Today I share the final blog post for the Language Learning in 2025 series. I hope you have enjoyed all the post during the year and have found them useful. These are just my final thoughts to wrap things up.

Final Thoughts

As these posts draw to a close, I wanted to share a few final thoughts on the language-learning journey.

Multi-Use Resources

Although I have talked about the six main areas of study individually, throughout these posts you will have noticed me reference using a resource from one area to also study another area, and this is a valuable point to stress, especially for those on a tight budget. Quite often a resource you buy or find for one purpose can also be useful for another. So, if you want to buy a textbook focused on reading practice, to get the most out of your purchase try to find one that’s a) right for your level b) includes audio and c) includes grammar and/or vocabulary notes. With a book like this you can practice reading and listening, study vocabulary and grammar, and even practice speaking if you then shadow the audio.

When you find a good resource, always consider in what ways you can study with it other than just the obvious. For example, if you listen to an interesting podcast, when you are done, see if the transcript is available for deeper vocabulary and grammar study, then use that transcript for shadowing practice, and finally try writing your own thoughts on the topic or your response to any of the questions the podcast raised.

This is not only a good budget tip but can also be a time-saver if you are busy since you can employ one resource for a while before needing to seek out the next one.

Cultural Studies

Languages are often closely tied to the culture of their native speakers, so understanding a country’s culture and history are important parts of learning any language. For example, it is easier to remember different politeness levels and expressions if you understand how and why they are used. Meanwhile, some words may not have a direct translation in your native language because they are deeply embedded in a cultural aspect of that country, and only if you can comprehend that cultural aspect can you understand how to interpret and use the word.

The more content you read, view and listen to, the more exposure you will get to the culture behind your target language. Look out, too, for suitable podcasts and videos in your target language that focus on different aspects of history and culture.

Being mindful of a country’s culture will help endear you to its native speakers as it allows you to adapt your behaviour to their customs and preferences when visiting those countries and engaging with their peoples.

Recommendations for Particular Languages

These posts have been focused on language learning in general. If you are looking for recommendations for materials for the study of a particular language, you should be able to find such lists online. Reddit will likely have a thread if you search with terms such as ‘resources/books/podcasts for learning LANGUAGE’, and polyglots and other languages learners with blogs or vlogs will also regularly post their suggestions and recommendations, so your search should pull these up too.

For the languages I have studied, you will find notes on some of the resources I have used/am using on my blog by clicking on the flag of the language you are interested in at the bottom of the page: http://www.nickijmarkus.com/p/language-learning-resources.html.

Conclusion

As I mentioned way back at the start, I have written these posts solely to offer some tips to language learners based on my own experiences. I am passionate about language learning and hope my thoughts on the subject can help others fall in love with it too. There is no paid promotion in these posts. Any resources I have named are only things I have come across or used and found useful myself, but something that worked for me may not work as well for someone with a different learning style, so always try a variety of methods and materials to see what works best for you, and make the most of free trials wherever possible to check something is a good fit before committing your money and time to it.

With that final disclaimer made, all that remains is to wish you all a very happy language-learning journey.