Learn Hebrew : In only 1 week!The ultimate course to learning
the basic of Hebrew Language in a time record 5000 words
Memrise encourages you to create a mnemonic, which it calls a
"mem", for every word you want to learn. A mem could be a rhyme, an
image, a video or just a note about the word's etymology, or
something striking about its pronunciation. In the case of
languages such as French and Chinese, where there are thousands of
people learning it at any one time, you can browse through a
catalogue of mems created by other members of the Memrise
community. This is especially fun for Chinese, where users have
uploaded videos of various logographic characters morphing into
cartoons of the words they represent.
---
Preface by Tim Ferriss
Ive written about how I learned to speak, read, and write
Japanese, Mandarin, and Spanish. Ive also covered my experiments
with German, Indonesian, Arabic, Norwegian, Turkish, and perhaps a
dozen others.
There are only few language learners who dazzle me, and Benny
Lewis is one of them.
This definitive guest post by Benny will teach you:
How to speak your target language today.How to reach fluency and
exceed it within a few months.How to pass yourself off as a native
speaker.And finally, how to tackle multiple languages to become a
polyglotall within a few years, perhaps as little as 1-2.It
contains TONS of amazing resources I never even knew existed,
including the best free apps and websites for becoming fluent in
record time. Want to find a native speaker to help you for $5 per
hour? Free resources and memory tricks? Its all here.
This is a post you all requested, so I hope you enjoy it!
Enter Benny
You are either born with the language-learning gene, or you
arent. Luck of the draw, right? At least, thats what most people
believe.
I think you can stack the deck in your favor. Years ago, I was a
language learning dud. The worst in my German class in school, only
able to speak English into my twenties, and even after six entire
months living in Spain, I could barely muster up the courage to ask
where the bathroom was in Spanish.
But this is about the point when I had an epiphany, changed my
approach, and then succeeded not only in learning Spanish, but in
getting a C2 (Mastery) diploma from the Instituto Cervantes,
working as a professional translator in the language, and even
being interviewed on the radio in Spanish to give travel tips.
Since then, I moved on to other languages, and I can now speak more
than a dozen languages to varying degrees between conversational
and mastery.
It turns out, there is no language-learning gene, but there are
tools and tricks for faster learning
As a polyglotsomeone who speaks multiple languagesmy world has
opened up. I have gained access to people and places that I never
otherwise could have reached. Ive made friends on a train in China
through Mandarin, discussed politics with a desert dweller in
Egyptian Arabic, discovered the wonders of deaf culture through
ASL, invited the (female) president of Ireland to dance in Irish
(Gaeilge) and talked about it on live Irish radio, interviewed
Peruvian fabric makers about how they work in Quechua, interpreted
between Hungarian and Portuguese at a social event and well, had an
extremely interesting decade traveling the world.
Such wonderful experiences are well within the reach of many of
you.
Since you may be starting from a similar position to where I was
(monolingual adult, checkered history with language learning, no
idea where to start), Im going to outline the tips that worked best
for me as I went from zero to polyglot.
This very detailed post should give you everything you need to
know.
So, lets get started!
#1 Learn the right words, the right way.Starting a new language
means learning new words. Lots of them.Of course, many people cite
a bad memory for learning new vocab, so they quit before even
getting started.
Butheres the keyyou absolutely do not need to know all the words
of a language to speak it (and in fact, you dont know all the words
of your mother tongue either).
As Tim pointed out in his own post on learning any language in 3
months, you can take advantage of the Pareto principle here, and
realize that 20% of the effort you spend on acquiring new vocab
could ultimately give you 80% comprehension in a languagefor
instance, in English just 300 words make up 65% of all written
material. We use those words a lot, and thats the case in every
other language as well.
You can find pre-made flash card decks of these most frequent
words (or words themed for a subject you are more likely to talk
about) for studying on the Anki app (available for all computer
platforms and smartphones) that you can download instantly. Good
flashcard methods implement a spaced repetition system (SRS), which
Anki automates. This means that rather than go through the same
list of vocabulary in the same order every time, you see words at
strategically spaced intervals, just before you would forget
them.
Tim himself likes to use color-coded physical flashcards; some
he purchases from Vis-Ed, others he makes himself. He showed me an
example when I interviewed him about how he learns languages in the
below video.
Though this entire video can give you great insight into Tims
language learning approach, the part relevant to this point is at
27:40 (full transcript here).
)#2 Learn cognates: your friend in every single language.
Believe it or not, you alreadyright nowhave a huge head start in
your target language. With language learning you always know at
least some words before you ever begin. Starting a language from
scratch is essentially impossible because of the vast amount of
words you know already through cognates.
Cognates are true friends of words you recognize from your
native language that mean the same thing in another language.
For instance, Romance languages like French, Spanish,
Portuguese, Italian, and others have many words in common with
English. English initially borrowed them from the Norman conquest
of England, which lasted several hundreds of years. Action, nation,
precipitation, solution, frustration, tradition, communication,
extinction, and thousands of other -tion words are spelled exactly
the same in French, and you can quickly get used to the different
pronunciation. Change that -tion to a -cin and you have the same
words in Spanish. Italian is -zione and Portuguese is -o.
Many languages also have words that share a common (Greek/Latin
or other) root, which can be spelled slightly differently, but that
youd have to try hard not to recognize, such as exemple, hlicoptre
(Fr), porto, capitano (Italian) astronoma, and Saturno (Spanish).
German goes a step further and has many words from Englishs past
that it shares.
To find common words with the language you are learning, simply
search for [language name] cognates or [language name] English loan
words to see words they borrowed from us, and finally [language
name] words in English to see words we borrowed from them.
Thats all well and good for European languages, but what about
more distant ones?
Well, it turns out that even languages as different as Japanese
can have heaps of very familiar vocabulary. To show you what I
mean, have a listen to this song (to the tune of Animaniacs Nations
of the World), which is sung entirely in Japanese, and yet you
should understand pretty much everything that I and the other
Japanese learners are singing:
)This is because many languages simply borrow English words and
integrate them into the new language with altered pronunciation or
stress.
So to make my life easy when I start learning a language, one of
the first word lists I try to consume is a list of cognates, or
English loan words, which can be found quickly for pretty much any
language.
#3 Interact in your language daily without traveling.
Another reason (or excuse, depending on how you look at it)
people cite for not learning languages is that they cant visit a
country where its a native language. No time, no money, etc.
Take it from methere is nothing in the air in another country
that will magically make you able to speak their language. Ive done
a lot of experiments to prove this (e.g. learning Arabic while
living in Brazil).
Ive met countless expats who lived abroad for years without
learning the local language. Living abroad and being immersed is
not the same thing. If you need to hear and use a language
consistently to be immersed, cant virtual immersion be just as
effective? Of course. Technology makes it possible for immersion to
come to you, and you dont even have to buy a plane ticket.
To hear the language consistently spoken, you can check out
TuneIn.com for a vast selection of live-streamed radio from your
country of choice. The app (free) also has a list of streamed radio
stations ordered by language.
To watch the language consistently, see whats trending on
Youtube in that country right now. Go to that countrys equivalent
URL for Amazon or Ebay (amazon.es, amazon.fr, amazon.co.jp, etc.)
and buy your favorite TV series dubbed in that language, or get a
local equivalent by seeing whats on the top charts. You may be able
to save shipping costs if you can find one locally that includes
dubbing in the appropriate language. Various news stations also
have plenty of video content online in specific languages, such as
France24, Deutsche Welle, CNN Espaol, and many others.
To read the language consistently, in addition to the news sites
listed above, you can find cool blogs and other popular sites on
Alexas ranking of top sites per country.
And if full-on immersion isnt your thing yet, theres even a
plugin for Chrome that eases you into the language by translating
some parts of the sites you normally read in English, to sprinkle
the odd word into your otherwise English reading.
#4 Skype today for daily spoken practice.
So youve been listening to, watching, and even reading in your
target languageand all in the comfort of your own home. Now its
time for the big one: speaking it live with a native.
One of my more controversial pieces of advice, but one that I
absolutely insist on when I advise beginners, is that you must
speak the language right away if your goals in the target language
involve speaking it.
Most traditional approaches or language systems dont work this
way, and I think thats where they let their students down. I say,
there are seven days in a week and some day is not one of them.
Heres what I suggest instead:
Use the pointers Ive given above to learn some basic vocabulary,
and be aware of some words you already know. Do this for a few
hours, and then set up an exchange with a native speakersomeone who
has spoken that language their whole life. You only have to learn a
little for your first conversation, but if you use it immediately,
youll see whats missing and can add on from there. You cant study
in isolation until you are vaguely ready for interaction.
In those first few hours, Id recommend learning some
pleasantries such as Hello, Thank you, Could you repeat that? or I
dont understand, many of which you will find listed out here for
most languages.
But waitwhere do you find a native speaker if you arent in the
country that speaks that language?
No problem! Thousands of native speakers are ready and waiting
for you to talk to them right now. You can get private lessons for
peanuts by taking advantage of currency differences. My favorite
site for finding natives is italki.com (connect with my profile
here), where Ive gotten both Chinese and Japanese one-on-one
Skype-based lessons for just $5 an hour.
If you still think you wouldnt be ready on day one, then
consider this: starting on Skype allows you to ease yourself in
gently by having another window (or application, like Word) open
during your conversation, already loaded with key words that you
can use for quick reference until you internalize them. You can
even reference Google Translate or a dictionary for that language
while you chat, so you can learn new words as you go, when you need
them.
Is this cheating? No. The goal is to learn to be functional, not
to imitate old traditional methods. Ive used the above shortcuts
myself, and after learning Polish for just one hour for a trip to
Warsaw to speak at TEDx about language learning, I was able to hold
up a conversation (incredibly basic as it was) in Polish for an
entire half hour.
I consider that a win.
)#5 Save your money. The best resources are free.
Other than paying for the undivided attention of a native
speaker, I dont see why youd need to spend hundreds of dollars on
anything in language learning. Ive tried Rosetta Stone myself and
wasnt impressed.
But there is great stuff out there. A wonderful and completely
free course that keeps getting better is DuoLingo - which I highly
recommend for its selection of European languages currently on
offer, with more on the way. To really get you started on the many
options available to help you learn your language without spending
a penny, let me offer plenty of other (good) alternatives:
The Foreign Service Institutes varied list of coursesThe
Omniglot Intro to languagesBBC languages intro to almost 40
different languagesAbouts language specific posts that explain
particular aspects of languages wellYou really do have plenty of
options when it comes to free resources, so I suggest you try out
several and see which ones work well for you. The aforementioned
italki is great for language exchanges and lessons, but My Language
Exchange and Interpals are two other options. You can take it
offline and see about language related meet-ups in your city
through The Polyglot Club, or the meet-ups pages on Couchsurfing,
meetup.com, and Internations. These meet-ups are also great
opportunities to meet an international crowd of fellow language
learning enthusiasts, as well as native speakers of your target
language, for practice.
But wait, theres more. You can get further completely free
language help on:
The huge database on Forvo, to hear any word or small expression
in many languages read aloud by a native of the languageRhinospike
to make requests of specific phrases youd like to hear pronounced
by a native speaker. If you cant find something on either of these
sites, Google Translate has a text-to-speech option for many
languages.Lang 8 to receive free written corrections.The
possibilities for free practice are endless.
#6 Realize that adults are actually better language learners
than kids.
Now that youre armed with a ton of resources to get started,
lets tackle the biggest problem. Not grammar, not vocabulary, not a
lack of resources, but handicapping misconceptions about your own
learning potential.
The most common I give up misconception is: Im too old to become
fluent.
Im glad to be the bearer of good news and tell you that research
has confirmed that adults can be better language learners than
kids. This study at the University of Haifa has found that under
the right circumstances, adults show an intuition for unexplained
grammar rules better than their younger counterparts. [Note from
Tim: This is corroborated by the book In Other Words and work by
Hakuta.]
Also, no study has ever shown any direct correlation between
reduced language acquisition skill and increased age. There is only
a general downward trend in language acquisition in adults, which
is probably more dependent on environmental factors that can be
changed (e.g. long job hours that crowd out study time). Something
my friend Khatzumoto (alljapaneseallthetime.com) once said that I
liked was, Babies arent better language learners than you; they
just have no escape routes.
As adults, the good news is that we can emulate the immersion
environment without having to travel, spend a lot of money, or
revert back to childhood.
#7 Expand your vocabulary with mnemonics.
Rote repetition isnt enough.
And while its true that repeated exposure sometimes burns a word
into your memory, it can be frustrating to forget a word that youve
already heard a dozen times.
For this, I suggest coming up with mnemonics about your target
word, which helps glue the word to your memory way more
effectively. Basically, you tell yourself a funny, silly, or
otherwise memorable story to associate with a particular word. You
can come up with the mnemonic yourself, but a wonderful (and free)
resource that I highly recommend is memrise.com.
For instance, lets say you are learning Spanish and cant seem to
remember that caber means to fit, no matter how many times you see
it. Why not come up with a clever association like the following
one I found on Memrise:
This [caber -> cab, bear -> fitting a bear in a cab]
association makes remembering the word a cinch.
It may sound like a lengthy process, but try it a few times, and
youll quickly realize why its so effective. And youll only need to
recall this hook a couple of times, and then you can ditch it when
the word becomes a natural part of your ability to use the language
quickly.
#8 Embrace mistakes.
Over half of the planet speaks more than one language.
This means that monolingualism is a cultural, not a biological,
consequence. So when adults (at least in the English speaking
world) fail at language learning, its not because they dont have
the right genes or other such nonsense. Its because the system they
have used to learn languages is broken.
Traditional teaching methods treat language learning just like
any other academic subject, based on an approach that has barely
changed since the days when Charles Dickens was learning Latin. The
differences between your native language (L1) and your target
language (L2) are presented as vocabulary and grammar rules to
memorize. The traditional idea: know them all and you know the
language. It seems logical enough, right?
The problem is that you cant ever truly learn a language, you
get used to it. Its not a thing that you know or dont know; its a
means of communication between human beings. Languages should not
be acquired by rote alonethey need to be used.
The way you do this as a beginner is to use everything you do
know with emphasis on communication rather than on perfection. This
is the pivotal difference. Sure, you could wait until you are ready
to say Excuse me kind sir, could you direct me to the nearest
bathroom? but Bathroom where? actually conveys the same essential
information, only removing superfluous pleasantries. You will be
forgiven for this directness, because its always obvious that you
are a learner.
Dont worry about upsetting native speakers for being so bold as
to speak to them in their own language.
One of the best things you can do in the initial stages is not
to try to get everything perfect, but to embrace making mistakes. I
go out of my way to make at least 200 mistakes a day! This way I
know I am truly using and practicing the language.
[TIM: I actually view part of my role as that of comedian or
court jesterto make native speakers chuckle at my Tarzan speak. If
you make people smile, it will make you popular, which will make
you enthusiastic to continue.]
#9 Create SMART goals.
Another failing of most learning approaches is a poorly defined
end-goal.
We tend to have New Years Resolutions along the lines of Learn
Spanish, but how do you know when youve succeeded? If this is your
goal, how can you know when youve reached it?
Vague end goals like this are endless pits (e.g. Im not ready
yet, because I havent learned the entire language).
S.M.A.R.T. goals on the other hand are Specific, Measurable,
Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
To start developing your SMART goal in a language, I highly
recommend you become somewhat familiar with the European Common
Framework that defines language levels. This framework provides you
with a way of setting specific language goals and measuring your
own progress.
In brief, A means beginner, B means intermediate, and C means
advanced, and each level is broken up into lower (1) and upper (2)
categories. So an upper beginner speaker is A2, and a lower
advanced speaker is C1. As well as being Specific, these levels are
absolutely Measurable because officially recognized institutions
can test you on them and provide diplomas (no course enrollment
necessary) in German, French, Spanish, Irish, and each other
official European language. While the same scale is not used, you
can also get tested in a similar way in Chinese and Japanese.
So what do you aim for? And what do words like fluency and
mastery mean on a practical level?
Ive talked to many people to try to pinpoint the
never-agreed-upon understanding of fluency, and Ive found that it
tends to average out around the B2 level (upper intermediate). This
effectively means that you have social equivalency with your native
language, which means that you can live in your target language in
social situations in much the same way that you would in your
native language, such as casual chats with friends in a bar, asking
what people did over the weekend, sharing your aspirations and
relating to people.
Since we are being specific, its also important to point out
that this does not require that you can work professionally in a
language (in my case, as an engineer or public speaker, for
instance). That would be mastery level (generally C2).
Though Ive reached the C2 stage myself in French, Spanish and am
close to it in other languages, realistically I only really need to
be socially equivalent in a language I want to communicate in. I
dont need to work in other languages. Its essential that you keep
your priorities clear to avoid frustration. Most of the time, just
target B2.
To make your specific goal Attainable, you can break it down
further. For example, Ive found that the fluency (B2) level can be
achieved in a matter of months, as long as you are focused on the
spoken aspect.
In phonetic languages (like most European ones), you can
actually learn to read along with speaking, so you get this
effectively for free. But realistically, we tend to write emails
and text messagesnot essayson a day-to-day basis (unless you are a
writer by trade, and you may not have those goals with your L2).
Focusing on speaking and listening (and maybe reading) makes
fluency in a few months much more realistic.
Finally, to make your project Time-bound, I highly recommend a
short end-point of a few months.
Keeping it a year or more away is far too distant, and your
plans may as well be unbound at that point. Three months has worked
great for me, but 6 weeks or 4 months could be your ideal point.
Pick a definite point in the not too distant future (summer
vacation, your birthday, when a family member will visit), aim to
reach your target by this time, and work your ass off to make it
happen.
To help you be smarter with your goals, make sure to track your
progress and use an app like Lift to track completing daily
essential tasks.
You can join the Lift plan for language learning that I wrote
for their users here.
#10 Jump from Conversational (B1) to Mastery (C2).
The way I reach spoken fluency quickly is to get a hell of a lot
of spoken practice.
From day one to day 90 (and beyond), I speak at least an hour a
day in my L2, and my study time is tailored around the spoken
sessions to make sure that my conversation is whats improvingnot
just my general language skills through some vague list of words I
may never use.
So, for instance, I may start a session by asking what my native
friend or teacher did over the weekend, and tell them what I did.
Then I will share something that is on my mind lately and attempt
to express my opinion on it, or allow the native speaker to
introduce a new topic. Its important to take an active role and
make sure you are having varied conversations. Have a list of
topics you would like to discuss and bring them up (your hobbies,
hopes for the future, dislikes, what you will do on your vacation
etc.) and make sure the conversation is constantly progressing.
Lots of practice and study to improve those spoken sessions
tends to get me to lower intermediate (B1) level, which means I can
understand the other person speaking to me fine as long as they are
willing to speak clearly and adjust to my level and mistakes. Its a
LOT of work, mind you! On typical learning days I can be filled
with frustration or feel like my brain is melting whenin factIm
truly making a lot of progress.
But the work is totally worth it when you have your first
successful conversation with a native speaker. Youll be thrilled
beyond belief.
To see what this B1 level looks like, check out these videos of
me chatting to a native in Arabic (in person with my italki
teacher!), and in Mandarin with my friend Yangyang about how she
got into working as a TV show host:
) )At this level, I still make plenty of mistakes of course, but
they dont hinder communication too much.
But to get over that plateau of just good enough, this is the
point where I tend to return to academic material and grammar
books, to tidy up what I have. I find I understand the grammar much
better once Im already speaking the language. This approach really
works for me, but there is no one best language-learning approach.
For instance, Tim has had great success by grammatically
deconstructing a language right from the start. Your approach will
depend entirely on your personality.
After lots of exercises to tidy up my mistakes at the B1 level,
I find that I can break into B2.
At the B2 stage you can really have fun in the language! You can
socialize and have any typical conversation that youd like.
To get into the mastery C1/C2 levels though, the requirements
are very different. Youll have to start reading newspapers,
technical blog posts, or other articles that wont exactly be light
reading.
To get this high-level practice, Ive subscribed to newspapers on
my Kindle that I try to read every day from various major news
outlets around the world. Here are the top newspapers in Europe,
South America and Asia. After reading up on various topics, I like
to get an experienced professional (and ideally pedantic) teacher
to grill me on the topic, to force me out of my comfort zone, and
make sure Im using precisely the right words, rather than simply
making myself understood.
To show you what a higher level looks like, here is a chat I had
with my Quebec Couchsurfer about the fascinating cultural and
linguistic differences between Quebec and France (I would have been
at a C1 level at this stage):
)Reaching the C2 level can be extremely difficult.
For instance, I sat a C2 exam in German, and managed to hold my
ground for the oral component, when I had to talk about
deforestation for ten minutes, but I failed the exam on the
listening component, showing me that I needed to be focused and pay
attention to complicated radio interviews or podcasts at that level
if I wanted to pass the exam in future.
#11 Learn to sound more native.
At C2, you are as good as a native speaker in how you can work
and interact in the language, but you may still have an accent and
make the odd mistake.
I have been mistaken for a native speaker of my L2 several times
(in Spanish, French and Portuguese including when I was still at
the B2/fluent level), and I can say that its a lot less related to
your language level, and more related to two other factors.
First, your accent/intonation
Accent is obvious; if you cant roll your R in Spanish you will
be recognized as a foreigner instantly.
Your tongue muscles are not set in their ways forever, and you
can learn the very few new sounds that your L2 requires that you
learn. Time with a native, a good Youtube video explaining the
sounds, and practice for a few hours may be all that you need!
What is much more important, but often overlooked, is
intonationthe pitch, rise, fall, and stress of your words. When I
was writing my book, I interviewed fellow polyglot Luca who is very
effective in adapting a convincing accent in his target languages.
For this, intonation is pivotal.
Luca trains himself from the very start to mimic the musicality
and rhythm of a languages natives by visualizing the sentences. For
instance, if you really listen to it, the word France sounds
different in I want to go to France (downward intonation) and
France is a beautiful country (intonation raising upwards). When
you repeat sentences in your L2, you have to mimic the musicality
of them.
My own French teacher pointed out a mistake I was making along
these same lines.
I was trying to raise my intonation before pauses, which is a
feature of French that occurs much more frequently than in English,
but I was overdoing it and applying it to the ends of sentences as
well. This made my sentences sound incomplete, and when my teacher
trained me to stop doing this, I was told that I sounded way more
French.
You can make these changes by focusing on the sounds of a
language rather than just on the words.
Truly listen to and and mimic audio from natives, have them
correct your biggest mistakes and drill the mistakes out of you. I
had an accent trainer show me how this worked, and I found out some
fascinating differences between my own Irish accent and American
accents in the process! To see for yourself how the process works,
check out the second half of this post with Soundcloud samples.
Second, walk like an Egyptian
The second factor that influences whether or not you could be
confused for a native speaker, involves working on your social and
cultural integration. This is often overlooked, but has made a
world of difference to me, even in my early stages of speaking
several languages.
For instance, when I first arrived in Egypt with lower
intermediate Egyptian Arabic, I was disheartened that most people
would speak English to me (in Cairo) before I even had a chance for
my Arabic to shine. Its easy to say that Im too white to ever be
confused for an Egyptian, but theres more to it than that.
They took one look at me, saw how foreign I obviously was, and
this overshadowed what language I was actually speaking to
them.
To get around this problem, I sat down at a busy pedestrian
intersection with a pen and paper and made a note of everything
that made Egyptian men about my age different from me. How they
walked, how they used their hands, the clothing they wore, their
facial expressions, the volume theyd speak at, how theyd groom
themselves, and much more. I found that I needed to let some
stubble grow out, ditch my bright light clothes for darker and
heavy ones (despite the temperature), exchange my trainers for dull
black shoes, ditch my hat (I never saw anyone with hats), walk much
more confidently, and change my facial expressions.
The transformation was incredible! Every single person for the
rest of my time in Egypt would start speaking to me in Arabic,
including in touristy parts of town where they spoke excellent
English and would be well used to spotting tourists. This
transformation allowed me to walk from the Nile to the Pyramids
without any hassle from touts and make the experience all about the
fascinating people I met.
Try it yourself, and youll see what I meanonce you start paying
attention, the physical social differences will become easy to
spot.
You can observe people directly, or watch videos of natives youd
like to emulate from a target country. Really try to analyze
everything that someone of your age and gender is doing, and see if
you can mimic it next time you are speaking.
Imitation is, after all, the most sincere form of flattery!
#12 Become a polyglot.
This post has been an extremely detailed look at starting off
and trying to reach mastery in a foreign language (and even passing
yourself off as a native of that country).
If your ultimate goal is to speak multiple languages, you can
repeat this process over multiple times, but I highly recommend you
focus on one language at a time until you reach at least the
intermediate level. Take each language one by one, until you reach
a stage where you know you can confidently use it. And then you may
just be ready for the next ones!
While you can do a lot in a few months, if you want to speak a
language for the rest of your life it requires constant practice,
improvement, and living your life through it as often as you can.
But the good news is once you reach fluency in a language, it tends
to stick with you pretty well.
Also, keep in mind that while the tips in this article are an
excellent place to start, there is a huge community of polyglots
online willing to offer you their own encouragement as well. A
bunch of us came together in this remix, Skype me Maybe.
)I share several more stories about these polyglots and dive
into much greater detail about how to learn languages in my newly
released book Fluent in 3 Months. Grab a copy, or check out my site
for inspiration to start your adventure in becoming fluent in a new
languageor several.
Ganbatte!
###
Question of the Day: What tools or approaches have you used for
learning languages? Please share in the comments!--Language
learning need not be complicated.
Principles of cognitive neuroscience and time management can be
applied to attain conversational fluency (here defined as 95%+
comprehension and 100% expressive abilities) in 1-3 months. Some
background on my language obsession, from an earlier post on
learning outside of classes:
From the academic environments of Princeton University (Chinese,
Japanese, Korean, Italian) and the Middlebury Language Schools
(Japanese), to the disappointing results observed as a curriculum
designer at Berlitz International (Japanese, English), I have
sought for more than 10 years to answer a simple question: why do
most language classes simply not work?
The ideal system and progression is based on three elements in
this order
1. Effectiveness (Priority)2. Adherence (Interest)3. Efficiency
(Process)
Effectiveness, adherence, and efficiency refer to the what, why,
and how of learning a target language, respectively. In simple
terms, you first decide what to learn, based on usage frequency
(priority); you then filter materials based on your likelihood of
continued study and review, or adherence (interest); lastly, you
determine how to learn the material most efficiently (process).
Lets cover each in turn. This post will focus on vocabulary and
subject matter. For learning grammar, I suggest you read this short
article. For reactivating forgotten languages like high school
Spanish this sequence will do the trick.
Effectiveness: If you select the wrong material, it does not
matter how you study or if you study practical fluency is
impossible without the proper tools (material). Teachers are
subordinate to materials, just as cooks are subordinate to
recipes.
Adherence: Review, and multiple exposures to the same material,
will always present an element of monotony, which must be countered
by an interest in the material. Even if you select the most
effective material and efficient method, if you dont adhere with
repeated study, effectiveness and efficiency mean nothing. In other
words: can you persist with the material and method youve chosen?
If not, less effective materials or methods will still be better.
The best approach means nothing if you dont use it.
By analogy, if sprinting uphill with bowling balls in each hand
were the most effective way to lose body fat, how long would the
average person adhere to such a program?
If you have no interest in politics, will you adhere to a
language course that focuses on this material? Ask yourself: Can I
study this material every day and adhere until I reach my fluency
goals? If you have any doubt, change your selection. Oftentimes, it
is best to select content that matches your interests in your
native language. Do not read about something that you would not
read about in English, if English is your native language (e.g.
dont read Asahi Shimbun if you dont read newspapers in English).
Use the target language as a vehicle for learning more about a
subject, skill, or cultural area of interest.
Do not use material incongruent with your interests as a vehicle
for learning a language it will not work.
Efficiency: It matters little if you have the best material and
adherence if time-to-fluency is 20 years. The ROI wont compel you.
Ask yourself: Will this method allow me to reach accurate
recognition and recall with the fewest number of exposures, within
the shortest period of time? If the answer is no, your method must
be refined or replaced.
An Example of Effectiveness (80/20) in Practice
Paretos Principle of 80/20 dictates that 80% of the results in
any endeavor come from 20% of the input, material, or effort.
We can adapt this principle and prioritize material based on its
recorded likelihood and frequency of usage. To understand 95% of a
language and become conversational fluent may require 3 months of
applied learning; to reach the 98% threshold could require 10
years. There is a point of diminishing returns where, for most
people, it makes more sense to acquire more languages (or other
skills) vs. add a 1% improvement per 5 years.
To see exactly how I deconstruct the grammar of new languages, I
suggest you read How to Learn (But Not Master) Any Language in 1
Hour. Now, on to the meat and potatoes of communication: words.
If you were a student of English (though the list can be adapted
to most languages), the following words would deliver the greatest
ROI per hour invested for the initial 1-3 weeks of study:
The 100 Most Common Written Words in English
1. the2. of3. and4. a5. to6. in7. is8. you9. that10. it11. he12.
was13. for14. on15. are16. as17. with18. his19. they20. I21. at22.
be23. this24. have25. from26. or27. one28. had29. by30. word31.
but32. not33. what34. all35. were36. we37. when38. your39. can40.
said41. there42. use43. an44. each45. which46. she47. do48. how49.
their50. if51. will52. up53. other54. about55. out56. many57.
then58. them59. these60. so61. some62. her63. would64. make65.
like66. him67. into68. time69. has70. look71. two72. more73.
write74. go75. see76. number77. no78. way79. could80. people81.
my82. than83. first84. water85. been86. call87. who88. oil89.
its90. now91. find92. long93. down94. day95. did96. get97. come98.
made99. may100. part
The first 25 of the above words make up about 1/3 of all printed
material in English. The first 100 comprise 1/2 of all written
material, and the first 300 make up about 65% percent of all
written material in English. Articles and tense conjugations that
can often be omitted in some languages or learned for recognition
(understanding) but not recall (production).
Most frequency lists are erroneously presented as the most
common words in English, with no distinction made between written
and spoken vocabulary. The 100 most common words as used in speech
are considerably different, and this distinction applies to any
target language.
The 100 Most Common Spoken Words in English
1. a, an2. after3. again4. all5. almost6. also7. always8. and9.
because10. before11. big12. but13. (I) can14. (I) come15.
either/or16. (I) find17. first18. for19. friend20. from21. (I)
go22. good23. goodbye24. happy25. (I) have26. he27. hello28.
here29. how30. I31. (I) am32. if33. in34. (I) know35. last36. (I)
like37. little38. (I) love39. (I) make40. many41. one42. more43.
most44. much45. my46. new47. no48. not49. now50. of51. often52.
on53. one54. only55. or56. other57. our58. out59. over60. people61.
place62. please63. same64. (I) see65. she66. so67. some68.
sometimes69. still70. such71. (I) tell72. thank you73. that74.
the75. their76. them77. then78. there is79. they80. thing81. (I)
think82. this83. time84. to85. under86. up87. us88. (I) use89.
very90. we91. what92. when93. where94. which95. who96. why97.
with98. yes99. you100. your
Individual word frequency will vary between languages
(especially pronouns, articles, and possessives), but differences
are generally related to frequency rank, rather than complete
omission or replacement with a different term. The above two lists
are surprisingly applicable to most popular languages.
Content and vocabulary selection beyond the most common 300-500
words should be dictated by subject matter interest. The most
pertinent questions will be What will you spend your time doing
with this language?
If necessary, the most closely related rephrasing would be What
do I currently spend my time doing? It bears repeating: do not read
about something that you would not read about in your native
language. Use the target language as a vehicle for learning more
about a subject, skill, or cultural area of interest. Poor material
never produces good language.
Feed your language ability foods you like, or you will quit your
diet and cease study long before you achieve any measurable level
of proficiency.
As a personal example, I used martial arts instructional manuals
to compete effectively in judo while a student in Japan. My primary
goal was to learn throws and apply them in tournaments. To avoid
pain and embarrassment, I had tremendous motivation to learn the
captions of the step-by-step diagrams in each instructional manual.
Language development was a far secondary priority.
One might assume the crossover of material to other subjects
would be minimal, but the grammar is, in fact, identical. The
vocabulary may be highly specialized, but I eclipsed the
grammatical ability of 4 and 5-year students of Japanese within 2
months of studying and applying sports-specific instruction
manuals.
The specialization of my vocabulary didnt present a single
problem in communication, it is important to note, as I was
spending 80% of my free time training with people who also used
judo-speak and other vocabulary unique to sports training and
athletic development.
Once the framework of grammar has been transferred to long-term
memory, acquiring vocabulary is a simple process of proper spaced
repetition, which will be the subject of a dedicated future
post.
In the meantime, dont let languages scare you off. Its a
checklist and a process of finding material you enjoy with a good
frequency ROI.
Ganbare!
###
Odds and Ends: Giveaway and USC Video
Ill be giving away some very cool stuff this week on Twitter
(electronics, my favorite bags, etc.). Just click here and follow
me to see the goodies.
The Cisco-sponsored video about my house by the USC team is in
the final 24 hours of competition and needs a few more views to
win. Unfortunately, none of the embed views counted last time due
to bad code. Please click here and wait a few seconds to help these
kids get their big break!
Six Lines of Gold
Here are a few questions that I apply from the outset. The
simple versions come afterwards:
1. Are there new grammatical structures that will postpone
fluency? (look at SOV vs. SVO, as well as noun cases)
2. Are there new sounds that will double or quadruple time to
fluency? (especially vowels)
3. How similar is it to languages I already understand? What
will help and what will interfere? (Will acquisition erase a
previous language? Can I borrow structures without fatal
interference like Portuguese after Spanish?)
4. All of which answer: How difficult will it be, and how long
would it take to become functionally fluent?
It doesnt take much to answer these questions. All you need are
a few sentences translated from English into your target
language.
Some of my favorites, with reasons, are below:
The apple is red.It is Johns apple.I give John the apple.We give
him the apple.He gives it to John.She gives it to him.
These six sentences alone expose much of the language, and quite
a few potential deal killers.
First, they help me to see if and how verbs are conjugated based
on speaker (both according to gender and number). Im also able to
immediately identify an uber-pain in some languages: placement of
indirect objects (John), direct objects (the apple), and their
respective pronouns (him, it). I would follow these sentences with
a few negations (I dont give) and different tenses to see if these
are expressed as separate words (bu in Chinese as negation, for
example) or verb changes (-nai or -masen in Japanese), the latter
making a language much harder to crack.
Second, Im looking at the fundamental sentence structure: is it
subject-verb-object (SVO) like English and Chinese (I eat the
apple), is it subject-object-verb (SOV) like Japanese (I the apple
eat), or something else? If youre a native English speaker, SOV
will be harder than the familiar SVO, but once you pick one up
(Korean grammar is almost identical to Japanese, and German has a
lot of verb-at-the-end construction), your brain will be formatted
for new SOV languages.
Third, the first three sentences expose if the language has
much-dreaded noun cases. What are noun cases? In German, for
example, the isnt so simple. It might be der, das, die, dem, den
and more depending on whether the apple is an object, indirect
object, possessed by someone else, etc. Headaches galore. Russian
is even worse. This is one of the reasons I continue to put it
off.
All the above from just 6-10 sentences! Here are two more:
I must give it to him.I want to give it to her.
These two are to see if auxiliary verbs exist, or if the end of
the each verb changes. A good short-cut to independent learner
status, when you no longer need a teacher to improve, is to learn
conjugations for helping verbs like to want, to need, to have to,
should, etc. In Spanish and many others, this allows you to express
yourself with I need/want/must/should + the infinite of any verb.
Learning the variations of a half dozen verbs gives you access to
all verbs. This doesnt help when someone else is speaking, but it
does help get the training wheels off self-expression as quickly as
possible.
If these auxiliaries are expressed as changes in the verb (often
the case with Japanese) instead of separate words (Chinese, for
example), you are in for a rough time in the beginning.
Sounds and Scripts
I ask my impromptu teacher to write down the translations twice:
once in the proper native writing system (also called script or
orthography), and again in English phonetics, or Ill write down
approximations or use IPA.
If possible, I will have them take me through their alphabet,
giving me one example word for each consonant and vowel. Look hard
for difficult vowels, which will take, in my experience, at least
10 times longer to master than any unfamiliar consonant or
combination thereof (tsu in Japanese poses few problems, for
example). Think Portuguese is just slower Spanish with a few
different words? Think again. Spend an hour practicing the open
vowels of Brazilian Portuguese. I recommend you get some ice for
your mouth and throat first.
russian-alphabet.jpgThe Russian Phonetic Menu, and
reading-real-russian.jpgReading Real Cyrillic 20 Minutes
Later
Going through the characters of a languages writing system is
really only practical for languages that have at least one phonetic
writing system of 50 or fewer soundsSpanish, Russian, and Japanese
would all be fine. Chinese fails since tones multiply variations of
otherwise simple sounds, and it also fails miserably on phonetic
systems. If you go after Mandarin, choose the somewhat uncommon GR
over pinyin romanization if at all possible. Its harder to learn at
first, but Ive never met a pinyin learner with tones even half as
accurate as a decent GR user. Long story short, this is because
tones are indicated by spelling in GR, not by diacritical marks
above the syllables.
In all cases, treat language as sport.
Learn the rules first, determine if its worth the investment of
time (will you, at best, become mediocre?), then focus on the
training. Picking your target is often more important than your
method.
http://fourhourworkweek.com/2007/11/07/how-to-learn-but-not-master-any-language-in-1-hour-plus-a-favor/
http://fourhourworkweek.com/2014/07/16/how-to-learn-any-language-in-record-time-and-never-forget-it/
clickdasWhy Cant You Draw The Face of a Penny? Understand the
Reason and Learn Spanish Twice as Fast86 CommentsShare
this:Facebook427TwitterEmailRedditWritten by Tim Ferriss Topics:
Language, The 4-Hour Chef - 4HCAllow me to explain using a related
problem.
Vocabulary lists in a run-of-the-mill Spanish textbook usually
look something like the below, taken from real-world sources I wont
shame by naming:
La mano the handEl arbol the treeLas muecas the wristsNos vemos
maana! See you tomorrow!Mande? Sorry? Pardon? What did you
say?Ahorita vengo! Ill be back in a minute!Pretty typical,
right?
Sadly, this format is also priming students for failure. Two
reasons:
Spanish is listed first, so were training recognition. If you
want to be able to speak (produce) Spanish, you should list English
first, then Spanish: cue and target. For at least the first month,
you will be translating from English in your head before most
speaking. Have your materials mimic this process, or youre working
backwards.
Incredibly, almost no textbooks get this ordering right. If you
train for recall, you get recognition automatically; if you train
for recognition, recall is terrible, or as slow as molasses.
Think Im exaggerating? How many times have you handled or seen
pennies and quarters in your life? Tens of thousands of times?
Millions? Try and draw both sides of either from memory.
Recognition does not = recall. You have to train specifically for
the latter.
A fixed list equals inflexible recall. By illustration, answer
this: what number is the letter L in the alphabet? 5th, 14th,
which? What is the third line of your national anthem? Slow, isnt
it? The answers depend on order on the pieces before them acting as
cues. If you learn words in a fixed list, the preceding words act
as a recall crutch for your target word. Youll eventually get it,
but its plodding and haphazard. This is a major problem. This is
also why, 10 years later, I can still sing (poorly) a few entire
songs in Italian, but I could never recall those words
independently for conversation.
We want RAMrandom-access memorywhere we can pull any word from
memory quickly.
Mixing up flash cards accomplishes this, as does a software
program like Anki or Duolingo (I advise), which does it
automatically.
If you have a textbook with a fixed list, just practice doing
them backwards and also in evens, odds, every-third item, etc.
Mucha suerte, ch!
###
Learn to read Hebrew. If you want to be able to improve your
vocabulary enough to sound like a native speaker, and to be able to
use the Internet, you'll need to know how to read. Reading is quite
easy as a matter of fact; it takes much less time than learning how
to speak and listen. But to learn to read Hebrew, you're going to
need to know the letters and vowels. Aleph. This is possibly the
easiest letter of the Hebrew alphabet to learn. This is because it
has no sound! In order to make it have a sound, one needs to put a
vowel with it. It will often be found at the end of a word, making
no sound. Think of it like the letter "E" in the English alphabet;
it is at the end of a lot of words, but it's silent.Bet() and
Vet(). Although these letters seem different because of their two
different sounds, they are actually considered the same letter. Bet
has a dot, and Vet doesn't. Bet makes the "B" sound, but doesn't
actually have a pronunciation until a vowel is added. Vet makes the
"V" sound, but needs a vowel to actually be read. Gimmel. Because
Bet and Vet are essentially the same letter, this is the third
letter in the Hebrew Alephbet. It has the "G" sound, like "gate".
However, it never has the "G" sound as in "giraffe". Keep this is
mind while pronouncing it in a word. Although, a gimmel with a
flick or apostrophe (') is a 'giraffe' gimmel. Dalet. As it may be
easy to guess, Dalet makes the "D" sound. Like all other letters in
the Alephbet, it needs a vowel added to have a pronunciation. Hey.
Hey makes the "H" sound, as in the "H" in "hey". It never makes the
"CH" sound as in "chewy", and is often put at the end of a word as
an ending, just like how Aleph is added to the end of a word
sometimes. Vav. Vav makes the same sound as Vet, but is a different
letter. Zayin. This letter is pronounced just like the "Z" in
"crazy".[1] Chet. Chet is one of the more well known letters in
Hebrew. It sounds almost as if you're hacking on something in your
throat, or gargling without water. If those examples still aren't
helping you hear the Chet, try growling in the back of your throat.
It is a softer version of the noise you get from that. Remember,
Chet never makes the "CH" sound as in "chewy". Tet. Tet makes the
"T" sound as in "tango". It can never make the "TH" sound as in
"thicket". Yod. This letter sounds like the "Y" in "you".
Sometimes, it is softened into the sound of "EE", as in "Greek".
Most of the time when this letter is in the middle of a word, it is
pronounced more like "EE" than "Y".Chaf,() Kaf(), Chaf Sofit(), and
Kaf Sofit(). This is one of the more confusing letters. Although it
may seem like four different letters, it's all actually the same
letter. Chaf is pronounced just like Chet, and Kaf is pronounced
like the "C" in "cow". Chaf Sofit is pronounced the same as Chaf,
but it comes at the end of a word. Kaf Sofit is pronounced the same
as Kaf, but is also only at the end of a word. Although it seems
confusing at first, just keep practising. It will all become as
clear as your first alphabet after some practise. Lamed. Lamed
makes the "L" sound, as in "lightning".Mem() and Mem Sofit(). Once
again, these are actually the same letter, but they have a
different version at the end of a word. They make the "M" sound, as
in "Mike". Mem Sofit looks like Mem, only it is closed off at the
bottom, and looks more boxy.Nun() and Nun Sofit(). Nun and Nun
Sofit are pronounced like the "N" in "November". You'll only find
Nun in the beginning or middle of a word, and you'll only find Nun
Sofit at the end. Samech. Samech makes the "S" sound in "sierra".
However, it never makes the "SH" sound in "shipwreck". Ayin. This
is one of the trickier Hebrew letters to pronounce for non-natives,
since Latin and Germanic languages do not have this sound. It is
pronounced differently in different areas to ease pronunciation.
Technically it is a "voiced pharyngeal approximant/fricative," and
has equivalents in other Semitic languages, like Arabic and Syriac.
In general, non-natives (and even many native Israelis) treat it
like an aleph, which is to say, they do not pronounce it, only the
vowel underneath it. If you want to try to pronounce the ayin, but
can't quite get the voiced pharyngeal approximant/fricative, try
pronouncing it like the "ng" in "singing" or the "nk" in "sink."
Jews in various parts of the Diaspora pronounce the ayin in this
manner. But it is perfectly acceptable to leave it silent. [2]Pey()
Fey,() Fey Sofit() and Pey Sofit() Pey is pronounced like the "P"
in "papa", and Fey is pronounced like the "F" in "foxtrot". Fey
Sofit is a different version with the same pronunciation as Fey,
but it comes at the end of a word. Pey Sofit also has the same
pronunciation of its other version, but it only comes at the end of
a word.Tsadie() and Tsadie Sofit()(Pronounced Tsadi, very often
pronounced Tsadik - as a mistake). Tsadie and Tsadie Sofit are
pronounced like the "zz" in "pizza." Tsadie Sofit is the same as
Tsadie, but it only comes at the end of a word. It is also
pronounced 'tz', and if you put a flick or apostrophe ( ' ) next to
it, it's CH, like chocolate. [3] Qof. Qof makes the "K" sound, as
in "kilo". It can also be pronounced as a "Q" sound, but the "K"
sound is more common. Resh. This letter makes the "R" sound, as in
"roger".Shin()and Sin(). Shin and Sin only have one difference:
Shin has a dot over the line furthest to the left, and Sin has a
dot over the line furthest to the right. Shin is pronounced "SH",
as in "Shucks". Sin makes the "S" sound, like Samech and
Tsadie.
Tav. Tav has the same sound as Tet; like the "T" in
"tango".Learn to read the vowels. Unlike most languages, Hebrew
letters do not make vowel sounds. Patach. Patach is basically a
line to place under any letter, which becomes that letter with the
"AH" sound after it, as in "aqua". Kamatz. Kamatz makes the same
sound as Patach, and looks almost exactly like it. The only
difference is that it has a tiny line in the midsection. Cholam
Malei. Cholam Malei is basically the letter Vav with a dot over it.
This creates the "OH" sound, as in "doe". However, this doesn't
create the "VO" sound, as the v is lost when the dot is added.
Cholam Chaser. This vowel can't go over all consonants, which is
why there is also Cholam Malei. When this little dot is over (or a
little to the left, but still on top) of any consonant, the
consonant gains the "OH" sound, in addition to its consonant sound.
Segol. Segol is three dots under a letter that create a triangle
shape. These three dots add the "EH" sound as in "echo" to the
consonant. For example, adding this to Bet would create the "beh"
sound. Tzeirei. Tzeirei is two dots under a letter, creating a
horizontal line, (not to be confused with sh'va, which creates a
vertical line). This adds the "EH" sound to a consonant, just like
Segol. For instance, adding this vowel to Vet would create the
"veh" sound. Sh'va. Sh'va adds the "UH" sound to a consonant. It
also has two dots, but they create a vertical line instead of a
horizontal one. Adding this to Mem would make "muh". Shuruk. This
vowel creates the "U" sound, as in "blue". It never makes the "UH"
sound, which Sh'va does. This vowel can only be added to Vav, which
loses its v in the process. Kubutz. Kubutz is three dots that are
horizontal under any consonant, going to the right. It creates the
"OO" sound, like "food" or "shoo". Adding this to Bet would make
"boo". Chataf Patach, Chataf Segol, and Chataf Kamatz. Chataf is
two dots creating a vertical line, however, it is added to Patach,
Segol, or Kamatz to shorten the vowel. Think of it as a staccato in
music, which shortens the note. Chirik. Chirik makes the "ee"
sound, as in "Greek" or "me". It is one dot under any consonant.
For example, Chirik under Bet creates "bee". Kamatz Katan. This
vowel looks like Kamatz, only the second line doesn't actually
connect to the midsection. Kamatz Katan creates the "O" sound, like
"flow".