Introduction
As human beings, we just love comfort. Your first language is like a nice comfy couch. You have been speaking it your entire life. This makes you great at it. After all, what else do you practice as much as your mother tongue? But the best things in life are often on the other side of your comfort zone. Skydiving is pretty darn scary, but you will feel incredibly alive once you land safely. Leaving your comfort zone for language learning is no easy task, but it’s also essential if you truly want to succeed. In this post, we will talk about the three enemies of language learning and show you tips on how you can beat them.
Enemy #1: Making Excuses
One of the biggest obstacles of people wanting to learn a new language, or anything in life in fact, is making excuses. Most of them are simply convenient little lies we tell ourselves to make us feel better. And hey, I’m not better than anyone in this regard! But sometimes it helps to get a good ol’ kick in the butt, don’t you agree? No matter what your excuse is to not learn a new language, the excuse itself is the only thing getting in your way. Once you stop making excuses and take actions instead, you will be well on your way. We’ve learned throughout the years that anyone can learn a foreign language. It is just a matter of keeping at it and finding a method that works for you. You must refuse to believe any excuses that may enter your mind. No, you are not too old, you don’t need any special skills, you will find the time.
Once excuses are out of the way and a decision is made, nothing can stop you. Yes, it will take some time. And no, you won’t be perfect anytime soon. But that’s part of the fun! Here is our motto: Aim for daily progress instead of fluency. You need to appreciate the baby steps you make every single day, establish a routine you can sustain in the long run, and never give up. If you redefine what it means to speak a language in your mind, it can be enjoyable right from the very first words you learn and you can truly enjoy the ride.
Enemy #2: Language Anxiety
Unfortunately, a lot of people fail at language learning because they are simply too nervous to speak it. They may know how to say something, but they’re afraid it will not be the correct way to say it or that they will make a mistake. When learning a new language, you will feel uncomfortable, vulnerable and nervous at times. There’s no way around it. This will be worse in the beginning, but once you get used to not being the Albert Einstein of language learning, this stress will decrease. You need to embrace the feeling of not knowing. When you are having trouble putting your point out there, it is also when you are making the most progress. When you don’t know how to say something, find a way to get your message across with hand gestures, mimes and the vocabulary you do know. The person you’re talking to will likely tell you how to say it once they understand. Now that’s something your brain will not forget!
What you have to remember is that a language is a communication tool. That’s all it is really! If you can get your point across, it’s all that matters for now. Remember to take it one step at a time. Try not to worry about the opinion of others. Trust me, you’ll feel a lot more awkward than the person you are speaking to. If a foreign person makes an effort to talk to you in English, do you judge them? They may make a few mistakes, but it doesn’t matter, especially if they have a good sense of humor about it. Once you realize that you don’t need to ever be perfect in the language, it changes everything.
Enemy #3: Lack of Time
Everyone seems to be in a rush these days. What a crazy performance-driven world, isn’t it? We are all very busy and that is perfectly understandable. But we seem to always make time for things that matter, things that add value to our lives (or not). I strongly believe that learning a new language can add more value to your life than many of the activities you make time for! Plus, the good news is that a lot of daily activities can also become learning activities for languages. There are many things you already do that can be adapted to create language immersion from home. For example, you can change the default language on your phone, follow people on social media, watch movies and television, listen to music, play video games etc. It’s all about making the language part of your life in many ways.
If learning a language means stuffing your head in a grammar book and trying to understand all the complicated rules and exceptions, very few people would be happy to find time for that. A language is so much more than that and it can be incorporated in many other ways. There are probably more ways to learn a language than to learn virtually any other skill out there. Taking advantage of this will be incredibly helpful to you. If you are looking for an amazing language-learning method that will give you a solid foundation in French, Spanish, Italian and German. You will love our language-learning program. You need to check it out. You can find us at OUINO.com. Thanks a lot! 🙂
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