There’s this excitement you feel when you start to learn a new language but as time goes by, you start to feel less interested and motivated especially if the language is as difficult as Japanese.
As Japanese students, we all agree that the Japanese language is a tough nut to crack and at one point or another, we need to find ways to remain motivated throughout our learning process in order to achieve the best results. The truth is that motivation is easy to find but hard to maintain and so, I’ve put together a few tips to keep you motivated throughout your study journey.
Re-visit your learning goals.
What do you want to accomplish in the nearest or distant future with your target language? The answer to this should be a source of motivation for you. You may be learning the Japanese language for academic or travel purposes, to pass the JLPT, get a new job, communicate with native or other reasons. Just think about how you will feel when you achieve these goals.
For example, if your short term goal is to be able to order food in a Japanese restaurant within 3 months of learning Japanese, whenever you feel less motivated to learn your vocab or grammar, you should think about this goal and how difficult expressing yourself in a Japanese restaurant has been in time past.
Also, make sure your goals are achievable such that even when you feel least motivated, you still find a way to make up for it easily.
Assess your study routine
Shorter study time can be more motivating than longer study time. So if you find yourself getting bored every time you sit to learn, Check the length of your study time and adjust accordingly.
Focus on evaluating and restructuring your learning strategy where necessary and see if it will Perhaps have a positive impact on your motivation. Your lack of motivation may be a result of a stressful study routine, ample study time or even because you have not found a technique or topic that works best for you. Also, try not to spend so much time on topics that are of little interest to you.
Stay positive
Your mindset and the people you surround yourself with have an impact on your motivation. You can look for a language learning community near you and join other language learners there. It doesn’t have to be just Japanese learners, other language learners can also give you the support and encouragement required to get you through your learning journey.
Don’t worry about not finding a language community near you because there are certain groups on social media where you can get the necessary motivation from others who have been in the same position as you are now. Their stories and how they kept themselves motivated throughout their learning journey might just be what you need to help you push through.
Record your progress.
It Can be a little difficult to quantify your progress but each time you take a step towards achieving your set goals, that’s progress. You should have a ‘progress board’ where you write down everything thing you achieve during your learning process. Hence, whenever you don’t feel motivated, just go back to the board and look how far you’ve gone on your learning journey and how much you’ve accomplished so far.
Reward yourself.
Did you know that motivation comes to you naturally whenever you have a reward to look forward to at the end of the day? Yes! Imagine you’ve promised to buy yourself the latest Samsung gadget if you are able to memorize 1500-2000 kanji characters, won’t you be motivated? The fact about rewarding yourself is that you don’t have to make big progress before rewarding yourself. Even little achievements deserve to be celebrated too.
The rewards you give yourself can range from a night out with friends, clothing you’ve been eyeing for a while, a spa treatment and even a movie night alone. Just place a reward in front of your progress and watch how motivated you would be to meet up with the reward.
Make it fun
One of the real reasons why people lose motivation when learning a language is because they focus on studying boring materials or ones that they have little or no interest in. You’re a lot more likely to keep up with your studies if it is fun. So, it’s important for you to find learning resources that aren’t boring but also work well for you. Animes, video games, movies, kids books, and tv shows are good learning resources to keep you motivated at all times.
Take a break when necessary
Feeling stressed and overwhelmed with your Japanese studies lately, well it’s ok to stop for a while. Take a break and go through your old notes, flashcards you have memorized, and progress board to see how far you have come. Try to compare what you know now to what you knew at the start of the year and what you may likely know in the nearest future. This alone should be a source of motivation for you.
Motivation killers to get rid of
- Self-doubt– there’s actually nobody that can stop you from accomplishing your goals but you! Every time you doubt your capacity to perform well, your motivation level is reduced.
- Fear of failure– fear is only an illusion of the mind. What if that thing you are afraid of is also afraid of you? Be bold to face your fear and you’ll discover there was actually nothing to be afraid of.
- Inaction – don’t allow laziness get the best of you. Do what is needed to be done at the right time.
- Undefined or unclear goals- if you know what you want, you’ll be moved to work towards getting it. Make your goals clear if you haven’t done so already.
In conclusion, the Japanese language is already a difficult task on its own so, It’s ok if you don’t feel motivated to learn every now and then. Hence, in order to boost your motivation when it’s down, you can try out some of the above-mentioned methods and go with whichever that works best for you.
