How to say "motivation" in Japanese

• やる気やるきCommon
  nounMotivation as your own drive to get something done: the willingness and energy that makes you start a task, and that you can have, lose, or lack.
  私にはガッツとやる気きがあります。↗

  I'm a person with guts and a strong will.
• 気合きあいCommon
  nounMotivation in the sense of fighting spirit: the fired-up determination you put into a task, as when psyching yourself up before a match or a demanding piece of work.
  チームは試合しあいに向むけて気合きあいが入はいっている。↗

  The team is up for the game.
• 意欲いよくJLPT N1approx.Common
  nounMotivation as willingness and eagerness to take on an activity; it shades into desire and interest, and often describes the drive a person shows toward work or study.
  その老人ろうじんは生いきる意欲いよくをなくした。↗

  The old man lost the will to live.
• 張り合いはりあいCommon
  nounMotivation as the feeling that something is worth the effort — the sense of challenge or reward that keeps you going at a job or pursuit; without it, the work feels hardly worth doing.
• 刺激しげきJLPT N3approx.Common
  noun, suru verb, transitive verbNot motivation itself but the spur behind it: a stimulus or impetus that rouses you to action. For your own drive to get things done, やる気 is the word.
  昇進しょうしんがより一層いっそう働はたらく刺激しげきとなった。↗

  Promotion was an incentive to harder work.

Use 「やる気」 for your own drive to get things done, 気合 for fired-up fighting spirit, 意欲 for willingness and eagerness, 「張り合い」 for the rewarding feeling that effort is worthwhile, and 刺激 for an outside spur.

Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only

• やる気やるきwill (to do something)
• 気合きあい(fighting) spirit
• 意欲いよくwill
• モチベーションmotivation
• モチベートmotivation
• モチmotivation
• 動機づけどうきづけmotivation
• モチベmotivation
• エンカレッジencouragement
• 気きintention
• 張り合いはりあいfeeling that something is worth the effort
• 刺激しげきimpetus