The Fastest Ways To Learn Any New Language

Wouldn't it be wonderful to learn any new language almost "effortless" in a very, very short time, even

within hours while having fun ? What is the latest wisdom on accelerated language learning ? A

very short answer up front: Yes, it is possible! Please find below a summary of the latest insights and

methods collected from outstanding teachers and experts in the field and based on my 20+ years

experience in accelerated learning & development where I have helped over 300 000+ People globally

learn faster and better.

Relax and Learn - both go well together

With his blog post in 2007: "How to Learn (But Not Master) Any Language in 1 Hour" Tim Ferris

initiated a 5 year long still ongoing discussion and exchange about the methods of accelerated

language learning.

Not only did Tim introduce his approach to accelerated language learning but yet he attracted

comments from very knowledgeable readers and experts. With over six hundred comments this is now

a treasure trove for language learners and teachers. Additionally to the wisdom shared in this place I

have added further methods that have emerged in the learning & development & change

management research over the last years.

(If you want to see the current discussion or contribute to it please go to:

Continuous Learning & Development: The Fastest Ways to Learn Any New Language)

KEY INSIGHTS

A) Motivation before Confidence

For any type of learning the key is first of all motivation and then confidence. If you are not convinced

about learning a particular language none of the following methods will work for you.

Motivation can be stimulated by external factors (extrinsic). Examples are your employer asks you to

learn a new language or you move to a new country for work. Having your own dream to be competent

in another language or your objective to read one of your beloved authors in the original language are

examples for internal motivational factors (intrinsic).

Usually intrinsic factors will be more sustainable than extrinsic factors and might keep you more

likely on track . Try to identify at least one intrinsic factor for learning the new language.

Intrinsic motivational factors can be categorized and vary from person to person. This is based on

the Harvard Approach of Negotiation

1) Security: example: understand and have access to information in local language, can ask for

direction when travelling

2) Livelihood: example: will help generate income, do need to get a job

3) Belonging: example: can talk to people in their local languages, can have local friends

4) Reputation: example: local business partner respect me more when I know some words in their

language

5) Self-determination: example: I can navigate myself through the foreign country, I can visit

places where no foreigner has been yet, ..

What also helps for those who had already tried and fail to learn a new language is to analyze what has

derailed you from learning the new language in the past. Was it the teacher, was it because you had to

or was it the method, ... ?

And often in our educational school systems we are forced to learn a new language, we have no choice.

Nobody will investigate what our personal intrinsic motivational factors are nor would anyone explore

what methods would work best for us individually.

B) Have a clear vision about your goal

What do you see when you close your eyes and think about learning the new language ? Do you see

yourself reading a highly sophisticated book in this foreign language, do you see yourself writing a

business contract, are you watching a television show or are you standing at an ice cream stand at a

beautiful foreign beach asking for your favorite ice cream in the local language ?

Get clarity for what you want to use the new language for. The amount of learning, the method and the

effort differs if you just want to find your way when travelling through a foreign country or become a

student at the local university or even work in a local company in this foreign country.

In his book the 4-Hour Work Week Timothy Ferris has shown in the chapter "D is for Definition" how

to make your personal dream more specific. His example: If your dream is fluency in Chinese

this is still quite broad. Try to make it more specific to the level as: "My dream is to have a 5-minute

conversation with a Chinese co-worker." It can be even more specific: "I want to talk in these 5-

minutes about what I did last week-end and what movie I saw and what restaurants my co-worker

would recommend..."

Recommended action: write down very specifically how your ideal state would look like

The clear vision about your objective will help you to identify your personal threshold. It will

indicate how much vocabulary do you really need to learn and to which extend do you need to

understand the grammar, the number of characters if it is a pictorial language, etc.....

In the Chinese fluency example you would not need to read or write any Chinese characters. All what

you would need is to speak and understand your co-worker about daily life leisure topics. (Movie,

restaurant, leisure time activities).

Recommended action: like in the very specific example above write down in your native language

what you would like to talk about with the other person. What questions would you ask and what

answers you would give. Whatever your specific dream is try to write a story board for it. If it is

for example to present to a local audience in a business context than try write the presentation you

want to give in your local context. If it is to sign a contract than use the contract in your local language.

The idea is to get a physical grip on your dream. Once you have a text, a story board, a contract or a

presentation then put this content into google translate and see what kind of output you get in the

target language. Then take the result and have Google translate it back to your native language.

Analyze the results on what difference there are to your original text.

And with Tim Ferris approach you can quickly examine in less than an hour how difficult it will be for

you to get into the new language.

An example shared by Alan Little for the Russian Language using Tim´s grammar deconstruction

approach

French: I have created an example and a small quiz on slideshare (3 slides).

Finally rate your objective on what effort it is for you to reach it. Use a scale of 1-8. An 8 I

would rate if it is comparable to hiking up Mount Everest the highest mountain in the world. A 1 would

be a stroll along a beach, a short walk with a friend through a forest. A 3would be walking up a

mountain with 6000 feet in altitude. Related to what effort it means to you. If you are like the famous

alpinist Reinhold Messner hiking up Mount Everest would be then just a 4. To sum it up it should be a

relative rating and not absolute.

Would you like to get feedback from others by sharing what language you would like to learn, what

intrinsic motivation you have, what your specific visions looks like and how you rate the effort to get

there ? If you want to see the current discussion or contribute to it please go to:

Continuous Learning & Development: The Fastest Ways to Learn Any New Language

C) Learning Environment and Approach

Identify your personal learning barriers.

1) First Barrier: Mental: The Inner Game: Tim Gallewey

The game your mind plays with you before you embark on any new project such as learning a

language. That is this little voice in your head that sets in once your excitement is over. The voice

comes up latest after the 4th day (old Japanese Zen wisdom) you have decided on or started your

learning expedition.

It could go like this: "Hohoho, I told you, you have no talent in learning languages". "You will

never reach your goal, you do not have the time for it". "You have no discipline, forget it." "You do not

like to sit down and learn all these words by heart, that is boring." "You have more important things to

do in life". "Everybody is learning English now, why should you learn a foreign language." "You have

never have the budget to travel there anyways" "A new language in a few hours, you are crazy, it

already took you 5 years to learn Spanish and you are still nowhere perfect" ...

The Inner Game in more detail. The relaxed concentration or flow state is important. This

happens when your inner voice is silent. Highly successful sportsman always talk about it. Example

is the world leading tennis player Roger Federer.

It won't help if you fight it. Also the content is not decisive. If your inner voice would say

instead "You are the best language learner that has ever walked this planet" or "I will succeed"

or "I am so happy to learn this language" it might boost your energy but not get you into the relaxed

concentration mode.

How to overcome this first barrier ?

The inner judgmental voice can be directed and focused on the task at hand by giving it a new

neutral observative task.

Example:

- Techniques shared by Professor of Linguistics Alexander Arguelles who speaks now 50 languages

- Read each new word out loud and listen to your voice

- Write on a piece of paper: The first rule is not to force yourself to remember or learn this word. Just

enjoy. (see Michel Thomas)

- Focus your mind on the point below your navel - the so called lower dantian (used in Qigong

practices)

- Sing the word

- Breath in when you read silently the new word and breath out afterwards and focus on the breath not

on the learning of the word

- Hit a gong before you read the word

- Stand up read the word and sit down

- Superlearning uses also relaxation techniques see research

- any more suggestions please leave in the comment:

If you want to see the current discussion or contribute to it please go to:

Continuous Learning & Development: The Fastest Ways to Learn Any New Language

Tim Gallewey demonstrates how he uses the Inner Game approach to teaching to non

talented beginners tennis in an extreme short time:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzR8x5MgvDw&feature=player_detailpage

What I also do is to acknowledge in a nonjudgmental way what my inner voice creatively comes

up with. I write it down in my diary. This will empty my head and eventually shut down my inner

voice.

There is also the outer voices that I collect in this manner. Everybody will have an opinion on how to

do things and what you are capable off. Your mother, your father, your teacher, your best friend, the

television, the newspaper, the next best-selling author on language learning, the language learning

schools and platforms who use a certain methods, experts, professors, etc. The outer voices are a

nightmare for sportsmen and famous team coaches. Roger Federer lately had to overcome this

challenge. When he wasn't successful in tennis the media started to talk about his age and suggested

him to retire. Luckily he was able to overcome these voices and is now again the No 1 in tennis . There

must be plenty more examples. Looking forward to your comments. (If you want to see the current

discussion or contribute to it please go to: Continuous Learning & Development: The Fastest Ways to

Learn Any New Language)

Some further evidence through scientific research is showing acceleration of learning as well as how

relaxed concentration or mindfulness reduces stress:

Prof. Dr. Klaus Jantke showed in a research by one of his PHD Student Anja Hawlitschek that learning

through games work best if students are not instructed up front. Just ask them to enjoy the game

versus the benchmark group who was told to focus on the learning in the game. The first group of

school children performed better in the post test.

Prof. Jon Kabat-Zinn on Mindfulness and the impact on health at the Google Academy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=3nwwKbM_vJc

Beware also not to turn it against you by thinking that you only learn when you are in this relaxed

concentrated state of mind. You always learn, but in this state learning it is just accelerated. As soon as

you recognize consciously "Oh, now I am in the flow state" - it will be gone. It just happens, you

cannot force it.

2) Second Barrier: Environment

Have you been told that the only place to learn is at your desk ? If you look at Michel Thomas approach

in methods below you will see that the best place to learn is where you feel comfortable and do not

think about that you must learn now. It can be your most comfortable chair, it can be when you are

lying in your bed or if you enjoy driving your car than this is a good place as well. First advice: learn

wherever you are comfortable and have your learning material available. Do not put

environmental barriers up. Do not choose only to learn in the language school that is 20 km away from

where you live or have your learning material stowed away in a cupboard where you have to move

other things first in order to get to it. Professor Theresa Marteau shows how little details in our setup

of our environment have a huge impact (Video) on us such as our health behavior. This counts as

well for many other habits and for sure for our learning behavior.

3) Third barrier: Time

Are you programmed that you only learn when you spent at least an hour with a teacher on the

subject? Even if it is just 30 seconds do it. A quick glance in your material, a question to a friend how

to say such and such a word in the language you are learning, etc. Remove any barrier that tells you

that you need to have a minimum of minutes per day to learn your new language. Also it puts you

under pressure when you did not find the time for it.

It is the net time spent on learning the language that counts not the quantities amount per day

combined together. If you just learn when you have 30 seconds up to a few minutes this still can add

up to a net time spent of one hour or more per day and it could be even more effective. Second

advice: Drop your fixed time spent on learning assumption

4) Fourth Barrier: Money

There you are. You have just got the tip of the best language teacher alive, the best method that

someone just recommended to you or the best place to travel to learn the language of choice fast and

well. The only thing you are lacking is the money. You have the motivation, you would have the time

and dam you do not have the funds.

Wait, there are so many others way to start to learn your favorite language just now while at the same

time you start saving the money for the extraordinary opportunity that was recommended to you.

Third advice: No money is no excuse. There are methods that are free to use, there is material

that costs you only a few bugs.

D) Methods

Yes there are methods that will accelerate your learning versus practices that will slow it down or get

you off track. Key for all effective methods are they need to strengthen your confidence. My

example is how kids learn to ride a bicycle or swim. Kids that use small bicycles with two additional

stabilizing wheels when 5 years or younger will take much longer to learn to ride a bicycle without

these stabilizers. They cannot build their confidence in balancing the two wheel bicycle. Kids that have

a so called training bike which they need to walk with will learn how to be confident on a bicycle with

two wheels early on. At the age of five they switch effortless without training to a normal kids bike. The

same is with swimming. Children with swimmies will not build enough confidence in swimming

without this support. Therefore in swimming classes swimmies are not used. To teach little kids to

swim the modern swim schools have develop lots of small fun exercises that slowly build their

confidence.

Fourth advice here: do whatever that is easy for you now while you investigate which methods

are most effective and efficient for you. Latest research (HBS Working Knowledge) has shown that

performance is better of those that do things related to their objectives that are easy to do and can be

done immediately versus those who only focus on the analysis first and undergo a thorough selection

process of identifying the best methods before implementing those.

Fifth advice: use the learning practices that you enjoy and have fun with even if they might

slow you down. Applying the language more important than the method itself.

There are plenty of methods available and they can be combined at your digression. Some are targeted

at the first novice learner of the language and some can be added once you reached a certain level in

the new language. Listening to the local radio station in the new language could be quite a challenge

for the beginner as an example. To summarize it into the Sixth Advice: Use of Multimethods is

better than applying just one single method at a time.

In 1986 my best ever interpreter for my negotiations in China had learned English in one year from

scratch. I asked her how she made it in such a short time to such a professional level. Besides having

this intrinsic thrive to connect to the outside world and grab the new opportunities she had used a

multimethod approach. As soon as she got tired with her textbook, she turned to an audio cassette,

then switched to television or radio, or tried to find other fun exercises to practice English. At a certain

level she looked for any opportunity to have a conversation in English, mainly with foreigners. This

way she would spent the whole day learning English by switching the methods as soon as she got tired

with them during the day. She had build a total immersive learning environment around her. And on

top of it her accent even though she started English in her 20s for was perfect. I could not hear her

Chinese background.

In my many years of experience I noticed the following tendencies when people learn. There is

preference or dominance of intuitive learning over analytical learning, social learning (learning with

others) over autodidactive learning, face to face learning over virtual learning and immersive learning

over detached learning and contextual learning (in sentences) over object modular based learning

(learning the vocabulary and grammar rules) and repetitive learning versus associative learning. But

once again the seventh advice is:

An as well as approach is better than an either or. You do not need to avoid any of the learning

"styles" above. Add them all if you can. Besides feeling for example very comfortable with the intuitive

approach this should not stop you using an analytical method from time to time. What will really slow

you down is to focus on just one single method or on a few methods and apply those in a sequential

order. There is no better way to fail then to apply a cascading approach. Industry at large and project

management in particular have moved away from it. Today agile development is used and this is also

the more effective and efficient system for your language learning project.

Some useful methods are already listed here:

Daniel Tammet - The Boy With The Incredible Brain [5/5]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=SmsV3-nrN8k

In 2009 Daniel Tammet a memory champion or so called savant demonstrated how to learn a new

language in just one week. In the video he demonstrated this capability with the Icelandic language. It

is an immersive approach supported by language teacher who acts as his coach during the week. He

will use his mnemonic techniques while participating in daily life and leisure activities. He is not

sitting at a desk nor at a quiet remote place to acquire the new language. And what will your inner

voice say if I tell you that with the wisdom collected in this blog post you could do the same as David in

less than three days ? Looking forward to your comments!

Why these mnemonic techniques are so powerful is shown here with the Baker/baker paradox and

loci-method Reference: How to train your mind to remember anything

In the Baker / Baker paradox research psychologist showed a photograph of a person with the name

Baker to the research participants. One group was told the name of the person and the other group was

informed instead about the profession of this person is that of a baker. A few days later when they

showed the photograph of Mr. Baker again to the different members of the two groups, the one group

who was told about the profession members were much more likely to remember the name of Mr.

Baker. To quote the world memory champion Joshua Foer: “If you want to make something

memorable, you first have to make it meaningful.” Reference.

Immersive, associative and conversational confidence learning: Michel Thomas: Michel Thomas, The

Language Master Pt 1 of 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8jhy7ZQC38&sns=tw

The key objective of the Michel Thomas method is to build conversational proficiency in a very short

time. The first rule he tells his students is not to try to memorize or to take any notes. He wants his

students to be relaxed and concentrated. He teaches in a living room style setup. The students sit in

comfortable arm chairs in a circle. I have used "Stuhlkreis" (Gestalt) settings myself. They support the

energy within a group for long periods of time. So it is no surprise that students who spent 8-10 hours

a day with Michel Thomas still find it enjoyable and exiting. Michel is not using any material nor a

blackboard. It is a highly interactive conversational environment. Wherever helpful he will use

associative techniques and he is building up slowly and systematically the complex structure of the

language. It is a coaching approach as he will also encourage the student to find the correct

solution. This also strengthen the confidence of the learner. And to no surprise if you watch the above

documentary you will still learn some French without any effort.

Social Learning: Sugata Mitra: Watch Minimally Invasive Education through Social Play

http://f4a.tv/frWCMz Minimal Invasive Education by Sugata Mitra discovered in 1999 in New Dehli

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk60sYrU2RU&feature=player_detailpage

Watch how Tamil only speaking children between the age of 8-12 years taught themselves

Biotechnology in English with the help of a computer and passed a test with the same results as a

group of children at a private school who had a teacher in biotechnology. Sugata Mitra discovered self

organized education of children with the help of the internet in 1999 in New Dehli. You will see that

this is a universal capability of children. In whatever country he applied this approach it would lead to

the same results, independent if it were in UK, Italy, Bangladesh or South Africa.

It started out as an experiment with kids in a slum of New Dehli and how they would use an open

space computer without instructions. The children achieved in this so called self organized learning

environments fascinating and amazing results. In this social learning setting Sugata Mitra discovered

that while 1 child is using the computer the four other children will give useful advice. Additionally

these 5 children are surrounded by 10-15 more children who will also throw in their tips and

hypotheses. When you test those groups of children in a pre and post test it will show that all the

children will have learned. It even became more effective with a coach who did nothing else as to

encourage the children and ask them open questions such as "how did you do that", can you show

again what you have done ?

Other examples for social learning is Toastmasters. There is no instructor in Toastmasters. It is the

combined effort of a group of people to advance their communication and presentation skills. I have

started a company Toastmasters club and have witnessed and was amazed myself how highly effective

it is to help people to become confident public speakers and communicators in a very short time.

Tim Ferris: Watch Tim Ferriss: Accelerated Learning in Accelerated Times http://f4a.tv/wvXSxs

In the video Tim introduces his Deconstruction Process to Learning anything from Languages to

Tango Dancing , Swimming or Body Building.

He has developed a guiding process which he calls: DieSEL's FaCE

1. DEconstruction (minimal discrete units (look for anomalies and extrems) - plus Pareto 80:20

principal)

2. The Opposite of Best Practice

3. SELection (elimination first)

4. Sequencing (in what order to do the minimal descrete units identified in Step 1)

5. Frequency

6. Compression (one page)

7. Encoding (mnemonics)

Plus the Rules of Behavioral Change

In the video above Tim talks about Linkword Language method and how it accelerated his language

learning. It is an associative method. Free examples on the site will introduce you to the method.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hd_qmlWxxg&feature=player_detailpage

Tim Ferriss on language learning

Professor Alexander Arguelles on Language Learning: speaks, reads and writes in 50 languages

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=130bOvRpt24&feature=player_detailpage

Professor Alexander Arguelles uses an autodidactive approach. To learn a new language he starts with

language learning books and materials from Assimil. It is a phased process where the learner slowly

moves into the new language. The aim is to stop the learner from translating back and force and

become competent to learn in the new language only. The method uses bilingual books and is

sentenced not word based. Grammar is explained but very lightly at the bottom of each text. Professor

Arguelles explains in the video the process to apply to the learning material. The final state is when you

can say the sentences while writing them down. In the step before the learner will read out lout the

sentences in the new language while listening to the recorded speaker. To get to this level of practices

the students has to take several steps before. It is a repetitive autodidactical approach. A quick method

to build up structures and pronunciation in a new language. A good method for those who do not feel

comfortable in groups and enjoy autodidactical learning. I still would recommend the method to all

learners to include it in your curricula.

Dr. Kató Lomb (1909-2003) spoke 16 languages. Born in Hungary she learned the first English when

she was at the age of 24. She is also was one of the first simultaneous interpreters in this world. In this

free pdf ebook she describes how she learned so many languages. Key for her was to have fun with the

material. Instead of choosing a language learning course book she chose to read books in the target

language that fits her interest. In her words "The traditional way of learning a language (cramming 20-

30 words a day and digesting the grammar supplied by a teacher or a course book) may satisfy at most

one's sense of duty, but it can hardly serve as a source of joy. Nor will it likely be successful". Her

saying was "One learns grammar from language, not language from grammar". Polyglot Tim Ferriss in

his blog post "How to learn any language in 3 months" recommends the exact same thing.

Sir Richard Francis Burton Method (1821-1890): learned 25 languages and understood 72. Sir Richard

Francis developed his own method to accelerate his language acquisition. He is more systemic

structuralist similar to Tim Ferriss. Key in the learning is to understand the basic grammar rules very

early on and then fill it will vocabulary. The maximum time he spent learning a language per day was

15 minutes. Longer period he said is tiring for the brain.

Other methods that are now well known to the broader audience are Berlitz, who used total immersion

learning from 1950s onward. EF who organizes language learning vacations and Pimsleur who starts

conversational without grammar. And well known is Rosetta Stone who use Multimedia (Computer)

for language learning.

E) Experience

My personal experience with language learning.

I commute every day at least 60 minutes in one direction. So now my car became my study place. Not

only does this make my commute more fun at the same time I add new skills to my profile and become

more attractive to my employer.

The best way I learn a language is to listen to others. Same as kids do before they start to speak.

I found this wonderful example for learning Russian and it costs nothing.

It is in German and the teacher is a Russian lady who teaches her husband a German in Russian. It is

downloadable also through itunes. Details on the Russlandjournal.de website. I have downloaded the

lessons to my iphone.

I have tried other tapes and cassettes from other more known companies in this area but none has

been so effective to learn to speak Russian than this one for me personally.

For my French I just listen to the news and discussions on the radio. The jackpot for me is when they

talk about social media and learning. I can get an update on the topic or a new view point while

enjoying myself and improving continuously my French.

What method do you use ? What is your recommendations ? Looking forward to your comments.

If you want to see the current discussion or contribute to it please go to:

Continuous Learning & Development: The Fastest Ways to Learn Any New Language