How to Learn to Speak a Foreign Language...and Enjoy it!

For you...is it OK...for example...

While you learn to speak a foreign language...that is...

If you are talking to someone in a foreign language...

And you don't know how to say something?

I'm just curious about that because...I used to have to same problem but...

At some point...

I realized that there wasn't anything inherently bad about the fact that I didn't know the equivalent expression in one of the foreign languages that I was learning...

It just hit me...

I don't know this expression and....what's the big deal?!?

Why am I getting so out of whack about a few little bitty words?

And as soon as I asked the question...as usual...my brain came back with an answer...which was very revealing...

"Because it means you're stupid and...

You're never going to be able to speak this foreign language well..."

Fortunately I noticed the huge leap in logic and started to question the validity of this prediction...

I mean...really...

Just because I am not currently aware of the French or German (in my case) equivalent of some English expression...

I'm never going to be able to speak German or French well?!?

No way...

And to be honest...

It's true that there are more than a handful of expressions that I don't know in French or German...

But I could say the same thing about my two Swiss stepdaughters who are native speakers of German...actually a dialect of Swiss German...but anyway...

They don't know every expression in their own language yet...

And...

Maybe it's OK if I don't know them all...and I am now very aware of a new expression that I would like to know...because it's something I say all the time in English...

I figure if I just learn to say about 50% of what I usually say in English...and I have a tendency to repeat the same ones a lot...

Then...

I should be fine and...

It probably will be easier than I imagined that it would be...

And while we're on the subject of How to Learn to Speak a Foreign Language...

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Looking forward to hearing from you...

Suzanne

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