Make it attractive

Let’s not kid ourselves. Learning a language is hard, it is. Those who make it look easy are not showing you the time and effort that goes into those results. Behind the scenes they got tactics to deliver the goods they are seeking to obtain: Fluency!

The secret is out though, and this post and more to follow will reveal the stratagem associated with what’s necessary for your success. It’s actually not a secret but something you do every single day of your life, most of the time automatically because your brain knows the process and the activity. You’ve done it so many times before, it’s your habits! But we don’t always take notice of what they are. Basically, your whole day revolves around them.

The start of habit formation

Make it attractive! If you want to learn a language you need to make it attractive to do. The easiest example is when you put yourself in situations where you have no choice but to use the language in order to communicate. It can be an isolated incident going to the doctor or an everyday occurrence like grocery shopping at the local market. Those are attractive reasons to practice and learn the language you need to communicate. As we go for the fluency star we then have to find some other attractive reasons. Here we go….

• Navigate your phone/computer in the language
• Make a shopping list in that language
• Watch a short video in that language without subtitles. Emphasis on short.
• Read a couple pages of a kids book in that language

Those are examples of how to get started when it’s the relative beginning. Here are some when we are trying to become fluent:

• Have a conversation with a native on a difficult subject, not small talk(politics, the economy, lifestyle choices etc.
• Read a challenging article or book just a few pages each day, no more. Tell someone about it.
• DO one difficult grammar exercise each day and be consistent, don’t miss days.
• Watch the news in the language, everyday, just for 10min.
• Read a book with conversational English, fiction preferably. Just a page a day. This provides exposure to everyday language that is used between people when in dialogue.

There’s more but those are a good start, wouldn’t you say? they all total up to about an hour/day. If you add up all that over a year….BOOM! The results are sure to come. It’s all about your daily habits. More to follow on this.

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