A Trick For Staying Fluent in Another Language
What is a language habit? It’s the tendency to speak a language for more than half an hour every day. It’s not just speaking the same language at work—it’s also a way of life. If you speak another language at home, chances are you will adopt it in your day-to-day life too. A good example of this would be anyone who travels frequently or works with foreigners. When you start a new job, or if you live abroad, being fluent in another language can help you feel connected to your team and your colleagues. You may even fall in love with your new culture and forget about those old problems back home!
What does a language habit look like?
A language habit is when you speak a language for long periods of time. These might be commuting home from work or speaking to your partner every day. If you speak a language every day of your life, you are likely to acquire a language “habit” as you go along. Finding a language you enjoy talking in is crucial. Avoid speaking in languages that you don’t find interesting or useful, as this will likely lead to frustration and an early end to your language journey.
How to start a language habit – the easy way
If you want to start a language habit easily, you can try the following tips: Find a way to talk to yourself. This could be while you drive or while you’re doing your daily chores. Record what you’re saying and send it to yourself in your preferred language. This will force you to talk to yourself in your head every day, which can be relaxing and helpful. Make a daily “to-do” list in your language of choice. This will keep your language mind active and will help you stay focused on what you need to do. Use a timer while you speak. This will help you stay focused and avoid “switching off” when you’re trying to speak. Write down what you’re thinking. Not only will this keep your language mind active, but it will also help you identify “bad” thoughts and “good” thoughts.
How to start a language habit – the hard way
If you want to start a language habit naturally, the following tips might help: Spend more time with native speakers. One of the best things you can do to build a language habit is to find a friend who speaks your native language. If you’re not close to anyone who speaks a language similar to yours, find a friend who speaks a different language to you and meet up regularly. Challenge yourself. Try to find ways to speak to people in a way that you would never dream of speaking to your family or friends. This could be speaking louder or using expletives. If you’re not enjoying speaking the language, it’s likely you won’t stick with it for long. It’s important to remember that you don’t have to speak a language to be connected to it—in fact, you are much more likely to be influenced by other languages if you speak a lot of it.