Conclusion: Why was I not successful in learning languages before? I did not really enjoy the process of learning before. I always had just a short-term goal (usually an exam)– so even though I made an effort in order to reach those goals, it was not enough to master the language. It was only just enough to fulfil the requirements in order to graduate. When I found how enjoyable the learning process itself could become, that's when I started to see the best results. I wanted to get to know people from all over the whole world and learn about different cultures. I finally learned to love the language learning process. I did not complain anymore about how difficult the language was or how it was different from my native language. -> I did not enjoy learning languages at all. When you don't enjoy doing something, you do it only when you have to (especially in my case). In the past I learnt languages for tests and so on, and I spent a minimum amount of time studying languages at home, as I always felt that there were better things to do. What little time I spent with leaning languages was occupied with memorising words taken from boring textbooks which held little interest for me. -> I used to use methods which were not effective for me and texts which were not interesting for me. As I mentioned before, when you don't enjoy doing something, you do it only when you have to and you do only what is necessary. I did not listen to the languages which I was studying at all. I did not have any podcasts like I do nowadays. I did not even know how powerful a tool they can be. I bought a couple of CD's which were together with textbooks, but they were really boring. -> I did not listen to languages which I learnt. I was thinking about the difficulty of the languages I studied, and not how much fun learning them could be. I had this attitude for many years. -> I had a bad attitude and a different belief than I do at the moment. Everything I have experienced so far with learning languages has been very interesting, and I am glad that I finally found my own way to learn languages. There is not one universal method to learning languages. Everyone must find their own way. I have met people who know many languages and who actually like learning grammar rules (why not…as long as it works for them!). But everyone can benefit from being an independent learner. An independent learner learning grammar rules is certainly much more successful than that learner would be just memorizing grammar rules at school.
RULES FOR SUCCESSFUL LEARNING: • If you want to be a successful learner, be an independent learner • As they say, “Practice makes perfect.” Without practice, you won't be successful in learning languages. • Listening is the key; you should listen to your target language as much as possible . • In order to increase your vocabulary, you must read. Reading is so powerful. • When you feel confident in listening and you know a lot of words, you should speak as much as possible. • You should enjoy learning your target language; if you don't enjoy it it won't stick. If you are successful in one language, you will want to learn more languages ;)
