As human beings, most of us want to avoid getting laughed at at all costs. It can feel embarrassing, awkward, shameful, etc etc.
But I want to argue that in language learning, this is actually a very powerful tool that you want to embrace instead of avoiding!
Think about it: You learn best when you’re having a really good time and are feeling excited and inspired.
And on the other end of that spectrum, you might experience strong negative emotions when people laugh at your mistakes.
These polar opposite emotions actually work in a very similar way, encouraging long-term learning anchored to specific situations and emotions.
One time, when I was just starting to speak Portuguese, my Brazilian friend’s dad asked me about a pink t-shirt (camiseta) that came out of the wash.
I easily confused that word with camisinha (condom), and told a long, slow story in my fledgeling Portuguese about how my white condom got washed with a new red condom and ended up pink…
After I realized my mistake, we had a good laugh about it, and of course ever since then I’ve never mixed up those two words – you tend to remember that kind of thing!
This was extremely embarrassing initially, but once I was able to laugh at myself, it turned into a perfect learning opportunity.
Something that’s really important is to remember that people are basically never laughing at you, making fun of you at your expense.
They just aren’t always expecting to hear what comes out of our mouths as language learners, which is often hilarious!
So instead of feeling ashamed or embarrassed when you say something funny, try to see the humor in it and laugh at yourself too.
Language learning and languages in general are chock full of these weird, funny moments when we confuse words as beginners.
So the more you can learn to laugh along with other people at the hilarious things that come out, the quicker you’ll learn.
Every mistake is a chance to learn, especially the funniest ones.
So get out there, open your mouth, and start speaking to people, even though it’s scary at first!
I promise that these inevitable funny situations will be some of the most memorable, and great opportunities for learning.