Learning a new language is extremely valuable and beneficial for a person, there’s no question about it. Speaking more than just your mother tongue can help you advance professionally, have a richer social life, and even nurture your brain functions. But, the process of learning a new language can be quite costly if you do it the traditional way. 

Hiring a language tutor or enrolling in a language learning class is the most efficient method, but you can learn a new language without breaking the bank. Below, we’ve listed 6 proven methods for learning a new language on a budget. Let’s break it down.

1. Find a Learning Partner

The trickiest part about learning a new language is that we often don’t have anywhere to practice our skills in real-life situations. It’s one thing to do exercises in your book, and a whole other thing to have someone to talk to.

This is why it’s smart to find a learning partner.

That means finding someone who is trying to learn your mother tongue, and their mother tongue is the language you’re learning. Together you can:

• speak over video or even get together and use both languages
• send each other emails, stories, or essays you’ve written
• ask for help when something’s not clear

It’s a win-win situation in which you’re both learning while helping the other person at the same time. 

2. Use Free Language Apps

You’re lucky to have so many great language-learning apps that are free of charge and yet brilliant at helping you learn. This is a method used by around 77% of those trying to learn a new language.  

Based on your current language skills and level, and the language you want to learn, you should choose between some of the most popular ones:

• Duolingo
• Babbel
• Memrise
• Busuu
• Beelinguapp

These apps offer different-level language courses and have dozens of languages available for you to learn. You get to practice speaking, listening, and writing. Some apps even offer native speakers who help you improve your pronunciation and overall language use.

So, find the app you like and enroll in a free course ASAP. 

3. Watch Movies

Listening is a language learning skill that is often undermined, but it’s actually quite important for the overall success of your mission. Without having good listening skills, you won’t be able to acquire the language naturally and improve it by being exposed to it.

So, try watching movies in your target language. You can find a ton of movies on different streaming services and watch them with or without subtitles. This will help you learn from context, draw parallels between two languages and even start thinking in this second language.

4. Translate

You’d be surprised to see just how much you can learn from translating a text from the source to the target language. Translation helps you practice sentence structure, proper use of vocabulary, verb agreement, and so much more.

At first, you can use a simple tool such as Google Translate, to try and translate simple text. 

Then, you can use more complex tools to try and translate something more difficult. You can also find a translation service using Isaccurate, if you want to have a professional check your translation or translate something for you.

You’ll also learn a lot by comparing the translation of a text to the original version. Either way, your language skills will be boosted for sure. 

5. Work Abroad

Working abroad is another amazing opportunity for you to learn a new language. There are tons of programs offering all kinds of jobs abroad.

You can find summer programs or decide to stay for 6 months or even a year. If your native language is English, you can even qualify to work as an EFL teacher in summer camps and schools. By doing so, you will be:

• earning a good monthly salary
• immersion yourself in a new culture
• learning a new language from experience, by being among the people who speak it as their mother tongue

Working abroad is not only good for saving money but for earning it as well, so consider this option if you love to travel and are up for a new adventure.

6. Become an Exchange Student 

Finally, if you’re still a student, you can also go abroad and learn a new language by becoming an exchange student. Typically, you’ll need to be a student with good grades and show your interest in this new country, its culture, and its language.

If they ask for an official letter in the language you’re still learning, you can use some tips for saving money on translation and prove you’ve got what it takes. Once you get accepted, you’ll be able to learn this new language on an academic level and improve it significantly.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, there are other simple and effective methods to acquire new language skills, without spending a ton of money. All you need to do is be creative and use the opportunities that life gives you.

We hope our 6 money-saving tips inspired you to start learning a new language today. Use them to save your money and still learn how to speak a whole new language.

Author’s Bio

Diane Sherron is a certified EFL teacher and a blogger. She blogs about the potential pitfalls in the language learning process and shares advice on how to overcome them. Her goal is to help as many people as possible to learn any second language they want.