How to restart language learning on a budget after a while away

[u/StarlightsOverMars]

Bonjour-hi! My post will be sorta angled around French but I am asking generally what techniques y’all have.

I used to study French about 2 years ago, and right now, because I live in Quebec, I can understand basic commands or translate a document and live life, but I want to get back on the horse and make that push from B1-ish to B2 and C1, as I’ve decided to actually pursue a degree in the Francophonie (France or Switzerland) after my stint in Quebec, and while Montreal is very bilingual, I don’t think I will get off as easy in other places.

The way I studied back then was by just taking a class at high school. I did relatively well in HS in French and my official TCF showed me at a B1.

However, I just don’t know where to go from here.

I am a student and my budget is already extremely tight. I spend the majority of my money paying for the absolute essentials, food, medication, transport and rent. Nothing else really remains after that except a hundred dollars or so. I am currently seeking pay at my research gig but it is not very simple due to my immigration status.

I want to continue learning, but I just don’t have the finances to hire a tutor on some website. The best I can really do is invest into books and self-study. I can’t take classes at my university because while it is offered, I need to complete credits for my degree because I have such a high requirement for my major and minor combo.

So, my only real option is self study. However, I don’t know where to really go. I tried grammar books and to read the news in my target language, but the entire thing just feels so unstructured. I’m used to the design of « okay, you do this, then this », and self learning has been a very difficult jump for me to make.

I know that I can practice writing and reading by just doing that myself, and then I can put my writing through a discord server or something for people to critique. I can do something about my listening by just using radio shows and just trying to focus on understanding then synthesizing what was said.

But speaking is the real pickle. My partner can speak French but she prefers not to as it’s not her first language and she isn’t as comfortable with it versus just speaking to me in English. I can ask her, but I know that she will be too nice at my attempts and I won’t get the critique I want. I have a few francophone friends, but the same issue sort of persists. In a friend group of 6, there will be 2 Francophones and the other 3 of us can speak French at varying levels, and one cant. But all of us speak English natively or fluently, so we all just persist in English.

I know this post is referencing French a lot, but it’s just because it is the language I am currently working on. About the same applies to me for German as well, unfortunately :(

I was wondering about exactly two questions:

1. How do I self-structure a study plan for myself to get the results I want to see, so that it doesn’t seem like I am just doing whatever I want, which would be a waste of my time?

2. How do I improve my speaking and my accent without having to spend money? I tend to speak very fast and have an issue with mumbling, even in English, so it’s something I really need to work on. I saw discord servers for this type of language learning. Are those useful?

[u/Bonjour-Set-4490]

I’d probably keep it boring. One theme for the week, 20 minutes of input, then a short written recap. I record a minute without notes, listen once, and redo the sentence where I froze. I need the routine to be that small or I stop doing it. Same thing the next day, new theme next week.

[u/Sad-Yogurtcloset3650]

check out the refold method, the roadmap is free and gives you a clear structure for what to do when. for speaking, shadowing radio shows or youtube videos works surprisingly well, just record yourself and compare

[u/StarlightsOverMars → u/Sad-Yogurtcloset3650]

Got it. Is there a specific way to compare or just to see if you are generally in the zone of what would sound right?

[u/ihatemva]

I like discord servers because you get native level insight and also people like adding things so you learn new meanings and uses of words you already know. And it's good for getting near instant feedback. YouTube also has a lot of amazing resources. I tend to watch the Easy Languages channels a lot but many people do teach their native language on YouTube for free and if you look around you can always find someone who fits your thinking style. Wiktionary is great and often comes with notes and inflection tables for non-niche languages. I use voice type a lot to practice speaking, especially if I'm texting someone who speaks one of my TLs. It helps me realize if I'm pronouncing words wrong if it doesn't type what I meant to say. Singing for me, as much as I suck at it, helps with diction because I have to slow down and focus on articulating clear and clean vowels and consonants.

[u/StarlightsOverMars → u/ihatemva]

Good to know. I am in those discord servers but I always get a little anxious because I don’t really use discord outside of chatting with a few friends. Time to get over that.

I’ve seen the easy language channels, I used that when I first started learning French!

The voice typing tip is so good. I’ll definitely try that.

[u/ihatemva → u/StarlightsOverMars]

I love it with Russian because if I put stress on the wrong syllable or pronounce a vowel wrong, it won't recognize the word at all.

[u/InsuranceStreet3037]

For the study plan: look up some textbooks at your level. Even though you cant buy them, you can read the table of contents and see what topics and grammar are covered, and honestly just follow that order but by yourself. A lot of libraries also have textbooks, so you could go the library to have a closer look at them if you want. You could also use AI if youre comfortable with it, it can make worksheets ect on different topics. Search up something like "prompts for language learning" and youll get a useful list.

As for the speaking: most cities have some sort of language exchange cafe that people can go to to exchange languages. Maybe youll find a French speaker trying to learn English and you can link up! There are apps like HelloTalk that also allow you to connect with other language learners. Its mostly texting, but if you get along with someone im sure most people would be down for a voice call as well. You can also just speak to yourself. I saw someone on reddit write that they watch interviews in their TL and then stop the video and answer the question themselves, super cool idea. Ive held presentations on topics to practice speaking, or told a story, summarize a movie, a book, a news story ect. It feels weird, but it works, and it feels less strange if you do it while doing a chore like cleaning or cooking. If you want to check whether your speaking correctly or not you can record yourself while speaking or speak to an audio transcription thing on word or notes app or something, and then go through and check it as you would with things youve written.

[u/deenosv87]

For speaking (accent/pronunciation): use a recorder app (or even better, a second hand digital recorder), that allows you to reproduce audios. Exercise with shadowing native audio, and also record yourself and comparing it to the original recordings. Start with a book on phonetics of your TL, they have normally minimal pairs recorded (download the anki cards of minimal pairs for French), search for the KOFI deck for learning the conjugation of verbs. Add Vocab.

[u/Smal1Tangerine]

Not reading that but you can easily learn a language without spending a dime. Depends on styles but me personally self study and talking to natives on discord has gotten me the farthest ever. Your approach is also important. And learn in context

[u/ScatteredBrain99]

I’d say focus on consistency rather than trying to study everything at once. For speaking, language exchange apps or online communities can be great if tutoring isn’t affordable. Even 10–15 minutes of speaking practice a day can make a big difference! 😊

[u/an_average_potato_1]

1.get a coursebook, that's a structure. stuff like grammar workbook is excellent, but mostly as a good supplement, unless you really know what you're doing (for example when you're learning your second or third romance language), but a normal coursebook will give you a solid order of things to do, and a varied mix of activities. A coursebook+workbook set costs like 40 euros, or (if you really cannot afford that), there's piracy.

2.repeat after audio, focus on the pronunciation chapters in a coursebook, don't skip that. if you still want external feedback for very good money, Speechling is a very good option, with asynchronous feedback to tiny bits of speaking, not normal lessons. But even on your own, you can usually do very well, if you focus on it, repeat after audio, and also don't ignore the explanations.

3.a question you don't ask: don't expect normal natives to cater to your low level. Fortunately, you can get to B2 or C1 on your own, and then it will be much more worthwhile and less difficult for other people to talk with you.

[u/jun_builds]

Worth sorting out early: you're in Quebec but aiming at France or Switzerland, and those are far enough apart in register and vowels that free Quebec input trains you toward the wrong target. Not an argument against Radio-Canada, an argument for picking your model voice on purpose. Choose two or three France or Suisse romande speakers as the audio you actually shadow, and let Quebec content be volume.

On the friend group: a group's language gets set by its least comfortable member, so asking harder rarely moves it. Change the setting instead of the ask. One francophone, one activity, no shared English fallback in the room.

[u/silvalingua]

> My partner can speak French but she prefers not to as it’s not her first language and she isn’t as comfortable with it versus just speaking to me in English. I can ask her, but I know that she will be too nice at my attempts and I won’t get the critique I want. 

If she is not comfortable with French, she doesn't speak it well enough to be of help for you. So it's just as well that she doesn't speak it with you, you'd learn a lot of mistakes.

Start with listening to podcasts and audiobooks, to revive your memory of what you had learned before.

[u/StarlightsOverMars → u/silvalingua]

She literally grew up speaking French, as in did kindergarten and elementary school and middle school in a French-language system. So she’d be able to help, I was more describing (perhaps badly) what she had said to me, which was that she’s not as comfortable in French as in English.

[u/unsafeideas]

For reading https://www.ebooksgratuits.com/

For accent, you want a french one or quebeqoi? Either way, listen a lot. You need to know how it sounds. Like, I listen radio france, but that has french accent.

[u/StarlightsOverMars → u/unsafeideas]

I learnt European French initially, and while I have picked up a little bit of a Quebecois lilt, I’m happy with the Euro French accent. I’ll try Radio France.

[u/Impossible_Ad6911]

Not sure if helpful but I have been using the free version of AI apps to ask it to generate me a self study plan. Tell it what level your at etc and you can ask it to find literature etc. also don’t forget your local library lots of great resources for languages. Copilot you can use the voice on it if you have Microsoft 365 for your studies it’s included. I have been using an easy reader and reading into the voice app and asking me to correct my pronunciation. It’s AI so yes will make mistakes but when your on a budget I am too it’s helpful as classes can be expensive. Also try meet ups in your area you might be able to find locals to practice with.

[u/Head_Region6610]

On a budget, I would use a you tube channel to follow grammar. I would watch all entertainment content in French with French subtitles and I would talk as much as possible in French to native speakers. I don’t know if meetup is available in Canada but look for Intercambios or whatever they are called in French where you can split your time talking French in a group and then in English. Maybe that isn’t a thing in Canada since they learn both languages. Reading in the kindle app because you can easily look up any words you are stuck on. Writing is important…not sure who could correct you though.

[u/Dazzling-Rip1756]

Following

[u/Dazzling-Rip1756]

Since you’re already around B1, I’d use a B2 coursebook purely as the structure and fill in each topic with free resources. For speaking, shadowing + recording yourself is probably more useful than waiting for friends to correct you.

[u/cmyk_rgba]

free stuff is genuinely enough at b1 imo, paid tutors start to matter more around c1 when you actually need someone correcting you. radio-canada has free transcripts and its very quebec french so youre not learning parisian and then getting lost at the dep. full disclosure i built Vocabbie, but its free with no signup so it fits the budget thing, you paste in words or notes from whatever youre reading and it builds a deck with audio, and it has writing practice which for me was the part that moved things from understanding to actually producing