GOALS: Language Learning 2020

Goals are important to be successful in learning a foreign language, but there is a right way to set them. In my last video, I talked about why it is important to set goals in the right way, and in this video I share some specific goals I have for Swedish in 2020 and why I have set them like that. This language goals video was partly inspired by Lindie Botes and her video 12 languages for 2020 New Year Language Goals, so I am talking about my own (more humble) goals for 2020, especially Swedish. There will be another video about my French learning goals.
Whereas Lindie speaks about 12 languages, I only speak 3, so although Lindie Botes' 2020 language learning goals inspired me, I need to be careful not to try to be Luca Lampariello, Steve Kaufmann, Benny Lewis, Lina Vasquez or Ed from Double Deutsch - I like all those people and I want to be like them but my language learning goals can't be at that level yet, they can only be at my level. I can only improve on the language learning stage that I am currently at; fluent in English, reasonably conversational in Swedish and starting to become quite conversant in French. I am thinking of learning a 4th language starting at the end of 2020. In Swedish, I am trying to overcome the intermediate plateau, and I have taken some of my ideas on exactly how to do that from Lindie again:
• Getting over the inter...
One of my heroes is Luca Lampariello, and here is one of my favourite videos of his on how to prepare for a good language learning session:
• 3 Simple Steps to Prep...
Language learning videos, tips and techniques!
• How To Learn Languages

[@jrdking1]

I feel you, I’ve essentially have the same issue as you but juggling 5 languages (1 advance, 4 Intermediate). The best advice I found was on a website call universe of memory. Basically, study every language every day or study one until reaching a C level so the requirement to maintain reduces as you move on to a new language. It was so much easier when it was only 2:(. Some days I feel like abandoning a couple of languages so I can be C level in 3 of them but I don’t because I get such a high from speaking Arabic & German which are my weaker languages of the 5.

[@daysandwords]

Wow. It's kinda one of those "good problems", but I have to say, it's beyond my level of expertise haha. I would probably write myself a grand goal for 2020, e.g. where you want to be at in all your languages and then work out how many hours that's going to entail and how you can then fit it in, and from there, a logical way to fit it all in, e.g. is it Japanese one week and then German the next 2 weeks and then Arabic the next 2 weeks, and then back to Japanese... or whatever it is.

[@boyohazard]

Congratulations on the new baby! One "goal" I like to keep in mind as I learn Spanish is to "strive for progress not perfection". It probably doesn't pass the S.M.A.R.T test, but I think it is important to keep in mind for any endeavour

[@daysandwords]

Well, yeah striving for perfection in a language is always going to fail, it literally doesn't exist. I'd say that this is more like advice to go alongside the goal rather than the goal itself. Thanks for the comment and the congratulations! We have to wait until about the 8th of January or so to find out boy/girl.

[@ChallengeStarts]

I can teach you Spanish for one and only payment of $10.

[@Sakura-zu4rz]

Your charm is irresistible!! You look energetic. I love you!! I have a frustrating experience. Not knowing where to begin or hitting a plateau can feel demoralizing and make it hard to hit the books and study like you know you should…Having friends from other cultures makes me more creative. In fresh ways about space and how people create their own world and environment. It is best way to connect between creative thinking and cross-cultural relationships

[@nolo347]

Just recently stumbled across your channel. I don't leave many comments, but i just have to say that you are so uplifting and positive. Not just in your own lifestyle but also towards the community. So thank you for that, and thank you for helping me want to make myself better. I am a native English speaker, going into my 3rd week of self taught german. Using Busuu, Lingvist, and Anki. Anyways, i wouldn't say i was discouraged ... More like overwhelmed and confused on how to go about it. But your videos have helped me IMMENSELY. So, Danke!

[@daysandwords]

Great work! How are you finding it with the 3 apps? Generally I try to keep it to 2 if I can, especially as I feel like Lingvist and Anki do a similar thing (and personally I think Lingvist does it better). If you can find an exchange partner on iTalki, that will be an immense benefit too (assuming you can find a good one like I did with Swedish).

[@nolo347]

@@daysandwords Es ist sehr gut gelaufen, Vielen Dank. I am still trying to figure out a schedule that works for me, but here lately I have just been using Busuu (Paid version) for most of my spare time throughout the day. And In the evenings I have been reading the book series; Dino lernt Deutsch by Andre Klein. As well as watching a few series/movies, my current favorites are Nico's weg, and Berlin Berlin. Both of which are on youtube. Lingvist has been something I go to as a filler, or to look up grammar topics. Tschüss

[@arthistoryguy]

I'm late to the party. I set a 500 hour 2020 goal for myself for Spanish. I want to see where I'll be at by the end of a full year of consistent study. So far, so good! I'll see where my Spanish is at 2021, but I would like to pickup French early next year. I find myself relating to your videos much more than any other language youtubers out there (and I'm a fan of many). Cheers!

[@marine27]

The way you learn languages is a source of inspiration and motivation for me. So of course, I wish you the best for your 2020 languages goals!

[@daysandwords]

Wow, thanks so much, what a lovely comment.

[@daysandwords]

En fait, quand j'ai lu ce commentaire la première fois, je n'ai pas vu que c'était toi Marine ! 😂 Si tu écris en français, ça va pour moi et alors peut-être je peu voir que c'est toi !

[@Sakura-zu4rz]

I like to call it the four Ps;🤗 Practice, Perseverance, Patience, Passion, I have a frustrating experience. Not knowing where to begin or hitting a plateau can feel demoralizing and make it hard to hit the books and study like you know you should…

[@daysandwords]

Absolutely. I think with languages, it's also important to acknowledge that you "don't" speak the language. Like, there is rarely going to be a practical level at which you're not improving that language anymore (unless you've lived in the country for like 8 years or more). Thanks for your comment!

[@zawuz2681]

I definitely relate to what you were saying about being more productive in French, the first language I studied (and still study) was Japanese which looking back I was so inefficient, then I did Spanish and made progress even faster (though I spoke it fluently when I was little so idk how much of it had to do with that) and I studied French for a very short period of time however it improved much faster than the other two did when I first studied them I'd say. Now I'm at the point where I can watch youtube videos and read in those languages but I still have a lot of trouble speaking spontaneously and understanding people clearly face to face (as opposed to a video or tv show). My goal is to see Spanish tutors at least once a week for the rest of this month and see how well I can speak with my abuela when I see her in January. After that I will probably continue seeing Spanish tutors but also start seeing Japanese tutors since I am going to Japan in September.

[@daysandwords]

Muchas gracias! (for the comment) Yeah, well I mean it's a bit harder to judge because you tackled a very hard language to start with, and then the easier ones from there. I can also understand French almost perfectly but in conversation my Swedish is definitely faster. But in 2018 I seriously spoke about 250 hours of Swedish haha, it was ridiculous how many lessons I had. To this day I would not have even spoken 100 hours of French. You can maybe check out my video (it's mostly on French) about learning 2 languages at the same time - for your case I'd probably recommend a lot of Spanish study up to about March and then put that down for a bit and go CRAZY on Japanese until September. Thanks for your comment!

[@zawuz2681]

@@daysandwords I've actually seen your video in French! But yeah it might be a good idea to hunker down on Spanish for a bit, however I've been riding a wave of motivation as it were for Japanese for almost a year straight (in which I feel like I've progressed more than all my previous years of Japanese combined) and I want to keep riding out this wave. I am on winter break for school right now so I'm in no shortage of time to study two languages at the same time but when next semester starts perhaps I'll need to allocate more of my time for Spanish for a bit. Thanks for your advice! Gracias, merci, ありがとう！

[@firefoxx_x]

I‘m swedish and I learn me English with help of Babbel and I can now 800 word :D ( on 8 weeks) In school I learned 200 words in 8 years, talk about wasting time ( Swedish expression )

[@daysandwords]

Tack för kommentaren Klaus. Om det är okej ska jag 'rätta' lite? "I'm Swedish and I am learning English with the help of Babbel, and I now know 800 words (in 8 weeks). In school I learned 200 words in 8 years, talk about a waste of time." Jättebra, fortsätt! Håll i åtanke att ordet "can" på engelska inte kan alltid användas på samma sätt som "kan" i svenskan. "Att kunna" KAN ju betyda "att veta/att kunna hur man gör något", men INTE på engelska. På engelska måste vi använda ordet "to know" (och man uttalar inte "k", det är precis samma låt av "no"). "Talk about wasting time" = det går bra, men känns lite mer naturligt med "talk about a waste of time". Annars var det helt korrekt, du har bra engelska!

[@firefoxx_x]

@Days of French 'n' Swedish tanks :)

[@amala1406]

@@firefoxx_x i thought most of Swedish ppl speak english

[@daysandwords]

@@amala1406 That's not always true... if they speak it well then they normally learned a lot of that in their university years. The kids often don't speak it that well.

[@AC-yl7rg]

I'm really looking forward to your upcoming video on the input crowd. I'm not sure I understand their theories completely, but am dubious. Your video comments were so cryptic that you've really got me curious! Please don't wait too long! You also mentioned that you discovered when first learning Swedish that certain resources were a waste of time and you didn't bother with them when starting French. Perhaps you could elaborate a bit more on which materials you think are best when first starting a language and which are better when you are a bit more advanced. I know you have used Duo Lingo, Busuu, Lingvist, iTalki, etc., but what other resources have you used and found to be beneficial? BTW -- thanks for the book recommendations. I'm going to read the first novel of the May trilogy. In English, to be sure.

[@daysandwords]

Oh yeah absolutely, I also read The Blackhouse is English, and will probably read The Lewis Man in English first and then either Swedish or French. Even though I said I had given up reading in English, I consider this a good base exercise for languages. I am reading "Entry Island" right now in both languages and it's been really good. For your second paragraph - yes, I will asbolutely being doing this in my "How to Learn Swedish" video which I am still writing. A bit trick to film a lot around Christmas. And yeah the input crowd... What I like to do is wait until my thoughts are clear enough that I can write them down, because if I start writing before I am ready, I end up with kind of vague ideas, but I will definitely do that video at some point.

[@user-it8kw3wy2y]

Hejsan! Grattis på bebisen! Du har bra mål, du ska lyckas. Jag ser fram emot att se mer svenska videor från dig också, tack snälla!

[@daysandwords]

Hej Eliza - tack så mycket för din kommentar! Ja, jag hoppas att göra snart en video på svenska, och kanske en video till på min andra kanal där jag gör recensioner (kzbin.info/door/QNDd8k9rnbJDPaleJ-fHBw). Jag funderar på att prata om 'Modus' på svenska, men jag måste erkänna att det är mycket svårt... till och med videorna på engelska är svårt därför att det är svårt bara, att sitta framför kameran och prata utan att tänka och säga "Hmm, nej, det är inte vad jag menade..." osv. Tack Eliza, finns fler videor på gång!

[@marissalongo4483]

I've very curious to hear your thoughts on the input crowd when you're ready because you make interesting and good points in the other videos/topics you've covered.

[@daysandwords]

Thanks. Yeah, I am probably ready "now" (I've gotta stop shying away from big videos) but I guess it's more the time of year. I am also supposed to be reviewing Ouino and some others haha, too many videos to do!

[@Arctagon]

Seconding this. Looking forward to your video on ‘the input crowd’.

[@connor9726]

Did you ever explain your issue with the input crowd? I’d be interested to see as I’ve put a fair amount of faith in this theory... love your channel, keep it coming!

[@daysandwords]

If you watch my video with Matt vs Japan we talk about it a bit near the beginning.

[@BrentStrathdeePehi]

I really like your videos - I’m running a bit parallel to you too in that I’m learning 2 languages and my Indonesian is ahead of my Spanish. I’m using Lingq daily but going to look into getting some Indonesian and Spanish novels too

[@joreneelanguages]

Autoplay has brought me far into the archives today 😂 I know you’ve said your opinion on input has changed, I’m wondering if your enjoyment has also changed vs your feelings here?

[@Tomanita]

I think your goals are realistic and I hope you'll achieve them! I haven't thought much about it but I want to read all the French books I already have and a long-term goal is to take (and pass) the DALF C1 exam. So I need to work more on my grammar if I want to achieve that next year.

[@daysandwords]

Wow, high goal, great job! Actually since making this (it was like 3 weeks ago haha), I have decided that I could actually read all 13 books that I have in Swedish next year (I just finished one as you know), it would just mean slowly reading the other 6 during the 'French' months. But depending how much I have to work, I might even keep studying both at the same time.

[@Tomanita]

Days of French 'n' Swedish Ah, that's amazing!

[@libraryoflilylol199]

Oh I'll write mine in the comments for now. I worked out a bit of a goal already the other day. I study a few languages, but I'm trying to just focus on one at a time as my main target language. Right now, that's Finnish. So I made a Daily on Habitica (cool task management app). Basically just has a little checklist for each language I'm actively working on. Top of the list says "study current main target language for 30+ minutes" and then below it is a list of languages I'm practicing. Everything that isn't my current target language, I want to spend about 15 minutes a day just enjoying some entertainment in the language just to maintain those. For my goal, I'd like to accomplish a 21-day streak on this daily. So that would require me studying Finnish for 30+ minutes a day followed by 15 minutes each of reading/watching videos/writing/whatever in Spanish, German, and ASL daily for 21 days in a row.

[@ThisIsNotInUseOkay]

Have you done that video you mentioned about input yet? Sounds interesting! Also, how has the reading in Swedish going? Reading books I want to in French is also part of my motivation! Hope all is well with the new baby!

[@Flauschbally]

I love audio books too. I used Storytel for Dutch. Unfortunately I find it very hard to get audio books in Croatian. How do you get your audio books? Thx again for the tip with the extra KZbin channel in my target language. Best tip ever!!! Really. This is amazing. I would have never thought of it.

[@daysandwords]

Sorry I nenever answered this, I just saw it again and realised I hadn't done so. Well I get them from Bokus which is a Swedish bookshop, but Swedish audiobooks are super easy to get... they're almost as common as English audio books (and narrated better on average), so that probably doesn't help you with Croatian.

[@JustinArmstrongsite]

Have you tried using a kindle (or the kindle app)? It would be way cheaper than importing physical copies. It has a great feature where you can look up words using a dictionary in your target language. Also, it's pretty easy to save sentences that you can import into a flashcard software. Out of curiosity, how much "input" do you engage with as part of your study sessions?

[@daysandwords]

Oh haha, I think I may have completely forgotten to mention that I just don't really like e-books. I actually do use an e-reading platform called Bookmate because it has heaps of material in Swedish (and I have the translate options and everything) but that just doesn't get me excited about reading. The physical book does, and I use a pencil to underline words and stuff, it's just "nicer" for me. $18 AU per book (which is roughly what I ended up paying) isn't much for the amount I get out of it. Plus with Swedish, there is a Swedish church and café near me with a sort of open library and while they don't mind me just taking books, it's nice to also be able to donate some, which I will with these when I'm done. So yeah for me it's all about getting it to NOT feel like study, and with a nice physical copy, it doesn't. :-) Thanks for your comment.

[@daysandwords]

Oh and as for your question, in Swedish I just go for as long as I can. Reading in Swedish seems to wear me out in like a "needing sleep" sense but lately I've been doing two half an hour reading sessions every day, roughly 30 pages a day. But I haven't tried in French, I probably wouldn't manage that much since it's a bit harder for me.

[@JustinArmstrongsite]

@@daysandwords that's cool. I definitely prefer physical books, but the efficiency from ebooks in terms of looking up words, portability and other things makes it worth the tradeoff, imo. 30 pages a day is great. That's roughly what I do in French everyday. Somewhere between 30 - 50 pages, my brain just refuses to read any more. At that pace, you'll definitely read 6 books in way less than 6 months. Also, I recommend trying to find books that were originally in Swedish. They tend to be a bit harder but you'll learn more about the culture that way.

[@daysandwords]

@@JustinArmstrongsite Well, nah. I have my reasons for choosing my books haha. I already know LOTS about Swedish culture, that's just not what I need. (I have other ways of learning about Swedish culture that doesn't require books.) For me, being offline is like gold. I dig anything that I can do being fully offline. There are actually studies on how being connected to the internet (even if not engaging with it) is bad for memory and learning. EDIT (4 HOURS LATER, Christmas Day here): I just got a Kindle Paperwhite for Christmas from my in-laws! 🤣 So that covers the initial outlay haha. I'll let you know how I feel about it in January!

[@chuckitaway466]

What are the benefits of reading a book in the target language? Did you improve? Im learning French, but i feel I am not ready for a novel yet.

[@joeylyu1335]

Hi there, I’m now a beginner of Swedish learning, and I’m still struggling with the pronunciation which is killing me. There is not much resource out there...Could you please make a video about how to learn Swedish and recommend us some textbooks, videos and apps for beginner? The best 2 apps you recommended (Busuu and Lingvst) they don’t offer Swedish....

[@daysandwords]

Yep, absolut. I am in the process of writing this video right now. Hopefully it will be uploaded sometime at the end of January.

[@o08O80o]

Ååhhh, jag älskar "Mina drömmars stad"!! Den är helt klart läsvärd, men kanske inte den bästa boken när man försöker lära sig svenska eftersom den innehåller så många gamla ord... Det är dock mycket bättre att läsa på originalspråket än att läsa översättningar eftersom mycket "gets lost in translation", synd bara att vi inte har så många bra böcker på svenska ;( Oohhh, I love "Mina drömmars stad"!! It is definitely worth reading, but maybe not the best book when you're trying to learn Swedish considering it contains a lot of old words... It is however much better to read in the original language than to read translations since a lot "gets lost in translation", just a shame that we don't have that many good books in Swedish ;(

[@rutherforduslane2810]

From where and how do you buy your foreign language books? I've tried a lot on Amazon and stuff, but they don't really have them. Hope to get a reply...

[@daysandwords]

I buy them from Bokus but that would be best for Scandinavian books. The Book Despository isn't too bad.

[@alamut8563]

Hi, have you ever tried to write Swedish Proficiency Tests like SWEDEX or TISUS? What do you think about them?

[@nazik9862]

Hello! Why did you decide to learn Swedish? Just curious :)

[@fisfisarenskanal]

Hej, snart kanske vi kan prata på franska, engelska och svenska! =) (I try to learn french now) Tror SVT play har några najs program du kan se! På spåret!

[@daysandwords]

Tack för kommentaren! Tu essaies d'apprendre le français ? Très bien alors !

[@fisfisarenskanal]

@@daysandwords Merci!

[@dogestep64]

My goal is slightly above intermediate for 2020 in japanese I think I will be able to do it if I study hard

[@daysandwords]

OK. What is your action plan though? Like, not trying to cut you down (genuinely), but what does that involve doing on say, a Thursday morning?

[@Elflamencojuan]

Hej! Varifrån beställde du svensk böcker. Jag frågar eftersom fyra år sedan försökte jag att beställa från Adlibris och Bokus i sverige. De berättade för mig att de leverera inte utanför sverige. (Det finns inte Amazon där). Jag köpta endast en ljudbok från Adlibris kallad "Män som hatar kvinnor". Hälsningar från England!

[@daysandwords]

Hej! Okej, jag TROR att Adilibris levererar utomlands NU, men de har jag inte använt förut så jag är inte säker. Bokus levererar definitivt utomlands, och jag vet det därför att det är där att jag köpte böckerna. Leverans är mycket billiagare med tre/fyra/fem böcker istället för en, två osv. Jag menar, om leverans till två böcker kostar 280 kr till exempel, då kostar den 300 till 5 böcker... Så det är faktiskt mycket billigare (per bok) att köpa fler. Och du bor i Storbrittanien, då kan jag tänka mig att leverans skulle vara ännu billigare för dig. Leveransen av mitt köp var 319 kr för 6 böcker, nästan hälvten av kostet överallt, men det är därför att jag köpte mest billiga böcker (som hade rabat... eller var på rabat? Jag vet inte...) Haha, 'Män som hatar kvinnor' är en STOR bok om den är din första... Jag har inte läst den, inte ens på engelska. Men vänta lite, jag har faktiskt en video som kommer snart med fler detajler om hur jag läser och var man kan köpa svenska böcker. (Föresten, du vet säker, men det finns några små fel inom din kommentar... Säkert i min också.)

[@Elflamencojuan]

@@daysandwords Tack. Du ha varit väldigt hjälpsam. Ja, jag vet min svenska är inte för bra därför att jag ha började nyligen att studerer igen! Ser fram emot till ny video.

[@omichaela2314]

How did Swedish go in 2020? Do you think your Swedish goals changed after removing French (excluding time management)?

[@daysandwords]

Thanks for the question. Doing a (lateish) video on this!

[@priyankandatta5644]

Hello. I m starting to learn german from today. Any tips?

[@daysandwords]

1. Don't get caught up in grammar and stuff that doesn't seem to make sense, just keep going 2. Learn gender and case by sound and feel, not by list or memory 3. It is hard. It will take time. Acknowledge that and you'll be much better off. 4. There are lots of ways to learn German. Duolingo is not a must; you can use it but you don't need it. Hope that helps!

[@priyankandatta5644]

@@daysandwordsThanks a lot for the help.Are there any good source to learn german properly?

[@daysandwords]

Heaps. Rocket German is great. Busuu is very good. GermanPod101 the MATERIAL is good but you have to be careful not to get caught in their long English explanations of everything.

[@Peru-fc3bi]

I often wonder if language learning can be merely broken down into quantity of exposure. A child hears English maybe for 8 hours a day for 365 days a year for 18 years. That's 52,560 hours of exposure!!

[@daysandwords]

I like your attitude... Although a child doesn't hear their language for 8 hours a day. I was watching my son play today and thinking how he probably only has one of his languages going into his ears for about a total of 3-4 hours. More than 5 hours daily would actually be bad for your mental health - a constant stream of things other than your own thoughts, it would cause stress. But yeah say if we say a healthy 3-4 hours a day for 18 years it's still about 25,000 hours.

[@nazzarynnavarronunez9471]

@@daysandwords What languages does your kid know?

[@louiefernandez2923]

How come your learning Swedish?

[@daysandwords]

Good question. It's sort of a long story, but it basically started as a joke when a Finnish friend of my wife's invited us to stay with her in Finland, and we thought obviously if we go to Finland, we'd be going to Sweden and Denmark too (it's way too far to go for just one country), so I started learning the kind of "capital" of the languages up there (although actually Norwegian would be a better choice because they are the "middle" so Swedes and Danes can both understand Norwegian, but Danes/Swedes cannot understand each other very well). Anyway, it was actually just a joke, but after a while I started to take it seriously and just kind of kept going. Nowadays I have Swedish friends and I have come far enough to read novels (with difficulty), so it's sort of my flagship language.

[@kentlambert4108]

I would like to see you do a response to this video.

[@adamclark1972uk]

Why do you want to learn Swedish? Why French? Why those languages? Why not Italian?

[@daysandwords]

Is this Adam as in Adam and Kate from Newcastle? Because you're questions make a lot more sense if it's just a mate trying to troll me haha.

[@adamclark1972uk]

@@daysandwords I don't think so. I'm just a bloke who's curious as to why you chose those languages.

[@daysandwords]

@@adamclark1972uk Haha ok. It wasn't just this comment it was a combination of that and the other comments, plus your last name starts with the same letter, and the comment about my name was very "him". I'm explaining why Swedish in my Livestream on The Reykjavik Review starting in 12 hours (14:00 GMT).

[@adamclark1972uk]

@@daysandwords Haha okay, I'll look out for it. Are you going to explain why French, too?

[@almor2445]

What specifically was a waste of time?

[@daysandwords]

Will have to add this to my list of videos to do, because it would be like a 2000 word comment!

[@archdukefranzferdinand567]

Why don't you invest in a Kindle? You can get them from $50 from eBay, and you'll save hundreds in the long run

[@daysandwords]

I already have one. It's great in some ways but at other times I want to test how waterproof it really is by sending it to the bottom of the Pacific.

[@myers4067]

Vi kan öva svenska tillsammans, det skulle vara kul, för att jag har ingen samtalspartner! lol lol

[@daysandwords]

Ja visst! Det kan vi göra! Kan du gå in till min "om" sida och hitta min e-mail adress och då kan du skicka ett email? Så kan vi hitta tid att prata på skype. Jag antar att du skulle vilja öva engelska?

[@myers4067]

@@daysandwords Nej, jag talar faktiskt om svenska, för jag har ingen att öva med.