Why I Don’t Aspire to Be Fluent

When I started learning Chinese all I wanted was to be fluent in Chinese.

But aiming for fluency is like aiming to be rich. Everyone has their definition of what fluency means.

I have a vague idea but everyone also has their own vague idea that is slightly different than mine.

This makes fluency confusing and a poor goal to aim for.

A good goal should ideally be easy to define so that it’s easy to work towards.

Fluency is too amorphous, too imaginary. It’s nice as an idea, but it’s not very practical for most learners.

A more practical goal to aim for is conversational freedom.

Conversational freedom is like financial freedom. You may not be ultra-rich but you earn enough money to not have to worry about it.

With conversational freedom, you get good enough at the basics of speaking and conversation so that you are not constantly worrying about your tones and pronunciation when you speak.

This is what holds most learners back from speaking. They are worried that their pronunciation and tones are not good enough. They are worried that their accents are not standard enough. They are worried they sound silly. This was certainly me for a long time.

When you reach conversational freedom, you focus more on what you are talking about and the person you’re talking to.

This doesn’t mean that you don’t still have to work on your tones and pronunciation. There is always room for improvement. But they are not holding you back like they do with most learners.

Conversational freedom recognizes that most people learn languages to communicate.

That was the main reason I wanted to learn Mandarin Chinese. I want to talk to people. I wanted to order from a menu. I wanted to make new friends. All of these things require me to open my mouth and apply what I learn.

The other problem with “fluency” is that it can become too theoretical. And for some, it can be an excuse to constantly “study” and “prepare” with little application because there is always something new to learn. There is always someone more “fluent” than you.

Aiming for conversational freedom fixes this problem because the goal becomes very clear and practical. You can see it happening every day when people interact. And you can choose to engage and practice conversations every day.

I vividly recall the sense of accomplishment and joy when I successfully held my first conversation in Chinese, even if it was just a simple exchange of greetings. That moment sparked a newfound confidence in my abilities and motivated me to keep pushing forward.

Aiming for conversational freedom means you have tons of opportunities for practice which means lots of feedback and faster improvement. This leads to more motivation and less thinking about giving up.

But even if you still aspire to be “fluent”, conversational freedom can lead to “fluency”.

Whatever your definition of fluency is, conversational freedom will equip you with the foundations of communication that are essential for fluency, whether it’s listening to podcasts, watching TV shows, reading books, or talking philosophy.

This is why I recommend reaching conversational freedom first.

I'm opening up the Speak Chinese Program next week so you can get personalized feedback to help you reach conversational freedom in Mandarin.

Reply “SPEAK” and I’ll send you the details.

循序渐进，

Danyo

PS Here are some other ways I can help you level up your Chinese:

1. Copy Paste Speaking Course: The system I used to conversational, improve my listening and speak like native speakers

2. Language Learner OS: This is a digital system to help organize your language studies, track vocabulary, build connections, stay productive, and learn faster! 

Refer friends, get free rewards!

If you’re enjoying The Mando Press, will you take 6 seconds and forward this edition to a friend?