Motivation (Advice Center) Language Learning Forum

Motivation
Tags: Reasons for study
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Language Learning Forum : Advice Center

10 messages over 2 pages: 1 2

shk00design
Triglot
Senior Member
Canada
Joined 4434 days ago
747 posts - 1123 votes

Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin
Studies: French

Message 9 of 10

15 November 2014 at 5:40am | IP Logged

Learning a language by repeating exercises can be boring and repetitive. Like in French you you do "Bonjour,
comment ça va"? too many times you'd feel you are not getting anywhere. Finding subjects of interest is the key to
success.

Just over 1 month ago I returned from a trip in Hong Kong. "Occupy Central" 佔中 or what people in the West call
"The Umbrella Movement for Democracy" is big news in Hong Kong for over 1 month. A while back I started listening
to Chinese news on a local radio station and discussions regularly. After returning from Hong Kong, I started reading
HK newspapers online including The Sun 太陽報, Economic News, 經濟報 Singtao, 星島, Mingpao 明報 on top of the
English edition of the S. China Morning Post. I know as much as a HK native would by following the developments in
the areas occupied by students in the city. And somewhere in The Sun 太陽報 newspaper I found an interesting
article on Marco Polo's travels. Read the article from top to bottom a few times and found several similar articles
from newspapers in England available online.

The other day I watched a few videos on YouTube by Steve Kaufmann on learning languages. The ones who are
successful do not rely on the classroom as the only place for learning. You can find all sorts of books in the library,
movies, TV articles in newspapers and even online encyclopedias on various topics of interest. In the beginning
you're not going to know every word you are reading but according to Steve you are trying to get the context of
what you are reading or listening to. You should look up unfamiliar words later.

Finding interesting activities to keep yourself engaged is the best way to learn instead of going by language learning
materials (books, audio CDs) where you regurgitate words & phrases (repeat after me sort of thing).

Edited by shk00design on 15 November 2014 at 5:43am
3 persons have voted this message useful

FuroraCeltica
Triglot
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 6855 days ago
1187 posts - 1427 votes

Speaks: English*, Spanish, French

Message 10 of 10

18 November 2014 at 8:34pm | IP Logged

smallwhite wrote:

FuroraCeltica wrote:

I have noticed lately every time I pick
up a resource in any language within 30 seconds I
feel bored. I don't know why. Any advice on how to overcome periods of lethargy?

Are you a beginner, and feel very far away from your goal, or are you advanced, and
not seeing significant progress?

Beginner in Turkish and Japanese which are languages I am studying
1 person has voted this message useful

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