I've said it before and I will say it again, learning a foreign language is tough. Think about it; you are trying to learn a set of words and phrases that are used by millions of people (Usually) to express the whole of human experience in all its complexity! That's a big deal.
So one thing I have done in every language I have tried learning is to find some connection to the language that makes it personal to me. This helps to keep me motivated and my momentum up. Motivation and momentum, my friends, are two of the most important factors in successful language learning.
So how can you find something to make a language personal for you? Maybe you are learning a language that you never hear where you live. Maybe your language is not known for the things you are passionate about. In some cases it can be difficult to find a way to find a personal connection to your language, and for most people curiosity will only take you so far.
Well, I don't have all the answers but here is what I do, and have done.
Find your hobbies and passions
One thing you learn when you look around the world, when you learn languages, and especially when you travel is that people are people are people. Humans are humans, and most every culture will have most of the hobbies and niche interests that you do in your native country. So one thing you could do when trying to find a personal connection with your target language is to find communities of people that share your interests. For me, one of my first really powerful personal connections with French was cooking. One of the first immersive experiences I had in French was listening to a podcast called On Va Déguster. This cooking podcast was the first program I listened to that was completely in French at native speed. For a long, long time it was complete gibberish to me, but slowly I started being able to follow the topic of conversation. Because I love food and cooking, comprehension came quicker for me than if I were listening to a podcast in French about Celebrity Gossip, or HAM Radio operation. Finding content to consume in your target language that aligns with your hobbies and passions can help boost your reading and comprehension skills to the next level. So go out and find the nerds, the cosplayers, the ghost hunters, the sports fanatics, and the literature lovers. They exist in most every culture in the world.
Connect with the Culture
For me, French culture has been an interest since I was a kid. (I talk about this in my Youtube Video about why I am learning what I am learning.)
French culture has influenced me indirectly through the works of Jules Verne, Victor Hugo, and Alexandre Dumas. This interest in French Culture incrested as I became an adult and began to have a desire to sample the worlds of fine cooking, and wine.
Norwegian pulls me culturally both in its modern culture and its ancient. I like the practical and clean lifestyle modern Scandinavia represents, and anciently the culture of the Vikings pulls me with its mystery and its influence on so many cultures in the early to middle medieval ages. More recently I began to practice blacksmithing, and you can't practice blacksmithing these days without running into archeological finds like the Mästermyr Chest and other Viking age finds. This connection between my hobby of blacksmithing and the ancient Norse only increased my cultural connection to Norway and it fuels my motivation to learn Norwegian, Icelandic, and Old Norse.
Look at the fundamentals of life.
There are a certain number of things, activities, and ideas that are common throughout the whole of humanity. Everyone has to eat, and whether you are a seasoned chef or a microwave connoisseur you have to cook on a daily basis. Everyone has to learn about decorating the space you live in (Though some are much better at it than others). Everyone has to buy things, everyone has to deal with emotions and social interactions, and everyone has to learn self-care skills from personal hygiene to emotional regulation. These activities and ideas that are common to almost every person who has walked on the planet can be a treasure trove of possible connections to your target language and to the culture associated with the language.
You can probably see by this point that a lot of my connections to my languages are at a pretty fundamental level, and many of them pull multiple duty in the specific type of connection they are for me. French cooking is a hobby of mine; it also is a cultural connection with France, and it is an activity that is fundamental to the human experience. As I think about it (Even as I write this article), I think most or all of the most effective connections I have to my target languages are multi-purpose. I think this says something about the way language and culture interact. Literature reflects the values, dreams, and fears of a culture. Cuisine reflects a culture's views on what kinds of tastes and textures they consider "fancy", and what the culture considers "comfort-food" and this in turn reflects something about how the culture views the world around them. This thought process is starting to get philosophical and complex, and delving deeply into the relationship between language and culture is not a conversation I feel qualified to get into here. If you'd like to talk about it, let's have a pint or a glass of wine first hehe.
What I am trying to say is that finding a personal connection with your language can do a lot to boost your motivation to learn that language. For me, that connection is vital! In fact looking forward in my language journey, one thing I am nervous about is that I don't have any personal connection to Hungarian. At this point I don't know anything really about Hungarian culture or cuisine aside from the fact that Paprika comes from Hungary (Thank you Andrew Zimmern for teaching me that).
But as I get closer to tackling Hungarian, I am going to have to find a personal connection, and I might have to go back to the fundamentals of Human Experience to find it, who knows.