Du du du du, Me and My Little Backpack

Let’s face it: learning new language is hard. The first foreign language that I learnt is English. It was hard, I must say… But I managed to make it my second language. Then I got to learn French. Well, if you want to get a constant head ache during the class, take French class. Those who think that English is difficult and want to change their mind, they should learn French. Now, Do I still get head ache after five years of learning French and being personally in France? Heu, honestly: what the hell are they saying in TV? They don’t speak French, they speak the French of today, which, may I say, seems like a whole lot other language. But I don’t get discouraged. More over, I got too encouraged. People say that German is far more difficult than French, so I started learning German… (well, in order to change my mind about French, but apparently I’m mistaken)

Now, the constant head ache begins…

So, what actually makes learning European language (or another new language) hard?

- First, I have to say the uncomfortable feeling for the newness. Before even starting anything grand like the grammar and stuff, a person who learns new language must get over this feeling of newness first, this sense of ‘I don’t belong here’. Certainly there are new alphabets, new pronounciation, new stuffs…! For example, in French, we know several ‘e-s’: e, é, è, ê, ë. In my maternal language, we only have one e. As someone who has spoken years of another language (in my case, Indonesian) the letter é doesn’t seem so different from the letter ê or ë in French. I have to face this newness in variety of ‘e’, because apparently if I use é instead of ê, the whole meaning changes. Sometimes we just give up and follow this ‘I don’t belong here’ sense, because it’s not so good to have that feeling, and stop going to the language class or call off the whole thing.

- Those pronounciations, oh God, those pronounciations… Well, some people just give up when they face this pronounciation trap. Some language is very hard to pronounce. For example: the letter ‘u’ in French is pronounced like saying Indonesian ‘i’ and Indonesian ‘u’ in the same time. Hah, try that! Most people just forget about it and say the ‘u’ the way they say it, but again, most of the time, it changes the whole meaning.

- The structure of the sentence may be a necessary difficulty too, because the difference of geography makes people structure their sentences differently. In English, like in Indonesian, you usually follow this structure: Subject + Verb + Object. But not every language follows this same structure.In French, don’t be surprised to find the object before the verb. In German, sometimes you have to look in the end of the sentence to find the verb. This is very hard to get used to. The big trap is when you try to make a sentence and you don’t know the entity of the word: either it’s subject, verb, adjectif, adverb… The other trap is: you don’t think that it makes sense. But for the native speakers, there’s no other logical way to do it but their own. At this point, students start to GRHHHAAA!

- Last but not least, the Grammar… (do you hear the horror music when I say Grammar, or is it just me? Heu…) Of course, if you’re very very lucky, the grammar of the new language looks a little bit like your language’s. But in most cases, especially when you’re non-european learning European language, you’re not even remotely lucky. European languages know this grammatical rule called the Conjugation, which is the change of the infinitive (verb) according to the subject. The verb is just the same, but for each subject (I, you, we, he, they) we will see the different versions, because for each subject, the infinitive (the root of the verb) must be conjugated. Trust me, it sounds easy. But it is not. To make it worst, there are some types of conjugations. For example, verbs ending by -er are conjugated differently than verbs ending by -ir, -oir, -tre, etc… and we have to remember them all. To make it even worst, each tense also has their rules of conjugations, for example conjugating the same verb in the present tense is totally different with in the future tense… And how many tenses are there? A lot! And this is THE MOST DIFFICULT THING when you learn European language: the conjugations. Of course, there are also other grammatical rules that make you want to scream while learning it, but in my experience, conjugations is where almost every student fails. Well, besides the conjugations, there are also rules about adjectives, adverbs, pluralities, … not to mention lots of small details in grammar… No wonder when learning European language, students feel ‘enough of it, get me out of here’…

CONCLUSION: okay, it’s hard. I know that it is hard. But hey, when there’s a will, there’s a way. According to my own experiences of high and low in learning European languages, there are some tricks we can adapt to help us ease our pain a little…

- It’s new? Of course. What to do about this uncomfortable feeling? Well, I always try to first: accept the newness. Just accept it, without trying to analyze how weird it is, without thinking that you HAVE to accept it. Just be relaxed and accept that it’s new and different. That would calm you a little. And second: start to think that all this newness is not at all menacing, but fun to know. Be glad when you learn that in German you pronounce ‘j’ as [yot], or when you find that for French, the letter ‘w’ doesn’t ressemble to double u, but to double v, that’s why they call it [double v]. Just think of it as a new funny fact to know. Step by step, you can feel an interest grow, to learn more and more funny and interesting facts about this other language.

- Pronounciation is hard? No problemo. Learn to pronounce them one step at a time. Can’t say the perfect French ‘u’ yet? Heu, maybe tomorrow. Just remember, language is not learnt in one day or two, but in months or even years. You will get that perfect pronounciation, just stick to it, be patient, and while learning other things, the correct pronounciation will come by itself.

- Conjugation is hard, huh? Don’t be pessimistic about it. Every time I find it hard, I don’t say: Ooh, it’s hard, but I say: Ooh, it’s challenging. Nothing I like more than conquering the challenges of the new language. But I can’t give you other advise for conjugation but: learn and memorise. It’s not an easy job, but when you succeed to memorise one rule of conjugation, you will feel soooo good. And don’t forget to reward yourself with a very good ice cream or a romantic date. And then, just remember this good feeling after having conquered a challenge, and you’ll have the motivation to go on for the second, the third, the fourth,….

- When I started learning French and I found my self in a quitting mood, I borrowed a book or a DVD about France, the culture, the famous sites, and the views. Everytime I got amazed… And started thinking… what if? What if I was there, under the Eiffel Tower, or walking down The Champs Elysées, with the colorful autumn leaves falling around me…? Or: What if I lived in France, crossing La Seine every day, meeting cute French guys, and eating exotic food? And you know what? That motivation of learning French always came back. And better yet, it came back with a new motivation: Someday, I will be there. And look at where this motivation takes me…

Well, it may be hard, that French or German or Spanish… But always try to see it in another way. Don’t feel menaced or uncomfortable, because when you’re patient enough, you will find yourself talking the language one day. Find a source of personal motivation on keep on learning, just like what I did… Don’t forget that practice makes perfect, and making mistakes is what makes you learn.

So, good luck! Bonne chance! Viel glück!