Weaknesses of your current target language?

[FlagOnce]

Target language is the language you are currently trying to learn, it is your objective, the language you want to speak and understand. But since it is your target, it is not yet perfect. Hence why this topic: what is the weaknesses of your target language, basically the language you are trying to learn? What do you fear the most?

I already learned previously that there is many answers to that questions and some will find some things easier just because of their mentality or the way they learnt. So I want to collect data from you here, and understand better what is happening!

[kurdapia]

I was trying to learn Spanish I have no idea that it is too complicated for me. I go crazy learning about the conjugations and stopped. Now I switched to learning French because somehow it is quite similar to Spanish because the words have genders too. My problem now with this new language is the difficulty in pronouncing the French way.

[turtledove]

I'm currently learning French, and I'm finding all the conjugations and rules difficult to handle. Almost every rule that exists seems to also have an exception, which is a real pain. There are also a huge number of irregular verbs, and I find it quite difficult to remember all the different conjugations.

[clau21]

My first target language is English and then French. In English I'm pretty advanced, but my grammar is giving me trouble. I have many problems with past participle tenses. Also adverbs, God adverbs are tough! I'm a writer and my desire is to write in English, but for this I need perfect grammar. 

In French I'm a newbie but I've found it quite easy because of its similarity with Spanish, however French pronunciation is hard. I already know a lot of words and phrases, but when I watch French movies I don't get one single word. They speak very fast and with this gorgeous accent that I simply can't understand. When I watch these French movies I constantly think that I'll never be able to learn it.

[jamesbonner]

Actually I have two target languages for now, the first is English and the second is French, I'm good with them but my only problem is the pronunciation, this problem because I don't speak with them a lot, I just use them to write, that's why I never success in talking those two languages without problems

[CorieHens]

Although not seriously, my target language is Vietnamese which I have zero knowledge. I know there are sites that offer free tutorial but I am still so busy with my work. My reason for learning Vietnamese is our trip to Vietnam on Sept 25, yes, later this month. And since it is only for a tour so my needs would only be conversational Vietnamese like greetings and other simple and basic sentences and terms.

[ponyvillalobos]

Without a doubt my weakness is understanding when people talk to me (in my target language). 

I have been studying Spanish for 2 1/2 years now.  I can pretty much say what I want to, it might not be perfect but i can communicate for sure.  The scariest thing is when i speak to people they assume I will be able to understand them, therefore they answer back in super fast Spanish that sounds like one big long word to me!  LOL!!! 

[lushlala]

My languages would be French and Italian. My main fear around learning those would be the fact that I won't be able to interact with any native speakers, because I doubt we have many Italian and French people here. When I'm learning a language, I like to have native speakers around me.

[Tyrell]

My target language is English.

My biggest weaknesses are grammar and trying to express myself. I'm better at the latter, but it's still giving me trouble. But yes, I struggle with my grammar sometimes (not knowing what to use - had, have, has, etc) and for some reason sometimes I just find it hard to express myself. I just couldn't find the right words for it, and it's really putting me at a disadvantage.

I'm also pretty bad at speaking English (in real life). The reason is because I still talk to others in my native language (it's extremely rare to find a native English speaker here) so I'm not used to it. When I try, I always end up jumbling my words, or pronouncing them weird.

[FlagOnce]

I was trying to learn Spanish I have no idea that it is too complicated for me. I go crazy learning about the conjugations and stopped. Now I switched to learning French because somehow it is quite similar to Spanish because the words have genders too. My problem now with this new language is the difficulty in pronouncing the French way.

Some feels discouraged here, don't forget to keep up your efforts, years will make the garbled sentences understandable!

I'm not surprised about Spanish being somehow similar to French given they are all Latin languages, with the same Latin bases by the way. The problem is I wonder why these countries choose to keep these rules when they started to write out and speak, and design rules. But meanwhile Spanish is not my target language because I focus on a main one, it is a language I would be happy to know. Just in case.

I'm currently learning French, and I'm finding all the conjugations and rules difficult to handle. Almost every rule that exists seems to also have an exception, which is a real pain. There are also a huge number of irregular verbs, and I find it quite difficult to remember all the different conjugations.

French grammar is complicated, that's a fact. What happens is that you do two things: generally, you try to remember the most important rules, you may read them once, and at each time you have a question when you have a text, just look up on the Internet for the right answer, and try to reread the rule you used. Finally, about all exceptions, just try to remember exceptions for the word you use, don't try to learn them all. I barely know someone who knows all French rules, even in France.

Although not seriously, my target language is Vietnamese which I have zero knowledge. I know there are sites that offer free tutorial but I am still so busy with my work. My reason for learning Vietnamese is our trip to Vietnam on Sept 25, yes, later this month. And since it is only for a tour so my needs would only be conversational Vietnamese like greetings and other simple and basic sentences and terms.

Oh, and you plan being in Vietnam for how much time?

[lushlala]

I also find that being an English speaker learning French and Italian, one of my weaknesses is in identifying and always remembering what gender nouns are. As we all know, this is common with Latin languages, and is not something that applies to the English language. I guess if i were taking regular lessons and spoke both languages frequently, it would become embedded in my brain, and probably become like second nature the longer I learnt them.

[anotherfullback]

For me, I think my biggest weakness at the moment is more with my learning process than the language itself. I have been going at this for so little time that I can't really evaluate my own progress effectively yet, but I do know that I have had several false starts with learning Polish. I need to make sure that I can actually commit and get past this initial hump of starting to learn. At the moment it feels like there's so much to do, and I have no idea where to start, so it's very hard to keep going. I just need to have the determination to get going, and I know it will start to get easier. Especially as I know that when I get to a good enough level, I will be able to start having conversations with my dad in Polish, and that'll help a lot. But until then, it's a big challenge just to get going.

[AExAVF]

Learning Nihongo/Japanese is difficult when it comes to the listening portion.  The biggest weakness that I have is being able to comprehend verbally what is being said.  Sometimes I have a tendency to get lost in the spoken language.  Though I don't have a problem with the grammar aspect, I find it really difficult to grasp the language when I am on the receiving end.  In fact, during my midterm and final examinations, my knowledge of grammar is quite acceptable, but my listening skills are not yet attuned.

[kmars]

My problem is that my brain does not interpret what I here fast enough. If the native speaker is speaking slowly however, I will be able to understand most of it.

[zurcminister]

I am also trying to learn Chinese and the biggest weakness of the language is the difficulty in the pronunciation of the words which is its biggest limitation. The solution for which would be to learn it through TV shows or perhaps learn and immerse with a native speaker who may teach the correct pronunciation.

[FlagOnce]

For me, I think my biggest weakness at the moment is more with my learning process than the language itself. I have been going at this for so little time that I can't really evaluate my own progress effectively yet, but I do know that I have had several false starts with learning Polish. I need to make sure that I can actually commit and get past this initial hump of starting to learn. At the moment it feels like there's so much to do, and I have no idea where to start, so it's very hard to keep going. I just need to have the determination to get going, and I know it will start to get easier. Especially as I know that when I get to a good enough level, I will be able to start having conversations with my dad in Polish, and that'll help a lot. But until then, it's a big challenge just to get going.

As I often say, to avoid the false starts you talk about (and I think I know them as well, even if it's not about language), the success is to tie it with something  or someone you like. If you start to try to be in forum speaking in Polish, or in communities speaking that languages, or finding resources, movies, texts or so on you think you might like in that language, then it will work because it would be less harder to direct yourself to something you like rather than to something you just dislike because learning a language is complicated and looks like a work sometimes.

Learning Nihongo/Japanese is difficult when it comes to the listening portion.  The biggest weakness that I have is being able to comprehend verbally what is being said.  Sometimes I have a tendency to get lost in the spoken language.  Though I don't have a problem with the grammar aspect, I find it really difficult to grasp the language when I am on the receiving end.  In fact, during my midterm and final examinations, my knowledge of grammar is quite acceptable, but my listening skills are not yet attuned.

I see, well, about the listening problems, it is not the rarest issue I heard of, and I guess what helps is the experience of listening: seeing often subtitles, trying to know exactly what the person is trying to say, I mean each word should be available in your head, even the smallest one, because it's not because a word is small in its length that it is not important for the sentence's understanding. But if you are at the stage you understand people speaking slowing, you're rather at the end than at the beginning of the process.

[Trellum]

Right now my only problem with dutch is with the definite articles de and het. Biggest problem arises with the endings that I must give to the adjectives depending whether a de or het word is used... I think I will create a mind map so I can remember. 

Everything related to de and het confuse me, including the use of ons and onze... it's so hard to remember the definite article of each word, I know there are so rules to tell them apart, but they are so many...  I also have issues with the demonstrative articles as well for the very same reason.