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Work & Study | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| NickJS Senior Member United Kingdom flickr.com/photos/sg Joined 4770 days ago 264 posts - 334 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese | Message 1 of 19 24 October 2012 at 11:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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How do you all go about fitting in your language study around working? I recenty started a new job & it just seems "hard" to want to fit it in my very short amount of free time.
I currently work 8am-5:30pm & its only a 5 minute drive to work, so its actually hard to fit any listening into that short amount of time & my break times are only 30 minutes. Tell me what your strategy is for fitting your study in around work... 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5073 days ago 2237 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 2 of 19 24 October 2012 at 11:35pm | IP Logged | ||
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There are a couple of strategies I use. I get up early. Leo Babauta, of zenhabits.net, has a great post on The 10 Benefits of Rising Early, and How to Do It. Lunch and breaks are also a good time to get some study time.
Barry Farber, the author of How to Learn Any Language talks about utilizing what he calls "Hidden Moments". Once you start using those hidden moments, you'll be amazed at how much time you actually do have and what you can do with it- maybe even learn a language. Edited by iguanamon on 24 October 2012 at 11:40pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| anamsc2 Tetraglot Groupie United States Joined 4370 days ago 85 posts - 186 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Catalan, German Studies: French | Message 3 of 19 25 October 2012 at 4:16am | IP Logged | ||
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Well, I usually study on my commute, but I guess if you only commute 5 minutes, that won't work for you! Other than that, I study while working out and while getting ready in the morning. I also listen passively to podcasts while working.
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| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4450 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 4 of 19 25 October 2012 at 8:44am | IP Logged | ||
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For me it would also take five minutes to drive to work, so I walk instead. That gives me 20-30 minutes (times two) which I can use for listening practice or shadowing. Then I try to "steal" moments here and there during the working day (a five-minutes coffee break? Review vocabulary.) After work, I have a family to spend time with, but I always try to get a moment (20 or 30 minutes) for some reading or writing exercises. As I love to cook, I put on my language tapes when preparing dinner.
I am not an early bird, so often I will do the bulk of my study at night before I go to sleep, once the wife and kids are in bed. Sure, I would love to have more time, but if you are in contact with your language at least once every day, you will have gained something. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5793 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 5 of 19 25 October 2012 at 9:23am | IP Logged | ||
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If you could walk to work you could definitely get more listening time in this way.
Studying on my commute is definitely not an option (I cycle) but I get my study in mainly using time that I used to spend watching TV. If competition motivates you, try signing up for the 6 Week Challenge. It's a neat way of finding out how and when you really can squeeze in more study time. I wish I'd discovered language self study long before I started working full time but I just have to make the best of the time and energy I have available now. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5018 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish | Message 6 of 19 25 October 2012 at 11:34am | IP Logged | ||
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I often do 10-15 mins of study before going to work, if I have the time. An Assimil lesson or a part thereof, or Anki reviews, or a bit of film/TV as I eat breakfast. It goes nicely with the "short but frequent study periods" conventional wisdom, and the thought of doing something I want to do before going to work to do what I have to do helps me get out of bed :).
I work on a computer, which gives me possibilities for studying during lunch break: I can watch target language videos on Youtube or read news/websites and gather sentences for Anki. During the rest of the day, depending on how much concentration the work I'm doing that particular day demands, I can sometimes listen to streaming radio or TL music with headphones. Of course if you don't use a computer much or your office has more strict Internet access policies then this won't be possible. Then there's the obvious evenings and weekends - I have an active social life, go to the gym, and am a fairly keen musician, but despite that I still manage to study two languages fairly consistently. Obviously not as much as I'd like to, but life's all about compromises :). You can get a surprising amount done in the few hours after arriving home and eating dinner and before going to bed. I often feel quite mentally tired after a day at work, but after some food, a shower, and spending a few minutes lying down or doing meditation-type exercises, the energy tends to come back and I'm ready for either going out or staying in and working. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5018 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish | Message 7 of 19 25 October 2012 at 11:36am | IP Logged | ||
I feel your pain! I could have got so much done at University, between all the free time and flexibility and the ease of meeting people from all over the world. These days my old University even offers some free language classes and an organisation for doing language tandems. One of the many things that makes me wish I was still a student :( 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| anamsc2 Tetraglot Groupie United States Joined 4370 days ago 85 posts - 186 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Catalan, German Studies: French | Message 8 of 19 25 October 2012 at 4:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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Oh, also, you could take a look at all the things you do right now involving English and see if you could replace English with your target language (ex. reading the news, watching TV, studying other things).
2 persons have voted this message useful |
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