Now I understand why artists last along a week to finish a drawing lol

2 years of duolingo, language classes -> still cannot speak

6 weeks of THIS focused, intelligent practices -> start having real conversations

《 Ⅰ 》 THE LIES DEBUNK:

Lie 1: "you need to study grammar to speak a language"

-the biggest lie in language education

-when you were a kid learning your mother language:

you did not learn and speak the language by getting grammar books and exercises first

you learned by LISTENING, and REPEATING SENTENCES (speaking) over and over again

you learned by HAVING THE LANGUAGE ADULTS correct your mistakes until you get it right

-grammar books are designed to make you feel like you're making progress without actually learning to speak, to have basic conversations

-grammar is a side effect of learning a language, not prerequisite, not a must-checkbox before learning something

-you dont need grammar books at all, stop using it, it's slowing you down

Lie 2: "apps make you fluent"

-apps, for most parts, a complete waste of time

-ESPECIALLY if they got animals, bright colors, and gamify streaks, those apps are designed to be addictive, not effective

-what matters is this:

can you understand when someone speak to you at normal speed?

can you respond in a way that makes sense, and sound natural?

can you have a proper conversation?

-> if you have been using the app for months, and the answers for those three questions are still no, delete the app

Lie 3: "just immerse yourself, you'll learn naturally"

-the lie that causes the most damages

-for example: "just watch TV shows or listen to podcasts in that language" "just surround yourself with the language", all passive consumption

-it works incredibly slowly, and not for speaking

-yes, you will eventually understand the language maybe in years, but you could have achieve this in weeks

-passive immersion, is like trying to swim by watching swimmers on TV, you need to be active immersion, and you need a system

《 Ⅱ 》 THE 3-STEPS SYSTEM:

Step1: build your sentence list

-the foundation that changes everything

-most people try to learn random stuffs, random words, then never use them ever in real conversation ->why would you learn them before the words you would use all the time?

-what you do instead: create a list of every sentences (not words, full sentences) you would need to say in your daily real life in your mother language

what do you talk about at work?

what do you talk about with friends, family?

what do you ask for at restaurants, stores, hospitals?

what are your hobbies?

what are your opinions?

what stories you mostly into and would love to talk about

-> these are your language islands, the islands of words and sentences, centered around topics that would actually matter to you

1. for few days, talk to yourself in your mother language, constantly, out loud, narrate your life, while using speech-to-text apps, to collect your pages of sentences, this is your personal blueprint, your language islands, the exact sentences you need to learn

2. translate those sentences to the language you're learning, you're learning your own phrases (this is the difference between learning for a test vs learning to communicate)

Step2: flood your ears with audio

-if you just binge-watching youtube video in foreign language, it would just be noises to you

-what you do instead:

take those sentences of yours, your personal sentences, the sentences you already understand, create audio files from it, either hire a native, or use AI

listening to the audio on repeat whenever you have free mind

your goal is hear those sentences so many time that you know exactly what your personal sentences sound like in the language you're learning

-but you're not listening passively, once you understand and grasp those sentences easily:

your start shadowing, you're training your mouth to produce the same sounds

record your shadowing

compare the sounds you create vs the sounds in native

-when speaking a language, focus on:

communicating effectively

getting what you want

having fun

-remember, it's normal to make mistakes, hurts and discomforts aint actually fun, but it means you're improving, speak, speak more, it only gets better, it only gets easier

Step3: active recall

-the non-negotiable most effective exercises you can do to learn a language

-the step that separates "people who kind of know the language" vs "people who can actually use and speak the language"

listening and shadowing: great, but still kinda passive, you're following along, you're not producing the language

active recall: force your brain to produce the language

-here's how you do it:

look at your personal sentences in your mother language, and speak out loud the sentences in the language you're learning

once you get the hang of your sentences, talk to yourself in that foreign language throughout the day, try it use those sentences in context, narrate your life when you're doing something, anything -> you are creating real mental situations when you actually need the language

-getting the answers wrong would make it stick to you longer, this is why "comprehensive input" alone won't work

-do it out loud

<the system is useless without using it, here how your days be using the system>:

morning, when you're getting ready, audio playing your sentences and shadowing

when you go to work, audio playing (and shadowing if you could)

lunch break at work, 10 minutes of active recall

when you go to home, audio playing (and shadowing if you could)

before bed, a serious high focused 10 minutes at least of active recall (researches show that your brain would process most of what you think before bed, so use that)

-> with this, you barely need to schedule any extra time like 3-4 hours for learning a language, most of these happen when you're doing other things anyway

《 Ⅲ 》 WHAT YOUR PROGRESS WILL LOOK LIKE:

WEEK1:

everything will be very very hard

you're struggling to be able to remember simple sentences

you won't be able to say anything at all

WEEK2:

some sentences are starting to stick

you can correctly recall maybe 20-30% of the sentences

your ears are starting to adjust to the sounds

WEEK3:

things start clicking way faster

you're starting to notice patterns

sentences that used to take 3s to speak, now take 1s

WEEK4:

you can do basic conversations, not perfectly, but functionally

you can understand what people speak to you slowly, at least about the topics you studied on

you can respond with real sentences

...WEEK 6:

you're genuinely conversational

you still make mistakes, you still have some gaps, but you can communicate, you can express complex ideas, and you can understand most of what you hear as well

《 Ⅳ 》 ONE TECHNICHE TO ACCELERATE EVERYTHING

< PRE-INPUT COMPREHENSION >

-a complete game-changer

-usually, when you're learning a language, you can't watch native content until you've already done A SHIT LOT OF learning, you watch a video in Spanish and you understand like 10% of what they say -> not much learning here

-before you watch or listen to native content:

get the transcript

study it, memorize the new words

then, you watch the content

-> you will understand way more, 70-80% more, every sentences you hear, reinforces something your just learned, your brain is making connection, you aint playing guessing game, you're recognizing