6 Language Learning Tips for Busy People
One of your lifetime goals is to learn a new language, but you just have so much going on in your life and don’t know where to start. Well, I want to let you know that there are ways to ease into the process, and I will share 6 tips and tricks to help you get started.
1. Choose a language that you LOVE
In order for this whole thing to work, you have to choose a language that you love. You will be investing all this time into mastering a language so might as well pick one that you will be caught dead with. This will definitely give you motivation so that you are able to accomplish all the goals you set out. It can also give you confidence to start on other languages if you please. I will tell you that I’ve tried learning languages that are cool or niche but haven’t developed the heart for them, so I eventually dropped them. The thing is, if you find yourself rekindling interest in a previous language, you can just start it again! That’s the beauty of language learning; you can start and pause a process at any time.
2. Start with at least 2 different resources
I say “at least 2” because if you get bored with one of them, at least you have something else to use while you’re taking a break from the other one. Because I work a full time job and get tired after work, I use Duolingo for about 15 minutes to practice my German and/or Mandarin depending on how I’m feeling that day. I recommend using a desktop for languages that use roman characters and an app for those which you haven’t learned the writing system yet. Listening to a podcast is extremely helpful if you commute to work or do chores around the house. Language Transfer is one that I’ve used to help me build a strong foundation for Spanish and German. They offer other languages such as Swahili, Turkish, Greek, and more if you are interested! As you do more research, you will find grammar books or flashcard decks that you can add to you inventory. This will expand your options and also show you how different learning material can vary.
3. Set long-term goals for yourself
This is one of the most crucial steps in the whole process. Get out a piece of paper, and answer this question: “What are 3 goals for learning [insert language here]?” When I’m learning German, my goals are (1) to travel to German speaking countries, (2) understand German TV shows, and (3) understand scientific and political articles in context. While you are learning a language, you are also learning how people communicate their ideas in that language and the culture that those ideas carry. Go ahead and write down what you want out of this language because you can’t expect to hit a target if you aim at nothing!
4. Be consistent
Set up daily goals for yourself. Ideally, you should take at least an hour out of your day to study a language, but this is not always the case for everyone. I recommend at least 10 to 15 minutes of using whatever resources you have gathered, and once you start getting the hang of it, you can add on an extra 5 minutes here and there throughout the day. Next thing you know, you’re already doing 30 minutes a day! Just trust the process, and keep it going.
5. Give yourself a break
Life happens, and you have things to do. Don’t be too hard on yourself if you don’t meet your daily goals. Give yourself a break from the language, and take the time to reflect what you have accomplished so far. I’d rather you write them down, but you can just think about them if you can make it a daily habit. Remember to make sure that these short pauses are just that, a pause. They allow you to have more endurance so that you aren’t burnt out and can’t bear the thought of going on.
6. Test yourself
Get creative. Make up sentences whenever you’re practicing writing or speaking. Expressing yourself is such an important way of knowing what words or phrases are lacking in your journey. Another part of your routine should be to have some type of exposure to natural speech either through reading or listening. I promise you that you will not understand everything, and that’s okay! Read short stories without translating too many words so that you can give yourself an idea of how you’re doing. Watch YouTube videos on topics that interest you. Captions help make sure that whatever you’re listening to matches up to how you’ve been reading. Early in the process, you should put the captions in your native tongue, and as you get more comfortable, change the captions to the target language. At a more advanced level, you might even get to turn the captions off!
BONUS
Look for patterns in the language. Every language has rules and all that, so I find it pretty fun to look for inconsistencies and nuances and then just Google why that is. There are so many resources online that it might seem overwhelming, so I recommend keeping an open mind and asking yourself a ton of questions when you’re doing this because you might be surprised about what you find out! Keep a journal handy and write down these rules in a way that makes sense to you so that you can reference it whenever the question pops up again.
I hope these tips can help you get started in your language learning journey, and importantly, give you the confidence to continue in the process. You’re doing the best you can, so try to figure out a way to enjoy it!