Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself

A key language learning skill

Welcome, aspiring polyglot! A leading indicator that you are well on your way to fluency in your target language is the ability to self correct. Making mistakes is part of the game, by now that should be clear, but that does not mean making the same mistake is part of the game. It should be your goal to stop making whichever mistakes you are making as quickly as possible. For those who work with me or another instructor, you may be able to rely on someone else to correct you. However, eventually it will be imperative that you learn to self correct.

The importance of self correction

When you are first learning to do this, it may feel weird. Stopping yourself or interrupting someone to ensure you are using the correct verb tense or word order is awkward. Well, it’s awkward if you allow it to be. Most of the time this will happen so fast that people won’t notice and if they do they will appreciate your effort at perfecting their language. It is only weird if you make it weird.