“I feel like I’m not making progress in English.”
Have you ever felt like that? Maybe for a while you felt like your English was growing daily!
You were learning new words, you were picking up new phrases, and it seemed like your fluency skills were getting stronger with every conversation.
Then, all of a sudden, it felt like your progress came to a grinding stop.
Instead of regular growth, you began to feel like nothing is changing with your English skills.
You want to know something? What you’re experiencing is a totally normal part of language learning. It’s called a Language learning plateau, and it happens to everyone!
What we all want
Everyone who is learning English tends to secretly want two things: regular fluency growth and proficiency in the least amount of time possible.
When I was in Mexico, there was a large English school that had this slogan: “Take classes with us, and you’ll speak English in 6 months.”
Ever see a similar slogan?
It appeals to two things language learners want: Effortless and instant fluency.
The uncomfortable truth about learning English
Unfortunately, learning English doesn’t work like that.
More often than not, like the image above points out, fluency looks and feels much more like a giant scribble than a beautiful learning curve that is always sloping up.
Instead, learning English can get slow and messy, and rarely travels in a straight line, like this great article points out.
Even more challenging: those desert like stretches where it doesn’t feel like you’re making any progress at all can last for a long time.
It can leave you feeling down, discouraged, and like you suck as an English learner. It might even lead you to give up on your quest if you don’t know how to find your way out.
But take heart! You are learning! You are making progress.
Have you ever heard the expression, “A watched pot never boils?”
It’s an idiom that means,
“that time passes very slowly when one is waiting for something to happen if that is the only thing one is thinking about.”
“A watched pot never boils.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/a%20watched%20pot%20never%20boils. Accessed 8 Feb. 2024.
I think learning English is a lot like that.
The truth: it can take people many years to develop fluency. Pearson Languages published a study which points to at least 1000 hours of study to go from being a beginner to advanced/proficient English learner.
Cambridge English points to a similar number: 1,000 to 1,200 hours to go from beginner to proficient.
Another truth: learning English happens as you engage with it on a day to day basis. It takes a great deal of patience, perseverance, and a willingness to constantly be stepping outside of your comfort zone to keep your English skills growing.
And if you keep at it, focusing more on engaging with the English happening all around you than on trying to ‘improve your fluency’ – you might just be surprised to discover your English has started to steam up and boil like that pot of water.
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