Getting to know you

Going abroad or putting yourself in a similarily challenging and different situation is one of the best ways to get to know yourself. Many people desire to go abroad to learn more about the "other" world and more about the "other" people. Most people who actually do make it into a very foreign world find the most challenging and rewarding thing is getting to know themselves.

Speaking through water

When you don’t understand your surroundings it is sometimes easy to ignore them. Imagine that you are sitting at the bottom of a pool. You can see distorted bodies of people swimming above you. Sometimes people dive down to your level and you can see them more clearly. This is kind of the way I would describe being in a foreign country where you don’t speak the language. People may be speaking around you or even speaking to you but it takes a lot of effort to understand what they are saying, like they are speaking through water.

Say it loud!

Advice from a famous English teacher, William Strunk Jr.:

If you don't know how to pronounce a word, say it loud! If you don't know how to pronounce a word, say it loud!

The point being that the only thing worse than being wrong, is being wrong and timid. So I say to all you who worry about your pronunciation, say it loud! It doesn't matter if it is wrong as long as you are making the positive effort to communicate. It matters even less if it is wrong if the person you are talking to can't hear what you are saying.