8 Difficulties of Learning a New Language (And How to Overcome Them)

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Starting anything new is always challenging, but what is it about learning a foreign language that many people find so tough?

Firstly, we need to realise that learning a new language isn’t like learning and recalling facts; it’s much more complex than that. Many of the difficulties of learning a new language all come down to the fact that we have to learn it differently from how we learnt our mother tongue.

Unless you’ve been brought up in a bilingual household, when you learn a new language as an adult, you process it differently. Research by UCLA showed that children use a different part of their brain when they learn a language compared to adults. When adults learn, it is in a part of the brain that is more active and less intuitive.

So, now we’ve established the natural difficulty of learning languages, let’s look at some specific language learning problems and solutions.

1. Self-doubt

As a former language teacher, I’d argue that the biggest difficulty of learning languages is self-doubt. There’s a common misconception that you can either be ‘good’ at learning languages or ‘bad’.

At parents’ evenings, I’d commonly hear parents say, “I was rubbish at languages when I was at school.” It’s almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy: state you’re bad at learning languages and you become bad at learning languages.

If you’ve found language learning difficult, it’s probably just down to the fact that you’ve not found the right approach yet. There are so many ways of learning languages so before you give up and admit defeat, make sure you try other ways of learning.

Some people learn best in formal classrooms, others learn best by watching foreign films and listening to foreign radio shows, and others prefer self-direction with apps like Mondly.

The truth is, though, if you doubt your abilities, that’s your biggest barrier and the only thing you need to overcome your language learning problems is by believing in yourself.

2. Lack of opportunities to practise

One of the most common problems in language learning is not being able to practise enough. When you learn a language, it’s important to learn it in a ‘little and often’ way. If you only have one lesson a week (which sadly, many secondary schools now do!) then you need to create your own opportunities to practise in between.

As most linguists know, the best way to learn a language is to seek as many opportunities to practise as possible and, if possible, immerse yourself fully. Hands down, the best way to properly learn a language is to live where it is spoken (and English isn’t at all). That way, you’ll have to learn it – and you will!

Of course, moving abroad to learn a language isn’t possible for most people. But there are ways you can immerse yourself at home through the TV you watch, the radio you listen to, and the people you socialise with.

Finding apps to help you speak like a native — Pimsleur, italki, Babbel, and Rocket Languages, to name a few — aids this problem. You can also listen to podcasts and watch TV shows on Lingopie to get more exposure to the language you’re learning.

3. Fear

Foreign language anxiety is a thing. I talked about it in this blog post. Fortunately for those who do experience this, there is a quick fix (the aforementioned post has some tips you can try).

Essentially, though, when you’re learning a language, it’s hard to avoid speaking it with strangers if you really want to progress. This can be a massive obstacle to overcome for language learners and most people who are learning a second language have experienced this to some degree.

However, once you get over embracing that awkwardness, you’ll keep finding it gets easier and easier. One of the best ways is to find a group of people to practise with online. When you’re behind a computer screen, it’s automatically less awkward and scary for most people. You’ll also realise that everyone is in the group for the same reason: to learn the language.

4. Losing motivation

When you start out learning something new, it’s very easy for that beginner’s enthusiasm and motivation to fade. The first days or weeks of learning a new language are exciting and you’ll likely feel as though you’re learning lots and soaking it up. However, no matter how quickly you progress, there will be a time when you hit a slump.

One of the difficulties of learning a new language is getting over that hump in the road when you realise just how much you don’t know and start focusing on that rather than on what you do know.

If you feel a slip in your motivation, it’s a good idea to think back to why you decided to pursue learning this language. Perhaps it’s so you can get a promotion and work for an international company or maybe you’d like to travel and explore the world a little more.

Reminding yourself of your goals can help you get back on track. Also, finding structured resources like online courses and textbooks might help keep you motivated.

5. Realising it isn’t easy

When you first start learning a new language, the enthusiasm and simplicity of what you’re learning can give you a potentially false impression of what’s to come. The truth is the first few elements of learning are language are some of the easiest parts.

For example, learning how to introduce yourself, count, name colours, etc., is much easier to get your head around compared to learning the nuances of when to use different types of past tense.

If you have this expectation that it’s always going to be this easy, then you might lose interest or be shocked when you realise some of the complexities you’ll come across.

Remember, some of the difficulties of learning a new language are some of the most rewarding things too. Once you grasp a new concept and start recognising it and using it, it really is a thrill!

6. Poor vocabulary

When you learn a language, you’ll probably be taught topics in sequence. As a secondary school teacher, I would often start teaching introductions and then move on to likes and dislikes to get students talking to each other about themselves. There were certain topics we’d leave until their understanding of the language was more advanced – talking about the environment, for example.

One difficulty of learning languages is retaining all of that information and vocab after switching topics. Let’s say in September you learn to talk about your hobbies then in October you move on to talking about food, it can be difficult to retain that prior vocabulary.

This is why revisiting topics is important. With discipline, you’ll be able to retain more and have a wide vocabulary very quickly. It also helps to watch TV shows and films in a foreign language as you’re likely to see words you’ve learnt come up. Apps such as uTalk and Ling also help boost your vocab.

7. Poor grasp of grammar

A lot of problems in language learning can stem from the fact that people have a poor grasp of grammar in their first language. This is something a little unique to the English-speaking world, though is changing somewhat.

Many people who are fluent in a second (or third) language will tell you that they only really learnt about English grammar when they began learning a second language. This is one of the benefits of learning a second language. Ask any monolingual millennial (or older) to explain English grammar and they’ll probably struggle.

Understanding grammar terms and concepts in your own language can really help you get to grips with learning a new language.

8. Attitude

Arguably the biggest barrier to language learning, and one when difficulties in learning foreign languages come about, is the learner’s attitude. If you constantly tell yourself that learning a language is hard, you will give up too easily.

Having a positive attitude is really important. This doesn’t mean that you won’t have times of self-doubt (see above), but if you believe in the process and are persistent, you’ll progress much faster.

Some of the best and most successful language students I have ever taught weren’t the ones who were the most intelligent. They were the ones who put in the most effort, had the best attitudes, and were the most resilient.

For example, I once taught a girl whose target grade was an E (back in the days when GCSE grades were letters). After two years of hard work, that girl walked out with an A+ and went on to get a B at A-level too!

Final thoughts

Learning a second (or third, or fourth) language is fun. This doesn’t mean that you’ll always think so! As with learning any new skill, you’ll come across tricky times and obstacles. However, as long as you remain focused and have the right attitude, you’ll overcome these obstacles and make good progress.

Learning a language won’t be easy but it is definitely worth the hard work and the pros certainly outweigh the cons.

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