Vu Nguyen
Only Language Learners Do This.

People generally don't take a few math classes and expect to become a mathematician or some physics classes and expect to become a physician.  At some point, they realize they reach their limitation and will tell themselves "I have enough of that" and move on.  This is not true for language learners.  This group is a special bunch.  After a couple of years of learning a language, they usually get upset when they don't improve any further because invariably their expectation is to become a native.  Anything less won't suffice.  For some odd reasons, the difficulty of mastering a language does not exist like it does in the other fields of study. If I were a language, I would be offended because people think I am so easy.


By the way, that physics classes and physician bit is an attempt at humor.

3 мая 2019 г., 17:56
Комментариев · 3
1

Phil, you raised a good point. We were born into our first language. Most people forgot about that.

Vera, being understood is what most learners could ever hope for. It is my goal.

4 мая 2019 г.
1
I didn't want to be like a native, but I did hope the English language would help me to develop in my career. It never happened. I can't say I feel bad about it, not at all. I feel that the language became a part of me in a way. I don't need to go through exams and prove something to somebody. I know my English is not perfect and it's too far from perfection, but it's absolutely understandable to native English speakers which is good. 
3 мая 2019 г.
1
Well said, Mr Nguyen. Everyone here has already learned a language at least once, so they figure “how hard can it be?” The difference is that a baby learning its native language is highly motivated to learn — failure is not an option. (And it takes the baby five years of total immersion to reach the level of a five-year-old child — forget about C1.) Once you know one language, additional languages seem more like a luxury, so motivation falls. As an analogy, let's consider that everyone needs a brain to live, but having two brains would not necessarily improve one's standard of living :)

Edited for typos.

3 мая 2019 г.