mother tongue. Well, Daniel became my human “flashcard” – I pointed to something and right away he would tell me how it was called!
This was a great support for me. It gave me confidence and made me understand that I could also learn.
After a month, I felt so confident that I began to create sentences from the words I had learned. They may not have been grammatically correct, but it worked! For example, I could say “water bench sitting”, which meant I wanted to rest and drink water. This may be seen as a less successful experiment, but it was very helpful for me!
It started with handball practice and a friend. Who would have thought that this boy, who could not say much in Swedish, would one day work on creating Swedish courses for foreigners?
Now, when I look back, most of these fears were in my head.
You know very well that if you want to learn a language, you have to be ready to expose yourself to situations that are not so comfortable. But you may be scared. “Will people point out my mistakes? Will they laugh at me?” These questions go through your head and then you take a step back to your comfort zone. But are you really happy staying there? I wouldn’t be able to play handball if I hadn’t decided to start speaking.
The comfort zone in practice gives no real comfort with learning a new language.
My story shows well that the fears you have around speaking a foreign language aren’t real and can be overcome. When you start speaking, you will quickly notice that nobody wants to correct you, or make fun of your pronunciation. People will want to help you, like Daniel did. It’s a natural thing for all of us.
When we communicate with another person, we are part of one team. Everyone works for everybody’s success. When one player in a handball team has a bad day, all the others will run an extra mile to support him.
This is exactly what happens when you speak a foreign language for the first time. People will help you, because you are trying to make an effort to speak their language. So don’t worry if you mispronounce a word or get stuck in the conversation. It’s part of the experience.
Have you already found your Daniel? Did you have a similar experience and how did it go for you? How did you go about learning a new language?
