A language learners’ forum

Carmody wrote:Well, I think one major omission to this conversation is the absence of discussion of how to keep one's significant other happy while pouring all this time into language study.

If you plan ahead, and say you are a night person, select a partner who is a morning person; or vice versa. This gives you several hours either in the morning or evening; and best of all, a time when you are most alert.

How to Make Language Learning a Part of Your Daily Routine?

rdearman wrote:So how do you do it?

EDIT: How did you make it a habit? Do you get up earlier, do you always study after you have a shower? Do you always study after they go to bed?

I don't enjoy playing videogames or things in video format (shows, YouTube) much, nor have any social media aside from a couple language-related places (like this forum), so somehow I don't find it too hard to basically fill most of my free time with language-related activities (or linguistics reading, but I wouldn't count that as language learning really). I squeeze study time during my commute, during breaks at work (unless I'm talking pleasantries with my coworkers), and then get home and just do more of it... An odd lifestyle maybe, and one that sometimes creates some feelings of being left out since I tend not to know the current shows, movies or the current controversial news when people talk about them, but oh well, I enjoy it.

How do you keep doing it every day? How do you keep your motivation high?

I can't really explain my motivation... Maybe I could say languages are just that much of an aesthetic experience to me.

Carmody wrote:Well, I think one major omission to this conversation is the absence of discussion of how to keep one's significant other happy while pouring all this time into language study.

I believe an extensive amount of subtle social engineering is necessary to put the hours in on the one hand while at the same time keep others happy.

My trick is to only date other language learners... You don't need to justify language study time and practice time to someone who is similar. I find that it works and that them being a language learner is enough even if you don't have any target languages in common.

English is my second language, and I'm still struggling to learn it.

- Read / listen to news in English
- Make friends with native speakers so I can write, and/or speak.
- Read books in English. My favorite one.
- Visit our language forum. This will inspire me.
- English is/was my working language.
When I was in Shanghai, almost all of our emails were written in English, and we had morning meeting in English with our General Manager who was American, and then Canadian.

Carmody wrote:Well, I think one major omission to this conversation is the absence of discussion of how to keep one's significant other happy while pouring all this time into language study.

I believe an extensive amount of subtle social engineering is necessary to put the hours in on the one hand while at the same time keep others happy.

We need to study language yes, but others around us have needs as well, and to ignore others and set and adhere to stringent language learning schedules could be damaging to relationships.

I started a thread on this topic some time ago but it never went anywhere; which itself was interesting. Nobody thought it worthy of attention; I guess.

I'm single atm and the last long relationship I had I neglected language learning the whole time, so I'm all ears. I just need to find a lady interested in languages, or who at least knows one I'm studying and will watch TV in it...

Carmody wrote:Well, I think one major omission to this conversation is the absence of discussion of how to keep one's significant other happy while pouring all this time into language study.

We have a big dining room table and an open floorplan. While it is not elegant and not best for quality study, working at a corner of the table keeps me available for the wife and a 3 year old and a 6 year old.

It also helps that my wife likes it when I "stay sharp".

For the early morning studiers, does anybody start preparing the night before? This can mean getting materials ready, or even have an idea for what will be on the next days agenda?

I need to do more of this. When I was using Assimil and Duolingo as the primary means of daily work the workflow was rather pre-determined. However, leaving those methods, there are times when I sit down with the coffee at 4:00am and think "I do not know what I am doing today."

For the early morning studiers, does anybody start preparing the night before? This can mean getting materials ready, or even have an idea for what will be on the next days agenda?

Not just for early morning studiers. One of the reason's I try to do my book study at the dining table after dinner is that it gets cleaned by another habit. The study materials are in a specific place, so when the time comes, I can just get after it.

I also end study sessions with planning the next session. If I sit down to study and ask myself, 'what am I going to do today', I know that I'm not going to study. This pretty much goes for work, gardening, home improvement and everything else in my life. Some people can wing it, I can't.

I think answering the question, 'what's next?' is what makes courses so appealing and getting to advanced in a TL so difficult the first time.