There’s an app for that.
Speaking from personal experience, learning a new language is exciting. You feel like you get to tap into a new world with its own unique ideas and culture. This is probably why–with a small dose of insanity–I’ve been learning Japanese on and off since my original college adventure, about ten years ago. This was when an adorable, incredibly welcoming Japanese teacher that we all affectionally called “Keiko Sensei” welcomed us into her class and into her home–literally. While I was in college, she invited us to have our final presentation in her home while she made us soup and gyoza. She inspired me to study abroad in Japan, and since then I’ve been nuts about studying Japanese.
But what is a lonely language learner to do? Thousands of miles away from the residents who speak the language they are studying, sometimes without other language learners to speak to. Where do they go?
Well, the internet. The place where I go for anything and everything I need to know. Luckily for you, reader, whom I’m presuming desperately needs to know this, there are an absolutely mind-boggling amount of language-learning resources out there for you to use–and most of them are free, for the beginner levels. There are websites, apps, textbooks online, podcasts, tutoring services, language exchange websites….it’s great! Seriously, I wasn’t about to start complaining about the amount of resources available to help you learn. That would be silly. But it is hard to know where to start.
One of the most common questions I get from my friends who want to learn a language is: where do I start? What tools do you use? What do you recommend? Frankly, my answer to those questions changes all the time. I have to reply, what are your goals? What level of experience do you have with the language? Are you okay with spending money? This can sound incredibly frustrating to new language learners, but there are so. many. paths to language fluency. But this is a good thing!! You don’t need to go to XYZ Japanese Language Institute in Tokyo. You don’t need to have studied for X years, or learned X words. It’s important to focus on progress, because even people approaching fluency in a language will agree–they’re still learning. And they’re not afraid to learn. With that said, let’s dive into some of those tools you’ll want when you’re starting out.
As an unofficial official expert at struggling with a language, there are a few different components to learning a language. These include vocabulary, grammar, reading, listening, and speaking ability. I might have skipped some, I might have added some in that you find unimportant. Let me redirect you to my comment from earlier, “what are your goals?” Those components will change, and some elements will increase or decrease in importance, according to those goals. But this is a good place to start.
Vocab
Vocab is inarguably critical to learning a new language. In fact, some language learners will argue that a method that has served them well is what they call “caveman speak”, where they don’t exactly know all of the grammar and sentence structure, but they get by with vocab. “Me hungry” or “give croissant”. Hilarious, but effective. There are numerous tools to help with vocab–and tons of pre-compiled lists of essential vocab. Apps like Anki and iKnow let you review vocab in flashcard form, saving you the effort of carrying around thousands of flashcards. They also feature many user-created decks of flashcards, even saving you the trouble of creating the decks yourself. Vocab is one of the easiest things to learn on your own, with the aid of technology. It is straight-forward and can be squeezed in while waiting for the bus.
Grammar
Grammar is a bit harder. But not much, either. With a bit of googling, you can find lists of important grammar structures for any language on the internet. You can also find flash cards that feature different grammar structures, and apps that will prompt you to complete sentences using a specific type of grammar. The main difficulty comes in prioritizing the learning of certain grammar structures over others, and getting real-time correction of your learning, which is hard to do if you are by yourself. Having a speaking partner (which you can find online!) helps with this, but it can be time-consuming or costly.
Reading
Hey wait–I already know how to read! The language I’m learning is written in Roman characters! Well, lucky you. I included this category knowing that this won’t really be a category for some. But for languages like Arabic and Japanese, you’ll have to put in some effort just to read basic sentences. This can be frustrating, as you want to read right away. But the good news is, there are many, many learning tools to help you learn how to read foreign characters. Because this is one of the first things foreign language learners need to learn, there are an abundance of tools out there to help you. Frankly, every app that you download will have a section at the beginning dedicated to learning how to read the language.
Listening/Speaking
I know these aren’t the same. I’m grouping them together anyway. Why? Both of these are hard to do without a teacher or someone who speaks the language to guide you. “But hey, I can listen to the language all day! Look, I’m doing it right now!” you say. I’m not here to frustrate you. Really, I’m not. But let me help you shortcut something that I have realized after years and years of studying.
After listening to something in a foreign language, and trying to translate it in your head, how do you know that your translation is correct?
“Well, the translation is listed on the website.” Well, sure. And it is probably a good approximation. But something that I have learned is that there is so much nuance in translation. There are so many words that don’t translate well to your native language. There is so much cultural nuance, feelings that are conveyed but not quite said… This isn’t to mean that you can’t get a good idea. But if your goal is to really learn a language, and to understand it within the cultural lens of the people you want to understand better, don’t you really want to make sure that you understand in the way that they do? Is your goal to have a surface-level understanding of the language, or do you want to express yourself honestly, independently? A native speaker is essential for this. They can help guide you through the waters of “is this translation even close to correct?” Or, “what do I say when I want to convey…X ?” But I want to provide you with solutions. I doubt you have a language teacher in your pocket. Many apps nowadays have example sentences in the language you’re learning, spoken by native language speakers. To help familiarize yourself, repeat these sentences OUT LOUD to yourself while you learn. You’ll sound like a goofball, but who cares? It’s critical to get “the feeling” of the language–that muscle memory that your mouth needs to spit out the words without getting tongue tied. Don’t make the mistakes I have and be too shy to speak out loud.
Even better, try and find a living person to talk to. This takes a bit of work to break out of your bubble. No one wants to sound dumb, out loud, to someone they just met. But most teachers are teachers because they love to help guide students through their learning. And depending on how much money you want to spend, this can be affordable, too. I’ve personally used the website italki.com quite a lot. (This is not sponsored, by the way). You can pick a teacher that you’d like to take a free, trial lesson with. You can find someone you feel comfortable with, for free. And then you pay for individual lessons, but this can be as low as $10/hr. You get what you pay for—seasoned teachers will be more expensive than college students who want a casual language partner. But it gets you talking! To a live person! And frankly, the excitement that this brought me when I tried italki was worth more than what I paid for the lessons.
Anyway, I hope this helped you. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned, that I hope you take with you, is that there are tons of resources out there–don’t fall into the trap of trying to pick the best one. You’ll never be sure it’s the best, anyway. Just find something you find enjoyable. The fun will carry you much farther than the perfect resource would, anyway.
