In this clip, I go over some of the key 'gotchas' and how you might tweak them to get the most out of language deconstruction. Youll have to start reading newspapers, technical blog posts, or other articles that wont exactly be light reading.. But, is it possible to have a 15-minute conversation after learning a second language from scratch? Tims sentence table for deconstructing the language (This is an apple. Therell be free updates for life online. Thanks for the reply Benny, and I definitely agree! Ive retained all my French, but I used it daily, and I force myself to use it too. It is the best app that you could possibly have on your phone. He showed me an example when I interviewed him about how he learns languages in the below video. Great article. Age, Rate and Eventual Attainment in Second Language Acquisition. Three months has worked great for me, but 6 weeks or 4 months could be your ideal point. And not to mention a lot of Finnish kids nowadays use slang words that come from English. Thank you for all of this information and the links. Most I think are in Chinese, as Taiwan is such a great country to live in. This should be done when youre already a good speaker in the targeted language. Plain and simple. Everything is very cool. Im a big fan of Benny. DuoLingo is great as it gives you a sense of the language, so that after a time you find yourself hitting the right answer without much consideration. I dont need to work in other languages. In fact, having no grammar is an advantage for children, since they build their grammars at the same time as they learn the language. (2003). Isnt it better if people have the correct information when they want to start learning a new language? Heres a list I compiled of familiar words in Hungarian: http://www.fluentin3months.com/wp-content/downloads/Hungarian_familiar_words.pdf. Ive used Mango Languages, an language learning program available as an online resource from many libraries. Great post! Bref ce prof nous a toujours impressionn mais surtout par le fait quil ai russi nous faire apprendre 100 fois plus que les autres professeurs de langue (Allemand, Espagnol ou Anglais) en 2,5 fois moins de temps! Both languages I want to learn too. (I am aware how much that phrase sounds like a spam comment) but its true. Been learning Spanish on Duolingo for a few months now and it feels so good to be making progress with it. . Rapace! Just put in the facts and keep the encouragement bit . Your next piece should be about hacking the official CEFR exams. Great article, so much information to absorb. And also, it was a low exposure environment and all they had to do was learn one new grammar rule. Glad you enjoyed it! I was using duolingua and other forums to connect to people, it helped a bit. the topic is simple and familiar, e.g. They focus on the most important components of grammar first to save I spend at least 20 hours a week reading, listening, and studying. You can get private lessons for peanuts by taking advantage of currency differences. He convinced me to saying saying I spoke Spanish "a little bit." The earplugs are great. I agree with Scotts comment. [Note from Tim: This is corroborated by the bookIn Other Words and work by Hakuta. You can join the Lift plan for language learning that I wrote for their users here. So far there is , , , Persian and :) If anyone wants to contribute translations to the project please let me know, or if you have any feedback! An upgrade (with more features) is available for 9 USD / month. Im glad you said something Scott otherwise I would felt obliged to point it out, haha. Learning languages will be relevant for the lifetime of every person reading this post. YES! But the work is totally worth it when you have your first successful conversation with a native speaker. I agree, Tim's "12 sentences" are probably only useful for "simpler" languages. Personally, I believe that the main factor stopping people from embracing a new language is FEAR. All of those sources are too old to even be used in research. 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. We give him the apple. Even after this period, they couldnt properly mimic the calls of their parents and siblings), You should also look at research done with feral and abused children who were kept in confinement. Examples include kommunikoida, priorisoida, politikoida. You can see their (inspiring) progress: http://blog.italki.com/2014/03/i-completed-the-2014-italki-new-years-language-challenge/. All rights reserved. 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 For this, I suggest coming up withmnemonicsabout your target word, which helps glue the word to your memory way more effectively. I know youre an Uber investor and would appreciate you checking out my work! 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. Hope to make some videos of my progress hacking it in your principles and see how it goes. It is an interesting post with really good advice, but I disagree with #6. They have to learn in on and at for their preposition en. Does it help you to learn new words and having a talk about the topics later? When you spread your effort thin, you can get the two languages mixed up. Another failing of most learning approaches is a poorly defined end-goal. http://lingohut.com/ is my personal project, if your native language is not English click on the I speak English button to find your native language. OP has a valid point. These tips may work great on bigger languages, but not on all. But waitwhere do you find a native speaker if you arent in the country that speaks that language? It inspired and motivated me to (try to) learn Spanish before were heading off to South America later this year. Tim, this is amazing thank you! I moved to France with my family a few years ago and I now do business in the French language on a daily basic. Love the post Benny. (this is quite old but Lenneberg was one of the first to suggest that language learning ability decreases with age. There are loads of online communities were you can practise your language skills by writing. I have gained access to people and places that I never otherwise could have reached. 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. German goes a step further and has many words from Englishs past that it shares. Absolutely! Tim Ferriss was nearly 40 when he retrieved memories of child sexual abuse. Tools of Titans is a short-form podcast series from Tim Ferriss, one of Fast Companys Most Innovative Business People and an early-stage investor/advisor in Uber, Facebook, Twitter, Shopify, Duolingo, Alibaba, and 50+ other companies. Now I will continue in French for you: Jai suivi pendant 3ans des cours de Japonais au lyce et je dois dire que le professeur de Japonais que nous avions tait un peu djant car il nous disait quil fallait apprendre plusieurs langues en mme temps, que le Japonais tait trs simple, que le polynsien ltait encore plus et que au lieu dapprendre le Russe tout seul autant lapprendre avec un livre dans une autre langue (example livre Espagnol pour apprendre le Russe). Your post has inspired me and given me confidence. Tim, I challenge thee to speak Yoruba .. always impressed to see examples such as: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk1aPBazfjo | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d40MFeN6HYM. 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 if youve been trying something like this and failing, it might be time to switch methods. Benny and Tim are two great inspirations for polyglots. (Just wondering how easily Id learn to be good in Lithuanian if just by sitting in class for two months, 6 hours per week, got me able to converse with people about likes, dislikes, what weve done, where weve been and lived, what foods we like etc). discussed politics with a desert dweller in Egyptian Arabic, discovered the wonders of deaf culture through ASL, interviewed Peruvian fabric makers about how they work in Quechua. 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. When he had to do with two or 3, he was sexually abused by a 12 year old child of his sitter. And occasionally Ill find an eager conversation partner. 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. Tim himself likes to use color-coded physical flashcards; some he purchases from Vis-Ed, others he makes himself. Thats what I was saying: as far as I can remember, you _speak_ Hany; you _study_ Zhongwen. As a native Polish speaker I must say that you are awesome. Really appreciated . They look so complicated. I need to constantly remind myself of this as well when I dive into new languages. Biological Foundations of Language , New York: Wiley and Sons. I worked as a salesperson for an english online course and people sometimes doesnt learn english in an effective way. But its not too late for us! German goes a step further and has many words from Englishs past that it shares. Adults have to make a conscious effort to learn something that children acquire naturally. However, the real value of the "Fluent in 3 Months" challenges is probably more on the psychological side and less on the language side. Any comments about how to make it easier to learn to read these. 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. This is the little push in inspiration to finally continue learning Persian. Aiming for a solid C1 in two or three languages or going for more languages while aiming a bit lower at B2? WebWith a million members of over 100+ different languages, HelloTalk helps the community learn any language through language partners. Huge tip You will be forgiven for this directness, because its always obvious that you are a learner. Both adults and kids have their own advantages. Also there might not be that much information available, or the information is harder to find. 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. la mela di John. This is an amazing pillar article Benny, as a big fan of yours I was course already aware of many of the resources in the post, but writing them up like this not only links many of the aspects of language learning together, it also motivates me like crazy to keep working hard. You can get further completely free language help on: The possibilities for free practice are endless. many of which you will find listed out here for most languages, Lift plan for language learning that I wrote for their users here, grammatically deconstructing a language right from the start, the second half of this post with Soundcloud samples, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB-bgMixT_s, http://www.fluentin3months.com/cantonese/, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk1aPBazfjo, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d40MFeN6HYM, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGj55RWh0eE, http://bradonomics.com/stupid-learn-second-language/, http://austinkwood.com/make-money-on-skype, http://teachers.italki.com/teaching-tips-from-austin-wood/, http://www.fluentin3months.com/translator-app/, 12 Rules for Learning Foreign Languages in Record Time The Only Post You'll Ever Need, How to Learn (But Not Master) Any Language in 1 Hour (Plus: A Favor), How to Learn Any Language in Record Time and Never Forget It, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Get your facts straight before you correct someone. Io do la mela a John. Good flashcard methods implement a spaced repetition system (SRS), which Anki automates. 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. The idea is simple sentences like 'I give him the apple' can give clues about how a language fits together. I think that within 5 years real-time computer translation will be available on your smartphone. I used to do it (exclusively), but now Ive found that its way more practical to learn it in advance, get some practice online and hit the ground running when you arrive to make your time in the country even more enjoyable. I am one of those people who struggle with language, and just assume I suck at it, but I love this article because it has so many ways to learn and is a total confidence booster. I agree, but you could use LingQ's "grammar guides" instead. I am wondering if I could bother a native speaker to translate these sentences for me (taken from Tim Ferriss). Its awesome to learn that someone else who thought they sucked at language and thought they just didnt have the talent for them is more multilingual. Luck of the draw, right? 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. Ive been wanting to start working on a new language and this sounds like its the best way to go, especially with how spread thin I am. Thanks for the references Scott. But truck drivers have limits on how long they can drive and they have to stop for rest. 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). 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). I have an apple. Most of my clients are currently French. This is the key. 4) We give him the apple. 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). has found that under the right circumstances, adults show an intuition for unexplained grammar rules better than their younger counterparts. I like it when ANYONE regardless of age learns a language . In other words, they learn the language through perceptual channels that become integrated with the limbic system. . At about the 1 year mark I was pretty fluent. And in the absence of such a freedom, to try recreate such and immersion at home actually could work. Ive met countless expats who lived abroad for years without learning the local language. Most of the time, just target B2. Ive even picked that up belief myself it seems quite pervasive. There are some people who are auditory learners. What a linguistic sponge that Benny guy! 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. However that I have to add that rules 2 and 5 dont work with Finnish, the language Im currently learning. 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. 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. Noi gli diamo la mela. Ive written about how I learned to speak, read, and write Japanese, Mandarin, and Spanish. I purchased the new book, and Im definitely going to investigate the diplomas mentioned above! You can socialize and have any typical conversation that youd like. Thousands of native speakers are ready and waiting for you to talk to them right now. Since I have been using it all my life I have all the rights to correct him if any information he wrote was not accurate. Thanks so much for buying my book! No time, no money, etc. I've been following Benny and Shannon for a while now, and I'd say they're both experienced language learners and teachers, so they know their stuff! Fortunately thats changing with the new generation and how they learn. My younger sister lost much of her French, just because she doesnt use it. I know this because its what happened to me when I first moved to Spain. Ich werde es morgen wissen. (I did that in 2012 and it has made all the difference). Mandarin is an English word that can mean pretty much anything you want it to mean, but the OED defines it as The form of the Chinese language formerly used by officials and educated people generally; any of the varieties of this used as a standard language in China, spec. 3) I give John the apple. He grew up in Long Island. 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. It has been selected for "Best of Apple Podcasts" three times, it is often the #1 interview podcast across all of Apple Podcasts, and it's been ranked #1 out of 400,000+ podcasts on many occasions. They took one look at me, saw how foreign I obviously was, and this overshadowed what language I was actually speaking to them. As I say in this blog posts; I like to make at least 200 mistakes a day, and thats not just in foreign languages . I give you an apple. I did briefly look over Olleys program but just did not want to spend the money for his program at this time. While you may think that (mathematically) learning 2 languages over a year is about the same as learning each one for six months each, the truth is that FOCUS will get you so much more. Is the apple red ? I will never be able to cancel this quarterly subscription ever! It is impossible to know the original source of a sentence. Tim Ferriss has a list of I think nine or 12 sentences that he uses in order to deconstruct a language. The problem is that you cant ever truly learn a language, you get used to it. Im reading Bennys book so this post should help (looks like more than just a summary of Bennys approach). I like that the author acknowledged what you said, but he also didnt edit the post to include the proven research. I just started using Talking Glass, a video language exchange website. To get into the mastery C1/C2 levels though, the requirements are very different. Glad to see your story has a happy ending! Tim Ferriss wasn't always Tim Ferriss. 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. Ive been living in Norway for four years and married to a Norwegian for 12 and STILL dont speak Norwegian.. But that is that point! What these experiments prove is that adults are more intelligent, not better language learners. The way you do this as a beginner is to use everything you do know with emphasis on communication rather than on perfection. I spent 9 months in classes and with private teachers learning in the tradition school way and barely a few words stayed in my head. Just trying to make a common mistake not so common anymore. 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. So true, Id love to see a fresh video with both of you! Doesnt sound like spam at all! Thank you. Its really cool for learning! 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. S.M.A.R.T. Its not as simple as falsifying facts. Use the pointers Ive given above to learn some basic vocabulary, and be aware of some words you already know. I mean, it's hard to argue against the benefits of going to a country and immersing yourself and practicing for 3 months -- even if you won't get fluent. No joke, this was absolutely the best blog hell, best ANYTHING Ive read on language learning. Thanks for post this, Tim. It seems logical enough, right? The most common I give up misconception is:Im too old to become fluent. Adults need to be more pro-active, but can process things like grammar rules way better, and kids can absorb naturally quicker, since they dont have any other language to fall back on. Yes, in this case then older children will learn faster than young children and adults will learn faster than both. As someone whos been teaching a language for 25 years and learning languages for longer, I can say this articel is based on sound principles, though of course YMYV. I tried learning Japanese, Spanish and Thai using this type of method and failed to learn all three languages. This is the pivotal difference. 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). Loved this post and will certainly come back to it several times. But, when you are a kid you can be a quick learner as well . Excellent post! 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. Consider an L1 Spanish speaker learning English prepositions. Without this two prerequisites osmosis is your only method to acquire a macaronic level in any language you decide to flert with. So yeah, the title is gimmicky as hell, but I always felt Benny was ok -- if taken with the right amount of salt. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. I started with Italian and wonder if I will be able to read and understand a real book when Ive finished the lessons. Hey I am also learning Finnish and I have to disagree. It is practically impossible to learn a language to a native-like level after the critical period and it is almost never attested to. Its important to take an active role and make sure you are having varied conversations. I was exchange student in Warsaw and had some Polish classes. I was picked up by a truck, the driver spoke only Polish. You guys are amazing. Along the lines of virtual immersion Benny talked about, one fun way for me to explore foreign languages has been singing along to songs in the target language. Im a language learner. It basically means that after a certain age, our errors become more difficult to correct and that even with repeated, explicit correct, the mistake will persist. One thing I find helpful in developing my intermediate Nihongo here in Japan is daily approach of attractive women wherever I find myself. I dont know any Finnish, but its considered in the same language family as Hungarian and I found a bunch of common words there, even though its not related to Indo-European languages. We learnt using textbooks written during the Cultural Revolution, with the result that the only sentences that stuck in my head were things like We all do physical training very early, We all study Mao Zedong thought, and We all work hard and love the commune. Pretty much every sentence started Women duo . 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. They reblogged it on their teacher resources page! Ive been studying Chinese for some time and used this to jump start my communication compare this to a word Ive been asked to learn today for a class Im taking: acute enteritis! I was very interested in reading this article at first, however, after the first sentence I was completely put off. You dont have to go on Skype! This post deals with suicide and child sexual abuse and might be triggering I would be really surprised if he, a) came up with it himself, and b) ever actually used it to "deconstruct a language" himself. - Could the answers that people give us or that we find via Google translate lead us down the garden path? Ive spoken English and French all my life (lucky me, my father was from France and my mother was from Newfoundland). Thanks Matt! You cannot WRITE and READ Mandarin..Mandarin is the spoken version, you WRITE and READ Chinese..a very common mistake. Chomsky actually said that saying that children learn language is incorrect. 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. I already knew a lot of Spanish when I found Benny, but I was "speaking from day one" in that I learned it school and learning "how to say" something was motivating for me. Also, the program was almost $100. You just never know what works for you and will hold your interest until you try. Your "Benny Experience" was exactly mine with Spanish as well. I know what I should be doing, but I dont. I saw Matt Frazier comment on this post and I know you are a vegetation, Im a vegan. I have a love to help others needing to learn a language whether it is because they are displaced, in school or just needing the skills for work. Ferriss jokes he has haters in about 35 languages.. They had passes the age at which they could learn their L1 properly. Comment Rules: Remember what Fonzie was like? We produce huge (A0) wallcharts with the 1500 most commonly used Chinese characters. Webnews. Told myself I want to visit Brazil and possibly travel a bit more this year so learning a new language is key. Hopefully they will have the same desire to learn like I do! People would have said the same thing about playing chess, but clearly that is not the case. Hope it will not come across as spammy;) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB-bgMixT_s. If you need to hear and use a language consistently to be immersed, cant virtual immersion be just as effective? The best of luck to you Benny and THANK YOU Tim for all the gold you keep delivering in your blog posts. All the need is some input. Duolingo, which is great fun and seems to work despite breaking every principle of language pedagogy, particularly the one of making target language meaningful. Best wishes, Belinda (Australia). . Its easy to say that Im too white to ever be confused for an Egyptian, but theres more to it than that. Also, no study has ever shown any direct correlation between reduced language acquisition skill and increased age. So an upper beginner speaker is A2, and a lower advanced speaker is C1. La mela rossa. So youve been listening to, watching, and even reading in your target languageand all in the comfort of your own home. The goal is to learn to be functional, not to imitate old traditional methods. Hon ger det till honom.