Olly Richards On Crazy Language Learning Goals And Mastering Motivation
In this episode of the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast, Olly makes a second appearance on the show to follow up on the episode called Olly Richards Talks About Language Tech And Real Communication.
But before you listen to this episode, make sure to join us on Olly’s free training webinar, “How to Speak a New Language With Confidence in 30 Days or Less!”
I’ll be on the call as both moderator and student advocate, so you won’t want to miss a moment of this call.
Next, come back and listen to each and every word of this special podcast and you’ll learn:
* How to find words and phrases that you ACTUALLY want to speak when learning a language.
* The power of setting a “crazy goal” for motivating yourself to take action and make targeted strides, even if the language you’ve chosen is difficult.
* How to elevate your thinking about the art of language learning so you get maximum results in minimum time.
* The best ways to “wrangle” your speaking partners and tutors into shape so they help you study what you need to study instead of wasting time on willy-nilly activities that won’t get you anywhere.
* The essential questions you should prepare yourself to answer when studying your dream language.
* How to develop a list of topics that you’re likely to talk about so that you’re not chained to the next page of your textbook.
* The new – and BETTER – way to think about rote learning for getting traction when learning a language.
* Why memorizing is just one part of language learning and how to identify and isolate the other parts to boost your success.
* The one thing that keeps Olly up at night when learning a language. Solve this one worry for yourself and you will never run out of steam.
* The scheduling secret Olly uses to “oblige” himself to attend lessons. You can uses this approach too – even if you’ve got a zillion things to do.
* The absolute best time of day to study your target language so that you always feel like you’ve made progress and build your sense of accomplishment.
* How to avoid letting the great get in the way of the good so that you can start from a place where speaking practice is always good not matter how unprepared you might be. Use this approach and you can literally get prepared on the fly.
* The ultimate motivation secret for getting yourself through multiple lessons and find language teachers you will genuinely love learning from.
* The untapped power of hypothetical questions and role play in your language learning practice that you’re not using – but should be!
* Olly’s take on using mnemonics for individual words and when you should be focusing on them instead of entire phrases.
* Textbook tactics for shopping and getting the most out of every resource you buy.
* How to avoid tourist-speak so that you aren’t limited to ordering food and asking directions to the hospital for your cat (yes, you will be led into these dead ends if you don’t take Olly’s advice).
* Exactly how to deal with introversion so that no matter how shy you might be, you can eliminate random social unknowns and learn in a safe and practical environment.
* … and much, much more.
This is the kind of episode you’re going to want to save and keep returning to again and again. And if you interested in memorizing the key points, How To Memorize A Textbook will help you master this simple skill and put you in a position to memorize vocabulary and phrases at a higher level thanks to your practice of the art of memory.
Further Resources
Olly’s I Will Teach You A Language Podcast
Olly’s Language Learning Foundations Course (highly recommended)
Spanish Short Stories For Beginners Volume One
Spanish Short Stories For Beginners Volume Two
Italian Short Stories For Beginners
German Short Stories For Beginners
Russian Short Stories For Beginners
Photo Essay
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The picture above is from the May 2015 Polyglot Gathering in Berlin. From left to right you see myself, Olly, Richard Simcott, Kris Broholm, Brian Kwon and Jan van der Aa.
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From the same event, Benny Lewis, myself and Olly. Somehow they manage to just look crazy. I took first prize for psychotic.
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Mark Channon discusses memory techniques and the good habits needed to make massive strides with them at Magnetic Memory Live in London 2015.
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Olly’s Memory Palace based on his apartment in Cairo. Top notch work and it was very cool that I could see the place with my own eyes more than a year after he sent me this drawing.
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The list of words in Egyptian Arabic Olly used the Memory Palace to memorize.
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In Egypt, Olly introduced me to the Nile in style. A sushi bar.
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My last day in Cairo, we played with hiragana and katakana and Olly drew a diagram of exactly how languages get learned at the highest possible level. I won’t mentioned the memory-unfriendly Guinness we were swilling – because we truly weren’t. 
