Setting SMART goals for learning Hungarian

🇬🇧 Is one of your goals for the year to learn more Hungarian? Or maybe to speak Hungarian better by the end of the year? If so, I have bad news for you: unfortunately, these are not good goals. Sure, they sound very good, and it would be great if you could learn Hungarian more or speak Hungarian better by the end of the year, but such very general statements don’t actually help you achieve your goals.

This article is a transcript of a video I made for the members of our Daily Dose of Hungarian project. The video is available here for the members in Hungarian with Hungarian and English subtitles.

If you want your motivation to last more than 1-2 weeks, you need to be more specific when setting your goals. Have you ever heard of the acronym SMART? SMART goals were originally invented for entrepreneurs, but you can use the idea perfectly in many other areas too. The acronym SMART covers 5 criteria that a goal must meet. Let’s see what these five criteria are!

S for Specific

It’s no good if your goals are too general or too vague. So instead of saying, “I will learn more Hungarian.”, say, for example, “I will learn Hungarian at least 5 times a week for at least 15 minutes.” Instead of saying, “By the end of the year, I will speak Hungarian better,” you could say, “I want to be able to talk to my Hungarian relatives about everyday things.”

M for Measurable

It can be very motivating when you can see that you are making progress towards the goal you have set, and it helps you to keep moving forward on the path. Set goals that you can easily measure, that you can track. For example, the aforementioned “I will learn at least 15 minutes of Hungarian at least 5 times a week” is a perfectly measurable goal. Here’s another example: instead of “I will improve my vocabulary.”, you could say “I will learn 5 new words a day.” Journaling or various habit tracking apps can also help with this; I use an app called Streaks to track my habits, for example.

A is for Attainable, or Achievable

If you set goals that are unrealistic, that are impossible to achieve, it can quickly discourage you from learning. If, for example, you have a very busy day, a very busy job, it’s totally unrealistic to put in an hour of Hungarian every day. But if you want to make a habit out of learning Hungarian, you can say “I’ll spend at least 15 minutes on Hungarian every day.” So on a busy day you can just get through your daily Hungarian on public transport on the way to work, but on a more relaxed day you can sit down for a longer period of time.

R for Relevant

Set goals that are really important to you and do tasks that are relevant. For example, if your greatest desire is to be able to talk better with your Hungarian relatives, don’t set a language exam as a goal, because a language exam requires learning completely different things and doing completely different tasks than an ordinary conversation with friends and acquaintances. Or, if your goal is to expand your vocabulary, learn words that are really important to you, not every new word you come across.

T for Time Bound

Set a deadline. For example, for the goals you’ve set so far, add “for one month” or “in 6 months”. “I will learn at least 15 minutes of Hungarian every day for one month.”, “I will learn 500 new words in 6 months.” These deadlines should also be realistic, and what I think is also very important is that when the deadline expires, you should reflect on whether you have achieved the goal you set. If not, why not? Was the goal unrealistic? Did you expect too much of yourself? How could you change it to make it happen? And if you did, reward yourself and set your next goal. 🙂

I have created a collection of SMART goals that our Daily Dose of Hungarian project can help you with. Have a look through the list, pick the ones that appeal to you, adapt them to suit you, and go for it, reach your goals! 🙂


🇭đŸ‡ș Az egyik cĂ©lod az Ă©vre az, hogy többet tanulj magyarul? Vagy esetleg hogy Ă©v vĂ©gĂ©re jobban beszĂ©lj magyarul? Ha igen, van egy rossz hĂ­rem szĂĄmodra: ezek sajnos nem jĂł cĂ©lok. Persze, nagyon jĂłl hangzanak, Ă©s nagyon jĂł lenne, ha többet tanulnĂĄl magyarul vagy Ă©v vĂ©gĂ©re jobban beszĂ©lnĂ©l magyarul, de az ilyen nagyon ĂĄltalĂĄnos megfogalmazĂĄsok nem segĂ­tenek tĂ©nylegesen elĂ©rni a cĂ©ljaidat. Ha azt szeretnĂ©d, hogy ne csak 1-2 hĂ©tig tartson a lelkesedĂ©sed, pontosabban kell meghatĂĄroznod a cĂ©ljaidat.

Ez a cikk egy videĂł ĂĄtirata, amelyet a Daily Dose of Hungarian projektĂŒnk tagjai szĂĄmĂĄra kĂ©szĂ­tettem. A videĂłt magyarul, magyar Ă©s angol felirattal itt Ă©rhetƑ el a tagok szĂĄmĂĄra.

HallottĂĄl mĂĄr a SMART betƱszĂłrĂłl? A SMART cĂ©lokat eredetileg vĂĄllalkozĂłknak talĂĄltĂĄk ki, de tökĂ©letesen lehet hasznĂĄlni az ötletet sok mĂĄs terĂŒleten is, Ă­gy a nyelvtanulĂĄssal kapcsolatban is. A SMART betƱszĂł 5 kritĂ©riumot takar, aminek egy cĂ©lnak meg kell felelnie. NĂ©zzĂŒk, mi ez az öt kritĂ©rium!

S, mint Specific, azaz konkrét

Nem jĂł, ha a cĂ©ljaid tĂșl ĂĄltalĂĄnosak vagy tĂșl homĂĄlyosak. TehĂĄt ahelyett, hogy azt mondanĂĄd, “Többet tanulok magyarul.”, mondd azt pĂ©ldĂĄul, hogy “Hetente legalĂĄbb 5-ször legalĂĄbb 15 percet tanulok magyarul.” Ahelyett, hogy azt mondanĂĄd, “Év vĂ©gĂ©re jobban beszĂ©lek magyarul.”, mondhatod azt, hogy “KĂ©pes leszek beszĂ©lgetni a magyar rokonokkal mindennapi dolgokrĂłl.”

M, mint Measurable, azaz mĂ©rhetƑ

Nagyon motivĂĄlĂł tud lenni, ha lĂĄtod, hogy haladsz a kitƱzött cĂ©lod felĂ©, Ă©s ez segĂ­t tovĂĄbb haladni az Ășton. TƱzz ki olyan cĂ©lokat, amiket könnyen tudsz mĂ©rni, amiket nyomon tudsz követni. Az elƑbb emlĂ­tett “Hetente legalĂĄbb 5-ször legalĂĄbb 15 percet tanulok magyarul.” pĂ©ldĂĄul egy tökĂ©letesen mĂ©rhetƑ cĂ©l. Mondok egy mĂĄsik pĂ©ldĂĄt: ahelyett, hogy “Fejlesztem a szĂłkincsemet.”, mondhatod azt, hogy “Megtanulok naponta 5 Ășj szĂłt.” A naplĂłzĂĄs vagy a kĂŒlönbözƑ szokĂĄskövetƑ appok is segĂ­thetnek ebben; Ă©n pĂ©ldĂĄul a Streaks nevƱ alkalmazĂĄst hasznĂĄlom a szokĂĄsaim követĂ©sĂ©re.

A, mint Attainable, vagy Achievable, azaz elĂ©rhetƑ

Ha olyan cĂ©lokat tƱzöl ki, amik nem reĂĄlisak, amiket lehetetlen elĂ©rni, az nagyon gyorsan elveszi a kedved a tanulĂĄstĂłl. Ha pĂ©ldĂĄul nagyon sƱrƱ napjaid vannak, nagyon sok munkĂĄd van, teljesen irreĂĄlis mindennap egy Ăłra magyartanulĂĄst beiktatni. De ha szeretnĂ©l a magyartanulĂĄsbĂłl szokĂĄst csinĂĄlni, akkor mondhatod azt, hogy “Mindennap legalĂĄbb 15 percet foglalkozom a magyarral.” Így egy nehĂ©z napon elĂ©g, ha munkĂĄba menet a tömegközlekedĂ©sen “letudod” a napi magyartanulĂĄst, egy lazĂĄbb napon viszont kĂ©nyelmesen leĂŒlhetsz hosszabban foglalkozni a magyarral. 

R, mint Relevant, azaz relevĂĄns

Olyan cĂ©lokat tƱzz ki, amik tĂ©nyleg fontosak neked, Ă©s olyan feladatokat csinĂĄlj, amik relevĂĄnsak. PĂ©ldĂĄul ha neked az a legnagyobb vĂĄgyad, hogy a magyar rokonokkal jobban tudj beszĂ©lgetni, akkor ne egy nyelvvizsgĂĄt tƱzz ki cĂ©lul, mert egy nyelvvizsgĂĄhoz teljesen mĂĄs dolgokat kell tanulni, teljesen mĂĄs feladatokat kell csinĂĄlni, mint egy hĂ©tköznapi beszĂ©lgetĂ©shez a barĂĄtokkal, ismerƑsökkel. Vagy ha az a cĂ©lod, hogy bƑvĂ­tsd a szĂłkincsedet, akkor olyan szavakat tanulj, amik tĂ©nyleg fontosak neked, ne minden egyes Ășj szĂłt, amivel talĂĄlkozol.

T, mint Time Bound, azaz idƑhöz kötött

ÁllĂ­ts fel egy hatĂĄridƑt. PĂ©ldĂĄul az eddig elhangzott cĂ©lokhoz tedd hozzĂĄ, hogy “Egy hĂłnapig.”, vagy “6 hĂłnapon belĂŒl”. “Egy hĂłnapig mindennap legalĂĄbb 15 percet tanulok magyarul.”, “6 hĂłnapon belĂŒl megtanulok 500 Ășj szĂłt.” Ezek a hatĂĄridƑk is legyenek reĂĄlisak, Ă©s ami szerintem mĂ©g nagyon fontos, hogy amikor lejĂĄr a hatĂĄridƑ, gondold ĂĄt, hogy sikerĂŒlt-e megvalĂłsĂ­tani a kitƱzött cĂ©lt. Ha nem sikerĂŒlt, miĂ©rt nem sikerĂŒlt? IrreĂĄlis volt a cĂ©l? TĂșl sokat vĂĄrtĂĄl magadtĂłl? Hogyan lehetne vĂĄltoztatni rajta, hogy sikerĂŒljön? Ha pedig sikerĂŒlt, jutalmazd meg magad, Ă©s tƱzd ki a következƑ cĂ©lodat. 🙂

KĂ©szĂ­tettem nektek egy gyƱjtemĂ©nyt olyan SMART cĂ©lokkal, amikben a Daily Dose of Hungarian projektĂŒnk segĂ­thet nektek. NĂ©zzĂ©tek ĂĄt a listĂĄt, vĂĄlasszĂĄtok ki, ami szimpatikus, alakĂ­tsĂĄtok ĂĄt Ășgy, hogy nektek megfelelƑ legyen, Ă©s hajrĂĄ, Ă©rjĂ©tek el a kitƱzött cĂ©lokat! 🙂


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