To be Continued... Soon!

I have not written a post in a long time because the efforts to do so while trying to figure out how to learn has slowed me down. For the moment I've placed my learning on hold, but I will continue as soon as I can! Most likely in late January. Otherwise, Merry Christmas or...

Buon Natale!

Week 5 & 6 Update: What worked

Ciao a tutti!

I know I haven't written an update lately, but I haven't stopped learning Italian!

Today I just finished the last of my mid-terms =] so I can start stressing about Italian again, ahah.

Over the past two weeks I've learned new ways of studying and more ways to keep me motivated.

What worked:

New Goals: Before I mentioned setting goals such as remembering 40 words per day, but to be honest, this goal really sucks. I never know how long 40 words will take to learn, and it is hard to motivate myself to sit down and study them, every single day…

So I've started to use time as a goal. I would like to study 1.5 to 3 hours a day, but to make it easy, I aim to study for at least 3 sessions of 10 minutes a day. This way I will always be thinking of Italian, I will be forced to recall words more often, and I will be more likely to study longer!

Skits: Most people, like me, find it hard to learn a new language when they are learning random and unimportant words. So to help make learning more effective and fun I've started to write 'skits' everyday or so and study them. (Thanks to my sisters idea :)

Each skit covers one topic, such as a simple conversation about "movies" or "music" or asking the "time and date". Each skit has about 10 sentences taken from a phrasebook or the Internet.

Journal: I can't stress enough how important it has been for me to write notes and study conclusions daily and weekly. It pushes me to strive harder, fix what isn't working, and improve on what is working.

So that's it!

I can hardly give an estimate of how much I've learned in the past two weeks, but to give you an idea: over these two weeks I've studied for an absolute minimum of 8 hours.

40 beginner lessons of LearnItalianPod, the review section online (in about 4 hours :)

Created/Studied/Practiced 3 skits (several hours)

Read Harry Potter (It took me an hour to get through a page and a half, ahaha.)

Livemocha's Unit 3 Lesson 1 and half of Lesson 2 (probably an hour)

and what ever else I didn't write in my notes (journal)

I've also started listening to the Italian radio when I browse the web.

Until next time,

Ciao!!!

Week 4 Update: What worked, what didn't, and what I would have done differently

Ciao a tutti!

So sadly I've made my least improvement this week, but I've also made my biggest mental decision.

This week I only studied with the Harry Potter audio books and Livemocha, and I'm am actually quite embarrassed to admit I haven't achieved very much.

What worked:

Livemocha, Unit 2, Lessons 3-5: With Livemocha, I reviewed several lessons, finished lesson 3, and completed the first parts of 4 and 5. I've began to speed through the lessons which makes them more enjoyable. (for example, I listen and learn to pronounce the words from the review section, then just listen to the review section. After, I blast through the last 3 parts, and sometimes skipping the speaking or writing section to come back to it. What ever helps motivate me is whats best)

Do it or Don't: My new mind set, which I'll mention in my new post, is extremely helpful. I now completely block out the 'maybe' or 'kind of' when learning or studying. Now, I will either do my studying now, or I won't. I will do my exercising, or I won't. The 'maybe' just creates stress and procrastination. So, you'll see how I'll do in week 5. =]

Task List: To remind me to study, I now have a simple task list. Because I check my Gmail all the time, I've used the integrated "tasks" menu that is always showing on the right. Here I just check of whether I've studied or not today. Plus, I like the little check marks: Motivation!

Audio Books: I want to emphasize the importance of listening to audio. This week I listened to the first chapter of Harry Potter several times. Most of the time I followed along in an Italian version of the book. This has helped my pronounce Italian more fluently, I'm picking up words I don't even know the meaning of, and I'm getting into the "flow" of this new language. It's important, so find a book and listen!

What didn't work:

Well, because I didn't study or try anything new this week, there wasn't anything that 'didn't work'. On the other hand, I do need to improve my goals and plans and ways to achieve them.

I mentioned last week the secret to learning a language is Goals and Plans (more so than the actually study material, teachers, and methods). I'm working on it!

What I would have done differently:

With the 4 weeks that I've been through, there's a lot I would have done differently to be more effective:

Week 1: Preparation (I would spend a week becoming used to the new language. This week would be laid-back. I would spend a lot of time listening to audio and practicing the most common sounds)

Week 2: Pronunciation (I would focus more time on studying. I would begin using Livemocha with 1 lesson a day, continue listening to audio books while reading, and continue practicing pronunciation. I constantly listen to exactly how something is pronounced, trying to best match it. I don't ever expect to sound like a native, but matching pronunciation is important.)

Week 3: Study (I would now focus more time on studying the language with Livemocha, audio books, and other material such as LearnItalianPod)

Week 4: Communication (I would now begin trying to communicate with the language, not only with friends or family, but also with only text chats or maybe even voice or video chats. I would continue to use Livemocha and the other material.)

So that's it!

Week 4 = more learning/motivation methods + tiny bit of grammar + ~50 words <- Yes, I need to get moving!

Week 3 Update: What worked and what didn't

It's now been three weeks since I've started. Two of which have been pure studying while the first was research. Last week I was happy to say I memorized over 200 words within several days, and so I planned on memorizing much more this week.

Because I'm still learning how to plan and set goals, I didn't add many words to my Italian vocabulary, but I have learned many valuable lessons (I didn't fail!! haha. If you're confused, read my Baby Steps post)

What worked:

Livemocha, Unit 2, Lessons 1-3: This unit is much more interesting than the last because I'm learning verbs which I can use regularly. If you use Livemocha (or any learning software) I highly recommend listening to the audio first! With audio and a picture you can gain a 'fuzzy' meaning of the word. It's extremely important not to associate the word with the spelling or another English word because you will not memorize it very well.

Writing: It sounds unimportant to write a summary of what you've learned or studied each day and each week (such as these weekly updates), but I've found it's extremely helpful with keeping me motivated. It also helps me plan and see what I can improve. On top of that, all the great and successful people do it, so why not?

Audio Books: This week I tried out listening to the Harry Potter audio book while reading the text, and I've found it extremely helpful in several ways.

1. I'm learning how to follow an Italian conversation at a normal speed, (they don't speak in s-l-o-w m-o-t-i-o-n , haha)

2. Because I love the Harry Potter books and movies and I know the story, I can make out what's happening even though I can understand only about 1 word or less per sentence.

3. It's fun! The beginning steps of learning a language isn't about memorizing grammar and verb conjugations. We learned our native language all by listening, therefore listening is extremely important. And when I can understand the meaning of what is being saying it's a huge accomplishment, and I'm proud of it! (<- Motivation)

Goal/Plan: I learned that studying a new language is more about how to create goals, plans, and managing time that it is about the grammar and vocabulary words. Having goals and plans is harder than it sounds, but it's extremely effective!

If I remember more, I'll add it here, alright?

What didn't work:

LingQ: because this website was recommended, I tried it out. I found the audio/text reading section slightly helpful, but you had to pay for the native audio/writing reviews. I will try it again because it's worth checking out.

Smart.fm: This is an excellent website for memorizing any names or symbols such as the Japanese writing system and country names. Otherwise, it was very hard to memorize verbs with this site.

If I remember more, I'll add it here, alright?

So that's it!

Week 3 = new learning methods + some grammar + ~50 words

Post 10: Baby Steps to a Foreign Language: Setting Mini Goals

Last week you learned how to create a 90 day plan to fluent Italian, or any language you plan on learning. Today I will show you how Mini Goals will make learning easy and fun.

In the extremely funny movie What About Bob?, Dr. Leo Marvin, with his huge ego, convinces Bob Wiley, a man who carries a gold fish and who is mysophobic, thantophobic, achluophobic, dermatophobic, albuminurophobic, bacteriophobic, catapedaphobic and probably any other phobic'al word, to read a book Baby Steps. Bob learns the importance of making small goals which helps rid him of his phobias, while Dr. Marvin ironically becomes insane.

Bob shows Mini Goals are very important in everything from health, learning, business, entertainment, and social connections. Mini Goals are what create prosperous businesses, excellent movies, lasting friendships, and most importantly, easy and effective learning.

I guarantee, if you follow along and create your own mini goals, you will be able to do almost anything! Here are the 3 pieces of Mini Goals, [each has a one sentence summary]:

Piece 1 - Creating a Mini Goal:
I often don't know where to begin when creating goals. Where do I start? Will this be too hard? Or will it be too easy? But I often find the easiest, most effective, and most fun answer to be:

"Shoot for the Moon. Even if You Miss, You'll Land Amongst the Stars."

Why make a goal too easy? Why have low expectations? Why limit yourself? What's the fun in having a goal to learning 10 words when I can shoot for 100! You may ask, "what if I land in a black-hole or get hit by a meteor?" Well, in reality, that would suck. But this is your imagination, you decide if a situation is a failure or a learning experience.

You decide whether you've lost or won. You decide whether you failed the business and lost a job, or you've learned valuable information and created new opportunities for yourself.

Summary: If you don't know what your Mini Goal should be, shoot for the moon! Exaggerate the possibilities!

Piece 2 - You can never fail:
The best part about Min Goals is you can never fail! Say you want to become the president, but only become the vispresident. Or you want to travel the world, but you only travel to the next town. Or better yet, you want to win $1,000,000 in the lottery, but you only win $10. Have you really lost?

It's YOUR opinion. That's what winning and loosing and fail and success are: opinions.

Summary: You can never loose: it's only an opinion.

Piece 3 - Changing your Mini Goals:
Mini Goals are like clear water flowing down a small stream. They twist and turn and speed up and slow down as they flow through the ups and downs, twists and turns of the stream. Mini Goals are most efficient and helpful if they can change their form to fit the situation.

When you exaggerated by 'shooting for the Moon', you may have set a really high goal, but now, after working towards your goal you feel more knowledgeable about your capabilities, so you can lower your expectations.

For example: this week I set a goal to memorize 100 of the most common Italian verbs and their conjugations on top of 150 more words. If I can only memorize 10 verbs in the first 3 days, I know I wont be able to memorize all 100 verbs. Now if I can memorize 10 verbs in 3 days, then I can probably memorize 20 in 6 days. So, there's my new goal! Likewise, if 20 in 6 days is too easy, I just raise it back up. Savvy?

Summary: Constantly change your Mini Goal: if too easy, raise it. If too hard, lower it. If too easy, raise it again. If too hard…

One last note, Mini Goals can also be extremely short, such as 20 minutes, or even only 1 or 2 minutes. The point of these goals is to use your time most effectively. If you want to memorize a few words, set aside 5 to 20 minutes, but if you need to write an essay give yourself 60 minutes. It's good to set a reasonably low time limit, this will motivate you to achieve your goal faster and more efficiently. After a break, you can always create another 5 minute session to finish memorizing the words [this is related to Spaced Repetition and SRS programs, we’ll talk about this later]


Now that you know the basics of Mini Goals...

1. Exaggerate when creating them
2. You never fail
3. Constantly change the goal

... Go have fun! Go create some goals, whether they are 1 week goals, or if they are 20 or 30 minute goals, go explore! And when you've done that, write a comment, I'm interested in what you're trying!

Week 2 Update: What Worked and What Didn't

So its been one week since I officially started studying Italian. Over this time I've aquired about 200 words even though I only studied half the time I planned on.

What worked:

Livemocha, Unit 1, lessons 1-5: I found it helpful to listen to the audio on livemocha several times, finish the lesson and then listen to the audio again. The audio and text feedback is extremely helpful and encouraging.

Learnitalianpod, Beginners 1-8: These are extremely simple lessons [I already knew most of the info] but it's helpful to hear how a conversation sounds and how to pronounce the words. The online section has extra words which are nice to add to my vocabulary.

Google Excel Sheet: This is extremely helpful review trick! It's been a week and I've copied about 200 words down onto this online sheet. It's split into 4 sections: words I've learned from Livemocha, words from LearnItalianPod, words i learned elsewhere, and a list of verbs. I've also included the word in a Italian sentence next to it. This way, if I forget the word or how to use it, I just read the sentence in Italian!

Forvo: this is an excellent website that has "All the words in the world. Pronounced." A definite must. Check out all the languages Here.

yearlyglot: This is a fellow blogger who began his goal of learning Italian in the beginning of this year. He has a lot of good posts, such as pronunciation guides, noun genders, verb conjugations, and more! Check it out

If I remember more, I'll add it here, alright?

What didn't work:

My family celebrated my younger brothers birthday over the weekend, and so I didn't stick to my plan… but I'll work on that =]

Livemocha is beginning to get boring and repetitive, but the feedback is helpful, so I'll continue to use it until it becomes a waste of time.

If I remember more, I'll add it here, alright?


So that's it!

7 days = a better understanding of learning + some grammar + ~200 words

Post 9: Spock and the 90 Day Plan to Fluent Vulcan... err Italian

"…to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before."

In the 23rd century, after Earth had survived World War III, humanity allies with other alian races to explore the stars. The United Federation of Planets is created, and Captain James T. Kirk of the starship Enterprise along with his crew of 430 men and woman explore the galaxy.

[I guess James Bond never prevented WWIII]

In order to effectively create massive star ships, travel at warp speed, and make a fresh ham sandwich with sliced tomatoes, human and alien races had to have a plan.

When comparing the building process of the Enterprise-D to the learning process of learning Italian, I feel relieved it will only take 90 Days compared to 20 years. [Reference: USS Enterprise D Tech Manual, Summary]

Two days ago, James Bond helped us with creating our mission: where we want to be.

Today, Spock and Captain Kirk will be our companions in creating our 90 day plan: how we will get to where we want to be.

First, a dialog with the crew:

[Several hundred years into the future, on deck the Enterprise, Captain Kirk and Spock play a game of chess as I strike up a question]

Ben: Is the Computer efficient in calculating numbers across both human and alien languages, Captain?

Kirk: Not one hundred percent efficient, of course… but nothing ever is.

Spock: Computers make excellent and efficient servants, but I have no wish to serve under them. Captain, a star ship also runs on loyalty to…

Kirk: Why?! do you always ramble on like a babbling idiot?

Spock: Captain, if you would excuse me...

Kirk: I had something else in mind. You'd make a splendid computer, Mr. Spock.

Spock: That is very kind of you, Captain, but such a remark displeases me. If it is an emotional response you are looking for, maybe it requires physical stimuli.

Ben: Captain, may we proceed with inquiring the computer already?

Kirk: Ah.. Computer, calculate the number of words required to reach 95% fluency of the average language in a 90 day period.

Computer: [calculating: 0,02304840088 X 64^3 / 2 = 3021,0000002] Across 90 Earth days, or two-one-six-zero hours, 33,566666669 words should be memorized each 24 hour period to reach a 95% language fluency. This doesn't incl…

Kirk: Alright! Enough… Mr. Spock, did I ever tell you you play a very irritating game of chess… [conversation continues back to the chess game]

The Computer mentioned roughly 3000 words should be memorized over 90 days, and that is about 35 words per day.

With this in mind we need to create a plan that will enable us to remember this approximate number of words per day.

Yesterday, I mentioned two excellent online resources I have begun using to easily memorize words and phrases. The first, Livemocha.com, is a free online course of about 51 lessons + 31 "Crash Course" lessons [invite three friends and get the crash course free]. That's a total of 82 lessons.

The second resource, LearnItalianPod.com, is a collection of podcasts. Most of the podcasts are free, but I purchased the $15 subscription to download all 261 lessons plus gain access to all the written material and tests.

On average, each Livemocha lesson and each LearnItalianPod podcast teaches about 10 to 15 new words. So if I schedule 1 Livemocha lesson and 2 LearnItalianPod lessons for every day I will learn an average approximately 30-45 words per day, and this doesn't include other words I pick up.

This is the rough draft of my plan. Over time I will need to change or add my course material, but for now the goal is to have any plan towards studying everyday and learning the approximate number of words.

I mentioned Livemocha and LearnItalianPod podcasts, but any software, materials, or sources you find that will enable you to learn ~35 words per day will work. Just keep in mind, it's very important that you listen audio, so don't leave it out. I'm looking forward to watching movies in Italian! I can already understand the basics of a lot of conversations.

Check out my Calendar here to see what I have planned!

If you'd like to learn Golic Vulcan instead, use my methods along with the information and material from this website.

Did this post help? Does the theme make it entertaining, or just sappy? Do you have any good resources for language learning plans? I enjoy reading your feedback!

Calendar

Key: "LIP, B: 1+2" = Learn Italian Pod, Beginner: Lessons 1 and 2
"LiveM: 1-1" = Livemocha: Unit 1, Lesson 1

Post 8: How to Learn Italian Online for Free

From babies to adults we learn by mimicking. Just like the mimos [imitator actors] of Ancient Greece and the modern day mime artists in New York, we enjoy copying the actions of others. Not only is it fun, but it's the way we learn.

The first step in mimicking speech is to listen. It is suggested that infants begin 'categorizing' sounds before birth. They then practice these sounds and eventually string them together to create words.

Listening is the most important step in learning a language [to read my summarized research on how our brain categorizes and recognises sounds, click here].

I'm a very Visual and Kinesthetic learner [take the test here], therefore I have difficulty with memorizing audio. So I will focus my learning mainly on listening and speaking rather than reading. I can easily read and write a word, but recalling the word in a conversation is more difficult.

Online work material should cover listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

There are many websites that help with learning a language, but the ones I've found most helpful are Livemocha.com, byki.com and LearnItalianPod.com [here's the shortcut to iTunes].

The Italian course of Livemocha is an excellent set of 51 lessons that each include a learning, review, writing and speech section. The highlight of this website is it's community. On average, a writing or speech assignment will be reviewed by a native within several hours. This feedback is extremely helpful; it's like having a teacher on-demand.

byki makes it easy to memorize words and phrases with its free downloadable flashcard program that includes listening, writing, and reading. . They also have an iPhone app [$7.99). I will use byki alongside Livemocha because it is missing the feedback system.

I recently found a podcast, LearnItalianPod.com, which is both entertaining and instructional. I've found the beginner lessons helpful, but the Upper Intermediate levels even more so because of the story that is spoken at different speeds. It is important to be able to understand Italian at normal speed, and this is a fun way to do it. Many of the podcasts are free, but I spent the $15 subscription to download all 261 lessons with accompanying tests and written material [ it has a 30 day 100% Satisfaction Guarantee!].

Within a couple days of only completing 5 lessons from Livemocha and listening to several upper intermediate level podcasts from LearnItalianPod, I have already begun writing sentences and understanding the meaning of some conversations.

If this isn't improvement, then what is?!

Tomorrow we'll talk with Spock and Captain Kirk about a 90 Day Plan to Fluent Italian.

So do you know of any other online courses you've found helpful? What do you think of my choices? I enjoy reading your comments!

Post 7: How to Create a Language Mission: James Bond Style

In order to create a 90 Day Plan to Fluent Italian I needed a goal. I need a Mission!

When James Bond is being lured into his deadly trap by a stunning Soviet defector, or when the British warship is mysteriously destroyed in Chinese waters and the world is on the brink of World War III what does he do? Or better yet, when the world is in the greatest depression in history and it's economy system is crashing, what do I do?

Learn a new Language of course! But first: my mission.

[ Russia with Love ] [ Tomorrow Never Dies ]

Note: NEW FEATURE, highlight one of the above movie titles and click "Search"

So according to Tim Ferris's blog and my post two days ago, in order to get somewhere we need progress. Earlier I defined progress in a language as:

1. Passion

2. Imersion

3. Dedication

So if I stick to these 3 steps, I will get there, right?

Get Where???

Lets say James Bond has a mission to save the world, but he didn't plan out his destination. He takes a 20 hour flight to China, finds out he went the wrong way, and now WWIII starts? Well, to be honest he'd probably be blown up by several nuclear missile explosions…

… but the point is, we don't want to spend three months going in the wrong direction. It's a wast of time.

So in order to create a 90 Day Plan to Fluent Italian, I need to know where I am and where I want to be.

First, Where I AM:

Extreme Beginner: I don't know any italian, never spoken another language, took 1 year of Spanish classes which amounted to several introduction phrases, and I don't know anything about the Italian culture.

Second, Where I Want to Be:

[my definition of] Fluent Italian: Comprehend 95% of a wide variety of subjects in conversation, movies and talk radio stations, have a limited accent, and be able to write and express myself easily in Italian. Understand the basic geography of Italy and it's main cities, have a basic understanding of it's cultural history and current culture, and learn to cook a few Italian meals.

Yes! I'm quite the enthusiast!

So now I have my Mission:

Destination: Coordinates: 8°16′31.36″N 98°30′02.02″E

[tip: try Highlighting the coordinates above and click search =]

Okay, maybe not… but how about the refrigerator. I'm hungry.

So what'd you think? Did this help? Do you know what the importance of those coordinates are? Please comment, I love reading your feedback!

Post 6: A New Beginning: Here's my story (Part 2)

September 9th, 10th and 11th:

After much research in finding that it IS possible to learn a language 'fluently' in 90 days, I was ready to begin. [more on the definition of 'fluent' later]

I usually don't purchase "data" [such as applications, ebooks, and music] because it's not tangable [and I'm a very tangable kinda guy], but somehow I was convinced into buying Benny's book "Language Hackers Guide" for $49! (maybe it was because Benny's fluent in over a half-dozen languages, or because it was on sale; soon it'll be $70 because more language translations will be added, but I get the free update! =] In any case, the main reason I purchased his ebook was every blogger who mentioned Benny had something good to say about his book.

After it was purchased and downloaded, I quickly read through most of his ebook to realize what I need to do:

1. create a blog
2. join a social networking site, and
3. create a day-by-day plan

The easiest task was to join a social networking website. So I choose the recommened website, MyHappyPlanet. Here I was extremely luck. I sent out one request and found someone who has been extremely helpful: Anna [Remember the name? I mentioned her earlier].

Soon after, I created this blog: Fluent Italian in 90 Days. [If you'd like a post on how I did it, ask me in the comments]

So I joint a social networking website and I created a blog. The only task left was to write a day-by-day plan of how I'm going to learn fluent Italian in 90 days!

This was not so easy. Benny includes many worksheets, tasks, and tricks in learning [which I highly recommend buying. There is a 60 day money back guarantee], but he missed one simple question : How does a beginner start from scratch?

What I mean is, where do I begin?

I need to make a plan and fill out a calendar, but what do I write? I wanted to know how and what I should learn, but he only gave me the how [the tips and tricks]. The most probable reason for this is every person is different, and every language is different, therefore every method of learning will be different.

This still didn't answer my question!

With every blog post, comment, and website, I only found people suggesting how to remember phrases, words, and grammar. This didn't make sense to me. Does anyone start from scratch. I kept asking myself, "what is scratch?" What is the first step other than remembering phrases and practicing with people?

I couldn't find this 'scratch' I was looking for, so I went ahead and jumped in. In day 3 of my blog, I purchased the Italian phrasebook by Lonely Planet, which I carry everywhere. I also purchased an Italian Dictionary by Langenscheidt. It was about $17 for the two [so with the Language Hackers Guide, I've spent about $67 on materials. That's way less than my college text books!]

With these two books I began to study how to pronounce words in Italian. Ha ha, yes. I already spent almost a week 'studying' Italian, yet I didn't even know how to pronounce the letters? Well, maybe I knew a little...

... but the problem is, I think differently than the traditional Joe.

I think too much.

My main consern has not been what I learn, but how I learn. Do I study with flash cards? Do I use audio tapes? Or do I learn from textbooks? What is the most effective learning approach for me?

I've researched about how our brains works, how infants learn to speak, how we translate words into audio, how we process information, how the information is remembered or forgotten, how accents are acquired, and much more....

With as much reading and writing that I've done, I've finally found the best way for me to learn...

Post 5: A new beginning: Here's my story (Part 1)

Over the past week I've written and noted almost 10,000 words, researched hundreds of websites, and studyed many ways to learn a new language. With all this work, I've only given you scarce information about what has worked and what hasn't. From this point forward I will describe what I have tried, what didn't work for me, and what might work for you. I am no expert, so I won't act like one.

In this way, you will have the benefits of all my work in studying the language and learning patterns without the need of intensive researching.

Lets travel back in time to where this all began.

September 8th:

My journey started when I asked Google a question, "How do I learn a language quickly?".

Google answered with a blog post by Tim Ferris, How to Learn (But Not Master) Any Lanuage in 1 Hour

Here I learned how to take several sentences in my native language and the same sentences in another language, deconstruct them and compare the two. In this way I could find many important sentence and word structure patterns. For example, I deconstructed 12 sentences from Italian [thanks Anna for the translations and corrections!] and found many important rules (heres the document and rules, read Day 2 for more info)

I was extremely interested in Tim's method of learning, so I searched his blog for "how to learn a language". The top result was "How to Learn Any Language in 3 Months".

This got me excited, I could hardly read fast enough to feed my hunger for learning.

Tim included lots of information in that article, but what was most helpful was his 3 steps of progress. If your going to learn a language, progress is what gets you there. So what is progress? Progress is:

1. Effectiveness (Priority)

2. Adherence (Interest)

3. Efficiency (Process)

At first these 3 definitions didn't make sense to me, but after reading the article I understood their meaning and created my own requirements to achieve progress with learning a language:

1. Passion

2. Imersion

3. Dedication

If we are truly Passionate about a language, learning will be fun, we will never give up, and we will always strive to do our best. This is how we keep Adherence when learning.

When we are truely Imersed in the language through music, radio, television, communication, and reading we will learn a great amount easily in little time. This is an Effective way to learn.

When we Dedicate each and every moment of everyday, we will learn extremely fast. This is an Efficient way to learn.

If I follow these three rules, I know I won't fail.

Now that I found a timeline (3 months), I asked Google my second question, "How do I learn a language in 3 months?"

Google answered, "You learn by reading Benny's blog"… well, not quite. But Google did give me helpful results, "How to become fluent in a language in 3 months"

Here I went on to read many articles of people learning languages quickly. I read comments, quotes, and every piece of information I could find.

This was just the beginning of my research. Over the next several days I do learn much more...

Do you like this approach better? Please comment, I enjoy reading your feedback!

Day 4 - How to Memorize the Right Way: Easier is Better

Remember back in High School when you were trying to learn Spanish, but every time you saw or heard a word, you would spend a long moment translating it in your head [most likely into English].

Well, the problem was, you didn't really 'learn' the word. There is a Right way to memorize, and there is a Wrong way to memorize.

First, to Correctly memorize words and phrases you have to perform these 2 parts [not steps, these are separate parts]:

Verbal, and Written:

1. Connect the foreign verbal word directly to a meaning, feeling, or image

2. Connect the foreign written word directly to a meaning, feeling, or image

If I drew this out it would look like this:

You will notice there is no connection between the verbal word and the written word. So you maybe wondering, how am I going to speak a written word? And how will I write a spoken word?

We take one extra step. For example, when we write in our native language we think in speech and then translate that into a word or picture of a word, such as, "hmmm… how do I spell cat?… C A T".

Plus, we have a huge advantage! When we know the meaning or image of what we want to write or say, we will know both [how to write it and say it], simultaneously! It's a straight path, like driving a monster truck straight to work crushing all the houses and long winding roads on the way [wouldn't that be fun!?].

Now if we are like most people, we will connect the verbal to the written word and/or to a native word, and visa-versa, like this:

So, the sound "Gatto" is spelled "g a t t o" which means in English "cat" which looks like "this" therefore the sound "Gatto" means "this"

And when we do this for every word, our brain yells, "Complicated!!!!!"

There is one teeny-tiny advantage: if we need to translate something from written to verbal or visa-versa, it's easy! BUT, if we want to understand what we wrote or said, it becomes very difficult. Our brain process will look something like this:

It's like driving a monster truck on the long winding roads and around all the houses taking 20 extra minutes [not as fun, right?]. So why do we do this?

Because it's "easy". To say, "gatto, cat, gatto, cat, gatto, cat…" we don't have to think. We either don't know how, or we are just lazy.

The are many methods to memorizing words, phrases, and feelings, but my favorite method is fun, easy, and makes you feel like a kid again!

Figmentation of our imagination

Let's begin with the word "caccia" which means "hunting", such as "Andare a caccia" [to go hunting] or "Sono contra la caccia" [I'm against hunting]. It also means "fighter" or "destroyer".

The first step is to Not let words limit our thoughts. We don't want to connect "caccia" to "hunting". Instead we want use our imagination to understand the full meaning through these several sentences. Other words maybe harder, but this is a important step.

After we understand what "caccia" means, we want to create a link between the word and it's meaning.

Step 1: We want to create an extremely crazy and abstract mental animation [the crazier the better].

I would begin with seeing myself in a huge overgrown pink field in Africa smelling of roses, standing still holding my old toy BB gun. Next I turn around and there is a 20 foot tiger running straight for me wearing boxing gloves, roaring loudly, foot long blades of teeth gouging from his mouth, and ready to swallow me whole. I fumble for my BB gun as I feel sweat on my forhead, and as I cock it, it makes an abnormally loud sound, "Ka Cha!!" and at this moment a beautiful girl falls from the sky right in front of me holding a sign. She points it toward the running tiger and he immediately stops, and looking extremely disappointed he walks back. She turns toward me to show me the sign which says, "Sono Contra la Caccia!"

You may have noticed I included several 'extra features' in my 'movie':

1. The tiger was wearing boxing gloves, therefore I can remember both meanings of the word ("hunting" and "fighter")

2. There was a girl who was a main character. This is to help me remember that caccia is a feminem word: La caccia [more on this later]

3. Everything is extremely exaggerated; I definitely wont forget it (and it only took me 30 seconds or less)

Step 2: We want to memorize and ingrain this into our memory. We need to visually 'see' and 'feel' this in our head and say to ourself, "I'm going to remember."

Step 3: Repetition. Depending on how well we've stored the word, we will have to recall it in 1 hour, 12 hours, 3 days, or 7 days before we forget it. [more on this later: repetition, the fun way]

So if you're still reading, you are either completely lost or you are completely excited to try this memory method on new words and phrases! [if you already knew this, then Great! you're ahead!]

In summary, we learned to:

1. Connect verbal words directly to meaning

2. Connect written words directly to meaning

3. Use an imagination to easily place words into short-term or long-term memory

4. Recall the word 1 hour, 12 hours, 3 days, or 7 days after we've learned it to strengthen it in our memory

Upcomming: why we forget, how our brain learns to speak, how to learn a language online: for Free, creating a mission: James Bond style, creating a 90 day plan to fluent italian, and much more!

How'd you like it? Was I too detailed? Did any of it help? Is there missing information? Did you just straight-up like it or hate it? Please comment, I'm excited to hear your feedback!

Update - Change of Plan

I'm going to write posts 1 or 2 days behind so I know what I try will work for you!

As for now, follow these steps:

1. Focus on memorizing basic introduction phrases and answers plus any other phrases or words your interested in (computers, shopping, cars, food..)

2. Practice your pronunciation. Here's a descriptive pronunciation guide for the consonants and sounds I didn't mention.

3. Listen to music in Italian with lyrics and try to hear the sounds. An example song would be this. Open google translator to help figure out the meaning.

Up coming is an excellent (free) study tool, amazing memorization technics, and how we will define our mission and create a day-by-day Plan for the next ~85 days

Do you have a better pronunciation guide? Can I improve this or a previous post with added content or description? This is a team effort, I appreciate all your comments!

Day 3 - How To Begin Any Language: And the World of Perfect Accents

What is the easiest way to begin speaking a language?

Most language courses will begin with memorizing lists of vocabulary and a handful of conjugations for each verb, but this is the exact opposite of effective! If you want to learn to speak a language you have to speak that language from the beginning. This is the most important and usually skipped part of learning a language. Many students study for months or even years without ever practicing with a foreigner, speaking at a normal pace, or speaking a normal amount per day. Not only is it ineffective, but its downright boring.

Just like riding a bicycle we learn by our mistakes, therefore we want to make as many mistakes as possible. If we begin before we even understand the grammatical structure of Italian we will learn at an abnormally faster rate with the benefit of sounding more native. Do you think babies study the grammar in a sentence? Or do they begin with the sounds? "Ma'ma." Unlike a baby, we can us our already learning ability to speak in our native language and wider variety of already learned sounds as a boost for learning others. We can move from sounds to sentences very fast.

But how do I begin speaking a language when I don't know it?

With these two simple answers, beginning to speak your target language will be far from impossible:

1. The Phrasebook.

I picked up a small Italian phrasebook by Lonely Planet from Barns and Noble for $8.99. It was recommended by Benny (who knows over a half dozen languages), but any phrasebook should do.

2. The Dictionary.

A dictionary isn't as critical at this stage, but I definitely recommend buying one. I purchased a small Italian Dictionary by Langenscheidt for $7.95, also from B&N. Both this dictionary and the phrasebook are compact so I can carry them with me; this is an important feature because you are going to become great friends with these two books.

If you really don't have the money, then you can always use google to find "common italian phrases" and an "online italian dictionary".

Already have your books? Great! Have fun with them. Make silly sentences and ask funny questions by mixing up the phrases. This is what makes learning fun! Don't worry too much about how you pronounce the words, just follow my instructions and do your best

Carry your phrasebook everywhere you go. If your waiting in line, pull it out and practice a little. I can't stress this enough. We need to begin using the phrasebook as often as we can. Now that we're ready to start speaking, lets talk about the sounds.

Accents

Yes, I'd eventually like to sound like a native speaker, but when do I start practicing?...

Now!

The most important part of an accent is the pronuciation of the Vowels and Consonants. Over time, listening to the way natives talk and the way the produce each sound will greatly improve our accent as long as we listen carefully and change our habits.

[Here's my detailed description of how to create accents]

Italian Pronunciation:

Vowels or Consonants?

Italian is a beautiful and flowing romantic language. And like most romantic languages, the vowels are pronounced clearly. Unlike Italian, in English we rely mainly on consonants, for example:

Comfortable is pronounced "kuhmf-tuh-buh" or "kuhm-fer-tuh-buh"

As long as we pronounce all the consonants, others will understand and believe we are native. In European languages, not pronouncing your vowels crisp and clearly is a dead give away that your foreign.

Rolling your "R"s

The second and biggest give away is not rolling your "R"s. To many foreigners, the English sounding "R" is "like a lazy dog howling". (visit Benny's post on accents for details on these two descriptions)

If you can't roll your "R"s, learn how by visiting this site.

Arrrrrrre you rrrready? All rrrright.

So back to number 1: Pronounce the vowels and consonants correctly

There are many youtube videos that can help you with pronunciation, such as this or this. So if your having trouble with the below, check those links out.

Vowels and Consonants

Many people mistakenly suggest that Italian only has several sounds, but like English there are a lot of variations (just not soooo many). Although there are many sounds, it is easiest and most effective to begin with only the basic sounds. Therefore as we listen to natives, we will pick up the 'less' important sounds later.

There are many websites that help with pronuciation, I actually read several different phrasebooks, dictionaries and used Wikitravel, About.com, and this site.

So we want to practice rolling our 'R's and pronouncing our vowels and consonants and compare ourselves with natives (such as youtube videos). Remember, we can't be perfect, we are aiming for similar. Do your best!

Do you think this is an effective way of starting a language? Is there a better way for learning pronunciation? Have you found any good resources for comparing your pronunciation with a native? Is there something I missed? Please give me feedback, I Enjoy reading everyones comments!

Day 2 - The answer to life the universe and effective language learning

Before learning a language, we need to find an effective approach to gain the most knowledge the fastest. In our last post I mentioned the difference between a student spending several years in 'learning' a language and a baby speaking it's native language within the same time. The answer to life, the universe and effective learning is:

Passion. Immersion. Dedication.

Are you interested in a language? Or are you passionate about it!? Being interested in a language isn't enough. This will lead to slow learning, decrease in interest, and finally a stop to learning. If you want to learn a language you have to be passionate about it! Either create this passion by learning more about the culture and the reasons you want to learn the language, or become interested in the culture and create reasons why you want to learn it! Tim Ferris has an excellent post, on how to learn (but not master) any language in one hour. What I want you to do is deconstruct the language your learning by follow this post. This will tell you a lot about the language, and if your still interested enough to continue learning.

To help you out here is a deconstruction of Mandarin Chinese (here's the full website). Plus, here's my deconstruction of Italian: DOC, PDF (sorry for any errors.) Okay, GO!

Did you finish? Sill want to learn? Perfect!

Now unlike most students, babies are constantly immersed in the language their learning, whether it's their mom or dad, relatives, TV, radio, or music, they are constantly immersed in the language.

The good news! You don't have to live in France to learn French, Africa to learn Swahili, or China to learn Chinese. Immerse yourself by changing the environment around you. Do you read? Watch TV? Listen to the Radio? Or have a Facebook account? Grab your favorite book in Italian, watch your favorite movie in Spanish, listen to the French radio station, or change your Facebook language settings to what ever your target language is! In this way you will create your own foreign environment, while at the same time pick up the accents of the language and maybe learn a little culture. (for example, I changed my laptop and ipod language setting to Italian)

Every boxing coach, piano teacher, singer, or any teacher for that matter will always say, "Practice. Practice. Practice." Dedication is what will decide if you learn the language or not. Without dedication, passion for learning Italian won't make you fluent! Spend everyday learning something new, and remember it's fun! Learning a language is more than communication, it's learning the culture, the way people use body language, how they act, dress, eat. Culture and languages are a fascinating subject, and this is what fuels your passion.

If you have passion, immersion, and dedication, you will increase the speed of your learning by 2000%!!! (3 months versus 60 months)

So go grab your book or TV show in Italian and begin immersing yourself!