The main problem with language courses is, often, that they are too expensive. Language schools aren’t cheap. I mean, they are worthwhile investments, but whipping out hundreds of euros to learn a language can make it unappealing. And it has, for me. There’s other options, for those who seek and for those keen to do their homework. I’m talking about discounts, or even getting courses for free. But wait, how?
Not all those who wander are lost
from “All that is gold does not glitter” by J.R.R. Tolkien
Long story short, try to wander through websites. Take a language school for example. The keen observer will notice that most times, there is a budget option. What I mean is, that a lot of schools, do in fact offer heavily discounted courses for certain categories of people. So always read the fine print, so to say. Back in the day, I ended up paying only 50 euros for a Dutch course sponsored by the Municipality of Utrecht, a course that would otherwise cost 10 times more! Keep in mind that these are rather common prices. The last language school I worked at charged about 40 euros for an hour lesson, that’s a lot.
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien; Illustration by David Wenzel, adapted by Charles Dizon with Sean Deming.
Another avenue you may have not considered are university courses. I feel that a lot of students are kind of like Bilbo Baggins, before he met Gandalf. They are terrified of taking courses outside their curriculum or they don’t even consider it as option. Before you even think of paying somebody, why not looking into which language courses your university offers. Chances are, you’ll find what you’re looking for. In my case, I took two language courses at the University College Utrecht, (Dutch Language and Culture I and II). Since I was an ‘outsider’ it meant I would have to write a motivational letter to join, but heck, that’s not so bad for 16 weeks of education. Do yourself a favor and use the money you’re already paying the University to take a language course (it’s also gonna be extra credits; win-win right?).
Since we’re talking universities, Covid-19’s changed that too. The situation, at the moment, is that most universities (maybe all) around the world, are meeting on Zoom, Skype, or Google Meets or the 100,000 other possible options that you will end up on (“Yo Jessica! I’m telling you, there’s this a m a z i n g video conference app from Vietnam’s Silicon Valley.”)
Use this unfortunate situation to your advantage. You can now contact professors from all over the world and politely ask if you may join their courses. I started my very first Turkish course 2 weeks ago at a University here in Rome. All I did was google “Corso di lingua Turca Università Roma” (Turkish Language Course University Rome). The first or second result got me the professor’s email. Don’t feel shy. Reach out. The worst that can happen is that they’ll say “no.” They told me yes and I am not even ENROLLED at the university, be honest and the karma police will do the rest. At the end of the day, we are all people and I’m sure most professors would be happy to include such a motivated student into their ranks. Like I said, the worst they can do is tell you “no.” Not so bad.
In case you really feel too uneasy in asking random professors to join their courses, but still want to get a free alternative, check out MIT and Harvard. Both ivy league universities have, for more than 5-10 years now, been offering their curriculums online for free. I swear, without both these options, I would’ve failed Calculus 1, 2, and 3, hard. HARD. I never used it for language courses, but I am absolutely positive the MIT offers these. Check out my lingolist for links to courses and much more…
So, muster up your courage, just like good ol' Bilbo did. Good luck to you all on your language learning adventure.
your precioussss,
calypso
Meander scriptum
Oh, you're still here?
Maybe it was the fact that I am predisposed to wandering both in life that changed the way I look at the internet. Before airplanes, you couldn’t travel from Italy to Shanghai unless you went the distance, and you would do that by land, most likely. Today we do have airplanes, however. We can skip all the stuff in between. It makes sense sometimes. You have a business meeting, you don’t have time, or you simply are terrified of trains or busses. Whatever the reason, sometimes you need to fly. But that’s where you miss all the stuff in between. So how exactly is this philosophy going help me get free language courses? It won’t, at least not directly. But what I came here to tell you is that, travelling, website to website, link by link, is sometimes more powerful that your usual Google search.
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