It’s About Feeling Safe.
It has been quite a while since I last shared anything about language notes.
Improving my language skills is something I work on almost every day. I’m not just listening, I’m observing and absorbing: words, phrases, expressions, even sounds and intonation.
Over the past few days, I’ve noticed some people talking about how confident they feel speaking English with native speakers. One of them said, “I feel comfortable conversing when I’m in an English-speaking country, but I wonder why this happens and why I can’t do the same when I’m in Malaysia.”
The answer is feeling safe.
When you feel safe, your mind knows that native English speakers won’t judge your language. Even though you may still make mistakes, you don’t feel afraid of being judged. Instead of focusing on developing the language, your mind often gets stuck on trying to be grammatically perfect and worrying about looking weak.
That’s why you feel more comfortable speaking with native speakers and in an English-speaking environment because people are generally supportive rather than judgmental. Yes, speaking with native speakers is one of my personal tips for improving language proficiency.
I can still recall my journey with Arabic. It began almost 20 years ago when I was in high school. I didn’t learn Arabic formally, but I was fortunate to have some ustaz and ustazah who could speak Arabic quite well.
There was no real environment for learning the language.
I was walking alone in this journey very passionate. I felt genuinely happy just listening to people speak Arabic. From that feeling, I searched for ways to start learning seriously. While waiting for my SPM results, I attended private classes for tahsin of my Qur’an recitation and learned Arabic at a kindergarten level simply memorising words. I was 18 years old at the time.
But looking back, I realised that I had actually been exposed to ‘Arabic’ earlier, during my primary school years at Madrasah Al-Mansoriah, Pengkalan Hulu, Perak. That was where I learned fardhu ain and some Islamic subjects, including Arabic. Memorising without truly understanding the language is still a common learning method in Malaysia.
This is one of the reasons why students from Islamic schools despite studying Arabic for at least six years often struggle to speak even simple daily conversations.
My real progress began when I spent more time with native Arabic speakers when I was in International Islamic College, Saudis, Palestinians, and Sudanese were among my closest friends at that time. We had very good relationships, and I felt very safe conversing with them.
I always found time to mingle with them. Interestingly, I wasn’t even aware that I was developing my language skills through these interactions. The concept of “safety” wasn’t something I consciously thought about back then.
Yet, feeling safe is something we need to experience frequently.
When I started learning Japanese about six years ago, I applied the same concept. I had a Malaysian sensei and Japanese sensei. I observed, listened, and tried even when it was difficult. Japanese truly fascinates me.
I also had the experience of teaching two Japanese students Iqra’ and Arabic, and I took that opportunity to practise my Japanese. Additionally, working as a mosque tour guide became one of the best platforms for developing any language you want to master.
I feel very safe speaking with native Japanese speakers, even though my Japanese is still very limited. That sense of safety is how I develop foreign languages. This is how I’ve trained my brain to grow.
I have so much more to share about my journey. I’m not perfect. Learning is a lifelong process, and I choose to remain a lifelong learner perhaps until one day.
Motivation, psychology, mindset, passion, intention, and purpose…all of these matter.
I will keep learning. I love learning ❤️
May Allah bless all our learning journeys. Allah is the One who opens for us knowledge, hikmah, and basirah.
The journey continues. Thank you for reading 🫶🏼
- Mohd Danial
#tintabahasa
