How I made language learning my *favorite hobby* (it doesn't have to be boring)

i used to think that when you're learning a  language you can't do any of the fun stuff like  

watching movies reading books or playing games  i always thought I had to wait until I'm finally  

advanced to enjoy language learning and to enjoy  all of those things but the truth is you don't  

have to wait and because I love making language  learning fun I created a free language learning  

game plan for you guys it includes fun challenges  a progress tracker and also all of my favorite  

resources to turn studying into a game all you  have to do to get the guide is click the link in  

the description and share your email with me and  you'll get the guide straight to your inbox okay  

so let's think about why you're actually learning  a language in the first place it's definitely not  

because you want to memorize all of the vocabulary  in all of the dictionaries and finish every single  

unit in your textbook it's so you can visit new  places talk to other people read books and order  

matcha at a cafe these are the fun moments that  we all as language learners dream about but the  

problem is we think we need to get the basics down  like grammar drills vocabulary lists before we can  

actually enjoy language learning and years of  hating language learning doesn't sound fun to  

me at all it is not something I want to be  doing instead what I propose is minimizing  

the gap between all of the fun end goals like  traveling abroad working in your target language  

dating people from that culture and all the  boring stuff you have to do right now and that  

is honestly something that is helping me stick  with the languages I'm learning right now English  

and Spanish because I'm doing things that I love  like 99% of the time I'm doing everything I love  

and the things that I know I don't like that much  for example grammar drills i think how I can make  

those boring things more fun maybe it's going to  be asking Chad GBT to explain this one particular  

super boring grammar rule in a fun way to me if  any of you guys love car racing you probably know  

that right now is Formula 1 season i love Formula  1 so I watch the races in English and I also  

listen to a podcast about Formula 1 called the Red  Flags podcast okay now let's actually talk about  

how we can make language learning more fun and  the first thing you can do is obviously you can  

play video games one game that is really great for  learning is Stardew Valley it's simple you don't  

have to understand a lot of rules and there is no  failing when you collect an item it shows the name  

and image of that item so you can use it to learn  new vocabulary you can also talk to NPC villagers  

in the game and most of the dialogue is short and  super simple plus you can always pause the game  

if you need more time to read the actual dialogue  or look up some words you don't know another game  

that a lot of language learners enjoy is The  Sims it was literally the game of my childhood  

of my teenage years and I still love it with all  my heart it's honestly one of the best games to  

practice learning a language because a lot of  people are already familiar with it you'll pick  

up everyday words by playing this game especially  like all of the objects you have around the house  

because you're going to be building a lot of  the things it's also like an online simulation  

of real life so you're learning practical words  in a super fun way the second thing you can do  

is watch videos specifically made for language  learners the key here is to actually understand  

the content otherwise it's just noise to your  brain you can watch shows and movies you always  

liked as a kid for example but now you're doing  it in English you're already familiar with a plot  

you kind of know what's going to happen and a lot  of the words you can guess them from the context  

you can also watch content for kids is something  that I did a lot when I was learning Chinese at  

the very beginning of my Chinese journey I was  watching Peppa Pig in Chinese just because my  

vocabulary was very small my grammar very small  like I really didn't know a lot of Chinese yet  

and so Peppa Pig was something that was making my  language learning fun i didn't feel like my brain  

was on fire and that led me to make this natural  transition towards content that was a little bit  

more difficult and yes it's not a secret that  watching interesting shows is one of my favorite  

ways to learn a language and that's where today's  sponsor Lingo Pie comes in i've always believed  

that language learning should be fun not just  grammar drills and textbooks that's why I use  

Lingo Pie every single week now it's like Netflix  of language learning you get access to thousands  

of real TV shows movies music and even podcasts  in 11 different languages and the best part is  

that everything is designed to help you learn as  you watch and you're probably wondering what's  

the difference between LingoPi and just watching  Netflix with subtitles lingo Pie is interactive  

you can click on any word in the subtitles get  an instant translation and it automatically  

saves to your personalized flashcards there are  also quizzes pronunciation exercises and even a  

say it feature to practice speaking you're being  intentional about your show watching experiences  

and that eventually pays off recently I have  been watching traveling around Mexico because I  

love traveling and I love watching travel content  it's a really fun way for me to explore new places  

while practicing my Spanish so if you want to try  out LingoPie they're giving you 7 days completely  

for free and a special discount just click the  link in my description or the pin comment to  

start learning languages in a fun way because  let's be honest if you're going to watch TV  

anyway why not learn something in the process the  next thing that is going to make language learning  

feel like playing a video game is learning with  other people as humans we're social creatures  

and having this support network is so freaking  important when you're learning foreign languages  

because sometimes you might feel like you're not  improving you're not making any progress and if  

you have someone to share this with someone  who's in the same boat this is going to make  

you feel so much better and also learning with  others just makes it harder to quit because you  

feel accountable you feel like everyone else is  learning so I should be learning too there's no  

reason to quit so what are some ways that you can  learn with other people the first one is you can  

join an online community for example Reddit has a  lot of language learning communities like language  

learning and language specific Reddits like learn  Spanish where people share helpful info ask for  

advice on their grammar vocab where you can ask  questions or even find a buddy to study with and  

you can also go to in-person events it's something  that I did a lot when I was a college student  

i would go to speaking clubs and I actually  used to have my own speaking club and I know  

that some of the members of the speaking club are  still talking to each other when I moved abroad I  

would find those language learning communities on  meetup.com i would go to those networking events  

to meet people to practice my English and to  have fun instead of just sitting in front of  

my textbook doing all of those grammar drills I  actually wanted to speak to real people to hear  

different accents different perspectives so that's  why I highly recommend attending in-person events  

the next thing you can do is you can play word  games one game that is really popular is Scrabble  

and I even saw someone on Reddit mentioned that  they learned cerillic by accident by playing  

Scrabble i think it's pretty cool i think word  games in general just make learning vocabulary  

less boring because you're playing a game and  you're not really studying because you're focused  

on playing and winning the game they're also  amazing for practicing spelling especially if  

you're learning French or German where spelling  can be quite tricky and it's a fun way to pick up  

new words and add them to your vocabulary without  feeling like you're studying the next approach you  

can try to make language learning feel more like  playing a video game is making a private YouTube  

account or maybe a Tik Tok account to document  your language learning in my case for example when  

I watch my very first YouTube videos it's such an  amazing experience for me because I immediately  

feel so grateful for all of the work I have put in  over the years because I can see how much progress  

I have made when it comes to my English when it  comes to how I speak in front of the camera when  

it comes to my setup my audio everything but  obviously all of those things are important to  

me because I'm a YouTuber if you don't want other  people to see your content just make your videos  

private and keep them for yourself to just track  your progress your first video could be something  

super simple like introducing yourself in your  foreign language as you get better you can start  

talking about whatever it is you want to talk  about like your daily routine the reason why  

you're learning your target language or even  practice some situations like ordering coffee  

or matcha if interacting with other people makes  you feel a little bit stressed trust me guys if  

you actually stick with learning the language  if you stick with the process of making videos  

of yourself you know saying something in your  target language looking back and watching all  

of those videos is the best thing ever i mean you  can even do it now on my YouTube channel scroll  

all the way down or sort by the oldest to see  my oldest content and you can compare how much  

I have improved how much my English has improved  because we are in 2025 right now the next thing  

you can do to make language learning feel more  fun is talk to AI like Chad GBT for example i just  

started learning English and I only understand  a few basic words can you talk to me in a very  

simple way of course I will use simple words let  me know if you need help with anything specific  

or if you want to learn new words well you get it  guys it's very simple chad GPT can talk to you in  

a very slow way if it's needed it can explain  absolutely everything to you and because you're  

kind of using your phone you're talking to AI it  does feel more fun there's no pressure to speak  

and you can stop at any time you can even use AI  to quiz you on stuff like vocabulary and grammar  

pretend we're in a cafe and you're the barista  help me practice ordering a coffee in English sure  

let's practice imagine you walk up to the counter  you can say "Hi I'd like a coffee please." Then I  

might ask "What size would you like?" Or "Would  you like any milk or sugar?" You can answer with  

a small coffee with oat milk please or any other  preference give it a try i would like a small  

coffee with oat milk excellent job Veronica you're  doing really well if you'd like to change your  

order you can say "Actually can I have coconut  milk instead?" Or "Could I also get a little sugar  

please?" Practicing these small changes will help  you get more comfortable with ordering in English  

what if I want to say that I want my coffee cold  great question you can simply say "I would like an  

iced coffee with oat milk please." Or if you  prefer to emphasize the temperature you can  

say "Can I have a cold coffee with oat milk?"  This way they will know exactly how you want  

your drink okay and finally something that I do  super often to practice my languages English and  

Spanish is journaling journaling to me is very  beneficial for my mental health but it's also  

fun like it feels like fun i'm just writing  about my life i'm using all of the vocabulary  

that I need and I practice everyday language that  I would actually use in a normal conversation if  

the idea of journaling sounds super complicated  to you all you can do is just journal about your  

day what did you do today that's it that's all  you have to write about and your sentences can  

be super simple and super short you don't have  to use super advanced grammar academic words no  

you're just writing your thoughts obviously if  you're more advanced if becoming more advanced  

is your goal you can try practicing different  expressions maybe asking AI again to help you  

rephrase a certain sentence give you alternatives  maybe give you some slang or some idioms phrasal  

verbs to help you journal and express your  thoughts in a more complex way and yes I know  

that for those of you guys who are learning a  language with a completely different alphabet  

like when I was learning Chinese when I was in  college journaling in Chinese was so freaking  

hard i mean if I compare journaling in Spanish in  English to journaling in Chinese it was a struggle  

but I just gave myself a few minutes to write a  very simple characters to start small and make it  

as simple as possible for myself and then build up  eventually i think that's all I wanted to mention  

today so thank you so much for watching this video  if you liked it please don't forget to give it a  

thumbs up and subscribe to my channel before you  go don't forget to get your free language learning  

game plan it's a perfect addition to this video  and it's completely free all you need to do is  

click the link in the description and I'll send  it to your inbox a lot of you guys ask me in the  

comments why can't I understand native speakers  i actually answered this question in this video  

right here so if you want to know why and what to  do about it click right here and keep on watching