Motivation is where it all begins. I’m well on my way to being proficient in four foreign languages, and if you can believe it, that wasn’t the result of waking up one day and deciding to learn some languages at random because they seemed popular. The languages had already been chosen for me by the media I consumed. I was already a Hollywood movie buff before I picked up English. I’d already binge-watched the most popular anime titles before Japanese. And for Hindi, it’s Bollywood, films and music both. How that media made me feel is what gave birth to an intrinsic motivation to learn each language — the kind of motivation that never really goes away. Of course, that’s only one type of motivation. There are others worth knowing about.
Two frameworks for thinking about motivation
There are two frameworks people use when they talk about language-learning motivation: social and functional orientation, and source of the drive.
Social and functional orientation splits into two types. Integrative motivation is what prompts you to learn a language because you want to interact with, or integrate into, the target language’s community and culture — hence “integrative.” Instrumental motivation, as you’d guess, is the desire to learn a language for practical, utility-driven goals — hence “instrumental.”
The second framework is source of the drive, which splits into intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic means the drive comes from within; extrinsic means it comes from outside. If you’re intrinsically motivated, you learn a language because the process itself is enjoyable and satisfying. In my case, I learn Hindi because I’m fascinated by the language, the music, and the films — I genuinely enjoy myself doing it. If you’re extrinsically motivated, on the other hand, you learn a language because of an external reward, or to avoid a negative consequence — like a student learning just well enough to pass a test and avoid disappointing their parents.
Why intrinsic motivation wins in the long run
In my opinion, intrinsic motivation is the best kind to have. Extrinsic and instrumental motivation can get you started, but intrinsic motivation is what keeps you going for the long game. You might think this doesn’t apply to you if you picked the language yourself, or if you’re learning it because your job or school requires it — but that’s not true. My advice: go explore the culture industry around that language. Find whatever fits your taste, and let that become the foundation intrinsic motivation grows from.
This is my own experience, but there’s real research behind it too. So, dear reader: what motivates you to learn a language, and has it worked so far? Leave me a comment.