10 Reasons You’re Losing Motivation While Learning a Language
Learning a new language can be fun and exciting, but it can also be the complete opposite.
In fact, I’d argue that most language learners feel demotivated at some point in their journey. That’s perfectly normal. Nothing can be fun and exciting every day, every day.
However, it’s essential that you handle that demotivation properly. If you don’t, well, that’s when people give up.
If you are feeling demotivated, the first thing you should do is to identify what in your language learning process that makes you feel that way.
The second thing is to address the issue.
To help you get over, or avoid, feeling demotivated, I have listed the top 10 things that demotivates people when learning a new language.
1. Having unrealistic goals
Being ambitious is good, but being overly ambitious and setting unrealistic goals isn’t doing you any favors.
This is one of the biggest mistakes people do when learning a new language, and ultimately, one of the main reasons why many give up.
You should have long-term and short-term goals, to help you stay motivated. If your only goal is to “become fluent”, then you’ll have a mountain to climb, with no rewards or checkpoints along the way.
My advice is that you set up goals that are specific, clearly defined and realistic.
“Become fluent” isn’t specific nor clearly defined. How do you know when you are fluent and how do you measure it? Instead, you could set a goal like “be able to order food in my target language”, “read the first Harry Potter book without using translations”, or pass the tests in a language exam.
These three goals are realistic and clearly defined. You know what the goal is and how to get there. Just make sure to set smaller goals along the way and focus on those.
2. Not being mentally prepared
Language learning is painful, there is no way around it. It is going to be boring and repetitious at times. It will not always be fun.
People who are new to language learning often have an illusion of what it takes to acquire a new language. It doesn’t help that “gurus” on YouTube make claims that all it takes is to “immerse yourself.”
The truth is that it will be difficult, time-consuming and sometimes monotone. No matter how excited and motivated you feel now, that feeling isn’t always going to stick around. Beginners need to be aware and prepared for this.
Luckily, there are ways to make language learning more fun.
3. Looking for perfection
Seeking perfection is good, but expecting it is not.
You will most likely never become native-like in your target language, no matter what “influencers” say or how hard you study.
That’s not me being cynical or pessimistic, but realistic and speaking from experience.
Recently I write an article where I investigated if children are better at learning languages than adults. In it, I went through a Swedish study where the tested bilingual people to see how “native-like” they were.
They found that only a small minority of the participants who had learned Swedish after age 12 were native-like. However, after they studied those participants more carefully, in linguistic detail, none of them performed native-like.
When studying bilinguals who had learned Swedish before the age of 12, only a few of them demonstrated native-like competence in the advanced tests.
My point is that you shouldn’t be too hard on yourself. Seek perfection, but do not expect it.
4. Making it a chore
Many years ago, a friend told me that the key to language acquisition is “to not make it a chore.”
It seemed like an obvious statement; of course I don’t want to make chores.
But his statement has more depth to it than I initially thought.
In my younger years, I used to study languages one hour a day. I’d sit every evening by the kitchen table with my nose in a textbook, or listening to dialogues from the CD that came with the book.
Every evening at 20:00 p.m.
My days would look almost identical. I’d come home from work, make some food, do the dishes and then study for an hour. After that I would be “free”, and I could do what I enjoy.
My study sessions were chores, like cooking food and doing the dishes, that I couldn’t wait to finish. I still enjoyed my “studying-chore” most of the time, but it was still a chore. Something I had to do.
Don’t get me wrong, I still study languages at specific times and days – it’s essential to my discipline and routine. However, I have found that for me, language learning shouldn’t be so systematical and strict.
If I don’t feel like studying tonight, I am fine with watching a movie in my target language instead.
I have also stopped reading the news in my mother tongue, and only read it in my target language. That doesn’t mean that I have to read the news, but when I do – I do it in my target language. When I want to look something up on Wikipedia, I make sure to do it in my target language.
You see, it’s dynamic, immersive and a part of my daily life. I read the news in my target language, but language learning isn’t the main goal when doing it – it’s just the means to achieve my goal: to keep up with current events.
I make my target language a part of my daily life, and by doing so, it doesn’t become a chore.
You should read my 9 ways to incorporate language learning into my daily routine.
5. Monotonous activities
Having a high boredom threshold is great when learning a new language. Because it is going to be boring and monotonous at times, there is no way getting around it.
But you should have a limit to how monotonous your activities and study sessions can be.
I love learning languages, but I have a low threshold for boring tasks. I get bored and lose focus quite easily. That’s why I always change methods, approaches and exercises to stay motivated and entertained.
6. Ignoring the culture
Language is more than just words, grammar and sounds.
Language is people, communication, culture and history. The way we speak and communicate reflects who we are and where we come from.
To fully understand a language, it’s important to understand its culture, people and history. You should explore authentic materials, both to understand the language, but also for entertainment purposes.
Recently, I had a page in my textbook that was about cooking traditional food in my target language. It contained some vocabulary, short dialogues, and important phrases to know.
It was helpful, of course.
Afterwards, I went to YouTube and watched a chef cook food while speaking in my target language. It’s a completely different experience, and it gave me more knowledge and insights than my textbook ever could.
Immerse yourself in the culture. Watch the TV-shows and movies that native speakers watch, and listen to the music and radio stations that they listen to.
You can check our language-section, where we have collected learning resources for several different languages. For example:
7. Overthinking
Am I good enough? Am I making progress? Is this the most efficient method for me? Should I add more flashcards each week?
I am a chronic overthinker. I know exactly what it is like to overanalyze everything.
But with age, I have calmed down and improved. Because most of the time, my overthinking wasn’t productive. If anything, it drained my energy and made me overly self-conscious and insecure.
Don’t think too much.
Thinking is good, overthinking is, most of the time, not.
When I used to overthinking, it was mostly critical or skeptical thoughts that caused self-doubt. That’s a great way to become demotivated and stop learning.
Did you study today? Did you learn a new word, phrase, or grammar rule today? Then all is well. Don’t sweat it.
8. Using the wrong method
Everyone learns differently. What’s fun for me, might not be fun for you and vice versa. Find a method and approach that suits you.
We are always trying to find “the best approach”, which translates to “the fastest shortcut.” But there are no shortcuts to acquiring a language, nor is there a method that fits everyone.
Find a method or approach that works for you. Stick with your textbook or method for a few months, and then evaluate your progress. Do not let all those “learn Italian I 30 days”-methods fool you, it’s just marketing to get your clicks or money.
The key factor for learning any language is consistency. Being consistent with a less-than-optimal method is much better than being inconsistent with the best textbook in the world.
When people are inconsistent, it’s most often because they are studying in a way that isn’t fun for them. My advice is that you study in a way that is fun and exciting, even if it’s less effective than other, more boring, approaches.
9. Not putting the language to use
You’ve learned 4,000 words in your target language and you know basic grammar.
How are you using this knowledge?
I know a person who studied French for two years at home. She used textbooks, grammar books and Duolingo.
Then she stopped, seemingly out of nowhere.
I asked her why she stopped, and she said she was bored with French and that she won’t visit France anytime soon.
I was quite shocked by this, as she had studied religiously for two years, and reached a level of proficiency that takes most people five years to achieve.
I told her that there is a café in town that arranges language meet-ups every Thursday, and that she should go see if she can find French speakers there. She went and had a blast, meeting two French girls who wanted to learn our native tongue.
That was the motivation she needed, as she continued her studies.
It’s incredibly motivating when you realize that you can talk to native speakers, watch movies without subtitles, or read articles without translating, in your target language.
I mean, what’s the fun learning a language if you don’t use it?
10. Content is too difficult
Studying content that is too hard is a great way to get demotivated. I always advice people to study material that is just slightly above their level. If I read a book, I want to understand 90% of it without needing any translation tools.
If you want to stay motivated, make sure that you consume content that is on your level.