|
 |
Problems In Learning New Language? | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
 meramarina Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5969 days ago 1341 posts - 2303 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Italian, French Personal Language Map | Message 9 of 13 29 January 2010 at 8:08pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Regarding long-term motivation, I think it's useful to keep in mind that we can't expect motivation to stay consistently at the same level, all the time. It comes and goes, waxes and wanes; sometimes it is strong and at other times it's difficult to find at all. As others have said, the important thing is to just keep going with your learning, and don't expect that you'll feel satisfied with your progress at all times.
Yes, I often feel impatient, but I also understand that my mind, and my life, have limitations and I must learn to work with and around them. When I work on languages, I'm not always feeling excited and inspired; sometimes I just review and repeat what I've learned before, and that's OK. I've learned that motivation returns if I keep going. I have been doing independent learning long enough to know that setbacks and difficulties must happen. That can't be changed, and it's normal. Ordinary life gets in the way, you have other responsibilities to take care of, you get sick, etc., you can't live in an exclusive, isolated world of language-learning. It's better the other way around: you incorporate the learning into the life you have, and it becomes part of that life, and part of you. The four steps to take toward excellence may be valid, but it seems that a very long and difficult gap may occur between step #3 and step #4. The method as described here appears to apply to one single problem at time (I may be wrong and misunderstanding, that's just the impression I have). In language learning, and, I think, in most aspects of living, we must deal with multiple problems at a time, for a long time. But I do understand that it can be appropriate to single out one problem, sometimes, and handle it consciously and logically. It's well worth it to learn and practice specific problem-solving techniques. I am still working on learning this! That was a very vague and wandering post, and it solved the problem of Avoiding Kitchen Cleaning for a few moments. Oh, well. The dishes are calling. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6013 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 10 of 13 29 January 2010 at 8:16pm | IP Logged | ||
Thanks very much -- that quote is repeated a lot and I always figured that there was something fishy about it*. * Explanation of the idiom: fish has a strong smell. Things start to smell funny when they go bad. If someone tries to sell you food that "smells funny" or "smells fishy", he's probably selling you food that you shouldn't eat. The idiom is used exclusively metaphorically: when someone gives us information that is suspect, we liken it to them selling us food that has gone bad. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ChrisVincent Bilingual Tetraglot Newbie Mauritius quicklearn.t35.com Joined 5437 days ago 23 posts - 33 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Italian, Spanish Studies: German | Message 11 of 13 03 February 2010 at 12:54pm | IP Logged | ||
It's good to know that the origin of the English word 'crisis' has a positive connotation. Maybe motivational speakers will use it more often now. As for the chinese word, it was made popular by John F. Kennedy, when in 1959, he said: " When written in Chinese the word crisis is composed of two characters. One represents danger, and the other represents opportunity. " Since then, many politicians have used it as well as self-development gurus to motivate their students. Regardless of whether it is used in English or in chinese, the important thing is the underlying meaning - that every problem has a solution. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ChrisVincent Bilingual Tetraglot Newbie Mauritius quicklearn.t35.com Joined 5437 days ago 23 posts - 33 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Italian, Spanish Studies: German | Message 12 of 13 04 February 2010 at 7:31am | IP Logged | ||
|
Thanks to ovaltined, OlafP, GauchoBoaCepa, datsunking1, meramarina for sharing their problems in learning a new language.
This will help in finding a solution. Some posters have already offered some advice, so thanks to them as well. Hopefully this will also encourage others who have the same problems, since this will show that the problems are quite common, and thus can be overcome. I invite viewers to continue to share their problems, no matter how insignificant - once we have enough, we can focus on the solutions. Edited by ChrisVincent on 05 February 2010 at 7:49am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| darkwhispersdal Senior Member Wales Joined 6042 days ago 294 posts - 363 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Ancient Greek, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, Japanese, Latin | Message 13 of 13 04 February 2010 at 11:45pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I have to set myself a list of short term goals per week. I try to achieve at least a third of everything on my list. If I achieve more I give myself a reward such as go to the movies, buy a DVD, buy tickets to see a concert, etc I've found it motivates me to go above the minimum targets I've set myself. I also set days for one language only for example Thursday is Russian day so I only take Russian reading material to work, only listen to Russian on MP3 player and in the car and try to think in Russian when I can during the day.
1 person has voted this message useful |
If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login. If you are not already registered you must first register
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
