{"id":1815897,"date":"2018-04-02T13:10:31","date_gmt":"2018-04-02T12:10:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newzyexecutive.fr\/foreign-language-learning\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T08:34:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T07:34:37","slug":"foreign-language-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newzyexecutive.fr\/en\/foreign-language-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"Foreign Language Learning"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">Foreign Languages<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">If there is one thing I will never regret in my life, it is the fact that I improved my foreign language skills.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">To provide some context, I speak Mandarin and Cantonese because my parents each speak one of those languages. Having grown up multilingual, I haven&#8217;t fully mastered everything, but I have spoken extensively with many Chinese and Taiwanese people to improve my Mandarin.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00a0I speak English, I have visited the United States three times, and I lived in Australia for over a year, so I can say that I am highly proficient and speak very fluently!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I also speak German; while not as fluent as my other two languages, I no longer struggle to find my words and can communicate quite smoothly, though my limited vocabulary still holds me back at times.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\">Common Misconceptions About Foreign Languages<\/h3>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Many people believe that learning only happens when you are living in the country<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Of course, it speeds things up, but if you have the time, why not do it in France? Many people move to Australia or other English-speaking countries with the goal of becoming bilingual within a year, yet very few\u2014if anyone\u2014actually succeed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u00ab\u00a0I don&#8217;t want to speak any language other than French because, to truly improve, I need to speak with native speakers.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>A language is learned through practice and habit; simply thinking in that language provides a mental workout. I remember feeling extremely exhausted when speaking different languages in the same evening. Now, however, it has become very easy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote>\n<p>It has been a long time since I last spoke the language, and my proficiency has declined.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>I believe you may have overestimated your proficiency, as you don&#8217;t simply forget a language after one or two years. When you are skilled, you remain so.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote>\n<p>You&#8217;re lucky; being able to speak several languages is a true gift.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>And the hundreds of hours I spent struggling to find my words and talking to strangers don&#8217;t count! No, of course not\u2014you have to practice to be able to speak, and everyone is in the same boat.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\">The methods I used to improve my foreign language skills<\/h3>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Going to school\u00a0<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-smiley\" src=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20130913190532im_\/http:\/\/www.tanned.fr\/wp-includes\/images\/smilies\/icon_biggrin.gif\" alt=\":D\" title=\"\">\u00a0, I studied Chinese for 10 years and German for 3 years.<\/li>\n<li>Reading books on the subject helps you build a habit; however, you must continue to practice and immerse yourself in the language.<\/li>\n<li>Make a note of new words and read them aloud to help you remember them; I used to carry a small notebook during my trip around the world and would jot down new words every time.<\/li>\n<li>Meet and speak the language.<\/li>\n<li>Listen to the language to train your ear; I have spent years watching English and American series. If it is one of your hobbies, why not do it in English, or at least with English subtitles?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Do not be afraid of making mistakes or losing face; it is crucial because that fear is merely an excuse and a barrier you create for yourself. I know my German is not perfect and that I make many mistakes, but when people listen to me, I speak fluently. German women, in particular, are often surprised and truly appreciate it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Do not compare yourself to others; we are all different and we do not all learn in the same way\u2014some are more auditory learners, while others are visual.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\">Watch TV; the reason I improved my foreign language skills is simple: I was a huge manga fan, and I watched anime with English subtitles because French subtitles weren&#8217;t available. I did this for several years! Turn your passion into an asset!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If there is one thing I will never regret in my life, it is the decision to master foreign languages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1272,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[231],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1815897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newzyexecutive.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1815897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newzyexecutive.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newzyexecutive.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newzyexecutive.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newzyexecutive.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1815897"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newzyexecutive.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1815897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1815901,"href":"https:\/\/www.newzyexecutive.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1815897\/revisions\/1815901"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newzyexecutive.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newzyexecutive.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1815897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newzyexecutive.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1815897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newzyexecutive.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1815897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}