Everything you need to know to learn a language

Download the full guide for the rest of my advice

The guide on this website offers you the first few chapters of my ebook, The Language Learner’s Handbook. These chapters provide the essential tools to show you to how to learn a language and get you started, but the full guide has even more chapters to help you become a confident and effective language learner.

If you want to access these chapters, you’ll need to download the full guide.

The good news: my guide has no minimum price. You can get it for any price you like (starting at $0) based on how much you’d like to support my work.

What’s in the Guide?

In the full version, you’ll unlock even more valuable insights and strategies, including:

How to use input effectively

How to improve the speed at which you learn grammar and vocabulary

Effective flashcard techniques and how to create your own

Practical tips for becoming a confident speaker

How people learn to speak lots of languages and how you can do it too

And much more!

Support

Making a book is no small task. If you include research, writing, re-writing, and plain old thinking, this guide has taken many hundreds of hours to complete.

If you’d like to support my work, please consider paying the suggested price ($9) or buying the supporter bundle.

By paying a small amount you are supporting the ongoing maintenance that keeps this site running, the guide up-to-date, and the development of my other projects here on mondecast.

Not able to pay? No problem. Language learning should be accessible to everyone. This guide is and always will be free for everyone who wants it. You can select a price of $0, no credit card needed.

If you are getting it free, my only ask is that you consider joining my newsletter via the opt-in form on the checkout page. Don’t worry, there’s no spam and you can opt out any time. Check here if you’d like more info.

The Mondecast Store

There are more options, but the best way is with my new store. You have two options:

Pay what you want

$0-30

If you’d like to get it free or pay a small amount ($9 is suggested, but not mandatory), head to this part of the store.

Get the book on its own

the supporter bundle

$11.50

If you want to support my work, I have an affordable bundle that includes a whole additional book, The Principles of Language Learning.

Get the supporter bundle

Store not working? Prefer to use an established retailer? There are more options below.

What’s in the supporter bundle?

In addition to The Language Learner’s Handbook, you will find:

  • A mini guide: Hack The Algorithm: turn social media into a language learning superpower
  • A whole additional book: The Principles of Language Learning

The Principles of Language Learning

This book is a complement to the foundational knowledge you have learnt in The Language Learner’s Handbook.

The Principles of Language Learning will explain the 24 core ideas that will make you an effective language learner.

With them you will be able to evaluate methods for yourself, avoid dead ends, and make confident decisions about how you study to become a highly successful language learner.

You already know how to start, now learn how to think.

Download a sample here.

Learners rarely fail because of technique, they fail because they loose motivation. If you’d like a little help, join my newsletter for tips, resources, and motivation. Posts every second week. More info here.

Alternatives

If you prefer to buy from established retailers, there are two options:

Leanpub

$0-20

If you’d like to choose what you pay, you can purchase it on Leanpub.

Buy on Leanpub

amazon

$5

If you prefer to purchase from a well-known retailer, you can get it on Amazon.

Buy on amazon (US) buy on amazon (EU)

Feedback on The guide

Don’t take my word for it, here are a few of the many kind messages people have left me online.

  • “Stumbled across your pdf and appreciate how comprehensive it is and how honest you are about the learning process. Thanks!“
    Anonymous
  • “With the help of Simon I have managed to improve my skills in my first language and pick up basics in a second language. Your book has helped me so much, I am forever grateful.“
    Sean
  • “Thank you so much for the time you’ve put into this guide. Your passion is apparent!“
    Anonymous
  • “Massive thank you for the guide as I hope to one day become a polyglot and this will help me start that journey!”
    Alex

An Overview Of The guide

You don’t need to read the full guide to get started. Just the essentials will be enough to get you on your way. After that, you can return to later sections to improve your technique.

Here’s an overview of what’s in the guide:

Part I: the essentials
  • Key resources.
  • Routine.
  • Key activities.
Part II: Advice for Beginners
  • Using your resources well.
  • Reading, writing, speaking, and listening.
  • Grammar & vocabulary.
Part III: Advice for Intermediate Learners
  • Choosing what to study.
  • How to learn effectively as an intermediate learner.
  • Intermediate activities.
Part IV: Extras
  • Building your own method.
  • Becoming conversational in lots of languages.
  • Learning theory.

Give it a go:

Pay what you want

$0-30

If you’d like to get it free or pay a small amount ($9 is suggested, but not mandatory), head to this part of the store.

Get the book on its own

the supporter bundle

$11.50

If you want to support my work, I have an affordable bundle that includes a whole additional book, The Principles of Language Learning.

Get the supporter bundle

Contact

If you think something is missing, you have any queries, or would just like to say thanks, I’d love to hear from you! Please use the contact form here.

Popular questions

I used to put it here, however I am constantly making improvements, and maintaining continuity between the website and the ebook was taking a lot of my time. I still want the most important info to be easily accessible and for people to come across it online, so I’m keeping first few sections here, but the overall task is now a lot less of a burden.

I put it on Amazon to reach a wider audience, and I use Leanpub because it lets people pay what they want.

Yes, I’m happy for you to share it with any individuals in your life you think might want it.

Many hundreds of hours. Though you might only see a few words on a page, every chapter has required a lot of thought about how I can best structure it to be maximally useful. Basically every chapter is the result of many hours of research and has has gone through extensive rewrites. There’s always improvements to be made, which is part of why I’m still releasing regular revisions years after it was first released.

I receive emails from people only very rarely, and feedback is even more rare, so I’d love to hear from you no matter what you’ve got to say. Please use the contact form here.

I initially made this guide out of a desire to help people in the language learning community on Reddit. The idea started when I saw people were constantly asking how to learn languages, and regular users were having to constantly repeat themselves. I decided it would be a good topic for the FAQ we have there, and began writing up some key steps based on what I’d learned over the past few years running that community. As I kept adding info, it quickly grew to be the largest article in the FAQ. At that point, I moved it to its own page so it wouldn’t crowd out the other articles. It eventually outgrew even the wiki functionality on Reddit, so I then made it into a PDF ebook to take advantage of the enhanced formatting and other features a PDF file gives you. I eventually started my own website and made it available here, hoping to reach a wider audience.

It’s always been a labour of love, and the occasional messages of thanks and donations are immensely gratifying.

Those of you who have been here before might have noticed a new name. I decided the previous name, Teach Yourself a Foreign Language, despite being perfectly descriptive, was not particularly exciting. At the end of the day, I am trying to encourage as many people as I can, and an eye-catching title is a part of that. It turns out that finding a name that is eye-catching, descriptive, and not already taken is quite a challenge! I eventually landed on The Language Learner’s Handbook; I found that name was the best combination of interesting and accurate I could find.