Your Language Learning Weaknesses

[Sarafina]

So many. Honestly the harder question would be what is my language learning strength I think mine boils down to self-sabotage and procrastination. I have this crippling fear of wasting countless hours, sweat and blood into something that I may not even be good at/ fail to reach my goal. The 'healthy' thing to do is to try my best and spend even more hours trying to achieve my goals and realise that even if I don't exactly reach my exact goals at least I would progressed immensely.

But me. Nope . Instead my brain thinks that I can't waste my time in trying to achieve language-related goal if I don't spend any significant amount of time trying to achieve it so I can conveniently blame my lack of hours

[mick33]

I'm another one that sometimes lacks self-discipline and procrastinates. Fortunately I'm a false beginner in a few languages so when I lose interest in one language I usually just start learning another language for a little while. Oh wait, that bit about being a false beginner might also be a weakness . Then again, language wanderlust is fun for me. In small doses, it helps prevent boredom and frustration.

[Expugnator]

I don't diversify my learning well enough; I rarely do output, always procrastinating intensive writing and only doing occasional chatting;

I avoid longer sessions like the plague, but that might be the factor behind my persistence at the B1 plateau.

[Xmmm]

I throw myself at native materials that are too difficult for me.

After about 400 hours of Russian I started trying to read Russian literary classics. Didn't work out well. Wasted hundreds of hours before I went back to the dumbest TV shows I could find plus podcasts for learners plus a non-fiction book that I can actually read.

In Turkish, instead of patiently going through my Turkish Tea Time lessons or reading in my Turkish graded reader, I sit and watch shows with 10% comprehension (in my defense Turkish TV shows are addictive). I'm actually going to try to discipline myself here ... if I want to watch another episode of Behzat Ç. I'm going to have to pay in advance with five completed TTT lessons. That might work out better.

I was somewhat disciplined with Italian. After Duolingo I did spend a couple months on "news in slow Italian" and ItalianPod101 before going crazy with native materials. And that study path has worked out the best by far -- carefree, easy. No frustration.

"Shoot for the moon and at least you'll end up in the stars" doesn't seem to apply for language learning. More like slow and steady wins the race, blah blah blah.

[kulaputra]

"Shoot for the moon and at least you'll end up in the stars" doesn't seem to apply for language learning. More like slow and steady wins the race, blah blah blah.

On the contrary I think watching stuff with low comprehension is precisely what's meant by "slow and steady." Not understanding something is the first step to understanding something. None of those hours were "wasted" even if you don't see the results overnight.

[Monox D. I-Fly]

"Shoot for the moon and at least you'll end up in the stars" doesn't seem to apply for language learning. More like slow and steady wins the race, blah blah blah.

I mean... stars are way further than the moon...

[zjones]

1. I struggle with high expectations and perfectionism, just like everyone else apparently.
2. Similar to the first one, I am afraid of making mistakes, especially if they are surprises (I had no idea that I messed up) or if there are lots all in a row. I take my mistakes personally instead of accepting that I'm a learner.
3. I detest flashcards, I really do. My vocabulary suffers.
4. I don't replace enough of my regular English activities with French ones. English feels like taking a nap after grinding away at French for several hours, so I give in at the end of the day.
5. I don't always take the time to fully understand non-idiomatic grammar concepts, even though I know that I will retain it better if I internalize it.

[zjones]

I forgot about this. I do this too. The target language stuff feels like work, as you say, vs. the mindless English stuff. For me it's both avoiding more work but also avoiding feeling disappointed. I'm very critical of my ability and know I feel disappointment when I can't understand things as well as I think I should. If I were 100% logical I would choose to do the Swedish thing because working on it would make me more likely down the road to understand, certainly more likely than if I avoid it! But I'm human, not pure logic.

Oh yes, the disappointment and self-criticism is present for me as well, especially if I'm checking out a brand new native source like a YouTube channel. I never know how fast or mumbly someone is going to be, or what their vocabulary is like. Or maybe I'm just having one of those bad days, you know? I love to blame myself and attribute my lack of comprehension to lack of progress, but I'd like to change that so I can learn instead of criticizing myself.

[Cainntear]

On the contrary I think watching stuff with low comprehension is precisely what's meant by "slow and steady." Not understanding something is the first step to understanding something. None of those hours were "wasted" even if you don't see the results overnight.

I really don’t believe that listening to something you don’t understand is of much use at an early stage.

[kulaputra]

On the contrary I think watching stuff with low comprehension is precisely what's meant by "slow and steady." Not understanding something is the first step to understanding something. None of those hours were "wasted" even if you don't see the results overnight.

I really don’t believe that listening to something you don’t understand is of much use at an early stage.

Not understanding is a necessary prerequisite for understanding. You'll never understand something without first not understanding it.