New Year, New You, New Resolutions. Now, at the beginning of 2021, joining the New Year italki Language Challenge would be an amazing opportunity to start off learning strong!

The <a href="https://www.italki.com/languagechallenge">italki Language Challenge</a> is a 45-day challenge where learners track their lessons and earn rewards for hitting their language goals. It is a remarkable way to help you accomplish a small goal in a set period of time, to get you closer to your ultimate language goal. You can not only improve your language skills and win rewards, but also form a habit of learning that will stick with you. New Year, New You, New Resolutions. Now, at the beginning of 2021, joining the <a href="https://www.italki.com/languagechallenge">New Year italki Language Challenge</a> would be an amazing opportunity to start off learning strong! Like Gretchen Rubin wrote, “what you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while.” Feeling motivated? Here are some tips to set you off for a successful Language Challenge journey:<h2>&nbsp;</h2>Set a realistic goal of learning hours and a specific achievement.&nbsp; There’s no need to try to improve all of your skills in only 45 days, instead, aim for an attainable goal. Pick a few or only one skill to master: is it to improve pronunciation? Or increase your vocabulary? Or gain confidence in your target language?... Even though it is hard to measure progress in language learning, it is not impossible. For example, if your goal is to master business interviews in English, you can ask your teacher to give you a mock interview at the end to evaluate. All things considered, setting a realistic and measurable agoal with a visible improvement at the end of the challenge, will be extremely effective and highly motivating for your future learning. Plan out your schedule ahead and stay focused.&nbsp;&nbsp; After you set your goals, plan out what days and times you want to study each week. You wouldn’t want time slots with your favourite teachers become unavailable during the challenge. Also, remember to leave some time for review and practice.&nbsp; Sometimes, life gets in the way, we’ve all been there. With other commitments, one can be easily distracted from the original goals. But, keep in mind: you are the master of your time. A new season of your favorite show launching on Netflix? Ask your friends to spare you the spoilers! Binge after you finish the challenge. If you are scheduled to study, make it happen. Focusing on one lesson at a time is the key to success. Buy a language workbook or a new notebook for this challenge.&nbsp;A workbook/notebook is essential to plan out a study schedule, take notes and keep track of your language learning process. Develop your own unique organizing method that’s simple and clear.&nbsp; For instance, you can jog down motivational quotes every couple of pages to inspire yourself. A weekly summary is also very helpful to reflect and adjust your learning pace and method. Recognize your small improvements by marking them with fun colors and stickers to celebrate in an aesthetically pleasing way :) Download the italki language app&nbsp; The italki mobile app can be especially convenient for the <a href="https://www.italki.com/languagechallenge">Language Challenge</a>. You can access your lessons anywhere anytime! Why not take a lesson in the park, or at midnight when you are feeling inspired? The app also offers reminders for booked sessions, so you won’t miss your lessons in such a busy schedule.&nbsp; The Community in the italki language app is a great way to polish up your skills in your free time. You can ask questions and receive professional feedback; find specific exercises and share experiences with fellow language learners etc.&nbsp;Connect with your fellow italki challengers&nbsp;italki is all about bridging students and teachers together from all over the world. On italki’s official Social Media accounts(<a href="https://www.facebook.com/italkilanguages">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/italki/">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/italkilanguage">YouTube</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/italki">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://vk.com/italkicom">VK</a>, <a href="https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/fFpsa3PPSqleShHYeqsPew">WeChat</a>), you can find learning tips, words of encouragement, fun facts etc. Connect with fellow italki challengers around the globe and let yourself be heard in the comment section and we or other language learners will give you FREE words of motivation!&nbsp;

5 Keys to Success in the italki Language Challenge

For the rest of the month I will have at least one lesson a week on italki. I am going to join the italki Language Challenge too!

A few weeks ago I set myself some very concrete goals to complete for my Korean studies. I would complete the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.michelthomas.com/learn-korean/">Michel Thomas Korean Foundation</a>&nbsp;course and learn to read and write with the Teach Yourself&nbsp;<a href="https://library.teachyourself.com/id004325509/Korean-Script-Hacking">Korean Script Hacking</a>&nbsp;book. So how did I get on?I won’t keep you in suspense. I did meet those goals in time to write this blog post!But I had to revise my end date by a few days because of the holidays. I was a tad unrealistic about getting everything done during the busy festive period. As much as I love languages, I value moments in life with family and friends more. They are not things we can get back once they are gone, so I cherish them. I am a great believer in living and enjoying the moments as they come up, even if it does come at the cost of my study plans sometimes. Life happens,&nbsp;but…I admitted that I prefer to live these life moments with the people around me whilst I have them. That said, there is a fine line between that and when it comes to just using that as an excuse not to study at all. I have some techniques for not getting too carried away with other things. After all we are in the business of learning too, right? Three practical things I do to stop procrastinating! 1. Think about my goals and consider how I would feel about not meeting them. This involves considering whether or not the activity is worth re-evaluating my goals again. If you never meet goals, then you are potentially in a vicious circle with this behaviour pattern. If that’s you, then you need to be a bit stricter with yourself. 2. Count to ten in my head and walk away. If the thing drawing my attention away is that important, then I can return to it after I do the first part of my task. That way at least part of the goal is achieved to avoid the feelings of guilt later. 3. Resist the temptation to check social media by leaving my phone somewhere out of reach. Also close the social media tabs on my computer to avoid the temptation of checking in between tasks. Some people put locks on their devices to limit the time they can physically use them. If that’s you, try it! How well do I write Korean now?<img src="https://ofs-cdn.italki.com/u/internal/galaxy/message/c034q21o2mhnaqqgcvl0.png"> Well, as you can see I would be lying if I were to say that I now read and write perfect Korean. In my experience of any new script this will simply take time to really bed in. However I found the Korean Script Hacking book full of great examples to read to get in the practice I needed to really make progress. I definitely benefit from that now because the descriptions and hints stuck with me. I really enjoyed all of the explanations of the letters and the way Judith had put the book together generally. I was able to go through the book pretty quickly and pick things up fast. Now I know I have retained the information well too because I see it working in real contexts when I come across Korean online. So over all I would recommend using the book for learning the script. The weak point for me personally after the course was not paying attention to stroke order, but there are other materials to add into the learning process to get that in too. This series of videos I showed you&nbsp;<a href="http://speakingfluently.com/2020/12/15/get-into-gear-for-korea/">in my previous update</a>&nbsp;helps with stroke order for example: <iframe class="ql-video" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Z9ZxsgMAZmI?showinfo=0"></iframe> Right now my Korean handwriting is that of a beginner in the language and that’s fine. The thing I have noticed about the writing system is that, yes, it makes sense. But the coolest thing for me is that I find I can visualise words more easily than Chinese and Japanese when I studied them. Dispelling some mythsLearning the Korean alphabet is pretty straight forward. But it is not as immediately obvious as people would have you believe. First of all there are a number of letters that represent the same, or at least very similar sounds. Also some letters change pronunciation depending on their position in the word or if there is another sound after them. It’s not a big problem. It is just not something people really mentioned to me before I started, so I thought it was worth noting. Speaking KoreanThe Michel Thomas Method was not new to me. I had done the Japanese course before taking on Korean. I found that worked well and that’s why I decided to go for it again this time. First of all it was quite funny for me to sit through the course knowing Olly Richards, who was one of the students on the course. He has a great voice for these kinds of recordings though and in a way it helped me to relate more closely to the lessons. He also injected some great questions into the course. The Michel Thomas Method teaches you words you need to do practical things. These words are chosen to be easy for you to retain too. They are often borrowings or common words in English and the target language. When the words are unrelated to English the teachers break down the word into smaller parts. They also make a story around them for you to better remember the words and their meanings. The vocabulary is clearly meant to be enough to hang on the sentence patterns they teach. These patterns are used to elicit the grammar from you in a natural way. To this end the course really does its job. I can confirm that I was able to say quite a bit after it. I was also able to manipulate sentence structures to express concepts that are months away from me learning still. It definitely gives you the confidence to say things really quickly. What CEFR level are you after Michel Thomas?I know some of you will be wondering just how well you speak after the course. In all honesty I don’t find the CEFR scale to be an appropriate measure of the language ability attained after the course. The reason is that in 10 hours of listening you cannot possibly cover the vocabulary needed for even an A1 exam. My Turkish A1 course took 3 months of 16 contact hours per week, plus homework. In total over 72 hours. In terms of structures though the Michel Thomas Method taught some things that I would expect to see at A2/B1. They were really useful things that helped keep communication going and boost confidence.Olly made a documentary about putting the course together and I found it particularly interesting to see as it really gives a nice overview of the course too. <iframe class="ql-video" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vxaRQM6Tcdg?showinfo=0"></iframe> The proof is in the teacher’s reactionI had my first<a href="http://go.italki.com/polyglotconference">&nbsp;italki&nbsp;</a>lesson and used some of the sentences in Korean that I had learnt from the Michel Thomas Method Korean course. My teacher said he didn’t expect me to be able to say so much as a beginner. This was definitely nothing to do with my ability, but all to do with the patterns I had learnt. And I know that anyone can do this too! Talk To Me In KoreanI have been doing a lesson a day of&nbsp;<a href="https://talktomeinkorean.com/">Talk To Me In Korean</a>. I find the podcast format and written transcripts really informative and useful to learn the language in manageable bitesize chunks.One of the worst mistakes to make with language learning is racing ahead in the beginning and trying to commit too much to memory too quickly. Unless you have a very intense and specific set up where you are constantly in contact with the language, I strongly advise against this type of hurried learning. You can end up forgetting it all as fast as you learn it. If you do more measured learning, then you have more chance of having things stick. If you are keen to add to your learning and do more, then get as much input as possible. I have been doing some additional input along my journey with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.lingq.com/en/">LingQ</a>&nbsp;basic Korean stories and looking actively (and at times engaging too) with Korean posts on Instagram. I come across words I am seeing on the TTMIK course and it helps to make them stick. It’s a good idea to get used to a Korean keyboard, so writing things on your phone and/or your computer is a good way to do that. Someone reached out to me on Twitter to say that the&nbsp;<a href="https://app.memrise.com/course/534607/every-ttmik-lesson-levels-1-10/">TTMIK vocabulary for all 10 levels is on Memrise</a>&nbsp;as a deck you can work through. I have had mixed experiences with learning from flashcards personally. It can feel a bit disjointed and lacking valuable context at times. For Korean I am finding it very useful to train my word recognition skills and my ability to spell Korean words, so I would recommend this method for Korean! Learning from mistakes<img src="https://ofs-cdn.italki.com/u/internal/galaxy/message/c034sb1o2mhnaqqgcvn0.png"> I was using TTMIK for 6 days before I realised there was a conversation to listen to and a quiz to complete. I felt a bit silly not seeing them immediately, but I got into them from day 6 and found doing the activities really useful to help make sense of the new information and commit it to memory. I also had a day where I didn’t get around to doing my day on TTMIK. Fortunately I did have my&nbsp;<a href="http://go.italki.com/polyglotconference">italki</a>&nbsp;lesson on the same day, so I didn’t skip any study from my programme. I was also lucky that I could go through two lessons on the following day quite easily because they contained no new words for me and the grammar was something I covered in the Michel Thomas Korean course already! Generally speaking, if you do miss a day, a week or longer, then I advise going back through what you did before the break. Then start back and carry on from there as though there was no gap. Remember this is not a race and the information we learn and retain is more important than anything else. We need the vocab and structures in our head to be able to use and understand the language. Racing through or skipping things will not help in that process. Remember your goals and simply adjust the timeframes for them. For the rest of the month I will have at least one lesson a week on italki. I am going to join the italki Language Challenge too! And of course I will continue to write daily(ish) on my&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/learningwithrichardsimcott">Facebook language learning group</a>! You are welcome to join me there too!

Starting to speak and write in Korean

My German lesson with Meike was super fun

I always enjoy taking conversation classes in the languages I'm learning. The first lesson is the hardest, and I get super nervous, but then I get through the lesson and learn what my speaking level is really at, and it's always worth it.&nbsp; <iframe class="ql-video" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TlbbKaQ8JwI?showinfo=0"></iframe> My German lesson with Meike was super fun. I had been studying German for some years, but this was the first&nbsp;conversation I had ever had with a teacher. We even learned that she had visited my small Canadian town! I learned a bunch of words that will stick in my brain much easier than if I had merely read them in a textbook. She was wonderful to speak with, and I look forward to taking more lessons with her in the future. Hello! My name is Nellie and I love learning languages:) I'm currently learning and improving German, French, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, and American Sign Language. If you would enjoy video diaries of my learning process, my Youtube channel is under the name <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/Wiebits">Nellie Janzen</a>.

My first German italki Lesson

So, with this in mind, even if you can find 10 spare minutes in your day for language  learning, that’s all you need to help you on your journey!

Juggling your time can be very challenging, especially if you have a full time job. So, where do you find time for language learning in your busy day? <iframe class="ql-video" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hEjzoqc1dQk?showinfo=0"></iframe> In my video, I share seven quick and easy ideas on how you can use language in your day to day routine. Each tip requires only a little effort but can help you without eating into your time. I have always had a full time job and always found time for language learning. However, being in lockdown for several months this year made me wonder how I ever had the time for language learning. Although we take our spare time for granted, when we start looking at how we use the time in our day, we actually have more time to spare than we think! So, with this in mind, even if you can find 10 spare minutes in your day for language learning, that’s all you need to help you on your journey! So, here are the tips: <ul><li>Assign at least 10 minutes a day to language learning.</li><li>Use language learning on your way to and from work. Listen to a language lesson, music in your target language or a favorite radio station.</li><li>Try to think in your target language at work during the day. For example, if you use a to do list at your place of work, try making this in your target language instead.</li><li>Change the language on your PC, mobile or devices to your target language. You can do this with apps too. This gives you more exposure to your new language. And you only have to do it once!</li><li>Subscribe to YouTube channels that focus on your target language. Click on the “bell” notification icon. Every time the channel releases a new video, you’ll be notified. You can then watch the videos in your own time later.</li><li>Have a language learning journal. This just takes a few minutes a day and will keep you motivated when you look back and realize how much progress you’ve made.</li><li>Have a language learning partner. Presumably, if you’re reading this, you’ve found time for an italki teacher, which is great. Additionally, messaging your partner doesn’t take up much time and can be a good way of keeping up your language practice!</li></ul> So, if you have a quick and easy tip to add, I’d look forward to hearing it. What time is it now? Oops! Must dash, or I’ll be late for work!

Language Learning Tips for Busy People - without using too much time

Again, italki is one important part of our overall strategy to raise our children in 5 languages

There is a near-infinite amount of information out there covering the vast topic of raising bilingual and multilingual children. Some reliable sources could come from academic research, but these are usually very difficult to understand for a normal non-academic person. Other sources could be the various organizations, both online and offline, dedicated to providing information on raising kids in more than one language. However, it is not easy to distinguish the true experts from the wannabes, often because real evidence, i.e., videos of kids speaking multiple languages fluently, are very rare. And of the few that we can find, these often feature kids filmed under artificial environments, e.g., film studios or controlled experimental settings, rather than in their normal living contexts speaking to other native speakers naturally. That is why I have created my YouTube channel Multilingual Kids - AskTetsu, where you can find many videos in which I talk about key concepts and strategies in raising multilingual children, break down complex information found in academic literature, and, most importantly, show you real examples of my own children speaking the 5 languages that we are raising them in, namely, English, French, Japanese, Mandarin, and Spanish. <iframe class="ql-video" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8SiOP1Z8Ydo?showinfo=0"></iframe> For instance, in the above video entitled “Just another day in 5 languages”, I show you various footage of our kids speaking different languages through various activities that took place on a typical Saturday. Several concepts and tools are discussed, including italki, an important tool that we use for our kids to strengthen their Mandarin. The COVID-19 pandemic was the trigger for us to use italki for the first time, as we were not able to make our annual trip to Taiwan this summer. But looking back at the results that we have obtained so far, we simply regret not having started much earlier. The ease for us to sign up on the platform and quickly assess and try out several teachers inexpensively allowed us to find the perfect match for our children. In the video, I show you some clips with this teacher, and I explain how we work with him to make sure that our kids are having fun and are engaged during their italki lessons. This engagement is what ensures that the method is effective and sustainable over time. Again, italki is one important part of our overall strategy to raise our children in 5 languages, and if you are interested in learning about other practical tactics and ideas, head on over to my YouTube channel “Multilingual Kids - AskTetsu” for more videos like the one shown here! Tetsu Yung grew up in multiple languages and speaks 5 of them fluently: English, French, Japanese, Mandarin, and Spanish. He is now raising his own 4 children in the same 5 languages, and shares his experience and knowledge on his YouTube Channel "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/asktetsu">Multilingual Kids - AskTetsu</a>". He is the author of the ebook "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Pampers-Polyglot-Ideas-Raising-Multilinguals-ebook/dp/B00U47EGBI">Pampers to Polyglot: 7 Ideas for Raising Multilinguals Like Me</a>", a co-organizer of <a href="http://www.langfest.org">LangFest</a>, an international conference for language enthusiasts, and a co-host on Raising Multilinguals LIVE, a bi-weekly livestream show where we interview leading authorities in the realm of raising bilingual and multilingual children.

Multilingual Kids - Just another day in 5 languages

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