So you’ve met a foreigner online, and you’re head-over-heels and want to learn their language, but is this the right motivation to learn a second language? Perhaps you never learned your grandparents’ language (if they are originally from another country or culture), and you’d like to start speaking to them in their native tongue?
Without the right motivation, you will find learning a foreign language even more challenging, and you may end up never getting past saying, “Hi, how are you?”
To successfully master a foreign or second language, you need to have a real reason for learning it – your purpose behind all those hours of pronunciation, grammar, and translation.
My own journey down the language road started with my academic studies, but I fell in love with languages, cultures, and the unique ways we express ourselves much earlier.
I am now fluent in four languages, and I understand another four, making me a polyglot. Happily, this helped, since my husband is German and I’m Ukrainian.
What will be the source of your language learning motivation? Here are a few places you can look.
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Motivation vs Needs vs Goals for Language Learning
We all have different reasons for learning a foreign language. If your career takes you abroad for a few weeks, and you have to learn the local language to get along, then that’s your need for learning the language. However, it’s not (necessarily) your motivation.
To avoid the discomfort of not being able to communicate in a foreign land, you learn the language, satisfying the need not to feel confused (or overwhelmed) by the language.
Perhaps you’ve set yourself the goal of becoming a polyglot and want to learn 10 languages before you die. While this is admirable, the chances of you seeing the language journey through to the end are slim as you’ve got a goal, but no motivation or plan on how to achieve the goal.
This goal is not realistic as you want an end destination, forgetting that a language is a living thing that must be spoken (and practiced) daily. Rather, setting the goal of fluently conversing in a language because you can exercise it daily is closer to a valid motivation.
So the key to successful language learning is about combining your needs, goals, and motivation – your reason why you want to learn that particular language.
Some great examples of motivation to learn a language include:
- Wanting to meet your foreign partner (or in-laws) on equal footing by learning their language.
- Seeking better employment in your company by mastering another language, which is spoken by most of the staff.
- Having always loved the sound of a specific language and wanting to master it so you can speak it with your friends who speak it already, such as when you are an exchange student.
- Participating in studies where you need to understand a language like Latin (like when you are studying law).
- You want to learn the language your parents spoke where they grew up, especially if you’ve moved to a country different compared to your or their birth country.
5 Tips: How to Stay Motivated
Motivation is about combining a need with a goal and finding a reason to achieve what you set out to do. With the right motivation, you will persevere when things get difficult.
Motivation is what gets you up at 4 a.m. so you can do some language lessons on Duolingo, Mondly, or Rosetta Stone when you have a busy day ahead.
So how do you decide on the right language goals, cope with learning challenges, and avoid falling into stereotypical thinking about your chosen language?
Here’s what you need to know.
1. Choose the Right Goal
When you set your language learning goals, these should be specific, meet a need, and be realistically achievable. Let’s say you want to learn Spanish because you are planning a trip to Spain within the next six months. Your goal would then be to speak Spanish in real-life scenarios with some confidence.
Your goal is to be fluent in some functional Spanish, but you wouldn’t necessarily need to study Spanish from scratch and develop perfect pronunciation.
Italian isn’t my specialty language, and while I have an interest in different languages, I also know that I may not necessarily become fluent in Italian.
So my goals are realistic, and my motivation for learning Italian is to appreciate the language and culture.
However, my son is learning German, and since my husband is German, he wants to become fluent. And so my son speaks German daily to Daniel to help achieve his goals.
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2. Add Positive Emotions
When learning a language, it shouldn’t feel like a chore. You should look forward to the language lessons, practice frequently, and immerse yourself in the culture and country of that language. After all, language is a living thing, and it represents all the people who speak that language.
Find a way to connect language lessons and personal development with a positive emotion, such as doing your lessons online while you have your morning coffee or practicing your new language with the grocery store owner whom you enjoy talking with.
3. Remove Negative Stereotypes and Foster Positive Attitudes to Language Learning
A popular myth is that you have to learn your languages by the age of five as a young brain quickly soaks up new languages, but this is totally not true. You can learn a new language at any age. We are also conditioned to believe that language learning is hard – and while it takes hard work, it’s not hard to learn a language.
Now ask yourself if those myths are true? (They aren’t.) And draw a big red X through the myths that have been holding you back from language learning.
Remember, you can learn a new language at any time of your life – you just need the right motivation and will to learn.
4. Celebrate Successes
Humans learn quickly when we have positive rewards or we celebrate a victory. You could set yourself a goal to keep your streak unbroken on Duolingo or plan on going to an authentic Greek restaurant to order a meal in your new-found Greek.
Your language adventures need to be authentic, tangible, and useful if you are going to remain motivated. In a multicultural world, no matter where you stay, there is someone nearby (or online) who speaks your target language. You can reward and celebrate by speaking your new language to a new friend.
Okay, so you may have a few language mishaps. You’re likely to have someone tell you off for saying the wrong thing – and that’s okay too. When we learn, we learn through trial and error. Don’t beat yourself up over the small failures.
You can even use a reward jar with treat-suggestions when you master a milestone such as improving your pronunciation or expanding your vocabulary.
5. Imagine a Bright, Multilingual Future
If you’re still not sure whether this language (or any foreign language) is the right journey for you, take a moment to imagine yourself a year from now, fluently speaking this new language.
Can you see yourself having delightful conversations with native speakers? Do you enjoy speaking it?
How does speaking a new language change your thinking, the self-respect you have, and the way people in your community or family see you? Perhaps you find that you have more opportunities as you are now bilingual or trilingual.
Top Secret Tips to Build Motivation
Right, these tips are straight from the world’s top secret service agencies – it’s how their spies learn so many languages …
Just kidding.
Use these practical tips to ensure you don’t lose your focus and that you can achieve your language learning goals:
- Take the time to immerse yourself in the culture of the language you are learning so the language becomes alive, which will motivate you to try harder.
- Scaffold your new language learning with an existing habit, such as combining online learning with your morning breakfast or while you go to the gym. Jog while you increase your Spanish vocabulary, or shower while practicing pronunciation. Make the new language part of your day.
- Schedule your entertainment around the new language, so watch Spanish TV, listen to Turkish music, or check the weather report in Greek.
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Final Thoughts
Ultimately, you are the master of your time, your motivations, and your efforts. If you want to learn a language, it’s your choice how you will do it.
There are many helpful methods of learning a foreign language. You can build your motivation with language games and tricks, and you can learn to enjoy the journey of learning a new language – for that’s what it is: a journey.
The destination doesn’t (always) matter. It’s the process of learning, using, and enjoying a foreign language that will determine your success.
Seeking a top-notch language learning app? Check out our reviews of Babbel, Mondly, Rocket Languages, and Rosetta Stone.
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