A Healthy Attitude towards Language Learning

When I was a full time language teacher, every stay in a foreign country was a linguistic adventure. Now that I am mainly someone who teaches something else, earns my living through an activity which is not related to foreign languages. I do remain interested in them, if not fascinated. However, the game has become a little different. It is now just a matter of communication.
Take the situation I’m in in this hotel. This is my last day. However, my lift is not coming until 5.00 p.m. They’ve arranged that I should keep the room until four. However, they weren’t sure last night whether it was possible. I had to check again after breakfast.
The head reception clerk, who speaks immaculate English, was on duty. Normally he is so taken aback if you speak Spanish to him that it is actually less efficient. Today, for some reason he spoke to me first in Spanish. It was my turn to be taken aback. I wasn’t expecting it so I didn’t start concentrating until half way through. I got the gist of it. He would have to check their bookings. By this time, he realised his mistake and spoke to me in English. Then there was an intense, complex exchange between him and a colleague as they tried to juggle rooms. Now I was concentrating and following the details. They probably didn’t realise. And thinking about it, even a language non-expert would have understood the gist of what was going on. In that situation, anyway, is there any need to know the detail? The outcome is what matters.
It worked in the end. By making some rearrangements, they can allow me to have the room for one more night.
I guess language expert or not, whoever was in that situation would have communicated one way or another, and I’m guessing that is so even if the reception people didn’t speak such good English. The point is that the need to communicate is there. You drop all your inhibitions about whether or not you can speak the language. That, in the end, is the greatest aid to language learning.