5 most common language learning obstacles

In today’s article I want to talk about the 5 most common obstacles people face when learning a language. Maybe this will answer some questions for those of you who still are struggling to learn that new language you always wanted to speak

1 Finding the right materials

This is one of the most important things when you want to learn a new language. You have to find materials to start learning. Or  more specifically the right materials. There are thousands of different books, apps, video’s, that you can use but the trick is to choose the one’s that will help you the most. That can differ for everyone, everyone has a different method that suits best for them. Of course you can ask other people who also learnt the same language for advice but you always should be looking for the method that suits best for you.

In my opinion everyone is different and that’s the same in studying.

2 Not seeing results

At the beginning stage of learning a language, you will learn a lot of new things, everything is new so you are excited. But as soon as you have the B2 level, it will take a lot more time to reach a C1 level. It even will become a little boring, because you don’t feel like improving anymore.

Why is that?

When you are at stage B2, you can have fluent conversations with native speakers, you can express your ideas and opinions, you can give simple presentations… At this stage you are an independent speaker.

To go from stage B2 to C1 you will have to step out of your comfort zone, you will have to use new vocabulary and incorporate more difficult topics in your conversations.
At stage C1 and C2 you are a proficient speaker, you don’t have to think anymore before you say something, you can use more difficult terms, you can participate in a professional conversation etc.

The reason why you keep getting stuck at stage B2 is because you keep using the same vocabulary and expressions you already know. You actually have to ‘’upgrade’’ your vocabulary, that’s the only way you will achieve that C1 level.

A language is something that you can keep learning.
Even in your mother tongue you can keep learning new expressions and words.

3 Not having enough exposure to the language

Whether you are learning the language by yourself, at school, on a language camp, …
A frequently made mistake is, not having enough exposure to the language outside of the lessons or the time you study. Studying a language once or twice a week won’t do it for you! You should use the language as often as possible to get used to it. For Instance, you can listen to the radio, read the newspaper, watch tv, or set your phone in your target language instead of using your mother tongue. These little things will help you more than you think.
If you want to read more on this, you can read the article on how I learn languages.

4 Not finding (making) the time

Some people say that they don’t find the time to study the language because they have to work all day and do other stuff after work but I am sure that if you really want something, you’ll do everything to make time, even if it’s just 10 or 15 minutes. If you study 10 or 15 minutes a day, it will surely make a difference.

You can use a journal to make it easier to plan your daily ‘study’ time. And to make sure you won’t forget it!

5 Being afraid to speak

The most common difficulty people face is being afraid to speak. They are afraid that people will laugh or that they will make mistakes.
But making mistakes is part of the learning process. When you make mistakes and people correct them, you will learn from it.
Speaking is one of the most important stages in language learning.

I hope this article was useful for you.
Did you face other obstacles or did you recognize yourself in some of these barriers?
Let me know, I would love to hear your experiences.

Is Duolingo good to learn a language?

As you can see in the title, I will speak about Duolingo in this article.
You probably already know this app, and for those who did not know this app yet, it’s an app where you can learn the basics of a language in a fun and easy way.
It’s available in a lot of languages and they still continue to make new courses.
You even can contribute to a new course when you speak the two languages of the course fluently.
You can use it on your Phone and your computer and it’s free.

I am using this app now for 4 years or so. I really like it, it’s helpful and interesting. I started using it when I was learning my third foreign language which is Italian. It was a good way for me to start learning the basics of Italian and after a few courses I started to learn intensely with other resources.

So, the question is: “Is Duolingo good to learn a language?”.
My answer is yes and no. Why yes? Because it teaches you a lot, it teaches you new vocabulary and expressions. By using Duolingo you can learn a lot but you won’t be able to speak a language fluently by only using that.

It’s a good way to compensate it with other resources.

So, what I want to explain to you is, that I really recommend you to use Duolingo because it’s a very good app and it will help you a lot. But you should know that it doesn’t really teach you how to speak and use a language. So beside using Duolingo, you also should use other sources to learn the language.

When learning a language, it is important to listen a lot so you can absorb the language and to speak ofcourse and with Duolingo you can’t really do that.

I really like this app and I use it daily before I sleep.
If you don’t use this app yet, I recommend you to try it. Duolingo
It makes language learning a little bit more fun 😀

Thank you for reading.

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Don't forget to visit my youtube Channel where I share videos in the languages I learn to show my progression or just to give some tips . Multilinguismo