How Much Time Should I Spend Each Day Learning English?

Aww yeah! I'm Ethan, your RealLife English  Fluency Coach and I get this question all  

the time from learners like you, about how long  do I need to actually spend to learn English? 

In fact, just the other day Andrea was doing a  live over on Instagram and got this question,  

so we thought that it would be a fantastic  idea to make a lesson all about it for you. 

So to start out, are you of the belief  that the more time that you spend studying  

the better? Well I have a spoiler alert  for you, this is not always the case. 

So in this video we'll be covering topics like  the amount of time that you spend studying  

vs. the actual quality of that study time, a  little bit about how the learning brain works  

and finally how you can make  the most out of your study time. 

So we have broken this lesson down into five  topics. First of all, are you a pop learner?  

Then we'll talk about proficiency vs.  actual study time. Next, Break, a habit.  

Study like there's no tomorrow; and finally,  is the amount of time really that important? 

But quickly before we get into any of that  I want to let you know that if you are new  

here every single week we help you to understand  fast-speaking natives, to be understood by anybody  

and to connect to the world. Just like our fan  Keenan, who says that now he has the confidence  

to understand anybody. So we'll help you with  your comprehension and so much more. Just hit  

that Subscribe button and the Bell below and  you won't miss a single one of our new lessons.

All right so this is not like a pop star  like Justin Bieber or Taylor Swift. POP,  

in this case stands for Proactive, Observant  and Patient, which are really characteristics  

that any exceptional learner has in common. So first off being proactive. So someone who  

is proactive takes their learning beyond the  classroom, they see that they have to find the  

resources on their own and then their time in  class is really for an expert to kind of guide  

them and answer any doubts that have come up  while they are using that self-discovery time. 

So their teacher is there to help them figure  out what they could not on their own. So next  

I want to share with you a quote from someone  I really admire Barbara Oakley. So she says: 

So, by the way she has a fantastic Ted Talk  that I highly recommend that you check out  

because it's all about learning how to learn.  Now this might sound a little bit redundant,  

but is something so fundamental that hardly  anyone that I know was taught in school. I  

actually read her book A Mind For Numbers a few  years ago and it had a really big impact on me.  

And in fact so much so that I included it in  this list of 6 Life-Changing Books for English  

Learners. So if you want to learn more about that  I highly recommend that you watch that video next. 

So how can you make this proactivity a part  of your daily routine? You can use a technique  

called Layering, which is really fantastic because  basically you are just connecting the new thing  

that you want to learn to an already existing  habit. So that basically means that it won't  

cost you any extra time, so just to give you some  examples of this: you could listen to a podcast  

while you're going for a walk. You could listen  to a song in English while you're cooking and if  

you want extra points then you could actually use  a recipe in English, so you'd actually be layering  

three things there. Maybe you enjoy running  and you have a treadmill in your house.  

Why not watch a video in English while you're  doing your daily exercise? So this Layering is  

something that you can start doing all the time.  And the really fantastic thing is that all of a  

sudden you'll be adding all this extra time during  your day where you're having exposure to English.  

You might even find for example that if you start  listening to podcasts in English during your runs,  

that already you start to put on your shoes in  the morning and your brain switches to thinking  

in English, because you're so used to having these  two things paired together. And when you do one  

of these activities for some reason without  the other, so for example you go for your run  

and you forgot to download the podcast and  so you don't have anything to listen to,  

then you're probably gonna feel like something is  kind of off. It's just like you're missing that  

little bit of English exposure during that run. So if you want to learn more about habits like  

this that you can develop, then I highly recommend  that next you check out this lesson, where I  

talk about the best habits to build in English. So something else really powerful that you can do  

is make a commitment to yourself. And if you want  to take it to the next level you can even write it  

down this makes it a little bit more set in stone,  and you want to take it even further then share  

it with someone: tell your wife or husband, or a  friend or your child, that you're going to do this  

so you'll have that accountability tied to it.  So you can also be really specific when you do  

this and that's going to make it much more likely  that you will actually follow through with it.  

So what I mean by this is instead of saying that  tomorrow I'm going to listen to a podcast in  

English, you could say at 7am tomorrow while  I'm having my coffee I'm going to listen to  

episode 210 of the RealLife English Podcast. So moving on from the P to the O we have  

being Observant. So someone who is observant  sees everything as a learning opportunity. So  

for example something that you could do is kind of  figure out what are the different things in your  

life that already are super automatic for you.  So to give you an example you probably look at  

your phone all the time you do different things  on there without really having to think about it,  

about where to click, about what button you  have to do to make a certain action happen.  

So why not put your phone, or another device, into  English? And another example could be putting your  

Facebook or your Instagram into English. Because  you already know how those interfaces work. 

Now, this is something really great because you're  taking something passive and you can actually  

turn it into something that is more active. And  we'll touch more on that later in this video. 

So something else an observant learner will  do is they will do a learning activity with a  

deliberate focus in mind, so what I mean by this  is for example they're not just going to put the  

podcast on in the background, they're going to  actually maybe set themselves some little mini  

goals while they're listening to it, or they're  going to listen to it in a very active way. So  

for example they're going to try to understand 80%  of what's said, they're going to try to identify  

five new words, they're going to try to  see if there's some aspect of pronunciation  

that they studied lately or maybe they'll find  some point of grammar that they studied recently. 

So moving on we have Patience. So this is all  about seeing learning as a process. So when  

trying to develop new habits it's essential that  you start small. Even just doing something for  

five minutes a day. Now the reason why this is  so important is because when we try to build a  

new habit our brain is so set in its ways that  it really does not want to change, which means  

that it's going to take a while for you really to  get that habit to the point where it is automatic.  

So what I mean by this is you don't need to finish  a course book in one sitting. You don't need to  

watch all the videos in a playlist from that new  English teacher that you found on YouTube. No one  

wakes up one day and just decides that they're  going to run a marathon. And in the same way  

you're not going to become native like in English  after studying for just three months. Along these  

same lines consistency is so much more important  than quantity. So for example learning really  

comes out of use, so even if you are able to study  that entire course book in one day, if you haven't  

actually put it into practice before you've  moved on to the new points that you're studying,  

then it's probably going to be a waste of time  because you haven't internalized what you've  

learned. So the bottom line for pop learners is  that speaking a language entitles living it. They  

are learning all the time. And they probably don't  even think so much about having to study English  

because it's just something that they do.  It's a natural part of their everyday life.

Alright, so I want you to take a minute and  ask yourself, "Why am I learning English?" 

All right, do you have your answer? Well, whatever  your answer was this will directly influence how  

much time you are willing to invest in your  English learning. If you're not new here then  

it's no news to you how much we believe in the  purpose. So knowing why you are learning English  

as far as being a huge motivator propelling you  forward on your journey to English fluency. In  

fact it's a cornerstone of our RealLife way for  learning English, which I made a recent video on. 

Now maybe you've heard of the popular 10,000 Hours  for Mastery Theory. Well, this has been debunked.  

Maybe you kind of have that number in your head  if you have heard about this and you're thinking,  

"Oh my God, how am I going to find all the  time with my busy schedule to be able to  

study that much English and to achieve native  like fluency," right? Well I would personally  

recommend that you focus on progress rather than  expertise. If you're so focused on perfection,  

then that's only going to be a barrier in the way  of you getting better in the language, but maybe  

you are very left-brained and you really want to  have some number that you can have in mind. Well  

maybe the CEFR can help shed some light and help  us get a lighter and more achievable perspective. 

So according to this framework it takes  approximately 1200 hours to reach a level of  

native-like proficiency. But to be honest most  natives don't even have this level of mastery.  

So let's break it down. Now imagine that you are  starting an English course from zero. I know if  

you can understand anything that I'm saying  that that's not the case, but stick with me.

But let's take a look at another example  that maybe is a bit more pertinent to you.  

So let's say that you're an intermediate, which  on this framework would be called the B1 level.

So in this case this means that you already  had about 350 hours of guided instruction,  

which would be exposure, studies, classes, etc.  Or maybe that would even be self-study time. For  

some of you in order for you to become an  advanced learner, which would be C1 level,  

you would need another 400 hours of studies.

So we can see how powerful it is to live your  English if you make it convenient, like we were  

talking about before, then you will save so  much time on your English learning journey.

So here we're not talking about stopping a bad  habit. Rather we're talking about making a habit  

out of taking breaks. So these brain breaks have  actually been scientifically proven to increase  

the amount of productivity that you get out of any  sort of task. So one way that you could do this is  

with the Pomodoro Technique. Maybe you've heard of  this. But in a nutshell basically what you would  

do with the Pomodoro Technique is you do like a  25 minute of work, or 25 minutes study session,  

then you would take a short break (maybe  just three to five minutes). You do this  

several times and then you take a longer break. Now the reason why this is so effective is because  

the brain does not cope well with monotony. So  if you are on the same topic or task for too long  

it can lead to fatigue, distraction, or lack  of focus. Just to give you an example of this  

most people work an eight eight-hour day, but  they're probably only productive for around two  

hours of that time. Now, suggestion for you is to  use this Pomodoro Technique to actually break up a  

task and mix in different types of tasks that will  make it more effective. So to give you an example,  

basically imagine that you have a grammar book  that you're wanting to study, so instead of  

spending one hour studying your course book on  the aspects of the future tense, for example,  

you could break this up into four 15-minute  chunks with five-minute breaks in between. 

You could make the breaks more effective, for  example by listening to a song in a completely  

different language, getting a drink of  water, maybe texting a friend because  

you've been alone too long you need a bit of  socialization, or getting a healthy snack.

So maybe you're one of those people who  believes that sleeping is for the weak  

or who says that you'll sleep when you're  dead. Well I have some good news for you:  

sleep is actually for people  who want to be more effective. 

Now there are all sorts of benefits  to getting a good night's sleep  

and one that is really relevant to what we're  learning today is that it helps your brain to make  

connections. Consolidation happens while you're  sleeping and it's actually been scientifically  

proven that a good night's sleep increases  your declarative memory and procedural memory.

So the expression "like there's no tomorrow"  is one that we natives use all the time,  

and it means basically that you're going  to do something without thinking about the  

consequences that you might suffer the next day,  or in the future. So just to give you an example,  

maybe after all this Covid nonsense what you  want to do is party like there's no tomorrow. But  

actually the way that we're going to use it today  is quite the opposite. So we're going to want to  

use it to focus more on what you're doing today  and not being so worried about the future, about  

how many hours you still have to study English for  example. And of course we were just talking about  

sleep and getting a good night's sleep is going to  be so much better when you can go to bed without  

having any major concerns in your mind. So what  does that tell us about homework and reviewing?  

Well the best practice is to actually review your  notes or do the activities the same day that you  

learned about a certain aspect of grammar, or  that you learned a certain list of words. But  

sometimes you might find that you're studying,  maybe it's late and you're feeling fatigued,  

and you're realizing that the thing that you  just studied is already out of your brain,  

you can't remember it. So Barbara Oakley tells  us that in this case it's much better that we  

take a break, or even that we go to bed. So it  can be good if you can to get out of the house,  

to go for a walk or go for a run, maybe play  soccer with your friends. What's going to happen  

when you do this is that in the background your  brain is going to be making connections between  

everything that you were studying before.  And exercise can actually help to increase  

this type of activity in your brain. Now a  study from the University of Alberta says: 

Maybe you have even experienced this yourself:  that the day after you had like a really intense  

study session, that all of a sudden something that  was really confused to you finally makes sense,  

you're finally able to put those puzzles  together. Now this is because while you're  

sleeping your brain is connecting the dots. So finally to give you a study tip: retrieving  

information is so much more effective than trying  to just re-read your notes or re-read the page,  

or even highlighting in the book. And this is  because it improves your long-term learning  

and the declarative memory that we learned  about before. So something you can actually do  

while you're reading something, or while you're  studying something, is imagine as if you had to  

teach that subject to someone else. So maybe read  a section or read even just a paragraph or a page  

and then think without looking at your notes, "How  would I explain that to someone?" Maybe even think  

about how you would explain that to a child or to  your grandmother because this is going to help you  

to really simplify it in your mind. So I have  a challenge for you here, can you remember just  

a little bit ago what I mentioned were the  types of memory that a good night's sleep?

So this really is the one million dollar  question, isn't it? But I think it could be  

so much more effective if we actually change  this question to "How can you make the most  

out of the time that you have right now?" James  Clear, who's an expert on habit formation, says: 

So you want to make that study time into a habit,  so that your brain looks forward to actually doing  

it. It's not something that you're dreading.  Don't force yourself to do things you hate,  

make the learning into an enjoyable experience,  because then when you have to do it your brain  

will automatically react with a positive response.  And I would encourage you to have a mix of  

lifestyle English, I think this is really the most  effective thing you can do. What I mean by this  

is that you have some passive learning so, for  example in the evening you can sit down and relax  

with your favorite TV series that you're watching  in English, with or without subtitles. But then  

you also have some deliberate practice. This  would be where you're sitting down maybe the next  

morning and actually studying the vocabulary that  you learned while watching that TV series. And of  

course it's really effective to have a plan, so  knowing when and what exactly you're going to  

study. And keeping in mind your big vision, what  do you really want to achieve, so really with all  

this it becomes more about the daily improvements,  about getting a little bit better each and every  

day, instead of focusing so much on having to  study grammar for one hour Monday through Friday. 

And my final piece of advice for you would  be: think more about how your English is  

going to bring you closer to the person  that you really want to be. And this is  

going to guide you to the answer of knowing how  much time you need to invest in studying it.

So, as you've seen in today's video, there really  is no straight answer to this question about how  

long you should spend learning English. It really  is up to you. It depends on your goals and who  

you want to be or become. And it's going to be  different for each and every person, so if anyone  

tells you that you have to study English 10 hours  a week then don't believe them because that might  

be related to their goals. Or to the way that  they see it, it's not related to your needs,  

your life and your big vision for what you want  to become. So I want you to finish this video  

by considering the following aspects  that we've been talking about today. 

So first off, it's super crucial that you  make learning English a part of your life.  

Be proactive, and learn from and with your  environment. Be patient, you don't have to learn  

everything at once find your own process. And work  making breaks into an actual habit that you do  

while you're studying or while you're doing  those difficult things. Keep it interesting by  

varying your resources, your stimuli and even your  environment. And remember to get a good night's  

sleep, because otherwise you're not going to be  as effective as you could be. Study the content  

on the day that you've learned it, and always  test yourself after you've learned something new,  

even if it's just one line or one paragraph.  Instead of putting all of your focus on the time  

consider the quality of your studies and  how it's going to help you to become the  

person that you want to be. And again if you've  enjoyed this video then I want to invite you to  

join our community of English learners  who are going beyond the classroom.  

So you can do that really simply by hitting  that Subscribe button and the Bell down below. 

And now it's time to go beyond the  classroom and live your English. Aww yeah!!