This is a post about learning a language on your own.
This post may contain affiliate links, meaning we may earn a small commission if you make a purchase through them at no extra cost to you. Using these links helps support our work, so we truly appreciate it if you choose to do so. Thank you for your support!
If you’re looking to move abroad, there’s a chance you’re either looking at or already learning a new language. You might be taking private lessons or maybe you’re a student at a language course. Or perhaps you’re venturing out and learning a language on your own. To be honest, even if you’ve got a teacher/language tutor, part of the process is studying and practicing by yourself as well.
I absolutely LOVE learning languages! If I had the time and brain space, I’d be studying about 10 more apart from the ones I already speak – Portuguese (mother tongue!), English, German(ish) and Spanish (more like Portuñol). I really dislike going to new countries where I don’t speak the language and having to resort to English and miming and pointing. But fortunately we’ve got apps like Duolingo and Google Translate to help us with the basics!
Many years ago I had to learn basic German in order to apply for my au pair visa. I went to my local language school and was told it would take me several months to get there. But I didn’t have months. I was young and always in a rush. I’m not sure where I was trying to get to, but I know I needed to go fast. At the time apps weren’t a thing so I started looking up self-study online courses and went from there. My Spanish teacher’s husband was also a German speaker so we made a list of questions the consul would probably ask me and rehearsed. Would you believe that worked? Well, it did!
I think often we think of language learning as something way harder than it actually is. However, all you need is practice! And yes, some people have an easier time learning than others but they can still get there.
If you’re starting to or keen on learning a language and, for whatever reason, you have to go at it alone, here are some fun tips to help you:
Start a Journal in Your Chosen Language
It doesn’t have to be every day, it doesn’t have to be fully correct and you can write according to your current level. Even if you’re just getting started! You can write basic stuff like what you ate, how you’re feeling, outline basic travel plans…whatever you feel like!
“But how will I know if it’s correct?”
Do you know ChatGPT? Copy + paste your text ad ask ChatGPT to check it, fix it and give you some improvement tips. It’s FREE!
But hold on to this journal thought, we’ll come back to it…
Chat with AI
Speaking of ChatGPT, you can use it to literally have a conversation in another language. You could say something like:
hey chat (yes, I greet my chatgpt!! 😂), my native tongue is X and I’m learning Y. Can you chat to me in Y and also correct my grammar and spelling?
Or, better yet, you could expand on it and ask it to chat to you about a particular topic. For instance, if you’re learning a particular language just to visit a country, you could ask it to chat about topics that would come up. For example, you can simulate a hotel check-in conversation, ordering food at a restaurant, talking to a salesperson at a market, etc.
Music
A lifetime ago when I was learning English, one of my favourite things to do was to translate songs. Especially during boring classes where it was hard to stay awake. Writing down lyrics was my caffeine. Later on, with German which I knew nothing about, I used to get the lyrics and try to sing along to learn how to pronounce the words. Meanwhile, I had no idea what any of those words actually meant…
Translating song lyrics is one of the most classic pieces of advice for language learners. And now that you’ve essentially started a language journal, how about adding music to it too? If you’re a journalling girlie you can add photos of the artists, album artwork and anything that takes your fancy. And you can go beyond lyrics and translations. For example, you can write small texts about the song, what you like about it, a little blurb about the artist/band… If you’re still on the basic level, you can write simple things like where the artist is from, what they look like, how old, etc.
About 4, 5 months after I arrived in Germany something magical happened: I understood a song! I was listening to a local pop rock band – Juli – and I finally understood the words they were singing. It was so exciting!
Do you need some songs to get going? Here are some (Spotify) playlists in a few different languages:
English
German
French
Films and Series
Another very well known method: TV! Watching movies and series in their original language with subtitles. And nowadays with all these streaming services, that’s easier than ever! You can opt to switch on subtitles in your native tongue, if you’re not quite there yet or in your learning language if you’re more advanced. Either way, listening is super important to get you acquainted with the words and sounds.
In addition to this, you can grab your language journal and maybe write down words you found interesting or that you’d like to look up later on.
You can also write about whatever you’re watching: what you liked about it or not, who was in it, what the plot was… and you can take note of slangs and other colloquialism. These are a little harder to learn at a language course. I remember learning A LOT from Friends and Gilmore Girls at the time. It helped me speak more like in the day to day rather than all robotic. In English, I’d also recommend Modern Family and Superstore – such wholesome shows depicting everyday lives using everyday language.
Books
You don’t need to be fluent to learn a book in another language. The trick is to find the right book! =)
For instance, if your English, French, German, Swedish or whatever language you’re learning is more on the beginner’s side, children’s books are perfect! They’re short and sweet so it won’t be a heavy read that could discourage you and the vocabulary will certainly be simple.
I remember how elated I was after reading my first book in German: Die Welle. And it’s been quite a while! Back when my German knowledge was even more limited (like, REALLY limited. That grammar was SO difficult to get my head around! and my vocabulary was even scarcer)
You can also read books in your native tongue and translate selected sentences, write a review about it or even write your own short stories in your language journal!
If you’re looking for textbooks, I’ve got a really good recommendation for English learners: the Cambridge Grammar. We used this book at school and I was such a nerd (when it came to English…I really enjoyed learning it!) that I used to do the exercises even before the academic year started! Each page you turn you’ve got the explanation of a topic on one side and practice exercises on the other.
You can also get this more advanced one or this 2-in-1 grammar + vocabulary.
I haven’t come across a really good textbook for German yet. If you’ve got any recommendations, please feel free to leave it down below in the comments. I’ll be eternally grateful!
I might also take this opportunity to shamelessly plug my bookstagram… if you’re looking for book recs (mostly in English, sometimes in Portuguese), have a look for @the_nomadreader 🤓
Apps
There are SO many apps nowadays to practice a language! Pick whatever suits you best – the main thing is to BE CONSISTENT!
I absolutely LOVE Duolingo! I do my German lessons every single day. Sometimes about 20, 30 minutes, other times maybe a quick 2min vocab practice. But every day I “play” my little Duo game. Because it is like a game, isn’t it?
Duo also recommends writing down words and sentences you learned right after your lesson. So there’s another use for your language journal!
Podcasts
Finally, another hobby you can use in your learning: listening to podcasts.
Like books, the podcast you choose to listen to will depend on your language level. The more advance you are, the more possibilities you’ll have. So the aim here is to find the right podcast for you.
Anything you use to practice your listening is advantageous! I started learning English when I was FIVE years old but, even now, 3 decades later, depending on the accent I still struggle. I also super used to listening to English pretty much every day because of all the TV I watched (Dawson’s Creek, The OC, Charmed… you name it) and all the music I listened to (from the Backstreet Boys to Pearl Jam). But, even then, I remember my first month living in the US trying to buy a ticket to watch a movie at the cinema and I just could not understand the word “adult” coming out of the mouth of the box office girl.
You can actually find podcasts specific for language learners like Easy German.
If you’re learning English and you’re more on the intermediate/advanced side, I’ve got some recommendations here:
Smartless: chat show hosted by Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnet. It’s fun, easy, a little wholesome at times and they have some incredible guests on!
Scamfluencers: hosted by Sarah Hagi and Scaachi Koul. True crime but less gory and deadly. Each episode tells the story of a scammer. I find the audacity of a lot of these people fascinating.
The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos – I did her course The Science of Well-Being and LOVED! So was really happy to hear of this podcast’s existence. It’s all about Positive Psychology and improving your life in simple but effective ways. All backed by research!
Sounds Like a Cult: hosted by Amanda Montell (who’s also written some great books!). Talks about real cults and cult-ural things/groups/events/etc that are culty-like. Amanda is super smart and very funny so this is really entertaining!
What Now? with Trevor Noah – Trevor Noah is just really smart and hilarious. He can talk about anything and make it interesting.
Rolling Stone Music Now – from Rolling Stone magazine – every episode talks about an artist, a new album, a musical event, music history or something like that
Dear Chelsea – I love Chelsea Handler! She’s funny, she’s smart, she’s generous and she makes it her mission to help people and give them a voice. I like that she’s pretty real and she wants to learn as much as she can and share the knowledge.
And if you’re learning Portuguese, I’ll recommend Não Inviabilize. The episodes are super short, about 20 minutes long, and each of them brings a new story sent in by a listener. You’ll also learn a lot about Brazilian behaviour/culture!
Getting familiar with the sounds is super important and will really help you not get so overwhelmed when going abroad.
Bonus tip
Don’t worry about your accent or whether you can speak fully correctly. When I moved to the UK my accent was SO American! and my first few years here were spent mostly with Australians so my accent ended up being all over the place and still is. I’ve had people ask me if I’m from Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, US, Canada, South Africa… one day the waitress at Honest Burgers told me my accent was giving “citizen of the world” and, quite frankly, I loved it! I have the occasional old dude passive-aggressively taking free digs at my accent but I don’t really care. Usually they can’t even speak their own language let alone a second.
I think worrying about these things tends to stop you from speaking and practicing with natives. Remember: the main thing is to be able to express yourself and make yourself understood, even if some miming and pointing is involved. Fluency comes with time, practice and experience.
At the end of the day, the main thing you need is discipline. How about allocating daily/weekly (whatever works for you) in your schedule to put some of these tips into practice. It helps that most of them are everyday hobbies anyway! Even if you’re taking formal lessons privately or with a group, these tips will help you reach your goal faster.
Don’t forget to save this to your Pinterest for later!