I would not have made the progress I have made without spending money. I use free resources and purchased resources. I am extremely targeted about what I use. I purchased things that accomplished exactly what I hoped that they would accomplish.
For Spanish, I will occasionally purchase a hardcopy book in a bookstore that I do not need. That never happens for Creole, because the stores just do not stock Creole books. I do own a few inexpensive books that I do not need in Spanish, but I do not own a single Creole resource that was a superfluous purchase.
Some of my favorite things are free. Purchased is not ALWAYS better than free. None of us learn our native language with a single resource. It takes multiple resources to learn any language. Existing costs money.
I have a Creole dictionary on my wishlist. I have the kindle version which was about 2% of the cost of the hardcover version. I kid you not; there was that much of a price difference. I muddle along with hardcopy glossaries and ebook dictionaries, but I am certain that having a hardcopy of the dictionary I want will increase my progress. I cannot afford it, yet, though. It is frustrating.
How expensive is your language journey?
- Decidida
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- Yellow Belt
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Re: How expensive is your language journey?
Well, I'm getting ready to graduate with a bachelors in Japanese studies in a few months (I still don't regret this choice my degree has afforded me fantastic opportunties and experiences) so uh, quite a lot. And that's not counting how expensive it has been in terms of time
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: 50,000 pages read / Japanese
- Fenderman
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Re: How expensive is your language journey?
My main cost is for weekly online tutor sessions. For my self-study course I bought used materials for Destinos (textbook, workbook) so the cost for that wasn't too bad.
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Re: How expensive is your language journey?
varto2893 wrote:Chung wrote:jacquemarie wrote:My question is, how much (or little) have you spent so far? Do you buy all the resources or do you have a more frugal approach? Do you think spending the money you have has helped or do you think you could have done without? Feed my curiosity, please!
I feel an old post coming on...On Nov. 14, 2016, 18:50, in “How much do you spend on language learning?” Chung wrote:That beats the hell out of me since I don't have the receipts/paper trail for all the classes I attended or stuff I've bought.
To be a little more pedantic, I can't give an accurate figure once we account for inflation (hey, I've been in the language-learning business for a while) and foreign exchange (my books in Saamic languages among others didn't cost me dollars).
Would anyone here want to run a mark-to-market check on the inventory circa 2013? (I've added more stuff since; my Korean stuff is noticeably absent in the photos).On October 3, 2013 at 3:28pm in “Language Learning Material-upload photos!” at how-to-learn-any-language.com, Chung wrote:Juan wrote:You know you want to
Hard copies of stuff not in boxes or strewn on my desk.
Hard copies for my beloved Uralic languages.
I've spent a small fortune over many years when I count also classes taken. The amount of stuff not in the picture above has only grown, and sometimes wish that I could get my money back on some of my transactions, though. At some time in the future, I can easily imagine that many of my books will end up as donations to the public library, if not some lucky linguaphile. Write-offs are write-offs...
See here for more discussion.
I've never seen such a collection of language books. It's impressive!
Speakeasy: "Hold my beer."
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- zjones
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Re: How expensive is your language journey?
For French, I bought Assimil NFWE $80, Easy French Grammar $10, Harry Potter paperback $20, several audiobooks from Audible $16 total (includes the free trail and a sale subscription), some iTalki lessons $50, a month of Kwiziq $20, CLE grammar $60. So that's about $256 over the course of 9 months to get to B1+. Not bad, really. I spend $80/month on strength-training classes so that helps me put the prices in perspective.
My B1 exam will cost about $140 if I remember correctly, and we will have to make a trip to Seattle to take it. That's going to be the largest chunk of money spent on French.
If I had no self-control I'd have spent several hundreds more and I'd have a giant bookcase full of awesome French books.
My B1 exam will cost about $140 if I remember correctly, and we will have to make a trip to Seattle to take it. That's going to be the largest chunk of money spent on French.
If I had no self-control I'd have spent several hundreds more and I'd have a giant bookcase full of awesome French books.
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- Decidida
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Re: How expensive is your language journey?
There have been times that I have self-educated with almost nothing for resources. Just because I succeeded at my goals, it does not mean that was the best way or a fair way. I should not have had to work as hard as I have sometimes had to work. Yes, the effort made me creative and flexible and compassionate in ways that reach far beyond the individual subject that I was trying to learn, but ... I really appreciate that I have moved on to a life where I can purchase things that make my load lighter.
The word "can" is very different word from a lot of words that comfortable people use interchangeably. I "can" do all sorts of things, and have done all I "can" in some pretty incredible circumstances.
People have learned languages in some unusual circumstances, but there is no shame in purchasing language resources at a level equal to the comforts that you enjoy in other areas of your life. I have lived in multiple very different subcultures. I have found life to be the most comfortable and efficient and polite when I adapt to where I am. Right now, having some stuff feels right.
The word "can" is very different word from a lot of words that comfortable people use interchangeably. I "can" do all sorts of things, and have done all I "can" in some pretty incredible circumstances.
People have learned languages in some unusual circumstances, but there is no shame in purchasing language resources at a level equal to the comforts that you enjoy in other areas of your life. I have lived in multiple very different subcultures. I have found life to be the most comfortable and efficient and polite when I adapt to where I am. Right now, having some stuff feels right.
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