TEFL/TESOL teacher Michial Acke: The best way to learning language is focus more on AQUIRING than learning

Dear readers, welcome to my very first blog in English. Today I’m sharin an interview I’ve done with multilingual, TEFL/TESOL teacher Michial Acke early this year.

If you are struggling to hone your language proficency to next level or or felt like you’ve come to a standstill in your language learning?

You’re not alone. In this interview with Michial we’ll explore the major factors that make language learning more difficult task and ways to become fluent in your target languages.

Hope you find this blog helpful. So stay tuned.

-Welcome to our country, Firstly I want you ask your expectation about Mongolia and reality? Pros and Cons?

-Thank you! I didn’t have any expectations to begin with. I’ve been in Mongolia before, so I kind of knew what to expect. I also have a few Mongolian acquaintances in my homecountry, so I already knew quite a bit about the culture. But now that I’m living here, I do experience kind of a culture shock. If you compare Mongolia to The Netherlands, there are too many differences to name.

Some pros and cons would be:
PROS: Mongolia is very hospitable. Mongolia’s nature is one of a kind. Really beautiful!

Mongolia has a really refreshing taxi-system. Very useful!
CONS: Some people, especially the older generation, are not always that welcoming to foreigners.
Not everybody is that open-minded when it comes to different cultures,background, skin-color, interracial relationships, ideas, etc.
(Mind me saying, not everybody, and some people. There are a lot of people that are not like this at all, but I’ve seen my fair share)

-How long have you been here, what is your purpose of visit?
-I’ve been here for about 7 months now. There are multiple reasons for my visit. First of all, I like to travel and I wanted a new scenery in my life.
I get easily bored when my days look the same for a long period of time. Second of all, I knew that Mongolia was in a great need for the English language, especially the new generation. I thought to myself it would be nice to help these people achieve their goal to master the English language.
That’s why we ultimately set up a few different courses at Ariya English Course. A small course institute with small classes, that give the opportunity to give the students the attention they need.

-Which languages you speak, and to what level?

-A speak quite a few languages. Some better than others.
I am native in Dutch (The original language used in The Netherlands)
I am fluent, almost native, in English
I can speak German on an intermediate level
And then I am pre-intermediate in French, Mongolian and Papiamentu (Papiamentu is a Caribbean language spoken in the Dutch Antilles)
At the moment I am working very hard to upgrade my Mongolian to fluency too.

-What’s the story of your multilingualism. How did you learn, what, and who inspired you learn so many languages?
-This question makes it sound special, but in The Netherlands this is pretty normal. The Netherlands is a small country in Europe, so we can’t depend on just our own language.
It is almost the same as Mongolian. If you speak Mongolian, you can only speak in Mongolia with Mongolians. The Netherlands has some history with colonies, some of these areas still use the Dutch language, but still, it is a very small language. That’s why it is important to learn other languages. That is why in my home country it is mandatory to learn English from a very young age in school, and later on it’s mandatory to learn German and French.

So for the most part school inspired me. Also a lot of content in The Netherlands is in English. Like movies, music, videogames, etc.
Later on in life I met a lot of friends from the Dutch Antilles (because of the history with colonies there are a lot of different ethnicities in The Netherlands) So I decided to take a course in Papiamentu, so I could communicate with them better. Because of this I received a lot of respect and friendships. Also something that really inspired me.
That is also why I started to learn Mongolian. I dislike people that go everywhere and demand that everybody speaks their language. I truly believe that you have to adjust to your surroundings.

All in all, what inspired me the most, is the knowledge different languages can bring me. If I want to look something up about anything (disease, school, computer problems, traffic, travel, food, WHATEVER) you can find out so much more if you speak different languages.

For example, if your computer doesn’t work anymore, and you want to look up a solution online, and I search in Mongolian. I really need to hope there is 1 Mongolian person that wrote down a solution especially for me. While if I search in English, I probably get millions of results. In the long run, learning a languages, can let you learn a lot more about anything.

-Which language was the most difficult for you to learn and why?

-This question is easy. It must be Mongolian. You see, there are language families. Different languages that derive from the same source, and therefore look like each other.

That is why European languages are easier to learn, if you are already native in a European language. They have the same sentence structure, and a lot of other things in common (words, alphabet, etc.) For example, in English you would say: My name is Michiel. In German it is: Mein name ist Michiel.
In Dutch you say: Mijn naam is Michiel.

So you can understand that Mongolian was a huge difference in learning. First I had to start with the Cyrillic alphabet. After that the sentence structure, and the different kind of conjugation. The only thing that wasn’t ‘too’ hard, was the pronunciation. In Dutch there are similar sounds.

-For people who have just started with a new language and want to improve quickly, what kind of methos would you recommend?
-Connect with a person that is fluent in the target language. You can take children all over the world as an example. They all speak fluently in their mother tongue, starting from nothing. They never took classes, they never opened a book, and never heard of grammar.

Still, they improve very quickly and are fluent in no-time. They acquire the language, instead of learning it.
So if you are new to a language and want to improve quickly, have fun with it and put yourself in the shoes of a child. Listen, repeat, point out, make mistakes, use your body, etc.
That is also why taking a course with a fluent speaker is a great idea. You get genuine and good quality information about the language. Like a child gets from his parents.

What should an intermediate level student focus on to become conversationally fluent in their target language?
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. Put the time in, make mistakes, and keep practicing.

Set up your phone in English, talk to yourself in English, try to think in English, Chat online with foreigners, read books, watch movies, listen to music. Make the language your own. And again, don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Mistakes are the stepping stones to success. And don’t do this once a week, but do it as often as you can. The faster it becomes normal, and the better you will remember it.

-What would you say are the most important factors that determine how quickly one can become fluent?
-Of course, to some degree, the level of the student. Is he/she good with language, can he/she remember a lot, etc.

But the most important one, must be: how good are you to put yourself out of your comfort zone. Put away your shame, and have fun with it.

This brings me back to the point with children. They make mistakes all of the time. BUT THEY DON’T CARE. They don’t feel stupid or ashamed, they just talk.
And out of all the people, they learn the fastest. That is the best factor/attitude to learn. For example, if you are learning to ride a bike, and you fall 9 times before you succeed the 10th time. Did you make 9 mistakes, or was falling off your bike, 9 small steps to success? Mistakes are a good thing!

-Do you think that one has to live “in-country” in order to reach fluency in their target language?

-Not at all. Of course it can help you a lot, because it puts you in constant real life situations where you need to use the target language. But in todays day and age, you have the internet.

The internet is full of content like books, music, videos, chat programs, etc. Enough to replace that ‘in-country’ myth. It all depends on your own motivation to learn the language. Everything is possible.

-How has being multilingual influenced your career path?

-A lot. Like I said before, Dutch is a small language. I also do a lot of freelancing, and some other businesses on the side. Because of my multilingual nature, I can not only do business in The Netherlands but also internationally, with international clients. All this also gave me new opportunities to meet new people, and see new countries.

So all in all it helped me financially and it gave me great experiences. And personally I think that is what life is all about; experience.

-Research shows it’s easier to learn a third language after the second. Do you think that’s true?

-Probably. Of course it depends on the language family like I stated before. A totally different language can still be hard. But if you know how to learn a language, and what techniques work for you. It can be easier for sure.

What have you enjoyed most about studying languages. And what is your key method to learning languages?
Personally the new connections with people it gave me. That is what I enjoyed the most. New friendships, learning about other cultures, and all the fun experiences that came with it.

My main method, especially in the beginning, is more focused on acquiring than learning.

It’s like I stated before, I try to put myself in the shoes of a child, and start to learn a lot of words. With these words I try to communicate and I don’t care if I make mistakes. My main goal in the beginning is to get my point across. From there on, I try to add words that I pick up. When

I feel that I kind of understand the language I move on to grammar, and stuff like that. What I see here in Mongolia, is that kids get bombarded with grammar rules. They all know them by heart, but they don’t know how to use it in real life. What purpose do these rules have then?

-What else do you want to share with us about your experience?

-Don’t worry too much. Have fun with it.

-What is common mistakes language learners make, what you observed from Mongolians? How to avoid?
-Like I said before, about the grammar. Here In Mongolia, English learners know a lot about the grammar, but they don’t know how and when to use it. When you are having a conversation, you can’t be thinking inside your head. Calling out rules etc. It’s the opposite of fluency. You should be speaking naturally, without thinking. This can only achieved by trial and error.

I also have the feeling that a lot of language classes here are very strict. With demanding teachers. This sucks out the fun of language learning in my opinion. There needs to be room for making mistakes, laughing, etc. A safe environment where everybody feels at ease. Personally I prefer small classes like Ariya English Course offers, where there is room for all that, and enough time for personal attention.

-Last question, do you wanna share with us anything else about learning languages?

-Remember your goal/motivation. Write it down. Make it your phone background, for example. When it gets difficult, remember why you are doing it. And all the extras it can bring you in life.

-Thanks a lot for your time and sharing us your worth experiences.

This interview’s Mongolian version publishen Lead.style website. Check it out.