Language Learning Sins: Never Do These Again!

Language Learning Sins

Just like the title sounds, doing these things while you’re learning a language are basically sins. They’re bad for you and slow down your overall progress which can make you frustrated and decrease your motivation. So let’s go through the top 7 language learning sins we’ve identified here at MosaLingua so you can learn from the mistakes we made.

Relying on Motivation

Sin number one is relying on motivation! Motivation is great… until it’s gone. In the beginning, everything feels exciting. But once the honeymoon phase is over, relying on motivation isn’t enough. It’s a recipe for inconsistency or worse, quitting!

So, what’s the solution? Discipline and routine. Instead of feeling like studying, successful learners follow a plan. A daily routine. Even just 10 minutes beats motivation, because discipline wins every time.

Ignoring Listening Practice

This happens to many language learners, where you’re working on increasing your vocabulary, reading and writing, but they when you try to listen or speak, the words just don’t seem to come out.

There are several reasons that listening and speaking can be so hard. Native speakers often combine or abbreviate words that wouldn’t necessarily show up in textbooks. They may also use idioms or slang. But most of all, if you’ve never practiced listening to people speak the language, then there’s no way for you to understand.

The fix? Start listening from day one. Even if you don’t understand everything, it will train your ear overtime and familiarize you with the sound of the language. To do this, you can use any audio content you like: podcasts, sitcoms, movies, YouTube videos, etc. Practicing with this will train your ear to recognize sounds and words faster.

Relying Only on Textbooks

So, textbooks can be really helpful. The problem is that they teach mainly ‘classroom language’ or more ‘formal language.’ And most people in real life
don’t talk like that. If you rely only on textbooks you might end up learning words and phrases that are not commonly used!

To avoid this sin, you want to make sure you balance out textbooks with real-life content. That could be audio content like we listed above or that could be the MosaLingua app which teaches you how to speak like people in real life.

Avoiding Speaking

Many new learners avoid speaking until they feel like they’re “good enough.” The problem with that is when you’re learning a language, there’s no definite point where you feel “good enough.” The only way to get fluent at a language is to start speaking! It sounds terrifying, but that’s the way it works.

So all you have to do is to start speaking. Practice with yourself, in a mirror, try shadowing, or mix your target language with your native language when you start out! Anything you can think of to get your mouth moving and improve your speaking skills.

Fear of Making Mistakes

There are SO many people that are afraid of making mistakes and it ends up holding them back. In reality, mistakes are actually a sign that you’re learning. There’s a reason why kids learn languages so fast! It’s because they’re constantly making mistakes and learning from corrections.

Making mistakes is the fastest way to fluency. So try to put down that fear of being judged or feeling ashamed. You’re learning! And that’s already more than most people.

Underestimating Culture

Language isn’t just about words, it’s about culture! Knowing grammar and vocabulary isn’t enough. You also need to understand how
people use the language in real life or you might still sound a little off. As an example, Did you know that in Japan, saying “no” directly is considered rude? People use subtle phrases like “it might be difficult…” to say no in a polite way. And the reason for that is cultural!

So to address this sin, immerse yourself in the culture in any way you can. Try watching movies, listening to music, reading about traditions, and observe how people are communicating with each other in different spaces.

Giving Up Too Soon

And last but not least, the final sin AND the worst sin is giving up too soon. People sometimes quit because they think they’re not good at learning languages, they don’t feel like they have enough time, and so on. Learning a language isn’t a straight path, it’s full of ups and downs. Some days you feel like a genius, other days you feel stuck. But progress always happens if you keep going.

So when you feel like quitting, remember WHY you started to learn that language in the first place. You had a reason when you started, and that reason will help you keep motivation even through the frustrating parts of learning.

VIDEO – Language Learning Sins: 7 Things I’ll NEVER Do Again!

You can find all of these tips in the video below. Our teacher, Lisa, shares some of her background with language learning and some of her own experiences with these language learning sins. This video is in English with subtitles available in 7 different languages! Just click the gear in the bottom right corner and get in some listening practice.

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