How dedicated are you?

[Yoshie]

So we fantasize about learning all these foreign languages but how much time do you put into the learning process? What type of schedule have you created for yourself in order to master your language of choice?

[VinayaSpeaks]

sadly, when it comes to learn a language I am not very dedicated. When I start learning a language,I am very active in the beginning. I devote myself to learn the language. As the time passes gradually, my enthusiasm for the languages decreases, I begin to give less time for learning the language. And finally, I stop learning the language. This has  happened to me couple of times. I started to learn French 15 years ago. However, I have not been able to speak the language properly until now.

[lushlala]

Right now I'm not in the process of learning any foreign language because I have my hands full trying to survive. That right now is my top priority. However, when I do decide I'm embarking on such an exercise, I give it my all. I mean, you have to, otherwise there'd be no point at all. I guess it also depends on what you're looking to achieve, what level of the language you want to reach. But I strongly believe you need passion, dedication, drive, commitment and focus in order to realise your  dream of becoming fluent in your chosen language. That's part of the reason why I've parked my language learning for now, because I know if I were to do it now, I wouldn't be able to dedicate as much time and attention to it as it deserves.

[MissTe]

I spend at least an hour a week learning my language. I know it's not much but I'm very busy and if I can get in ten minutes here and ten minutes there during the day, then that's a bonus for me. But I never miss my weekly lessons and I really feel good about my progress. If  I can increase it to two hours, I think that would really help me to make faster progress. 

[gracerph]

I must admit that I'm not really spending much time with my foreign language learning right now because I'm also quiet busy with other things at the moment. I'm trying to learn bit by bit whenever I can though. I watch instructional videos and read manuals on the language whenever I have the time.

[Norm A]

Learning a new language is just part of my weekly routine now. I do my weekly lesson same time on the same day every week. It's something that I also totally look forward to so there is no chance of me missing it or it feeling like a chore. I love my weekly lessons and I will never stop them. The languages that I'm learning will constantly change, but that time slot is reserved for learning languages for the rest of my life. 

[sidney]

I'm quite busy right now, so I don't really have time to study and practice the language that I'm learning as much as I like, but I do practice and study it at least once a week.

[111kg]

It depends. From my point of view, I am dedicated, but not in the traditional way. For instance, I have house chores, I have 2 jobs, a girlfriend and I am also learning web development. The fact that I can find 30 minutes here and there every other day shows me that I am still motivated and dedicated to learning and mastering German, although the progress rate at this point is very slow.

[darkchild]

To be honest, nothing motivates me to learn languages.

Apart from the fact that my present schedule is tight, I do not feel compelled to move forward and have not set a deadline for myself.  I guess when I do, I would make progress.

[hades_leae]

I used to commit 2 hours a day learning when I got this program that I found on the internet for Spanish, but truthfully I learned more Spanish from the ladies and men that worked at my job. I learned some in high school, and basics from the program. 

Speaking as much as I can now came mostly from the ladies because I used to ask them what they said when they were speaking, and they would teach me how to say the words that we used in English, and also how to put them in a sentence.

[abonnen]

I think i can say I am semi dedicated.  I think this is becasue I have failed to learn languages many times in the past when I have put a lot of effort in.  I am trying to think of ways to help me learn better this time around, from the problems I had in the past.  

[Baburra]

I'd say I'm dedicated but not very disciplined. I'm okay with just learning slowly here and there as I don't really feel that much pressure in learning the new language completely and would just like to learn a few at a slower pace. The part I'd say I'm dedicated about is that usually with hobbies I treat this way I would have given up by now but on this one I'm still continuing to learn even after months so I'd say that is dedication enough for me to at least get a basic education on the new language I'm trying to learn. 

[WizardX]

I am learning Chinese and I do spend more time learning by listening to Chinese songs and poetry. I do attend evening classes to enhance my speech. Sometimes I find it difficult to pronounce some words but I have never given up. I know that it won't take long before I master the language. 

[Yoshie]

+VinayaSpeaks That's understandable, I would sometimes feel like the same way as I get bored easily so I know exactly what you mean.

+lushala Yes, that's true in terms of selecting your purpose for taking on the language of choice, whether for basic learning purposes vs. a more in depth approach. Timing is crucial, you have to be willing to throw yourself into it, otherwise you might struggle with it.

+Miss Te Despite the short learning periods (according to you), you seem to be dedicated to it as you said you never miss your weekly lessons which is great. Keep at it 

+Norm A Wow, you're serious about it aren't ya?! Kudos to you on your enthusiasm.

So the essence of most of the posts is that you do it when you can and that's always better than not at all to me. The bits and pieces here and there still matter and trust me, you benefit nonetheless. Just don't quit and stay motivated.

[宇崎ちゃん]

I had a pretty broad schedule during the summer holidays, so I could make lots of hours every week during that period of time on learning Japanese.
But I went back to work this week and I'll get some training in Maya, Unity and GarageBand from next week on, so I feared my schedule would be tighter than ever.

Fortunately, it's still manageable.

• I've put my job to every 9:00 to 12:00 on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
• I've put my training to every 14:00 to 17:00 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays (2 subjects a day, all 3 subjects are given an equal twice a week).
• Language learning goes to every 19:00 to 22:00 on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
• Learning Kanji goes to whenever reviews are available.
• Then my Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays can be used to take a rest (like playing a video game, or going to a pub while I still can (hint hint: summer is almost over)).

[AExAVF]

If not for the more important family and life matters which I have to deal with right now, I would have progressed into learning Elementary 2 and possibly 3 of the Japanese language so I can take the JLPT N5 exam.  I recall last year that I had to run errands for my father while I am in the middle of my final examinations in Elementary Japanese 1.  Though I passed the course, I am not satisfied with my performance.  My father is a total idiot for completely distracting me.

[John Snort]

Any time I'm learning a new language I often put in a lot of time into it. About six hours each day or more. The first hour would be for the language lesson. Second hour will be used to learn new words. Third hour will be for reading some text aloud and the rest I'll watch some videos. It's quite an intense schedule but I always give it my all.

If I had more free time, I'd probably allocate even more time to learning in order to speed up the language acquisition (process).

[Julian]

I'm not very dedicated nor have a schedule, I'm just trying to learn languages bit by bit. Eventually, I'll want to be fluent in a bunch of languages but I'm really not in a hurry. I do grab my chances, though. In school, I took German and French whereas most other kids dropped them as soon as they could. I also watch popular movies with subtitles in English or the other way around.

[untalleslie]

I never really had a schedule when it comes to learning English, it was more natural to me because I'm basically interacting and reading in English all the time, so I think that it was a good choice to surround myself with all those English resources. But still, I really want to learn Japanese, and I'm still not really sure if I want to do it online or not, but I think that if I do it online or would be more messy, because I won't really have a formal schedule. I need to be more organized when it comes to times. 

[VinayaSpeaks]

Without dedication you cannot learn anything, even more the new language.Years ago I was learning a Foreign language. I joined a language school and attended one hour class, I was regular for the first month, then became irregular. When the third month came, I stopped going to the class. Had I been dedicated, I would have learned the language.

[Mereloshn]

I'm very dedicated to learning the languages I'm studying.  I dedicate several hours a day to studying the language and learning more of it and I practice and use it every chance I get.  My goal is to be 100% fully fluent in my two current target languages so I've been working really hard lately to build my language skills.  It's my main academic interest now and I'm determined to learn as much as I can.  I obviously can't study it all day every day because I have work and other obligations during the day but when I have more free time at night I give myself several hours to learn every night and have been daily for months now.  I would say my dedication level is high. 

[AntonioCalcano]

I'm extremely dedicated and passionate when learning a new language I always dedicate as much time as needed, in my case I don't need to dedicate much of my time since I'm a fast learner and have loved learning languages my whole life; I've dedicated myself to teaching for more than ten years now and always encourage my students to give their best and to dedicate a lot of time if they have trouble understanding something, also to never give up and ask for help should they need it. Not everyone can learn languages at the same speed, that's why all of us will need more or less time depending on our skills.

[harpy]

Lately, I feel I've been slacking off on learning and mastering my Dutch, German, and now Russian, but that's because I don't know a lot of people who can converse in any of these languages. I'm struggling with other academic challenges too and sometimes, I can't fit studying any of these languages into my daily schedule. I kind of feel bad about it, really. Two years ago, I was able to converse in thorough German; a month ago, I met a German speaker, and I could barely say anything intelligible. I am trying to change this though, and I am trying my best to focus all my energy on language learning.

[clair02]

I have to say that my motivation for learning a new language comes and goes, and sometimes weeks go by without me doing anything to progress my lessons. If I could just keep my motivation levels high, I'm sure I would be much farther right now than I currently am. I'm lucky because when my motivation starts to wane, I have Afrikaans speaking friends around me who are there to remind me of the reason why I want to learn the language. 

[cardinals27]

When I was learning Spanish I was pretty dedicated since it was a grade in school. I enjoyed it too which made it nice but outside of school I'm not sure how dedicated I will be. I really want to learn more languages though.