Breaking into the intermediate territory has been a struggle. If you are self-studying and blessed enough to stay motivated, you can reach B1 in a year if you create a structured learning plan. For the rest of us who are burnt out, lost motivation, and got bored it could take us much longer. 2022 was a year of learning what works for me and what does not. After all, my goal was to get to a level beyond A1 in a language that would challenge me. Korean has been a learning experience and a challenge, especially when things started to feel overwhelming because I did not know whether I was truly progressing or not.
At the beginning of this journey, I was excited to learn something new. A decade ago, I was working on three languages: English (fluent), Spanish (native), and French (B2). But I stopped studying French and I am now extremely rusty. Yes, after decades of not using a language it feels like it evaporates from memory. Bringing an old language back involves rebuilding a foundation but if you lack motivation it goes nowhere. I tried to get back to French in the Summer of 2022, but I was not into it. It is clear that motivation makes up 50% of my language learning experience for me and if I lose interest, I simply will not progress.
Korean was and continues to be a challenge but I have invested so much time it would make me feel guilty to give up at this stage. However, I am thankful I still have the motivation and desire to keep pushing through. Partly because of my major investment (time) and the slow progress I’ve made that keeps me somewhat engaged. Although I’ve felt defeated countless times during this journey, there are moments now when I can just listen to a conversation on a YouTube channel and can understand a good amount of the dialogue when they speak slowly. Moments like these motivate me to continue because I can hear the progress I am making even if the results aren’t that apparent at the time.
But of course, there are other days when the inner critic tries to make my accomplishments seem minimal. I am learning to silence that voice and continue to build and learn. This language journey has and continues to teach me so much about myself and the potential I didn’t know I had. One thing I am learning to incorporate into my daily study habits is, congratulating myself for the smallest of achievements. We tend to see the big picture but not focus on those tiny steps that have helped us climb slowly on this monumental mountain.
2023 has been a year where I am actively forcing myself to write at least three times a week to see progress. I have also pushed myself to speak. I now need to build more discipline when it comes to reading because I am at a level where I should attempt to finally do a lot more reading. But, that’s one of the major goals for next quarter. For now, I am satisfied with my daily progress even if it’s still slow.
If you are studying a complex language, understand that this is a frustrating journey even if you are very motivated in the beginning. Eventually, you will be worn out, and tired and maybe even encounter imposter syndrome. Keep going if you like what you are doing, if this is the language you enjoy, stick with it, enjoy it and trust the process.
