If you weren’t aware, Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg shocked and pleased the audience recently when he gave a Q&A in Mandarin during a dialogue in China. He posted the video on his Facebook page and it’s a great example that you’ll only get so far learning a language if you don’t try to speak it (even if it’s full of mistakes). So why did he decide to learn to speak Chinese? Even with his billions, Zuckerberg is like anyone else wanting to learn a language – he has a personal goal.

Well, it’s the best motivation of all… his wife. Zuckerberg married Chinese-American Priscilla Chan in 2012, and set himself the goal of learning Mandarin in 2010. He said that he wanted to learn the language partly because his wife’s grandmother only speaks Chinese. He recalled informing the grandmother of the marriage plans.

“Priscilla and I decided to get married, so I told her grandmother in Chinese, and she was very surprised”

So if you’re working on improving your French, it’s best to have a goal whether it’s personal or professional and work towards it. Ultimately with all the studying you do, be like Zuck, take the leap to speak what you’ve learned, even if it may be full of mistakes.