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MISTAKES DON’T MATTER

HAYASHI Naoya (Matsue College of Technology)

Can you remember the first time you spoke to a native English speaker?

I can. I was in Junior High School. I can also remember what I said.

“Fine, thank you, and you?”

I also remember – “My name is Naoya Hayashi, nice to meet you…….”

“My name is Naoya Hayashi, please call me Naoya.”

And…………“I am 12 years old”.

For most of us, our introduction to conversational English was the same. And in Junior High School I was very pleased. I had some things to say. Phrases that native speakers could understand and would answer. So, there it was - English communication – I could do it!

Then in about the third year of Junior High School I started wondering. I could now understand more spoken English – but I didn't have much to say. I started thinking that all the phrases I had memorized and practiced were very useful – but I needed something more.

By High School, I knew that I was in trouble. Sometimes our O.C. teacher would ask for an opinion or an idea!

“What!” “You want to know what I'm thinking! Come on now! That's not fair!”

If the teacher said, “Hi, how are you today?”

Hmm, well, I've got a cold. My math mark was terrible. I've got two tests tomorrow and I have to go to swim training.

So then, how did I answer the question,”How are you today?”

“I'm fine thank you, and you?”

What was wrong with me? I wanted to communicate but I couldn't. I had ideas and opinions but I couldn't get them out. I needed something more. So I learnt some more phrases ………

“I think that…”; “It would be better to …nani nani than to.. nani nani..”

This helped. It still took me a long time but I could say something original. I was getting better. I joined ESS. But then – it got tougher. The target now was start a conversation, keep it going. The ESS leader said – it's like a tennis match. Someone serves – the other player hits the ball back over the net. The first speaker returns it.

So let's try.

Someone serves. “Do you like this singer?”

“Yes”. Uh oh! I just played into the net.

Still I kept trying – I got quicker at answering. Sometimes I even thought in English. Then in August this year, I went to New Zealand. The first time for me, or anyone in my family, to leave Japan.

I was very nervous before I left Traveling – terror! Home stay! Horror! English classes at a technical college – I feel sick!

But, it was wonderful. I was in a class with students from other countries. The first thing I noticed was that their English wasn't better than mine. They didn't know more words than I did and their pronunciation wasn't any better. But they were so much more outgoing and confident.

They never stopped trying to communicate. They didn't worry that their answers weren't perfectly correct. Finally, I understood that communication meant that I could use gestures, half sentences, even single words to communicate. But especially I learnt that, even with many errors, speaking is better than saying nothing.

I learnt a lot from my home stay too. My home stay host could understand me very well, even when I thought my conversation was terrible. I started by being able to understand about 60% of what was said to me. But over the next two weeks I got better and better. I also got better at giving opinions.

I am now convinced that conversation is the key to improving my English. By talking a lot I even absorb new words and word patterns that improve my reading, writing and grammar as well.

I'm a swimmer, so I want to finish by giving this advice – jump in at the deep end of the pool. Start talking. And never forget that mistakes don't matter.