Publish at March 23 2020 Updated June 07 2022
"One of the keys to success is confidence. One of the keys to self-confidence is preparation."
Well, no, for once, we are not talking about a great scholar or a famous scientist, but about a sportsman, more precisely an American tennis player, Arthur Ashe (1943-1993), who uttered these words of wisdom. You have understood, today it will be about self-confidence, confidence in one's ability to learn, practice and speak a language!
What if learning a language was not above all a simple matter of confidence? Certainly, the academic and pedagogical aspects remain preponderant, nevertheless, trusting oneself and daring to go ahead, to speak, to express oneself, would be one of the preponderant factors in learning a language. Presentation of some tips and tricks to gain confidence and dare to flourish in languages!
The main obstacle to self-confidence is timidity. Now, it's certain that the more shy you are, the less you like to speak, and then when it comes to speaking, moreover, in a foreign language, it's almost mission impossible! One of the main secrets of the success of the learning of a language passes by the oral one and not to dare to do it, because of a too big shyness or inhibition, prevents the practice of the phonetics, the repetition, the oral one and thus the conversation. Shyness, not daring to speak in front of strangers and isolating oneself. But how can you progress in languages if you isolate yourself? It's a vicious circle... But don't worry, shyness is not an incurable disease! You can be shy and good at languages. Are you interested? Here's the tour!
The first piece of advice is to practice, practice, and practice again! There is nothing like good preparation and it is not Mozart who will tell you otherwise!
This great musical virtuoso also had to spend hours and hours in front of his piano before becoming the genius he was!
Music or languages, same struggle. But what is the point of repeating, rehashing, harping on? Simply to master the subject, to have all the vocabulary you need, the way to say it, the useful formulations, in short, to be sure you never run out of words to say it, so, no more anxiety, no more stress and no reason to be afraid to speak!
Learning a language is a bit like going into the jungle: you don't really know where you're going, there are several paths, some easier than others, others faster, others that seem more beautiful, but in the end are full of traps... in short, it's a total adventure!
For languages, it's the same: you can find so many methods that you have to try several before finding the one that suits you best. Autonomous, individualistic? Try private lessons. Do you like teamwork? Group classes are perfect for you. Virtual, online, or with applications or websites or face-to-face, in classrooms, with a teacher and colleagues? Unless, of course, you prefer the traditional version of language manuals, such as Assimil, or through language stays, or even MOOCs (massive open online courses). Test everything, you'll eventually find your favorite method!
Experts are unanimous. The best way to retain vocabulary is to revise what you have learned, ideally at specific intervals of time, this is called spaced revision or the distributed practice effect. Hermann Ebbinghaus (German philosopher, 1850-1909), who is the father of this theory, states "that spacing learning episodes over time greatly influences subsequent retention."
His work on memory and learning has confirmed the interest, in all learning, of returning again and again, in a more or less determined time, to new elements in order to better retain them and anchor them permanently in our memory.
No, shyness is not a fatality and in view of the previous advice given, it is not impossible to overcome it. The important thing is to adopt a positive and optimistic attitude: When you want, you can!
If you have enough vocabulary, a decent foundation in conjugation and grammar, it works! There's no need to become perfectly bilingual or to master the language to the point where you'd be mistaken for a colleague of Molière, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Goethe or even Tolstoy!
Communicating is the main thing, so if you manage, knowing that you were starting with a "handicap" of being very shy, the game is almost won.
You've gained confidence in yourself, in your abilities, and are now fit to enjoy all the joy of understanding and speaking another language! To end on a humorous note, let's use the words of Jennifer Lopez (born in 1970, a Puerto Rican-born American entertainer who speaks English and Spanish), "It's when you have confidence in yourself that you become sexy." Attention fans!
Sources and illustrations
- How do temporal intervals between repetitions of a piece of information influence its recall? Theoretical Review of Distributed Practice Effects, É. Gerbier and O. Koenig, The Psychological Year, 2015,
https://www.cairn.info/revue-l-annee-psychologique1-2015-3-page-435.htm#
- Hermann Ebbinghaus, Wikipedia, https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Ebbinghaus
- Speaking a Language with Confidence and Pride, The Language World, https://youtu.be/OsX2zj2y1Po
- Taking confidence in yourself, The World of Languages, https://www.mondelangues.fr/langue-timidite
- Positive thinking, Pixabay, https://pixabay.com/images/id-4933330/
- Timide, Pixabay, https://pixabay.com/images/id-863056/
- Study, Pixabay, https://pixabay.com/images/id-2771936/
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