I’ve always been fascinated with learning new languages, ever since I saw the movie Boondock Saints where the Irish brothers talk in several different languages together to confuse people. Aside from my failed 100 pushup challenge, it’s about the most badass thing I could think to do. So of course, I had to tackle it.
Just one problem: my language-learning budget is currently around $0. I used to spend a ton of money on language learning. When I lived in Alaska I took university classes and paid an online teacher to give me one-on-one lessons in French. I can still speak at about an advanced beginner/intermediate level, although I’m a bit rusty.
While I did spend a lot of money on language learning, I’ve now realized that it’s possible to learn a language for far less than I paid. It might take you a bit longer, depending on how you learn it. Or, if you do decide to spend money on more premium classes, I recommend making sure it fits in your budget before you splurge.
With that said, whenever you learn a language, there are four key areas you need to focus on: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Each one of these is a specific skill that you need to work on.
Take French, for example: one of the most frustrating things about French is that the oral and written version seem to me, a native English speaker, as almost two separate languages due to French’s weird pronunciations.
These are my favorite resources that will help you focus on each of these areas.
Contents
Learning For Free (Or Super Cheap)
General vocabulary
Although you need specific practice with the four major elements—reading, writing, speaking, and listening—you also need to have some knowledge of the words.
You can do this just by jumping in with native speakers and winging it, but I’m a shy person, so I prefer to study up some before talking to people.
Related Post: To Do Lists: My Secret Weapon To Keeping My Finances Organized (it also helps with remembering to practice daily!)
My favorite tool for learning general vocab is Duolingo. It’s a free platform that sets up language learning as a sort of game, and it’s really fun! So far, I’m 21% fluent in German (my next target language), although I can’t understand a damn word people say most of the time. But I can still pick out bits and pieces, and for the price, you can’t beat the value you get!
Writing
For writing practice, my favorite tool to use is Lang-8. It’s a platform where you can write a short essay (or even just a sentence or two) to practice your writing skills. Then, other native speakers of that language can come along and correct it using some neat editing tools. After they’re done, you’re sent an email, and you can see all the corrections they did.
I’ve never had a problem getting a text edited by a native speaker, and sometimes people are very helpful and descriptive in their explanations! The only catch is that you’re expected to correct the texts of other people who are trying to learn English. Still, it’s not too difficult.
Listening
There are several options for listening practice. I really enjoy podcasts, and you can find podcasts for almost any language you want to learn on the Itunes store. Many of them are geared to language learners, such as my favorite French one, News in Slow French. Innovative Languages also produces a whole host of free language learning podcasts.
Most of these types of podcasts will try to sell you a subscription with bonus material, but you don’t need to pay for it to listen to the basic podcast.
Another great free resource that I wish I had more time to take advantage of is vlogs. You can probably find them in just about any language, especially ones with a large population of speakers. Cyprien is one of my favorite French vlogs. I just wish I knew more of what he was saying.
Speaking
This can be the toughest one to find. This involves finding a real, live human being that you can speak with. I know there are sites where you can practice your pronunciation, but frankly, they’re no match for speaking with a real person and thinking on the fly. This is where you really start to understand and think in your new language.
So, where to go? I have two good suggestions. You can find a meetup group in your hometown. This works great for me now that I live in a big city, but back when I lived in Fairbanks, Alaska (the 2nd largest city in the state, but still technically “the boonies”), there were none.
The second place I’ve found great speaking partners is on Italki. It’s a fantastic language learning platform that’s free to join and has all sorts of bells and whistles, including a really great community. You can do specific searches for types of language partners, email them, and set up a time to chat.
Some people even work out a system to completely learn a language for free where you find someone learning your own native language and practice each for 50% of the session. So, I’d find a native French speaker who wanted to learn English, and we’d practice both and give pointers in our areas of expertise.
Reading
I don’t have any out-of-this-world pointers here. Find a book and read it. You can go to the library, find one online (I’ve found the English and the French version online before and opened them in two tabs), or buy one.
There are neat books out there especially for language learners where the English version of a text is on one page, and the other language version on the opposite page. These are especially helpful to quickly see what the heck they’re saying without spending half an hour searching around in a dictionary.
What About Lessons?
I mentioned Italki above as a free tool to find language partners, and that’s one of its best features. But, Italki was primarily created as a teaching platform to match up students and teachers, and this is where it really shines.
You can search for teachers by country, gender, time zone, and price. Some teachers charge a very high rate (especially if you want to learn an uncommon language like Finnish…sigh), but for the more common languages like French and German, it’s pretty easy to find someone that’s affordable. Italki has even more tutors than teachers, and these people generally charge even lower rates because they’re not necessarily following a specific outline.
If you have room in your budget and it’s important to you, I highly recommend Italki to learn a new language. Plus, if you use my referral link and take a class, your account will be credited with 100 points (called ITC [Italki Credits]), worth $10!
As soon as my budget has more room in it, I’m going to start learning German!
A Final Note
Hopefully these resources will help you start or move further on your language-learning journey, even if you don’t have a lot of funds. For even more free resources, check out top language hacker Benny Lewis’s guide to 40+ free language learning resources.
Related: Fluent In 3 Months: How Anyone At Any Age Can Learn To Speak Any Language From Anywhere In The World by Benny Lewis
À bientôt!
Do you want to learn a new language? What’s holding you back? Leave a comment below!
These are great ideas 🙂 and for what it’s worth, I’m trying to learn German, too!
The library is also a great resource for language learning books. I like using them in conjunction with duolingo. I’ve never tried italki before, but I’m looking forward to it when I get a chance!
Awesome! I’m so looking forward to going to an Oktoberfest someday. 🙂
Libraries are great. And if you do sign up for italki, remember, you don’t have to pay for classes if you don’t want. They’re great, but you can still get free speaking practice by connecting with community members there.
My students used to love watching Cyprien videos. The one on Snapchat had them on the floor laughing.
You can do a lot with self-study but as a language teacher, I always have to advocate for a classroom or immersion setting at some point. Check out community center activity offerings, university continuity education programs, community colleges, etc. 🙂
I didn’t know you were a language teacher. That’s awesome!
I agree; self-study is limited. You can get a lot done with it, but at the end of the day, you won’t be able to hold a conversation or do more than pick out a few words here and there.
I’ve done university classes, online one-on-one tutoring, and in-person group practice sessions for immersion practice. Honestly, I found the university classes least helpful because you’re not being challenged by everyone around you that much, and the teacher (who would challenge you most) has very limited time to spend with you. In-person group sessions are very good, but they usually lack cultural context. Online one-on-one classes are the most expensive (but can still be relatively cheap) option, and they allow you the cultural connection. I think the only thing better than that would be those several-month-long language camps in the native country, but holy wah are those expensive!
I love the site http://www.conversationexchange.com, it’s free and a great way of meeting native speakers of the language you are learning. I’m in London so there’s a large pool of people signed up living locally, but you can also sign up for pen-pal / Skype I believe if there aren’t many people local to you. Can’t beat actually having a chat to improve your language skills! Great post thanks!
I haven’t heard of that site yet but I just popped over there and it looks fantastic, thanks!
Wow! What a diverse background. Sounds like you had a great way to learn, by speaking to such diverse people.
I love this list. Learning a new language is so great and, even if you’re not that good at it, it can help bring you closer to another culture.
When I took French in high school, reading helped me the most. Obviously, not in the first year. I would look for children’s books in French – for ex, I remember reading The Little Prince. I’m no psychologist, but my theory is that the vocabulary is easier and, because it’s a story, it was more mentally stimulating and engaging than reading random lists of words and sentences. It really helped create a full picture.
That’s a great tip! I actually read the Little Prince too as one of my first practices. I opened up three tabs: one an audio version of the book, one version in French, and one in English. It helped a ton but it was a bit unwieldy. Great story, though!
That does sound complicated…I was just in a corner with the book and a French-English dictionary. Lol!
These are awesome ideas! I love Duolingo – I am using it for Hebrew. Flashcards weren’t enough and the daily reminder emails are helping me remember to practice every day.
When my mom and brother were learning French, they watched movies they new well in French instead of English. My brother, who is the king of movie quotes, picked up much of the language this way. And since they were using movies we already owned, it was completely free!
That’s a great idea too! I’ve tried watching movies we already have with French subtitles, but it gets too confusing to link up the spoken English and written French versions in my head while the storyline is going. But if you already know a movie by heart, I’d guess it’s much easier.
I’m actually using Duolingo right now too to learn Spanish! I hadn’t planned on learning it, but me and a friend are planning a trip to Peru in a few months, so I suppose I should at least know a little bit – lol!