Anyone who has tried to learn a second language for professional reasons knows that it takes focus, determination, and consistency. When you concentrate entirely on the language surrounding  work, you will  see direct results. But in my experience, being overly one-dimensional in that pursuit can rob you of your enthusiasm and lead you to a premature plateau.

I remember when I first started working in Norway. I wasn’t allowed to teach English in schools because I lacked Norwegian, so I got a job as a waiter at a sushi restaurant. Knowing that learning the language was my best hope of building a life in Norway, I was determined to speak as much Norwegian as possible while working. I focused my efforts on the language I needed to do my job well, and I dove in.

I started with the obvious sentences: “Can I take your order?” “Have you decided?” “Is everything ok?” And of course— “are you ready for the bill?” Over time, I learned to answer common sushi-related questions, my food and wine vocabulary increased, and the Norwegian I needed for work blossomed.

With practice, I quickly became proficient conversing in Norwegian at work. I could shoot off sentences about maki, nigiri, fish, and white wine in a Norwegian that sounded next to fluent. As I got more comfortable, I could get through entire interactions with clients without them realizing the true limitations of my Norwegian. There were times when I almost convinced myself that I was fluent.

The thing was, I had practiced everything I said at work a thousand times. I knew the most probable conversations, like choreographed dance steps. And so my Norwegian was perfect as long as everything went according to plan. But eventually, the inevitable would occur: a customer would blind-side me with a joke or an off-the-cuff comment. I would smile, laugh awkwardly and then admit that I didn’t understand a thing. It was embarrassing, and I didn’t want it to happen again.

So, I increased the studying I did at home. I studied grammar, vocabulary, and conjugation. I even stuck Post-its on everything in my house to improve my vocabulary. And I did improve, but it felt like I was dragging myself through the mud. My enthusiasm started to dwindle, and I needed some way to make learning enjoyable again.

What I eventually realized was that I had never learned how to connect. I had focused nearly all my effort on learning what I needed for work, and I hadn’t learned how to express my personality in Norwegian. So I shifted my focus and started to dedicate some time to learning how to talk about my personal interests.

Generally, when you want to improve quickly, you tend to consider everything that isn’t working towards your goal as a distraction. If this were a race or target practice, that assumption would be absolutely correct. But language acquisition is a non-linear path, and everything we learn feeds our overall fluency. Therefore, the most important skill you need when learning a language is how to maintain your motivation.. Learning to talk about my interests brought  back the enthusiasm I needed to keep improving my Norwegian.

Instead of just practicing because it was useful, I started practicing because I wanted to share my interests with others. I won’t lie to you. It didn’t immediately help me much at work. I didn’t understand more jokes or avoid awkward situations. But it made Norwegian interesting and fun again, and at a moment when I had no desire to keep improving, that was worth more than a thousand memorized verbs.

So, if you’ve lost enthusiasm for your second language, ask yourself: “am I able to speak about my interests and my passions? Can I express my opinions and tell others about my likes and dislikes?” If not, try it out. It may be the very thing that breathes life back into your language learning and allows you to move on to higher peaks.