5 bad habits in language learning (and how to fix them)

if you're learning foreign languages you  could probably struggle with this feeling  

that you're not making any progress that you're  not improving and that maybe you should just give  

up make it easy for yourself but have you ever  considered that the reason why you're not fluent  

yet in the language you're learning is because  you have bad language learning habits you're  

just not learning foreign languages the right  way and that's why you're feeling demotivated  

and you feel like you want to give up so let's  begin with the first habit you're probably not  

learning grammar the right way honestly don't  worry because I feel like it's not your fault  

this is something that we're taught in schools  when you go to school you open your grammar book  

and you just go through the rules one by one  sometimes it's boring sometimes it's tedious  

but you know after a year maybe you memorize  a few rules maybe but in reality this is not  

the best way to learn grammar because in every  single language there is a certain process of of  

development or kind of like this unique order  in which this language is acquired as it does  

for often not patient when it comes to learning  foreign languages we feel like we want progress  

fast and we want to memorize all of the grammar  rules super fast but it doesn't really work this  

way you can't just turn off your natural language  machine and guys we all have this we all have this  

feel for a language because you have learned  your native language and you can speak your  

native language really well and that's why right  now when I'm learning Spanish grammar I try to be  

very patient with myself because I know that at  the very beginning I won't be able to construct  

super complicated sentences and the same thing  with English you guys leave comments under my  

videos and tell me Veronica can you explain  past perfect but why do you think you're at  

this stage to be able to understand and use past  perfect in your sentences if the answer is no  

then maybe it's a little bit too early because  we should all start with comprehensible input  

meaning information that is easy to understand in  English when you're learning I am running it's a  

lot easier to understand than I have been running  for the last hour so before you move on to I have  

been running for the last hour you have to make  sure that you understand I am running really well  

that you can construct sentences similar to  this one that you can pronounce all of these  

words really well that you know how to pronounce  ing in English correctly that you feel extremely  

confident about this one grammar rule before  moving on to the next and also one thing that  

helps me a lot with grammar is Anki I talk about  Anki all the time probably in every single one  

of my videos just because for me it works if it  works for you guys then please go ahead and use  

it as well I just input my grammar sentences  into Anki and I delete some of the grammar  

parts for example here is one of the sentences  I have in my Anki deck about Spanish so cuando

is the right answer so basically  when I see the sentence I'm like  

okay what do I have to put here  era cuando era Nina miss papa

muchos regalos so these verbs like era pretend  and then daban are the words that I kind of have  

to memorize because they're all connected to  a grammar rule in Spanish and that's basically  

the way I memorize grammar rules I make sure to  create a sentence that is somehow connected to my  

life to make sure you know my neurons are firing  together and then I also make sure to save all  

of this to Anki because this way I can use the  space repetition technology to help me learn new  

words and I always tell you guys how important  it is to expose yourself to more and more things  

when you're learning foreign languages obviously  don't just stop at Anki Anki is a great app for  

memorizing things but what about your listening  comprehension what about reading and writing to  

immerse yourself in the target language you can  find a lot of cool materials and like cool content  

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your target language because of your country  because of where you're located because this  

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guarantee now let's move on to the second bad  habit you're probably not memorizing words in  

English or Spanish or any other language you're  learning correctly guys I'm not gonna pretend  

or lie here I have struggled with memorizing  vocabulary in foreign languages a lot I'm a  

human I'm a student just like you and sometimes I  feel lazy for example yesterday I opened my Anki  

app and I had a hundred new cards to review and  I was like nah I closed my computer and it went  

to bed I'm not proud of that because I feel like  today I'm gonna have like 150 cards or maybe even  

200 cards to review because obviously consistency  is key you have to revise your vocabulary every  

single day however I think what gives me this  peace of mind is using Anki or using any other  

space repetition app right now we have so so many  the reason why I love space repetition technology  

is because for example every single day I have  a lot of work right I don't have enough time to  

memorize all of this new vocabulary or maybe add  new words to my Anki cards so what I usually do  

is I kind of do this intense language day every  single Saturday where I sit down in front of my  

computer and I just add like I don't know maybe  a hundred new cards and then the next week every  

single day I revise all of these cards little by  little this way on Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday  

I don't have to worry about all the new cards I  have to add to my Anki because I know that I only  

do that on Saturdays or Sundays because it's when  I relax it's when I don't have any work I know  

that some of you guys don't really like using Anki  you have shared with me in the past that some of  

you are using Quizlet or even you're creating your  own flashcards it's whatever works for you again  

I'm just sharing my experience here but the most  important thing is for active memorization you  

have to create strong bonds between like a memory  in your brain and this word so a few weeks ago I  

was trying to memorize this new word in Spanish  El agua fiestas which means like a party pooper  

a person who ruins somebody else's party because  maybe they look bored or they look tired so I sat  

down in front of my computer I open Google images  and I was thinking how can I memorize this word  

effectively and then I realized that obviously for  me the best way to memorize this word is connected  

to the word agua and maybe to the picture of a  party because maybe I could find like a picture of  

people drinking water and then another picture of  a person looking very sad so this is how I create  

those connections in my brain El agua fiestas  the third bad habit you might have is you rely  

on apps way too much to be honest I have never  met a person who has used Duolingo and has become  

fluent in this foreign language it might mean  that it's impossible or it might mean that I have  

just never met this person before but in reality I  personally prefer not to rely on language apps way  

too much because some of them are too gamified  they're too much of a game instead of actually  

being a useful resource for language learning and  one interesting thing about some of those apps is  

that they really gives you this hope that if you  only practice let's say 20 minutes a day you're  

gonna become fluent in a foreign language guys in  reality learning languages takes a lot more time I  

try to stick to one hour every single day and then  I do a crazy marathon on the weekends just because  

right now I'm extremely motivated I need Spanish  to live here in Mexico and I want to be fluent I  

want to have a very good command of the language I  want my Spanish to be as good as my English and I  

decided to calculate how many days it's going to  take you to become fluent or you know to become  

confident when you speak this language if you only  practice 20 minutes but every single day I know  

that some of us sometimes skip days me included  but let's say 20 minutes every single day so  

let's calculate I have found a line that usually  it takes around 1 000 to 4 000 hours of exposure  

of good quality exposure to this language to be  able to become fluent or you know feel confident  

when you interact in this foreign language if  my math is correct it means that you need 3  

000 days to become fluent if you only practice  20 minutes a day and 3000 days equals eight years  

you need eight years to become fluent in a foreign  language if you only practice 20 minutes a day of  

course you're gonna tell me okay Veronica but  you know eight years is better than 20 years  

of course but for a person like me eight years  is a lot of time I really hope to become like  

super confident when I speak Spanish interact in  Spanish in a year two years Max because I have  

other languages to learn I have other problems  to solve in my life so that's why I prefer to  

use various resources Not Just Apps let's say  you're using bold voice bull voice is a great  

app to improve your pronunciation in English it's  great but don't just stop at that right ball voice  

only covers this need of you know improving your  pronunciation but what about reading what about  

listening what about writing you have to think  about all of those things too and obviously  

memorizing all of new words as well the next bad  habit you might have is you never speak of all  

all the bad language learning habits I feel like  this one might be the most difficult to overcome  

for many people because I know guys it's hard I  know you feel shy I know you feel embarrassed when  

you start speaking in a foreign language but you  absolutely have to just think about it this way  

it's just your ego feeling uncomfortable because  obviously when I start speaking Spanish to people  

oh my God I start sweating I feel shy and nervous  and anxious because I'm trying to recall all of  

this vocabulary I need and all of those grammar  rules and it's uncomfortable but I know that  

it's my ego my ego feels uncomfortable because  I'm so used to feeling comfortable when I speak  

a foreign language for example English because  English is not my native language however right  

now when I speak English I feel very confident  let me share another story with you because I  

feel like stories can help you guys learn me  a little bit better and understand that I am  

just a student just like you nothing too special  about me so a few days ago I had to take an Uber  

to go to my workout class and the Uber driver  was very talkative he was very nice and he was  

asking me a lot of different questions and I felt  great at the very beginning of the conversation  

I understood every single word I felt confident I  could respond to every single one of his questions  

but then he said this is Mexico and I was like que  Padre I was like what Dad are you asking me about  

my dad live in Mexico like my dad lives in Mexico  what I was so confused I was like uh me Papa I  

said like my dad why you're trying to ask me oh my  God and now I know that this expression que Padre  

means like Kechi though like how cool in Spanish  but oh my God at that moment I felt so embarrassed  

I was blushing you know sweating all of those  things because I was like oh my God no I've been  

learning Spanish so consistently and seriously  and I don't know what this means but it's okay  

it's natural the more you expose yourself to  your target language yes probably the more  

mistakes you're gonna be making but at the same  time you will have more opportunities to learn  

from those mistakes and make progress and finally  you probably don't have a clear goal I have met so  

many people who have told me Veronica I'm learning  English just because or Veronica I'm only learning  

Spanish because I like it let me tell you guys  one day you're gonna hate the language you're  

learning and this motivation and this goal of oh  I like this language is definitely not enough let  

me tell you at least once a week I sit down and I  think Spanish is so hard I don't like it I don't  

want to do it anymore I can't but then I come  back to my real goal and this real goal gives  

me motivation obviously for me my goal is I live  in Mexico I think it's important for me to be  

able to speak Spanish to all the people who live  here and for me this gives me a lot of motivation  

again this goal has to be attainable and this  goal has to motivate you meaning my goal sounds  

kind of weird for you guys but it doesn't matter  because it helps me also I need to mention that  

sometimes you guys leave comments under my videos  and you tell me oh Veronica I'm learning Spanish  

because my partner speaks Spanish and I'm like  okay but again this is not the right goal let's  

compare these two sentences I'm learning Spanish  because my partner speaks Spanish and the second  

one is I'm learning Spanish because I know that  it will Foster a deeper level of communication and  

connection with my partner whose native language  is Spanish which sentence motivates you more to  

learn Spanish I think it's the second one because  to be honest the fact that your partner speaks  

Spanish or your partner speaks Japanese is not  enough if you guys communicate in English or in  

another language and it's enough for you guys it's  gonna be enough because we're all lazy sometimes  

and this motivation is not enough you have to come  up with something much stronger oh fostering a  

deeper bond with this person it is a very legit  reason because obviously we all want to have a  

very good level of communication with our loved  ones so that's it for this video I hope now you  

know how to correct all of your bad habits if you  struggle with certain things in language learning  

don't forget to use my link in the description  and give nordvn a try if you like this video  

make sure to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to  my channel and I'll see you guys in my next video