Unconventional language hacking tips from Benny the Irish polyglot; travelling the world to learn languages to fluency and beyond!
Now that I’ve sat three of these diploma examinations (French, Spanish and German), I feel like I can give a useful summary for those curious! When I introduced my current mission, I only quickly mentioned some details about the exam and what it exists for. They do indeed serve much more of a purpose than […]
It’s been a month since I arrived in Berlin, so it’s about time for a mission update! To make it more interesting, I’ve decided to include this multilingual video tour of my flat. I also made (just English) videos to show my home in Prague and Rio, since I host Couchsurfers most of the time […]
Take Note: I wrote this post while preparing for my German mission in Berlin back in 2010. It’s a good post to read when preparing for your next language mission, so you can see what I take into consideration and how I approach short and long term goals. Enjoy! OK, I’ve had several months of a […]
What an experience!! This “dipping my toes” in my first Asian language has helped me see so many things I hadn’t realised before, despite the extremely little amount of time that I actually put into it, i.e. about 15 hours in the first month exclusively to be able to read the symbols and understand the […]
Note: Posted in 2010 Sceptics beware; as always I’m going for an ambitious goal 🙂 In a few short hours, I’m going a complicated route (Krakow –> Prague, Prague –> Amsterdam, Amsterdam –> Bangkok; it was the cheapest option and gets me “miles” in my preferred programme) to Thailand. With an extended tourist visa and […]
4 gold stars for partial success My most recent “mission” has been to try to become Brazilian in 3 months, i.e. reach the stage that several Brazilians would think that I too was Brazilian. And I can say… mission complete!!! 🙂 I have decided to award myself 4 gold stars for my achievements. To achieve […]
(Mission update; no language/travel tips in this post!) Time flies when you’re having fun, and Brazil is about as much fun as you can have! In less than one month already, I’ll be flying back to Ireland for Christmas! My purpose in Brazil this time has been the ambitious goal of convincing Brazilians that I’m […]
Exactly a month ago I arrived in Rio with the mission of becoming Brazilian in 3 months. As in my previous language mission, I’ll give a monthly update for those curious of my progress, and my hopes of reaching the goal of walking the walk and talking the talk enough to convince some Cariocas that […]
EDIT: This mission was a success! You can read how I spoke Portuguese with no foreign accent, and how I adapted to life in Rio. I also wrote about why I love Brazilians so much :=) After learning 6 languages to fluency in 6 years of travels, and learning to speak Czech in just two […]
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