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Benvenuti, Bienvenue, Croeso and Welcome.
Hi, I’m Juliet. Join me on my language learning journey and discover my thoughts on different aspects of language learning with the A Language Learning Tale Podcast. Today, the subject is …
BUT THEY SAID TO DO IT THAT WAY
Or
WHEN IT DOESN’T WORK FOR YOU
There are a lot of language learners, or polyglots, if you prefer, giving advice on language learning on the Internet. Ahem. Everyone has their favourite people they follow on a particular platform, often the people with the biggest followings, because they get recommended most often. And many will attempt to learn a language in the way these people say languages should be learnt, to the letter.
The problem with this, of course, is that not everything a particular person mentions will work for everyone. Some people, for example, swear by using a spaced repetition app, like ANKI, to learn vocabulary, whereas others, like me, find that a pointless exercise and think that reading and listening is much more likely to help you to acquire vocabulary than, basically, learning by rote, which is what I consider ANKI to be. You will likely fall into one camp or the other, eventually. However, if something doesn’t work for you when you start language learning, you might begin to think that you’re doing it wrong, that it’s your fault, when that is far from the case. This is the danger of only consuming advice from one or two people.
I’ll say it again. Not every piece of advice on language learning you see on the Internet will work for you. We are all different. We all prefer different activities. We all have different amounts of time available. We all have different brains. It’s fine to try things out to see if they work for you, but if they don’t , you shouldn’t blame yourself for the failure, you should just try to find a different way of achieving the same thing.
Also, there’s a possibility that your failure might just mean that you’re trying that particular thing too early, that it’s too advanced for you, but this can be difficult to recognise if you don’t yet know your language learning preferences. Honestly, you can be bombarded with so much information that you think you have to do it all at once. This is far from true. If it doesn’t work because you can’t understand what you’re doing, it’s probably too early.
If something doesn’t work for you, it doesn’t mean that the person giving that advice is wrong. Most people aren’t going to give you advice that they don’t follow themselves. They’re genuinely showing you things that work for them. If you find the advice of a particular person doesn’t gel with you, find someone else giving different advice and try out what they suggest.
The same goes for apps. I use Duolingo for my language learning, it works for me, but I know that it doesn’t work for a lot of people and gets a bad rap from many. But there are a tonne of apps out there in that big old world of the Internet that tackle language learning in a slightly different way and most will have a free tier, even if it’s only a trial for, say a month, so you can see if the app works for you. Try out others. You might be surprised.
So, in conclusion, do not get stuck in your ways if it’s not working. Try something different. Plus, having a whole load of language learning techniques in your arsenal is never a bad thing. It will stop things becoming stale.
That’s all for today’s episode. Don’t forget to join me again next time, for more language learning tips, tricks and tales and in the meantime, check out the A Language Learning Tale YouTube channel for additional, non-podcast content.
Ciao, salut, hwyl and bye for now.