![]() ![]() I realized that with a little bit of music theory and watching different YouTube tutorials, I could actually sing decently. Since I was learning to play along with different songs, I thought it couldn’t hurt to try singing. I was teaching myself guitar and learning to play some songs. It wasn’t until years later that I tried singing again. It’s unfortunate because like a self-fulfilling prophecy, the stories we tell ourselves can often become artificial limits to our abilities. And it’s unfortunate if you’ve been told in the past by a teacher or parent that you’re just not gifted in a particular subject. Henry Ford once said, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right.” This rings true for so many things such as singing, dancing, math, and also language learning. And so I avoided singing from that day on. Apparently I was 音痴 (onchi), or tone-deaf. It’s okay if singing isn’t one of them.” I was devastated. One day my mom walked in while I was trying to sing and said, “Makoto, you’re talented in so many different things. I enjoyed singing in my bedroom to these tracks. Often these CDs would include karaoke tracks without any vocals. I would buy popular music CDs from the Japanese market. When I was a teenager, I was really into J-pop. Why Right Thinking is So Important When You’re Learning Chinese Something I feel is crucial for success and discuss deeply in my book: The Thoughtful Language Learner. Therefore the first half of this article is a discussion about mindset and motivation. But even with access to all the equipment, without the right mindset and motivation success is not guaranteed. ![]() The gym is there anytime they want to go exercise. The problem isn’t about lacking exercise tools or methods. We see the same problem in those who resolve to exercise at the gym regularly. If you want to be one of the few people who actually achieve their goals, we need to first talk a little bit about psychology before we can talk about learning techniques or strategies. News & World Report, failure rates for New Year’s Resolutions are around 80%. But like others who set a goal to eat healthier or exercise regularly, by mid-February they find themselves failing and abandoning their goal. Some set a New Year’s Resolution to learn a new language over the course of a year. Many people set out to learn a foreign language. Why Many Aspire But So Many Fail to Learn Chinese But I’ll also share with you the right mindset and motivation you need to get on the right track for success. I’ll share with you the different strategies and methods I used to get to an advanced level. In this article, I hope to share with you the things I’ve learned in my own journey. Although my job involves teaching English, I regularly interact with my coworkers in Chinese and even hold meetings in Chinese. I live and work in China and use my Chinese ability all the time. Since that time I’ve learned Chinese to an advanced level (ACTFL Advanced-High or CEFR C1). ![]() I found out that I did have the ability to learn another language. I studied Mandarin Chinese as an adult and had a totally different experience. My second language learning experience started a few years ago with Chinese. I simply thought I wasn’t very gifted in language learning. My parents spoke to me in Japanese and I even attended Saturday Japanese school but still grew up with my Japanese being not very good. My first language learning experience was with Japanese. I love language learning and have studied different languages over the years. I’m a language teacher and a language coach who was born and raised in America.
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