Myths About Learning A Foreign Language

3 years ago, I decided to come to Russia to pursue my undergraduate studies. Among the requirement, was taking a year off to learn Russian. Which I didn’t view as a hassle. Conversely, I was excited to learn a new language, except the part of taking a whole year off just for that. It felt like taking a gab year off but not doing very much. Nonetheless, prior to my take-off date I busied myself with learning the alphabet. I got acquainted with the weird sounds, and learning a number of basic phrases that shall prove useful.

With all my little prep to Russia, I was massively surprised on arrival to Moscow. I discovered that almost nobody spoke English. Writing this, I’m getting flashbacks of when I used to use google translate to order food at restaurants.( It’s a funny story now, but back then, it was an inconvenience ).

I was quite active in class, did all the assignments with vigour and coupled everything with my supplementary evening studies after the 5 hour daily Russian clases at the university. And yes, I did see some results as time went on. I was beginning to feel less like a beast and beginning to understand what’s going on around me (which was refreshing).

The progress was slower than I expected though. It’s kind of humorous when I remember a dialogue I had with my older brother prior to coming. I was venting to him about how they are making us take a whole year off just to learn the language. Strongly asserting that on my arrival I’m going to learn not one but two languages. I was proclaiming that a year is too much just to learn one language.

And here we are almost 3 years later and my Russian is far from perfect lol.

You would think that just by moving to the country you would be able to learn the language in no time, but in actuality, that’s not close to the reality of the situation. I know people that have been living in Russia for about 5 years but find it challenging to put a single sentence together.

There are a number of factors that play into this. Take my own personal experience for example; When I came, the dormitory that I was lodged in at the university was made up of mostly other foreigners. Thus, I was in essence living in a more so multi-cultural space contrary to the Russian atmosphere I was expecting. All my roommates spoke English including a lot of the foreigners in the building. So I was barely speaking any Russian. But if I had Russian roommates or neighbours, I would be compelled to speak Russian day in – day out. And with time my Russian will inevitably become so much better.

Unfortunately, that was not the case. So the only time I actually spoke Russian was during Russian class; learning grammar and vocabulary. But outside class, never got to actually put what I learn into practice.

So just moving to the country wouldn’t cut it. You actually have to put yourself out there. Which is something I began to do. From performing poetry and singing Russian songs, to participating in Russian language conferences at other universities and mine inclusively.

The sole greatest pitfall when it comes to learning a language when you are in the country is that you sort of “seclude” yourself from the get go. And this happens insidiously out of human nature. I mean picture this, you have braced up and move to a whole new country with a different culture, food, and people from yours. You practically know no one. So logically the people you are most likely to hit it off with are people that you meet that are from the same country as you or speak the same language as you. Because it just easier that way.

This is something that I’ve noticed a lot when I came and is quite prevalent in my dormitory. You would see the Chinese only hanging out with their country brothers and sisters. They cook together, spend time together, go out together and go grocery shopping together. Same scenario with Africans, Vietnamese, South Americans and so on.

There is nothing wrong with this. I am not saying you shouldn’t hang out with people that speak the same tongue as you. It’s human nature to gravitate towards familarity. But what I’m saying is to not seclude yourself within your “comfort” circle . You should make efforts to break out of there, go out of your comfort zone and talk to new people, talk to the locals.

As much as I would like to say having a grammar textbook and memorising vocabulary on an exercise book helps. There is nothing that works better than jumping right into the actual speaking part. converse in the language with as little as you know. Because to be honest, that’s the elephant in the room that you need to address straight away.

I remember setting all types of plans and excuses, talking about what level I need to reach first before I’ll actually “allow” myself to engage more with the natives.

During my foundation, a lot of students I studied, seniors inclusively, and teachers did praise my level of Russian. But when the first day of school came around, September, I was a whole different person. If you see the way I spoke to other foreigners and the way I speak to my Russian classmates; you would swear there are two different persons, or I have a dual personality-syndrome-something.

This has vexed me for the longest time. And with time I understood the reason why. The reason being that, when I’m talking to other foreigners- I am talking to other foreigners. There is no pressure what so ever because I understand this is both not our language. So even if we error is not a big deal. And that knowledge gives me a sense of freedom when speaking to other foreigners which ironically allows me to sound more eloquent and good.

On the other hand, when speaking with other Russians. I all of a sudden become very cautious of every sentence that comes out of my mind; “what is the perfect word to use in this context? Is my grammar on point? I’m I pronouncing this correctly? “. And because of this trainload of thoughts straining on how I’m being perceived makes me sound so rigid, choppy and barely intelligible. Because I’m thinking ” I’m speaking to a native so I need to sound perfect”, which counterintuitively hurts my speech. Instead of focusing on the actual conversation (what the other person is saying), I’m too busy thinking about what to say next. So what happened was that I was only listening to answer. Instead of listening to understand what the person is saying.

It was definitely a milestone when I started letting that whole unhealthy self-consciousness fade into the background. So you ought to watch out for this.

I started making huge increments and leap in understanding when I stopped trying to be perfect. You should aim for perfection, yes, but what you are really after is becoming better than you were yesterday- Progress.

Similarly, an interesting thing happens a times when someone is trying to explain something to me or tell me a joke but I am just not understanding what they are saying. I could recount a thousand encounters when I kept nodding in agreement while I had no idea what the other person is talking about.

But ones I embraced my ignorance and became bold enough to say “I don’t understand”, I started getting a different vibe and energy about myself. It’s like the cliche saying ” once you are confident to declare and ask for what you want, the universe conspires to give it to you”. And everytime I have carried myself with that mindset, I tend to have very interesting and real connections with people. People will afterwards praise me for not just how well I spoke but how genuine I was and that I sounded honest. Which is believe to be a very good compliment.

In conclusion

When learning a new language, I will advice you to;

• Put your heart into it, and let yourself fall in love with the language. If you don’t show love to it, it wouldn’t show love back to you.
• Be wary of being secluded with “common” friends- go outside your circle.
• Learning grammar and vocabulary is good, but you’ll never be fluent if you don’t actually put it all into practice. Speak with as little as you know, just speak.
• once you know about a thousand words and start understanding the language, stop using translators. thus, your study-materials should be written fully in the language you’re learning, watch content with NO subtitles. (You will understandin almost nothing at first, but with time, your brain will start adapting – which is the whole point, and you will start getting the hang of things like magic.
• Let yourself be vulnerable with being a novice and failing as you pursue mastery.
• Focus more on actual speaking than learning grammar and vocabs ( Can’t stress this enough).
• Put yourself in a position in which you have to use the language every single day.(eg working in a place where it’s a necessity, having a regular social circle that only speak the target language or device creative ways of engulfing yourself with the language daily.
• Be humble, be patient and be intentional about your goal.

That was my experience and lessons from learning a new language. I wish you success in your endeavour. Good Luck to you and cheers 🥂.

[If you speak or are also learning Russian, you should check out these articles. You should find that fairly amusing. (1) https://mgkayzen.com/изучение-русского-языка/ (2) https://mgkayzen.com/поездка-в-россии/