The Five Biggest Challenges Language Learners Face
- Jan 30, 2023
- 6 min read
Updated: Feb 17, 2023
Written by: Sarah Henderson-Sharon, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Over the last few months, I have been researching the challenges that foreign language speakers experience and how they feel about these challenges. This research is still ongoing, but the problems that people have shared so far have been both moving and insightful. In this article, I am going to talk about the five most serious problems people have discussed and go into more depth about one of the most common issues; finding opportunities to practice speaking English.
1. Pronunciation
Pronunciation is a major concern for most non-native speakers, regardless of their level. Many of the people I spoke to said that they wanted to improve their pronunciation, often to the point of wanting to 'get rid of' their accents. People believed their poor pronunciation got in the way of being able to communicate freely with native speakers, often leading to embarrassing misunderstandings in conversations. However, there were also people who felt comfortable with their 'foreign' accent, saying that they did not want to have native-speaker-like pronunciation and that they were proud of their accents. I will be returning to this issue next month.
2. Cultural differences and expectations
This was a huge challenge for non-native speakers living in English-speaking countries or for those working in large, multi-national organisations. One person told me about a team-building exercise they had done at their company in America. The exercise had been entirely based on facts and knowledge about America, and the person I talked to felt out of their depth and unable to fit in, a deeply isolating experience. People also talked about being unsure of the expectations English native speakers have in everyday conversations and how difficult it is to fully get to grips with a foreign culture.
3. Maintaining a high level after an exam
Many of those I spoke to had taken IELTS or a similar exam and felt their level had dropped significantly afterwards because they no longer needed to use the high-level language they had learnt for the exam. This caused a great deal of dissatisfaction and annoyance for many I spoke to.
4. Being too afraid to speak (and therefore making no progress)
This is the finding that saddens me the most. Some people I spoke to were so afraid of making mistakes or being misunderstood that they simply didn't speak to anyone and went through their lives as a foreigner living abroad without making a single native-speaker friend. Because of this, they made no progress in their speaking, resulting in even greater fear of speaking! This is a true vicious circle from which it is very hard to escape.
5. Lack of practice opportunities
Possibly the most common problem people experienced was the lack of opportunity to practice with other people, particularly with English native speakers. Interestingly, this problem was experienced by people who were already living in an English-speaking country so moving abroad doesn't necessarily solve the problem! For the rest of this article, I will explore this issue in more depth.
Three ways to create practice opportunities
In a way, I understand why people find it hard to create practice opportunities. I remember living in China and being surrounded by Chinese people, yet not believing I had anyone to talk to! This was probably due to my comparatively low level and lack of confidence. Now that I live in the UK, it is much more challenging to create real opportunities to use Chinese. However, I believe that this problem is solvable with a little creativity and courage.
1. Find a language exchange partner
Many people I spoke to during my research wanted to practice with an English native speaker rather than other non-native speakers but reported that finding people with whom to do this was very difficult. As far as I can see, there are only two options here. You either pay for a teacher, or you find a language exchange partner. In my experience, a language exchange partner is a great way for you to not only practice your speaking but also to help someone to learn your language. This was one of my solutions when I lived in China. Twice a week for two years, I got together with one of the students at the university where I worked and we helped each other learn and improve, becoming firm friends in the process. I have used online language partners more recently too, and found them to be just as useful.
I would suggest using a website such as Italki to make sure you are targeting people who actually want to learn your language; I don't think you should randomly contact people to ask if they will help you to improve your English for free! By using a reputable website as a middleman, you can be sure that those you are contacting are genuine and that they have a desire to learn and help others to do so. This should mean fewer rejections, something that those I interviewed reported had happened.
While these will not offer you as much practice with native speakers, unless you join something like Toastmasters, they are a great way to get lots of practice in a safe environment. Practicing with other non-native speakers can help you to learn more vocabulary and to appreciate your speaking skills in a different light. Some online speaking clubs will offer informal conversation, and others will give you more structured exposure to different tasks so it's important to choose the best club for you. I have an online speaking club which I have been running since April 2022. In the club, we practice everyday conversations, solo speaking and advanced discussions about a wide range of topics. If you would like to learn more about the speaking club, please feel free to get in touch.
3. Make the most of the opportunities you already have!
A surprising number of people who wanted more practice opportunities were already living in English-speaking environments! This suggests to me that they weren't making the most of the chances that were around them, perhaps due to shyness or being unsure how to go about this. It's very easy as a foreigner to spend most of your free time with people from your country who speak your language. This is certainly something I have witnessed a great deal, both as a teacher living abroad where my English-speaking colleagues used to hang out together at the weekends, and as a teacher at language schools in the UK where I have seen students gather into 'the Spanish group' and 'the Korean group' rather than get together in 'the International group'!
Instead of spending time with the people from your own country, try getting a part-time job if you are a student living abroad or doing some voluntary work for a local charity once a week. Taking up a hobby without anyone from your home-country peer group, such as joining a sports club, painting or film-watching group, is another great way to branch out and meet native English speakers. The popular website meetup.com is a great resource here and one that I highly recommend.
If you are living in a non-English speaking country, you may need to enlist the help of English-speaking friends and relatives, for instance, to meet for coffee and speak English once a week. Alternatively, there may be other people in your town or city who want to practice English too. I am writing this article in Hanoi, Viet Nam, and I have seen language exchanges advertised here.
Ultimately, it is up to you to create the opportunities you want to experience. These days, I do not believe that it is possible to have 'no-one to practice with'; you just need to find them!
I am still looking for volunteers to help with my research. If you are interested, please get in touch!
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Sarah Henderson-Sharon, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Sarah Henderson-Sharon is an expert in helping non-native English speakers overcome Second Language Anxiety: the fear, shame, and anxiety they experience when speaking English. A teacher with 17 years of experience, Sarah became aware of the damaging impact of Second Language Anxiety four years ago. Since then, Sarah has dedicated herself to helping her clients understand and move beyond their fears so that they can use English with confidence. She is the founder of Think Positive English where she offers 1-2-1 programs and a community speaking club empowering members to improve their spoken English.
