How to get out of your comfort zone in a foreign language

We often hear life begins outside of our comfort zone. However, much of current Western civilization is geared toward making us stay in our comfort zones or safe spaces. As American Tyler Cowen shows in his book, “The complacent class”, Americans are less mobile and flexible than ever.  Germans, too, are well known for risk-avoidance and for preferring to stay their whole life with one morning newspaper, one company and one cozy house - with a carefully mowed lawn.

We feel threatened when we are obliged to leave our comfort zone: forced to change our profession, to move to another city, to listen to new ideas, or to live with people from other cultures.

In language learning, our comfort zone may be:

  • Clinging to a certain accent, intonation or speed while speaking in a foreign language;
  • Preferring visual or audio material;
  • Avoiding unstructured tasks of producing our own sentences, and sticking to multiple-choice grammar exercises;
  • Avoiding difficult audio material, while clinging to Youtube videos for beginners;
  • Refusing to move on to more difficult grammar.
  • Avoiding situations where we might be forced to speak to foreigners.

Successful foreign language speakers take “risks” all the time. So, let’s emulate them and orient ourselves upwards.

Tip 1: Schedule one activity per week that takes you out of your comfort zone.

Tip 2: Choose one language learning technique that makes you feel “uncomfortable”.

What do you think? Leave a comment below.

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Want to get rid of insecurity and bad feelings regarding the foreign language(s) you have already started to learn? Want to learn a new language, without going through various levels of standard courses? You feel you are making no progress?

Go to Amazon and grab a copy of my classic book ”The GO Method – breaking barriers to language learning”.

https://www.amazon.com/GO-Method-Breaking-barriers-language/dp/1973118688/ref=sr_1_1?crid=ZLMGYKR6PDY3&keywords=Gerhard+Ohrband&qid=1694099394&sprefix=gerhard+ohrband+%2Caps%2C239&sr=8-1

Get the first two chapters for free by subscribing to Gerhard's weekly newsletter, with advice and resources on selling in foreign languages. Just click here.

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Do you feel a bit insecure when doing business internationally, maybe even in a foreign language?

Profit from new strategies, insights and techniques that will make you use foreign languages more successfully in international business communication.

Get rid of fear of mistakes and blocks during trade shows, presentation and sales calls.

Gerhard Ohrband is a communication consultant, psychologist and author of 9 books from Hamburg/Germany. He speaks 11 languages fluently and assists individuals and companies in doing business in foreign languages.

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