How To Learn A Language For Free

People often think that to learn a language you will need to spend a lot of money. The reality is that money is not important, it is merely all about how long you spend with the language.

Its true that textbooks, courses and tutors can all cost …and then things like university courses, or visiting the country that speaks your target language can be very expensive. However, its not the only way to do things.

We now live in the age of the internet and we have all the information we will ever need at our finger tips, which includes everything we need to learn a language.

It may take slightly more planning, but there is no reason why you cannot learn a language for free from the comfort of your own home.

(You can read more information about – Is There A Limit To How Many Languages You Can Learn?)

You Need To Plan, If You Want To Learn A Language For Free

The first thing you need to know about learning a language for free is that no one is going to tell you what to learn, so you are going to need a plan.

This is great as you can do whatever you want, but it’s also rather daunting as you may have no idea where to even begin.

It’s really important that you set a goal and then make a plan or you will get nowhere with your new language.

When you pay a tutor, or take a course they tell you what you will be learning (the goal) and they will also have the lessons planned out for this (the plan).

You will have to come up with these on your own, but that is okay, you can do this easily.

Set A Goal

The goal can be as simple or as complex as you want. Mine was as simple as “I want to be fluent in French”.

Once you have your goal, you can work out what how you can get there, which will be your plan.

The Plan

Most languages are going to be similar in the sense that they will all consist of grammar, phrases and vocabulary that you will just need to know.

You can also study all languages by listening, reading, writing and speaking. Based on your goal you can decide which of these skills you need to know and which ones you want to focus on.

This may still sound a bit vague, but you will soon see some of the recourses I recommend have some basic lesson plan structures set out which you can copy and elaborate on to make them your own. 

You might have to get a bit creative, but with a bit of extra work and time you can come up with your own free language plan.

If you want it the easy way, then you can easily pay for the lessons or courses….

Free Resources For Learning A Language

When you are starting out your plan should be to get the basics down and then start trying to immerse yourself in the language with comprehensible input.

Language learning does not need to be complicated, the internet is full of the “basics” and then from there you can find endless things to immerse with. If you do this, you will learn the language, for free.

You will see from the following resources that you should be able to find everything you will ever need.

Learning A Language From Youtube

Youtube is great as it is going to give you both the basics and material to immerse with, you could argue its all you need.

You will be able to find many channels that are dedicated to teaching different languages. Some may be more informative than others, but they can all be useful.

This is like the equivalent of having an on demand teacher for free. The basics of most languages are usually pretty well covered through these YouTube channels and you should be able to get a good grasp from these lessons.

However, the beauty of YouTube is that it will also be full of things you can immerse with, which will be both material for learners, and natives.

Once you get the basics down you should be able to find hours and hours of content to consume.

I probably use YouTube to do 90% of my language learning, it really can do it all.

(You can read more about – Using Youtube To Learn A Language)

Free Language Apps

Language Apps can be quite useful in helping you learn the basics of the lanaguge and a lot of them are free.

They are never going to be enough on their own to learn a language, but as little additional tool they are great. You will get the basics and they can be useful for practicing.

Most of the lessons are short, so you can quickly spend 10 minutes just learning something.  

Websites

A quick web search of “free beginner lessons in X language” should start to bring up plenty of websites you can check out.

A lot of these sites will have a few lessons for you to use. However, they are usually like a sample version/sales pitch to get you to pay for the complete course.

I have found you can get quite a lot of information from these sites, especially for basic grammar topics. This stuff may be boring, but these are the fundamentals to any language so you should take full advantage of these types of websites.

Depending on what language you are learning you may get lucky and find a website that has a lot of free information.

You can also use a few different sites to piece a lot of the information together. There is enough information out there for you to get a good basic grasp of any language for free, you just need to go and find it.

I usually find I search things that have come up in the language apps, or even YouTube videos. If there was something I didn’t quite understand, I will look it up and read few websites that cover the same topic and then usually I will get a get a better understanding.

Websites are sort of like the backup resource that just help clarify things. If you are Learning French you can check out my Unofficial French Course

Anki Flashcards

Anki or any other flash card app can be really useful in helping you increase your vocabulary.

You can either create your own flash cards, or use a premade deck. I do like creating my own, adding words I have come across from my immersion.

However, I have also found premade decks to be very beneficial when I am just starting out. They can be a very easy way to introduce you to the most common vocabulary. The problem is that the words are out of context, but depending on the deck you use there may be sentences that can help add context.

Either way I find Anki paired with immersion (watching native content on YouTube) is a great way to learn a language for free. YouTube gives you the new words and Anki helps you remember them.   

(You can read more about – Are Flashcards Effective When Learning A Language?)

Online Dictionaries

A dictionary is an always going to be needed at some point when learning a language. Luckily for us you can find plenty of free ones online.

I use the Linguee app on my phone. It has loads of languages so it should suit your needs too as they cover a number of languages.

I would be cautious with Google translate, It can be decent but sometimes the translations are not perfect. However, if you are just trying to get a general grasp of what something means, it’s fine.  

Should You Buy A Physical Dictionary?

Physical dictionaries are actually not that expensive, but you need to physically have it with you and then you have to thumb through it to find the word.

Using an app is so much more convenient. you will always have it with you, finding words is simple and you can usually type in whole phrases into them as well, which can be far more accurate than translating each individual word one at a time.

They are also free, so you really do not need to buy a physical dictionary when you are learning a language.

Learning Languages Through Podcasts

Podcasts are another great way to get some immersion in the language. You should be able to find plenty of podcasts in your target language that are designed for natives.

However, some podcasts are designed for beginner language learners and they cover the basics. They can be a bit like learning a language from tapes/CDs (if you are old enough to remember those), but some are actually pretty decent and can teach you some things.

Both types of podcasts are great and you can just listen to them while you go about your day.

Using Social Media To learn A Language

Social media is like a condensed version of YouTube. You should be able to find plenty of language teachers on things like Instagram, where they give you a quick 30 second tip and informational post.

You are probably not going to be able to learn a whole language this way, but it’s good to follow some of these on whatever social media you use and get a little peppering of free study throughout the day.

Language Learning On Reddit

Is Reddit a social media? I don’t know, but anyway there will most likely be a group dedicated to the language you are trying to learn where other students will discuss and ask questions about things.

You are not going to learn like full lessons here but it can still be very helpful. Usually if you are a little confused about something, someone else will be too. You will usually find that someone will have started a discussion about it and every one will chip in to make sense of things.

If they haven’t, well you can ask the question and get plenty of people replying, trying to clarify whatever you don’t understand.

It’s always good to keep an eye on these discussions so you can pick up little bits of information as you go.

It’s also nice to be surrounded by people who are on the same language learning journey as yourself and know they are going through the same struggles as you.

Native Language Internet

Pretty much everything I’ve mentioned so far has been “language learning” related. However, most of these resources are also just available in your target language for native speakers and this can be the best way to immerse.

You can read websites, watch YouTube videos, go on social media and listen to podcasts all in the target language. Once you get the basics down, this is what you need to be getting into.

I am forever watching the French news, in French. I mean the actual news that French people would watch, in France.

This is maybe a bit much for a beginner as these are designed for natives, but like I said, once you get a basic grip you can start understanding things, you need to start reading and watching all sorts of things on the internet that are just in your target language.

The language is there for you. Just fight to get the basics down and you can enjoy it all.    

Get A Language Exchange Partner

Once you get comfortable with the language you should find a language partner to have an exchange with as this is going to be the best way you can practice and increase your skills for free.

Being able to pull everything you have learned from all over the internet and put it to the test with a real native is really going to show you how well you are doing and how much you have learned.

This can seem a little daunting, but the sooner you do this, the sooner you will thank yourself.

Just remember they are also learning your language and they will have the same fears. Having to help them with their studies is such a small price to pay for the help they will give you.

My favourite part about this is that they are real people and you can become real friends with them while you help each other learn.

I use the Hellotalk app to find language partners.

(you can read more about – How To Use Language Exchanges)

Conclusion

Hopefully this will now point you in the right direction of where and how to find the right information to really propel your language learning for free.

You can do it, it just takes a little extra work and effort, but the information is out there for you to take.

Just keep working and you will get there. Good luck. 

(You might find this useful – The Only Study Plan You Need To learn A Language (For Complete Beginners))