Taking it step by step

One very important thing to work hard at is to make the process emotionally satisfying for yourself. If you do something with no reward it’s very likely you will eventually burn out and give up; it’s possible to push past this of course but it will be a big old slog and it just doesn’t have to be. If you are a happy content student your mind will be more agile, receptive and hold on to more for longer. So how do you go about this? Something very important is to be realistic and manage your expectations. Even doing an immersion course in Switzerland at a great language school this process takes time and patience. If you are doing a language stay in Switzerland and you are expecting to be fluent in a couple months, even if you spend every waking hour working you will find it frustrating. You will try to rush before learning French and it actually slows you down. One thing that is inevitable is that you will make mistakes, another thing that is inevitable is that you will make the same mistakes again, and again and again. When you experience this with the mind-set of becoming fluent as quick as possible every single time, you will repeat an error which really hurts. Your confidence and hope will slowly diminish and putting in the extra hours will become tougher and tougher. Also, the strain on your brain and your belief that you could do it so quick will make your ability to take in new information weaker.

When you change your approach, and start appreciating the little victories, your progress will completely change pace……for the better. Taking it step by step means that each day you are reaching  smaller goals which will feel you with satisfaction. Make a schedule and know exactly how much work you need to do each day and push yourself but once you finish you will feel proud, rather than constantly thinking you could do more.

Lots of people want to wait until they have achieved perfection until they go out speaking to people in French. This is impossible. The more effective way is to start speaking from day 1, start thinking of your language as a tool and gradually you will become more effective at using that tool but the only way to do that is to practice. Seeking perfection before you expose yourself is a paralysing practice and will seriously slow you down. Trying to communicate with people without knowing the language well has the potential to be a really fun experience. Think back to playing charades with your family when you were a kid, it was fun right? That’s why it was a game! You didn’t play it to get all nervous and embarrassed, you did it because expressing things in different ways than you usually would is hilarious.

It’s not the easiest thing to change an outlook but if you can you will profit a lot and your French immersion course will be a tranquil pleasure full of laughs and satisfaction. Learning French in Switzerland is such a worthwhile thing to do as it is an amazing skill to have and a joy to do so why wouldn’t you want to do it!