WRITTEN TRANSCRIPTION OF THE PODCAST:

Hello and welcome to my podcast My Life and Other Funny Stories. My name is Dagmar Tomášková, I am an English tutor and coach and I created this podcast for English students who want to improve their oral comprehension. As always you can find the transcription of this episode and vocabulary list in the notes of the podcast. 

Today I want to talk to you about a topic connected to learning English. Something that surely met every one of us. What to do when you want to give up on your learning journey? What to do when you just can’t go on anymore? 

Today I will share with you a few of my tips and at the end, I will tell you about my own struggles with learning languages.

So let’s go.

Imagine this – you have been learning English for a few months or years. But it is taking a long time and now you came across an article or video that you don’t understand at all. To come across something means to find something by chance. It is so demotivating – you have been learning for so long and you are still not where you wanted to be! On top of it, you have so much to do at work – you are working for 8 to 10 hours a day, maybe more, deadlines are coming and you still want to have a family life as well, maybe you have kids that you want to spend some time with. Suddenly, you can’t find the energy or time to do your English practice anymore. 

What to do then?

Number 1: 

Remember why you started. What is the reason behind your language journey? Do you need it to progress at work? Do you want to travel and feel confident and free while you do it? Do you have foreign clients that need communication in English and you feel embarrassed every time you can’t talk to them properly? Do you do it only for yourself because you want to work on your skills and be proud?

How important are those reasons for you? Think about your priorities. On your list of priorities – where would you place your reasons for learning English? Is it higher than spending a lot of nights with your friends on a beer? Or do you value time with friends over your progress in English? Does the inability to speak English at a high level create a problem for you every day or just twice a year? 

How important is it for you? If it is very important, you have to be ready to sacrifice something else for it. We all have only 24 hours a day and it is only up to you how you will spend it. I am not saying that every one of you has to learn English every day and never stop. But if it is that important for you, if your work life or your self-value depends on it, then you will make time for it even if you don’t want to. You are (probably) not a child anymore. And as adults, we know that sometimes we have to do things even if we don’t want to just because it is good for us.

On the other hand, if English is not so high on your priority list, then it is okay to take some time off. Devote your time to the areas that are more important right now and when the time is right, you can always come back to your English learning.

Number 2:

Find a new way to learn. Maybe you are experiencing a burnout. All the activities you have been doing are so boring now and they feel like a chore. A chore is something that you have to do, usually housework. For example, cleaning your kitchen is a chore. 

You don’t want to read articles or you don’t want to study grammar from that boring book you bought last year. Maybe the podcasts you have been listening to are getting on your nerves and you don’t want to listen to them anymore. 

If you still want to learn but not in the way you have been doing, try to find something new. I know it is easy to say but actually think about what you like to do in your free time. How can you connect it to learning English? For example, I like to draw. So sometimes, when I am fed up with learning French, I draw small images and write their name in French next to them. That way I am drawing but I am practicing my vocabulary. To be fed up with something means being bored, annoyed, and very tired of something.

In English, the options are endless. You can listen to songs that you love or maybe try some games on your phone. You can go to some Instagram accounts with funny videos and try to catch some new words. If you like cooking, why not try to cook something according to a recipe in English? Or just sit down and try to write how you feel or about your day in English. It doesn’t have to be perfect but maybe you just need a change.

Number 3:

Take a break. Yes, taking a break is not giving up. Taking a break can be a good thing. It is completely okay to move away from your English learning for a while. Nothing bad will happen. Again, I don’t know your reasons, your motivations, or your goals. You know them. If you know that taking a small break will not intervene with reaching your goals, why not?

But with that, I need to mention one thing. If it is a longer break, a few weeks or a few months even, you will lose some progress. It is inevitable. When something is inevitable, it means that it will happen no matter what. It doesn’t mean that you can’t get it back, not at all. But your brain is trying to be as efficient as possible and if you don’t use something, why should you keep it? There is so much information that your brain needs to hold so if you let go of your practice, your brain will let go of some of the vocabulary and skills. But don’t worry, it is still there somewhere, you will just need to recover it.

Manage your expectations. If you stop doing something, you will not improve in that area. You might even forget some things. That goes for every part of your life. So don’t beat yourself up for forgetting when you come back. It is completely normal.

I will now tell you how I see it with myself. Right now, my French is on the back burner.When something is on the back burner, it means that it is not my top priority right now. You know, life happens to all of us so I am just trying to take care of my mental health. I haven’t stopped completely. I still listen to podcasts every day and I read a book in French but my activities are getting more and more passive as the days go on. I don’t write. I don’t have any French conversations right now. Sometimes I can pay attention for 20 minutes and after that, my brain says: it is time to stop.

Guess what? I accepted it. I just can’t force myself to do something I don’t want to do every day for weeks and weeks. I am not strong enough right now. And that is okay. But you know what? I also fully accepted the fact that my active vocabulary and my speaking and writing skills will not improve and they will probably get worse. So when I, eventually, come back to my full French training, I will have to recover some of the vocabulary and some of the skills. What I will not do is be angry at myself and tell myself that I am stupid because I forgot something. Of course, I will forget. Of course. It is absolutely normal and natural.

But if my main priority is my mental health right now, should I really be so hard on myself? Maybe not. 

So think about it. What can you do today and tomorrow to recover your joy in learning English? Is it a change of learning style? Is it a break? Is it a motivational quote that will tell you that you have to push through? I believe you know the answer. 

Thank you so much for listening to this episode and don’t forget that you can find the transcription and vocabulary list in the notes. Please give it a five-star rating if you liked it and I will see you next time, bye-bye.