I didn't renew this journal yesterday because I traveled on business, picking up my colleague at the Gaborone Airport. I will just take it as a rest day. Because you are supposed to take a day's break per week so that the brains will digest what you have input to them.
People say that if you stay in your comfort zone for too long, you are going to be stuck there forever. It is also true if you just stay at the basic level when it comes to learning German, you are going to stay there without any improvement ever.
You are not going to learn new words. You are not going to try new usage. It doesn't feel good. I said that because I have been there and done that. I stayed there for years, as a matter of fact, until very recently.
Why do I recommend that you should get past the basic and medium levels as soon as possible?
1. It is time consuming.
Like learning everything else, if you are stuck, you can not get enough impetus for further learning. Learning will become slower.
If you don't reach a certain level, each time you learn, you will have to start all over again, which is total waste of time.
2. It makes you doubt yourself.
The less you improve, the more questions you will give to your language learning potential. "Can I really learn it? Is what I am doing worth it?..."
3. You are repeating the same thing.
Starting over again and again will do nothing progressive for you. Breaking this circle means getting out of the comfort zone and learning nothing new.
How can you leap to the high level then?
1. Learn something new everyday.
Try to use your brains and learn something new everyday, anything new, a new word, listening to a new mp3, seeing a new movie or reading a new book. Actually, that should be something you should do even you have reached the native level.
2. Start with lower levels always.
If you go directly to the high level, it is really hard and will sabotage your effort. I heard that some people started with high level language learning and succeeded. But it might not suit everybody, especially someone who has learned any foreign language before.
What's more, it will damage your confidence. When there are too many new words that you need to look up in the dictionary and memorize, it is difficult for you to keep learning that way.
3. Start with something that you are good at.
I like reading aloud ever since I started school. So when it came to learning English, I just did what I liked. Then the teacher would like me to stand up and read to the whole class often, which encouraged me further.
I don't like memorizing things, like new words and chemical equations. I was doing bad at Chemistry although English was my favorite. So just avoid my disadvantages and tried to learn new words through reading
So what are your strengths?
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