How would you spend $20,000 to learn a language?
My perfect hypothetical scenario
This is a 100% hypothetical scenario if I had $20,000 free and clear and no other obligations. Right now, I’m learning Finnish and am currently halfway from A2 to B1. I thought long and hard about how I would structure my life if I had all the time and resources to approach language learning. This could become a possible life scenario in the near future, but I am currently restricted by work and student loans.
Originally, I thought about traveling to Finland or another target language country, but the logistics are more complicated abroad. There’s nothing quite as good as a dedicated online language lesson. If I’m in a group of 3 or more people in real-life, I’m not going to do as much talking as I would in a 1 on 1 conversation. An online Finnish tutor is prepared to extract the Finnish out of me, while a random stranger in Finland may not know how to react to my A2-level Finnish. I’m conversational, but also probably mentally taxing to listen to. So I would continue online conversational practice to simplify logistics. No immigration, flights, or hotels. No Finland just yet.
I’m not doing any formal courses, no matter how good of a reputation they have. A language course can only move as fast as the slowest student. When you break into conversation, you…
