How to kill language learning motivation on the third lesson: ultimate guide

Hello my dear students! Have you ever experienced loss of language learning motivation? No? Then maybe you felt like dumping a studying process because it was no longer fun – maybe just once? What, no again? Ok, no more doubts: this article is definitely for you because this is a very practical guide on how to stop wanting to learn a foreign language!

And we will do it step-by-step. It’s that simple – see for yourself! So how do you kill a language learning motivation?

Step 1. Take the wrong book.

Here is Alice from Wonderland to give you a piece of advice. ‘What’s the use of a book with no pictures or conversations?’ Take it from her, if there is nothing in the book to ‘lace’ your concentration, you will find yourself tired soon enough.

So maybe if you are a beginner or your second language is elementary, it’s worth taking an educational book for kids rather than for first-year students.

Step 2. Don’t bother to find a tutor.

Why would you pay money to a teacher while there are tons of free language resources on the internet? Sounds fair, doesn’t it? Almost as fair as the question ‘Why would I bother to have somebody teaching me how to drive?’ or as a statement ‘It was not my mum who taught me how to walk, I learnt it myself when I was one.’
And by the way, did you learn how to speak in your native language ALONE? Wasn’t there anyone to tell you ‘this is a cat and this is a dog’?

You see, even if there are lots of books and things that you can download for free, at the very first stage there should be someone to help you. You won’t need a tutor for all your life, you’ll only need their help for the first six month or the first two years — this pretty much depends on the efforts you make.

Step 3. Keep telling yourself that it’s difficult.

It will be much easier if you have already covered Step 1 and Step 2. They are the two best reasons to think of a language as knotty and sophisticated. Nobody answers your questions and the number is growing, the books seem to never run out of exercises and rules, which instead of reading, you keep asking yourself ‘Does anyone have enough space in their head to hold this?’

Learning a language is difficult.
I can never do that.
I can never learn all the rules.

These are great words! Don’t just keep telling them, but try to find a friend or a teacher who also thinks that this particular language is difficult and will therefore repeat these words back to you! Alone you can fail well, but with support like this you can fail spectacularly and will certainly succeed in losing your language learning motivation forever!

Step 4. Separate your life from a new language.

This is probably the easiest. If you covered Step 2 correctly at this stage there should be no one to tell you how to say this or that in a language you learn. All your language practice will be about the smiling people in your text book and not about you. And it works pretty well for our brains: we remember the bits that are related to some unknown dull people from a book much better than the bits related to us and our loved ones. Am I right?

Step 5. Never communicate with native speakers.

You can get yourself into trouble. Just imagine: you meet a foreigner who appears to be a native speaker of the language you are learning. You tell them about your studies and maybe (if you are reckless enough) you speak some words to them in the language. What’s the least worst thing that may happen to you? You will receive a compliment!

A COMPLIMENT!!!

Isn’t it what raises your language learning motivation most?

So I warn you, don’t even think of talking to a native speaker if you are serious about losing your motivation!