Learning a foreign language takes time and we often hav not enough of it… How to cope with this? Here are some tips and tricks to optimize your time!

Regularity is key!

Ideally, you should study a little every day. Not necessarily for hours, but at least 20 to 30 minutes. Regularity makes it possible to maintain prior learning and deepen it without wasting time, because if you make too long interruptions you have to spend more time getting things back in your head before you can move forward. Obviously, everyday life being what it is, you have to organize yourself around your constraints: work, children, other activities… If daily practice seems out of reach, reserve at least 2 to 3 working hours dedicated to the language during the week. At worst, to be sure you stick to it, program them into your agenda!

Make your transport times more efficient!

Train, metro, subway, plane trip, waiting at the airport, passenger by car… Use all these little lost moments to reconnect and study. You will see that even short, these are very useful learning moments! Don’t forget your headphones so you can do it quietly without disturbing anyone on public transport.

Optimize your waiting times!

An endless wait at the doctor’s office, a long lunch period, waiting for your X-rays in the hospital, a simple lost moment,… Don’t waste any more of these precious little moments: use them to revise, to reread a text, to see a piece of film in VO on Youtube, to remember the last grammar lesson.

Move the alarm clock forward 15 minutes!

…or a little less if you’re not too early in the morning. In any case, that time will not be able to be taken away from you and in the morning, we are all fresh to acquire the new skills well. So, why not try it?

Remove unnecessary activities!

Is it really necessary to watch the latest reality show? It is up to you to judge your priorities… But sometimes there may be time to save easily.

Cut yourself off from the world

Isolate yourself to study quietly and above all avoid any type of distraction at the risk of scattering your learning. So avoid TV, radio, children, and block your smartphone notifications if you can’t resist to watch them!

Give yourself some rest!

And yes! Learning also requires putting the brain at rest to assimilate new things, otherwise there is simply a risk of overdose. You will see that after studying effectively, your brain is still working at full capacity to gather and organize all these new notions: so you may even be able to dream in this language you are learning!