4 ms·

Lots of people pointing out that languages are hard, the numbers given are for really intensive programmes etc. Not that I had any success with it, but here is

Lots of people pointing out that languages are hard, the numbers given are for really intensive programmes etc. Not that I had any success with it, but here is a book/site about how to learn which I found interesting: https://www.fluentin3months.com https://www.fluentin3months.com The theory is to start from day 1 with 15 minute real conversations with native speakers (Skype pals). You either pay them or offer them the same in English afterwards. You are not permitted to fall back to another language during the call! This makes you study damn hard between sessions to improve you vocabulary and reduce the awkwardness. Benny (the author) spent months working in Spain and learning no Spanish, and stumbled on this method as a last resort. It is very similar in spirit (immersion, but not requing presence in a native speaking country) to the Kato Lomb approach: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kató_Lomb https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kató_Lomb Which is documented in her book "Polyglot". (Cut off from native speakers she used romance novels, which have a very low reading age, dictionaries of the language itself, rather than translation ones, and radio broadcasts, and was so successful that the Russians arrested her as a spy when they took Hungary in WW2, and she addressed a soldier in perfect Russian.)

marcus_chang 9y ago
> Not that I had any success with it, but here is a book/site about how to learn which I found interesting: > https://www.fluentin3months.com https://www.fluentin3months.com He hasn't had any success with it either. Benny is incredibly bad at speaking the languages he's claimed to have "learned" in 3 months.
- tehwalrus 9y ago
  Aaand a glaring hole in my ability to evaluate language learning techniques is revealed to me: I can't actually speak any of the languages in his examples. Well, at least I mentioned Ms Lomb as well!
- emtel 9y ago
  I had years of classroom German in high school and basically cannot hold a conversation. Yes, Benny sounds like shit, and has to work pretty hard to express himself, but he is able to hold conversations with people (there are videos). To me the idea that one could get to even that rudimentary level of conversational use in 3 months is pretty revelatory. My point is even if he's "bad" at these languages, he's done something I didn't previously think was even possible.
  - marcus_chang 9y ago
    The only languages that he's become even somewhat competent at are the ones closely related to languages that he already knew. Here's a video of him "holding a conversation" in Mandarin: https: https://youtu.be/hoWXYmLpNJY?t=643 https://youtu.be/hoWXYmLpNJY?t=643 It's a series of non-stop "uh-huh's" and, frankly, it's embarrassing. He's a marketing gimmick and pretty reviled by the polyglot community for trivializing how much effort learning a language actually takes.

marcus_chang 9y ago

> Not that I had any success with it, but here is a book/site about how to learn which I found interesting: > https://www.fluentin3months.com https://www.fluentin3months.com He hasn't had any success with it either. Benny is incredibly bad at speaking the languages he's claimed to have "learned" in 3 months.

tehwalrus 9y ago
Aaand a glaring hole in my ability to evaluate language learning techniques is revealed to me: I can't actually speak any of the languages in his examples. Well, at least I mentioned Ms Lomb as well!
emtel 9y ago
I had years of classroom German in high school and basically cannot hold a conversation. Yes, Benny sounds like shit, and has to work pretty hard to express himself, but he is able to hold conversations with people (there are videos). To me the idea that one could get to even that rudimentary level of conversational use in 3 months is pretty revelatory. My point is even if he's "bad" at these languages, he's done something I didn't previously think was even possible.
- marcus_chang 9y ago
  The only languages that he's become even somewhat competent at are the ones closely related to languages that he already knew. Here's a video of him "holding a conversation" in Mandarin: https: https://youtu.be/hoWXYmLpNJY?t=643 https://youtu.be/hoWXYmLpNJY?t=643 It's a series of non-stop "uh-huh's" and, frankly, it's embarrassing. He's a marketing gimmick and pretty reviled by the polyglot community for trivializing how much effort learning a language actually takes.