LANGUAGE OCD

[chlo31e]

Does OCD interfere with your language learning process? I'm a pretty advanced learner so there's not much left to learn but my problem is now that I know pretty much all there is to know about my second language, I find it hard to communicate through speaking or writing. Everytime I write sth or say sth in my second language, my OCD creeps up on me and makes me question everything, from whether this is the right way to say it( even though the logical part of my brain knows bloody well it is) or I would hesitate to use words or collocations that I've never seen used before. This also happens with reading and listening, when I read a book or an article, there's a strong need to grasp everything, even the smallest details, that's why I reread and rewatch a lot just to make sure I get it right and no stone is left unturned.I've read that some people struggle with this in their native language , it's still a difficult thing to go through but in my case, it's twice as hard, since if its your mother tounge you can just dismiss the thoughts because this is the language you grew up with it makes no sense that you don't understand any bit of it. With a second language, not understanding or fully grasping something is much more common, it doesn't necessarily reflect on your proficiency or anything, sometimes it has to do with cultural differences and contextual clues. However, sometimes OCD just creates absolute nonsense in my head, for example, thinking that I'm gonna forget the whole language if I stop studying for even a day or two or thinking that I'm gonna fall back down to a beginner level if I don't rewind or reread compulsively trying to understand everything. I even suffer from insomnia since OCD makes me wanna search up words and conjunctions to make sure I got them right. Does anyone have the same experience ? If so, any tips ? Appreciate your listening to my long ass rant, I tend to meander cuz I'm afraid I'm not expressing myself clearly enough.

[Sallyskins]

To begin with, no one can know pretty much all there is to know about any language. My first language is English, I have a degree in English and I know more about it that most people, native English speakers or not, but I wouldn't say for a minute that I know almost all there is to know about it! No one can, and there is always something new to learn.

But OCD is good at throwing a spanner in the works. It can make you obsess about being 'right'. It can make you puzzle over something until your brain hurts - and still you keep on puzzling! One of the (many) annoying things about OCD is that it makes you want to get things exactly 'right' and this makes you inflexible and afraid to have a go.

The fact is that it doesn't matter if you make a mistake. Native speakers of your second language will for the most part just be glad that you are prepared to learn their language and have a go at speaking or writing or reading it. They aren't going to jump on you for the occasional error.

This language learning clearly means a lot to you, which is why OCD has attacked you here and is making rules about how you study it.

There are differences with learning a language as a child and as an adult. Different parts of the brain are used to learn languages as an adult to those used when we learn our native language(s) as children. In fact no one can be truly bilingual if they don't learn a language from childhood. But that doesn't mean we can't make a good go of learning another language, be fluent in it, enjoy speaking and reading it, and make friends with native speakers of it. And learning other languages is good for the brain!

Try CBT techniques to recover your pleasure in your second language. There are lots of things you can do. Make a point of setting aside the occasional day as a non-study day, or read an entire article or page of a book without stopping and trying to work it all out. Or deliberately use words or constructions you're not familiar with. It is going to feel uncomfortable at first, but that will subside.

The problem with OCD is that our rational brain knows what the OCD is telling us is rubbish, but we still listen to the OCD. But learning to go against the OCD rewires your brain and teaches it to ignore what the OCD is saying.

[chlo31e in reply to Sallyskins]

Thanks for your reply. Appreciate it. I realized this was a problem and have actually been trying to not reread and rewind. It was uncomfortable at first but I've got used to it. Sure it is hard work and you're right in saying that learning this language means a great deal to me, maybe more than it should. I'll try my best to stay alert and aware of my OCD and not get caught in its trap. When I wrote I've learned pretty much all there is to learn, I was speaking from the perspective of a learner and that I've learned enough to be comfortable with using said language and watching content in it. I didn't mean to sound conceited obviously no one could ever know everything about a language. Once again I really appreciate your words of advice, thanks for helping me out.

[Sallyskins in reply to chlo31e]

It does get easier with practice - absolutely right! And I think it's great that you're learning another language - it opens us up to all sorts of things - literature, film, friendships and more. Don't let OCD spoil it for you.