Gabriel Wyner - Fluent Forever: How to Learn Any Language Fast and Never Forget It

Never before have I seen a language-learning methodor method for learning anything!that synchs up so perfectly with our current scientific understanding of how memory works . I now understand why my past attempts to learn other languages (Spanish, German, Latin) have left me with little more than a smattering of near-random vocabulary words, and Im inspired to try again. Fluent Forever promises a fun, personalized learning regimen that is sure to wire a new tongue into your brain with speed and simplicity. And Wyners sharp wit will keep you entertained along the way! Ive never been so excited to challenge my mind.

Karen Schrock Simring, contributing editor at Scientific American Mind

Fluent Forever is the book I wish I had had during my numerous failed attempts at learning different languages. Its a refreshingly fun and engaging guide that shows you how to language hack your brain. Wyners done all the hard work so that the reader can actually enjoy the process of becoming fluent in a language quickly!

Nelson Dellis, 2011 and 2012 USA Memory Champion

Fluent Forever more than meets the daunting challenge of learning a new language by giving the reader a solid game plan based on how people actually learn and memorize information. From the first chapter, I couldnt wait to get started using Wyners techniques and tons of resources. His writing is engaging, smart, and conversational, making learning a real joy . If youve ever wanted to become fluent in another language, do yourself a favor and start reading Fluent Forever now.

Melanie Pinola, contributor writer for Lifehacker.com and author of LinkedIn in 30 Minutes

This is the book Id use next time I want to learn a new language. It employs an intelligent mix of the latest methods for learning a language on your own using the Web, apps, and voice-training tips in an accelerated time frame.

Kevin Kelly, senior maverick at Wired and author of What Technology Wants

I know what youre thinking: But learning a new language is soooo hard! The solution? Stop being a whiner and start reading Wyner. This book is a winner! Guaranteed to rewire your brain in as many languages as youd like.

Joel Saltzman, author of Shake That Brain!: How to Create Winning Solutions and Have Fun While Youre at It

An excellent book Wyner writes in an engaging and accessible way, weaving in his personal language journey. His method, proven by his own achievements, is clear: focus on pronunciation, avoid translation, and use spaced repetition extensively. And he offers lots of specific techniques to make sure youll never forget what youve learned. Id recommend this book to anyone who is seriousnot just aspiring but really seriousabout becoming fluent in a foreign language.

Kevin Chen, cofounder of italki.com

Mash up the DNA of Steve Jobs and Aristotle and add training in engineering and opera, and you get Gabriel Wyner, whose ingeniously elegant system helps us knuckleheads learn not just foreign languages but, well, everything . Autodidacts rejoice!

Jay Heinrichs, author of Thank You for Arguing and Word Hero

Americans refuse to realize that all languages are foreignyes, including English. Its time we learned how to speak like the rest of the world: in more ways than one. This book is a hilarious toolbox that helps you get a head start. Pick a foreign language (yes, including English) and voil: el futuro es tuyo . High-five to Gabriel Wyner!

Ilan Stavans, author of Dictionary Days: A Defining Passion

Copyright 2014 by Gabriel Wyner

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Harmony Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York.
www.crownpublishing.com

Harmony Books is a registered trademark, and the Circle colophon is a trademark of Random House LLC.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

ISBN 978-0-385-34811-9
eBook ISBN 978-0-385-34810-2

Cover design by Nupoor Gordon
Cover illustration: Maydaymayday/Getty Images

v3.1

T O THE THRILL OF THE JOURNEY

If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.

Nelson Mandela

Americans who travel abroad for the first time are often shocked to discover that, despite all the progress that has been made in the last 30 years, many foreign people still speak in foreign languages.

Dave Barry

L anguage learning is a sport. I say this as someone who is in no way qualified to speak about sports; I joined the fencing team in high school in order to get out of gym class. Still, stabbing friends with pointy metal objects resembles language learning more than you might think. Your goal in fencing is to stab people automatically . You spend time learning the names of the weapons and the rules of the game, and you drill the proper posture, every parry, riposte, and lunge. Finally, you play the game, hoping to reach that magical moment when you forget about the rules: Your arm moves of its own accord, you deftly parry your friends sword, and you stab him squarely in the chest. Point!

We want to walk up to someone, open our mouths, forget the rules, and speak automatically. This goal can seem out of reach because languages seem hard, but theyre not. There is no such thing as a hard language; any idiot can speak whatever language his parents spoke when he was a child. The real challenge lies in finding a path that conforms to the demands of a busy life.

In the midst of my own busy life as an opera singer, I needed to learn German, Italian, French, and Russian. Out of those experiences, I found the underpinnings for this book. My methods are the results of an obsessive need to tinker, research, and tinker again. My language-learning toolbox has, over time, turned into a well-oiled machine that transforms fixed amounts of daily time into noticeable, continuous improvement in my languages and in the languages of every person Ive taught. In sharing it, I hope to enable you to visit the peculiar world of language learning. In the process, youll better understand the inner workings of your mind and the minds of others. Youll learn to speak a new language, too.

So far, my favorite moment of this crazy language-learning adventure took place in a Viennese subway station in 2012. I was returning home from a show when I saw a Russian colleague coming toward me. Our common language had always been German, and so, in that language, we greeted and caught up on the events of the past year. Then I dropped the bomb. You know, I speak Russian now, I told her in Russian.

The expression on her face was priceless. Her jaw actually dropped, like in the cartoons. She stammered, What? When? How? as we launched into a long conversation in Russian about language learning, life, and the intersection between the two.

My first attempts to learn languages were significantly less jaw dropping. I went to Hebrew school for seven years. We sang songs, learned the alphabet, lit lots of candles, drank lots of grape juice, and didnt learn much of anything. Well, except the alphabet; I had that alphabet nailed .

In high school, I fell in love with my Russian teacher, Mrs. Nowakowsky. She was smart and pretty, she had a wacky Russian last name, and I did whatever she asked, whenever she asked. Five years later, I had learned a few phrases, memorized a few poems, and learned that alphabet quite well, thank you very much. By the end of it, I got the impression that something was seriously wrong. Why can I only remember alphabets? Why was everything else so hard ?