Name: Forgetting that English Isn't Your First Language
Uploaded: 2017-06-19T14:11:50.000Z
Duration: 12 min 14 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Gerund

Mastering English will open doors, chances and opportunities in your life. I'm sure you

But knowing it and making it reality are very different. At school we’re taught languages

in a certain way. It’s all about passing tests and getting a good score. But this doesn’t

And it wasn’t until I was forced to master Japanese that I figured out how to help people

who just like me was stuck with their English.

I didn’t like school much, and I got terrible grades. Especially French – our second language.

It was all boring grammar explanations that I didn’t understand and copying from the

blackboard. I spent most of my time reading science-fiction novels hidden in my textbook. Unsurprisingly

I just wasn’t talented at languages, I decided. For me, art was the opposite of French. I

did well, got great grades and I went on to study at university.

After university I decided to go to Japan with my wife.

I managed to get an interview for a job working in a gallery in Harajuku, a fashionable part

THIS is what I would to do. THIS is the life I was going to live.

But I didn’t get the job. I had everything they wanted, except one thing. My Japanese

I met someone who was working for a famous artist. I was shocked to learn he had no qualifications,

or even experience with art. But he got the job because could speak Japanese at a native

I felt totally lost, and didn’t know what to do.

Then before I knew it everything changed dramatically. My son was born. If I’m honest, I wasn’t

ready for that kind of responsibility. But it just happened.

I got a job as an assistant English teacher working in a school. The wage was low – but

it was the best job I could get. I enjoyed the teaching, but I HATED all of the other

I felt embarrassed about my bad Japanese. I felt humiliated almost every day. The other

teachers were busy and always seemed annoyed at having to deal with me. I had to join meetings

and I had lots of ideas, but I didn’t understand what people were saying. I was afraid of saying

something stupid, so I always just sat in silence, nodding and agreeing with everything

Home life was getting harder as well. I had to write and send a lot of emails but I was

always embarrassed about making mistakes. So I had to get my wife to check everything.

Writing a simple email took so much time. My wife was busy working and looking after

the baby all day. And she was getting pissed off at having to spend so much of her time

helping me. I was more like another kid she had to look after than a husband.

I thought that if only I could improve my Japanese, my life would get better. I just

wanted to forget that Japanese wasn’t my first language, and just live a normal life

like I had done in England. But even after I passed the highest level of the Japanese

On paper I was there! But I didn’t FEEL good at the language!

And to make it worse, I had no idea what I should do to improve. I felt like I’d tried

I often thought about school French, and how I’d failed the subject. I obviously just

wasn’t talented at languages. Perhaps it was time to give up?

I think one of my co-workers had noticed that I was having a hard time supporting my family,

because he asked me why I didn’t consider doing a masters and teaching English at university.

The money would be much better, and the job more interesting, he said.

All this time I’d been focused on Japanese and not going anywhere. Getting an English

teaching qualification sounded like a good idea. After several months of talking about

it with my wife, I decided to apply. It was difficult to afford the fees… but it was

The course was really hard work. But something totally unexpected happened. I took my masters

to become a better English teacher and to help my students learn English. But actually

For the next three years I became totally absorbed in the topic of second language learning.

I read hundreds and hundreds of books, research articles. I attended seminars, I talked to

professionals and researchers. I learned how languages are learned, the things successful

language learners do – and the things that they don’t do. I studied how the human brain

works, I studied language learning psychology and conducted my own research.

All this time the barrier that had held me back…was doubt.

I’d been doing a lot of stuff, but everything was so random and messy. I’d start things,

but never finish them. I’d gone from studying textbooks to just watching TV in Japanese

all day. I’d gone from trying to practice my Japanese with native speakers to trying

to learn just by listening. I’d bought countless courses that promised instant results. Nothing

worked. I was constantly looking for a better way to improve my Japanese.

I realized that the reason my Japanese wasn’t improving wasn’t because I wasn't "talented"

at languages. But simply because I was putting all my time and energy into the WRONG things.

I needed a clear, structured path to follow that I knew would work. Free from doubt.

From that point on, a lot changed in my life for the better. I got a job in a Japanese

company and eventually left to start my own business. I’m able to do simple things I

couldn’t before: like take the kids to the doctors when they get sick, or call a maintenance

man when something stops working. I’m able to be a much better husband, somebody who

my wife can rely on. It's like the barrier that had held me back disappeared, and I was

For a long time after coming to Japan I lost interest in art.

I stopped going to art galleries and doing art myself. I sold all of my art and photography

books. I completely turned my back on that part of my life.

Art is something that I take great pleasure from again. I go to art galleries as often

as I can, and it’s something that I do with my kids. My office walls are covered with

While I was in my first year at university, I was offered a chance to go to Switzerland

for 3 months. I would study at a university there and study, all expenses paid. It was

I made all kinds of excuses as to why I couldn't go. The reality though was that I was afraid.

I was scared of being in an environment where I couldn't speak the language.

There were so many times I wanted to quit Japanese.

But I'm so glad that I didn't. Because if I had… I wouldn't have the life that I have

now. Drawing pictures and playing with my kids in the evening. Running my own business

here in Japan. Going to art galleries. Cycling. Running. Doing all the things that I do.

If I wanted to I could easily go back to that art gallery in Harajuku and get that job.

But I CHOOSE not to. Instead I chose a different path in life.

I decided to start a business, helping people just like me who are struggling with English

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Forgetting that English Isn't Your First Language

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