Thank you for tuning in on the next article of this series about online studying! In this article I will share with you the tips I have developed to stay on top of my online studying.

I am a very easily distracted person and, whilst the tips discussed in the second article help me structure my online studying, the lack of tests, examination and pressure in the language learning process can leave me procrastinating and – eventually – slowly give up on my resolutions.

If you are like me then this article is just for you!

I have – as always – structured my article in three distinct points that help me tackle my lack of motivation when it comes to learning Russian or any other language online.

1. Remind yourself of your reasons and set yourself some goals

Most of us don’t just wake up one day and decide to learn a new language for the sake of learning it. We are humans and we make decisions based on a set of reasons. Now I want you to remind yourself of why you decided to learn that language. Was it for love and family? Perhaps for work? Or maybe for traveling? Or was it simply a personal challenge? If you are a very visual person do not hesitate to make them into a vision board or to write them down on a sheet of paper to put on the wall.

Once you’ve done this, I want you to sit down and set yourself some goals. Now don’t write down “I want to be fluent” just yet as this will not get you motivated in the long run believe me! What I am asking of you is to start from very easy and attainable goals and gradually make way to more complicated ones. For instance, your first goal could be “I want to learn the Russian alphabet”, followed by “I want to be able to write my full name in Russian” and ten goals later it would be “I want to be able to briefly introduce myself in Russian”.

Write these down and work your way through them. This will give you a sense of gratification and do not hesitate to even write some rewards down next to more challenging goals such as a nice night out, a city trip or a nice new pair of socks (to each their own!).

And please keep this list as it will help you document and track your progress, which brings me to my second point.

2. Track and document your progress

Because learning a new language is a gradual process you might not always be confronted to – or aware of – how far you have come. It is therefore extremely important to do so as it will remind you that you are not as terrible as you thought you were and that giving up might not be the best of ideas.

This tracking can take many forms: audio and video recordings such as a monthly log (where once a month you briefly film yourself talking a bit), a diary where once in a while you write a brief text or share a personal memory or your study notes from four months ago when you were learning basic words such as dad or apple.

3. Get emotionally involved with the language

My final tip would be to get emotionally involved with the language. By this I mean to make it a part of your life to such an extent that you no longer can get away from it. Language partners and the online community are the best in this regard as you will eventually bond and become friends thus making it very difficult to stop learning the language.

That was it! I hope that this article will help you keep motivated in your online learning experience. I would love to learn about how you keep motivated in studying a language online! Leave your tips in the comments as I would love to learn more!

Posted by Sarah Wissing Здравствуйте! My name is Sarah and I am currently interning at the Liden & Denz Language Centre in St. Petersburg. I am originally from Belgium where I just finished my Law undergraduate.