University courses so you cant just fuck around.

Get an app like Duolingo, anki or memrise for vocabulary learning. Then get a learning book that teaches you grammar and stuff, then get easy books to read. That's the introvert's way.

You could also sign up for a course or get a teacher. Or both.

Just buy a basic grammar book for your target language and download a bunch of Anki decks for that language. I recommend getting the anki deck "4000 most frequent in [insert language]", the vocab decks for whatever CEFR level you are currently on as well as the decks for the next 1-2 CEFR levels. Once you are at such a high enough level that you can understand basic writing in your TL, you can start to immerse yourself in media. Remember to always put a "price" on your media consumption (e.g. I will let myself watch this episode after 500 card repetitions).

 

It is also important to focus on "high yield grammar" at the beginning. Focus on the most important grammar constructions (these are usually the tenses, sentence structure, cases, and conjugations) and don't try to memorize all the little exceptions to grammar rules, those will come with immersion.

 

Also: don't waste your time on output too much. Studies have shown that practicing writing in your Target Language is less efficient at improving your writing than simply reading complex, grammatically difficult texts. If one wants to get better at writing in a second language, one must reading complex, challenging texts rather than practicing your own writing.

 

duolingo is a corporate language game that tries to get you to watch ads, not learn a language. It's not a good resource. It is much better to use a flashcard app and then immerse yourself in comprehensible input (listening to radio, browing the internet, reading books in your TL) than using Duolingo. Besides, it is much more enjoyable that way. I recommend learning about whatever culture you language comes from by reading books and articles about said culture. I enjoy reading about the Baltic Germans in German to practice input (see pic rel.)

 

Uni courses are a mixed bag. If you are learning a language radically different from your native language (In OP's case, any non-Indo European language) it is worth it, otherwise, don't waste your time. The "red languages" on the map in pic rel might be worth taking a uni course for. If you set aside chunked time every day, it is easy to stay disciplined. In my case, I usually do an hour of Anki repetitions at the end of the day, before I go to bed (humans remember things better when the learn them right before sleep).

 

I am currently learning German by reading the book "German: an essential grammar" and doing the anki decks "Goethe A1", "Goethe A2", "Goethe B1" as well as "German: 4000 words by freqency". This totals out to around 80 new words per day and 560 new words per week and requires 1 hr a day for vocab and ~30 mins for grammar study. I allow myself to browse /deutsch/ and /r/De after I have completed my anki study. If I come across a German word that I don't know on the internet, I deepl translate it and repeat it in my head until I have memorized it.

Thanks for recommending anki, I will give it a try. Dog bless Bernd

I forgot to add, all languages are inseparable from culture. The way that we speak influences the way that we think (see: the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis). Likewise, the way that a group of people speaks influences the way that they think as a whole. Even conlangs languages like Esperanto have their own (sub)cultures (e.g. Esperantujo). Choose a language whose culture interests you, and you will always have intrinsic motivation. If you are learning a language just for personal gain (e.g. wanting to put in on a resume) rather than an actual interest, you will likely quit when learning gets hard.

 

Additionally, learning the culture and custmos of your TL helps you view the language from a wider perspective. Languages are dynamic tools that are deeply connected to their role in their community of speakers. The role in which a language is used influences the very core of the language itself. For instance, Biblical and liturgical Hebrew don't have words for "sex" on purpose, as they were considered holy languages.

 

In my case, I read several books about German culture and customs to see how the German language is used in German society.