In this first article that I read, Is Learning a Language Difficult? It spoke about learning a new language and how people think when learning a foreign language such as "It's impossible" or "it's too hard". When reading this article I fell guilty to some of the examples they gave as to why some people may think learning a new language is difficult. One of the examples that David gave was the limiting beliefs some may have like "I'm not smart enough", you have to have more confidence when learning a new language. Trust me, I know all too well about that, i'm still working on it. It's okay to may mistakes, like some may say " Through trial and error is the best way to learn". I loved all the people David interviewed too because they all had a similar reason as to why they believe learning a language is not difficult but also gave advice on to how it could be easier on you. Of course learning a language isn't easy enough for everyone to learn but is easy to learn for those who are willing to put in the work to learning a new language. Hardwork will never fail, in the long run your perseverance will show when you start speaking the language. Although it may not be as fast as you'd like, it will show! Also in this article, one of the things I find a difficult obstacle when learning a language is the pronunciation. Susanna Zaraysky briefly touched upon that subject by saying, " pronunciation can be difficult if one is not used to new sounds and listening carefully but once the language learner gets used to learning how to listen this barrier melts away." And i totally agree with her! I'm learning Japanese and one of the things I would sometimes have trouble with was the sounds of different words mixed together (since we didn't have those sounds mixed together in English), I would get tough twisted too! but with time, as I would hear the professor pronounce it, I got better at speaking as well as listening to the different pronunciations of words. I found this really cool video below show different pronunciations different language had of a specific word.
Cool right?! He has a lot of other videos that are like this so if you liked this you could check out his other videos as well that are related to this as well right here. In this next article (10 most common mistakes) It talks about some mistakes we may make when learning a new language as well as advice on how you could fix it. I thought all of those were right on the mark, but out of those 10, the most common ones I've seen with people and personally have trouble with are number 2. a single method, 4. waiting too long before speaking, 5. not listening enough, 8. translating concepts directly and of course 10. lack of confidence. tarting with number 2, I've seen this so much in my foreign language classes and have experienced this myself as well. Since we do have a textbook we use for the entire year (both semesters) we sometimes limit ourselves to only using the book instead of going out of our way to finding new ways to learn the language. I think one of the good points they brought up was when learning a language you should "try different methods to use so you develop a habit of approaching the language in various ways." Since we are so accustomed to our textbooks we (or maybe it's just me) sometimes forget that we have many other resources to help with learning new material. Numbers 4 and 5 are similar because they are equally important. You should never be embarrassed to speak out because of how you may sound of pronounce a word, speaking is a very important part of learning the language and it is what helps you communicate with people. The more you speak the more comfortable you become when speaking and your pronunciation will slowly get better with it. Now this ties in with number 5 because it is equally as important to develop your listening skills so you understand what others are saying. I really helps listening to others speak in the language you are speaking because you start to develop your listening skills as well as learn how others pronounce works and construct sentences and get a sense of how a conversation should 'flow'.
As for number 8. translating concept directly, that is one of the things I have the most trouble with and as well as others who I have talked too. Wanting to directly translate something from English can many times be frustrating because sometimes you can;t translate some words or expressions directly. Or even using some words you need in English such as 'I' or 'you' are not necessarily needed to be spoken because they will sound forced or awkward. This is very true in Japanese because I spoke to my teacher not to long ago and she told me that a lot of her students want to use(or use) the word 'watashi' which is 'I' in Japanese, in the beginning of every sentence, but she said it wasn't necessary for them to do so because it sounds very forced or an unnatural way of speaking. The reasoning behind this is because in English we say 'I went to... I did this ...... I want... etc but in Japanese after you say 'I' in your first sentence you don't have to say it again since the speaker knows you are talking about yourself. Also when translating you should get into the groove of not thinking in English because that's how you start to want to translate directly, whereas if you think about it in the language you are learning, not only are you developing thinking skills but you will learn to translate faster instead of thinking about it in English and then translating into a different language making room for translating errors and slowing you down by thinking about if it's right or not.
Now lastly for number 10. Lack of confidence, It speaks for itself. Have more confidence! You'll be surprised what a little confidence can do for you when learning a language. I still have trouble with this because sometimes I have those day where I just pity myself(shame on me!) but I am getting better at it and of course some days are better than others. Just remember, don't compare yourself to others, some people just digest language very well, whereas others have a little bit more trouble remembering and learning language. My key to learning is working hard, studying, and not giving up! Your perseverance will not cheat you because if you put in the hard work, you will in return get results.
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