#study plans

A few thousand common words and basic grammar be a foundation, and will open up: the ability to use SOME learner podcasts, use SOME graded readers, read SOME materials for native speakers if you look up key unknown words/grammar (intensively read), watch/listen to some materials for native speakers if you look up key unknown words/grammar (intensively listen), some basic ability to express yourself in simple ideas in speaking and writing (especially if you look up some key unknown words if you need extra, or learn to ask "what does X mean? How do you say Y in the language? What is the "thing that is red right here"? - using simple words to describe something you can't find the word for). It is at this point that the learning activities you can do broaden, and can get more enjoyable, and then if you wanted to say mostly learn from shows? books? talking to people? You could do so, without it feeling like you have no foundation. Those basics are a foundation upon which you feel able to DO more stuff, and once you're doing more you can learn from whatever you do, and practice what you've learned, and then you just keep improving.

Once you have that foundation, your learning can be primarily doing activities Directly Related To Your Goals, if you want. At which point, it gets much easier to figure out what learning activities to help you move toward your goals. Your goal is to speak about X topics? Go practice speaking about them. Your goal is to read X genres of fiction? Go start practicing reading. Your goal is to work in that language? Go practice tasks you'd need to do to work in that language like reading, listening, writing, speaking, on work/related topics.

A little more information on point 3: You may say "well that's a super broad statement, how am I going to learn all that stuff?" Literally any way you want, that you can get yourself to do, until you feel at least somewhat familiar with that many words and basic grammar. The answer is broad because so many ways will work.

If you look up "how do I learn X language" you will see all of those ways, in people's blogs and answers, in the study routines they say they did to pass X fluency test, in the study routines they said they did to reach Y goals. (And I suggest you do look up how people "learned X language FOR Y goal," for goals that you personally have. Because you might find someone already came up with learning activities you could get yourself to do, to reach the same goal as you, and you can copy what they did. This can make deciding what to do, a lot less work.)

You still may feel that is too broad an answer. So I will narrow it to: find general study plans MANY OTHERS have used to reach similar goals to yours. Pick the study plan that seems like something you could get yourself to do, and do it. You won't have to find and choose the learning activities or materials, you'll just copy a general study plan's learning activities and materials that already were used by many other people to successfully reach their goals.

Examples of general study plans:

Beginner textbooks: any well made textbook, that multiple people mentioned having success with for X goal, probably teaches 1000-3000 words and basic grammar. People who use textbooks likely also can recommend intermediate textbooks they found useful. Most well made textbooks will have: material to practice reading (included example dialogues and narratives), listening (to included audio), writing (exercises), speaking (repeating after the textbook's included audio and speaking aloud your exercise answers). Simply find a textbook that teaches a few thousand common words, and basic grammar, and go through it the way the textbook says to. Or the way others who used the textbook said they did. When you are done, you'll know enough to move onto doing specific activities related to your goals to keep learning (if you want).

Beginner courses: specifically ones that teach to a well defined level of skill, such as those offered in schools. If free, pick classes that teach to follow a well made textbook, or a language test level (A1, A2, B1, HSK 3, etc.). If the class is slow paced you might need 4 semesters to learn to upper beginner/lower intermediate (think High School), if the class is fast paced you might need 2 semesters (think College), if the class is Accelerated you might need only 1 semester (think some Language Immersion Schools and intense programs). Courses are nice because, if you pick a well defined one (and I really suggest you do), then you'll know exactly what level the course teaches to. Because it will tell you how much vocabulary and grammar it teaches in the syllabus/summary of the course/textbook information, and/or the language level it teaches to (such as A2/Upper Beginner), and/or the skills it believes you will be capable of at the completion of the course.

If you have NO idea what to do, take at least a Lower Beginner and Upper Beginner class, and a Lower Intermediate class if it's offered and you can afford it. Courses are most likely to have a well made textbook, and/or teacher who try to help you pick learning activities for all 4 skills reading, listening, writing, speaking. So no matter what your goals in those skills, you'll get some exposure to activities that might help a particular goal. This knowledge helps later, if you choose to self-study.

Many people simply take Beginner to Advanced courses, and afterward all they need to do is lots of PRACTICE learning activities that relate to their goals. (Which we covered above: practicing reading what they want to read, practice listening to what they want to listen to, practice speaking about what they want to speak about, practice writing what they want to write about). If you can afford this, and you can get yourself to do it, this is a fine route to reach one's goals that many people have used before.

Free option of courses above: Coursera, and many Massive Online Open Courses (some universities have their courses and materials completely free online to use), follow the same structure as classes you pay for. The only difference usually, if you use the free option, is you don't get college credit or an official certificate - unless you pay, or do a Certification Test later and use that as 'proof' you learned. You don't need proof you learned of course, but if you need formal college credits or a formal language certificate, then if you learn for free you will need to look into how to get a formal proof of your level of knowledge later. Formal proof might be that a local university will let you "test out" of lower level Language Courses, then put the tested-out classes on your transcript as credits. Or it might be you pay for and pass a formal test like CEFR, HSK, JLPT, etc.

I highly recommend if you choose to use courses or textbooks, review all information about WHAT THEY TEACH before deciding to use something. There's many products aimed at beginners which only teach 300 words, or are phrase books, or only pronunciation, or some other small/focused information but NOT a broad coverage of 1000+ words and basic grammar. While these products could be useful to you, especially if you like using them and find you want extra resources for studying specific things, these are NOT going to give you a broad foundation in the language.

As a complete beginner, finding 1 primary resource (or 1-4, try to be as limited as possible), that will teach you a few thousand vocabulary and basic grammar is ideal. Because you can simply go through it, complete it, and you'll be able to then learn by doing more stuff.

My personal opinion on apps: some of them do teach 1000-3000+ words and basic grammar (I recommend looking up how much they teach before using). However, I think the way many of them teach is not very structured, in the sense you don't get told explicitly how to use an app to practice the 4 skills (reading, listening, speaking, writing).

Textbooks and courses say in their information how fast they'll cover the material (how many weeks/semesters), and good ones will explicitly give you learning activities to practice all 4 skills. So you'll get some idea of how to practice for your specific goals. Apps don't always teach you varied learning activities for the 4 skills, which will make learning on your own later at the intermediate+ stage more difficult since after an app you may not know what activities to DO to practice your goals.

Apps don't always tell you to use them 1+ hour a day, so some people may use an app 5 minutes a day then wonder why 2 years later they aren't done with the app course. If the app course teaches enough material to build a foundation (1000-3000 words and basic grammar), then you as a learner will want to finish the app course as quickly as you'd want to finish a textbook or class. Everyone is different, for me personally, I'd want to finish getting a general familiarity with those words and basic grammar in 6 months to a year. At most, by 2 years. So for me personally, if I were going to use an app (that covered enough material for a foundation), I'd be trying to get through the entire app in under 2 years (ideally in under 6 months). There are ways to use an app to practice all 4 skills - but you'll probably have to get creative and make up the learning activities yourself. Versus a textbook or class which will explain multiple learning activities so you don't have to figure out what to do.

(For example, I have seen duolingo used successfully for certain languages by people who: used a course with 3000+ vocabulary, completed the app course in under a year, spoke the sentences aloud to practice speaking, listened to the sentences with their eyes closed to practice listening, wrote practice sentences for themselves based on the structure of the sentences in the app and the words they'd learned in the app so far, practiced saying those sentences they made aloud. And then AFTER completing the course they moved onto reading Graded Readers, listening to podcasts for learners, and reading/listening to materials made for native speakers and LOOKING UP key unknown words/grammar to understand the main ideas of those materials. So they transitioned into making their own learning activities for their specific goals, after the 1 year foundation they built by completing the app. If you absolutely LOVE an app, it teaches enough material to build a foundation, and you want it as your PRIMARY resource, then I recommend doing something like this.)

Personally, I think unless you plan to get through an entire app course in a year or less, using them as a primary study resource may slow down your progress. I think more Structured Resources that give varied learning activities are probably easier to start with, and using an app on the side for practice is fine if it motivates you. (But again: you can use primarily an app, just be aware of how much it teaches, and you might need to make up your own learning activities if the app's activities itself don't help you practice for your specific goals).

Other general study plan options:

Dreaming Spanish: clear method with a FAQ, enough material to learn Spanish listening. Certainly enough to learn 1000-3000 common words and grammar. Their roadmap also mentions crosstalk then conversation practice (for practicing speaking skills), and reading graded readers then gradually more and more materials written for native speakers up to 1-3 million words (for practicing reading skills). You may need to make up some of your own study activities eventually, for practicing writing.

Because the method is explained clearly, the Dreaming Spanish method can be applied to learning other languages. The difficulty if doing that, is you will need to find Comprehensible Input lessons, eventually podcasts for learners, and eventually materials in the language you understand the main ideas of, yourself. This may take some trial and error as you find stuff to learn from. Comprehensible Input Wiki is a good place to start searching for learning materials.

Refold: less clearly explained method, but I will explain it for you. You learn 1000+ common words by studying an anki deck (or you can find a common word list in sentences and study the list, or use a textbook's vocabulary list, or brute force it and make your own common words list/anki deck/flashcards by writing down words you keep running into and looking them up), you pick up basic grammar (either by reading through a grammar guide, reading a textbook, or brute force looking up grammar points you keep running into). And you immerse in materials in the language. While immersing, you look up key unknown words/grammar enough to understand the main idea. When you immerse with materials you understand the main idea of, you simply enjoy and understand without needing to look things up (unless you want to - you can always look things up).

This method has also been called AJATT, MIA. And more generally, it's similar to a very general study plan of: studying common words (using anki premade decks, your own personally made anki deck, flashcards, a printed list, an online list, simply continuing to look up words over and over, a textbook, anything to see new words+meaning), optional studying grammar (anything from brute force looking up grammar as you encounter it, to reading a grammar guide, to doing much more with grammar like drills), and intensive reading/watching materials made in the language (looking up the key unknown stuff to understand the main ideas of the materials), and eventually extensive reading/watching things you understand the main idea of (once you can understand some material's main ideas without looking anything up). This general study approach has been done by many a traditional learner using textbooks, and many a self-study learner making up their own routine.

The positives: if you have no idea what to do, the advice to go find a premade sentences deck in anki for "1000-3000 common words for X language" and read a "grammar guide for X language" online, is a great bare bones plan to learn what you need for a foundation in the language. The other advice, to go immerse in the language with things you understand, or look up enough TO understand the material, also great advice on how to practice listening and reading skills.

The negatives: you'll have to come up with your own learning activities for speaking and writing, and it is much less structured than a textbook or class. Since you have to find your learning materials yourself (or make them yourself), and figure out for yourself what to use to immerse for listening/reading practice.

Some languages have wonderful people who have shared resources for the basic vocabulary and grammar, and shared the materials they used to immerse when they knew different amounts. Some people even shared the learning activities they did for speaking and writing. So if you can find those, it makes this general study plan easier to do. (This is where looking up things like "how I learned X language to Y goal" really comes in handy. If you pick a method like Refold, you can look up what a specific Refold learner used and did in order to reach a specific goal like your own, then use what they used and do what they did. This may make the lack of structure less of an issue - because you can sometimes copy another person's study plan, giving you more structure).

Brute force method - intensive reading: immediately start reading Graded Readers (these can be purchased, found free online, or in specialized apps), looking up unknown words and grammar. Over time, you will become familiar with 3000+ common words and basic grammar. Increase the difficulty of graded readers as you improve. Eventually start reading regular materials for native speakers, looking up enough unknown words/grammar to understand. This method will eventually teach you a foundation of vocabulary and grammar, so you can then go on to do other activities. Positives: this is a good option if you LOVE reading, are very motivated to read, WILL read, want to read ASAP. Drawbacks: you eventually need to practice listening (perhaps while reading), speaking, and writing if you have any goals outside of reading. After building a foundation, you'll likely want to add other learning activities to practice goals in the other 3 skills. (You may consider that this method works very well when done IN ADDITION to something else above, that might make initial study of the words/grammar more structured than immediately throwing yourself into reading. I did this method with French... after 1 beginner Course, to get some foundation, and some idea of other learning activities to practice the other 3 skills eventually. You can also see how this could work well alongside the Refold method, or any using a basic reference for common vocabulary and grammar to study at the same time).

For example: if you used ONLY LingQ (or for Chinese, only Readibu or Pleco) to learn your whole Foundation of basics.

Brute force method - intensive listening: same as the above but with listening. Initially use Comprehensible Input Lessons, and Podcasts for Learners. Look up unknown words and grammar. Over time, you become familiar with 3000+ common words and basic grammar, and move onto watching/listening to more difficult stuff. (You'll notice this is sort of like Dreaming spanish/comprehensible input, but you're looking tons of stuff up instead of waiting to learn things from only context). Positives: this is good if you want to LISTEN to stuff ASAP, can get yourself to listen, need listening skills okay ASAP. Drawbacks: same as above. You'll need to come up with your own learning exercises for the other 3 skills. (Maybe shadowing audio for speaking practice, reading transcripts/subs sometimes for reading practice, making up your own sentences spoken/written from what you heard recently - or trying to summarize what you heard by writing/speaking).

Brute force method - tons of conversation: You guessed it! This will involve a LOT of looking things up. (This also, like many of the above, pairs well with using sentence example anki/lists, textbooks, phrasebooks...pretty much any study plan you do, you can mix and match whatever learning activities you want, it all works as long as you learn new stuff and practice what you learned). This could look like talking to a tutor who speaks entirely the language, and explains with pictures/gestures what they mean (crosstalk), and trying to respond back in that language by mimicking them and making sentences like theirs. This could look like looking up how to say exactly what you want to say (translating, word lists, grammar examples, a phrasebook with dialogues on the topics), writing it down, then practicing saying it out loud over and over. Then, once you've done that with enough topics, practicing saying them out loud with tutors or language exchange partners. (I haven't read Benny Lewis's fluent in 3 months books but when I glanced at them, this is kind of the learning strategy). This will make you conversational in the topics you want to be able to handle ASAP. Do it enough, and you'll eventually know around 3000+ common words and basic grammar. At that point, like any of the other methods, you'll eventually need to go practice the other language skills more (writing, reading, listening). Depending on how good you got with conversations, you can do a lot of that practice WITHIN conversations: speaking to more people about broader topics/more in depth and listening to more speakers, messaging them through writing, reading their responses. This may be a good option for those who want to talk ASAP with people, who want to spend a majority of their time learning by conversing with others (or in order to be able to).

Language Lords video on learning French in 30 Days is an example of this study plan. (he did 8 hours a day x 30 days, 240 hours, I don't think he's fluent as in C1 I think he focused on speaking skills and built a beginner foundation, so my guess is he built a Foundation... and since he focused on conversation he can probably continue learning by conversing more, but since he has a foundation he could also go on to learn by practicing the other skills).

There's also SO MANY OTHER WAYS TO LEARN! THERE'S ENDLESS WAYS TO BUILD A FOUNDATION OF 1000-3000+ COMMON WORDS AND BASIC GRAMMAR YOU HAVE SOME FAMILIARITY WITH.

That's why there is no one answer. Everyone is different! has different goals, different activities they can get themselves to do!

Anything will work, IF you are regularly learning new stuff, and regularly practicing understanding and using the stuff you learned.