No, you don’t need a teacher and yes, you can still learn that language. Here’s how to learn any language better than in school.

Before we begin…

Choose how you want to enjoy this episode – video with subtitles, podcast on the go, or read the blog version below.

The Video

The Podcast

How to Learn Any Language Better Than In School

If classroom learning is all you’re used to, it can feel a little intimidating later in life when you either revisit your rusty schooldays French or have a new language fall into your lap, one you never thought possible to learn.

Especially when the languages you’ve learnt previously were your native ones and/or out of necessity (I’m thinking the role English plays for so many around the world) .

First up, it’s important to clear up that solo language learning doesn’t mean learning alone.

You’ll have people involved – and you should! You can still work with a teacher on occasion, an exchange partner, meet up group, or friends and family who speak the language. Whatever that looks like to you is fine.

But if you rely on those moments with others as your only speaking practice, you’ll never be ready to speak.

You’ll always feel like a newbie, never be truly confident that you’re using the right words, and end up getting called quiet when the truth is you don’t fully understand what’s going on around you.

The way around this is simple: Become your own teacher. With that, you’ll be in control of how much you speak and what your practice looks like.

Become Your Own Teacher

Know That No Language Is Too Complicated

Someone mentioned to me once that although they’re fluent in English, because they learnt that in school and it’s relatively similar to their native language of German, they feel doubtful when it comes to learning a more complicated language outside of a school setting.

I know where they’re coming from.

We’re constantly led to believe that some languages are easier than others, and some are near impossible to ever reach fluency in.

First up, no language is impossible. Of all the 7,000 or so languages in existence, even the ones with the least number of speakers and resources have been learnt by more than one person in their existence.

Secondly, when we approach a task with the thought of it being difficult, we’re subconsciously telling ourselves that we don’t think it’s possible. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Why would we do that to ourselves?

And finally, it’s all about your starting point and perception as a consequence of that.

Korean isn’t as complicated when you’re already living in Korea, have learnt the alphabet, and use it every day.

Arabic isn’t as complicated when you’ve got knowledge of Spanish, Turkish, Persian or other languages to look for common threads to start you off.

Dutch might be deemed ‘complicated’ if you’re fluent in Mandarin and know nothing of English, German, or any European language for that matter. Yet for a German speaker, it’d be considered easy.

It’s all about perception.

You can learn any language. And you can do it without a classroom.

Design Your Own Curriculum

The first noticeable difference between classroom and solo study is typically the absence of a structured curriculum.

This isn’t anything to be scared of. In fact, it’s worth celebrating! You get to design your own curriculum, just for you and your own specific language needs!

No longer do you have to sit through a dull chapter that’s irrelevant to how you plan to use the language.

Daunting as it sounds, designing your own curriculum doesn’t have to be hard.

You can modify curriculum templates found online or in your existing resources, ask ChatGPT for help, or simply trust your instinct.

There’s plenty of options to make it a simple task, including ​Promptly​, which can help guide your speaking and writing practice to be useful again.

Bring In Experts When You Need It

Rather than being tethered to just one teacher, when you become your own teacher, you get to bring in experts only as and when you need it.

You don’t need 4 different teachers on the go with multiple lessons a week that leave you exhausted.

You don’t need to fork out for that 6 week evening class in the hopes it’ll get you fluent (finally).

And you definitely don’t need to get bogged down in internet rabbit holes of #hacks.

The benefits of that are plenty:

👉 Less time wasted

👉 More money saved

👉 Option to consult people more expert in their specific fields when you need

It’s easier now than ever to find tutors, coaches and classes online to suit your needs.

So you get to decide if you need a 1 hour live lesson or support that’s more asynchronous.

Bring in an expert that suits you, when it suits you.

And in the meantime, you can take charge of your speaking practice with a tool like Promptly.

Develop a Solo Speaking Habit

When you develop a Solo Speaking Habit, you’ll never need a classroom again.

No matter how complicated the language may seem at first glance, it’ll become easier and more approachable when you develop a Solo Speaking Habit.

You get to speak as much as you want without needing to wait for everyone else to finish first.

That also means no more getting bored in between being picked to speak.

You don’t need to wait until someone is stood in front of you to practice your speaking.

You can start today. Right now, in fact!

​Promptly​ gives you a brand new prompt that can be reused and answered differently as many times as you want to get all your speaking practice in for a whole week.

And the following week? You get a new prompt to keep your streak!

Naturally, when I suggest this, the usual next question is ‘How do I know I’m doing it right? How do I get feedback?’ I’ve got you covered – I’ll share more on this bit tomorrow with you!

Feedback Your Way

How many times have you been given some constructive criticism – in any area of life – and it just hits the wrong nerve?

You end up dwelling on that teeny tiny mistake for way longer than you’d like.

When you become your own teacher, you’re in charge of how and when you get feedback, so you can always ensure you’re getting it when you’re ready for it.

One tendency we have when we give ourselves feedback is to be too soft.

Not doing a thorough enough job on feedback as an attempt to avoid denting your confidence.

This isn’t about being ‘soft’ on yourself.

It’s about self-compassion, and knowing the best way to approach feedback in ways that will be most constructive for you.

At the other end of the spectrum, we can be far too critical.

Talking to ourselves in our heads the way we’d never dream of talking to others.

I have zero tolerance for pushy self-critic.

It is unproductive and unhelpful.

Feedback that doesn’t knock your confidence starts with becoming a neutral observer.

And then knowing how to pick the right feedback style for you each time.

In short, there’s three ways to get feedback and know you’re doing it right:

👉 Someone else

👉 Technology

👉 Yourself

Whether you prefer to save things up until you’re next with a teacher or exchange partner, use Google Translate and other tools to give you the gist most of the time, or learn the art of self-review, you’re in charge of your feedback.

If you want to learn more about how to self-review, I added a bonus workshop to ​Promptly​ that you’ll love.

It’s called How To Self-Review and will help you easily double the value of your language practice.

How to Get Good At Self-Review

Self-Review isn’t always easy.

It can feel impossible to remain impartial when you first try to give yourself honest feedback. You’re either too soft or too harsh.

But when you master this skill, you basically double how useful your language learning is.

For example, you write something great. Yay. Well done. That’s good.

But when you can also confidently Self-Review what you’ve created? You just doubled how useful that piece of writing became.

It’s now not just a bit of messy practice.

It’s an indicator of your gaps, what you’re already acing, and what you should focus on improving next.

So you’ll never ask yourself “What do I do next?” as you float around the same chapter in the book again. You’ll know exactly what you need to do, not what someone else thinks you need to do next.

How to Self-Review in Promptly

I recently added a brand new workshop recording to Promptly called How to Self-Review! Yay!

You’ll learn how to know what to review, as well as how to self-review quickly and easily.

Because, sure you can check with a teacher, exchange partner, or fluent speaker you know, but that’s not always an option.

Developing the skill of how to self-review will mean you’re never afraid of being either too critical or not critical enough again.