The Impact of Pride and Humility On Your Language Learning

The best language learner is a humble one. It’s the learner who believes that by listening you can learn, by not knowing, you can know.

The worst language learner is a prideful one. It’s the learner who believes he has nothing new to know. No new way to grow.

As a language teacher, I have a personal investment in your success. I want to see you grow and learn and be more than you were when you first stepped foot in my classroom. I put thought and effort into all your thought and effort. I’m like the mother whose fingers you hold onto as you bravely take your first steps – but you must reach up.

Children know they have more to learn. It’s why they stretch for help and ask those questions that risk their looking foolish. There is no foolishness to them. Only curiosity and discovery.

The humble language learner knows that they need help. They know that they must take the brave, shaky steps forward, but that there is no shame with reaching out for a parent’s hand.

The prideful language learner does not believe they need help. Convinced that they are the best crawlers, they have no need for walking. They don’t see the use.

I have seen the progress of the humble in my decade of teaching. The humble are not afraid to look foolish, and they reap the reward of progress and growth. Risk and humiliation are no match to the glorious moment when a word stumbles out of the mouth fully formed, properly pronounced.

I have seen the frustration of the prideful in my decade of teaching. The prideful are afraid of not knowing, so they find themselves in the same stage, again and again. Risk and humiliation are enemies never to be faced, so they hold onto their errors and mistakes as badges of honor.

I know the power of saying “help”. I see the growth it can create. The prideful only remain that way if they want to. There is always time to admit your need for help. Always time to say that you don’t have the answers.

The best language learner is a humble one. By listening, you can learn. By not knowing, you can know.

What type of learner are you?