if you wanna learn a language in 2026, start these habits now.

0:00It's about to be a new year, and wouldn't it be so nice for 2026 to

0:03finally be the year that you can tell somebody "I speak another language"?

0:10Before we go any further, hello, my name is Elysse and I am learning seven languages. But

0:16I just want to sit here and tell you some things that really work for me as a language learner,

0:19help me make language learning happen, that kind of thing, so that you can start doing them now and

0:23bring them into the new year. Cuz you know, if you start doing them now, you can build up some

0:27momentum. You know what? I am a new year lover. I love nothing more than a rebrand, a mood board. I

0:33don't know. Changing my life, getting myself in order, and people are like, "Oh, why why do you

0:37wait till a certain day of the year to do it? New year's is so stupid. New Year's resolutions

0:40are stupid." We have to do it *sometime*. Like, I don't know. I hate New Year's haters. Okay,

0:45let's get into the video. My first tip to you for the new year is to make a study menu. Or you can

0:50just use mine. So, what a study menu is, if you are a person that spends more time stressing about

0:54like how to study your language than actually just doing it, this is going to be ideal for you. So,

0:59it's just like a list of grab-and-go language learning activities that you can just pick from

1:03and plug into like any busy day. I'm a very busy person, so it's very nice for me. So, you can

1:08include things like, you know, do a short journal entry, even like just three to five sentences. Uh,

1:13do the shadowing method for 10 minutes. If you don't know what the shadowing method is, look it

1:16up first step. or you know just write four to five practice sentences with like grammar structure or

1:22something like that. So you can put whatever you want on your study menu that you personally like

1:26to do like some tried-and-true things that you know you like to do in your target language.

1:29Don't force yourself to do stuff that you don't like doing. That's just a good rule for life. You

1:33can also divvy it up by energy level which is what I've done for mine. So you have a section for like

1:38low energy activities, medium energy activities, and then like high energy when you have a lot of

1:42energy and time. So, you can still practice your languages. Even if it's just like a little bit,

1:46like you're meeting yourself where you're at. That's what we're doing in 2026. Meeting yourself

1:50where you're at. But if you don't know what to put on yours and you just want to make it

1:53easy and steal from mine, I will gladly allow it. Lazy language learners, I'm here for you,

1:56too. So, here's mine. I'm too hot. Let me take this blanket off. Who-- whose idea was it to wear

2:01a blanket while I film? So, I made my study menu into like a full guide template thingy on notion.

2:06This is called the Polyglot Playbook, and it has over, I think, 60 fun activities and methods that

2:11I use every single day. So, I just sit down. I'm like, "Okay, today's French day. Dadadada, what do

2:15I want to do? Uh, let's play language roulette." Which is something that I made up, which I'm very

2:19proud of. The Playbook, it's like the number-one reason that I was able to be more consistent in

2:24my target languages this year. So, if you want to get a free mini version of it, or if you just

2:28want to go ahead and get the whole thing, I will leave links for you down in the description. My

2:31next tip for you is to stop procrastinating and just dive in, motherf****. Because yes, planning

2:37can be a form of procrastination. Like if you're a person who is constantly, you know, spending a lot

2:41of time designing and like redesigning the perfect routine, always chasing that new perfect routine,

2:46you know, making lists of goals, researching for resources, duh, like you're still not actually

2:51doing it. You realize it, right? You're avoiding it. It's it's an avoidance technique, which is

2:55okay. You're scared. It's fine to be scared, but like, let's just put the cards on the table. So,

2:59by dancing around it and avoiding it and just planning and planning and planning, you're

3:03actually subconsciously making it a more daunting thing. Does that make sense? Cuz your brain is

3:07like, why are we avoiding this? Why don't we just do it? I don't know. I feel like this is part of a

3:10larger phenomenon maybe with our generation where we just don't want to do anything imperfectly

3:15anymore. And you know, this is honestly a separate video, but I think it's because of social media

3:19and like people only showing perfect versions of themselves online. Like I feel like we've

3:23very much internalized that. Let that go because language learning is one of those things where you

3:27have to be okay and enjoy. Not enjoy, but like you have to be really chill and cool with doing things

3:33imperfectly messy doing it scared. I know that you guys have seen these like motivational posts

3:38where it's like, do it scared. Yes, do it scared. Planning, yes, it feels safe and it gives you the

3:43illusion of doing something and it can give like, you know, a shadow or an illusion of progress,

3:48but you need to do something meaningful and like actually take that first step. Just learn how to

3:51introduce yourself, learn the alphabet. You don't need to be perfectly prepared or have the perfect

3:56anything for that matter, like resources, routine, whatever to just start. Honestly,

4:00also being a beginner is the most fun anyways. It's the most fun you're going to have learning

4:04the language cuz it's just like la dee da, I'm a beginner, so why are you putting that off? Like

4:08you know just dive in and enjoy it. Take those baby steps. You know, learn to talk about your

4:11favorite fruits. That's one of my favorite things to start and do when I'm, you know,

4:15starting a new language. Make an online friend in like Brazil or Turkey or somewhere like that.

4:19I don't know. Just go-- go make a core memory! Just start. And on the topic of just start, yes,

4:24I'm going to talk about speaking again. My third tip is to start speaking sooner rather than later.

4:29Once you finally do start and start learning this language that you've so desperately wanted to

4:33learn, don't put off speaking for too long. I'm not saying you have to speak on the first day.

4:37You know, I think speaking is a skill that people love to put off because it's like, oh, what if I

4:42make a mistake? What if I sound stupid? What if I sound stupid and I don't realize it? Shhh. Repeat

4:47after me. Speaking is the only way to get better at speaking. And that's the tea. And that's the

4:52the Do Ghazal tea. It's cold. Micro do practicing speaking even as a beginner. and practice early

4:59because just like the other thing, if you wait and put it off, you're subconsciously making it

5:04like a more daunting thing in your mind. So, the more you put it off, the scarier it's going to be.

5:08You know, it's kind of like when you get a cat and you have to like desensitize them to water

5:13when they're a baby so that they don't freak out about it later. That's that's literally what I see

5:17speaking as as a language learner. Crazy metaphor, but you know, I have to use cats to explain

5:21things. And something I would really suggest to beginners who still want to get that speaking

5:24practice is to take group classes specifically on Lingoda. Lingoda is an online language school

5:29where you can book live classes 24/7 so you can practice speaking whenever it fits your schedule.

5:34Lingoda was a lifesaver for me this past summer because I wanted to, you know, start speaking and

5:38taking Italian classes cuz I was at the point where I was like understanding a lot because

5:42of my other romance languages, but I needed to actually start speaking to get better at it.

6:01What I love most about their classes is that they're really interactive. Like they're not

6:05just lectures where they just teach you stuff and then they're like, "Bye." It's very,

6:08it's very interactive. So the teachers, they're native level teachers, all of them. They ask you

6:12questions and even if you're like, I don't know what you're saying, they will help you find the

6:16words. And if you want a little challenge for the new year, you can do their 60-day language

6:19learning challenge called the Lingoda Sprint. I've talked about the sprint so many times

6:22before. You guys know how it goes. So, you either take a class every day or every other day in your

6:27target language for 2 months. And if you finish all the classes that you sign up for, normally

6:31you would just get half your money back or just more free classes. But if you're in the US or the

6:35UK and you join the sprint now, you can get 100% cash back. And on top of all that, you can get an

6:40extra $25 off if you use my code and the link in the description. So, I will just leave that

6:45right there. Go check it out. And uh thank you so much to Lingoda for sponsoring the video. So,

6:48my next tip is to study in what I'm calling like mini bursts. If you keep telling yourself, "Oh,

6:53I just need to find an hour to sit down and study my target language." It's never going to happen.

6:57You're going to keep waiting forever. So instead of chasing that like one perfect long study block,

7:02try squeezing in these tiny sessions, you know? Like just read one paragraph, just listen to 5

7:07minutes of a podcast, like whatever you can fit. You don't have to go all in every single time that

7:11you study a language there. Like you don't have to do the whole shebang, if that makes sense.

7:15Honestly, I would say that 95% of my personal language learning happens in these short little

7:20bursts. Like I'm not a person that likes to sit down for an hour or 2 hours, 3 hours at a time and

7:25study. And I feel like if we were to add it all up, I feel like it adds up to more than those like

7:30long study blocks that, let's face it, are few and far between. Also, the awesome thing about this

7:34like mini bursts approach is that you can apply it to anything that you want to do more of. For

7:38the past couple months, I haven't been reading anything because I was just waiting for like,

7:41you know, a nice long block of free time that I had to read. But I realized that was ridiculous

7:46and so I ditched that and I've started to read like five pages of my book every time that I

7:50wanted to scroll on my phone and suddenly I had so much time out of nowhere. That's suspicious.

7:54It's almost like being on your phone and scrolling all day is like stealing all your time and sucking

7:58the joy out of your life. No, that can't be it. It is. Anyways, 5 to 10 minutes is really all

8:03you need to like meaningfully interact with your target language. And my last tip for you to Why am

8:07I slouching? Hello. Posture check. Everybody sit up. My last and final tip for you before the new

8:12year is to anchor new habits to routines that you already have. So, we all know that like trying to

8:16start a new habit from scratch is hard, right? I feel like we often try to adopt new habits by like

8:21overhauling your entire life and like stacking in like 10 new habits into your routine that

8:26you never do, which feels unnatural and then you obviously don't keep it up for more than a week.

8:30So, like what makes adopting a new habit easier is attaching it to something that you already do

8:34anyways, like brushing your teeth or cooking dinner or folding laundry. And I was talking

8:38about this a couple videos ago, like there used to be times where I would realize I hadn't studied

8:42languages or even thought about languages for like 5 days and then I would realize it and I'd

8:46be like, damn, I haven't made any time. But when like you make an association between two habits,

8:51it becomes automatic and very effortless and it's no longer something that you have to like

8:55make time for because it's just it's just there. Which obviously, no surprise, it helps you be a

9:00lot more consistent. I recently started putting on a language podcast in whatever my target

9:04language is that day when I'm brushing my teeth and like washing up in the morning. And yeah,

9:08I used to hate folding laundry, but now it's one of my favorite things because I get to put on like

9:12German TV while I fold my laundry. So, just think of how you can like slip little bits of language

9:17learning and like micro dose it and attach it to things that you already do. In closing,

9:212026, bring it on, bitch. You got this. Okay. And honestly, I think the theme of most of these tips

9:27that I was just passing you, the the thread that's running through all of them is that you don't have

9:31to be perfect. Do things imperfectly. Do it in little bursts. Do it messily. And find ways and

9:36find these like nooks and crannies where you can fit language learning into your life instead of,

9:40you know, thinking that you have to be this like perfect language learner with the perfect routines

9:44and the perfect goals and whatever. That's just like it's always been antithetical to how I study

9:49languages. I am the messiest language learner alive. So, I don't know. I still managed to get it

9:54done and this is how I do it. So, cheers. I'll see you guys in the new year, and happy holidays. Bye.