My Language Learning Obstacles
Since | partnered up with the lovely guys at Rosetta Stone to help me learn a new language and encourage you all to do the same I’ve been doing my best to get cracking and finally make some serious progress.
I’ve quickly found though that learning a new set on language skills is bloody difficult!
So I though I’d give you all a heads up if you’re thinking about jumping in two feet first and learning some new skills on the main obstacles which will stand in the way of adopting a new native tongue!
Time
I knew i was always kidding myself thinking that I’d be able to smash out German in a matter of weeks! Even so I though I’d be a bit better by now!
It’s finding the time to sit down and do some serious studying with it that’s my major issue – especially whilst being on the road.
10 minutes here and there simply wont cut it – you need to find at least a solid hour where you cna be undistracted and get through the modules, working on the beach all day and being caught up in the social scene of a busy surf camp certainly doesn’t do me any favours on this front!
If you’re not on the move I can easily imagine this being simple to overcome, especially if you have a lazy evening – replacing some TV time for study would be no worries.
Motivation
…and when you find the time it’s then motivating yourself enought to get the studying on the go! I’ve already talked through my reasons for wanting to learn German and I’m very much keen to push myself through this challenge.
However after a draining day of exercise in the sun my motivation can certainly be lacking – especially when it comes to kicking my brain into learning mode!
Having the patience to understand it wont happen overnight is also an issue – I know you have to build a good foundation to work on, but I kind of wish I could learn some key phrases and basic sentences sooner so I could put it to work and feel like I was getting somewhere.
Practicing
Despite having access to the TotalE apps and native speaker options and a Swiss girlfriend keen to chat with me I’m finding it pretty difficult to practice my new skills. Pretty much everyone in my day to day life is English speaking so busting out my guten tags doesn’t really fit in!
Building up this confidence would really help me I think and also help boost my motivation to continue, although I’m immersed in it when I’m going through the lessons being able to practice would strengthen my skills alot.
Wifi
Wifi access as been the bane of my learning really – I only have very limited and very much temperamental, slow speed access to the net. This can play havoc with the learning and online version of my course as even if I’ve found time and motivation 70% of the time I simply don’t have the technology to get cracking!
Again on the move this could be easily overcome (using 3g on a smartphone or hostel wifi) or if you’re learning from home a stable and consistent internet connection would basically wipe out this obstacle!
…and so my learning shall continue! Hopefully I can knuckle down over the next couple of months and get some good progress, after all it looks like Switzerland will be playing a solid role in my future travel plans!
Anyone else learning a new language at the moment or planning on it? Any hints and tips for me?!
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Aber, Deutsch ist nicht so schwer?
Easy for me to say as a Dutch, we’re practically neighbours. Wait a minute.. We are neighbours. I learned German in school for 8 years but I was always terrible at it. But still, when I got to traveling around in Switzerland, Austria and Germany I was amazed by how fast I picked up the language.
I think the best thing you can do is get out there and make contact, try not to fall back on English. You’ll learn eventually :)
Nick Rutten recently posted..5 Reasons Why You’ll Train Travel in China
definitely, it’s getting out of the habit of relying on my english and being confident enough to give it a full shot! I studied it at school too, but in true stereotype british fashion I dismissed it as something I wouldn’t need! That’ll teach me hey?!
As newbie a language learner, you’ve probably heard this so many times before & will probably groan when you read this BUT really the best (only?) way to learn a language is total immersion. Living in a country where they speak German, in a German-speaking house, working in German etc. Otherwise, you won’t get enough chance to practice. I’ve been learning French for 3 years now, still not fluent but I live in a bilingual city (French/English) so I know first-hand how important immersion is.
Other tips: read newspapers in German, watch German films with subtitles, do a German/English conversation exchange (these are great!), after getting the basics with Rosetta Stone move onto Babbel for extra practice & grammar, & set half an hour a day to talk with your girlfriend only in German! Best of luck :)
well my girlfriend and here Swiss buddies are out here for the next two weeks so I’ll do my best to immerse myself then! I’m aiming to head back to Switzerland for a few months to work so that should give it a good boost!
the newspaper/mag idea sounds really good too, got a few lying around at the surf camp i’ll get stuck into :)
Great that you’re learning a language. Ich spreche Deutsch. Wir koennen zusammen sprechen. Help you to practise. :) I’m learning Japanese at the moment. I recommend memrise for vocab when you have the internet.
George recently posted..Homeless, Unemployed and Riddled with Arthritis – A Tale of Being “In Between Trips”.
tried spanish last year whilst surfing in south america and failed totally…hopefully german will prove easier!
How’s the japanese going?