Foreign language courses

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I always struggled during foreign language classes at school and never understood how do they create an imaginary conversations on the spot... I need to learn a foreign language and am afraid to go to courses... I looked the textbooks and the tasks make no sense to me and I am sure I would be stuck on many of them because they require a lot of imagination... Too many abstract question which I have no idea how to answer...

I want some positive experiences from others to give me encouragement...

What methods do you use to learn a foreign language?

For me... I got a free pass on a lot of the difficulties because I took Latin. Latin is a dead language, so only written records are noteworthy, so mostly you need to be able to read and write Latin, with emphasis on read. If that's at all an option, take it. This goes for almost all dead languages. Also, Latin is very complicated, but extraordinary logical, so grammar shouldn't be a huge issue.

Other than that, I can't really give any advice since, as I said, I got a free pass on a lot of those difficulties.

what is it about the courses which you are afraid of which is stopping you from attending? x

you haven't said what language you are doing, but maybe it would be a good idea to explore a range of different languages to see which one you find the easiest for you x

if you want to learn because you really want to learn a language as an all round thing, I'm not sure what advice to give :/ x

However, if it's to complete a qualification, they usually have a speaking, listening and reading element to them, and maybe what you need to do is to spend some time figuring out which of those 3 areas you are best at and concentrating on that x

not sure if that helped or not, but still some ideas x

Foreign languages were mostly easy for me. The only ones in which I struggled were French and Latin.

for what I did in Spanish was study every day but learn the grammar and how sentences go together but vocabulary is mostly just memorization but focus on grammer and how sentences go togetehr in the classroom and then focus on vocabulary in books at home and doing homework. I got A in Spanish in high school.

So basically it's not that you're bad at languages, it's that the method of instruction isn't appropriate for you. What is the most difficult aspect of language learning for you?

I always struggled in foreign language courses, even though people kept telling me I was good with languages.

Then my Dad took a Japanese course with me, and I realized what my problem was. Studying.

I have no clue how to study. Due to executive dysfunction, I find it extremely difficult to study for courses - remembering to do it at all, coming up with a plan for what to do, staying focused while doing it...

I'm smart and usually pick classes I'm interested in, so I can usually coast through without any deliberate studying. I read the text book once, research whatever caught my interest, and try my best to do my assignments (one big assignment at end of term is way easier for me than lots of little ones).

That doesn't cut it with languages. I'd have to be an incredibly gifted polyglot to even have a chance of passing a language class without studying at all.

My Dad, on the other hand, immediately figured out drills for us to do in Japanese, and kept reminding me to study Japanese with him. Plus, he and I would randomly get into conversations in Japanese (much to the annoyance of my Mom). I just barely passed Japanese, and it's directly because of him.

Try to watch a TV show or movie in the language you are studying, as well as if possible talk to native speakers of the language you are studying. Also read a newspaper or online journal in the language you are studying (once you get the basics down of the language you are studying). For me I moved around as a kid and took foreign language in 3rd to 6th grade and then again in high school and college. Also as a kid we had an au pair from France who taught me some French so I had exposure to studying foreign languages at a young age. I was able to live in Italy a few years and I studied Italian on my own and in a class so I did pretty well doing the basics of ordering in a restaurant and being able to ask people basic questions.

Also make flashcards and study them. What I learnt is I have to make myself think about it instead of just passively listening.

My daughter wanted to learn Spanish so I enrolled her into an online school. So far she is learning well.

I like the person’s suggestion about focusing on grammar during class time, and then shifting gears and focusing on vocabulary during study time.

This is an older thread from 2013, but still a number of good ideas!