What foreign language?

It has been said on other occasions that a key question people ask when thinking about learning a foreign language is “what foreign language should I try to learn?” The reasons for wanting or needing to learn a foreign language can be almost as many and as varied as the number of people. Family, ancestry, employment, business, education, travel, adventure, romance, and other personal concerns may play their respective roles in the decision to learn and continue learning a foreign language.

With literally thousands of languages ​​spoken in the world in addition to some major ones like English, Spanish, French, Chinese, Arabic, Italian, Japanese, and German, there is obviously no shortage of options. But many students admit, “I hate trying to learn a foreign language.” Because? Here are the top seven of the most common reasons.

The seven most common reasons given

1. There is no way to practice regularly

“I know that learning a foreign language is a valuable skill, but no one I know speaks it and I have no way to practice it”:

2. Long lists of vocabulary to memorize

“We get a vocabulary list of 50 longer words every week in class, and I just can’t keep memorizing them.”

3. Illogical grammar rules

“Foreign language grammar and rules just don’t make any sense to me,” several foreign language students complain.

4. Pronunciation difficulties

“Whenever I try to speak in class everyone laughs at me because I mispronounce my words, they say.”

5. Bad foreign language teachers

Our foreign language teacher is absolutely horrible. He barely seems to know the language. She really shouldn’t be trying to teach us.”

6. There are not enough resources available

“So what do we do with that (a foreign language)? We don’t have good tapes, videos, songs, movies or games. To me, it seems like a waste.”

7. Traveling abroad is too expensive

“Hey, I’d love to visit a foreign country where the language is spoken, but I can’t get a visa”: “Even if I could get a visa, I could never afford airfare and hotels.”

lower affective filter

If an EFL professional is to do an effective job, these are just a few of the many potential pitfalls and objections that must be overcome. Only then can the affective filter of the learners be sufficiently reduced or compensated for both the teacher and the learner to get the most out of any language learning effort.