@tatjana would it help if you and Claudia skyped?
Well, you never know. Might be.
Funny enough, Iāve never had problems speaking with people, no matter in which language (not that there are so many for me to chose from 
). Ask my sons and they will nod like crazy and tell you that their mother (embarrassingly) chats with everyone. My problem is the learning, you know. The little devil on my shoulder keeps telling me how much slower I am than the āaverageā learner, how shitty my memory isā¦bla bla bla.
You are absolutely right, I need to relax and actually enjoy learningā¦and not compare myself with others!
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Ooo, jaaaa ā¦ all familiar things. Can you hit that little devil behind your shoulder with a pan on its head? 
YES! THIS EXACTLY!
You know everything you need now just finish that ālittle devilā off! [quote=āClaudia_Beryan, post:63, topic:8994ā]
Ask my sons and they will nod like crazy and tell you that their mother (embarrassingly) chats with everyone.
[/quote]
Hmmm ā¦ two talkatives then ā¦ with this rate our sgwrs coudl go on for hours even in Cymraeg. as I believe Iām known here as āa time eaterā at least to those who have spoken with me. 
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Aye!
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And yetā¦ I have never seen, anywhere, any suggestion that there is anyone, or any research institute, anywhere in the world, that can tell you what an āaverageā learner āshouldā learn in any certain amount of time.
So if no-one who works in the field even knows what the average is, thereās clearly not much point in you a) imagining what it is, and then b) feeling that it must be better than you. Itās just irrelevant.
If you keep moving, if you keep exposing your brain to the language, youāll keep improvingā¦
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Diolch yn fawr for your reply, Aran! 
Oh yes, I couldnāt agree more! Iām totally aware that it is an old pattern from the past, from my time in school, where curricula, tests and marks defined, how much and how fast an āaverageā student had to learn. In addition, the marks clearly revealed how good (or how bad) you were doing, how good of a learner you were. So, learning situations tend to trigger this fear in me, to once more not being able to keep up with my fellow learnersā¦to be less intelligent. Replacing such old patterns is as much hard work as learning a languageā¦
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Sometimes it can be very hard indeed - sometimes it just needs a renaming.
How about telling yourself that when you hear that voice judging you, it is not YOUR voice, it is the voice of all your teachers?
And then maybe it will be easier to rejectā¦
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You referred earlier to the devil on your shoulder. You should normally have an angel on your other shoulder telling you how brilliant you are. Try tuning in to him/her.
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Thatās a brilliant idea, and itās true! 
By realising that itās not my voice, it gets much easier to slam the door shut and lock it out! You know, I think youād be an excellent shrink, Aran. 
Diolch yn fawr iawn! 
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Hmm, yes, but I havenāt seen such an angel on my other shoulder, yet. Maybe I should ask for oneā¦maybe they only come when youāre readyā¦
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We are your angels @Claudia_Beryan. @aran the angel, @tatjana the angel, @Novem the angel, @Baruch the angel, @RichardBuck, @hewrop, @henddraig, @Bobbert, @Betterlatethan, margarethall, sharonmonks, JohnYoung, BronwenLewis and the others too many to mention. You donāt just get one angel, you get a whole host willing you on. Itās us against your old teachers, and we know that praise gets you a whole lot further on than negativity does.
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Ooh, best post of the week! 
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Everyone else might just as well give up now, and try again next Mondayā¦
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Yes, @margaretnock, thatās so true, you are all angels and I cannot thank you enough for your precious help! 
I said this before in this very thread 6 days ago, but it cannot be said enough! 
You all win against the negative voices, they donāt stand a chance!
My old teachers certainly did their difficult job as best as they couldā¦and I know that teaching me was definitely not an easy task. Most of my schoolmates did well in school, so, I cannot put all the blame on the teachers. I can remember some of my teacher saying that the teaching methods should be changed and adapted to human nature and new scientific findings on how the brain works. But sadly, this seems a political and financial problem. Too many great and dedicated teachers have to give up their job, as they suffer from burnout after a few years.
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