Lately, I have been asking myself this question: With so many free language learning tools out there, why should you pay to learn a language?

When it comes to my own language learning experience, I have learned languages both with and without investing money. I know that it’s absolutely possible to learn a new language effectively “for free”.

Nowadays, there are so many great free options. So, should you pay for a language course, teacher, or premium tools? Also, how do you decide which one is worth paying for?

Learning a language for free

Apart from the fact that there are endless free resources to learn a language, we have to remember that language learning is a skill.

Paying for a course or a teacher and relying on being taught by them in a passive way does not work. That’s why so many people get frustrated that after years of “studying” French in school, they are unable to form a simple sentence.

Whether you pay to learn a language or not, you have to make the effort yourself to improve your language skills.

Getting to know yourself, your learning preferences, and your interests is a valuable investment. By leveraging your own unique preferences and needs, you are training your language learning skills. This will affect how well and how fast you learn a new language. A one-size-fits-all approach -that many courses and teachers use- does not work, and often times is not even fun.

Currently, I am learning Portuguese. For years, I used Duolingo and Memrise with no real progress except being able to understand basic written and spoken Brazilian Portuguese.

When I went to Brazil this year, I noticed that these online tools alone didn’t prepare me enough. What made a bigger difference, however, in my experience, was all the listening practice I had the years before.

Why should you pay to learn a language?

Of course, I am aware that you might be in a situation in which you don’t have money to spare to learn a language. You may simply not afford to pay for language materials. Again, I think you can effectively learn a language for free with a mix of useful tools, discipline, and structure.  

Yet, the times I did pay for a course or material, I have never regretted it. When I spent a few hundred dollars on a language course in Argentina I learned a lot in a short period of time. Similarly, last month I bought a self-teaching Portuguese grammar book and was so pleased with the purchase. After learning online and through conversation for nearly 4 years, can you believe I didn’t have any book about Portuguese grammar?

The truth is, learning a new language is one of the best investments you can make in your life. Investing in high-quality materials can make a huge difference in your language learning results.

But not all tools, courses, books, and resources are really effective and worth the money. Hell, most of them are simply extremely overpriced. So, the question is simple: Why should you pay and when should you pay to learn a language?

Here are some reasons why you should pay for language learning:

1) Convenience

The downside of the seemingly unlimited options we have to learn languages online is: How do we choose?

Imagine how much time, effort, headaches and even money you could save if someone just told you exactly what to do to make progress.

Instead of spending this time, effort and money into researching, comparing, and trying tens or hundreds of ways to learn a language, what if you could spend it on actually doing it?

Also, paying for courses, a teacher, or books can give you a well-structured guide on what to do and when to do it. They are comprehensive and plan the timeline for you, so you can spend your time actually learning.

Guided courses, learning tools, books, or private teachers can all give you this convenience and provide structure for your language learning journey.

2) Accountability

Paying for something makes it a commitment. You are more likely to take action. If you are going to spend a lot of money on it, why wouldn’t you do every exercise, go to every class, do your homework?

For many learners, the social aspect is also one of the most effective ways to stay motivated. Often, there is a group or another person involved that you pay for.

Fellow language learners and teachers can give you this motivation to learn. Peers are very important to motivate you even when it gets tough. Teachers and fellow learners can keep you accountable for what you actually do every day, week, and month to keep making progress.

3) Results

Although paying doesn’t guarantee results, there are effective paid ways to get good results more quickly. Because you can focus on the important work, instead of researching, some investments help you make more progress than you can do by yourself.

Unfortunately, there are some scams on the web, so it does make sense to make some research before you commit. If you look at reviews and testimonials, what do they promise? What are the outcomes you expect and are promised? Is there any proof you can get that they will really deliver?

Also, be clear about your goals when you make a big investment. What area of language is it focused on? Speaking conversation classes? Writing workshop? Grammar book? It should be clear what you will be able to do after using the tool you paid for.

When should you pay to learn a language?

To make progress, it is worth spending money. In the above situations, investing money makes learning a language more effective and faster.

These reasons also serve as criteria for choosing if and what to buy. When you consider paying for a tool/course/resource, keep in mind these points to see if it is really worth investing in.

Here are a few examples I recommend paying for (if you can afford it):

Note that I don’t recommend relying on any of these as the only way to learn a language.

• From approx. $200: If you have time, language travel is one of the most valuable experiences and very effective because of immersion and peers. You should invest a minimum of 2 weeks of your time. As an alternative, just taking a trip to a country where the language is spoken is one of the best things you can do to practice your language skills.
• Approx. $10-$20/hour: In case you don’t have time to travel, get a private (online) trainer to help you improve your language skills, general motivation and give you guidance. A great place to start is Italki.
• From $10: Buy a comprehensive textbook with exercises. I used a teach-yourself book to kickstart my Dutch and it was and still is an invaluable guide.
• Approx. $20/month: Purchase an online course or learning tool, such as Mosalingua, Frantastique (for French), or Gymlish (for English). A paid tool based on your learning preference is also a great investment. You can often start with a free version and, if you have fun and can stick with it, you can pay for it to get more out of it, for example LingQ or audio lessons.
• From $5: Invest in interesting and authentic material, such as books, magazines, audiobooks, movies, etc. based on your personal interest. It could be about soccer, art – whatever floats your boat. And don’t be afraid to read and listen to materials that you don’t fully understand yet!

Get an overview of recommended tools and resources for language learners.

Happy learning!