Mamma mia, it’s finally hee-a! From 27th September, my new book Language Hacking Italian is available in bookstores all around the world. What’s so special about this new Italian course? Language hacking is all about looking for the faster, smarter ways to learn languages. I’ve been sharing and developing my ideas on language hacking ever […]
MORELanguage Hacking German: 10 Hacks to Learn German Faster
It’s heeeeeeere! Ja, baby! From 27th September, my new book Language Hacking German is available in bookstores all around the world. So, what’s the fuss all about? Language hacking is all about looking for the faster, smarter ways to learn languages. I’ve been sharing and developing my ideas on language hacking ever since I launched […]
MORELanguage Hacking French: How to Learn French, the Faster Way
Yay! From 27th September, my new book Language Hacking French is available in bookstores all around the world. Get your copy tout de suite! What’s the deal with language hacking? Language hacking is all about looking for the faster, smarter ways to learn languages. I’ve been sharing and developing my ideas on language hacking ever […]
MORELanguage Hacking Spanish: 10 Hacks to Learn Spanish Faster
Great news! Language Hacking is now a thing! From 27th September, my new book Language Hacking Spanish is available in bookstores all around the world. So, what’s the fuss all about? Language hacking is all about looking for the faster, smarter ways to learn languages. I’ve been sharing and developing my ideas on language hacking […]
MOREHow I turned my guerilla-style language-learning method into a course you’ll find in bookshops around the world
I learned my first foreign language, Spanish, mostly by hanging out with Erasmus students during the gap year I spent in Valencia, Spain. In other words, I learned Spanish through speaking it. My second language project was Italian. And I learned it quickly — surprisingly quickly — in just a few months while I worked […]
MORELevel Up! Turn Your Language Learning Into a Video Game
“I wish I was motivated to learn a language! I’ll get started when I’m ready.” Like most kids, I took a language class throughout high school as a requirement. I picked Spanish because it seemed like a better option than French or Latin, and I dutifully did my work because I had to. Like most […]
MOREBenny’s Big List of Tips for Europeans visiting New York/USA
After thirteen years of not living in a single place for more than a few months, I’m going to call New York City home for most of the next year! I’ll still do a bit of travelling, of course, but it will be great to have a base to come back to. And what a city to […]
MOREDuolingo Review: The Quick, Easy and Free Way to Learn A Language
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One of the most popular and well-known tools for learning a language online is Duolingo. Duolingo is completely free. I actually interviewed the founder of Duolingo, Luis von Ahn, back in 2012, just a few months after Duolingo launched. You can watch that video here (it’s in Spanish, so make sure to turn on English […]
MORENational Geographic Traveler of the Year – a win for language learning tourism
Today I’m very pleased to announce to you that I have been awarded the title of National Geographic’s Traveler of the Year! Check out the full article and interview here. You’ll see it in print in the November edition of the magazine later this month. And no, it won’t look anything like this cheesy image […]
MOREMy summer on the Pacific Coastal Highway – a European on an American road trip!
Next week, I’ll announce my next huge 3 month project in the email list (sign up on the top-right of the site to find out before I announce it on the blog or elsewhere), and you’ll see plenty of language learning updates as I start from scratch, share my struggling progress, and hopefully reach my […]
MOREValencia, Spain: My new home for the next language project!
Those of you who know my story from TEDx talks or blog revelations, will remember that ten years ago I had graduated university in engineering and moved to Valencia Spain, and after six months of the English-speaking-expat lifestyle changed my ways and started my first language learning project of Spanish and then things really took […]
MORE“Hacking language learning”: My new and improved TEDx talk that includes the best polyglot videos online. Please share!!
I really hope this new and improved TEDx talk will get lots of views, inspire many new language learners and even be considered to be used in the main TED stream to ultimately reach millions!
Even though you may be well aware of my language learning advice, this video shares a new aspect of why I failed at my first attempt to learn Spanish which I have not discussed on the blog yet, and I go through the five most commonly used reasons why adults don’t learn languages and explain ways around them. It also includes clips of the most impressive polyglot videos online within the talk!
MOREReview of italki: Find native teachers and free language exchanges to learn a language via Skype
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Today I’m ready to share one of my favourite discoveries for learning a language; italki. I’ve reviewed several websites in the past, such as LingQ, Busuu, DuoLingo, and paid courses such as Rosetta Stone. They each have advantages and disadvantages, but my conclusion is generally the same, that you can’t beat the best language learning […]
MOREInterview with DuoLingo (and Captcha) creator Luis Von Ahn, in Spanish (with Eng/Spa subtitles)
If you are learning Spanish try to watch without subtitles, or just with the Spanish subtitles enabled. Luis is from Guatemala and speaks a very clear and easy to understand Spanish.
MOREReview of Chinesepod & chat with co-host Jenny
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Note: this video is not an update of my Chinese level, because I recorded it the day after the previous one (John is also a co-host on Chinesepod). [I actually do a little worse with my Chinese than the previous video because I was a sick this day and exhausted because of it.] I interviewed the […]
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