3 Reasons Textbooks Are Highly Underrated Resources

And how to make any even better with AI or other tools

Image created with Dall-E 3.

Textbooks bring back bad memories of classes I hated in high school like they do for most people. They’ve also helped me so much on my journey to speak 6 languages, I can now see them with hope.

Because they’re also often a better tool than most of the crappy ones we’ve been pushed online through ads and over-gamification of green owls.¹

Not every textbook is as good as the next one for you. But they’re all pretty much good for someone.

Finding the textbook that works for you is a trial-and-error process I’m not going to get into much today but here’s a simple yet efficient process to get the right one:

• Have a look at your local library and see if one catches your attention

• Check online what people vouch for and if one you saw is on the list

• Dig into how each lesson/chapter is organized and

• Try the textbook from a screenshot of a picture online to see if you like it

• If you do, get it.

Obviously, that’s not perfect but I can assure you’ll get a feel for what you enjoy after a while.

But enough rambling.

Textbooks rock for three simple reasons. And they’re common to every textbook, no matter which you choose.

Pride and satisfaction

I’ve finished dozens of textbooks and the feelings of pleasure, satisfaction, and, more importantly maybe, pride I experienced are difficult to put into words.

You know that feeling of impostor you live with on a daily basis?

The one that reminds you constantly even though you say you’re learning a language, you’re not truly a language learner, or at least not a “good one,” whatever that is.

Well, that feeling vanishes once you’ve completed a textbook. Because how could you not be a learner if you’re done with that many lessons and pages?

I still remember how proud I was when I finished Assimil Chinese 10 years ago. I had learned on and off—but mostly off—Mandarin for half the year before that and felt wrong when I said I “studied Chinese.”

That feeling went poof.

I felt I was now a real Chinese learner.

A visible cover

That’s not it though.

It’s no secret I’ve been enjoying using AI to learn my languages nowadays. I’m also an advocate for using pretty much anything as a learning tool, from video games to music, passing through TV shows, and even webtoons.

These all have one single common feature: they’re digital.

It’s impossible to clearly see with your eyes how far you’ve come and how far you’ve still got to go.

Seeing yourself move forward is fulfilling. It’s a good reminder you’re not stuck in place and more knowledge is getting into your head—whether you feel it is or not.

And seeing the remaining pages grow thinner and thinner also works as a great motivator.

No getting lost here

Every learner will, at one point, get lost. They’ll wonder what they should turn to now that they can do X or Y. They’ll wonder what new tool to use, topic to focus on, etc.

When that happens, owning a textbook allows you to get rid of that feeling in seconds. You can open the textbook, start from the last lesson you did, and follow along.

No crippling worry.

I absolutely love having textbooks around because I can turn to them whenever I’ve grown bored of one tool or feel like I’m getting stuck.

Textbooks on steroids

While textbooks are superb tools for improving our language skills, they’re imperfect. They can get dry, overly precise, or—on the contrary—not precise enough, and provide boring example sentences or dialogues.

I’d be surprised if you didn’t see where I was heading but, yes, we can now turn to AI to solve these problems.

For free ChatGPT users, you can tell what the grammar pattern you’re struggling with is and ask for example sentences with the same pattern but to make it about a topic you love.

For ChatGPT Plus users, you can turn to the recently released ChatGPT-Vision. Take a picture of the page and ask it to create new sentences for the same grammar pattern.

But, hey, I hear you. Not everybody wants to turn to AI.

If that’s your case, you can turn to other incredible tools like:

• HiNative to get new sentences or try to create your own and get free corrections from native speakers

• Journaly to write your own text and get corrections

• Apps like HelloTalk, Tandem, or (my favorite) Slowly to ask a penpal.

No matter which way you choose to go, looking down upon textbooks is the wrong attitude. The awful memories we have with textbooks aren’t because of the textbook. They’re because of teachers forced us to do every tiny thing in that textbook.

You’re now the master of your own learning journey.

You can do whatever you want in there. Skip lessons if need be. Double down on another if you prefer. You’re in control. Don’t feel forced to follow a set path just because it was printed on paper.

But, hey, why not try at least one textbook again?

I sure couldn’t recommend it more.

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Cheers for reading!

Mathias
An average polyglot

1. If you’re thinking of a certain tool in particular when I say this, don’t blame me. 😈