ADHD ruined my language learning experience.

[Anonymous]

I have been in love with Japanese culture my whole life. So after thinking of learning it for 10 years, i finally have a golden opportunity to learn it. Let me make it clear that nothing that is happening externally is responsible for my dismay. It’s all me.

My Sensei (trainer) is best trainer any one can ask for. My classes awesome. My class mates are super sharp and funny. I should be having the time of my life, which I did for the first 3 classes. Trouble started when my memory started failing. I cant remember the 3 system alphabet, I spent all night memorizing them only to blank out in the class. I am shamelessly late to class at least by 10 minutes no matter what I do.

I am too busy playing catch up in the class, and feel super dumb. I feel like am not grasping things fast enough. It’s Math class all over again from school, nightmare revisited, but the thing is I was good at languages in my school.

Japanese is relatively easy and should be a breeze, and since I love the language so much , I should be doing 1000X times better. I cant even get the assignments done accurately.

Now am beginning to hate it. Its all ,my fault. I cant give up though, since I love it so much and got these classes after I searched for them real hard. It’s like I am wasting a golden opportunity , cause I am so cauht up in the clutter of my mind and tangled wires of my brain.

Wish I had more focus and more shape at retrieving the required language information to apply in class and in my assignments.

I feel like the pathetic fly on the glass window, heading towards it {head on} with all of my best energy only to hit he hard glass in vain.

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[Anonymous]

Sorry for the ramble.

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[Anonymous]

Be our guest! I really feel the need to encourage you NOT to give up!!!!!! Try to remember that it may not be the language as much as the classroom format which we all know is farthest from ideal for ADDers. Remember the teacher from the “Peanuts” series??? You may need to come at it from an entirely different perspective, go back to your childhood and learn the way a child learns–curiosity, immersion, use your senses (another thing we are good at!!) Do not beat your head against the wall because you are trying to fit a round peg (ADD brain) into a square hole (conventional learning)!! At this point I might interject to tell you the reason for my optimism–I too have learned a language, albeit not perfectly, but enough to hold a conversation, and although I took a formal class for 6 months, the most of what I learned was from the above methods. BTW, the language was Mandarin Chinese, including all those wonderful characters! I am now also starting to learn Cantonese. Try not to pressure yourself to keep up with others, only keep challenging yourself and your known limits!! Try to tap your creativity and use those daydreaming sessions we are so good at to your advantage, also immersing yourself (learn what you can) in the culture, food, dress, and the way they think. Knowing why they think the way they do will help with the language, trust me! Sometimes I “forget” that I am not chinese and join in on conversations or even smile at someone and get weird looks, like why is this “white person” staring at me????

Try to remind yourself why you “love it so much” every day and when you are staring at homework. Or take a break and go have some sushi!!! lol Just learn at YOUR pace and try not to worry about “catching up” even though I know a class has deadlines!!! Focus on WHAT you are learning and not HOW FAST…

Oh yeah, picture dictionaries are AWESOME!!!!!

Okay, I think I have exhausted every cliche in the book!!!!!!!! Hope this helps even somewhat, you are not alone!

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[Anonymous]

About the alphabet, are you artistic at all? Try making an artsy booklet with all the components, a page for each one, draw anything that the components remind you of or you just think of at the time, the more visual references you have for that component/letter/etc. will help you. Write down the name or whatever you are wanting to remember (keep it simple) on the card and whenever you are relaxed just leaf through the booklet and don’t put yourself under any pressure to remember. Just think about what you admire about it, or about your drawings associated with it, or whatever. This will put a positive spin on it and you will find yourself remembering more. Myself I find that the more pressure there is, the more you forget or don’t retain.

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[Anonymous]

First of all conversational level in Mandarin = RESPECT. Awesome.

Thank you Julianna for the encouragement and suggestions. I totally agree with the statement “the more pressure there is, the more you forget or don’t retain”. Indeed that is exactly what has been happening. I am no longer concerned with catching up to fellow students. Learning process is smoother, now that I don’t worry about getting it all done at top speed. I was being greedy and wanted to learn it all in a short span of time.

I have indeed tried out the visual tricks you have mentioned, and in that I find Kanji to be much easier than the other 2 forms of alphabet. The more visual the better, forgot all about it. Thank you for reminding me that. I needed it so much; it is easier to get lost in negative chain of thought process. I guess we just need the periodical reminder to boost us back on to the right path.

The getting distracted part is still a royal pain, but whatever time I spend on studying at least it is not all going in vain, I retain at least 70% and need a better strategy for vocab drill. Let me go find those picture dictionaries

And all the very best on learning Cantonese. Next stop for me aft Japanese is Korean and French. 😯

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[munchkin]

I never got fluent in 2 non-native languages I learned – I was OK and could communicate, but never “respectible.” I’m wondering if I can finally break that barrier now that I understand that ADD is a big part of the equation.

I can’t wait to give it another stab!!!

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[Anonymous]

@munchkin

Well, I understand, the way ADHD interferes with learning a language, initially it represents rote memorization and does not have core conceptualization and explanation which our brains so dearly crave for all the time. So I have learned after a great deal of suffering that we need to create our concepts and build on it to be able to remember AND most importantly make it as fun as possible,(cliché alert!!) easier said than done.

You should totally give it a shot at mastering the languages. Let me just say this, the beginning might be rocky( painfully embarrassing in my case) but once our brains master the language our imagination makes it beautiful.

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