August 2024 Inner Circle: How to Get Back into Your Language Routine

Lesson Transcript

I'm Kyejin and I'm joined by my co-host, the founder of Innovative Language, Peter Galante.

Hi everyone, Peter here.

Okay, so Kyejin, last time we talked about how to stay motivated.

And today, how to get back into a language learning routine.

So if you've ever fallen off, or you took a break just because life got in the way, because life can be busy, today we're going to talk about a lesson that is for you.

Okay, great.

Peter, did you take a break from Korean this year?

This summer specifically?

Well, passive learning where I'm watching Korean dramas or listening to Korean music, no.

But active learning where I sit down and actively attack the language, yeah.

Yeah, summer time and vacation time is usually chaos for routines.

Yeah, right.

Actually, me too.

Yeah, I went on a vacation.

I mean, I saw my family for a week and I'm going on a vacation soon.

And I'm very busy preparing for moving in, moving out.

So you have a lot going on, or you had a lot going on, plus you have a lot coming up.

And life gets, just life gets in the way.

Exactly.

So let me be very honest.

I'm not spending a lot of time learning a language like before.

Good.

Good, good.

Better for my chances to beat you.

Okay, okay, fine.

So now, I would like to go back to my routine.

Yeah, and also same for me.

The summer came along and, you know, I have my routine, my family has their routine.

But in the summer, the three kids, their routine is completely changed.

Yeah, I can imagine.

The older kids, they can create a routine themselves.

But the younger ones, he needs attention.

So all these routines are mixed up, rearranged, and changed.

And that makes it very easy to fall out of your routine.

Yeah, that's true.

And also, I know some people are taking break from language learning because they lose motivation when they don't see the progress.

So I guess having this kind of break is very common for the language learners.

Yeah, so it's kind of tied to motivation.

And then things that get in the way of motivation, right?

And when we say a break, I think anything over two weeks is probably a break.

If your routine...

One week, if you're not feeling well and you miss a week, that's fine.

But anything over two weeks, that's a very kind of risky time.

Because let's be honest, is learning a language easy?

No, it's so difficult.

It's like going to the gym or working out or swimming.

Do you swim, K-Jin?

No, and I don't drive.

I don't know how those are connected, but...

There are some things that I cannot do.

Swimming and driving.

You cannot swim.

I cannot swim.

And you cannot...

I cannot drive.

Okay, stop learning languages.

Swim and drive.

But the two weeks is dangerous because swimming, working out, learning a language, these are hard to do.

So watching Netflix, watching YouTube, scrolling through shorts, watching a movie, these are easy things to do.

And chances are when you're out of your routine, you find something easier that slips right into that time.

Yeah, I agree.

Yeah, and that's why like the two week is a crucial one.

If you miss two weeks in a row, it's so easy to say, yeah, you know, let me take a longer break or let me not go back.

Yeah, like let me take a break one more week.

Yeah, that's actually a better, clearer.

And then before you know it, months have gone by and you have no progress.

Not even no progress, but I think this is Stephen King movie, where it's like where time is eaten by something.

But like your progress is constantly being eaten, right?

Like if you get to this level, time starts to eat away your progress.

So it's not only you're not progressing, but you're losing.

Losing.

Yeah, we are human beings.

We forget the words that we learned and memorized.

So just by taking a few weeks off from my language learning, I can feel that, oh, I already forgot a few words that I used to use so naturally.

Yeah, so that's why taking a break from a routine makes it easy for that routine to be replaced.

Shall we say routine replacement or replace routine replacement?

So that's why these bouncing back or starting again is a crucial skill, not just for language learning, but for life and good habits and good routines, right?

So as a language learner for many, many years, do you have any tips on how to go back to this routine?

Okay, so let's break it down into a few elements.

The first is motivation.

Okay, Kyejin, how good, how amazing is vacation?

Vacation is so fun.

I think, why is it so fun?

Maybe it's because it's different from my regular routine.

It's different.

Everything is fresh and just fun.

I do what I like.

Yeah.

And have you ever gone on a vacation to a resort where you stay for like five days or something?

Oh yes, a long time ago, yes.

And as soon as you get there, you break all the routines you're used to.

But what do you do as soon as you get there?

I eat.

Okay, so you eat.

Yes.

And then you find out what's good.

And then what do you do the next day?

You kind of go to all the places you find what's good.

And what do you do the next day?

The next day, I eat.

And then you optimize it.

You find the best restaurant, the best times.

Essentially, you're kind of creating new routine.

And usually, at home, I don't eat after like 10 p.m.

But during my vacation, I eat at 11, 12, bad routine.

Yeah, and when we say bad routines, meaning like they're releasing all the dopamine in your brain.

You're so happy.

These are like bad, good routines.

Yep, guilty pleasure.

Right?

And when you're back home, you know, there's work routine, working out routine, learning a language routine.

These are hard.

Hard.

So you went from hard work to less hard work to fun work.

Going back to the hard work again.

Starts with motivation.

Yeah, how do you...

And that's where you have to start.

Some people, it's easy for them to switch on and off.

I worked hard so I can play hard.

Now I'm going back to working hard.

Maybe that's not me.

That's not me.

Not me, well said.

So, but I think now we're talking about motivation.

One nice thing about motivation.

So while it's not me, I can rationalize a bit.

Like, look, I had my fun and if I want to have fun again, I have to get back to the hard routines.

Ah, that's true.

So in my case, I use the fun I had at the trip to justify doing something hard again.

And that's how I get started again.

That reminds me of my friend.

She's working out so hard every day and I asked her, how can you work out every day?

And she said, I want to eat.

That's why I work out.

I want to eat more and more.

So I was like, ah, I see.

So that's one of the things that helps me.

Number two, remember when we started at the beginning of the year, I always write down my goal.

You're right.

Do you?

Goals?

Yes, of course.

New Year's resolution, right?

Yeah, so inside of the book, I usually have at the start of the book, I write my name and I have my goals.

So I start by reading them again.

And it's not as fun as when I first wrote them.

When it's a brand new book and this is my goal because it's all imagination and emotion and the trip's going to be so good.

And now I know it's not that easy.

So it's a little harder, but I go back and I read why I started in the first place.

Yeah, actually now I changed my wallet so it's a little different.

But I used to have my goal, New Year's resolution in the paper on my wallet.

And there's some transparent place and I put it there.

And I always look at it whenever I open my wallet.

Wow, that's very good for financial goals too.

Because you're looking like, oh man, I can't use this money.

Close the wallet back up.

So, but putting it in the right place.

So yeah, I put this at my desk and I reread why I wanted to do this.

Yeah, reading goals over and over again helped a lot.

I should change my wallet again.

Yeah, so that's number two.

Number three, and this one is a little questionable, but I do like this.

But I don't start with it.

After I've been working at a goal for three to six months, I will share with other people that I'm working on this goal.

Ah, so you tell everyone around you like I'm doing this, I want to do this.

But not right away, not the first day, and not before I start.

Because in the past, before I started, guys, I'm getting in shape this summer.

Summer comes and?

Nothing happened.

So I wait till I start a bit.

And then when I'm confident that I have the routines, then I stick with it.

So because I started in January and I took a break in August, I had already told people.

So again, that adds a little external pressure for me to continue.

Yeah, I can guess because these people will ask you whenever they see you, right?

How's your goal going?

Like, are you enjoying it?

Did you make progress?

And I don't want to say no.

This was a little dangerous though, because it can lead to demotivation if you're not reaching your goals.

That's true.

That's why I usually wait to make sure I can achieve it rather than saying something before or right at the beginning.

I see.

What do you think?

Yeah, I think that's a great one.

And in my case, when I go back to my routine, there are some things that I do.

First, I start with something very small, like, okay, I'm not going back to one hour full lesson, but I take just one podcast a day.

It takes just like five minutes a day.

And I do have five minutes because on the train or when I walk, I have to go back to have five minutes.

So I listen to it.

Very easy one.

So instead of jumping right back into one hour.

Yeah, my regular routine, I start from the easier one.

Yeah, that makes sense.

Something a lot of people don't factor in is that time eats away at your progress.

Knowledge too.

Everything, right?

We forget.

We do.

So if you were here before you started or before your break and two weeks or three weeks have gone by, maybe you're slightly down to here.

Yeah.

And think about it.

Even in your own language, you forget words.

Yeah, I forget the words.

So there's a bit of a gap.

So, you know, humans are like, oh, I was here.

So now when I come back, I want to start here.

But you've actually slightly dipped.

So you got to start here and starting slower.

Yeah.

Makes sense.

And the other thing is I make a routine that I cannot avoid.

So tell me a little bit about this.

Yeah.

If I make a routine myself.

Okay.

From eight to nine, I study myself in the living room.

Then I often make an excuse myself.

Today I'm tired.

Well, today I finished work late.

So maybe I start tomorrow.

Well, I mean, all the reasons are there.

But if I make a promise with a teacher, like I show up at 8 p.m., then I feel bad to not show up.

So I try to make some promise with someone like going to the group class or private class or school.

So I have to do.

And once I get used to it, it's not difficult to do.

It's just difficult at the beginning.

That's interesting.

So you involve other people and not friends, but someone involved in the language learning process.

Right away to give you a hard anchor in your schedule.

Like tomorrow I'm going to meet that teacher.

So I need to study.

Yep.

That's a very good one.

So the motivation, then getting back into your routine.

And do you keep the same routine?

So this is a good question.

So for me, if it's a short break, two weeks to one month, I can normally keep the same routine.

Meaning if I have an Italian lesson Monday at nine o'clock, I keep that time slot.

But if six months go by and I haven't, if I've taken a long break, six months or longer, I actually relook at the schedule.

So do you make new routine?

Exactly.

And because I realized many years ago that if there's such a long break, you have to start from scratch.

You cannot go back to something that long ago.

I see.

Is it more difficult to go back to the same routine?

It's very, very hard.

Because when you stop that routine, maybe let's use weights because weights are nice and easy.

If you're lifting, say 100 kilograms, right?

And six months go by, you're thinking, yeah, I used to go in the morning at seven a.m. and I'd lift 100 kilos.

Seven a.m., let me go.

About six months have gone by, you're not going to be able to do that.

I see.

So in this case, it's more like psychological mindset that you're accepting that that is gone.

Let's start new.

Ah, I see.

Maybe, yeah, as you just mentioned, going back is harder than making completely something new.

Ah, you said very well what I wanted to say.

I see.

Yeah, that makes sense actually.

Your old teacher might be like, oh, you haven't been studying.

And that might get you like really upset like, yeah, I've been busy.

So starting new is quite nice.

And then that happened.

I had an old teacher I was very high level with and I realized that my progress had gone down.

I hadn't studied in years.

So I started with the new teacher, got my progress back up, then connected again.

So, yeah, when it comes to timing, if it's a short break,

I think you can get back to your regular routine.

You're probably used to it and the timing in your life fits.

But if it's a longer break and you're listening to this, don't be afraid to start from complete scratch.

Print out a calendar and fill in your calendar and find out when you have that time.

That's a very good one.

You also mentioned the goals.

Set the goals a little bit below when you stopped.

Start something easy and simple.

Small.

All right.

So, yeah, and luckily our sites have a lot of tools that you can use to start nice and slow again.

Yeah, for example, the podcast, audio or video lessons that I just mentioned.

Or also we have group and private classes, right?

Yeah.

That you can meet with your teacher and talk once a week.

So, there's many ways, videos to watch, vocab lists to test yourself with.

Oh, someone else is getting fined.

I'm getting donation.

Donation.

Thank you.

So, yeah, and it's interesting too that it's a chance to create a new routine.

You can try something new that you might like better than something you've done before.

Yeah, that's true.

That's true.

And you refresh your mindset too.

Yeah.

And because you're rested, your motivation should be higher.

That's right.

Okay.

So, KJ, any thoughts on bouncing back?

Yeah, so I'm sure everyone has this kind of experience.

And I hope our tips are useful for our learners, our viewers.

Yeah.

In my case, yeah, I started right back up with my teachers at their regular schedule and regular intervals.

How about you?

What approach will you take to getting back into your language?

I'm going back to my school first after my vacation.

My vacation is coming soon.

And yes, I'll go back to my audio listening, the podcast on my commute time.

That's nice.

Yeah, it's interesting.

I wonder, maybe we should talk about how to create an on-the-go routine for a while you're away, right?

Because even though routines are broken, when you get to the new place, you have a chance to create new routines.

So potentially you could create a really good study routine while you're away.

Yeah.

That's right.

Would you like to talk about that next year or sometime this year?

Because at the end of this year, there are long holidays.

Yeah.

So maybe we could do this a little later in the year.

Yeah, sounds good.

Okay.

So Kyejin, that's it.

So if you have any questions or if you have any thoughts or if you want to share a story, email us at inner.circle.innovativelanguage.com.

And stay tuned for the next inner circle.

Bye.

Thanks for listening and we'll see you next time.

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