Learning a language is boring : This is what you did wrong

Have you got really excited about learning a new language?

Maybe you want to sing a new Spanish song. Maybe you met a beautiful girl from another country. Maybe you are learning how to cook an exotic Italian dish. Learning a new language means you are diving into an ocean of words, expressions and culture. This is an exciting adventure.

After 2–3 months, the passions slips, the motivation drops, you are not as excited anymore.

This is where the boredom kicks in.

A killer to language learning is BOREDOM.

Here are a few reasons:

1/ Learn a language out of context

The original purpose of a language is to communicate with others. If we try to do it based on a textbook and focus solely on grammar, we lost all the joy in learning a living language, thus, it’s not surprising we give up in a few months.

Language is embedded in every aspect of life. Grammar and vocabulary are just part of the language.

If you shift your target to some fun language activities, for example, cooking class, poetry, board games, your passion will re-ignite.

2/ Unspecific goals

Setting goals is important to track your progress in your target language.

Most people just proclaimed ‘I want to learn a language’. To which level? By when?

Procrastination is human’s nature, especially adults are caught up with different commitments. If you didn’t set a goal or deadline for your language learning, it is easy to fall into the ‘let’s do it tomorrow’ trap.

Set SMART goals — specific , measurable, achievable, relevant/ realistic

So you can adjust your plans when your goal falls behind.

Fun things to spice up your language learning:

1/ Watch movies

Your couch will transform into a language lab. I use a Chrome extension (LLN) when I watch Netflix. We discussed the benefits of LLN (insert link here) when it comes to language learning.

You can easily pick up daily phrases and being entertained at the same time. Learning has never been that fun before.

2/ Listen to songs from the target language

Doing a conversation with a native speaker is fun. It can also be very intimidating if you are lost in words every 2 minutes.

Listening to songs( and even sing with it) is a different story. It helps you pick up the language rhythm in a language, especially for some melodic languages such as Italian, French, Spanish. The rhythm and the words will stick in your mind. So it feels easier to learn vocabulary.

3/ Write journals

Listening to songs and watching movies are purely language input. Don’t forget the output — you need to produce the language before you can master it.

If you want to stay motivated, keeping a language alive is undoubtedly important. How often you use the language determines how fast you reach fluency.

What about writing a journal in the target language? It gives you a chance to practise and memorize vocabulary and new sentence structure you just learnt.

What about writing comments in a language forum, for example, Italki? It allows you to communicate with others so you don’t feel alone on your language journey.

Another trick is doing mini-talk. Talking to yourself in your target language doesn’t sound crazy. It can be really fun and healing. For instance, describe your day in your target language can be a good start.

Feeding your thirst for a language

People fail at perfecting a language because they lack motivation. If you keep having fun in your language practices, learning a language isn’t a hard job anymore.

You will progress without your notice. So stay fun!