The Embarrassment of Learning a Language

Hi chums!

Today is another language post and it's all about the embarrassment felt whilst learning a language!






Most people would probably say that when you are learning a language, you can't afford to be embarrassed. You have to practice and the best way to practice is to talk, talk, talk. I have been told this so many times and yet I can't help the embarrassment I feel when I get something wrong.

To take an example, I went to the supermarket this morning and I pumped myself up to ask where the 'levadora royal' was (Span fam wanted baking powder). I decided to just go for it and marched up to the shop assistant (ok I might be exaggerating a bit, but I did walk with purpose) and I asked her in Spanish where this baking powder was. Blank face. I was like 'keep calm and just repeat it', so I did. Blank face. AHHH PANIC!! NOW WHAT?! Luckily enough I was with the girl I'm aupairing for so she stepped in and saved me (love her!), but nevertheless, I felt a bit embarrassed and because of this I felt a bit pathetic.

It's this kind of feeling that really puts me off languages. Not everyone is kind and patient enough to try and understand you (accent and all). For me, it really discourages me from wanting to try asking another question and that's silly because it's just one circumstance that went wrong.



Already I have found that learning languages has toughened me up (I'm not the incredible hulk or anything, but I feel I can deal with things a bit more now).

Soooo this blog post is a bit mixed. I don't know whether I like learning languages or not (I'm a bit bi-polar about the whole thing!) Is the embarassment worth it? Because on the other hand when you get something right, you're like: FINALLY!


Love

Emma
xxx

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