Fluent Forever: How to Learn Any Language Fast and Never Forget It

by Gabriel Wyner

Break Each Sentence into New Words, Word Forms, and Word Order

Grammar is even more personal than vocabulary. You can’t share any of your grammar cards with friends. These flash cards only mean anything because of the experience you had while creating them. You’re starting with an example sentence from your grammar book and comparing that sentence to its translation. You’re spending a few seconds looking at I have a pet monkey and searching for an accompanying image. In every step of this process, you’re building connections between those words (I–have–a–pet–monkey) in your mind. Your flash card is just a way to reactivate and deepen those connections.

NEW WORD FORMS It’s not always clear when you’re looking at a new word, and when you’re looking at a new word form. Take the word my, for instance. My isn’t really a new word; it’s just a different form of the word I. Intuitively, you might not think this, but if I said to you, “I favorite monkey’s name is George,” you would probably correct me with “My favorite monkey’s name is George.” When you start learning your target language, you won’t necessarily notice these sorts of connections, and if you don’t, it’s not a problem. You’ll learn my as if it was a new vocabulary word, in the same way we learned a and have, above.

The only difference between new words and new word forms is that here you’ll give yourself an extra clue (I or to be). This makes your flash cards somewhat easier to remember and links closely related concepts.

Whenever possible, make each sentence unique; it’s relatively easy to keep track of I _____ a student and She _____ an architect, whereas four nearly identical flash cards for I/he/she/you _____ a student can become confusing.

Creating Your Own Sentences Writing is your proving ground. It’s where you can play around with the words and grammar rules you’ve learned and see what you can create with them. We’ve discussed the importance of turning declension charts into memorable stories, but there’s no reason to stop there. Write about your life, your interests, or anything else.

For the Intermediates Learning grammar is an improvisatory dance at every level. As you encounter texts in your grammar book or elsewhere, you’re constantly asking yourself the same question: “Does this sentence contain something new?” Do you know all the words? Have you seen those word forms before? Is the word order surprising? Use your flash cards to take whatever you find interesting. Your SRS will make sure that you never forget it.

In the beginning of the next chapter, we’ll discuss using Google Images to provide you with example sentences for any word and any grammatical construction. Since you have a bit of vocabulary and grammar already under your belt, you can start using that tool immediately. Read the Words About Words section and start using it to supplement your grammar book; it’s an incredible tool. A note about writing: if you’re trying to refresh a language you’ve forgotten, writing is one of the best ways to reactivate those old memories. Write as much as you possibly can, and turn all of the corrections you receive into flash cards. There’s no better review for grammar and vocabulary.

intermediate

Start by learning the top one thousand to two thousand words to form a solid foundation and then add key words based upon your interests. Where can you find these words? Get a thematic vocabulary book—the publisher Barron makes the best ones—and check off any words you want. These books give you lists of words based upon specific themes: home, business, automotive, and so on.

This strategy can teach you the words in your grammar book, but what about the rest of your vocabulary—that list of words we discussed in the last section? You need a way to find quality examples and explanations for every new word, and it wouldn’t hurt if you learned some grammar at the same time. We’re going to use three tools: Google Images, self-directed writing, and monolingual dictionaries. We’ve already encountered the first two, and with some grammar and vocabulary under your belt, you can use them to their full potential. The last tool, a dictionary in your target language, will soon become one of your best friends. It will let you learn any word in your target language, no matter how complex. First, let’s reintroduce ourselves to Google Images.

At intermediate and advanced levels, you’ll start relying more and more upon monolingual dictionaries, in part because they’re awesome and in part because they’ll show you the subtle distinctions between your words. A couple chapters back, we were avoiding synonyms. Now we can embrace them, because we can use dictionaries to tell us the differences between our policemen (formal) and our cops (informal).

KEY POINTS • Use Google Images to find quality example sentences and pictures for your words. It’s fast, it provides clear examples, and the combination of images and sentences is easy to memorize. • If you run into problems or you’re away from your computer, write out your own example sentences and definitions for new words. Get them corrected and use those corrections to learn both grammar and vocabulary. • Once you have enough vocabulary under your belt, add a monolingual dictionary to your toolbox. When you do, you’ll gain the ability to learn every word in your target language, and as a bonus, your passive vocabulary will grow every time you research and memorize a new term.

For your very first book, try to find a familiar story—a translation of something you’ve already read or a book that’s been turned into a movie you’ve seen—and read it along with an audiobook. The audiobook will carry you along and help you read faster than you otherwise would. You won’t have the time to get bogged down with unknown words, and you’ll pick up the rhythm of the spoken language.

KEY POINTS • Reading without a dictionary is the simplest, easiest way to grow your passive vocabulary. On average, a single book will teach you three hundred to five hundred words from context alone. By reading just one book in your target language, you’ll make all future books and texts of any kind much easier to read. • By reading in conjunction with an audiobook, you’ll have a much easier time moving through a long text, and you’ll pick up invaluable exposure to the rhythms of your language in action. This will improve your pronunciation, your listening comprehension, your vocabulary, your grammar; in short, it will provide a huge boost to every aspect of your language.

A film with English subtitles is basically an English storybook with some foreign language background noise. It’s useless for our needs. Sure, you might hear a couple hours of French or Spanish, but you aren’t actually listening to the dialogues; you’re just reading the story. If the subtitles are in your target language, then you’re still just reading a story, although this story is significantly more useful. This can be a wonderful source of input; it’s not much different than reading a book with an audiobook. But it won’t help you with that damned mumbly teenager. You need to put yourself in a situation where you’re relying entirely on your ears, and subtitles take that away from you.

KEY POINTS • Listening is a fast-paced skill that can sometimes feel overwhelming. Take baby steps, and gradually ramp up the challenge until you can handle the fastest and hardest of listening challenges (radio, podcasts, ridiculous garbled train station announcements). • Start with an interesting foreign TV or dubbed American TV series without subtitles. You can dial down the difficulty by reading episode summaries ahead of time, in order to prepare yourself for the vocabulary and plot twists of each episode. • As your comfort level grows, wean yourself off of summaries and begin watching and listening to more challenging media.

Here’s what I suggest you do next: 1. If you haven’t already done so, learn the first half of your grammar book. Make flash cards for everything you find interesting. 2. Learn the top thousand words in your target language. Write out definitions and examples whenever you’re not entirely sure what a word means. About halfway through, you’ll find that you can understand a monolingual dictionary. Use it to help you learn the rest of your words. 3. Go back to your grammar book, skim through it, and grab any remaining bits of information you’d like. 4. Read your first book while listening to an audiobook.

We’re only using this list as a time-saving device, so when you run into difficulties with a word, skip it. There are plenty of other words in the sea. There’s no harm in spending a minute or two investigating a particularly elusive word on Google Images, but if none of the images make sense, then your time will be better spent elsewhere. Move on to the next word. While you peruse your dictionary or phrase book, you may find a few interesting words that aren’t in this list. Learn them, too. This is your vocabulary; learn whatever words you want as long as you can do it with pictures.

Formatting I’m giving you this list in two different formats: a thematic list and an alphabetical list. The thematic list is much friendlier on the eyes: you’ll see colors, foods, locations, occupations, the verbs, the adjectives, and so on. Skim through that list first. There I’ll give you a few pointers about how to find the images you need (words like December take a bit of finesse). Then, when you’re ready to make your flash cards, use the alphabetical list. I prefer to use an alphabetical list for two reasons: it’s easier to use with a dictionary, and it teaches you your words in the best possible order: randomly.