How to Learn a Language Naturally From Home

You can learn a language without classes, apps, or boring grammar textbooks.

Reading Asterix comics is one of my favorite ways of learning Polish

I’m currently studying Polish at an intermediate level and Mandarin Chinese at a beginner level. I’m also fluent in Russian, and I’ve dabbled in German and Arabic.

I love the process of learning a language. But at the same time, I hate how they are taught. Especially if you are trying to teach yourself without any classes or tutoring.

This girl has three triangular cups.

A fish is not a dog.

The boys are singing songs.

These are all sentences I got when using apps to study. And while they are not that bad for learning how a language works, they drive you crazy when you are made to repeat them 10 or 20 times.

Personally, I think apps are only useful for absolute beginners, in the first 10 hours or so of language study. Depending on how much time you spend studying, this might take a couple of weeks or a couple of months. Much further than that and they become less effective.

On the other hand, we have traditional language learning textbooks — useful if you have to study for a test, although not so useful, in my opinion, for actually using a language.