How to Learn a New Language: Build Comprehension, Vocabulary and Conversation Together

Learning a new language can feel confusing because activities that are all described as “language study” actually train different abilities.

A learner may recognise thousands of written words yet struggle to understand ordinary conversation. Another may speak confidently while making frequent grammatical errors. Someone else may understand television programmes but freeze when asked to answer a simple question. A strong reader may still find pronunciation difficult.

None of these learners has necessarily studied incorrectly.

They have developed different parts of the language at different speeds.

That is why the most useful answer to how to learn a new language is not “use this app,” “memorise grammar,” “watch more television” or “just start speaking.”

A language is learned through repeated contact with meaningful language and repeated attempts to understand and produce it. A balanced system therefore needs to develop listening, speaking, reading, writing, vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation together, while allowing the balance to change according to the learner's goals.

The objective is not to become equally strong at everything immediately.

It is to prevent one skill from becoming completely disconnected from the others.

Language learning at a glance

Skill	What develops it
Listening	Large amounts of understandable spoken language
Speaking	Retrieval, interaction, repeated communication and feedback
Vocabulary	Meaningful exposure plus deliberate retrieval and spaced review
Reading	Large amounts of material that is mostly comprehensible
Writing	Frequent short production, correction and rewriting
Grammar	Explanation combined with noticing and actual use
Pronunciation	Perception training, imitation, production and feedback
Fluency	Repeated use until comprehension and production become increasingly automatic

The important word is interaction. These abilities reinforce one another, but none can completely substitute for all the others.

Step 1: Define what “learning the language” means for you

“Learn Spanish.”

“Improve my English.”

“Become fluent in French.”

These are aspirations rather than precise learning objectives.

Before choosing methods, decide what you need the language to allow you to do.

Do you want to:

travel independently;

work with international clients;

understand colleagues;

speak with family members;

pass a language examination;

study at university;

read academic literature;

watch films without subtitles;

write professionally;

or live in another country?

The answer changes the training plan.

Someone moving to Germany for work may initially need listening comprehension, workplace vocabulary and conversation far more urgently than literary reading.

A student preparing for an examination may require academic reading, structured writing and explicit grammar.

Someone learning Korean mainly to understand television programmes may reasonably invest much more heavily in listening.

There is no universal percentage of time that every learner should devote to every skill.

The first principle is therefore:

Train the language you actually expect to use.

Step 2: Build comprehension through understandable input

All major accounts of second-language acquisition recognise the importance of input: spoken and written language that the learner encounters.

But exposure alone is not enough.

If you listen to an hour of speech in which virtually everything is incomprehensible, you receive sound but relatively few reliable connections between form and meaning.

Useful input should contain enough familiar language and contextual support that you can follow what is happening while still encountering things you do not know.

For a beginner, that might mean:

graded readers;

slow beginner podcasts;

short dialogues;

teacher-guided stories;

simplified news;

videos designed for learners;

or familiar stories retold in easier language.

For an intermediate learner, it may mean ordinary podcasts on familiar topics, easier novels, documentaries with target-language subtitles or television whose plot is sufficiently clear to support comprehension.

The aim is not to understand 100% of everything.

If you insist on looking up every unknown word, listening and reading quickly become dictionary exercises.

Instead, aim for material in which meaning remains available even when some details are missing.

Contemporary second-language teaching research treats input, interaction and learner output as interconnected components rather than mutually exclusive theories of learning. (cambridge.org)

“Immersion” only helps when you can learn from it

Language-learning advice often says:

“Immerse yourself.”

The principle is useful, but the word can hide an important distinction.

Living in another country does not automatically guarantee large amounts of meaningful interaction in the target language. A person can live abroad while working in their first language, socialising mainly with people from the same linguistic community and relying on translation for daily tasks.

Likewise, watching hours of incomprehensible television is not necessarily efficient simply because the language is authentic.

Useful immersion provides repeated opportunities to:

understand;

notice recurring patterns;

infer meanings;

respond;

ask for clarification;

and encounter the same language again.

The objective is not maximum exposure at any cost.

It is maximum useful exposure that your current knowledge allows you to process.

Step 3: Learn high-value vocabulary deliberately

Vocabulary grows partly through exposure.

When you repeatedly encounter the same word while reading, listening and speaking, its meaning becomes easier to recognise.

But incidental learning is slow, particularly at the beginning when almost everything is unfamiliar.

Deliberate vocabulary study can therefore accelerate progress.

Start with words that have high practical value.

That includes:

frequent everyday vocabulary;

words appearing repeatedly in your current input;

language required for your job or studies;

and expressions connected directly with your personal goals.

Do not choose vocabulary simply because a list on the internet says an advanced learner should know it.

A salesperson, engineer, university student and tourist need overlapping but different lexical priorities.

Retrieval is more useful than endless rereading

Many learners “study” vocabulary by repeatedly looking at the word and its translation.

That creates familiarity.

But conversation requires something harder:

retrieval.

You know the concept you want to express and must produce the foreign-language word without first seeing it.

Research on foreign-language vocabulary has repeatedly found advantages for retrieval practice over passive restudy or simple imitation. In one controlled experiment, learners who attempted to retrieve foreign words before receiving the answer later performed better on both comprehension and production tests than learners who simply heard and repeated the words. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

That gives flashcards their real educational value.

A good flashcard should not simply show you information.

It should require you to attempt to recall it before the answer appears.

For example:

Front: appointment

Task: Say the target-language word.

Then reveal the answer.

Production practice is especially important if your eventual goal is speaking rather than recognition alone.

Step 4: Space vocabulary across time

Retrieving a word successfully once does not guarantee that you will remember it next month.

Memory strengthens through repeated retrieval separated across time.

Large bodies of memory research support distributed practice: learning episodes spread apart rather than concentrated into one long session. A major quantitative review examined hundreds of experimental comparisons and found that the spacing between learning episodes interacts with how long information needs to be retained. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

Research using foreign vocabulary has likewise shown substantial benefits from appropriately spaced review. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

This is why reviewing 30 words intelligently over several weeks is often more useful than memorising 300 words intensely on Sunday and barely seeing them again.

A spaced-repetition app can automate scheduling.

But the principle matters more than the software:

retrieve, wait, retrieve again.

Step 5: Learn phrases and combinations, not only dictionary words

Real language does not consist of isolated words assembled one at a time.

Words repeatedly appear in combinations.

Instead of learning:

appointment

also learn:

make an appointment

cancel an appointment

I have an appointment at three.

Instead of learning:

decision

learn:

make a decision

difficult decision

I've decided to…

These patterns are often described as chunks, collocations or formulaic sequences depending on their structure.

They matter because conversation happens under time pressure.

If every sentence must be created by retrieving individual words and consciously applying grammar rules, speech becomes painfully slow.

Frequently encountered phrases reduce the amount of construction required in real time.

They also teach grammar in context.

Learning:

I've been working here for three years

gives you vocabulary, tense, word order and a reusable sentence pattern together.

Step 6: Learn grammar—but do not wait to “finish grammar”

Grammar matters.

Without grammar, vocabulary alone cannot reliably express time, relationships, possibility, obligation, possession, comparison or complex ideas.

But grammar instruction can become a trap when explanation replaces use.

A learner may correctly explain the past perfect on a test while being unable to produce it spontaneously during conversation.

Another may know every rule associated with articles while continuing to omit them under speaking pressure.

Knowing about a grammatical structure and using that structure automatically are different achievements.

A better sequence is:

study a manageable pattern;

notice it in real language;

understand what it communicates;

produce several examples;

use it during speaking or writing;

receive feedback;

and meet the same structure again later.

Grammar becomes increasingly useful when it moves from explicit knowledge into repeated comprehension and production.

Do not wait until an entire grammar textbook is finished before trying to communicate.

There is no final grammar lesson after which conversation officially begins.

Step 7: Start speaking before you feel fluent

Many learners postpone speaking because they want to avoid mistakes.

The problem is that speaking itself develops abilities that passive study cannot fully train.

Conversation forces you to retrieve vocabulary quickly.

It reveals which grammatical structures disappear under time pressure.

It exposes pronunciation problems.

It requires you to understand another person in real time.

It forces you to repair communication when something goes wrong.

Research in second-language acquisition treats interaction, output, negotiation of meaning and corrective feedback as important components of language development alongside input. (cambridge.org)

You do not need to begin with sophisticated debate.

Start with narrow tasks.

Introduce yourself.

Describe your job.

Explain what you did yesterday.

Order food.

Describe your home.

Retell a short video.

Give directions.

Explain a simple problem.

Then repeat similar tasks until the language becomes easier.

Speaking practice does not require a native speaker

A persistent myth is that useful conversation practice requires constant access to native speakers.

It does not.

A skilled teacher who speaks the language proficiently can provide excellent practice.

So can another learner at an appropriate level.

Conversation partners can help one another retrieve vocabulary, negotiate meaning and increase speaking time.

Native-speaker interaction can certainly be valuable, but “native speaker” is not itself a teaching qualification.

What matters more is whether the interaction gives you:

understandable language;

opportunities to speak;

useful feedback;

and a reason to communicate meaning.

Step 8: Use feedback selectively

Speaking without correction can allow recurring errors to persist.

Correcting every small error can make meaningful conversation almost impossible.

The useful middle ground is selective corrective feedback.

Research synthesis on classroom second-language learning has found that oral corrective feedback can produce meaningful and durable benefits, though effects depend on feedback type and learning context. (cambridge.org)

During conversation, ask the teacher or partner to prioritise.

Perhaps this week you want correction when:

a particular verb tense is wrong;

word order prevents natural communication;

a pronunciation error repeatedly causes misunderstanding;

or you misuse one important grammatical structure.

This prevents every sentence from becoming a grammar lesson.

The purpose of correction is not to create flawless speech immediately.

It is to make important patterns increasingly available.

Step 9: Train pronunciation instead of hoping it fixes itself

Pronunciation is sometimes treated as something learners either “have an ear for” or do not.

That is too pessimistic.

Speech involves both perception and production.

You must learn to hear distinctions that your first language may not treat as important. You must then train the movements required to produce them.

Useful practice can include:

minimal sound contrasts;

stress patterns;

rhythm;

short sentences;

recording and comparing your speech;

shadowing manageable audio;

and targeted feedback from a teacher or pronunciation tool.

The goal need not be eliminating every trace of an accent.

A more useful goal for most learners is clear, intelligible speech that listeners can understand without unnecessary effort.

Pronunciation also improves when perception improves.

A 2025 meta-analysis of 79 studies on high-variability phonetic training found medium-to-large improvements in second-language speech perception, including evidence that gains could persist and sometimes generalise to unfamiliar stimuli. (cambridge.org)

Earlier meta-analytic work also found that perception training can lead to improvements in production, although production gains tend to be smaller and vary considerably with training design. (cambridge.org)

Pronunciation is therefore trainable.

It is not a fixed talent assigned at birth.

Step 10: Read material easier than your ambition prefers

One of the best ways to prevent yourself from reading extensively is to choose material requiring a dictionary every two lines.

Challenging texts are valuable for intensive study.

They are poor material for building large amounts of fluent reading when almost every sentence interrupts comprehension.

Extensive reading works differently.

The learner reads substantial amounts of material that falls largely within their existing linguistic competence.

That repeated exposure provides vocabulary, grammar, discourse patterns and background knowledge in context.

Research reviews of second-language reading identify extensive understandable reading as an important contributor to vocabulary, knowledge and advanced reading comprehension over time. (cambridge.org)

For a beginner, children's literature is not always automatically easy because books written for native-speaking children can contain unusual vocabulary, idioms and cultural knowledge.

Graded readers can be more useful because they are designed around learners' linguistic levels.

As reading becomes easier, increase the difficulty.

Volume matters.

Do not look up every unknown word

Dictionary use is useful.

Compulsive dictionary use can destroy reading fluency.

Ask whether the unknown word prevents comprehension.

If not, continue.

If the same word appears repeatedly, investigate it.

If the word seems essential to the argument or plot, look it up.

This creates two different reading modes.

Intensive reading

Shorter passages examined carefully for vocabulary, grammar and meaning.

Extensive reading

Larger amounts read mainly for comprehension and exposure.

A strong language-learning system can include both.

Trying to turn every paragraph into intensive analysis dramatically reduces the amount of language you encounter.

Step 11: Train listening as its own skill

Reading ability does not automatically become listening ability.

Written language waits for you.

Speech disappears.

Sounds change when words are connected.

Speakers reduce syllables, use unfamiliar accents and speak at different speeds.

A learner may know a word perfectly on paper and fail to recognise it when spoken.

Listening therefore requires dedicated practice.

Use audio you can replay.

Listen once for overall meaning.

Listen again for details.

Check a transcript if available.

Identify what prevented comprehension.

Was the word unknown?

Did you know the word but fail to recognise its pronunciation?

Was the grammar unfamiliar?

Did several words blend together?

Then listen again after checking.

The objective is not simply to accumulate listening hours.

It is to discover why understandable vocabulary sometimes becomes incomprehensible sound.

Subtitles can be tools rather than cheating

Subtitles are sometimes treated as evidence that someone is not “really listening.”

That is unnecessary.

Different subtitle choices create different tasks.

First-language subtitles make content understandable but can encourage attention toward translation.

Target-language subtitles can help connect sounds with written forms.

No subtitles places the greatest demand on auditory processing.

A learner can deliberately rotate among them.

For example:

watch once with target-language subtitles;

replay a difficult section;

then listen without subtitles.

The choice should depend on the purpose of the session.

Step 12: Write frequently, but keep early writing manageable

Writing gives you something conversation does not:

time.

You can stop.

Search for vocabulary.

Inspect grammar.

Reorganise sentences.

Notice gaps.

This makes writing useful even for learners whose primary goal is speaking.

Start with realistic tasks.

Write a short message.

Describe yesterday.

Summarise an article.

Explain your opinion in 100 words.

Draft a professional email.

Describe a photograph.

Then obtain feedback and rewrite selected passages.

The rewriting stage matters.

Merely looking at corrections can create recognition without changing future production.

Try to produce the corrected structure again.

Step 13: Connect the skills rather than practising them in isolation

A highly effective study session can train several abilities around the same material.

Suppose you use a three-minute podcast.

You might:

listen once without a transcript;

identify the main idea;

listen again;

read the transcript;

mark several useful phrases;

add two or three high-value expressions to spaced review;

retell the content aloud;

then write a short summary.

One piece of content has now trained:

listening;

reading;

vocabulary;

speaking;

pronunciation;

and writing.

This kind of integration is especially useful for adults with limited study time.

It also creates repeated encounters with the same language in different forms.

Step 14: Use technology for specific jobs

Language-learning technology can be extremely useful.

The problem begins when the app becomes the language.

A learner may become excellent at:

maintaining a streak;

matching words;

selecting the correct multiple-choice answer;

or recognising sentences created specifically for exercises.

Real communication imposes different demands.

There is no answer menu.

Useful technology has a clear purpose.

Use:

spaced-repetition software for vocabulary retrieval;

podcasts for listening;

graded-reading platforms for comprehensible reading;

online dictionaries and corpora for checking usage;

video calls for conversation;

recording tools for pronunciation comparison;

speech-recognition systems as one additional pronunciation signal;

and AI tools for generating practice prompts, simulated dialogues or explanations.

Then leave the exercise environment regularly and use the language in less predictable contexts.

The metric that matters is not how advanced the app says you are.

It is what you can understand and communicate without the app.

Translation tools should support learning rather than replace retrieval

Instant translation is enormously useful.

It can also remove the exact difficulty that produces learning.

If every unknown sentence is immediately translated, you have fewer opportunities to infer meaning, retrieve vocabulary or build tolerance for ambiguity.

Use translation strategically.

Try to understand first.

Attempt the sentence yourself.

Then check.

Compare your interpretation with the translation.

Ask why they differ.

The technology becomes a feedback mechanism rather than a substitute for thinking in the language.

Step 15: Distribute learning across the week

A five-hour Sunday study session feels serious.

But language development depends heavily on repeated encounters and repeated retrieval.

Shorter sessions distributed across several days provide more opportunities to forget slightly and retrieve again.

That does not mean 20 minutes is magically superior to two hours.

Long sessions can be valuable for reading, classes and conversation.

The key is avoiding a pattern in which all learning occurs once and the language then disappears for a week.

A sustainable learner might combine:

daily short vocabulary review;

several listening or reading sessions;

two or three speaking opportunities;

and one longer weekly interaction.

The exact schedule matters less than repeated return.

A balanced weekly language-learning plan

A beginner with roughly five hours per week might organise learning like this:

Daily or almost daily

10–15 minutes: vocabulary retrieval and spaced review.

Four days per week

20–30 minutes: understandable listening or reading.

Alternate the emphasis rather than forcing both into every session.

Two or three times per week

15–30 minutes: speaking.

Use a teacher, tutor, partner, classmate, language exchange or structured self-recording task.

Once or twice per week

20 minutes: focused grammar.

Study one or two structures that have appeared repeatedly in your input or errors.

Once per week

20–30 minutes: pronunciation.

Focus on a small number of sounds, stress patterns or connected-speech features.

Once per week

30–60 minutes: longer conversation or writing task with feedback.

The exact numbers are examples, not scientific prescriptions.

If listening is your weakness, increase listening.

If an examination requires writing, write more.

If you are moving abroad in three months, increase interaction.

A good plan changes when evidence about your performance changes.

Step 16: Measure each ability separately

“Am I fluent?”

is usually too vague to diagnose progress.

Ask more specific questions.

Listening

Can I understand the main idea of a five-minute beginner podcast?

Can I follow normal speech on familiar topics?

Speaking

Can I introduce myself without memorising a script?

Can I speak for two minutes without switching languages?

Can I repair the conversation when I do not know a word?

Vocabulary

Can I recognise the word?

Can I retrieve it when I need to speak?

Can I use it naturally in a phrase?

Reading

How much can I read without a dictionary?

What percentage of the argument or story can I follow?

Writing

Can I write a clear message?

Which errors repeat?

Pronunciation

Which sounds create misunderstanding?

Can listeners understand me without repeated clarification?

These measures reveal progress that “fluency” hides.

Expect receptive skills to outrun productive skills

It is normal to understand language that you cannot yet produce.

Recognition is easier than retrieval.

When listening, the word is supplied to you.

When speaking, you must find it yourself.

Likewise, you may recognise a grammatical structure long before you can produce it automatically.

This gap can feel like failure:

“I understand much more than I can speak.”

In fact, it is a common stage of development.

The solution is not to stop input.

It is to add more opportunities for retrieval and production.

Expect progress to be uneven

Language learning is rarely a smooth upward line.

For several weeks you may feel rapid vocabulary growth.

Then listening becomes the obvious weakness.

After improving listening, pronunciation may begin bothering you.

Later, conversation reveals gaps in grammar that reading had concealed.

This does not necessarily mean progress has stopped.

It often means your ability to notice weaknesses has improved.

Instead of saying:

“My language is not improving,”

ask:

Which specific skill has become the bottleneck?

Then target that skill for several weeks.

Do not measure progress only by the number of study hours

Hours matter because language development takes time.

But one hour can contain very different amounts of useful learning.

An hour spent half-watching incomprehensible television is different from an hour of attentive listening at an appropriate level.

An hour copying vocabulary is different from retrieving it.

An hour in a conversation where you speak for four minutes is different from one where you speak for thirty.

Useful progress comes from what the learner repeatedly processes and does during the time.

Study time is an input.

Language ability is the outcome.

Measure both.

Common language-learning mistakes

Several problems appear repeatedly across learning methods.

Studying vocabulary without using it

Recognition becomes strong while production remains weak.

Studying grammar without enough input

Rules remain abstract because learners rarely encounter them in real language.

Consuming input without speaking

Comprehension improves while retrieval remains slow.

Speaking constantly without feedback

Fluency may improve while persistent errors become difficult to notice.

Choosing content that is far too difficult

Every session becomes translation rather than comprehension.

Obsessing over perfect pronunciation

Communication is delayed while the learner chases an unnecessary native-like ideal.

Depending entirely on one app

Performance improves inside the app without transferring sufficiently to real communication.

Changing methods every two weeks

The learner continually redesigns the system instead of accumulating enough language exposure for any system to work.

The solution is rarely finding the perfect method.

It is usually creating a balanced method and using it long enough.

How long does learning a language take?

There is no scientifically meaningful universal answer such as:

“Become fluent in 90 days.”

Language difficulty varies according to:

the learner's first language;

previous language-learning experience;

age;

the similarity between languages;

the amount and quality of exposure;

opportunities for interaction;

learning objectives;

and what level of competence counts as success.

Basic tourist communication and professional-level interpreting are both called “learning the language,” but they represent radically different outcomes.

Instead of asking:

How many months until I am fluent?

ask:

What should I be able to do three months from now that I cannot do today?

That produces a measurable target.

Adult learners are not doomed

Children possess important advantages in language development, particularly when exposure begins early and continues extensively.

But the popular conclusion that adults therefore cannot learn languages well is false.

Adults bring advantages too.

They can study explicitly.

Understand grammatical explanation.

Use deliberate memory strategies.

Organise practice.

Set goals.

Seek targeted feedback.

And connect new knowledge with large existing conceptual vocabularies.

An adult may not reproduce every aspect of early childhood language acquisition.

They do not need to.

The practical question is not whether adults learn identically to children.

It is whether adults can achieve meaningful levels of comprehension and communication.

They clearly can.

Motivation helps, but systems matter more

Motivation gets learners started.

It rarely remains equally strong every day for several years.

A language-learning system should therefore have a minimum version that survives ordinary life.

For example:

ten minutes of vocabulary;

one podcast during the commute;

ten pages of an easy reader;

a 30-minute conversation every Saturday.

When motivation is high, do more.

When life becomes busy, protect repeated contact.

The greatest danger is not having one weak study session.

It is allowing one missed day to become three months without meaningful contact with the language.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best way to learn a new language?

There is no single best activity. A strong method combines understandable input, vocabulary retrieval, speaking, feedback, reading, writing, grammar and pronunciation in proportions that match the learner's goals.

Should I learn vocabulary or grammar first?

Beginners need both, but neither needs to be completed before the other begins. Learn high-value vocabulary while studying enough grammar to understand and produce useful sentence patterns.

How many words should I learn per day?

There is no universal optimal number. The appropriate amount depends on available study time and whether previous vocabulary is being retained. Learning fewer words with repeated retrieval and spaced review is often more useful than adding large numbers that are quickly forgotten.

Should I speak from the beginning?

Early speaking is useful when tasks are appropriate to your level. Beginners do not need sophisticated conversation; they can practise introductions, descriptions, simple requests and highly familiar topics.

Can I learn a language just by watching television?

Television can provide useful input, particularly when enough of the content is comprehensible. But television alone does not directly provide the retrieval, interaction, writing and corrective feedback required for balanced language development.

Are language-learning apps enough?

Apps can be excellent tools for particular tasks such as vocabulary, basic grammar or daily exposure. They are much less effective as a complete substitute for extended listening, reading, spontaneous speaking and real communication.

Is pronunciation something adults can improve?

Yes. Research on second-language phonetic training shows that speech perception can improve substantially with training, and perceptual training can also contribute to production improvement. (cambridge.org)

Is reading useful for learning a language?

Yes. Large amounts of understandable reading provide repeated exposure to vocabulary, grammar and discourse patterns and can contribute to vocabulary knowledge, reading fluency and comprehension. (cambridge.org)

Is it better to study for several hours once a week or a little every day?

Both can have a role, but memory research strongly supports distributing learning across time rather than concentrating all repetitions into one session. Regular contact also provides more frequent opportunities to retrieve previously learned language. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

Do I need to live abroad to become fluent?

No. Living where the language is spoken can create valuable opportunities for exposure and interaction, but only when those opportunities are actually used. Extensive input, conversation and feedback can also be created without relocation.

The real goal is automatic access

A beginner spends enormous mental effort constructing a simple sentence.

Which word do I need?

Which ending?

Where does the verb go?

How is that sound pronounced?

With enough meaningful exposure and retrieval, some of those decisions become increasingly automatic.

The learner stops translating every familiar phrase.

Common words arrive faster.

Frequent grammar patterns begin to feel predictable.

Speech becomes easier to process at normal speed.

That transition is what fluency largely depends upon.

It cannot be downloaded in one course or completed by finishing an app.

It emerges from repeated encounters with language that you understand and repeated attempts to use that language yourself.

The most effective learning system is therefore not the one with the greatest number of features.

It is the one that repeatedly gives you four things:

language you can understand;

language you must retrieve;

opportunities to communicate;

and feedback that helps the next attempt become better.

Build those into your week.

Let listening, speaking, reading, writing, vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation develop together.

Then measure what you can actually understand and do.

That is how a new language gradually stops feeling like material you are studying and starts becoming something you can use.