Fun Fact: Did you know that learning a new language stimulates the areas in your brain responsible for neuron growth? Stronger neurons make your brain healthier. Not only that, but they decrease the chance of developing memory loss in the later stages of life.

Being exposed to a certain language when you’re young is definitely the easiest way to pick it up. Courses are the next option that’s offered to you once you’re a bit older. Attending a class and having an actual teacher lead you while physically interacting with you and your classmates is a great way to do it. But unfortunately, this method can have some flaws or downsides to it. Firstly, you need to pay for it and not all of us are financially capable of doing so, or at maybe – not always on time. Taking courses also means a lot of travelling for some of us that live in the most remote locations of a city. Or maybe your language schools simply don’t offer courses for the language you’re interested in. Whatever the reason may be, you shouldn’t lose hope because there is actually a very easy solution for it: Free online courses.

Just like any how-to tutorials you’ve seen before, you can learn a new language on the internet for free. There are hundreds of websites that contain both written text and video/audio courses without requiring you to sign up. They all begin their first lesson with the basics. Introducing you with the language and how it works, explaining what makes it easy, as well as some of its history and languages that might be similar to it. In the first few lessons, you’ll most likely learn how to greet somebody, introduce yourself and say thank you. Almost every one of these websites have features such as tests and revision for each lesson or family of lessons you take. That way, you can always check how much you’ve learned so far. These tests will also highlight the things you may struggle the most with and can help you overcome them by explaining them to you again.

As you continue to dive further into the following lessons, you’ll be able to form sentences, count, ask and answer questions, name your favorite activities, describe objects and people and so on. All of these take some time to master, so don’t expect to be great on the first try, because nobody is. Take your time, practice makes perfect. In order to boost your learning and make the experience a lot more fun, you can include other smart methods alongside your standard lessons. Apps! You can download apps that can build your vocabulary through flashcards and pictures. These apps usually feature cool games that’ll assist you in remembering or recalling words. Another great thing is that quite a few of them don’t even need an internet connection to work, so you can basically practice anytime. Movies and TV shows! This is by far the most entertaining way to enrich your learning experience. It truly gives you everything you need in order to grasp the language: Natives and their pronunciation, stress on words in certain sentences, grammar structures depending on the situation, vocabulary and even slang words. Once you begin watching, you’ll start catching things you’ve learned in the lessons so far, so watching a movie once in a while as you take your online course is much recommended. You might even discover a song that you like, a song that you’re going to know all the words to very soon.

All in all, by combining all of these, your journey to becoming fluent in the language you want will be both easy and fun, and it’ll start and finish in the comfort of your home, for free. You can pause anytime, have it last for as long as you wish and do it at any hour of the day. All you need is a computer, a notebook and a pen. Don’t hesitate! Discover the wonders of a brand new culture. Start online learning right away and remember to stay persistent. Good luck!

Marija Belceva