What is the Magnetic Memory Method and does it really work? In this review, I give the method a try for a specific project to help with my Spanish. I wanted to see whether it really works. When I joined the course I was interested, but a little skeptical of the big promise to make […]

Kids these days don’t know how good they have it. When I was a child studying French in school, the most advanced language-learning technology available was an audio cassette player. These days we have Skype, Anki, and a zillion other apps and gadgets that make learning a new language easier than ever. One such app […]

There’s only one way to get better in a foreign language: practice. If you’re not having regular conversations in your target language, ideally with a native speaker, you will struggle to make progress. Books, apps, games, and all the other hacks and tricks can help, of course, but they’re only supplements. To rely on them […]

I first discovered Scott H. Young’s work several years ago when he shared a post on his blog about how to overcome plateaus. At the time, I was experiencing a significant plateau in music and I was desperate for advice to help me work through it. Scott’s article gave me the inspiration I needed to […]

Innovative Language’s Pod101 courses are one of the most talked-about language tools at Fluent in 3 Months (Fi3M) – you’ll find them mentioned on the recommended resources page for most languages. I’d seen Benny and other Fi3M writers mention it on the blog many times, but it wasn’t until the Fi3M team was given the […]

When I first started learning Chinese, there was a lot about the language that was brand new to me, even as an experienced language learner. I scoured the web for resources that would help me tackle some of the more challenging aspects of Chinese, like tones. In my search, I stumbled across Yoyo Chinese and […]

The Mimic Method is an approach developed by language trainer Idahosa Ness to teach language learners the sound system of their new language. Idahosa has learned Spanish, French, Portuguese, German and Mandarin Chinese – all as an adult – and he’s found that the most effective way of learning a language is “by ear”. The […]

Assimil is a dialogue based learning course popular amongst language learners. This is clearly illustrated by the 4+ star reviews on Amazon for the majority of the available courses. Assimil has a range of courses available in a variety of languages, but is geared primarily towards French speakers. Dubbed “The Magic Books” by NPR, Assimil […]

The Michel Thomas Method is a popular approach in language learning, with a range of language courses available for beginners. British newspaper The Times has called the Michel Thomas Method “The nearest thing to painless learning.” So, we decided to do our own Michel Thomas review. Michel Thomas courses are all in audio, and you learn […]