How to Learn Any Language FAST and Never Forget It - Fluent Forever by Gabriel Wyner
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 16. 06. 2024
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In this video, I dive into the 10 lessons I learned from Gabriel Wyner's best-selling book, Fluent Forever, and how it revolutionized my language learning journey. As someone who struggled with Spanish in Latin America for survival and work, I found Gabe's evidence-based approach, self-directed learning philosophy, and emphasis on role models like himself incredibly impactful.
Through this book, I learned to personalize my learning, perfect my pronunciation, focus on high-frequency words, simplify grammar, and shift from translation to thinking directly in the target language. While the book had some gaps, especially regarding advanced fluency and speaking practice, the foundational strategies it offered were instrumental in my success, leading me to achieve the DELE B2 Spanish certificate and continue learning other languages.
Join me as I share how Fluent Forever transformed my language learning journey and explore practical tips to help you on your path to fluency.
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TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - Introduction and Background
2:57 - Lesson 1: Self-Directed Learning
3:49 - Lesson 2: Evidence-Based Approach
4:51 - Lesson 3: Learn from Role Models
5:30 - Lesson 4: Have a Systematic Approach and Plan
5:58 - Lesson 5: Using Spaced Repetition and Flashcards
7:04 - Lesson 6: Perfect Your Pronunciation
8:16 - Lesson 7: Focus on High Frequency Words
8:40 - Lesson 8: Make Grammar Simple
9:12 - Lesson 9: Think in the Target Language
9:56 - Lesson 10: Personalization and Meaning
10:50 - Critique and Additional Insights
WHO AM I:
My name's Matthew, and I want to help you with how to learn languages effectively on your own.
I'm a language enthusiast and Anki ed-tech expert. I used to work for Fluent Forever and was mentored by American polyglot and best-selling author Gabriel Wyner.
Since branching out on my own, I realized that I just love learning languages. So, after helping thousands of learners already, I want to share some tools and tips to help you get fluent in another language, too. When you are productive and successful with language learning, then I believe you can enrich your work, relationships and personal life.
I'm also the co-founder of Speakada (speakada.com) where you can get pre-made Anki flashcards in different languages. Plus, I write a weekly email newsletter that contains some tips and shares my language learning journey (speakada.com/matthew-alberto-....
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Whenever you're ready, there are 4 more ways I can help you:
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Join our exciting language learning courses at Speakada! Choose from 3 course options designed for different learning needs: practicing speaking fluently on your own, memorizing vocabulary effectively, and a comprehensive plan to go from beginner to fluent.
Thanks
You're welcome Lamia Mahmoud. Be sure to check out the other videos on the channel, and all the best with your language learning journey!
Hey Matthew! This is a great video. I didn't read Gabriel Wyner's book but I did watch his TED presentation and thought it was really good! Hey, would love to connect if you're open to doing a collab đđ
Glad you enjoyed it, Max! I'm really busy in June with a lot of filming. I think maybe in July we can get in touch again, and see if it's possible in July. Nice channel by the way, teaching and encouraging people how to learn English.
Thank you, blood. Greetings from Venezuela, South America. đ»đȘđ
You're welcome! Hello to you in Venezuela, and since you're there, send over some tequeños. I miss eating them. Haha :)
@@MatthewAlberto I got you some of them here with me right now. đ What country are you from, though?
From Australia. I don't think Australian customs will allow me to receive fresh or frozen tequeños unfortunately.... *sigh* I will just have to go to Venezuela to get some authentic ones
@@MatthewAlberto What else did you taste here?
Ceviche!
I've been through that book. To me the book fails. Somewhere down the line it gets into immersion and using native content and all.. fine. That's where everyone should get to.
However: Its major focus is spaced repetition of words. Dictionaries, words, translation, words. That method has at least two very serious problems:
1) Memorizing words will teach you nothing about a language, and, worse, for many (except for a select few) what you memorize this way, if you manage to do so, is not stored in the language part of the brain. It's elsewhere. You can find it, and use it mechanically, possibly, and somehow get it into your language section that way. But in general: Learn a word list, remember it as a word list, except for a small set of potentially useful words it's a total wast of time. Words are MUCH better learned in context.
2) Unless you're learning a related language, say one European IE language and your native language is another European IE language, then learning words out of context is crazy. Trying to learn a translation of "break", for example, and applying that in Japanese the way it's used in English? Totally pointless. Useless, worse than useless. It works for "beer" and "milk", but it doesn't work even for "water".
In short: I don't recommend that book.
I can understand many of the problems you raised. I also mention some of those issues towards the end of the video.
Overall I personally liked the book because of the very clear plan and suggestions, which other language learning books don't have as they can be vague. I agree that memorizing only words has its limits, and learners shouldn't just stick to that, if they even decide to do it.
@@MatthewAlberto I agree that the book is very well laid out, and I do prefer having a plan laid out like this than trying to follow a traditional textbook and only that. It's just that I'm a bit tired of over-focusing on memorization.
â@@tohaasonhow have you learnt languages in the past?
â@@jasonjames6870For Italian I started out with the "traditional" method, a course teaching grammar and long lists of vocabulary. Hard work, zero gain. There was a single individual there who was able to actually use the memorized vocabulary in speech (and for Italian there's a certain overlap in usage of words relative to other IE languages, so it's somewhat useful), but none of the other course members could.
After in practice learning nothing after the course (in the end it was all forgotten), I later was lucky when I rented an apartment in Italy, in that it included a shelf-meter full of Peanuts comic books, in Italian. I simply started reading them. Illustrations with situations and non-childish language.. it was perfect. I figured out more and more and even the more complex grammar tenses.
After that it was newspapers and a translated Calvin and Hobbes book, which had a lot of extra writings by the Italian translator (to explain certain US aspects to the readers). And as and when I could read more, I read more. Newspapers, ordinary books etc. Obviously I also listened to everyone around me all the time. After I left Italy a friend used to bring me Italian newspapers when he visited.
Once, relatively early on when I was in Italy and staying in a hotel, I passed a movie theater and saw that they were showing a dubbed movie.. Stargate. I thought "nah, too hard" and moved on. I passed a newsstand which was selling an English-language book with the exact same picture as the movie, on the front page.. I bought it, went to the hotel and read it in about 90 minutes.
Then I walked back to the movie theater and watched the movie. Except for a single additional chapter in the book the movie was exactly as the book. I think the book was a "book" version created after the movie, not the other way around. I understood everything (because of the book) and from that single exposure I learned a ton of new Italian. Which helped me further.
And it worked. Even though I haven't used the language much in the last 25 years (except for the occasional rare visit to Italy) I can read and listen without much problems, though my level isn't at my English level - obviously: I'm using the latter every single day due to the job I've held the last few decades.
Before Italian I had already acquired English purely by reading and listening. Interesting material, like a magazine subscription when I was 17, easy scientific material later, technical documentation (easy to figure out), and, in my thirties, I started reading books (because I had run out of native language books to read).
And I never used any dictionaries. Never. The thing about getting a meaning by association (understanding from context) is that it sticks. Really sticks. Very different from memorization (the other side of the coin is that I'm terrible at translation - I have no connection between names of things in my native language and English, as I have different visualizations of what is technically the same - I didn't even notice certain close cognates until years later).
Now I'm leaning Japanese, and, due to the.. writing system.. I couldn't use my normal method, reading (which btw worked for German too), so I started out "traditionally". And spent years without getting anywhere. Now I'm using input, input, input (comprehensible, and as compelling as I can get it), and, slowly, I'm getting somewhere. I'm in Japan now.
@@tohaason thank you for your detailed reply, I have had exactly the same experience as you with learning languages. Failed for years then accidentally learnt Welsh by living in a Welsh speaking community. I then realised the same thing as you and adopted that approach for German.
I think alot of people underestimate how much input is required but language learning has become part of my life. Essentially it's a labour of love and something that is slowly improving over time. I'm not even sure half the time why I know what I know in the language it just sort of feels natural.
As they say in German "Der Weg ist das Ziel".
Put your hands in your pocket. Youâve made me giddy
Yeah, I'm a bit expressive with the hands. I just tend to speak like that, and also want to show my own excitement for the subject, and also just don't want to be sitting there flat and dull like a robot. I hope you don't mind and not making you too dizzy... You can also just listen to the audio and not look at the screen if that helps :)
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