5 Mistakes That Hinder Progress When Learning a New Language

Learning a language is difficult: we all know that much.

However, some strategies are more effective than others in helping us overcome obstacles and conquer challenges along the journey.

While there is no universal "best methodology" to learn a language because learners differ based on preferences, habits, levels of motivation, and individual characteristics, some common mindsets are likely to slow down your progress or even cause you to stagnate in a plateau.

Here are five mistakes I often see my learners struggle with.

Considering the input 'too difficult' if they don't understand every word

When exposed to a text, especially if it's an oral text to listen to, my students often complain about it being "too difficult".

At first, they'll say: "I didn't understand anything."

Upon further inquiry, however, they'll concede that they were able to "catch a few words here and there."

When I point out that they are often able to perform decently on a "true or false" or multiple choice activity on that same text, they'll confess with a guilty expression: "Yeah, but it's not like I understood what they said. I just, like, guessed it. I got it from the context."

To them, it feels like cheating. The truth is, that's exactly what the activity is about. That's how language learning works!

I know it would feel so relaxing and fulfilling to listen to a conversation in the target language and understand everything they say. But you wouldn't learn anything new in doing so! You would be stuck forever right where you are.

So, how can we understand more of what's being said?

By listening to something that's a bit (not too much) more difficult than what we currently get without making an effort.

Our brain works to connect the words we recognize and find patterns based on context. And in doing so, it learns. It learns which words are likely to come after or before similar words. What prepositions, verbs, and adjectives come up again and again? It learns, and it remembers, and it builds, and it does its magic until one day — voilà! — we listen to someone talking in our target language, and we finally understand!

So don't worry if it seems too difficult. If you're able to get the gist of the conversation and catch a few words here and there, that's exactly where you want to be.

Underestimating the amount of exposure needed to improve

However, what I just wrote doesn't mean that it's enough to sit there and listen to all the podcasts you can find in order to learn. You need to work on it, and you need a lot of practice.

How much practice?

As a general rule of thumb, much, much more than you'd expect. Many of my students are disappointed because their listening skills don't improve significantly after two months, of course.

Unfortunately, ten or twenty lessons may seem like a lot of time, but they aren't, especially if not supported by further exposure outside the classroom. Not just that: you need to approach a variety of texts — different topics, difficulty levels, contexts…

There are two things you should remember when you feel bad about not progressing in your receptive skills.

The first one: It really is highly individual. You can't compare yourself to anyone else. Stop googling "How long does it take to learn Japanese?" and trust the process. If you keep working, nothing but progress can happen. At what pace? No one can tell you that. But the good thing is, there's no deadline!

The second one is: It is a nonlinear process. It means that your pace is not always going to be the same. So, if it took you two months to improve your skills by, let's say, 1%, it doesn't mean that you're going to see progress at the same rate in the following two months. You could improve faster or slower.

Maybe you're considering giving up altogether because you feel like you haven't progressed a lot lately, and you have no idea how dramatically this is going to change if you just hang on a little longer!

Focusing only on vocabulary, not on sentence structure

One of the mistakes I see my Italian learners make more often when writing in English is building sentences like this one: "Sometimes is possible to…"

Why do they do that? Because that's exactly what you would do in Italian, where you don't need to have an explicit subject for your verb ("it").

Another similar mistake: "I had no idea how funny could be an art lesson."

Once again, this is exactly how we would build the same sentence in Italian if we wanted to emphasize the "funny" quality of the lesson.

But how come my students don't notice how unnatural these sentences sound despite being so intensely exposed to the target language?

Because they don't focus on word order but rather direct their explicit attention exclusively to vocabulary and grammar: choice of words and verb tenses, for example. These aspects, although more evident and surely relevant, are not the only ones to consider. It is worth taking the time to examine the language at the sentence level, too!

Translating every word from our L1 when producing language

No matter how much I ask my learners to avoid googling words during our sessions, they keep doing it. Not out of defiance! They just look words up because they're genuinely sure they need that word to keep talking and express what they want to say.

Picking up the habit of circumnavigating unknown or forgotten words and finding creative solutions is not easy, but it's a lifesaver because we're never going to know all the words in our target language (maybe not even in our L1).

"But if I don't look up words, how am I supposed to learn new words?" a learner may ask.

Of course, I'm in favor of looking up words. Just not while you talk, but afterward!

Plus, I'm not only talking about the highly specific vocabulary you may not have available when you're talking — such as saying "the thing you use to open bottles" if you don't know the word for "corkscrew."

I'm also talking about formulating your sentences with the language you have. Sometimes, I'll give my students a generic prompt for conversation, such as: "How important is art in your life?" and they'll try to literally translate sentences like this one: "To me, art is not just a source of aesthetic pleasure, but also a lens through which I perceive and interpret the world. It has the unique ability to transcend temporal and cultural boundaries."

Except, of course, they won't be able to do it, and they'll spend a lot of time looking up words. And even after getting all the words from a dictionary, they'll still have trouble putting them together to form the exact sentence they want because that's far above their current level of proficiency.

I know it's hard to use simple words when we're used to being able to build sophisticated texts in our L1. But that's a direction worth pursuing because it'll bring you to not just be able to speak your target language but to speak it fluently and sound natural.

Not connecting language to your other interests

I know a lot of Italian and English words related to weightlifting, physics, or teaching because that's stuff I often talk, read, or write about. On the other hand, my vocabulary for talking about skiing or hiking is rather meager in both languages because I never do these things.

In a general language class, we're often busy providing learners with the basic vocabulary they need to survive and make themselves understood. If the class is not an individual lesson, most reading and listening activities will focus on general terms and various topics like holidays, family, work, and so on — depending on the level and the homogeneity of interests and goals among students.

But your exposure to the target language in your free time doesn't have to be as neutral as in the classroom. If you're passionate about video games, sports, comics, mountains, or photography, you should definitely look for resources to learn more about topics you're interested in in the target language. Social media, blogs, books, magazines, or YouTube channels are an inexhaustible source of high-quality language material!

Why force yourself to memorize boring lists of words when you could be watching a video about your favorite singer or athlete and picking up new words as you go? Learning is always easier and more effective when we're interested. Emotional connections go a long way in reinforcing our ability to memorize and retrieve information — think about how easy it is to recall the lyrics to your old favorite song!

Final take

Do you know how people always say you should be able to think in your target language rather than just try to translate everything from your L1?

That's terrible advice because it sounds impossible. How can I force my brain to think in a language I barely know?

The five mistakes I summarized in this story are some of the ineffective strategies that may hinder you from getting there. You're not going to be thinking in your target language overnight, but you may progress faster and approach your learning more satisfyingly if you get rid of those mindsets!

What's your experience? Do you behave like my learners, too?