Learning a language is rewarding, but at times it can get hard. There are many tips and tricks which you can employ in order to keep yourself motivated. Here are our top 5 main tips on how to not give up learning a language.
1. Tell your family or friends
Sometimes it’s hard to keep motivated, especially if you are completely on your own. You do not have to learn with your family members or friends but it will be beneficial for you to include them and it might become a bonding subject as well. If you want, keep their involvement minimal with occasional updates on your progress as sharing happy (and even not so happy) moments will certainly keep you right on track. Or, if you know that you really need that supervision, enlist someone to follow you through your learning endeavours with daily questions on the process and reminders to study. But make sure you will be able to kindly accept their comments and reminders as for many, if not most, this kind of involvement can turn into nagging. Try and find a compromise by keeping everyone updated and they will give you encouraging words so needed for continuing.
2. Make it fun, not a chore
Make sure to adapt your learning habits to your own routine. Just because studies show that studying in the morning is the time when you acquire most new information this does not mean it will work for you, if you are a night owl find a time that works for you even if it is not at sunrise. Additionally, depending on your capability try and customize your atmosphere into an efficient and cozy learning space. You can find tips for creating an efficient learning environment here sciencebird.org/tips-organizing-learning-space. Finally, do not push yourself too hard and keep your lesson time efficient to around 30 minutes at a time, as it is a recommended amount of time for the best results.
3. Give yourself goals (even little ones)
There is nothing wrong with having ‘learning a language’ as your main goal but that is usually far in the future. It is hard to keep motivated if your goals are far away from being achieved, that is why it is so important to have smaller goals that you can reach faster. With every new goal that you can check off your motivation will grow it will be easier to continue learning the language. You can find a guide to setting your learning goals here sciencebird.org/how-to-set-up-learning-goals.
4. Keep track of your achievements
It is important to not set goals for your learning process but to also keep track of them. For that purpose, you can keep a notebook or a text file on your mobile device for easy access. Make a list of goals that you are trying to achieve (and the ones that you have already achieved) and check them off once you feel confident in having completed them. When feeling unmotivated you can go back to your list and see how far you have already gone even when it feels like you are not moving forward.
5. Don’t hurry
Sometimes it will feel like you are not learning as fast as you might have wanted to, but do not get discouraged! Everyone learns at their own pace and it is best not to rush things. Trying to learn too much in little time will most likely result in short term improvements without helping you achieve the long term goals of fluency. So stick to what works and your time will come!