When am I done learning?
It can be a question in people’s minds because it is a valid question for someone learning English.
When does one exactly finish or accomplish learning a language?
Well, there’s a few things to consider and a few questions to ask oneself, particularly with something as unstraightforward and abstract as language competency.
Firstly, how do you individually decide you are competent in a language?
Defining clearly what your goals are for yourself will help you determine whether you have ‘made it’.
It can be hard to pin down exactly what you wish to accomplish but I think it is imperative to understand and recognize what exactly you aspire to do and what exactly you decide is success.
Is Success A Number Score To You?
Some people may argue that successful competency is based on a language test score. Having a more objectively measurable and comparable number value might be an easy and clear way for you to feel competent.
You can define success as an IELTS band score of 6 up to Band 9 or CEFRR rating of B1 or B2 to C2.
If that’s what you consider good enough, then that’s great and you’ve accomplished your goal.
Or Is Success The Ability To Communicate With A Native Speaker?
Others may, however, measure success in a more abstract but functional measurement.
Perhaps your measure of success is based on something less measurable or reflected in a scorer, but instead the functional ability like successful communication with a stranger in English about a brand new topic that you are unfamiliar with.
Unfamiliarity means unpredictability and unprepared vocabulary that requires you to adjust on the fly. Is that success?
Or Maybe It’s Picking Up Native Speaker Habits And Slang?
Maybe your level of success is measured on how many idioms and colloquial phrases you can use in conversation. Blending in with the vocabulary, the phrases and the word choice of your local community is often a sign of comfort with the language. Being able to use idioms such as “that’s how the cookie crumbles”, “crystal clear”, or “piece of cake” in a work or professional setting may be your measure of success - after all, those wouldn’t be things used by a novice English speaker.
Have A Clear And Specific Goal In Mind
The point I want to get across is that you need to have a realistic and pragmatic discussion with yourself about expectations. Having an abstract goal like “talk like a native speaker” is very difficult to understand and objectively measure. This is why it becomes an allusive and frustrating goal - because you can’t track how close or far off you are.
Understand That Miscommunications Are Natural And Sometimes Beyond Your Control
Additionally, it is important to recognize that communication breakdowns can occur no matter your level of English proficiency. English is a language of subtlety.
People can say “I’m fine” even when they aren’t feeling fine.
People can say “I’m fine” and expect others to interpret that as a cry for help.
People can say “I’m fine” and actually be fine.
By itself, your use of those specific English words is not necessarily the be-all-or-end-all of the communication. Nor is the success of a communicated message solely predicated on your proficiency in the language.
Even native English communicators can misinterpret, or have differing interpretations of those same words - “I’m fine”.
Native English speakers miscommunicate and misinterpret each other all the time!
Just like native French speakers miscommunicate and misinterpret with other native French speakers and native Japanese speakers miscommunicate and misinterpret other native Japanese speakers.
My point being that miscommunication is inevitable and not necessarily reflective of your English learning or proficiency.
It is part of the nature of being human and having complex and varied thoughts and feelings.
And if you as a non-native English speaker have the expectation that English proficiency would eliminate these miscommunications entirely, then you are sorely mistaken and need to re-think that.
There will always be times of miscommunication throughout your lifetime and I think the more accurate and representative expectation that native english speakers have, is that it isn’t necessarily reflective of their proficiency in the language.
Native English speakers who only speak one language never attribute the miscommunication as related to their competency in the language.
Sometimes, it can be related to other ideas that were primed in their heads.
Sometimes, it can be their own inner thoughts and perceptions that sway their interpretation of a message.
Sometimes, it can be a loud and noisy environment that led to a mistaken word or pronunciation.
Sometimes, it can simply be a listener’s mood or even hunger that can distract and draw a person’s attention.
Personally, I Think You Make Peace With Yourself About Your Goal. For Some, It’s a Lifelong Goal. For Some, It’s A Goal Until It’s No Longer a Goal.
Only you can decide how long you pursue this goal of language learning. No one is there to judge how far you go, but the pursuit should be based on your own desire.
I truly believe you can pursue it wholeheartedly with the intent of doing it for a lifetime and enjoying the entire process. And then the next day, you wake up and realize you are tired of caring and want to call it quits.
And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
I likewise believe you can believe your self-talk and feel like you can pursue it for a lifetime but never take one actionable step forward in that process.
What matters is your goal for your learning journey matches your actions of pursuit. The rest is otherwise up to your discretion.
