Learning a new language can be challenging. If you’ve only ever spoken the language you grew up with, it’s intimidating to learn a new language, and you’re sure to have a few learning errors get in the way – but don’t lose heart.
Learning errors are opportunities to grow and develop strategies to help you overcome language obstacles – if you think about these in a constructive way.
I’ve spent most of my life learning languages, and I’ve effectively mastered eight languages. My language success is mainly due to my learning strategies, which I’ll share with you today.
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Why Identifying Language Learning Errors Is Important for Successful Learning
Being aware of an error we’re making is vital so we can stop making the same mistakes and derailing our learning efforts. I don’t like doing the wrong thing over and over, so I know how important it is to identify mistakes I’ve been making that could make my journey to language learning less fun.
Language learning errors are often less about a particular language and more about your approach to learning as a whole. Remember, learning is about remembering what you’ve learned and applying it.
Whether you are learning psychology, mathematics, or a language, you have to take concepts like words and grammar rules and apply these in real life – after you manage to store them in your brain and successfully retrieve them. If your mental sock drawer is all tumbled up, you’re sure to pull out mismatched socks, which can manifest as bad grammar and poor vocabulary.
Knowing what your learning issues are is how you find workarounds that help you out in a tough spot.
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8 Common Mistakes and Errors in Language Learning and Strategies to Overcome Each
I’ve identified some of the common errors we make when trying to learn and speak a foreign language, and these errors are what keep you back, no matter what language you are learning.
Here are the top culprits and ways to get around them so you can learn and speak fluently and with confidence.
Mistake 1: Incomplete Learning
All too often, I find that people place unnecessary pressure on themselves to start “speaking the language” before they are ready. While I believe you should start speaking the target language as soon as possible, you should be realistic and not try to “get it right” from the start.
Your learning is still incomplete, so you don’t have to sound like a native speaker in week one. If you try to meet an impossible standard, you are likely to feel inadequate and throw in the towel.
If you focus on just learning with one source, such as a textbook or a tutor, you are sure to fail. Languages are living things, and we learn through immersion, which means you have to learn widely.
Solution: Make learning fun and complete by finding as many places and methods to learn as you can, but always come back to what you’ve learned. Never expect learning to be complete.
I still learn new things, even in languages that I speak at native level.
Dedicated learning that happens daily will help you learn more, speak more, and thrive. I use language apps to help me keep the languages I have mastered fresh, never leaving these to rust on the shelf of memory.
Mistake 2: Excessive Grammar Focus
While languages require the use of specific grammar, unless you want to sound like Yoda and speak a new language backwards, you have to learn the grammar that goes with a language. However, it shouldn’t be your main focus. Instead, avoid getting pulled down by grammar by focusing on the fluency, vocabulary, and uniqueness of each language you learn.
Solution: When you start self-doubting and not wanting to speak because you are self-conscious about your grammatical correctness, it’s time to speak to a native speaker. Nothing breaks the grammar gremlins out of your mind like conversing with someone who’s a native speaker.
Sign up to apps like italki and Preply that connect you with native speakers in the languages you are learning, or head to your local marketplace where you know there’s someone who natively speaks your language to help you get “foot out of mouth” and just speak.
Mistake 3: Endless Memorization
Many people ask me how many words I speak in each of the languages I know, and I find this question to represent what’s wrong with the view on language learning that many people hold.
Language learning isn’t about how many words you can remember.
You don’t have to try and master that “all-important” language total you’ve seen touted as being the mark of language fluency. Instead, fluency is about how you speak, how much you understand, and how you use what you know.
Don’t get hung up on not being able to remember 100 new words each week. You don’t have to know every word in a new language to speak it. Heck, you can get by with a fraction of the vocabulary, so don’t lose steam by trying to remember words that don’t yet have meaning to you.
Solution: Instead of trying to learn words without meaning, focus on using words in context. Set out on language adventures, shopping with a few words to help you buy groceries, or watch a crime series and learn about related words in your chosen language.
Mistake 4: Trying to Compare to Others
Humans have the need to compare themselves with others.
Don’t. No matter what you are doing in life, whether it’s how you drive, cook, or learn a language – don’t use the measure of others to try and determine your success.
Your friend may be a language natural, and they could already have progressed to the next level in the language journey, but that’s their journey, not yours. Focus on making learning meaningful for you.
We each learn a language for our own reasons. Identify your reason, and use that reason as a way to measure your success.
Solution: Compare yourself with the progress you’ve made since yesterday, a week ago, or a month before. As long as you keep improving, you’re on the right path for you. You determine what language goals to set and how to reach them.
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Mistake 5: Mistakes Become Failures
You will make mistakes, and yeah, it can be embarrassing. It’s how we all learn. So, instead of getting all worked up by making a mistake in pronouncing two homonyms in your new language, just keep trying. Don’t see mistakes as a sign you are a failure.
Languages are living things, and it’s going to end up with a few toes stepped on when you begin to dance the new dance you’re learning. You will mix up word order, call a man “she” in the new language, and even give offense to a local – but when they see you are learning, they will understand. They will probably appreciate you learning their language.
Solution: Focus on learning from mistakes, not seeing these as failures. Make a list of “failures” and revise these as learning opportunities. Get in the habit of celebrating successes and “failures” as being useful to learning.
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Mistake 6: Not Using Enough Revision Material
To learn a language requires you to experience it as a living thing. You should immerse yourself in the language by exposing yourself to as many types of spoken, written, and sung versions of the language as possible.
One of the main reasons people fail at learning is that they try to only master the words, not realizing they must experience how those words are used. When you try to learn in isolation, the language loses all context and becomes meaningless.
Solution: Use as many forms of the language as possible while learning. Read books, newspapers, menus, and more when learning, and listen to podcasts, music, commentators, and shows. It’s up to you to bring that language into memory like a living person.
Mistake 7: Not Speaking Frequently
When you are new to a language, it’s pretty intimidating to speak in that language for the first time. But it’s vital to speak the new language as often as possible or it won’t become second nature and you’ll never learn to pronounce the language.
Solution: Practice speaking at least once a day. I love carrying a few sentences on cards in my pockets, which I read aloud during the day, and I set up weekly chat sessions with locals whom I love to chat with in the language. When cooking, I speak the language of the recipe aloud. It’s all about making it fun and proactive.
Mistake 8: Lacking Clear Goals
Perhaps the biggest challenge to learning a foreign language is the lack of clear goals. It’s not good enough to simply say you want to learn Spanish or Greek or whichever language. Instead, you should be clear. Set reachable goals to help drive your language efforts.
Solution: I like setting meaningful goals like:
I want to order in Spanish at the restaurant next time.
I will learn enough Spanish to follow the episode of my favorite show in Spanish translation.
When I meet Rita at the gym next week, I want to know enough Spanish to tell her about my day.
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Final Words
To learn language correctly and with as little room for errors, it’s important to avoid making the mistakes of not learning enough, not speaking enough, constantly trying to memorize, and comparing yourself to others.
Embrace mistakes as learning opportunities, and use as many resources as you can for truly immersive learning.
I recommend using social media, entertainment, apps, and more to help boost your language skills.
Happy learning.
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Disclaimer: I select and review independently. If you buy through affiliate links, I may earn commissions that help support my testing at no extra cost to you. Please read my full disclosure for more information.
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