The New Year is just around the corner. Millions of people all around the world are writing their resolutions. But what about writing language New Year’s resolutions? If you are learning a foreign language, or perhaps, you’d like to learn a new one, it is a brilliant idea to write your own language New Year’s resolutions for 2023.

#1 – Shift to a growth mindset

“Believe you can, and you are halfway there.” –  Theodore Roosevelt.

A mindset is a set of beliefs held by a person. It is closely related to people’s world perspective or philosophy of life. A language mindset is a key to keeping going, giving up, accepting, rejecting, or even adopting certain language behaviors. It’s each learner’s beliefs about their ability to learn a language.

In a fixed mindset, people consider their basic qualities, like their intellectual intelligence or talent, to be simply fixed traits. They spend their time registering these qualities instead of developing them and believe that talent alone, without effort, creates major success. People with this mindset place speed before growth. They have no purpose and don’t even take time to think about it. These are also called “anchors.” 

In a growth mindset, people consider that their abilities can be developed through effort and consistency. This perspective creates a passion for learning and resilience that is crucial for great accomplishment. People with this mindset place growth before speed. Learning fast doesn’t mean going in the right direction or learning well. And learning well requires allowing time for courageous mistakes. They acknowledge and embrace their imperfections, which means they know where to work on. They always cultivate their sense of purpose.

Action items:

Identify your fixed mindset triggers, and reprogram your script.

Write down a list with two columns. On the left, write your fixed mindset triggers in language learning, and on your right –   your growth mindset affirmations in language learning.

#2 – Define your “WHY”

“Find your why, and you will find your way” ― John C. Maxwell. 

Igniting and maintaining motivation is one of the biggest challenges in language learning. The single most powerful way to stay motivated over time is to have a powerful “WHY” for learning a language. The power of your WHY is what will get you to stick through the grueling, mundane, and laborious. You will keep on going, no matter how steep the trail up language mountain is. When your WHY is big enough, you will be disposed to try and perform almost any HOW. 

To really ignite your creativity and willpower, you must look beyond the motivation of monetary and material goals. It’s not that those motivations are wrong. In fact, they’re great, but might not be enough. Material reasons can’t really engage your heart, soul, and guts. That passion for language has to come from a deeper place. To succeed in language learning, your WHY-power has to come from your core values, which define both who you are and what you stand for. A WHY-power is an emotionally and personally charged reason that will make the HOWs easy. 

Obviously, there is a big difference between maintaining the WHY-power to live and simply maintaining the WHY-power to learn a language. Still, the same basic principles apply in both areas. With a strong “WHY” you will:

• Discover the time to learn and practice the language, no matter how busy your schedule is.
• Find the money to acquire the language resources, no matter how tight your budget is.
• Have the courage to speak in the target language, no matter how intimidated you feel.

Action items:

Give yourself at least 20 distraction-free minutes to define your WHY-power. Think about the questions below and write your answers. Read through all of them and choose the one that resonates with you the most. Select the one that makes you feel more energized or the one you feel you want to take action immediately. 

What are the reasons for YOU to learn or improve your (target language)? 

How would YOUR life be if you spoke (target language)?

How would YOU contribute to your life, your family, your community, or your environment if you spoke (target language)?

Write out your motivation on a sticky note with the statement “I can speak (target language),” followed by your contribution in the present tense. This will set your mindset into action mode in your present for a better future. 

Post your WHY-power somewhere prominent where you’ll see it each day, like your bathroom mirror or your computer screen. This will keep your “WHY-power” top of your mind and help you keep going when you feel you’re losing your motivation. For example: “I can speak English. I have a job that brings me professional satisfaction and contributes to my family’s joy and financial stability”.

#3 – Focus on “SMART” Goals

“If you aim at nothing, you will hit nothing.” — Guang Bo (Shang Chi and the legend of the ten rings).

Now that you have shifted to a growth mindset and have defined your why you need to know where you are going. So, before you start your courageous language journey, you need to know which way to point your compass. You can harness a relentless force, but you must know where you want to go. If you don’t know where you want to go, you won’t be able to get anywhere! 

This is where goal setting comes in. To ensure the highest chances of reaching your language objectives, you need to make sure that your goals are “S.M.A.R.T.,” an acronym that stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound, created by a consultant named George T. Doran.

Specific:

Be as precise as possible. Precise goals produce action and focus, while vague ones lead to indecision and procrastination. Key questions: What language skills do you want to focus on? What will be accomplished after learning the target language?

Measurable:

If you can’t measure your goals, you have no way of knowing if you’re moving toward them or not. Measuring matters, but it’s crucial to measure what truly matters most. Key questions: How will you measure your language learning progress? What data will tell me that you are in the right direction? 

Achievable:

This focuses on how important a language goal is to you and what you can do to make it achievable. Stretch yourself, but don’t set unrealistic goals that make you give up along the way. Key questions: Is the language goal doable? Do you have all the necessary resources? 

Relevant:

To have the greatest result, your goals should fit your unique lifestyle, personality, profession, interests, dreams, etc. Don’t make the mistake of working toward the goals of others or what others think should be best for you. Choose the goals you want and will be proud to achieve. Do you! Key questions: Are the goals aligned with your life values and expectations? Are the results of the goal important to you?

Time-bound:

Anyone can set goals, but if it lacks a realistic timeframe, it’s possible that you’re not going to succeed. You might want to consider short-term goals between 1 to 3 months, mid-term goals between 3 to 6 months, and long-term goals for 1 to 5 years. Key questions: When will you start and finish your language-learning journey? What is the timeframe for you to achieve this language goal?

This goal-setting technique doesn’t have to be a daunting experience; in fact, it should be quite illuminating. Here are some examples of ineffective goals and their smart equivalents:

Ineffective Goal: “Speak Spanish.”

SMART Goal: “Converse in Spanish with my parents-in-law on New Year’s Eve.”

Action steps:

Give yourself at least 15 distraction-free minutes to think about what language-learning goals you want to achieve. Remind yourself about your personal WHY-power. 

Brainstorm up 1 to 3 SMART language goals for your language learning journey. Double-check to make sure your goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. 

Start with 1 and keep it in a visible place so that you can refer to it regularly and measure your progress against it. 

In our next blog post, we will share more tips! Stay tuned!

SPEAK BUILD CONTRIBUTE