A few months ago, I decided to seriously learn German. I had already learned a little bit of “tourist German” in the past, but just enough to order food, arrive at a hotel, and understand basic phrases.

This time, I want to reach at least B1 level, to be able to have conversations! And for that, I know that my best ally will be my daily routine for learning a language.

After all, consistency is key! That means that instead of doing lots of German on the weekend, when I have more free time, I have to find ways to do short learning sessions as part of my daily routine.

Also, I’m a Neurolanguage Coach. I study how the brain best learns languages (and that’s what I do with my clients: make it easy for them to learn English faster, thanks to brain science).

It’s fascinating, and a real passion!

So when I started to create my daily routine for learning a language, of course, I used my knowledge as a Neurolanguage Coach, an English teacher, and lifelong learner!

In the video, I take you through some of the activities I do as part of my daily routine for learning a language.

Below, are some tips for you, based on my own daily routine practices.

You’ll see that even if you’re very busy, there are lots of ways to make it feel easy to do lots of English (or German, or any language!) in your day.

Index:

1. Daily routine tip #1: Replace activities you do in your own language, with activities in English

2. Daily routine tip #2: Listen, listen, listen

3. Daily routine tip #3: Look for small moments in your day to do a few minutes of English

4. Daily routine tip #4: Go out of your comfort zone! Practice speaking!

1. Daily routine tip #1: Replace activities you do in your own language, with activities in English

In the video, you saw that I start my day with yoga in German. During the confinement, I developed a habit of doing yoga (almost) every morning, with YouTube yoga teachers like Yoga with Adrienne or Yoga with Kassandra.

So, when I started learning German, it was easy to just switch my existing yoga habit from English into German!

If you have a habit or hobby that you already enjoy doing in your own language, there’s a good chance that you can probably do it English!

You may not understand everything as well (I certainly don’t understand every word I hear in German yoga videos!), but you can probably understand the main ideas.

And as you do the activity more and more, you’ll pick up more and more vocabulary naturally!

2. Daily routine tip #2: Listen, listen, listen

I spend a lot of time in my day listening to German, just to get the sounds and the music of the language.
Do I understand everything? Certainly not! I’m still a beginner, so I often listen to Slow German, or Easy German, because both podcasts have transcripts.

This way, I can listen to one episode a few times, to try to catch any words I already know.

Then, I can look at the transcript. Often, I’ll see a few more words that I know, but that I didn’t understand when they were spoken.

But now, I know to listen for them! And the next time I listen to the same podcast episode, I can open my ears and try to catch those words. This way, I train my listening skills.

All during that process, I’ll also pick up a few new vocabulary words.

I recommend that you listen to one podcast episode many times, so you really get the maximum benefit from it. Every time you listen, you’ll get something new.

And this gives you lots of repetition too, which will help you to remember the new words you learn.

Whenever you can–while walking, while driving or taking the bus to work, while cleaning the house, in the shower–play your favorite podcast in English, to help your ears switch to English, and to get some new vocabulary!

3. Daily routine tip #3: Look for small moments in your day to do a few minutes of English

I rarely have big blocks of free time during my days, so I can’t really sit down and study German for an hour each day.

And who wants to do that, anyway! Learning English is not about studying it in books, it’s about living the language, and making it part of your everyday life!

So during my day, I look for tiny moments to do German here and there.

You can do the same, for English!

Listening to a podcast while you have breakfast
Creating 2-3 flashcards during a break
Reviewing your flashcards while waiting for your meal to cook
Watching a TV series in English
Reading a few pages in a book, written specifically for your level of English (these books, called “graded readers” exist for learning English too! They’re great!)
Spending 2-5 minutes to do an exercise online (if you can do more, fantastic! But one short exercise is better than nothing!)
Talking to yourself, your cat, or your children in English

4. Daily routine tip #4: Go out of your comfort zone! Practice speaking!

As you saw in the video, I’m VERY slow when I speak German. My grammar is all over the place (=very unstructured), and sometimes I can’t find the word I need.
I admit, I feel a bit silly when I’m trying to have a conversation in German. And I definitely don’t feel like I’m saying smart things.

But I still do 2-4 speaking lessons every week, even though I know that, for now, I’m limited to simple sentences and simple questions.

And that’s ok. When you’re learning, you should not expect to be fast and fluent and perfect immediately.

Yes, we want that! But that’s not how learning a language works. It takes consistent practice to reach the level when you can think fast and speak fluently.

But there’s good news: You’re closer to that goal in English than I am in German 😉

There’s no secret. If you want to learn to speak, there is no secret. YOU MUST PRACTICE SPEAKING.

I make it a priority in my routine for learning languages. And I hope you do too!

What if you don’t have anyone to practice speaking English with?

I created my Faster Fluency Conversation Club to make it easy for you to have friends to practice speaking English with me.
There’s a speaking session each day of the week, Mond-Friday. And we send you reminders just before each session, so it’s easy for you to connect and practice speaking English!

The Faster Fluency Conversation Club helps you become more confident speaking in conversations, and get a lot more vocabulary on many different topics!

And it’s a fabulous community of “English buddies” from around the world!

More details at https://christinarebuffetcourses.com/faster-fluency-conversation-club/join-now

TIP: Use the code FFCC40 to save -40% off your 1st month of membership!

Take the next step: Improve your English in the comments

The best way to become more confident using Business English is to practice!
Here’s your Weekly English Challenge:

In the comments, share with us ONE thing that you do to improve your English. The more ideas we have, the better!

Even if you think your idea is “basic”, it may be totally new and exciting for someone else!

If you learned something from this lesson, please share it with your coworkers & friends. You can send your message to them in English for more practice!

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Happy learning,
Christina