所有语言学习者都会犯的5个致命错误
来源：有道原创
英文学以致用，领略语言之美。有道词典，不只是查单词，还带你看天下。
Let’s face it.
让我们面对这个事实
Learning a new language for the first time is confusing.
第一次学外语很让人头疼。
We often don’t know how to get started, nor do we have the time to commit to learning! This leads us to
waste our energy, money, and most importantly, time.
我们往往不知怎样开始，我们也没有时间可以花在学习上！这使得我们浪费了精力、金钱，以及最重要的——时间。
That stops today. We’re going to show you the 5 most deadly mistakes all language learners
make — and how you can avoid them.
不过这一切都会在今天画上句号。我们会告诉你所有语言学习者都会犯的5个最致命的错误——以及怎样避免它们。
1. Not knowing your “why”
1.不知道“为什么”
Understanding your ―why‖ is where it all has to start. As Simon Sinek explains in his book, 一切都得从知道―为什么‖开始。西蒙·斯涅克在他的书里说道：
Start with Why that the reason why you’re doing something is far more important than the how or what.
从―为什么‖开始。你做某事的原因比你如何做这件事以及这件事是什么都重要。
This is because whenever we take on a new task or project, there’s always going to be an obstacle or
struggle that we’ll need to overcome. Those who give up early on are the ones that haven’t clarified what
their ―why‖ is.
这是因为，只要我们开始做一项新的任务或是项目，总会有障碍或者困难拦在前面要我们去解决。那些早早放弃的人就是那些不知道他们自己为什么要做这件事的人。
Let’s come back to language learning. Whatever your target language is — Spanish, Italian, Mandarin,
etc. — what’s your ―why?‖
让我们回到语言学习上。不管你要学的是什么语言——西班牙语、意大利语、普通话等等。——你为什么要学它？
Here are some questions we recommend you ask, as explained in our free language learning course:
以下是几个建议你回答的问题，在我们的免费语言课程上也提到过：
What you will achieve?
你会有什么成就？
Who will you be able to connect with?
你将能和谁联系在一起？
Who will you become as a person?
你将成为谁？ The next time you’re facing difficulty or losing motivation, just come back to these reasons, and you’ll get
right back on track.
以后你遇到困难或者没有动力时，就想想这些原因，你就又能走上正轨了。
2. No clear end goal
2.没有清晰的目标
―Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.‖
―设立目标是把不可见的事物变成可见事物的第一步。‖
— Tony Robbins
——托尼·罗宾斯
It doesn’t matter if we have the fastest car in the world. If we don’t know where we’re going, we’ll just end
up wasting precious energy, money, and time going nowhere.
我们不需要有世界上最快的车。如果我们不知道自己要去哪里，我们就只会浪费我们宝贵的精力、金钱和时间，而且哪里都去不了。
All of us have a desire that we want to fulfill; we just have to clarify what that is, and make it the driver to
our success.
我们所有人都有想要实现的愿望；我们只要明确这个渴望是什么，然后把它变成我们成功的动力。
There are 5 key components to setting goals. Your goal has to be:
设立目标有五大要素。你的目标必须：
a. Visually specific — Get as visually clear as possible about what your end-result would look like, to the
point where you can close your eyes and imagine it.
a.视觉上要清晰——让你的目标视觉上越清晰越好，直到你闭上眼就能想象它。
b. Slightly out of reach — There is a fine balance to picking a goal that’s way out of reach, to one that is
within reach. This mini-goal should be something you can visually imagine, but a goal that you would
need to push yourself to accomplish.
b.不在触手可及的范围中——在选择遥不可及的目标和选择可以触及的目标之间有一个精妙的平衡点。这个小目标必须是你可以想象得出的，但是你需要努力督促自己才能实现。
c. Measurable — What doesn’t get measured, doesn’t get improved. The easiest way to do this is to put a
number on it. This could be number of words memorized, the length of conversation you can have with a
native speaker, etc.
c.可以测量——不可测量的东西，也不能提高。测量的最简单办法就是把目标量化。比如说记下的单词数，或者是能和以该语言为母语的人谈话时间的长短，等等。 d. Goal oriented — Focus on the results, not how much time you spent getting there. For example,
instead of measuring how many hours you studied every week, only measure what measurable result
you achieved.
d.以目标为导向——专注于结果，而不是你花的时间。比如说，不要计算你每周学习了多长时间，而要统计你达成了什么可以测量的结果。
Remember, it doesn’t matter how much effort you put in, unless you get the results from the effort
记住，你花的精力并不重要，除非这些花出去的精力给了你结果。
e. Deadline specific — As Parkinson’s Law states, the time we spend completing a task will depend on
the time we allocate to the task. This means that if we give ourselves 30 days to complete a report that
should only take 30 minutes, that’s exactly how long we’ll take to complete it.
e.截止日期要具体——帕金森定律是这么说的：我们完成一项任务的的时间是我们分配给这项任务的时间所决定的。这意味着如果我们分配给一项报告30天，而完成这项报告只需要30分钟，那这项报告就真的需要30天才能完成。
Whatever goal you set, make sure you have a deadline to accomplish it.
不管你设定了什么目标，你都要给它设定一个完成期限。
Let me share 3 examples of goals that are bad, good, and great, so you can get an understanding of
how your goal compares.
让我来和你分享3个目标的例子，这些例子依次是坏的、好的、极佳的，这样有了比较，你就知道你的目标究竟怎样了。
Bad goal: I want to become fluent in Spanish so I can travel to Spain by next year.
坏目标：我想把西班牙语说流利，这样明年我就能去西班牙旅行了。
Good goal: I want to become conversation fluent in Spanish so I can travel to Spain by next summer.
好目标：我想要说流利的西班牙语会话，这样明年夏天我就能去西班牙旅行了。
Great goal: I will have a 15-minute conversation in Spanish with a native Spanish person over coffee in a
cafe in Madrid on July 2016.
极佳目标：2016年7月我将会在咖啡店喝咖啡时和西班牙当地人进行一个15分钟的西班牙语对话。
Do you notice the difference?
你注意到不同了吗？
Compared to the first two goals, the great goal is written as if it’s already accomplished (I want vs I will),
and includes all the components of the goal-setting formula including deadline, measurability, visually
specific, and results oriented.