Getting Mad At Your Language

[PeterMollenburg]

I suspect you are taking on too much, and your anger may simply be, as you suspect, reality hitting you smack in the face (or termed otherwise - ‘resistance’)... and perhaps you’re not being entirely honest with yourself in this case, the one you definitely must be the most clear with, if you are to increase your chances of succeeding. Could you be dreaming of what you want to achieve and not being honest with the fact is starting to appear a bit of an over-stretch? (= resistance against the reality of the situation). What I mean is, are you seriously looking at what you’re actually attempting to learn (all at once) and seriously asking yourself if you can achieve your objectives (without turning your life into one massive never ending non-stop no rest for the wicked study of language with no room for anything else)?

It wasn't originally directed at me, but boy can I relate. I wrote about it on my DeviantArt page: https://www.deviantart.com/hestia-edwards/journal/It-s-Confession-Time-803758307

External circumstances sapped the enjoyment of Spanish for me: but realistically, I don't think Spanish had a strong hold to begin with. Japanese I find frustrating because on top of the 2,000 kanji you have to learn, some words have two kanji for no apparent reason, or can be written in kanji or hiragana, or a word that is pronounced the same but uses different kanji depending on the meaning. I also find it frustrating because the amount of time I've put in Japanese seems like a drop or two in the bucket, while the same amount of time would get me to a solid B level in a transparent language.

Oh well.

Thank you for sharing Xenops. I read the post you made on your DeviantArt page in which you detailed your difficulties and how you are now facing things in your life in a very honest way without allowing your ego to distort and mislead from what is really you, what's realistically achievable and what's important to you... as well as standing up for creatively what you do enjoy in life despite others having talked down about such creative interests of yours. Well done.

I originally wrote the above post for the OP, which you acknowledged, but it's important I think for everyone to be realistic about their goals. This doesn't mean necessarily that everyone should only learn one language at a time, but for some it might. It seems that is the case for you currently, and it has been me for a number of years now. But it's set to change. I still think I am being honest with myself, because I do know that I'll not likely achieve the level that I have reached in French in other languages any time soon, if not perhaps ever, but I'm realistic about it... I think I'll write some more on my log. Thank you again for sharing.

[Gòl·lum]

Yes, this has happened to me. There used to be a time when I wanted to learn 3-4 languages at the same time, including English, German, Italian and French. It was too much considering I was also studying and working at the same time, so I wasn't as efficient as I wanted to be. In addition, I wasn't much interested in the cultural aspect, I knew no native speakers of these languages and I had never traveled (nor didn't plan to) to the countries where they're spoken. After a couple of years, I got fed up and stopped learning any language altogether. I just thought I wasn't good enough nor did I seriously plan to earn a salary as a language teacher. I thought it had no sense to spend so many hours and effort learning languages you most likely won't ever use. Sure, it can be an entertaining and rewarding activity, but I had had enough for the moment. Now, after a few years, I have started refreshing my English, and I've also considered watching movies and documentaries in languages like Italian and French with English subtitles. Since I already speak two closely related languages (Spanish/Catalan), it shouldn't be much of an effort to learn the basics. I'm not in any hurry, though.