motivation
Motivation
Motivation
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Planning your language study
This is very important at the beginning of starting a language and also to make sure that you're on the right track. Start off with the general outcome you would like to achieve.
E.G. I want to reach conversational fluency.
Then split this into specific goals and things you want to achieve.
E.G. I want to finish 'Teach Yourself', I want to improve my vocabulary, I want to improve my pronunciation, etc.
Then list the resources you have available for learning the language. You could also arrange these into categories of what skills they will improve.
E.G. Speaking - Pimsleur, Michel Thomas. Grammar - Teach Yourself. Vocab - Podcasts.
Now plan how you will use these resources to reach your goals. Try to be as specific as possible.
E.G. To improve my pronunciation I will listen to at least 1 podcast episode every day and also repeat after the speakers. To improve my vocabulary I will enter words from a novel into my flashcard program and review these every day. I will also complete 1 Teach Yourself chapter every week.
Remember to also make your language plan time-based to help you stick to your plan
E.G. I will complete Teach Yourself by this August.
Once you have a decent language plan it's time to move onto the nitty-gritty about your day-to-day plan.
Daily language schedule
Getting the willpower and discipline to do your language study can be difficult. Keeping a language schedule can help with this. There are two basic model of language scheduling; task-based schedules and time-based schedules.
- A task-based schedule is where you give yourself a number of language studying tasks to complete within one day, two days, a week, whatever. Decide what you want to achieve and how long you estimate it will take to achieve it, on a short-term basis.
E.G. 'I want to complete 1 chapter of 'Colloquial Albanian' every 3 days.'
'I want to study 10 hanzi a day.'
'I want to read a newspaper in Albanian once a week.'
Once you have your goals written you can put them into something like a ticky-box format. You can use a spreadsheet program or a table in a Word document (OpenOffice is a good free program for this). Here's an example:
In this table I tick off (or add a symbol) to whatever language study I have done during the day. Of course you can arrange your own language study schedule however you like and add in extra categories to suit your own needs. Some people write down how many minutes they spent studying, or how many new words they learnt.
- A time-based schedule (or time-boxing) is where you allocate yourself a number of hours you want to spend studying each day, week or month. You don't need to worry about completing anything, just study for the whole time that you allocate yourself.
You can either give yourself a set amount of hours to study each day (e.g. 'I want to study Albanian for 2 hours a day') or set yourself specific time restrictions (e.g. 'I want to study Albanian from 9.00 am to 11.00 am'). Experiment with both before deciding which one to use.
Again, put these goals into some sort of table, so you can tick them off when you achieve each one.
Use lots of colours when making your own language schedule, to differentiate between languages, types of study, or just to make it look a bit more exciting.
Once you have made your own language schedule, you can put it somewhere noticable. Maybe as the wallpaper on your desktop, on your bedroom door; anywhere that you are going to frequently notice it and remember. Use it to keep track of your progress and how well your studies are going.
PickTheBrain also has a nice blog post on the subject here.
Language journal
Keeping a language journal can be very helpful for motivation and also for seeing how far you have progressed. Keep a record of what language study you did: whether listening to 1 podcast episode, doing part of chapter 12 of your textbook or reading fiction in your target language. Make it as detailed or as concise as you want.
You can also use a language journal for testing out some of your language skills, by writing a short sentence in your target language. You can then look back at this to see how far you've progressed since you started the journal.
Rewards
As learning a language takes a lot of effort give yourself a little reward every now and then. When you fulfill your expectations, put in a lot of effort recently, reached a milestone, etc, treat yourself to something you enjoy.
It's important not to get too carried away with masochistic study and allow yourself time when you're not always thinking about what you 'should' do. Non-stop studying can drain someone's motivation pretty fast.
GBarto of Confessions of a Language Addict has a nice post here and here on giving yourself points, or money for language study.
Identifying problems
When you hit bumps in your language study it's important to find out what the problem is as quickly as possible so you can resolve it. Try writing out whatever feelings or thoughts you have about your current study schedule and then providing solutions or reassurances.
E.G. The problem - The language I'm learning does not seem relevant to real life.
The response- Try using more authentic materials so you can practise the language you learn in real life context.
E.G. The problem - I'm too tired to finish all of my studying.
The response - Try reducing the amount of work you're giving yourself. You can also try doing 'passive' studying when you are most tired (reading, listening, watching a film, etc).
Do some real soul-searching and you will hopefully be able to find the root of your difficulties.
Involve other people
When you're feeling low on motivation it's always great to have other people to help you out. Let close friends or family know about your plans to learn a language, and you'll have someone else checking up on your progress, which can be a powerful outside motivator.
Try sticking up your language chart somewhere visible in your house and checking off how many words you've learnt, or how many chapters you've done so far.
If someone you know is learning a language (even if it's not the same one) try meeting up for study sessions. You can chat and let each other know how you're getting along with your learning.
If you're learning the same language you could try teaching each other things you've recently learned. This has benefits for both people, as this can help you cement your understanding and also learn new things.
Online support can also be helpful. Conversation exchange websites and language learning forums can help connect you with people with similar goals.
Taking breaks
Taking regular breaks during study sessions can help prevent you from getting too tired and also help information sink in.
Try studying for 20 mins at a time with breaks of 10 mins in between. Doing something you enjoy during the break is a good idea, or just some simple stretching or light exercise.
This can also increase the amount of time you spend studying, instead of getting burned out from studying hours on end.