How to learn a foreign language in 90 days

If you talk to a man in a language which he understands, you speak with his mind. If you speak in his own language, you speak to his heart.

Nelson Mandela

The benefits of learning a second, third or tenth of a foreign language we have written more than once. It's a great charge for the brain, improves cognitive abilities, allows you to concentrate better on the posed problems and to protect themselves from external stimuli, is the prevention of disease Alzheimer's.

But we are all busy people and standard terms of learning a foreign language (4-5 years) do not suit us. Accelerated the pace of life has accelerated, and everything else. And a huge number of methods that allow you to cope with this problem for 3 months.

In a guest post on Zen Habits Manish Net (Maneesh Sethi), author of the blog Hack The System, shares his technique. As he studied foreign languages ​​and now speaks English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and German for four years. To study Italian in Manisha took 3 months, Spanish - 2 months, and the Portuguese took about 3 weeks.

Manish Networks believes that successful and rapid learning a foreign language in the first place need to change the approach - become an active student, who not only allows himself to teach, and he takes part in the process and constantly asks questions.

The only "but" in this system: to learn a new language in 90 days, you have to spend on training at least 3-4 hours every day, and at least the first month With Tutor. If you do not have such a possibility, then the terms are stretched, but still remain much smaller than the standard terms of language learning.

learning strategies

1. Find the right resources. Grammar books, movies, books, and to remember the words of the program.
2. Hire a tutor. At least one month. Engage it recommended for 4 hours per day, but not necessarily.
3. Try to think and speak in the language you are learning. Practice with a dictionary every day.
4. Find friends who speak that language. Ideally, if it supports the language is spoken.

study plan for 90 days

First month

This is a period of intensive language study and work with a tutor. According to Manish, group classes allow you to relax and be lazy. Lessons with a teacher one-on-one boost language learning and constantly keep you in good shape. Every day you have to learn 30 new words.

Why 30? Because after 90 days you will know the language of approximately 80% and your vocabulary (a little less than 3000 words) will be enough to communicate freely.

Second month

After the first months of intensive study, you have quite able to communicate with native speakers. After all, communication, rather than performing tasks from the textbook, allows us well to remember new words and phrases.

The ideal would be a visit to the country whose language you are learning. But I think that if this is not possible, will be visiting quite conversational clubs.

third month

In the third month of your intended language level should be enough for watching movies and reading books. In this case, you must learn to 30 new words every day for the entire period.

More Manish says that if you do not have a pair, it would be very cool to find a partner, who is a native speaker. Once he met a man (American), who is fluent in Russian. Manish asked how long it took him to study this complex language. To which he replied: "Two wives."

Useful resources

And now the most important thing: the resources and applications that will help you cope with the task.

Programs

To memorize the words you can use special applications. If you prefer an Apple device, then you might need an application Genius. Appendix carefully chooses questions or words using spaced repetition method. The more you make mistakes, the more the program will ask you questions. Manish recommends to make the program offered a word in your native language you want to translate into a foreign language. Then it will be better remembered, because to translate from their native language into a foreign is always more difficult. And we are not looking for easy ways.

For PC users recommended program AnkiWhich allows not only to learn a foreign language, but also to prepare for the various exams.

dictionaries

In addition to the familiar «Google Translator", you can be useful WordReference.com (To work with the majority of the Romance languages) and dict.cc (For German).

Resources for speaking practice

you can look at for speaking practice The Mixxer - a resource that allows you to find a buddy to practice speaking via Skype.

If you are not yet familiar with the service Couchsurfing.org, read this article. At the same piggy bank and goes Meetup.com.

I want to add a few words on my own. I understand that such a forced way to learn a foreign language is not available for many. Still 4:00 classes every day for a month for many is far more expensive than the monthly cost of coaching.

Unfortunately, we can not currently download a software package with the languages ​​directly into the brain. But if you're going to do with the teacher at least two or three times a week, to replenish their vocabulary by 30 new words every day, read books, watch movies and try to think in the target language, then you have to do it. And, of course, talk, talk and talk wherever possible.