4 Things Need to Know to Select Only One Book to Learn Any Languages

When I started to learn Czech as my third language, I completely got lost in the middle of different books, videos, methods, and online courses. I did not know which one is better. I started reading some of them, which led to confusion and distraction. As time went by, I felt that staying in the middle of many learning materials is a waste of time. One morning, I sat on my chair and looked at the content of all my eBooks and selected one of them. I made a promise to read it through, and it was life-changing!

What was my reason behind this decision? because I understood "mastering one book is significantly better than having a smattering of many books (my own thought)."

I can guess what you are thinking about at the moment; how did I choose that specific book? The following is a summary of key points to select only one book to study.

The book:

1. Should be in English. I know some excellent course books are written entirely in a new language without any words in English. In self-study of a complicated language, however, reading some information in English can help out and make you able to grasp essential parts hands down. Therefore, I selected a book teaching Czech in English, which made the learning process faster and easier.
2. Should be a single-volume one. In fact, this criterion is more mentally. One start point and stop point (for one book) are more achievable for the mind despite the fact that sometimes the volume of one book is more than a total volume of, for example, six books (a Multivolume course book). Thereby having a mountain to climb seemed more attainable for me. Having one book instead of piles of books distracts and demotivates you to a lesser degree.
3. Should be a comprehensive one. Since it’s just one book to be read at the beginning of digesting a new language, it would be better to be a reference guide to grammar and words simultaneously. Select a book covering colloquial dialogues, grammar, terms, and expression structures, not just focusing on one of them. Unarguably studying a word book or grammar book helps you in acquiring detailed knowledge in the subject. Keep in mind that you have no prior knowledge of the language in the first steps; on this account, looking at the whole picture of the language (a book covering both word and grammar teaching materials) can provide a better basis for more future detailed information.
4. Should come with audio. Nowadays, dictionaries with audio pronunciation and Google Translate are of great help for training your ears with a foreign language. Still, the point is that books with audio companions are far greater for your auditory memory. You can easily listen to it many times, even when you are running, cooking, or cleaning. Searching pronunciation word by word, in comparison, needs free time, free hands, and in brief more effort. Don’t ignore the fact that listening should be seriously considered from the first day of learning a new language. Thus, a book coming with audio is a necessity for efficient learning.

If you could find one sort of comprehensive book in English with audio companions for your language of interest, focus on studying it having no worries about the other resources and their differences. Each book has its pros and cons. However, selecting a book by taking the above-mentioned points into account provides you a noticeable knowledge and a kind of accomplishment that amazes you with just one book!