Learning foreign languages and other subjects in self-study

Introduction: How to self-study

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Advantages

Self-study has some great advantages when compared to regular schooling:

It's open to anyone, of any age, any nationality and even living 100 miles from the next village is no obstacle.
Any subject of interest can be studied, including exotic languages that your local High School teachers haven't even heard about.
There is no need to commute to the lessons. Study in the comfort of your own home, in a park, on the beach... even if you go on holidays you don't have to cancel your classes.
For that matter, you don't have to make an appointment for classes anyways. Study whenever you feel like it and if you find you have 15 minutes to spare until the kids come home, you can squeeze in a little study session right then and there.
Just as you decide what to learn, you also decide how to learn it. Choose the method that works best for you and that you enjoy the most. Choose the course that is most suitable for your purpose. Choose the pace at which you complete it - you won't have to wait for classmates to catch up and if you don't understand something, you can spend as much time on it as you need.

The only disadvantage that many self-study books have is that there is little guidance - if something it not clear, the book doesn't come with a teacher to explain it. Sometimes there are not even auto-correct exercises to show you whether you really understood. This is one of the things that this site changes: all free courses and the recommended self-study books come with exercises and you can find tutors to answer your questions. Please use the menu above in order to navigate the site.

How to study

If you are not too sure how to go about studying a subject on your own, here are some general tips.

First, you should evaluate any courses and learning materials that you may wish to use. See whether the focus of the lessons matches your interest, whether the explanations are easy to understand, whether the exercises are useful, whether the general method used is one that allows you to learn quickly. You may have to do a sample lesson or two in order to really know this. If you find that the material is lacking, you can either find additional resources to help you along (e. g. another book that provides better exercises, or a tutor that you can ask for more detailed explanations) or you can drop what you have and look for materials that meet all your expectations.

The next step is to set up a study plan that will break your final goal (e. g. speaking German fluently) into little steps that are easier to achieve and easier to control (e. g. study and review one lesson till Wednesday). Even if you're studying "for fun", without any deadline, you will find that a reasonable deadline you set for yourself is very helpful to ensure you're making progress.

Once you have a study plan, just follow it. Try to learn a little bit every day, even if it is just for 5 minutes, rather than having long study sessions once a week. Such long study sessions aren't very effective and they are more difficult to schedule, too. Also, experiment with various learning techniques and learning aids in order to find out which ones work best for you. There are huge differences in learning types, so what worked well for your friend needn't work well for you, but you might find a technique that allows you to make even more progress. And everybody can find something more effective than rote memorisation.

If you're still unsure how to go about studying, what good materials are hidden on the web, which learning techniques are worth a try, how to maintain your motivation or focus or how to avoid forgetting what you learned, I'm ready to provide personal advice to you in a counseling session. Contact me for details.