The smartest decision you will ever make to achieve fluency

Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for further language learning tips! (What is RSS?)

smart

Today I’m going to share the most important decision I have ever made in learning languages.

This choice changed me from a hopeless “I’m not talented with languages” person to eventually become the polyglot that I am today. The change happened in one day; November 1^st, 2003.

If it wasn’t for that one decision I would have given up with my first foreign language, and all later ones, and all of the wonderful experiences of the last 6 years wouldn’t have been possible. Let me explain…

Months of work and still not speaking

I had spent almost 6 months in Spain (in Valencia); I loved the people, the fiestas, and life in general there. I wanted to stay longer, and I really wanted to speak Spanish.

I was trying so hard! I was studying every day, I even tried expensive courses for a short time, and I was speaking it every chance I got; in the supermarket, at parties with strangers I met, after giving an English class to a child I tried conversing with the parents, etc.

But I still couldn’t actually speak Spanish.

I was just struggling with repeating the same words and phrases over and over. I didn’t get it! I really wanted it; I was motivated! I was working hard. Surely after 6 months I should have been speaking much better than I already was?

I would go to my English speaking friends, and my Spanish friends with good English, because I could properly express myself with them and let off some steam. I would say how maybe Spanish is just too hard for me. Other foreigners were also having the same problem, and yet a few others were so easily picking up the language with apparently little work. [Sigh] Maybe we’re just not the kind of people who will ever pick up languages quickly…

Then I realized something! In a great Eureka moment, I saw both the problem, and the solution. It’s so obvious and yet people still don’t actually get it…

Stop speaking English!!

This may seem like a pointless statement to make when you live in the country already, but I have seen the same pattern hundreds of times and I am seeing it once again here in Prague.

Expats hang out with other English speaking expats and complain about how hard the local language is, or talk about life in general in English. They chat to their boyfriend/girlfriend/friends in English. All of the local friends they have also talk to them in English. They only actually use the local language when they have to; English is actually the language they socialise and relax in most of the time.

I have met some English speakers who have lived in Prague for up to TEN years, and after just a few weeks I already speak better Czech than them!! This does NOT make me feel smart; it makes me feel sad and frustrated for them! And I will meet more people like this in other travels who will look at me like I just have some special gene for languages or something. (Let me say again, that I did horrible in languages in school, and when I was 20 years old, the only language that I spoke was English; up until this crucial decision I was the Average Frustrated Learner).

These people that I keep meeting don’t realize that their English speaking social circle is protecting them from ever speaking the local language. They already have enough of the local language to get by, so why would they need more?

MY PLAN: A very difficult and frustrating month in exchange for the best years of my life

So the decision that I actually made that changed everything was to stop using English entirely. Absolutely no English EVER, except for work, since I was a part-time English teacher, and for weekly phonecalls to my parents. Every other second of my life was to be in Spanish.

I couldn’t conjugate any past-tense verbs, my vocabulary was pathetic and my pronunciation was extremely English, but I decided not to care any more. For the moment, I’d use the present tense and wave behind me or emphasise “yesterday” to try to make it clearer, and I’d use the few words I knew to explain around what I wanted to say, and of course I used a lot of hand waving and gestures until someone got what I was trying to say.

I decided that for exactly 30 days, (the entire month of November) I would speak no English. I warned all of my friends of this in advance, and did some final cramming of words and grammar and then the hardest month of my life began.

Frankly, it was horrible. I couldn’t ask for simple items (always refusing to just say the word in English when the other person would likely know), I couldn’t have a discussion about anything important, so I was as good as a 5 year old for conversations (actually worse), and I couldn’t share my feelings.

It was also frustrating for those who kept insisting that I just say what I wanted to say in English. Most of all, it was exhausting. At the end of the day I’d come home so tired and frustrated. Anyone learning a language in the country knows what this feels like, but imagine not being able to rely on those English-speaking hours for support and to relax! There were many times when I just considered abandoning the plan and be able to express myself properly, but I didn’t give in.

The end of the month came, and you know what? I wasn’t speaking fluently. I still had horrible grammar and a strong accent etc., but eventually over that month something clicked in my mind: I didn’t really need English. It was indeed possible to communicate in the language, even if you don’t speak it well.

Despite the frustration and the need to be able to communicate like a literate adult, I actually felt good about being able to express myself, albeit limited, in Spanish. And even if I hadn’t reached fluency, I was speaking much better than how I was at the beginning of the experiment. I had learned so much because my motivation changed from “I really want to speak Spanish” to “I really need to speak Spanish”! This is an extremely important difference.

By December I had made new friends who didn’t speak any English at all. I decided to continue the experiment a little longer… and it actually turned into a new lifestyle!

Time to make a tough decision!

If you are truly serious about learning a language to fluency as soon as possible, then I recommend you make a similar decision (presuming you are also living in the country). If your English speaking friends understand even a little of the language, then tell them that from now on you are only going to speak to them in it.

If they respond in English, or if a local suggests an English word for what you are trying to say, then that’s fine! But you must only answer them in the language you are learning, or maybe occasionally use the word in English, or a quasi-mixture of English and their language if you must, but don’t actually speak in English.

Stop depending on those English speaking friends and make new ones. In that month I lost a few friends; I realized that some of them were only using me to practise their English, and some of them just simply didn’t have the patience for me and my crazy project. This didn’t help when I actually wanted support and encouragement! But in exchange, I have made some wonderful new friends and have had so many wonderful experiences with people who don’t speak English, ever since then.

When I reveal this to expats I meet in passing, they always give me lots of excuses why it isn’t possible; they have family and friends, they need to relax at the end of the day, it’s too hard etc. I’m not saying it’s an easy decision, but if you are truly serious about speaking the language sooner rather than later, then it’s a decision you may need to make.

If you are new in a country, or about to move there, then decide right now that you will very simply avoid speaking English, even if you have to avoid English speakers themselves. And STICK WITH THE DECISION. Ideally, you can still hang out with the English speakers, but you should all practise the local language instead of speaking English, no matter how weird it seems, or how tempted you are to just use your own common language.

It may seem somewhat antisocial, but not really trying to speak the local language is being even more antisocial with the vast majority of people you could be making friends with. Even if you go to some far away village where nobody speaks English, you may still learn the language slowly if you have just one (likely other foreign) friend that you mostly socialise with in English.

This method continued to this day for me and I now quite dislike speaking English unless it’s necessary (apart from when I’m actually in an English speaking country) and make this very clear to people when they first meet me. This has meant that I rarely socialise with other English speakers; despite all my travels to cities with plenty of expats, I don’t have many American or British or Australian or Irish etc. friends (apart from those I met in Ireland & USA for example). Instead I have a lot of Brazilian, Italian, Argentinian, Spanish, French, Quebecois etc. friends.

This has greatly expanded my cultural horizons and really given me a much better feel for the places that I have lived in. If this includes the price-tag of missing out on having English speaking friends, then so be it. Of course, there are plenty of people who speak fluently in the local language and socialise in English. You could also adapt a less extreme version of my idea and decide to speak at least 3 hours daily (for example) just in the language in question. There are plenty of ways to reach fluency, and I can already tell that mine are quite disagreeable for some! Like all my posts, this is just a suggestion.

Do you think you could make the same decision? Maybe you have a less drastic solution to the problem that I was having in Spain? Has anyone else tried this too? Please do share in the comments! If you’ve been enjoying these posts, but haven’t commented yet, please do say hello to let us know you are out there!

If you liked this post, then I’d appreciate your vote (just a simple click) on the Top 100 language blogs this weekend; the results will be announced next week! And of course, please stumble this post and share it on twitter or facebook!

Comments + Pingbacks + Trackbacks

Caroline L

I love Valencia, even though I was perpetually sleep deprived because of the constant fiesta in Centro. Where did you live?

Agnieszka Drummer

Ja, genau! Das ist wirklich ein kluger Eintrag! Ich kenne Polen, die seit 20 Jahren in Deutschland wohnen und immer noch kein Deutsch sprechen... Unglaublich, aber wahr. Interessanter Blog, by the way. Hab schon auf RSS gedrückt ;-)

sine_qua_non

Hi Benny,

I just stumbled upon your blog and I'm finding it very interesting and informative so far. I can definitely see how the technique you've described in this entry would be very helpful for achieving fluency. I myself know only English and some Spanish. Most of the Spanish I truly learned I learned not from classes but from two students from Ecuador being placed in a couple high school classes with me. They did not speak much English at the time, particularly one of them who spoke only a few words. I have no idea why she was placed in regular classes, but I attempted to translate for them as they usually didn't understand what was going on. It placed me in a situation where I had to speak Spanish rather than it being a choice.

But now I'm in a different situation. I have always wanted to learn more languages so I could travel with more ease and speak to/know/understand more people. Recently I decided to try to begin going into Spanish again. I've sadly lost a lot of it, and I was far from fluent to begin with. At this point in time though, I live in the USA, and due to finances I do not get the opportunity to travel (yet!) though I hope to in the future. In the here and now, all of my family and friends that I speak to daily speak languages other than English. Nor would most occupations in this area allow for you to speak no English during the work day, and I've lost contact with many of the non-English speakers I've known in the past due to people moving, etc. So what would be the best way to proceed for someone who really wants to learn other languages (starting with Spanish in my case) but doesn't really have the ability due to circumstances to simply not speak any English for 30 days or so at a time? Should I feel doomed?

Benny the Irish polyglot

Just keep reading ;)
http://www.fluentin3months.com/practise-a-langu...

Jay

I actually had a very similar experience in Spain (Sevilla). I studied there for a year. The first 4 months i was hanging out mostly with americans (even though english isn't my native language). The second semester i was spending a lot more with spanish and other international students (french/italian, ...). My spanish skyrocketed, after i was very dissapointed in myself after the first semester.
I noticed actually that Irish/English/and especially Americans tend to speak the most in their mother tongue and advance the slowest.

Kanjiknight

I'm pretty sure that falling back to English for convenience is the biggest stumbling block to advance my Japanese skills at the moment. I'm curious to try to survive without it from now. Thank you for the encouraging article. By the way, for an enjoyable and motivating story of another polyglot, I'd like to suggest Lomb Kato's "Polyglot: How I Learn Languages" book, freely available online.

Cheers from Japan!

angie

oh my stars, benny! i just discovered your blog through "stumble upon" and i absolutely love it! since finding it this morning, i've learned several new words in my target language that i might not have retained had i not employed your methods (particularly the elaborate stories, i.e. gare-garfield). i am fluent in english, spanish and french, proficient in italian and portuguese, i've studied swahili, biblical hebrew and koine greek, and i'm now learning wolof (my husband and i are theology professors in senegal, west africa). my parents are from south america (although i was born in the US), so i guess you could call me angie the colombian polyglot! :)

i appreciate not only your incredible insights into language learning, but your winsome, kind way of expressing yourself (i've noticed that when responding to some comments that are a bit snarky, that you're very gracious). i'm working on the orientation manual for our agency and will be using your blog as a resource. i think it'll be a great help to new arrivals. i look forward to browsing your site for more helpful tips. all the best to you, benny!

Benny the Irish polyglot

Thanks for your comment Angie! I actually tried talking down some commenters and it was a waste of time; some people have to be right so they'll argue with you forever. I found that even in a negative comment if you pick out the one "positive" thing they said and thank them for it, it extinguishes any need for a pointless argument ;)
Glad stumbleupon sent you my way, it's been very kind to me lately!!
Have a nice look around my other articles and I'd be happy if you linked to it to help others!! :)

davidoslo

Using a language actively is absolutely the key to mastering it. When I first moved to Norway (after having studied Norwegian for 2 years in my native Scotland) I was lucky enough to find a very good, very patient, Norwegian friend who I lived with and who was willing to speak to me in Norwegian a lot of the time - even though his English was excellent.

When you're starting to get fairly fluent it's really important to ask your friends to correct you. A lot of people won't do this because they'll instinctively feel it's rude and might not be appreciated. Make it clear that you appreciate being corrected!

Benny the Irish polyglot

Definitely good advice there! I was worried Brazilians wouldn't correct me when I was trying to emulate their accent, but when they saw how serious and passionate I was about it they were super helpful and realised that they were indeed helping me rather than being rude.
If you make it clear to people they are happy to help :)

Chris O'Donovan

This is great advice!! I'm going to Prague in Feb for 5 months as an erasmus student and I'm going try your method. I'm from Co.Cork an also really really want to learn languages....I'll have to change that into a NEED!! Thanks!!

Benny the Irish polyglot

Hope you are successful! I had a totally active life in Prague despite very rarely hanging out with English speakers, you can do it too! It WILL be hard, but definitely doable.
Even better that it's with Erasmus; it's easier to speak a local language with other foreigners also learning it ;)
Best of luck!!

Elthyra

When I was 10, I didn't speak a word or English, apart from "hello' and the usual stuff learnt in primary school. And then my family moved to the United States, despite having a hard time with the language, I went to an American school, had to speak English with everyone else, and the only other French speaker in the school was my sister, who is a few years older than I am and thus wasn't in the same grade. The first few months were definitely horrible for me - I didn't know anyone and was too shy to actually make friends, I couldn't understand what people were saying, I missed my country, etc but in less than six months I was nearly fluent, and the second year I spent there was amazing. Now that I moved back to France, I can't even imagine what my life would be without English - it has brought me so much (especially good grades in english class in middle school)

Elthyra

The point of the above post, besides randomly talking about my life on the Internet being that learning another language that way can be tough for a few months, but if an asocial French fifth-grader can do it, so can everyone.

Ricardo

Este es un consejo muy bueno. Lo siento que nadie más no ha escrito en español (o en otro idioma excepto inglés), e yo no escrito bien en español, todavía.
.-= Sitio de Ricardo ..Main Page =-.

Alex

Really interesting topic, man, thanks!
going to follow your idea (现在我学习汉语，哈哈）

Daniel

现在我学习英文，哈哈

David

Benny, while doing these experiments, do you also stop listening to all English language songs? That would probably the hardest thing to give up for me...

benny

In most countries that I've lived in that's almost impossible; 60s-90s and modern songs in English are very popular in many places. There are usually purist radio stations that avoid playing English tunes, but I have never intentionally avoided English music; I expose myself to as much of the local music as possible however.
The point of this article isn't to say avoid hearing or seeing anything in English; it's about YOU not speaking in English. English can crop up everywhere, I don't cover my ears when it happens :P If you were carrying out a similar month experiment you would be wise to SING in the foreign language too, if you are so into music :)
I'll write an article just about how music has helped me learn languages some time later ;)

Laura at Ciao Amalfi

Ciao Benny! You are an inspiration! I have been thinking of doing just this starting in September, and Cherrye at My Bella Vita (http://my-bellavita.com/2009/08/07/learning-ita...) just directed me here to your website. I live in Italy now and have been frustrated with how slow my language learning has been (I can understand well, but speak very poorly). My boyfriend speaks perfect English, which means it has been all too easy to not force myself to speak Italian. But I know it is what I need to do, because I want so much to speak Italian. So I have decided September is my month! Thanks for the inspiration!
.-= Laura at Ciao Amalfi´s last blog ..Summer Snapshot: Amalfi through the Lemon Groves =-.

benny

Study hard this month and tell EVERYONE about your plan :) They will be helpful as long as you are clear about your goals and you drill the idea into them. I came up with my plan on the spur of the moment, so why wait until September? Ease yourself in and decide that for this month you will speak at least one hour a day, or something similar, in Italian.
And take it very seriously - it will be a very hard month I can guarantee you (that's why you should try to cushion the blow and start already as I suggested). My level of Spanish was very very bad when I started my month, but I still made it through to the other side!
Best of luck and let us know how your Italian-only month goes :)

Laura at Ciao Amalfi

Ciao Benny! Thanks for the suggestions! I have already started to let people know of my plans, and I have already been better at thinking before I speak and saying as much as I possibly can in Italian. Sometimes it is only half a sentence... and the rest comes out in English. But I figure half is better than nothing! :-) Yes, I agree... why wait? Just more excuses?? I have a very difficult month personally and with work, so I decided to start with the ease myself in approach. But I know my type A personality tends to lean toward all or nothing, so I think the more drastic approach will actually work really well for me. So now I am alerting everyone, speaking as much as I can, and reviewing my flashcards and verb conjugations. September 1st it is! :-) Thanks for the encouragement! I will likely be writing about it on my blog during the month, and I will certainly link back to your inspiring website! Grazie mille!
.-= Laura at Ciao Amalfi´s last blog ..Out & About: Night Bells and Moon over Ravello =-.

Cynthia

Hi Benny - we met ages ago in SF at a CS meetup and Jess reminded me of your site since I've been trying to become fluent in Spanish. I will second your motion about not speaking English from firsthand experience!! I immersed myself in Spanish in Argentina so much so that my best friend and I immediately primarily spoke spanish - with my having listened to 6 hours of lessons before coming over.

I have fond memories of making Argentine waiters laugh while my friends would speak in Spanish and make up ways to communicate with each other knowing full well that you wouldn't normally say it the way you ended up - I'd ask to borrow something that cuts when I forgot the word for knife and other tricks to get communicate. I was amazed at how quickly I learned! After 4 weeks of only speaking in Spanish, I traveled for 3 months and ended up with primarily English speakers... my spanish quickly deteriorated - I love the people I met but I wish I had stuck to the spanish only route.

At a conference recently - some Brazilians who hardly spoke spanish were amazed at how quickly I was picking up Portuguese (in just one weekend I was able to have minor communication with them in their language) but this was from always attempting to speak in Portuguese first with them.

I have been trying to find ways to improve my level of communication while NOT immersed in the language I want to learn - I have so many friends who speak spanish that I think I will try your devote 3 hours/day to speaking only spanish and see how it works. Thanks for the idea! Any other ideas for those of us not immersed?

benny

Thanks for sharing your story with us Cynthia :)
I have quite a lot of ideas about improving your level while not immersed in the country and I will be discussing them all on this site in the coming weeks/months ;) Stay tuned!

Alyson

This is a really suprinsing post to me, simply because I thought that this is what everyone did. I followed the same regimine when I went to Germany and was shocked when, by the end, I was referred to as "the girl who could speak German." So, yes, this method really does work! I would also recommend reading in your foreign language before bed. I retain a lot more vocabulary that way.

benny

Clearly it's not what everyone did if you were referred to as "THE girl who spoke German" ;) I'm sure you would have seen lots of lazy expats just speaking in English :)
I'm glad to see others have proven that this works!!

cestina

Genevieve - Balint has made a very acute point. All you really need to do to make a change in the way you approach language learning (or actually anything else in life :-) ) is to DECIDE that you want to do it......once the decision is truly made, everything else falls into place. The problem is, we are often ambivalent with our decisions.

Good luck!

Genevieve

Thank you VERY much for your advice, Cestina! Much appreciated!

Genevieve

Balint, thank you VERY much for the wake-up call! I really need that! Out of interest, what language is your weblog written in? Benny, thank YOU very much for suggesting that I try to learn Esperanto, but what did you mean by “…It would be possible for someone who doesn’t speak another foreign language already, but much harder...” in your first reply to me? I did not quite understand. Also, do you find it difficult to immerse yourself in Czech in a developed, multicultural, English-speaking capital city like Prague as opposed to a village in the Czech Republic? And finally, could you suggest whom I could communicate with to, or an effective way in which I could, learn formal Czech as opposed to the colloquial Czech that I would learn from the exchange students as you suggested? (I do NOT know why I am so obsessed with formal language). Thank you very much for ALL your patience with my never-ending questions.

Best regards.

P.S. I loved your comments, Scott and Cestina! They were both very inspiring indeed!

balint

No problem ;) The blog is written in my native language: Hungarian :D
.-= balint´s last blog ..Féléves összefoglaló =-.

benny

By that comment, I mean that I am claiming that it is possible for anyone to learn a language in 3 months... but that it may be easier for me now considering that I've learned other languages and know the right methods to go about it. I still don't even know if I will make it to fluency this time, so for your very first attempt it's great to have a very high goal (as do I), but it's important to be realistic too ;)
Nevertheless, I'm sharing all of these learning methods I'm talking about on this blog, so before you go you'll have a huge advantage compared to me when I started learning my first languages.

You should definitely go to a village or smaller city if you are absolutely 100% serious about fluency. Frankly, I'm not. I want to party this summer, I want to improve my non-Czech foreign languages and I don't mind the touristy scene and lots of beautiful buildings, and a more international mindset that is used to the likes of me (vegetarian options in restaurants etc.). I chose Prague because I like all of the distractions, and want to see if I can reach fluency despite them. :) Also note that I am already very used to avoiding English speakers from years of practise :P . This is a lot harder than it sounds, so you shouldn't presume that you just will, because it can be a lonely world if you aren't able to make friends in a strange country! This is why forcing it to happen by going somewhere with less or no expats is ideal. Rather than natural talent, this ability to avoid English at all costs is the greatest skill I've picked up in the last years in terms of learning a language. Sharing that with everyone was the point of this post after all.
As regards formal language; you are being way too demanding!! If you just request that an exchange student teaches you the formal language then as long as they have good familiarity with their own language they will. I don't see the point of this though. I rarely hear English speakers actually say "do not" instead of "don't" for example. Not knowing the second would make it much harder to understand people. If you want absolutely formal learning, there are plenty of schools all over the country that would be willing to teach it to you, but for a price...
If you have any more comments that aren't related to this topic feel free to contact me directly or ask in future posts.

Matt

Hey, great blog!

I totally agree with this post. Currently, I'm in Tokyo, but as expected I spend most of my time with other American students. I'd love to make the transition to finding people to speak only Japanese with, but most of them speak little to no Japanese.

So I was wondering, how does one go about making friends in a foreign country? Do you have any suggestions as to how I can go about making friends who are natives? I know I may sound really dumb right now, but I've been here for 3 weeks now (I'll be here 2 more months) and would love to find friends to speak only Japanese with, but I just don't know how to do it. Hoping you have some insight.

Thanks! Again, great blog!

benny

Welcome to the comments Matt and thanks for the compliment :)
Yes, it is a very tricky question indeed; sadly most of my advice would only be relevant to European and South American cultures. I don't know how the Japanese socialise, so I'm not sure how you would go about meeting them.
Nevertheless there is always a way :) Don't think of it as "how can I make friends", but more "how can I spend more time with natives", and the making friends part will come naturally. In my next post (likely tomorrow), I'll be discussing how we should try to combine our hobbies with our language learning. For example, I still haven't made many local friends in Prague, so I will expose myself to as many situations as I possibly can with them - I like to dance, so I will look for a nice dance course (for locals, not tourists, and just in Czech). If you try to go to such meetings that have nothing to do with languages, where locals naturally go, you will get the chance to make new friends :) You can also do something fun that you would do anyway (chess club? Wine critics? etc.) If your Japanese isn't good enough yet, it may be very hard to get something useful out of the course/group itself, but it's a great way to just be with natives that have common interests and hopefully your natural charms will start friendships ;)
Otherwise, try to look for a tandem with a local that wants to improve their English, with an ad in the local university or online etc. You'll maybe make a new friend and they might introduce you to some of their non-English speaking friends :)
When you are with English speaking friends with no Japanese, still SPEAK JAPANESE with them! Say something in Japanese first, and then repeat it in English. They may not understand, but it is forcing you to try to maintain your side of the conversation in the language you want to learn.
What I usually do is avoid the English speaking community entirely and this forces me to socialise with locals. It's been harder than I thought in Prague because I love speaking other languages and all the tourists and backpackers here let me practise my French, Portuguese, Spanish etc., which is almost as bad as socialising with English speakers in terms of learning Czech (but extremely important in maintaining my other languages). Nevertheless, in August I'm buckling down and diving deep into the Czech mission, and I'll share any insights I find on the blog as always :)
Hopefully something I say soon will give you a helping hand!! Let us know of your progress and thoughts in future comments :)

balint

Sorry, but do you REALLY want to learn a language? Or just keep finding excuses? Go ahed and LEARN, don't juggle and make excuses!
.-= balint´s last blog ..Féléves összefoglaló =-.

Genevieve

Hello, Benny and SplogSplog!

How are you both? I hope that the two of you are very well indeed!

Firstly, I would like to thank you both for your replies. Benny, you were right about the fact that my comment was more anecdotal than specific. That was a lot to ask from you and anybody else. Sorry! ;-) SplogSplog, thank you very much for the information about the Czech proficiency examinations. I know that it is probably not of much value, but I thought it might be useful for a job interview etc. I have also briefly scanned your weblog; however, I am looking forward to reading it in detail.

Benny, just to clarify, the reason why "I do not have enough self-confidence to self-teach myself" is because I have always been taught, and thus convinced, that formal education and the consequent paper qualifications is the best and only way to be proficient in ANY subject, and that any other way is simply not respectable! Please help me to break this 'educational snobbery' that has been drilled into my head. (Issue 1) Also, as previously mentioned, my passion for languages has very slowly been fading due to a CONSTANT lack of money (and an unwillingness to self-education because of the reasons above) for the past two years, although, I still very much love languages and very much MISS them. Please advise. (Issue 2) I would also appreaciate anybody else replying this comment or my previous comment. Thank you very much.

Best regards.

Shola

Benny, except from immersion, which other techniques do you use to learn a new language?
Like if you can't go and stay in that country. I'd like to learn and speak conversational italian within 3 months [i speak some but i'm a beginner]

benny

A very good question! I will have several posts going into great detail about how to learn and perfect languages and speak daily with natives even if you are not in the country of the language :) Here in Prague I have greatly improved my French and Italian and I learned most of my Brazilian Portuguese in Paris for example. If you can wait a little bit (I'd prefer not to give it all away in the comments!), you'll see those posts within a couple of weeks ;) Looking forward to reading your thoughts on them!!
For the moment I can suggest that you look for a tandem exchange (as I have mentioned in other posts). Go to the local university and leave an advertisement for free English lessons in exchange for Italian ones (depending on where you live this may be hard or easy if there are lots of exchange students).
Otherwise much more innovative tips coming soon!! ;)

Genevieve

Hello, Benny!

How are you? I hope that all is very well with you indeed!

I have never commented before, nevertheless, I have been very much enjoying your weblog since your very first post, which I found whilst browsing another Czech-learning weblog. I am especially grateful for this particular post, considering the fact that you have just helped me to discover why it is that, two years after completing a GCE ‘A’ Level in French and Spanish, I can literally no longer speak a WORD of French or Spanish today! I left Secondary School with GCSE’s in Spanish [A] and French [B] after constantly being PUBLICALLY told by my French teacher that I would “barely scrape a pass” in French. (My Spanish teacher was brilliant and very encouraging!) It was during Sixth-Form College that I personally decided that I had natural aptitude for languages because I managed to attain C-grades in ‘A’ level French and Spanish with NO independent study and just a 10% attendance rate! (I am neither proud of this fact nor am I encouraging truancy. In fact, there is NO DOUBT in my mind that I would have attained better grades in college if I had actually attended lessons – STAY IN SCHOOL, KIDS!) Thus, simply studying a language for eight years (French) and five years (Spanish), as I did, does NOT amount to fluency in those languages!

I have applied to study at a university in Prague for three months (end of Feb-beginning of Jun – lectures in English) through the Erasmus scheme, and I to intend to leave the Czech Republic in June fluent in Czech! However, I would do this by constantly communicating with native speakers as opposed to non-native speakers as you suggested, as I am a stickler for formal language as opposed to colloquial language, nevertheless, this is simply an opinion of mine. I deliberately applied to study in a non-English-speaking country not only because I am an avid lover of languages, but also because I believe that fluency in at least one other language would complement the degree subjects which I am currently studying: International Relations and Politics. However, I feel that my passion for languages has been diminishing as I have not been able to afford language lessons since completing my ‘A’ levels two years ago. Furthermore, I do not have enough self-confidence to self-teach myself a language as I have been formally educated in language ALL MY LIFE!

Benny, could you and anybody else reading this please advise me as regards to ALL the issues I have brought up in this VERY long comment (SORRY! ;-).

Thank you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!

P.S. What is the Czech equivalent to the Spanish DALE/DELE qualifications? (Just for written confirmation of my linguistic ability if I ever needed for a job interview or something).

benny

Interesting comment...
I can't really give you advice to "ALL" the issues, since your comment is more anecdotal rather than specifically requesting help.
So your aim will be pretty much the same as mine! Fluency in 3 months... basically all the worthwhile advice I can give will be added as posts and I'll summarise what worked best for this experiment at the end, around mid September (still not sure if I'll actually reach fluency this time in just 3 months! Time will tell!!) Unlike me, you'll have a headstart, so you can get all the grammar and vocabulary learning out of the way right now and use your entire experience living in Prague to actually speak and practise what you've learned, as well as learning the harder things you can't from home. Achieving fluency in 3 months is no easy feat!! I am merely testing to see if I can do it based on all of my other language studies up to now. It would be possible for someone who doesn't speak another foreign language already, but much harder. Try to learn Esperanto (as I mentioned in another post and will talk about again) first to see what it's like speaking another language without worrying about grammar issues.
It doesn't make sense that you "don't have the confidence" to teach yourself at home because you were "formally educated". Self-teaching and formal education are completely different and your motivation will be completely different. Give it a try!! Don't leave all of your work for your time in Prague!! You'll wish you had done something before arriving, once you're here, trust me!!
I have yet to find a Czech equivalent to the DALF/DELE examinations because it is not officially part of the ALTE language certificates list so there would be an independent Czech organisation that would provide such qualification, and long-term study may be involved to receive it (unlike other CELI exams). I hope you continue to enjoy my posts!! All the best :)

SplogSplog

There is an official proficiency examination for Czech proficiency - based on the European Framework with levels ranging from A1 to C2. Here is some information about it: http://check-your-czech.com/index.php?hl=en_US

To be honest, I am not sure there is much value in taking it - except at the very lowest level (A1) which is requirement for permanent residency for non-EU citizens.

benny

Thanks as always for your help Anthony :)
The reason that someone would want to take the exams that I'm familiar with (DELF/DALF in French, DELE in Spanish and CELI in Italian) are for your CV as officially recognised proof that you speak the language (without needing to attend any course; you pay the very small exam fee, show up on the day and do the test and get the results about 2 months later. Simple as that), and these certifications are actually required by universities in their countries for foreigners who wish to study there full time. (I can study in France and Spain now if I decided, whereas usually foreigners can't do much more than exchange years like Erasmus for example). I imagine it is similar for the Czech one, although digging a little would be required to confirm that!

Michael

At which level should I be at the language to try your method... I mean like... how far fluent and how many words?

benny

How long is a piece of string?
These kinds of questions have no answer and depend on so many factors. The best answer I can give is that you should try it as soon as possible. "How many words" is a ridiculous thing to aim for based on my learning methods (how would you count them anyway??); I know people who have gone backpacking through Asian countries with just a few words, never relying on English and yet were able to explain themselves pretty well. If you keep waiting until you are "ready", you will never be ready!! ;)
Do an intensive study period of a few days, no matter what level you are at, knowing that after it you will have to abandon English entirely and go for it. Don't worry about "how far fluent" you are, that's the point ;) You aren't supposed to already speak fluently for this experiment, it's supposed to change your mindset and show you that communication is possible no matter what your level :)

Harry

I grew up in Beijing, China and I've lived in China all my life (so far - I'll be 17 in 2 days). I never had the chance to go abroad, but I do feel that I speak English far better than my fellow classmates.

I remember knowing only broken pieces of words and phrases when I was in the third grade. I didn't actually know what English is anyway, so I just learned it like I studied math. Then I discovered that there are people out there who actually grow up speaking solely English.

I started improving in the 7th grade, when I started going to another school. This school offered classes taught by American teachers, and I _had to_ understand English in order to understand the teachers and pass the tests. The school also required American teachers to do "office hours" - a 2-hour period during which their only job is to talk with students. I was among the students who were smart enough to take advantage of this rule.

I spent 4 hours every week talking to them. School life. Hobbies. Simple stuff like that. Since they speak little Chinese, I have no choice but to describe what I want to say in English, with all kinds of universal language like gestures and gestures. And gestures. Then I started to have a "feeling" for this language. One day I found myself talking about English grammar. Then politics. Then philosophy.

I have to be thankful for the opportunity I got. I don't claim to speak perfect English, but it was then that I realized that learning a language is all about using it. I have now become a language aficionado and I don't fear making mistakes. The more mistakes you make the more you learn, that is my principle. You can never make too many mistakes in learning a language.

I've been learning German, Spanish, French and Esperanto for a while and I've learned all those on my own, without taking any school electives or other classes. Remember that I've never been abroad, and neither have most of my classmates. But even in languages other than English, I've already felt that my classmates - those who are learning a second foreign language with elective course teachers - are far behind me. Why? I learn with all kinds of podcasts and audio courses. I'm gaining sentences while they only learn words. Plus I look out for opportunities to use the languages I learn - for example, I'm posting a comment in English right now. Most of my classmates don't do that. They'd rather pay for extra classes than do it for free.

-

By the way, if you're looking for someone to practice your Chinese (Mandarin) with, especially if you speak a language other than English (eg. German, Spanish, Geek or C++), don't hesitate to email me. We can do the bilingual conversation Benny suggested in one of his earlier posts. My email address: harrywhenry at gmail.com .

Harry

I waited to see what happens after that 5-minute countdown, and (not very) surprisingly found that the "edit" button disappeared. Of what avail is this design?

Oh and, Benny, you should really pick up some Chinese phrases. Why? Because I said so. [emoticon]

benny

Thanks for sharing your story with us! Your English is of course excellent for never having been abroad! Hats off :)
The edit option is there for people who realize after sending a comment that there is a mistake. I do this all the time myself and wish more blogs did it. I can change the 5 minute limit, but then people may abuse it if any discussion began.
I won't be learning Chinese for the moment, but you'll see whenever I do :)

balint

Excellent post again Benny! The funny thing is that you write obvious things - but only a few people REALLY use them. Everybody thinks that "yeah, yeah, this COULD help, but I can do without it". And when you get there, you can't.
That's why I'm going to adapt this excellent method, although, in smaller scale: from next monday on, I'll speak Spanish only for one week (until then I have a lot of work, done in English and Hungarian). And if the experiment will be successful, I'm going to apply it to my English (it needs polish as well).
And true, it is a tough choice - but as your example shows, it's worth it!

PS: above mentioned Kato Lomb is my personal heroine :D (she spoke and translated in 15 languages, plus she could get by with a few more). Her nickname was "context (Kato "Kontextus" Lomb), because she emphasised the importance of context during language learning. And this instant immersion is definitely pure context! :)
A last quote from her: "Gift of tongues is not a state of mind, but pure dedication"
:D
.-= balint´s last blog ..Összefoglaló - 28. és 29. hét =-.

benny

Let us know how your Spanish week experiment goes :) A week is easier to process for most people than my month suggestion of course, but I haven't lost my momentum since that month (and I think I would have if I had done it for just one week).
I'll have to look into this Kato Lomb; sounds like someone who could help me reach my language goals, I like how she thinks! :)

cestina

I'm sure this is absolutely right. It was just chance that I didn't meet any of my English-speaking Czech friends till I had been "learning" Czech for several years (a few weeks a year over here for the first 3 years and then six months at a time).

I'm in a village and for the first few years I just followed a Czech friend around, visiting her friends who spoke no English, going to meetings at the priest's house, surrounded by many elderly women discussing anything and everything, meeting relatives I never knew I had, none of whom spoke English. So I HAD to speak Czech and I shamelessly asked each time I didn't follow the conversation and then it would be explained to me in other words. Rather as I used to explain the UK Social Security system to people struggling to understand it. Rephrasing it.....)

I put "learn" Czech in inverted commas because I very deliberately set out to do no formal learning at all.....I once sat down with a grammar book and chucked it away immediately.

Then I started to socialise with English-speaking Czechs and one year found that my Czech was going backwards. We started to speak much more Czech together and the retreat stopped. Now I'm comfortable switching from one to the other, without thought, in the same way as I speak German and English - sometimes I'm not even sure which language I'm speaking lol.

Genevieve

Hello, Cestina!

You said that you had been 'learning' Czech for several years (a few weeks a year over there for the first three years and then six months at a time).

Did you mean that you spent 3-4 CONSECUTIVE weeks in the Czech Republic every year for the first three years, and then spent six months there, six months in your home country, six months there, six months in your home country, six months there, six months in your home country and so on ... ? Or have I got it wrong?

Please explain as I would like to give your way a go as it sounds great!

Best regards,

Genevieve

Kirsty

Ah so simple to say but so hard to do. Kudos to you for being able to pull it off... it would take a lot of will power. But the payoff is so amazing. I imagine it can be fun if you're travelling with a friend and you both make the committment. Yet another tip to file away for when I get back to Central America. Thanks!
.-= Kirsty´s last blog ..It’s Time to Start Treating This Like a Business =-.

benny

The advantage of doing this with non-natives is that you don't feel intimidated, since the other person is learning too and will have more patience to listen to you when your level is lower. I actually learned most of my Spanish with non-Spaniards from the Erasmus students in Valencia (i.e. Germans, Italians, French etc.) I'll be talking about learning with non-natives another time :)
Do give it a try! But remember... stick with it! ;) This post may seem so simple to be pointless to say, but people are rarely committed enough to actually apply it full-time. I'm living proof that it can actually work!

Mitch

That is perhaps the best advice that could ever be given to an adult self-student student. All of the textbooks, grammar drills and discussion groups mean nothing if you don't regularly put your new found knowledge to the test. People are so fearful to make mistakes in front of others, yet that is is single most important thing to go through in language learning. Thank you for this article. It is such a no-brainer.

benny

A no-brainer is right! It's such a simple obvious message, but people NEED to actually stop and really think about it and apply it. I can't emphasise enough how this choice made the world of difference for me!!

SplogSplog

What a hero! Kato Lomb (the Hungarian Linguist) is famous for saying that people believe that simply by living in a foreign country they will pick up the language, but then they hide from the language by creating a "micro-environment" - a protective bubble filled with their own language that surrounds them all the time. Letting go of that comfort is very very difficult and frustrating - not just for you but for the people around you.

I have to admit hat even though most of my friends are Czech, I still do go out maybe twice a month with English speakers - and speak English all night. You have made me rethink whether or not this is a good idea.

benny

Yes, I agree - too many people think that simply living in the country and studying lots is enough. I will always emphasise that studying doesn't matter so much if you aren't REALLY practising it (just ordering food and asking where the sugar is in the supermarket etc. is not enough). I hope that I'm drilling this message into my readers :P (I know you don't need it told to you!! ;) )
If your Czech is already quite good and if it's ONLY for two nights a month, you don't really need to apply this extreme suggestion of mine :) I'm suggesting it to people who are socialising way too much in English and who could definitely do with going "cold turkey" and not speak any English for a month to get them over their own mental barrier about not being able to communicate in their learned language.
Then again, I personally wouldn't hang out with English speakers on a regular basis. This is my biggest reason for being "talented" with languages. No actual talent is involved, just purely avoiding English at all costs! I quite dislike speaking in English and have given myself mental negative reinforcements whenever anything happens in English (turning off that attitude when I go home). This is my best "secret" to becoming talented with languages. The positive results are obvious, but it means that I haven't gotten to know many English speakers in recent years... It is an awfully tough choice! But I'm glad I made it :)

Jacob

Hello there! I just found out about your blog through Lernu.net, and this is the first post I have read!

I love languages as well (Which is a strange interest for a 15 year old, such as myself :D ). I know some Spanish, and I'm learning Esperanto right now. I hope to eventually be fluent in both along with German, and possibly Arabic. I can't wait to continue reading your blog posts and get some more insight on how to become fluent in different languages. I may message you on Lernu, so watch out :).

Oh and also, I have used this suggestion before with my Spanish. I didn't go as extreme (because I live in the middle of America). Basically, any time I saw something/thought something, I tried to translate it into Spanish and say it aloud (I usually got a lot of weird looks from my parents and friends lol). At first it was really difficult, but gradually it got easier and easier. After a few months of this, I went to a website called livemocha.com , and found some native speakers and practiced with them. They said I sounded like I had 5-6 years of Spanish under my belt, when in reality, I had only completed Spanish 2!

Practice, practice, practice is key. Good luck, and happy language learning.

Jacob

PS: Sorry if my comment is lacking coherence, it's about 1:30AM right now lol.

benny

Thanks for your comment and best of luck with your language studies! Your translation method is very interesting indeed! A great substitute until you have a chance to really speak Spanish :) Don't forget to use the Internet to try to chat to native speakers (messengers, Skype etc.) since just translating words can only bring you so far ;)

Scott

My mom was from The Netherlands. When she was 21, in 1950, she decided to come to America, and she moved (alone) to New York City. While she had taken English in school, she really wasn't a fluent speaker, but she knew she wanted to stay in the US and that to do so she'd HAVE to learn to speak English as well as she could.

She did exactly what you described. She avoided the local Dutch community like the plague, and went for total immersion in English.

I don't know how long it took her to achieve fluency, but by the time I was old enough to know what was what, her English was utterly flawless (although accented). My dad - a native English-speaking writer who grew up in Los Angeles - always claimed she spoke better English than he did. I do think he was right.

benny

Yep, your mother was right to figure out what "total immersion" really means. :) Simply living in the country is never enough.
It's also good to point out that not just English speakers are guilty of this (obviously, I write for an English speaking audience since the blog is in English, but "stop speaking Dutch/Spanish/Japanese" etc . could just as easily be said); I've seen lots of exchange students in the Erasmus programme for example who learn very little of the language of their year abroad because they hang out with those from home all year long...

Keith

I'm here! Just to let you know.

I'm not so sure that you have identified the smartest decision to achieving fluency, but it makes a great title!
.-= Keith´s last blog ..don't believe the lies! =-.

benny

It was the smartest decision that I ever made in all of my language studies, and it's the very reason that so many expats never learn the language well. So I think my wording is more important than just a catchy title :P
Maybe it's not THE decision for actually achieving fluency (as I said, after the month I still had plenty of work left to do), but for getting on the path to fluency, a similar choice to not depend on English needs to be made as early as possible.