Please Don’t Speak English

Learning a new language.

Isn’t that always one of our new year’s resolution? It’s a back-of-the-mind desire most of us wish we had more motivation to follow through. But it’s difficult, isn’t it? Life gets in the way. Job gets priority. There isn’t anyone to practice it with. And then it becomes next year’s resolution. Again. 

Although I’m Chinese, my mandarin certainly lacks perfection. My sentences are at most 7 characters long. And my brain is often searching for words that don’t even exist in my vocabulary. 

But I suppose it’s all part of facing your fear and realizing that it is ok. It is ok if you mispronounce a word, forget a phrase or accidentally use english. It’s all part of this new language learning experience that I recently took part in. 

October 2011, Tête-à-Tête, meaning “Head-to-Head” in French, began. It was introduced in a cafe. Locals, foreigners and language enthusiasts gathered. Everyone chatted. There was only one golden rule.

No English Allowed. 

Despite feeling scared at being laughed at or going so red that you can’t even tell I’m chinese, I felt better. Because we’re all there learning. No one is judging, much. Everyone tries their best. And after a drink or two, you really tend to relax a lot more. 🙂

You can pick up a new language or re-learn languages lost due to over traveling or under usage. We’re all strangers to each other. But by the end, we all can agree on one thing. No matter what language we have, what customs we grew up with, we all know the chicken dance. 

It’s a fascinatingly simple concept. There were enough beginners and expert speakers that you don’t feel too bad. You can listen, learn, write some and then learn some more. There’s no feeling of embarrassment. Ok, maybe a little but it’s quickly overshadowed by embarrassed laughter. It’s ok, we’re all learning. 

So give it a try. You just show up. Say Hola, Ni Hao, Bonjour. And you’re on to your new year’s resolution for real. 🙂

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