Learning Languages: How I Motivate Myself

There comes a point in your language learning journey where you hit rock bottom. You hit a brick wall. The enthusiasm you had for the language at the beginning has fizzled out. In fact, this can happen many times along the way. It has for me. Sometimes I don’t feel like learning. Sometimes I lack motivation. There are many reasons for this. I may feel burned out, feel like I’m not making any progress, feel discouraged after a conversation with a native speaker, feel bad for not spending much time with the language or even experience a break up with a loved one who speaks the target language. Okay, the last one hasn’t happened to me but the point is there are times when I find myself struggling to go on. So the question is, how do you retrieve that motivation? How do you reignite the spark? Well my friend, here are some things I like to do.

Spanish

For Spanish, I like to listen to Spanish or Latin instrumental music. I found a few instrumental tracks on YouTube and it’s a great way to keep me motivated. Sometimes it can be difficult to transition from one unrelated task to another. For example, let’s say I just finished reading a book on Ancient Rome and I had planned to spend time with Spanish right after, however I no longer feel like it. Listening to instrumental music helps me transition and prepare my mind for Spanish. I’m immersed into the world of Spanish and all of a sudden I’m excited to learn it.

This might sound odd but I enjoy listening to celebrities speaking Spanish. Particularly those that aren’t native Spanish speakers. I remember doing a search for public figures who speak Spanish. I wanted to get my ears used to listening to natural Spanish. Through this search I not only came across native speakers but also non native speakers. I watched several videos and it was motivating. It was really entertaining too! It was great to see that I wasn’t the only language learner struggling to speak another language. Just the fact that many were not afraid to make mistakes, were happy to practice, interested in a different culture and were able to understand and be understood really motivated me. So I like watching these kinds of videos from time to time.

Will Smith Practicing his Spanish

French

Similar to Spanish, I enjoy listening to French instrumental music. It’s delightful. I feel like I’m in Paris sipping some coffee whilst enjoying the beautiful view of the city. This really increases my desire to spend time with the language.

Films. I really enjoy watching French films. It’s amazing how much motivation you can get by watching a movie. I recently watched a French film that I’ve seen before. I remember the first time I watched it, I didn’t understand a thing! However, now I’m able to understand a good amount. It was so much more enjoyable!

Travel. I really enjoy watching travel videos. It takes me back to my experiences in France and creates wanderlust.

Ratatouille. Love the film. Love the soundtrack

Portuguese

I like to listen to music. But unlike Spanish and French I listen to songs. It’s more motivating than soundtracks. It’s not just any old songs. To be honest, I only listen to three. Yes, just 3 songs. Mas que Nada, Samba do Brasil and Brazil Brazil by Thiago Thomé. Those songs really get me going. It feels like I’m in Brazil when I listen to those songs.

I like watching football related videos. I live in the UK and football is a very popular sport here. It’s also very popular in Brazil. I grew up admiring Brazil. The 2002 world cup was the first world cup I remember watching and Brazil were superb. They ended up winning the competition. Players like Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Roberto Carlos being my favourites. Although football was created by the English, it’s the Brazilians who mastered it. That’s the way we see it over here. We see Brazilians as very skillful players. They always seem to have a smile on their faces and always seem to dance with the ball. It’s a beautiful thing. Watching highlights of players like Ronaldinho and Kaka bring back great memories for me. It makes me smile. It makes me want to learn Portuguese.

Brazil is a beautiful country with rich history and beautiful landscapes. Have I been to Brazil? No. Then how do I know this? By watching travel videos. We live in a time where we can travel around the world without leaving the comfort of our own homes. We can do this through travel videos. I love watching travel videos. I’ve watched many including the expedia and wolters world channels. I recently found a new channel created by Brazilian travellers. It’s good fun.

Conclusion

So there you have it. Several ways I keep myself motivated. I have other general ways I keep myself motivated. Perhaps I’ll create a post about that some other time. Watch this space. Ciao for now!

Learning French: My Method

Today’s post is about the French language. I’ll be talking about the methods I use to learn the language. So let’s get started.

I’ve been learning French for a few years. But I haven’t been learning it consistently. I’ve used several methods over the years from classes (I opted out after only a couple of lessons), books, listening materials, series, films and more. And you know what? It all helped to get to my current level. I also discovered what works best for me.

The lockdown gave me the chance to find some consistency. It gave me the opportunity to immerse myself into the language and fall in love all over again.

My primary resources for learning French is Assimil and a grammar book. Assimil consists of a book and CD. It contains just over 100 lessons. The method is simple. You learn through listening, reading and repeating. It’s divided into two parts or waves: The first wave is passive. It requires little effort. You simply listen & repeat. The second wave is the active wave. It draws on the knowledge you’ve acquired and prompts you to form sentences and form ideas. I’m currently on the first wave.

Assimil CD

Each lesson is scheduled for a day. So one lesson for one day. Lesson 1 for Day 1, Lesson 2 for Day 2 etc. But I’ve decided to work on one lesson for an entire week.

I’m using Assimil for listening practice.I love the audio in Assimil. The dialogues are funny, entertaining and lively.

I’ve watched many videos on YouTube related to learning languages. A common tip is repetition. Repeated listening. Assimil is great for this because you can listen to each line or the entire lesson as many times as you want. So listening to the same lines of text on a daily basis helps with listening comprehension.

Assimil Lesson Example

Speaking of YouTube the next resource came from a YouTube search. I did a search related to French grammar and came across a video on YouTube about a book for French grammar (below).

Although I’ve been learning French for a while I never concentrated on the grammar of the language. In fact, I stayed well clear of it. But I’m no longer a beginner in the language and so I decided that it was time to take on the French grammar.

One of the reasons I disliked French in school or in the classroom environment was the French grammar and the way it was presented. It was off-putting. It was difficult to follow. It was difficult to understand. This book is the opposite. It’s clear and easy to follow. “It is designed to guide the learner through the language in plain English…” a quote from the book.

French Grammar Book Cover

Secondary resources include watching videos on YouTube, series on Netflix, listening to audiobooks and the radio, language exchange partners and more. I’ll go into more detail at a later post.

Although I’m learning on my own I feel like I need guidance. So having two main resources that have a step by step process really helps me.

So without further ado, that’s it. I’ll have further posts on my French learning experience including how I motivate myself, conversation partners, my daily schedule, updates and more. Having said all that…the next post will be about my methods for the Portuguese language. A bientôt!