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.
學習語言需要花費時間，但其實，做任何事情都要花費時間，只是有時候你感覺不到?；蛟S，你會因為一個復雜的概念而犯難，或許，你只是因為煩了倦了——不管怎樣，都只是你沒有動力了的表現(xiàn)。
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.
我最近在日語學習上有了這種感覺。因為學校每天布置作業(yè)，所以我堅持努力學習了幾周，現(xiàn)在放假，我因為沒有了作業(yè)而失去了學習的動力。
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學習日語——我只是沒有了動力。所以我就采取了一些辦法，讓自己回到學習日語該有的狀態(tài)。
Here are four things that helped me get back on track with my language studies.
以下四種方式，讓我自己回到了語言學習的正軌。
Personalize Your Studies
根據(jù)個人特點將學習個性化
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.
如果你連續(xù)幾周一直都只學習語法和通用詞匯，你肯定會對目標學習語言越來越沒興趣。
That's why you need to make sure you learn things outside of traditional curriculum guidelines.
這就需要我們采取辦法，確保自己能夠打破傳統(tǒng)課程指導的框架來學習語言。
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興趣是什么？列出幾件自己日常生活中比較重要的事情，看看這些事情是工作方面的，還是休閑方面的。
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.
對我而言，最重要的三件事是美食、大自然和語言。做飯時，我會努力學習那些材料用日語怎么說；散步時，我會思考看到的小動物以及花花草草用日語怎么說（盡量不用自己的母語英語和小動物交流，我覺得這一點非常有幫助）；學習語言時，我會刻意地了解一下當下學習的語言與將要學習的語言之間的聯(lián)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.
事實上，在學習如何用日語表達“我講西班牙語”這句簡單的話時，我從中重新找到了日語學習的動力。
Take a Break
適當休息一下
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.
這一點聽起來與我們直覺上的認知是相反的，或者說，這一點好像人人都知道，沒什么大不了。但有時，我們確實都容易在自己的盤子里堆放很多東西，導致不堪重負，疲憊不堪。
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.
如果想解決這個問題，我們可以適當?shù)貜膶W習中抽身休息一下，但中斷的時間不要太久。所以，學習遇到困難時，可以休息個一周左右的時間。
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.
如果你想讓語言學習成為生活中的一部分，那么你可以看視頻、聽音樂、或者玩游戲，只要與你的目標學習語言相關就行。另外，畢竟是休整期，所以如果你真的需要的話，可以選擇看字幕。
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與目標學習語言有關的內容，那也沒關系。但是一定要為自己設定一個回歸學習的時間點，以防自己完全放棄。
Sometimes, though, you might feel like you do want to just drop it.
即使有時你真的覺得想要放棄了，也要為自己設定一個時間點。
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?
學習遇到困難而且這個困難不僅僅只是一個復雜的概念或單詞時，你需要反復提醒自己學習這門語言時的初衷，然后問自己：這樣的結果真的是我想要的嗎？
Without a real desire to learn, you're going to be fighting an uphill battle.
如果沒有真正強烈的學習欲望，你會一直陷入一種艱難的自我斗爭中。
Use a Goal Notebook
將自己的學習目標記錄在筆記本中
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.
許多人都知道，一點一滴的積累才能讓我們取得長足的進步，但我們在學習的過程中確實很難感知到自己取得的一些階段性成果。如果將自己的目標記錄在筆記本上，不僅可以讓我們感知到自己的點滴進步，而且可以讓我們看到自己的成長速度。
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.
這個方法雖然簡單，但卻幫助我在今年幾個不同的項目中取得了進步，包括課業(yè)、音樂、語言學習和網(wǎng)站架構。
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.
你可以這樣做：挑選在接下來的12個月中你想每天做一做的四個目標任務或項目，每天為每一項任務或項目做記錄。一周結束后，總結一下自己當前的任務或項目進展。
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，如果你當天根本沒有做當項任務或項目，你一定要寫上“無任何進展”。
That definitely doesn't feel very good. The first time I had to write "nothing" in for one of my projects, I was devastated.
這肯定會讓人覺得很糟糕。我第一次在某個項目頁寫上“無任何進展”的時候，我覺得特別沮喪。
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.
雖然沮喪，但是我有股強大的動力，告訴自己同樣的事情不能出現(xiàn)第二次！因此，我之后工作得非常努力，因為我不想再一次承認失敗。時刻保持一種對自己負責的心態(tài)，將會產生非常巨大的正面影響。
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.
目標記錄本并不是免費的，但如果你需要一些額外的學習動力，它就非常值得購買。因為花錢這件事也會讓你覺得有義務盡可能多地使用一下這個目標記錄本。而且，手寫本身就是一件有意義的事情。
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!
當然，你也可以簡單地在一個普通的筆記本或一個表格中記錄自己每天的進步，只要記得每天記錄就行，否則就意義不大。
Bonus: Try filling out the notebook in your target language – it basically forces youto learn the vocabulary you use on a daily basis.
小貼士：嘗試用自己的目標學習語言來記錄，可以強迫自己每天學習自己用到的詞匯。
Compete/Cooperate with Your Friends
與自己的朋友競爭學習/協(xié)同學習
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.
我們有很多原因可以說明這是一個好方法。首先，和朋友一起學習一門語言，你多了一個可以練習對話的人。
Another benefit is the extra level of accountability you'll have to keep working at it.
另外，你又多了堅持學習的責任和義務。
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.
你有了自己的學習團隊后，可以和自己的小伙伴每周至少見一次面，討論一下目標學習語言，比如近期取得的進步，學習過程中比較順利的地方，或學習過程中遇到的困難。
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，即將自己的學習目標記錄在筆記本中，那么你已經比別人領先一步了。我所提到的四個方法是相互聯(lián)系的，你可以把這些分享給自己的朋友。
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.
如果你恰好像我一樣與自己的學習團隊小伙伴住在一起，你可以用一個記事板，更加直接地展示出自己近期的學習成果。我和另外兩個學習日語的小伙伴住在一起，我們三個在冰箱上掛了三個記事板，每天在上邊隨意寫一些與我們當前語言水平相符的內容。
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.
這樣做不僅可以展示我們學習的進展或取得的進步，而且可以相互幫助糾正彼此的錯誤。
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!
總的來說，以上就是我自己保持學習動力的四個方法。如果你有其他任何方法能讓自己保持語言學習的動力，歡迎點擊右下角“寫留言”和大家分享一下。（非微信用戶可先關注我們的微信再進行評論）
文章作者：Martin Boehme
文章來源：powlyglot
文章翻譯：小茉莉Susie
