You have to begin speaking a foreign language early on in your learning process in order to improve! You shouldn’t wait until you’ve mastered the language before you speak it. Benny is a good example: He always starts speaking right away even if he doesn’t feel comfortable doing so and has learned to speak more than 10 languages that way! So is it bad to make mistakes in a foreign language? The answer is not at all!

mistakes in a foreign language

Is it Bad to Make Mistakes in a Foreign Language?

Some people say you shouldn’t start speaking until you’ve mastered grammar, because you run the risk of your mistakes becoming bad habits. However, if you wait to become fluent in the language before you speak it, you’ll end up psyching yourself out and never speaking! As for your mistakes, it’s very easy to unlearn them.

As I was learning Spanish, people would sometimes correct me on certain phrases. For example, the other day I said:

“Es difícil de caminar con estos zapatos” -> This is wrong. I should have said “Es difícil caminar con estos zapatos” (without the “de”). For those of you who are learning Spanish and want more information on this particular mistake, please read this page.

In this case, I added this phrase to the MosaLingua application. MosaLingua has a new feature that allows users to add their own flash cards to memorize:

I can assure you that, after three or four review sessions, I was no longer making that mistake.

So, you really have to jump right into speaking a foreign language by finding some language exchange partners and practising with them! Don’t forget to ask them kindly to correct your mistakes!

What about you? Are you nervous about making mistakes in a foreign language before you’re fluent in it?