Three important steps in learning a language are:
Know How
If you don’t, then take a course.
Or hire a teacher.
If you do, then the route ahead should be clear.
Start
This is always a lot easier than we feared.
Do something, just one small thing.
You’ve begun.
Keep Going
Truly, THIS is the hard part.
The effort required is unceasing.
There are so many reasons to put language-learning aside.
Here are some of mine:
- I’ll start studying again when my Swedish A2 exam result arrives (in a month)
- The Autumn Sale took up ALL my time last week
- I’ll be teaching again in a few days. I’ll study once things have settled down
On the other hand…
- Studying was leisure, not work
- Making progress pleased me
- I learnt more than I expected
Know how, start, keep going.
When you stumble at the third stage, repeat step 2.
(Have you heard Saturday’s Easy Italian News, yet?
Why not make a point of listening each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday? It’s free.)
Pam Crew says
Agreed!! the keep going is the hard part. Lucky me has a ‘study buddy’ and from time to time one of us will say ‘Oh I’m never going to get this I feel like I’m going backwards” or words to that effect. Fortunately the other one is at the confident stage and we talk each other out of the doldrums. Yesterday I managed at least three coherent sentences with reasonable accent and answered questions in Italian…
I am enjoying the News…I listen, then listen and read and then listen again. I have been surprised at how much I recognise….not every word mind but understand the point of the story..