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

by Gabriel Wyner

• Structure: How many capital letters are in the word BEAR? • Sound: Does APPLE rhyme with Snapple? • Concept: Is TOOL another word for “instrument”? • Personal Connection: Do you like PIZZA?

ways to remember word

You will remember a concept with a personal connection 50 percent more easily than a concept without one, which

How do we combine the five principles? We want our original memories to be as deep and multisensory as possible (1: Make memories more memorable). We want to study as little as possible (2: Maximize laziness), and practice recall as much as possible (3: Don’t review. Recall). We want our recall practice to be challenging but not too hard (4: Wait, wait! Don’t tell me!). Last, when we practice, we want to nearly forget those original experiences but not forget them completely. When we do forget, we want immediate feedback to put us back on track (5: Rewrite the past).

if immediate recall practice is good, and delayed practice is better, and if one session is good and many sessions are better, what happens if you delay your recall practice many times?

In a four-month period, practicing for 30 minutes a day, you can expect to learn and retain 3600 flash cards with 90 to 95 percent accuracy. These flash cards can teach you an alphabet, vocabulary, grammar, and even pronunciation.

At its most basic level, a Spaced Repetition System (SRS) is a to-do list that changes according to your performance. If you can remember that pollo means “chicken” after a two-month delay, then your SRS will automatically wait four to six months before putting pollo back on your to-do list.

Anki: “Creating your own deck is the most effective way to learn a complex subject.

Then look at your daily schedule and determine how much time you have available. We’ll use that information to create a language-learning habit.