It is a waste to give up on learning English because of the past

I am Tori, an English instructor.
When you decide to start learning English, the first thing you may face is not your current self, but memories of the past.

"Because I was bad at it in the past." "Because I couldn't keep it up no matter how many times I tried." Such experiences can sometimes define your potential before you even start something new.

Test scores from your school days, memories of textbooks you abandoned halfway through, and experiences of trying and failing once tend to linger for a surprisingly long time. As a result, many people convince themselves that they "have no talent for English" and become unable to take a new step forward.

However, you do not need to let past experiences dictate how you learn from now on. Your environment, your goals, and your approach to English have all changed since those days. Today, I will talk about why it is a waste to give up on learning English because of the past.

Is the conclusion your past self reached still correct today?

Many people who say, "I am bad at English," base that reason on past experiences. I couldn't get good scores on tests. I couldn't memorize vocabulary. No matter how many times I tried, it didn't last. When such memories pile up, you arrive at the conclusion that you are "not suited for English."

But that conclusion was reached many years ago. Your life, your environment, and your purpose for learning English have changed since then. Whether it is because you need it for work, you want to enjoy traveling abroad more, or you became interested in English through your favorite movies or music, your relationship with English changes individually.

Nevertheless, it is a great shame to keep believing only in the conclusion your past self reached. Past experiences are facts, but they do not determine your future possibilities.

"It didn't go well" is a valuable experience

The experience of failing in English learning is by no means a waste. If you couldn't finish a reference book, it just means that method didn't suit you. If you couldn't keep going no matter how many vocabulary books you bought, perhaps you were the type for whom learning through vocabulary books alone is difficult.

In other words, you haven't reached the result that "I can't do English," but rather you have gained the information that "this method didn't work out." To find a method that suits you, knowing which methods do not suit you has great value. Because you have the experience of failing, you can make the choice to "try a different method next time." Experiences that seemed like detours often support your next step.

The ways to learn English have increased surprisingly

Even if your English learning didn't go well in the past, it might just be that the learning method at the time didn't suit you. And now, the environment in which you can learn has changed significantly since then.

Textbooks, problem sets, and vocabulary books are still important materials for building a foundation. In addition to that, the options for how to learn have increased surprisingly, such as watching your favorite movies with English audio, enjoying foreign dramas, actually speaking in online English conversations, and reading foreign books or English articles. If there is an expression you don't understand, you can look up its meaning and pronunciation on the spot.

Even for those who only knew study methods they felt "didn't suit them" in the past, you can choose a different entrance now. Just because it didn't go well in the past does not mean it won't go well in the future.

I was also bad at English in my student days

I myself was not good at English when I was a student. I didn't particularly like the classes, nor did I have any confidence. The turning point came after I became an adult.

I started learning by connecting things I was interested in with English, such as watching foreign movies and trying English conversation. When English, which was "study" at school, changed into a "hobby" or a "tool to connect with people," the time I spent in contact with English naturally increased. The feeling of "wanting to know more" and "wanting to convey" became the driving force to continue learning.

Through that accumulation, I came to read English more than I ever imagined in my student days, and now I work in a job teaching English. If I had kept believing only in the conclusion of "I am bad at English" that my student self reached, I might not be who I am today.

Conclusion: Value your current step more than the past

Past grades or a single experience where things did not go well are just results of who you were at that time. There is no need to decide that you are 'not suited for English' based solely on that.

Even if you cannot change the past, you can change how you learn. There are ways to solidify your foundation with textbooks, and there are also ways to learn by incorporating movies, English conversation, or foreign books.What is important is not 'which method is correct,' but choosing a method that is easy for you to continue.

The way you choose to learn now will have a greater impact on your future English proficiency than any past experience where things did not go well. When you can turn past experiences not into a reason to quit, but into a hint for finding a new way to learn, your relationship with English will begin to change little by little.