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Wavering Interest in a Language | ||
Tags: Burn-out | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| kujichagulia Senior Member Japan Joined 4853 days ago 1031 posts - 1571 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Portuguese | Message 9 of 12 22 December 2014 at 6:28am | IP Logged | ||
Interesting... never thought I'd hear his name here at HTLAL. Many years ago, when I was still wearing contact lenses instead of glasses (and, presumably, when I was still good-looking), people here in Japan often said I looked like JERO - although I saw no resemblance other than the fact that we are both African-American and have the same skin complexion. Now that I wear eyeglasses, that has pretty much stopped, although a couple of years back, one of the teachers at the school where I teach asked me to take off my glasses and portray JERO in a school video. Anyway, about the question at hand... this is something I struggle with constantly. I'm learning a language that I absolutely need (Japanese) but had no interest in at first. (Here at HTLAL, I'm probably unique in that regard. Everyone else here learns languages that they want to learn.) I'm finding that the more I learn Japanese, the more I appreciate it, and nowadays I even enjoy it at times, but it was a huge struggle at first. The key for me was to find things to do that, if not fun, I could at least tolerate. To give you two examples, I like writing in my journal, and I watch travel shows on TV in Japanese. I still can't do lots of Japanese every day without getting tired of it, but I can do more than I did before. As for Portuguese, I did have an interest in it when I started, but I find myself losing interest in it almost monthly. The reasons are various, though. While Portuguese could be useful for me in Japan, I'm never around anyone Portuguese- speaking. One of the things that first made me interested in Portuguese was bossa nova music, specifically Antonio Carlos Jobim. But nowadays I hardly listen to music, in part because I want time to study Portuguese so that I can listen to music. It doesn't make sense, does it? I am a soccer (football) fan, and I was once interested in football in Brazil, but these days I'm not, so I lost that "hook." Finally, Portuguese is supposed to be a "side project", but I attack it with the same intensity that I do Japanese, and that doesn't really help. But what happens in those situations is that I take a step back, scale back my activities, and try to reflect on what made me interested in Portuguese, and perhaps just read about the Lusophone world or watch some online videos, and see how interesting it is. That helps me get some motivation back. EDIT: And another note... What keeps me motivated with Japanese is being in Japan, having the TV on at home, doing aerobics classes, people-watching around town... you know, interacting with the culture. I can't do all that with Portuguese yet, but I find my motivation is highest when I make the time to turn on some online Portuguese- language TV or radio at home - even if I don't understand it all. If that is not something you are doing with Spanish, it might be worth a try. Edited by kujichagulia on 22 December 2014 at 6:32am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| rolf Senior Member United Kingdom improvingmydutch.blo Joined 6013 days ago 107 posts - 134 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Dutch | Message 10 of 12 29 December 2014 at 2:11am | IP Logged | ||
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Despite living in Holland, at one time or another I've had a wavering interesting in it.
It's not a big deal really because my interest has gone the other way, back and with a vengance. I suppose I lost time earlier to advance myself but what happened, happened. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Darklight1216 Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5106 days ago 411 posts - 639 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German | Message 11 of 12 29 December 2014 at 4:18am | IP Logged | ||
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I have never felt even a twinge of wavering interest for French. This is why the feeling
is so foreign for me in German. Sometimes it seems like every week I want to put it on the shelf and move on to my next project, but I know I'll regret it so I press on until the desire returns. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Arthaey Groupie United States arthaey.com Joined 5052 days ago 97 posts - 155 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 12 of 12 29 December 2014 at 6:28am | IP Logged | ||
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"Pressing on until the desire returns" reminds me very much of common writing advice, namely to show up
and write every day, and when inspiration finally strikes, it'll find you there, already working. That same sentiment seems to apply just as well to consistently improving at a language: don't wait to "feel like it," just spend the time using the language already. :) 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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