| Hey, everyone! Welcome to the Monthly Review, the monthly show on language learning |
| Where you discover new learning strategies, motivational tips, study tools, and resources. |
| By the way, all the lessons and bonuses you’re about to see can be downloaded for free on our website. |
| So, click the link in the description right now to sign up for your free lifetime account. |
| Okay, today’s topic is: |
| 5 Ways to Make Sure You Start on the Right Foot with Language Learning |
| Ever wondered if you’re on the right path with your language learning? Or, if you’re studying the right things and taking the right steps? Well, today you’ll learn how to start on the right foot with your language learning journey. We’ll talk about… |
| One: Why You Must Know Your Reason For Learning the Language. |
| Two: How to Set Fail-Proof Goals &Rewards |
| Three: How to Match Your Daily Routine to Your Learning… So That You Don’t Struggle with the Actual Learning |
| Four: Why You Need Anchor Points for Long Term Motivation |
| And Five: How to Improve Faster with Ongoing Assessment |
| But first, listen up! Here are this month’s new lessons and resources. |
| First — The “Connecting Thoughts” Conversation Cheat Sheet |
| Do you know how to connect ideas in your target language? |
| With this cheat sheet, you’ll learn the sentence structure “X, but Y,” plus must-know adverbs for connecting ideas. So download it for free right now. |
| Second — The “How to Stay Motivated with Language Learning” eBook. |
| If you want to know some secrets and tricks to staying motivated, so that you can stay consistent with your language journey and finally become fluent, you’ll want this eBook. Download it right now. |
| Third — Can you talk about herbs and spices in your target language? |
| Learn how to say ”garlic,” ”ginger,” ”pepper,” and much more, with this quick vocabulary bonus. |
| Fourth — 20 Must-Know Hygiene Words |
| If you’re learning the language, but don't know how to say “toilet paper,” ”soap,” or ”toothpaste,” then you’ll definitely need this 1-minute vocab lesson. |
| Fifth — Do you know how to talk about the weather in your target language? |
| If you don’t, access this 1-minute lesson to learn 40 weather-related words and phrases. |
| If you want to learn these words fast, use the free audio-slideshow tool inside the lesson. |
| To get your free resources, click the link in the description below right now. They’re yours to keep forever. Ok, let’s jump in to today’s topic: |
| How to Start Off on the Right Foot with Your Language Learning Journey |
| There are 5 things you, as a language learner, need to address if you want to start off on the right foot. Here they are: |
| One: Your Reason for Learning |
| Two: Your Goal &Reward |
| Three: Matching Your Routine to Your Medium |
| Four: Anchor Points |
| And Five: Assessment |
| If you get these squared away in your first month, you'll be set up to succeed with any language goal you set. |
| And today, we’ll walk you through each point. |
| The first one - your reason for learning. Why are you learning the language? |
| So, why is thinking about your “why” so important? Here’s an example. Think back to when you were a kid and you were trying to save money. What was the first thing you wanted to buy, and how much did it cost? You probably still remember what it was and how much it cost. And because you knew the specific price, you were able to save up for it. If not, at the very least, you made more progress than if you just said, “I wanna save money” with no specific purpose in mind. And that’s the thing - if you know precisely why you’re doing something, it’s easy to tie a goal to it. And there are all kinds of reasons to learn a language: There’s travel, family, friends, love, or maybe you’re living in a country that speaks it. So, knowing your reason clarifies your mission and gives you motivation from the start. |
| Now, some reasons are stronger than others. |
| For example, living in a country that speaks the language is a powerful reason. You need it for survival. If your reason for learning is something simpler like, “I just wanna watch TV in that language,” it’s not exactly something you NEED to survive. |
| Does it matter whether you have a strong reason or not? Not necessarily. |
| Strong reasons help with motivation initially, but people with strong reasons can and do fail, and people with weak reasons, succeed. It’s all up to the individual. |
| But the point is, you need to know why you’re doing this, and that’s enough for you to take the first step. |
| The second point: Goals &Rewards. |
| Once you’ve clarified your reason, it’s time to set your goals. If you want to succeed… your goal can’t just be “I wanna be fluent one day.” Why? Because this tells you nothing about how you’ll achieve it, or when you’ll reach fluency. It’s too vague. |
| Your goal needs to be small, measurable, realistic, and have a deadline, so you can clearly see the steps you need to take to reach your goal. |
| Instead of saying, “I wanna be fluent one day,” which you can’t measure (and can’t precisely determine), aim for, for example, 30 words or 1 minute of conversation. You can measure these goals. If you have a deadline, like “by next month,” you know your timeframe. And unlike a goal like “I wanna be fluent,” a goal like “I want to be able to talk for 1 minute” is much more realistic. |
| Now, what about rewards? |
| Now that you’ve set a goal, you need to tie rewards to your goal. Why rewards? Shouldn’t you work hard first and worry about rewards later? |
| Because rewards are powerful motivators, you SHOULD be working hard, but hard work often is not fun and you need something to push you through. When you come home after a long day of work on a rainy day, soaking wet, the last thing you want to do is open a book and start studying. It’s so much easier to turn on Netflix or something. But having that reward reminds you, “if I achieve this, then I get that.” |
| So defining “what’s in it for me, what do I get” boosts your motivation. You have something to look forward to, and get you through times when you don’t feel like doing work. |
| The 3rd point is - Match Your Routine to the Study Medium. |
| Once you have your goals and rewards, you need to fit your language learning into your current life and daily routine. |
| How? Sit down and write out your daily schedule for every day of the week. For example, wake up at 7 AM, breakfast at 8 AM, get on the bus at 9 AM, work from 9:30 AM, lunch at 1 PM, and so on. Do this for every day of the week. That way, you can see where you can fit in learning. For example, if you ride the bus in the morning, you can use that time to listen to our audio lessons. |
| Why do this? Well, language learning is a brand new routine. If you don’t work from your existing daily routines, it may not work out. |
| For example, if you decide to wake up an hour earlier to study, now you’re adding 2 new routines: waking up earlier and learning a language at once. One is hard enough, but two makes it even harder. You may not wake up on time, you may not get out of bed, you may fall right back to sleep. The point here is, you should piggyback off of your existing routines and use a learning medium that matches your routine. |
| So, instead of waking up earlier, keep your daily routine, but look for another way to introduce language learning. |
| Write out your daily routine, see where you spend your time, and then match your routine to learning. |
| If you take walks and listen to music, swap out music for language lessons, and listen along. |
| If you take the bus or train, check out our audio and video lessons. |
| If you usually read in the evenings and you can focus, try using a textbook. |
| In all of these examples, you’re taking an existing routine and adding language learning inside. |
| The 4th point is “Set Anchor Points.” |
| Anchor Points are the connections you make to a language that boost your motivation and keep you attached or anchored to your goal, so you don’t slip away. |
| So, what’s an example of an anchor point? |
| For example, if you have friends or relatives that speak the language, and if you’re around them, and you’re exposed to the language... you’re more likely to learn. Same thing with watching TV shows in the target language. You’re exposed to it more, so your interest in learning naturally goes up. Also, investing in a textbook or learning program, signing up for classes, or for a proficiency test. |
| All of these are anchor points that connect you back to the language. |
| Why do you need anchor points? Oftentimes, your initial reason for learning the language isn’t as motivating as it used to be. Maybe you were motivated in month 1, but not in month 5. |
| That’s why people with strong reasons might fail. |
| So, an anchor point gives you another reason to keep going and boosts your motivation. And also, oftentimes, the reason they start isn’t the same as the reason they continue. |
| Anchor points are not something you need to worry about in your first month of learning, but adding them in the 2nd month and afterward will help you keep going. |
| Can you think of any anchor points you can add? Leave a comment. |
| Finally, the 5th point is, you need assessment. |
| Now that you have goals, rewards, a routine, and anchor points, it’s not enough to learn a language alone in a vacuum. You need feedback and course correction from a native speaker. |
| With our learning program, you can learn with your very own teacher. You can also leave comments on lessons and get answers from the others. Or, you can find a tutor of your own, someone that will assess your progress and correct you as needed. |
| So, let’s recap. There are 5 things you, as a language learner, need to address if you want to start off on the right foot. |
| One: Clarify Your Reason for Learning |
| Two: Set Goals &Rewards |
| Three: Match Your Routine with Your Study Medium |
| Four: Set Anchor Points |
| And Five: Get Ongoing Assessment |
| So, thank you for watching this episode of Monthly Review |
| Next time, we’ll talk about: How to Deal with Missed Language Goals and Failure |
| If you enjoyed these tips, hit the “like” button, share the video with anyone who's trying to learn a language, and subscribe to our channel. We release new videos every week! |
| And, if you’re ready to finally learn language the fast, fun, and easy way and start speaking from your very first lesson, get our complete learning program. Sign up for your free lifetime account right now. Click the link in the description. |
| See you next time! Bye! |
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