The Imaginary Friend Technique - How To Learn A Language By Yourself

Remember when you were a child, and you used to speak to shadows and invisible people? Nothing paranormal or anything, I’m merely referring to the person or thing other people called your imaginary friend. And the reason I say other people and not you is because you wouldn’t typically refer to someone as imaginary if you thought they were real.

“What is this guy talking about?” Admit it. You’ve probably thought that line to yourself at least three times since reading this. It’s okay; I’m about to explain this creative power method that will light a fuse to your language learning. By the end of this article, you will be quite comfortable in learning a language by yourself.

An imaginary friend is part of your personality personified into “Something” or “Someone” in your field of being. They can be real, at least to you anyway.
How does this help with my language learning?

An imaginary friend is quite literally the perfect solution to the speaking barrier. Imagine talking to yourself in the second person, in your target language. Wait a minute that sounds a bit crazy, doesn’t it? Well yeah, but here’s the thing, crazy works. The more graphic and symbolic your learning style is the more traumatized your brain will be and believe it, or not our mind works best when exposed to stimuli such as visualization.

Using Your Imagination In Language Learning

Well, first of all, you need to decide which of your qualities you want this “friend” to have. He/She/It can be exactly like you, have a mixture of good and bad, or just be plain awful.

It’s up to you as to how you create your imaginary friend. One important thing to do while creating this friend is to give them a unique trait that separates them from you. For example, I like playing the flute and dancing, so I’m not going to make my imaginary friend (His name is Spike by the way) like the same thing. It would be nothing to talk about if I did.

Eventually, we would run out of flute-related things to talk about. However, if I made Spike-like basketball and travel adventures, we could have a conversation for hours on end exchanging information on the two topics.

The last step is to make your imaginary friend look unique. Spend a solid hour a day thinking of how you want your conversation partner to look. Since they’ll only exist in your mind, it’s important you put in the right amount of effort in their casual attire.

Pick the character traits
Pick the specialties
Design their personality

If you haven’t written me off yet as a psycho, I have some more tips for you.

It’s going to feel strange at first talking to nothing for extended periods of time, but remember that the “nothing” is a split copy of yourself. Like how parents want a baby to make better versions of themselves, yeah it’s a bad example… but honestly, think about it.

Over time it’ll feel more natural and at any point, if you ever feel like talking in your target language, you can just pull Spike, Bob, Rose, or Xamien out of your subconscious mind and have a full-fledged conversation (by the way, yes they are all my imaginary friends – each with their personalities and traits.)

Benefits of Using Your Imaginary Friend To Practice Language Learning

• It’s free.
   • Interact with different parts of yourself.
   • Learn more about yourself
   • Develop your speaking skills
   • Become adjusted to awkward situations
   • Learn about a vast range of topics depending on your I.F interests
   • Learn how to ask questions in your target language
   • Build confidence in just about any scenario.

A Typical Conversation With My Imaginary Friend

You can always integrate a normal conversation throughout your day. For example, the following conversation can take place after a long day.

Me: Hey Spike what’d you do today?

Spike: Nothing much, I went to the beach and played some basketball.

Me: Oh did you win? How many points did you score?

Spike: I scored the most points, 94 to be exact but my team was horrible so we lost

That wasn’t so bad, right? It was like a quick review of sports, numbers, and questioning.