Know Your Goal

When reading about learning languages, I've heard a lot of people argue about the best way to learn a language. I think the best way to learn depends entirely on what you want to learn. The reasons for learning another language are many and each uniquely nuanced, although I see a few major themes:

I want to talk to people in another country.
I want to read a book written in another language.
I want to write a letter to a friend in another country.
I want to listen what people are saying in movies.
I want to live in another country and interact with the people there.

Each desire has its own approach and our motivations are often a combination of all of these. It might be useful to prioritize your desired outcomes to focus your efforts on attaining that goal.

For me, it started out wanting to listen and understand what people were saying in anime and in Japanese movies. Then, to prepare for studying in Japan, I needed to know how to talk to people in Japanese. Now that I'm back in the States, I'm focusing on learning how to read Japanese, so I can learn more about Japanese design.

Some people are in for the long hall, learning various written scripts and characters. Other people just want to know a couple things, like how to say hello to a friend. Either way, they're each unique desires, deserving their own unique strategy.

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