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Staying Motivated To Learn A Language? | ||
Tags: Motivation | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| HiddenPerson Bilingual Diglot Newbie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 3945 days ago 3 posts - 3 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish* Studies: Norwegian | Message 1 of 7 05 April 2014 at 4:04am | IP Logged | ||
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Right now I'm still in highschool and I'm depending on the little time I have to studying a language on my own. I
don't know why, but every time I sit down to open up an anki deck or read an article, I have the urge or feeling to not do so. I then end up doing something else, and end up not studying at all. I was wondering, does anyone else here also get this strange urge to not study for no reason, and if so, how do you avoid it? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6598 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes  4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 2 of 7 05 April 2014 at 10:38am | IP Logged | ||
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There's always a reason, you just need to encounter it. Some of the less obvious ones are perfectionism and/or a lack of immediate results (even if you understand that language learning takes time).
Try more techniques. Many people here are jealous of the free time you have in high school, but if it's not enough, get more. Listen to L2 music while doing homeworks, practising sports or whatever steals your time. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5376 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 3 of 7 05 April 2014 at 3:53pm | IP Logged | ||
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I found that when I did my first Pimsleur lessons I was very eager to continue because I could see myself learning the language. After a few lessons I felt I would easliy "know" Spanish when I finished all 90 lessons because I had learned so much in the first couple. I was, of course, wrong and I was just touching the tip of the iceberg. It got me into the habit of studying and liking the 30 minutes a day I was spending with the language. I think if you find a program like Pimsleur, Michel Thomas or Synergy Spanish... where you can actually feel yourself learning you may really like it and get into a groove.
4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tastyonions Triglot Senior Member United States goo.gl/UIdChYRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4666 days ago 1044 posts - 1823 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 4 of 7 05 April 2014 at 5:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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Nothing motivates me better than having a conversation with someone.
4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tristano Tetraglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 4048 days ago 905 posts - 1262 votes Speaks: Italian*, Spanish, French, English Studies: Dutch | Message 5 of 7 12 April 2014 at 1:18pm | IP Logged | ||
because you see it as something that you have to do and not something that you want to do. You need motivations. There is a lot of literature on motivation around. You can use positive reinforcement when you reach a good result (something very stupid: I love chocolate, I studied well, so I eat some chocolate.) or maybe you can find extra motivations, like: I study French, I like Garou's songs, I would like to understand the meaning of his songs; or there is an attractive French girl that I know, would be really nice to surprise her by talking in French with her. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| soclydeza85 Senior Member United States Joined 3908 days ago 357 posts - 502 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, French | Message 6 of 7 23 April 2014 at 1:48am | IP Logged | ||
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Do you have a solid program you are using? Correct me if I'm wrong, but when you say "...but every time I sit down to open up an anki deck or read an article..." it makes me think that you are seeking out random pieces of information about the language to study it, without any structure. There are tons of different programs; since you are a high school student I will rule out the expensive ones (such as Pimsleur, Fluenz or Rosetta Stone), unless you know a way to get your hands on them.
-FSI - Completely free, just google FSI courses and look for the language you are trying to learn. -Assimil - Can get for relatively cheap, in the range of 50-80 bucks. Seems like a good birthday present if you have one coming up. -Teach Yourself - A pretty cheap program, maybe 20 bucks, will get you good at the basics. -The Hugo series - I don't know if they have this in Norwegian, but this is another good one that would run you around or under 50 bucks. -Various other books, just do a search on Amazon "Learn Norwegian", or something similar. Having a program such as one of the ones above will give you a set amount of stuff to work through each day and help keep you motivated. Even if one day you don't feel motivated you can at least say "okay, let me just get through this one lesson" and keep the ball rolling. All the other stuff (Anki, reading random articles about the language) will be great additions to your study schedule, but you should always have a baseline program that you work through. Again, I'm just assuming you don't have a structured program for yourself. If you are already doing a program (or are taking a class on it in high school) then hopefully I gave you other things to look at that will help you stay motivated. Best of luck! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5010 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 7 of 7 23 April 2014 at 12:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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Add more things you see purely as fun. Input will help your skills and make all the rest take roots in your brain easier. And it works as motivation as well.
I would have some links for Swedish but fortunately there are many Norwegian natives and learners on the forums to provide you with the needed things. Just a few general ideas: songs on youtube articles on Wikipedia and other such sources norwegian tv series (that is harder to get, I know) a book in norwegian (it may be beneficial to find a bilingual text. surely, there will be more choice among easy bilingual lecture for norwegians learning English than the other way around. Or just grab Harry Potter or something else not that hard in Norwegian. And audiobooks can help too) Other than that: -Where and when do you use anki? I'd recommend you to invest in the app for a smartphone or tablet if you've got such a gadget. It helps to just use your time on the way to school instead of having to sit down at home. -What course do you use, do you find it useful? Is it boring? Perhaps you should another one instead or in addition to your current source. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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