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Speaking with mistakes quickly is better than speaking “perfectly” slowly

| 46 comments | Category: mission

Rather than write a long post about a topic that I have covered in various forms before, I’ll make this short.

Above you will see a video showing me talking Hungarian with Bálint Kőrösi, who translated the Language Hacking Guide to Hungarian for me. My level in the language is the result of my two months living in Budapest (and what I’d estimate as what would have been 5 or so hours of studying before arrival – so this mission was a two-month one, rather than a three-month one).

The result of my short time here? I can have conversations in Hungarian as I had initially aimed for, I speak only Hungarian with most of my friends here and have gotten to know many people and an interesting side of the city entirely through the language.

Mission complete.

I’ll write in more details about my full Budapest experience in the Thursday post.

However, you will notice that I’m not speaking fluently, and anyone who speaks Hungarian would be quick to point out a few mistakes I made as I spoke. I also hesitated a lot and used quite basic vocabulary. I don’t expect or even want to impress anyone with my current level of Hungarian. Impressing people is not what I’m doing this for. Reaching perfection quickly will never be my goal. Efficient communication however, is always what I aim for.

My current level is not an ideal situation to be in permanently, but it is a good place to be after a few weeks. The only way to reach this stage quickly is to speak often and make lots of mistakes. If you avoid making mistakes and wait until you’re ready you will never be able to have a conversation in the target language in a short time. I’m still making mistakes, and that’s OK. I’ll continue to work on my Hungarian and it will improve.

“Practice makes perfect” – waiting until you’re perfect produces nothing. Speak now or forever hold your peace.

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Like the video? Think I should have skipped getting to know real people and waited a bit more to iron out my mistakes and hesitations instead? Let me know in the comments!

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Comments: If you liked this post or have anything to say, please leave a comment! I love reading them :)
Just keep in mind that I’ll delete any rude, trolling, spammy, irrelevant or way off-topic comments. If you have a general language learning question, please ask it in the forums. Otherwise please use the search tool on the right for any other question not related to this post.

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  • http://www.MyBeautifulAdventures.com/ GlobalButterfly

    I am completely and utterly impressed!!!

    • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the language hacker

      Thanks :)

  • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the language hacker

    I initially had decided for 3 months, but realised that my first month was pretty much wasted for this mission. I would have extended it (like I did in Berlin), but it’s cold and I want to wind up the year in the southern hemisphere ;)

  • http://howlearnspanish.com/ Andrew

    For two months with no formal instruction, that’s awesome.

    Can you read or write the language at all? How important to you find that to be (being able to read/write IF you can speak it already)?

    Cheers,
    Andrew

    • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the language hacker

      I write on Facebook every day in Hungarian, but with a dictionary at hand. I’ll be reading more when reviewing Hungarian over the coming months.

      • http://twitter.com/urimar_joa 우리말 진짜 좋아요^^

        Ah do you have several facebook accounts, one for each language?

  • John Bardos – JetSetCitizen

    Hey Benny,

    It is amazing how much you accomplish with your language missions. I was in Hungary for the same amount of time and I only managed to pick up a few basic expressions. It goes to show what intense focus can accomplish in a short time. Congrats!

    • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the language hacker

      Thanks John – looking forward to the interview :)

  • Alex

    Benny, I know tons of people who have taken English classes for years here in México, and yet their level is poop compared to your Hungarian.

    My first reacion was to label this as “impressive”, but then I remembered all you teach in the guide… it’s not impressive at all, it’s just the correct approach!

    • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the language hacker

      Exactly ;) The approach is everything. Many many other people could do the same or much better than me if truly devoted!

  • David

    Your Hungarian seems great! One question I do have though, do most Hungarians speak English? Im sure you dont care if they speak English or not, but im curious ;)

    • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the language hacker

      Most Hungarians don’t speak any English or speak poor English.
      However, if you were to stay in central Budapest and mingled with 20 somethings you’d get a skewed version of this, since that tiny demographic of just that part speak quite well. Speaking Hungarian was essential for me to have a life outside of the touristy centre.

  • http://yourlifeamp.com Your Life Amp

    I’m learning French in Australia. I have a few French friends who I hang out with on a weekly basis and I try my best to use some French with them, but the rest of the time I must resort to reading/listening to podcasts (although admittedly I just found out about http://www.livemocha.com where I may be able to practice speaking online with natives).

    But what I can do a lot of is; talking on msn/facebook chat with French friends. Would you consider this much more beneficial than simply reading, or would I be spending my time better to jump on livemocha.com whenever I get the chance for some actual spoken conversation?

    • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the language hacker

      I reviewed Livemocha in a different post. I found it to be useful for finding natives, but to be ignored when it comes to their crap courses.
      Definitely go for chatting over reading if your goal is conversational fluency. If you are only learning French to read French newspapers, then reading will be your focus, but of course to speak well you have to speak often ;)

  • http://brewdocinhaiti.blogspot.com brianfrommaine

    That is fantastic! Well done!

    I have been studying Hungarian about as long as you and I am just tickled pink that I could understand 90% of what you said perfectly!! :-)

    Fantasztikus!

    • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the language hacker

      It helps to listen to someone speak as slowly and utterly basic as I am in the video :P How is your Hungarian progressing? :)

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_6ZUI5ZZHRKCLFGHEUZDR4HHX2I Aniko

      I wouldn’t mind helping you with your learning journey, if you’re still going at it

  • Adam

    Fanastic! I stumbled across your blog about 10 days ago whilst looking for some language articles. I’m currently teaching myself German at home with the aid of books, audio CD’s and the internet. Your articles are inspiring and its nice to see you achieve your ‘missions’ and show some real and practical results. Tschüs!

    • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the language hacker

      Thanks a lot for the comments! Hopefully posts like this will inspire others to go out and get their practical results :)

  • Katie

    Okay, I appreciate that you learned a lot in two months, but I don’t get why speaking quickly but badly is better than speaking slowly but maybe a little bit “better.” You say “perfectly,” which implies somehow that you could if you slowed down? That doesn’t make sense to me. Can you elaborate on that?

    • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the language hacker

      You don’t get it? I think it’s pretty obvious. If I had decided to take my sweet time and avoid all embarrassment and never make mistakes, then having the friends I did and making that video would have been absolutely impossible in a few months.

      Speaking perfectly is a distraction from focusing on getting your point across. It’s a horrible distraction because it keeps people from ever trying in most cases.

  • Anthony Lauder

    “Speak now or forever hold your peace.”

    Rather than writing that as an imperative, I would rephrase it as a warning …

    “Speak now or you will forever hold your peace.”

    • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the language hacker

      Good point! :)

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PBKSQRDEGUVCFJIWALBQXDXEKM Judit KrisztinaS

    HI there! Well, you ain’t bad, I am glad you liked the city and I hope you liked the people too and will bring some good memories and tell it to other people abroad so they can visit our country too. I was really impressed by how good you have acquired german pronunciation, if I wanna be honest with you, I am glad you could not be that perfect in Hungarian, sorry, this just kinda aids my pride :) But anyway,thanks for spending time in Hungary!

    • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the language hacker

      Ah yes, Hungarian pride in their language. Got me into lots of arguments with people since I think “hardest” language is a BS idea ;) Keep in mind that I didn’t start German from scratch and spent four months in Berlin, whereas I was only exposed to Hungarian for two months before making this video ;) Anyway I don’t care about perfect, I care about communication.
      But yes, I loved the city and have lots of fond memories there!

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PBKSQRDEGUVCFJIWALBQXDXEKM Judit KrisztinaS

        I had a feeling you’d write something like that…but, the thing is, I think our language is the only thing that we have left (after depressing happenings in our history) that still makes us feel unique or precious in a way, and that’s why we put a lot more emphasis and pride in it than most countries. And, although I am interested in languages myself too, I value my own language a lot and feel happy to be born Hungarian. Next time when you come to visit, hit me up in Debrecen btw :)

  • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the language hacker

    Thanks!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_6ZUI5ZZHRKCLFGHEUZDR4HHX2I Aniko

    hey Benny, you’ve got nothing to be ashamed of… yes, there were a few mistakes and stuff, but who cares! the thing is that in 2 months you got to the level where you can understand the questions and you can reply with basic vocabulary. CONGRATS, man!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_6ZUI5ZZHRKCLFGHEUZDR4HHX2I Aniko

    Köszönjük, hogy nyelvünket választotta, egy megtiszteltetés volt ! :D

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_6ZUI5ZZHRKCLFGHEUZDR4HHX2I Aniko

    Köszönjük, hogy nyelvünket választotta, egy megtiszteltetés volt ! :D

  • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

    It always depends on the destination. I was only in Budapest for 2 months because I had somewhere to be at the end of September. For Prague I wasn’t sure so I aimed for 3 months (but could only learn the language for 2 due to financial problems).
    My reasons are always outside of languages and more related to practical timing as a traveller ;)

  • http://www.facebook.com/raphi.k Krausz Raphael

    Gratulálok Benny. Jönnek a budapesten harom hét, a sydneyből. (Most élek itt.) Beszélek magyarul nagyon rosszul de megpróbálom. Nagyon boldog vagyok itt és minden nap jobb beszélek.

    Most olvasom Tintin a magyarul, tanulni magyarul jobb. :)

    Köszönöm szépen a segitseged.

    R

  • http://www.facebook.com/raphi.k Krausz Raphael

    Gratulálok Benny. Jönnek a budapesten harom hét, a sydneyből. (Most élek itt.) Beszélek magyarul nagyon rosszul de megpróbálom. Nagyon boldog vagyok itt és minden nap jobb beszélek.

    Most olvasom Tintin a magyarul, tanulni magyarul jobb. :)

    Köszönöm szépen a segitseged.

    R

  • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny Lewis

    “you really have an aptitude for languages”. Really? Read this: http://fi3m.com/destiny/
    Yes, I worked hard. Is that surprising? That still doesn’t make it out of reach for anyone else.
    I don’t “struggle” with languages, I enjoy them, and will learn them quicker because of this. I can only tell you from my two month experience that doing it right should NOT lead to you needing drastically more time in Hungarian compared to any European languages. You do indeed have advantages with them, but if you read this post you’ll see that Hungarian is easy too: http://fi3m.com/hungarian-is-easy/

  • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny Lewis

    “you really have an aptitude for languages”. Really? Read this: http://fi3m.com/destiny/
    Yes, I worked hard. Is that surprising? That still doesn’t make it out of reach for anyone else.
    I don’t “struggle” with languages, I enjoy them, and will learn them quicker because of this. I can only tell you from my two month experience that doing it right should NOT lead to you needing drastically more time in Hungarian compared to any European languages. You do indeed have advantages with them, but if you read this post you’ll see that Hungarian is easy too: http://fi3m.com/hungarian-is-easy/

  • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny Lewis

    “you really have an aptitude for languages”. Really? Read this: http://fi3m.com/destiny/
    Yes, I worked hard. Is that surprising? That still doesn’t make it out of reach for anyone else.
    I don’t “struggle” with languages, I enjoy them, and will learn them quicker because of this. I can only tell you from my two month experience that doing it right should NOT lead to you needing drastically more time in Hungarian compared to any European languages. You do indeed have advantages with them, but if you read this post you’ll see that Hungarian is easy too: http://fi3m.com/hungarian-is-easy/

  • Adrienn Peter

    I’ve just newly been introduced to your blog so am only now seeing this post but I wanted to say that your Hungarian is better than many Hungarian-Americans I know who were born in the USA and had their parents trying to teach them since they were kids ; many can’t speak half so well as you, good job! :)

  • Adrienn Peter

    I’ve just newly been introduced to your blog so am only now seeing this post but I wanted to say that your Hungarian is better than many Hungarian-Americans I know who were born in the USA and had their parents trying to teach them since they were kids ; many can’t speak half so well as you, good job! :)

  • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny Lewis

    More generic rubbish… I’ve heard French, German etc. speakers say exactly the same thing. “Sure, it’s easy at first, but it gets harder and harder if you want to MASTER it…” Things like this start to mean nothing when everyone says them about every language.

  • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny Lewis

    More generic rubbish… I’ve heard French, German etc. speakers say exactly the same thing. “Sure, it’s easy at first, but it gets harder and harder if you want to MASTER it…” Things like this start to mean nothing when everyone says them about every language.

  • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny Lewis

    More generic rubbish… I’ve heard French, German etc. speakers say exactly the same thing. “Sure, it’s easy at first, but it gets harder and harder if you want to MASTER it…” Things like this start to mean nothing when everyone says them about every language.

  • Jeff Lindqvist

    “Impressing people is not what I’m doing this for. Reaching perfection quickly will never be my goal. Efficient communication however, is always what I aim for.”

    If (immediate) communication is the goal, this definitely the way to go. No reason to wait, just as there is no reason to wait picking up a musical instrument if you actually want to PLAY music. I’ve played every instrument that I know from day 1.

  • Jeff Lindqvist

    “Impressing people is not what I’m doing this for. Reaching perfection quickly will never be my goal. Efficient communication however, is always what I aim for.”

    If (immediate) communication is the goal, this definitely the way to go. No reason to wait, just as there is no reason to wait picking up a musical instrument if you actually want to PLAY music. I’ve played every instrument that I know from day 1.

  • Jeff Lindqvist

    “Impressing people is not what I’m doing this for. Reaching perfection quickly will never be my goal. Efficient communication however, is always what I aim for.”

    If (immediate) communication is the goal, this definitely the way to go. No reason to wait, just as there is no reason to wait picking up a musical instrument if you actually want to PLAY music. I’ve played every instrument that I know from day 1.

  • taha

    i think i will buy it