Paper speech bubbles with the word welcome in several scripts, pinned to a wooden wall

01

Which language?

Open one to see where to start

SpanishThe most useful second language in the US, spelled almost exactly as it sounds, and it has more free listening material than any other language here.

Start here

Watch one video from the easiest level of a free comprehensible-input library tonight. The teacher draws and gestures while speaking slowly, so you follow the story without subtitles.

Dreaming Spanish

FrenchThousands of English words came from it, so reading comes fast. Listening is the hard part, because half the letters on the page are silent.

Start here

Take the free placement test on the French public broadcaster's learning site, then do one A1 exercise built on a real news clip. Listen to the clip three times before you read the transcript.

TV5MONDE Apprendre

GermanThe closest major relative of English. Word order and three grammatical genders take getting used to, but the spelling is regular.

Start here

Start episode one of the German broadcaster's free video course. It follows one character from the airport onward and has exercises after every scene.

DW Learn German

ItalianRegular pronunciation and a small set of sounds make it the easiest of these to say out loud from the first week.

Start here

Listen to the first three tracks of a free Italian audio course and answer out loud before the student on the recording does. Pause as long as you need.

Language Transfer

JapaneseSimple sounds and no verb endings for person, paired with three writing systems. Plan on roughly three times the hours of Spanish.

Start here

Learn hiragana before anything else. A free mnemonic guide gets most people reading all 46 characters in a few evenings, and every beginner book assumes you can.

Tofugu: Learn Hiragana

KoreanThe alphabet takes a weekend. The grammar runs backwards from English (verb last), which is why it sits in the same hour bracket as Japanese.

Start here

Learn Hangul this weekend. The alphabet has 24 basic letters that stack into syllable blocks, and a free lesson series covers it in a couple of hours.

Talk To Me In Korean

Open a language to see its first step. The button inside adds that language's coursebook to the bag and takes any other language's book back out.

02

Your first month

Tap a bubble when you have done it

03

How a language gets learned

Four skills grow at different speeds: listening, reading, speaking and writing. Most of the growth comes from input, meaning hours of hearing and reading material where you already follow most of it. Study (a coursebook, grammar notes, flashcards) makes that input understandable sooner. Flashcard apps use spaced repetition: a card you know comes back in four days, then ten, then a month, so review time goes to the words you are about to forget. Progress is usually described on the European A1 to C2 scale. A2 is enough to get through a trip. B1 is where conversations with patient strangers start to work.

The level scale

CEFR level descriptions What A1 through C2 mean, in plain can-do statements

Close-up of a column of printed Japanese text in a newspaper — Print in another script

04

What trips beginners up

What to expect, and the habits to drop

The hours are real. The US Foreign Service Institute puts Spanish, French and Italian at 600 to 750 class hours for a working professional level, German at about 900, and Japanese and Korean at about 2,200.
You will understand far more than you can say for months. That gap is normal and closes only by speaking.
Around month three it feels like you stopped improving, because each new word now shows up less often. Move to harder material when that happens.
An app streak is not a method. Tapping the right answer from four choices trains recognition, and you still cannot produce the sentence cold.
Switching courses every two weeks restarts you at chapter one each time. Finish one book before judging it.
Waiting until you feel ready to speak means never speaking. Mistakes in front of a tutor in week four cost nothing.
Skipped review days pile up fast. If the daily stack passes 15 minutes, add fewer new cards and keep the reviews.

Where the hour estimates come from

Foreign Service Institute language training The US government's hour estimates for each language

05

Where to learn and practice

Flashcards

Anki is the standard spaced-repetition app, with shared beginner decks for every language on this page.

Listening

Easy Languages films street interviews with real speech and two-language subtitles.

Pronunciation

Look any word up on Forvo to hear native speakers from different regions say it.

Free speaking practice

Tandem and HelloTalk pair you with people learning English. Expect to spend half of each chat in English.

Paid speaking practice

Italki lists tutors by language and price. A community tutor for conversation costs much less than a certified teacher, and the whole session is in your language.

Your public library

Most have coursebooks, graded readers and audio courses on the shelf, and many include a language app with the card.

Questions

R/languagelearning keeps a wiki of vetted resources per language.

Flashcards, listening and people to talk to

A woman wearing headphones talks toward a laptop, an open notebook and pens on the desk beside her — Talking through a laptop

06

Choosing a coursebook

Pick one written for self-study: explanations in English and an answer key in the back. Classroom textbooks assume a teacher fills the gaps.
Check that every dialogue has audio, as a free download or companion app. Look on the publisher's site before buying a used copy, since old editions shipped with discs or one-time codes.
Look at which variety it teaches (Latin American or European Spanish, for example) and match it to where you expect to use the language.
For Japanese and Korean, choose a book that prints the real script from the first chapters. One that stays in the Roman alphabet throughout slows your reading later.
Flip to chapter three in the preview. If the page is a wall of grammar tables with no dialogue, pick another.

An open German-English dictionary page lying on a map — A two-language dictionary page

07

About the kit

Free tools cover listening, flashcards and conversation, so the list is short. The one purchase that changes results is a coursebook for your language, because it puts grammar in a sensible order that apps and videos leave scattered. Choose your language above and its book joins the cart. The notebook is there because writing exercises by hand sticks better than typing them, and the headphones with a microphone are for shadowing and for video sessions with a tutor. Paper dictionaries and phrasebooks are left off on purpose: free online dictionaries with audio are better. Once the book is underway, further money does the most good as tutor time.

A hand writing in a notebook with a red pen, a book lying open in front of it — Exercises written out by hand

08

Pack the study bag

Compare the options on each line, then set your tiers and check out from the cart. Clicking a card selects it there. The notebook and the headphones start in the bag. Each coursebook stays out until you pick its language, in section 01 or with the chips in the cart.

Lined study notebook

essential · Study supplies

Coursebook exercises, new sentences and tutor corrections all go in one place you can flip back through. Writing by hand also slows you down enough to notice spelling and accents.

budget

PAPERAGE Lined Journal Notebook, Hardcover Journal for Women & Men, 160 Pages, (5.6 in x 8 in), College Ruled Journaling Notebook for Work, School Supplies & Note Taking, (Black)

4.8(33.3K)

$9.99

Language Learning

Which language?

Your first month

How a language gets learned

What trips beginners up

Where to learn and practice

Choosing a coursebook

About the kit

Pack the study bag

Lined study notebook

Headphones with a microphone

Beginner Spanish coursebook

Beginner French coursebook

Beginner German coursebook

Beginner Italian coursebook

Beginner Japanese textbook

Beginner Korean textbook