How Can I Deal With the Frustration of Learning a Foreign Language?
Learning a language can be intimidating. It’s a process that requires a great investment of time. Nonetheless, if you have decided to commit to the process, learning a foreign tongue might be one of the most satisfying endeavors, given that you know what to expect along the way.
In this article, I would like to discuss some of the pitfalls as well as some of the pleasures that come while learning a foreign language.
The article is based on my personal experience both as a language teacher and a student. I use these tips to motivate myself as well as my students. All that is left to hope, it that they will encourage you too!
1. Start With Small Goals
Whenever you begin a new activity, it is always fun to dream big. For a writer, the dream might include writing a best-selling book, or creating a screenplay that will later be bought by Netflix.
Nonetheless, if you don’t have any prior experience in writing, creating a best-seller from the first go is fairly unlikely. For this reason, if your end goal for learning a language is mastery, start with something less intimidating.
Ask yourself:
“What smaller milestone would bring me the satisfaction necessary to keep me going?”
Is it having a friendly chit-chat with the local cashier? How about understanding the lyrics of a song? Or maybe it is to get the main idea of a conversation without understanding all the details?
Setting small goals is important. It helps us stay motivated even when we don’t feel like we are making progress. This brings us to the second point.
2. The Frustration Will Come …and It Will Pass (Eventually)
In the language learning journey, there are moments when we start to question our decision to learn the foreign language. Nonetheless, even if these moments make us feel like we want to quit, they can become positive game changers.
You see, frustration kicks in whenever we can’t handle the complexity that we got ourselves involved in.
At this point in time you have to stop and, as advised by Veronica Llorca-Smith, remind yourself why you have embarked on this journey in the first place. In our upcoming podcast episode on ‘The Ink Well Podcast’, Veronica highlighted the importance of having a strong ‘Why? before starting to learn a foreign tongue.
As said by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche:
“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”
Figure out your ‘Why?’ and reinstate it every time you feel as though you have reached the end of a cliff. A magical bridge will appear and you will find your way to get to the other side. Nonetheless, having a strong ‘Why’ sometimes is not enough. In these moments one has to change his attitude or modify the approach.
In other words…
3. When You Reach a Wall, Change Angles
When it comes to language learning, there are tons of methods and techniques that you can lean to.
For example, some people like the structured approach of studying according to a student book. Other people enjoy the freedom of learning a language by watching movies, listening to music or podcasts. Others like to read and translate on the go.
In my mind, all of these methods are worthwhile, but leaning just on one most of the times doesn’t bring satisfactory results.
For this reason, whenever you feel like you have plateaued and you are not learning as fast as you know that you could, change angles.
In other words, if all that you have been doing before was studying with a teacher, maybe it’s time to take the matters more into your own hands. You can start conducting a foreign language diary, begin to listen to an audiobook, or find other types of interesting content.
Likewise, if you have been studying independently, maybe it’s time to bring some guidance and structure into your approach by finding a professional teacher or following the structure of a student book.
All of these techniques are valid and all of them are necessary. In the language learning process, you are the master chef. Don’t just stick to one recipe that you were taught at school. Create your own language-learning recipes that will fit your current level and circumstance.
4. Be Kind to Yourself (But Not Lazy!)
People who are conscientiousness tend to be very hard on themselves when they don’t spend their time productively. In a way, that is good, because they get a lot of things done. Nonetheless, the problem arises when these people start to become burnt out. Then the whole process halts.
If you are that kind of person, don’t worry. You are not alone.
Guilt is a terrible emotion that invades our minds when we least expect it. Nonetheless, understanding that you are not a machine but a person can help you stop guilt cold.
Seriously, sometimes the best thing that you can do to progress in a foreign language is to step away for a bit. Give yourself some slack. A few days, a week, maybe even a month if necessary. If you had been working hard and intensely before that, your brain will process and organize the information automatically.
Nonetheless, the catch here is that you have to had studied intensely before taking a break, otherwise, the brain will not have anything to organize!
Thus, understand that the passive phase is just as important as the active phase. Learning a language is hard business but if you stick with it — you’ll master it.
5. Zoom Out to See the Bigger Picture
Whenever you start to feel like your progress is not satisfactory, look back at where you were a month, a year, or even 5 years ago. The downside of being overly focused on the moment is that sometimes it makes us lose perspective of the wider picture.
Truth be told, a year ago you might not been able to form a single sentence and now you can engage in an everyday dialogue. Maybe you were clueless to what the other people were talking about and now you can understand most of it.
These are great achievements! I remember 8 months ago I couldn’t understand anything that the podcaster Leo was talking about in his podcast ‘Portuguese With Leo’, but now I understand at least 70% of it.
Of course, my comprehension is not perfect, but it’s certainly better than it was before.
Thus, reward yourself with a good pat on the back, a movie or a cup of coffee. After that, get back at it and continue learning so that a year from now you could be proud of your improvement once again.
Thanks for reading!
If you want to learn Lithuanian or English in private, you can do so here. Otherwise, contact me via email at: pauliusrjuodis@gmail.com
