Lesson Transcript

Intro
Do you have trouble staying motivated to learn Japanese? You’re not alone.
In this video I’ll show you a powerful way to improve your motivation.
Hey guys, welcome to Japanese Monthly Review.
The monthly show on language learning.
Where you discover new learning strategies, motivational tips
...new study tools, resources...
...and where we show off learners like you speaking the language...
...if you’re brave enough to participate... and become “language learning famous”
Japanese Monthly Review is brought to you by... JapanesePod101.com
The fastest easiest and most fun way to learn Japanese.
Sign up for your free lifetime account... and start speaking in minutes with our 3 to 15 minute lessons.
Body
Okay, the topic of today is...4 Ways to Stay Motivated When Learning a Language
Guys, do you have trouble staying motivated? Has that ever been an issue for you?
Let us know in the comments.
Today, you’ll discover 4 powerful tactics for maintaining motivation...
...and I’ll show you how to apply them to our learning program.
First, here’s a quick update on what’s going on in Japan right now. October 2018.
If you’re planning on visiting Japan... October is a great month.
First, because of the weather.
The typhoon season tends to end around September... so temperatures are mild and pleasant around Honshu, the main island of Japan
But, if you still want hot weather, travel down south to Okinawa, where it can get up to 30 degrees Celsius.
Second... because it’s ... kouyou (紅葉) season.
What does this word mean?
This word means... “Autumn colors” or “leaves changing colors”
much in the way that Hanami, or cherry blossom viewing, is a big deal in the spring...
...In the autumn, many Japanese head out to parks and into nature to see the changing colors.
Some of the most popular places to see autumn leaves are Nikko in Tochigi, Toya Lake in Hokkaido, and Hirosaki Park in Aomori.
Also, In the last episode, you learned about the masturi or festivals that happen in the summer...
...and there are plenty more in October as well.
There’s the World Yabusame Championship in Aomori. If you are not familer...
Yabusame is the art of shooting arrows on horseback.
There’s the Kawagoe Festival in Kawagoe City in Saitama where..
...different neighborhoods create their own festival floats... and if floats come across each other at street intersection... they will battle it out with dance and music, on a stage.
Speaking of battling and competing..
There’s a national holiday on the 2nd monday of October... called Sports Day, or Taiiku no Hi...
...which commemorates the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
it’s intended to promote sports and overall health.
On this day, schools hold their own mini olympics and competitions like the tug of war and relay races.
Since it’s a day off from work, many Japanese also take this day as an opportunity to travel for the 3 day weekend.
Another popular holiday that you likely already know about... is Halloween!
Around the weekend of Halloween, young people dress up in all kinds of costumes...
..and hit the streets. Shibuya is the best place to see people dressed up.
Halloween, in general, is still fairly new in Japan but it has been getting bigger for the past 2 decades.
And for the Japanese, as a holiday, it has no deeper meaning.
Just an occasion to dress up and go out and celebrate.
Okay So,
Some time ago, you made the decision to learn a new language.
Then, you took the first step. You started - which is super important.
But you also need to keep going. For that you need motivation.
So, how do you stay motivated... or regain motivation... if you’ve lost it?
Here are 4 simple ways to stay motivated and keep going.
1) Find a way to enjoy learning
2) See your progress
3) Have something to lose
4) Do it regardless of how you feel
Let’s start with the first one.
1) Find a way to enjoy learning
if you want to reach a goal, or learn a language..
You need to ask yourself some questions? How are you going to do it? Is it to (A) your desire to reach this goal or B) The actual learning process?
You can want and think and dream about the goal all you want...
...but it’s the process, the learning, not the wanting, that actually gets you there.
So you have to enjoy the process.
How?
Well, What interests you? What’s your passion?
Are you into sports? TV shows? Music? Watching YouTube? Traveling?
Whatever it is, take your interests and base your language learning on that.
Take lessons based on the topics you love.
You already have an emotional connection to your interests, right?
This makes learning much more enjoyable and keeps you motivated.
With our learning program, you get FREE vocab and phrase lists on all sorts of topics.
For example, if you’re into travel, you can instantly get a bunch of vocabulary and phrase lists that you can learn with.
Or, you can search through our lesson library to find audio and video lessons focused on travel.
...you can use this to master entire conversations based on your interest or passion.
Imagine being able to talk about your passion in your target language. Or talking to native speakers that share your passion.
How fun would that be?
Alright, next step...
2) See your progress
This is the next best way to stay motivated.
Imagine going to the gym for a few weeks..
..and finally starting to see some muscle in the mirror.
seeing results is pretty motivating
It feels good to see progress. It’s fun.
So, how do you apply that to language learning?
You can’t really see “language muscles” but there are a few things you can do.
First, if you’re learning with your own tutor, or even with our Premium PLUS teacher...
...ask them to give you feedback after every lesson. Imagine hearing...
“You did great here. Your pronunciation was perfect. You’re close to mastering verb conjugation, you just need to practice more.”
This kind of feedback is very motivating to hear.
If someone tells you you’ve improved, Wouldn't you be excited?
Second, you can track your progress with our dashboard on the site.
So, when you finish a lesson, the dashboard tracks that and shows you how far you’ve come. ...Hours studied..... Lessons completed. ...
And how close you are to finishing a learning pathway.
If you see that you’ve finished 30 lessons and have put in 15 hours...
...you’ll realize that you can easily do another 30. And that you want to put in more time.
...and the more time you put into language learning, the better you get.
Third, come back and review a lesson you’ve done before.
See how much you understand the second or third time around.
When you realize that you can understand more than before... that’ll feel good.
It’s a sign that you know more words, more grammar rules... and you’ve made progress.
3) Have something to lose
This a little unusual, but it works. A great way to motivate yourself is to try not to loose something.
In psychology, it’s called loss aversion. Studies show you feel MORE upset about losing $10 than you feel happy about finding $10.
Now, how do you apply this to language? Use loss aversion as motivation.
Invest in a language learning textbook. Or a learning program. Buy an app.
If you have a Basic, Premium or Premium PLUS subscription, then you’re already putting this tactic to use.
The point is... because you don’t want to waste your investment...
...you will value and use the resource a lot more..
It’s hard to assign value to free stuff that we get.
But if you work hard to save up money for something, and you finally get it...
...you will value it more, right?
4) Do it regardless of how you feel
This tactic might help you make the most language learning progress of all.
In reality you feel tired some days.
Some days, your mind will be elsewhere and you won’t want to learn.
And some days, life will happen. Things will pop up. School. Work. Tests. Birthdays. You might get sick.
But, do it anyway. Learn language anyway.
Do 1 audio lesson a day to keep it easy.
Review the word of the day email which we send out daily. This takes only a minute.
Just to put the time in. Even if it’s a few minutes.
As long as you keep going and maintain the habit, you’re better off in the long run.
So, take these tactics and apply them to the lessons.
Apply just one, stick with it and you’ll notice a chance in your motivation.
Now, speaking of lessons... and resources
Here are the new lessons and resources for this month...
First... the 1) How to Count to 1 Billion PDF eBook
this will help you master numbers in your target language.
If you can’t count from 1 to 10 or 100 yet, you will learn how. And yes, you go up to 1 billion.
Next... the 2) Talking Online Cheatsheet
.. if you want to learn online slang, then you’ll love this PDF cheat sheet.
You’ll also learn plenty of internet related words and phrases inside.
And finally 3) the 25 Most Commonly Used Verbs . If you’re a beginner and you don’t know the most common verbs...
...this free mini-lesson is perfect for you.
You can drill all of the words with the audio-slideshow until they’re stuck in your brain.
To get these free lessons and resources,
Go to Japanesepod101.com/free
Alright guys... in the last episode of Japanese Monthly Review...
...we asked you, all to submit a video or audio recording of yourself speaking the language..
....introducing yourself in the language.
So, thank you to everyone that sent in the submissions. You’ve all gotten a Premium PLUS subscription as a reward.
Now let’s take a look at some of the videos!
So, which entry did you like the best? Leave a comment below.
Or, do you think you can do better?
here’s the next challenge for you. Yes, everyone that’s watching this. Record a 30 second to 1 minute video or audio. Introduce yourself in the language. Your name. Where you’re from. Why you’re studying this language.
...send it to us to win a 3 month Premium PLUS subscription.
to submit it, click on the link in the description.
Sign up for your free lifetime account
Then fill out the form.
Attach the audio or video file.
And press submit.
We may feature you in next month’s episode. So, a lot of learners will see you, your progress.. And hopefully get inspired to improve and master the language.
So, to submit the recording,
.... go to Japanesepod101.com/submit and follow the instructions on the page.

Outro
Thank you for watching this episode of Japanese Monthly Review...
Next time, we will talk about: The 10 Habits of Highly Effective Language Learners
In the meantime, submit your recording, if you’re brave.
Like and share this video...
And leave a comment, tell us what language learning tactics do you want us to talk about. See you next time, Bye!

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