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Do you remember how motivated you were when you first started learning Spanish?
How does that passion compare to hitting the 50-hours-of-study mark and realising you're not even 10% of the way to fluency?
You're not alone! Dwindling motivation is one of the hardest hurdles to overcome in language learning—yes, even harder than mastering the subjunctive mood.
But with the right strategies under your belt, you'll be equipped to combat the motivation blues and press on to the 600-hour mark and beyond!
Here are our top tips for keeping up the drive you need to progress.
Measurement Milestones
Our first tip is all about how you measure your progress. If you compare your abilities day to day, you'll soon want to give up! The difference in your Spanish skills between days 141 and 142 won't be very exciting.
So don't measure your progress day by day!
Rather, find Spanish-related events throughout the year that are at least a few months apart. These measurement milestones could be:
- A trip to a Spanish-speaking country
- Local language exchanges
- Spanish one-on-one lessons
When you see how far you've come between these spaced-out milestones, you'll see it's worth persevering!
Keep up this long-term routine by always having one Spanish-speaking event ahead of you, however far away. Make it your goal to improve as much as possible between now and that next measurement milestone.
Goals to Keep You Going
Did someone say goals?!
Goals are crucial to making real progress. The aforementioned measurement milestones are just a type of goal!
Of course, you can set more goals than just these spread-out Spanish-speaking events. But they need to beachievable, because feeling like you're failing is a surefire way to knock your motivation.
It's all about the type of goals you set. SMART is a handy acronym for what makes a good goal:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Reasonable
- Timely
In other words, don't set a goal like "Become fluent in Spanish." Instead, start with "By next month, I'll read this paragraph without pronunciation mistakes."
When you achieve a SMART goal, you'll be fired up to set and smash the next one! This is a great way to keep fueling your motivation, no matter how long you've been studying Spanish.
Keep It Interesting
It doesn't matter how many exciting milestones you have ahead or how many SMART goals you set—boredom can destroy even the best of intentions.
But if you can combat boredom, you can sustain your motivation long term!
The trick is keeping the journey exciting. Especially in the intermediate or advanced stages of the language, this can be a challenge. How can you make studying subjects like Spanish verb aspect exciting?
By using lots of different study methods! Of course, deliberate, focused study sessions are the best way to learn. But don't do this at the exclusion of more fun challenges, like:
- Learning all the words to a Spanish song so you can sing along
- Watching a Spanish movie
- Chatting to Spanish speakers online
- Reading Spanish literature (even if it's only a children's book at first)
- Joining a Spanish class
- Booking a trip to a Spanish-speaking city
These activities keep your journey to fluency interesting. They can even help you spot weaknesses in your skills that you'd miss studying alone.
Build on a Strong Foundation
Milestones, goals, and challenges will keep the journey interesting. But the journey will only be successful with the right language-learning tools.
All of our learning resources are developed by expert native Spanish teachers. They know exactly how to help English speakers grasp more complex subjects with simple lessons and challenging exercises.
Keep yourself motivated with the tips in this article, but don't forget to use our powerful materials as the foundation of your progress. Access all our free resources by creating your own Progress with Lawless Spanish account today!
