Where to put your focus

Speaking a language is not like those exams that many of us had to take in grade school, where a tiny grammar mistake would lose you marks.

In the real world, small errors don't matter. What matters is to make yourself understood.

Don't focus on yourself or on your own mistakes. Focus on the other person you're talking to and the result you want to get.

332

1.6K reads

MORE IDEAS ON THIS

The struggle of learning a foreign language

Some people have a fear of being wrong. They measure success by how few mistakes they make.

Some people know what the language should sound like, where they are at currently, and how far they have to go to get there.

235

1.59K reads

Language as a tool

When students are learning a foreign language, it is notable that some can express their thoughts beautifully with a limited vocabulary. Still, others that know the language much better struggle to make themselves understood.

How well somebody communicates in a new language has ver...

306

1.76K reads

CURATED FROM

When speaking a new language, what matters most is your attitude - not your accuracy

ideas.ted.com

3 ideas

4.96K reads

IDEAS CURATED BY

Graham A.

@gra_maa

"I think the next best thing to solving a problem is finding some humor in it." -Frank Howard Clark ⁠

Instead of looking at a foreign language as an art to be mastered and perfected, think of it as a tool you can use to get a result.

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Where to put your focus

The struggle of learning a foreign language

Language as a tool

When speaking a new language, what matters most is your attitude - not your accuracy

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