I'm Just someone who struggles to learn languages and hates to study.
So I invented a way for people like me to learn and remember languages easily.
It still takes effort - like learning to play piano or guitar - but it really is easy and a lot of fun.
Of course it helps that I've been researching Accelerated Learning techniques for learning languages and playing music and sports. And I've incorporated the findings of my research into my courses.
There are a few issues that turn out to be essential if you want to learn a language (easily).
1. It must be easy to remember. So I use mnemonics and shocking/disturbing/sexual but instantly memorable pictures and stories.
2. It must be simple. I throw out anything not essential and only deal with concepts on a need-to-know basis. It's not always 100% academically or linguistically correct, but we don't care.
3. It can't take up too much time - so I have designed an approach that is easily incorporated into your busy/lazy lifestyle: a little bit every day using a kind of drip-feed approach.
4. It's gotta be fun for its own sake. My underlying goal when designing course material is that it should be enjoyable on its own, whether for the purpose of learnig a language or not. The language-learning element should happen as a kind of side-effect. This
isn't always achievable, but that's the goal. You should want to read a story and learn the vocabulary because you're desperate to find out what happens. Or you want to be able to listen to and understand a stand-up comedian just so you can get the jokes.
MY STORY
I started out being an avid learner. I enjoyed music and I wanted to be able to communicate with people speaking other languages.
But I was hopeless at both. (And not so good at chatting to people either.)
I persevered, trying vritually every approach available and getting nowhere. I got bored, I became demotivated, I gave up.
But I desperately wanted to get to the point where it became effortless and enjoyable to speak with people or play a musical instrument. So I looked for ways that would work for me, someone not so talented at music or languages, a bit lazy and who gets
bored easily.
So I tried sleep-learning and hypnosis and various other lazy, short-cut methods to learning. I tried immersing myself in watching movies (at least that was fun). I tried going to live in countries where no-one speaks English. I tried dating women who
don't speak English. All a waste of time. (And I lost several very hot girlfriends through sheer frustration to communicate on an intimate level.)
I stumbled on research to do with Accelerated Learning or Brainbased Learning using cutting-edge insights gained from work in Neuroscience. All the academic work on linguistics and education seemed to be running off in the wrong direction.
It turns out that it's got very little to do with personal effort or focus or perseverance or talent or understanding the fundamentals of linguistics, etc. etc.
The problem is that we are not taught how to learn - how to organize the information, how to chuck out what's unneccessary, how to use the 80/20 Rule to our advantage, and how to remember things.
Most courses also focus on the material itself - the facts. Learning anything is actually a process - it's like knowing how to grow vines. Just having a lot of cuttings and watering them extensively won't help them to grow effectively. Our brains are
like vines - they take time to grow, and you can't rush it or overdo it. But you do have to train the direction where they grow and optimize the environment.
And that's the research I'm focusing on now, and applying it to language learning. I'm still not fluent in any language, nor am I a top-notch musician. But I'm making gradual progress in languages and musical instruments, and I can look back on where
I was only a few years ago. And I'm amazed at how far I've come without putting in much effort at all.
On the musical front, I can play difficult pieces that I thought was impossible only two years ago (and am working on pieces that I never considered worth attempting at all). And with languages, I'm noticing that I can negotiate with local people on building
projects, medical issues and business and education with relative ease. I love watching Note Udom, a famous and incredibly funny stand-up comedian. I still struggle to talk about politics or to convey nuanced feelings or philosophical thoughts - but I've designed
a gradual study plan for that. So come back and check out the update to this post in two years' time.
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Learn to Read Thai the Rapid Way
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