How To Set BETTER Goals In Language Learning 

This helped me get past a massive block in language learning! Thanks for the video

Great advice! I have been stuck in this ABC level mindset for awhile and this is a refreshing view on mapping one's progress in language learning. I really like how you gave examples to help distinguish between the two methods of goal setting/monitoring progress.

Good information. My goals in French, Italian and Russian is to be able to read and think in that language. That is a simple way to set a goal. I agree with you I don't like level "goals". We are always learning a language.

Really enjoying binge watching. Fantastic ideas !

Awesome advice, thank you! 😄

Merci, Robin! Your advice is always so helpful. You are a blessing to your students!

Really nice discussion :-) Thanks Robin!

Thank you so much. I really needed to her this. I've been really hard on myself and you described exactly how I feel. Now I have to think up my action goals!!!!

thanks for the advice! i have 3 action language goals for now: my long term is to be able to understand, for most the part, video game in Japanese. There's a lot of games that never get released outside of Japan xc

It's interesting you post this now. Just last month, I posted my lifetime French goals on my blog--for example, to take MOOC's (free non-credit university classes online) in French. I have, of course, a variety of easier goals before that goal which I also posted. I've already met two of them and am close to meeting another.

I always enjoy your videos and find them perceptive. I agree that the CEFR level designations themselves are abstract. However, I think the more detailed descriptions associated with those levels (language users at this level will be able to...) provide a useful set of tangible goals, similar in fact to the specific "action goals" you stated.

Great advice!

Really happy to see you in an office, comfortable and happy...congratulations

Thanks Robin :)

Great video Robin!

That's for this video Robin, it was very helpful. My action goal in Swedish is to be able to carry out a conversation with someone at a fluent level without having to search for words in my head.

I really like your action goals. :D I definitely have action goals for my Dutch. I want to watch youtube videos and understand them. Also I want to speak to Dutch people next year on my vacation. Very nice office. Glad you made it there. So happy for you. Thank you for replying so nicely to my comments.

very strong information ❤️

You're so right, I like your concept. For me, being a little bit better than yesterday is so enough. Since everyone has different standards, we'd better not let score or A1-C2 thing defines us.😂😂

Hello Rob. Amazing video. Congratulations.

Very helpfull

Great tips

Your videos are so inspiring; would you make your earlier videos public again please (only if you are comfortable doing that) as I would love to see the full documentation of your language learning journey. I particularly enjoyed your videos of your experiences in Japan. 💕

A real action goal is for example to watch a film without subtitles with full concentration, to read a foreign language book in one month, to have 8 italki conversations within 1 month. The action goals that Robin described would be only a consequence of that actions

Hi Rob, this was a great video but here is the thing, in Europe, the language learning industry, as you may know, is dominated by Germans these days. I mean look at publishers like Pons or Langenscheidt. They have massive language collections which are highly detailed based on the CEFR and on the other hand, there are sources like Babbel, Teach yourself, etc which are based on some specific action goals like being able to communicate. Also, the purpose of the language learner matters for example in some languages like Danish, if you are learning it for personal use then every source is valuable and good enough and if you are learning it for working in Denmark, the Danish government always wants you to know the language at the A2 level so the goal setting highly relies on the person's interest in the language. Also one question what makes you go and learn one language (for example French) but not Italian? Thank you and good luck 😊👍

And again this comon misconception that CEFR levels are not clear. Guys, there are very detailed lists of concepts and topics one should tackle by every certifying institution in each country. So in order to turn a certain level into an action plan all one has to do is to contact such institution and to take a look into a detailed curriculum. Currently I'm revising my B2 level Spanish and my curriculum looks like this: cvc.cervantes.es/ensenanza/biblioteca_ele/plan_curricular/niveles/02_gramatica_inventario_b1-b2.htm Could I come up with any more detailed action plan myself? I doubt it. There are also frequency dictionaries, most common verbs lists, most common collocations and idioms. Look for those and making your own action plan will get easy. It's also good to check how your goal relates to a language. Reading novels in french requires learning one historic past tense. It is very common in literature, full of irregular forms, yet not very useful for talking in french since french conversation relies on a different past tense, in which 80% of verbs are regular. So it's good to consult an expert in a particular language and to ask what parts of grammar to learn first in order to read or speak in this language. The same with travelling to a particular country. For the same reason. In Italy for example people do use historic past tense to speak- passato remoto, whereas in other parts of Italy this tense is used only in literature. So if learning to speak for travelling decide first where you want to travel to and then ask an expert about local specific of a language used there. If anyone learns Italian- consult 4 main Italian universities setting standards for certification of Italian. Learning French? Contact Academie Francais. German maybe? Goethe Instutute can help. It's easy. Just get informed first, be specific about why and what for your learn and then change levels into detailed action plans.

What do think are good examples of initial action goals? e.g. Learn to count to 100 in French. I was thinking about this from my experiences teaching in NSW (Australia). A current goal is to teach myself the NSW HSC French Beginners coarse -- with some liberty for interests of mine. Our syllabi (accessible online) have outcomes and each outcome has a prescribed list of "Students learn about" and "Students learn to," which are paired. e.g. This pair: Students learn about ways in which texts are constructed for specific purposes, and Students learn to identify why, how or to whom a text is delivered or presented.

I think you have a good idea. We are always needing a certificate to prove how qualified we are. We need to break away from that tut!