Formality kills

The more formal you make language learning, the more difficult it becomes.

Surely everyone gets this!?

But no. Teachers dress in suits, don ties, and arrange classrooms in rows. 

It's all a big con. Put on a professional appearance so that our students believe that we know what we're doing. That they are getting their money's worth.

This really works to the disadvantage of cultures where presentation and image is such a big factor - Japan for example.

Fool around

Don't take yourself or your second language efforts too seriously. The reason being: the harder you try, the worse you perform. Think of the result when one strains to hit a golf ball!

Instead, relax more. I'd even recommend that you fool around! (I originally wrote this post a couple of years before deciding on 'Play-fool Tongue' for this blog's name.)

Several things come under that umbrella: 

• Be lighthearted
• Have fun 
• Enjoy yourself 
• Joke around 
• Experiment
• Get stuck in 
• Mix things up
• Be active

Now then . . . which Google image would do to illustrate this advice?

Play is the way

Look it up in a book, please to confirm what I'll say here.

Children play. Why? Because that's how they grow and learn. Naturally, no schooling needed. It's the best way, the most effective way, and the way that's most fun.

Many adults stop playing. They stop growing and learning. That's their own doing and their own choice.

You do what you choose to do, and become who you train yourself to be.

Playing allows you to experiment, try on different roles, make mistakes, try things again, in new slightly different ways, from different angles and to get used to the moves all in a safe environment (because, whether you win or lose it's just a game).

You need to be in that energized-but-relaxed state in order to perform well. It's a fine balance, and sometimes you get carried away by passion and excitement, in which case there may be tears . . . or hooliganism.

So be playful as you engage with language.

Get used to it!

The phrase 'get used to it' has generally negative connotations. They are usually unpleasant things that you are obliged to get used to: heat, cold, hunger, discomfort, pain, disability, poverty, bereavement to name a few.

So how could I express 'getting used to a language' in a better light?

Maybe . . . You grow into a language. You fit yourself to it. It moulds itself to you. You become familiar with it. You learn to appreciate it. You get good at it.

This is an important psychological shift to make. If you harbor any negativity toward a language (or its people, or its culture) then you face an uphill road.

Speaking in specifics, you need to be able to . . .

• enjoy its sounds (and not to flinch)
• write its letters lovingly
• scan a page of text without tensing up
• remain comfortable in a sub 100% understanding environment
• listen relaxedly to hearing it spoken at normal speed
• get used to NOT studying (probably the most difficult item on this list) 

Have fun with random words

Introduce a bit of frivolity into your life! Use a collection of vocabulary items and access them at random. Play games with them, as for Scrabble. Combine the words. Connect them in some way. Create faux-sentences (and accurate ones if you like).  
That way, they lose their power over you. Your awe of them diminishes. They intimidate less.

Really, playing games is good for you—gets you into a state of flow. The outcome of games isn’t a matter of life and death. In a game, you can afford to get really into it without ultimate risk. Your skill improves by playing games. In games, you can do a lot of useful work without it feeling like work.

To sum up, turn language learning into a ‘mind game’.