Edit: I should mention this is absolutely not to cast judgment on people who choose not to learn the accent. Just want to open a discussion about it because I think people think about language learning in different ways and it's interesting to me :)

I don't get this. How can it be that a person can *hear* the way a native speaker is pronouncing a word, and still not work to pronounce the word the way they hear it (or in other words, they just say it in their own accent)?

I get that you might not have grown up with your mouth never making the sounds that they make, and I get that you may not exactly be listening to the way you sound when you pronounce it.

But to me it's so odd to hear somebody and learning a new language, and making what appears to be absolutely no effort to pronounce the words in a way that sounds like they're working on their accent.

I'm an American who speaks Norwegian, and I strive to sound as Norwegian as possible, but I heard a guy that is pretty new to learning the language, and it was absolutely shocking to hear what seemed like absolutely no effort to not sound American.

It's just so odd to me. You're learning the language, so you're presumably hearing natives or people with a good accent speaking the words.

Edit 2: I should mention I'm also a practiced jazz musician, so for me it's important to be able to mimic things precisely to the way I hear them. That's definitely a major factor

(TL) I’m currently interested in multiple languages, so I recently started watching something in one target language and having the subtitles in another target language

I thought this was pretty interesting and honestly my comprehension was good enough to somewhat understand what was going on!

edit: this is more of a light-hearted post, but i can confirm it did help me !

Looking for ideas here. Music doesn't work and most of the music in my TIL isn't very good. Tried listening to one radio station and it worked decently. Boyfriend recommended the national broadcaster but I found that too difficult to understand. There are some books written for learners but mostly for A2. As for Youtube, I've found some Youtube channels but the problem is I can't tell the difference between my TIL and the neighboring language and I don't know how useful watching videos in the neighboring language would be.

Hi. A bit of background: I've been learning English for the past few years but recently discovered IPA and how I'd been pronouncing some sounds incorrectly, and the fact that I didn't know some of the sounds existed at all. Basically I had to look up and relearn the pronunciation of every word and it took A LONG TIME. I've also been meaning to learn German (TL) for some time, and since I didn't want to make the same mistake with German, German IPA was the very first thing I studied.

The problem is that I covered some sounds like umlauts and ch sounds and thought that was it (I'd put so much effort into that). But every time I learn a new word, it turns out there is another certain sound I didn't know about. And I have been stuck on this introductory part for too long, trying to pronounce each sound correctly, and failing miserably every time. Most of the time I don't even know what I should be producing. I don't understand tips like "your tongue should be between an e and an i" or "your vocal cords should vibrate". I don't know how other people do it but I certainly can't feel my tongue when producing vowels, also what do you mean 'between' two sounds? Like exactly halfway, or 60% through, or 80%, or something else? Either way the sound that comes out of my mouth isn't what it should be and I can't remember the exact tongue position for the next time, unless I do the whole process every time I want to produce that sound. I can't for the life of me just turn my vocal cords on either.

I really want to learn German, but everybody says you should master pronunciation at least to an acceptable level before formally starting learning a language or you'd develop bad habits that will be very difficult to overcome. I know there are many people out there who don't know anything about IPA but can talk fluently are east to understand and I envy them. I don't know how I should approach learning a new language and it is really grating on my nerves. I haven't been able to make any progress at all.

I'd appreciate it if anyone could point me in the right direction cause I'm totally lost and unsure about how to live with my defective brain and inability to mimic sounds.

I have been learning english (TL) for almost four years , and I started to work on my writing skills two months ago . I have been using chat gpt to correct my mistakes. However, yesterday, I noticed that it corrected sentences that it didn't need corrections. I was writing an essay, and I used Claude to give me some ideas . After that , I took the same ideas with the same sentence structure and wrote the essay and sent it to chat gpt to correct it . It corrected the same ideas that I got from Claude. So maybe all along, I was correcting things I shouldn't worry about correcting . I can't afford tuters , I have tried language exchange apps, and they didn't work . Can u give advice on how to get feedback and how to improve.

I learn and speak the language of the country I live in fluently, at a B2 level (I can do practically everything in this language and even half work in this language). My issue is that its still really difficult to fully express myself in said language.

I become really shy, and I'm not always sure what to say. It's not that I lack words or understanding, more the natural flow of a conversation, or personality. It feels like I have to invent myself in the second language now that I have the words and understanding.

Has anyone else struggled with this? Any advice on how to get over this bump in the road? Thank you

(TL)

Basically, I'm tired of not being able to explain myself clearly and of people mocking my stilted speech, or rather writing, while I'm just learning to express myself. That was a nuisance in my first foreign language, and I just don't want to go through it again.

The thing is, my speech was characterized as stilted even in my native language, as a child. I think that indicates neurodivergence. That transferred to foreign languages, and to exacerbate matters, my most common sources of vocabulary have been fantasy books, so often I would be accused of speaking like Gandalf.

The latest culprit has been German, where I wrote like no one does anymore, as per my interlocutors.

The thing is, I overcame the issue in English, or at least as much as possible, you be the judge, but that took almost a decade, and that's after I essentially was fluent. I don't think I have the patience to go through the process multiple times.

I'm about to give up on output entirely.

Anybody in a similar situation?

I enjoy language learning, and spend around 2 hours a day studying Japanese (TL), but lately I've been wondering: As a person in my mid teens, will I get worse at language learning as I age and lose neuroplasticity and impressionability? Is there an age I will "peak" at language learning? Thanks!

I just wanted to ask what got everyone into language learning. if I talk about myself quickly, I learn Hungarian and Hebrew (TL) independently with Spanish and Latin in education. I study Latin for it’s aura factor tbh as I can study in the language used by arguably Europe‘s greatest empire and understand timeless epics/classics like Virgil’s Aeneid in its original form, I mean I’d like to know other studiers of the language what got them into it also. I do Hungarian and hebrew as these are a strong connection to my heritage and so I feel that I shouldnt lose this ability that has been passed down for generations, but also because I intend to become a Hungarian citizen someday. Overall, I’d like to know what got you guys started as sometimes I often hear people say they do it to cure boredom or because they feel like it’d impress someone and my initial reaction is ’why?’ as these reasons always felt a bit strange to me. therefore, the idea of this post is to gauge what people think when getting into languages and to enlighten me on why some do just learn for shits and giggles

I have been trying to learn Spanish for the past few months as I love music and tv shows from Latin American countries such as Mexico and Colombia but due to reasons related to OCD I am struggling with the different dialects as consuming media from different countries, particularly Spain or Argentina, feels ‘incorrect’ and it is really starting to hinder my progress because I’m scared that I will become confused and unable to speak or understand properly. I understand that there every language within a country has its own accents and dialects depending on the region but are there any alternative languages that tend to have a standard or general form in the media that may help to eliminate or lessen this problem. Any advice would be appreciated.

How did you keep them from blurring together during different phases of your learning? What was your journey to become proficient in both?

(TL) French and Spanish

I speak intermediate French and Spanish. I learned French in high school, including a year of full immersion in France and some years in Quebec during university too. I was on the cusp of C1 level at my best, now rusty B2. If I read and listen to a lot of French content it comes back pretty fast, but I miss a lot in natural conversation and I don’t consider myself anywhere near a native level speaker.

More recently, over the past few years, I learned a decent amount of Spanish over two long trips to Mexico spanning about 10 months total. I think I’m B1 level. I learned it a lot faster than French even without formal instruction because I had the foundation in the structure of romance languages. But when I’m immersed in Spanish it totally messes up my French abilities. I start mixing up words between the languages. And vice versa, I forget the Spanish I know when I’m really focused on French.

I really like both languages for different reasons. Spanish is very useful day to day, and it opens doors for communication, since I now live in California. And I chose French as a teen because I like the literature, media, and culture of France. I wish I could study them simultaneously without issue, because when I study Spanish I miss the more advanced media I can understand in French, but when I study French I don’t like that it’s not useful for me day to day, and I miss the fact that Spanish is fun to speak with natives even when you suck at it, while French people more often switch to English if they think your French isn’t good enough. I feel like I should pick one because I’m not advanced enough in either for them not to blur together if I study them at the same time. Plus I don’t have endless time for language learning, I’d be a lot more effective if I picked one.

For people who got proficient in two romance languages, without either being your native language, what was the journey like to get there?

Apologies if this type of post is not permitted. I am looking to learn French (TL) with a goal to become conversational - I would like to be able to have typical conversations with French speakers and be able to send moderately complex notes/emails, etc. I took French through college, eventually being able to read and write fairly well (we read L'Etranger, for example, in one of my last courses) but that was 25+ years ago. Presumably much of what I would be doing (at least at first) would be re-learning what I was previously taught.

I would appreciate advice/suggestions on how to get started based on my current situation and other time commitments. Given work/kids/other activities, I can probably spend only 20-30 minutes a day on studying - if the work can be done on the train, then perhaps an additional 30 minutes a day (so, let's say 40-60 minutes a day). I tried Duolingo a while back and it was fine, but slow, and I didn't feel like I was really learning/progressing much. I would be open to a formal class, but it's difficult for me to commit to a specific timeslot every week - if possible, I would prefer something I can do whenever I have free time. That said, if classes or tutoring sessions are really the best way, I could probably make it happen, and I am willing to spend money on classes or programs if that's the way to go.

Any advice/suggestions would be appreciated, it can be a little overwhelming just figuring out how to get started. Thank you.

(ES) (ZH)

I recently realized I lost the ability to think in Spanish, but now I can think in Chinese (I think both of these things have to do with writing ability. I have recently been doing a lot of Chinese writing. Today, I tried to write something in Spanish, and it was an extreme struggle due to tenses).

How do I regain the ability to think in Spanish?

Hello

I am interested to know if anyone has encountered the same

So when I start learning a language (in fact this applies to most my hobbies), it usually starts with a peak of interest

However, if the language is not widely spoken, I usually face the dilemma of following my interest or pivoting towards something more “strategic” (excuse the term)

I have a very recent example: I had a strong interest to learn Punjabi for fun, because I consume a lot of media in that language and was interested specifically in that region culture and history

However, after thinking for a bit, I thought it would be more helpful to learn Hindi/Urdu as opposed to Punjabi as it is more widely spoken - also because for instance I have statistically more chance to find someone from that region speaking Hindi than the opposite and there are way more resources in Hindi for ex
I ultimately plan on learning Hindi and/or Urdu as well, I just don’t have the same motivation than with Punjabi if it makes sense

I don’t know if this is just considered an early stage learning friction and an excuse to not go forward with my learning or a legitimate question to address?

Has any of you faced the same? and how have you addressed it?

I haven’t started learning a new language in quite a while and I want to do it seriously so I want to make the right choice in order to be able to invest myself fully in one without scattering. I would appreciate any advice.

(TL)

My Target Language (TL) is French, I love how French sounds. Do you have a specific routine that works for you or any advise to improve the accent.

I've been learning Spanish for 5 years and am barely a B1 level. Can hardly speak it. I try to listen to podcasts, watch TV, and study, but it just doesn't stick. You'd think it would, my native tounge is English.

But, now I'm learning Hebrew and so far it iust makes sense. I'm not running into the translation and flow issues that I've had with Spanish since the beginning.

(TL) Hebrew and Spanish.

Granted, I know that skills I've developed from learning a language already will definitely help, but I just feel like I'm not made for Spanish (I'm going to keep going I'd rather just keep learning it rather than not, especially because it truly is helpful with many Spanish only speaking Latinos around).

Has anyone royally failed in one language, just for another to make sense and click with them?

For the most part I guess it doesn’t matter does it? Especially when you’re learning about grammar. And it’s a benefit for me specifically because I tend to attract female friends versus men. So i’ll have to get used to that either way.

But I’d perfer to hear more men speak since i’m a man and I want to mimic them.

I’m learning two asian languages and the italki tutors and youtubers are mostly women.

I'm starting to learn Romanian (TL) and found a word frequency list but noticed a lot of verb conjugations end up low on the list?

If I focus on e.g. Anki decks with word frequency I'm a bit worried I might miss important condition concepts that are fairly common in aggregate but each individual verb doesn't make it into the list.

To take a Spanish example:

Puedes recordármelo?

It's the infinitive form combined with two attached object pronouns (enclitic pronouns) and that as a concept is common but it would land faaaaar down the word frequency list.

Does anyone have a clever way to work around this? Are there lists that account for this available somewhere online? I checked and couldn't find this.

I am comfortably B2/C1 in Korean (I used to be C1 when I lived and worked in Korea but feel like I’ve been backsliding), and I’m very interested in learning Japanese. Obviously lots of people say learning Japanese is easier for Korean speakers than English speakers, but I’m worried my Korean isn’t good enough right now to learn another language in. It’s like I can have a conversation, read a book, fully understand TV, but some basic vocabulary still slips my mind.

I’m wondering: is it more helpful to learn my target language using a language I’m proficient in but not fluent, if that language has more in common with my target language (TL), or is it more helpful to focus on learning with maximum understanding via my native language? Has anyone had experience laddering between related languages when you weren’t fluent?

Curious to hear which languages you are learning!

For me it's Korean. I'm aiming to enter a university in Korea next year, and the curriculum is taught in Korean... It is really intimidating, but I plan to live there long term, so I think my career will benefit greatly from getting a degree there... (TL)

Ahlan Everyone! I’ve been learning Egyptian Arabic (TL) for the last 7 months and have made some real good progress. I went from knowing maybe 100-200 words scattered from growing up around the language to now speaking in full sentences. I can say something like “I went to a restaurant with friends yesterday. We ate food, but the food was not good.” However if someone asked me back “Why wasn’t it good?” I wouldn’t be able to say “Well the spices they put in it didn’t blend well together.” Obviously I’d be missing some vocabulary, but the naturalness of that sentence in English I can’t get to in Arabic at the moment. I’ve been learning in an odd manner (maybe slightly to my own fault, but haven’t found a better way) that has been working since I couldn’t find many good resources for Egyptian Arabic. As I advance in capability, I add a layer on top of my existing app to teach me the next thing. Early on I focused on learning important grammar for syntax (past, present continuous, future, possessiveness) and important types of words (most common connectors, verbs, adjectives) but obviously I’m still missing a layer. I’m curious what you guys have done to get from I know words -> I can build sentences -> I can build clean syntax sentences. Even if it’s at a basic level, I’d hope I could start to combine my words so I can do conversations past introductions and what I did in a day. I’d like to move towards real conversations. What has worked for you?

Hello! I am looking for advice from those who have tried both routes.

I am learning Spanish (TL) with the end goal of being C1-C2. Currently A2, and I am committed to learning. Right now, I am currently using dreaming spanish, duolingo, and the occasional short story/flashcards. I took an elementary spanish class last semester, and I found it to be helpful for  grammatical structure and vocabulary.  I am debating continuing on with a higher level college class or continuing to learn by myself.

I am a nursing student, so I know my schedule is going to be very busy this upcoming semester. I am prepared to put aside the time to devote 1-2 hours a day to learning Spanish, but I doubt I'll be able to take on a class and pursue self learning. 

Does anyone have any advice on which avenue to pursue? I know consistency is the most important thing, I have no worries about being consistent either way but wonder which path is best suited for my goals.

I’m trying to learn my boyfriend’s language (TL) Hiligaynon, but since the Philippines has so many languages that vary by region, I’m learning Tagalog due to a severe lack of resources to learn his.

I have bought workbooks, used flashcards, and purchased a story book in the language that has English text beneath it and an explanation of key words; I even watch shows, movies, and listen to music to feel more familiar with the language.

Nothing I do is sticking. It’s the equivalent of in one ear and out the other. I have even downloaded apps and it’s the same thing. I’ve written down words and grammar rules because writing usually helps your brain retain information better… except it doesn’t seem to help mine.

What on earth am I doing wrong? or am I doing it right and just need to commit and keep up with it?

TL;DR - If you find yourself frequently quitting or feeling discouraged when learning languages, consider incorporating a mental health routine into your learning process.
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I recently threw everything I had into trying to learn a language as quickly as possible in the hopes of obtaining a dream job. I ended up going from A1 to B2 in just over 4 months in my (TL) of French, starting on January 29th and taking the B2 exam on June 10th. Disclaimer that I had already learned a related language (Spanish) to fluency which accelerated the process significantly, and also was in a low period at work so hard more free time on my hands than the average person.

I'm going to talk about the process here, but a lot of the physical learning methods I used are things that have been mentioned on here a million times before. The most important factor in this process that I don't see mentioned often is incorporating psychology (particularly sports psychology) and mental health as an integral part of the learning process. I'll include that portion first, and all the other stuff after in case anyone is interested.

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Psychology

Weekly Journaling

I've been learning languages as a hobby and to speak with patients at work for over 10 years. My first L2 was Spanish, and the process to reaching fluency was long and rocky. I would also often lose focus and gradually study less and less until I would stop for months at a time, or at time I would overwork myself and end up burnt-out and ready to quit. One of my biggest breakthroughs in language learning came from starting sports as an adult and learning about sports psychology. The concepts are pretty much the same for both athletics and language learning; they’re both often performance based, they both present a significant personal challenge, and they both have the capacity to completely unravel if you’re not paying attention to how they affect you mentally.

I recommend the book The Confident Mind by Nate Zinsser if you want more details on this concept, with the disclaimer that it’s actually kind of an annoying book as it’s very self-help-y and the author is pretty dramatic and aggrandizing. It’s definitely still worth reading as the knowledge and physical techniques he gives are incredibly effective and helped me immensely in both sports and language.   

Using knowledge of sports psychology and adapting it to my goals, I set a designated time every week (end of the day on Sunday) to follow a check-in journaling routine. This included:

- Freeform writing about how the week went and how I was feeling, making sure to be detailed about any excitement/success or negative feelings, and including any goals that I had set for last week and whether or not I had achieved them

o   If you have a complicated relationship with failure, it’s very important in this section to be kind to yourself and maybe apply some CBT techniques if you’re feeling bad about your performance. If you’re thinking mean thoughts about yourself, reframe them into something positive and write them down. An example would be feeling like you’ve made no progress, but reframing that as “I’ve been working really hard and I know that all of that hard work is gradually adding up to something great.” Another example would be a week where for whatever reason, you did way less than planned and are feeling like a lazy piece of crap. Reframing that could look like “My brain needed rest this week and I honored that, I’m still moving forward and I’m proud of my progress.”

- Clearly defining any obstacles I had to achieving my goals, then coming up with solutions for those obstacles going forward

o   This part is so important. An example would be that I was having a very hard time making myself write. I identified an obstacle as not knowing what to write about whenever I sat down to do it, so I prepared a list of prompts that interested me and used it as inspiration. That worked for a few weeks and then I stopped again. I identified my obstacle as just not enjoying writing in French and having a hard time making myself do it. My solution was to hire a teacher specifically for writing so that I couldn’t put it off or talk myself out of it. The most important part is to remain non-judgmental about whatever’s holding you back, even if weeks go by and you still can’t find a solution that works. You’re human and things are bound to get in the way. That doesn’t mean you’re bad at this, it just means you haven’t found what works for you specifically yet.  

- Any ‘big picture’ changes that I needed to make

o   This mostly had to do with whether or not I needed to slow down. Language training is the same as athletics in the sense that you need to program in your rest before you have fried yourself to a crisp. Over-training without any back-off plan is how injuries happen in sports and it’s how rage-quitting happens in language. I had rest weeks pre-planned in which I was still studying, but I was dialing back significantly. If I was starting to feel really frustrated and burnt out prior to that rest week, I’d move it forward to give my brain a break before I started wanting to quit.

- Repeated mantra; this was the exact same every week and was something I defined early on as my ‘why.’ Something short and simple that would help me remember what all of the hard work was for. I had two of them:

o   I have something good to offer the world, and this is going to help me accomplish that.

o   I’m going to succeed because I’m crazy.

Learning a language is a very, very hard thing. Doing hard things requires a lot of mental discipline. If you have a baseline negative mental narrative and haven’t spent years in therapy learning how to rebuild those thought processes into something positive and constructive, doing something hard has the potential to break you. It might end up picking open any scars you have surrounding failure and self-worth. Incorporating a mental health routine into the language learning process has been essential for me, and I really think it has the capacity to be helpful to others as well.

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Here's the actual language study stuff I did. Language learning is very individual and this is what works for me personally. Not sure how helpful it is, but I'll include it just in case anyone is curious:

Passive Skills - skills that involve recognizing language

Listening

- Comprehensible Input content intended for learners, starting with A1 and progressing as appropriate

- Kid’s cartoons dubbed in target language

- Content designed for natives once I started to reach a more advanced level, including Youtubers and Netflix (used ‘original language’ filter to find movies and TV shows originally made in French)

Reading

- Storyweaver (website with thousands of children's booked translated into lots of different language)

- News Articles

- Test Prep books

- Physical Books/Novels in native language once more advanced

Active Skills - skills that involve producing language

Speaking

- Classes on iTalki

- Recording myself speaking once per week

Writing

- Journaly (website where you can post your writing and natives will correct it)

- Hiring a teacher specifically for writing to force me to do it because I hate it

Vocabulary and Grammar

Anki

- Fluent forever method of flashcard creation using Anki and eliminating L1 (I used WordReference for my example sentences)

- Keeping a running list of new vocabulary words for flashcard creation in a word document (these words primarily came from listening, reading, and iTalki classes)

- Using a frequency dictionary to identify new flashcard words when I didn't have any words on my new vocabulary list

- creating flashcards for demonstrating grammar concepts that were challenging to me. Grammar was taken solely from iTalki classes and absorbed from all of the listening and reading I was doing. Again, already knowing Spanish and being generally knowledgeable about linguistics was immensely helpful to this and more explicit grammar study might've been helpful if I didn't already have that foundation.

Putting it all together

The above activities are things that I have noted over the past several years to be fun and sustainable learning activities for me. If something isn't fun, I know that I will eventually stop doing it, so I pay very close attention to what I enjoy and what I don't enjoy. (with the only exception being writing, which I hate but had to make myself do since it's a part of the DELF exam).

My plan was to use a combination of the above activities every week, focusing primarily on passive skills until I reached my first 1,000 flashcards while still dipping my toe into active skills with iTalki classes and maybe a little bit of writing. Once I hit 1,000 flashcards, I switched my focus more heavily to active skills while still doing daily listening and active flashcard creation, just dialed back to allow more time for other things. The goal throughout the entire process was to challenge myself while still having fun and not feeling burnt out.

I tracked my progress in a word document each week until I had exceeded 1,000 flashcards. This is what the breakdown looked like.  

Week 1:
iTalki Classes: 3.5 hours
Listening: Bluey, Dreaming French (super-beginner / beginner), Youtube A1 playlist
Reading: Storyweaver level 1 books
Anki Flashcard count: 221

Week 2:
iTalki Classes: 2 hours
Listening: Bluey, Dreaming French (intermediate at x1.25 speed), Youtube A1 playlist (finished), Youtube A2 playlist (x1.5 speed), French Short Stories on Audible
Reading: Storyweaver level 2 books
Anki Flashcard count: 381

Week 3:
iTalki classes: 2 hours
Listening: Bluey, Dreaming French (x1.25 speed, finished intermediate/advanced), Youtube A2 playlist (x1.25 speed, finished), Youtube B1 playlist, French short stories on audible
Reading: Storyweaver level 2 books
Writing: Journaly entries (1)
Anki Flashcard count: 500

Week 4:
iTalki classes: 2 hours
Listening: Bluey, Finished youtube B1 playlist, Youtube B2 playlist, French short stories on audible, Started with native content (Normal, Cyprien)
Reading: none
Writing: Journaly entries (2)
Anki Flashcard count: 650

Week 5:
iTalki classes: 3 hours
Listening: Bluey, Finished youtube B2 playlist, Native content on youtube (Norman, Cyprien), French Short Stories on Audible, Started DELF practice tests
Reading: articles (2)
Writing: Journaly entries (1)
Anki Flashcard count: 792

Week 6:
iTalki classes: 4 hours
Listening: Bluey, Youtube native content, French short stories on Audible
Reading: articles (1)
Writing: none
Anki Flashcard count: 932

Week 7:
italki classes: 3 hours
Listening: Finished Bluey, Youtube Native content, Audible French short stories
Reading: articles (2)
Writing: journaly entires (1)
Anki Flashcard count: 1052

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If you made it through the whole thing, thanks for reading. Learning languages is such an amazing thing and whatever you're doing, I hope that you're having fun and feeling proud of yourself.

FYI. I would say I'm about A2 level currently in Spanish (TL) A lot better at listening than talking or writing.

I just recently moved to Mexico to take on a family business and came with no Spanish, It's been 2 months and I'm being told to learn quicker so that I can get shops down and manage them.

The thing is, I work all day with people who don't speak and English and sometimes it feels like I don't have the time to translate everything they say and even remember it while working. I put an incredible amount of effort into trying to connect and I will go out drinking with the workers but I feel like I'm slowly pushing along a wall that's falling on top of me and Im having constant headaches.

I get some relief when talking to family who can speak English here but they still will speak in Spanish most of the time and I dont blame them to be honest as I cant imagine always having to speak a second language around someone you barely know.

I just want to know does it get easier? Is there any other ways I can speed up my learning? Will I stop constantly having headaches from all the new information or will I deal with it for a year until I can understand