I spend at least 20 hours a week reading, listening, and studying. . 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. My name is John. (eds.). Of course. Great article! 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. See More Thanks again for the brilliant compilation and thanks for sharing! It is Johns We produce huge (A0) wallcharts with the 1500 most commonly used Chinese characters. Thank you! I purchased the new book, and Im definitely going to investigate the diplomas mentioned above! I did a lot of hichhiking there and one trip was going all the way to Germany to meet my friend who came there from USA. Benny, awesome post! I can't eat the apple. Are Saunas the Next Big Performance-Enhancing "Drug"? Also, have you read Metaphors We Live By? Personally, I believe that the main factor stopping people from embracing a new language is FEAR. Excellent post. http://www.fluentin3months.com/c2-exam-results-and-analysis/. Thank you so much for all the great materials that you put on your blog! Agreed! 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. The differences between your native language (L1) and your target language (L2) are presented as vocabulary and grammar rules to memorize. Basically, you tell yourself a funny, silly, or otherwise memorable story to associate with a particular word. Vi ger honom pplet. This was more than 10 years ago and while I was following Master Steve on and off, I had yet to pull the trigger, pay, and sign up for LingQ. Like Benny said, just learn a few words for a situation, where you are going or just a conversation, in a restaurant, taxi, words to the kids and the wife and go for it. This is a little off-topic but the email notices I get when theres a new post from you always have WordPress.com as the sender name. But with Japanese Kanji and Chinese Hanzi, you have a whole new major task to take on. I studied Chinese for a year at university, and they discouraged us from using the term Mandarin at all. Benny and Tim are two great inspirations for polyglots. I thought it was pretty funny when I went to New York City and spoke more French there in a day, than I did for my job, for which I must speak French, in Qubec. Web12 Sentences to Learn Languages the Tim Ferriss Way JanFinster Germany April 2021 Honestly, the only thing Tim Ferriss really knows something about is marketing and selling has found that under the right circumstances, adults show an intuition for unexplained grammar rules better than their younger counterparts. Benny is one of the many language learners that consistently wow me as well. Lots of them. Realize that adults are actually better language learners than kids. be cool. Over the past 10 years, Ferriss has built a brand that has attracted millions of fans from around the world. (Wishing you lots of success!). Dont forget that despite lack of direct linguistic relationships, Finnish is still definitely influenced by other European languages, through religious vocabulary that would have come via Latin over the ages for instance, as well as modern words related to technology that may be borrowed from English. cookie policy. You will be forgiven for this directness, because its always obvious that you are a learner. Please share in the comments! Here are the top newspapers in Europe, South America and Asia. Comment Rules: Remember what Fonzie was like? This post deals with suicide and child sexual abuse and might be triggering More flash cards, more drills, more practice. I have also used it with languages with good results. 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). Is it possible to learn a language from scratch just by reading and listening, with no previous knowledge of the grammar and structure of the target language? I find reading Chinese even harder than Japanese, as they do not have hiragana to identify where words end. And now this post has given me a fabulous boost. Thanks again! Rapace! Go to that countrys equivalent URL for Amazon or Ebay (amazon.es, amazon.fr, amazon.co.jp, etc.) I agree, but you could use LingQ's "grammar guides" instead. 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. Most traditional approaches or language systems dont work this way, and I think thats where they let their students down. Very motivating! Additionally, because they do not control the database they pull the words, reporting individual sentences will not help that much. People would have said the same thing about playing chess, but clearly that is not the case. Here is a quite different one (I learned the colors in German in less than 3 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGj55RWh0eE Hope that helps. Id recommend watch 1 to be in the target language, watch 2 to be in your mother tongue and watch 3 to be in the target language again. Jai regard votre vido sur la diffrence entre le franais de France et le franais du Canada. This means that monolingualism is a cultural, not a biological, consequence. [3] If you are living in a country where bargaining is the norm, the ability to haggle proficiently and not be taken advantage of, is a powerful incentive to become fluent. That is by way of books, audio materials etc Methods of acquisition would differ with age I would guess. 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. Some of my tips are repeats, but also endorsements of what youve written above. Your French experience shows you that its never too late! I think the distinction worth noting here (without putting words in Bennys mouth) is that people generally recognize the fact that there is a sensitive period of language development and then use that as an excuse to not learn a new language. They focus on the most important components of grammar first to save Im not saying I knew all this, but I wasted a very long time trying to learn English the wrong way, and actually learnt it pretty well in a much shorter time the right way. Biological Foundations of Language , New York: Wiley and Sons. 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). You feel like you belong. Its very enjoyable since with very little practice itll sound to you like youre pronouncing words like a native, even if you dont understand the lyrics. If adults were better language learners than children there would be many more polyglots around and less people pondering on the subject. Just annoyed it took so long to take the plunge. On the other side of the language exchange, your readers with digital nomad leanings might also be interested in the option of making money by teaching a language from anywhere with Skype (or whatever online method you and your students agree on). Accent is obvious; if you cant roll your R in Spanish you will be recognized as a foreigner instantly. Polish is considered one of the harder modern languages to learn. This effectively means that you have social equivalency with your native language, which means that you can live in your target language insocial 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. It turns out, there is no language-learning gene, but there are tools and tricks for faster learning. These are just excuses if you look at it that way, but they feel very real. For phonetic languages with different scripts (Arabic, Russian, Greek, Thai, Korean) this post I wrote may help: http://www.fluentin3months.com/phonetic-script-can-be-learned-quickly/. Thank you very much! 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. My experience with Tim Ferriss, and people that doubted him, says a lot about your potential for success. Tim Ferriss. Tim Ferriss wasn't always Tim Ferriss. I should know; I knew him before he became widely known as an author, entrepreneur, investor, speaker, and podcaster extraordinaire. Im not even 100% sure what that is in English! They read it out clearly, but at a conversational pace. Thanks dude. LingQ Languages Ltd. His recommendation of italki has really got me on the right track. 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. What decades of peer reviewed research are you referring to? 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. The correlation is there, and its very strong. And they were happy to speak to me in French. Tim Ferriss was a victim of youth sexual abuse. Tim and Benny thanks for this too complete post about being a polyglot, I took note about all, it took me about 2 hours but ti worths them :). Ive used Mango Languages, an language learning program available as an online resource from many libraries. goals on the other hand are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. This concept is not limited to songs. You dont have to go on Skype! Without this two prerequisites osmosis is your only method to acquire a macaronic level in any language you decide to flert with. I am interested in getting a Masters in linguistics myself, Im about to graduate with a bachelors in Asian studies. It was born out of the need to create work in France. Ive also covered my experiments with German, Indonesian, Arabic, Norwegian, Turkish, and perhaps a dozen others. I was picked up by a truck, the driver spoke only Polish. Idem pour les phrases/vocabulaire je me souviens surtout des phrases types! Cognates are true friends of words you recognize from your native language that mean the same thing in another language. And a separate issue lets say you become super-native-fluent in 25 languageshow are you going to find the time to use them all, other than to boast about it on a blog? Both adults and kids have their own advantages. I need to constantly remind myself of this as well when I dive into new languages. Thanks for this, Benny. We give him the apple. A lot. You sir are amazing, i am visiting my friends in Monaco and Spain next year, my goal is to learn Portuguese before my flight, is it true that if you learn Portuguese, its easy to learn Spanish and French? Im glad you said something Scott otherwise I would felt obliged to point it out, haha. My 13 year old daughter can speak it, so of love to be able to surprise her! Hope to see you again sometime (doesnt have to be an Indian place in Berlin though ;)). I agree, Tim's "12 sentences" are probably only useful for "simpler" languages. I ran these 12 sentences through Google Translate, but I didn't find that they helped me see the patterns in Polish. 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. 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 have an apple. Great post! When you repeat sentences in your L2, you have to mimic the musicality of them. Sometimes I get the hand (as in talk to the hand), but usually women are willing to politely engage in whatever banter I open with. I am learning mandarin (inspired by 4 hour chef, although Im still a beginner:A1), and I cant tell you the amount of times Ive sat down on the train next to a Chinese speaker, opened up my vocabulary sheets to practice, and they have (unsolicited) asked oh, are you learning Chinese?, and started helping me. I want to start a blog for people who are Spiritual But Not Religious. la mela di John. And some people are very methodical and they love drills, so they make great strides with flashcards or the Gold List method. Just wanted to add that for example the first-rank American sinologist Victor Mair at Penn is against learning/teaching Hanji at the beginning: http://chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2012/03/02/more-on-how-to-argue-for-foreign-language-instruction/, Its a tragedy that so many young Americans spend years stuffing their heads with hundreds of Chinese characters, gaining no usable proficiency, and then forgetting them all by the time theyre 25. Mair thinks that if the Chinese would wake up and permit pinyin to function as part of a genuine digraphia, then I would say it might make sense for maybe 2 percent of the population to learn up to third-year level of Mandarinstrictly romanized, mind you. Does it help you to learn new words and having a talk about the topics later? If all goes well, we meet for coffee or a walk and later, perhaps a dinner date, cooking at my place. Thank you for the time you both put into this post! After reading a lot of books and blogs and watching people's vlogs and lectures, I have come to the conclusion that everyone has to try all the techniques until they find what works for them. Ive always done better typing than speaking, even in my native language, can I go on Skype, Interpals, and other places, while still studying and type more than speak and still be successful? He'd been two years old. I definitely appreciate the share lets get more language learning encouragement out there! Your blog and book had reignited the fire Thanks! This is one of the best posts on this blog yet! For example, on italki, if youre a native speaker, or proficient in a language, you can also apply to be a teacher. in your target language with target language subtitles on. We tend to have New Years Resolutions along the lines of Learn Spanish, but how do you know when youve succeeded? Over half of the planet speaks more than one language. Told myself I want to visit Brazil and possibly travel a bit more this year so learning a new language is key. I needed to get away from the mindset of school and being graded and get to the real point of learning a language, which is being able to communicate with another person. Everything is very cool. I started with Italian and wonder if I will be able to read and understand a real book when Ive finished the lessons. 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! Congratulations on your book launch as well! Great article, one of the most in depth how to guides to get started I have seen. It is not something that we retain throughout our entire lives. Languages should not be acquired by rote alonethey need to be used. Another option is watching a show you already know with no subtitles at all. I really like your approach of speaking from day 1. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Benny has posted some very useful links and advice. This is the pivotal difference. Ive learned a little Vietnamese, Arabic, Cantonese and Urdu by doing that. Age, Rate and Eventual Attainment in Second Language Acquisition. German goes a step further and has many words from Englishs past that it shares. Now I have to decide which to learn first, Spanish or Portuguese. They said to stop trying to produce language and just listen. (this book references tons of research on the critical period, especially in phonology and syntax), Lenneberg, E. (1967 ). 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. how he thinks with 40 hours you can have a 15 minute conversation. But there are exceedingly few teachers who are enlightened enough to teach it that way., http://thepenngazette.com/characters-in-search-of-writers/. I dont hear very well and use that as an excuse but I just dont seem to be able to find the confidence to overcome the mistakes and terrible accent. None of whatever you guys are blahing about has anything to do with the fact that one cannot write Cantonese or Mandarin, because they are meant to be spoken. 3) I give John the apple. All transcripts from The Tim Ferriss Show, made friends on a train in China through Mandarin. Its essential that you keep your priorities clear to avoid frustration. He claims to be fluent in "5 or 6 languages at any given time", but there is no evidence (footage) backing this up for even 1 language. I review a variety of programs and I have used many. 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. I was glad to read how you debunked the myths of learning a new language such as 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 and Im too old to become fluent. So Ive been watching my baby girl study how people use their mouths when they talk and Ive started doing the same when people speak Hungarian. Learning a language doesnt have to be and shouldnt be a chore, right? I like it when ANYONE regardless of age learns a language . Amazing resources. Hey guys, I put together a resource for deconstructing foreign language grammar using Tim Ferriss golden sentences method, that some of you might be familiar with. Just go for it, it makes life more fun! You can reach a high level in one language, and then work only on maintaining that language, while you focus on learning a new one. But I like the idea as a sort of grammar cheat sheet. Thats what I was saying: as far as I can remember, you _speak_ Hany; you _study_ Zhongwen. For each language Sentences like 'I give John the apple' - to help learn grammar I put together a resource for deconstructing foreign language grammar using Tim Ferriss golden sentences method, that some of you might be familiar with. I thought being dyslexic meant I might not be able to learn it but I learnt English so I must be able to. (1979). I wouldnt recommend this. They are longer than cheat sheets, but short enough to get a feel for the L2. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. Google or Youtube the case of Genie. But truck drivers have limits on how long they can drive and they have to stop for rest. It is the best app that you could possibly have on your phone. Just trying to make a common mistake not so common anymore. OK, this was an interesting post with some really good advice, but number #6 Realize that adults are actually better language learners than kids is just delusional. 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. Currently Im on Russian (4th language) but aiming high like yourself! I also failed Gaeilge miserably, but in my mid-20s went to the Gaeltacht for the first time to learn it properly and it wasnt bad at all. A smartphone translation wont make a foreigners face light up like the moment when you speak to them in their mother tongue. No. Japanese is a mixed boat because it has three phonetic scripts (one of which is Romanized), so you learn Kana first to give you a huge boost in the language. Tim himself likes to use color-coded physical flashcards; some he purchases from Vis-Ed, others he makes himself. Just something to keep in mind for all the people who dont have time to learn a new language, soon you wont need to. Regarding Benny, I for one feel that "Fluent in 3 Months," as gimmicky as it is, actually has some decent things going for it. To be fair, Tims original sentences were The apple is red (La pomme est rouge) and It is Johns apple (Cest la pomme de Jean), but if youre a teacher receiving Its pure nonsense and is the exact opposite to what the research literature tells us. To achieve conversational fluency at a B1-B2 / B2 level, learners have to invest more hours (for languages that aren't too distant from their L1 / the L2s they know: about 400-600 hours - only for listening and speaking). When you spread your effort thin, you can get the two languages mixed up. Interested to hear what you have to say on them. Thank you for verifying what Ive shared with them already this year! Ich werde es morgen wissen. Pushing myself up 1K at a time until then . La pomme, est-elle rouge ? Im going to Italy in June and will gladly be a guinea pig for all the above methods and will let you know how Ive fared. But Ive never heard of some of the other resources like Anki. Your post has inspired me and given me confidence. Language and Speech , 24. An impressive post with quite a few chunks of advice and information and the aim to make you lose the fear of a foreign language. Gonna forward him this as I am sure it will be a valuable resource. I never intend to comment on whether his methods of learning a language is valid, because I did not continue to read the article. I WANT TO #YOLO ON DIFFERENT CONTINENTS IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES! I agree with Scotts comment. I havent used ChineseClass101 too much, but it seems good from the little bit Ive used it. BUT my experience as a teacher showed and proved clearly to me that there are basically two conditions to learn or master a second language. Ive tried Rosetta Stone myself and wasnt impressed. 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. As I say in this blog posts; I like to make at least 200 mistakes a day, and thats not just in foreign languages . 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. It allows you to search for the translation of words and phrases and provides results within context from millions of previously translated or bilingual texts. The best of luck to you Benny and THANK YOU Tim for all the gold you keep delivering in your blog posts. As a matter of fact, they do not learn, but acquire the language subconsciously. I have a question, though! If Benny had written something like adults are better language learners than children in situation where input is kept very low and constant then that would be OK, but the line that children are better language learners than adults in general, is flat out wrong and misleading. This is great! The second best time is now. The BBCs La Mappa Misteriosa. Ferriss jokes he has haters in about 35 languages.. Ive read many of his posts and taken much of his advice. I live in China, firstly Beijing and now Wenzhou (they also speak a different language than Mandarin), as a I say a few words here and there at the stores or in the street, the locals now speak to me in Chinese only, Ok I dont understand it all, or very little but catch a few words so get the idea (sometimes). sellers disclosure in spanish, tennessee smokies stadium rules, why does ketchup taste weird when sick,
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