How To Stay Motivated In Language Learning

Losing motivation when you are learning a language is perfectly normally. It’s a long hard struggle and your brain will want to take the easy option and give up.

There will be periods where you just feel like you are making no progress, or maybe you even feel like you are getting worse. These times can be really testing so I will cover some ways that I find help to keep me on track and reenergise my passion for learning. 

Remember Your Goals

This sounds very cliché, but it’s true. You sometimes need to take a step back and ask yourself why you are doing all of this.

You should have a goal you are aiming for. Maybe you want to be fluent to make friends, maybe you just want to go on holiday and speak enough to get by or maybe you want to ask that person you like out on a date, as they only speak your target language?

It doesn’t matter what the goal is, just remind yourself of why you started this whole process. My guess is that whatever you wanted to achieve is still something you want. The only way you are going to get there is to keep going.

When you really want to quit, this might just give you enough energy to keep trying.

(You can read more about – How To Set A Language Goal)

Make Learning The Language A Part Of Your Life

If you are able to make your language learning a part of your life, it will make it so much easier to do every day. You will not need to find the extra energy or motivation to study; it will already be integrated into your day.

This might be as simple as just adding your study time into your routine so at the same time everyday so it just seems natural to study.

Or you can incorporate it into other aspects of your life, such as always listening to podcasts in your target language while you make your dinner or practice your singing in the shower …in your target language.

(You can read more about – Making Your Language Apart Of Your Daily Life)

Re-evaluate Your language Learning Plan

Hopefully you’ve got a learning plan in place. If you haven’t, get one. Having a plan can massively help you stay on track and keep you moving forward towards you goal.

However, if you have a plan, but you still feel like you are losing motivation, then now is the time to re-evaluate that plan.

There is obviously something not right and maybe with a little tweaking you will start to see some better results. Perhaps your plan is asking too much of you.

When I first began learning I realised I had a few hours free every night, so I scheduled something crazy like 3 or 4 hours a night to learning.

I don’t even think I got half way through the second night before I realised his was too much.

I cut it right down to 30 minutes and if I go over, that’s fine. Now I can easily hit my target and it’s less stressful.

There are some nights I probably do spend 3 or 4 hours, but it doesn’t feel pressured and I just feel a lot happier about the situation.

The opposite could be true, maybe you are not studying enough. This is only a question you can answer, but changing how much you study could change the results you are seeing and this progress could inspire you to keep going.

You should also consider when you study. Maybe you are too tired at night, maybe you would get better results with studying earlier in the day. Whatever you do, just evaluate your plan and change it if you feel it isn’t working.

This may be a hard project, but it should still be a fun experience overall, so make sure whatever you’re doing isn’t crushing you.

Mix Things Up With Something New

Sometimes we need a little change to keep us going and increase our motivation. This can be as simple as getting a new notebook. You’d be surprised how exciting that can be (well, it is for me).

This could also relate to your plan, maybe you could try a new learning method or buy a new textbook or course.

If you’ve told yourself you need to complete this super boring grammar book before you can do anything else, well maybe it’s time you put that down and focused on something else, something a little more interesting, you can always come back to the grammar in a couple of weeks.

A little change in your methods can change that stale feeling and this can go a long way to helping get you motivated again.

(You can read more about – Language Resources To Help You Learn)

Evaluate Your Progress To Increase Motivation

I have often reached a point where I’m struggling and can’t see any progress. I feel like I’ve gotten nowhere.

However, if I take a step back and look; I am actually amazed at how far I have come. I know I still have a long way to go, but when you actually see the distance you’ve traveled it can really help keep you motivated.

I have also found that going back to the start and covering beginner material really helps me see that I’ve made progress.

It may sound stupid, but going back on yourself and learning old material is a great way to show you how far you have come. You will realise that these beginner lessons are so simple and you know you are way more advanced than this.

This may seem like a waste of time, but it is really important to make sure you go over the basics. It just builds your foundational knowledge even stronger as well as letting you how far you have come.

This is an element I feel a lot of learners miss. They are so concerned with moving forward they forget to go back and recover and strengthen what they already know.

Give this a try and it will help you stay motivated in many ways. You will see that you are making progress and it will show you that your efforts are paying off.  

Take A Break From Language Learning

So this may seem a little counterintuitive, but it makes sense.

If you are really struggling and are beating yourself up not putting the effort in, you probably need a break. Maybe you’re tired from learning, maybe there are other factors going on in your life.

If you’re overwhelmed, take a break. It will do you some good in the long run.

My only advice here is to make sure it’s just a break. Tell yourself a date you are going to start again and stick to that. Otherwise you’ve just given up without saying you’ve given up.

I’ve suffered from problems and just told myself “I’ll learn tomorrow” and of course tomorrow never comes. I would have been much wiser to just say “I’m taking a break and I will start back on the 1^st of next month” Instead I just put off learning for about 6 weeks before suddenly realised how lost I had become. 

Since then I have been kinder to myself and if I feel overwhelmed I will give myself a few days off. I find when I come back to it, I’m really refreshed, ready to knuckle down and fullty motivated again.

Don’t Compare Yourself To Other Learners

One of the biggest motivation killers is when you compare yourself to anyone else.

The second you ask anyone about their success, it’s always going to overshadow your own and make you instantly feel like giving up.

How well someone else is doing doesn’t matter. It’s not a race, it’s not a competition.

The only person you should compare yourself to is yourself and hopefully you are able to take a look back and see that you are way better than your older self.

Make Friends

Making friends can help keep you motivated. It is better to make friends with someone who speaks the language, rather than another learner.

If you make friends with other learners there is the risk you will compare yourself to them and feel deflated if they are making more progress than you.

When your friend can actually speak the language they are going to be sending you messages in your new language, which basically means you are forced to interact with the language.

There are days when I have not wanted to study and then I look down at my phone and see a message full of Japanese. I’m not going to ignore my friend, so I’m going to have to work out what they are saying.

You also get motivation on a higher level when you make friends with people who speak the language. You will want to learn more and more, to impress them and actually be able to talk to them properly in their language, they really can give you motivation to keep learning.

(The best place to meet language friends is on – Language Exchanges)       

Make Yourself Accountable

Being accountable is a double edged swore. It can be equally as beneficial as it is detrimental for your motivation.

The idea is that you tell a friend (or anyone really) what your plan is, and they then ask you every now again if you are on track. The idea is that you are more likely to stick to the plan as you don’t want to have to tell them you have failed.

The problem is, anytime you do miss your target you are going to feel immense pressure and bad feelings about having to admit this to your friend. For some people, this will motivate them to try even harder, for others; it will break them and make them feel overwhelmed and awful.

So, if you do this, tell someone you trust and who cares about you .

You also need to make sure that your goal is realistic. If you tell them your goal is “I want to learn Spanish in 6 months” this is probably going to end badly for you. You are setting unrealistic expectations and if you don’t learn it in 6 months you are going to feel like a failure.

It would better to phrase this as “I am going to spend 6 months learning Spanish to see how far I can get”. This is much more doable as you are measuring the effort, not the end point. 

You friend will be able to make sure you are keeping up with the effort. At the end of 6 months you can both look at how much you did achieve, not all the things you did not.

This subtle difference can really change everything, so do not set yourself up for failure.

Put Some Skin In the Game

For some people, putting some money down will make them more motivated. The idea is that if you pay for something, such as course or textbook, you are more likely to use it, since you paid for it.

You do not want to waste your money and this will keep you motivated to keep using whatever it is you bought.

However, this does not work for everyone. I know I have paid for things and then stopped using it. I have justified this by saying the money is already gone, so it doesn’t matter …strange logic, but some people will do anything to justify their stupid decisions.

Get A Tutor

Getting a tutor covers the above two points in one. You are making yourself accountable to someone, and you are paying for this privilege.

A tutor is going to expect you to prepare for your lessons and put the effort in during the lesson. They will also expect to see progress, so in this sense you are kept accountable.

You also have to pay for tutors, so are you really going to pay them and then not put any work in? That would seem a little silly, imagine turning up to your lesson and just doing nothing while they sit there and look at you …it’s not going to happen. You are going to put the effort in.

A tutor is sort of forcing you to do work, so maybe that’s not really motivation, but if they get you results it may inspire you to keep pushing yourself.

(You can read more about – Should You Use A Language Tutor?)

Set Yourself A Reward

Some people are motivated by rewards and this can really be anything but you may find it helpful to push you to work. 

You can set small rewards such as “I can only play my playstation if I study for an hour first” or you can set bigger ones such as “If I reach B2 in French, I will book a trip to Paris”.

This only works if you are disciplined, or you have someone in control of the reward. There is no point doing this if you are just going to ignore the work and just get the reward.

Motivation Isn’t Important …Just Start Learning Your Language

This is a bit controversial and I’m sure many of you will disagree with what I’m about to say, but honestly; this is how I get a lot of things done in my life, not just in language learning.

You don’t need motivation. You just need to start doing whatever you need to do. If you’re lucky, the motivation will come once you start.

I find this works well with stuff I know I don’t really want to do or want to put off. There are just some things I will never be motivated to do. If this is the case, you just need to tell yourself, “Let’s do it” …then do it.

Force yourself. It’s the only way.

Once you have started you will probably find it’s not too bad and once you see some progress you will start getting motivated to see it through. 

This does take some real mental strength, but I have found the more I do this, the easier things become. I would honestly suggest you try it. Maybe you need to learn some horrible grammar rule. Just sit down and do it. Tell yourself “in one hour’s time, I want to be able to say I understand this” and then go for it. You will be surprised at how much you can achieve, even when your motivation is at zero.

Language learning is a process, if you trust the process to get you to where you want to be, then motivation doesn’t matter. Just force yourself to follow the process and you will get to your goal.

Conclusion

 Always remember that language learning is hard and will take a long time.

Just stay focused and use the techniques I have discussed above to keep you on track and keep yourself motivated.

You will reach your goals, it’s just a matter of time and effort. YOU CAN DO IT