New Year is a time when many people make resolutions or set goals for the year ahead. This year I have decided to focus my New Year’s resolutions on language learning, as this is something that I really want to improve this year. Here are the three goals that I aim to achieve:
1. Practise little and often. I’m going to try and find little ways to get more language practice every day, for example writing my to-do lists and shopping lists in the language I’m learning and setting my phone to that language. I already follow lots of social media in my target language and I find that this is a good way of reading short pieces of language frequently. I’m going to continue to do this and try to watch at least one video in the language a day to get some listening practice too!
2. Take as many opportunities as possible to practise. Improving your language skills is something that will only happen if you put in the effort and reach out for opportunities! There are so many opportunities available, including videos, podcasts and articles freely available on the internet. I’m going to take the opportunity to listen to or read these whenever I have free time, for example when waiting for the bus to come or for my dinner to cook. I also currently have the great opportunity of living abroad in the country where the language I’m learning is spoken, so I’m going to make the effort to go to local events and talks where I can take advantage of the listening and speaking practice.
3. Have confidence! This is particularly aimed at my speaking skills. So much of your speaking ability is down to how much confidence you have! I’m going to try as hard as I can to think positively and believe in my language ability. When I’m speaking the language and want to say something but am not sure if I know how to say it correctly, I’m just going to go for it! If I do say it wrong, hopefully I will be corrected and I can learn from my mistakes.
What are your New Year language learning resolutions?
