My fluency literally doubled, but it came with a cost.
My fluency literally doubled the other day in Ukrainian, but it came with a cost. You see, I'm doing a 30-day speaking challenge. I track my progress by counting the number of words-per-minute that I say. More words = more fluency, provided I maintained coherency.
Normally, I am extra cautious when speaking.
I try to get the grammar right and always use a translator to look up unfamiliar words. The other day, I was laying in bed (lol) and wanted to talk without getting up. As a result, I didn't have the luxury of a translator.
I spoke into my voice-to-text software.
Since I didn’t have a translator, I had to let go of being a perfectionist. It felt awkward and I was acutely aware of my mistakes.
And yet…
My speech rate had DOUBLED.
This showed me to what extent perfectionism gets in the way of fluency. Granted, I did make more mistakes, but frequently in real-life conversations small errors don't matter. What's most important is building a connection with the other person. This can only happen if we're present.
I've learned that I should reserve my perfectionism for environments where that is useful (e.g., perhaps with a tutor), but it’s often better to just flow. I should be present and let the small errors slide.
My results have remained constant.
Check out this table. Notice how for the past 3 days my speech rate has hovered been between 34 and 42 words-per-minute (WPM), but prior to that I was significantly slower: just 16 to 24 WPM.
Letting go is powerful.
This is especially the case when paired strategic, daily practice. After over 15 years of language learning experience, it’s pretty crazy that such a basic concept is what’s standing out to me today.
Thanks for reading!
I wish you the best of luck on your language learning journey. I know it’s not always easy, but you can do it!
Azren
Calgary Language Nerds owner
https://azrenthelanguagenerd.com