Timetables

When learning a language some people like to, or at least try to stick to specific timetables. This might involve studying for perhaps a hour a day at a set time each day. Or spreading your studies out over several shorter periods. It can be helpful to get into the habit of studying regularly like this, and to stick to it as much as possible.

Not everybody has a regular pattern of work and other activities however, and might find it tricky to find the spare time to study at the same time each day. This doesn’t matter so much as long as you do can find time to study regularly, even if it’s at different times each day.

Whether you study at set times, or just fit in your studies whenever you can, it’s also a good idea to immerse yourself in the language as much as possible at other times. For example, you could listen to online radio stations while working or listen to podcasts on your mp3 player. You don’t have to listen attentively to them – just having them playing in the background is useful. It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand what your hearing, or understand only bits, but the more you hear the language, the more your ears will tune in to it, and your brain will be spotting patterns and words that appear frequently. Then when you study there should be plenty of things that are already familiar, which will make it easier to learn them and remember the,.