There are many things that you need to consider when you want to speak another language. Part of it is having the right material to work with, practice, memorizing and many others. The most important out of all of these however is forming a habit. It might seem like the simplest thing to do but it’s also the hardest.
For example, last week I talked about some apps that you can use to learn French. But if you don’t begin using them daily, you never form a habit and then you stop using them. I know this because it happened to me before and it wasn’t until I forced myself to practice every day that they became part of my routine every day. If we always leave things for “When I have time”, you’ll never achieve things because there will always be stuff that comes up and takes that time away. So, It is imperative that you force yourself to make time for it.
I would suggest not starting with a really tough routine however. Just like exercise, if you try to do too many things at once by the end of the day you’ll be exhausted and never go to the gym again. You will have to start small just like when you start going to the gym, since if you do too much you may do it again. After that you can slowly add more and more things to your daily routine, whether it’s apps/videos/memorizing, go at a smaller rhythm and only increment it as it becomes a habit that you can handle
The biggest challenge however is when you break the habit for whatever reason. This happened to me just this past week and even then going back to my full routine of practice felt intimidating. But I knew I couldn’t give myself “one day” off or it would be very costly. So even in my busiest day I at least studied a tiny bit. This went on for a few days and then slowly incremented what I was doing until I got back to my normal studying routine. Make a habit and it becomes a part of your day to day.
Come Learn French with me and read my other articles on my journey to speak French every Friday.
