“Language learning is like cooking”

I heard this statement many years ago. The simple premise is that you could have the most expensive pots and pans, the best kitchen utensils, the most exquisite oven but if you can’t actually cook anything with this collection, you’ve got a problem.

Almost all of us learn foreign languages using methodology that hasn’t fundamentally changed in over a century. Grammar and vocabulary lay the foundation to our learning as they are, we’re told, the most important elements of language and so we dutifully learn the grammar and lists of words in our new foreign language. We pass the grammar and vocabulary tests and pass exams but… we can’t actually speak the language. We have the best, most expensive, most exquisite collection of tools and we ace every test but we can’t have a normal conversation in our new language.

Learning to cook involves getting your hands dirty, sometimes – but hopefully not too often – mistakenly cutting yourself with the tools, burning the food, making mistakes, dropping things, the list goes on. Our loved ones will still try our new creations and often the finished product might not look great but the taste will be just fine.

This is the approach we have to take when we’re learning a new foreign language. We have to ‘get our hands dirty’, experiment, make mistakes as it’s the only way to discover the right solution. As with the above example, the people that we’re trying communicate with will still appreciate our attempts and may well be very impressed with the results.

I’m speaking from experience. I had never uttered a word of Polish until I was in my mid-20s and it was some time after that before I started to actively learn the language. Several teachers imparted their grammar knowledge on me and shook their heads in despair when I tried to say something. Every statement needed to be perfect. It was an embarrassing nightmare. It was only when I took on the next teacher that I began to bloom. I wasn’t interrupted every second word for bad pronunciation or grammar. I was allowed to explore, experiment and enjoy. I realised that I would never be the Gordon Ramsey of the Polish langauge (Magda Gessler?!) but friends and strangers would be able to appreciate and understand my spoken Polish.

So come on! Rise up! There can only be one Gordon Ramsey and one Magda Gessler but you can always buy their cookbooks and accessories and people will still appreciate your cooking!