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The most "boring" part of learning a language & the most beautiful part


Mameha

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Everyone knows that learning a language requires a lot of time, depending by the way of learning, personal skills, etc. But what is the part of a language that is more boring to you, and what is the part that you find more interesting?

For example, personally i really hate when it comes to learn lists of words like every name of foods, object in the house, in the street, things like this. I have to say too that everytime i find "*nameoflanguage* lesson" on google i find first the usual things like "how to say hello, good morning, good night" or "how to ask road directions" and stuffs like this. Everytime i take a look at these things i find that it would be easier to remember if i understand the gramatical part first, because i can even compose questions and answers by myself only by searching for words that i don't remember and put them together following the gramatical rules ( this doesn't always happens since sometimes there are preimposted phrases, idioms, dialects, ect)

 By the way, when i start a language from 0  i really really like the structure of the language, the gramatical part. I like to see how the phrase is composed in other languages, the position of verbs, subjects, objects, so i mean the "skeleton" of a language, the bases,, i really find it the most interesting part while i study. Maybe the desire of being able to understand or say something in the language i'm learning makes me a little impatient sometimes, so i "skip" the part of learning words (wich is really important instead :D) so i have a look at most of the grammar part immediately, then slowly i learn some useful words :)

What about you?

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The most boring part of learning a new language for me i think is the repetition stuff, I'd love to learn new things just  at once!... otherwise the most exciting part for me is when i'm finally able to read or listen some original stuff in my goal language, even though in a basic level.

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Most boring part: it takes time to get used to it.
Most beautiful part: once you get used to it, the feel of achievement is more than rewarding.

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An interest in grammar is really a guarantee in learning a language well! 

For me every aspect in learning a language is interesting:tongue: Maybe the only frustrating thing is that when you've achieved an intermediate level you find that you still have a long way to go before you can speak/read/write really well. 

Personally, the most intriguing part is the process of pronunciation practice and the feeling of improving bit by bit.

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Grammar is not really boring for me, but it is tedious sometimes. The only approach that really works is just sitting down and doing grammar exercises, until something "clicks" in my brain and I learn the proper construction. This takes time and, depending on the language and the grammar in question, can be tiring.

But still I'm not sure I can call it boring. I'm learning languages mostly for the pleasure of doing it, so I like to keep the process fun and lively :)

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I will admit that I can't stand lists of vocab - maybe it's all the time I spent in school memorising Chinese idioms - when they're out of context and you know you're just cramming them into your brain in alphabetical order.

The most beautiful part for me is finding myself thinking in the language, even for a moment.

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  • 2 weeks later...

For me the most boring part is studying things I'm not interested in.

Like when I have to learn a name of a vegetable - ugh, I don't even like those! LOL

And always, the least favorite topics are numbers and family. Not that counting is not important, nor that I don't like my family...but I generally find these words boring. Especially when in Chinese you have a different word for EVERY single family member (meaning older sister X younger sister; uncle that's older than your father X uncle that's younger than your father - it can be a bit insane sometimes!) or in Korean you have a totally different set of numbers for different things (money has different numbers than objects, etc). Japanese does this too, but it's only a few numbers, Korean goes way overboard! Luckily Chinese has only one such number!

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  • 3 weeks later...

The most boring part is the strict vocabulary learning - for me.

When I sit down and learn a few new word, ad write them down, I really like to learn through talking and speaking to other people.

But to sit beside a dictionary all day, not so good. Of course, needed, but still.

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The worst part of learning a new language where you have to do homework or give yourself homework. Studying, reviewing, and quizzing yourself is downright tedious. Maybe it's not as boring as it is aggravating and frustrating.  We pick up our mother tongues so rapidly that sometimes the pace of learning a second or third language feels like it moves at snail pace.

But the beautiful part?  It's that moment when you open your mouth and the words you've word so hard to speak suddenly just flow.  You don't even realize you're speaking in another language.  It just happens.  And then, hours later it dawns on you.  That's a fantastic feeling.

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For me the hardest and most boring part of learning a new language has always been reinforce the weak grammar points.  Studying grammar in general is kind of slow and dry for me.  My favorite part is learning new vocabulary though flash cards or mind maps, because then I can draw and color them!   That is what makes mind maps more effective and engaging ^_^ Right now I'm not studying dutch though, it's on a hiatus until I get the approval for my MVV from the IND. 

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The most boring part for me is memorizing vocabulary. However this becomes a little less boring when there is context associated with the learning process, like when I struggled to learn Turkish in order to follow a recipe book (my aim at the time was to make the best and most authentic imam bayıldı ever :) from a book of traditional recipes). Needless to say the dish turned out so-so but my vocabulary increased dramatically.

I've also been tinkering with the idea of starting a language learning blog focused on using recipes for traditional dishes as texts for foreign language learners (complete with annotations and grammar references). :)

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  • 5 years later...

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