hi my name is Elysse DaVega, i've studied over 10 languages, and you might be wondering:
how expensive is it to do that? is language learning an expensive hobby? is it a hobby
that even the most humble person could maintain? i say yes. i am of a very humble background myself,
my parents were both workers.. i definitely don't have a job. [they ask you how you are and--] i'm
still holding it down. y'all know, you know, we pull through. we make do. you could definitely,
you know, theoretically learn a language for free, but money is undoubtedly a catalyst
in that process because it provides you with resources and opportunities like private classes,
or books, or applications to work with on your phone. why did i just say applications? what is
this? apps. language apps. even travel, you know, if you consider that part of the whole language
learning shebang. i feel like finances and money is a tab-- well like, not taboo, but it's a topic
in the language learning community that's not talked about enough. you know, people that learn
languages with paid resources definitely have an advantage over people that don't, so that's what
i'm going to talk about today: how much i spend on language learning every month, and how much you
should expect to spend based on what you want. so let's look at my wallet. so, first up is language
classes. i take only virtual language classes, i don't really do any in-person courses or anything
like that. two platforms that i primarily use to do this are italki and Lingoda. i would say italki
is more of like the primary one just because you pay per lesson, no strings, whatever. private and
group language classes are consistently my biggest expense because i'm a person that prioritizes
speaking in my language learning. that's just what's most important to me, you know, being able
to communicate with people face to face. so it makes sense that that's going to rack up like the
biggest charge month to month. and taking language lessons is not objectively expensive or cheap,
you know, there's a ton of factors that are going to influence how much you pay. that could be the
platform, so if you're taking lessons on Lingoda, they charge a flat rate per lesson. but if you
take lessons on italki, the tutors there, they make their own prices. and let's go a bit further
with that, so if you take classes on italki, since the tutors make their own prices, you're probably
going to pay more for a lesson in German-- because that person likely lives in Germany--
than if the person is teaching you Brazilian Portuguese and lives in Brazil, because they have
to pay different costs of living. it also depends on your intention and your approach, so you know,
if you're being an intensive learner and take 10 lessons a month, you're going to pay MORE* than
a person that's just chilling and paying three or four lessons a month, just for practice. god,
my fridge is so noisy. i'm sorry. i would unplug it but, you know, i like my juice to be cold. and
of course you can practice speaking for free with a language partner or friends if you have
them. i do not have any friends, so.. kidding. but you know, i prefer the experience better
of a language lesson because the dynamic is a lot clearer. not to be selfish, but it's all about me,
and my mistakes, and my questions and my concerns in the language. and i'm not constantly worrying
about like "are we splitting the time evenly enough? am i speaking to them too much in my
native language? when are we gonna switch to my target language?" you know? all that stuff, i just
prefer the experience of working with a tutor because you know, 100% of the time they're not
afraid to correct you. i'm getting a bit off the rails here, but let's talk about how much i spent
on online language lessons in 2021. so i went to italki and totaled up all the lessons that i took.
i only took 20 lessons last year, the entire year, but it was because i was traveling a lot and i was
also still in university, so you know.. so last year my total was 269 dollars for the entire year.
that's about 22 dollars per month. but it is kind of hard to like qualify a monthly rate, you know,
because the way i take lessons and the frequency that i take lessons really does vary. like back in
April when i was just starting with Turkish, you know, i was not taking speaking lessons because i
didn't really think it would be fruitful at that time. i could really only say a couple of things,
so why do it, you know? but, um... what's the word i'm looking for.. en cambio, like,
on the other hand... on the other hand! so on the other hand, this upcoming month of July i'm taking
a ton of lessons because i'm actually studying three languages in July. and those are Turkish,
German and Portuguese. i'll make a video on that, so don't worry, but money-wise i'm planning to
take eight Turkish lessons this month for nine dollars each, so that's 72. three German lessons
for 16 each so that's 48. and three lessons in Brazilian Portuguese for nine dollars each,
which makes 27. so if i add those up correctly that makes 147 a month. keep in mind, that is very
unusual for me. i typically only take four to five speaking lessons a month, so i pretty much
average anywhere from 45 to 65 a month on language lessons. and yes, i am aware that 45 to 65 is
still a lot of money for people, depending on what country you live in and what currency you use. but
for me as a person that lives in Indiana, my rent is very cheap, and language learning is my
like utmost like primary hobby. so if i'm gonna spend money on something every month, i'm gonna
spend money on that. it's just my priority, so... that doesn't mean that it's not a priority if you
don't spend that much money on it, but you know, i do like to nurture my hobbies. and if you don't
want to spend any money, you can take your ass to a language exchange app. that is always an option,
no shame. i really respect people that learn solely with language exchange, because
having to deal with time zones constantly.. i can't do it. so, talking about apps. apps can be a
super useful tool for you if you just want to review on the go, maybe you don't have enough
time to sit down and properly study, but you still want to maintain that commitment. i respect you,
okay? i would say a typical range for a language learning app is anywhere from 7.99 to 13.99 a
month US dollars, depending on what they're offering. it's going to differ, but you know,
if an app asks you for more than 13.99 i would start to be like, salaveeeerga, vuela o qué?
you know? really consider the features of an app, and whether they're worth that money
for you. and only give your money to apps that you really believe in, okay? okay. so when it
comes to language learning apps there's of course free apps like for example Duolingo where you can
use the entire app for free. it's just, you know, you can pay extra for like extra hearts
in the case that you make a mistake during your lesson or something like that. and then there's
freemium which, i would say this is like the most common-- where you can use some features for free,
but if you want like the dope stuff, the really cool stuff, you got to pay for it. a good example
of this is Clozemaster. so you can use the app for free, you can use their sets for free, but if you
want to make your own sets, or if you want to use features like the slow speak or saving sentences,
you gotta pay for that. and then, i actually have a question: are there membership-only apps?
i assume there has to be at least some out there, you know? apps where you pay right from the start
for everything. i don't use any like these, but if you guys know any that you actually like
why not leave them down below? let me know. and like i said, you know, freemium is definitely the
most common type of app because it's rare that an app is not going to ask you for any money at all
these days. but it's also kind of rare that an app would ask you up-front for a subscription without
you being able to try out its features to see if you like them first. so that's why freemium really
is the sweet spot. honestly, it's like the most genius marketing idea ever next to bogo. you know,
you get us hooked on your little app, and THEN you ask for the 5.99 a month, like what? god damn.
so i'm currently only using two language apps and those would be Clozemaster and Busuu.
i pay 8.99 a month for the former and 10.99 a month for the latter. i've actually also made
videos about both of these apps, so if you want to see what they're like and see if maybe you'd like
to try them for yourself, go give them a watch. they are longtime favorites of mine. seriously,
i started using Busuu when the logo looked like this, and it looked like microsoft paint. so back
in 2013, y'all know what i'm talking about. so with these two i'm spending 20 months-- 20 months?
20 dollars a month on language learning apps. but for me it does fluctuate. i'm thinking of dropping
Busuu for a little bit just because i haven't been using it as much as i would like to. so that's
why i don't get a yearly subscription, i just get month to month. if you do find a language learning
app that you really do enjoy, though, i would suggest getting the yearly subscription. because
most times you can save a lot of money that way. like if you pay nine dollars a month every month
for Clozemaster, you're gonna pay 108 dollars a year. but if you get the yearly subscription,
it's only 69.99. so, saving almost 40 dollars there. it can seem overwhelming to drop seventy
dollars at once on something like an application on your phone, like... that's not even real. i
could literally buy food for my whole family with seventy dollars. but you know, like,
if you're using it every day or every week, constantly getting your money's worth, i think
that's worth it. but i am both broke and decisive, so i will be staying with my monthly subscriptions
right now. moving on to books! baby, this is gonna be a short section because i am not a book kind
of girl i can't read, bitch. no, i can read, but i just prefer other materials better, like
audio materials, visual materials like books.. no. movies, not books. hehe. even though books are not
my favorite material, i think it's a great thing to implement into your language learning routine,
you know? whether it's a textbook to show you around the language and teach you the grammar,
or just like a novel to help you with your reading comprehension? great idea. all right, i went and
got em. remind me never to sit on the floor when i record videos again, because my knees?
oH my god they hurt. i wasn't really sure how to quantify this in my case, because books are not
like a monthly expense for me. it's kind of just a one-off, sporadic, every-once-in-a-while kind
of thing, but i will talk about my most recent book purchase which was, i think, the beginning
of 2021? it's this Turkisch für Anfänger textbook. it's a textbook in German to help me with Turkish,
because i thought it would be fun to try out the laddering method and try to teach myself
Turkish through German. but this book cost me.. i went on German Amazon to get this book, and i
think it was somewhere around like 40 to 45 euros. which is.. i don't remember, was it dollars? i'll
put the screenshot on the screen. i don't remember exactly, but which i think that's a pretty typical
price. that's a very reasonable price. my sister bought me this beginner's Georgian book on Amazon
for like 25 dollars, so i would say a reasonable range for language textbooks is anywhere from 25
to maybe 45 or 50 dollars. and keep in mind, you don't have to buy language books new! you
can also get them second hand you know German Grammar Drills, she had to make an appearance.
i put this book literally in all of my videos. i would not be alive today if it were not for this
book. and i got it for eight dollars, bitch. so thriftbooks, thank you very much. so in closing,
i only have two consistent monthly expenses related to language learning every month,
and those are online lessons and of course app subscriptions. and this totals from 65
to 85 dollars a month. 65 to 85 dollars a month is a good chunk of cash, i will say,
but you know, language learning.. i feel like it's just like my highest passion, my highest calling,
mein Anspruch, whatever you want to say. and it pays my bills, because i'm a language Youtuber.
so you know? you got to put some in to get some out, i think. you don't have to spend money to be
a good language learner. you don't have to spend a single cent, theoretically. you know i really do
like that video that Ikenna made like a lifetime ago about how to learn a language completely for
free. he does give a lot of good recommendations in that video, so don't let this scare you,
you know? it doesn't "cost that much" to learn languages every month. it's just the money that
i choose to pay for what i want to get out of it. i want to start doing a question of the day
at the end of all my videos, or at least my sit down videos. so question of the day: how much do
you spend every month on language learning, if you're comfortable sharing that? if you're not
comfortable sharing that, no issue. you can just tell me what do you think about spending money on
language learning? do you think it's necessary? do you think that you could reach a good level
relatively quickly in a language without investing any money? whatever you think, let me know down
below. i will be responding to comments, i try to respond to every single comment. sometimes it
gets tough, but i try. if you liked the video, give it a thumbs up and consider subscribing!
why not? why the hell not? give me a reason. if you want to follow me on my social media,
it's just @elyssedavega on everything. catch you next time, stay healthy, and see you soon. bye.