Have you ever gave up trying to learn another language before?

[hades_leae]

I think that it's OK, it doesn't mean that you're a failure, it just means that you were not able to completely master a language when you did decide to quit. I had this program that helped me to study Spanish, and after 2 months or so, I decided to quit, but basically put it on hold. I just couldn't commit anymore time to it as I had other things going on at that time.

Have you ever done that because you felt it was best for you in that particular time of your life?

[gracerph]

Yes, I was trying to study the Japanese language Nihongo before but I just didn't have the luxury of time to continue so I stopped. But just like you said, it doesn't mean that I have completely given up on it. The things I learned about the language is still here in my mind. I just had to put my learning on hold but when I already have enough time to continue studying the language, I will definitely go back into it again. Right now, I'm also trying to learn Korean but also on a very limited amount of time.

[rz3300]

Well unfortunately I have, but in my defense it was in a situation where it was the last time that I would really need to know the language, so I just decided to give up.  It was Polish, and it was when we moved there as a family when I was seven.  I fully intended to live there for a long time, and that was the plan, but things changed and we ended up coming back to the USA.  In the little time there, though, I actually remember getting pretty good and I was talking with other people pretty well, but I was still seven.  Maybe one day I will pick it back up again.

[abonnen]

Yes, I have gave up learning a language before, its becasue I have a hard time learning language, I have gave up learning Korean now.  I lived in South Korea for 3 years and really did try to learn the language but I failed and only learned a few sayings.

[111kg]

Definitely. At some point I was trying to learn Russian, but only from an audio course, without having even the slightest idea about how to read the slavic alphabet or what were some basic grammar rules. I soon realized I was going nowhere and  quit immediately. I do know how to swear in Russian however, haha.

[AExAVF]

I never got the motivation to study Arabic.  I lived in Saudi Arabia for around 7 years, but we mostly speak in the English language, as it is the language of business in the Kingdom.  It's like I am being forced to study Arabic, and there's not much motivation for me if it will be forced upon.  I only studied it because it is a requirement in our classes to understand the language.    As for Japanese, I retained most of the lessons I learned, but right now I am putting my language learning on hold due to factors beyond my control.  I still recall the grammar and reading, as I have brought the Japanese language textbook with me.

[Milanina]

I think most of us might have this experience. Prior the school years I had some Russian friends around my block and I picked up some basic Russian. Once we moved and I no longer had a practical application of the language I lost what I knew and I didn't develop any if the language further. Now I remember only some words here and there, not enough to construct sentences.

Later on I've tried picking up some languages and given up due to priorities and taken up some languages I found initially to difficult because I needed it for travel, work or studies.

Whilst this is my experience - I also had friends who would always follow through whatever they started. If embarking on a language course - they would continue stubbornly until a specific level of fluency was reached regardless of how difficult it would be. 

 

[John Snort]

There was a time I lived in a place where a dialect of Spanish was spoken by most of the people who lived there. Thing though is everyone living in that town was bilingual so even if you didn't know Spanish communication wouldn't be a problem. I'd initially planned to and had actually started learning the language before moving but once I got there and realized that there was no need for it I gave up trying to learn that Spanish dialect.

[lushlala]

Like most people, I didn't give up all defeated. The reason I stopped had a lot more to do with the fact that life took over and I simply had too much going on to continue because so many other things needed my undivided attention. These days with the advance of modern technology, it's obviously a bit easier because we can access so many different resources for free. But there's still the small matter of time, or the lack of time because many of us are grappling with the reality of lack of jobs, we're too busy trying to keep our heads above water, every waking minute. One day I'll definitely pick up where I left off.

[wolfette]

I was like this with French. I just couldn't concentrate on learning it from the teacher I had originally so I decided to quit and focus on something else instead. Now I feel like if I was to go back to French though I might be better able to understand it and what's being said. I think I'd probably pick it up faster now too. And one day I may go back to it. But as I'm unlikely to go to France any time soon I'd rather focus on the languages that I'm more likely to use more often. 

[Rooks57]

I gave up French after high school.  My school wouldn't let me take the exam to get into my French class and  I wasn't confident enough in it to risk taking the test when I had a year longer of Spanish.  And my college had such an awful language program with lazy teachers that I didn't take the French exam the next year.  Then I just ran out of time with all the homework they gave me and work that I couldn't manage learning French by myself on top of Spanish.

[chesirecat136]

When I was in elementary school I tried to learn Hebrew but I had a short attention span and moved on to other things. On duolingo I have tried Irish but got frustrated and decided to focus on the other languages I had started. I would still like to go back and learn more about each language.

[cardinals27]

The first time I tried to learn Spanish I did. I mean I was 8 at the time so it was pretty young at the time and to be honest I don't see it as a failure because I got a basic knowledge of the language, which would help me in the future. 

[GurzoDelBorneoMeridionale]

Yes, Swedish. I started learning it because I had heard that it's the most useful Scandinavian language, but I quickly realised that I didn't like it. Although I did all the exercises and studied everyday, I felt like I wasn't making any progress. The pronunciation was driving me crazy. After a couple of weeks I just gave up.

[AntonioCalcano]

Yes, I think most of us have given up on many things in life, not only in learning a new language. What I find important is not to give up but to get back up and start again; you see, practice makes perfect and it doesn't really matter if you give up once or twice or many more times, or even if you fall. What matters is that you keep at it and persevere, be constant. I gave up learning French in the past, not because I didn't understand but because I lacked motivation; Thankfully I found great people to help me overcome my issues and keep going.

[KimmyMarkks]

Learning a foreign language takes not only time but extreme dedication.  I've take a few different languages in school but it was hard to continue once the class is over.  The language wasn't commonly spoken around me so it was hard to keep up with it.  I ended up giving up, I can still understand a few works and sentences but am unable to speak it.

[Milner77]

I studiеd Frеnсh fоr аbоut tеn yеаrs, аnd асhiеvеd а dесеnt lеvеl оf fluеnсy thаt hаs slоwly but surеly fаdеd аwаy sinсе thе еnd оf соllеgе. I did nоt gеt bоrеd оf Frеnсh, fоr whаtеvеr rеаsоn.
Hоwеvеr, I'vе triеd sеlf-study а fеw timеs with а fеw diffеrеnt lаnguаgеs, inсluding Itаliаn, Spаnish, аnd Аrаbiс. Itаliаn аnd Spаnish didn't sееm diffiсult tо mе sinсе I hаd а gооd fоundаtiоn in аnоthеr Rоmаnсе lаnguаgе. I simply fоund sоmе оthеr prоjесt оr hоbby thаt I'd rаthеr bе spеnding timе оn. With аrаbiс, thе diffiсulty wаs mоrе оf а fасtоr. Bеtwееn unfаmiliаr phоnеmеs аnd аn unfаmiliаr sсript, I fеlt оvеrwhеlmеd. 

[Tripeo]

Yes, I have. I still rememebr when I was in the process of learning English and everything seemed to be super difficult and weird for me, for real. Everything used to be kinda tricky and complicated, until I finally realized that practice was the key for absolutely anything I may have wanted to do back then, that's why I kept on learning until now. I've not ever thought about quitting ever again, that's not something I'd ever do, indeed.

[sidney]

I'm just a casual language learner, so I "give up" pretty often, since I'm not really serious and it's just for fun. I think if learning a language eventually becomes overwhelming then it's not a bad thing to give up. We should not force ourselves to do something if we don't want to.

[Enlivo]

I give up frequently as well. Spent a lot of time in the past trying to learn Chinese and Japanese, but I got frustrated really easily and eventually gave up on both. But now I'm going to have to use a lot of Chinese, so I'm a bit more motivated to restart learning Chinese. And as for Japanese, I'll take it slowly, maybe in a few years I'll start learning it again.

[Yoshie]

Hi, in my case, my first language is English and I studied French and Spanish while at secondary school. I decided to continue with Spanish at the tertiary level and eventually made it my minor. However, I had challenges from year to year and it became a burden to be honest. Some might think that, well if you did it for the time you did why stop?! Now I'm the type to fight through things as much as I possibly can but at the time, I had too much going and I think a mental block set in especially due to the fact that the language teacher was very inefficient in my opinion and I became somewhat uninterested. She was the type to move along with the students that were "masters" of the language. Sometimes reflecting on my decision to not get the Spanish minor bothers me a bit but I console myself with the fact that I at least had excelled at the secondary level. I don't like to quit lol.

[Victor Leigh]

Yes, it has happened to me many times already. I have been learning Arabic on and off for years. Somehow, I never seem to get through to the end. I don't mean the end as in being an Arabic scholar. I would be happy if I can converse in Arabic. Or read an Arabic newspaper. In the beginning, I was put off by the way that Arabic goes from right to left. Then I got stuck with the way that, in Arabic, the form of the letter can change with its place in the word. Ah, excuses, excuses, excuses. I really must find some very strong motivation to push me through to the end of a basic course in Arabic.

[clair02]

Only while I was in school. But now that I'm grown, and make my own choices, learning doesn't feel so much like a chore anymore, but it's now something interesting and exciting that I'm doing to better myself and to get better results in my life. I also know now that giving up is never an option and I have the discipline to see things through that I never had while I was in school. Those are the joys of growing up, I suppose. 

[111kg]

Oh yes, undoubtedly. I've tried to learn Russian and Arabic, but I had to quit eventually. Why? Because I realized that I wouldn't use them anytime soon. Why waste time on something that you will forget? So I started to focus on German and Hungarian, but also on improving my English language.

[Northea]

Sure, Hebrew and Arabic come to mind. The reason was probably that I was too young, trying to bite off more that I could chew with such different languages both with their own alphabets. I still think Hebrew is a beautiful language in its own way and I see no reason why I couldn’t and shouldn’t return to it at some point.