I remember now, how foolish one needs to be, to learn a language to the point of mastery.

You need to be really foolish to learn a new skill and think you can become extremely good at it fast. Learning languages is that skill for me. I don’t know how, but from some crevice in my under-confident mind, a gross level of confidence emerges. It begins with a thought—I can master any language because I have done it a couple of handful times before. And sure enough, when I embark on a new journey of language learning, I am knocked off my high horse and I face-plant into the muck where I belong. A speedy humbling, just as one deserves.

Every time I learn a new language, I forget the .

• That both your tongue and your mind need to unlearn how to speak before you learn anew.

• That learning with urgency over consistency will only leave you tongue-tied.

• To trust the teacher.

Day 1 of learning Mandarin was that all over again.