How to Create a Language Learning Routine
Kebumen, Indonesia
(Photo by Dikaseva on Unsplash)
Creating a language learning routine can transform your learning process, making it more rewarding and propelling you towards your goals.
But trying to imitate the routines of others won't help.
🔑 What matters is creating the language learning routine that's right for you.
In other words, your language learning routine should align with your goals, interests, and have the flexibility to adapt to the ebbs and flows of the rest of your life.
In this article, I'll show you how to create a language learning routine that works for you.
Table of Contents
☕️ How to Learn Any Language
Before we look at how to create a language learning routine, it’s important to understand the fundamental elements required for learning any language, as these will guide your decisions as you shape your routine.
I call these :
🌊 Passive Learning
Immersing in authentic content that first-language speakers would watch, listen to, or read - and doing this as often as possible.
Fortunately, the passive nature of immersion means you can attach this to things you already do, such as your commute, cooking, cleaning, or exercise.
⛩️ Active Learning
Taking time out of your day to actively learn the language through learning whole phrases or sentences.
I call this Sentence Collecting, but you might have come across other terms like 'chunking' or 'sentence mining'. They all boil down to more or less the same thing; learning whole phrases or sentences.
This is much more effective than trying to learn individual words, as learning a phrase or sentence provides you with multiple words in one go, improves your understanding of the grammar contained within that phrase, and gives you phrases you can use in conversation with first-language speakers.
🪷 Practice
This is simply having conversations with first-language speakers - be it through typed messages, audio messages, voice calls, or even in person if you happen to live in a country, region, or community where the language you’re learning is spoken.
Practice is the most natural and authentic way of applying one of the most effective memory techniques: using or applying what you've learnt.
🪴 How to Learn Any Language: Free 40 Minute Video + eBook
If you'd like to learn more about these fundamental principles of language learning, check out How to Learn Any Language: Free 40 minute Video + eBook. They’re the principles that provide the foundation for how I learn languages, including Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Mandarin Chinese, and Vietnamese.
🪷 The Benefits of Having a Language Learning Routine
Creating a structured language learning routine is akin to planting a garden. It requires regular attention, but the rewards are plentiful.
When your routine for language learning becomes as natural as brushing your teeth, you'll find it integrates seamlessly into your life, much like a favourite novel you can't put down.
Here’s why having a routine can transform your language journey.
☕️ Become Consistent
Being consistent is one of the biggest challenges people face when learning a language. It's also one of the most important factors in determining whether you achieve your goals.
By nurturing a routine that's right for you, you'll be able to consistently learn a language without it feeling like a burden.
🪴 Boost Confidence Through Progress
Consistent routines don't just keep you on track; they build confidence.
Aside from the enjoyment and belief you’ll gain from seamlessly adding passive learning to the things you already do, you’ll also develop great momentum and confidence every time you complete your active learning for a given day.
When you complement this with a strategy like tracking your progress, your routine for language learning and your language learning itself will start to mutually spur the other forward.
✨ Learn More About Yourself
Although you probably have a clear understanding of your own personality, you always learn more about yourself when you face new challenges or experience new situations.
Given the importance of adapting your routine whenever necessary, you’ll have regular opportunities to assess how you’re coping with different workloads and pressures, as well as how you’re responding to different styles of resources for learning languages.
This means that creating a routine for language learning doesn’t only improve your efforts in the present; it’s also the chisel you use to sculpt even better language learning routines that resonate and bring you joy in the future.
🧘 Avoid Burnout
Many people throw themselves into the challenge of language learning by setting off at an unsustainable pace. Their work, family, and social commitments soon catch up, and a period of overwhelm and burnout is usually the result. Not only does this destroy motivation for language learning, but it also negatively impacts mental and physical health.
🔑 Having a language learning routine that adapts to the ebbs and flows of the rest of your life will help you avoid this.
☕️ Steps to Create an Effective Language Learning Routine
As you work your way through these steps, remember to shape each of them in a way that’s right for you.
Ninh Bình, Việt Nam
(Photo by JB on Unsplash)
🏅 Setting Clear and Realistic Goals
Setting goals that are both specific and realistic is one of the most powerful ways to sustain your motivation and enjoy the process.
These can function as steps and milestones :
Examples of goals that work as steps
Immerse in the language for 30 minutes each day
Have one conversation in the language each day
Learn three phrases each day
These goals are specific in the sense that they encourage you to sustain your passive learning, active learning, and practice each day.
You can also adjust them as much as you like to ensure they’re realistic for your own schedule.
Examples of goals that works as milestones :
Write a list for the food shop
Be able to talk about the weather
Be able to order tea or coffee
Understand a dialogue on a certain topic or situation
Understand the gist of a news report, radio show, or podcast
Read a book in the language
Be able to have a flowing conversation
These goals function as milestones because they provide specific targets to aim for and measure your progress.
And of course, to make your milestones as meaningful and realistic as possible they should align with your interests and schedule.
By setting specific and realistic goals, you not only illuminate the path you’ll follow to learn a language, but you also make it an even more rewarding endeavour.
The feeling of fulfillment when you reach a goal is the perfect inspiration and motivation for continuing with your routine for learning languages.
If you’d like to learn more about setting goals for language learning, I go into even more detail in this article about how to learn multiple languages.
If you’re interested in one of the most unique types of goals - New Year’s Resolutions - then I’d recommend the article I wrote on making language learning your New Year’s Resolution.
🌊 Adding Passive Learning
Huasteca Potosina, Xilitla, Cd Valles, San Luis Potosi, Mexico
(Photo by Guido HN on Unsplash)
Passive learning is the easiest to incorporate with your language learning routine.
Simply attach it to the things you already do.
Here are some examples of things that go well with immersion :
Having a shower
Having breakfast
Your commute
Exercise
Housework
Cooking
Painting
DIY
Replying to emails (listen to music)
Relaxing with a series or film in the evening
Find resources for immersion on topics you’re interested in and then enjoy the new lease of life you feel when doing the things you already do.
⛩️ Adding Active Learning
Itsukushima Shrine, Hatsukaichi-shi, Japan
(Photo by Nicki Eliza Schinow on Unsplash)
Active learning doesn’t require hours of study each day.
Our natural concentration levels and the intensive nature of active study mean that a longer time does not always lead to better results.
In fact, even just five or ten minutes a day is fine if that’s all you have free at the moment. You can always increase this once your schedule allows.
If you’d like to find more spare time right away, you could try waking up fifteen minutes earlier each day. This technique is advocated by the Zen Buddhist monk Shunmyō Masuno, author of Zen : The Art of Simple Living.
Regardless of how much spare time you have on an average day, I’d recommend thinking about when would be the best time for you to do active learning. Consider the following factors :
Do you feel more energetic first thing in the morning, at lunchtime, or in the evening?
Are there any particular places you feel especially focused? This could be anywhere - such as your favourite café, a desk at home, or a local library
When are there gaps in your daily schedule?
How much time do you have for active learning on a given day? Don’t worry if on some days you aren’t able to do as much active learning
Another thing I’d recommend doing is associating your active learning with a certain location, setting, or time. This will make it easier for active learning to feel like a natural part of your daily routine - not just your language learning routine.
For example, you could make a habit of going to your favourite café on lunch breaks to do your active learning each day. Or you could wake up at 5am like Olly Richards to complete your active learning before work.
🔑 If you add active learning to your routine in a way that suits your energy levels, schedule, and preferred learning environments, it will become a habit you enjoy.
🪷 Adding Practice
How easy it is to fit practice into your routine depends on the types of conversations you’re having with first-language speakers.
if you’re text or audio messaging on apps like Tandem and HelloTalk, you can conveniently reply to these whenever you have a spare few minutes throughout the day
if you’re arranging voice or video calls with a tutor or language exchange partner, you’ll need to consider when and how long you could have a conversation for
It’s also worth remembering that if you’re lucky enough to live in a country, region, or community where your target language is spoken, then you’ll get plenty of natural opportunities to practice anyway.
⛵️ Using 'Empty Time'
Iguazu Falls, straddling the borders of Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina
(Photo by Jeffrey Eisen on Unsplash)
Although it can be a bit scary to ponder just how much time we waste scrolling through our phones, this actually presents a wonderful opportunity for improving your routine for language learning.
Think about all the ‘empty time’ you have each day; those spare five minutes here and there as you wait for the bus or the start of your shift at work.
🧉 Example : One Hour A Day
Your phone will be able to tell you how much time this amounts to each day, but let’s say for the sake of a (conservative) example that it was one hour a day.
That’s one hour a day you could use for your language learning routine.
To put that into perspective for your language learning journey, that’s :
7 hours a week
30 hours a month
365 hours a year
You could passively learn by reading an article whilst you wait for your morning tea to brew.
You could actively learn some new phrases whilst you’re waiting for the train.
You could reply to messages from language exchange partners whilst you wait to get your hair cut.
🔑 Best of all, not only is this a lot of extra time towards achieving your goals, but it’s also time that you already have.
You don't need to sacrifice time with family or friends, and you don’t need to wait for your working life to become less busy.
📝 Planning Your Routine
Chùa Bái Đính (Bái Đính Pagoda), Ninh Bình, Việt Nam
(Photo by Jonathan Ouimet on Unsplash)
The way you plan your routine is very personal to you.
Some people prefer pen and paper, others prepare apps and software.
Some people prefer meticulous plans, others prefer outlines.
You’ve probably come across videos on YouTube where people walkthrough spreadsheets, detailed plans, or elaborate templates on apps like Notion.
This is worth doing if you enjoy that sort of granular detail when planning a routine, but don’t feel you have to if it’s not your cup of tea.
Given the importance of flexibility and adapting your routine according to changes in other areas of your life, detailed plans can actually be counterproductive.
You’ll often find that changes in your work schedule or social commitments mean you have to edit these plans, and the more detailed your plans, the more frequently you’ll have to edit them.
Personally, I usually just use Apple Notes to keep a very general outline of my ideal routine, and I will make small tweaks to this every now and then according to how busy I am.
Like many, I have a lot of other work and study commitments besides language learning, and so keeping a general outline that’s easy to edit suits me well.
But if your spare time for side hustles or studying is only going to be dedicated to language learning, or if you find that having detailed plans nourish your motivation, then go for it.
🔑 Make your plans as detailed or as general as you want.
🐢 Flexibility in Routine
Life tends to throw curveballs, and it's essential your routine bends with them to avoid breaking.
It’s advice that doesn’t require much more elaboration. But it’s vital for creating a language learning routine.
Maybe swap a morning session with an evening one or adapt your focus based on your mood or energy levels. This way, your routine feels like a supportive friend, not a rigid taskmaster.
Flexibility can prevent burnout, allowing you techniques and strategies for learning multiple languageso return to your studies refreshed and eager, not just dragging your heels.
🌏 Creating a Routine for Learning Multiple Languages
Learning more than one language at the same time is worthwhile if it aligns with your goals and interests. But with the potential for greater rewards comes a greater chance of burnout and even confusion, so it’s important to create a routine that reduces these risks.
I’ve covered in detail a wide range of techniques and strategies for learning multiple languages, based on years of experience. By implementing these with your language learning routine, you’ll be able to get the most out of the process when learning multiple languages.
🪴 Tracking and Celebrating Progress
Seeing how far you’ve come and rewarding your achievements are important.
✅ You get a wonderful sense of fulfillment and appreciation for all the time and effort you’ve put in.
🧘 It nourishes your motivation to continue learning languages.
There are various ways you can keep track of your progress.
🍵 Keeping a Language Learning Journal
Fujiyoshida, Japan
(Photo by David Edelstein on Unsplash)
One of the simplest yet most effective ways to track your progress is by maintaining a language learning journal.
It's like a scrapbook for your mind, where every new word or phrase becomes a cherished memento. Why not jot down vocabulary you've conquered, grammar rules that finally clicked, or that joyous moment when you understood a full conversation in your target language?
Consider using a journal to:
Record daily or weekly achievements: Note down new vocabulary, grammar insights, or successful conversations.
Reflect on challenges: Acknowledge difficult areas and set goals for improvement.
Include pictures or multimedia elements: Paste articles, draw charts, or stick snippets of text you come across.
🔑 Your language learning journal can be whatever you want it to be.
When learning Vietnamese, I didn’t use a language learning journal as such, but I did use a notebook for my active learning. Aside from enjoying the medium itself, it also provided a natural way to keep track of my progress.
If you’re interested in the language learning process or would like some inspiration, check out the article and video I created about my journey learning Spanish.
🎆 Celebrating Milestones
Autumn in Hà Nội, Việt Nam
(Photo by the Author)
It’s important to celebrate your achievements.
Whether this simply means taking a quiet moment to reflect on how far you’ve come, having a takeaway with a film, or treating yourself to a meal out, you’ll know what works best for you.
What matters is that you let yourself appreciate the progress you’ve made and the effort it took to get there.
One of the joys of learning a language is that you get to experience some of these moments again and again.
For example, I go to markets to buy fruit or vegetables in Hà Nội several times a week. Every time I go, I chat to the people there. Some of them are familiar faces, and others I meet for the first time. It’s always either interesting or enjoyable, and usually both.
Every time I chat with people at the market, I drive home on my moped feeling incredibly grateful to be able to have that experience.
That feeling is my small way of celebrating milestones. And it’s this feeling that motivates me to keep learning languages.
🪴 Conclusion
People relax on boats, Tokyo, Japan
(Photo by Yu Kato on Unsplash)
All of the advice I’ve given you in this article about creating a routine, setting goals, and planning your learning can be helpful for the language learning process.
But to finish, it’s worth mentioning that these are all things that serve your learning. Not the other way round.
They’re only useful if approach them with flexibility.
Creating a routine is great, but it’s just to facilitate your learning.
Setting goals is important, but don’t obsess over them.
Planning your learning is helpful, but plans will have to change.
What really matters is following an approach that includes the fundamental elements of language learning :
🌊 Passive learning
⛩️ Active learning
🪷 Practice
If you do this whilst focusing on content you’re interested in and resources you enjoy, you’ll naturally find yourself flowing along a flexible routine for language learning.
If you ever have any questions about language learning, please feel free to email me at contact@howtolearnlanguages.info, and I’ll get back to you promptly. I’d be more than happy to help.
Enjoy learning languages 🪴
