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Lesson Transcript

Hey everyone, welcome to the Monthly Review!
The monthly show on language learning.
Where you discover new learning strategies, motivational tips, study tools, and resources.
By the way, all the free lessons and bonuses you’re about to see can be downloaded on our website.
So, click the link in the description right now to sign up for your free lifetime account.
Okay, today’s topic is:
How to Get a Return on Your Language Learning Investment
If you’re watching this, you’re already learning a foreign language. But if you’re like most people, you’re probably wondering if it’s working… or if you’re getting better, right?
So that’s why today, you’re going to learn…
One: 2 Big Reasons People Fail.
Two: The Importance of Tracking Your Return on Language Learning,
And Three: How to Track Your Results and Hit Goals
But first, listen up! Here are this month’s new lessons and resources.
First, Do you want to be able to complain... in the language you’re learning?
Then get our new “ ” PDF Cheat sheet right now. It’s filled with must-know phrases and vocab so you can complain like a native!
Second, The “400 Everyday Phrases for Beginners” eBook
You will love this new book!
You’ll be able to talk about your daily life - from morning to night and you’ll master 400 practical phrases. Download it for free right now.
Third, The 50 Most Common Adjectives.
If you’re a beginner and don’t know these adjectives,
Then this is a perfect chance to boost your vocabulary.
This 1-minute lesson will get them stuck in your head, guaranteed.
Fourth — 20 Phrases You’ll Need at the Movies
Learn how to say... “Excuse me, you’re in my seat.” --- and much more... with this 1-minute lesson.
To get your free resources, click the link in the description below right now. They’re yours to keep forever. Ok, let’s jump into today’s topic:
How to Get a Return on Your Language Learning Investment
“I am learning a language...but I’m not sure if it’s working or if I’m getting better.”
Have you ever felt this way?
This is a very normal thought to have. But, before you go and blame your textbook or your app, let’s make sure you’re not the one making mistakes.
So, let’s get into part one.
You already know the first big reason if you’ve watched our previous Monthly Reviews. People often fail because they set vague goals like “I want to be fluent,” which they don’t know how to achieve.
But the second big reason is lack of time. They don’t put in the hours. Learning a language is a lot like going to a gym — you get what you put in.
For example, if you get a dumbbell and do nothing, nothing happens. It can do great things for you.... but it won’t work UNTIL you pick it up and curl it a few times.
The same thing goes for whatever language learning resource you’re using (or not using).
If you put in 1 hour a day, you get results. If you put in 10 minutes a day, you get results.
But, if you put in 0, you get 0.
You can have the best language learning method in the world and get zero results if you do nothing. And similarly, you can have the worst textbook ever and make progress if you put in the time.
So, you have to make sure you’re consistently putting in time first.
Part 2: Getting a Return on Language Learning
Now, if you’re putting in time and have a consistent routine...
The next step is to track your effort and results.
There’s a good quote for this: “What gets measured, gets managed.” Meaning, if you track your progress, you can know what works and what doesn’t. And you know how to improve.
So, let’s say your dream is to speak the language. And right now, you’re using a quiz app to learn the language. How do you know if it’s working?
You can waste months doing this... until one day realize you can’t speak.
Or, you can figure this out sooner if you track your effort. If you step back and track your effort and results, you’ll see that the quizzes have helped you remember words, but you’ve done zero speaking practice and can’t speak. Once you realize this, you can adjust your routine to do something else that helps you speak.
The point is, you get to know what works and what doesn’t work. Again, “what gets measured, gets managed.”
Next, tracking helps you see a clear path to your language goals.
Here’s an example from our learning program. With our Audio lessons - the Absolute Beginner level ones - we know that 3 or 4 audio lessons can help you master about 1 minute of conversation. That’s because the dialog tracks are about 20 seconds. So 20 seconds apiece, that’s 60 seconds. One minute.
Now, you know the return on your time: 3 or 4 lessons means 1 minute of conversation.
And because you know how to reach 1 minute, you know how to reach 2 minutes, 3 minutes and then 10 minutes.
You can actually see a clear path to your goals.
So, the big lesson is: if you track your results, you’ll know what to expect in the future and you can hit your language learning goals. Again, “what gets measured, gets managed.”
Now, how do you track exactly?
Part 3: How to Track Your Results and Hit Goals
Remember, at the basic level, language learning is putting in time.
You don’t need a special language gene or talent. You just need time.
The more ti me you put in, the more results you get.
So, Iets look at 2 ways - an easy way, and an advanced way of tracking your time and results.
Let’s start with the easy way first.
One: Simply track the time you put in.
So, if you do a 10 audio minute lesson today, and then spend 5 minutes with Flashcards, note this as 15 minutes for the day. Just write it down in a notebook or a planner.
Then do the same thing tomorrow.
The goal here is to track the time and your effort, so you can review later.
So, if one day... you realize you don’t speak as much as you’d like...Here’s what you do. You look at your timesheet. If you see that you’ve been just watching YouTube videos, you can spot the problem. ...which is... you’ve done no actual vocab study or speaking practice.
And now you can start doing it.
Another way you can track your time and effort is with the Dashboard on our site.
If you visit the Dashboard, you can see the lessons you’ve completed, the number of flashcards reviewed, and hours studied.
Now, here’s the second tactic, and it’s an advanced one: Track Time And Results.
Tracking time is easy but tracking results is trickier if you’re learning a language on your own.
So, how do you do that?
For example, if you’re studying words with flashcards, study for 5 minutes and can remember 7 out of 10 words, then that’s your return. You know that 5 minutes gives you 7 words.
If you know this, you’ll know what to expect when you learn new words.
Another thing you can do is work to boost that number to 10 out of 10.
Next, if you’re practicing your listening skills, try to gauge how much you understand.
If you understood about 20% of a 3-minute lesson, then that’s your return for now.
But by knowing this, you can start asking questions like...what can I do to understand 50% of this lesson? Will doubling my time double my results as well?
Will reviewing this lesson for a few minutes a day, every day, work better than trying to memorize it all today?
So, then, you put these questions to the test and try them out.
And because you know your return, you can see if it really works!
All right everyone, in the last monthly review, we asked you to submit a video or audio file of yourself speaking the language -- telling us your plans for the summer.
So, thank you to all of you that sent in submissions! You’ve all received a Premium PLUS subscription as a reward.
Now let’s take a look at some of the videos!
So, which entry did you like the best? Leave a comment below.
Or, do you think you can do better?
Here’s a challenge for you. Yes, everyone watching this.
Record a 30 second to 1 minute video or audio clip.
Tell us … what are your hobbies?
...and you’ll win a 1 month Premium PLUS subscription!
To submit, click on the link in the description.
Sign up for your free lifetime account.
Then fill out the form.
Attach the audio or video file.
And press submit.
We may feature you in next month’s episode. So, a lot of learners will see you and your progress, and will hopefully get inspired to improve and master the language.
To submit a recording, click the link in the description and follow the instructions on the page.
So, thank you for watching this episode of Monthly Review
Next time, we’ll talk about:
How to find time to learn a language
If you enjoyed these tips, hit the “like” button, share the video with anyone who's trying to learn a language, and subscribe to our channel. We release new videos every week!
And, if you’re ready to finally learn language the fast, fun and easy way and start speaking from your very first lesson, get our complete learning program. Sign up for your free lifetime account right now. Click the link in the description."
See you next time! Bye!

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