Heading In The Right Direction: Small Efforts In All Places

A few weeks ago, I mentioned how as of recently, other things had taken priority in my life. I wanted to learn Arabic, but not as much as I was willing to give up other things. I told myself to change this habit and to focus a little time on Arabic every day. These small time frames could be anywhere from five minutes a day to an hour, but the key was to do it EVERY DAY.

Most of the time, these efforts were utilized in a common setting: staring at a notebook and reviewing vocabulary. The parts that were more beneficial were the uncommon settings. Allowing myself to review, speak, practice, etc. in a more natural state allowed me to associate speaking in every day settings. Here are some of those moments:

• Talking to myself in the car.
• Having conversations with myself at the grocery store.
• Translating conversations while in the middle of them.
• Explaining all the steps of getting food to eating it, while trying to cook it.
• Posting small phrases on language learning websites to be corrected.
• While exercising.
• Conversing via WhatsApp

The big thing is to keep going. Sure, I feel like I've had more success as of late but if I pause I could lose all the progress that I've made. The longer I wait between reviewing the harder it is to remember. Making sure to take a small amount every day, no matter how small, can help to keep that comfort and confidence where it is at right now.

Here is a video of me trying to utilize some of the phrases I worked on this week. Making all my videos on the first take definitely leaves the sentences sounding choppy, but with repetition after the videos I can become more flowing with all that I say.

Until next time.