Do Language Goals Really Matter?
It's not all black or white.
I recently finished a one-month trip in Japan, seeing friends and visiting places I had never been to. I also met quite a few people for the first time, and many were shocked when they heard I could speak 5-6 languages and studied many more.
They asked me how I learned so many languages, if it wasn’t difficult, and all these types of questions. I’ve heard them countless times, but I don’t mind. It’s a fun exercise to go through the same questions as the years pass.
This time around, one new thought occurred: the focus most people have is wrong.
Everybody wants to speak other languages. Rare are the ones who want to learn them.
Let me backtrack to see how I came to this conclusion through my experiences.
Language goals don’t matter?
I began learning Japanese around 2008 and Korean in late 2009. As these are the two languages I love most and have studied mostly on my own, my mind wanders to them whenever I am asked about language learning.
I studied them because I found them extraordinary. Every nugget of discovery about these languages and their cultures intrigued me. They tickled my curiosity day in and day out.
I wanted to speak them, but that goal was hidden far in the back of my head. What I wanted most was to spend time with them. I wanted them to be part of my life, no matter how.
That goes against most of the advice and research we find online nowadays.1
Everywhere we look, we’re told to have clear and precise goals so we can stay on track. Yet, I now wonder if that’s not a double-edged sword.
By focusing on the goal, we forget to enjoy the journey. We increase the pressure we set upon ourselves and miss out on the best way to learn: have fun.
Languages take years to learn to a good level. You can’t hope to keep going if you’re not having fun at all. After all, most people learn a foreign language as a hobby. Who would keep a hobby that adds more pressure to their already intense daily life? I sure wouldn’t.
Language goals don’t not matter
Now, let me be honest. I lied a bit above. I didn’t have no goal at all when I learned Japanese and Korean. I wanted to visit Japan and South Korea.
That far-in-the-distance eventuality arrived earlier for Korean than Japanese. I went to Korea less than a year after I started studying it seriously. I remember the burst of energy I felt before going. My focus was out of this world.
This time around, I drastically improved because I had a specific goal. I needed to be comfortable speaking.
No more time to waste on making sure I remembered colors or cooking-related words, I wasn’t going to use them much. On the contrary, knowing how to talk about the past, the future, or plans in general was crucial. I’ve seen this for other languages as well.
The goals that helped me most weren’t rigid or towering. They were gentle reminders.
Good goals don’t pressure you into spending hours on one single thing. They are anchors to return to whenever you lose direction.
A language test can help. So can a conversation with someone. Or a new movie from your favorite director coming out. Or a book you finally got your hands on.
You do you
In the end, the main problem today’s language learners have is that it’s all too easy to compare oneself with others.
Anywhere we look online, there’s always someone better than us.
From the person claiming to speak 20 languages fluently2 to the other one who seems to have reached a great level even if they started after us, to the ones who seem to get 62 hours per day, it’s no wonder we feel demotivated.
Even language-specific Instagram or YouTube accounts, there to help you with your language learning journey, often get in the way by overflooding you with more words or grammar patterns to learn, even if you’ve got plenty to do already.
Let’s stop letting ourselves spread thin.
Focus on enjoying the journey. Give yourself mini goals. And forget about what other people say.
Cheers for reading,
Mathias
Even my own advice!
Don’t worry, there’s a 99.9% probability they’re lying—maybe even to themselves.
"Everybody wants to speak other languages. Rare are the ones who want to learn them."
-- what a great line. I love thinking about learning a language in terms of a relationship, of spending time with it.
After years of studying Spanish, I’ve freed myself from the idea that fluency is a binary 0 or 1—we are always stewing and learning and meeting new versions of ourselves until we decide the journey is complete.
Interesting points in here. I'm currently learning Spanish, and I'm the type of person who likes to learn everything all at once. But I like your idea of focusing on the most useful part of the language that you need immediately.
How long did it take you to learn Japanese? Are you fluent?