Clear the List | Monthly Language Learning Strategies Update | July 2021
We’re into July and as with the start of every new month, it’s time for a new analysis of my language goals as a part of Clear the List, but also a new Quest as a part of Language Conqueror!
And this month… it’s all about learning like kids! We discuss ways it seems kids learn better than us (hint: they don’t always), how to build language islands around kids and family, and what learning hacks you can steal from what works for kids to apply to your language studies.
What is Language Conqueror? It’s a course I work on with a monthly Quest focused on passion-driven learning. You can learn more, get a feel for my teaching style, and download our free PDF here: Get the Free PDF
And if that’s not enough, you can also get a feel for my teaching style with Snack-Sized Language!
Snack-Sized Language is a free podcast where we teach you snack-sized language lessons. So far we have episodes teaching general language learning tips, Japanese, French, Mandarin and Korean. Plus, more languages are coming soon!
You can subscribe to the podcast on your preferred podcast platform.
And if you enjoy Snack-Sized language, we would absolutely love it if you left us a review!
And now, on to #clearthelist …
Wondering what #clearthelist is? Let me clear it up for you (see what I did there?). #CleartheList is a linkup where we share our monthly goals, and by we, I mean myself, and Lindsay of Lindsay Does Languages.
We’d absolutely love for you to a part of our community. You can join us by adding a link to your own goal post in the comments below.
So let’s get started, sharing our goals and motivating one another to #clearthelist!
Please feel free to tag your posts or photos with either #clearthelist on your favorite social media channels!
Last Month’s Highlights on Instagram
Last Month’s Goals
Continue filling the gaps in my Mandarin vocabulary I’ve noticed since Little Linguist’s arrival. // We’ve been working on this, and he’s even started requesting watching things in Chinese. I was so impressed!
Maintain my vocabulary learning streak. // I have been maintaining this. I have 200-300+ days for all my active languages.
Keep working through my YouTube Queue. // I have been working on this, and I got through several videos, but I derailed myself a bit by diving into Masterclass and many of the courses there. While they aren’t language learning courses, there is a lot of great content there for other things. At the end of last month on Youtube, I had 1,774. At the end of June I had 1,758.
Keep reading Game of Thrones in Russian. // I’ve been doing a little bit of reading each day and am making steady progress with this.
Keep reading Eye of the World in Hungarian. // Same as above.
Maintain my weekly lessons in each language. // This month, I haven’t been able to do this as much as I would have liked. But I do have lessons in the books for July, so it’ll pick back up!
This Month’s Goals
Continue filling the gaps in my Mandarin vocabulary I’ve noticed since Little Linguist’s arrival. // As usual, I’d like to continue to incorporate this more and more until we’re an OPOL household. It’s a work in progress!
Maintain my vocabulary learning streak. // This has been a great way to rebuild my language routine, so it’s staying on the list indefinitely! I share my stats over on Instagram in my stories nearly every day, so if you’re ever curious where I’m at, you can check out my stories.
Keep working through my YouTube Queue. // There’s even more I need to get through this month than there was the last. I plan to continue to work through this until it gets to a more manageable number.
Keep reading Game of Thrones in Russian. // My tutor and I are working on this weekly.
Keep reading Eye of the World in Hungarian. // My tutor and I are working on this weekly.
Resume my weekly lessons in each language. // It makes sure I’m using all my languages each week and helps me a ton with accountability.
Resources I Used This Month
A quick recap of the materials I am using.
What I Am Using to Learn Chinese:
- LingQ – my favorite tool
- iTalki Lessons – I have weekly Chinese lessons
- Memrise
- Drops
What I’m Using to Brush Up/Improve My French:
- LingQ
- Listening to French radio/podcasts/music
What I am Using to Learn Russian:
What I am Using to Learn Persian:
What I am Using to Learn Spanish:
What I am Using to Learn Italian:
What I’m Using to Learn Japanese:
- Genki I
- Drops – they just added hundreds of new culture-specific words for Japanese!
- iTalki Lessons
- Pimsleur
What I’m Using to Learn Croatian:
- Colloquial Croatian
- iTalki Lessons
- LingQ – they added Croatian, woot woot!
- Drops
What I’m Using to Learn Hungarian:
- Colloquial Hungarian
- iTalki Lessons
- Drops
- LingQ – they added Hungarian, too!
Not Currently doing any study for: German, Hindi, Norwegian, Hebrew, Korean
What I’m Using for Little Linguist
- Lots of books
- Day-to-day interaction
- italki Lessons
- Duolingo ABC
- Droplets
- Movies in Chinese
- Gus on the Go Chinese
Resources That Aren’t Language Specific
- Fluent in 3 Months Challenge
- Todoist (to keep all my language lessons and to-do’s organized)
- Notion – my new favorite app for taking notes (I just set up a template for the way I use Notion to take notes if you’re interested in duplicating it for yourself)
The Biggest Lesson I Am Taking Away from This Month
This month I was reminded of the power of consistency.
With my reading in particular, I would often skip it if I couldn’t set aside at least 30 minutes. Instead, I decided to just read each day until I reached the number of LingQ’s I wanted to hit. It made the goal much more manageable and allowed me to do it more consistently. And because I was reading a little bit each day, I actually made more progress with my reading than I did when I was waiting to get that solid block of time.
Consistent practice is key!
Don’t forget that I would love to hear all about your goals for this month! Please join us by adding your post to the linkup below!
Clear The List Linkup Rules:
1. Share your goal post whether it includes your aspirations for the month or year. Submissions unrelated to the theme or links to your homepage will be deleted.
2. Link back to this post. You can use our button if you wish.
3. Follow the hosts: Lindsay from Lindsay Does Languages and Shannon from Eurolinguiste.
4. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE: Please visit the site of the person who linked up immediately before you and leave them an encouraging comment! By hosting this linkup, we’re hoping to create a positive community where we can all share our goals. If you do not do this, you will be removed from the linkup.
5. Share on social media using #ClearTheList
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