536: How to learn a language with ZERO motivation

And look, so I taught languages for many years.

I taught English for five years in Asia, in the Middle East.

And I have met a lot of students who had to learn English because they needed it for their job, right? These were people who worked in companies.

They really didn't care about English.

They were perfectly happy, sort of.

speaking their own language, but they wanted their job.

They wanted to keep their job.

They were expected to speak English, but it kind of terrified them.

They really didn't want to have to speak on the phone.

They were nervous in meetings.

They had no desire to learn, but they had to.

So I can, you know, even though Angela and Eufiva, I don't know you, but I can imagine myself looking right into your eyes and understanding the situation you're in, right? Because I've spent years with students who were in a similar situation and it's really, really tricky.

But I think I'll be able to help you here a little bit, or at least I'm going to try my best.

And I will start off by saying that I myself have never particularly enjoyed the language learning process.

I'm not a big study fan.

I don't like the process of learning a language, believe it or not.

I like having learned it and being able to use it.

And for me, the motivation of actually using the language and speaking it is what keeps me going and what gives me the motivation.

And a big part of what I'm going to say to you today is that it's okay not to be motivated, but if it's important to us, then we need to be able to do the minimum number of things, the minimum amount that's going to get us the results, in spite of not wanting to.