Learning a language takes time, and with anything that takes time, sometimes you're just not feeling it. Maybe you've hit a roadblock because of a concept you find difficult, or you're simply bored – either way, you're just not motivated.

学习语言需要花费时间，但其实，做任何事情都要花费时间，只是有时候你感觉不到。或许，你会因为一个复杂的概念而犯难，或许，你只是因为烦了倦了——不管怎样，都只是你没有动力了的表现。

I had this feeling most recently with Japanese. Schoolwork kept me from studying it very much for a couple weeks, so I lost my drive due to stagnation.

我最近在日语学习上有了这种感觉。因为学校每天布置作业，所以我坚持努力学习了几周，现在放假，我因为没有了作业而失去了学习的动力。

I knew that I wanted to learn Japanese ---- I just didn't feel it. So I took a few measures to get myself back where I need to be.

我非常清楚自己想要学习日语——我只是没有了动力。所以我就采取了一些办法，让自己回到学习日语该有的状态。

Here are four things that helped me get back on track with my language studies.

以下四种方式，让我自己回到了语言学习的正轨。

Personalize Your Studies
根据个人特点将学习个性化

If you've been studying nothing but grammar and generic vocabulary words for weeks on end, of course you're going to be less than thrilled with your target language.

如果你连续几周一直都只学习语法和通用词汇，你肯定会对目标学习语言越来越没兴趣。

That's why you need to make sure you learn things outside of traditional curriculum guidelines.

这就需要我们采取办法，确保自己能够打破传统课程指导的框架来学习语言。

What are your interests? Name a few things that are a big part of your everyday life, whether it be for work or leisure.

你可以思考一下自己的兴趣是什么？列出几件自己日常生活中比较重要的事情，看看这些事情是工作方面的，还是休闲方面的。

For me, three of these areas have been food, nature, and language. I try to make apoint to know how to say the ingredients I cook with, the animals and plants I see while walking (I basically refuse to talk to animals in English at thispoint, which is also helpful), and the languages I'm going to learn in whatever languages I'm learning at the time.

对我而言，最重要的三件事是美食、大自然和语言。做饭时，我会努力学习那些材料用日语怎么说；散步时，我会思考看到的小动物以及花花草草用日语怎么说（尽量不用自己的母语英语和小动物交流，我觉得这一点非常有帮助）；学习语言时，我会刻意地了解一下当下学习的语言与将要学习的语言之间的联系。

In fact, learning the simple sentence "I speak Spanish" in Japanese is one of the big things that helped me regain mym motivation for the language.

事实上，在学习如何用日语表达“我讲西班牙语”这句简单的话时，我从中重新找到了日语学习的动力。

Take a Break
适当休息一下

Maybe this sounds counter-intuitive, or maybe it sounds obvious. Either way, sometimes you've just got too much on your plate. You're worn out.

这一点听起来与我们直觉上的认知是相反的，或者说，这一点好像人人都知道，没什么大不了。但有时，我们确实都容易在自己的盘子里堆放很多东西，导致不堪重负，疲惫不堪。

Taking a break from studying is a great way to get through this ---- as long as you don't stay away too long. Take a week or so off from the hard stuff and relax.

如果想解决这个问题，我们可以适当地从学习中抽身休息一下，但中断的时间不要太久。所以，学习遇到困难时，可以休息个一周左右的时间。

If you want to keep the language a part of your life, you can watch videos, listen to music, or play games in your target language. Put subtitles on if you really want ---- it's your break, after all.

如果你想让语言学习成为生活中的一部分，那么你可以看视频、听音乐、或者玩游戏，只要与你的目标学习语言相关就行。另外，毕竟是休整期，所以如果你真的需要的话，可以选择看字幕。

If you'd rather just not think about the language for a bit, go ahead – but set a date for when you will return to your studies, so you don't just drop it altogether.

如果你就是不想看到任何与目标学习语言有关的内容，那也没关系。但是一定要为自己设定一个回归学习的时间点，以防自己完全放弃。

Sometimes, though, you might feel like you do want to just drop it.

即使有时你真的觉得想要放弃了，也要为自己设定一个时间点。

If you've really hit a roadblock and it's more than just a difficult concept or word, maybe you need to remind yourself what made you want to learn the language in the first place. Go back to the beginning. Is this what you want?

学习遇到困难而且这个困难不仅仅只是一个复杂的概念或单词时，你需要反复提醒自己学习这门语言时的初衷，然后问自己：这样的结果真的是我想要的吗？

Without a real desire to learn, you're going to be fighting an uphill battle.

如果没有真正强烈的学习欲望，你会一直陷入一种艰难的自我斗争中。

Use a Goal Notebook
将自己的学习目标记录在笔记本中

Many of us know that the secret to great progress is little steps, but it certainly doesn't always feel that way during the little steps part. Using a goal notebook can remedy that by not only making you take the little steps, but showing you how quickly they add up to become something big.

许多人都知道，一点一滴的积累才能让我们取得长足的进步，但我们在学习的过程中确实很难感知到自己取得的一些阶段性成果。如果将自己的目标记录在笔记本上，不仅可以让我们感知到自己的点滴进步，而且可以让我们看到自己的成长速度。

This single thing is responsible for most of the progress I've made on several different projects this year, including school, music, language-learning, and building this website.

这个方法虽然简单，但却帮助我在今年几个不同的项目中取得了进步，包括课业、音乐、语言学习和网站架构。

It works like this: you pick four goals or projects that you want to work on everyday over the next 12 weeks, and you keep a daily log of what you've done for each. At the end of the week, you write out a summary of your progress.

你可以这样做：挑选在接下来的12个月中你想每天做一做的四个目标任务或项目，每天为每一项任务或项目做记录。一周结束后，总结一下自己当前的任务或项目进展。

Here's the catch, though ---- when you don't work on one of your goals, you have to write "nothing" down for what you did that day.

需要注意的是，如果你当天根本没有做当项任务或项目，你一定要写上“无任何进展”。

That definitely doesn't feel very good. The first time I had to write "nothing" in for one of my projects, I was devastated.

这肯定会让人觉得很糟糕。我第一次在某个项目页写上“无任何进展”的时候，我觉得特别沮丧。

The motivation to avoid having to do that again is huge ---- I worked very hard after that so that I wouldn't need to admit defeat a second time. Keeping yourself accountable makes a hell of a difference.

虽然沮丧，但是我有股强大的动力，告诉自己同样的事情不能出现第二次！因此，我之后工作得非常努力，因为我不想再一次承认失败。时刻保持一种对自己负责的心态，将会产生非常巨大的正面影响。

The goal notebooks aren't free, but they're worth buying if you need a little extramotivation ---- knowing they costed actual money made me feel obligated to use them even more. Writing everything out by hand made a big difference, too.

目标记录本并不是免费的，但如果你需要一些额外的学习动力，它就非常值得购买。因为花钱这件事也会让你觉得有义务尽可能多地使用一下这个目标记录本。而且，手写本身就是一件有意义的事情。

Of course, you can easily mimic this for less on regular notebook paper, or in an Excel spreadsheet. Just make sure you remember to use it every day, or it won't do you much good!

当然，你也可以简单地在一个普通的笔记本或一个表格中记录自己每天的进步，只要记得每天记录就行，否则就意义不大。

Bonus: Try filling out the notebook in your target language – it basically forces youto learn the vocabulary you use on a daily basis.

小贴士：尝试用自己的目标学习语言来记录，可以强迫自己每天学习自己用到的词汇。

Compete/Cooperate with Your Friends
与自己的朋友竞争学习/协同学习

There are many reasons why this is a good idea. Studying a language with friends automatically gives you someone to practice speaking with, for one thing.

我们有很多原因可以说明这是一个好方法。首先，和朋友一起学习一门语言，你多了一个可以练习对话的人。

Another benefit is the extra level of accountability you'll have to keep working at it.

另外，你又多了坚持学习的责任和义务。

When you've got a group together, plan to meet up at least once a week to talk about what you've been doing for your target language ---- how you're progressing, things that worked well, things that didn't.

你有了自己的学习团队后，可以和自己的小伙伴每周至少见一次面，讨论一下目标学习语言，比如近期取得的进步，学习过程中比较顺利的地方，或学习过程中遇到的困难。

If you pick up the goal notebooks I mentioned a minute ago, you're already aheadof the curve ---- they come in sets of four specifically so that you can share them with your friends.

如果你采取了我之前提到的方式，即将自己的学习目标记录在笔记本中，那么你已经比别人领先一步了。我所提到的四个方法是相互联系的，你可以把这些分享给自己的朋友。

If you happen to live with your group like I do, you can also use marker boards tomore directly show off what you've been up to. I live with two other guys who are learning Japanese, so we've each got a board up on the fridge where we write random stuff that's at our skill level.

如果你恰好像我一样与自己的学习团队小伙伴住在一起，你可以用一个记事板，更加直接地展示出自己近期的学习成果。我和另外两个学习日语的小伙伴住在一起，我们三个在冰箱上挂了三个记事板，每天在上边随意写一些与我们当前语言水平相符的内容。

Not only does this give us a place to show off how far we are, but we can help correct each other's mistakes when we see them.

这样做不仅可以展示我们学习的进展或取得的进步，而且可以相互帮助纠正彼此的错误。

Anyways, these are the biggest things I do to keep myself going ---- if you've got anyother ideas to keep yourself motivated, let us know in the comments!

总的来说，以上就是我自己保持学习动力的四个方法。如果你有其他任何方法能让自己保持语言学习的动力，欢迎点击右下角“写留言”和大家分享一下。（非微信用户可先关注我们的微信再进行评论）

文章作者：Martin Boehme

文章来源：powlyglot

文章翻译：小茉莉Susie