Once you have decided to learn a language, the next question you will likely face is: how should I be learning the language? Do I need textbooks to learn a language? Can I do it without textbooks? What are the pros and cons of using textbooks, and will it slow down my learning too much? This article discusses some aspects of language learning using textbooks you may not have considered to help you decide if textbooks are right for you.

It is a common experience that learning in schools involves a large amount of textbook reading and the completion of exercises. Language learning is no exception to this, leaving many would-be language learners hesitant due to prior experience learning with textbooks.

Textbooks can be incredibly useful in providing information about a new subject, but they can also be boring, dense, and difficult to understand. Textbooks are not required to learn a language but can be useful learning tools to enhance the learning process. There are pros and cons to using a textbook to learn a language, which should be considered before purchasing one.

If you don’t believe me, ask a 10-year-old how many textbooks they have read while growing up in order to learn their native language.

This doesn’t mean textbooks are not useful for learning a new language. You can depend on what your intention is with the language, and how confident you are at picking up grammatical aspects through trial and error. The type of book that you want to go for depends on factors such as your age, understanding of grammatical terms, and how new you are to this language.

The below information is more suited to those who are at least a little way into their language-learning journey and have a basic grasp of the language and some of the more common words used in that language.

Often you’ll find that there are different types of books that you could get for language learning, and there is hey mind-boggling amount of possibilities. These range from dual-language reading books, grammar books that focus only on the grammar of the language, and textbooks that give you some grammar but also discuss the culture of the country as well.

Quite often with new languages, you will need to learn tables of verb conjugation, and article and adjective endings, depending on the language. This will be the case no matter if you use a textbook or not.

I have given some of the pros and cons of using a textbook, and if you want to use a textbook to learn a language, there is a wide range of options that you will be able to consider.

If you have just begun learning a new language, I would recommend using a learning app such as Duolingo as a starting place. This is a great app for learning a language that will help you start learning at an easy pace and from the very beginning.

Once you have gotten the gist of basic words in the target language and have started to get a feel for some of the basic grammar structures, you could then start looking at a textbook.

The problem with using a textbook right from day dot is that you don’t have the basic words or experience in the language to be able to apply the grammatical rules that you are learning. Once you have some words under your belt you’ll be up to practice the grammatical rules at the same time to solidify your learning.

Effective Ways Of Using A Textbook

To Get An Overview Of Grammar

Depending on how you like to learn, it may be a great idea to flick through a textbook so that you have an overview of the grammatical concepts of the new language. This doesn’t mean doing an in-depth analysis of each individual concept, rather it is a shorter overview to familiarise yourself with the type of grammar that you are likely to experience.

The benefit of this is that when you do come across a grammatical concept that you don’t quite understand, you’ll have some awareness of what you need to look for in the textbook to give you information.

There’s nothing worse than being stuck by a grammatical concept and not knowing where to begin searching for information about it.

You can’t research something that you don’t know if you don’t know how to research it. This is a great benefit to having a textbook you have already flicked through so that you can get a pointer in the direction to start finding the answer.

To Help Solidify Grammatical Knowledge

There’s a difference between the ability to speak or write fluently in a language, and being able to explain to someone else why a particular sentence is done the way it is. This is usually not something we can do very well in our native language, because we (usually) haven’t sat down with a grammar book to learn the specific grammatical rules.

For example, could you explain to someone why something is described as the “old running red fox”, rather than the “red running old fox”?

The need for grammatical knowledge can depend on what you want to do with your language skills. Are you wanting to only go out and socialize with friends and family and travel? You probably won’t need to do much formal writing or speaking so knowing lots of grammar may not be needed.

If you are not needing to write or speak in a formal or official setting, you may be able to skip the grammar books altogether. To do this, however, you would need to find a substitute for the grammar book, which would be immersion and living in the country.

By living around native speakers for long enough, you will pick up the grammatical rules in the same way you did with your native language as a child. You won’t be able to explain why a sentence is how it is, but you will know which version sounds wrong and pick the correct option.

Disadvantages Of Using A Textbook

Learning To Repeat Language Rather Than Create Language

The fun in language and communication is that the world is your oyster. You can say whatever you want to whomever you want! Enter textbooks and phrasebooks. You will learn specific phrases and responses, which is great for learning how grammar works and often-used sentences and colloquialisms.

Make sure you don’t fall into the trap of relying on phrases from your textbook and losing the ability to create your own sentences!

The way to avoid this is to have a healthy balance between learning set phrases that you will often use and practising the creation of other sentences by yourself. This ensures you retain the grammatical structure of the phrases you are learning and are able to reproduce similar sentences by yourself when it’s required.

Getting Too Overwhelmed with Grammar Too Early

There is a fine line between learning grammar, and learning vocabulary, particularly at the early stages of learning a language. One of the common pitfalls of using textbooks is getting too overwhelmed with the sheer amount of grammar that may need to be learned, without having a solid base of vocabulary to back up the grammar.

Having a command of some of the most common words, as well as the writing system, before getting too in-depth with a textbook and grammar will be of great benefit.

There is not a lot of point to understanding all of the grammar of the language, but not actually being able to use the grammar the lack of vocabulary. You will also find that many grammar books will give you information about obscure, rare situations as well as grammar that is almost outdated or only used on formal occasions. You won’t need to know all of the grammar to communicate well.

You are more likely to be understood if you make grammatical mistakes but have all the words, rather than being grammatically perfect but not having the words to express yourself.

I address the next part the best time when you should start using a textbook so that you can avoid this pitfall. It is easy for new language learners to go too hard too early and burn out, rather than taking their time and pacing themselves.

When Should I Start Using A Textbook?

It’s all well and good to know that you want to use a textbook to learn a language. But what about the best time to start using them?

A great rule of thumb is to start using a textbook at about the time that you start finding sentences containing words you know, but using grammatical constructs that are new.

Recommended Text Books

When first starting a language, I’ll often look online to find guides and information about the more common grammatical structures of the language. Until I am able to reach this level, I don’t tend to buy too many textbooks. If I am looking for some extra support I will see what kind of books my local library has to get me into the intermediate level of the language.

I have found that my current go-to textbook for language learning are textbooks called Modern [Language] Grammar: A Practical Guide. An example of this for German is the Modern German Grammar: A Practical Guide and the associated workbook.

NOTE: these books are expensive, and were not the first books that I reached for when I started my language-learning journey in German. I’ve now reached a place in my German skills where I am able to start looking at the finer grammatical details of the language. Starting a new language with these books is completely doable, so long as you do not let yourself be overwhelmed by the number of grammatical terms and rules that are discussed. A book that you can go to for some lighter reading and some more day-to-day grammar, specifically for German, is the German Handbook.

These books contain an incredibly wide range of grammatical information and go much more in-depth than any class could do. Alongside the textbook, there is a grammatical workbook that contains questions directly relating to the grammatical concept.

What is even better, is that the second half of the grammar books contain a wealth of information on using the language in specific circumstances. For example, social contexts (ie: introductions, saying goodbye, expressing commiseration), describing objects with particular phrases, giving reasons and purpose, expressing needs wishes, and desires, etc. I find that rarely do I need to look further to understand or practice a particular grammatical concept beyond this book.

I’ve found that these textbooks also give a wide range of sentences, with the right wide range of complexity, while also being realistic. Other textbooks that I have experimented with can sometimes give sentences that feel forced, or simply give sentences to practice that wouldn’t be used in a real-world situation.

Practising multiple sentences after learning a grammatical concept is an important method of solidifying learning.

Have a look around and find what textbooks suit you – you’ll be spoilt for choices. Although this book works for me, it is by no means the only book available.