Another common mistake in our series that language learners often make is having unrealistic expectations of themselves and their progress.
Think you’re going to get fluent over six months? Are you getting frustrated because you’ve been learning for a year and you’re still not where you’d want to be?
You’re putting too much pressure on yourself.
How to fix it:
Let’s go back to setting smart goals again. This means they should be realistic and that it’s actually possible for you to achieve them.
In the modern world, all kinds of expectations and progress in general have skewed our perception of what is efficient, practical, and, most importantly, achievable.
Can you really learn 100 new words this week or start speaking fluently when you only started learning the language only five-six months ago?
Have realistic expectations of yourself and you’re more likely to be a successful and satisfied language learner.
Key advice:
Set specific, communicative goals that relate to actual language functions, such as ordering food in a restaurant or understanding the main points of a news report. This will help you avoid getting bogged down in mastering grammatical functions that won’t necessarily improve your communication skills in practice.
Focus on themes or outcomes you want to achieve, rather than identifying a certain quantity of new words. To give an example, set a goal of learning the words for 15 different food items if you know you will use the language in a restaurant.
Embrace mistakes as opportunities. You know that making mistakes is a natural part of the language learning process, so don’t be afraid to speak and practice with real people, even if you’re not yet perfect.
Write down any of your small victories while learning. Keep a small diary which you’ll use to motivate yourself whenever you feel like you want to give up.
Be aware that there are many myths surrounding language learning, such as the idea that children learn languages more easily and quickly than adults. These are often based on generalizations that have been presented as facts. In reality, this is often contradicted by scientific research.
Remember that learning a language is a process that requires commitment and self-discipline.
You will see results sooner or later, though, meaning that not giving up is way more important than overworking yourself!
