30 Most Common British Idioms & Phrases
How many British idioms do you know? How many of them do you use? Idioms are an important part of the language.
6 minute read
Do you know that feeling of stagnation when your brain simply doesn’t work, and you can’t express even a simple thought?
And when you are tired of practicing that new language you wanted to learn so much?
That is called a language learning block.
Learning a foreign language is often followed by this mental block.
It happens to us when we are not improving, don’t know how to go forward from there, or we don’t have enough motivation to get to the end of that path.
If this happened to you, don’t panic.
Stay with us and keep reading about our 7 helpful ways to overcome language learning block.
What Is a Language Learning Block?
This term came from the phrase ‘writer’s block’ which writers use when they can’t put their thoughts on paper.
The same issue is with learning languages.
Let’s take a look at an example. You want to learn French, and, naturally, you want to become fluent in it.
You started your French lessons, and after some time, you became very good at grammar, your vocabulary became impressive, and pronunciation as well. However, you can’t keep a conversation going for more than five minutes. You have a blockage in your brain that prevents you from saying what you want.
You might start panicking and getting depressed, but that won’t help you.
You have to find a way to solve this issue.
To be able to solve it, you have to understand why it is happening.
Why Do We Have Language Learning Block
This issue is common among language learners, and there is nothing to be ashamed of.
It is, however, more present among students who learn languages on their own than students in language schools. Not that learning a language by yourself is not good, but learning in schools and tutoring platforms like Justlearn allows practicing and improving conversational skills.
There are two main reasons why mental block in language learning appears:
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The first and most common one may be that you already achieved your goals. Here, we don’t mean your general goal, ‘to be fluent in French,’ but we mean specific targets, such as setting a deadline when learning common phrases or improving pronunciation in the following two weeks, for example.
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The second reason for brain blockage can be because you have no goals.
To achieve something and track your progress, you need to set yourself a specific goal.
How to Overcome a Language Learning Block?
If you are in this situation and you are wondering what to do and how to overcome a language learning blockage, several ways can help you.
Try Harder And Don’t Give Up
So, you’ve come to the point when you don’t know where to go. The wall is here. No matter how much you are trying to improve your vocabulary and conversational skills, you don’t go any further.
As much as this may sound devastating and weird, it is perfectly normal to get to this stage. When you pass the beginning stages, the hard part comes when you can’t progress as fast as you’ve expected.
It doesn’t mean that you should give up. On the contrary, try harder and keep practicing and learning.
Track your progress. Take tests to see your progress.
But don’t lose the motivation to get to the end of your path.
Don’t Force Yourself to Learn All the Time
Many benefits come from learning a second language. However, it can’t be exciting learning all the time. In fact, it can be quite monotonous until you get to that point you wanted so much.
Don’t study the language all the time. Take a break. Relax with a cup of coffee or tea. Find some entertaining movies on Netflix, pick some of your favorite songs in the target language, and enjoy.
Repeat this often to keep the feeling of excitement fresh and to be motivated to keep learning.
Try Learning Another Way
Let’s imagine that you are an English learner. You found some of the best channels to learn English on YouTube, but no matter how hard you are trying, you can’t progress.
Just like people are different, books and courses are, too. The way you’re learning a language might not suit others. Some people learn easily by listening to podcasts, while others find it useless. The point is that if you feel that something doesn’t help you improve your language skills, you should try another way.
Don’t Hurry
If your classmate is super talented and they can learn new rules with no effort, and you can’t, it doesn’t mean that something is wrong with you. Don’t be discouraged. Perhaps your pronunciation is much better than theirs, or your vocabulary is impressive, and they are struggling with it.
Don’t rush because learning a language isn’t a competition. If needed, spend twice more time understanding those grammar rules instead of just looking at them.
If you are a Spanish learner, for example, besides your classes, try additional learning on your own. Luckily, there are many useful Spanish textbooks for self-study, so you have a chance to choose.
Connect With Other Learners
No matter if someone is an intermediate, advanced learner or native speaker, find people and talk to them as much as you can.
Conversation in target language is essential, and you don’t have to hide or to avoid speaking with others even if that means that you will be making mistakes.
While sharing your experience with other learners, focus on their pronunciation, phrasal verbs usage, or their choice of words.
Accept advice that can help you learn better and faster, especially if those are the methods that polyglots use to learn languages. Learners who came to the advanced level of proficiency are the best teachers.
Let Go Of Perfection
In this world, nothing is perfect, so forget about perfection when you are learning a language.
The truth is that you can never get to the fluency point if you don’t make mistakes in that way.
So, the sooner you start speaking, the better it is for you.
Yes, you will be making mistakes, and, yes, it can be devastating, but you just have to think about your goal and the point where you are now and where you were, for example, 10 days ago.
Embrace your mistakes and learn from them.
Be Patient And Don’t Give Up
This mental block happens to most language learners.
If you want to become fluent, it will take a lot of time, effort, maybe even tears.
Learn to be patient and to know that there is always ‘a light at the end of a tunnel.’ We all have good and bad days. So, if you are having a bad day, cool off, do something else.
Tomorrow is a new day.
And don’t give up. Always remember your goals, such as why you started learning that language in the first place. It will help you stay motivated.
Final Thoughts
Now, you know how to overcome this difficulty, and you can stop worrying about how you’ll learn a new language.
These helpful techniques will come in handy when you have a language learning block. Not only can you find a way to learn a foreign language on your own, but you can learn it online as well.
If you choose to learn it this way, the best way to do it is on Justlearn.
Give it a try, and if you find yourself in this position, at least now you know what to do to overcome it.
