Labyrinth of language learning

Most readers will be familiar with the expression, "Flogging a dead horse" (see picture below). If you don't know this expression, it means to make an effort when no result is possible; the saying imagines someone beating a dead horse, hoping that it might get up again. A futile exercise, as you can imagine. That may be the way you feel about your past language learning. Maybe there is a language which you learnt many years ago. And, whenever you are reminded of that language, you despair of reviving it. Let me encourage you. As a Christian I believe in miracles (that's another story), but reviving a 'forgotten' language is no miracle; it is entirely realistic and let me give you some tips on how to do it. Firstly, and please dwell on this point, you have not forgotten German or Russian or whichever language you have neglected for years. It's there is your head. You can remember bits and pieces - the numbers, the word for bread, My name is - and f...

So, just today I had one of those moments when I said something and they didn't get it . 'They' being speakers of my foreign language - actually, my best one (Russian). It was a video conference and there must have been a dozen of them. So why didn't they 'get' it? Why did I fail to get my point across? And how can my experience today help you and me with language learning? My first mistake was the order in which I provided information . Rather than saying what I wanted to say straightaway, I started with something less important, a qualification, and that distracted my hearers. If it's not your native language, say the main thing straightaway, don't get sidetracked . Secondly, I waffled, cluttering up my sentences with long words and phrases, again creating 'noise' which hindered my listeners from getting what I was on about. I need to learn to keep it simple . Thirdly, there was a key word I couldn't quite find in the moment. I wan...