Actually learning the language in a year

Use the children

Young children speak slowly, repeat constantly, use a small vocabulary and do not judge your grammar. Read their picture books aloud, sing their songs, and let them correct you — they love it and it works.

Protect the course

Two or three sessions a week, at a set time in the written schedule, that the family respects. This is a visa condition in many countries and it is also where you meet the friends who will speak the language with you.

Change one daily input

• Switch your phone and streaming subtitles to the local language
• Listen to local radio during the school run
• Do your food shopping without a translation app
• Ask the family for fifteen minutes of dinner in their language, every night

Take the exam

Booking a B1 or B2 exam for month ten changes how you study for the ten months before it. It also gives you something concrete to show for the year, which matters for university applications and jobs back home.