Benny Lewis's Blog, page 77

The 4 Essential Language Skills – and How to Improve Them

So, I asked on Facebook about which of the four essential language skills you most struggle with:


Reading
Writing
Listening
Speaking


And wow, did you answer!

The Fluent in 3 Months team were OVERWHELMED with the response we got - and so grateful for your openness and honesty.

Here are just a few of the responses you gave:



What are the essential language skills you struggle with most?

Overall, the results came out like this:



 

As you can see, listening and speaking came up as the biggest struggles - pretty much equally.

So, I decided to put together a collection of some of the best language hacking resources from Fluent in 3 Months that will help you improve these skills.

Let's get stuck in!

Get Speaking! Resources to Improve Your Speaking Skills

Since I discovered my language hacking method, I've advocated the Speak from Day One approach to language learning.

Speaking a new language - even as a beginner - is the most effective way I've found of learning a language.

For most language learners, their end goal is to speak, so it's really satisfying to be able to do this right from the start.

Here are the articles and resources I'd recommend to improve your speaking skills:


The smartest decision you will ever make to achieve fluency. Read the story of how I discovered my Speak from Day One approach to language hacking.
How to Use Skype to Learn Another Language. In this article you'll learn where to find a language exchange partner so you can practise your speaking skills, and what to do once you've found one.
Speak! Or stop pretending you want to. Get clear on whether you really want to speak a new language, or whether another goal is more appropriate for you.
How to convince natives to speak to you in their language. A big challenge when speaking a new language is that your conversation parter switches to English. Here's how to avoid that.
The ONLY way to speak a language... is to speak it!
How to Speak Spanish in 4 Days. Watch how Martyn prepared for a 10-minute conversation in Spanish after just four days of learning.
What's it Like to Be a Language Hacker? Read stories of how other language learners have got on using my Speak from Day One method.
italki Review. Discover my favourite tool for finding language exchange partners.


I'd also recommend that you check out my Speak in a Week email course. This free course introduces you to the principles of language hacking, and gets you speaking your target language in front of an audience in just seven days.

Now Listen Up! How to Improve Your Listening Skills

Listening is probably the hardest skill to master in a new language.

When I took the C2 exam for German (mastery level), listening was the only skill where I fell short. And it seems I'm not the only one who has found listening a struggle:



Here are the top articles on Fluent in 3 Months to help with your listening skills:


Language Learning Podcasts: Can You Learn a Language by Listening to Podcasts? Podcasts are one of my favourite tools for improving my listening skills - in this post I share the podcasts that I think are the best for language learners.
How to Improve Your Listening Skills in a New Language. This article by Andrew Barr gives a comprehensive overview of what it takes to improve your listening skills.
Shocking truth about passive listening. Passive listening will rarely improve your language skills. Find out why in this article.
How to download free native-spoken podcasts & MP3s in almost any language. The title says it all on this one.
Is Watching Foreign Language Movies a Waste of Time? Find out whether you can improve your listening skills by watching world cinema.
What if your listening comprehension really sucks? I was asked this question in the Fluent in 3 Months forum - so you'll see my answer, and the answers of the Fi3M community.


Read All About It! Improve Your Reading Skills with These Resources

Reading didn't feature as a major struggle in your Facebook comments. That's probably because most language courses start with reading (rather than speaking, as I'd recommend).

Here are the top Fluent in 3 Months articles on developing your reading skills:


5 Hacks to Learn Languages by Reading Literature. Are you a bookworm? Then you'll love this article by Igor Barca on being a literary language learner.
Best method to read books in the target language. Discover reading hacks from the Fluent in 3 Months community in this Fi3M forum discussion.
Books are dead – it’s time to ditch 15th century technology. Find out why I love my Kindle for reading practice.
Pocket to Kindle: How to Instantly Transfer Web Articles to Your Kindle (in One Click). Want free reading materials? Here's how to transfer web articles straight to your Kindle.
Language Learning Podcasts: Can You Learn a Language by Listening to Podcasts? What do podcasts have to do with reading? Well, the best podcasts include reading materials so you can follow along as you listen.


Write it Down! Resources to Improve Your Writing Skills

A few of you mentioned writing as a struggle, though it didn't come up nearly as much as speaking or listening. As with reading, my guess is that writing comes more easily because most language courses focus on writing.

Here are our resources for improving your writing skills in a new language:


How to Learn a Song in a Language You Don’t Know. When does singing improve your writing skills? When you write out the lyrics! Plus you'll develop your speaking and listening skills at the same time.
Writing a Novel in Another Language. Have you ever thought about writing stories in another language? What about writing a novel? Read about our amazing community members who are taking up this challenge in the Fluent in 3 Months forum.
HelloTalk Review. HelloTalk helps you find language exchange partners to text chat with. It's perfect for improving your writing and reading skills in a real-world environment.
Duolingo Review. Did you know that Duolingo makes money from getting community members to crowd-translate documents? So, it has a horse in the race when it comes to improving your writing skills. I'd recommend it for that purpose.


Essential Language Skills: Which is Your Biggest Struggle?

What skill do you most struggle with in your language learning? Reading, writing, speaking or listening? Let me know on this Facebook thread.

Also, what are your favourite articles on Fluent in 3 Months for helping you develop those skills? Please share them in the comments.

The post The 4 Essential Language Skills – and How to Improve Them appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

How to Overcome the Fear of Speaking a New Language

“Are you paralyzed with fear? That’s a good sign. Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do. Remember one rule of thumb: the more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.”
― Steven Pressfield, The War of Art

If you’re anything like me, this quote sums up how you feel about speaking a language.

Speaking in a foreign language is one of the most intimidating challenges I've ever faced and at first, my reluctance to speak held me back from making the progress I wanted to make.

I would spend hours with books and flashcards and I felt like I was learning a lot! But when it came time for conversation, I was lost. I couldn’t get the words out and I was left feeling like all my hard work had been for nothing.

I was wrong though. All the hard work I’d put into learning vocabulary and grammar wasn’t wasted, it just wasn’t useful to me until I learned to overcome my fear of speaking. Once I did, the words started to flow faster than I could ever imagine. After all, the only way to learn to speak a language is to open your mouth and actually say something.

As you may already know, there is no feeling more satisfying as a language learner than that elation you feel after completing a conversation in your target language.

So, what changed? How did I go from being totally tongue-tied to speaking all the time?

Well, Fluent in 3 Months (Fi3M) certainly played a big role. It was the encouragement of this site that first convinced me to give speaking a chance. And it’s not an understatement to say that that change has transformed my life and my experience of language learning. I’ve gone from speaking only English to speaking four foreign languages. And that’s in just two years!

I’m hopeful that there are many more languages on the horizon for me. If you’re willing to give it a try, speaking your target language from the beginning can give you equally amazing results!



But believe me, I know it’s not as easy as just reading a blog post and starting to speak. There are reasons you’re worried about speaking.

3 Reasons You Struggle to Speak Your Target Language

Let's start by discussing some of the reasons why you might not feel comfortable speaking your target language.

1. You're Too Shy

Me too! This was probably my biggest reason for not speaking sooner. I'm not exactly a socialite. Give me a quiet night in with a good book over a night on the town any day!

I've always found meeting new people challenging, so the idea of doing this in a foreign language was incredibly intimidating!

2. You Don't Know Enough Words

This is most common excuse people have for not speaking and honestly, there is some truth in it. After all, you do have to know some words before you get started. But actually once you know a few basic sentences, you can easily have your first conversation.

In English the top 1000 words make up almost 86% of the words we regularly use in conversation. And this goes for most other languages as well. So you don’t need to know 10,000 words before you begin. In fact, to have your first conversation, you probably only need to know five or ten simple phrases!

I believe that it's best to start using the words you do know from the beginning so that you become comfortable with them and with the structure of your target language. Speaking is the best way to do this.

It will also become easier to incorporate new vocabulary as you learn it. Conversations will naturally be focused on the topics that are most interesting/relevant to you, so they'll help you discover which words are most important for you.

3. You're Worried about Making Mistakes

Most of us seem to have a stigma towards making mistakes inherited from our schooldays. Back then, every mistake was a accompanied by a big red mark, a lower test score and a negative comment from the teacher.

We were taught that mistakes are a bad thing and that we must try to avoid them. Nothing could be further from the truth!

In almost every walk of life, we improve by making mistakes and learning from our experiences. It's pretty much the foundation on which civilization is built!

So when it comes to learning a language, it's important to remember that making mistakes is actually a good thing.

One of the other reasons we tend to fear mistakes is that we fear people will laugh at us. This fear exists in our brains but in reality people love it when you try to speak their language, and they're normally extremely positive about helping you. They're not waiting for you to fail, they want you to succeed!

So, how did I overcome my fear of speaking and how can you do the same? Let's consider the practical steps you can take to start speaking your target language sooner rather than later.

A 5-Step Plan to Build Your Confidence in Speaking a New Language

How can you build your confidence in speaking a new language?

The first thing you need to do is build up your enthusiasm so that you're feeling excited and positive about speaking. My favourite way to do this is to use visualisation.

Basically, the idea is to imagine yourself successfully using your target language to have conversations with native speakers. The more clearly you can picture this image in your mind the better. The reason this technique is useful is that it helps to build up confidence to perform the action you’ve imagined; you’ve already seen yourself doing it successfully in your mind, so now it’s simply a case of repeating that process in real life.

If you don’t feel confident speaking your target language, try doing the following exercise for five minutes each day:


Close your eyes and imagine yourself using your target language with a native speaker.
Focus on the reasons why you wanted to learn the language in the first place. Use those reasons to reconnect with your motivation.
Now see yourself successfully using the language with a native speaker.
Picture yourself receiving a smile and positive response from the person you're talking to.
When you picture yourself, notice your confident posture and how comfortably you speak the target language.


This exercise may be what you need to build up the confidence to have your first real conversation. And as you get more good conversations behind you, your confidence will continue to grow.

How to Find a Conversation Partner to Practise Your Target Language

The easiest way to find someone to speak to is through italki. Here you'll have two options to practise your speaking:


Language Exchange - you can do a language exchange for free with someone who is a native speaker of your target language. You'll speak in their language for half of the session and in your language for the other half so that both of you get an opportunity to practise.
A session with a teacher/tutor - You can book a session with a tutor or with a professional teacher.


Whichever you choose, you'll be having your conversation through the internet over Skype or another video chat application. This is easiest and fastest way to practise speaking with natives.

Both options have their benefits, but when I'm starting a new language I prefer to have my first few conversations with teachers. Here are some of the reasons why:


Teachers can provide you with corrections on your pronunciation and grammar. This feedback is invaluable!
You spend 100% of your time speaking your target language instead of only half the time, as in a language exchange.
Teachers are generally more dependable. If you book a session, you will have a session. Language exchanges are wonderful but it can take some time to find an exchange partner who is as organised, reliable and committed as you are.




The main downside to choosing a teacher is obviously that you'll have to pay for your lessons,whereas language exchanges are free. Lessons can be expensive if you're working with professional teachers, but on italki you'll find lots of fantastic community tutors at lower prices who are just as good (if not better!). In fact, I only ever work with community tutors because I prefer the less structured, more relaxed environment they offer. And depending where you live, you may be able to take advantage of the currency difference to get classes that are affordable for you but still provide the teacher in another country a good wage.

When you're feeling confident, take advantage of that ‘moment of bravado' and organise the time for your speaking session. Once you've organised a time and someone else is expecting you to show up, it's much harder to quit at the last minute. At the time of writing, I'm studying Russian and I find booking all of my sessions one week in advance makes it much easier for me to just show up and practise.

How to Prepare for Your First Conversation

Ok, now you've got your speaking session organised, but what are you going to say?! After all, that's the scary bit, right?

In my opinion, the best approach is to pick one particular topic and focus on learning the vocabulary and phrases you need to talk about it. If this is your first conversation, then it will probably be centred around introducing yourself.

Here’s how I would do it:


Think through a conversation you might have to introduce yourself in your native language.
Make a list of the questions that come up and the main things you want to say about yourself.
Start learning these phrases in your target language. If you're working with a book like Teach Yourself or Language Hacking, it will include a lot of the phrases you need. Another good place to search is [Omniglot] (http://www.omniglot.com/language/phra...), which has lists of introductory phrases for hundreds of different languages!
Make a cheat sheet to help you out in case you forget anything.




If you struggle with memorising the phrases, just try your best and fall back on your cheat sheet when you need it. That’s what it’s there for after all!

And don't forget, you can always have an online dictionary or Google Translate open during your conversation in case you get really stuck and you need to look up a few words. I found WordReference amazing for this when I was learning French.

Bonus Tip: Don’t Forget the Magic Words

There are a few particular phrases that I always learn before my first conversation and I suggest you do too.


How do you say ... in [target language]?
Can you repeat that please?
I don't understand
Can you speak more slowly, please?


Combine these words with your cheat sheet and the phrases you've memorised and you're ready to start!

What Happens if You Make Mistakes?

Embarrassing mistakes can be something you laugh about later on. And actually, the strong feeling attached to laughter and embarrassment helps these words stick in our brains.

So if you make an embarrassing mistake with a word, you’re much less likely to forget that word again.

To illustrate this, I want to share my most embarrassing mistake with you.

My Most Embarrassing Mistake...

My girlfriend is from Argentina and we first met while I was trying to learn Spanish. She came to Ireland for a few days and I wanted to really impress her, so I took her to this beautiful valley near my home called Glendalough. As we were walking through the valley, we approached a lake with some ducks in it and I decided I was going to try and show off my Spanish skills.

“Mira, ¡hay putas en el lago!”

“Look, there are ducks in the lake!” Or not. Turns out the spanish word for duck is pato. A puta is something quite different altogether - a prostitute! So I’d literally just said there were prostitutes in the lake.

[caption id="attachment_19582" align="alignnone" width="1024"] I really ducked up with that Spanish mistake![/caption]

As if this wasn’t bad enough, a few minutes later I tried to say that we often see lots of birds in our garden but I mispronounced the word pájaros (birds) as pajeros (wankers)! Those were some pretty embarrassing blunders!

Luckily for me, she burst out laughing. And since then I’ve never forgotten the real words for duck or birds in Spanish. So when it comes to mistakes, embrace them. They can be embarrassing at the time, but often they’ll become funny stories that will help words stick in your memory later on.

What I’ve Learned From Speaking 4 Languages (And What You Can Learn Too!)

Speaking a new language is not as scary as it seems.

A couple of years ago, I couldn't see myself ever building up the courage to speak to someone in a foreign language. I was so intimidated by the prospect. But here I am a couple of years later and I speak foreign languages on a daily basis!

In fact, recently I’ve been learning Russian and I’ve focused intensively on using the language by doing a least five hours of speaking sessions every week.

Speaking has become the most enjoyable and the most rewarding part of language learning for me and this is just not something I could ever have imagined a few years ago. Far from being scary, speaking is now a fun and relaxing exercise for me.

I think that more than anything, starting to speak has allowed me to enjoy the journey of learning a language rather than getting too hung up on the result.

I’ve also discovered that speaking regularly is an efficient way to learn because it helps you improve your fluency and identify your weaknesses. Every time I speak, I learn something about which vocabulary I need to learn or which structures I need to review, and this helps me to keep improving for the next time I speak.

Getting started is the hardest part but I’d encourage you to stop thinking about it and just give it a try! Imperfect action beats doing nothing every day of the week. You’ll be amazed by how much it helps your language learning. Do you remember the quote from the beginning of this post?

“The more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.”

When you do it, it really does pay off.

The post How to Overcome the Fear of Speaking a New Language appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

10 Ways Low Confidence Holds Back Your Language Learning

“I’d love to learn a new language, but I feel really nervous about actually speaking it.”

Does this sound like you?

Learning a new language - especially when you’re taking the first steps - can be a big struggle.

So it’s little wonder that language learners often struggle with feelings of low confidence. I’ve felt this way many times when starting a new language.

How can low confidence impact you?

Maybe you avoid having face-to-face conversations with native speakers. Even thinking about getting into a conversation puts butterflies in your stomach.

Maybe you hold back at language Meetups and sit quietly in the corner.

Or maybe you feel anxious about making mistakes in front of others, so you stick with Duolingo because you can study on your own. No one sees your mistakes. It’s safe.

At Fluent in 3 Months, we hear from people all the time whose confidence gets in the way of their language learning.

Check out these emails that arrived in the Fluent in 3 Months inbox recently:




I find these emails really powerful. For years I struggled with low confidence in my language learning - and it’s a really difficult thing to admit.

For many years I was in denial my low confidence, and especially about how much it held me back. I thought “sure, I’m not confident at speaking a new language, but I’ll make up for it in other ways”.

I did make up for my lack of confidence, through intensive study and being really disciplined with myself.

A few years down the line, I finally addressed my low confidence through steps I was taking in my (non-language related) career. With my newfound confidence I found I could learn to speak new languages much, much faster and more effectively.

I would have saved myself hundreds of hours of study time if only I’d addressed my confidence issues first.

Or, to put it another way, I speak 4+ languages at a high level now, but I could be speaking at least three to four more than that.

So, how does low confidence impact your language learning?

It’s really important to be honest about this, so you can start doing something about it.

Self-honesty is the first step.

To get you started, here are some of the most common signs that low-confidence is holding back your language learning:

1. You Feel Like Language Learning is a “Waste of Time”

You really want to learn a language. But when you sit down to study, you start to feel like “this is a waste of time”.

When you hit this frame of mind, it’s really easy to give up and find other things to do.

What’s going on here? Deep down, you know that your low confidence is holding you back. Without self-confidence, you’re unlikely to actually use the language you’re learning in real life situations.

So, learning the language feels like a waste of time.

In some ways, this is true, because it is really important to sort out your confidence.

In other ways, this voice of doubt is really unhelpful because the process of learning a new language can help you grow in confidence.

So, when you feel like learning a language is a waste of time - that’s exactly the time to keep studying.

Here’s another way the voice of doubt causes havoc...

2. You Constantly Compare Yourself to Other Language Learners

There’s never been a better time to learn a language. Technology has made it possible to connect with people all over the world.

Connecting with other language learners can be super inspiring.

But sometimes, seeing other language learners succeed can make you wonder about your own ability. You ask yourself: “Am I not good enough? Am I not smart enough? Am I not talented enough?”

Do you find yourself asking these questions? That’s a good indication that you struggle with confidence.

And the problem with these questions? They make you feel even less confident about learning a language. Comparing yourself to other learners discourages rather than inspires you. It’s a downward spiral.

It can mean you end up avoiding other language learners - and without that inspiration, it’s difficult to stay motivated. Talking of which...

3. You Only Study Alone

When you’re low in confidence, you worry a lot about what other people think of you.

So, you avoid reaching out to other language learners, and you study on your own. You do this to avoid comparing yourself with others (see #2 above), and because you're afraid of making mistakes in front of other people.

Don’t get me wrong: holing yourself up with a language book or a podcast can be a great way to spend time and can improve your skills. But if you’re only doing this, and hiding away from the real world, then you’re doing huge damage to your language learning potential.

4. You Want an Adventure - but that also Scares You!

Are you learning a language to tap into your sense of adventure? Maybe you want to travel the world. Or perhaps you want to meet interesting people from other cultures.

You’re not alone - this is a BIG reason behind many people’s language learning.

But… wanting to climb Mount Everest and actually doing it (with all the months of training and mental grit you need) are two different things.

Adventures are easy when they’re a dream for the future. When you make them real, they can be much more difficult than you imagined. Even more so when anxiety gets in the way.

That’s why, when you’re low in confidence, you can find it difficult to take action on your language dreams. Especially when it requires you to go beyond your comfort zone.

5. You Keep Changing Your Mind

One day you’re learning French. The next day, Mandarin seems like the perfect language. A week later, you’re onto Spanish.

And that’s just choosing a language. Don’t get me started on how difficult it can be to choose the right tools for learn a language!

When you’ve got a confidence block, you have trouble making solid, long-term decisions because you worry that you'll make the wrong choice. You struggle to trust your own judgement, especially when it comes to deciding what you want. Sometimes, this means that you let others decide for you, even if it isn't in your best interest.

When you can’t stick to a decision, it’s little wonder language learning is such a struggle.

Let me tell you, after years of struggling with confidence - it feels great to just choose something, then run with it!

6. You Put Things Off Until the Last Minute

You want to learn a language… you really do.

But you find that you only think about language learning at the end of the day… when you’re already exhausted and Netflix seems like a good option.

Or maybe you schedule time for language learning - but when the time comes, you suddenly remember all the cleaning and washing that needs doing, and you give that priority.

Procrastination isn’t always a sign of low confidence (it can be caused by many different things), but if you’ve got this symptom along with two or three others in the list, it’s likely that your low confidence isn’t helping.

7. You’re Terrified of Eye Contact

Rather than making eye contact, you tend to cross your arms over your body, look down, and feel awkward smiling. You may lean away from the person you're speaking with or even glance around to avoid looking at them.

Eye contact is seen as a key indicator of confidence - at least in Western society. If you find that you struggle with eye contact, there’s a very good chance that you need to work on your confidence.

8. You Avoid Speaking Your New Language

As I mentioned in the introduction, during the years when my confidence was low, I did everything I could to avoid speaking that languages I was learning.

Honestly? I still prefer other ways of learning. I’m an introvert who enjoys studying alone. And I’m totally okay with that.

But I’ve also found that real conversations with real native speakers help me learn a language much faster.

If you avoid speaking altogether - or if you only speak your language once in a blue moon - then confidence is holding back your language potential.

9. You Replay Your Past Failures in Your Mind

What’s it like if this one is true of you? Instead of investing your mental energy into learning a new language, you spend hours going over how things could have been if only you hadn’t messed up.

Your failures haunt you. Your failed language exchanges or early efforts in your target language make it hard for you to try again. Instead, you find yourself dwelling on the embarrassment of whatever happened in the past.

Yes, it’s important to nurse your wounds and let them heal. But letting them fester is a really bad way to go.

10. You Self-Sabotage

In many ways, this final symptom covers all the others - and more.

Low self-confidence turns you into your own worst enemy when it comes to language learning.

Because of your fear of rejection, you often set yourself to fail from the get-go so that your rejection or failures won't come as a surprise. You also use these continued failures as excuses to avoid putting yourself out there the next time around.

What’s Your Low Confidence Challenge?

Learning a new skill - like a language - is challenging. When you add in low confidence, learning a language just gets that much harder.

How does low confidence impact your language learning? Let me know in the comments - I read every one.

The post 10 Ways Low Confidence Holds Back Your Language Learning appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

How I Learned to Speak Mandarin Chinese while Living in Kansas

If there is one language where it is important to speak to natives regularly, it’s Mandarin Chinese (or any Chinese dialect really).

The reason for this is simple: you must practise Chinese tones if you want to be able to speak the language!

A year ago I was in a pretty difficult situation: I had spent about six months learning Mandarin and couldn’t speak a word of it. I had spent about $200 on Rosetta Stone (mistake #1) and not only was my vocabulary in dire straits, my pronunciation was terrible. I was looking at my progress at the time thinking “is this impossible or am I just stupid?”

Sound familiar? Yes? Then please keep reading. You’re not stupid and Mandarin is far from impossible (in fact, I bet it’s easier than you originally thought - I’m now at HSK Level 5).

For those of you who don’t know Mandarin, the language consists of five different tones which need to be pronounced correctly for a given word, or else you’ll completely change the meaning of the word.

Because of this, people often look at me like “exactly what is wrong with you?” when I tell them I am learning Mandarin, especially where I live (the middle of Kansas). But I’m here to tell you today that no matter where you live, you can learn the language of your choosing. Let me give you the seven ways I have used to practise Chinese tones in the middle of Kansas.

Tip 1: Speak To Chinese Waiters

Let me start here by saying: some of these tips you might read and then think to yourself “yeah Ryan, that’s obvious.” To which I respond: if it’s obvious why aren’t you doing it?

Chinese restaurants are probably one of the most underrated and underused ways to learn Chinese and improve your speaking ability. Why? Well honestly because it is simply a little uncomfortable to speak with your waiter in a language you probably aren’t that comfortable with using yet.

I get you. About a million different things are going through your head when you think about talking to a brand new person in their native tongue, almost all of them revolving around “what if I look like a complete idiot?”, or my personal favourite “they will most likely find this offensive.”

Let me stop you right there. Those who are unafraid of looking stupid are the most successful language learners. Don’t focus so much on the details! You need to practise and trust me, they will know you are learning and will give you a break for mispronouncing shì (是) (“to be”) as shí (十) (“ten”). Will you get a chuckle or two? Sure. But you need thicker skin than that to achieve your fluency goals anyway, so why not start here?

Also: no, they absolutely will not find this offensive. Do you have any idea how many westerners can speak Mandarin? Very few. If anything, they will be impressed.

So this weekend, go to a Chinese restaurant, have a seat and say these exact words: “nǐ hǎo. wǒ de míng zi shì [your name] ér qiě wǒ zài xué zhōng wén” (“Hi. My name is [your name] and I’m learning Mandarin Chinese”), and go from there. What are you going to say next? Who cares! Just talk. You will get better, I promise you.

Tip 2: Teach What You Already Know

Let me give you a little story that makes this specific tip my favourite one on the list.

I was absolutely stuck on Chinese grammar. And when I say stuck, I mean stuck. For some reason it just would not resonate with me. After all, Mandarin is a completely different way of looking at the world.

After hours of frustrating work, I remembered a piece of advice given to me by one of my old high school teachers: “Learn what you are doing as if you are going to teach it.”

Boom, talk about a “Eureka!” moment. It seemed so simple now. Let’s create some material that would help another language learner learn Chinese grammar and through that process, I will become the master.

Now how do you apply this to pronunciation? Simple: head on over to italki and reach out to a couple of language buddies that are a little newer to learning Mandarin. Offer to teach them pronunciation.

This backs you into that corner and forces you to learn. After all, you’re not going to teach them the wrong way to do something are you?

Tip 3: Teach English to Chinese Speakers

Probably one of the most underused resources to help one learn Chinese is by teaching English to Chinese people.

It is absolutely no secret that the number of English tutors who can speak Mandarin is dramatically less than the number of teachers that is needed. In case you have been asleep for the past 15 years, China is now an economic superpower and happens to carry the world’s biggest population, all of whom begin learning English from the age of five.

This is probably the biggest opportunity for you to improve your Mandarin because, guess what, you don’t have to be fluent in Mandarin to teach English. Which is kind of appalling when you think about it, but that is the time we live in.

I have two friends I went to highschool with who spent two years in Shanghai teaching English and came back knowing how to say “nǐ hǎo” (“hello”) and “wǒ xiǎng yào yì pí pí jiǔ” (“I want a bottle of beer.”) which is apparently all that is needed to get by as an English teacher.

This does not have to be your story though. Head over to Boxfish and apply to become a tutor. You will get paid for your time and you will be able to use this time to speak to native Chinese speakers.

Yeah, I get it, you have to teach them English so you might be thinking to yourself, “that doesn’t sound like the best time to improve my Mandarin, Ryan.” Well not with that attitude it isn’t.

Listen to their pronunciation, listen to how they talk. Learn how to flow with the words that your student is saying. This is going to help you tenfold when improving your own Chinese pronunciation, trust me.

Not to mention: you get paid in the process! What do you have to lose?

Tip 4: Learn Chinese Through Testing

Don’t underestimate the impact that testing can have on your Chinese skills. Recent studies on memory have shown that the use of testing while learning concepts is far more effective at reinforcing material in the student’s memory than just about anything else.

And by testing I do mean using an actual test. Which one, you ask? Why the HSK of course.

Using the practice tests at the link above can tremendously improve your abilities. I’ve seen the greatest leaps forward in my listening comprehension and speaking abilities when going through these tests.

I of course was using a tutor, which was helpful because I had instant access to questions. But you don’t need a tutor to benefit from this study method.

Simply:


Print off the practice tests
Download the MP3
Listen to the MP3 while writing out the pinyin you hear
Translate every sentence


Yes, I know the test is in Chinese characters. But look at this as an opportunity to make your written Chinese as awesome as your spoken. You won’t get better unless you practise.

Tip 5: Schedule a Full Weekend of Only Chinese

This one no doubt will raise a few eyebrows but just hear me out, I’m not (that) crazy.

Let me start by saying that I get compliments on my pronunciation all the time, and I don’t say this to brag; I say it to inspire you and because I can attribute it to the following method I found to rapidly improve my speaking skills.

For two weekends in a row, I simply locked myself in my apartment and went over the audio lessons from Yoyo Chinese Beginner and Intermediate lessons over and over again. I was inspired by the fact that I had been studying Mandarin for six months and yet still only knew something along the lines of 400 words! Me being the obviously patient person I am (kidding), I decided something needed to change.

The results? Outstanding. Before I had been tripping over the flow of one tone to the next.Now, I simply intuitively pick it up. I attribute this ability to the discipline I had to take a couple weekends off from the friends and simply practise.

There is actually a good amount of logic behind these kind of results when you think about it. People tend to think it should take you years to learn a new skill, but I simply think it is the number of hours you put into learning it.

Mastery will come after a certain number of hours. How quickly you devote those hours is entirely up to YOU!

Tip 6: Do a Two-week Exchange (for Free!)

This is by far one of the greatest pieces of advice I could ever give to anyone wanting to improve any part of Mandarin, or simply wanting an adventure.

When it comes to studying in China, you might think that ship has sailed for you if you are out of college, or if you don’t have a year to take off of work. Or if schooling isn’t an option for you because you don’t want to go to a university, or perhaps your Mandarin isn’t as up to speed as you think it should be to attend a university or get a job in China.

I have great news for you: no matter how old you are, you can study in China, at an immersion program, for the exact amount of time you wish to study. I have a school to recommend actually: Hutong School. Go check them out. You can do a program for a little as a week. I personally recommend two weeks because you will have made the trip to China.

Not to mention, you can get this for absolutely free. Take a look around at Chinese education grants. There are scholarships you can apply for on Hutong’s site that will finance your education in China.

Bottom line: immersion is the best way to learn a new language (and I mean real immersion, not Rosetta Stone). Live a little and take a two-week exchange my friend!

Tip 7: Contribute to Google Translate

This is probably one of the most unknown ways to learn Chinese because I don’t think many people consider being a contributor to the Google Translate community to be a good way to learn the language, and that it should be reserved for those who already speak it.

Let me be the first to tell you this simply isn’t the case. It’s no secret that Google has quite a way to go when it comes to accurately translating any language. I find mistakes all the time.

Because of this, they have created the translation community. This is by and large one of the best ways to learn your target language and I highly suggest you head over there now to sign up for an account.

Click on “become a contributor” when prompted, which brings you to various sentences written in Simplified or Traditional Chinese, depending on the one you want to learn (if you’re stuck on characters, begin with Simplified).

From there, you translate the sentences you see. If you don’t know a character, look it up in an online dictionary or Google translate. What I have found is that Google has not quite gotten Chinese grammar down, but obviously knows the meaning of individual characters.

You can use this to your advantage. Since the characters are known but the entire meaning of the sentence is not, you can help piece together what they are trying to say. This is going to give you a more intuitive feel for the characters and how they flow in the sentence, which will be reflected in your future conversations with native speakers.

Worried about making a mistake? No worries, Google checks these translations using other human beings over and over again before they post them to the web. In my experience, the less you are afraid of making a mistake, the quicker you learn the language.

You Can Learn Chinese, Even in Kansas

In the end, it’s not what you do, but the way that you do it. I may have stolen that quote from Across The Universe, but it still is very very true indeed.

What I mean by this is that Mandarin is not nearly as hard as you think it is. When you learn a new language, you are simply learning a new way to think. What better way to learn how to think than to immerse yourself in the other’s point of view?

For those of you naysayers who think you can’t do this sort of thing if you aren’t in China, now you know differently. I live in Kansas which is obviously known for its burgeoning Chinese population, and I am doing just fine. If I can do it, so can you!

加油！再见！

The post How I Learned to Speak Mandarin Chinese while Living in Kansas appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

Get Ready to Travel and Master the Basics of a Language in Just 7 Days

True story: on a trip to France I walked into a coifferie believing that it would be a coffee shop

A coifferie is not a coffee shop. It’s a hair salon.

Boy did I feel silly. And a little guilty about my lack of French skills.

Have you ever felt bad when travelling because of your lack of language skills?

You know, where you go to a new country and suddenly feel awful because you can’t even speak essential phrases in the native language.

You know you should have learned a little of the language before you got on the flight. But deep down, you hoped everyone would speak fluent English, despite the fact you knew you’d be hundreds of miles from home in a foreign country.

Feeling guilty isn’t the only problem. It’s really tricky to get around in a new country if you can’t communicate or read signs.

Well...today you can make those worries a thing of the past.

I’m going to show you how to become travel fluent in just seven days. So, no matter where your next trip is, you can get around with ease.

What is Travel Fluent?

Travel Fluency is being able to speak a language easily and accurately within the confines of your next trip. It’s the ability to get by in the situations you’ll find yourself in. You'll know the essential phrases so you can get by in the common tourist situations you'll find yourself in.

Let’s say you’re going on a weekend trip to Paris. You’re going to be in a few different situations where you may need to be able to communicate in French:


Getting from the airport to your hotel
Checking in to your hotel
Ordering in a restaurant
Getting directions to a museum
Asking how much an item costs in a supermarket


Those situations will be completely different on each trip you take, too. A hiking trip in Slovenia will need much more specific phrases, such as asking for help finding the right trail, compared to a romantic weekend in Paris.

Being able to get by and get the results you’re looking for - with as many gestures and puzzled looks as it takes - is travel fluency. You'll feel ready to travel and speak the local language.

You’ll be no means speak perfectly. And in some cases, people will respond back to you in English. When they respond in their native language, you’ll mostly only be able to pick out the keywords from their responses, rather than understand full sentences.

But being able to make the effort in a new country, and take comfort in the fact that you can communicate when you have to, is a brilliant start.

It’s also an excellent place to begin confidently interacting with people and learning the basics of a new language.

How Much Time Do You Need to Become Travel Fluent?

To get the best results in the next seven days I’d highly recommend that you allocate 90 to 120 minutes each day.

You don’t have to do it all at once; feel free to break it up. If you have 30 minutes on your commute or 20 minutes to twiddle your thumbs on your lunch break, fit it in there.

Don’t worry if you can’t make that much time each day. You can stretch the seven days to 10 days or two weeks - whatever fits your schedule. But the more time you make, the better (and quicker) your results.

What Tools Do You Need?

I’m with Benny in that I don’t particularly enjoy the process of learning a language, which is why I love using tools to make that process as quick and painless as possible.

Everything on this list is free and plays an integral role in this method:


Anki : This is a flashcard app for your phone. It uses spaced repetition, so you can learn (and remember) specific words and phrases more easily.
Forvo : Shows you how any word is pronounced.
iTalki : Allows you to communicate with people online who speak your target language, if you have nobody available at home.
YouTube : So you can listen to how people speak and get used to the sounds.


You’ll also need a language-specific online dictionary to find new words.

Okay, that’s your tool-kit taken care of. Let’s see what the next seven days are going to look like, shall we?

Day 1: Greetings, Numbers And Finding Your Phrases

Today is going to set you up for the next six days and give you the essential parts of the language you’ll need.

I’ve broken it down into three steps:

Step 1: Get Stuck Into The Language (15-20 minutes)

For the first part of today, go online and find this information:


Numbers 0-100
Greetings and pleasantries (Hello, please, thank you, etc.)


There are a few places you can find them. For example, there will be online lists - like this one for Spanish numbers - that show you each number or phrase. Or, you’ll be able to find YouTube videos that say them for you, like below:



You can also enter anything you struggle with into the Forvo tool and find out how it’s pronounced:



Once you’ve done all of that, it’s time to add them into Anki. You can find a tutorial on how to do that right here.

The app will then give you up to one minute to choose an answer to a flashcard, and you can select whether it was easy, good, hard or if you need to practise that card again.

By the end of the next seven days you’ll have a list for every day, similar to mine below (I last ran this with German):



Knowing numbers always comes in handy, and not just for money. You can use it find the right bus, train platform or explain how many guests you need in your hotel room.

Greetings, on the other hand, go a long way with native speakers. I have no data to back it up, but I’ve seen around a 1000% increase in customer service quality when I use them.

If you’re stuck for what greetings you should learn, here’s where I’d suggest you start:


Hello
Good morning/afternoon/night
How are you?
Please
Thank you
Yes
No
Sorry
The bill, please
I don’t understand


Don’t worry if they don’t all stick right away because you’re going to come back to them later.

Step 2: Outline The Phrases You’ll Need (20-25 minutes)

In this step, you’re going to look at all the phrases you feel you’re going to need.

Take a look at your trip - or why you’re travelling - and think about the types of situations you’re going to encounter.

For example, I first used this technique when I was backpacking in Peru. So my survival situations looked like this:

Hostels


Booking
Checking in
Checking out


Buses


Finding the station
Is it going to where I want to go?
Which ticket do I need?
How much does a ticket cost?
How long does it take?
Can you tell me when it’s my stop?


Restaurants


Ordering food
Paying


Supermarkets


How much is this?
Where is [item]?


Bars


Ordering beer(s)


If I could get by with those, I could survive. Which, I did (just about). It also led to me going on Tinder dates and learning how to have conversations while giving me the confidence to take classes.

Go ahead and write all of the situations you’re going to need into a notebook or a Word document. You don’t need to write the translations just yet. This is where you’ll highlight the situations.

A pro tip here is also to underline the situations that are similar, like I’ve bolded the following:


How much does a ticket cost?
How much is an apple?


Because the first portion of the sentence will be the same:


¿Cuanto es un billete?
¿Cuanto es una manzana?


This will help you tie everything together in the days to come. Once you’ve got that in place, let’s head to the final step for today.

Step 3: Study What You Started With (Remaining Time)

Head back to Anki and see how much you remember from earlier.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t remember everything; you’ll be coming back to this each day. But work through the deck and do your best to remember them.

If you really struggle to remember any of them, try using mnemonics to etch them in your mind.

Day 2: Your Most Important Situation(s)

Start today off by reviewing your cards from yesterday.

Take 10 to 15 minutes to work through your greetings and numbers. See how much you remember, and refresh your memory on others.

The rest of today is going to be spent on putting together a list of phrases, and responses, to your two most important situations, which we’ll go through together next.

Learn Your Two Most Important Situations (Remainder)

When you made your list of situations there were likely one or two that really stood out to you. You may have rushed to write them down, or felt like you’d really struggle to get by without them.

For me it’s always public transport and ordering in a restaurant. I don’t like being lost or hungry (or both), so they’re of high importance.

So, it’s time to break them down from the list you made yesterday and explore the parts of the language you’re going to need to know.

What Are You Going To Need To Say?

If you’re in a restaurant, what are you going to need to say? Go through the process in English and look at the times you come into contact with someone:


Ask for a table
Ask for the menu
Order a drink
Order your food
“Yeah, it’s nice...thank you”
Order the bill


You can then start to translate the phrases you’ll need for those situations and learn what you need to say.

This takes some research on the internet. And, I don’t recommend you rely on Google Translate for this. Instead look for language-specific phrasebooks with English translations.

Once you find them you can start writing up your list of phrases. For example, in Spanish:


 “A table for four, please?” – “Una mesa para cuatro, por favor”
 “Can I see the menu?” – “Hay una carta?”
“Can we order?” – “Podemos pedir?”
“I’ll have a beer to drink” – “Una cerveza, por favor”
“Can I have [name of food], please?” – “Me da [name of food on menu], por favor”
“It’s lovely, thank you” – “Todo es muy rico!”
“The bill, please?” – “La cuenta por favor”


A trap a lot of language learners fall into here – especially if you’re learning from a phrasebook – is you learn what you have to say, but not what they may say back to you.

So, you’re going to reverse this and put yourself in the shoes of the person you’re speaking to. In this case, the waiter.

You’ll never be able to predict their exact response. So because of that you should focus on learning the key words. Like the ones in bold here:


 “What would you like?” – “Que quieres?”
“Would you like a drink?” - “…para tomar?”
“What would you like to eat?” – “…para comer?”
“Is everything okay?” – “Que tal todo?”
“Yes, of course” – “Si, claro”
“Would you like dessert?” – “Quieres postre?”


From those you can figure out what’s being asked based on the context.

Heck, with my intermediate Spanish I still use this method.

So, to wrap up this section:

Learn what you’re going to need to say

Learn what they’re going to say back to you

That way conversations don’t come as a surprise and you don’t feel panicked when someone asks you a follow-up question.

Days 3 and 4: Time to Start Listening

For days three and four, the schedule is the same for each.

You’re going to:


Review each of the last few days (20-30 minutes): Go through Anki and review your flashcards. You should feel like you’re starting to get a grip of Day One and Two by the end of this.
Tackle one new topic (30 minutes): As you saw in the last section, break down one of your topics and find the phrases and the responses to work through. Add them to Anki as you go for review later on.
Listen to your language being spoken (10-15 minutes): I’m going to expand on this next so you know what to do.
Review today’s Anki cards (remainder): Review what you learned in section two.


Now let’s look at what you can listen to and why you should be listening to it:

Listening to Your Language Being Spoken

So far you’ll have mostly heard your language through Forvo or YouTube examples. But today, you’re going to amp that up and do some intentional listening, where you hear the language spoken in context.

This allows you to pick out the sounds that you know, and listen to the general pronunciation of the language.

You don’t need to know what’s being said. It’s only been three or four days, so unless you’re a savant that’s pretty impossible. But taking the time to listen will make hearing people speak back to you much easier.

But, what should you be listening to? Well this is where YouTube really comes into its own. You can find:


Podcasts: For language learners and natives
Music: In just about every major language in the world
Interviews: Find TV interviews in your target language


For example if you search “French Podcast” you’ll get a full page of results like this:



I like YouTube because it lets you see the mouth movements as well as the words. It makes it a little easier to pick the defined start and end of a word.

If you work from a computer - and your boss lets you listen to music while you work - you can incorporate this stage into your workday, too. (I feel I owe Julieta Venegas and Juanes at least $500 in Spanish lessons).

The important thing here is that you’re listening and absorbing the sounds. I feel this step made a big impact on my later Spanish and German pronunciation, so really give it some time.

Days 5 and 6: Time to Speak to Someone

By now you should be feeling pretty confident with what you learned on days one and two. And, days three and four are just about sinking in.

For the next two days you’ll follow a similar structure.

Start by reviewing the last few days. And, after that, work through any outstanding situations you have left. You can also continue to listen to music and podcasts if you like (foreign music is pretty cool, right?).

But the main change for these days is that you’re going to have a conversation with someone.

Don’t worry, it’s nothing major. Let me explain…

Get Talking To Someone

Having this conversation is really useful because It allows you to correct any mistakes you may be worried about before you need to use the language on your holiday.

You can also hear the responses you wrote earlier – and their variations – so you can pick out the words you know and improve your understanding.

And, from experience, I’ve found that when you say what you’ve learned, it sticks in your mind a heck of a lot longer.

If you have any friends or family that can speak the language you’re learning, collar them and get them to ask you a few simple questions based on your situations. (Pro tip: if they’re not able to do a real-time call or meet you in person, they can send WhatsApp or Facebook recorded messages).

But what if you don’t have anybody around you to talk to?

Then you can use italki. Here you’ll find hundreds of people here who are dying to speak English to you and will gladly swap a few sentences in their native tongue for the English practice.



If this feels a little intimidating, you can fully explain what you’re trying to achieve in English before you jump onto Skype. I’m not really a telephone person, so I find this settles the nerves a little.

Okay, now you’ve got that in place, let’s look at the final day:

Day 7: The Finishing Touches

For the last day you’re going to work on anything that you struggled with over the previous six days.

Whether that is:


Reviewing the phrases you struggle to remember
Listening to YouTube videos and picking out the words you know
Practising your phrases with someone on italki


I like to plan today to be the day that I fly, so I can use the language in practice. It’s also a good way to pass two hours on the plane by reviewing my flash cards and what I may need to say when I land.

If this is a few days ahead of when you travel, be sure to practise the flash cards and keep listening before you do fly. If you stop using a language when it’s this fresh in your mind, it’s easy to forget it.

And, if this is your first time using a new language, remember it doesn’t need to be perfect. This is about making the effort and getting your point across. You’ll be amazed at how helpful, and happy, people can be when you try to speak their language to them.

Wrapping It All Up...

Phew! If you made it here, well done. You’re either about to start this challenge or you’ve followed along and are now on your way to travel fluency.

Either way, you’ve taken a big step towards a new language, and getting rid of that English Guilt.

Here’s a summary of all the days:


Day 1: Learn greetings and numbers. Then, map out all of the major situations you’re going to find yourself in.
Day 2: Translate your two most important situations from English and look at the responses you’re likely to get. Be sure to focus on the keywords to listen out for.
Days 3 and 4: Pick one more situation for each of these days. But, now is when we inject listening - podcasts/YouTube Videos/Music - into the mix.
Days 5 and 6: Work on any outstanding situations, or your weak points. These days you’ll use to speak to someone and practise your phrases.
Day 7: Review everything you’ve learned and tackle any points you struggled with.


All that’s left for you to do now is to get out and use your new skills on your trip. Which language, or place, are you going to choose first? Let me know in the comments...

The post Get Ready to Travel and Master the Basics of a Language in Just 7 Days appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

Language Hacking Italian: 10 Smarter Ways to Learn Italian

Mamma mia, it’s finally hee-a!

From 27th September, my new book Language Hacking Italian is available in bookstores all around the world.

What’s so special about this new Italian course?

Language hacking is all about looking for the faster, smarter ways to learn languages. I’ve been sharing and developing my ideas on language hacking ever since I launched Fluent in 3 Months in 2009.

Now, for the first time, I’ve developed Language Hacking into a series of beginner courses for language learners, published with Teach Yourself.

To put it simply, Language Hacking: Italian is for beginners who want to have actual conversations in Italian. With this course, you’ll be speaking Italian right from day one.

That’s how Language Hacking Italian came about.

Rather than go in-depth on how language hacking works (you can read more about that here), I thought I’d give you a sneak peek inside the new course, so you can try out some of the Italian hacks for yourself.

I’ve included that page numbers so when you get your own copy of the course (order here) you can look them up for yourself.

Here are my top Italian language hacks:

1. Get a Head-start with Italian Words you Already Know (page 10)

How do you say “Italy” in Italian? Italia, of course! This is easy to remember. But did you know that many words that end in -y in English end in -ia or -io in Italian, and are otherwise identical? Here are some other examples:


Biologia (biology)
Storia (story/history)
Matrimonio (matrimony)
Anomalia (anomaly)


But it doesn’t stop there. Both English and Italian have thousands of words in common, since both languages are heavily influenced by Latin. Try to guess the meanings of the following Italian words:


Film
Telefono
Situazione
Cultura
Letteratura
Moderno


After a short time studying Italian, you’ll really start to get a feel for which words are likely to be similar to English. Then you can just guess at the Italian pronunciation, and there’s a good chance you’ll be right.

2. Learn Italian Vocab Faster with Mnemonics (page 28)

Do you remember the phrase “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas” for remembering the order of the planets at school? I’m guessing it’s different these days now that Pluto is no longer a planet!

Anyway, that’s a memory hook, also known as a mnemonic.

You’re never too old to use memory hooks to help you learn new things. For learning Italian, mnemonics are very useful for remembering vocabulary. All you have to do is think of a way an Italian word can be linked to an English word, and then make up an image or a story to cement the link in your memory.

For example, the Italian word for “light” is “la luce”. Luce sounds somewhat similar to “Lucy”, so think of the Beatles song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”, and how much light shines through the diamonds.

The Italian word for “the store” or “the shop” is “il negozio”. This sounds like “negotiate” in English. So picture yourself strolling down a street in an old Italian marketplace and hearing all the shoppers negotiating at every stall.

3. Power-learn Italian Genders with this Word-endings Trick (page 62)

I’ve heard some language learners argue in the past that the “best” way to learn noun genders in Italian is to just memorize the gender of each word as you learn it. Learn the genders by “brute force”, they say.

I strongly disagree. No one would ever suggest you learn to pronounce Italian words by memorizing each pronunciation as you go. You just learn a few pronunciation rules, then pronounce almost any new word you see. So why should you waste time learning the genders of Italian words the “brute force” way? Just learn a few rules, based on word endings, and you can instantly guess the gender of any new noun you hear, and have a pretty good chance of being right.

If the word has one of the following endings, you can be fairly certain it’s a feminine word:


-ione (tradizione, televisione, etc)
-a or -à (unless it ends in -ma) (la cultura, la differenza)
-tudine (l’altitudine, etc)


If it has one of the following endings, it’s probably a masculine word:


-o (il mondo, il pollo, etc)
-ma (il programma, etc)
-tore/-ore (l’autore, il cursore, etc)
loan words from other languages not ending in -a (il film, il software, etc)


4. Say More in Italian with These Four Booster Verbs (page 82)

Present tense verb conjugation in Italian is a bit tougher than it is in English. In English, most verbs have only two different present tense conjugations: the third person singular (e.g. “she reads”, and everything else (“I read”, “you read”, “we read”, “they read”). But Italian has a different conjugation for each of these.

This can feel overwhelming.

So, I recommended using four simple “booster verbs” to avoid those messy conjugations for now. These booster verbs can be used with other verbs in their dictionary form, so you can say what you want to right now instead of waiting until you’ve learned all of the different verb forms.

Me piace (I like)

For interests and hobbies, there’s no need to try to remember the “io” verb form of every activity you do. For example, instead of saying “I go out every weekend” or “I collect stamps”, say “I like to go out every weekend” (“Mi piace uscire ogni weekend”) or “I like to collect stamps” (“Mi piace collezionare francobolli”).

Voglio (I want/intend)

This is a great verb to use when talking about the future, and about general wants and desires.

You can talk about the future in Italian using the present tense (e.g. “I’m seeing the movie tomorrow”), but if you don’t know how to conjugate a verb like vedere (“to see”), then rephrase your sentence to “I want to see the movie tomorrow” (“Voglio vedere il film domani”). Now “vedere” is in its dictionary form.

Devo (I should, I must)

Here’s another handy verb to make certain sentences easier to say. If you’re not sure how to conjugate “to go” but you want to say, “I’m going out now”, then change it to “Devo uscire ora” (“I have to go out now”) instead. Or change a phrase like “I’m working tomorrow” to “Devo lavorare domani” (“I have to work tomorrow”) to avoid conjugating “to work”.

Posso (I can)

Use this verb to clarify that you ‘can’ or ‘are able to’ do something. For instance, if you don’t remember how to say ‘I tell’ (dico), you could say ‘I can tell’: “Ti posso dire la password, se vuoi?” (“I can tell you the password if you want?”)

5. Use Context to Work Out What’s Being Said (page 96)

Sometimes, even in your native language, you find yourself in a situation where you didn’t catch every word of a sentence. Maybe you’re on the phone and the connection is bad, or possibly you weren’t paying attention to what someone was saying to you. And yet, you can often figure out what the person said without having to ask them to repeat it.
I call that using context.

With a bit of practice, you can do this in Italian as well.

For example, if you catch just a few key words, then you can deduce the rest of the sentence.

Here are a couple of examples:


Dove...smartphone (where...smartphone)
Venerdì...cinema (Friday...cinema)


If you don’t understand any words, you still might be able to understand the other person’s meaning based on visual clues, including your surroundings or the gestures of the other person.

For example, if you’re talking loudly in the library and the librarian comes over and whispers something to you while frowning, they probably didn’t say, “Psst! What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?”

6. Keep Yourself Talking with Conversation Connectors (page 130)

Conversation Connectors are super useful to help keep your conversations flowing, and to sound more natural in your speech.

Here are a few you can use to help your conversations sound more smooth:


francamente (frankly speaking)
secondo me (in my opinion)
se ho capito bene (if I understand correctly)
a proposito (by the way)
è perché (that’s because)


You’ll find plenty more conversational connectors inside Language Hacking Italian.

7. Time Travel – Talk About the Past and Future Using the Present Tense (page 156)

A lot of people tell stories in the present tense, even in their mother tongue. It’s just a natural way to share anecdotes - and it makes them more vivid.

You can do exactly the same thing with your stories in Italian too - which means you can tell stories before you’ve learned the past tense. Just set up the scene (“So the other day, there I am, minding my own business…”) and then tell your story as if it’s happening in the present.

Along the same lines, you can talk about your future plans using the present form, if you add a time indicator to the sentence. For example:


“Fra un mese, parlo molto italiano!” (In a month, I will speak a lot of Italian!)
“Chiamo i miei genitori fra due ore.” (I’m calling my parents in two hours.)


When in doubt, embrace your inner Tarzan! If you can’t remember how to conjugate the verb you need to talk about the past or future, you can use the dictionary form. It won’t sound all that elegant, but it will get you by in a pinch!

8. The Rephrasing Technique for Talking your Way Through Complicated Sentences (page 180)

As a beginner in Italian you won’t be able to express yourself like a native speaker right away. Don’t let this discourage you. You’re learning Italian to communicate with Italian speakers, not to write the sequel to .

When you’re starting out, focus on saying what you want/need to say, and when you get more advanced, then you can worry about how eloquent and nuanced you sound.

For example, if you’d like to approach someone to ask if they’ll speak some Italian with you, don’t worry about saying something complex like “Excuse me...I’m sorry...I just overheard you speaking Italian...I’ve actually been studying it for a while...do you mind if I practise a few phrases with you?...I hope I’m not bothering you…”.

The main idea is simply: “You speak Italian? Me too! Let’s talk.” So say that instead.

You can do this in all kinds of situations. “Would you like to dance with me?” could become “Balla con me!” (“Dance with me!”). “I should avoid eating fish as much as possible because of a medical condition” could become “No pesce” (“No fish”).

With a little practice, you’ll be able to do this without a second thought.

9. Use Hidden Minutes to Get Italian Immersion for the Long-term (page 203)

Rather than thinking about how many months or years it may take to learn Italian, a more effective learning strategy is to focus instead on the minutes that it takes.

For most of the languages I’ve learned - including Italian - I had to schedule my study time around a full-time job. If I had kept delaying my study sessions until I could set aside several hours in a row, I never would have learned any Italian.

Instead, I took advantage of spare minutes I had free throughout the day. No matter how busy you are, you’ll always find yourself with short periods of idle time. Waiting for the elevator, walking your dog, attending to (ahem) nature’s call...these are all perfect moments to squeeze some Italian studying in.

Break out your Anki flashcard deck (for iOS or Android) and build your Italian vocabulary while you’re riding the bus. Or listen to an episode of Coffee Break Italian during your, well, coffee break.

10. Develop a Cheat Sheet to Go Into ‘Autopilot’ During Your First Conversation (page 210)

If you used to study languages the old-fashioned way in school, then the concept of a cheat sheet might seem like, well, cheating. After all, in school, you had to memorize everything you thought you’d possibly need for your language exam, and then regurgitate it all up in the allotted time period. No cheat sheets allowed!

Language hacking couldn’t be further from this out-dated scenario. As a language hacker, you focus on real-life conversations in real-world scenarios. There’s no time limit and no right or wrong answers. There’s just you, practising words and phrases with a native Italian speaker.

A cheat sheet will help you with your Italian conversation in two ways. One, it will take some of the pressure off you so you’re not too nervous to speak in Italian. Two, it will make sure that you actually get to practise the words and phrases you’ve been preparing. How often has it happened to you that you’re planning to ask your friend a question next time you see them, and then when the time comes, you forget? A cheat sheet will ensure you don’t forget.

You can put whatever you want on your cheat sheet. I like to divide mine up into four sections:


Essentials: “Hello”, “How are you?”, “I’m well, thank you”, “Goodbye”, as well as typical introductory questions like “Where do you work?”, “Where are you from?”, etc.
Survival phrases: I’m sorry, I don’t understand”, “Could you please repeat that?”, “Could you type that out?” etc.
Questions you plan to ask: “What do you do in your free time?”, “What’s your city like?”, etc.
Any material that you want to practise saying: for example, “me-specific” phrases like your hobbies, your job, or any upcoming plans you have.


Keep the cheat sheet handy during your conversation. Refer to it as often as you need to, and Hey Presto! You’ve just had your first real-life conversation with a native Italian speaker!

Want to Speak Italian - the Faster Way?

I hope you found these Italian hacks useful.

Language Hacking Italian takes you step-by-step through learning Italian with language hacks.

From the day you pick up the course, you’ll learn how to speak Italian in real life situations.

Order your copy of Language Hacking Italian today.

The post Language Hacking Italian: 10 Smarter Ways to Learn Italian appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

Language Hacking German: 10 Hacks to Learn German Faster

It’s heeeeeeere! Ja, baby!

From 27th September, my new book Language Hacking German is available in bookstores all around the world.

So, what’s the fuss all about?

Language hacking is all about looking for the faster, smarter ways to learn languages. I’ve been sharing and developing my ideas on language hacking ever since I launched Fluent in 3 Months in 2009.

In short, language hacking is about learning a language through speaking it from day one.

Now, for the first time, I’ve developed Language Hacking into a series of beginner courses for language learners, published with Teach Yourself.

That’s how Language Hacking German came about.

And it’s all about learning German by speaking German.

Rather than go in-depth on how language hacking works (you can read more about that here), I thought I’d give you a sneak peek inside the new course, so you can try out some of the German hacks for yourself.

I’ve included that page numbers so when you get your own copy of the course (order here) you can look them up for yourself.

Let’s get started!

1. Get a Head Start Learning German with Words You Already Know (page 10)

As an English speaker learning German, you’re in luck. Your English will give you the oberhand (upper hand).

English is a Germanic language, so both English and German have a lot in common. Some of the spellings and pronunciations have diverged over the centuries, but there are still thousands of words that are very similar.

Here are some examples:


The letters v and f in English sometimes change to b in German: e.g. half → halb, seven → sieben, silver → Silber
A d in English sometimes changes to a t in German: e.g. bread → Brot, old → alt, hundred → hundert, good → gut
The k in English sometimes changes to ch in German: e.g. milk → Milch, book → Buch, week → Woche
Sh in English sometimes changes to sch in German: e.g. English → Englisch, fish → Fisch, sheer → schier


2. Learn German Vocab Faster with Memory Hooks (page 29)

I used to struggle with learning new vocabulary, until I discovered memory hooks.

Memory hooks, also known as mnemonics cement new words into your brain, making it super easy to remember them on a moment’s notice.

Here’s an example of how to use mnemonics in your German studies. Suppose you want to remember that the word “reisen” means “to travel”. This word sounds nothing like “travel” in English, so what can you do? Easy: think of an English word that “reisen” does sound like, and link that to an image in your mind that you associate with traveling.

Reisen sounds a lot like the English word “rising”. So imagine yourself rising early in the morning to go on a journey. Now, anytime you need to say “travel” in your German conversations, this image will come to mind and you’ll instantly remember that it’s “reisen”.

3. Power-learn German Genders with the Word-endings Trick (page 61)

Suppose you’ve never seen the English word “diversify” before. Even if you have no idea what it means, you can still guess instantly that it’s a verb. How? Because of the “-ify” ending. It’s a dead giveaway. You can add -ify to all sorts of English words in order to, well, verbify them ;-)

You can use a similar technique for German. Word endings can help you guess noun genders without memorizing the gender of each and every word.

Whenever you’re in conversation and want to use a word whose gender you’re not sure of, look at the ending of the word for clues:


If a word ends in -er, -ich, -ig, -ling, -us, -ismus, it’s probably masculine.


Examples: der Bäcker (the baker), der Teppich (the carpet), der König (the king), der Feigling (the coward), der Campus (the campus), der Tourismus (the tourism)


If a word ends in -e, -ie, -ei, -heit, -keit, -tät, -ung, -ur or -schaft in its singular form, it’s probably feminine.


Examples: die Seite (the page), die Familie (the family), die Partei (the (political) party), die Freiheit (the freedom), die Möglichkeit (the possibility), die Universität (the university), die Übung (the exercise), die Kultur (the culture), die Gesellschaft (the company)


If a word ends in -chen, -lein, -ment, -um or -en (a verb used as a noun) it’s probably neutral.


Examples: das Mädchen (the girl), das Brüderlein (baby brother), das Element (the element), das Museum, das Essen (food – from the verb essen = to eat)

You won’t be correct 100% of the time, but you’re not trying to be perfect isn’t the goal. I encourage language hackers to make lots of mistakes and learn as they go.

4. Say Exponentially More in German with These Five Booster Verbs (page 88)

If you wait until you can conjugate every German verb perfectly before you start speaking German, you’ll be waiting an awfully long time.

Instead, learn just five verbs and their conjugations, and you can use them along with any other verb in its dictionary form to express thousands of ideas without getting buried in conjugations.

Whenever you’re struggling in conversation to conjugate a verb on the fly, see if you can rephrase your sentence using one of these verbs:

Ich möchte (I want, I would like)

Anytime you want, plan or intend to do something, try phrasing it with ich möchte, even if that’s not quite how you would express it in English. This will let you use the dictionary form of the main verb of the sentence.

Want to tell your friend that you’re planning to run a marathon but can’t remember how to conjugate planen (“to plan”)? Say “Ich möchte einen Marathon laufen” (“I want to run a marathon”) instead.

Heading to the grocery store and you hope they’re not out of Landjäger? Instead of trying to remember the verb “to hope”, just say “Ich möchte Landjäger kaufen” (“I want to buy Landjäger”).

Ich sollte (I should)

In English, the words “I should”, “I’m supposed to”, or “I ought to” all mean pretty much the same thing. In German, you can use just one phrase to express this: “Ich sollte”.

Use “Ich sollte” plus another verb’s dictionary form to express what you “should” or “are supposed to” do. For example: “Ich sollte mehr Gemüse essen” (“I should eat more vegetables”).

Ich muss (I must)

This one is pretty straightforward, especially since it sounds so close to “I must” in English.

You can use “Ich muss” to express any type of action that you have to do. That action will be a verb in its dictionary form. For example: “Ich muss morgen arbeiten” (“I have to work tomorrow”).

Ich kann (I can)

Once you learn this verb - which should be easy given how much it sounds like “I can” - you’ll be able to describe yourself with a lot more flair.

“I play chess” isn’t as descriptive as “Ich kann gut Schach spielen” (“I can play chess well”). A phrase like “I drive” would do you in a pinch, but what you probably want to say is “Ich kann fahren” (“I can drive”). When stated this way, these phrases have the added bonus of not requiring you to conjugate the verbs “spielen” and “fahren”.

Ich werde (I will)

Even though you can use the present tense to talk about the future in German (“I’m having some people over tomorrow night”), it can be easier to use “Ich werde” plus the dictionary form of the main verb of the sentence. For example: “Ich werde im Sommer nach Frankreich fahren” (“I will go to France in the summer”).

5. Use Clues and Context to Understand More German than You Think You Can (page 112)

Contextese is my favourite “non-language” language. Becoming “fluent” in Contextese is one of the best ways to start having more interesting conversations in German, right away.

Conversations always go a lot more smoothly when you can work out what other people are saying rather than stop every few sentences to ask the speaker to repeat themselves.

If you already know the subject of the conversation (which is pretty likely unless you’ve been accosted by a stranger in the street), then try to pick out key words that will tell you the gist of what the other person is saying. If you ask someone, “Do you like to jog?”, and they reply with enthusiasm, but all you catch from their reply is the phrase “every day!”, you can make a pretty educated guess that they’re no Couch-Kartoffel!

You can also use visual markers (the speaker’s body language, facial expression, and your surroundings) to work out what’s being said. If you’re in a restaurant and have just drunk the last of your water, and the waiter comes around with a pitcher of water and asks you a question while holding out the pitcher, you can be pretty sure he didn’t just ask you to rumba dance!

Connector words can also be a great help when you understand only part of a long sentence. For example, if you ask someone to do you a favour, and all you understand from their reply is “I’d love to help you, but…”, then you don’t really need to understand the rest of the phrase to catch the meaning, do you?

Common connecter words include aber (but), wenn (if) and weil (because).

6. Sound More Fluent with Conversation Connectors (page 134)

When you only give one word answers in a conversation, it quickly becomes awkward.

If you want to say more, but can’t figure out how to expand on your ideas, use conversation connectors. These are “filler phrases” that make you sound more like a native speaker. Here are a few to get you started:


um ehrlich zu sein (to tell the truth)
meiner Meinung nach (in my opinion)
leider (unfortunately)
zum Beispiel (for example)
übrigens (by the way)


You’ll find plenty more conversational connectors inside Language Hacking German.

7. Time Travel – Talk About the Past and Future Using the Present (page 158)

If you have a funny or interesting story to tell, but are afraid you’ll get stuck trying to conjugate every single verb of your story into the past tense, don’t worry. Just tell your story in the present tense! People do this in English all the time, and you can do it in German too.

You can also use the present tense to talk about the future. All you have to do is add a time indicator. For example: “In einem Monat spreche ich gut Deutsch!” (“In a month I speak German well”). No need to try to remember how to say “I’m going to” or “I will”.

8. The Rephrasing Technique for Talking Your Way Through Complicated Sentences (page 187)

As a beginner German speaker, you just aren’t going to be able to speak in as eloquent and nuanced a way as you can in English. This is something that you have to accept from the beginning.

Luckily, there’s a simple technique you can use to express your thoughts more painlessly: pare down your ideas to the core concept, and state that instead.

You might have some experience with this already. Have you ever had one of those English exams where you have to read an article then summarise the main idea? You probably groaned about it at the time. But this is an indispensable skill when you’re still a beginner in German and you can’t express complex ideas yet.

As an example, suppose you hear someone speaking German, and you want to approach them to see if they’d be willing to speak with you for a bit. In your native language, you might say something like, “I’m sorry...I just overheard you speaking German...do you mind if I practise a few phrases with you? ...I hope I’m not bothering you…”. But if your German isn’t quite at that level yet, think of the main idea. This would be something like, “Sprichst du Deutsch? Ich auch! Sprechen wir!” (“You speak German? Me too! Let’s talk!”)

9. Use Hidden Moments to get German Immersion for the Long-term (page 212)

No matter how manic your life is, you can always find time to learn another language. Next time you’re out and about during the day, pay attention to how much idle time you have. Waiting at a street corner for the pedestrian walk signal, staring out the window on a long bus ride, standing in line at the supermarket trying to make it seem like you’re not looking at the tabloid magazine covers...these are all precious moments that can be spent learning German.

Pull out your phone and do some Anki flashcards. Go onto italki and type in a question about German that’s been nagging at you. Or get out your headphones and listen to a short podcast such as One-Minute German

10. Develop a Cheat Sheet and go into ‘Autopilot’ During Your First Conversation (page 220)

If you’ve never had a conversation with a native German speaker before, you’ll likely feel anxious before your conversation. Because of your nerves, words and phrases that you’re sure you know will escape your mind.. If that happens, you won’t get a chance to practise all the material that you spent time learning.

You can prevent this by preparing a cheat sheet of the most important phrases you’ll need for your conversation. This can include:


Essentials: “Hello”, “How are you?”, “I’m well, thank you”, “Goodbye”, as well as typical introductory questions like “Where do you work?”, “Where are you from?”, etc.
Survival phrases: I’m sorry, I don’t understand”, “Could you please repeat that?”, “Could you type that out?” etc.
Questions you plan to ask: “What do you do in your free time?”, “What’s your city like?”, etc.
Any material that you want to practise saying: for example, “me-specific” phrases like your hobbies, your job, or any upcoming plans you have.


Want to Speak German - the Faster Way?

Did you find these German hacks helpful?

Language Hacking German takes you step-by-step through learning German with language hacks.

Right from the start, you’ll learn how to speak German in real life situations.

Pick up your copy of Language Hacking German today.

The post Language Hacking German: 10 Hacks to Learn German Faster appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

Language Hacking French: How to Learn French, the Faster Way

Yay!

From 27th September, my new book Language Hacking French is available in bookstores all around the world.

Get your copy tout de suite!

What’s the deal with language hacking?

Language hacking is all about looking for the faster, smarter ways to learn languages. I’ve been sharing and developing my ideas on language hacking ever since I launched Fluent in 3 Months in 2009

Now, for the first time, I’ve developed Language Hacking into a series of beginner courses for language learners, published with Teach Yourself.

Language Hacking: French is a conversation course that starts at ground zero, and helps you speak from day 1.

In other words, it’s all about learning French by speaking French.

Rather than go in-depth on how language hacking works (you can read more about that here), I thought I’d give you a sneak peek inside the new course, so you can try out some French hacks for yourself.

I’ve included that page numbers so when you get your own copy of the course (order here) you can look them up for yourself.

Read on for a sneak preview of ten key language hacks from Language Hacking: French.

1. Get a Head-start With Words You Already Know (page 10)

French and English share thousands of words in common. In fact, linguists estimate that up to one third of the English language is directly influenced by French. Thanks, Norman Conquest! (Too soon?)

Words that have identical or near-identical spelling, and the same meaning in two languages are called cognates. There’s not enough room here to list all the words that English and French have in common. But here are a few simple rules to help you figure out how to determine which English words are likely to have a cognate in French:


English words ending in -tion: Most English -tion words have the same spelling and meaning in French. For example: admiration, association, instruction, option, etc.
English words ending in -tude, -or, -ist, -nce and -ty: These words usually have the same meaning in French, and nearly the same spelling. Examples: altitude, acteur, optimiste, arrogance, université.


2. Learn French Vocab Faster with Memory Hooks (page 24)

Memory hooks are all about linking new vocabulary to powerful images, ideas or even sounds. That way you can memorize a lot of new words in a very short time.

Here’s an example. Back in university, a friend of mine overheard some economics students studying for an exam. One student said to the other, “Know how to remember the four types of unemployment? Just imagine a guy throwing up on the wall of a building on a hot day. He’s vomiting, so his food is being recycled, so that’s ‘cyclical’. It’s a hot day, so that’s ‘seasonal’. He threw up on a building, so that’s ‘structural’. And the vomit sticks to the wall, so that’s ‘frictional’. And there you have it, all four types of unemployment!”

If this image sounds kind of gross, it’s supposed to. Because this student used such shocking imagery, my friend never forgot this story, and it happened years ago!

You can use the same technique to memorize French vocab.

An easy way of doing this is to look for an English word that sounds like the French word you’re trying to learn. For example, suppose you want to learn that sur means “on” in French. Are there any English words that sound like “sur”. What about “syrup”? And where do you usually put your syrup bottle when you’re having pancakes? On the table. So to remember that “sur” means “on”, picture a bottle of syrup on the table.

Memory hooks work best when you create them yourself. Try to come up with a funny, shocking, or dramatic sound or image to connect a new French word to its meaning. It might sound like hard work at first, but it’s really not. Soon it will become second nature. Then you won’t have to worry anymore about hearing a French word that you know you’ve heard before, but can’t quite remember.

3, Learn French Word Genders with this Simple Trick (page 59)

Learn just two rules about word endings in French, and you can guess the gender of new words and have a pretty good chance of being right.


Words ending in a consonant (except -ion) are probably masculine. E.g. “le poulet”, “le mur”, etc.
Words ending in -e and -ion are probably feminine. E.g. “la rue”, “la différence”, “une université”, etc.


Of course there are exceptions, but don’t worry about those for now. You can learn them as you go. The more you speak, the more you’ll hear the exceptions, and eventually, you’ll just get a “feel” for the gender. This is how native French speakers figure out the gender of less-common words that they’re not sure of.

Don’t fall into the trap of trying to figure out whether the noun the word refers to is inherently masculine or feminine. This doesn’t work. There is no relationship between the gender of the noun and the gender of the object it refers to. The gender of words can even change from country to country. For example, in France, the word “job” is “le job”, but in Quebec, it’s “la job”!

4. Five Booster Verbs so You Can Say Almost Anything (page 82)

When you’re talking in French, the last thing you want to do is pause every few words to remember how to conjugate your verbs.

You can use verbs even before you learn to conjugate them by rephrasing your sentence using one of the following five “booster” verbs. You can use all of these verbs with another verb in its dictionary form - no conjugation required.

Aimer (for interests)

Instead of trying to remember the “je” form of every verb for every activity you’re interested in, just use aimer (“to like”) plus the verb in its dictionary form.

For example: “I play baseball” can become “J’aime jouer au baseball” (I like to play baseball). “I go out every weekend” can become “J’aime sortir chaque weekend” (I like to go out every weekend).

Aller (for future plans)

Use aller (“to go”) to talk about what you’re doing in the near future. For example:


“Je vais manger” (“”I’m going to eat”)
“On va travailler” (”We’re going to work”)


Vouloir (for intentions)

Vouloir (to want) is a great verb to use when you intend to do something but can’t remember the “je” form of the activity you want to do. For example: “I’m seeing the movie tomorrow” can become “Je veux voir le film demain” (“I want to see the film tomorrow”).

Devoir (for obligations)

If the activity you want to talk about is an obligation, you can rephrase your sentence using devoir (to have to). For example:

“I’m working tomorrow” can become “Je dois travailler demain” (“I have to work tomorrow”).
“I’m writing this article for Friday” can become “Je dois écrire cet article pour vendredi” (“I have to write this article for Friday”).

Pouvoir (for possibilities)

Use pouvoir (to be able to) for clarifying that you ‘can’ or ‘are able to’ do something. For instance, the verb recevoir (to receive) can be quite tricky to get right, so you could say:

“Je peux recevoir la lettre ici” (“I can receive the letter here”)

5. Pronounce Words You Haven’t Even Learned Yet (page 97)

All those silent letters in French that make it difficult to spell words correctly are actually good news for your pronunciation.

For all regular -er verbs, the je, tu, il/elle, and ils/elles forms are pronounced exactly the same way. For example, the verb visiter in je visite, tu visites, il/elle visite, and ils/elles visitent sounds the same each time.

For -ir and -re verbs, they’re pronounced the same in the je, tu and il/elle forms.

Any time you hear a new regular verb in French, even if you’ve never seen it written down, you’ll already be able to pronounce at least three forms: je, tu, il/elle, and (for -er verbs) ils/elles. So when it comes to speaking French, most of the heavy lifting will already be done for you!

6. Sound More Fluent with Conversation Connectors (page 130)

Conversation connectors are words or short phrases that we all use when we want to soften what we say, elaborate on an idea, or transition smoothly between topics in a conversation.

They make conversations sound more natural, and keep them from fizzling out prematurely.

Learn these conversation connectors and watch how much better your French conversations flow:


franchement (frankly speaking)
entre nous (between us)
j'ai l'impression que (it seems to me that)
c'est pourquoi (and that is why)
d'autre part (on the other hand)


You’ll find plenty more conversational connectors inside Language Hacking French.

7. Time Travel – Talk About the Past and Future Using the Present Tense (page 152)

French is well-known for its common use of the present tense even when talking about the past. Documentary films, for example, will narrate historical events using the present tense. People also do it every day when telling stories and anecdotes.

You can do the same thing when talking about the past and future in your French conversations.

For a story in the past, start by giving the setting (“So last week, I’m reading in the park, minding my own business…”), and then tell the rest of your story using the present tense.

For the future, you can just add a time indicator to your sentence to show when the action will take place. For example:


“J’appelle mon père dans deux heures” (“I’m calling my father in two hours”)
“Je vais au Mexique en décembre” (“I’m going to Mexico in December”)


8. The Rephrasing Technique for Talking Your Way Through Complicated Sentences (page 178)

Even in your native language, you might struggle from time to time to express an idea precisely the right way. This is even more of a struggle in French, a language you don’t yet speak fluently.

Don’t worry - the elaborate, nuanced phrases you’re used to in your native language will come eventually in French. But for now, just let it go. Communication should be your first priority. Embellishing what you say is secondary.

Figure out the main idea of your sentence, and say that instead. For example, if you want to say, “I’m looking for a flatmate that speaks French and wants to rent the room for at least 12 months”, you could simplify it to “J’ai besoin d’un coloc. 12 mois. On va parler français ensemble !” (I need a flatmate. 12 months. We’ll speak French together!”).

9. Make the Most of Hidden Moments to Get French Immersion for the Long Term (page 204)

There’s an old saying that goes something like this: “To establish just how much time you waste, get someone to follow you around all day and watch what you’re doing.”

Instead of taking such a drastic step, simply take a good hard look at your typical day. Add up all the “idle minutes” you find yourself with. Riding the bus, waiting for a slow lift, standing in line in the supermarket, zoning out during TV commercials (and watching a lot of TV in the first place!)... These are all time-killers, and they can really add up.

Take advantage of these hidden moments to squeeze in some French practice. Pull out your phone and study some French flashcards. Listen to a French song or read a page or paragraph of a French book.

Are you genuinely short on time some days? Then change your browser or operating system to French. That way you’ll get exposure to the language every time you use your computer.

10. Develop a Cheat Sheet to Go into ‘Autopilot’ During Your First Conversation (page 210)

Language Hacking French is all about helping you have real life conversations with native French speakers.

Too many language learners delay this step. They think: “I won’t know what to say!”, “What if the other person asks me a question I don’t understand?” and “I’m too nervous”.

These feelings are all completely normal.

A cheat sheet will help you with all of them. Write down the phrases that you want to use during your conversation, and you’ll always have something to say. Make a list of “survival phrases” so you can ask the other person to repeat what they just said, or to tell them that you don’t understand. Having these phrases handy will automatically make you a lot less nervous.

I like to divide my cheat sheet into four sections:


Essentials: “Hello”, “How are you?”, “I’m well, thank you”, “Goodbye”, as well as typical introductory questions like “Where do you work?”, “Where are you from?”, etc.
Survival phrases: I’m sorry, I don’t understand”, “Could you please repeat that?”, “Could you type that out?” etc.
Questions you plan to ask: “What do you do in your free time?”, “What’s your city like?”, etc.
Any material that you want to practise saying: for example, “me-specific” phrases like your hobbies, your job, or any upcoming plans you have.


Keep the cheat sheet handy during your conversation. Refer to it as often as you need to, and Voilà! You’ve just had your first real-life conversation with a native French speaker!

Want to Speak French - the Faster Way?

I hope you’ve found these French hacks helpful.

Language Hacking French takes you step-by-step through speaking French.

From the day you pick up the course, you’ll learn how to speak French in real life situations.

One early tester of Language Hacking French recently wrote:

Prior to this, my French was nonexistent when it came to speaking. I wouldn't speak French to anyone. But this book has really given me the confidence to speak French with its useful hacks and the personal scripts that you develop throughout the book

Order your copy of Language Hacking French today.

The post Language Hacking French: How to Learn French, the Faster Way appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

Language Hacking Spanish: 10 Hacks to Learn Spanish Faster

Great news!

Language Hacking is now a thing!

From 29th September, my new book Language Hacking Spanish is available in bookstores all around the world.

So, what’s the fuss all about?

Language hacking is all about looking for the faster, smarter ways to learn languages. I’ve been sharing and developing my ideas on language hacking ever since I launched my blog Fluent in 3 Months in 2009.

In short, language hacking is about learning a language through speaking it from day one.

Now, for the first time, I’ve developed Language Hacking into a series of beginner courses for language learners, published with Teach Yourself.

That’s how Language Hacking Spanish came about.

And it’s all about learning Spanish by speaking Spanish.

Rather than go in-depth on how language hacking works (you can read more about that here), I thought I’d give you a sneak peek inside the new course, so you can try out some of the Spanish hacks for yourself.

I’ve included that page numbers so when you get your own copy of the course (order here) you can look them up for yourself.

I’ve collected 10 of my best hacks for learning Spanish fast. Enjoy!

1. Discover the Spanish Words You Already Know (page 9)

Are you convinced you don’t know any Spanish at all? Think again.

If you speak English, then you already know loads of Spanish words. You just don’t realise it yet. Have a look at the following Spanish words and see how easy they are to recognise:

diferente
moderno
cultura
activo
opción

With only minor spelling differences, there are literally thousands of words that are the same between English and Spanish. You can easily figure out whether an English word is the same in Spanish by looking at the ending of the word. Here are a few examples:

Words ending in -tion in English nearly always end in -ción in Spanish. E.g. admiración, instrucción, nación.
English words ending in -tude, -or, -ist, -nce or -ty have slightly different endings in Spanish, but are otherwise identical. E.g. altitud, actor, optimista, arrogancia, universidad.

2. Try Memory Hooks to Get Spanish Words Stuck in Your Mind (page 25)

Chances are, the most vivid memories you have in life are the most unusual things that have happened to you. For example, you probably don’t remember what you did on every birthday you’ve ever had, but I bet there are a few birthdays where you did something pretty out-of-the-ordinary (don’t worry, I won’t ask for details). Those will be the memories that stand out the most.

You can learn Spanish vocabulary using the same technique: link the Spanish word to some unusual, funny, or shocking image that you’re sure to remember.

Since it’s words you’re learning, sound association is the easiest way to do this. Say the Spanish word you want to learn several times out loud, until you can think of an English word that sounds like it. Now think of an image that links both words in a memorable way.

For example, to remember that poco means “little”, imagine a silly image of yourself hopping up and down on a little pogo stick. Or if you want to remember that tengo hambre means “I’m hungry”, imagine that you’re so hungry that you could eat ten good hamburgers.

3. Stuck with Spanish Genders? Try this Simple Trick (page 63)

In Spanish, every noun has a gender – either masculine or feminine. Many native English speakers groan at the thought of having to learn Spanish noun genders, but it’s actually a lot easier than you think. Just look at the ending of the word, and you can guess its gender and have a pretty good chance of being right.

You already do this in English with people’s names. How do you know that “Roberto” is a man’s name and “Roberta” is a woman’s name? The ending, of course. Names that end in -o are usually masculine, and those ending in -a are usually feminine.

It’s the same thing with Spanish nouns. If a noun ends in -o, always guess masculine. If it ends in -a, always guess feminine.

But Spanish has more noun endings than just -o or -a:

If a noun ends in -e, -ma, an accented vowel (á, é, í, ó, ú) or most consonants, guess masculine. Examples: el perfume (perfume/cologne), el sofá (sofa), el programa (schedule), el rumor (rumour).
If a noun ends in -d, -z or -ión, guess feminine. Examples: la felicidad (happiness), la nariz (nose), la conversación (conversation).

4. Say Way More in Spanish with These Five Booster Verbs (page 88)

Spanish has many irregular verbs. You can’t use the normal rules of conjugation to guess the different forms of these verbs. It’s just a fact of the language.

Instead of crying about it or miserably forcing yourself to power through the job of learning these verbs, just learn the following “booster” verbs to skirt around the issue altogether!

These verbs can be used with other verbs in their dictionary form, so you can still express many ideas even before you learn a lot of irregular verb forms.

Me gusta (for interests)

To say “I go out every weekend”, you need to know the yo form of the verb “salir” (“to go out”). If you’re unsure of what it is, use “me gusta” and rephrase the sentence to be “Me gusta salir cada fin de semana” (“I like to go out every weekend”).

Voy a (for future plans)

“Voy a” means “I’m going to”, and can be followed with any verb in its dictionary form to express what you’ll be doing in the near future. For example: “Voy a comer” (“I will eat”/”I am going to eat”) or “Voy a salir” (“I will go out”/”I’m going to go out”).

Quiero (for intentions)

For talking about things that you plan to do or want to do, use “quiero” (“I want”). For example: “Quiero ver la película” (“I want to see the film”).

Tengo que (for obligations)

You can use “tengo que” (“I must”) to talk about obligations. Instead of saying “I’m coming tomorrow”, which requires you to know the yo form of “venir” (“to come”), say “Tengo que venir mañana” (“I have to come tomorrow”).

Puedo (for possibilities)

This is a versatile verb that can express abilities, possibilities and requests. For example, “Puedo conducir” (“I can drive”), “Puedo ayudar” (“I can help”), or “¿Puedo decir la respuesta?” (“Can I say the answer?”)

5. Learn these Patterns to Decipher Any New Verb and its Forms (page 107)

There are many Spanish verbs that might look irregular at first sight, but actually aren’t. For example:

The tu form of “tener” (to have) is tienes (The ‘e’ becomes ‘ie’).
The yo form of “recordar” (to remember) is “recuerdo” (The ‘o’ becomes ‘ue’).

This seems irregular, but there’s actually a logical pattern to it. You can predict when to change the ‘e’ to ‘ie’ and the ‘o’ to ‘ue’ in these verbs.

How can you predict this? Just ask yourself this question: Does the verb end in -r or -mos?

If the answer is yes, then the verb keeps the single vowel sound.

For example, all verbs in their dictionary form end in -r. So you’ll know that verbs like “tener”, “entender”, “sentir”, etc, keep the ‘e’ instead of changing it to ‘ie’. And verbs like “recordar” and “almorzar” keep the ‘o’ instead of changing it to ‘ue’.

Along the same lines, these verbs in the “nosotros” form end in -mos. Therefore, they will keep the single vowel in these cases too: “tenemos”, “entendemos”, “sentimos”.

But: If the verb does not end in -r or -mos, then the verb often uses the two-vowel sound.

For example, “querer” in its “yo” form doesn’t end in -r or -mos; it ends in -o. So it will become “yo quiero”. Same thing in its “ellos/ellas” form: “ellos tienen”. And the verb “encontrar” in its “yo” form ends in -o, so it becomes “yo encuentro”.

6. Sound More Like a Native Speaker with Conversation Connectors (page 139)

Have you ever been stuck in conversation with someone who kept giving one-word answers, no matter how hard you tried to ask open-ended questions to get them to elaborate a little? It was pretty painful, right?

When you’re a beginner Spanish speaker chatting with native speakers, you might feel like you have no choice in the matter. If someone asks “¿Tienes hambre?” (“Are you hungry?”), you might think that ‘sí’ and ‘no’ are the only answers available to you. You don’t know enough phrases to keep the conversation going, so you have to give one-word answers. Right?

Wrong.

With a few key phrases, called conversation connectors, you can keep the conversation flowing naturally despite your limited vocabulary.

For the above question (“¿Tienes hambre?”), you could reply, “Gracias por la pregunta; sí, tengo hambre, ¿y tú?” (“Thanks for asking. Yes, I’m hungry. How about you?”) This makes the conversation a lot less one-sided and a lot more interesting.

Conversation connectors don’t add extra content to your sentences, but they expand on what would otherwise be a very short answer.

Here are some examples of conversation connectors you can add to your phrases to sound more fluent and natural:

en mi opinión (in my opinion)
si entiendo bien (if I understand correctly)
por desgracia (unfortunately)
por cierto (by the way)
además (besides, in addition to)
o sea … (so …)

You’ll find plenty more conversational connectors inside Language Hacking Spanish.

7. Time Travel – Three Ways to Talk About the Past Using the Present (page 160)

When you’re speaking your native language, verb tenses come naturally. You don’t need to know why a sentence like “I have seen that movie two weeks ago” sounds a little ‘off’. You just know that “I saw that movie two weeks ago” sounds better.

The more you study Spanish, the easier the verb tenses will become. Trust me. But for now, you can use a few tricks to avoid complex verb tenses while still sounding natural in Spanish. There are several ways that you can use the present tense to talk about the past.

One way is to tell a story. To talk about something that happened to you recently, simply set up your story with a time indicator, and then tell the story as if it’s happening in the present. For example: “So, the other day, there I am, minding my own business, when someone comes up to me, and you’ll never guess what happens!” You probably already do this all the time in English to make your stories sound more fun and interesting.

Another way is to use the ‘nosotros’ form of the verb. With only a few exceptions, the ‘nosotros’ form of verbs is the same in the present and past tense! So if you can find a way to pull someone else into your story and tell it from the “we” perspective, this is a very handy shortcut.

Finally, when in doubt, you can always go the I Tarzan, you Jane route . Your verb tenses don’t have to be perfect for others to get the gist.

Think of it this way. If someone said to you in English, “Yesterday…I eat pizza. Delicious”, you would understand what they meant. And others will understand you if you do the same thing in Spanish. So don’t sweat it!

8. Talk Your Way Through Complicated Sentences with the Rephrasing Technique (page 182)

As a beginner Spanish speaker, your phrases will sometimes sound more like a young child than a grown person. But if little toddlers can communicate their wishes through their limited language (“No peas! Yucky! Candy! CANDY!”), then so can you.

It can be frustrating not to be able to elaborate fully, but at least you’re (hopefully!) old enough not to have a temper tantrum about it.

Suppose you have a great sentence all lined up in English – for example, “Excuse me…I’m sorry…I just overheard you speaking Spanish…I’ve actually been studying it for a while…do you mind if I practise a few phrases with you?…I hope I’m not bothering you…”. But your Spanish isn’t advanced enough to translate this sentence. You can ask yourself, “How would a toddler, with limited language experience, say this phrase?”. Then, say it that way.

For example, the above phrases could become “You speak Spanish? Me too! Let’s talk!”.

Anytime you’re not sure how to say a complex sentence in Spanish, break it down into its core idea, and say that instead. You won’t sound like a native speaker (yet), but it’s infinitely better than saying nothing.

Over time, you’ll learn enough to express any thought as easily in Spanish as you can in English. Be patient. It will come.

9. Immerse Yourself in Spanish All Day with Hidden Moments (page 204)

No matter how busy you are, there’s always time to learn a language – even if it’s just when you’re standing in line for groceries, commuting to work, or waiting for your coffee to percolate.

These little bursts of time really do add up over the day. Don’t underestimate them when it comes to your Spanish studies.

If you pulled out your phone and studied an Anki flashcard deck (for iOS or Android) every time you had a spare minute or two throughout the day, you could learn dozens of Spanish words and phrases every day without ever setting aside the time to study!

If your commute to work is 15-20 minutes each way, you could listen to two SpanishPod101 episodes per day no matter how busy you are.

Don’t let these hidden moments pass you by. Take advantage of them to boost the amount of Spanish study you can squeeze in per day.

10. Develop a Cheat Sheet and Go into ‘Autopilot’ During Your First Conversation (page 212)

In real-life Spanish conversations, you won’t usually have a script or a cheatsheet to work from. But you don’t need to go into your very first Spanish conversation completely unprepared.

In fact, if you use a cheatsheet in your first few conversations in Spanish, it will actually help you when it’s time for spontaneous, unscripted Spanish conversations.

How? Well, think of a cheatsheet as being like training wheels for a bicycle. It will help you make the transition from studying Spanish to speaking Spanish. You’ll be less nervous, you’ll have the material you need in front of you, and you’ll be able to use it as you need it in the conversation.

What kind of words and phrases should you include in your cheat sheet? I like to divide my cheat sheet into four sections:

Essentials: “Hello”, “How are you?”, “I’m well, thank you”, “Goodbye”, as well as typical introductory questions like “Where do you work?”, “Where are you from?”, etc.
Survival phrases: I’m sorry, I don’t understand”, “Could you please repeat that?”, “Could you type that out?” etc.
Questions you plan to ask: “What do you do in your free time?”, “What’s your city like?”, etc.
Any material that you want to practise saying: for example, “me-specific” phrases like your hobbies, your job, or any upcoming plans you have.

Keep the cheat sheet handy during your conversation. Refer to it as often as you need to. A few minutes into your conversation, it will hit you: I’m actually having a real, live conversation with a native Spanish speaker! YES!

Want to Speak Spanish – the Faster Way?

Did you find these Spanish hacks helpful?

Language Hacking Spanish takes you step-by-step through learning Spanish with language hacks.

Right from the start, you’ll learn how to speak Spanish in real life situations.

One early tester of Language Hacking Spanish said:

This book does exactly what it claims to do – gets you speaking from day one! I studied Spanish over 20 years ago but not using the language made me tongue tied and lacking in confidence. This course takes you through manageable steps to enable you to speak Spanish in every day practical (and useful!) situations.

Order your copy of Language Hacking Spanish today.

The post Language Hacking Spanish: 10 Hacks to Learn Spanish Faster appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

How to Make Money as a Language Tutor

I still remember my first gig as a Spanish language tutor. I loved learning languages, and was fluent in Spanish after having studied it for a few years in university the US and abroad living in the Dominican Republic, a Spanish-speaking country in the Caribbean. I was passionate about learning the language and invested all of my free time and quite a bit of money into it.

I decided my language skills needed to start paying back everything I’d invested in them, so I got up the courage to place a tutoring ad on Craigslist.

Two days later, my first client responded to the ad. I had a language teaching gig!

I showed up to the cafe to meet my first student. I felt excited, but also anxious and lacking in confidence. I guess it wasn’t so bad, because he agreed to do a handful of tutoring sessions with me. I wasn’t really sure of myself though, and wish I had had a guide, a mentor, someone to show me how to go from language learner to language tutor.

This small step turned out to be the beginning of an entrepreneurial language teaching journey. I eventually decided to help language learners with my native language, English, and to do it in a big way online, creating a six-figure business that supports me and allows me to live my dream lifestyle.

The shift from the role of student to the role of teacher is a big one - but it has lots of benefits. You’ll be making money. You’ll be more motivated to improve your own language skills. You’ll be challenged and inspired to stay ahead of your students and find answers to questions you never even thought of asking.

In short, becoming a foreign language tutor is a great way to get paid to do what you love and use your skills to help others.

For the purposes of this article, I’m assuming you speak your target language at an upper-intermediate level or higher. Otherwise, your first step is to work on your language skills.

Let’s take a look at what you need to take yourself from language learner to language tutor.

Step 1: Choose Which Language You’ll Teach

First, decide if you want to teach your native language or your foreign language.

I taught Spanish as a foreign language for several years, but then decided to teach English as a foreign language.

Many of my friends who are teachers also ended up teaching English (their second language) to speakers of their native language, because English is more in-demand and they can have a good career in their home countries teaching it. On the other hand, I also have friends from other countries who decided to stay in the US and teach their native language, for example Korean, to native English speakers.

Teaching a language other than your native language can actually make you a better teacher. You know what it’s like to learn the language, and you can retrace the steps you took when you’re showing your students how to learn.

Step 2: Find Your Purpose for Being a Language Tutor

As with starting any new venture, becoming a language tutor won’t always be a smooth ride. Knowing your purpose for tutoring keeps you motivated, so you’ll keep going even when things get tough.

What’s your reason for wanting to tutor? Do you want to earn money? Connect with other language learners? Become a teacher? Support your travels? Challenge yourself to continue to learn your foreign language?

I was motivated by all of those reasons! I wanted to be a language tutor and teacher so that I could get paid to do something I loved: -- speak another language and help others to do the same. After I started teaching online, I was able to travel to over 20 countries in one year.

Step 3: Create Your Own Language Tutor “Internship”by Offering Free Classes

The first time I tutored English as a second language was during a volunteer gig with an Argentinian woman in an adult education program. I used my Spanish skills a little as I helped her with her English fluency. Because it was not paid, I didn’t feel under pressure - so no nerves. It was super fun, and I made a new friend.

Start small by creating your own internship with volunteering gigs or with low-pressure gigs. You’ll build up your experience and skill set. I recommend asking your students to give you feedback on how you can improve.

Remember, you don’t have to be perfect, but you have to be able to help your students. It’s okay if you don’t know the answer to a question as long as you follow up to answer it for them or refer them to a resource where they can find the answer.

Tutoring for free is also a great way to build your confidence.

Another way of boosting your confidence is to draw upon the teaching and leadership skills you already have. When I started tutoring, I had some teaching experience in other areas, including as a typing teacher, sailing instructor, and camp counselor. Having any teaching or leadership experience will help you, even if it is volunteer experience.

Once you’ve built up your confidence, you can start asking your students for referrals for paid work.

Step 4: Get Your First Students

How do you get those first students?

The biggest surprise I had when I started my own language teaching business was the amount of marketing work I needed to do! When you run your own tutoring business, 80% of your effort needs to go into marketing, and only 20% into teaching.

If “marketing” is like a foreign word to you, don’t worry. The best marketing is often simply having conversations with your target audience in person or online via social media, a YouTube channel, podcast, or blog. Find out what their goals and challenges are, offer your help, and see if they’re ready to accept!

Also, you should create appealing, informative descriptions of your tutoring services and identify the best places to advertise.

One of the most helpful things you can do when you start marketing is to identify your target market. Who do you want to work with (age, nationality, interests)? What other experience do you have (business, medical, test prep)? What’s your schedule? What’s your current level in the language you’ll be teaching? Keep your target audience in mind for your marketing materials.

In the beginning of my tutoring days, looking for students felt like searching for water in the desert. These days, I have hundreds of emails from potential students flooding my inbox every week and I don’t even advertise or provide a private tutoring service anymore.

Step 5: Get Organised and Build Lesson Plans

Once you have more than a couple students, you’ll feel lost if you don’t develop a system to organise your meetings and teaching materials. Use a simple spreadsheet and Google Calendar to keep track of materials or lessons covered.

You can use Google Drive or Dropbox to store lesson materials in the cloud and share links to resources with your students.

You’ll want to prepare learning goals and materials for your students. I’ve found that some learners like to listen and talk, while others prefer to read and write. Try providing learning opportunities using all four skills. To save time in the long-run, create materials that can be recycled from one student to another.

Even if your students want to practise free conversation and ask you questions, it’s still a good idea to prepare some lesson points. A little preparation will go a long way to make the lesson run more smoothly and impress your students.

Step 6: Branch Out and Diversify Your Income

As a language tutor, there are lots of different ways to earn money. You could offer local, face-to-face tutoring. You could offer online lessons through one of many established companies, such as italki. You could tutor online independently simply using Skype. You could even create your own multi-media courses. You could grow a following online and make money from ad revenue and work with sponsors. These are all income streams that I have built and help others to build.

Step 7: Get Help

The biggest lesson I’ve learned from all of my experience is the importance of getting help. I would not have been able to build my own tutoring business if I hadn’t talked to other tutors. I would not have been able to build a successful business online if I hadn’t learned from people who had gone there before me. Don’t try to do everything yourself.

Now, Get Started!

Is your head spinning with all the possibilities? Then decide what you want to do, and go for it!

Even if you decide your goal is to do like I did and create a YouTube channel and produce online courses, I highly suggest starting as a tutor and building on that experience.

Want more tips on building a tutoring business? Feel free to reach out and connect with me.

The post How to Make Money as a Language Tutor appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.