When I realized I was going to have the chance to spend six months working in Sweden, I naturally got interested in the Swedish language. More so, when I started getting work emails I needed Google Translate to read. Even more so when I landed and couldn’t read the signs around me or understand anything […]

So you want to speak French like a local. Perhaps not exactly like a native speaker, but like someone who lives there. You can sound like a French speaker even though you're a complete beginner in the language. It's possible. I've done it in Portuguese. My knowledge of Portuguese is extremely limited. I only know […]

I sat in the sunshine in a cafe in my new adopted city of Seville, chatting to a Spanish friend about life in Andalusia. We talked about southern Spanish traditions, the prospects for young people and of course, the fiestas of the month that we would attend. And I did this all in Spanish. A […]

How to Use the Teach Yourself Language Hacking Community Several months ago, I published four Teach Yourself Language Hacking Courses: French, Spanish, Italian and German. Many people don’t know that my Language Hacking courses Teach Yourself come with free access to the italki Language Hacking community. As you work through a Language Hacking course, you’ll […]

Rejection hurts. It’s painful. So it’s no wonder so many people are afraid of rejection. But how can you get over the fear of rejection? Let me tell you a story about one time I was rejected. It seems small, but it really hurt. While doing my fieldwork for my Master’s degree, I traveled through […]