3 ways to make language learning a habit

Over the years I have realized that the best way to achieve anything in life is by forming good habits. If every day we propose to do small things that contribute to a larger goal, at the end of the road we will have achieved beautiful things that will fill us with satisfaction. This principle applies to language learning as it does to anything else in life. Studying a new language can become really tedious and that is the reason why many people abandon their learning. That is why having small habits and taking steps in the right direction towards learning a new language is much more efficient in the long run than facing large amounts of study that we will not be able to sustain.

But, how do we make language learning a habit?

I want to show you three ways in which I have done it and those can help you too.

№1 Use social media

People currently spend a ridiculous amount of time in front of their mobiles consuming content on social media. I, for example, am a huge fan of YouTube, but I also love Instagram and Twitter. Well, the secret of my accelerated learning of English is precisely in my fondness for this platform. When I understood that I could take advantage of my leisure time as a study, I immediately began to put it into practice.

How?

Well, I started following people whose content was in English. Now, I didn’t start following random people, but people who created content about my interests: Christianity, art, literature, writing, productivity, etc. One of the ways I managed to do this was through searches. When I wanted to find something on YouTube I looked for it in English and not in Spanish, my native language. The result? Almost all the videos that YouTube currently recommends to me are in English. I recently did the same thing with Portuguese too, but this time it was a bit more difficult because I didn’t know nearly enough Portuguese to search in that language. So, what I did was simply use google translate for figuring out what I wanted to search for in Portuguese and then paste the translation into the search engine.

Doing things like these will force you to get out of your comfort zone. Maybe you deal with the discomfort of not doing the searches in your own language, or not understanding all the content you consume. However, if you can afford to feel like a fish out of water, I guarantee the results will be wonderful.

no 2. Make your learning fun

No habit is lasting if it is not enjoyed. That is why we do not let go the phone, because that brings us satisfaction. That’s why learning languages ​​through games is a great idea. In addition to enjoying the experience, most of these games also involve some kind of competition, which makes the experience much more exciting.

In this sense, I think there is no better app than Duolingo. The fact that the app puts you in competition with other users, gives you rewards for your learning and encourages you to keep up your streak, allows learners of a new language to feel really excited about keeping going.

In addition to Duolingo, I have also used the Cake app, which helps me learn while earning points and watching fun videos. It works more or less like a game and encourages you to keep your streak. The difference between Duolingo and Cake is that in the latter you can only learn English.

№3 Keep your thinking in the language you are learning

One of the most useful things, when you are learning a new language, is to keep yourself thinking in this language all the time. For example, if you are cooking, you can think about how to describe each of the things you are doing in the new language. I guarantee that new words or structures that you don’t know will always appear. It is at that time, or later, that you can search for your doubts on the internet. The fact that your knowledge comes from a doubt makes it more durable in your mind.

I hope these tips have been useful to you, if so, let me know in the comments.