Stop Rote Learning! Language Isn't a Museum, But a Gushing River
Have you ever felt this way?
After years of toiling to learn English, mugging up countless words and grammar rules, you chat with a foreigner or watch the latest American series and suddenly realise you're always a step behind. A word you just learned yesterday has a new meaning today; the standard usage from textbooks is replaced by all sorts of slang and abbreviations online.
This feeling of frustration is like painstakingly studying an old map, only to find the city beneath your feet is now full of skyscrapers and roads have been re-routed.
So, where exactly does the problem lie?
The problem isn't with you, but with how we perceive language. We are always taught that language is a specimen in a museum, a set of unchangeable rules written in books. We meticulously study its 'fossils' like archaeologists.
But the truth is: Language is fundamentally not a static museum, but a vibrant, ever-flowing river.
Imagine this river.
Its source is ancient languages from thousands of years ago. The river flows from its source, moving ever forward. It carves out new channels, just as grammar quietly evolves; it carries along silt and stones from its path, just as language absorbs cultures from around the world, creating new vocabulary and slang; it branches into countless tributaries, forming various accents and dialects; sometimes, some tributaries dry up, like Latin, becoming 'dead' languages, leaving only traces of their riverbeds.
Every sentence we speak, every word we use today, is the newest, most vibrant ripple in this great river.
So, when you hear a new online word or an unfamiliar expression, you haven't encountered an 'error', but rather witnessed this river gushing past you. This should be an exciting thing!
So, how do we navigate this river without being overwhelmed by its waves?
The answer is: Don't try to memorise the map of the entire riverbed; instead, learn to swim and feel the direction of the current.
Let go of the obsession with 'perfection' and 'standards'. The primary purpose of language is communication, connection, not examination. Instead of studying the chemical composition of the water from the bank, just jump in and feel its temperature and flow.
Watch more, listen more, speak more. Watch the latest films, listen to current popular songs, and most importantly, interact with real people. Feel how language is used in real-life situations; you'll find it a thousand times more vibrant and interesting than textbooks.
Of course, where do we find partners to 'swim' with? Especially when they are on the other side of the world?
This is where technology becomes our most powerful paddle. Tools like Intent are precisely made for this. It's a chat App with built-in AI translation, allowing you to directly jump into the 'river' of real conversations and interact with people from any corner of the world. You are no longer learning isolated words, but experiencing the living vitality of a language in this very moment.
So, my friend, stop being a language 'archaeologist'.
Become a language 'surfer', and ride the changing waves. Next time, when you hear a new word or a new expression, don't feel discouraged. Instead, feel excited, because you are standing at the forefront, witnessing this great river of language gushing forward.