There’s an interesting thread on the forum about whether there are great similarities between success at language learning and successful physical activity.
That thread has led me to the above question, since I tend to feel quite stale at times and in those circumstances prolonged language learning (or physical effort) at my age seem nearly pointless. Finding the right kind of motivation becomes difficult then and I simply have to trust the process, until the joy creeps back in. One thing, however, I never give up on is reading in my target language(s), despite any misgivings I might harbour about my ability.
Should you ever be faced with lethargy, what would you do?
I bogged down in Chinese the other day, actually. So I watched Steve’s You-tube challenge videos, which cheered me up. (Also the sight of Steve exercising with pulley/rowing ropes balancing on an exercise ball at the age of 68 whilst listening to Korean! Haha! )
Then I thought of changing things up by starting to learn a song in Chinese to upload to the exchange during the challenge - no matter how wacky an idea (or entertaining!). I sing in the shower; I might as well sing in Chinese:)
I dusted off my mp3 player, and started using it during my never-ending boring chores - and language learning is more fun again.
One thing that helps me keep my nose to the grindstone is having a weekly conversation booked with my LingQ tutor. I find this highly motivating. I don’t want to waste his time or mine, so I work hard during the week to ensure that my French has improved before our next conversation. Plus, I find it very motivating to see that I am making weekly progress and that these conversations are becoming easier.
My best motivation are people I want to talk to. But I also love to read. And I seem to be especially attracted by the sounds of a language, so if I really feel too exhausted to read, study, write, I simply lean back and listen. I like audio books but also music with some nice lyrics.
And sometimes I just take a day off and then come back with an even greater thirst for knowledge
Obsession is a fine thing if it leads to results like yours!
In any case, I seem to have turned the corner. Today I, too, dusted off my mp3-player, went for a walk and booked a session with a tutor. So, thank you all, for sharing your particular motivators.
I’m not too motivated to do things that feel like work(yeah, little help?), for example: flashcards, but I never get tired of listening/reading to things I like. Going to art sites to read comments in addition to the art, reading fan-forums of shows/games as well as watching "Let’s Play"s on games are some of what I like to do. Although I usually just watch movies, I import the transcript and audio to LingQ as well from time to time.
Btw, does anyone know any site that is like the Japanese version of gamefaqs.com?
RedExodus - Perhaps you should ask the question about “gamefaqs” in another forum. The open forum in English might be better suited for that sort of thing, I think.
(This thread should have been in there, but somehow I posted it in the wrong forum.)
Inspiring regular internet Skype contacts and VHS - courses with excellent teachers and good quality language resources inclusive good bilingual paper dictionaries are the backbone of my language learning motivation. I can’t travel and generally I don’t need travels to be motivated to study my languages. As long as these factors mentioned are stable in my life, I will not get any motivation problems.
