3 ways to NOT learn a new language

     

"If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart." - Nelson Mandela 

  

   Rio 2016 has made headlines all over the world for the past few weeks and after a splendid introduction of Tokyo 2020, people are already excited about it 4 years before its opening. The rise in the number of tourist during that year is something to look forward to, not to mention the increase in the number of the people who will begin attending Japanese class in preparation for that. Here are some head-start tips for you guys out there:-                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

some of them are rather good at it

  
1. Don't believe everything you hear                                                                                                                        By that I mean, don't expect yourself to improve on the language you are trying to learn just by listening to their "top tracks". Much like the well know meme, where anime otakus can memorize soundtracks of every anime they have watched but DON'T think for a second that they can strike a conversation with a Japanese just because of that. Song lyrics in normal conversation isn't as cool as it sounds. So as a reminder, stop lying to yourself and treat the songs as entertainment and not as an educational tool.                                                                                                                                                    
2. Drop the fancy word                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  One thing I've noticed is that, it's not uncommon to someone to trying improve his/her language by buying a book filled with idioms an proverbs.... and expect to use it in an exam or an interview. I'll be honest, just like some of them, I've used to carry the same habit when writing essays in exam. It only became clear to me when after friend of mine mimic my learning habit did I realize how ridiculous that sounds. I mean, yea sure you might impress a guy or two but please....out of respect for the language and everyone using it, "study your tools well before buying them". Like you don't just strike a simple "hello" to anyone and just spit a "every cloud has a silver lining" in the middle of the conversation. Don't get me wrong, of course I'm not blaming them for doing so. I understand, I've been there and done that but that's why I know how ridiculous that sounds, and it would be a sin not to point that out to them.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    
3. Literal translation spoils the fun                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     This is a no brainer but still people often made that mistake. What do I mean by that is :-  not everything in English (or any other language as far as anyone is concern) can be literally translate to Japanese on its own and vice versa. Sure you can search a dictionary to find the meaning of a Japanese word but know that, culture and social norm affects language more than people realise. There are terms in Japanese that no matter how, can never be translate correctly into other language simply because of social difference. For example :- people say otsukaresama desu to their colleague after a hard day of work which helps display gratitude. Now try to put that into English term...it's alright, I know you can't (or prove me wrong and comment your answers)                                                                                                                      
   

As for HOW to learn a language, I'm sure there are tons of posts with better content than I can offer for now. (For those of you wondering, I've taken DELF, TOEIC and JLPT up to now) I know it's not much (my qualifications) but I hope the contents can be of some use, good luck !!!