The third principle is to be thick-skinned！Do not be afraid of making mistakes。Making mistakes is part of the language-learning process。Often，you learn best by making mistakes and having them corrected in actual conversation。
Unfortunately，I run into so many students who will not open their mouths and speak because they are afraid of making a mistake。“I’m not sure I’ll say it right，”she says。“If I make a mistake，I’ll be embarrassed，maybe have loss of face！And people will laugh at me and say I’m stupid！”
WRONG！Making mistakes is not being stupid，it is an essential part of the learning process。If you do not make mistakes，you will not learn。
I remember one evening nearly 37 years ago。My wife and I had been in Chinese language school about six months，and that evening we wanted to go to a Taibei suburb to visit some friends。I walked up to the bus ticket office to buy the tickets，and I knew exactly what to say。But instead of saying“。。。liangzhang piao，”I said“。。。erzhang piao。”To confirm my request，the ticket seller said，“Liangzhang piao ma？”Right away I knew I had said it wrong，and felt embarrassed，be-cause we had studied“liangzhang”instead of“er”in school。I should have known better！And from then until now，I have always said“liangzhang”instead of“erzhang”。Making that little mistake was the best lesson I ever had in“er/liang。”
The fourth principle in working hard is to not ask“why，”espe-cially in the beginning stages of language learning。The more useful questions are“how”and“what。”“How should I say this？”“What is the right word or expression to use in this situation？”The answer to“why”is often a grammar explanation about the language，or there may not be an answer to“why”a language says something in one way or another。So any time spent in trying to answer“why”is time taken away from actually“doing”the language。And as you get to know more of the language，you will naturally learn answers to your“why”questions，including grammar points。
So much for working hard。Finally，I would like to suggest a four-step learning program for each day，based on the four letters in the word“GLUE。”Just as glue enables one thing to stick to another，this daily cycle of activities will help the language“stick”to you。
Get is the first step，and the principle is to“get a little，use it a lot。”At the beginning of each day，get one sentence，two at the most，to master that day。These one or two sentences could be pattern sen-tences in your English texts for that day。Do not try to master a com-plete paragraph or dialogue-that is too much for anybody to do。One or two key sentences only。
Learn。Probably most of your time each day should be spent learning the one or two sentences you have decided to master。That means practice，drilling yourself over and over again until you can say them without hesitation，without thinking of the Chinese first。The object is to make those sentences so deeply impressed in your brain that you can say them automatically，without going through a transla-tion process。
Use。In my opinion，this is the most important step of the day，and the one that most learners ignore。Once you have“learned”the sentences of the day，you should go out and actually try to use them in a conversation。The chat does not have to be long-maybe only two or three minutes-but the learner should try to include what she has learned that day。I now believe that we really learn a language in conversation，not in a classroom，not in a book。Until you actually use the language to have conversations，you will make little progress to-ward mastering it。
Evaluate。At the end of each day，you should evaluate how you did。Maybe you tried to use that day’s sentences in a conversation，but you temporarily forgot what you had learned！Perhaps that means that you need more learning practice the next day。Maybe you used your sentences，and then the other speaker said some things that you didn’t understand at all。Perhaps that can give you some ideas of one or two sentences to learn the next day。Maybe you used your sentences，but the other speaker did not understand you at all！Perhaps that means that you should do some pronunciation practice as part of the“Learn”step in the next day’s cycle。
One or two sentences are not very many to master in one day，but if you do that every day，in one year you will have learned hun-dreds of sentences。And if you faithfully follow the GLUE cycle，the foreign language will“stick”to you，and it will be yours。