1. Find something fun about learning your target language. 

Unless you are a master at retaining knowledge you originally acquired for the sake of passing a test, studying a language solely to pass a test or a class is probably not going to lead to much success. In my experience, listening to music, watching TV shows and movies, and immersing myself in media in my target languages helps tremendously to increase fluency. I started watching TV shows in my target languages with subtitles in both the target language and English, and gradually shifted myself towards only subtitles in the target language as my level of understanding the language improved. 

2. Learn and practice with friends. 

Casual conversation in your target language is a great, low-pressure way of improving fluency and generally becoming more confident communicating in your target language. Although it is sometimes difficult to find friends who speak your target language and are willing to help you practice, there are many online communities of language learners with people who can help you gain more confidence in communication. When I was learning Swedish, I joined a Reddit community with Swedish learners and a Swedish-speaking Discord group, both of which exposed me to more everyday vocabulary and significantly increased my confidence in holding conversations.  

3. Change your settings in mobile apps to your target language.

Once you feel confident with the basics of your target language, changing settings in individual apps or the default settings in your phone to your target language can be helpful in increasing your daily exposure to the language. Even if you don’t want to change your phone system’s default language to your target language, adding a keyboard for your target language on your phone or computer will make it easier to practice your language without English autocorrect getting in the way. Changing settings to my target languages in certain apps has helped me to become better at figuring out unfamiliar vocabulary.

4. A little bit of studying every day is better than inconsistent bursts of studying. 

A lot of people experience burnout because they feel like they must devote all of their time to learning their target language. Unless you actually have to learn your target language in a short period of time, there is no reason to rush the process. You don’t need more than five to 20 minutes of formal studying per day. If you are following the previously mentioned suggestions, you get a lot of practice without formally studying, which means that as you learn more through less formal methods, you don’t have to spend as much time on formal study. 

5. Don’t feel like you have to spend a lot of money on language learning programs. 

It may seem as though the best resources are the subscription-based programs, which often cost hundreds of dollars per year. Those resources, while sometimes the best quality, are not always necessary. As long as you do your research on the accuracy and effectiveness of free or low-cost programs, you can usually at least get a good start with a free program. If you feel like you need something more formal than Duolingo or other similar programs, you can get free access to several different programs that would normally be behind a paywall through many public libraries.