¿Hablas español?
Ever slugged through 4 years of high school Spanish only to come out on the other side remembering little more than how to say “hello?”
I’m right there with you.
Maybe you have a trip coming up, or you lied about being fluent in Spanish on your job application. There are tons of benefits to and reasons for learning a new language.
But it's often easier said than done. And after years of formal language classes with little retention, I wouldn’t blame you if you felt skeptical.
Why does learning a language feel so hard? Traditional programs often focus on memorizations and translations which are easy to forget.
The good news is there’s a more modern and efficient way to learn a new language. And it was designed by polyglot and language master, Gabriel Wyner.
Gabe is the blogger behind fluent-forever.com and the author of the book Fluent Forever.
Gabe has turned language learning on its head and he currently speaks 6 languages, so you know he’s a pro.
His program is designed to help you learn a language faster and-and actually remember it.
Think immersion program minus the cost and the time commitment.
Lucky for us Gabe dropped by to share 50 Must-Know Words For Every Language plus his top 3 language learning tips!
Tip #1: Start With Pronunciation
This is one of the cornerstones to Gabe’s method. The biggest barrier to learning a language is your memory.
Our brain recognizes patterns. When we encounter unfamiliar sounds, we have trouble remembering the word. That’s why it’s hard to learn a language when you start with vocab.
Nail the pronunciation and remembering the vocabulary becomes that much easier.
Gabe actually designed his own pronunciation guide (called trainers) for different languages. You can get Gabe’s pronunciation trainers here.
Tip #2: Never Memorize Translations
Just enter a phrase into google translate to see how terrible direct translations can be. That's because words and phrases don’t always have direct translations in other languages.
That’s why memorizing them can both make it harder to speak naturally and attach you to awkward phrasing.
Gabe recommends learning with pictures to begin with. This way you aren’t learning a foreign language through an English lens.
The goal is to learn new words in context. That way your understanding of them can be applied to more scenarios than just the one you memorized.
Tip #3: Less Is More
One of the biggest barriers to achieving language goals is time.
You feel like there’s no point because you can’t study for hours each day. Or you get burnt out by binge studying.
Gabe recommends studying less each day in to make it a sustainable habit.
Focus on 30 minutes of studying each day. Then, power through more on the weekends or whenever you feel motivated.
Learning a language is about consistency, so set a study habit that you can actually stick to. Binge studying for 6 hours one day and then leaving a week between practices will stall your progress.
Take it a little at a time.
Bonus Tip:
According to Gabe’s method, you actually only need to know 625 words to speak a language fluently. You can pick up his full word lists here.
We got access to 50 of those 625 words, so check them out now:
- Airport
- Animal
- Apartment
- Attack
- Bed
- Bank
- Bar
- Bathroom
- Body
- Cell phone
- Cheap
- City
- Coffee
- Cold
- Color
- Cook
- Direction
- Eat
- Family
- Food
- Gasoline
- Happy
- Hospital
- Hotel
- Hour
- Hot
- Job
- Kiss
- Laptop
- Left
- Marry
- Medicine
- Money
- Movie
- Music
- Neighbor
- Night
- No
- Number
- Old
- Open
- Police
- Restaurant
- Right
- Sex
- Time
- Walk
- Week
- Yes
- Young
Get the other 575 words to speak a language fluently here!
Ready to be fluent? Make your language goals a reality and join the Ideal Me Vault. Get the rest of Gabe’s incredible exclusive language learning tips. Plus, get access to his full interview and language learning worksheets and printables.
