Do you think it is possible to save money learning languages by buying learning language books and studying at home instead of going to a language school or is this a waste of time? It would be much cheaper to buy books than to pay for a school, no question about that, I just don't know if it's possible to learn alone!
If you're interested in that kind of thing you should check out any of the free resources websites available online. There are also several study apps for smartphones that help with the learning process and a lot of them are free. I recommend you check out duolingo.com
I think that the resources available online are helpful only up to a certain extent, books are more organized for the serious learner. I am going to check that site you gave me though, maybe it's a misconception I have. Even so it would be great that to learn languages we didn't even need to buy books, just study online, that would be really saving!!
Of course it's possible to learn alone. If you have the desire, you will. there are so many resources online and you don't have to stick to just teaching sites. Read newspapers in the language, use translators, visit children's site in the language that really make it simple to start out in. If you don't know pronunciation, you can get that in translators too. Find videos, ask questions in forums, get books and programs. You have everything you need to learn.. it doesn't have to come from one place.. most people don't learn that way. I'm the only one that knows exactly how I learn, so I do best on my own..
If you are serious about learning a new language because you will migrate or work in another country, then it's advisable and worth it to have a language tutor. But if you are just a casual language student who wants to learn a new language for fun or for added knowledge, then I guess you should start casually by just reading books instead.
Thanks for the feedback and it's true, there are loads and loads of resources. As for newspapers, it's still to soon for me to able to read them as I first need to establish the bases of the new language.
I don't know if you can learn a language just by reading books. I think you should invest about 40% speaking the language to really start to understand it. And you also need to write it yourself instead of reading it.
I think it depends on what language you want to learn and on what level. If you just want to learn the basics then I think it would be easy to do so from home, however if you want to be completely fluent in the future, some education might speed up the process. Like someone mentioned above: Duolingo.com is a really great website and it's fun to learn a new language that way! I've never tried using books to learn a language by myself, I've only had books included in courses. But to answer the question I do not think a "real" education is necessary to learn a language but it will probably make it easier. Although with all the programs on the internet and instruction videos on youtube, and language forums etc.. perhaps you can do just as well from home!
A little bit off topic here, but did anyone else learn Esperanto when they were at school? I was the only child at school that had this lesson on my own with a teacher who had a massive beard. 25 years on and I have yet to meet a single person who was taught this language, I even have friends who think Esperanto is not real!
LOL, you got to be joking right dean? You really learnt Esperanto? You're the first person I know that did it! @Cadence, yes, most people learn at school, but it's possible to do it at home if you have the drive, just at some point we need to find someone to practice talking.
It depends on how you learn. Some people deal well with teaching themselves a language by reading books, watching videos a doing all on their own. But most people are not able to fully learn a language without the help of a teacher. And that is in fact more convenient! I always advise to take classes at least for a basic knowledge. When you get to an intermediate level, then It's easier to follow on your own!
I don't know if it's more convenient to learn on a class isabbbela. You pay more, you need to go there, you need to have available schedule to do it... The only plus I see is that the teacher does help, but learning at home alone has all the other advantages.
IMO, it would be better to get free study materials online because when you pay for a language course, I want to believe that your learning speed will be determined by how fast the slowest learner [in your class] gets to know the language. So why waste time when you could learn language faster on your own at your own speed? It's cheaper and more convenient to study alone, online.
You can definitely learn at home, a lot of people even make a hobby of it. My brother for the last couple years has been learning Japanese at home and is now pretty advanced. I want to become a polyglot (someone who knows multiple languages) and am currently starting out learning French and Hawaiian. You just have to be diligent and source some good resources for learning languages. If you're learning a very common language like French or Spanish then you'll have no trouble finding good, free resources.
It would be very difficult to learn alone but there are lots of free resources online. It depends on what language you want to learn, there are so many different forums and websites for assisting people in learning Spanish or Japanese for example. If you are very motivated you could self study and learn enough to get by. I recommend just searching around, best of luck to you.
This is a really valid point true, depending on how fast you want to move you can go much faster when learning by yourself because at school things have their own pace and you can spend 2-3 years learning, while at home in an intensive mode you can do it in about one year.
It's perfectly reasonable to learn a language at home, and even for free, although a small investment in a dictionary and some textbooks can speed up the process. Professor Arguelles has learned around 57 languages and almost all of those were self taught, so if certainly is possible. Language schools can be very expensive.
Who is Professor Arguelles? Not everyone can be self taught or learn alone, but I think that a good part of the way of learning a language can be done alone with minimal resources comparing to the monthly fee of a school. Just when talking is necessary we will need someone, but we can look in local language clubs or online, we don't even need to pay for that.
Professor Arguelles is a hyperpolyglot and YouTube Legend. This video should give you an idea of his abilities. Log In It's a good point you brought up that to practice speaking we will need other people. That is one benefit of a school, although you could match up with a penpal over Skype for instance. Watching foreign TV would also give you an opportunity to listen to the naturally spoken language.
It's the first time I hear about him, but really interesting video, thanks for sharing! Even though the man clearly has a gift, it only proves that with hard work we can all learn alone as long we have a good discipline and motivation, we don't need a school or teachers.
