There are many good ways to learn a language. The path I will outline in this website is one of them. There are also many bad methods, and I hate watching students struggle down those dead end roads. But if you follow all the steps in this program, I can guarantee you learn that language. As you read through this website, you may want to modify my process in your own way. That is fine. The important thing is that you learn how languages are learned and avoid making the same mistakes I did.
I studied Spanish rigorously from 8th grade until my first year of university. But after all those years, I still couldn't hold a basic conversation. That's because studying a language is one of the least effective methods of learning to speak it. If you've wasted countless hours memorizing verb conjugations, prepositions, spelling rules, exceptions to those rules, and exceptions to the exceptions, you probably ended up like me.
This website is a comprehensive how-to guide. It will give you all the information you need to get started learning any language, and continue on until you have mastered it. The key element you'll notice is that (with a few exceptions) we learn languages by using them, not studying them. What do I mean by that? We can break down language usage into four separate skills: Speaking, Listening, Reading, and Writing. These are the only four skills you need to practice.
Notice that grammar, spelling, memorizing, workbook exercises, reciting vocabulary, reading textbooks and taking exams are not in this list. You really don't need to do any of those things. Ninety nine percent of your progress will come from simply doing the four actions above.
Learning with this system requires action oriented practice, not passive studying and memorization. For example, to improve your speaking, all you have to do is speak! Chatting with a friend or a random stranger on omegle.com will help you MUCH more than your textbook ever could. To practice writing, keep a diary, or make a new friend to text with on HelloTalk. To practice listening, follow a podcast on Spotify or a show on Netflix. To practice reading, work through short stories (and later full novels) on LingQ. These are all highly enjoyable activities. The beautiful part of this system is that it's fun, and doesn't call for any tedious studying or rule memorization.
If you're just starting, you may think you're not ready to jump into these activities right away. Don't worry, this is the age of the internet! There are countless tools at your disposal to help you jump right into language practice long before you think you're ready. You can do this even without any prior language study.
Click the button below to begin your journey.