10 Ways to Integrate Learning a Foreign Language Into Your Daily Routine - Classy Career Girl

10 Ways to Integrate Learning a Foreign Language Into Your Daily Routine Being bilingual or trilingual can seriously boost your job prospects. However, learning a language can feel like an insurmountable task. Unless youre in school studying it academically, you dont have a chance, right? Actually, anyone can learn a new language without having to make huge changes in their day to day life. All you have to do is add in some small new habits every day, and youll be picking up vocabulary in no time. If you need some ideas for how to incorporate language learning habits into your everyday life, read on. 10 Ways to Integrate Learning a Foreign Language Into Your Daily Routine 1. Speak As Much As You Can in Your Target Language No matter how much you read in your target language, youre only getting half of the experience. Youre learning how to associate the written words with the right translations in your head, but youre not learning how to pronounce them. Try saying things in your target language out loud. For example, if youre reading an article in the language, read it out loud. If youre listening to a song, you can sing along. You can even speak along with practice programs online, or read aloud from practice text books. Speaking with a native speaker is usually the best way of practicing, but these techniques work well too. For more learning materials in the language youre learning, check out the free downloads from Living Language, which is a wonderful resource for all sorts of materials in a variety of languages. And, theyre always adding more materials, so you can continue to learn and develop your language skills. 2. Keep a Notebook On Hand Having a phone, tablet or laptop with you is great, but theyre not actually ideal for language learning. If you want to get the most from it, you should keep a notebook and pen with you at all times. Using a notebook in learning makes you connect more closely with the material. There is a plenty of times when you could use a notebook when youre learning a new language. Its a great place to note down any words that you couldnt summon up straight away, in order to look them up later. You can also write short journal entries in it to strengthen your writing skills. If youd like, you can type up your writing later, ready for editing by a native speaker. 3. Use Language Apps and Games Mobile apps are an amazing way to get all sorts of things done. You can do your banking, pay your bills, and organize your diary with them, so why not practice your language skills? There are a plethora of language apps available online such as Duolingo or HelloTalk, so have a look around and try some out. A lot of them work by running very short tests, or games to help you practice your writing and speaking skills. Theres even some that let you compete against your friends  if many of you are learning at once. The best part of this is that you can do it anywhere. If youre on a bus, waiting at the doctors office, or checking your phone during your break at work, you can check in on the apps. Theyre a good replacement for time wasting apps, too. 4. Find Some Helpful Writing Tips All languages have certain rules to help everyone understand what is being said. One of the hardest parts of learning a new language is learning these rules, especially in your writing. It can slow you down and can be rather tough. One way of helping yourself is to find some helpful writing tips that you can keep on hand when youre writing. Find the tips that help you most and compile them somewhere you can check quickly. Then, when youre writing in your target language, you can consult them with confidence. When you need a little bit of extra assistance from a real person, EssayRoo has assignment writers who can help with complete content creation, if youre stuck for time, or proofreading services, if you want a professional set of eyes to look over your work. 5. Get Your Notifications in Your Target Language While youre thinking about your phone, why not change your notifications to send you push notifications in your target language? Dont panic, you dont have to set your whole phone to that language. That would be overwhelming and therefore not helpful. Instead, set certain apps to your target language. For example, you could get notifications from your news app in that language, or from your email app. Choose something that youll need to check regularly, but wont stop you getting things done if youre struggling with the vocabulary. [RELATED: 5 Ways To Gain New Skills and Experiences] 6. Use Media in Your Target Language You can use formal learning tools such as a grammar guide and a phrase book to pick up your target language, and they are certainly two tools you should have in your arsenal. However, youre not going to hear that language spoken in context through formal tools. The best way to hear to hear unfiltered, genuine language is to seek it out. Look or media in your target language and spend time with it. This can mean listening to podcasts, watching film and TV, or reading books in that language. The more you spend time with it, the more youll take in as you do so. 7. Use Those Spare Moments to Study Theres always a few spare moments in the day when you could be studying. Instead of browsing Facebook aimlessly or watching ten more minutes of TV, use those moments to brush up on your skills. Ten minutes doesnt sound like much, but they do add up very quickly. If you want to test out your typing skills in your newly acquired language, check out the Easy Word Count, where you can time your typed words per minute easily. 8. Do a Little At a Time Youre a busy person, so you cant be spending hours every day studying your target language. Youve got other things to do, so it can feel hopeless at times. However, thats not the case. If you use the above tip, youll be doing a little studying at a time. This is just as, if not more effective, than having marathon studying sessions. The key is to do it regularly. If you keep up with it, the skills will become easier to acquire. Before long, youll find that you can understand and speak more of your target language than youd think. 9. Enter a Writing Contest Are you of a competitive nature? Then this could be a tip you could try. There are always plenty of writing contests available online to enter. Do a search for contests that are happening in your target language. Once you find one you like the look of, try entering it. This has two great outcomes for you. Firstly, youll get some great practice in writing in your target language, which is invaluable. Also, youll be in with a chance of winning a prize! Theyre usually cash or scholarships, so if youre a student theyre always worth entering. And, if you need a little assistance with properly formatting your resources and citations used in your written work, Cite It In can help you put together your references perfectly. For a little extra grammar and overall writing help, Australian Help has a library of helpful resources, including information on avoiding different types of plagiarism. 10. Practice With a Native Speaker If youre looking to get a scholarship to study your target language, the best way to get your skills sharpened is to try them on a native speaker. No app, program or book will be able to give you the feedback that native speaker can give you. The best way to work with them is to set a regular session, perhaps once a week. You could ask them to edit any written work youve done, or chat with them and ask them to critique your skills in real time. Its the best and most authentic way to learn. A good tip for finding a partner is to find someone whos looking to learn your native language. That way, you can both help each other. PhD Writers from UK Writings can be an incredible resource for reviewing your written work to check for accuracy of information, as well as grammatical and spelling errors. Take advantage of their knowledge and expertise to perfect your written compositions. Native speakers for a number of languages are also available through Busuu, which offers full language courses as well as assistance from native speakers to help you learn in as little as 10 minutes a day. Its much easier than youd think to learn a new language. You also dont need hours in the day to learn it. Take up these small habits, and youll have it mastered in no time.