Why is learning English so difficult for some people?

It was precisely during those years that I began to notice a strange phenomenon: some graduating students, as well as highly qualified colleagues and professionals, struggled enormously with using English. The situation was almost always the same: "I know it, I understand it, but I can't speak it."

Even then, I had the impression that the problem was not grammar or lack of study. Something deeper seemed to be at play: an emotional issue, a fear, a discomfort that prevented them from expressing themselves.

For years that question remained open in my mind. The answer began to take shape when I came across QTR and the principle of resonance.

Why do people feel ashamed and lose the ability to speak English?

To understand this phenomenon, it helps to briefly introduce one of the fundamental concepts on which QTR is based. According to Quantum Touch Releasing, everything we experience leaves a trace in our subconscious. Experiences, emotions, thoughts and beliefs do not disappear with time; they continue to exist as information that retains a specific vibrational frequency.

David Hawkins described these frequencies in his Map of Consciousness (set out in his book Power vs. Force), which ranges from shame, the lowest, to enlightenment, the highest.

In most cases these frequencies remain in the background of our everyday experience. But when an external situation resonates with something we have already lived through, that emotional memory can be reactivated and influence our inner state and our behaviour. It is precisely this mechanism that can help us understand certain seemingly inexplicable blocks.

Where do these blocks come from?

Let's take an example. Imagine young Piripicchio, setting off into the world of school with enthusiasm. English, however, does not come easily to him, and unfortunately he ends up with an impatient teacher who criticises him often and makes him feel inadequate. Day by day he begins to doubt his own abilities and to develop a fear of speaking English in front of others.

One day he mispronounces a word. The teacher humiliates him in front of the class, he feels mortified, and his classmates mock him. In that moment, without realising it, he links English to feelings of shame, pain and judgement.

Years pass. Piripicchio grows up, studies, builds a career and becomes a competent professional. In the meantime, he has learnt English. Yet, during an important meeting, his manager asks him a question in that language. Rationally, he knows the answer; emotionally, however, a sudden fear holds him back.

Where does that fear come from? According to the principle of resonance, the present situation calls up an emotional frequency already recorded in the subconscious. The meeting is not school, and the manager is not the teacher, yet the emotional experience is similar: being exposed, being watched, risking failure.

When two experiences vibrate on the same frequency, the emotional memory of the past can be reactivated, and the person can find themselves back in the same inner state they lived years before. In other words, Piripicchio is not reacting solely to today's meeting, but also to what that situation unconsciously represents for him.

Behind the language block

In my work with QTR, I have observed this phenomenon many times. Behind the difficulty of speaking English, we do not necessarily find a lack of linguistic skill. What often emerges instead are emotions tied to past experiences, limiting beliefs, episodes of humiliation, fear of judgement or a lack of confidence in one's own abilities.

These experiences are often rooted in the school years, though not exclusively: family dynamics, expectations received from the surrounding environment, or other events that have helped shape a person's relationship with self-expression may also be involved.

When these memories are recognised and transformed, the way a person relates to the language often changes too: speaking becomes more natural and less weighed down by tension.

In the next articles, we will explore other elements that can affect one's relationship with English, and discover how some apparently linguistic difficulties can have far deeper roots.

Sarah Sivieri, PhD, Quantum Touch Releasing practitioner and teacher.