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Different Kinds of Motivation in Learning | ||
Tags: Motivation | Learning Strategy | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| cpnlsn Triglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 6165 days ago 22 posts - 29 votes Speaks: English*, French, German | Message 25 of 33 04 March 2011 at 12:36pm | IP Logged | ||
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My motivations possibly are a bit 'mystical'. For me it's the
attraction of having a kind of identity of speaking more than one language. Being able to read foreign literature and get your news in more than one language. I'm struggling with any degree of fluency in German. I am however interested in learning other languages at a more basic level so I can read some stuff and book into a hotel that sort of thing. I think learning to read philosophy as opposed to a romantic notion of a language being x or y can be valid. However if your main aim is to read philosophy for example then your task is a little easier in one sense because philosophical vocabulary is a distinct subset of the language and reading in translation alongside may still be necessary - I'm thinking of hegel here..... but just being able to read the original text even with aids puts one in a wholly different position to wholly relying on translations even if you're not fluent in the language. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| vanillabean Groupie Canada Joined 5000 days ago 53 posts - 63 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 26 of 33 10 March 2011 at 11:31pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think for me it is a combination of a few of the motivations listed. I think the desire to know more than one language is a motivator in itself - I don't want to go through life knowing only English. I have a desire to continuously learn, whether it is to be better at my job or for personal growth.
However, the following reasons also play a role: -I greatly enjoy travelling to countries where the language is widely spoken. I don't think this is a "phoney" motivation because I think you can have a more authentic experience when you are able to converse with a wider variety of people -I have quite a few friends who are native speakers of the language. Not only would it be valuable for me to be able to converse with them, but I also have that "resource" of being able to practice my speaking. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| psy88 Senior Member United States Joined 5583 days ago 469 posts - 882 votes Studies: Spanish*, Japanese, Latin, French | Message 27 of 33 11 March 2011 at 2:27am | IP Logged | ||
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When I first read the name of this thread- different kinds of motivation in learning-my first reaction was quite different from everyone else's. I thought to a line from the movie The Scarlet Letter. The Robert Duvall character had been captured and raised by the native Americans. When he returns to his English speaking pilgrim colony,people are amazed at his mastery of the natives' language. His answer was quite simple and something to the effect that "when I made a mistake with their language, they whipped me, so I learned very quickly". I am paraphrasing but you get the idea. How's that for motivation!!
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 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6695 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 28 of 33 11 March 2011 at 1:24pm | IP Logged | ||
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One of the motivations that have been mentioned for learning foreign languages is travelling. And being a avid traveller myself this is of course also important for me. But there is an ironic twist to this:
If I visit the Americas I'll only be training 4 or 5 languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French and (on a very limited scale) Dutch. I don't know any of the indigenous languages and haven't planned to learn them. If I visit Africa I'll be using English, French, Portuguese and Afrikaans (though Afrikaans is still just wishful thinking). In principle I might one day learn things like Swahili and Arabic, but right now I have no plans. In Asia it will mainly be English, Russian and maybe French, but here there will soon be at least one indigenous language: Bahasa Indonesia. And after that Bahasa Malaysia. Tagalog - well maybe. Apart from that I have no plans. So if I want to use the full span of my languages I'll have to stay in Europe for most of the time. I know that there are overseas communities that still try to keep their old languages alive, but as a tourist I'm unlikely to get into contact with those. So basically I have two hobbies that are in conflict outside Europe. But within Europe they are in perfect harmony, and with the present low airfares it is actually feasible to experience a couple of days in Catalan or Italian or Greek. And this of course makes it more fun to know those languages. Edited by Iversen on 11 March 2011 at 1:32pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| RicardoDifriend Newbie Mexico difriends.com Joined 4994 days ago 2 posts - 2 votes | Message 29 of 33 16 March 2011 at 5:19am | IP Logged | ||
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another good motivation can be girlfriends ;) never forget that. its easy to learn a language with a gf than with a old teacher
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| psy88 Senior Member United States Joined 5583 days ago 469 posts - 882 votes Studies: Spanish*, Japanese, Latin, French | Message 30 of 33 17 March 2011 at 2:43am | IP Logged | ||
What if your gf is an old teacher? :-) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| accentreduction Newbie United States accentreduction Joined 5000 days ago 9 posts - 5 votes | Message 31 of 33 18 March 2011 at 5:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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I studied German because I have no other option than choosing this one between french and russian in my academics...its interesting and I really liked it...
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| Shenandoah Newbie United States Joined 5019 days ago 30 posts - 59 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 32 of 33 19 March 2011 at 1:01pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think the "travel" motivation really depends what types of travel someone is going to
be doing. Someone earlier mentioned the desire to travel many Spanish speaking countries. I have the desire to travel a lot of West Africa, and plan to do so over the rest of my life. Travel is one of my big motivators, but it's a lifetime pursuit, during which I hope I have numerous opportunities to make use of the skill. That's a completely different motivation than someone who is going to make a once-in-a- lifetime trip to a place with a language they don't intend to ever use again. While the latter could still use it as motivation to learn, I think it would be pretty rare that they'd get to any proficiency. Most are going to learn just enough to get through their trip, and then forget it again once they are back home. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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