{"id":460,"date":"2024-08-02T16:36:06","date_gmt":"2024-08-02T16:36:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/linglane.com\/2024\/08\/02\/post-number-two-lorem-ipsum-dolor\/"},"modified":"2025-03-20T23:03:03","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T23:03:03","slug":"od-frustracie-k-plynulosti-moje-dobrodruzstvo-v-uceni-anglictiny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/linglane.com\/en\/od-frustracie-k-plynulosti-moje-dobrodruzstvo-v-uceni-anglictiny\/","title":{"rendered":"From Frustration to Fluency: My English Learning Adventure"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Putting in the hours without feeling that you are getting any results can be frustrating.
Meanwhile, remember: every little step takes you closer to your goal.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Second Attempt<\/strong><\/h5><\/div>\n\n\n\n
After taking an entry test that confirmed my lack of English knowledge, I started from scratch. The intensive course involved 100 hours per trimester (10 weeks), so every day after school, I had two lessons in the afternoon. Fortunately, the groups were small (10-12 students), and even more fortunately, the teacher was very experienced, charismatic, and explained grammar excellently. English finally started to make sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Making Progress<\/strong><\/h5><\/div>\n\n\n\n
In the first school year (three trimesters), I completed 300 hours and missed very few classes. The same pattern continued the following year. After 600 hours, I theoretically should have reached a B2 level, so I enrolled in a preparatory course for the B2 exam (another 100 hours). Totalling 700 hours, exactly as indicated by the Cambridge charts. I don\u2019t even count the hours I had during high school. I passed the certification, but even with the certificate in hand, the \u2018wow\u2019 effect didn\u2019t come, and I didn\u2019t feel comfortable speaking in English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
University<\/strong><\/h5><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Getting into university meant studying specialized subjects in English, including reading literary works, analysing them, and writing seminar papers\u2014all in English. Despite very good academic results, I still didn\u2019t feel proficient in English. Yes, my grammar was excellent, but my speaking lagged significantly. I knew I couldn\u2019t respond spontaneously and that I couldn\u2019t express all my thoughts naturally. I realised I needed to experience English outside of the academic environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
Losing my head in the text books helped me improve my grammar, yet I could still not speak English fluently.
Little did I know that i was just a few steps away from achieving that too.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Natural Language Exposure<\/strong><\/h5><\/div>\n\n\n\n
At the very beginning of my journey in 2000, accessing authentic materials (articles, videos, etc., meant for native speakers, not language learners) wasn\u2019t easy. My only available source was songs, which I tried to understand and translate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After my second year at university, I decided to travel to the USA on my own. During three months, I worked at a summer camp for children and finally used English in natural interactions. Every night I fell asleep completely exhausted, with a headache filled with all the grammatical mistakes I had made and embarrassing situations caused by language barriers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I repeated the work experience in the USA the following summer and also managed to participate in an Erasmus exchange program in Sweden, where I studied for one semester. The headaches after a day of communicating in English diminished, and the frequency of embarrassing moments decreased. However, the expected result of understanding everything and everyone did not materialise. Neither did the state exams or the thesis change that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
Traveling certainly contributed to advancing my English.
(And in case you are wondering\u2026 No! That\u2019s not the suitcase I usually travel with.)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The \u2018Wow\u2019 Effect<\/strong><\/h5><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Kedy som teda za\u010dala rozumie\u0165 \u2018v\u0161etko\u2019? Zjednodu\u0161ene nap\u00edsan\u00e9 \u2013 vtedy, ke\u010f som kone\u010dne akceptovala, \u017ee nikdy nebudem vedie\u0165 v\u0161etky slov\u00ed\u010dka a v\u00fdrazy a \u017ee sa budem vlastne u\u010di\u0165 cel\u00fd \u017eivot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I began to deduce the meaning of new words from context, and when I didn\u2019t know the exact word, I described it. And when I met someone with an unfamiliar accent, I gave my ears time to adjust \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
Remember: never stop learning!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Final Words<\/strong><\/h5><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Nech sa u\u017e nach\u00e1dzate v akomko\u013evek bode va\u0161ej jazykovej cesty, nez\u00fafajte, nepova\u017eujte sa za hl\u00fapych alebo netalentovan\u00fdch a hlavne to nevzd\u00e1vajte. Ve\u013ek\u00e9 veci chc\u00fa \u010das, alebo pou\u017eijem na to anglick\u00fd idiom \u2013 Rome wasn\u2019t built in a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
Rome wasn\u2019t built in a day!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Studying English doesn\u2019t have to be frustrating. Fluency is about building confidence and making steady progress\u2026<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-osobne-pribehy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/linglane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/progress-English-min.jpg","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/linglane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/progress-English-min.jpg",400,400,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/linglane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/progress-English-min-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/linglane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/progress-English-min-300x300.jpg",300,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/linglane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/progress-English-min.jpg",400,400,false],"large":["https:\/\/linglane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/progress-English-min.jpg",400,400,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/linglane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/progress-English-min.jpg",400,400,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/linglane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/progress-English-min.jpg",400,400,false],"trp-custom-language-flag":["https:\/\/linglane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/progress-English-min.jpg",12,12,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"LuciaK","author_link":"https:\/\/linglane.com\/en\/author\/luciak\/"},"uagb_comment_info":185,"uagb_excerpt":"\u0160t\u00fadium angli\u010dtiny nemus\u00ed by\u0165 frustruj\u00face. Plynulos\u0165 je o budovan\u00ed sebad\u00f4very a postupnom zlep\u0161ovan\u00ed\u2026","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/linglane.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/linglane.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/linglane.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linglane.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linglane.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/linglane.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3159,"href":"https:\/\/linglane.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460\/revisions\/3159"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linglane.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/linglane.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linglane.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linglane.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

Putting in the hours without feeling that you are getting any results can be frustrating.
Meanwhile, remember: every little step takes you closer to your goal.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Second Attempt<\/strong><\/h5><\/div>\n\n\n\n
After taking an entry test that confirmed my lack of English knowledge, I started from scratch. The intensive course involved 100 hours per trimester (10 weeks), so every day after school, I had two lessons in the afternoon. Fortunately, the groups were small (10-12 students), and even more fortunately, the teacher was very experienced, charismatic, and explained grammar excellently. English finally started to make sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Making Progress<\/strong><\/h5><\/div>\n\n\n\n
In the first school year (three trimesters), I completed 300 hours and missed very few classes. The same pattern continued the following year. After 600 hours, I theoretically should have reached a B2 level, so I enrolled in a preparatory course for the B2 exam (another 100 hours). Totalling 700 hours, exactly as indicated by the Cambridge charts. I don\u2019t even count the hours I had during high school. I passed the certification, but even with the certificate in hand, the \u2018wow\u2019 effect didn\u2019t come, and I didn\u2019t feel comfortable speaking in English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
University<\/strong><\/h5><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Getting into university meant studying specialized subjects in English, including reading literary works, analysing them, and writing seminar papers\u2014all in English. Despite very good academic results, I still didn\u2019t feel proficient in English. Yes, my grammar was excellent, but my speaking lagged significantly. I knew I couldn\u2019t respond spontaneously and that I couldn\u2019t express all my thoughts naturally. I realised I needed to experience English outside of the academic environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
Losing my head in the text books helped me improve my grammar, yet I could still not speak English fluently.
Little did I know that i was just a few steps away from achieving that too.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Natural Language Exposure<\/strong><\/h5><\/div>\n\n\n\n
At the very beginning of my journey in 2000, accessing authentic materials (articles, videos, etc., meant for native speakers, not language learners) wasn\u2019t easy. My only available source was songs, which I tried to understand and translate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After my second year at university, I decided to travel to the USA on my own. During three months, I worked at a summer camp for children and finally used English in natural interactions. Every night I fell asleep completely exhausted, with a headache filled with all the grammatical mistakes I had made and embarrassing situations caused by language barriers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I repeated the work experience in the USA the following summer and also managed to participate in an Erasmus exchange program in Sweden, where I studied for one semester. The headaches after a day of communicating in English diminished, and the frequency of embarrassing moments decreased. However, the expected result of understanding everything and everyone did not materialise. Neither did the state exams or the thesis change that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
Traveling certainly contributed to advancing my English.
(And in case you are wondering\u2026 No! That\u2019s not the suitcase I usually travel with.)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The \u2018Wow\u2019 Effect<\/strong><\/h5><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Kedy som teda za\u010dala rozumie\u0165 \u2018v\u0161etko\u2019? Zjednodu\u0161ene nap\u00edsan\u00e9 \u2013 vtedy, ke\u010f som kone\u010dne akceptovala, \u017ee nikdy nebudem vedie\u0165 v\u0161etky slov\u00ed\u010dka a v\u00fdrazy a \u017ee sa budem vlastne u\u010di\u0165 cel\u00fd \u017eivot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I began to deduce the meaning of new words from context, and when I didn\u2019t know the exact word, I described it. And when I met someone with an unfamiliar accent, I gave my ears time to adjust \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
Remember: never stop learning!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Final Words<\/strong><\/h5><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Nech sa u\u017e nach\u00e1dzate v akomko\u013evek bode va\u0161ej jazykovej cesty, nez\u00fafajte, nepova\u017eujte sa za hl\u00fapych alebo netalentovan\u00fdch a hlavne to nevzd\u00e1vajte. Ve\u013ek\u00e9 veci chc\u00fa \u010das, alebo pou\u017eijem na to anglick\u00fd idiom \u2013 Rome wasn\u2019t built in a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
Rome wasn\u2019t built in a day!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Studying English doesn\u2019t have to be frustrating. Fluency is about building confidence and making steady progress\u2026<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-osobne-pribehy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/linglane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/progress-English-min.jpg","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/linglane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/progress-English-min.jpg",400,400,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/linglane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/progress-English-min-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/linglane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/progress-English-min-300x300.jpg",300,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/linglane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/progress-English-min.jpg",400,400,false],"large":["https:\/\/linglane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/progress-English-min.jpg",400,400,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/linglane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/progress-English-min.jpg",400,400,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/linglane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/progress-English-min.jpg",400,400,false],"trp-custom-language-flag":["https:\/\/linglane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/progress-English-min.jpg",12,12,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"LuciaK","author_link":"https:\/\/linglane.com\/en\/author\/luciak\/"},"uagb_comment_info":185,"uagb_excerpt":"\u0160t\u00fadium angli\u010dtiny nemus\u00ed by\u0165 frustruj\u00face. Plynulos\u0165 je o budovan\u00ed sebad\u00f4very a postupnom zlep\u0161ovan\u00ed\u2026","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/linglane.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/linglane.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/linglane.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linglane.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linglane.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/linglane.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3159,"href":"https:\/\/linglane.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460\/revisions\/3159"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linglane.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/linglane.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linglane.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linglane.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}