Common mistakes in learning a language

There are several common mistakes people make in learning a language. Some of these slow down the learning process, while others decrease the quality of the language. The problem is that many of these mistakes are often disguised within popular exercises that we all tend to do.

Why are the most common approaches to learning languages mostly wrong?

The answer to this question is simple: just because someone speaks a language doesn't necessarily mean they know how to teach it. It only means they know how to speak it. Foreign language teachers can be divided into two categories:

• native speakers
• non-native speakers

Let's focus on native speakers first. While their language skills are undoubtedly perfect, there's one major issue: they've never experienced the process of learning their mother tongue as an adult. They just know it ever since they can remember. While they can obviously help you with grammar or pronunciation, they don't have a deep understanding of the learning process itself, because they never went through it as adults.

Non-native speakers, on the other hand, have gone through the process of learning a language themselves. Their language skills may not be as high as those of native speakers, but they're usually quite decent. This means they're likely familiar with the best practices that would help you achieve your language-learning goals. However, let's consider the process in which they've been able to learn the language. First, they spent around 12 years in basic education, and then likely another 5 years in specialized language studies at university. If you have 17 years to spare, you might want to give it a try. If not, here are the common mistakes to watch out for in order to learn a language more quickly.

Mistake 1: focusing on grammar exercises

The core of most popular language courses is grammar. It's no surprise that it can take someone over 10 years to learn a language if they focus so much on learning by heart how to construct sentences for every grammatical case. However, there is an alternative.

What you really want to achieve is to develop a kind of subconscious language instinct or intuition. Since this instinct is meant to be subconscious, it's definitely not something you should learn by heart. This is exactly the case of your native language. Often, you can't explain the grammar rule behind a sentence you've just spoken - you just know it's correct because that's what your instinct tells you.

How to build subconscious language instinct?

To build a subconscious language instinct, your brain needs a constant stream of input in the target language. This can be achieved in two ways: actively and passively. Active learning involves things like watching a movie with dubbing or reading a book - your brain is actively making connections and drawing conclusions. Passive learning, on the other hand, happens when your brain absorbs information unconsciously. This can occur when you switch your phone's language or play a podcast in the background while you're making dinner.

Pasive ones might actually be even more important. Have you ever noticed how quickly you learn the lyrics to your favorite songs, just by listening to them? Of course language is not a song, it's something much more complex. But the rule stil applies. What matters here is of course the frequency. You must make sure your brain is constantly stiumulated. For more information about active and passive learning methods, check out the previous article about learning british accent at home.

Mistake 2: falling into a trap of direct translations

Many people believe that speaking a foreign language is simply about translating their native language thoughts into the language. They couldn't be more wrong. And this doesn't just apply to translating popular sayings or idioms. There are two main areas where direct translations fail:

• short phrases
• word order

When it comes to short phrases, the problem often lies in how certain words are understood in a given language. Let's look at an example. In english it's common to say someone "pays attention" to something. In Italian, to express the same idea, they say "prestare attenzione". The problem is that English meaning of verb "prestare" isn't "to give" but "to lend". If someone would try to directly translate their Italian thoughts to English, they would say "lend attention" which is obviously incorrect.

In addition to short phrases, it's also common for people to translate the word order from their native language. This is incorrect, as different languages place verbs, nouns, and adjectives in different positions within a sentence. Let's look at an example. In Italian one might say "sono andato ieri al mercato". If someone tried to directly translate this sentence to english, maintaing the word order, they would say "i went yesterday to the market" which isn't the correct placement for the word "yesterday" in the sentence. While this type of mistake won't make your sentence incorrect, it will make it sound strange and unnatural.

Unfortunately, direct translations are a natural thing to do. We all focus on grammar, often forgetting about the correct word order. To minimize the impact of this issue, the best thing you can do is stop thinking in your native language while speaking a foreign one. This ensures that no translation process happens between your brain and your mouth. Instead, you should go with the flow of the conversation and let your brain automatically create the structure by repeating phrases you've already heard.

Summary

Have you made any of these mistakes in the past? If so, don't worry. From today, you know what to change in your language learning process. Keep your brain properly stimulated, and the results will come soon. Good luck!