Learn five words in a new language.

“I don’t remember which English word was the first one that I learned, but I remember how I felt about not speaking English. Not understanding the people made me feel deaf, mute, stupid, and angry [...] It was funny, but every time that I’ve learned a new word, I started to hear it often. At first, I just felt comfortable saying, “Hi, how are you?” “What’s your name?” “What time is it?” “It is ‘whatever’ time.” I just knew the words, but to be honest, I never used them. I was afraid to start up a conversation. I remember the first time that I talked in English [...] I answered, “It is 4 o’clock.” [...] And I was so happy because she understood me.”

“The mistake I made at first was learning too much in too little time. I'd watch / read some material in Spanish and write down 20+ new words I wanted to learn but that was ineffective. Since then I've made it a habit to only write down approx 5 new words after being exposed to some form of input, primarily new words that stood out to me that would be useful to know. [...] With those 5, I implement them in my daily routine for the week by writing sample sentences of them in various forms, including them in short stories I write along with other words I've learned in previous weeks, and saying the words in sentences out loud when I describe what I am doing. [...] The pay-off is later when I watch / listen to / read another form of input as the "boss battle" and I recognize those words used which helps with comprehension.”