When I thought about how this year went, I struggled to find concrete examples of what I actually did and achieved. Instead of revisiting the goals I had set a year ago, I decided to create my own language learning wrapped to visualize my year.
End-of-year wraps have become increasingly popular. They’re a fun way to see what music you listened to, the books you read, or how you spent your time learning a language. Creating my own language learning wrapped felt like the perfect way to reflect on the past year. With the help of memories and information scattered across Notion, spreadsheets, and notebooks, I set out to visually recap 2025.
I spent over four hours working on this wrap and enjoyed the entire process. Putting it all together helped me understand why this year felt so different. In previous years, my reflections were heavily based on time tracking. This year, there were fewer numbers and more tangible experiences to look back on.
My year involved less traditional studying and more living in my target languages. That mostly looked like watching shows and movies, playing video games, and reading books. And of course, using French at work.
This post may be a bit long for an email, and some elements may be cut off. You can view all the images through the full post here!
2025 Language Learning Wrapped
My guiding post for the year was my language project board. I forgot about it throughout the year, but that was okay. It was easy to return to and check off squares I had completed without realizing. It was my first year using the project board, and I can safely say I’ll be creating a new one for 2026. I’ve seen more people doing something similar to keep track of their goals. If you’d like to make one, you can use my free template, which has been updated for the new year!
Overall, I’m happy with everything I accomplished on this board. Some squares were easier than others, and that was intentional when creating the board. I love adding goals that likely won’t happen in the year, like “Visit Iceland” just for fun, because why not?
I’ve never watched so much content in my life, except maybe during my early Mandarin-learning years. I watched C-dramas like no tomorrow, and they contributed significantly to my listening comprehension.
I didn’t expect to enjoy Spy x Family as much as I did. The short episodes and humour are right up my alley. I’m planning to read the manga in English and Japanese if I can get my hands on a copy. One of my goals was to connect Japanese to an interest. Now that I have things I want to read, and shows I like to watch, I’m feeling good about making progress in the new year.
The second chapter of The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky is coming out in Fall 2026, and I’m so excited. My goal is for my Japanese to be strong enough that I can actually notice words while playing. During Chapter 1, I only picked up one or two words, partly because the story was new, and partly because I was chasing the dopamine hits of killing things… I mean, experiencing the combat.
In the first half of the year, I created a writing and speaking project board just for French to prepare for the DELF B2 exam. I quickly forgot about it, but somehow still managed to complete several squares simply by using French. For example, I conducted job interviews and was interviewed twice in French, which allowed me to check off D1.
My biggest language learning achievement this year was taking and passing the DELF B2 exam!
This wasn’t the year I improved my writing, despite my efforts. I started strong with a 37-day journaling streak, but eventually my journaling became more sporadic. The good thing is that I know I can easily write more next year.
I only read two French books this year, plus 71% and 33% of two others. Still, that added up to over 255,000 words read.
And finally, my bookshelf. My reading didn’t really begin until the second half of the year, but since then, I’ve read just under 40 books and found some entertaining five-star reads along the way.
Visually recapping my year has brought me so much joy, and when I look at it as a whole, I can say it’s been a great year of language learning.
What would your language learning wrapped look like? How has your year been? I’d love to hear in the comments.
Happy Holidays! 🎉🎁 ✨
If you know any other language learners, feel free to share this post with them!
The shift from tracking hours to tracking experiences is huge. When I was grinding Anki decks for months I felt like I was making progress but couldn't actually do anything with the language. The Spy x Family approach (short episodes, actual enjoyment) is way more sustainble than forcing through textbooks. Connecting language to things youalready care about beats any study plan.
That wrap up looks great! It gives a very good insight in your year and I can imagine how nice it must feel for you to see this and what you did!
I haven't done my own wrap up yet (I usually do it between Christmas and New year) and I still haven't think about how I went to do it. Your wrap up will definitely be some inspiration! I love how you inserted pictures and visual keys. It makes it more lively beside numbers ☺️