Do you sometimes feel like you are stuck in your studies? Check out these tips to pick up the pace of your learning and take your language skills to a new level!
It all starts with motivation
Let’s start with the basics. Setting goals is one of the most important steps to take when you want to stay motivated in your language learning. Having a goal helps you keep track of what exactly you want to achieve and focus on what is relevant.
First, you should identify the underlying reason why you want to improve your language skills. Are you planning a winter holiday trip, do you need language skills at work or do you simply want to refresh your memory? Perhaps you want to have conversations in another language, or get more out of foreign-language films and TV series?
Once you have found your reason, turn it into a goal. Here are a few tips to help you formulate your goal.
- Focus on the concrete things that you will be able to do with your language skills. For example, your goal could be being able to order a coffee in Spanish, or having a conversation in English with a colleague.
- Set a deadline for your goal. If you’re travelling abroad on holiday, you’ll want to acquire the necessary language skills before your trip.
- State your goal in positive terms! Write your goal in a way that makes it seem attainable.
How to accelerate your language learning with WordDive
1. Keep up a good pace.
Good language skills require automation. If you want to speak the new language fluently, you’ll need to have the key vocabulary and grammar in your back pocket, so to speak.
Achieving automation requires repetition. There’s no need to rush, but when a new exercise opens, don’t think about it too long, but start guessing.
2. Study often.
A night’s sleep resets your working memory. The next day, all your answers will first come from your long-term memory. This allows WordDive to see what you really know.
We recommend short study sessions and proper breaks. Try to study almost every day or even several times a day.
3. Listen only when necessary.
If you listen to the answer first, WordDive will conclude that you used your working memory and answered the question based on what you heard. But if you don’t know or cannot guess the answer, you should definitely listen rather than leaving the answer field blank.
4. Focus on learning.
The learning algorithm of WordDive constantly measures how fast you are learning. If you’re doing other things at the same time, like watching TV or chatting with other people, the app will underestimate your learning ability. When you’re practising with WordDive, focus your attention on the exercises.
5. Change courses from time to time.
WordDive recommends changing courses when you cannot permanently learn any more study items in your course during the same day.
If WordDive recommends a course change and you still feel motivated to learn, try another course and return to your ongoing course again the next day.
