How to learn any language in six months | Chris Lonsdale | TEDxLingnanUniversity

What Hacker News said

Strong rec getsat · 2015-05 · on “The Sound of TED: A Case for Distaste”

TEDx might be largely garbage, but it has this talk which actually changed my life: [this video] Strangely, this guy does not even promote his book. His book completely changed my mental approach to language learning. I highly recommend it to anyone who is learning a language.

Recommends m0llusk · 2014-06 · on “Ask HN: What is the best way to learn a language?”

What way is best depends on your intent. Do you want to speak the language or write it or use it for a particular specialization? Chris Lonsdale teaches a methodology for quick acquisition of spoken language that he presents in this TEDx talk: [this video] This primarily involves listening, getting the basic meaning first perhaps through body language or other clues, mix up words and expressions, go from a tool box to command acquisitions to pronouns and adjectives to glue words, copy facial expressions, and finally direct connection by exercising multiple paths to the same meaning.

Recommends readme · 2014-12 · on “Ways to learn a language as an adult?”

Learn programming in 24 hours! This is just fluff. Sure, the guy probably learned some French, but it's anecdotal. To assess proficiency he needs to be tested by native experts in all the modalities of language: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Not by the opinion of some girl who probably liked him at a coffee shop. Where I am we take 6 months to get a student from 0 to basic proficiency in french: i.e. able to read/listen to news and discuss advanced topics, like economics. That's with 6 hours of class a day, M-F all with native speakers. If you really want to learn a language efficiently, I'd recommend this ted talk: [this video] BTW, I doubt his 6 month mark applies to harder languag

Recommends Kaiyou · 2019-04 · on “It’s Hard to Learn French in Middle Age”

If you learn a language through memorization of words you're being very, very inefficient. Very. Learning a language requires next to no effort (compared to 30 words per day) and can be done at any age within six months. The strange thing is that nearly everyone does language learning wrong. I think it's because schools set everyone up for failure by teaching how to learn a language in a way, that's just so very inefficient. If you care for the easier way: [this video]

Recommends HerrMonnezza · 2019-08 · on “Unusual, evidence-based ways to get better at a new language”

This talk by Chris Lonsdale gives some practical advice on learning new languages fast. Most of it is along the lines of what the article says, but seems to say that the key part is to get a "language parent", whom you can have conversations with and will try to understand and reply to you, no matter what (like parents do with small children): [this video]

Cites jodrellblank · 2018-05 · on “82-Year-Old Japanese Woman Finds Success in Coding”

YouTube anecdotes, but here is Gabriel Wyner: [LINK] describing his experience of learning nothing much linguistically in High School or College, but then joining immersion based courses at an adult and making significant progress in a few weeks. and here: is Chris Lonsdale saying adults can learn useful amounts of spoken Chinese in 6 months, with immersion and being able to watch mouths closely and see how speakers move their moouths to pronounce things (IIRC): [this video] and there's a bunch more; [LINK] and so on

Cites indigo945 · 2019-05 · on “500 days of Duolingo: What you can and can’t learn from a language app”

I agree with the article insofar as that learning a language solely via an app is not effective. However, I do not get the impression that the author actually has much experience learning languages through other means. > The phrase “learning a language” is deceptively reductive. A language isn’t a > singular monolith, but rather a complex interconnected system of components > that build a way to communicate. The lexicon consists of the individual > words, which speakers have to memorize. The syntax and grammar tell speakers > how to properly structure those words in a sentence. Then there’s the writing > system, which is the visual representation of words or sounds that allow > words to be c

Cites jodrellblank · 2019-08 · on “How Does Esperanto Sound?”

Chris Lonsdale gave a TED talk in 2013 about language learning, and asserts "in 6 months I was fluent in Chinese": [this video]