How to learn foreign languages with a full-time job (when you don't have enough time)

if you want to learn a new language but feel like you don't have enough time this video  

is for you if you're new here my name is Veronica  and on this YouTube channel I talk about language  

learning currently I'm learning three foreign  languages English Spanish and Chinese and my  

native language is Russian I work full time on  YouTube and I understand how hard it might be  

to learn a new language when your schedule is  extremely busy first of all let's talk about  

this concept of being talented or having a lot  of motivation okay so first of all I believe that  

there is no such thing as being talented yes  I mean sometimes people talk about talent but  

guys to be really successful at anything you have  to put in so much freaking work so if you think  

the only reason why I was able to learn English is  because I'm talented well you're wrong I put in so  

much work so many hours days months and years to  learn English and slowly but surely it is paying  

off so when people approach me and asking Veronica  I want to learn English in a month I'm like what  

you want to learn English in a month I'm sorry to  break it to you but learning a foreign language  

takes a lot of time the second thing is motivation  people sometimes tell me Veronica you seem to have  

a lot of motivation for language learning all  the time and in reality I don't motivation is  

not reliable just because you want to do something  doesn't mean you will and I don't like language  

learning per se I only like the benefits of it  for me the biggest benefit of language learning  

is being able to talk to new people being able to  build amazing relationships and talk to my friends  

for example and that's something that is giving  me this motivation to continue learning foreign  

languages the solution is you have to create  systems that don't rely on your motivation for  

me meeting up with my friends is a part of this  system I want to meet up with my friends I like  

talking to my friends and the people I love  and that's something that has given me this  

motivation to keep on going motivation comes from  action and a sense of accomplishment when I do a  

specific task in Spanish and then when I go out  there and I speak Spanish successfully those two  

things combined give me so much motivation to  continue improving my Spanish there is one cool  

rule that I found online that I want to share  with you guys it's called the rule of 100. the  

main principle behind this rule is that you have  to spend a hundred hours in a year doing something  

in a hundred hours is only 18 minutes a day so if  you spend 18 minutes a day working on a specific  

skill you'll be better than 95 of the world and  for example learning English for only 18 minutes a  

day is something that many of us can do I believe  the consistency always beats talent I know that I  

will succeed in my Spanish learning not because  I'm talented but because I'm a very disciplined  

person and I'm extremely consistent there are many  situations and moments in my life where I have  

to struggle a lot for example I have problems at  work or in my personal life or I have to move to  

a new country but I still know that no matter all  the difficulties I will still succeed because I'm  

disciplined and I am consistent not because I'm a  very talented person so now that I've busted some  

myths let's talk about how you can make time for  language learning first and foremost you have to  

understand how you learn best we're really all  so different Some people prefer to study late at  

night while others can only study in the morning  and it's completely legit you shouldn't be looking  

at your friend who's studying late at night and  thinking oh I have to study late at night too  

that's the secret behind his success in in reality  it is not if you can't study late at night don't  

study in the morning for example I prefer to study  for short bursts of time and I know that I am very  

unproductive in the evening because I like to  go to bed early so usually at around 9 10 pm  

I'm incredibly tired I can't study at all so  because I know how I learn best I can leverage  

that and learn English Spanish Chinese in the  best way possible for me I know that a lot of  

people love using language apps for example and  right now I want to recommend one to you guys  

the app is called promova and I want to say a  huge thank you to promova for sponsoring this  

video promova is one of the apps that I love  using for language learning when I click on  

the course tab I can choose from hundreds of  powerful lessons no matter which level I have  

let's say you're an intermediate learner so  all I do is I scroll down I find intermediate  

and I click on the first lesson metaphorical  Expressions this lesson is about phrases that  

can be taken literally and there are so many of  those in English butterflies in my stomach if  

you have butterflies in your stomach it means  that you feel very nervous I like how the app  

gives you explanations how you should use this  expression Ron why you're smiling so nervously I'm  

not smiling I'm not nervous it's because Hermione  is standing there you always get butterflies in  

your stomach when you see her Harry Potter fans  you're probably enjoying this example very much  

the next expression is to go down in flames it  means to fail completely and there is actually  

a very famous song by Taylor Swift titled Blank  Space where she uses this expression in English

oh it's gonna go down so how can we use it  hey guys what just happened Harry forgot  

to practice his spell and went down in  flames during Professor Snape's class  

ouch poor Harry if you need more practice and  one-on-one attention you can take a private  

class on promova all you need to do is click on  the my tutor Tab and just click on book a lesson  

you can also chat with other people in their  Community for example if you have any question  

you can post it here or you can just find language  exchange partners and new friends so if you want  

to give from over a try all you need to do is  click the link in the description the Second  

Step you should take is scheduling your language  learning in advance it is a lot more likely that  

you're going to do something if you schedule it in  advance especially if you save it in your calendar  

and this is usually something that I do if you  have a very busy schedule if you work nine to  

five you can do it on Sundays for example this is  one I usually do all of my planning for the next  

week I just opened my calendar and for example  every single day I try to block out the time that  

I want to dedicate to language learning I also  take classes with a language teacher twice a week  

so I have all of those things in my calendar and  it really helps me be more consistent the third  

thing you can do is actually my favorite tip you  can try stacking your tasks and here is what I  

mean by that when I commute I usually listen to  a podcast when I cook I usually watch a show in  

English obviously this is not active learning but  it is better than nothing so basically what you're  

doing you're tying your new habits language  learning to the habits you already have for  

example cooking if cooking is something you  can do you can tie this new habit of language  

learning to it because then every time you cook  your brain will send you a sick signal that oh  

it's time to learn English it's time to listen to  something in English and this will make it easier  

for you to build a new habit you can also write  down a list of your existing habits and kind of  

pick between them I guess because for example when  I was a college student so I was a college student  

I had a job but I also mentioned to read one book  a week because I would do it on the train when I  

would go to college because my commute was like an  hour there and an hour back so during this time I  

would just read so I would tie my habit of reading  books to my habit of well commuting to college the  

fourth thing you can try if you're very busy  what you really need to learn new vocabulary  

is Anki flashcards and that's actually something  that I use almost every single day to learn new  

vocabulary I think I started talking about  Anki when I first started my YouTube channel  

three years ago just because this space repetition  technology is something that helps me so much it  

has helped me with English with Chinese and now it  is helping me a lot with Spanish so the way Anki  

works is you do everything on your computer on  your phone on your iPad right so you don't have to  

use paper I know a lot of people don't really like  relying on paper flash cards and I understand why  

because in the past when I was probably 16 years  old I used to only have paper flash cards and I  

would literally have stacks of them on my desk and  to be honest they weren't making me productive at  

all so now I use Anki and an Anki I can create  flashcards online and then their algorithm gives  

me the flash cards at an interval if this is the  flash card I know I will only see it let's say  

in a week then in two weeks then three then month  Etc the only important thing you have to keep in  

mind when you use Anki is try not to create too  many flashcards there are so many people who use  

Anki and who add like 15 new words every single  day guys it's gonna be so freaking hard for you  

to memorize all of this new vocabulary if you're  very busy for example and you can only plan on  

Sunday what I recommend is you can add all of the  words you want to learn next week on Sunday for  

example let's say you add 30 new words and then  next week every single day you just open Anki you  

don't add anything new and you just revise all  the flashcards you already have there this is  

the strategy I use because sometimes during the  week I'm so busy or lazy that you know the only  

time I have is to just go through my existing Anki  flash cards and finally the final thing you can  

try is you can grab your phone and pretend like  you're talking to someone on the phone and this  

is how you can practice speaking English you can  use headphone for example and when you're outside  

just your headphones or use your phone and walk  around and speak English or Spanish or Chinese  

or any other foreign language you are learning  basically the way it works is people are not  

going to think you're weird because they're gonna  think you're just talking to someone on the phone  

and you will get your speaking practice in because  maybe you don't have enough time to take a class  

or you don't have anyone to practice English with  so just grab your phone and speak English imagine  

you're talking to your friend just ask questions  like oh how are you doing you know how was your  

day and then imagine that your friend asks you how  was your day and talk about your day for example  

it's just a great way to practice speaking if  you're very busy so I think it's gonna be it  

for this video I hope now you understand that it  is absolutely possible to learn a new language  

even if you're very busy you have a full-time  job you know you have responsibilities kids  

Etc if you really want to and if you use the  right resources and you structure your day  

properly you can do that absolutely yes if  you want to give promova a try and use this  

amazing app to learn foreign languages make  sure to click the link in my description this  

is the app that I use to study Spanish because I  find their vocabulary very useful something that  

people actually use so thank you guys so much  for watching this video if you liked it make  

sure to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to  my channel and I'll see you in my next video