In this blogpost I talk about the importance of mastering the courage to cross the bridge of uncertainty.

 
 

“You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” – Christopher Columbus

 
 

 

Crossing the bridge over the river of the unknown is challenging, saying the least. Most people who study a foreign language never cross this bridge. I call it the bridge of uncertainty. These students never manage to leave their mother-tongue behind. They keep on translating ‘into’ the new language from the original language.

 

During the language learning process we all cross a bridge from our mother-tongue over to the other language. We must leave the safety of a known territory for the unknown one. While crossing the bridge we become more and more familiar with the new land, it is part of the process. We must have faith and confidence in ourselves that whatever it takes we will arrive to the other side.

 

As we are crossing the bridge, the ‘homeland’ moves into the background, we start feeling a distance now, and so we find ourselves outside of our comfort zone.

 

Leaving our original language behind means exactly the way it sound: if you want to speak a foreign language, you must leave your original language behind completely. By crossing the bridge, you no longer think in your original language, neither are you the same person who started this journey.

 

When you start thinking in the new language without translating from your original language, you have arrived. You have crossed the bridge of uncertainty.

 

From now on, you can cross the bridge back and forth any time you like without being outside of your comfort zone. You have acquired a new language completely.

 

If you want to ‘ lean’  English with me, get in touch by clicking on the pictures below.