Curious how to get fluent even when you’re really busy? Here’s the best approach to fluency no matter what season of life you’re in.

Before we begin…

Choose how you want to enjoy this episode – video with subtitles, podcast on the go, or read the blog version below.

The Video

The Podcast

How to Get Fluent No Matter How Busy Life Is (The Best Approach)

As much as we may start a language with the intention (and/or expectation) that we’ll learn at 100% all the time, that’s not always the way it goes. Why? Because we learn in seasons.

Language learning, much like anything we want to achieve in life, doesn’t happen in a straight even line upward trajectory.

The biggest reason for this is that our life, and as a consequence our languages, have seasons.

We’ll be talking more about the seasons of language learning at this year’s Grace & Space, but before then, as a primer to that, in this article, I want to start by reassuring you why this happens.

I know how corny this sounds, but genuinely, if you’re ever stuck on something, in my experience, you often find the answer, even metaphorically, in nature.

This is why our languages can be considered to have seasons.

For many years now, I’ve shared the idea of the two language phases we all go through as language learners – Speedy Gains and Steady Growth.

Speedy Gains are the bits where we make lots of progress in little time, and Steady Growth is when slower progress happens over a longer period of time.

The Speedy Gains often feel better for people. We’ve been conditioned to want and expect things fast. So quick progress aligns with that expectation.

On the other hand, Steady Growth for a lot of people feels sluggish and like zero progress instead of slow progress.

And it’s simply because it’s misaligned with that expectation.

With the Seasons session at Grace& Space, I’m going to expand on this for the first time ever.

A huge part of my work is to make you feel comfortable and confident with your language learning at any phase, in any season.

Because they’ll happen. That you can’t control. What you can control is how you respond to ensure that you’re always moving in the right direction, even when you’re not learning at 100%.

Understanding Learning Fluctuations

Thankfully, you’re not a robot. That means that you will experience learning fluctuations, aka, you won’t always learn at 100%.

This can be due to various factors. There’s no one thing we can point to and blame every time. And sometimes, it may well be a combination of factors.

For example, your mood, health, and environment may all affect how well you learn.

If you’re feeling particularly run down like you have a cold coming on, you can’t expect yourself to be learning at 100%.

Instead, you may just about manage to hold your app streak before remaining horizontal in bed and binging The Office becomes all you can muster for the rest of the day. That’s ok!

If you’re coming up to a tight work project deadline and there’s the odd hour here and there you’re having to work late, that could eat into your usual language time. That’s ok!

And these are relatively short-term examples. Sometimes, longer phases of life affect our language learning too. Take pregnancy, moving house, or caring for a sick relative as examples here. They’re all ok too.

The Myth of Constant Productivity

And do you know why these are all ok? Why they don’t indicate failure at language learning?

Because we’re not supposed to be constantly productive. It’s a myth.

You have an image in your head of a more productive language learner than you – the ideal.

Maybe they wake up earlier and sneak some learning time in first thing.

Perhaps they book online lessons more regularly than you.

Or maybe they even devote their entire weekends to their desk and language books.

I’m telling you now – this person doesn’t exist! They are a figment of your imagination!

Or, if they do happen to exist, they’re missing out on something else.

We can’t be constantly productive because seeds take time to grow.

Let’s take the metaphor of a gardener here.

Their tasks shift with the seasons (there’s that word again).

If they were to be planting seeds constantly, they’d run out of space if they didn’t also take time to pick the fruits of their labour (literally) and tidy up to make space for the new seedlings.

And then there’s winter.

Periods of lower productivity are natural and beneficial. Let them be.

Importance of Breaks and Downtime

Speaking of periods of lower productivity, they’re hugely important. Breaks and downtime really help to consolidate your learning.

Imagine how nutritionally deprived the gardener’s soil would be if there wasn’t a restful winter with less crops. It needs that time to replenish.

This isn’t just me banging on about gardening metaphors either – there’s science behind this!

Rest breaks have been found to aid learning in numerous studies. They help to improve your memory as well as act as a refresher for your body and mind.

Two of the most reassuring books I’ve ever read are How We Learn by Benedict Carey* and Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang*.

If you remain unconvinced on the power of rest (and why we shouldn’t always be learning at 100%), I recommend both of these.

And, of course, if you’re just after more evidence to back up where you’re already at, I recommend them too!

Join me at Grace & Space

At this year’s Grace & Space event, I’m teaching a whole session on this topic.

It’s called How to Stay Language Positive in Your Current Season of Life.

And that’s just one piece of what you get with your Grace & Space ticket.

Our topics this year are Expectations, Shame, Distractions & Seasons. You get a brand new session for each topic.

As well as that, you also get a week of Open Group Support Chat in Voxer with me, Lindsay.

This is a chance to ask your questions, learn from others & get the answers and support you need to go back to your languages with a renewed feeling of motivation, not stress. (The amount of times I’ve left a language event feeling overwhelmed and like I’m not good enough is too many! This is not that!)

Grace & Space is an annual event that I host online for language learners who want to learn languages better but don’t like the hustle of the hacks.

It’s your chance to take a moment to pause, reassess, and step back into better language learning, but with a fresh sense of self-compassion and support that will actually help you rather than stress you out.

To make things more flexible than ever for you, the sessions at this year’s Grace & Space aren’t live, so no worries about time zone translations and staying up late or getting up early.

Instead, you get access to all the Grace & Space sessions at once as well as the asynchronous Open Group Support Chat via Voxer for a whole week.

Grace & Space tickets cost just $35 USD and are available right now.