How to Actually Learn a New Language in 2025 (evidence-based)

hello everyone and welcome back to my YouTube  channel today I want to help you learn a new  

language in 2025 and share a few strategies that  have been working great for me I'm testing a new  

filmy format using a microphone kind of like  recording a podcast so please let me know in  

the comments what you think about the setup a  little bit more relaxed I feel like so please  

let me know your thoughts the first strategy  I feel like is going to be extremely important  

in 2025 if you want to learn a new language  is focusing on comprehensible input I've been  

learning a lot of different languages ever since  I was a little kid and right now I'm especially  

focused on learning Spanish and over the years  of learning multiple foreign languages I realized  

that focusing on comprehensible input is probably  the most important thing for me it's definitely  

something that has helped me improve my language  skills a lot and also feel good in the process of  

learning a foreign language because I don't want  you guys to feel stressed I don't want you guys  

to feel anxious and feel like you're not doing  enough when it comes to learning a language so  

basically the theory of comprehensible input comes  from Steven crashion a linguist who developed it  

in 1980s as part of his input hypothesis all of  these words are going to make sense in a minute  

just bear with me here basically crash and  believe that the best way to learn a language  

is to be exposed to a language that you can mostly  understand but with just a little bit of challenge  

to stretch your abilities and guys once you really  understand this strategy and start implementing it  

you will see results immediately because a lot of  us language Learners tend to use resources that  

are a little bit more advanced than our current  level is yes maybe right now in Spanish I want to  

watch a very famous movie or a very famous TV show  but I have to be honest with myself and ask myself  

this question do I think I'm going to understand  most of the information because I really want  

this movie or this show to be just above just  a little bit above my current level of Spanish  

this is often written as i+ one where I is your  current level and + one is a small step above it  

again I + one not i+ 2 I + 10 I + 20 I know a lot  of us want to choose I + 20 at the very beginning  

but please let's slow down and let's start with i  + one the reason why this strategy really works is  

you don't really force yourself to memorize a lot  of complicated grammar a lot of new vocabulary you  

know sometimes you open a book and when you start  reading it in every single line you have a word  

you don't know what does it tell us it tell us  that this book is way too hard for you it is not  

I + 1 it is probably I + 10 and so if you're being  exposed to a language that is just slightly above  

your current level with maybe a few new words  phrases grammar rules mixed in in just a few this  

will actually motivate you to continue learning  this language because one of the reasons language  

Learners lose motivation and stop practicing is  because they realize that learning a language is  

too hard and why do they realize that learning a  language is too hard because they chose materials  

that were way hard for them okay so to really  drive the message home at every single stage  

of your language learning Journey if you want  to be improving and if you're also want to feel  

good while improving while advancing you should  choose materials that are only slightly above your  

current level and yes that works when you become  Advanced too if you want to continue improving  

don't stop at what you already know if you're  watching a show and you're realizing that you  

literally know everything all the words all the  grammar rules maybe it's time to choose something  

else if your goal is to continuously improve your  language skills these strategies I just mentioned  

can really make your language learning more  efficient and because of that more fun and now  

I want to share with you guys something that  has made my traveling experiences a lot more  

efficient a lot more fun and much easier and that  is my level eight luggage and I want to say huge  

thank you to them for sponsoring a portion of this  video I recently crossed the Atlantic Ocean twice  

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also leave the link in the description so make  sure to check out level eight the second strategy  

that is going to be indispensable extremely  important in 2025 if you want to learn a new  

foreign language is focusing on active recall and  space repetition maybe these two strategies could  

be you know separated like strategy number one and  strategy number two but I decided to combine them  

because I personally use them together and if  you use certain applications or if you try to  

do it by yourself you will most likely combine  these strategies into one as well so what is  

active recall it is basically when you're trying  to actively remember what you have just learned  

instead of just rereading you know if you open  your notebook you can read all of the words you  

have there like the word the definition the word  the definition you can just read all of that or  

you can close the definition for example and make  yourself practice active recall and be like okay  

the first word is mesmerizing what does it  mean I have to explain what it means using  

my own words this is active recall and it is a lot  more effective than root memorization or than just  

rereading all of your notes and yeah guys if you  decide to practice active recall you're going to  

realize that it is way harder than just reviewing  all of your vocabulary recalling information using  

your own words to describe something is always  harder but it is way more effective as well okay  

now let's move on to the second sub strategy which  is space repetition you practice space repetition  

when instead of camming all of the information  all at once and then forgetting about it you try  

to review information at increasing intervals over  time for example you have a list of words and you  

review them to today and then you review them  tomorrow and then you review them 5 days later  

and then 10 days later and then 20 days later  this is the strategy that will actually help  

you use the words while speaking because I know  a lot of you guys experience this situation you  

know that you know this word maybe when you read  something or watch a movie but when it comes to  

actually speaking the language and then using this  word or expression yourself you freeze you forget  

this word and you just feel so frustrated and so  what can you do practice spaced repetition it will  

help you move information from your short-term  memory to your long-term memory thus preventing  

forgetting and yes technically before I mentioned  that you can create those intervals by yourself  

maybe have a calendar but honestly it is so hard  it's so hard to stay consistent for me if I create  

my own time intervals it is so hard for me to be  disciplined and so I always choose a method that  

is easier that is going to guarantee that I stay  consistent and disciplined in my language learning  

journey and so because of that I use Ani I talk  about Ani all the time on this YouTube channel  

because this is the app that I literally use for  every single new language I learn and it's not  

just me most polyglots use Ani as well and the  reason why so many people love Ani is because  

their core philosophy was always about providing  a tool for language Lear Learners and students to  

improve their skills without focusing on making  money the app is open source and it remains free  

for your computer if you want to download an app  you have to pay for it but you pay for it once and  

you forget about it and it's not very expensive  and so these two strategies combined active recall  

and space repetition really make sure that you're  deeply actively learning and not just recognizing  

words when you see them the next super important  strategy that is going to help you learn a new  

language in 2025 is learning all of the vocabulary  in context and yes I know that you have probably  

heard of this super important rule but I actually  want to take it a step further and show you how  

I learn all of the vocabulary and context so as I  mentioned previously I use Ani and on Ani you can  

create cards in multiple formats and the formats  that I absolutely love and that I use very often  

right now to memorize vocabulary and context is  creating close cards c o l z e close cards they  

let you learn vocabulary by removing a word from  a sentence and then making you recall it we are  

practicing strategy number two and we're combining  it with strategy number three which makes your  

language learning a lot more effective so let's  say you're trying to learn a new word in English  

for example Serene and instead of just gramming  this and being like okay Serene translation to  

my native language I don't think that it's  very effective and plus we're going to try  

to move away from your native language as soon as  possible what you're going to do is open Ani and  

then create or find a sentence that uses this word  serene and what is especially important is you're  

going to find a sentence that you can potentially  use you look at it you read it and ask yourself  

this question can I use this sentence do I see  myself using the sentence and conversations in the  

future if the answer is no you have to change the  sentence until the answer becomes yes otherwise  

it's not effective it's a waste of time okay then  you basically added to Ani using the close card  

feature hiding the word that you want to recall  so let's say right here I have the sentence the  

view from the mountain was so Serene that I didn't  want to leave maybe I went hiking and when I read  

the sentence I'm like yes I can definitely use  this sentence in my conversations because I love  

hunking so I'm going to keep it and so I have  to highlight the word serene and then hide it  

so that later Ani shows me the sentence without  the word serene and maybe I can find a picture  

to represent the word serene something super calm  maybe somebody doing yoga clear sky and basically  

add all of these pictures so that they can help me  recall the word better again we're not using your  

native language here at all pictures and context  are enough and yes guys I want to be honest with  

you and say that using these types of cards on  Ani is also harder it is way harder than just  

reviewing vocabulary in your notebook you will  actually make your brain work and think because  

your brain is trying to recall that word from  memory instead of relying on root memorization  

or on translating from your native language but I  really hope you're watching my channel because you  

are serious about language learning and maybe  you're tired of all the traditional strategies  

that don't seem to work you've tried writing  down all the vocabulary you've tried cramming  

everything but all of this doesn't seem to work  and that is absolutely understandable why all of  

this doesn't work and so now I'm giving you really  effective strategies but obviously you will have  

to make more effort to use them but I promise  you the effort will pay off editing Veronica here  

so I realized that I really needed to add this  little part where I was talking about you know you  

don't have to use translations just use pictures  um I feel like it's important to add that what  

I would personally do if I'm trying to memorize  the word serene for example I see it for the very  

first time first I go to Google and I look up the  definition of the word serene in English obviously  

right cuz we're trying to not use translation um  so here the definition is calm peaceful untroubled  

tranquil and so I basically choose the words that  I kind of already know and understand let's say  

calm and peaceful and I can include these words  to anky as well to help me a little bit because  

yes sometimes you can include pictures but you  see the pictures and um the word is hidden and  

you like okay what am I supposed to use here calm  peaceful but now you have to use the word that  

is a little bit more advanced and so sometimes I  also add some uh definitions maybe in English an  

explanation or something that is going to guide  me in the right path that is going to help me  

recall the information a little bit better because  otherwise just looking at the pictures you might  

be like I don't know what's happening here I don't  remember the word and one last thing if you feel  

like you really need to look up the translation of  specific word like all of these words in English  

are not really doing it for you okay please do it  but still try not to create cards that are going  

to look like Serene your native language Majestic  your native language you know because we're trying  

to switch your brain to English or whichever  language you're learning the next strategy is  

going to be very useful for those of you guys who  are learning multiple foreign languages or you  

can already speak one foreign language at a very  good level for example this is my situation with  

English because my native language is Russian  I can speak English really well so I'm using  

English to learn a new foreign language I know it  might be tempting to use your native language to  

start learning a new language for example I could  be using Russian to learn Spanish but instead I'm  

using English to learn Spanish if I need a certain  you know explanation for a grammar rule I'm  

always going to use English for that and the  reason why this is a good strategy is you're  

just going to spend more time with your foreign  languages instead of with your native language  

because it's your native language let's be honest  you can already speak your native language really  

well and so I think it's better to focus on your  foreign languages and use them as a platform kind  

of to learn new languages if that is the goal and  I feel like especially for me learning Spanish in  

English makes way more sense because a lot of  native English speakers are trying to learn  

Spanish or can't speak Spanish whereas learning  Spanish using Russian I understand that a lot  

of people who speak Russian are also probably  learning Spanish but I think it's maybe not  

as common maybe there aren't a lot of resources  in Russian that explain stuff about Spanish but  

at the end of the day my goal is to spend more  time time with my foreign languages with English  

and with Spanish and not more time practicing my  native language the next Super useful strategy to  

learn a new language in 2025 is using anchoring  to stay consistent anchoring is something that  

I really discovered for myself in 2024 and  because of that I started being consistent in  

my sports yoga bouldering going to the gym in my  languages especially Spanish the way it works is  

you have to think of something that is going to  make you come back to a language no matter what  

basically your anchor you know it's always going  to be there and you're always going to come back  

to the language because your anchor is there for  me it's my weekly Spanish classes with my teacher  

because I realized that when I don't practice  Spanish with any teachers what happens is I become  

lazy my discipline starts lacking I skip a day 2 3  five a week two weeks I don't practice Spanish at  

all but those weekly classes really remind me to  check in with myself and with my Spanish learning  

progress and be honest with myself like Veronica  have you actually practiced Spanish this week the  

answer is no that is not a very good answer the  answer is yes good job continue when it comes to  

language learning I have noticed that what works  for most people as an anchor is something they  

paid for because let's be real a lot of us do want  to use free language learning resources but once  

we pay for something we value it a lot more and we  immediately become more consistent more dedicated  

just because we spend our own hard-earned money on  it and so I am the same way I have a lot of things  

on my plat every single day if I don't really  pay for my language learning I stop practicing  

just because I think ah it's fine you know I'll do  it on the weekend and then the weekend comes and  

I don't do anything but once I pay for something  maybe it's an na maybe it's my class maybe it's a  

language book I'm immediately more dedicated and  more disciplined so maybe for you your anchor is  

also going to be something you will pay for just  think about it the next strategy for super busy  

people is practicing habit stacking and that is  honestly exactly why a lot of people like dual  

lingo because they can practice habit stacking  and use this fun app for example you're sitting  

in line there's nothing to do or you're waiting  for your Uber you're bored and you can just do  

your dual lingo really quickly and so what I'm  proposing is instead of using dual lingo let's  

use some other resources but also practice habit  stacking and for that to be working effectively  

I really think you should create a list of  all the activities you could be doing while  

learning a foreign language you basically stack  your your new habit on your existing one let's  

say you go to the gym that is a great habit that  you already have and at the gym you can listen  

to a language learning podcast for example that  is going to be habit stacking or maybe watch a  

YouTube video in Spanish and English depending on  which language you're learning that is again habit  

stacking you're waiting in line you're waiting for  something for your Uber you can do your Anie cards  

maybe this is not really habit stacking because  being in line is not really a habit more like  

activity stacking you know sometimes you can stack  multiple activities on top of each other and that  

is going to work great as well okay and finally  I want to finish this video by talking about the  

self-determination theory that is something that  I learned only recently and when I learned about  

this Theory I was like it makes so much sense  especially when it comes to language learning  

according to the self-determination Theory people  are more likely to stay consistent in activities  

that they find intrinsically motivating meaning  activities that they enjoy and find personally  

meaningful how can we apply that to language  learning if you tie learning a new language to  

your personal values you're way more likely to  stay disciplined stay consistent stay engaged  

with the language for example a few months ago  in 2024 I decided to learn Korean just because  

I watched a YouTube video and I was like oh my God  this language looks so fun the writing system the  

the pronunciation everything I'm going to learn  it and then you know what happened 2 weeks later  

I stopped because there was nothing really when  it came to my personal values that connected me  

to this language yes maybe I want to go to South  Korea one day but is this desire to travel to  

South Korea enough for me to actually go into all  of this trouble spend a lot of my time to learn  

a completely new language and also a pretty hard  hard language it's not like learning Italian for  

example because I can already speak English  I'm learning Spanish my Spanish is getting  

better and better and so technically learning  Italian right now would be easy or easier right  

than learning Korean and so obviously because  there was nothing connecting me to Korean when  

it came to my personal values there was nothing  that I found intrinsically motivating I stopped  

but I'm continuing with Spanish because I find a  lot of things about this language intrinsically  

motivating for example my fiance and his family  they're Mexican and so for me to be able to  

communicate with them effectively I need to learn  this language and that is a huge motivational  

boost for me because I want to understand his  family I want to connect with them on a deeper  

level and that is exactly why I find Spanish  learning intrinsically motivating so yeah what I  

propose here is pretty much doing a deep dive into  why your you're learning your foreign language so  

guys I think it's going to be it for this video  if you liked it please don't forget to give it  

a thumbs up and subscribe to my YouTube channel  let me know in the comments if you like this new  

format with a podcasting mic a little bit more  relaxed because I definitely had a lot more fun  

chitchatting with you like that today so please  let me know your thoughts if you want to upgrade  

your suitcases this year I highly recommend level  eight I literally changed all of my suitcases  

to the their luggage so if you want to get a  10% discount you can use my code Veronica 10  

and the link in the description if you need help  creating your own monthly language learning plan  

I have a video about that on my YouTube channel  so you can click right here and keep on watching