Hello Everyone! My name is Angie, I joined Cafetalk a few days ago. Nice to meet you all. 

I wanted to share my experience as a Japanese language learner and as an English teacher. 

As an English teacher, I have spent many years helping students learn English.

But after moving to Japan and starting to study Japanese myself, I realized something important:

Being a teacher and being a language learner are two very different experiences.

When you are the teacher, you know the answer. You know the grammar. You know the vocabulary. You can explain why something is correct. Sometimes I even wondered why my students found some English topics hard but I though those topics were not that hard at all. 

When you are the student… sometimes you just don’t know. ??

And that has taught me a lot about learning languages.

1. Making mistakes is unavoidable

When I first started learning Japanese, I wanted to say things correctly. Sometimes I would think about a sentence for too long because I was afraid of making a mistake.

But if you wait until your Japanese, or your English to be perfect before speaking, you may never speak.

2. Understanding something is not the same as being able to use it

This is something I experience all the time with Japanese.

I can recognize a grammar point when I see it in a textbook, but when I suddenly need to use it in a real conversation… my brain sometimes says, “Wait a minute!” ??

I think English learners experience the same thing.

You can understand a grammar rule perfectly and still need lots of practice before it becomes natural.

3. Small progress is still progress

Language learning can sometimes feel frustrating because you notice all the things you still cannot do.

But then, one day, you suddenly realize that you understood a conversation that you couldn't understand a few months ago.

Or you can express an idea without translating every word in your head.

Those little moments are progress. ??

4. Every student has their own pace

Studying Japanese has made me even more aware that everyone learns differently.

Some people enjoy grammar.
Some people learn through conversation.
Some people need repetition.
Some people love studying with books, while others learn better through real-life situations.

There is no single “correct” way to learn a language.

The important thing is finding a method that works for you.

Learning Japanese has made me a better English teacher because I can now understand my students from both sides of the classroom.

So, if you're learning English and sometimes feel like you're not improving fast enough, remember:

You don't have to be perfect. You just have to keep using the language. ??

And as a fellow language learner, I’ll be cheering you on! ??