Comments on: 6. Mistakes are Good http://language101.com language101.com Language Learning on the Web Fri, 30 Dec 2011 14:46:25 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Brent Van Arsdell http://language101.com/learn-any-language/mistakes-are-good/comment-page-1/#comment-877 Brent Van Arsdell Thu, 25 Aug 2011 02:28:50 +0000 http://language101.com/?page_id=84#comment-877 If your major goal is language learning, then you only have to proficient enough to get the school to accept you. Sometimes you don't need to know much. One good approach is to enroll in extremely easy courses at some university abroad, but take them in your new language and make language learning the main point. Obviously, if you expect to learn physics when you study abroad, you need to have a good grasp of the language the language you are studying physics in, but if your main goal is to immerse yourself in a new language, a much lower level of proficiency is required. If your major goal is language learning, then you only have to proficient enough to get the school to accept you. Sometimes you don’t need to know much. One good approach is to enroll in extremely easy courses at some university abroad, but take them in your new language and make language learning the main point.

Obviously, if you expect to learn physics when you study abroad, you need to have a good grasp of the language the language you are studying physics in, but if your main goal is to immerse yourself in a new language, a much lower level of proficiency is required.

]]> By: Anna http://language101.com/learn-any-language/mistakes-are-good/comment-page-1/#comment-848 Anna Wed, 17 Aug 2011 06:45:37 +0000 http://language101.com/?page_id=84#comment-848 How fluent should you be in a foreign language before trying to go to school in the country where it is spoken? How fluent should you be in a foreign language before trying to go to school in the country where it is spoken?

]]> By: Mike Worley http://language101.com/learn-any-language/mistakes-are-good/comment-page-1/#comment-19 Mike Worley Sat, 21 Aug 2010 21:42:30 +0000 http://language101.com/?page_id=84#comment-19 Even though it's contrary to what I was told for so long -- "if you are shown how to do a thing how could you get it wrong?" -- this advice is very true and useful. We are humans, not machines. And, as humans, our nature will make us try to go beyond what we know. We will make mistakes. Unavoidably. I remember hilarious/embarrassing mistakes that taught me more than I would have expected from such an apparently simple faux pas. Even though it’s contrary to what I was told for so long — “if you are shown how to do a thing how could you get it wrong?” — this advice is very true and useful.

We are humans, not machines. And, as humans, our nature will make us try to go beyond what we know. We will make mistakes. Unavoidably. I remember hilarious/embarrassing mistakes that taught me more than I would have expected from such an apparently simple faux pas.

]]>