Language learning challenges for adults

Some time ago, we were at the Language Show Live in London. We gave a talk about challenges that you may face as an adult language learner, during the language learning process.

We wanted to talk about the most common challenges that we see among students. Not just Swedish students, although that is of course the language that we have experience of teaching. But we do believe that these challenges are general, for all adult language learners.

The voices in our heads

We spoke about the voices in our heads, that can often create barriers in the way of our language learning journey. Because – let’s face it – no matter how much you know that you should study more, use certain techniques, do your homework, spend more time, and so on, you might still not do it.

But why do we not do the things that we know are good for us, that we know will help us to achieve our goals?

Well, by taking a closer look at some of the voices in our heads, it can help us to understand why we procrastinate, why we tell ourselves that we ‘can’t do it’, and why we may not have a realistic view of the language learning journey.

Language Learning Toolkit

We also talked about time management and motivation. And finally, we presented our Toolkit, that is designed to help with some of the challenges that you may face.

We had a great time at the Language Show, it was wonderful to see so many people there and we received some really interesting and useful feedback afterwards too.

We recorded the talk too. The audio is not brilliant as it was in an open space with lots of people around, but you can still hear most of it pretty ok. So here it is – our talk about Overcoming Challenges as an Adult Language Learner.