I had a brainwave this morning. Half-asleep, half-awake, a bunch of questions kept running through my mind. Some of them have ended up in this article. Some of them I’d forgotten before I was fully awake. Brains are funny that way, aren’t they?

From recently branching out with my work, coaching clients not just on specific languages, but also on meta-learning awareness and the skills it takes to learn any language, I’ve learnt a lot more about the challenges people face on their learning journey. Here are some questions that may help to overcome them.

1. What are your intrinsic motivations for learning?

When you think about why you’d like to learn something new, it can help to consider whether your motivation is largely intrinsic (based on enjoyment or interest in the topic itself) or extrinsic (based on external reward or punishment, such as needing to pass a language exam, or seeking better career opportunities). Both types can be great motivators, though research generally favours intrinsic motivation; in fact, relying too heavily on external consequences can actually make you enjoy an activity less. However, if there’s something you inherently don’t enjoy, like doing your finances, that’s when extrinsic motivation can really help. For language learning, I would always encourage you to find ways of learning that you enjoy intrinsically.

The great thing about languages is that, because of the myriad ways you can learn, it usually is not a question of if you’re intrinsically motivated, but how you can find genuine enjoyment and interest in your learning. Consider the 3 components needed for intrinsic motivation, according to the Cognitive Evaluation Theory: Autonomy, competence, and relatedness. If you can find in your learning practice a sense of freedom from external control (autonomy), of being able to do something effectively (competence), and of involvement, relation, or connection with others (relatedness), then it’s likely you’ll be able to feel enjoyment and interest in your learning. For example, even if the end goal with your learning may be to pass a language exam (extrinsic motivation), focusing on integrating activities you enjoy with your learning would be a good place to start. Big music nerd? Look up artists from your chosen language or country in your favourite music genre and give them a listen. Love to cook? Maybe try a recipe. Depending on your skill level, you may have to decipher some of the contents using translation tools, but for many languages this is easily available for free through services like DeepL Translate or Google Translate. Relating with a language and culture through your own lens, embracing your own quirks, identities and interests will be much more intrinsically rewarding than some ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach.

Combining an activity you enjoy, such as cooking, with language learning can help boost your learning. Image by Max Delsid on Unsplash.

2. What doubts or beliefs may hold you back?

This question may be the most important one to ask yourself. If you have doubts about your abilities or motivations, or have unrealistic expectations, then these can become serious, debilitating roadblocks in your path to learning or improving your language. For example, I was on a call with a client recently, and at this point we’d been working together for about a month, when she stopped herself mid-sentence as she was about to say “I want to become French”. In that moment, she seemed to realise that, even though she could logically justify why it would make sense for her to improve her French, take a language exam, and get citizenship, she couldn’t really relate to being French. This belief went deep into her self-identity and, as a grown woman, it was difficult for her to imagine actually becoming French. It might have felt as though she had to adopt a whole new identity.

The great news is that awareness is at least half the battle, because once you’ve become aware of any beliefs that may be holding you back, you can begin to change them. If you’re not sure you really want whatever end goal it is you need to reach (like citizenship), then how could you shift your focus? There are bound to be other possibilities that will open up for you once you’ve reached your goal (see question #4). If deep down you believe you’re not going to be able to learn a language, you can start to consider what steps you could take to ‘prove yourself wrong’. Starting somewhere really simple, like learning how to say “Hello”, “How are you?” and other basic phrases, might be enough to shift the focus towards “I can do this!” and away from any negative beliefs like “I will never be able to learn it all”.

3. What exactly do you want to be able to do with the language?

Sometimes, a lack of clarity can be our greatest source of procrastination, stagnation, or even paralysis. On my Language Learner Toolkit course, we distinguish between what we call our “Umbrella Goal” - this big end goal that may seem far away and impossible to achieve right now - and a list of “Mini-Goals”. These are based around a SMART goal structure to ensure that they’re Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.

Getting clarity on what you want to be able to do (specific), and how you will know that you’ve achieved that goal (measurable), is especially important for feeling a sense that you’re making progress in your language learning. The hardest part is often to ensure each goal is specific enough to be measurable. If in doubt, opt for the smallest goal imaginable and see how you get on. This might even mean going down to the sentence level, such as “I want to be able to ask for a table for two at a restaurant”.

4. Once you’re able to use the language how you want it, what new possibilities will open up to you?

Imagining or visualising your future achievements can help you get there faster. Image by Eli DeFaria on Unsplash.

The idea of “visualisation for success” is somewhat of a buzzword lately, with many top athletes, artists and entrepreneurs claiming it helped them achieve success. From a research point of view, the verdict is not yet out (as far as I can tell), but we do know that our thoughts influence our behaviours, which again influence our chances of success. So doing a quick brainstorm on what, aside from your main goal, might be possible ‘side-effects’ to your language learning, may help you go further and faster in the right direction. This is because when you can describe and visualise what your end goal will look, sound, smell, taste, and feel like, you are convincing your brain that this goal is within reach. In fact, on a subconscious level, you may even ‘trick’ your brain into believing you’ve already achieved it.

5. What are all the ways you could engage your mind and body in the language?

As adults, we’re often having to ‘unlearn’ a lot of what traditional schooling may have taught us: That learning can only be classroom- or textbook-based, and that enjoyment has little or nothing to do with it. Building some level of ‘engagement awareness’, i.e. an understanding of to what extent you are engaging with some new piece of information, can help you to find ways of learning that fit within your lifestyle, priorities, goals, interests, and other commitments. For example, taking a look at what you’re already good at, and how you learnt or improved those abilities, can help indicate how you can ‘piggy-back’ off your existing strengths to achieve your learning goals. Do you normally learn best from observing others? Through creating your own notes or diagrams? Through talking it through with someone else? Thinking back to how intrinsic motivation requires autonomy, competence and relatedness, finding new ways to achieve these states can be an enjoyable learning journey in and of itself.

I’d be curious to hear from language learners or aspiring learners how this might resonate - or not! In my opinion, the wonderful thing about languages is that you can relate them to anything at all, whatever your interests. So there are essentially infinite ways you can learn languages, and infinite reasons for learning, too.

AUTHOR'S BIO

Hedvig is a language and learning coach on a mission to make language learning almost as normal as breathing. She is the founder of Abundate.org and host of the Abundate Podcast, where she interviews language learners, educators and researchers about the magic, power and beauty of language learning. She also shares her personal reflections on language learning in her newsletter. Learn more about private coaching in English or Norwegian, or her group programme for learners of any language.

These 5 questions could make or break your language learning success