If language learning were a perfect art, we would all need… Help!

What if someone told you that you couldn’t pick up a paintbrush unless you were already a great artist? What if someone said you could only swim in the pool if you were an Olympic-level swimmer? Or that you couldn’t make pasta in the kitchen because you’re not yet a 5-star chef? You would immediately know that such high standards are ridiculous. Then why do many of us have such fear of learning languages ‘imperfectly’?

Language learning is not something you need to perfect in order to enjoy it or to be successful. In fact ‘perfect’ is not even a realistic concept when it comes to how languages work. Does this surprise you? You might have felt perfection was required when you were facing a test in your language class and you couldn’t remember when to use Spanish ser vs. estar, or which word order to use in Japanese, or which tones you should apply to each word in Chinese. Many of us are used to measuring our success by how well we passed those tests.

But on the flip side, imagine going to Mexico and successfully asking where to find the bus stop and the shops, even though you used ser almost all the time. Or picture yourself in Beijing roaming the street markets, negotiating with vendors in Chinese and successfully bringing fresh produce back home despite using some strange tones. Or, see yourself in Alexandria going to a local café and successfully placing your order in Arabic without perfecting the difference between the Arabic glottal stop hamza and the Arabic vowel fathah.

In these flip-side examples, how did it go? Yes, everything went fine! We could even say ‘perfect’ because you used language successfully to get something done. Instead of ‘practice makes perfect’, we could say ‘practice makes proficient’. 

So now allow us to rephrase and say, If language learning is an art, we are all creative artists. Human artists and human learners!

There is no secret code and no shortcut to language learning but there is a way to understand how humans learn languages. In this chapter, we will put these pieces together that will help you see your limitless (nearly limitless) possibilities to learn and liberate yourself in the language you are currently learning or striving to master in future.

In short, this chapter unlocks the following questions for you: