What Are The Signs That You Are Making Progress In A Language You Are Learning

Studying a language can seem like an endless uphill battle and you can often feel like you are getting nowhere.   

However, if you put in the work in, you will see results and I’m going to go through some ways that show you that you are actually making progress.

If you feel like you’re making no progress, stop and evaluate yourself and see if you can notice any of the things below happening to you.

Being Able To Understand Things In Your New Language That Where Too Advanced Before

One of the first signs that you are making progress in the language is being able to notice that things that you used to really struggle with are now pretty easy.

This might be when you read something or when you watch a video that was initially too hard for you to understand.

Maybe you could only catch a few words when you first seen it. However, when you revisit it now, you suddenly understand most of it. That’s a definitely a sign of great progress. 

If you also go back through your old notes or your recap some old lessons you will usually find that you still know these things and actually probably understand them so much better now than when you first studied the topic.

Think about to learning to count to 10. This was probably a struggle initially, but now, hopefully you can just do with no problem. I know things like this are only small, but they still signs you are starting to understand things and are making progress.

If you can have little victories like this across the whole language, very soon you will notice the increase in your ability.

Dreaming In Your Target Language Is A Good Sign

This doesn’t happen for everyone, but if you are having dreams in your target language this is a pretty good indicator that you’re taking it on board.

If your subconscious is able to communicate with itself in the new language this is strong sign that you’ve made a lot of progress.

However, I would take this one with a huge pinch of salt as sometimes your brain may trick you and make you think you can speak a language. It might even make you think you can speak one you haven’t even studied before.

So this might be the case with your target language, but I like to think it’s still a good thing if your brain is at least thinking about the language in some way while you are dreaming. 

I’ve had some strange dreams where people are trying to talk to me in French after a lot of immersion. I don’t think it was correct French, but at least my subconscious was doing something with the language it had spent all day listening to.

(You can read more about Can You Learn A Language In Your Sleep?)

Getting Muddled Between Your Two Languages Is A Sign Of Progress

Getting muddled can be seen as a bad thing, but I like to see it a good indicator that your new language is sinking in.

Have you ever tried to speak your native language, but the sentence structure comes out all wrong? It comes out like how it would be structured in your target language. Maybe you’ve said a random word in the wrong language?

It’s like the two languages have melted into one big mess and are all mixed up in your head. While this is annoying at the time, it does show that your brain is starting to automatically use the new language.

Just give it a little more time and you will be able to separate the two languages a little more efficiently. This messy stage does not last forever, but it’s defiantly a huge sign that you are making progress.

The first time this happened I didn’t even realise. I was reading the title of a video, it was something like “Is LA great” meaning Los Angeles …However, my brain seen LA and assumed it was La, the French word for The …I read this title as “is the good” and was really confused by a seemingly half sentence. It took me a good few seconds to realise that it talking about the city of LA, not the word “the”.

Not Translating Your New Language In Your Head First

A massive sign that you are doing really well is when you no longer have to translate words into your native language.

You look at the word and you just know what it means. 

There is nothing wrong with translating things back into your own language, but you will quickly find this a problem when you are listening to conversations. You just won’t be able to keep up.

Being able to understand the target language without this will drastic improve your speed and the only way to achieve this level is by being very comfortable with the language.

You brain has to be so comfortable with the new language that it can just automatically recognise it.

This takes a lot of time and effort to achieve this, so if you have started to notice that you are not translating as much in your head, this is a massive sign that you have made some great progress.  

If we go back to the example I just gave above about LA, when my brain seen that, I didn’t translate it. I just seen the ‘La’ and knew it meant ‘the’ automatically. Its quite a strange experience, as you don’t acknowledge that you know it, you just know it.

If i say pineapple now to you, you don’t need to stop and think about it. You don’t need to say to yourself “p.i.n.e.apple…yes. I know his word, it’s that fruit” You just know what it was and kept reading. The more you get comfortable with the new language, the more you will notice this happening.

(Read more about How To Stop Translating In your Head)

Being Able To Recognise Different Accents In Your New Language

When you first start learning a language it all sounds like noise. As you progress you will be able to pick out the words and slowly understand full sentences.

Everyone will still sound the same, but you can slowly start to understand what they are saying. As your skills grow and develop you will actually be able start picking out regional accents from the different voices you hear.

If you are able to do this it is a sign that your listening skills are getting really good and your ear is really tuned into the new language. 

(You can read more about – How To Improve Your Language Listening Skills)

Being Able To Use Synonyms In Your New Language

One of the downfalls of learning a new language is feeling like you cannot express yourself fully in the beginning. You just lack the vocabulary to say what you want.

When you start to notice that you can say the same thing a few different ways, this means your ability to express yourself is getting pretty advanced. You clearly have a bigger vocabulary and are able to form the same sentence a few different ways.

This is a clear sign that you have made really good progress.

Being Able To Correct Yourself

Being able to identify that you’ve made a mistake may seem minor, but it’s a huge sign you are doing great.

You may have made the mistake, but your brain is still able to recognise that something wasn’t quite right. You haven’t mastered it yet, but you’re getting close.  

Being able to identify a mistake is awesome, but if you are able to explain to yourself why it’s wrong and be able to remind yourself of the correct way, this is fantastic and shows real progress in the language.

You have the information in side you, its now just a matter of practicing a lot to really get it perfect.

You Can Learn Other Things In Your Target Language

If you are able to understand your target language to the point where you can learn new things, this is a very big deal.  

What I mean by this is, if you are learning German for example and someone teaches you something new, like how to use a new camera …If they do this all in German and you fully understand it and can now use the camera, this is incredible.

This is a sign that you are beyond just simple processing of what you are reading or hearing in the language and now it shows you are actually able to understand it fully as well as fully process the concept of what is being said.

You have made a lot of progress if you can do this.

Making Jokes In Your New Language

If you are able to make jokes with the native speakers you are talking to, this is a pretty good sign that you are able to communicate to the point where you can express yourself fully.

When you start a new language most of our communication is very simple and kind of baby like or maybe robotic at times.

When we get more comfortable in a language we can stop using the stock phrases and express ourselves, as our self.

Being able to understand the language enough to make a joke shows you have made a really large amount of progress and you are very comfortable with using the language.

Conclusion

Progress in language learning is slow and often sneaks up on us. We often do not realise we have made any progress.

You sometimes just have to stop and try and evaluate just how far you have come.

If you have noticed any of the things happening that I have discussed in this article you should be very happy. Your days of a beginner will probably now be over and you are well on your way to reaching fluency in the language you are learning.  

Sometimes it can feel like we are getting worse before we are getting better, you can read more about this – Why Does it Feel Like I’m Getting Worse At My Target Language?