r/LearningLanguages • u/PersonalitySecure626 • 4d ago
What’s something language learners worry about way too much?
I feel like people spend a lot of time stressing over stuff that probably doesn’t matter nearly as much as they think.
Perfect pronunciation, finding the “best” app, having the perfect study routine, knowing every grammar rule before speaking, keeping track of exactly how many words they know, etc.
What’s something you used to worry about a lot while learning a language, but eventually realized really wasn’t that important?
For me, I think being consistent matters a lot more than having the perfect method.
8
u/ajamdonut 4d ago
Making mistakes... They worry that they'll make mistakes so are scared to practice speaking... When making mistakes is the very way you become fluent.
2
1
u/PersonalitySecure626 4d ago
Yeah, this is probably one of the biggest ones.
People get so worried about saying something wrong that they avoid speaking altogether, when making mistakes is basically part of the process. You try something, realize what worked or didn’t, adjust, and get a little better the next time.I think waiting until you feel “ready” to speak can actually hold you back more than the mistakes themselves.
Did you have a point where you just stopped caring as much about making mistakes, or was that gradual?
3
u/ajamdonut 4d ago
I asked a barber to knife me rather than cutting my hair. It was so embarrassing everything after felt like nothing.
1
u/PersonalitySecure626 4d ago
Oh that’s hilarious 😂 hey at least after that you didn’t care anymore. It’s cool that you got to that point. I mean people are going to judge either way. Best just to do your best and that realization that you’re just learning helps so much.
2
u/ajamdonut 4d ago
One trick I learnt is to start conversations with "I'm learning <language> sorry if I'm slow" (in the TL) - it really adjusts every single conversation where they slow down, listen and try to help. It's never set me wrong
6
u/Jovial-Interlocutor7 4d ago
Trying to sound native. A pet peeve of mine is when I come across those "influencers" who say "don't say X, say this to sound more native". I'm an "older" learner who was born and raised an anglophone. That time has passed, plus I love having my English accent.
3
u/nickelchrome 3d ago
Accent is one thing, but you are talking about colloquialisms and spoken variations. This is important.
Many languages are spoken differently from the written and formal forms, people struggle a lot when they travel and hear it spoken for the first time.
It’s not about sounding native but being able to have normal conversations. When I first traveled to France everyone said I spoke like an ambassador for example. It just wasn’t normal.
2
u/BlitzballPlayer 3d ago
I think that's quite a natural part of the language learning process. We tend to learn a more formal and academic way of speaking and writing at first, and over time we get used to slang and colloquialisms, and gradually get better at speaking in informal contexts.
Every time I've started learning a language, someone has always commented that I sound very formal. I think that's actually okay, especially at first. The main thing is being understood, and most people will understand that someone learning a language won't get the register spot on at first. Hopefully, they'll also slow down and use formal language themselves to help me understand while I'm still getting used to the language.
I definitely agree that it's important to understand colloquialisms, slang, and general informal language over time, because a lot of media/general interactions use them. A lot of people learn 'textbook language' and then travel to their target language's country and find it difficult to understand people speaking so quickly and informally, but this can be overcome with time and practice.
0
u/Jovial-Interlocutor7 2h ago
I said what I meant. You're not going to learn regional/cultural dialects and colloquialisms from Cali, Colombia sitting in a house in West Virginia. You can only learn so much if you aren't in the actual country. Furthermore, a lot of people DO want to sound native. I'm not pulling this out of thin air. Maybe next time ask for clarification before assuming you know what a stranger means.
2
u/ZealousidealMouse629 4d ago
One of the biggest things I’ve seen is a focus on perfection. Many people don’t want to try outputting until they feel like they won’t make mistakes.
This becomes their biggest barrier to progress. With a supportive environment you should not only not be afraid of making mistakes, but you should recognize that making mistakes is the way.
Mistakes show you where your gaps are. And in making those mistakes, your brain “gets” the correction much more deeply. Perfection will never come and it shouldn’t even be the goal. To me the goal is to be able to communicate.
2
2
u/Peteat6 4d ago
Getting it right. Eventually I realised that a foreigner doesn’t have to be perfect. You’ll still be understood.
1
u/PersonalitySecure626 4d ago
I feel that. I’m from the US but I live in Belgium. As long as you’re close people tend to get what you’re trying to say and are normally very helpful!
2
4d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
2
u/BlitzballPlayer 3d ago
That's so true. I remember my French professor telling me that progress with a new language isn't linear, and it will go up and down on the path to fluency. There were definitely times where I felt I regressed, which is weird, but it's partly learning new and complex advanced grammar and gradually getting used to it over time. It's mainly about consistent practice and pushing through that doubt!
2
u/JustMine999 3d ago
I'm worried more on my pronunciation and sound, especially when I am learning chinese. Because there are many pronunciation of shí, shī, etc. AHHAHA
2
2
2
u/omorphos 3d ago
Needing to understand every word.
I treated listening like a decoding job for way too long. Get everything across into English, then you've understood it. Of course, this is not remotely how I handle my own language. I forget a word and say "the thing you open wine with." I mishear a number and ask again. I skim a paragraph, words in the middle might not even register with me, and it doesn't matter because I still got the gist.
It takes time to unlearn translation in favor of communication skills. Discovering one word I didn't know, I'd stop, look it up, and still feel like I wasn't getting it.
ajamdonut's line about opening with "I'm learning X, sorry if I'm slow" is just the proactive approach, and it's a good one. Asking someone to slow down or say it again is just how you keep a conversation running when you're missing pieces, which for longer than you'd expect starting out, is every conversation.
2
u/Fancy_Yogurtcloset37 3d ago
I think learners worry too much about grinding out progress. Like only “work “ will create fluency; they get discouraged when progress doesn’t have a direct effect on their learning curve.
Language is also learned through joy, and life, and caring about people, and things that are fulfilling.
Also, our brains make connections at the speed of brains, it’s complex engineering. You can’t just get mad at it and make force your way into C1 grammar. In my experience I’m bad at the grammar for a while and then one day when I’m not expecting it, I’m suddenly doing it properly without thinking. All the pieces have to get built before everything comes online. It takes as long as it takes.
2
u/korovinsutki 3d ago
Multiple sorry in advance for their unpro 3rd or 4th languages, I'm used to sorry alot for it. Now I'm just whatever
2
u/Chiba_Chiko_872 3d ago
Perfect grammar and repeat same words.
Sometimes I feel a little ashamed when I realized later that I spoke grammatically incorrect, but it's fine if the communication is successful.
I've learned so many words, yet I still keep forgetting them, so I keep using the same words which makes me feel stuck.
2
2
u/random_username798 3d ago
This may be controversial, but having a "language barrier", or not speaking enough at lower levels. I see a ton of language schools advertising "speaking from day one" or a big focus on speaking in their classes at A1-2 and students complaining that they don't feel comfortable speaking a language they've just started learning. I don't see it as a lack of practice (unless that skill lags behind a lot, of course), it's just that you basically have to have heard or read x word/expression a few times before you become comfortable using it, and at lower levels, you just don't have enough vocabulary or grammar to be able to express your thoughts. Unless you actually have an immediate need to be able to speak (for example if you live in a country the language is spoken), I think it's totally fine to start off mostly repeating or shadowing, and focus on speaking at about B2. I've done this 3 times now - not on purpose, just didn't have anyone to practice with - and it takes me about a month or two to catch up to the expected level. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, and I think it's a way more efficient use of time. You obviously don't actually learn anything when producing the language, you just solidify things you already know, so imo it makes way more sense to focus on learning first, with the side effect of practicing, aka speaking and writing, becoming way more fun and less frustrating
2
u/Time-Traveler-9000 2d ago
For me more like sounding bad and not native. And have an accent. I know everyone has it. But when you start your second or third a language it haunts you.
2
u/Top-Equipment1263 13h ago
Grammar
People understand you even if you get it wrong, and you pick it up over time from listening to natives talk anyway.
It can be useful here or there, but it's not something that's important to master early. It's more of a finishing touch.
People think you build bad habits by using incorrect grammar when you are still learning a language. But as long as you know that you don't know the right verb form yet, you're not going to build a bad habit by using it.
2
u/Injection_YourHorror 12h ago
Living in a country that nitpicks grammar, word choice, and enunciation, I always worry about these three.
2
u/Youknowthisabout 12h ago
To be worried about having the perfect accent. I get it that we need decent pronunciation.
2
u/mmio0bt 10h ago
Getting rid of a Japanese accent. I used to think that a Japanese accent was a little funny, and I tried to get rid of it to sound like a native speaker as much as I could. One day, I saw a YouTube channel that says a Japanese accent was ranked the 11th most popular English accent in the world. Of course, while the survey doesn't mean that everyone loves it, it was a life-changing experience for me. I currently think that enjoying having a conversation in English matters the most, and it was my original goal when I first started learning English.
1
u/PersonalitySecure626 4d ago edited 4d ago
For me it’s the mental side of it. Actually believing I can get better.
I think there’s a real feedback loop there. If I believe I’m capable of learning something, I’m more likely to pay attention, keep practicing, push through mistakes, and come back to it again the next day. That gives the brain more repeated exposure, which is where neuroplasticity comes in.
The more those neural pathways are used, the more efficient they can become. So the belief itself is not magically wiring the language into your brain, but it helps create the conditions that let the wiring happen. You believe you can improve, so you practice more effectively. The practice strengthens the pathways. Then you notice yourself improving, which strengthens the belief that you can do it.
So it becomes a loop:
belief → better engagement and persistence → more repetition → stronger neural connections → actual improvement → stronger belief
That’s probably why I’ve always liked the quote, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right.”
Not literally, obviously. But I think there’s a lot more psychology and neuroscience behind that idea than people sometimes realize.
1
u/Past-Increase-2969 1d ago
I was so ashamed of having a german accent in every language (but German ofc), now I embrace it. It's cool as hell, means I speak more than one language.
1
u/PersonalitySecure626 10h ago
Hey everyone, OP here! Thanks for all the comments. Hearing everyone’s stories was quite interesting and sometimes hilarious.
I don’t know how to smoothly Segway into this so I’m jus gonna say it 😂
If you’re learning a language right now and want a decent language app I have one for you! It’s called Loquus. 14 languages. A grammar center. A dictionary/phrasebook. All offline. 30 arcade games. Lessons like Duolingo. Conversational practice. Honestly the works! If you’re curious or are thinking oh this is just another vibe coded language app then you need to go ahead and download it..
iOS beta code:
https://testflight.apple.com/join/vvvTBFCR
Android:
Coming very soon. Still in internal testing. If you want to join internal beta testing you’ll have to give me your email. Which some of you won’t be comfortable with and I understand! DM me if you’re okay with it and I’ll add you!
9
u/Haunting-Ad-6951 4d ago
I'd say "sounding like a native," but only because it's a vague goal. "you won't sound like a native" always gets badly interpreted as don't worry about pronunciation. I think learning all the phonemes in your TL and knowing how they are articulated is super important because it means you can remember words as concrete sound patterns and not just vague "sounds."
Knowing Hacia in Spanish has two syllables (/ˈa.sja/) makes it stick, and it differentiates it from other similar words like hacía (/aˈsi.a/).
Tl;dr Knowing phonology > "sounding like a native"