Many people want to learn a foreign language, but they face the fact that they are not successful in this. It often happens that people give up learning new languages halfway. But in fact, sometimes you just need to slightly change the approach to studying and your resources will be replenished again. Let’s have a closer look at the beliefs which prevent us from perfectly learning a foreign language:
- Learning a foreign language is difficult. Actually, learning a language is difficult only if you don’t want it. Of course, this process takes a lot of time and effort, sometimes you really face some severities in understanding, for example, grammar rules, but it’s not something you can’t comprehend. For the most part, you need to listen and read. Soon you will start feeling satisfaction from the process and the fact that you’re doing good. Many teachers try to make their students speak target languages from the very beginning. That’s what makes studying difficult.
- You need to have a penchant for languages. That’s not true. Nowadays many people in the world can speak two or even more foreign languages and it doesn’t mean that they all are gifted. It is not the inclination towards the language that is important, but the attitude to its study. If you have a desire, motivation, and real goal you will definitely succeed.
- You need to live in the country of your target language. Look at the foreigners who come to your country, even for living for some time. Do they all speak your mother tongue? Definitely no. But nowadays you can have access to the internet almost anywhere, and at any time you can immerse yourself in the language that you’re learning. Watch favorite TV shows, and movies, read books and magazines in original and find friends online who are native speakers of your target language. The place where you live is not an obstacle. You can create your little learning world at home by yourself.
- Only children can perfectly learn a foreign language. The brain remains flexible until old age. Adults have more vocabulary, they better understand complex rules, so they are able to learn the language much faster with the right approach than children. What adults really need is the lack of fear of being ridiculed and making mistakes. So age is just an excuse. If you want it, you can do it.
- Learning requires a strict atmosphere. The traditional way of teaching has become inappropriate. The more students are engaged in the classroom, the less effective the lessons are. Theoretical grammatical explanations are difficult to understand and remember and even more difficult to use. The exercises of the same type become boring very quickly. Nowadays, there are a lot of alternative ways of studying such as using language learning apps or online courses. According to the ComboApp marketing agency, e-learning is a fast-growing trend in 2020 and will become even more popular in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most people are choosing distance learning to stay safe at their places. At the same time, distance learning can allow students and higher education institutions to access more information and opportunities for learning than it was before.
- You must speak to learn new languages. Of course, speaking the language is your main goal, but speaking can wait. Being able to practice speaking regularly will help you learn a new language fast. As soon as you feel comfortable with the language, you will find a way to communicate. But when you’re just learning, listening is more important. If you just know a couple of useful phrases, you will not be able to understand the interlocutor or keep the conversation going.