Do you dare to make mistakes?
Find out how unraveling your own writing style helps you in learning a new language as well. And that making mistakes is actually fun! At least it was for me!
My father always said: once a student, always a student! When I made the decision to reside in Finland for a longer period, I knew I needed to learn Finnish. Like many I have always struggled learning languages the classical way. Meaning the grammar part.
After struggling through my first purchase in a shop in Helsinki, I realised I needed to lower my expectations regarding the speed to learn Finnish. Despite my limited energy and mobility, I was eager to learn at least some basic words and sentences. All my pockets contained small notes with every day words like ‘kiitos’ or to let a counter partner know that I really ‘en ymmärrä’ what he had answered. In that same period I started to write on Substack about the fact that I had lost my personal writing style.
The best way to learn a language is to listen!
And that is exactly what I did: I listened to Finnish songs and tried to sing along with the lyrics. I watched cooking videos on YouTube. I admit hat I binged through season one of the most predictable police series ever: ‘Taivaan Tulet’. Wow! I did not learn much of the language, rather about the life or ‘ordinary Finnish people.’ Did you know eavesdropping on conversations while on the metro or in the waiting room of the health clinic can also be very educative? Although the first steps of speaking were filled with hesitation, I somehow managed .
After almost a year it was time for the next level. I had to face my biggest fear in language learning: learning how to write. That may sound a bit odd, coming from a person who has been writing most of her life. Well, it all had to do with my second biggest fear: that someone would correct me all the time.
I enrolled anyway.
I bought the study book, a few pencils, and two notebooks. As I read through the first pages, to my suprise I was able to read and understand a fear bit. The further I browsed, however, the feeling to fail crept in. Reading words like nominatiivi, partitiivi and vartalo made my head go dizzy. Apparently my long term memory managed to hide these terms even in my own native language. So my first Finnish lesson had not even started and I was busy finding out the meaning of all these grammatical words!
The teacher that goes the extra mile
On a Tuesday morning I was all set for my first online class. On the right of me I had within reach a large mug of tea and some snacks. A comfortable chair and my sitting ball, so I could at least sit for the first part. Most importantly my background screen settings was set to blurry, so the others would not see that I was lying down most of the time. To be honest, before clicking on the Zoom link, I felt pretty unsure whether this course would be too strenuous. I just wanted to hide my disability and feel like any normal healthy person again.
All my self pity thoughts vanished, when on my laptop screen the image of a totally whitely furnished bedroom appeared.
‘Is this the right link?’ I wondered. Then the face of the teacher turned up. As one by one students entered on my screen, the teacher kept smiling and welcoming every newcomer with a cheerful ‘tervetuloa’.
Little did I know, that I would be following the next three month’s an online Finnish class in which the teacher taught grammar with such passion as if she was teaching us how to write a poem. Meeting the right language teacher at the right moment had certainly broken through the barrier of prejudices around learning Finnish as a mission impossible.
Every time we were about to review a new part of grammar, the teacher shouted loudly in both Finnish and English:
‘This is so much fun! You will love this!’
or
‘Now let’s play a game and try this! ‘
While sharing on her screen another online word quiz, in which she was, of course, the quizmaster. Including shouting enthusiastically in a high voice ‘ding ding ding’ . Just as a reminder as not to forget to use the new grammar rule she had just explained.
To make it even better: if you did make a mistake the standard answer was:
Ei stressiä! Let’s do it again!
About to send in my first written homework the moving meme of a frightening looking Kermit the frog looked me in the eyes. Underneath it I read:
Älä Pelkää virheitä! Don´t be afraid to make mistakes!
I read on: ‘If you want to write but are afraid to write, send me an email.’
‘Älä Pelkää’ I whispered back to the screen. At that moment I remembered I had overcome my fear of writing before.
From that moment on my mindset changed. It did not matter how much I would comprehend or how much mistakes I would make. I was encouraged to embrace my mistakes.
Me oppimme niistä. We learn from them.
Weekly I sent in the written assignments. After initial tears of disappointment, I started to feel content to have maybe two out of ten sentences right. With every mistake I made, I got to learn how to undo it the next time.
Am I now able to read and write Finnish?
A little and I still have a long way to go. But it had to be this particular teacher who taught me to enjoy the process of learning and understanding a bit of Finnish grammar. It also made me realize that as long as I stay true to my own unique life story, I can keep writing in any learnt language.
Mistakes included.
They are the bonus and reminders in our lives. In these chaotic and unpredictable times we live in, perfection is not the goal to strive for. It is about being grateful and embrassing our imperfections.
Kiitos paljon Sanna!
Beautiful read.