My New Year's Language Resolutions + How You Can Do The Same!

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Firstly, happy new year to you and your family! I hope you had a lovely break over December and are looking forward to the new year!

It is around this time of the year that everybody decides that this year will not be like last year. They create their new year's resolutions but often stop doing them by February. I must admit that this happens to me as well.

But this year, I decided to do something different. I think you will find it useful too! Here's what I mean:

This year, I am creating a list of new year's language resolutions and I am sharing them with you so you can do the same. 

Basically, you probably already know, I live in Germany but really struggle with the German language. I can speak German but it really should be much better. I always find excuses not to learn German but then I always have the same problems...even after 3 years! This year, I thought enough is enough. 

So I made a list of ten goals to complete by January 1 2018. They are: 

1. Pass a A1 test (beginner exam) by April 1 2017
2. Pass a A2 test by July 1 2017
3. Pass a B1 test (intermediate exam) by October 1 2017
4. Pass a B2 test by January January 1 2018
5. Know German pronunciation by April 1 2017
6. Hear and pronounce German umlauts clearly by April 1 2017
7. Learn German cases by July 1 2017
8. Learn German word order by July 1 2017
9. Learn business vocabulary in German by October 1 2017
10. Read a B1 level book in German by January 1 2017 

To make sure that I stay motivated, I will donate 50€ to charity for every goal that I do not complete on time. 

I will update you with news as I complete my goals so you can track my progress and I can stay motivated! Feel free to ask me for updates too. 

If you have ever felt like this in English, why don't you do the same? It will keep you motivated and give you a concrete path to improvement in English. But how do I start, I hear you ask. Well, here's what I did: 

I figured out what my biggest problems are in German. They are pronunciation, German cases and word order. Then I created a plan to overcome these problems. I also need more grammar and vocabulary so that is why I decided to do the exams. I will learn more grammar and vocabulary by preparing for the exams. Also, they will show me OBJECTIVELY my progress!

Here's another crucial part to this: I know exactly why I am learning what I am learning. It is very important to ask yourself this question. 

There are no right or wrong goals - only what is useful for you to improve. Keep your goals simple, measurable and with a finish date.  

To keep you motivated when times are tough, set a penalty if you do not complete a goal. It can be anything that will make you complete your goals on time :) 

I hope you found this useful. Please tell me about your new year's language resolutions! I can't wait to hear them. 

This is from my free monthly email. Join here: http://www.learn-englishonline.net/newsletter.html