A beginner’s guide to language learning [Masterlist]
Have you ever watched a polyglot video on YouTube or TikTok, notebook in hand and fueled by your newly made resolutions list and the end of it and have learned… well, nothing? “Get organized!” they say, “Buy a planner!”, “Download the green bird app.” While this advice is well meaning the lack of detail to a beginner can make an already daunting task even more daunting! But, like a marathon, with the right tools, training, and plan, learning a language is not only possible but fun! In this post, I’m going to break down the language learning process the way I wish someone had done when I was first getting into it.
Step 1: What Do You Want
Before you start learning a language, you’ve got to answer the ultimate question. No, not how to study—but what you're actually studying for. What do you want? (Yes, just like in The Notebook.) Understanding what you actually want to get out of learning a language is the first and most important step. It will help you manage your goals, timeline, and expectations. If your interest in Mandarin spurred from your interest in learning the lyrics to Red Sun in the Sky, then taking advice from Arieh Smith, better known as Xiaomanyc, who learned to be completely fluent, wouldn’t be the best idea.
Language learning isn’t one-size-fits-all. Are you aiming to speak confidently with native speakers, or would you rather read poetry in its original form? Do you want to travel and survive comfortably, or are you preparing for a certification exam? These questions aren’t just fluff—they shape how you study, what you study, and how much time you’ll need to invest.
So, before you start stacking up flashcards or watching 10-hour “Learn Spanish While You Sleep” videos, ask yourself: What kind of fluency do I actually want?
Knowing your primary focus helps shape your study routine and choose the right tools. And just like skills, fluency comes in levels. Here's a quick breakdown of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) levels to help you map out your goals:
A1-A2: Great for tourists, casual learners, or anyone who just wants to say “Where’s the bathroom?” without panicking.
B1-B2: Ideal for people who want to chat with locals, live abroad, or do language exchanges.
B2-C1: Perfect for university students, literature lovers, or those prepping for language proficiency exams.
C1-C2: For aspiring interpreters, language teachers, or lifelong learners chasing the full experience.
Understanding what level of proficiency you want to achieve will help you to be realistic with your goals, timeline and create an accurate study plan. If you’d like to learn languages for an upcoming trip (A1-A2) then studying for 5 hours a day for 3 years won’t be necessary. But if your lifelong dream is to be an interpreter, then your Duolingo streak may not be as helpful as you think. Once you know how ‘fluent’ you’d like to be, you can move on to Step 2.
Step 2: Choose your path
When I decided that I wanted to learn Russian 5 years ago, I knew from the very beginning that my goal was never to read War and Peace (Война и мир) the way Tolstoy intended it. In fact, I wasn’t interested in reading at all. What fascinated me the most was speaking. Fluency, to me, was being able to express every thought in my head, listen to songs, and watch movies and TikTok videos with the same level of comfortability as in English. This ‘path’ I chose shaped the resources I choose and prioritized as well as how I practiced the language. There’s no single “correct” way to learn a language—but there is a way that’s right for you. The path you choose should reflect what you care about most. Are you dreaming about ordering coffee in Tokyo or reading Kafka in the original German?
To help you figure that out, let’s break it down into two major paths:
Speaking + Listening – Great if your goal is communication, travel, or connecting with people.
Reading + Writing – Ideal if you’re into books, academic work, or professional writing
Path A: Speaking + Listening
Some people, like me, are drawn to the speaking and listening side of things. If that’s you, your focus will probably be on developing pronunciation, conversation skills, and listening comprehension as early as possible. Your tools might include shadowing exercises, language exchange apps, subtitled YouTube videos, and speech recognition tools. You’ll want to expose yourself to native sounds often, and get comfortable making mistakes while you talk. And, as research in cognitive psychology has shown, noticing specific patterns—like stress and intonation—is crucial for acquiring a new language. (Schmidt, 1990).
Priorities:
Building pronunciation and intonation early
Practicing active listening and shadowing
Getting comfortable with imperfect but functional speech
Path B: Reading + Writing
If you’re drawn to books, want to pass written exams, or need the language for academic or professional writing, this is your jam.
You might be more excited about reading and writing—especially if you're learning for academic reasons, professional development, or just because you love the language itself. This path might include using graded readers, journaling in your target language, or reading fanfiction. You’ll naturally focus more on vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structure, and less on pronunciation drills. The Input Hypothesis (Krashen, 1985) supports this approach: it argues that you learn most effectively when you read or listen to material that’s just slightly above your current level of understanding
Priorities:
Building vocabulary through extensive reading
Understanding grammar in context
Developing writing habits early (even if short)
Neither path is better than the other. They’re just different. And depending on your goals, one will probably make more sense for you right now. You can always come back and strengthen the other skills later. Language learning isn’t linear—it’s something you grow into, adapt to, and reshape over time.
Step 3: Build your Toolbox
Let’s begin with one of the most common beginner questions: “Where do I even begin?” Most people will tell you to download a frequency list—like “the 10,000 most common words in Spanish.” And honestly, those lists are helpful. But here’s the thing: your most common words probably aren’t on the same list as mine.
1) Creating your own personal starter list first. Spend a day or a week just paying attention to how you talk. What are the words you use constantly in your native language? What topics come up in your life? Write them down. Try to get to 50 or 100.
For example, my top five were: 1) interesting, 2) night, 3) tennis, 4) beach 5) books. Super specific, but super useful—because when I saw those words in Russian, I actually remembered them. They meant something to me.
Once you’ve got your 50 personal words, add in the top 100 most frequent words in your target language. These are usually things like “I,” “you,” “and,” “because,” etc. Now you’ve got a starter pack of 150 words—customized and high-frequency. I’d plug those into a flashcard app like Quizlet or Anki (my personal favorite). Ten new cards a day = 150 words in two weeks. That’s a solid foundation.
For the Speaking + Listening Path
The number one goal here is to get comfortable speaking as early as possible. Don’t worry about sounding perfect. Just speak.
Apps like Pimsleur are amazing for this—they get you saying full sentences out loud from Day 1. Even just reading your flashcards out loud can help you start thinking in the language. I also love shadowing: play a sentence in your target language, then try to repeat it in real time, matching pronunciation and rhythm. It’s weirdly fun.
2) Switch your phone, Siri, and all your social media into your target language. That way, even when you’re just scrolling TikTok, you’re immersed—and you start picking up real phrases, slang, and tone.
And please, speak out loud! Talk to your pet. Narrate your day. Repeat what you hear in videos. The goal is not perfection—it’s fluency through comfort.
To Do:
1) Make personalized ‘Most Common Words’ list (~ 50- 100)
2) Switch your phone to your target langauge! (+ socials)
3) Download Pimsleur (if this is too pricy try Babbel!) and Anki/ Quizlet
For the Reading + Writing Path
Your best friends on this path are children’s books, daily journaling, and pop-up dictionaries. Even if you rely on translation in the beginning, that’s okay—it’s part of the process.
If you can get your hands on an e-reader, use one that lets you tap words for instant definitions. It’s one of the most efficient ways to stay immersed without constantly breaking focus to look things up.
Start by loading up your Anki deck with ~1,00 of the most common words. At 10 new words a day, you’ll get through them in about 3 months. While you’re doing that, pick up a short grammar guide—not to memorize, but to refer back to when grammar starts showing up in context. You don’t need to study grammar before you see it. Let it come naturally as you read.
And don’t underestimate the power of small stuff. Reading Instagram comments, TikTok replies, or tweets in your target language counts. It’s authentic, relevant, and usually way more fun than textbook passages. As linguist Stephen Krashen says, “Nobody can read 10,000–15,000 pages in their target language and not become competent.” Your job is to just keep reading—and keep going.
To Do:
1) Download a few children’s books + online translator
2) Put top 100 words into Quizlet or Anki
3) Get a journal/notebook!
Step 4: Putting it all together!
Alright, we’ve made it to the final step: pulling it all together. You’ve picked a language. You’ve figured out what kind of fluency you want and which skills matter most to you. You’ve got your starter vocabulary, and you’ve started poking around in the language. Now it’s time to give that energy some structure—with a study plan.
But don’t worry—I’m not going to tell you to cram three hours a day into a color-coded spreadsheet. Your study plan doesn’t need to be intense or perfect. In fact, for your first month, your main goal should just be immersion and consistency. To make this real, I’ll walk you through exactly how this process can be done!
My Example Study Plan: The Speaking + Listening Path
Pick a language: Russian 🇷🇺
Determine my fluency goal: I wanted to get to C1—as fluent as possible. I wanted to speak naturally, understand native content, and not freeze in conversation.
Choose my path: I knew I cared more about speaking than reading classic novels, so I committed to the Speaking + Listening path.
Gather my starter words: I made a list of the 50 words I say all the time in English (interesting, psychology, tennis… you know, the essentials) and combined them with the top 100 most common Russian words. I plugged those into Anki to review 10 a day.
Practice speaking early: I started using Pimsleur, which had me repeating full sentences out loud from the first lesson. I didn’t care if I sounded awkward—I just wanted to get used to speaking.
Immerse passively: I changed my phone and social media into Russian, followed Russian TikTok accounts, and listened to songs on repeat. My favorite part? Singing out loud. Even if I didn’t know what the words meant yet, I focused on pronouncing them right and mimicking the rhythm.
My Friend’s Study Plan: The Reading + Writing Path
Pick a language: German 🇩🇪
Determine fluency goal: He wanted to get to B2, but mainly in reading and writing. His dream was to read German literature, write short essays, and feel comfortable reading websites, articles, and fiction.
Choose his path: Since he wasn’t interested in speaking or listening much, he focused on the Reading + Writing path.
Gather starter words: Just like I did, he made a list of his most commonly used English words and paired them with the top 100 words in German. He created flashcards in Anki to review 10 new ones a day.
Immerse through reading: He downloaded a German version of The Little Prince (Der kleine Prinz) and committed to reading one page a day. He used a pop-up dictionary and Google Translate to understand new words without getting overwhelmed.
Practice writing early: Every evening, he wrote five short sentences about his day in German. At first, it was slow and full of mistakes, but it helped him get used to sentence structure, the alphabet, and vocabulary in real contexts. Even using a translator was part of the learning—because every sentence was meaningful to him.
Conclusion
Language learning isn’t magic—it’s momentum. And the best way to build that momentum is by being intentional. You don’t need to download every app or follow someone else’s exact routine. What you do need is clarity: what you want, how far you want to go, and which path fits you best.
