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What do you use instead of willpower? | ||
Tags: Motivation | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| frenkeld Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6725 days ago 2042 posts - 2719 votes  Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German | Message 25 of 33 15 July 2012 at 10:31pm | IP Logged | ||
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I generally agree with Wulfgar, if I really want to know a language, I will do what it takes to learn it without much inner resistance to any of the required activities, or else I don't want it badly enough. The main hindrance to living that ideal has been limited study time - for me at least, the need to exercise willpower is less about not wanting to do drills versus vegging in front of TV or reading a book, than about not having enough time to do both without feeling rushed.
The solution that has worked for me during busy times has been to focus on one activity at a time over extended periods of time. If I am reading a novel, and I need a couple of weeks to finish it, that's all I do during those two weeks. If I then decide to watch a TV series, that's all I will do. And if I then want to go through a grammar book, all else will be put aside for a while. It's probably better from the language learning standpoint to study on multiple tracks daily, but then I do have to force myself - I just find it much easier to finish a novel and then focus on a grammar book for a few weeks than read for half an hour and then do grammar for 15 minutes every day. By avoiding tightly scheduled miltitasking, I can enjoy both the novel and the grammar, rather than feel stressed about both. Again, I am not sure this is optimal for learning, but it does require considerably less "willpower" in my case. Edited by frenkeld on 15 July 2012 at 11:22pm 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4610 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 26 of 33 09 August 2012 at 2:13am | IP Logged | ||
Slightly related to this (at least in my mind) is the fairly obvious, but helpful idea of breaking down large pieces of work into "bitesize" portions, so they just don't seem so formidable any more. It depends on what it is of course, but I often have to relearn the lesson about not biting off more than I can chew. (It's related to the above in the sense that you can look back at an earlier "bitesize portion", and because it is a manageable size you were able to learn it thoroughly, and looking back, it now looks easy. ) I find if I am not careful, I have quite a talent for erecting unnecessary barriers for myself, and the above is one little way of eliminating or reducing the significance of a barrier. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6379 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 27 of 33 09 August 2012 at 2:58am | IP Logged | ||
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At school I loved looking at future lessons and marking the date when they still seemed difficult and intimidating to me. Was extremely motivating when we were doing those units in class and I could think back on that day and realize I've made progress.
I once accidentally did that while using someone else's textbook... 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| darkwhispersdal Senior Member Wales Joined 5822 days ago 294 posts - 363 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Ancient Greek, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, Japanese, Latin | Message 28 of 33 09 August 2012 at 9:50pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've linked my studying to a levelling up and reward system. It's suprising how much work you'll put into something when you know you get a nice reward at the end. For example I sat exams in Classical Greek and Latin in June and have received my results from the OU. As I got the grades I wanted in both it means I can buy my martial arts stuff and because I had a grade higher than I expected in Classical Greek I'm allowing myself to have four beginner archery lessons.
An additional benefit of this system is that I've stopped wasting money on resources for other languages I'm not currently studying. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| kujichagulia Senior Member Japan Joined 4629 days ago 1031 posts - 1571 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Portuguese | Message 29 of 33 10 August 2012 at 2:43am | IP Logged | ||
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What do I use instead of willpower? HTLAL.
4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Aquila123 Tetraglot Senior Member Norway mydeltapi.com Joined 5088 days ago 201 posts - 262 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Italian, Spanish Studies: Finnish, Russian | Message 30 of 33 12 August 2012 at 10:59am | IP Logged | ||
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I have often used the trick of learning what is most interesting first, even though it comes later in the learning material.
You must however remember going back and catch up what you have skipped, but then you often will see that your understanding have matured enough to learn that to easily. Edited by Aquila123 on 12 August 2012 at 11:03am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6379 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 31 of 33 12 August 2012 at 2:02pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm not sure you really have to catch up. If it's important, it'll come up again, likely in a more interesting context. And when it comes to grammar it's a good idea to have a look at how other books explain the same thing.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| catullus_roar Quadrilingual Octoglot Groupie Australia Joined 4350 days ago 89 posts - 184 votes Speaks: Malay, Hokkien*, English*, Mandarin*, Cantonese*, French, German, Spanish Studies: Italian, Latin, Armenian, Afrikaans, Russian | Message 32 of 33 12 August 2012 at 2:37pm | IP Logged | ||
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I used to have a problem with willpower, but increasingly it seems that I need to will myself away from language learning, not towards it. It's become a sort of obsession for me (hopefully a healthy one) and I just have to keep getting better at the languages I'm currently working on.
Though what worked for me was really meeting more people in the same boat (ie HTLAL) and penpals. Knowing people who speak your target language(s) really helps your willpower, because you want to communicate with them more easily. So yes, use your languages more often in daily life, and the need will drive you to learn them :) Edited by catullus_roar on 12 August 2012 at 2:37pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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