Accountability is the one thing stopping you from getting fluent

Imagine a world where you didn't have to rely on motivation to learn a language. There's a famous saying that motivation gets you started but discipline keeps you going. What if motivation wasn't something you had to worry about anymore?

I want to talk about another word, accountability. It's more important than motivation, especially when it comes to language learning, reaching your goals in less time and actually increasing the chance of reaching them in the first place. I'm James, and I'm a native English speaker.

What accountability is

In language learning, I mean an accountability partner: someone who keeps you on track and motivates you. It's a similar role to a personal trainer in fitness. They keep their client going, and on days when the client can't be bothered turning up to the gym, there's an added force of discipline and accountability that they'll turn up even when they don't want to.

An accountability partner:

• checks in on you on a weekly or monthly basis, any regular basis
• makes sure you do the activities you say you'll do
• helps if you struggle, like if you lack direction and aren't sure what to do and when

You can also hold yourself accountable, by putting time in your calendar, setting a reminder or using a checklist. But here I'm talking about external partners. It might be a friend, or a group of people who all keep each other accountable.

You're much more likely to achieve your goals in any sense with an accountability partner. If you rely on yourself, there are always negative thoughts and persuasions in your head telling you not to do it. "Not today, I don't feel like it." It's much harder to say no if someone else is saying, "Come on, you said you'd do this by this week." And if you don't do it, there's a consequence. I don't mean anything serious. It's embarrassing, because you're letting someone down. That feeling of letting someone down is what keeps you on track.

Why it matters

After speaking to many language learners over the years, a lot of the struggles they face are finding the time to do something and actually doing it. You can have as many courses as you want. A load of people are doing online courses nowadays, especially on YouTube, but you start and get 20 or 30% of the way through. There's a fact somewhere on the internet, I don't know it right now, but not many people actually finish online courses. That's the reason personal trainers exist in fitness. You drastically increase the chances of hitting your goal if you've got someone to talk to and someone to help you through the process.

It isn't a term that's thrown around in the language learning community. We tend to think of courses, language teachers and apps like Duolingo, but that's not the only answer, and that's why so many people still struggle to reach their goals despite all the free content, courses and lessons available.

How to find one

It should be someone, or a group of people, facing the same struggles as you, or who've been where you are now. Maybe they speak other languages but started out where you did. Or maybe they're still learning, you're learning on the back of them, and you help each other with your struggles.

You can have one person as an accountability partner, but a group is more powerful, because you're not just letting one person down if you decide not to do something that day. If you've told a load of people you're going to do something and you don't, you'll have to tell them why you cancelled, and that's a bit more of a problem. So if you're going to do the activity in the first place, you'd rather do it knowing a load of people are going to ask why you didn't. It's an emotional push from a group rather than just one person.

Look for something that fits around your schedule if you're busy. It shouldn't need you to commit an hour or two to language learning. It should be something you can do when you're free.