Kerstin Cable 03/01/2022 Kerstin Cable 03/01/2022

5 Steps for Planning a Productive and Successful Language Learning Week

Many people plan ahead for business goals, upcoming deadlines, events, meetings at work, fitness or meals. But did you know that making a language learning plan can actually help you learn a language faster?

In this article, you'll learn 5 steps to help you get the ball rolling.

The weekend is a great time to spend an hour looking to the week ahead by mapping out goals and intentions.

When you plan, set goals, and know what’s coming up, it’s like winding up a little engine so you can hit “GO” and learn in the most effective, productive way.

To celebrate the brand new weekly language planner in the Language Habit Toolkit, here are some steps to help you get the ball rolling.

Step 1: Set Path Goals for your Language Learning Week

To start your plan, focus on what’s right in front of you and answer the question “What should I do next?”. Look for Path Goals: specific, achievable, relevant actions that will help you learn a language right now.

With Path Goals, smaller is better. It’s better to meet all your “not so difficult” goals than to aim high and miss the target.

For example, in a week my Language Learning Goals might include

Completing 2 pages in my grammar book
Watching an episode of a TV show in my new language
Writing 10 texts or sentences in my target language

Don’t overload the week. Keep it simple and focus on your system. If you want to go deeper with goal setting, use the Language Goals and Vision Goals worksheets from the Language Habit Toolkit.

Step 2: Check Your Schedule

After you have set your initial goals, it’s helpful to look ahead at what’s on your schedule every day. Have you been realistic? Will you be able to fit in all the sessions you are hoping to complete?

Sometimes, you may find that your list of goals and tasks feels like it might give you a heart attack. Remember that it is okay to aim for what you know you can do, and move some goals to the “not this week” zone.

Productivity does not mean having to do everything all at once.

When I’m thinking about running, it can be hard to motivate myself because doing less than 5k feels lazy. But then I remember this line:

Even when you run 10 steps, you are still faster than everyone on the couch.

It is ABSOLUTELY OKAY to aim for the minimum, because everything you do builds on each other. In the next step, you’ll learn how to make progress even when you don’t have a massive goal in mind.

Step 3: Ensure Daily Contact with Your Target Language

In the Language Habit method, it is not critical to count how many minutes or hours you spend with your language learning materials each day. The first aim should be contact with your target language on a daily basis.

The Golden Rules of Daily Language Learning:

Aim for contact with your target language on a daily basis
You have to find a convenient way of finding contact - the easier, the better.
You should prioritise fun and find something you enjoy in your target language

For example, here are a few easy ways that I incorporate Welsh language into my daily routine:

• Following Welsh language accounts on social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter, so all I need to do is scroll through my feed

• Watching a new TV series or subscribing to a podcast, so I always have a next episode queued up

• Downloading different language learning apps, so I can follow my mood and spend a few minutes doing Duolingo, Clozemaster, Memrise, etc

• Leaving a magazine or book open on my breakfast table or setting the Welsh news website as my browser homepage

None of these activities are designed to take many hours of study, but they all do their part and keep my brain engaged with what Welsh looks and sounds like.

Step 4: Choose a Reward

Try writing down how you will reward yourself at the end of the week.

No matter how many minutes or hours you study, you will be working hard (even procrastination is work, right?). For ideas and thoughts on the psychology of reviewing, check out my recent podcast episode.

Great rewards can be small and low-cost like borrowing a new book from the library, enjoying a drink with friends, or going to a concert. It’s your call whether you want to make these related to your target language. Just make sure it’s something you’ll enjoy, and that you know you earned it with a great week of study.

Step 5: Raise the Bar with Bigger Language Sessions

Every day, you have the opportunity to grow your language learning routine through bigger study sessions. These are focused, dedicated times when your focus shifts to improving your language skills.

Take speaking practice for example: These are usually around an hour long and challenge you to be 100% engaged, think on your feet, speak the language, understand native speakers, and get over the mistakes you’re making. A session like that is an intense learning experience, doing wonders for your level.

Sometimes you may not have a chance to practice speaking, but your big sessions might involve working through a textbook chapter or listening and summarising a piece of audio.

Remember: You are Building a Habit

Habits have to be built over time, little by little. Just like you don’t train for a marathon by running one marathon once a month, your brain will adjust to your new language learning practice and help you get better with time.

Try to banish perfectionism, especially when you are working with the perspective of setting a weekly goal. You don’t have to be the best in order to be good.

For me, it’s rare to find time and focus for more than three big sessions in an average week. When I’m in a phase where I work on more languages, I may vary the contact days or determine that Thursdays are for French, for example. You can read more about learning more than one language in this article.

Finally, remember that you can do this! Every day spent in contact with your target language is helping you learn it.

Want to learn more about creating a productive language learning plan for yourself? Don't miss my free video training! You can sign up to watch it right here

Kerstin Cable 07/01/2020 Kerstin Cable 07/01/2020

#clearthelist January 2020: The Big Plan for 2020

Welcome to 2020! In this post, I share my language goals and progress. I’ve been making such slow progress with Chinese…should I quit? Read on to learn how I decided.

Fluent-Language-1200x1200-layout18-fluent-languages-1f16qhm.jpg

Welcome to #clearthelist, my monthly update on my language learning goals and progress.

This month’s update is a little different from the usual fare because it’s the start of a new year! I will be going deeper into my progress with the Chinese language, and have chosen to record my update as a podcast this time.

You can listen to the show right here:

Fluent Language Updates

At the end of November, my life here at Fluent Language entered an intensive phase with the launch of the new Language League membership programme. Many people joined us during the Black Friday promotion, and in December I sat down to record my first video training for these language learning heroes.

German Retreat

I followed Black Friday with another highlight: the 2020 German Retreat in Berlin! What a week. In Berlin, I met 3 hyper-motivated language learners, the most dedicated group I’ve ever seen. The participants committed to speaking German almost 24/7 as we explored the amazing stories Berlin has to offer.

I was supported at this retreat by a wonderful vegan chef who looked after us for the week, and emerged both happy and exhausted from a week of stellar teaching and learning.

My Language Goals and Progress

With such a busy season in my working life, I was not able to give myself a lot of spare learning time. So the Christmas break came in, a perfect opportunity to regroup and consider where I’m at in December 2019.

In Chinese I feel like I’ve covered most of the basics but I’m untethered. I need to get better at following a clear guiding resource. And I’m wondering if it’s worth continuing with the slow slow progress I’ve been feeling.

In Welsh I’m loving the language just as much as always. I understand and speak well now, almost fluently, and I don’t want to neglect this language too much.

My other language with regular contact is French where I can still drop into a B-level conversation and most of a podcast at any given time. I don’t actively study French, but I make sure to check in and maintain that level.

Should I Keep Learning Chinese?

There are lots of other languages I’d like to dabble in, study, enjoy. 2019 was a busy year for me, especially in the second half, and I want to stay realistic about my goals and keep languages as a source of joy in my life. This means that every now and then I consider what I’m doing.

My Chinese studies are enjoyable enough, but they haven’t given me that buzzy reward of progress at the same rate as other languages do.

There might be lots of reasons for this, here are my suspicions:

The completely different and very intricate writing system takes up a lot of learning capacity, and it feels like it doubles the study effort
Words and expressions are made up of short syllables, and in the past I’ve found that I’m better at remembering long words…I love a compound noun
I’ve not had enough listening practice, so spoken Chinese is still a book with 7 seals

In order to work out what’s next, I asked myself a few questions:

What did I come to Chinese for?

For me, it was curiosity and the wish to show myself that I can absolutely pick up an Asian language and understand it.

What have I got from Chinese so far?

I am much more aware of how the language works as a system. This is what I look for at the beginning of learning any language as it makes me feel capable of learning more. The foundation is there, and I am not a complete beginner.

What do I enjoy when learning Chinese?

Mostly, I feel like I have got good tones and pronunciation. My Skype lessons supported by a computer translation are chaotic, but they’re also fun and make me feel capable of expressing myself. I’ve even started putting together my own little sentences.

I’m enjoying Lingodeer and Assimil’s “Chinese False Beginners” workbook.

What don’t I enjoy when learning Chinese?

Obviously, no one enjoys forgetting words and making slow progress. This is the challenge. I know from my experience with other languages that this doesn’t mean I need to stop right now…in fact often this moment is where something does fall into place.

I can see how persisting a little longer would get me over that hump and provide me with the kind of skill and knowledge that means I don’t forget it all as soon as I take a break. So for now, Chinese will play a part in my 2020 plan.

My 2020 Language Plan

Planning out languages for an entire year right now feels like it would go nowhere, so let’s focus on January-March instead.

Mandarin Chinese in 2020

I’m gonna persist! At least until March, Chinese will be my focus language. As I get the feeling it would all progress much faster without the added layer of the writing system, I will skip those and focus on interaction and structure.

I recently found a used Teach Yourself Beginner’s Chinese course and will work with that to tick off those foundations. My goal is to feel more at ease in interactions and try out some role-play scenarios in my lessons.

Welsh in 2020

This language still makes me so happy, and I can’t wait to work with it at an even deeper level. I’ve finally managed to get Level 3 of Say Something in Welsh working for me. My other plans are

to go to Wales, of course!
to learn more about the song Myfanwy and use it as a cultural study opportunity
to take more Welsh classes and keep chatting to the friends I’ve made who are Welsh speakers

There is no hard-and-fast goal here except to continue and learn ever more about the language. In particular, speaking more will be great.

I’ve been reducing my use of Instagram overall so I’ve not been using my Welsh dedicated account as much…watch this space.

Onwards

My curiosity and heart are drawn to so many other languages and I don’t think I want to spend a whole year resisting all of them and getting my Chinese to a higher level. So once I hit March, it’s time to slow down on Chinese and decide which level I’d like to maintain. Or if I happen to love it by that point, I might just take a few months off Welsh? Who knows!

Here are the other languages I’m hoping to improve this year:

BSL: I loved the trial sessions I took online in October, and BSL is taught locally at most adult colleges so I could join an IRL class.
Italian: I studied Italian when I was a teenager and adored it but then swapped it for Latin and Spanish as my full-time education changed. I have been hoping to return to Italian for years and think I could hit a B level with some focus and effort this year.
Polish and Swahili: Now we’re in the more experimental choices where it may be fun to have a dabble for a while, but I know very little about these languages at this point.

What About You?

What are your plans for language learning in 2020? Leave a comment below and let me know if you enjoyed the podcast format for my personal check-in!

This post is part of the Clear The List series, the monthly language learning round-up about language learning goals and progress. You can join us! Find out more about #clearthelist, which is hosted by Shannon Kennedy and Lindsay Williams.

Kerstin Cable 26/02/2018 Kerstin Cable 26/02/2018

"It's Hard Work But It's So Worth It": Everything You Need To Know For Raising Bilingual Children

Have you ever wondered how bilingual parents do it and what the life of a bilingual family looks like? Are you excited about passing on language skills to your kids, but not sure how?

In this episode of the Fluent Show, you'll get an incredible amount of support.

Marianna du Bosq, bilingual mother in a bilingual family and host of the Bilingual Avenue podcast, talks about how to raise bilingual children. And she knows her stuff.

For a while now, I have wanted to bring you an expert on bilingual parenting on the Fluent Show, and here she is: Marianna du Bosq, host of the awesome Bilingual Avenue podcast, a show for parents who are raising bilingual children.

As a German native speaker who speaks English all day long, I find the prospect of bilingual parenting both daunting and fascinating.

Marianna's incredible energy shines through and she's got SO many tips. I came away with so much more knowledge about what bilingual parenting is really like, and I'm convinced you will too.

In the interview, we'll talk about:

How much work do you have to put in as the "one language" parent of a bilingual kid
What agreements parents should set up with each other when they decide to do this
How to create a more immersive environment for children learning languages
Whether you have to hire nannies and tutors and do all the expensive things to make this work
How to overcome negative attitudes, and how to help a parent who feels left out when they don't understand their child
How to learn a language along with your child
What the school experience is like for Marianna's daughter who is in an English-speaking school
What the most popular and effective bilingual parenting models are..and which ones are not the best ones to try
Which episodes of Bilingual Avenue you should check out next (see below)

And most importantly, why raising a bilingual child is so worth the extra work and planning - Marianna makes a passionate case towards the end of our show so don't miss that.

Step By Step To a Bilingual Family Household

"It's hard work but it's so worth it."

Marianna has worked with many families to support their language plans, and she explains it comes down to six steps.

What I found interesting here is how useful and great these are for adults just as much as children - exposure and need at the heart, and really combing through our routines in detail can uncover new opportunities for speaking another language in the busiest schedules.

1) Start with a vision - how much of a language do you want the child to know, and how do you want family life to look in your family?

2) Assess your surroundings - Where will you and your child be able to get exposure to both languages?

3) Consider what your child's day is like and make notes on where the exposure in each language is coming from

4) Make your kid's interactions with the less dominant language partner fun, interactive, and engaging. They should find themselves entertained and wanting to communicate in that target language.

5) Implement a period of "language time" in the day, when you and your child have fun together and only speak the language you determine. Sometimes you may have to negotiate with them, but around language exposure you're the boss.

6) Stay encouraging and praise your child for speaking the target language, even if they aren't perfect at first. Focus on modelling correct usage rather than pointing out flaws.

I really loved how Marianna emphasized the two most important principles for bilingual life as need and exposure. Just like in adult learning, we won't be able to go far without those two. Need and exposure are the key to a productive language experience, and no matter how old you are you'll benefit from planning those in your life.

"Every time I switch to English, that's a lost opportunity for a word I could have shown, taught and modelled in Spanish."

The Top 3 Models for Bilingual Parenting

Wondering how to get started? Here are the three most popular models of bilingual parenting, and according to Marianna these are the most successful.

"One Person, One Language", a scenario in which each parent (or other person in the child's life, like grandparent or nanny) will choose a language and make that the core of all interactions with the child.
"Minority Language at Home", a scenario in which you make your home language the language that the child isn't exposed to in the wider world. For example, a Korean-speaking family living in Germany would focus on Korean at home but German outside the home.
"Language Time", which means you select pre-determined time periods and switch languages throughout your child's life. For example, as a parent you may want to speak Spanish for 3 weeks followed by 3 weeks in French.

EPISODE SPONSORS

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Visit our sponsor Speechling, the outstanding speaking platform in over 6 languages, and use the promo code FLUENT for a 10% lifetime discount

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Are You Planning a Bilingual Family? Got a Bilingual Family Already?

I'd love to hear more about your own experiences of parenting in another language. Leave a comment below or find me on Twitter

Kerstin Cable 22/07/2016 Kerstin Cable 22/07/2016

The Book That Will Change How You See Language Learning (+ Clever Notes & Action Plan FREE)

One of the most common things I hear from language learners is

"what is the best way to do this?" You want to know how to learn a language, in as much detail as possible.

And it's hard to answer that question once and for all, for everyone. People are different, and no one's going to teach you good habits overnight. I know there are plenty of players out there telling you that their way of doing flash cards or listening to native content is the real answer.

But seriously, guys. What it really takes is that you learn to understand your own smart and capable self. That's where a book like Becoming Fluent comes in.

By the way, I've gone ahead and done a little bit of hard work for you guys. You can now enter your details below and download my book notes for Becoming Fluent along with a fab little action plan template so you know what to do next.

What Is Becoming Fluent?

Becoming Fluent is an impressive book in the field of language acquisition. It's written with the scientific background expected from academics. But that doesn't mean that language learners cannot apply it to their lives: Throughout the book, the authors mix explanations and practical tips. The book is written for adult learners who want to conquer another language, and goes into the following topics:

What do you have to do to make sure you become a successful language learner?
How can you choose the right target language to study?
What are the best
How important is it to know the culture and norms of people who speak your target language every day?
How can you get better at memorising and remembering more?

Why It's Awesome

There are many language learning books out in the market that tell you all about how wonderful the author's methods are. Most successful polyglot-style books follow this system. The logic is that if following certain steps made the author fluent in another language, then you can do the same by copying the steps.

In Becoming Fluent, I detected none of this. The authors do work from their own experience in languages but never claim to know all the answers. Each chapter is based on a new aspect of language learning and gives a neutral summary of what the science says, followed by practical advice.

I've never used or endorsed the "copy a winner" approach, and I don't think it's quite how things work for language learners. Success in language learning is about more than just playing the game right. The more you learn and discover about yourself, your habits, your preferences and strengths in language learning, the more you will approach a real ability to learn any language quickly.

So for me, Becoming Fluent was an outstanding book about language learning because it doesn't tell you what exactly to do. This one is about empowering yourself to find your own perfect method.

What Wasn't So Great

Becoming Fluent is smart and thorough and scientific, which is a big rarity in language learning. It's great to read such a sensible voice in our field. The book comes at language learning from so many different angles that some great aspects get a little lost.

I would have liked the book's action-focused tips to be highlighted or separated from the main text, making it easier to find exactly how to put new insights into action. As it is, Becoming Fluent does require you to put in a few hours for reading, but this is time well spent.

My Favourite Parts

All of chapter 2, which addresses the many lies and misleading beliefs that we hold in our heads before we even start learning. If you can only listen to/read one part of the book, this chapter is going to make a massive difference. It's a small window into how your brain trips you up.
This sentence in Chapter 3:

"The REAL test of how well you speak a language is how easily you communicate when you are using that language, and the pleasure you derive from speaking it."

The ideas behind common ground and the zone of proximal development, which are all about how you think of how good you are, how good other people are in comparison, and how you can get better step-by-step.
The focus on learning and speaking a language like an adult, not a kid or teenager. This focus builds great insights, for example the understanding that it's more important to be yourself in another language than to sound "exactly like all the native speakers".
The image of tutors and helpers as a Sherpa, i.e. Someone who's climbing the mountain with you, showing you the way, teaching you about the process as you're doing it.
The concept of cognitive overload, which explains exactly why and how and when you get tired.

Overall, I am very happy that I read Becoming Fluent and recommend you check it out too. I ordered my copy from the local library and am very glad that it's in their catalogue now. You can get your own printed copy in the same way, or order it from Amazon (here's the US link and the UK link).

Don’t forget, you can grab my full book notes (9 pages!) by clicking the button below. They include your own action plan template and a checklist of books to check out, so next you can be prepared on your next visit to the library or to Amazon.

Don’t forget to sign up here to get the free notes and action plan.

Kerstin Cable 07/01/2016 Kerstin Cable 07/01/2016

11 Short & Sweet Tips To Help You Learn a Language in 2016

Ahh, happy new year to all of you! Even though the last two weeks have been quite busy, I did take a few minutes to note down my resolutions for the next year.

One thing that struck me this year is something I had not realised before. There is this huge difference between goals and resolutions. A goal is something specific, concrete, something that you can achieve and then feel good about your success. A resolution is deeper and comes from your emotional centre. It's about what you really want to change in your life.

Language Learning Resolutions vs Goals

Resolutions are often ambitious and come out of the desire to improve something and feel better as a result. Here are some great language learning resolutions:

To become fearless in the face of talking to strangers in a foreign language
To feel comfortable watching foreign TV without subtitles
To become less self-critical
To build a habit of reviewing vocabulary every single week

Success comes from combining ambition and goal. So once your ambition is set, think about how to break it down into goals - how much can you do in 3 months, how much can you do in a week? Documenting all those goals will give you a clear roadmap, with the resolution as your fuel and the ambition as the destination.

How to Start Reaching That Language Learning Ambition

The following set of tips is a summary of the best advice that Lindsay and I discussed in Episode 30 of the Creative Language Learning Podcast. You can listen to the episode to find out how we go about learning our own target languages, Japanese and Welsh.

1. Work With a Diary or Calendar

Automating a new habit is such a fantastic way to stop negotiating with yourself. If your diary usually has things like doctor's appointments and meetings with your boss in it, how can you question its authority? So use that rock in your life and start adding little bits of language study time, for example coaching sessions or vocab reviews.

2. Don't Rely on Empty Time

Instead of hoping for that Duolingo-at-the-bus-stop moment, set some time aside as a regular appointment with yourself. Lindsay sets time aside from 7am to 8am so she can enjoy an hour of language learning where she can do what she wants to do. I'm less consistent but have a Sunday afternoon study hour where I work on learning my languages.

3. Don't Be Quiet About Your Resolution

It's too easy to commit to a big resolution without even telling people about it. But when it comes to actually doing stuff, it helps to look out for other people that want to do the same. As language learners, this is more true for us than any other people. You want to learn a language, so you want to talk to people. Get started with the "people" part of it now and find a language learning buddy or a tutor to support you.

4. Build on Existing Habits

If there is a slot in your day that you repeat regularly, you have found a great opportunity to learn your language. For example, I know that every morning I sit on the stairs in my house and drink a coffee. The coffee is already a fixed part of my day, so adding a daily Welsh practice or reviewing one page of my learning notebook won't take too much willpower. Instead of going on Facebook before you drop off to sleep, could you spend 10 minutes with the flashcards?

5. Make Your Chunks Big and Small Enough

When you are studying at beginner level, it's too difficult to aim for passing the big C2 immigration exam. When you are advanced but haven't got travel money for the next 6 months, it's too unrealistic to aim for that in-country conversation with a native speaker. These goals need to be broken down so that you can see the end in sight of your current project. What can you do today so that it's a bit easier for you to get to the vision tomorrow?

6. Be Super Precise

Precision is essential for setting a good language learning goal. You must define exactly what it is that you are aiming for. Fluency is a vague desire, but what you need is more than that. Your goals have to be measurable in precise terms, so try to zoom in on those step-by-step achievements. For example, I tend to avoid putting my goals in terms of "having a conversation". Instead, I may want to finish Lesson 8 in my textbook next week or say 15 new sentences based on what I already know. The key is to DO something that will make you feel good when you've done it. Imagining your success does not count.

7.Once the Course is Set, Do Not Question It

It can be so tempting to set a big ambitious goal and leave a little bit of wriggle-room open for yourself when things don't quite work out. When you are setting your New Year's Resolution, is it so ambitious that you already know you're going to fail? If yes, then revise it. Halve it. Make it achievable so that you know you'll be committed.

This is where writing a goal down and sharing it come in handy. Write it in the comments of this blog article as a first step! Set yourself a reminder to come back to it. Whatever you do, don't just go away and forget what excited you enough to get started.

8. Repeat Your Successes

Meeting a goal doesn't mean that you'll never have to do it again. It is the first step to building an awesome new habit. So once you've had your first Skype lesson, you're one step further along the way. But you're not there. You may never be there.

Last year, my New Year's Resolution was to become a more punctual person. But that is an ambition and not a goal. A goal would have been to say "I will turn up 10 minutes early for every appointment I have tomorrow". And for the first day, I did just that. I was super proud! Now imagine what would have happened if I'd just stopped caring after that goal. I'd be just as late as I always was. But if I met the goal every single day, I'd start building new pathways and habits and become a more punctual person.

9. Identify What's Driving You

Behind all our ambitions for becoming a polyglot, more fluent, a better student, a more productive person, there is an assumption that you have a problem right now. It's extremely important to work out what drives your ambition and to identify this personal issue, so that you can start observing the progress you are making. Even if you don't meet every single goal or milestone along the way, are you learning more about yourself? Are you making progress? Are you trying out a new way of thinking?

10. Observe the Progress

It's very common to feel like you are falling behind within the first few weeks of the new year energy. But could you critique yourself in a positive way instead of being self-critical? Don't forget that failing to meet a hard goal doesn't signal a major failure. I'm reminded of Ron Gullekson's recent blog post where he spoke about failing the German exam he had spent months preparing for. Does that mean Ron is a complete German failure? No! He went through intense preparation, so even he still benefited from a tight learning schedule and improved his written German.

Finally, here is a great tip if you feel like this time is not right for resolutions, but you still want to welcome 2016 in the right way:

11. Set a Theme, Not a Resolution

If you didn't have the energy or courage to set yourself a specific goal, the theme for your year, month, or week can act as a wonderful guide to take its place. It also helps you focus on appreciating what you have got right now without becoming too self-critical. As I am entering a new year in my language studies and my teaching business, my theme will be "Figure it out!", a message to myself that giving up isn't what I'm here for.

What Are Your New Year's Resolutions?

So now it's over to you:

What are your plans?
How are you going to make sure you stay committed?
Have you found a buddy yet?

No matter if you have a language learning resolution or something else, I'm looking forward to reading about what you're planning in the comments below.

For more tips about how to learn a language the right way, check out Lindsay's new course Successful Self Study or my popular books Fluency Made Achievable and The Vocab Cookbook.