5 Surprising Motivation Boosters to Master a New Language
Fresh takes on language learning I read about this week on Medium
Learning a language is all fun and games until it isn’t anymore. And that’s especially true when you’re self-taught. You can quickly burn out and need a spark of inspiration from time to time. Something new that can make you excited again about learning the language.
I know I do! Which is why I love to browse through the latest articles on language learning published on Medium. So in today’s post, I compiled a list of 5 pieces that reshaped my perspective and injected new motivation to keep me going (in my case, to learn French).
So grab a cup of your favorite beverage, settle in, and read on!
1. The ultimate motivator: Human connection
In his comprehensive article, Tyler H.J. Frank talks about how despite the many “get-fluent-quick” schemes in the teaching community, language learning is a skill that requires persistence and long-term motivation. I agree!
Motivation is quite the elusive creature. Ever-changing and voracious, it requires a constant supply of fresh sources. But what happens when that initial surge of motivation begins to dwindle?
Motivation can come from gamification (e.g. Duolingo or making your own spreadsheets to track your progress), but that can only get you so far.
For long-term results, you have to dig deeper: perhaps your ultimate goal is to speak to people from a different culture, read about the history of another country in the national language, or something else entirely.
But there is one source of motivation that taps into the core of being human. Tyler H.J. Frank says it beautifully:
“What we have an endless supply of as humans is a desire to connect with other humans, to spend time on things we’re passionate about, to understand a story well enough to feel something.”
2. Be ‘fluent in consistency’
I’d never thought about it this way, but it’s true that all language learners have something in common: they found a system for themselves so that they showed up consistently to learn.
In this very interesting article, BobbyBahasa delves into the idea that everyone learns differently. To reach fluency faster, we each need to figure out which knowledge gap we want to close (vocabulary, listening, speaking, etc.) and how (e.g. by speaking with others, shadowing podcasts or youtube videos, translation, games, reading the news, etc.).
Taking the time to understand your particular goals and your preferences in learning is key and often overlooked.
We need to let go of the myth that there is an ultimate system for learning a foreign language that works for everyone or that every tip we come up with should work universally.
3. Become an Insta-glot
Have you ever used social media to learn a language? Apparently, it’s a thing! Gabriela discusses a fascinating study showing that Instagram feed-based tasks can help intermediate English learners improve their grammar.
In Gabriela’s words,
Instagram supports communication, collaboration, and information sharing, which has opened up new possibilities for language learning.
What’s cool is that she tried it for herself and shared her 3 favorite Instagram accounts that teach English and can even help you prepare for your TOEFL exam.
4. Make new friends through language exchanges
In this personal, candid blog post, Vicky talks about how she tackled the difficulty of making new friends in Japan by finding local language exchange partners.
I agree that having regular conversations with a language exchange partner makes a really big difference in learning a language. I’ve been using this method as a way to increase my output in French (inspired by Hector de Isidro’s article on the topic) and it’s worked really well.
I’ve met people from different parts of France, and with some of them, I really clicked and stayed in touch. So far, I’ve used the free website Conversation Exchange. HelloTalk seems much easier to use since it’s an app, but to get matched with people in your area, you need the premium version.
5. Learn a language through songs the right way
You may have heard the advice of learning a language through songs, but Marie does a fantastic job at breaking down the process and teaching you how to do it systematically (and you know I love systems).
Marie makes an excellent point that when learning a song in a foreign language, it’s possible to hear sounds/words that are not there. And if these mistakes aren’t corrected early on, they can have long-term consequences on your pronunciation.
On the other hand, looking at the lyrics too early can distort your perception of what you actually hear. I think this is truly insightful and really not obvious. I think the best part of her 7-step system for learning a song is that it incorporates feedback from a native speaker.
Marie has really got learning a language through song down to a science, so if you also love learning this way, make sure to check out her piece to avoid the common pitfalls of the process.
I hope you found these ideas useful and that they’ve inspired you to try something new. Language learning can quickly become a chore if we don’t switch things up once in a while.
If you’re searching for even more inspiration, check out these two articles below. They were boosted by Medium (for which I am so grateful!) and I’m sure you’re going to enjoy them: