Learning Foreign Languages: Part Three
by Beginners for ever – will you ever learn the language?
Why do we always start at the lowest level and never progress.
There are many people wanting to learn a foreign language but they lack a discipline. Every year or two, they start attending some language course, usually the one closest to their home, school or work. Then they stop for some reason (flu, summer, too much work, …) and after another couple of years they realize they wanted to learn the language and start again.
This is the wicked circle. Always starting with the first unit, chapter 1, you never make progress. It is always better to go to higher levels instead of staying in the lowest one. Your friends who started few years ago will now be several levels above you and you won’t be motivated to go further, thinking you can never make it to where they are.
Reasons
Basically, there are two categories of these beginners: those who never finish a course and those who never continue. Those who never finish a course have plenty of excuses, but never a real reason. What usually happens is that they skip one or two lectures. They know they will be behind others and are too scared they’ve missed to much and are not willing to come back. They may think they will be humiliated not knowing the right answers.
The other group is less common and more complicated. Their reasons may be: bad teacher, sparing partner doesn’t want to continue, feeling that the language is too difficult or no genuine motivation at the start.
What to do?
- It’s good to have a frined who would attend the course with you and won’t let you skip the lessons.
- Have a goal. If you set yourself a goal (fluently speaking with the locals on your holiday, passing an exam, getting vetter job).
- Don’t worry. It doesn’t matter that you miss some lectures and don’t always know the right answers.
- Enjoy the classes, make friends with the others in the class. It will motivate you to come back.
What do you do?
Image via Wikipedia
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