I thought a lot about how I was going to approach this topic.
At first, I was going to write something among the lines of “how to better take advantage of your LingQ subscription”, but I’m not qualified at all to talk about it: I spent one month using LingQ and there are still features that I haven’t tried. I’m no expert, and other people have talked about it before. I don’t think I would have any enlightening input to add to the conversation. I did make some adaptations to my studies, but overall I’m just following other people.
If you want a good breakdown of LingQ, Steve Kaufmann himself has talked about it exhaustively on his youtube channel. He’s biased towards the platform, of course, but I do agree with his method almost 100%.
(No, this post is not sponsored.)
Another thing I thought of writing about was my own experience with LingQ. That would be personal, not so much advice-y and a good record of this step of my journey. But again, I don’t think I’m that different from other people that came before me. I wouldn’t have anything to add.
Then I decided to take two aspects of LingQ that I found really important and which made the whole experience outstanding for me. And one thing that I wish had worked better than it did.
Allons-y!
Point number one:
LingQ is… a lot of fun!
Having fun is super important for me, and it shapes my experience with studying languages. So, it’s no surprise that LingQ really captivated me. Before starting to use it, I had some reservations regarding the content. Everyone can upload anything – and that’s said to be one of the advantages of the platform, but I was scared of finding resources not that reliable, confusing and/or misleading. Turns out that I had no problem with content – there’s an infinity of material to choose from. I didn’t have to look too hard to find things which interested me, and that was great.
Great materials, and then with their dictionary tool I could understand the general idea of the texts within one or two readings, and it felt like progress. And progress always motivates me to read more and more.
(Also, it might sound a bit silly but whenever I felt sad or insecure, LingQ would allow me to be in touch with the language for ten, twenty minutes, and in a fun way. Anything that prevents me from feeling like I’m stuck in my language learning is extremely welcome! So there’s that.).
Point number two:
LingQ is really convenient.
Listen, I love studying languages. I love it with all my being BUT to sit down and study is a constant struggle. I tell myself that I have free time and that I should study, but even if I really want to do so… my brain takes its sweet time to make me get to work… or to do anything, really.
I am on vacation still, and I couldn’t do as much as I would like because of my brain deciding to do its own thing. Now I’m taking new meds so things are turning around (I hope), but generally speaking… I couldn’t do as much as I wanted.
Enter LingQ.
I can use it on my phone! I don’t need to get out of the bed to do a small lesson. It doesn’t feel like a hassle and sometimes… It is enough for me. Three minutes on my phone. I don’t have to get up, I don’t have to turn on my laptop, I don’t have to make any extra effort to get in touch with my target language. And I found that to be really convenient to me.
That’s also one function that I’m considering as a tool for when my classes start again. I’ll be on an entirely new routine and since I am not willing to drop any of the three languages I’m currently studying, I’ll need as much convenience as I can possibly find.
The second convenient thing is that the lessons are rather easy to keep together. A bunch of the websites I’ve looked at point out that you can do all the things you do on LingQ online, for free. You can find texts with audio, great dictionaries, all of that. That's what they consider a downside to LingQ – it is not as exclusive as it sells itself to be, and that's accurate, so keep that in mind when considering getting a subscription. However, TO ME LingQ was super helpful because I’m not that organized and the website facilitated things for me with their bundle of lessons, telling me how many unknown words I'd find in a text, etc. Less time organizing myself and more time actually studying? Sign me in!
As for the thing that I couldn’t enjoy as much as I wish I could… well, by the LingQ method, you have to listen a lot.
They do offer that function – it should be part of the above topic, really. In your phone, you can listen to the lessons over and over and over and I absolutely love and agree with that idea. If you can do it, it helps tremendously.
But for me, casually listening to stuff is kind of tricky.
I could do my listening while doing the dishes, while on the car, while eating breakfast, but the only moment I could actually fit in some listening was while getting ready for bed. That’s because I have to have the same songs playing whenever I have to… exist?!
I’ve tried, believe me, but I cannot use my “dead time” like this. No matter if it’s LingQ or other methods, I have to spend a ridiculous amount of time listening to music and… letting my mind fly away. So, I did not listen as much as I should have. This August I have challenged myself to listen more, so lets see how it goes but when first experimenting with LingQ I didn’t do that and it frustrated me a bit. Well, it be like that sometimes.
Overall, I really enjoyed my experience with LingQ, and I do want to renew my subscription. I do think it will help me lots – but not as an only resource (for example, I’m studying Japanese and Chinese, and I do need to learn how to write the characters). I still need grammar, although not as much as I need immersion. There are things LingQ do not provide and therefore I don’t think it is going to work for me as my only pathway to fluency.
Actually, in general I feel like it’s a bit tricky to rely on a single resource to study a language. Unless it works for you, which is cool. Even I tend to stick to only one website or textbook but…. Careful with that.
Not only the technical stuff, but every now and then I need new resources to feel “fresh” while studying languages. So… keep that in mind. If I only use LingQ, I feel like I will eventually get bored.
It was a good month, though, and I am excited to see how LingQ is going to aid me in this journey. Maybe I will write a follow up in a few months, but by now I will try to sit down and play with my languages. Just relax and have a bit of fun with them – I am in need of that.
Those are my takes on the matter, thank you for reading! If you do decide to experiment with LingQ, make sure to do a proper research and see different opinions on the website. And if you have the spare money to give it a try, I highly encourage you to get a subscription for a month and form your own opinion. I am a firm believer that any experimentation is valid in language learning, so experiment!
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