Language learning is hard because ……
You have to learn how to make sentences. You have to become accustomed to the sounds of the language. You have to learn a lot of vocabulary. You have to learn pronunciation of words.
It is difficult to learn to speak a new language, it is difficult to understand a new language and it is difficult to read a new language. Unless that is you believe all the hype you read about ‘quick and easy‘ language learning. This isn’t to say that you can’t learn another language, just that it will take you a long time and much effort.
In this context, when starting to learn, it is reasonable to say that less can be more. Don’t try and learn to much when starting. Learn at a reasonable pace.
It is often written (I’ve seen it about anyway) that only 3000 words make up 90 percent of spoken language. I’m not disagreeing with that figure, which is more or less accurate but consider a few things. Firstly, how long will it take to learn 3000 words properly. Try and learn thirty words of Russian. How long does it take you ? Take that figure and multiply it by one hundred which will give some indication as to how long it takes to learn 3000 words. Or try and learn thirty words of Italian because it is easier to remember than Russian, but (provided your words aren‘t ones you are familiar with) even doing this takes time. Return to the list a week later. Can you remember them all ? For most of us the answer is no and we to revise what we know or knew.
So, now you have learnt 3000 words but you still will not understand a lot of what is spoken to you. Why ? Because of all the other words you need to know to understand a sentence fully. It is often the case that if you don’t know the meaning of the key word in a sentence that the meaning will allude you, even when you understand all the others. The problem with the frequency tables of the most common words is that after the first few thousand, you have to learn more and more to understand much more of the language.
I don’t know how many words you need to know to be fluent but it is to many to learn quickly.
I know that learning a language isn’t just about learning words, you need to be able to string a sentence together. And understanding them but that is another matter entirely . I’ve used the illustration of number of words because it seems clear. At some point on your journey to second language fluency everyone needs to establish a large working vocabulary. It takes time and is not quick and easy.
In brief language learning is hard so don’t be discouraged if it takes a long time.
