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

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

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

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 constructed (for example, in English, the writing system is the > alphabet). And, more importantly, there is also the task of learning the meaning of words in common idioms, as well as learning to recognize implicit meaning. Understanding syntax and individual words will never help you understand sentences like, for example, "sorry, I just had to get it out of my system". It will also not help you recognize the tone of a piece of writing. > Duolingo often just drops a new particle on you without much explanation of > what it does or even that it’s a particle at all. Memrise handles this a bit > better, with lessons dedicated to how certain particles and grammar work, but > it helps to have external lessons, an instructor, or best of all a native > speaker to help explain some of the finer p

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

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

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.

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 languages like chinese.

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.