50 Feel Good Language Fixes


Sometimes it just takes a little something to give us the boost we need to carry on with our language learning. And besides, it’s the small decisions we make today that can add up to big chance tomorrow. When your language learning needs a feel good factor adding to it, here’s 50 feel good language fixes.

It's the small decisions we make today that can add up to big chance tomorrow. Here's 50 feel good language fixes.

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Download a new app.

There’s plenty of language apps out there. Some great, some…less so.

Have a little search and explore. Download a new one you’ve not tried before and have fun with it!

Reply to a language exchange message.

There’s probably some unanswered messages waiting for you right now on all those language exchange websites you’re signed up to.

Log in (or potentially click ‘forgot password’ and then log in), and reply to one of them now. It doesn’t matter how old the message is, give it a go.

Book a language lesson.

Sometimes planning for the future is the best way to spend the present. If that’s the case, book yourself your next language lesson.

Your future self will thank you!

Find a new language exchange partner.

Open up Tandem, HelloTalk, or one of the many websites out there for language exchange. Have a little look around (maybe set yourself a timer if you’re indecisive).

Reach out. Send that first message. You got this!

5 minutes on Memrise.

Memrise* doesn’t have to mean ‘watering’ ALL the vocab every single day. Give yourself just a few minutes.

Still enjoying it? Still got time? Keep going.

Feel ready for something else? Put it down.

1 session on Anki.

If Anki is more your vocab app of choice, do that instead!

Write three sentences in your target language.

That don’t have to be fancy. They don’t have to be perfectly grammatically 100% correct. Just write.

Listen to a song on YouTube in your target language.

Whether it’s a case of searching for “Shakira Chantaje (Versión Salsa)” and you know exactly what you want to hear, or “best Spanish song” and hoping for the best. Do it.

Change the language on your phone.

Little thing today, potential long-term change and benefit. Woop!

Change the language on your Facebook.

Substitute Facebook for ‘web browser’/’computer’/’Netflix‘ etc as appropriate. Or do them all, that’s fine too.

Subscribe to a new podcast in/about the language you’re learning.

Podcasts (in fact, any language audio) are super helpful because you can combine them with doing other things. Walking, working, running, bathing, washing up, gardening, cleaning out the loft – all the things.

Find a new YouTube channel to teach you the language you’re learning.

There’s so many great people out there teaching languages on YouTube. Have a little search for what you need help with and see which channels come up.

Learn a new idiom or expression.

I say “learn”, it might not stay in your brain for ever. That’s ok. Enjoy it now.

Submit a sentence to Rhinospike and record one for someone else.

Rhinospike has such a great exchange principle built into it. Share something for someone to speak aloud so you can hear it, and then record one for someone else in your native language too. Karma.

Practice your flashcards.

Pile of flashcards gathering dust in the corner? Grab a few, practice a bit!

Post a text to Lingora.

Lingora gives lots of prompts to practise your writing. Pick one. Write something.

Post an audio to Lingora.

Or, pick one and say something.

Go for a walk and listen to Pod/Class101.

Grab your headphones, download a podcast, pop on some shoes, and go walk!

Do a Glossika lesson.

Glossika* lessons can be done in mini chunks if you want. Do that here.

Watch a video on FluentU.

If you have a FluentU* subscription, watch a quick video.

Make a drink/take a shower/clean a room/anything(!) and talk out loud explaining what you’re doing each step.

You don’t even have to stop and drop everything to get some language learning in. What are you doing right now? Explain out loud what you’re doing as you do it.

Make 5 new flashcards.

Either, you’ve got some leftover words you noted down in your lesson waiting to be put to flashcard. Or, there’s some words that have been bothering you for months now that you just can’t remember.

Make flashcards for them.

Do a Duolingo session.

Simple. Do I need to explain this one?

Do a Clozemaster session.

Clozemaster* sessions can be as long or short as you like. Pick a time, give it a go.

Read something on LingQ.

It could be a song, a mini story, half a news article. LingQ* has choice. Take your pick.

Think of 3 words that rhyme in the language you’re learning.

Even rhyme loosely! If you’re stuck see if you can find a rhyming dictionary online.

Role play in your head.

Think about a conversation you had/might have and role play how it could go in your head.

Subscribe to the Lindsay Does Languages email list!

I email normally weekly sharing what’s new. It’s friendly, plus it’s a weekly chance to check in with your own language learning.

Download my free Ultimate List of Language Learning Resources.

There’s a lot of resources out there to learn a language. Where do you begin?! Here, the answer is here.

Follow Lindsay Does Languages on Spotify.

I’ve got many-a-playlist over on Spotify for you to enjoy. Plus each week I update my Not My Mother Tongue playlist with 7 new songs in 7 languages.

Make a new playlist of your favourite foreign language songs.

Or…make your own!

Go back to that exercise in your coursebook that had you stumped weeks ago.

You know that thing that had you closing your book in frustration and almost (or actually) flinging it across the room?

Take a deep breath. Give it another go. I believe in you.

Pick a word, write 5 sentences using it.

A new word, a word you know, a word you know but never use. Give it 5 different contexts to live in.

Set a mistake goal and speak/write until you notice making that many mistakes.

Mistake goals don’t have to take all day. Say to yourself, “I’m gonna make 5 mistakes” then speak or write until you notice 5 mistakes. Easy.

Set a goal for the coming week.

We all need shorter-term goals as well as longer, lofty ones.

Review the last week of language learning.

Where are you at? How do you feel right now about your language learning?

Give yourself a moment to check in.

Sign up for the Solo Language Learner Planner.

Commit to your progress with my Solo Language Learner Planner.

Get 100 Creative Ideas for Solo Language Learners.

There’s 50 little ideas here. There over 100 big ones in 100 Creative Ideas for Solo Language Learners. And (without sounding biased) they’re so good.

Enroll on Successful Self-Study.

Learn how to learn a language. Successful Self-Study shows you how.

Apply for Language Life.

Language Life is all about making language learning as normal as brushing your teeth. It just becomes an easy breezy part of your life – no guilt you haven’t done enough, no stress you’re doing it wrong. Make language learning fun again.

Watch a film clip online without subtitles and transcribe what you hear.

Challenge yourself and pick a clip, any clip. Watch it, see if you can write down what’s being said.

Watch a video clip online and shadow what you hear.

Or, if it’s more speaking you’re after, repeat what you hear aloud instead of writing it down.

Find a pronunciation video on YouTube to finally master that tricky sound!

You know that weird letter combo that makes zero sense? See if you can find an explainer video on YouTube and make a start on mastering it now.

Google “(language) word of the day” and put the word you find into a sentence.

Bonus points if you choose to subscribe to the ‘word of the day’ feed you find too.

Visit Wikipedia in the language you’re learning.

Wikipedia is the under-rated language learning tool of the internet no.1. Have a little scroll.

Introduce yourself out loud to your pet.

Turn to your dog/cat/fish/axolotl right now and introduce yourself out loud in that language. They won’t judge.

Find a new show to watch in the language on Netflix/Disney+/streaming platform of choice.

Add something to the watchlist that excites you.

Discover a recipe online and head out to get the ingredients right now!

Food is a great connector to language. Plus you get to eat. Cook something following a recipe in another language.

Open your kitchen or bathroom cupboards and see what can be translated on packets.

Or don’t cook but instead raid the cupboards and translate everything you find.

Do 1 song on LyricsTraining

5 minutes. 10 minutes tops. It won’t take long to enjoy 1 song on LyricsTraining.

Start a daily sentence journal in the language you’re learning.

Morning or night is easiest. Keep the book and pen by your bed to make it even easier.

Phew. There we go!

50 feel good language fixes for when you’re not sure what comes next. Even if it’s a small step today, it can become big things in the future.