If it is your first time learning a new language, you might be making some mistakes without realizing it. The smallest mistakes while learning English can have a huge impact in the long run by leaving gaps in your knowledge or hindering you from attaining maximum fluency. And if you don’t want that, here are the mistakes you need to avoid.
Having disorganized notes
English learning is a type of study, so you have to make notes for this. Don’t believe anything will stay in your mind forever. While you’re learning new things, you will forget the old ones. That’s why making notes, especially organized ones, is very important.
If your notes are all over the place, following no specific format or arrangement, then it will be difficult for you to navigate through them and find out what you need. Also, the more disorganized things are, the less motivated you would feel to study. But if everything is arranged in order into neat categories and alphabetized, for example, positive words that begin with N, then your brain will perceive it as a pattern and pick it up faster.
Being inconsistent
Consistency is the key to learning any language. Every day, millions of people around the world start learning a new language, but very few of them end up actually becoming fluent in it. The motivation remains high in the beginning, but once time passes, most people can’t hold on to it and become irregular in learning until they eventually give up.
That’s why you have to make sure not to be irregular in the first place. It might be difficult to find the energy, time, or motivation to study English every day. But even if it is for 10 minutes, you must still do it regularly. In 10 minutes, you can read two pages of an English book or watch a YouTube video with English commentary. No matter how hard it is, you have to keep up the practice. Don’t tell yourself; I will just study more tomorrow. Because both of us know you won’t!
Overusing translating tools
You will have to rely on many tools while you are learning English, especially if you are self-learning without a guide. When you can’t remember the English word for something or need to know the meaning of an English word in your native language, you may choose to use a translator.
There is nothing wrong with using this. But always use it as a last resort instead of first. Don’t grab the translator tool or a dictionary as soon as you want to translate a word. First, try it yourself. Explain it to yourself, try to understand it, and roll it around in your mind. If you’re still unsuccessful, only then may you take help. Over-dependence on these assistants will hinder your learning.
Giving up because of criticisms
Suppose you are conversing in English with someone who is more fluent than you, either in real life or online. If you have made a mistake while talking or writing, the other person might rudely point it out, thus making you feel embarrassed and humiliated. Absolutely not!
Psychologically speaking, we tend to remember the wrongs we got criticized for more than the rights we got praised for. Though the other person’s intention might have been bad, they did you a favor because now you will never make that mistake again.
Hesitating to start speaking until fully fluent
A lot of first-time English learners are hesitant to start practicing their spoken skills with other people. That’s completely natural because no one likes to feel embarrassed in front of others. But if you are always afraid of speaking up because you might make a fool out of yourself, you will never be able to speak up.
You might be waiting until you are fluent to an extent. But that day will never come because it’s impossible to gain fluency without practicing spoken conversations with other people in English. In fact, speaking is one of the best ways to learn English. That’s why don’t be hesitant to talk. When others point it out, make mistakes, and learn from those mistakes. Just tell yourself, even if you are feeling embarrassed now, there will come a day when you will speak with as much fluency as a native speaker. So, time to overcome your fear of speaking English!
