Are you feeling like you
suck at language learning?
I'm here to tell you
that you don't suck at it,
you just got to shift
what you're doing a little bit.
In particular,
there's a few little perspective shifts
that you can do to feel
a lot more confident in your ability
to learn a language.
So in this video, I'm
going to talk about four things
you may be doing wrong
and of course, some
actionable tips to fix it.
If you're new here, hi, my name is Jamie.
I'm a language coach
and my job is to help online
language learners
get past their obstacles
and achieve their language goals
confidently and successfully.
So make sure you subscribe
and hit the bell to be notified
when I post a new video
all about common language
learning problems.
The first thing that
you may be doing wrong
if you feel like you suck
at language learning
is that you're way too hard on yourself.
A lot of us are in the habit
of being so kind
and gracious to other people
for learning our native language.
But as soon as the roles are reversed,
we're the ones learning the language
and making all these mistakes
and being so imperfect.
We are so hard on ourselves,
and this may be because
we're used to other people
being hard on us ,
it might be because we're not used
to seeing other language
learners struggle.
Whatever the reason being.
But the important thing is to be aware
of when you're just being so critical
and judgmental towards yourself
for not being perfect.
Now I recognize that this is much
easier said than done,
but really, you got to learn
to be more gentle with yourself,
and there's a couple of ways to do that.
For one.
If you're feeling guilty
that you're not perfect
in the language that you're learning.
Remember, that's literally the point.
The point is that you are learning
and learning means
that you're not perfect at it yet.
I mean, there's no
such thing as perfection,
but that's another story.
The point is that you
can't expect yourself to be perfect
at something that you are
learning how to do.
It's a completely emotional thing,
completely illogical.
And when you think about it,
what is that doing?
Like, what is the intention behind
feeling hard on ourselves
and feeling guilty for not being perfect?
What's that going to do?
second piece of advice
is to imagine that
the roles were reversed,
and you're talking to somebody
who is at your level,
at your native language,
and they're making the same mistakes
that you're making.
Think about what you would say to them,
think about how you would react to them.
Would you be as difficult on them
as you are on yourself?
Would you just smile
and nod along and
help them feel more comfortable
in trying to communicate in your language
and trying to get their
message out to you,
no matter how imperfect it is?
Chances are, I think you would try
and make it easier for the other person,
so why not just do that for yourself?
The second reason
why you might suck at language learning
is that you're at the wrong level
and you're not aware
of what level you're at.
Now, this doesn't have to be exact.
It doesn't have to be like a specific
like CFR level exam level.
We're not talking about anything
official, necessarily,
unless that's part of your goals.
The thing to pay attention to is
how are you feeling when you're studying
the material that you're studying?
Are you bored?
Because it's too easy for you
and you're going through the same stuff
over and over and over again?
You already know all this stuff,
but you're doing it anyways.
If you're afraid of moving past things
that you already understand,
that's something else to think about.
If you're bored
because you're not learning anything new,
you got to challenge yourself
a little bit more.
On the other hand.,
are you challenging yourself too much?
Are you overwhelming yourself
or are you getting frustrated?
Stressed out? Tired?
Because what you're trying to accomplish
is too far above your current level.
If you cannot wrap your mind
around what you're learning
or you don't even want to,
because it just doesn't
make any sense to you,
bring it back a little bit.
I know that a lot of people
have this problem
where they expect themselves
to be able to do things
so much faster
than is actually realistic.
And so they try to do things
that are like intermediate
or advanced levels,
get upset that they don't understand it,
and then they keep quitting
because it's too hard
and they don't know what else to do
because they expect themselves
to be able to operate at that level.
If it's too hard,
bring yourself back down.
Of course, you shouldn't
be right on your level.
You should be a little bit
above your level.
And this is something that you'll test
and learn and see and be able
to figure out at your own pace.
What's really, really
important to understand
what your level is.
Generally speaking,
so that when you are studying,
you are learning things
that make you feel good
because they're like
just above your level.
Is this sounding like you so far?
Let me know in the comments
section below.
Third reason why you may feel like
you suck at language learning
is because you hate how you're doing it.
Are you using a specific resource
because you feel obligated to,
because you spent money on it?
Because there is a daily streak,
because you have a little like graph
that tells you where you're going
and you don't want to let
that graph down?
Is it the way that you've been told
to learn languages
and the way that you've been taught
to learn languages,
but it doesn't actually make you happy?
Language learning should not be something
that you do out of guilt or obligation.
It should be something that you enjoy
that makes you feel good
that you want to do every day,
every other day, whatever it is.
So what do you do instead?
Pay attention to what you like
and what you don't like.
If you don't like anything whatsoever
about your current approach,
do something completely different.
Get a different app
or different book
or watch movies or whatever it is.
And keep in mind
what you enjoy about
the next thing that you try
and what you don't enjoy.
And the more practice
that you get trying out
these different methods,
the closer it is
you'll get to find an approach
that really works for you
and that you really, genuinely enjoy.
Honestly, there's like
almost infinite ways to learn a language.
So if you just tried one
and you hate it,
try experiencing a little bit,
try out some free trials,
some apps, some programs,
whatever it is that, you know,
really interests you.
Try it out and pay
attention to what you like
and what you don't like about that.
Remember, language learning is about you.
It's not about keeping an app happy
or keeping a teacher happy.
Real language learning
is about what you enjoy
and the skills that you want to develop.
And the fourth reason
why you may feel like
you suck at language
learning is probably
honestly the biggest one.
You don't know how to
judge your progress.
If you know how to judge your progress
and be able to see
when your skills are growing,
then that's going to keep you going.
That's going to make you feel like,
Wow, what I'm doing is really
working, is really benefiting me.
I really enjoy it.
So I want to keep going and keep
getting closer and closer to my goals.
But if you're depending on something
like reaching a certain number of hours
or reaching a daily streak
and then you hit that goal,
but then you realize...
Where are you?
What were you trying to accomplish?
What meaningful thing
were you trying to accomplish?
If you get up to 200 days on your daily
streak, that's awesome. That's great.
But where are you going now?
Are you just going to go up to 300 days,
400 days? And where does it stop?
Are you actually developing your skills
or are you letting some random
arbitrary number dictate your progress?
Because if you get to that 200 day streak
and you don't actually feel
like your language
skills are getting any better,
that's going to feel really crappy
and makes it feel like
you suck at learning languages:
Wow, I have this awesome
daily streak, and you know,
this is the metric
that this app told me
to use to judge my ability
to learn a language,
but it's not matching up.
I don't feel like I hit a 200
day streak,
I feel the same exact way as I did
when I hit my ten day streak.
That's a crappy feeling.
Instead, you need to get crystal
clear on what you're trying
to accomplish in your language learning.
You start with the goal in mind
and recognize that it's
not just going to magically happen,
it's not going to be all of a
sudden wake up one day and you are fluent
or you can read that book
or you can watch that
movie, it's not something
that's going to magically happen.
It's something that's going to take time.
This is like a long term
journey that we're talking about.
So when you're going for that
long term journey
and you don't have any way to be able
to tell where you are in that journey,
it can get really frustrating
and feel really useless and feel like,
why am I even doing this?
I'm not making any progress.,
I must just suck at language
learning, you've got to mess.
Instead, you've got to be able
to look at the progress
that you're making little
by little by little.
We're talking like really minute details,
and it's going to feel like a bigger deal
once you get used to it,
but pay attention
and making sure that
you're getting closer and closer
and closer to your goals.
This could mean that you're
conjugating more smoothly
without having to fix so much.
This could mean that your conversation
is a lot more fluid
and you're able to express yourself
much more easily.
It could mean that you're reading
harder and harder books.
Whatever your goal is,
you really need to be able
to see that you're progressing
towards that goal.
Little by little, by little.
And when you see that progress
and you can feel that progress,
you can acknowledge it.
That's going to give you the motivation
to keep going and help you acknowledge
the fact that you can learn languages.
You can do this., it's entirely possible
because now you have proof.
All the tips that I have
mentioned in this video are a very, very,
very tiny portion of the proven framework
that I take language
learning clients through.
If you want to learn
more about this framework,
click the link below in the description
to get access to my free training,
where I show you exactly
all the lessons,
all the steps that I take my language
coaching clients for absolutely free.
And if you want to know
what other mistakes
you may be making
in your language learning,
make sure you watch this video
where I talk about more mistakes
that cause language learners
to think that they just can't
learn languages.
These are really easy to fix mistakes
that I help language learners
with every single day.
Otherwise, have a wonderful day,
and I will see you next time.