#a guide to language learning

[gretheresa]

Hey could share some tips abt learning new Lang you seem to have good grasp by now and I m willing to start Korean so maybe some advice would really help I g.

Have a grt day :))

I would love to! My advice won't be too structured so please bear with me 😭💕

New Script

First things first your target language has a different script. Since you've written your ask in English I understand that you're familiar with the Roman script. Please understand this, when you're learning a language and it has a script you're not familiar with, drop everything and familiarise yourself with the script first. A lot of students tend to develop a tendency of relying upon the script they already know to be able to read the text of their target language(hereinafter mentioned as TL). I'm in my third year of studying Japanese. Japanese has 3 scripts. Students who didn't familiarise themselves with the Japanese scripts still rely on writing the pronunciations of words in English. The learning of the Korean script is not just limited to memorising the letters, but as far as I can remember, the positions of the letters also matter. Essentially, you need to know the script like the back of your hand. Since the Korean language has gained a lot of traction in the past few years, there are now a number of apps for you to practice writing the script and provides flashcards for you to retain the script.

Gather Study Material/Make a Study Plan

If you're planning on self studying, do extensive research, on YouTube, Tumblr, find other people who are learning the same TL as you are, ask them what resources they use. As far as a beginner is concerned, most platforms provide basic learning material for free. If you need to get a basic framework or a goal to work towards, look for the proficiency test of your language and if it is conducted in your country. For Korean it would be the TOPIK test if I'm not wrong. The lowest level is 1, highest 5. Jot down the syllabus or print it. And start researching on gathering the material to cover that syllabus. This way you won't feel like you're arbitrarily studying whatever you can get your hands on. It'll give you a goal to work towards. For TOPIK level 1, I believe you'll easily find free resources online.

Understanding Sentence Structure

Grammar structure that is whether your TL is a Subject+Object+Verb(eg. Japanese, Hindi, Korean) or a Subject+Verb+Object(eg. English, Chinese). If you already happen to know a language that has the same sentence structure as your TL, take that language as your base language to learn the TL.

Input vs Output

When you're learning a new language, there's two things happening. One is Input, the other is your Output. Input would include reading and listening and output would be writing and speaking. Please understand that it might be a while before you can fluently create output. When you're starting out, a great amount of input is needed to "create" output in your TL. And by create I mean being able to create sentences in your TL as opposed to creating a sentence in your native language and then translating it to your TL. Being able to intuitively, effortlessly create sentences, or think in a new language takes a LOT of input. Think of how long it takes babies to speak because they don't have a base language from which they can translate. They gather input for such a long time before they can string two words together. So don't feel disheartened when you sit down to write something in your TL but words just won't come to you. It's fine. Put your focus into gathering a lot of input.

Kind of Input to Look For

An important thing to consider when you're in your quest for gathering input, is to gather such input as would be useful to your level of understanding of the TL. Imagine if a lawyer started talking to a baby to increase the vocab capacity of the baby. it won't work. Find materials suited to your level. If you're a beginner read children's books, watch children's cartoons. The good thing about being an adult is that we can learn faster than a baby, so naturally we might progress on to intermediate level more easily than a kid but that doesn't mean we can skip the part where we have to read kid's books.

Overcoming the Intermediate Level Boredom/Lack of Motivation

The true problem arises when we're at a lower intermediate level. So now we know more than just the basics, but not enough to be able to understand our favourite shows or read the novels or comics we'd like to read. The solution is to remind yourself again, that lower intermediate level requires reading and listening to content of that very level. This is the one place I've seen so many students give up because language does get progressively harder from here. And most people who are relying purely on studying grammar and cramming vocab from a boring list tend to feel super burnt out. The solution is to read and especially read fiction. Fiction will naturally create interest in finding out what a particular word means. I've never managed to learn vocab from a list. It's tedious, boring and I always run the risk of ending up hating my TL. So read, and always read the stories suited to your level of understanding.

Same goes for listening. Immerse yourself in podcasts, youtube channels of your TL. Again at the level that suits you. Being able to understand something in your TL gives a confidence boost and motivates you to study more to be able to understand even more complex grammar, which is why I'm focusing so much on gathering input that is suited to your level of understanding of the TL.

This got a bit too long than I had planned😅 I hope this helps. I might add something later on. I'd love it if other langblrs would like to add to this.

Learning a new language is soooo exciting but you must MUST know that it requires a tremendous amount of patience. When you're starting out and feel frustrated that you're still not able to understand movies or books in your target language, remind yourself that you're the equivalent of a 6-7 year old student when you're studying the language and be kind to yourself as you would be to a kid. I hope I was able to help you out, sending all the love for your language learning journey💕

[adragonsfriend]

Amatakka: A Learning Guide!

For anyone interested in learning Amatakka (or just about the language & culture) but finds the various spreadsheets either intimidating or incomprehensible, Learning Amatakka: Berim Takkarie is a written guide designed for learners! It includes recordings of spoken Amatakka, notes on Amavikka culture, neat charts, and more.

From the Preface:

"Learning Amatakka is a guide designed for a learner of Amatakka to be exposed to the depth and breadth of Amatakka vocabulary and grammar, and with a little luck, become somewhat conversational."

"Berim Takkarie means Song Dialect [referring to the dialect endemic to much of Tatooine], for the language of hearth and home, which recalls the musical stories of the very eldest grandmothers, and an endless search for water."

Chapter 1 is currently posted, and it focuses on learning to introduce oneself, and a whole bunch of notes on gender. Many more chapters are in the works, and the guide is open to comments and questions!

A guide to @looseleafteeaves dialect of Amatakka is linked within this one.

Many thanks to @emotionalsupportjedi, who accidentally inspired this entire project by asking 'teeaves if they could recommend a place to start learning Amatakka! Please enjoy this ongoing textbook. And even moreso thanks to 'teeaves and @whywouldiknow-that for their contributions so far.

[courtingwonder]

Evolution of the Modern Latin Script (Extended Chart)

[sadie-the-dragon-slayer]

Self / Independent Learner's Guide to Language Learning From Zero

-a mini study plan I used this for Spanish, French and Italian, it is my favourite way of starting to learn. It won't teach you the langauge but if this is your first time, if you feel confused and don't know where to begin, this is for you! -this is kinda romance langauge based but might give you ideas if you are learning from a different family too -this is very notebook / writing based since i prefer learning that way Step 1: Preperation

First of all, ask yourself "do i already have some amount of immersion in this langauge?" As humans, we learn from immersion a lot. Songs, but especially visual media is incredibly heplful. I never studied japanese but after watching a few animes i picked up 5-10 random words. Passive vocabulary, being familiar to most common words will be your biggest friend. If the answer is no, before start studying ANYTHING do some immersion. e.g. I watched dix pour cent for French and learned arrêt which means stop because characters were shouting to each other all the time.

After making sure you have some immersion or if you already have some, PREPARE YOUR RESOURCES. Make a file in your computer, reblog tumblr posts, save links. Search for pdfs in google. (x language a1 pdf / x langauge a1 grammar book / x language a1 reading) Free PDF's and and useful websites. The more the merrier. Why? Because when you actually start learning you will slowly realise them half of them are not actually useful, too advance, too simple, not in your preffered style etc. You will en up using same handful amount of resources again and again but before that, you have to TRY EVERYTHING. You are unique and so will be your learning process.

Google x language A1 curriculum. (you can try adding "pdf" at the end of sentence as well) It "probably/ hopefully" exists. If you can't find that way, learn which offical exam is necessary (e.g. for French it's DELF/DALF, in english there is IELTS and so many more) If you are lucky, you can find a langauge teaching enstitute's curriculum and you can find in what order they teach things. This was very helpful for me because sometimes you don't know what to study next, or just want to visualise what do you need to learn, it is helpful. I printed one out and paste it to the back cover of my notebook. You won't need this one YET. I'll explain in a second. Keep reading.

Get a notebook. I don't prefer books while learning from zero because it will be filled with vocabulary you don't know. My pereference is no squares no lines empty ass notebook and colorful pens. I'm a person of shitty doodles. I love to draw and visualise things. It really helps my brain. In A1, your knowledge is absouletly zero and your brain is about the explode with realising GREAT MASS of knowledge you need to learn in order to be "fluent" . So keep things away from being "too much" if you want to avoid a burnout.

Set a timer. If you want to avoid burnout, the secret is always quit when you feel like you can go another round happily. Quit when you are dopamine high. If you study too much, next day you'll wake up tired, want to rest etc. and make it harder for you to create a habit. I did this mistake with French by studying 4-5 hours everyday for around 30 days. I completed my challenge, completly quit and then didn't come back for MONTHS.

You will be re-studying A LOT. Language learning is repetition. You will start by studying "the A1 curriculum". But, because this is your first time your focus will be on the vocabulary and general comprehension. You are trying to re-wire your brain, and learn a different way of thinking and living. It's not easy. It will take time. It will be painful at times. But it is 100% worth it.

After you finished studying your curriculum, you'll take a short break and then study the curriculum AGAIN. For a second time. Because you already know the basics, this time you will be able to focus more on the little things you weren't able to comprehend the last time. e.g. articles or whatever little frustaring thing your langauge has. Also focus more on basic prononciation and especially reading aloud. Find a realistic text-to-reader. Copy-paste a text. Listen and repeat.

Get a new Youtube and Instagram account dedicated to langauge study. How many good resources exists and where they are is really depens on which langauge you are learning. For english, youtube is better. For French, instagram is better. You have to see for yourself. If you get a seperate account for your langauge algorith will learn faster and you won't be distracted by other stuff. Short form engaging videos are the best for absolute beginners. Re-watch things and try to repeat them out loud. It's called shadowing and is your future best friend.

If you want to learn how to speak, you first need to how to write. If you can't write sentences without looking at google translate (or reverso) you won't be able to make up sentences in your head. If you want to learn how to write, your first need to learn how to read. You need to start in this order but also don't be perfectionist. Do it even if you do it wrong. They will be fixed eventually and won't stick. Record yourself speaking even if the text you are reading is 90% google translated. Why? Beacuse speaking will enhance your vocabulary in a way no other thing can and that's the core of reading. So this isn't a linear thing. It's actually a circle!

Step Two! Ok, Sadie, i got my notebooks and read through all the warnings where do i start? *First page: [] means written is target langauge

[x notebook] x= your target langauge

Add something cute and make you feel happy to open up the notebook. It can a drawing, a picture, anything. First page is your entrance to your new home. Make it welcoming.

*[My name is X. I am Y years old. I live in Z.] *Greetings. Main articles if there are any. Yes, no, please, thank you. *What is your name, what do you do for living, how are you, where are you from, how old are you, how many langauges do you speak, numbers from 0-100. If there are multiple way of saying these things and probably there are, just write one. You will eventually learn others. Baby steps. *write a basic ass text of two people having a conversation asking and answering these questions.

*the alphabet and how to pronounce the letters. basic letter combinations that change into a different sound. a youtube video about this 100% exists.

*personal pronouns and if there is a "am/is/are" verb the conjugation of it. (in spanish there is two unfortunately) *artciles and basic noun endings. a couple exemples of nouns in x form but takes y article. *first 5 most common verbs. learn the conjugation, try writing basic ass sentences. (e.g. to come, go, have, speak)

*three more verbs (e.g. to eat, can, to want)

*take some time to fully comprehend. check your curriculum list to look and see if you want to add anything. e.g.for spanish that can be ser vs estar, for spanish is can be "how to ask questions in french" becaue it's way harder compared to other langauges.

*take some break from grammar and learn some vocab maybe. it can be colors, or feelings. (i am sad, i am hungry etc.)

*start studying most common verbs. usually a form of categorization exists. usually it's verb ending. (unless it's a language like turkish where every verb either ends with -mek or -mak lol.) Start with 10- 15 most common verbs. You will also be learning some vocabulary by default. (try to stick to regular verbs if you can, if not that's fine) (Do not learn any verbs you won't be able to use immediately.)

*Learn basic adjectives and how they work so you can form more detailed sentences.

*After comprehending how to form basic positive negative sentences and some verbs, congratulate yourself, because you deserve it! *Learn how tell time. "What time is it? It's x'o clock."

*learn clothing and how to simply describe physical look e.g. hair color, eye color, beard, glasses...

*learn the verbs of daily routine. be able to write a generic ass "i wake up, i do breakfast, i eat lunch at school, i sleep" sort of text.

*demonstratives. this that. these. those. you can add some vocabulary you like. this is a cat. this is a tree. you can add placement adjectives now or later. (the cat is under the sofa. the bird is on the table etc.)

*Now you know a lot of things! Take some time and focus a bit more on the vocab, let your brain process things, do some passive immersion. avoid a burnout at all costs. *learn how to say "there is" (if you want more vocab transportation and city centre themes can be included.) *learn how to talk about your hobbies. This is the generic A1 curriuculum. You are able to understand basic things, you have a generic comprehension. That's all it takes to be considered A1. If you want to pass it though, what you need is a good grammar source. For French and Spanish Kwiziq was very useful. I couldn't find a good online grammar resource for Italian yet. (please ask more experienced langblrs for recs.) Slowly learn more vocab (since A1 is more vocab based. If you hate Anki and Quizlet stuff check Linguno. Actually check Linguno anyway it's a banger and i'm gonna die on that hill.)

If you don't have have native friend to ask questiones and you don't have any ethical concerns ChatGPT can be useful. I'm using it for French for months. Why are we using this particle here, why this and not that, can you give me some example sentences.... you can play guess the animal, ask for writing prompts and then make ChatGpt find and explain your mistakes to you. It's very handy.

*Don't be scared to share about your journey on Tumblr and most importantly ENJOY!

[avocado62524]

Portrait of Madame X (but now Himeko Murata)

[aurora-sunflower]

what it feels like trying to teach yourself a new skill while having absolutely no fucking clue what you are doing

[rigelmejo]

Something that always annoys me is the idea only 1 language learning method works. Which is not true. While it may be possible that, for a particular individual, only a few out of many study methods may work well enough for That Individual to make progress and stay motivated... that doesn't mean all the other study methods won't work for anyone else out there, or that those few methods will work for every other given person.

Obviously if you've been studying a while, then you already figured out what kinds of things work for you and don't. If you're a beginner, just wading into studying?

I would suggest you simply look for study methods that: 1. Teach you new things regularly, 2. Review and practice things you've learned, 3. Include studying things you need for your particular goals (for example if your goal is to read X book then the study materials at some point should involve reading practice and some words the book contains, if your goal is to talk about Y then the study materials should include some information about pronunciation and words you'll need to be able to say).

As you can imagine, a TON of study materials will meet these requirements. And you can study a given skill in a LOT of ways.

(Reading is my focus lol so just for reading, a beginner might: do vocabulary study with lists or conversations with native speakers or watching shows and looking words up or listening to dialogues with a transcript like in a textbook or graded readers or a picture book with word labels in the target language or a video game with labelled objects in target language, all of those things as long as your vocabulary is improving or reading practice is happening would help you make progress). So to improve reading skill as a beginner: you could study with a textbook, a podcast with transcript, a classroom or tutor with words written down in target language (like TPRS), a video game, a TV show and a translate app on your phone, a friend you talk with (who either writes words down or you look up words you hear with a translate app), a friend you text with, srs flashcards like anki (provided there's text) etc. As long as there's new words, and/or you're practicing reading, the study method may work. If it works will come down to if you can stay motivated doing it regularly, and make sure you regularly learn some new things and review/practice things you've already studied.

So consider those things when you see people selling a study method as a product (especially when it's costing you money). Consider if it teaches you NEW things, and are those new things related to your goals, and how MUCH new stuff will it teach you before you finish it? Consider if it provides review or practice, or if you can use it's materials to review on your own making up your own method, or if you'll need to do separate review/practice.

So examples:

LingQ. Can it teach you many new words? Yes, thousands, since you can import any texts you want when you get done with their provided material (I have no idea how much their beginner material covers though in terms of words... I would hope 1000-3000 words but that can be researched). Is your goal reading? It's suited to reading, so you will practice and review often with it. Cost? I think it was $12 a month when I last had it, and the price may have increased. Is it worth it? Depends on a learner's needs. I found it was wasting my money, so I chose to use free tools like Pleco and Readibu apps - since those apps are suited for Chinese learners and have better translations, Pleco has better paid graded reader material if I was going to spend money, and both Pleco and Readibu let me import texts so I can learn thousands of new words just like LingQ but free. Now that I'm not a beginner, I often use Microsoft Edge to read chinese... since I can still click-translate words easily (all my web browsers have that tool free), and Edge's TTS voice is helpful for pronunciation and sounds quite good. I read webnovels online so Edge works well. But it's translations aren't as good as Pleco or Readibu, so if I still needed translations more I would use them. So... is LingQ a good study method? Its certainly a study method marketed to buy. Well... the method is suited to improving reading skill, at least. It costs money, which is a negative, but it does offer a lot. However: everything it does regarding reading can be done free with other apps or sites or web browsers on their own. So if paying money motivates you to read... sure. LingQ does have a few word tracking features a learner may find worth the money, keeping in mind the actual read-to-learn method can be done free without lingq. (Also... while LingQ is a valid option for improving reading, if the learners goal is speaking then it would be important to think of what study activities the learner will do OUTSIDE of LingQ to improve speaking... because I've seen how LingQ is marketed as "how to learn a language" but it's only focused on some skills. It has vocabulary and grammar in some sense, since you'll read a lot and encounter new words and structures. But it doesnt have speaking or writing practice at least last time I was on it. Those activities would need to be worked on, on your own).

You can do that kind of cost/benefit contemplating with any study method material you see being sold. Amother example: there's a beginner Mandarin course called Mandarin Blueprint. It teaches like 800 words. Thats all. It may be worthwhile for a beginner... who still needs to learn 800 common words. But if you already know a few hundred words, the benefit of the course is less, you'll need to find a new material to teach you more new stuff soon. And the price was like a few hundred for the course... which for me personally was too much to spend, when I had already learned 800 hanzi from a book that cost me 12 dollars and 2000 words from a free user made memrise deck. The course claimed to get a person speaking, competent, but anyone not a beginner would say speaking basically with 800 words is nowhere near the level of working in Chinese or just doing a lot of daily life stuff, or reading/listening to media. (Although for the motivated beginner if you're learning 800 words on your own like I was, its definitely close to the point of jumping to learn more words and start reading kids and teenager books, and watching easier shows if you're willing to look new words up). So to me... Mandarin Blueprint felt like overselling some basic beginner materials. (Again when I know several other things that teach beginner stuff either more in depth so HSK test prep classes, and college courses, or that teach beginner stuff to the same depth as Mandarin Blueprint but free).

Some study materials aren't going to act like they teach everything. I've seen chinese courses just for learning to speak tones better and general pronunciation - probably worthwhile if your goal is to improve speaking and a teacher could help improve the issues your having. But a learner needs to be aware for that course that they'll need to study vocabulary on their own, its JUST a pronunciation improvement course.

[hebrewbyinbal]

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[poetryqueer]

we as a society must move past untranslated and untransliterated ancient languages in interdisciplinary articles in english-language publications

[hiswrlds]

My fatal flaw is wanting sonic team to adhere to Sonic's core character traits while not adhering to them myself mostly due to my inability to write smart funnier dialog or even understand quibs or comebacks sometimes

[ausetkmt]

How To Analyze people Ultimate Guide: Learn Psychology, Body Language, Perception, Types of Personalities & Universal Rules

How To Analyze people Ultimate Guide: Learn Psychology, Body Language, Perception, Types of Personalities & Universal Rules - Includes Diagrams!

This is your greatest guide that will help you navigate through the social jungle we find ourselves in. Learn the advanced art of analyzing people

The ultimate guide on analyzing people is finally here!

Have you ever wondered what goes on in people's minds? Do you ever wish you could read minds?

Although "mind reading" is still science fiction, however this book will reveal to you the inner mechanisms of the mind and how people think and operate

You Will Learn

Subtle analyzing techniques

Human psychology

How to read body language

How to interpret the meaning of specific facial expressions

Personality types

Perception

Universal rules

And much, much more!

By the end of this book you will become a expert in analyzing people from all walks of life, and master the subtle art of analyzing

A lot of us have undergone some sort of psycho/over analyzing behavior, however this book reveals a comprehensive and effective approach that can be translated into the real world. This equates to you gaining the advantage in the social realm among your peers, colleagues, employers and significant other

After reading this book you will be able to perceive social signals that people in society take for granted, signals that indicate quite a lot of meaningful information and this gives you an advantage when engaging anyone

What Separates This Book From The Rest?

In depth analysis

Expert tips & secretes

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Incorporates aspects of human psychology

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The valuable insights in this book are priceless and gives you an edge that others won't have, enabling you to always be a few steps ahead, gaining advantage and a in depth understanding of how people think

Includes 13 tips on analyzing people and scenarios

What are you waiting for? Change your life forever! Understand the subtle art of analyzing and how people operate

[routetrip]

Essential Korean Phrases for Tourists: A Survival Guide

If you’re planning to visit Korea, learning a few basic Korean phrases can make your trip much smoother. While many Koreans in tourist areas understand English, knowing the local language will help you navigate the country more easily, experience the culture better, and even make some new friends along the way. In this guide, we’ve compiled the essential phrases that every tourist should know for…

[quibble-auk]

Idk what AU this is, if it is one other than just a fun scenario thing. Anyway. Have some things with no context. I would explain but there is so much.

@thebrokenmechanicalpencil Devin belongs to them lol

Separate from the little comic

Anyway, Dropmix with human Jeopardy is wonderful.

[br1ghtestlight]

im always fixated on the countries/cultures my object ocs are from but bcuz rainbow is from japan and there's such a high prevalence of western/americans fetishizing and infantalizing specifically japanese culture and ignoring their history/lived experience of actual japanese ppl i worry ppl will just think im a weeb or something 💔 NO i just think japanese architecture and city planning is nice leave me alone!!! i dont even watch anime!!!!!

[rigelmejo]

It is my sincere belief that all it takes to learn a language is:

Enough study time. This means studying a roughly similar amount of time to other people who have accomplished the goals you are aiming for. So compare your progress to someone studying a similar number of hours daily/on average, if you must compare at all. How many days or years did it take THEM to reach their goal? Expect it will take similar or longer for you. Study more hours daily if you want to see faster progress in terms of days or years. It is going to take hundreds or thousands of hours to reach many goals, so be realistic with yourself. You are not a failure because you aren't fluent after 50 hours! You're not a failure because you can't work in the language after 300 hours!

Studying some new stuff regularly that you have a way to understand - this either means using a textbook or tutor that explains the meaning of new stuff, or looking up translations like using a parallel text or a translation app, or looking up grammar items you don't know and reading explanations, or using flashcards that include translations or definitions, or using comprehensible input that is stuff you understand enough to GUESS some unknown new stuff, or using lesson materials made to be extremely understandable with the help of visuals (like comprehensible input lessons) or with the help of cognates (some graded readers, some textbooks). Studying some new stuff regularly just means you are learning new things, seeing what the new things mean, and over time increasing what you know. Regular can mean whatever you want it to mean, depends on you.

Reviewing the things you have studied by practicing listening, reading, writing, and speaking. At some point you will need to review words you learned by trying to read them, by practicing improving the skill of reading. By listening. By talking using the words. By writing using the words. You decide when you want to review and practice, and how, and it will probably be determined by your goals which practice you do first or more. Any engaging with the language will be practice, in a way, so even if all you do is talk to people or read novels or listen to podcasts, those all review the grammar and words (the stuff) you learned before. Those are all practice of getting used to recognizing and understanding the stuff you learned quicker, in context of the actual situations you'll need to understand and use that stuff. Immersing is 'practicing what you learned.' Reading is, listening is. Talking to people about topics that include what you've learned in the past is. Writing about topics that include what you've learned is.

(Of course this is all my opinion, and what works for me - or how I word it - may not work for others or be understandable to others. The short of it is - look at what other people with your goals did, and follow their example, if you're lost at what to do next. You will eventually succeed.)

Pretty much ANY study activities you can think of, any full on study plans you make up or you consider adopting, will have these. You'll do these. Textbooks and classes, Dreaming Spanish, FSI, podcasts for learners, graded readers, ALG classes, refold, anki decks, etc. Those all introduce NEW stuff for you to learn and understand in the context it's introduced (with translation or visuals etc), and you must keep moving along through those resources or new ones to pick new stuff to study regularly (and not get stuck in a loop reviewing the same 300 words for 2 years like I did), and you must practice the actual skills of reading/listening/writing/speaking (whatever your goals require) where you review the STUFF you've learned by needing to understand it while listening to or reading something in the language, or by talking with someone in the language, or by writing in the language.

And you have to be realistic with yourself in terms of time required to reach your goals. If your goal is just to travel somewhere and say some 'how much does X cost? Thank you. Hi I'm X. Where is the bathroom?' lines then yes that could be memorized in several hours. You can find examples of people who've memorized that kind of stuff in several hours or less. If your goal is 'read a novel' or 'watch X show' or 'talk with people about my hobbies' or 'go to college in the language' or 'work in a company in the language' you need to be realistic. Look up how long it has taken other people to accomplish those goals. Look up how long it's taken them to reach whatever language level a standardized test has said is needed to do X goal tasks for you (like JLPT to work in Japan, or CEFR to go to university in Europe, or HSK to work in China, or FSI levels, etc).

See how many hours those standardized tests recommend, and how many hours learners who have passed those tests are saying they studied, and for a rough estimate assume you'll take at least as long as they did. If you have particular goals in mind, it might be more useful for you to compare to actual people who reached your goals and the hours they said they studied. I just suggest looking up standardized test study hour suggestions, because many people do mention online which standardized test level they passed and what they did/how many hours they studied to pass. So the information on what they did may be easier to find, and easier to find several people sharing how long it took them.

And yeah you may take longer than them, especially if they planned out what they did very focused and you kind of floundered with trying to figure out what to do for a while, or they've studied languages before and already knew what worked best for them, or any number of things. You might take less time. If you need a rough idea of how long it will take though, look up how long it took other people. Because if you have in your mind this expectation you will be C1/advanced after 200 hours of study, or that you'll be able to speak confidently with no mistakes after 100 hours, etc, you're going to feel disappointed if later you find out your expectation wasn't anywhere close to realistic.

Chances are you are not doing anything in particular wrong if you've been studying and getting nowhere. There's nothing wrong with you.

Look at if you: are studying enough time to see noticeable progress in the amount of days or months or years you were hoping to see progress (so if you're studying 5 minutes a day, bump that up to 1+ hour a day and see if progress becomes more noticeable), if you are studying new stuff regularly (if you've been re-reading Heisig's Remember the Kanji for 2 years it might be time to study something new, and keep studying some new stuff regularly), and see if you're practicing understanding what you've learned (perhaps you've grinded an entire anki deck, but you never actually practiced reading any of those words or listening to them, so maybe start reading a graded reader or learner podcast, or reading regular books or watching shows, or talking with a tutor who'll use the words you learned in conversations).

If you're doing all those things, perhaps the problem is you just don't like the study activities or study materials! I hate anki personally, I'm just bad at focusing on it, so when it's in my study plan I study very rarely (lowering my study time) so I stop making progress. I needed to switch to something I liked better (like reading and looking words up) to get myself to study more regularly and focus on what I was studying (so I could remember what I was studying). If you're doing Dreaming Spanish and frustrated and bored, maybe you would prefer a textbook or teacher that explicitly explained stuff to you! Maybe that would motivate you to study more, and to remember more of what you studied! If you hate reading, and really enjoy talking to people, getting a tutor you talk with regularly who gives you new words to study in a list and practice in conversations might suit you much better!

[savefrog]

won the lottery and rolled the decently productive Language Learning hyperfixation twice in a row (With a brief break inbetween)