Technically, learning a new language should be easy. Babies do it all the time. But that takes too long. Tim Ferriss is a master at deconstructing learning processes. In his blog he says “Principles of cognitive neuroscience and time management can be applied to attain conversational fluency (here defined as 95%+ comprehension and 100% expressive abilities) in 1-3 months.”
He even writes here that you can indeed learn, but not master, any language in less than one hour. That’s what I am talking about!
Watch here as he describes how he suggests going about learning a new language.
ShaoLan Hsueh from Chineasy says, “When I began to teach my British born children Chinese, I realized just how difficult Chinese characters are for a native English speaker to learn. It was like torture for my kids! …I created my own method to learn how to read Chinese characters: Chineasy. And you know what? … Chineasy’s goal is to allow people to learn to read Chinese easily by recognising characters through simple illustrations. The magical power of the Chineasy method is that by learning one small set of building blocks, students can build many new words, characters, and phrases. Master a few sets of building blocks and your learning will accelerate to a whole new level.”
And she is right. I started her course a while back and found myself reading Chinese while in Chinatown. It was a big Eureka Effect for me.
Watch here as she describes her method of learning a new language.
But like so many things, other stuff gets in the way and my studies went by the wayside.
Although Tim and ShaoLan have the right ideas for sure, the one thing both fail to mention is that one of the first things most people learn when learning a new language is the dirty words. That is why these books are very helpful.
Learning the dirty words and phrases in a foreign language always makes me smile.
Read more about Tim Ferriss here and study Chineasy with ShaoLan Hsueh here.
Do you know a second language? How did you learn it? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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I have to agree learning a new language is difficult, particularly the older you get. I had the same problem with Japanese.
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Difficult but easier if one uses techniques like those in the post.
Thanks for stopping by and for leaving a comment. Come back any time. 🙂
Why do people always begin learning a foreign language by learning the dirty words?
Yeah I dunno. It has always seemed to be that way as far as I can tell. Any ideas?
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Learning a new language for me is interesting and it is all based on interest if one has interest in learning a new language it will not be as difficult as most people think. like now am learning Chinese and am finding it easy
Oh cool Sarah. Thanks for chiming in. Which version of Chinese are you learning? Are you using a certain technique in your studies? Super interested to follow your progress. Keep us updated ok?
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As a businessman I need to learn different language and I find some easy strategy for learning a new language. For l running my business I need tips of learning different language and I want to get some method to learn other language. A lot of thanks for posting this concept which really helpful for learners indeed. Looking forward and want to follow your journey.
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Glad you found something useful in this post. I have yet to learn another language. I would like to though do not have much practical use for it. And then to decide which language(s)…
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Learning new language is difference for each other. Sometimes it is so hard. And others said that is very easy. I suggest that it is important if we read the second language acquisition’s book. We can know more about the language and its components.
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Good advise. Thank you for sharing.
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Learning new language is very interesting and fulfilling. I think is great to learn new languages and skills because it keeps the brain fresh, vibrant, and responsive. For me it was a challenge because I used books and Rosetta Stone but now I use online resources like TutorMing.
Cool. It is true there is a wealth of knowledge at our fingertips.
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I haven’t read Dirty Japanese yet, but I hear it’s not actually THAT dirty. Can anyone vouch for the filthiness of it? The language itself isn’t that dirty to begin with. Now German on the other hand…
Eric recently posted…Rocket Japanese Review-Will it help you learn Japanese?
Well…
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In today’s era, multilingualism has become more than just ‘important’. Knowing a foreign language other than your native language has evolved to be extremely beneficial. Whether viewed from the financial or social aspect, being able to communicate in a foreign language helps to make ‘real’ connection with people and provides a better understanding of your language…
helenwilsonusa recently posted…Why Take Spanish Classes in Salt Lake City?
Sad that in the USA foreign language is not strongly encouraged. When I lived in Europe, it seemed like everyone there knew two or three or even more languages.
Most people I know speak English and know a little Spanish.
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Learning a new language is easy when you are at age of under 30, I have learned somewhere that after the age of 30 our mind loose the adaptability of whole new language. In rare cases people learned a whole new language after 30 and I am one of those.
Really? Yes, I have heard that as well. I have friends who teach their children multiple language as they are growing up. Maybe that is confusing? Maybe the child will not know if it is a cat or a gato? I feel sorry for Americans as probably most only know one language and since English is the ‘universal language’ they have no real reason to learn anything else. Sad.
What language did you learn after you turned 30?
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I think the Chinese language- Mandarin is one of the most interesting language to learn and it is pretty easy to learn if you have proper guidance on the grammer composition, sentence structure, character sequence and so on…
learn Chinese language online…http://www.getchinesetic.com
Knowing multiple languages can only be a good thing right?
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Troy recently posted…#821 Hand shadow puppets
Great article about “learning-a-new-language” thank you for sharing this article it is really helpful to me…….
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My pleasure. Glad you like it Aryan. Do you know many languages?
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Sure I will definitely share with my friends………..
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Very nice post, good job:-)! Best regards for you!
Thanks for sharing a great article, i loved it.
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i think it depends which language you must learn..
for me example: Arabian and Chinese is very hard and i can’t learn fast
Keep at it and let us know how it goes will ya?
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i like this …………………………..good post
better know more languages and learning is easy with watching online videos ,i use vidmate for download videos so you also try it
Thanks for the advice.
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Hello,
also i found that you can learn more about the language that you want to learn by watching movies , and series .. i found it really good
one of my fav channel on youtube while learning germany was
Nichts als Ärger mit den Mänern Komödie | auf Deutsche Untertitel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtqLfdS0fb0
i learned to much from this channel .. and all the channel movies .. 🙂
thank you
Good stuff Michel. Thanks for sharing.
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Learning a new language is very interesting. Thanks to share your tips. This is a great post.
Knowing Chinese may give you an edge when competing for an important position.
full time Mandarin course recently posted…Top 10 China Souvenirs
The basic word order of Chinese is subject — verb — object, exactly as in English. A large number of the key terms of Mandarin Chinese (such as the terms for state, health, science, party, inflation, and even literature) have been formed as translations of English concepts.