A little over 2 months ago I decided to start re-learning French to prepare for my trip there in 2022 :). I figure if I start now I will be fairly comfortable by that time. Unlike in the past when I declare I want to learn or re-learn a language I’ve stuck to it. I’ve been practicing every week day for 2 months.
How did I do it? I made it part of my routine. I wake up, make tea and start reading my finance blogs that have updated overnight. Then I read reddit.com/r/keto to get me pumped for another day of keto living. Then I open duolingo. I’ve used duolingo in the past and loved it, but was never able to keep it up despite their daily reminder emails (I just turned them off lol). Not that this is cemented as part of my routine it’s something I must check off my list before starting my day and has been successfully integrated into my life.
For this new round of learning French I’ve also been trying a new approach: instead of reading a lesson I usually just jump in and try to learn as I go based on context. If I can’t figure it out duolingo does give you reminders of what words are, but I try to just guess the first time even though not getting a point doesn’t feel good 🙂 I know I’m learning. I also try to do the exercises as fast as I can so there’s no time to think really and I won’t just translate the french into english in my head. That seems to have helped. I feel like I’m learning better than I would from a book – though I’m fully aware that I’m learning written french and speaking it in a conversation is often different.
Overall I’m really proud of myself. This takes only about 5 minutes a day and duolingo claims I’m already 26% fluent in French after 2 months. I almost feel more confident in it now than I did after 7 years of learning it in school and that’s crazy.
Apps and routines for the win!
Wow excellent progrès en seulement 2 mois! Bravo :). Bonne continuation!
This is really great, every time I try to form an habit, the ones that stick seem to be when I scheduled them in my routine.
Merci!!! I’m glad I’m not the only one. I thought I didn’t have the patience to stick with things, but it turns out I just have to trick myself into it!