How I Learn to Speak Any Language in 24 Hours

Summary

The speaker shares their extraordinary experience of learning 56 languages within 24 hours each, a feat they achieved by overcoming initial struggles with language learning. They critique traditional pedagogical methods that focus on rote memorization and instead advocate for immediate speaking practice with native speakers. The speaker's method involves daily conversation sessions, sentence mining for key phrases, and using Anki for spaced repetition to memorize grammar and vocabulary. This approach is contrasted with the common practice of learning scripts and alphabets first, which they argue can be postponed until after achieving conversational fluency.

Takeaways

• 😲 The speaker learned to speak 56 languages in under 24 hours each, surprising strangers by speaking their language.
• 📚 Initially, the speaker struggled with language learning in high school, finding textbooks overwhelming and ineffective for speaking.
• 🌏 After moving to China, the speaker began to excel at language learning and now considers themselves an expert in rapid language acquisition.
• 🔠 The speaker criticizes traditional language textbooks for frontloading too much information, making language learning intimidating and confusing.
• 🗣️ The key to the speaker's rapid language learning is daily speaking practice with online tutors or friends for 10-15 sessions over 3 weeks.
• 💬 The focus of speaking practice is on practical conversation skills, starting from basic phrases and building up to complex conversations.
• 📝 Sentence mining is the second part of the speaker's method, where they record key words and phrases into Anki for memorization.
• 🔄 Anki, a flashcard program, is used with spaced repetition to optimize memory retention of the learned material.
• 📖 The speaker does not learn the alphabet or script initially, instead focusing on spoken language and memorizing sounds.
• 🔗 Sentences learned in Anki are not just memorized, but also understood for grammar, allowing for natural language construction.
• 🔗 The speaker archives language decks not actively studied, which leads to forgetting languages that are not in use.

Q & A

How many languages did the speaker claim to have learned to speak?

The speaker claimed to have learned to speak 56 languages.

What was the speaker's initial experience with learning languages in high school?

The speaker was initially terrible at learning languages in high school, despite getting good grades. They felt overwhelmed by the textbooks and couldn't speak the languages they studied.

What did the speaker believe was the problem with typical language textbooks?

The speaker believed that typical language textbooks frontload too much information, such as alphabets, scripts, charts, tones, and grammar, which can be intimidating and mystifying for beginners.

How does the speaker describe the speaker's method for rapid language learning?

The speaker's method involves two parts: speaking practice with online tutors or friends for 1 hour per day over 3 weeks, and sentence mining where key phrases or sentences are recorded into Anki for memorization.

What does the speaker call the basic phrases they use to start conversations in a new language?

The speaker refers to these basic phrases as 'magic sentences'.

Why does the speaker emphasize the importance of speaking from day one?

Speaking from day one is crucial because it helps demystify the language and overcome the fear of speaking, which was a problem the speaker faced in high school.

What tool does the speaker use to record and memorize key phrases or sentences after each speaking session?

The speaker uses Anki, a free flashcard program, to record and memorize key phrases or sentences.

How does the speaker approach learning grammar while using Anki?

The speaker only puts sentences into Anki whose grammar they fully understand, ensuring that they are not just memorizing sentences but also the grammar by natural osmosis.

What does the speaker suggest about learning the alphabet or script of a language?

The speaker suggests that learning the alphabet or script can come later or not at all, depending on the learner's interest in becoming literate in the language.

How does the speaker use Anki to optimize memory retention of the phrases learned?

The speaker uses Anki's spaced repetition system to review the phrases at intervals optimized for memory retention, ensuring that the phrases stick in long-term memory.

What does the speaker offer for those interested in learning more about their language learning method?

The speaker offers a master class and a new website where one can get speaking practice with an AI tutor, with links provided in the description.

Outlines

00:00

😎 Mastering Language Learning in Record Time

The speaker shares his extraordinary journey of learning 56 languages within 24 hours each, a feat that he admits sounds implausible. Initially struggling with language acquisition in high school, he found traditional methods overwhelming and ineffective. His breakthrough came after moving to China and immersing himself in Chinese, which led to the development of his own language learning techniques. He criticizes conventional language learning materials for being too detailed and intimidating at the outset, which he believes hinders rather than helps beginners. His approach emphasizes practical conversation from day one and the use of 'magic sentences' to build a foundation in a new language rapidly. He also provides a free list of phrases for this purpose.

05:02

📚 Sentence Mining and Spaced Repetition for Language Mastery

The speaker details the second part of his language learning method, which involves 'sentence mining' after speaking sessions. He uses Anki, a flashcard program, to memorize key phrases and sentences, ensuring that he understands the grammar before memorization. This method not only helps in memorizing sentences but also the underlying grammar naturally. He emphasizes the importance of learning practical and immediately useful phrases rather than focusing on less relevant vocabulary. The speaker also discusses his approach to learning pronunciation and the benefits of using audio samples in Anki for better auditory learning. He mentions that learning the alphabet can be deferred until a conversational level is achieved, or even skipped if literacy is not a goal.

10:02

🌐 Overcoming Language Barriers with Innovative Techniques

In the final paragraph, the speaker wraps up his language learning strategy by emphasizing the importance of speaking from day one, using sentence mining to capture essential phrases, and leveraging spaced repetition software like Anki for memorization. He admits that he archives decks of languages he is not actively studying, leading to some language loss over time. However, his method ensures quick language acquisition without getting lost in translation. The speaker invites viewers to explore his master class for more insights and mentions a new website offering AI tutored speaking practice.

Keywords

💡Language Learning

Language learning is the process of acquiring new languages. In the video, the speaker emphasizes their ability to learn 56 languages rapidly, which is central to the video's theme of efficient language acquisition. The speaker's journey from struggling with language textbooks to becoming an expert in quick language learning illustrates the evolution of their language learning methods.

💡Overwhelmed

To be overwhelmed means to feel excessively burdened or anxious. In the script, the speaker describes feeling overwhelmed by the complexity of language textbooks, which initially hindered their language learning. This term is key to understanding the speaker's initial struggle with language learning and their subsequent development of a more effective approach.

💡Conversational Ability

Conversational ability refers to the capacity to engage in spoken communication in a language. The video's theme revolves around achieving basic conversational ability in multiple languages quickly. The speaker's method focuses on building practical conversation skills from day one, which is essential for rapid language acquisition.

💡Textbook Style

Textbook style refers to the traditional approach of learning a language through structured educational materials. The speaker criticizes this method for being too detail-oriented and intimidating for beginners. The video contrasts the textbook style with the speaker's more practical and conversation-focused approach to language learning.

💡Online Tutors

Online tutors are individuals who provide educational instruction over the internet. The speaker mentions using online tutors for one hour per day to practice speaking, which is a key component of their rapid language learning strategy. This concept is central to the video as it demonstrates the practical application of language skills.

💡Spaced Repetition

Spaced repetition is a learning technique that involves reviewing information at increasing intervals over time to enhance memory retention. The speaker uses a spaced repetition software, Anki, to memorize key phrases and sentences, which is a crucial part of their language learning method and contributes to the efficiency of their approach.

💡Anki

Anki is a free flashcard program that employs spaced repetition to help learners memorize information. In the video, the speaker uses Anki to record and memorize key phrases from their speaking sessions, which is a significant part of their language learning process and aids in long-term retention of language structures and vocabulary.

💡Sentence Mining

Sentence mining is the process of extracting and memorizing useful sentences from language practice. The speaker describes using this technique after each speaking session to capture and learn from the phrases and sentences they encounter, which is vital for building a functional vocabulary in a new language.

💡Grammar

Grammar refers to the set of structural rules governing the composition of sentences in a language. The speaker emphasizes understanding grammar as part of their learning process, noting that by memorizing sentences with known grammar, they naturally internalize the language's grammatical structures.

💡Polyglot

A polyglot is a person who knows and is able to use several languages. While the speaker does not claim to be the world's greatest polyglot, they do consider themselves an expert in rapid language learning. The term is relevant to the video as it positions the speaker within the broader context of multilingualism.

💡Cultural Relevance

Cultural relevance pertains to the significance of language elements within the context of a culture. The speaker mentions learning culturally relevant phrases and sentences, such as those about Scotland's beauty or discussing whiskey, which demonstrates the importance of cultural context in language learning for effective communication.

Highlights

The speaker claims to have learned 56 languages in under 24 hours each, a seemingly improbable feat.

Despite initial struggles with language learning in high school, the speaker has become proficient in rapid language acquisition.

The speaker's method involves spending 1 hour per day speaking with online tutors or friends over 3 weeks to build conversational skills.

The importance of starting to speak from day one to demystify the language and overcome the fear of speaking is emphasized.

The speaker critiques traditional language textbooks for being too detailed and intimidating for beginners.

Learning languages is compared to exercise, not calculus, indicating it requires commitment rather than genius.

The speaker's language learning method includes sentence mining to record and memorize key phrases using Anki flashcards.

Grammar is learned naturally through sentence memorization rather than rote memorization of conjugation charts.

The speaker suggests learning the alphabet can come later or be skipped entirely if literacy is not a goal.

Spaced repetition software like Anki is highlighted as a game-changer for memorizing phrases and grammar.

The speaker uses audio samples in Anki to aid auditory memory and ensure accurate pronunciation.

The method focuses on learning immediately useful phrases and sentences rather than less common vocabulary.

The speaker archives language decks for languages not actively studied to prevent information overload.

The speaker's approach avoids getting lost in translation by focusing on practical conversation skills.

A free list of 'magic sentences' is offered for those interested in practicing conversational skills from day one.

The speaker's method is positioned as a leading expert strategy for the quickest language learning possible.

The speaker invites interested individuals to learn more through a master class and a new website offering AI tutor services.

Transcripts

I learned to speak 56 languages and I

learned each of them in under 24 hours

yes I know that sounds a little bit

ridiculous uh even to me but it is true

and it's actually the only way that I

could have posted 56 videos of me

surprising strangers by speaking their

language in just the past few years so

I've talked about this before but I was

actually terrible at learning languages

in high school not that I got bad grades

my grades were actually pretty good but

I just couldn't speak any of these

languages that I studied I would just

see this language textbook full of super

intimidating alphabets and scripts and

charts and tones and just become totally

overwhelmed you know and having grown up

in a monolingual English speaking

environment in the United States I would

just think to myself man it's either

Geniuses or Dutch people who can

actually learn to speak multiple

languages and I really wanted to learn

to speak but I would try by reading the

textbook which is how I thought you were

supposed to learn a language but I would

inevitably get bogged down in the

details and then just totally give up

but after I moved to China and started

learning Chinese I started experimenting

more and more with language learning on

my YouTube channel and especially since

this became my full-time job a few years

ago I actually started getting really

really good at learning languages to the

point where now I consider myself

possibly the world's leading expert on

how to learn a language as quickly as

possible which by the way does not make

me anything close to the world's

greatest polyglot there are millions of

people in this world who have way better

language skills than I do but having

gone from zero to basic conversational

ability in 56 languages from every

continent on the planet except

Antarctica I do think that I at least

have some experience in the topic of how

to learn any language quickly see what I

realize the problem with typical

language textbooks is is that they

frontload too much you have to learn all

of these alphabets and weird scripts and

charts and tones and grammar before you

even get to chapter one there are these

incredibly boring and by themselves

useless things that you're somehow just

expected to memorize out of context and

it isn't just textbooks that teach like

this this forms the basis of our

language learning pedagogy in almost all

language learning classrooms around the

world and while I do understand the

desire to create a solid foundation I

think you end up instead intimidating

beginners and mystifying language

learning you make language learning feel

like calculus when it's actually much

easier than that don't get me wrong

learning languages is hard but as Matt

versus Japan likes to say it's hard in

the way that exercise is hard not in the

way that calculus is hard it does not

take a genius to go jogging but it does

take a certain level of commitment and

this textbook Style by the way is also

not the way that 99% of people who

actually succeed at learning languages

actually learn their languages a really

interesting example of this is that most

Chinese Teachers like to teach you

Chinese characters on day one before you

even learn to speak because that's how

they first learned Chinese when they

went to elementary school in China but

what this overlooks

is that on their first day of elementary

school in China they already spoke

fluent Mandarin which they had learned

word by word phrase by phrase sentence

by sentence from their parents and not

from a textbook so by the time they were

learning the writing system they already

understood the entire essence of

Mandarin speaking and grammar to which

they could then apply the characters so

my system has two parts and part one is

speaking practice the key to my rapid

language learning is spending 1 hour per

day speaking with online Tutors or

friends and I do this for 10 to 15

sessions spread out over 3 weeks the

focus here is purely on practical

conversation skills I start from zero

from very basic phrases and then we

gradually build up to more and more

complex conversations and I Do by the

way actually have a free list of phrases

that I like to use for this purpose

which you can also check out at the link

in the description I like to call them

my magic sentences and I think speaking

from the very beginning literally day

one um is crucial because it helps to

Dem the language and it also helps to

get over your fear of speaking which is

precisely the problem that I had in high

school when I would spend all this time

studying my textbooks and then when it

came to actually speak I would be

petrified I wouldn't know what to say

because I had never actually spoken

before everything I learned had come

from the textbook plus the direct

interaction with native speakers helps

me internalize the flow of the language

very quickly an analogy that I often use

is that trying to learn to speak a

language by reading a textbook is like

trying to learn to ride a bike by

reading a textbook you know you're just

just studying the physics of how your

feet move and the rotations at this

number of RPM create this movement so

all I have to do is turn left into the

torque and like we've all been

brainwashed by school into thinking

that's how it works but it's not and in

theory maybe it is possible to learn how

to ride a bike by reading a physics

textbook but practically speaking you do

need to understand the rhythm of bike

riding and actually ride a bike in order

to learn how to ride a bike now part two

of my method is sentence mining after

each speaking session I collect and

record key words phrases or sentences

from the session into Anki a free flash

card program to gradually memorize what

I just learned in the speaking session

over the next few weeks by the way

always front card English and back card

target language to make flashcards that

force you to actively recall the words

rather than just passively recognize him

and I only put sentences whose grammar I

fully understand into Ani so so I have

to learn the grammar from my teacher

before I can go and memorize the

sentences and so this means that I'm not

just wrote memorizing sentences I'm

actually memorizing grammar as well by

natural osmosis what I'm definitely not

doing which I used to do in high school

all the time is memorize big conjugation

charts or memorize alphabets or memorize

tone rules or things like that and so as

I memorize these sentences I'm also

naturally memorizing the grammar of the

language as I said before the grammar of

most languages isn't too hard hard as in

calculus that this is really so

difficult um with the possible exception

of some Native American languages which

you know so for each language that I

study over these 15 sessions I end up

developing an decks you know that

contain anywhere from 50 to 100 cards

and that really is all you need to know

in order to have basic conversations in

any language about 50 to 100 words and

phrases and yes you also pick up other

things by osmosis from your speaking

sessions because you're continually

practicing as well so the anid deck

doesn't form the entire basis of what

you learn but it forms much of the key

grammar and vocabulary that you'll need

to actually have conversations in your

language and the phrases in the anid de

are all things that are natural and

immediately useful to me and I'm

typically not learning stuff that I

don't think I'll need to use a lot of

textbooks will start you out by focusing

on color and Direction words and I find

personally I never use those so why

would I learn those at the beginning as

the first things that I ever learned and

again I don't learn the alphabet or the

script in the very beginning either I

actually write everything into Anie the

way that the word or the phrase or the

sentence sounds to me rather than how

it's written in its native script which

I find actually helps me learn way

faster because I'm not so worried about

like what's sounds the CH make in this

language or like what does this weird

squiggle mean I don't really care I just

write what it sounds like to me I'll be

honest I do have very good auditory

memory but I do think you can do this

even if your auditory memory is not so

great you can actually put audio samples

into Anki as well so every time you load

up the card you get an immediate sound

cue for what it sounds like and you can

play the audio from native speaker so if

you do it like that you don't have to

worry that you're not perfectly

remembering the sound either I found

that learning the alphabet can come

later once I have an actual

conversational level um or never you

know because if you're not interested in

becoming literate in the language you're

studying you might not be interested in

becoming literate that's your choice you

know you can completely ignore the

alphabet or the script of the language

and so this way this way I'm not bogged

down in the task of learning a new

script from day one I do these anky reps

every day so I'm going to show you right

now let's load up um the language I'm

currently learning which is Scottish

glic so we have cows uh that's

NA okay good what whiskey do you

like

um

J it something like that right

J okay good that was good and you see

I'm learning things that both are

culturally relevant but um also like

these basic phrases you know sentences

like do you like or cheers or basic

nouns like cow things I can actually use

to build more complex conversations off

of Scotland is beautiful

um

ala ala Bria and you can see when I'm

learning these sentences and phrases I'm

not just memorizing sentences either I

mean I am memorizing sentences but these

are sentences that you know can be

modified and changed and a sentence like

Scotland is beautiful is the same thing

as a sentence like the Apple is tasty

you know they work the same way so if

you memorize Scotland is beautiful um

and you also know the words apple and

tasty then boom you have two sentences

there right you didn't have to memorize

two sentences you just needed to

memorize one to get that grammar and so

space repetition systems like Anki are

an absolute GameChanger because they

help me review these phrases at

intervals optimized for memory retention

so by reviewing my an for just a few

minutes every day I actually ensure that

these phrases stick in my long-term

memory ready to be whipped out in any

conversation though because I'm lazy I

actually do archive the decks of

languages that I'm not actively studying

meaning that I for get languages that

I've learned in the past and so right

now I can't speak anything like 56

languages at the same time so that's

basically it speak from day one use

sentence mining to record the key wordss

and phrases and then memorize everything

with space repetition software like anky

this approach has helped me learn

languages as quickly as possible while

ensuring that I don't get lost in

translation so if you're interested in

learning more about how I learn

languages make sure to check out my

master class the link in the description

below and now you can get speaking

practice with an AI tutor at my new

website your teacher.