Here are some general tips on learning a foreign language. Soon I'll write some tips especially for Japanese for the people going on my Worldschool Travels to Japan in August or November but first some general tips. Here's numbers 1-5 and I'll post tips 6-10 in a little bit!

I’ve become fairly fluent in German, Japanese, and Spanish mainly by
travelling and living in the countries where they are spoken. From
those experiences I think anyone can learn a foreign language they just need to:

1. Jump in and be willing to make mistakes. To start
   with and pretty much every step of the way you’re going to need to just
   go and use the language if you want to learn and enjoy it. You are
   going to make mistakes: that’s one of the big ways we learn anything.
   The great news is that most native speaker will really appreciate that
   you are putting in the effort to learn their language and they’ll be
   very supportive.
   And even though you will make mistakes you need to…
2. Be Confident. I remember when I learned my first
   Japanese words many years ago I thought I must be missing something, I
   must not be saying this right: but I was! Foreign languages are at
   first totally mysterious and we may imagine it’s not possible to learn
   it because we’re not a native speaker.
   While you might not ever have a perfect accent or get everything, you
   can definitely become fluent enough to understand, be understood, and
   even enjoy inside jokes! Which brings me to the next tip:
3. Have fun! Even if you do need to learn a language
   for work or school, you’re going to find it a lot easier to learn if
   you make sure to have some fun with the language. The reason you’re
   usually using your native language is you enjoy it and are having fun
   with it: it can be the same with learning a new language. Very much
   related to that…
4. Remember it’s about connectin’ not about perfectin’.
   People are way more interested in connecting and getting the general
   idea of what you’re saying than they are in correcting or judging
   whether you’ve said something grammatically correct. You can really
   interrupt the flow of a nice conversation by worrying too much about
   perfection.
5. Learn about the culture. Read about the history of
   the country or countries from whence the language came. Watch movies.
   Listen to music. You can learn a lot of language directly from those
   sources and you’ll just be aware of the culture, which is polite, helps
   you understand the context of the language, makes it more meaningful,
   and motivates you overall.

Now check out tips 6-10 here!

Eli Gerzon/Worldschooler is the Worldschooling Editor for Wandering Educators. He
leads Worldschool Travels: small group travel where the world is your
school. Find him on the web and
learn more about his Worldschool Travels and the unschooling and worldschooling philosophy on his site www.eligerzon.com.