How to learn a foreign language effectively? Customize your learning with SuperMemo

Before starting to learn a new skill, it’s worthwhile to spend some time planning the next steps and adapting the schedule to your lifestyle. Find out what learning plan settings you can find in SuperMemo, and what to do to achieve the best results while learning a foreign language.

Why is a language learning plan so important?

Planning the schedule for learning foreign languages is a crucial step in achieving optimal results. This is especially important when using the SuperMemo app as it allows you to adjust the learning process to your individual needs and time availability.

Why is it important to spend time on setting a learning plan? Here are several reasons:

• Efficiency: Planning learning allows optimizing the use of available time. Defining priorities and setting a schedule helps to avoid situations where you learn at random, irregular moments, making the learning feel ineffective.
• Motivation: Having a plan makes the set goal easier to achieve. It helps maintain motivation in the long run as you notice steady progress and get closer to your goal, e.g., mastering a whole new level of language.
• Avoiding overload: Learning languages can be difficult and time-consuming. Planning learning helps avoid information overload and ensures gradual progress.
• Better understanding of your needs: Creating a plan, you have to consider your goals and set priorities. This way, you can fully focus on development and your individual learning style.
• Progress tracking: Planning learning allows monitoring your progress. You can continually check how much material you have mastered and what gaps you still need to fill.
• Stress reduction: When you have a clear plan, you don’t have to worry about what to learn each day. This minimizes stress and discouragement from learning.

Organizing learning time – best ways

When integrating the use of the SuperMemo app into your daily routine, proper time organization is key. Here are several best ways to effectively plan your learning time:

1. Adjust learning to your daily rhythm. Everyone has their own rhythm of work and learning. Some are more productive in the morning, while others in the evening. Find out during which hours mental activity comes easiest to you and set this time aside for learning a foreign language.
2. Set fixed learning hours. Creating a stable learning schedule will help you maintain discipline and regularity. You can allocate to learning the time you spend commuting by bus to work, a coffee break, or a few minutes before sleep.
3. Set short- and long-term goals. Define what you want to achieve in the short and long term. This will help you set priorities and adjust your learning plan to achieve these goals.
4. Use technology. SuperMemo offers many tools for effective time management in learning. Use features such as learning plans, calendars, or statistics to track your activity and learning efficiency.
5. Diversify learning forms. Don’t limit yourself to one form of acquiring new information. Use various materials, such as books, articles, podcasts, series, or movies, to diversify your learning.
6. Maintain flexibility. Although the plan is important, life is full of surprises. Remember that you can adjust your learning plan to changing circumstances at any time.
7. Take care of rest and regeneration. Don’t forget to include rest time in your daily plan. Breaks between learning sessions help maintain concentration and efficiency.

Plan your learning in the SuperMemo app

In our app, you can adjust your learning to your abilities and desires. Read a short guide on how to use the settings available in the “Plan” tab.

Plan

Start by going to the “Plan” tab. There, you will find all your started courses, with information on: cards per day, learning time, and days to complete the course. For each of your language courses, you can change the number of cards per day, i.e., new material to be assimilated. In the drop-down list, you will find the proposed values: 5, 10, 20, or 30 cards. You can also enter your own number. Each change here will affect other values, which adjust automatically. This way, you have control over how much time you will devote to a given language and when you will complete a specific course.

Below, on the orange background, information about the total number of cards per day and the time today’s study with all your started courses will take is displayed.

At the very bottom of the tab, you will find a chart showing how your learning will be distributed over the next 7, 14, 30, 60, and 90 days. Remember that each change in the learning plan will also affect the number of repetitions.

Calendar

The next step is to use the learning calendar, which is located in the second tab. There, you will find a distribution of material to learn over the entire month. By clicking on the question mark next to the month selection, a legend of colors that may appear in the calendar will be displayed.

You can exclude any day from repetitions if you know in advance that you won’t find time to study then. Thanks to this, the planned repetitions will be spread over the following days. Under the calendar, you can also set a daily limit of repetitions for each course to avoid a situation where there are too many of them.

Now you know how to set a learning plan tailored perfectly to your needs and how to easily personalize the learning schedule in the SuperMemo app.