My 2026 language learning plan

The holidays are over and 2026 is officially underway! Now, a lot of people – including yours truly – are ready to jump back into the swing of things. New year, new me, right? For me, that means getting back to my language practice (if you’re new to Root, Stem, Base, I’ve been learning Danish) with a revised language learning plan for 2026.

Priorities for learning a language in 2026

The biggest issue with my previous study plan was that I didn’t give enough space for revision. Therefore, I was quickly overwhelmed by the content I was trying to learn.

For this new 2026 plan, I want to retain what I’m learning. But I also don’t want to move through the content at a snail’s pace.

My main goals, in short, are:

Complete the content in Complete Danish by the end of March
Consistently study new vocabulary
Incorporate new vocabulary and grammar concepts into output (speaking and writing)

Completing Complete Danish

I have a selection of instruction books I’ve been using to learn Danish. I am currently working through Complete Danish. At the time of writing, I’m nearly finished Unit 10 in the book out of 18 units in total. So, including this current unit, I have 9 remaining units to finish.

My intention is to go through one unit per week. Every fourth week – i.e. after I have completed three units – will be a revision week. During revision week, I’ll go back over the units I’ve just spent the last three weeks learning. Towards the end of the week, I will also go through the prior units I’ve already finished to incorporate the cummulative concepts with one another.

Following this plan, I should complete the remaining 9 units of Complete Danish by the end of March.

Studying and incorporating new vocabulary

My second goal of consistently studying new vocabulary I already have underway.

For a few months now, I’ve been using the flashcard app Anki to study new vocabulary (both words and phrases) and basic grammar concepts.

However, I also want to actively incorporate them into my writing and speaking practice.

Incorporating new vocabulary into a writing exercise is pretty straightforward: come up with some sentences featuring the words/phrases/concepts you recently studied. Then I can say these sentences out loud.

Eventually, I hopefully will have practiced the phrases enough until they roll off my tongue easily.

The new language learning plan for 2026

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Grammar study	Grammar study	Update grammar & flashcards	Read article & Watch Danish TV	Write in Danish	Speak Danish	Overflow day
45 minutes	1 hour		30 minutes

Grammar study

On Mondays and Tuesdays, I’ll be spending at least 45 min – 1 hour studying Danish grammar from Complete Danish. The goal is that I finish one unit by the end of Tuesday. However, I’ll allow myself to overflow into Wednesday depending on what else I have going on.

Update grammar and flashcards

After I’m done going through the latest unit of Complete Danish, I’ll spend Wednesday updating my pack of flashcards on Anki to include the vocabulary from that unit. Also, I will go through the grammar concepts covered in the unit and copy them into a separate notebook. I keep this notebook as a quick reference for grammar so I don’t have to flip through the larger textbook.

Reading and watching in Danish

On Thursdays, I’ll be focussing on Danish input in the form of reading and watching something in Danish.

For my reading, currently I’m using the website DR Ligetil, which publishes articles written in a simplified Danish geared towards people learning the language or who struggle to read.

Meanwhile, I’ve been watching the Danish series Historien om Danmark (trans. The History of Denmark), also from DR. The 8-part series is presented by actor Lars Mikkelsen and chronicles the history of Denmark beginning with the Stone Age. I aim to watch at least 30 minutes of Danish media.

Write in Danish

On Fridays, I’ll spend time writing in Danish. Like I said above, my main goal with the writing practice is to practice using the new vocabulary and grammar concepts I learned from the most recent unit.

Speaking Danish

Saturdays, and possibly Sundays, will be dedicated to speaking Danish. This is mostly because on weekends, I have the most opportunity to speak Danish with native speakers (i.e. my parents). In addition to speaking in conversation, I also will practice speaking on my own. During that time, I’ll be reading aloud from the sentences I created during my writing practice on Friday.

Daily flashcards

While I didn’t include it in the schedule above, I’ll also be practicing vocabulary every day using the flashcards I’ve created in Anki.

Revision week

Every four weeks, I’ll spend the week revising what I’ve recently learned. I haven’t yet come up with a clear plan of what the revision will look like. However, I hope to include more vocabulary and grammar study via writing and speaking practice.