How to Stay Motivated When Learning a New Language
AKA I’m a Korean beginner and I’ve got a lot to learn
Studying any language is an exercise in patience. You’ve heard it all before. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. There’s new vocabulary, new grammar structures, potentially learning to speak with a word order completely different to your first language. There might be a new alphabet, honorifics, gendered nouns, tenses you’ve never heard of. Or maybe you’re further along in your journey but you’re struggling to get past that intermediate-to-advanced hurdle and your willpower is starting to flag. How do we stay motivated long after that initial excitement dies down?
I’ve dabbled in languages all my life. I studied Indonesian through high school and university and reached a reasonably high level — although without enough opportunities to speak it daily, fluency eluded me. Then I tried Spanish for a few years, taking classes once a week after work. And now I’m in my ‘Let’s learn Korean and save my eyesight from K-drama subtitles’ era. This time I’m teaching myself and therefore have little (no) accountability and only myself to ensure I stay consistent. You could say I’m very invested in ensuring motivation stays high! Here are some ways I do that.
Review your ‘why’ factor
I actually start each study session by looking over my ‘why’ factor. Your ‘why’ factor is the reason you’re studying a language. It could be a single overarching statement or a short list of goals. Having a strong reason and reminding yourself of it often can help you stay motivated.
I review my why factor in two ways. First, I have a list of goals — they’re written in present tense, as though I’ve already achieved them. And they’re long-term goals. They’re where I want to be when I’ve mastered the language. For example, one of my goals is ‘I can watch K-dramas without subtitles’ and ‘I can go to a BTS concert and understand all their ending ments’ (‘ments’ being the speeches K-pop members give during a show).
As a beginner it might seem like a bit (a lot) of a stretch to list these as my goals. But what I’m really doing is reminding myself of my ‘why’ factor. I’m here to reach a level where I can do those things. And looking at this list is like a little pre-study session pep talk.
The second way I review my ‘why’ factor is with a quick visualisation that I have written down in my notebook. It’s like a journal entry, written from the perspective of Future Me, who is already fluent and focuses on how I feel now that I’ve achieved my goals. Here’s a little excerpt:
‘It’s always been a dream of mine to be fluent in a second language and now here I am! I am bilingual! I still get such a thrill when I’m able to understand the lyrics of a song on first listen, or get through a whole episode of a K-drama without needing subtitles.’
I read this and take a moment to imagine myself in the situation described. I guess you could call it Law of Attraction? Even if you don’t believe in manifestation, I encourage you to give this a go. It’s useful to put yourself in the frame of mind of achieving your goals before you start working.
Make it fun — whatever that means to you
If you don’t like spending all your time with your nose in a textbook, then don’t. There are so many ways to get exposure to your target language in a way that feels fun and less like learning, while still actually being a learning opportunity.
When I was learning Spanish, I’d spend hours watching telenovelas. Yes it meant the vocabulary I picked up had a rather … dramatic and emotional flavour to it, but I also learned to recognise sentence structures and word order in a way that was actually much more natural. I legitimately learned so much from watching those shows which were, to be frank, entertaining as hell. It’s probably the most fun I’ve ever had while learning a language. And my goodness it made for some very exuberant additions to any sort of role-play exercise in my class — particularly when others in my class started watching telenovelas too. Suddenly a simple ‘Write a short dialogue between two people discussing their weekend’ turned into a very angsty melodrama with many a twist and turn, much to the amusement of our teacher.
These days, since I’m learning Korean, I watch K-dramas and while they don’t have quite the same level of incredible plot twists as a telenovela and the emotional outbursts tend to be a little more subdued, it’s still an entertaining and fun way to get exposure to the Korean language.
You can very easily turn these tv-watching sessions into an active learning exercise by writing down words you recognise, new words to learn and so on. I actually have a dedicated GoodNotes template for taking notes while watching tv shows or movies. (Tip: If you’re a beginner like me, start off with just one scene from an episode. Watch with subtitles in your first language, then with subtitles in your target language and write down what you hear.)
Similarly, you’re out walking the dog, or you’re at the gym and need a playlist to keep you going — now’s the time to check out the top 50 songs in a country where your target language is spoken and get even more exposure. Incidental language exposure in this way can be hugely beneficial. The more opportunities you give yourself to listen to your target language, the more accustomed you’ll become, the more your listening skills improve and you’ll find yourself picking up new words without even realising.
Pair your hobbies with your language-learning
Textbooks and language classes are going to follow a set curriculum aimed at giving you a good base-level understanding of your target language in a way that’s applicable to the general population. Which is great. We need the fundamentals when we’re learning. But … let’s be honest here: sometimes the lessons or the subject matter just aren’t that exciting. What you really need in order to stay motivated is opportunities to pair your other hobbies and interests with your target language.
This can look like finding YouTubers who are vlogging in your target language about something you’re interested in. For example, I am passionate about skin care and watch a channel called A Coreana Beauty — because So-yeon is Korean, so I get to both learn new things about skin care and also learn Korean words related to this topic.
This could also look like finding a recipe written in your target language — if cooking is something you enjoy. (Although you’ll want to be careful to translate the recipe very carefully to avoid any major mishaps in the kitchen!) Or find news and magazine articles or podcasts on a topic of interest. The possibilities are endless.
You’ll find yourself more engaged and motivated when you’re learning about what actually lights you up inside. You’ll have a lot more fun creating sample sentences and practicing verb conjugations with words that are meaningful to you.
Social media can be an ally
Now I wouldn’t usually advocate for spending even more time on social media. But … I actually have a separate Instagram account purely to provide me with some semblance of accountability, inspiration and motivation for my Korean studies. I’m someone who works better with external accountability and since I’m not taking classes, I post on that account to prove (mostly to myself) that I’m staying active with my studies. It’s also a great way to see what other learners are doing, what resources they’re using, what their study methods are and to connect with likeminded people. I’m endlessly inspired by the accounts I follow — seeing their progress and knowing it’s in reach for me, too.
This is by no means a definitive list and motivation comes in all different shapes and sizes unique to you and your language journey. So with that in mind, I’d genuinely love to hear how you stay motivated as you learn — please feel free to share in the comments below.
If you’re studying a language and take notes digitally, you might like some of the templates I’ve put together in my Etsy store. There’s templates for note-taking, vocab-building, learning through lyrics and, you guessed it, for taking notes while watching tv.
