How do you get language practise when native speakers are genuinely hard to come by? Simple idea, but very effective: Find other learners My friend Brandon initially had this very issue with his project to learn Icelandic. It’s a country of just 300,000 people, and they are not so likely to be on language learning […]
MORE6 biggest lessons from learning to speak my first non-native language [Final video]
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Time for the final update on Lauren’s 6-week-challenge! She successfully completed her mission, and was able to socialize, make new friends, and have fun in Esperanto. You can see it all happen in the video at the bottom of the post. But first, I’ll hand the blog over to her, to share her thoughts: 1. […]
MORELauren’s Esperanto project: Week 5 on Skype
We are now just a few days away from the Polyglot Conference that marks the end of Lauren’s 6-week project to learn Esperanto, and she’ll get a chance to use it to make new friends!
Because of that, rather than throw her in the deep end, in this last video I put her face-to-face (digitally) with an Esperanto speaker she didn’t know and she had to make conversation. Unlike in the last video, she only prepared a couple of questions, but most of her dialogue is spontaneous.
MOREWeek 4 of Lauren’s project: Chat in Esperanto
Time for another weekly project update! We have been really busy this week since getting to Amsterdam (fun things coming on the blog very soon!) so we focused the video on a chat with Lauren.
Since the first conversations we tend to have with new people we meet tend to be predictable, I told Lauren some example questions I’d like to ask her and she prepared her answers in advance. This kind of conversation may be the kind she may have on meeting someone and using the language for the first time, so it’s really helpful to know what she wants to say in advance.
MOREBenny & Lauren’s plane, train & automobile travels: Week 3 of Esperanto learning
This last week was a pretty crazy one! We left Ireland by driving to the ferry port, getting a ferry (with the car) across to Wales, driving to Manchester, flying from Manchester to Cherleroi, getting a train to Brussels, and then on to Bruges, and finally in AMSTERDAM. Wow!
To mix things up a little, I passed the commentary microphone over to Lauren this week! She prepared what she wanted to say and wrote it all out herself. I only glanced at it, so a few minor mistakes may have snuck through but you can hear how she is doing to use the language with a prepared script. You also get to see how we got around studying without Internet (since we rely on websites like Lernu/Memrise a lot), and see some funny moments in our interactions.
MOREMy girlfriend learns Esperanto: Week 2 update and spontaneous conversation! [video]
Time for another progress update on the makings of a new polyglot… from scratch! We are recording literally every single second of language learning and use of the language, so the greatest realizations can be caught on camera.
The goal of this week was initially to get comfortable using the language in other senses, like communicating via email with people.
I have been coaching Lauren, rather than teaching her, and wanted her to get exposure to Esperanto in as many ways as possible other than talking to me, to give her similar conditions to any other learner. I rarely ever translate things for her, and mostly answer her questions with another question to help her find the answer herself better.
MOREHow to create a realistic timeline for your next language project (Why 3 months?)
As I continue on the book tour, I have been getting asked many questions face-to-face with people, many of which remind me of things that I can talk about on the blog more. One of the biggest ones by far is Why 3 months? You see it in the title of the blog and the […]
MOREWeek 1 of a monoglot’s first language learning journey (Benny coaches his girlfriend to learn Esperanto)
I have had many language learning projects myself, but this one is the first one that I get to document of another person. Lauren, my girlfriend, had the great idea that we should have the camera rolling every single second that she is studying, speaking, using or otherwise getting some kind of exposure to Esperanto.
Over the space of 6 days we had over seven and a half hours of footage, and I edited the best realizations down into today’s 13 minute video (above). I hope you enjoy it! This way you can see the gradual but definite progress of a genuine beginner language learner to a more confident speaker, from start to finish
MORENew language mission! [video]
Since I’m not learning a new language this year, it’s hard to have a language mission, right? Well, see this video to find out what my next language mission, for the next six weeks, is going to be 😉
You should be subscribed to my new Fluent in 3 Months channel to get updates on this. Share your thoughts on this in the comments below. The mission has already started today!
MOREEsperanto video and how useful the language can be: Interview with a Buddhist monk and tour of monastery
Fun video to share with you today… in Esperanto! Click “CC” to activate subtitles in English (as well as original Esperanto), or if you’re in China (and not using VPN software to circumnavigate the “Great Firewall of China” as I’m clearly doing to be able to use Youtube) then check it out on Youku. I […]
MOREJust 2 weeks learning Esperanto can get you months ahead in your target language
Whenever I meet new people and try to help them with their language learning missions, when they hear that I have already learned to speak a few languages and ask me to list them, the one that always gets their attention the most is Esperanto. Most people have never even heard of it, but occasionally […]
MORECombining learning languages with your hobbies: My first video in Czech!
I promised to make a video in Czech at the end of my stay here, but I am going to break that promise and deliver one right now! I’m still far from fluent, but I also believe that we should never wait until we are “ready” before trying something with languages, since that day may never arrive if you put “ready” on an ever rising pedestal…
MOREHaving fun at Esperanto events
This week I’m taking a break from my Czech studies and spending 7 days with 400 Esperanto speakers in the north of the Czech Republic, in Liberec. What is Esperanto? Esperanto is a constructed language with the purpose of connecting people from across many cultures who each natively speak different languages, without giving an unfair […]
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