Ten Language-Learning Barriers

Ten difficulties I had to overcome to learn English

"It has always been a dream to speak another language, especially English, which we saw in movies since childhood. In my time, access to English was quite limited. Language schools were very expensive and had inadequate methods, and it took years and years of study for few results. They didn't offer us conversation classes or any kind of practice. The classes focused on studying English grammar, which made the class boring and tiring. We didn't have access to the internet as we do today. In fact, not everyone could even afford a computer. So, I was always buying magazines and similar things that had content in English so that I could study as some English songs who I could translate. Songs has helped me a lot and believe I do it so far. And of course, I can't forget to mention that there was always a good English/Portuguese dictionary nearby. As I studied and improved my vocabulary, I would try a sentence or two to help me memorize. I always watched subtitled movies, and after a while of studying, I started watching them without Portuguese subtitles, only in English because it was in movies that I learned to improve my pronunciation and vocabulary. I also always wrote down sentences or words that I didn't know. A fun way to study and improve my English. This journey continued until I was 20 years old when I decided to leave Brazil and have my first contact with English on American soil."

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1- I didn't have Language Schools here in my city. And another city it was very expensive.

2- The language school, besides being expensive, took a lot of time with little result.

3- there weren't good methods. Their methods were boring and tiring with no conversation classes or how to practice.

4- I didn't have computer or access to the internet. Because few people could have computer and internet connection it was very expensive.

5- it wasn't easy to have a English book to read as we have now

6- we could listen to American songs but we didn't have the lyrics to follow or translate.

7- we didn't have an English tv show to watch, eventually we just had the regular boring channels to watch

8- I didn’t have social media to make friends from different countries and thus have the opportunity to improve my English skills.

9- we didn't have access to information about make an exchange program and also it was expensive.

10- some movies we just had with Portuguese subtitles and we could change it because they were video cassette tapes.

With all the difficulties, I did what I could to always be in contact with English, even though it was very limited. I bought magazines that had song lyrics I tried to translate them and that way I learned to improve my pronunciation and improved my vocabulary. I watched movies in English with subtitles. always with a notebook in hand writing down phrases he didn't know. And of course I couldn't let to mention I always have a good English/Portuguese dictionary nearby.
This journey continued until I was 20 years old when I decided to leave Brazil and have my first contact with English on American soil.

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