Getting "Over the Hump" in Language Learning
By Trevin Wax on Jun 3, 2008 in Reaching Romania | 
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Shortly after the mission team from my home church left, and just six months since I had moved to Romania, I made the decision that put me “over the hump” regarding my Romanian language learning.
I had been thinking about our Romanian classes, the vocabulary that I had picked up, my grammar skills and conversational Romanian. And yet, it was still not at all easy for me to speak Romanian, and I began to wonder if it ever would be. I needed something to push me over the edge and make my progress certain.
I came to realize that I was constantly falling back on English whenever I did not know how to say something. The fact that so many of my friends at school and in the village knew English had actually become detrimental to my Romanian language learning. They were happy to work on their English by talking to me, but I was suffering because I needed to be speaking only Romanian.
So, one day, I decided not to speak in English anymore to anyone. The only time I would use English was when I did not know how to say what I needed to say in Romanian. In such a circumstance, I would say the desired phrase in English and then ask how to say it in Romanian. When I would find out how to express myself in Romanian, I would repeat the phrase or sentence in Romanian. That way, I would be learning even when I didn’t know what to say.
Making the decision to speak only in Romanian was like taking the training wheels off a bicycle. Yes, I fell off a lot and the bike kept going wobbly for a while. But at least I was riding! And every time I fell off my only choice was to get back on the bicycle and keep going.
This decision was my breakthrough. Within days I was speaking Romanian freely and fluently. Not perfectly, but fluently. There could be no more relying on my training wheels for this bike to get going!
Sometimes in our spiritual walk, we need to trust in God, who enables us to climb the mountain, no matter how daunting it may seem. I read of Peter getting out of the boat and walking on the water toward Jesus. We often criticize Peter for his faithless sinking when he noticed the wind and waves. But at least he got out of the boat!
My decision to speak only Romanian pales in comparison with Peter’s walking on water, but in many ways, I did feel I was “getting out of the boat,” leaving my comfort zone and deciding to go for it – to make the desire of my heart a reality. At once, things were different. After a couple days, my friends began commenting on how easily my Romanian was flowing.
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My wife came to America 10 years ago from South Korea speaking no english. Today she is fluent. She really struggled with learning a new language but her breaktrough came when a teacher told her to only think in english 24/7, no exceptions. He said she must learn through her own internal conversations, from the inside out! She said it was quite hard and mentally draining at first, but she began to speak conversational english not long after.
Glenn | Jun 3, 2008 | Reply
As a Romanian living in the U.S. and speaking English fluently, I cannot give you great advice on how to do it best, but your solution seems to work. I think different solutions work for different people. If you have no choice but to speak the language, you will eventually “get it” and speak it fluently. Once you understand the subtle nuances of it all, then you are all set.
Gog bless you in your quest
Virgil | Jun 23, 2008 | Reply