I have always enjoyed learning languages. Even when I was a little bit bored, or had other things that I would rather be doing, I’ve always had enough motivation to continue. Having the knowledge is its own reward for me. I enjoy the exploration, learning how something works. It’s like solving a big puzzle.

PLLT compares integrative and instrumental orientations. If your primary goals in learning a language are social or cultural (you have a desire to integrate with the culture), you are said to be of an integrative orientation. If you are learning for the sake of reward (promotion, fulfilling an academic requirement, etc.) you have an instrumental orientation. Of course the orientation itself doesn’t really mean anything unless it actually motivates you to learn. The orientation just describes the context you place around your learning, whereas motivation is about fulfilling needs.

In considering whether I have integrative or instrumental orientation, I have made a discovery about myself. I had never really considered why I wanted to study languages. It turns out that I’m really not all that interested in talking to Germans or Russians or French people (Ok, I’m a bit more interested in Japanese people), but I’m really interested in their language. Considering the languages I’ve studied, this makes sense. Certainly I’m never going to have the opportunity to speak to a Goth (the old, dead kind, not the young I wish I were dead kind), or a native speaker of Old Low Franconian. So why study the languages? The answer would seem to be that it fulfills a need for me.

A need doesn’t have to be something lofty or complicated. I think in this case that it fulfills a couple of fairly simple needs. The first is curiosity. I’m a very curious person, and I need something to do with my brain. My brain refuses to do math (as I’ve mentioned) but seems to have little difficulty in acquiring languages, so there we go. The second, and more important, has to do with self-esteem.

Very few people are just plain good at learning languages. I’m one of those people, so I leverage that talent to get the most social value out of it. I noticed recently that throughout my life I have chosen things that are obscure, or unusual in some way. I’ve always needed to stick out. Sure, a lot of people studied German, but how many studied Old High German? I’ll tell you. In my school, it was five. I spent my last two years in college with the same five people in almost every class. I got personal value out of being a scarce commodity. The same pattern has shown itself in many parts of my life. My taste in music, my hobbies, my shoes, all tend towards the unusual. It’s how I am me.

I don’t think this qualifies as instrumental orientation either, as I don’t really intend to use the languages for anything other than advancing my learning. On the other hand, as a graduate student I’m finding that grades are far more important to me than they were in my undergrad years. In my current Japanese class I am strongly motivated by the possibility of getting a good grade. Maybe this would pass for an instrumental orientation.

In the end it seems that orientation really doesn’t matter much. Some people are possessed of both instrumental and integrative orientation, and some neither. Regardless, people need a reason to learn. That reason may be external, like fulfilling a requirement or getting a better job, or internal, like enjoying knowing something that others don’t. All that matters is that the reason is compelling enough to warrant effort on the part of the learner. The effort makes the difference.