Is it normal to be frustrated when learning a foreign language?
Ive been studying Spanish for a while and I would probably say im intermediate. But just now I was listening to Spanish radio and I could barely understand anything. Im feeling really frustrated because I realize I have a loooong way to go.
How do you get over that hump? And is this typical? Maybe im just bad at learning languages.
My dear,
It is normal to become frustrated while learning to do ANYTHING in life. The difference between those who end up learning and those who don’t is perserverance.
In fact, perserverance also happens to be the difference between those who are successful in life or not.
Hang in there!
November 11th, 2009 at 1:21 am
Yes I had lots of trouble learning French @ first. All the "feminine" & "masculine" nouns & pronouns but after 4 years I got it lol.
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November 11th, 2009 at 1:37 am
its more frustrating to have to stand in line and listen to foreigners talk really loud in there miscellaneous language .. in superstores line up
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November 11th, 2009 at 1:45 am
No se, senor. Estudias tu’s palabras, y lee muchos libros! Yo se un poco espanol, y lo es mucho divertido! Tienes un buen dia!
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Mi profesora de espanol, Sra. Stevens.
November 11th, 2009 at 2:33 am
Learning another language is not easy. It takes a lot of work.
My son studied Spanish all through school, and was even put into Advanced placement when he entered high school. After graduation, he studied Spanish through an immersion program for 12 weeks, and then moved to Argentina. It took him a good 3 months in Argentina before he could understand what anyone was saying!
Learning to read the language is probably easier than learning to understand the spoken language. I would suggest that you continue listening to Spanish radio, and talk to your teacher about a little extra help in the listening skills. It will take time, but you will learn it.
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November 11th, 2009 at 3:10 am
yes, its frustraiting, but just keep listening and trying.
i have the same feeling, i feel as if im not good at learning languages. but just keep practising and listening and speaking, and studying, and you will eventually get a hang of it.
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November 11th, 2009 at 3:53 am
It is normal to be frustrated. You might not ever be able to understand the radio. I took four years of french in hs, and I cna read it almost perfectly and I can speak well, but I can’t talk as fast as them and when they are talking I can barely catch what they are saying. The problem is when you learn a language you don’t learn the words fast, but as you listen to them talk more you will get better.
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November 11th, 2009 at 4:01 am
It’s normal to feel challenged (even very challenged), but let’s hope you don’t feel so frustrated that you’ll give up.
I think part of the frustration is the general notion that learning a language is easy ("learn … in 10 minutes a day"……yeah, over the next 200 years!).
Learning a language takes, first of all, time as well as requires repetition, regular contact, and concentration. You also have to be willing to make mistakes and then learn from them.
Hang in there. I hope this helps.
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November 11th, 2009 at 4:14 am
Totally normal but you come to terms with the idea that you will never be able to speak a foreign language as if you were a native speaker, when sometimes you can’t even speak your OWN language at a 100%!!!! I studied english since I was 5, I stopped at 18 and have used the language in most of my jobs…… so my level is pretty good but when watching movies or listening to songs it happens to me just the same that happened to you with the radio in spanish….. we can’t speak as natives and we don’t know all the words, expressions and accents that the speakers of a certain language know, so it’s normal not to understand a few things… it’ll always be that way. Don’t worry, practice is the only way to improve!!
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November 11th, 2009 at 4:43 am
My dear,
It is normal to become frustrated while learning to do ANYTHING in life. The difference between those who end up learning and those who don’t is perserverance.
In fact, perserverance also happens to be the difference between those who are successful in life or not.
Hang in there!
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a whole lot of life experience
November 11th, 2009 at 5:25 am
it’s hard when u learn another language in the correct way and then listen to a radio that may speak it differently than what you have learnt!
u need to speak spanich with spanish speaking people (they’re the only ones that would speak it naturally!), watch spanish tv shows, listening to spanish music and try to focus on understanding every word they say, that will make u way more eager in understanding! (and will actually make it easier for u to learn faster!) dont get frustrated, spanish is kind of complicated when ur native language is english, for some reason ppl who speak english only have trouble with the spanish pronouns, articles and verb variations, not to mention the pronuntiation of all the letters!!
you are probably not bad at learning languages, it’s just something different and u might have a hard time adjusting to it!! spanish is so much fun!!!
good for u that u’re learning something new!!!!
good luck!!!!
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