Check out this guest post by Camilla Hallstrom of 99 Smart Ideas. She teaches you how to use powerful psychological tools to make finally crossing that language off your bucket list simple and fun. Take it away, Camilla!
Have you ever started learning a language only to find yourself still no better than a beginner years later?
If so, you're certainly not alone.
Learning a language is often considered extremely daunting and takes a long time.
After all, you'll have to cram all this information into your brain. For example, you'll have to memorize new vocabulary, including regional variations, slang, cultural concepts, grammar rules, and numbers. If you're not some sort of a memory prodigy, you're in it for the long term – and who has time and energy for that?
But here's the thing:
The conventional wisdom that learning a language is a long and arduous path is…
Just Plain Silly
As a native speaker of two languages, Swedish and Finnish, and fluent speaker of three more languages, English, French, and German, I can communicate in two other languages, Norwegian and Danish, and I'm a beginner in an eighth language, Italian.
Am I a language prodigy? No way.
Do I have superhuman memory skills? Not really.
Is it in my genes? Nope. No one in my family speaks as many languages with the same fluency.
The key to every language that I've learned is that I have learned how to motivate myself to keep on learning and memorizing.
Being motivated to learn a language might sound intuitive, but still, this is one of the most basic things language learners struggle with.
Motivation also applies to learning in general and learning memorization methods that can be applied to other things.
For example, you know from Anthony's Magnetic Memory Method that there are structured frameworks that can be applied to language memorization.
And if you've used the Magnetic Memory Method, you know it works.
Yet, it's easy to fall back on the same old excuses – you don't have time to create those Memory Palaces right now, you don't have time to learn the techniques, etcetera.
So how do you continue to motivate yourself to keep on learning? How do you master those Memory Palaces and learn a new language?
Read on to learn exactly how you do this – once you've mastered motivation, there are no limitations to your learning.
(Note: I've put together an eBook at the end of this post that will give you 19 actionable ways get motivated and achieve your goal.)
What Does Motivation Do to Your Memory?
Years ago, back in high school, I wasn't very diligent. German was one of my least favorite subjects. Yet, I had to undertake a rigorous and important exam at the end of my senior year. Everything that I had ever learned in my German classes throughout school was going to be tested.
I didn't have very much time to revise. Also, I had to take three other exams at the same time. I pretty much gave up at the starting line.
Instead of trying to frenetically revise grammar books and dictionaries a month before my test, I decided to do something unconventional.
Quite simply, I watched my favorite movies, read my favorite books, and watched the news – all in German. I did this for a month and I enjoyed doing it.
At the end of that month, the result for my exam took me by surprise – I scored nationally in the top 20% and was one of the best in my class.
This success happened despite the fact that I had been one of the poorest performing students just a few months earlier. How come?
Don't Overlook This Little Known Secret:It Supports All Successful Language Learning
The fact that I enjoyed the way in which I was revising for my test meant that I was motivated to do the tasks
Published on 10 years, 1 month ago
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