A Typical(ish) Language Learning Day and Motivations for Learning Languages
I don't have a set aside chunk of time for doing my language study.
Some days, I'm focused on it the whole day.
Other days, I'm glad I manage to keep my Duolingo streak going.
But today, my language learning looks like doing a Duolingo lesson in Chinese, which is really more of a review a this point. Same for doing Clozemaster, which I'm using to work on speeding up my reading in Chinese. I'm also doing a Chinese course on Memrise as well as a Korean one. I use the Lingo Legend app for Korean - it's more gamified than Duolingo, and I love it. I'll watch an episode of a show in Chinese, and an episode of a show in Korean. I'll also watch a movie in another language, but that's part of a separate fun entertainment challenge I've given myself to watch something in every language available on Netflix. If I have enough brain energy left, I'll run through Anki.
But I'm also a full-time college student. A middle-aged one, which is just weird. I'm in my first semester back after a two-decade gap. I'll graduate in 2026. If I stick to it this time.
So I don't have as much time on some days to study as I do on others. And I'm still working out my new rhythm with so much schoolwork to do. I don't want to give up language learning, so I have to find the balance there.
My motivation?
Languages are cool. I love words. I want to be able to read stuff directly in the languages they were written because I know that something is always lost in translation.
My motivations shape how and what I study in a language. I'm not studying for a career or academic reasons - though I do need to do two semesters of a foreign language for the gen ed requirement of my degree. Probably gonna do Chinese 101 and 102 for some easy As in otherwise heavy semesters. Which is wild to think about CHINESE being an easy A, but I studied hard when I decided to focus on it, so it works.
I use ChatGPT to design self-study plans and lessons, as well as graded readers in my chosen languages. But I also find videos on YouTube and other free resources on the web for learning the languages I want to learn.
I just get curious and see where it leads.