Learning a new language humbles you fast. Suddenly you’re a toddler with a vocab list.

Being a beginner at something as basic as speech removes every shortcut you are used to. You cannot be funny, cannot be precise, cannot explain your way out of a misunderstanding, and all you have is a handful of words and some pointing. It is uncomfortable, and it is the clearest reminder of what everybody around you who switched languages has been doing the whole time.

Let yourself be bad out loud instead of studying until you feel safe. Spend your twenty words on a real person today. Pay attention to how it feels, because it tells you what to offer anybody learning yours.