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Good days and bad days | ||
Tags: Loss of confidence | Motivation | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Leurre Bilingual Pentaglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5210 days ago 219 posts - 372 votes  Speaks: French*, English*, Korean, Haitian Creole, SpanishC2 Studies: Japanese | Message 1 of 15 27 November 2010 at 2:41am | IP Logged |
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I'm sure lots of people can identify with this; you wake up one morning and everything
feels just right. You're coasting in your target language, all the words are coming to you fluidly, you feel confident and awesome. And then the next day you wake up and everything is wrong. Even phrases and expressions you clearly know, you can't bring to your lips fast enough, or you pronounce simple things wrong, are unable to do the simplest tasks in your target language and feel like you're wading through mud. I just wanted to know what people usually do in the latter case. How do you cope with respect to languages when it's a really bad day? I've been having quite a few this past month, and I'm not quite sure what to do. I feel like studying makes me stupider, and I certainly don't feel like talking to anyone... Do you just power through it? Read a book? Does it depend on the language? what do you do? 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| jazzboy.bebop Senior Member Norway norwegianthroughnove Joined 5203 days ago 439 posts - 800 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Norwegian | Message 2 of 15 27 November 2010 at 3:01am | IP Logged |
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I know that feeling well of not going anywhere some days. I'll take a break and do
something which relaxes my mind, sometimes a little meditation which can be very useful, settle down and get back to a more calm and neutral mental state and start again. I find when you get into a frustrated train of thought it can be difficult to stop if you don't step away from what you are doing for a while. Another thing I sometimes do is go out and jog for 10 minutes and try not to think about too much. Rest for five minutes and try to empty my mind as much as I can and then get back to it. As long as you don't overdo it in those ten minutes you can get a nice boost in alertness and brain function. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6335 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 3 of 15 27 November 2010 at 3:23am | IP Logged |
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Very good topic. When I get a lot of days per month like this, there is always something in my life causing stress.
Find the source, and eliminate it. I know - easier said than done. Good luck. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 4915 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 4 of 15 27 November 2010 at 3:30am | IP Logged |
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Of course we all have those days. And those days where we feel like studying is doing no good at all, too.
If you want to keep at your language learning on those days, just make it a passive day. Listen to music/radio in the target language without worrying about each and every word. Or watch a movie. But don't worry about every word or nuance. Just take it in and enjoy it. Personally, I wouldn't read in the target language on a bad day - I'd be tempted to look up every word I didn't know, frustrating me even more. R. == 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| stout Senior Member Ireland Joined 5156 days ago 108 posts - 140 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 5 of 15 28 November 2010 at 1:57am | IP Logged |
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Sure you get good days and bad days when it comes to language learning..That's part and
parcel of language learning...It is unrealistic to enjoy language learning all time. Edited by stout on 28 November 2010 at 1:59am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5744 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin | Message 6 of 15 28 November 2010 at 3:29am | IP Logged |
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I'm currently having more blah days than not and am finding that these things help;
...watching and echo'ing dialog from favorite movies. ...working with songs, that I really like. ...going to native speaker gatherings, where you already know people who are encouraging. In large gatherings, you don't necessarily have to talk. There's a pick-me-up from comprehending things as well as hearing phrases which use words that you never thought of combining together. And of course, make sure you take care of yourself by getting enough sleep, eating properly and getting enough exercise. Good luck! 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| ReneeMona Diglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 5120 days ago 864 posts - 1274 votes Speaks: Dutch*, EnglishC2 Studies: French | Message 7 of 15 28 November 2010 at 6:07pm | IP Logged |
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What sometime gets me down is thinking about all the expressions, idioms and little nuances that I know in Dutch and English which reminds me of how much of French there still is that I don't know. I sometimes focus too much on the mountain still in front of me instead of looking at where I am and just working to get better, baby step by baby step.
Whenever this happens or I can't work up the motivation to do serious work on French I pick out a DVD (preferably of a film I know and love) with French audio and just sit back and listen. Hearing the language and noticing how much progress I've made in just a few months always gets me motivated again. Edited by ReneeMona on 28 November 2010 at 6:07pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Spanishdream Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4895 days ago 11 posts - 14 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, Spanish, Italian | Message 8 of 15 28 November 2010 at 8:19pm | IP Logged |
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Hi, I'm new here and I certainly understand the frustrations behind this.
What I tend to do is simply power through it and eventually it'll click again. However, I can have days where this is impossible. I just pack everything away and then pick off where I left off tomorrow. Studying everyday is impossible anyway. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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