Looking to stay motivated in your language studies? You’re definitely not alone!
Finding motivation, and staying motivated to learn languages is probably one of the biggest challenges we face as language learners.
Just think about how many times you’ve spent hours studying because you were extra “inspired”… only to avoid your studies days later, waiting to feel motivated enough to pick it back up again.
While this post isn’t a list of every single way to you can find motivation or stay motivated, what I’m sharing below are the fastest ways to jump-start your language studies and start making progress in your language studies now.
In this post, I will be sharing:
- What It Really Means To Be Motivated To Study
- The Pros And Cons To Relying on Motivation As A Language Learner
- 3 Simple Strategies For Staying Motivated In Your Language Studies
What Does It Really Mean To Be Motivated To Study
Whenever I hear the word “motivation”, I always picture it as the energy that pushes us to take action and complete a task. It’s the reason behind what we do. It’s what makes the actions we take more or less enticing, and makes us want to do whatever we’ve set out to do.
Basically, motivation is what helps us take action, and guides our actions to reach our goals.
If we want to get better at speaking in daily conversations, for example, our motivation might be because we want to talk with our friends without needing to hold a dictionary. Or because we want get better at our family’s native language.
Sometimes, we’re motivated by external rewards like recognition, praise, or that number of days we’ve consistently used a language learning app (I’m looking at you, Duolingo and Lingodeer).
Other times, we’re motivated by the satisfaction we feel after completing a task. This is what happens when you recognize more words in your favorite songs, or can finally answer questions about your daily life in your target language.
Many language learners use these cravings, this motivation, as the foundation to their language studies, and to inspire them do achieve even more.
Now, let’s take a look at some pros and cons to relying on motivation to learn languages.
The Pros And Cons To Relying on Motivation As A Language Learner
If you’ve been learning a language for any length of time, you already know the limits of motivation, first-hand.
Motivation isn’t a bottomless pool. I often think of it as an empty container that you can fill with energy. You get to define the size of that container, and you work regularly to fill that container with motivation that you can use when you need it.
You can strategically use motivation to help you make consistent progress in your language studies, which is great.
But relying entirely on motivation means that whenever you don’t have enough of it… you just don’t study.
And how are you supposed to make progress in your language studies if you don’t actually study?
…Exactly!
Pros to Relying On Motivation
There are tons of reasons why you should use motivation strategically in your language studies.
Motivation Can:
- Drive you to take action and make progress towards your goals.
- Encourage you to complete tasks that actually move you closer to your goals.
- Help you avoid actions that stall your progress.
- Increases enthusiasm and excitement when studying.
Cons to Relying on Motivation
On the other hand, here are some reasons why we shouldn’t rely entirely on motivation.
- Motivation is a limited resource. It’s impossible to always be motivated.
- Motivation is often tied to things like our moods, or the level of challenge we’re facing. If we’re in a bad mood, or the level of challenge is too low or two high, we’re less likely to be motivated.
- It can lead to a never-ending cycle of procrastination.
- When you struggle to get motivated for long periods of time without results, this can impact your confidence, and ultimately the progress you make in your language studies.
You can read more about relying on motivation here in another one of my blog posts.
3 Simple Strategies for Staying Motivated in Your Language Studies
Now that you know a bit more about the pros and cons to relying on motivation, let’s jump into the reason why you’re reading this!
Here are 3 strategies you can use to instantly boost your motivation and finally make progress in your language studies:
1. Identify your Guiding Principles
I talk all the time about your Guiding Principles, which are your reasons for learning languages. Knowing your “why” for learning languages helps to keep you grounded and on the right track.
Your Guiding Principles impact every single decision you make and action you take (or avoid) in your language studies.
I break down the entire process for identifying your Guiding Principles in my program, The Polyglot Project, but one of things you can do is simple ask yourself why do you want to learn languages in the first place?
Questions like these can help you get to the core of your motivation so you can craft your Guiding Principles with ease.
2. Find your People
Another great strategy for boosting your motivation in your language studies is finding your “people”. Language learning can be a lonely journey, especially if you are someone who is self-studying a language. So, instead of going on this journey along, here’s what you can do:
Surround yourself with other language learners that you can connect with, that inspire you, and help keep you accountable.
One question I always ask my students is, “Who are the people who motivate you to make progress?”
Those are your people, and you want to nurture those relationships and hold them close.
Language Learning is more than just learning vocabulary and grammar. And if you’re looking to boost your motivation to study, you need to find people to continue to remind you of your Guiding Principles and keep you moving in the right direction.
3. Celebrate Your Wins
When it comes to learning languages, anything you do that moves you closer to achieving your goals is a win. And when you find yourself struggling to find motivation or to stay motivated, it’s important to remind yourself of all of the progress you’re making, no matter how small.
Each tiny step forward is still valid, and should always be celebrated!
And how you celebrate your wins is up to you, but make sure to keep track of them and make those celebrations satisfying!
Want More Tips on How to Boost Your Motivation?
In this post, I’ve walked you through what motivation looks likes as a language learner, the pros and cons to relying on motivation, and 3 powerful strategies you can use to find motivation and stay motivated in your language studies.
Want more strategies like these? I created an entire workbook of 10 different ways to boost your motivation in your language studies.
You can get a your very own copy as a bonus for signing up for my FREE Masterclass on creating a consistent study routine.
