A quick warm-up exercise: Think about the last time you started learning a language at an adult age. How did you feel then? Were you emotionally sent back to your school years? What feelings from that time did you experience? How did you deal with the initial mistakes and the occasional lack of understanding? Were you motivated to keep on learning the chosen language? Now let's look closer at our reactions better and become a more patient language learner.
Learning languages goes far beyond acquiring some information about a new grammar system, new words, sounds and letters. When it takes place at an adult age, it sends us back emotionally to our school years and it puts on the mental garments we used to wear then. Were we supposed to be the “perfect pupils” who needed to answer each question correctly? Were we the students who could learn everything during classes and had almost no motivation to do the homework? Or maybe the methods used in school were not in sync with our needs, so we had minimal interest in finding out novel details on different topics? Language learning catapults us back to the attitude towards acquiring new information, which we developed during our school years.
Learning a new language (just like any new complex skill, but I prefer to stick to my area of expertise) is a process that stretches out for months and even years. Thus we need patience and motivation for the long run. Therefore reminding ourselves that languages are intricate systems that require hours and hours of learning how to navigate them helps us step into this process with realistic expectations.
If you prefer to listen to this article instead of reading it, I recorded it for you at the end of this page.
Furthermore, embarking on a new learning journey at an adult age brings along the challenge of admitting to ourselves that here we’re temporarily no longer in control, that the knowledge we start with is minimal, which is in direct opposition to how we usually feel as adults. Thus the first row of unavoidable mistakes in language learning confronts us with the frustration of not getting it right easily, of not understanding quickly how the new system works, of being overwhelmed with the complexity of the chosen language.
The risk we face here is to give into the pressure and the helplessness we feel and thus decide not to continue with learning the language. Do the following statements sound familiar? “Eternity was made to learn German and I’m no exception to that.” “This manual/tool is not right for me.” “No manual/tool teaches me the language as I want to learn it.” “The pace is too slow/too fast.” “I don’t get it.” ” I don’t have the time/energy for it.” “I’m too old to learn languages.” As much as I can understand where each sentence is coming from, these are all excuses and we know it. We are never too old to learn (here’s a real-life example). We can decide for ourselves if we need to slow down or speed up our learning process. Materials designed for teaching a large number of people cannot cover all our individual needs and wishes, but we can look for the missing pieces elsewhere. We can also find the time and spare energy for language learning, if we make that a priority. PS: Eternity was made for learning languages – as mentioned in a previous article, languages are dynamic systems that we constantly need to keep up with.
Is there a workaround?
How could we bypass these excuses and move forward with our language learning? My advice would be to make our life easier by allowing ourselves to be learners again. We could start by admitting that initially it is perfectly normal not to know much about the chosen field. And that it is up to us to decide what we want to learn and at what pace, to look for suitable sources of information and to learn bit by bit, so the brain can link the newly acquired infos to the already existing ones.
Will we get it right from the beginning? Of course not. Did you learn to ride the bike as a kid without falling or scratching your knees? Why was it then more acceptable to us to run into a bush while trying to keep our balance? The difference is that we were told as children that the road to pedalling on two wheels goes through: practice, failing and getting back on the saddle for more practice.
If we manage switch to this attitude towards language learning, there are good chances we will even enjoy being learners again. Try it out for a few weeks and let me know what you’ve noticed! And come back soon for practical tips and tricks for a more pleasant learning experience.
Yours confidently,
Corina