Communi-Play-Tion
It’s no secret that I love the motherland, China, over all other lands, and not only because of Mons 雪花(Suet Fa – Snow Flower) beer and Sichuan food either. I’ve had more fun there than in all other motherlands put together, I reckon, but it wouldn’t have been half or even 10% so much fun if it hadn’t been for the languages I managed to claw away from her inhabitants; first Mandarin and then Cantonese.
First not understanding a single word and everything around me being more or less a mystery, going on to slowly building up a simple vocabulary and – woo-hoo! being understood when I talked to people, making jokes in their language and making people laugh because they were good jokes, not because I was ridiculous, well that must count for the single greatest experience of my adult life.
It’s that feeling and that experience I first and foremost want to share with people in this quest to make Cantonese a world language (while letting the other languages live too). Sadly, many of my clients unconsciously put up hindrances for themselves by for example repeating the tried and tested mantra “I’m crap at languages”.
The brain is basically a lump of rubber that does what it’s told. It’s set in neutral if you like, and then you programme it to go in certain directions. So if you keep saying, or even thinking, “I’m crap at languages”, guess what – that becomes your reality. As Henry Ford said: “Whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you’re right.”
Also, language is one of the few things no one is crap at. It’s hardwired into our DNA to pick up language from those around us, using the right method to learn a language instinctively. That’s why I advice my clients to become like a child again if they want to become fluent fast.
A child?!? But I’m 35! they think. I’m a grown man/woman with children and a mortgage! It’s embarrassing!!!
More about this tomorrow. Until then, ask three people how to say whatever word it is you don’t know, in Cantonese. Train your communication muscle with all the strangers you meet. Then make a joke 講笑(gong siu – speak laugh) and wait for the peals of laughter!
