I often see people concerned about language learning and how language barriers may create an additional challenge when attempting to immigrate elsewhere.

So, I've compiled some information here, including digital and non-digital materials, which I hope can help some of you to familiarise yourselves a little more with your target language. :)

Feel free to add any further suggestions in the comments, if you might know of any more resources or language learning tools! :)

(I'm not including DuoLingo because it is easily the best known at the moment.)

Digital Resources for Beginners:

Memrise

iTalki

Clozemaster

Reddit - LanguageLearning (has a great list of resources for many different languages-- I highly recommend looking through their FAQ / Resources pages)

Foreign Service Institute (FSI) Language Learning Courses / Audio

Non-Digital Resources for Beginners:

NOTE: These all have audio files available online for free, to accompany any books. PDFs are also available for many of these.

BBC Active Languages (also has online only resources for download)

The Teach Yourself Series

Usborne First Thousand Words Series

DK Visual Dictionaries (look up Visual Dictionary and then your target language to find what you need)

Pro Tips:

1) Sometimes news broadcasters or media services in other countries produce free language learning digital content, such as the BBC Languages material. I am aware that some countries even create "simple vocabulary" versions of news articles and broadcasts to help beginners learn the language.

Look up the major news networks in your preferred country, and look up "name of broadcaster language learning" or similar search terms to help find any such materials that might be relevant for you. Most will be available as PDFs with MP3 downloads, or as YouTube videos, although format can vary.

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2) If your preferred country has any national language institution or language learning services, such as the Institut français du Royaume-Uni for France or Dysgu Cymraeg for Wales, get in contact with them or look around their website to see what materials they may provide for free / digitally.

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3) Look up your favourite shows in your target language and see if you can find them subtitled anywhere. Netflix is good for this, but so is YouTube, especially for older shows or movies where the copyright may not present as much of an issue.

Just familiarise yourself to listening; Try to pick media that you are very familiar with and can quote from reliably, so that you have an idea of what the dialogue is in English. This way, when listening to it in a foreign language, you can sort of get a feel for what's happening in the scene and can start to pair up words to actions etc. even if the translation is not one-to-one.

Gradually, you will start to recognise words that are used often, and can start to contextually figure out what certain common words might mean etc., which can be really helpful.

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4) Children's language learning materials are great for those with absolutely zero experience or exposure with a target language. Don't be afraid to visit your local bookstore or library's children section for bilingual or language learning materials aimed at young kids.

The books for young children often help build key vocabulary word by word, and as you get more familiar with these words you can then develop a sense of grammar etc. as you go on, by gradually exposing yourself to the language via online media/resources or other tools.

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5) If you find DuoLingo difficult to keep up with, I have ADHD and I find Memrise to be better for me as it's a little more engaging, but that's just my personal opinion.

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6) It is helpful to mix and match materials, so don't feel bad if you use something made for children alongside something made for college students; Look around, see what works for you. There's no "perfect" way to learn. What matters is that you try. <3

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7) Go to the Internet Archive and look up "name of your target language learning" or other key terms to help find any audio, text, etc. resources which you may be able to download or view there.

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I hope this can be useful information for some people out there, and like I said above, please feel free to mention any tips or resources for language learning which you might want to share with others in the comments below! :)

Thank you! <3