I was surprised to see that one of our assigned readings for homework was from Tim Ferriss on polyglots and learning additional foreign languages. I was already familiar with the author because about two years ago my sister gave me a book by him called Tools of Titans. (During my sophomore year, I read a different section of the book almost everyday.) A real emphasis of the article was on daily usage - reading daily, speaking daily, and generally practicing daily as well. One of my excuses with Mandarin that I would tell myself was that, because I wasn't in China or Taiwan, I couldn't possibly practice it everyday or get my language skills to improve. This, after all, was nothing more than a convenient excuse - with the advent of the internet and globalization more broadly, language learning has never been more convenient or easy. There are so many different mediums and applications to use, and many are free. Language learning is ultimately an individual responsibility that goes beyond a class and a lifelong pursuit that requires discipline and, above all else, motivation.
I particularly appreciated the point in the article on not being afraid to make mistakes. This was a crutch that stuck with me in speaking Mandarin almost every time I spoke (not helped, of course, by it being a tonal language). I was only able to break out of this self-consciousness by living with a host family, but most people will not get this opportunity when learning a language and will instead have to realize that it is okay to make mistakes. L1 or 'native' speakers make mistakes all the time. Everyone does. People will cut you some slack for mistakes as long as you are earnestly trying, being open-minded, and willing to improve.
In the end, speaking multiple languages is not just a gift bestowed upon the lucky few with the capacity or propensity towards learning languages. Anyone can, and there are, indeed, smarter ways to do it that make the whole process easier. Of course, I hope this proves true in my own pursuit of Malay, but I think learning the hard way in Mandarin has proved beneficial and will help me craft a stronger language-learning plan in the weeks to come.
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