This article was taken from the October 2014 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
Irish polyglot Benny Lewis has spent the best part of ten years travelling the world whilst running
a language-learning blog that attracts more than half a million visitors per month. He knows 12 languages to varying degrees -- from conversational to mastery. Here are his tips for getting your tongue around a new lingo.
Find native speakers Lewis has a "no English" rule when learning a language in its native country. As well as getting out and trying to get by, he uses italkI.com and verbling.com to find reasonably priced teachers. You can use meetup.com and internations.org to find people to do a language exchange in person or over Skype -- you teach them and they teach you. If you have a spare bed, use couchsurfing.org and search visitors by language.
One to two hours' spoken practice In week one, Lewis masters pleasantries. In week two, he learns the vocab for topics such as his daily routine. Use the flashcards on ankisrs.net, the Anki app or quizlet.com and the mnemonics on memrise.com. "A couple of well-learned phrases get you further than lots of random words," he says.
By week five, aim for faster chats and more complex topics. In week nine, find a pedant to correct you.
Troubleshoot extensively "When learning Mandarin, I struggled with the tones, so I spent a week learning nothing but," Lewis says.
Forvo.com and rhinospike.com are two free pronunciation resources.
He doesn't recommend grammar books until week nine -- and then just to dip in. Look at constructions as you become aware of them. Try Assimil, Teach Yourself and Colloquial books, and Harrap's for more technically minded learners.
Make mistakes Your priority at every stage is communicating. "If I need to find out where the bathroom is, I can say 'Bathroom, where?' It's not a proper sentence but it's understandable," says Lewis. Don't be demoralised. Nobody cares if you conjugate a verb wrongly or sound like Tarzan. "Babies crawl and stumble before they walk. We aren't babies, but we are allowed to make mistakes in the learning process. Progress is gradual."
Turn on and tune in Television and radio stations are brilliant for easy exposure to a language. CNN is one of the many news websites that have translate buttons. Lewis is an advocate of tunein.com, which lets you listen to stations around the world. Alexa.com's listing of the most popular sites in each country is also a good insight into what locals read. This will help in week five when you need new topics to tackle with your native teacher.
Try the dramatic pause
People will reply to you in English if they think you are feeling awkward. Lewis deploys amateur dramatics: "I hesitate, Jack Sparrow style," he says. "I look into the distance as if on a quest and then have time to find the word I'm looking for. If you do it right, people assume you're animated, and if you do it really right, they will be incredibly interested in hearing you speak." He adds: "I recognise that this isn't for everyone."
Attempt to blend in
When learning Arabic in Egypt, Lewis found everyone was talking to him in English. After watching people around him, he realised that he looked like a typical tourist so he changed his clothes a little. Sometimes, he role-plays. He says: "The mandate when I lived in China was to make people think that I was an English teacher who had lived there for years. This was a signal they should be using their tongue, not mine."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
