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What motivation techniques do you use? | ||
Tags: Motivation | Learning Technique/Method | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| Akalabeth Groupie Canada Joined 5510 days ago 83 posts - 112 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German, Japanese | Message 1 of 36 02 May 2010 at 5:27pm | IP Logged |
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I always see a lot posted about different learning strategies, but a lot less posted about different motivation techniques, and I'm curious what people have come up with to make sure they stay on track.
The only thing I really do is keep track of how many consecutive days I've been studying, with the idea that the longer I've been going the less willing I'll be to slack off, since then I'd need to restart back from 0. At least a few times it has stopped me from falling off the wagon as it were. I've got a python script that keeps track of how long I've been going, but there's a webapp that does the same. In my experience it's kind of buggy though. What do other people do? 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| delta910 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5866 days ago 267 posts - 313 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Dutch, German | Message 2 of 36 02 May 2010 at 8:10pm | IP Logged |
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I use music and movies a lot. Once I start listening to or watching people speak the language it doesn't take me
long to get motivated to get back into my rhythm. Also, I keep track of how long I "study" per day. This helps me a lot. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| pohaku Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5642 days ago 192 posts - 367 votes Speaks: English*, Persian Studies: Arabic (classical), French, German, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 3 of 36 02 May 2010 at 10:04pm | IP Logged |
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I try to work every day on each of my languages. I number each of my work pages so that I know I've worked 47 days, or whatever, on a given language. There's a mild satisfaction that comes from passing various milestones: 50 days, 100 days, 365 days, etc.
I use a different combination of paper color and folder color for each language. This is, of course, totally trivial, but it's kind of nice to finish looking at, say, Arabic for the day (blue paper, green folder) and to pick up, say, Bengali, with its bright yellow paper and vibrant red folder. I'm fortunate enough to have a partner for two of my languages. We pull each other along, both being much more responsible because of the other than we would be on our own. By far the greatest motivation, however, given my literary goals, is having a text to work on that I really enjoy. The reasons may vary from text to text, but once I settle on something I love spending time with that work. The author starts to feel like a genuine person after awhile, even though he may have lived centuries ago. And even if I know the gist of what he says through a translation, nothing compares to grasping his thoughts in his own language. One tiny example: In 1001 Nights, the Arabic equivalent of "I hear and I obey," is used quite often. Having heard the phrase in English since I was a child, learning it in Arabic and coming across it on the page makes me feel as happy as a puppy getting a little pat on the head. Once in awhile my partner and I will start working on a text that just doesn't move us. We give it a week or two and then, if things don't improve, we toss it aside and move on to something more interesting. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5547 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 4 of 36 02 May 2010 at 11:19pm | IP Logged |
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Motivation in language learning is absolutely key to success, so I use as many crazy techniques as possible. Here are a few tips for creating and rewarding "mini-motivation goals" that I find help me out in my day-to-day language studies:
1. Aim to build something cool out of Lego or similar (ideally from a set with instructions), and add your next piece for each mini-goal achieved, for example half an hour of study. This can be lots of fun and provides some often much needed forward momentum, in essence leading you to complete your plastic masterpieces as well as achieve your goals. This can also give you an opportunity to take a short break and relax during your studies, which is very important. 2. Buy a whiteboard, place in on the wall, and start to draw a fun figure in the middle (I use a little wizard). For every main stage you complete, this little fellow gets a new body part or article of clothing, with a view of aiming to complete this work of art by the end of your language learning programme. 3. Include several "motivators" clearly around the central area of your whiteboard (in this case, perhaps your "motivational wizard") in non-permanent marker pen. This reminds you why you're doing this after all, and what you're aiming for by the end. You can also rub off targets or obstacles marked down in red (this is a pretty good feeling), and write down new achievements in green for each week for your language log. 4. Come up with other general crazy schemes by which you progress in a systematic way and can reward yourself imaginatively. I use a succession of army ranks throughout my foundation language programme (well, I was an army kid after all), and then I switch to colourful martial art belts (i.e. kyu and dan grades) for ongoing development - I call this last little linguistic fantasy "Poly-jitsu" lol. I even write down how far I am so far each day towards getting that next imagined rank or grade as a percentage, simply to keep me focused on the prize. 5. Start a log or two, if you haven't already, and record your successes, challenges and goals at least once a week. A lot of people often lose motivation during the intermediate and advanced plateaus of language learning, and don't realise that they are still progressing every time they study, but that it's just not as clearly visible any more. Logs and language diaries really help you to see the progress you've made and remind you of where you aim to go, in addition to providing a great place to share similar experiences with other knowledgeable members and gain support and friendship along the way. These are just a few ideas to help you get started, but the real secret in all this is quite simply to take something complicated and intimidating at first, like learning a language, and then just break it down into easier manageable chunks that you can chalk up as realistic time-specific mini-goals and reward with a fun and real or imaginative treat for completing. Edited by Teango on 02 May 2010 at 11:54pm 24 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Mafouz Diglot Groupie Spain Joined 5316 days ago 56 posts - 64 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English Studies: German, Japanese, French | Message 5 of 36 03 May 2010 at 10:29am | IP Logged |
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Uauuu, Teango. These are fantastic ideas. I am going to copy you. Just thinking the system of motivation seems funny.
Thanks for sharing!! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6263 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French | Message 6 of 36 03 May 2010 at 5:41pm | IP Logged |
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I log the amount of time studying (Arabic, at present). Nearly 80 hours since February.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Sennin Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 6025 days ago 1457 posts - 1759 votes 5 sounds | Message 7 of 36 03 May 2010 at 6:31pm | IP Logged |
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Great ideas, Teango.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| noriyuki_nomura Bilingual Octoglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 5331 days ago 304 posts - 465 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, Japanese, FrenchC2, GermanC2, ItalianC1, SpanishB2, DutchB1 Studies: TurkishA1, Korean | Message 8 of 36 03 May 2010 at 7:22pm | IP Logged |
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I usually associate language learning with their respective culture/history of the country that speaks the language, hence, pretty often, I would either read more about the country, or simply read the newspapers in the language concerned. My favourite newspapers are Le Figaro for French, Frankfurter Allgemeine for German, and the Italian magazine "L'espresso"...
Unfortunately where I am living now, one can hardly find any Japanese newspapers nor magazines :( Hence, my only option is reuters.co.jp. Edited by noriyuki_nomura on 03 May 2010 at 7:23pm 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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