How to Learn a Language With Ease From Home
Whether you're lazy to get out or simply can't, you can still learn
We’ve all thought at least once that the “best way” to learn a language was to live in the country of the language.
I’ve met enough polyglots who never stepped foot in the country of most of their languages to know that’s not true. I’ve also met many people living in the country and struggling to learn.
You can learn a language from the comfort of your home. Whether in the middle of a pandemic, lazy to go out, or stuck at home for any other reason, you can still improve. You can still learn.
Learning From Home is Amazing
When you’re at home, you have access to anything your want online. Learning a language is a way to let your mind travel to an exotic place without all the other struggles. You learn to become a second person. As the Czech proverb goes,
You live a new life for every new language you speak. If you know only one language, you live only once.
Not only do you get to start a second life without even finishing the first, but you can also focus on the areas that matter to you.
Curious about tea? Find podcasts and articles on the topic in the language. Excited by mountains? Find travel blogs and watch documentaries on regions where there are a lot of mountains. Anything you want, you can find it from home.
Simulate the Environment
One technique that works wonders is to act as if you were living in the country. Change anything you can to the language.
Listen to radio from the country with tools like radio.garden. Watch TV shows or movies on Netflix in the language you learn (if need be with double subtitles using the Language Reactor extension). Find recipes in the language. Set your phone and computer to the language. Hang post-its on items with the name of the items in the language.
Anything goes. Your creativity is the limit.
When I watch Netflix, even if I’m watching something in English, I add subtitles in one of the languages I’m learning.
Even without paying for an expensive flight ticket, you can experience what it’s like to live in the country. Isn’t that amazing?
Set Yourself to Improve All Skills
If you’re learning a language in the country, you are often forced to use all the different skills. Not from home. That’s what it’s important for you to have tools to improve each.
Alternate between each tool and skill so you can improve overall. If you focus all your time on listening, you’ll struggle with the other three. If you ignore everything but writing, you can’t expect your vocabulary to increase.
Balance is key here.
Listening — Find podcasts in the language by typing a random word in the language. Find movies and shows you enjoy. Find apps using audio.
Reading — Buy a few books. Get two graded readers (one at your level and one above). Find bilingual books. Use your Kindle to read anywhere. Find news apps or blogs you can read from your phone. Get Post-its and a pen too.
Writing — Write on the post-its often and hang them around your house. Get a notebook to write down words and sentences you’re interested in. Create a document on your note app of choice where you can type regularly. Write your diary in the language even. Talk with ChatGPT or Claude.ai.
Speaking — Find a few friends online to talk to on apps like HelloTalk or Tandem. Practice with a teacher on italki or cambly. Practice your pronunciation on HiNative.
You need to improve all of these skills without completely letting any fall behind. You’ll focus on one some weeks but, overall, you need to tackle all of them at a similar pace.
When I was focusing on my Korean skills, I woke up listening to a podcast in Korean. I then wrote my gratitude journal in Korean. Later during the day, I read some news or a short blog article in the language. And I added Korean subtitles to almost anything I watch. I also studied my Anki flashcard deck throughout the day.
Spread all the activities to make the language part of your daily life. Give it enough time and you’ll start to wonder how the language ever was not a part of your life.
Challenge Yourself Regularly
The risk with staying at home learning a language is to fall into a routine so bland you forget the thirst you had when you began learning the language.
To avoid this, you should challenge yourself often. The more varied the challenges are, the better.
Once every few days, I challenge myself to write about a new topic in Korean on platforms where I get corrections from native speakers like Journaly. I also give myself a new challenge each week.
Here are a few examples of the challenges I did:
Translate the lyrics of a song on my own with a dictionary
Dive into a new topic for a week — I learned about the Korean Seon
Read a text of a higher CEFR level than I have.
Here again, your creativity is the limit. Find something that gets you out of your comfort zone and is still achievable.
You can learn a language from home. You don’t need to go out and meet tons of people. All you need is a well-rounded set-up at home and to know your goal in the language.
After that, you can focus on improving day after day without leaving your comfy home.
And the cherry on top of the cake?
By the time you get out, people will be shocked by all the progress you’ll have done!
Cheers for reading,
Mathias
Now I just need someone to keep me motivated 🥹