I’ve always had trouble setting myself goals, especially where languages are concerned. I find that the main problem for me is thinking of ‘real’ goals that I can aim for.
People often say that goals should be measurable and I think they have a point. Just ‘speaking better’ or ‘improving listening’ for example are very difficult to judge and what they actually mean can vary, not just from person to person, but also to me on a day-to-day basis. This isn’t to say that I think these general types of goals are bad, just that they’re not ideal for sustaining my motivation.
I do have a couple of more concrete language goals though.
1. Pass my University DegreeI’m going into my second year now and expecting the workload to increase accordingly, but I think I can manage it. I’d also like to pass the degree with a decent mark as I’d hate to feel as though I’d just scraped through. I’m off to a good start and, as long as I put in the time and effort outside of classes, I should be able to get a respectable result.
2. Conquer my Year AbroadI want to have a good enough grasp of my target languages by the time I go abroad that I can handle most of the everyday situations that I’ll find myself in without having to rely on English.
I don’t expect to be perfect and I’m certainly not against the idea of using some English while I’m away, but I don’t want to
have to do so because my abilities in the target language are too poor to cope.
I have a few smaller (short term) goals as well, but these are my main 2 for now.