My Unmotivated Days in My Language Journey
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My Unmotivated Days in My Language Journey

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language learning
daily life
journaly updates

My motivation for language learning is slooowly returning. Well, there have still been ebbs and flows, but I've been definitely more motivated for the past few months. 2025 might still have a chance to be a more fruitful year for my language progress. Last year was rather disappointing in terms of my language learning. Well, life happened and I lost my momentum. Long story short, I completely abandoned "studying" languages for more than six months, or even longer than I care to remember.

That being said, I don't think this long unplanned hiatus was that bad—or so I'm trying to convince myself. What do I mean by that? Let me explain (please don't). Firstly, I'll give you the basic stats regarding the languages that are floating around in my head, just to give you an overall picture of the chaos that is my brain.

    My Language Levels (*100% for my definition of 'fluent'):

    ♥ Japanese, my native language

  1. English........... 80% (debatable)

    2. Spanish.......... 70% (debatable)

    3. Portuguese.... 50%

    4. French............ 15%

    5. Arabic & Chinese... 5% (or you can probably ignore this entirely)

As you can see, English and Spanish are the strongest in my arsenal. Over the past several years, they have become inseparable parts of my life. These are my official languages that I use apart from Japanese, and the ones I keep learning in general. The other languages are rather experimental, and I treat them more like actual hobbies, if that makes sense. Whenever my brain is throwing a tantrum and refusing to engage in any active learning or studying, I just use these official languages as usual, but without any intention, while letting the non-official ones take a backseat (or go straight into the trunk🤪).

My Living Environment

  • Outside..................................... Spanish 100%
  • Home........................................ Japanese 50%, Spanish 50%

My current living situation is also an important factor. Since I don't live in Japan, it's easier for me to surround myself with other languages—my brain easily slips into "non-Japanese" mode when I'm not in Japan. I don't think I'd be able to immerse myself in other languages the way I do now if I were living in Japan. So, I can use my non-native languages on a daily basis, even without making a conscious decision to do so. This is what I meant by "not that bad."

Work Related

  1. Japanese......... 60%
  2. English.................. 40%

Reading (Books)

  1. English............ 80%
  2. Spanish................. 10%
  3. Japanese.............. 10%

Consuming Contents Online (researching/browsing/reading)

  1. English............ 85%
  2. Spanish................. 15%
  3. Japanese.............. 5%

Watching YouTube

  1. English............. 70%
  2. Spanish.................. 15%
  3. Japanese............... 15%

Watching Netflix of Movies/Series in general

  1. English............. 80%
  2. Spanish.................. 15%
  3. Japanese, others...5%

Listening to Podcasts

  1. English............. 60%
  2. Spanish.................. 30%
  3. Portuguese............ 5%
  4. French, Japanese 5%

Social Media Activities (reading & posting)

  1. English............. 50%
  2. Japanese............... 50%

Listening to Music

  1. English............. 60%
  2. Spanish.................. 30%
  3. Portuguese............ 5%
  4. Japanese, French 5%

This is pretty much how I go about my day when I'm lacking motivation. As you can see, I tend to gravitate towards using English—well, all the activities that I have control over, that is. This is because it's the language I know best, as well as the one I feel most comfortable with (except when speaking🤪). Even though my living environment doesn't really require English, it's still my language of choice for daily activities.

Note-taking & Journaling

  1. English............. 70%
  2. Spanish.................. 25%
  3. Japanese............... 5%

Private Communication within Messaging Apps

  1. Spanish............ 60%
  2. Japanese............... 35%
  3. English................... 5%

Daily Speaking (with people)

  1. Spanish............ 80%
  2. Japanese.............. 15%
  3. English................... 5%

Daily Speaking (talking to myself🤪)

  1. English............ 60%
  2. Japanese............. 25%
  3. Spanish................ 15%

Singing While Practicing the Guitar/Singing in the Shower

  1. English............ 50%
  2. Spanish................ 30%
  3. Japanese............. 15%
  4. Portuguese.......... 5%

Oftentimes, the only intentional language activity I engage in whenever my motivation is MIA is our old pal Duolingo. Normally, I complete at least one lesson every single day, no matter what (I have a 2328 streak at the moment🤪). Please refrain from giving me a judgmental look—I know. We can discuss my sanity on another occasion.

Intentional Language Activities

  • Duolingo (Arabic or Chinese)

I still stand by the fact that this isn't bad; however, if it goes on substantially longer, it can lead to some drawbacks—that's a given. After several months of this, I did feel my language level falling behind little by little. Naturally, English experienced the least detrimental consequences, but I could feel my Spanish getting weaker, especially in writing. With Portuguese, which still didn't have a solid foundation, I felt a sharp decline in my abilities. I'd forgotten quite a lot of basic things, so much so that when I occasionally communicated with Brazilians, I couldn't do so without constantly checking words. As for French, which had a foundation resembling a LEGO house, I don't even want to talk about it.

Well, nothing is lost that I can't reinforce and relearn later, though. I'm past dwelling on the "wasted time and effort," so to speak, when it comes to language learning. I don't let the pressure weigh on me, either. Over time, you change, your life changes, and your relationship with languages also changes. Many times, the universe isn't so accommodating. At the end of the day, language learning is a lifelong journey. So, it's ok to get off track sometimes, otherwise it wouldn't be sustainable, and you'd tempted to quit altogether.

The good news is that I'm feeling my motivation coming back, thank goodness. I never force myself, though, but the recent reincorporation of analog method seems to be helping. It still fluctuates, of course, but if I were to make the same lists right now, it would look pretty different. Maybe I'll share the same lists with higher motivation (please don't).

Thanks for reading and happy learning!

(I’d be grateful for your corrections and suggestions. The feedback will be studied, but I won't edit/correct my original post.)

Headline image by priscilladupreez on Unsplash

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