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There’s a saying that you are as many times a person as many languages you know, and I guess that nowadays it’s as true as ever. But I’m sure lots of people still find it hard to get motivated enough to start getting acquainted with a foreign language — even if they do have time and opportunity. Well, there are always at least two things you can do: either abandon yourself to despair deciding that languages was never your thing or find and eliminate problems that don’t let you build the right learning strategy.
Keep your eyes on the prize. Needless to say, motivation is the main thing about any endeavor. It’s that secret ingredient without which your meal will never be that good, if edible at all. So you always need to realize why you are doing this in the first place. You may think that there are people who do this easily, who learn one foreign language after another just because they have natural talent for it. I personally have never really struggled with learning because I loved the challenge so much, but I assure you that talent can only get you so far. Every effort needs a proper motivation. So set a goal and give yourself a sound reason for learning a language. For example, “I want to learn this language because I need a promotion” or “I want to understand what people around me are saying when I travel”, or “I want to read this book in its original language”.
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Haste makes waste. It’s very natural for many people: when we first get some idea or a plan, we just get kindled like a torch and get to work with fiery haste. But very soon the fire just goes off. Have you experienced it? When you start learning and work diligently enhancing your vocabulary and doing all exercises, but as soon as in two weeks you find yourself looking for excuses to put your books away. Why does this happen? Well, it’s important to use your energy moderately. I don’t say that being enthusiastic is bad — it’s actually really great, but the problem is it’s never endless. So go slow right from the start: learn a little but daily rather than a lot but taking two-week breaks.
Memory isn’t always your best friend. Some of us who had a lot of rote learning at school still suffer from it. There is just no good to forcefully stuff your brain with set phrases and words and repeat them over and over again. It might have some effect when you try to make your parrot throw random words back at you, but you won’t learn much this way. Dry and thoughtless repetition is actually something that can make you hate learning forever. Try using new words in various phrases, make associations and create your own mnemonic rules — you’ll be surprised how much easier learning will be for you if you do.
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To err is a human. Have you ever told yourself something like “Since I can’t get to pronounce it right, I won’t speak it ever again.”? No one’s perfect, okay? No one expects you to be perfect either. Lots of people make mistakes when they make their first steps learning a foreign language, and there’s nothing to be ashamed of. Making mistakes is a part of a learning process, as well as learning from them. Never stop trying to communicate with people using the language you learn. Only living communication will help you to really feel and hear what kind of mistakes you make — and get rid of them.
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Mix business with pleasure. Go easy on yourself. Don’t torture yourself with all the learning and memorizing, don’t treat this as hard work that will be rewarded later. One day in the future. Maybe. This is a sure way to extinguish your enthusiasm even faster. Did you finally finish reading a book? Did you have your first experience of talking to a person speaking a foreign language? Did you crack that complicated grammar rule? Throw a small party or treat yourself to something nice. Give yourself all kinds of motivational gifts during your learning process. Tell your friends about your progress and bathe yourself in their praise.
And, last but not least: understand that, whatever some ads may say, there is no unified perfect method of language learning that will guarantee you will speak the language of your choice in a year better than native speakers do. Any language is a living thing that endlessly evolves and develops, and so your learning will never stop. But that’s what is so wonderful about learning a foreign language: it opens a door to a world of endless discoveries. Don’t miss your chance to make your world bigger.