I often find myself planning my routine and trying to carve out time for language learning. I realize everyone has a different work schedule, commute, and so on, but I’d love to hear about your specific approach.
My situation is as follows: I’ve decided to work 6 hours instead of 8 because, besides my job, I’m finishing my second degree, which obviously takes up a lot of time. I also work 4 hours on Saturdays twice a month.
I’ve been off social media for almost a year now, as it was becoming a real problem in terms of time consumption. Now, I dedicate all my time to work, university, and languages.
For my university studies, I often write my summaries (CLIL) in either English or Portuguese. My native language is Spanish, but my actual ‘language learning time’ is dedicated exclusively to German.
Rather than just seeking general advice, I’m curious about your personal experiences and how you manage your daily schedules.
I’m 9 to 5, if not more. I have 5 cats (and used to have 2 rabbits on top of that) and a girlfriend. So I don’t have a lot of time myself (if I don’t want to get in the doghouse). My strategy is just to fit language learning in where I can. I resigned myself a long long time ago that I can’t learn a language in 3 months. Nor in a year or two. I do progress, just very slowly. So, I’ll try to do some reading on my phone, in LingQ usually. While I’m in line. While I’m using the bathroom. While I’m going to bed. Sometimes a little more dedicated at lunchtime or something. I do try to listen to and from work or while I do chores. We do also frequently watch German TV…shows, documentaries, etc. (my gf is German).
I’d say on average I’ve spent probably 10-15 min a day on reading, and probably pretty much in total. The past few years, since I can understand a lot more, I’ve added in a lot more listening. I do try for 30-60 minutes if I can fit it.
If things start to feel overwhelming or uncomfortable due to real life, I don’t hesitate to focus on real life and drop the learning down to almost nothing, but still do try to get at least a few sentences of reading in.
I’ve made quite a bit of progress, just at a snail’s pace in terms of days (or years) compared to someone that can put in an hour every day. I’m working on 8 or 9 years maybe? I’d generally call myself high intermediate in reading, low intermediate in listening, speaking I’m not really sure where I’d rate. Probably advanced beginner/lowish intermediate. I can probably figure out a way to say just about anything, it just would be poor grammar and limited in vocabulary.
No matter. I am progressing, and that means you don’t need a lot of time to learn a language, but you do need some patience if you are limited in time. Just enjoy the process with the time you have. If you do have true deadlines that need to be met, that may not be possible, but if you are in no hurry it doesn’t take a lot to progress.
p.s. I say “you”, but of course you weren’t asking for advice. “you” just means the public in general.
I have a minimum (maintain streak) and target amount (3000 words) I want to read a day. I use external keyboards because Lingq shortcuts aren’t good. I have a few of them and usually one with me. I practice on a train or whenever. Getting it started early in the day helps. It helps I’m focusing on a simple task; a large volume of reading.
I highly value your comment and the time dedicated. I definitely take things from your personal experience, that is the best advice someone can give me, a more relaxed one, let’s say. I did not want to put pressure on “give me this” haha.
I do at least a 10 minutes of Spanish every morning right after I wake up as a key habit. When I can, I’ll extend up to 60 minutes. I try to expand on that morning habit by listening in parallel while doing other things throughout the day (chores, exercise, driving, cooking, etc).
Looking at my LingQ stats, it looks like my recorded average is 47 minutes of Spanish listening and conversation a day over 5.5 years, plus whatever time I spend reading without audio, writing or studying. My highest month I averaged 2.5 hours, and my lowest 30 minutes.
I love learning Spanish, but for me it is a hobby, so the time has to vary when other priorities supercede.
I do 2 x 1 hour French listening, 1 hour German study and some Anki. I can only make obvious suggestions. Listen while driving, listen while cooking, work in bed at night, assign fixed times each day for working. Look at what you do each day, and if you walk for 30 minutes at lunch, wear headphones. If you spend time in social media, watch a foreign language video instead. If you walk the dog/ferret/badger, wear headphones. (Yes I have seen someone walking a ferret. But not a badger.) If you go to a gym, wear headphones. When you clean the house, and cut the lawn, wear headphones.
I am retired so it’s much easier for me. So the final word of advice is to take early retirement.
Studying is hard when I am super busy, rushing a deadline and etc. Work/life takes priority.
To avoid not doing anything when I become super busy I set some stuff to be automatic. I focus on input (listening/reading) mostly passive stuff during busy days. Actual active studying get put on pause.
Listening
The moment I switch on my PC, my audio playlist starts playing on my media player. I am also experimenting using podcast/radio apps on phone to start playing a podcast/radio as my morning alarm. There are probably ways to automate playing lingQ playlist as an morning alarm too with 3rd party apps.
Reading
When I am super busy I may procrastinate reading normal books because they usually have long chapter (I like finishing a chapter per session) and I don’t have the time.
So I read books with super short (2 mins) chapters like L’Étonnant Monde Animal:. The sentences are super short and to the point, no complicated grammar, flowering language like novels. Each chapter is also standalone, you don’t need to know what happened in previous chapter, there is no plot to follow.
Writing/Speaking
No solution. Maybe when I am advanced enough I can chat or speak with AI in target language to find solutions to work related problems. Currently I do it in English.
Right now, I’m focusing more on listening. I do some Anki flashcards of Russian sentences in the morning to fill in the basic vocabulary and phrases that didn’t come up while I was focusing on reading.
I listen or read on the phone, depending if I’m commuting by train or by car that day. At night I try to do at least some YouTube in Russian. If it’s getting late, slow stories or boring history for sleep works well. These slow videos feel like being a little kid again, when you didn’t always understand what the adults were talking about, and you just recognize some words.
Sometimes I pick up my old grammar book by Pulkina, which is a concentrated set of examples that contains all the grammar you’d ever need, This book is way easier than it was back in the day. Most of the vocabulary looks familiar now, and the examples are starting to make sense.
When I’m ready to really make progress, I want to take an in-person class on Russian grammar. I’ve found that I can take one class in the evening while working, and that it’s the class with social interaction and structured assignments that really moves me forward.
No problem. Your post comes at an interesting time as I’m coming off a few high stress months and also trying to severely cut back on youtube/twitter (trying to keep pace with everyday events is exhausting and stressing). So I’ve been trying to get back to a busier pace with language learning again. Trying to get 30-60+ minutes of listening and more reading. I also am getting back to focusing more on output again. The listening I can usually get no problem if I keep yt videos to a minimum since I can listen on commute and during chores. The other items are a bit harder to bump up, but will probably try to squeeze in another 15-30 minutes again. Every little bit helps. I did also fail to mention at times I revisit my Spanish. But that’s kind of an every few months sort of thing with a smattering of reading here and there.
I aim to study Icelandic for a minimum of 15-20 minutes per day while commuting to work, and another 15-20 minutes on the way home if I’m not feeling too tired. If I have the energy, I’ll listen to some audio while having breakfast or doing the dishes, or do a bit of reading before going to bed. I’d say that I typically study for about 30-40 minutes per day, sometimes less than that, sometimes significantly more. According to my stats, my average study time over the last several months has been a little less than an hour per day (but that’s including occasional several-hour binges).
Personally, I try not to take too much stress about LingQ. My life is stressful enough as it is, without me getting burned out because of something that’s supposed to be for my own enjoyment. If I am feeling exhausted and overwhelmed from work and other obligations, I try to find the time to meet my minimun daily goal (10 minutes) and then call it a day. Conversely, when I have more time and energy, I might study for a couple of hours or more, which will even things out in the long run. It’s all about finding the right balance so that I can make steady progress over time without burning myself out.
