12 Rules For Learning Foreign Languages in Record Time - The

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12 Rules for Learning Foreign

Languages in Record Time The
Only Post Youll Ever Need
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Written by Tim Ferriss
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Preface by Tim Ferriss

Ive written about how I learned to speak, read, and write Japanese, Mandarin, and
Spanish. Ive also covered my experiments with German, Indonesian, Arabic, Norwegian,
Turkish, and perhaps a dozen others.
There are only few language learners who dazzle me, and Benny Lewis is one of them.
This definitive guest post by Benny will teach you:
How to speak your target language today.
http://fourhourworkweek.com/2014/03/21/how-to-learn-a-foreign-language-2/#more-12087
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12 Rules for Learning Foreign Languages in Record Time The Only Post Youll Ever Need | The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss
How to reach fluency and exceed it within a few months.

How to pass yourself off as a native speaker.
And finally, how to tackle multiple languages to become a polyglotall within a
few years, perhaps as little as 1-2.
It contains TONS of amazing resources I never even knew existed, including the best
free apps and websites for becoming fluent in record time. Want to find a native speaker
to help you for $5 per hour? Free resources and memory tricks? Its all here.
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This is a post you all requested, so I hope you enjoy it!
Enter Benny
You are either born with the language-learning gene, or you arent. Luck of the draw,
right? At least, thats what most people believe.
I think you can stack the deck in your favor. Years ago, I was a language learning dud.
The worst in my German class in school, only able to speak English into my twenties,
and even after six entire months living in Spain, I could barely muster up the courage to
ask where the bathroom was in Spanish.
But this is about the point when I had an epiphany, changed my approach, and then
succeeded not only in learning Spanish, but in getting a C2 (Mastery) diploma from the
Instituto Cervantes, working as a professional translator in the language, and even being
interviewed on the radio in Spanish to give travel tips. Since then, I moved on to other
languages, and I can now speak more than a dozen languages to varying degrees
between conversational and mastery.
It turns out, there is no language-learning gene, but there are tools and tricks for faster
learning
As a polyglotsomeone who speaks multiple languagesmy world has opened up. I
have gained access to people and places that I never otherwise could have reached. Ive
made friends on a train in China through Mandarin, discussed politics with a desert
dweller in Egyptian Arabic, discovered the wonders of deaf culture through ASL, invited
the (female) president of Ireland to dance in Irish (Gaeilge) and talked about it on live
Irish radio, interviewed Peruvian fabric makers about how they work in Quechua,
interpreted between Hungarian and Portuguese at a social event and well, had an
extremely interesting decade traveling the world.
Such wonderful experiences are well within the reach of many of you.
Since you may be starting from a similar position to where I was (monolingual adult,
checkered history with language learning, no idea where to start), Im going to outline
the tips that worked best for me as I went from zero to polyglot.
This very detailed post should give you everything you need to know.
So, lets get started!
#1 Learn the right words, the right way.

Starting a new language means learning new words. Lots of them.
Of course, many people cite a bad memory for learning new vocab, so they quit before
even getting started.
Butheres the keyyou absolutely do not need to know all the words of a language to
speak it (and in fact, you dont know all the words of your mother tongue either).
As Tim pointed out in his own post on learning any language in 3 months, you can take
advantage of the Pareto principle here, and realize that 20% of the effort you spend on
acquiring new vocab could ultimately give you 80% comprehension in a languagefor
instance, in English just 300 words make up 65% of all written material. We use those
words a lot, and thats the case in every other language as well.
You can find pre-made flash card decks of these most frequent words (or words
themed for a subject you are more likely to talk about) for studying on the Anki app
(available for all computer platforms and smartphones) that you can download instantly.
Good flashcard methods implement a spaced repetition system (SRS), which Anki
automates. This means that rather than go through the same list of vocabulary in the
same order every time, you see words at strategically spaced intervals, just before you
would forget them.
Tim himself likes to use color-coded physical flashcards; some he purchases from VisEd, others he makes himself. He showed me an example when I interviewed him about
how he learns languages in the below video.
Though this entire video can give you great insight into Tims language learning
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approach, the part relevant to this point is at 27:40 (full transcript here).
#2 Learn cognates: your friend in every single language.

Believe it or not, you alreadyright nowhave a huge head start in your target
language. With language learning you always know at least some words before you ever
begin. Starting a language from scratch is essentially impossible because of the vast
amount of words you know already through cognates.
Cognates are true friends of words you recognize from your native language that mean
the same thing in another language.
For instance, Romance languages like French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and others
have many words in common with English. English initially borrowed them from the
Norman conquest of England, which lasted several hundreds of years. Action, nation,
precipitation, solution, frustration, tradition, communication, extinction, and thousands
of other -tion words are spelled exactly the same in French, and you can quickly get
used to the different pronunciation. Change that -tion to a -cin and you have the same
words in Spanish. Italian is -zione and Portuguese is -o.
Many languages also have words that share a common (Greek/Latin or other) root,
which can be spelled slightly differently, but that youd have to try hard not to recognize,
such as exemple, hlicoptre (Fr), porto, capitano (Italian) astronoma, and Saturno
(Spanish). German goes a step further and has many words from Englishs past that it
shares.
To find common words with the language you are learning, simply search for [language
name] cognates or [language name] English loan words to see words they borrowed
from us, and finally [language name] words in English to see words we borrowed from
them.
Thats all well and good for European languages, but what about more distant ones?
Well, it turns out that even languages as different as Japanese can have heaps of very
familiar vocabulary. To show you what I mean, have a listen to this song (to the tune of
Animaniacs Nations of the World), which is sung entirely in Japanese, and yet you
should understand pretty much everything that I and the other Japanese learners are
singing:
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This is because many languages simply borrow English words and integrate them into
the new language with altered pronunciation or stress.
So to make my life easy when I start learning a language, one of the first word lists I try
to consume is a list of cognates, or English loan words, which can be found quickly
for pretty much any language.
#3 Interact in your language daily without traveling.

Another reason (or excuse, depending on how you look at it) people cite for not learning
languages is that they cant visit a country where its a native language. No time, no
money, etc.
Take it from methere is nothing in the air in another country that will magically make
you able to speak their language. Ive done a lot of experiments to prove this (e.g.
learning Arabic while living in Brazil).
Ive met countless expats who lived abroad for years without learning the local language.
Living abroad and being immersed is not the same thing. If you need to hear and use a
language consistently to be immersed, cant virtual immersion be just as effective? Of
course. Technology makes it possible for immersion to come to you, and you dont even
have to buy a plane ticket.
To hear the language consistently spoken, you can check out TuneIn.com for a vast
selection of live-streamed radio from your country of choice. The app (free) also has a
list of streamed radio stations ordered by language.
To watch the language consistently, see whats trending on Youtube in that country right
now. Go to that countrys equivalent URL for Amazon or Ebay (amazon.es, amazon.fr,
amazon.co.jp, etc.) and buy your favorite TV series dubbed in that language, or get a
local equivalent by seeing whats on the top charts. You may be able to save shipping
costs if you can find one locally that includes dubbing in the appropriate language.
Various news stations also have plenty of video content online in specific languages,
such as France24, Deutsche Welle, CNN Espaol, and many others.
To read the language consistently, in addition to the news sites listed above, you can
find cool blogs and other popular sites on Alexas ranking of top sites per country.
And if full-on immersion isnt your thing yet, theres even a plugin for Chrome that eases
you into the language by translating some parts of the sites you normally read in
English, to sprinkle the odd word into your otherwise English reading.
#4 Skype today for daily spoken practice.

So youve been listening to, watching, and even reading in your target languageand all
in the comfort of your own home. Now its time for the big one: speaking it live with a
native.
One of my more controversial pieces of advice, but one that I absolutely insist on when I
advise beginners, is that you must speak the language right away if your goals in the
target language involve speaking it.
Most traditional approaches or language systems dont work this way, and I think thats
where they let their students down. I say, there are seven days in a week and some
day is not one of them.
Heres what I suggest instead:
Use the pointers Ive given above to learn some basic vocabulary, and be aware of some
words you already know. Do this for a few hours, and then set up an exchange with a
native speakersomeone who has spoken that language their whole life. You only have
to learn a little for your first conversation, but if you use it immediately, youll see whats
missing and can add on from there. You cant study in isolation until you are vaguely
ready for interaction.
In those first few hours, Id recommend learning some pleasantries such as Hello,
Thank you, Could you repeat that? or I dont understand, many of which you will find
listed out here for most languages.
But waitwhere do you find a native speaker if you arent in the country that speaks
that language?
No problem! Thousands of native speakers are ready and waiting for you to talk to them
right now. You can get private lessons for peanuts by taking advantage of currency
differences. My favorite site for finding natives is italki.com (connect with my profile
here), where Ive gotten both Chinese and Japanese one-on-one Skype-based lessons
for just $5 an hour.
If you still think you wouldnt be ready on day one, then consider this: starting on Skype
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allows you to ease yourself in gently by having another window (or application, like
Word) open during your conversation, already loaded with key words that you can use
for quick reference until you internalize them. You can even reference Google Translate
or a dictionary for that language while you chat, so you can learn new words as you go,
when you need them.
Is this cheating? No. The goal is to learn to be functional, not to imitate old traditional
methods. Ive used the above shortcuts myself, and after learning Polish for just one
hour for a trip to Warsaw to speak at TEDx about language learning, I was able to hold
up a conversation (incredibly basic as it was) in Polish for an entire half hour.
I consider that a win.
#5 Save your money. The best resources are free.

Other than paying for the undivided attention of a native speaker, I dont see why youd
need to spend hundreds of dollars on anything in language learning. Ive tried Rosetta
Stone myself and wasnt impressed.
But there is great stuff out there. A wonderful and completely free course that keeps
getting better is DuoLingo - which I highly recommend for its selection of European
languages currently on offer, with more on the way. To really get you started on the
many options available to help you learn your language without spending a penny, let
me offer plenty of other (good) alternatives:
The Foreign Service Institutes varied list of courses
The Omniglot Intro to languages
BBC languages intro to almost 40 different languages
Abouts language specific posts that explain particular aspects of languages well
You really do have plenty of options when it comes to free resources, so I suggest you
try out several and see which ones work well for you. The aforementioned italki is great
for language exchanges and lessons, but My Language Exchange and Interpals are two
other options. You can take it offline and see about language related meet-ups in your
city through The Polyglot Club, or the meet-ups pages on Couchsurfing, meetup.com,
and Internations. These meet-ups are also great opportunities to meet an international
crowd of fellow language learning enthusiasts, as well as native speakers of your target
language, for practice.
But wait, theres more. You can get further completely free language help on:
The huge database on Forvo, to hear any word or small expression in many
languages read aloud by a native of the language
Rhinospike to make requests of specific phrases youd like to hear pronounced
by a native speaker. If you cant find something on either of these sites, Google
Translate has a text-to-speech option for many languages.
Lang 8 to receive free written corrections.
The possibilities for free practice are endless.
#6 Realize that adults are actually better language learners

than kids.
Now that youre armed with a ton of resources to get started, lets tackle the biggest
problem. Not grammar, not vocabulary, not a lack of resources, but
handicapping misconceptions about your own learning potential.
The most common I give up misconception is: Im too old to become fluent.
5 / 17
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Im glad to be the bearer of good news and tell you that research has confirmed that
adults can be better language learners than kids. This study at the University of
Haifa has found that under the right circumstances, adults show an intuition for
unexplained grammar rules better than their younger counterparts. [Note from Tim: This
is corroborated by the book In Other Words and work by Hakuta.]
Also, no study has ever shown any direct correlation between reduced language
acquisition skill and increased age. There is only a general downward trend in language
acquisition in adults, which is probably more dependent on environmental factors that
can be changed (e.g. long job hours that crowd out study time). Something my friend
Khatzumoto (alljapaneseallthetime.com) once said that I liked was, Babies arent better
language learners than you; they just have no escape routes.
As adults, the good news is that we can emulate the immersion environment without
having to travel, spend a lot of money, or revert back to childhood.
#7 Expand your vocabulary with mnemonics.

Rote repetition isnt enough.
And while its true that repeated exposure sometimes burns a word into your memory, it
can be frustrating to forget a word that youve already heard a dozen times.
For this, I suggest coming up with mnemonics about your target word, which helps glue
the word to your memory way more effectively. Basically, you tell yourself a funny, silly,
or otherwise memorable story to associate with a particular word. You can come up with
the mnemonic yourself, but a wonderful (and free) resource that I highly recommend
is memrise.com.
For instance, lets say you are learning Spanish and cant seem to remember that
caber means to fit, no matter how many times you see it. Why not come up with a
clever association like the following one I found on Memrise:
This [caber -> cab, bear -> fitting a bear in a cab] association makes remembering the
word a cinch.
It may sound like a lengthy process, but try it a few times, and youll quickly realize why
its so effective. And youll only need to recall this hook a couple of times, and then you
can ditch it when the word becomes a natural part of your ability to use the language
quickly.
#8 Embrace mistakes.
Over half of the planet speaks more than one language.
This means that monolingualism is a cultural, not a biological, consequence. So when
adults (at least in the English speaking world) fail at language learning, its not because
they dont have the right genes or other such nonsense. Its because the system they
have used to learn languages is broken.
Traditional teaching methods treat language learning just like any other academic
subject, based on an approach that has barely changed since the days when Charles
Dickens was learning Latin. The differences between your native language (L1) and your
target language (L2) are presented as vocabulary and grammar rules to memorize. The
traditional idea: know them all and you know the language. It seems logical enough,
right?
The problem is that you cant ever truly learn a language, you get used to it. Its not a
thing that you know or dont know; its a means of communication between human
beings. Languages should not be acquired by rote alonethey need to be used.
The way you do this as a beginner is to use everything you do know with emphasis on
communication rather than on perfection. This is the pivotal difference. Sure, you could
wait until you are ready to say Excuse me kind sir, could you direct me to the nearest
6 / 17
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bathroom? but Bathroom where? actually conveys the same essential information,
only removing superfluous pleasantries. You will be forgiven for this directness, because
its always obvious that you are a learner.
Dont worry about upsetting native speakers for being so bold as to speak to them in
their own language.
One of the best things you can do in the initial stages is not to try to get everything
perfect, but to embrace making mistakes. I go out of my way to make at least 200
mistakes a day! This way I know I am truly using and practicing the language.
[TIM: I actually view part of my role as that of comedian or court jesterto make native
speakers chuckle at my Tarzan speak. If you make people smile, it will make you
popular, which will make you enthusiastic to continue.]
#9 Create SMART goals.

Another failing of most learning approaches is a poorly defined end-goal.
We tend to have New Years Resolutions along the lines of Learn Spanish, but how do
you know when youve succeeded? If this is your goal, how can you know when youve
reached it?
Vague end goals like this are endless pits (e.g. Im not ready yet, because I havent
learned the entire language).
S.M.A.R.T. goals on the other hand are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and
Time-bound.
To start developing your SMART goal in a language, I highly recommend you become
somewhat familiar with the European Common Framework that defines language levels.
This framework provides you with a way of setting specific language goals and
measuring your own progress.
In brief, A means beginner, B means intermediate, and C means advanced, and each
level is broken up into lower (1) and upper (2) categories. So an upper beginner speaker
is A2, and a lower advanced speaker is C1. As well as being Specific, these levels are
absolutely Measurable because officially recognized institutions can test you on them
and provide diplomas (no course enrollment necessary) in German, French, Spanish,
Irish, and each other official European language. While the same scale is not used, you
can also get tested in a similar way in Chinese and Japanese.
So what do you aim for? And what do words like fluency and mastery mean on a
practical level?
Ive talked to many people to try to pinpoint the never-agreed-upon understanding of
fluency, and Ive found that it tends to average out around the B2 level (upper
intermediate). This effectively means that you have social equivalency with your native
language, which means that you can live in your target language in social situations in
much the same way that you would in your native language, such as casual chats with
friends in a bar, asking what people did over the weekend, sharing your aspirations and
relating to people.
Since we are being specific, its also important to point out that this does not require
that you can work professionally in a language (in my case, as an engineer or public
speaker, for instance). That would be mastery level (generally C2).
Though Ive reached the C2 stage myself in French, Spanish and am close to it in other
languages, realistically I only really need to be socially equivalent in a language I want to
communicate in. I dont need to work in other languages. Its essential that you keep
your priorities clear to avoid frustration. Most of the time, just target B2.
To make your specific goal Attainable, you can break it down further. For example, Ive
found that the fluency (B2) level can be achieved in a matter of months, as long as you
are focused on the spoken aspect.
In phonetic languages (like most European ones), you can actually learn to read along
with speaking, so you get this effectively for free. But realistically, we tend to write
emails and text messagesnot essayson a day-to-day basis (unless you are a writer
by trade, and you may not have those goals with your L2). Focusing on speaking and
listening (and maybe reading) makes fluency in a few months much more realistic.
Finally, to make your project Time-bound, I highly recommend a short end-point of a few
months.
Keeping it a year or more away is far too distant, and your plans may as well be
unbound at that point. Three months has worked great for me, but 6 weeks or 4 months
could be your ideal point. Pick a definite point in the not too distant future (summer
vacation, your birthday, when a family member will visit), aim to reach your target by this
time, and work your ass off to make it happen.
7 / 17
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To help you be smarter with your goals, make sure to track your progress and use an
app like Lift to track completing daily essential tasks.
You can join the Lift plan for language learning that I wrote for their users here.
#10 Jump from Conversational (B1) to Mastery (C2).

The way I reach spoken fluency quickly is to get a hell of a lot of spoken practice.
From day one to day 90 (and beyond), I speak at least an hour a day in my L2, and my
study time is tailored around the spoken sessions to make sure that my conversation is
whats improvingnot just my general language skills through some vague list of words
I may never use.
So, for instance, I may start a session by asking what my native friend or teacher did
over the weekend, and tell them what I did. Then I will share something that is on my
mind lately and attempt to express my opinion on it, or allow the native speaker to
introduce a new topic. Its important to take an active role and make sure you are having
varied conversations. Have a list of topics you would like to discuss and bring them up
(your hobbies, hopes for the future, dislikes, what you will do on your vacation etc.) and
make sure the conversation is constantly progressing.
Lots of practice and study to improve those spoken sessions tends to get me to lower
intermediate (B1) level, which means I can understand the other person speaking to me
fine as long as they are willing to speak clearly and adjust to my level and mistakes. Its
a LOT of work, mind you! On typical learning days I can be filled with frustration or feel
like my brain is melting whenin factIm truly making a lot of progress.
But the work is totally worth it when you have your first successful conversation with a
native speaker. Youll be thrilled beyond belief.
To see what this B1 level looks like, check out these videos of me chatting to a native in
Arabic (in person with my italki teacher!), and in Mandarin with my friend Yangyang
about how she got into working as a TV show host:
)
At this level, I still make plenty of mistakes of course, but they dont hinder
communication too much.
But to get over that plateau of just good enough, this is the point where I tend to return
to academic material and grammar books, to tidy up what I have. I find I understand the
grammar much better once Im already speaking the language. This approach really
works for me, but there is no one best language-learning approach. For instance, Tim
has had great success by grammatically deconstructing a language right from the start.
Your approach will depend entirely on your personality.
8 / 17
16/01/2015
After lots of exercises to tidy up my mistakes at the B1 level, I find that I can break into
B2.
At the B2 stage you can really have fun in the language! You can socialize and have any
typical conversation that youd like.
To get into the mastery C1/C2 levels though, the requirements are very different. Youll
have to start reading newspapers, technical blog posts, or other articles that wont
exactly be light reading.
To get this high-level practice, Ive subscribed to newspapers on my Kindle that I try to
read every day from various major news outlets around the world. Here are the top
newspapers in Europe, South America and Asia. After reading up on various topics, I
like to get an experienced professional (and ideally pedantic) teacher to grill me on the
topic, to force me out of my comfort zone, and make sure Im using precisely the right
words, rather than simply making myself understood.
To show you what a higher level looks like, here is a chat I had with my Quebec
Couchsurfer about the fascinating cultural and linguistic differences between Quebec
and France (I would have been at a C1 level at this stage):
)
Reaching the C2 level can be extremely difficult.
For instance, I sat a C2 exam in German, and managed to hold my ground for the oral
component, when I had to talk about deforestation for ten minutes, but I failed the exam
on the listening component, showing me that I needed to be focused and pay attention
to complicated radio interviews or podcasts at that level if I wanted to pass the exam in
future.
#11 Learn to sound more native.

At C2, you are as good as a native speaker in how you can work and interact in the
language, but you may still have an accent and make the odd mistake.
I have been mistaken for a native speaker of my L2 several times (in Spanish,
French and Portuguese including when I was still at the B2/fluent level), and I can say
that its a lot less related to your language level, and more related to two other factors.
First, your accent/intonation
Accent is obvious; if you cant roll your R in Spanish you will be recognized as a
foreigner instantly.
Your tongue muscles are not set in their ways forever, and you can learn the very few
new sounds that your L2 requires that you learn. Time with a native, a good Youtube
video explaining the sounds, and practice for a few hours may be all that you need!
What is much more important, but often overlooked, is intonationthe pitch, rise, fall,
and stress of your words. When I was writing my book, I interviewed fellow polyglot Luca
who is very effective in adapting a convincing accent in his target languages. For this,
intonation is pivotal.
Luca trains himself from the very start to mimic the musicality and rhythm of a
languages natives by visualizing the sentences. For instance, if you really listen to it,
the word France sounds different in I want to go to France (downward intonation) and
France is a beautiful country (intonation raising upwards). When you repeat sentences
in your L2, you have to mimic the musicality of them.
My own French teacher pointed out a mistake I was making along these same lines.
I was trying to raise my intonation before pauses, which is a feature of French that
occurs much more frequently than in English, but I was overdoing it and applying it to
9 / 17
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the ends of sentences as well. This made my sentences sound incomplete, and when
my teacher trained me to stop doing this, I was told that I sounded way more French.
You can make these changes by focusing on the sounds of a language rather than just
on the words.
Truly listen to and and mimic audio from natives, have them correct your biggest
mistakes and drill the mistakes out of you. I had an accent trainer show me how this
worked, and I found out some fascinating differences between my own Irish accent and
American accents in the process! To see for yourself how the process works, check out
the second half of this post with Soundcloud samples.
Second, walk like an Egyptian
The second factor that influences whether or not you could be confused for a native
speaker, involves working on your social and cultural integration. This is often
overlooked, but has made a world of difference to me, even in my early stages of
speaking several languages.
For instance, when I first arrived in Egypt with lower intermediate Egyptian Arabic, I was
disheartened that most people would speak English to me (in Cairo) before I even had a
chance for my Arabic to shine. Its easy to say that Im too white to ever be confused for
an Egyptian, but theres more to it than that.
They took one look at me, saw how foreign I obviously was, and this overshadowed what
language I was actually speaking to them.
To get around this problem, I sat down at a busy pedestrian intersection with a pen and
paper and made a note of everything that made Egyptian men about my age different
from me. How they walked, how they used their hands, the clothing they wore, their
facial expressions, the volume theyd speak at, how theyd groom themselves, and
much more. I found that I needed to let some stubble grow out, ditch my bright light
clothes for darker and heavy ones (despite the temperature), exchange my trainers for
dull black shoes, ditch my hat (I never saw anyone with hats), walk much more
confidently, and change my facial expressions.
The transformation was incredible! Every single person for the rest of my time in Egypt
would start speaking to me in Arabic, including in touristy parts of town where they
spoke excellent English and would be well used to spotting tourists. This transformation
allowed me to walk from the Nile to the Pyramids without any hassle from touts and
make the experience all about the fascinating people I met.
Try it yourself, and youll see what I meanonce you start paying attention, the physical
social differences will become easy to spot.
You can observe people directly, or watch videos of natives youd like to emulate from a
target country. Really try to analyze everything that someone of your age and gender is
doing, and see if you can mimic it next time you are speaking.
Imitation is, after all, the most sincere form of flattery!
#12 Become a polyglot.

This post has been an extremely detailed look at starting off and trying to reach mastery
in a foreign language (and even passing yourself off as a native of that country).
If your ultimate goal is to speak multiple languages, you can repeat this process over
multiple times, but I highly recommend you focus on one language at a time until you
reach at least the intermediate level. Take each language one by one, until you reach a
stage where you know you can confidently use it. And then you may just be ready for
the next ones!
While you can do a lot in a few months, if you want to speak a language for the rest of
your life it requires constant practice, improvement, and living your life through it as often
as you can. But the good news is once you reach fluency in a language, it tends to
stick with you pretty well.
Also, keep in mind that while the tips in this article are an excellent place to start, there
is a huge community of polyglots online willing to offer you their own encouragement
as well. A bunch of us came together in this remix, Skype me Maybe.
10 / 17
16/01/2015
)
I share several more stories about these polyglots and dive into much greater detail
about how to learn languages in my newly released book Fluent in 3 Months. Grab a
copy, or check out my site for inspiration to start your adventure in becoming fluent in a
new languageor several.
Ganbatte!
###
Question of the Day: What tools or approaches have you used for learning languages?
Please share in the comments!
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287 comments on 12 Rules for Learning Foreign Languages in

Record Time The Only Post Youll Ever Need
Matt Frazier March 12, 2014 at 6:20 pm
Benny is always the most outgoing guy at every conference Ive seen him
11 / 17
16/01/2015
at I think that (talking to EVERYONE, especially in a foreign country)

helps a lot too!
Congrats on this guest post, Benny.
Reply
Benny Lewis March 13, 2014 at 6:47 am

Thanks Matt!
I was actually quite shy when I was younger
language learning has made me more outgoing. Id highly recommend
it to people who want to get out of their shell!
Hope to run into you again asap!
Reply
Elias March 12, 2014 at 6:36 pm

This is one of the best posts on this blog yet!
Reply
Aaron Posehn March 12, 2014 at 6:36 pm

Benny is one of the many language learners that consistently wow me as
well. Hes always so eager to get down the basics so that he can start to
converse with others, and once he does, he seems to really soar upward
and beyond. Ive read many of his posts and taken much of his advice. A
solid guy indeed when it comes to how to learn a foreign language.
Reply

Aw shucks, thanks Aaron! Yeah, people need to learn to have more
fun with the beginner stage. Its what opens up the entire language
learning spectrum to us!
Reply
Aaron Posehn March 13, 2014 at 8:49 am

Thanks for the reply Benny, and I definitely agree! I need to
constantly remind myself of this as well when I dive into new
languages. Keep up the great work!
Jimmy Naraine March 12, 2014 at 6:49 pm

Cant believe my eyes. Today I watched your Skype interview with Benny
and thought: how cool would it be to see some of his stuff on the blog.
Great stuff! What I like the most about Benny is that he is so genuine in
his approach. I bet that this post is gonna get 700+ comments
Thanks for posting guys!
Reply

700+ comments? Looks like I have my work cut out for me if Im to
keep up and try to reply to as many as I can
Glad you got to see me and Tim join forces again! I loved finding out
during our Skype call how much we share in common in language
learning philosophies.
12 / 17
16/01/2015
Reply
Jimmy Naraine March 13, 2014 at 2:31 pm

So true, Id love to see a fresh video with both of you! Personally, I
believe that the main factor stopping people from embracing a new
language is FEAR. I really like your approach of speaking from
day 1. This is the key. Actually, I wanted to show you a yt video
(in Spanish) where I recommend the 4HWW and explain how I
learnt Spanish in only 2 months. Hope it will not come across as
spammy;) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB-bgMixT_s
All the best and keep building great content.
Chris Broholm March 12, 2014 at 7:00 pm

This is an amazing pillar article Benny, as a big fan of yours I was course
already aware of many of the resources in the post, but writing them up
like this not only links many of the aspects of language learning together,
it also motivates me like crazy to keep working hard. Currently Im on
Russian (4th language) but aiming high like yourself!
Congratulations on your book launch as well!
Reply

You know you are doing something right, when other experienced
learners agree they would share the same links. The trick is using big
platforms like Tims great blog to bring those tools to a wider
audience. Yes, keep working hard!!
And thanks for the book well wishes! Hopefully this blog post inspires
a few more people to check it out!
Reply
Markus Green March 12, 2014 at 7:04 pm

This is a great post, Benny is very impressive and an inspiration.
Im trying to implement some of the points mentioned in a project that just
started:
http://www.languagebydoing.com
The idea is to combine learning a language with a passion or hobby.
Learn Spanish through Salsa, French by cooking and such. Its explained
more thoroughly on the site.
That way you learn the vocabulary you need, get to practice in a natural
environment and get to play around. Having fun should be a more popular
goal while learning.
Another thing is that face-to-face will beat online lessons and resources
every time in my opinion. You simply cant replace the experience of
having a human being to interact with right in front of you.
If you do decide to check out the site, I would really appreciate some
feedback and suggestions. Dont know if this can be my muse someday,
but I definitely want to spread some love through the platform.
Reply
Agne March 12, 2014 at 7:37 pm

That is so awesome. At last my two people who inspired my language
learning meet in one blog ^^
13 / 17
16/01/2015
Reply
George March 12, 2014 at 7:55 pm

Benny always has great insight on learning languages.
Reply
King March 12, 2014 at 7:59 pm

This was awesome- alot of these tricks helped me when I was relearning
my native language (Bengali) and also with Japanese. I remember joking
with my friends when they found out I was a polyglot that- Its not that big
of a deal, all it means is that Im now socially awkward in 4 languages
Reply
Beth Clark March 12, 2014 at 9:13 pm

Very handsome profile pic! Skype me maybe? Lol
Beth
Reply
Chris W March 12, 2014 at 8:10 pm

Hey Tim,
This is a little off-topic but the email notices I get when theres a new post
from you always have WordPress.com as the sender name. Just
thought Id let you know in case that wasnt your intention.
Chris
Reply
Tim Ferriss March 13, 2014 at 2:30 am

Huh thats weird. Thanks for the heads up!
Reply
ninos youkhana March 13, 2014 at 2:50 am

Yes..I get all your emails like thatI thought you were supporting
them or sponsering WordPress now.
Zac March 12, 2014 at 8:19 pm

In one of the first sentences from benny, it says In think instead of I
think. For someone talking about languages you might wanna fix it haha
Reply

Yep, we fixed that typo! As I say in this blog posts; I like to make at
least 200 mistakes a day, and thats not just in foreign languages
14 / 17
16/01/2015
Reply
Antoine March 12, 2014 at 8:29 pm

Great post Benny! Im definitely looking to applying these steps and
reading your book!
Reply

Enjoy the book! Therell be free updates for life online.
Best of luck with your language learning project!
Reply
Vinay March 12, 2014 at 8:58 pm

damn, Ive been living in Argentina for 11 months and just moved to Chile
for start-up Chile and I wish I knew this earlier!
Reply

I was in Spain for 6 whole months speaking English all the time before
I changed my approach, and look at me now! Its never too late
The last line of my book is a Chinese proverb, relevant to your
situation: The best time to plant a tree is 10 years ago. The second
best time is now
Reply
Gulnara March 12, 2014 at 9:09 pm

In med school we rely on Anki a lot to retain lots of information that has to
be regurgitated in 2-3 month period and then on the boards in a few years,
so spaced repetition is a key to success. http://www.supermemo.com is
is great resource on that.
In learning the languages, I find it more difficult to understand the native
speakers. When I came from Russia to the US 10 years ago, I could
speak English perfectly but when people would talk back to me, I had no
idea what they were saying. I find similar difficulties with Spanish. I speak
ok, but again, I dont always understand native people and to improve
that, I need a lot more time to practice listening.
Reply
Beth Clark March 12, 2014 at 9:11 pm

This post is fantastic. Thank you for all of this information and the links.
Learning a new language has been a dangling carrot for me for several
years now, and I appreciate you mentioning the SMART method to help
me pull focus and be more results-oriented while still remembering to
have FUN! Learning a language doesnt have to be and shouldnt be a
chore, right?
Reply
Damien Elsing, Copywriter March 12, 2014 at 9:16 pm
15 / 17
16/01/2015
Tim, this is amazing thank you! I have a friend learning Cantonese right
now. Gonna forward him this as I am sure it will be a valuable resource.
Reply

This post on why Cantonese isnt as hard as you think may also help
your friend: http://www.fluentin3months.com/cantonese/
Reply
Anand Sapkota March 23, 2014 at 3:58 pm

You sir are amazing, i am visiting my friends in Monaco and Spain
next year, my goal is to learn Portuguese before my flight, is it
true that if you learn Portuguese, its easy to learn Spanish and
French?
Andres March 12, 2014 at 9:31 pm

Amazing resource for learn languages, there are a LOT of goog resources
and also they are FREE! I worked as a salesperson for an english online
course and people sometimes doesnt learn english in an effective way.
Reply
Sean March 12, 2014 at 9:34 pm

The coming together of two worlds! Benny and Tim! Thank you for the
great guest post Benny!
Huge tip You will be forgiven for this directness, because its always
obvious that you are a learner. Ive found sounding like a moron isnt a big
deal if the right intention is there. It seems people are more than happy to
help you out when youre trying. Thank you for the time you both put into
this post!
Reply
Catrina March 12, 2014 at 9:37 pm

This post was awesome and just what Ive been looking for, thank you
both!
Reply

Happy to help!
Reply
Dani Blanchette March 12, 2014 at 9:47 pm

I am one of those people who struggle with language, and just assume I
suck at it, but I love this article because it has so many ways to learn and
is a total confidence booster. Ive been trying to learn Spanish, because
my husband is Colombian, and after almost 2 years living there my
Spanish still sucks.
I recently discovered Duolingo and love it. Its like a video game so I get
16 / 17
16/01/2015
really involved with not dying (losing all my hearts). But Ive never heard
of some of the other resources like Anki. I just downloaded it to my phone
with some flashcards and love it.
I totally put this article to post on my social media and bookmarked it. (I
am aware how much that phrase sounds like a spam comment) but its
true. Its awesome to learn that someone else who thought they sucked
at language and thought they just didnt have the talent for them is more
multilingual. Thanks for the confidence boost and great resources!
Reply

Doesnt sound like spam at all! I definitely appreciate the share lets
get more language learning encouragement out there!
Reply
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This is a post you all requested, so I hope you enjoy it!

#1 Learn the right words, the right way.

#2 Learn cognates: your friend in every single language.

#3 Interact in your language daily without traveling.

#4 Skype today for daily spoken practice.

#5 Save your money. The best resources are free.

#6 Realize that adults are actually better language learners

#7 Expand your vocabulary with mnemonics.

#9 Create SMART goals.

#10 Jump from Conversational (B1) to Mastery (C2).

#11 Learn to sound more native.

#12 Become a polyglot.

Related & Recommended Posts

Posted on: March 21, 2014.

287 comments on 12 Rules for Learning Foreign Languages in

at I think that (talking to EVERYONE, especially in a foreign country)

Benny Lewis March 13, 2014 at 6:47 am

Elias March 12, 2014 at 6:36 pm

Aaron Posehn March 12, 2014 at 6:36 pm

Benny Lewis March 13, 2014 at 6:51 am

Aaron Posehn March 13, 2014 at 8:49 am

Jimmy Naraine March 12, 2014 at 6:49 pm

Benny Lewis March 13, 2014 at 8:49 am

Jimmy Naraine March 13, 2014 at 2:31 pm

Chris Broholm March 12, 2014 at 7:00 pm

Benny Lewis March 13, 2014 at 8:51 am

Markus Green March 12, 2014 at 7:04 pm

Agne March 12, 2014 at 7:37 pm

George March 12, 2014 at 7:55 pm

King March 12, 2014 at 7:59 pm

Beth Clark March 12, 2014 at 9:13 pm

Chris W March 12, 2014 at 8:10 pm

Tim Ferriss March 13, 2014 at 2:30 am

ninos youkhana March 13, 2014 at 2:50 am

Zac March 12, 2014 at 8:19 pm

Benny Lewis March 13, 2014 at 8:54 am

Antoine March 12, 2014 at 8:29 pm

Benny Lewis March 13, 2014 at 8:55 am

Vinay March 12, 2014 at 8:58 pm

Benny Lewis March 13, 2014 at 9:01 am

Gulnara March 12, 2014 at 9:09 pm

Beth Clark March 12, 2014 at 9:11 pm

Damien Elsing, Copywriter March 12, 2014 at 9:16 pm

Benny Lewis March 13, 2014 at 9:03 am

Anand Sapkota March 23, 2014 at 3:58 pm

Andres March 12, 2014 at 9:31 pm

Sean March 12, 2014 at 9:34 pm

Catrina March 12, 2014 at 9:37 pm

Benny Lewis March 13, 2014 at 9:10 am