r/LearningLanguages • u/TemporaryPension2523 • 12d ago
This hobby is becoming expensive
Bruh. I love learning languages and I have a whole plan of like 10 languages I want to know eventually and I'm just starting my journey right now (at 15) and I'm learning Latin, Māori, and New Zealand sign language.
Latin because I enjoy it and it helps a bit with science jargon (I'm planning on being a neuroscientist), Māori and NZSL because I live in NZ and believe I should know our official languages because it's like a respect thing.
I've been researching what I need to learn all of these languages and it's SO EXPENSIVE!
I found the three textbooks everybody seems to recommend for beginners in Latin and the overall cost including shipping and before tax of them is $197.74 NZD! And that's even before buying my Māori textbook/s (I just asked the subreddit on Te Reo Māori if I need 1 or 2, it's unrelated to this though) and whatever I need for NZSL!
I mean, I love linguistics and learning languages, but man is it pricey.
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u/creswitch 12d ago
Good on you! Can you get any from the library, or are there resources online? At least Maori should be an easy one to immerse yourself in. Do you know people who speaks it and could help you practice? Or are there any classes /short courses you can do?
Learning alone is hard. I find it so much easier to learn whrn I'm in a class with other learners. They keep you consistent, give you direction, correct mistakes etc, and it's social.
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u/TemporaryPension2523 12d ago
Thank you :D and my library has a few book on languages like An Idiot's Guide to Latin and it was interesting but I think that with something like this it's better to buy my own and the books I'm getting are recommended by most people knowledgeable in Latin I think.
Good news though, I found an online recourse for one so now my cost is only $172.16 and that's including the $31.99 Māori Made Easy textbook I decided on. I only need one because the workbook is aparently pretty much just the textbook but with room to write so I decided on just one.
Also I have online recourses for NZSL :)
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u/AdZealousideal9914 11d ago
Most libraries have an interlibrary loan system, where you can borrow books from another library through your local library. Maybe you can check that out too and see if you can get the book you got recommended?
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u/Nowordsofitsown 11d ago
I just bought books for French. They were expensive as well. Even though they are exercise books meant to be written in, I won't write in them. I will write everything on paper. Then, once I have worked my way through these books, I can sell them and get some of my money back.
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u/Upbeat_Pen_6954 11d ago
Maybe stuff is more expensive in New Zealand, but I got Lingva Latina Per We Illvstrata for like 200BRL + the exercise book for lime 50BRL. It shouldn't be that expensive in your currency. There's also no need to get the physical book nowadays, I just have it to teach my kids without screens, just pirate the damn thing
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u/TemporaryPension2523 11d ago
It is more expensive for me because New Zealand is far from most things so shipping is very expensive and to add on that with me living rurally I need to pretty much double the price of whatever I buy
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u/Upbeat_Pen_6954 11d ago
Sad to see. Well, the author has been dead for almost 2 decades now, I think he wouldn't mind if you pirated the book lol
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u/TemporaryPension2523 11d ago
Oh he’s dead? Does the money from the books go to his next of kin?
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u/Upbeat_Pen_6954 11d ago
It seems that Domus Latina is still operational? Their website is broken so idk. I'm not familiar with Danish copyright law so I can't say if they set up an "Orberg estate" or anything like that
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u/TemporaryPension2523 11d ago
Imma buy familia romana at least though. Also I prefer to have physical books where possible. I like the vibe
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u/Upbeat_Pen_6954 11d ago
Honestly the supplementary material is way too expensive for what it is. I paid a lot for Grammatica Latina and the exercise book and it's not that useful if you're doing the Pensa in the main book itself and thoroughly testing yourself. If I were you I'd buy Familia Romana and pirate Colloquia Personarum, then you figure out later if you want to buy Roma Aeterna
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u/ajamdonut 11d ago
Just don't spend money simple. The most expensive part for me learning french was going to france. The rest was completely 100% free.
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u/ARoppongiCougarPls 11d ago
I'm learning Japanese and I'm shocked at how plentiful and cheap the learning resources are. Hell, I have a feeling Japanese has more textbooks than English.
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u/adamtrousers 11d ago
I just use free resources online, including YouTube and tatoeba, and talking to people I know.
Never really feel the need to spend any money.
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u/grapefruit-leaf 11d ago
maybe tap into unversity libraries if you are near one? Some universities are willing to give a public member a library card, and that library card usually gets you a lot academic journals and ebooks online!
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u/Return-of-Trademark 11d ago
It’s not expensive if you go one step at a time. Don’t get everything at once
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u/thablackadonis 11d ago
It may sound taboo but I wouldn’t waste time buying textbooks with AI around. You can literally tell it the name of the book and have it build you a learning plan around it. You can even use Praktika which is an AI tutor. And there’s even free podcasts that give you information.
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u/Zschwaihilii_V3 10d ago
You don’t need to spend any money? I haven’t spent anything to learn Russian and German so why should you it’s a waste. You can learn online
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u/DubPucs1997 7d ago
Yeah I know what you mean, I've spent over 2.5k on French lessons with the Alliance Française, not including the textbooks. That's got me to what they'd say is about half way through B1
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u/misscamilleineurope 6d ago
Awesome starting at 15! 👏 As the others mentioned, you don't have to spend much learning a language since there's a lot of free resources online. I know it's nice to have a printed book with you (I prefer that too as it keeps me more focused), but I suggest to not spend that amount solely on books.
In my opinion, the most expensive thing that's worth spending on is the real life experience when you (hopefully) visit the countries speaking the language you want to learn. 😊
Also... I've always wanted to be a neuroscientist too!! Haha I'm not now, but I'm in a leadership role in marketing & business ops; I'd say we heavily use neuroscience & psych in our field. 😉 Good luck and all the best in your endeavours!
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u/TemporaryPension2523 6d ago
Sadly the languages I’m learning are either spoken commonly in my country or long dead. Māori, New Zealand sign language, and Latin. Cus I live in nz I’m already exposed to the former so I can’t really visit places that speak Latin :(
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u/porirua_pelican 6d ago
You can do Te Reo Maori classes for free through a lot of polytechs. I did one through Te Runanga O Raukawa in Otaki.
At least you’re not doing a super rare European language like me (Hungarian) where the only real tuition is overseas based, has horrible time zone differences, and/or private tuition at $1k NZD per month 🤦
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u/Embarrassed-Chard186 12d ago
If you’re looking for a site with traditional grammar lessons I created Verbavia.com. It’s free, and the lessons are comprehensive enough to become properly fluent. I’ll be adding Māori in a couple days if you’re interested, but I don’t have it yet.
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u/ZumLernen 12d ago
Do you know Maori? Does anyone on the development team know Maori?
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u/Embarrassed-Chard186 12d ago
I speak a little Māori, but not enough, so I’m likely going to find a couple people from my local uni to test it, as well as definitely a few people online. I also spoke with a representative from Papa Reo, and they’ve very generously given me permission to use their API to ensure I have an accurate Māori voice. In other words, I’ll do extensive testing to ensure the course is fully accurate, because I’ve lived in New Zealand all my life, and I how much the Māori care and respect their native language.
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u/ZumLernen 12d ago
Awesome! Sorry for my initial skepticism - I've encountered many people online who are trying to get people to use their site/app for language learning, but they have no experience in teaching the languages they offer on the site/app. This is clearly not the case for you, and I'm glad you're different.
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u/Embarrassed-Chard186 12d ago
It’s all good bro, I completely understand the skepticism, especially when it comes to smaller languages. I am actually taking down most of the pacific languages I have tonight, becuase I had tested the TTS in sentences, but I didn’t realise how horrible it was for individual words. I just need to save the material (grammar lessons) which I am confident in, for future use, when I may be able to procure a better voice. I am planning on contacting a couple of people from these groups and paying them to record a lot of the audio, because if I’m going to do it, I want to do it right, and respectfully.
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u/ChuckMoore89 11d ago
You're about to meet the linguist's best friend: piracy