Fluent Forever (Revised Edition): How to Learn Any Language Fast and Never Forget It
$9.99$17.99 (-44%)
The ultimate rapid language-learning guide! For those who’ve despaired of ever learning a foreign language, here, finally, is a book that will make the words stick.At thirty years old, Gabriel Wyner speaks six languages fluently. He didn’t learn them in school — who does? — rather, he learned them in the past few years, working on his own and practicing on the subway, using simple techniques and free online resources. In Fluent Forever Wyner reveals what he’s discovered.
The greatest challenge to learning a foreign language is the challenge of memory; there are just too many words and too many rules. For every new word we learn, we seem to forget two old ones, and as a result, fluency can seem out of reach. Fluent Forever tackles this challenge head-on. With empathy for the language-challenged and abundant humor, Wyner deconstructs the learning process, revealing how to build a foreign language in your mind from the ground up.
Starting with pronunciation, you’ll learn how to rewire your ears and turn foreign sounds into familiar sounds. You’ll retrain your tongue to produce those sounds accurately, using tricks from opera singers and actors. Next, you’ll begin to tackle words, and connect sounds and spellings to imagery, rather than translations, which will enable you to think in a foreign language. And with the help of sophisticated spaced-repetition techniques, you’ll be able to memorize hundreds of words a month in minutes every day. Soon, you’ll gain the ability to learn grammar and more difficult abstract words–without the tedious drills and exercises of language classes and grammar books.
This is brain hacking at its most exciting, taking what we know about neuroscience and linguistics and using it to create the most efficient and enjoyable way to learn a foreign language in the spare minutes of your day.
From the Publisher
ASIN : B00IBZ405W
Publisher : Harmony (August 5, 2014)
Publication date : August 5, 2014
Language : English
File size : 42594 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 387 pages
Customers say
Customers find the book useful for learning vocabulary effectively. They find it easy to read and understand, with clear explanations. Many consider it a good value for money, saying the techniques work. The book helps them improve pronunciation and become fluent. Readers appreciate the humor and flashcard techniques. However, some find the approach unclear and not suitable for beginners.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
The ultimate rapid language-learning guide! For those who’ve despaired of ever learning a foreign language, here, finally, is a book that will make the words stick.At thirty years old, Gabriel Wyner speaks six languages fluently. He didn’t learn them in school — who does? — rather, he learned them in the past few years, working on his own and practicing on the subway, using simple techniques and free online resources. In Fluent Forever Wyner reveals what he’s discovered.
The greatest challenge to learning a foreign language is the challenge of memory; there are just too many words and too many rules. For every new word we learn, we seem to forget two old ones, and as a result, fluency can seem out of reach. Fluent Forever tackles this challenge head-on. With empathy for the language-challenged and abundant humor, Wyner deconstructs the learning process, revealing how to build a foreign language in your mind from the ground up.
Starting with pronunciation, you’ll learn how to rewire your ears and turn foreign sounds into familiar sounds. You’ll retrain your tongue to produce those sounds accurately, using tricks from opera singers and actors. Next, you’ll begin to tackle words, and connect sounds and spellings to imagery, rather than translations, which will enable you to think in a foreign language. And with the help of sophisticated spaced-repetition techniques, you’ll be able to memorize hundreds of words a month in minutes every day. Soon, you’ll gain the ability to learn grammar and more difficult abstract words–without the tedious drills and exercises of language classes and grammar books.
This is brain hacking at its most exciting, taking what we know about neuroscience and linguistics and using it to create the most efficient and enjoyable way to learn a foreign language in the spare minutes of your day.
From the Publisher
ASIN : B00IBZ405W
Publisher : Harmony (August 5, 2014)
Publication date : August 5, 2014
Language : English
File size : 42594 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 387 pages
by William Orr
A Funny Book For Any Language Learner
I really enjoyed this book. I have learned several foreign languages and can completely relate to the cultural guffaws made when learning. I reminisced back and laughed out loud. Little uses a plethora of examples from a worldwide set of facts and anecdotally relates them to the reader. Itâs fascinating and funny. I would recommend this book to any language major or aficionado out there.
by Tina
Best language book ever!
Iâve been studying French my entire adult life. Recently I set out on a mission to find a book/course that really breaks language learning down. I knew it had to be out there and I found it. This books makes perfect sense in its approach to learning a language. Iâm diving in! thank you Gabriel.
by Laura Alethea
Helpful
This is a good find for anyone serious about language learning. After bumbling around I had probably come up with about two thirds of the same sort of process described here, and it has certainly saved me a lot of trouble in finding websites (I never was very good at searching the net). It’s always nice to have help from someone who has been before you. I really am appreciating the section on using the free Anki flashcard software which I had not known about. It’s probably the best free electronic flashcard program out there (at least of the ones that work with Windows), that I know of, and the instructions are helpful.I absolutely agree with the author’s basic premise that one cannot learn a language properly without knowing the sounds. Instead of paper flashcards, you can use the electronic ones and even add audio clips. This, along with the Microsoft keyboard Layout Creator, is enabling me to become paper-free and has saved me from a roomful of stacks of paper and notebooks already. (The dictionaries take up quite enough space, thank you!) The MSKLC program enabled me to make one general keyboard for Western European Languages by defining “dead keys”, so all I have to do now is switch between one multilingual keyboard and the one for my non-Western language. I mention this because he does not address typing issues in this book, and it is a necessary consideration, especially (for example) when faced with the possibility of having to spend months learning how to write a right-to-left script, and considering that the handwritten forms in some languages differ significantly from the printed ones. And good luck trying to find a textbook on how to do that longhand! So the typing issue is very important.He also discusses using the IPA. I would also recommend the IPA Handbook for anyone looking for the computer codes for the IPA symbols. But for those who have trouble going to the new technology, he also describes how to set up regular paper flashcards, too. According to the author, if one uses paper flashcards, knowing how to use the IPA is even more important.Although the book seems a bit wordy and possibly repetitive at first, it is organized to get the concepts across, which are needed to understand WHY some methods work and others don’t.. I really think a young person in school could benefit from a lot of the information here and use it to make more effective use of his study time. The core of the book is really about the effective use of a Spaced Repetition System. An SRS system such as the Anki cards can be used for most any subject, not just languages.The book is really a good buy for the money. It appears the author is planning to generate his real income from the language-training packages he is developing for the phonetics for various languages. I cannot comment on those as he is not working on any packages for a language that I am interested in, according to the website. The language-training packages sound like a phenomenally good idea, though, but as far as it concerns anyone not interested in the ones on the list, he would have to do it the hard way and find a really accurate list of the IPA symbols for his language and learn the sounds from one of the various websites that have IPA sound clips. And find some good lists of words paired up for contrasting “Twin” or sounds or “minimal pairs” and hopefully find a native speaker who can record them for you. Which is what the internet is supposed to be good for: helping you find things, — and people.I was introduced to the IPA through “Pronounce it Perfectly in French.” The Barron’s series would work for anyone interested of course, in what they have to offer. So there is a market out there for putting together audio materials for languages other than French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, and Portuguese! In the meantime, I guess we have to do it the hard way. This book is, I think, encouraging for a beginner and also helpful for those who have failed attempts at language learning and couldn’t understand why they failed. It certainly helped me when I seemed to have become absolutely stuck in trying to use the internet to find resources for learning my chosen (non-European) language. It certainly gave me a nice boost.
by Thomas Pentzer
Wyner is an Anki-Ninja!
I’ve been dabbling in learning a second language for some time now, and always seem to lose steam. I had tried various text books, audio courses, and Anki decks that I found in Anki’s database, but never made much progress. That’s where Mr. Wyner’s book came in. I was initially skeptical, but elected to risk the twelve bucks for a copy after I read a guest post by Wyner on Tim Ferriss’ site.In short, it’s worth every penny. Other reviews detail what the book is made up of, so for brevity I won’t include a detailed list. This book’s value, in my opinion, lies in the breadth of techniques Wyner offers the reader. I’m familiar with immersion programs like Middlebury, websites like iTalki, and mnemonic devices, including the PAO system used by memory athletes. However, awareness of such things has only come after years of slogging around on the net, reading books here and there, and talking with professors at my college. Wyner’s book would have shaved years off of my own journey into languages, and he includes many more resources I wasn’t aware of that are worth the price of the book alone (and that’s not even including the FREE resources he links to on his website).Where Wyner truly shines is his mastery of Anki’s software. I have used Anki for some basic vocab stuff before, and had made some flashcards for classes before, but nothing nearly so in-depth as what he recommends. Wyner is truly an Anki-ninja, and clearly one of the beneficent ninjas, as he not only extolls its proper use, but also provides tutorials on how to maximize Anki so that one entry can become up to six flashcards, but also how to make web browsers to the mindless work for you.The icing on the cake is the emphasis on auditory and pronunciation training. By focusing on repeatedly testing minimal pairs (words that are *almost* the same that non-native speakers might not hear the difference between), Wyner asserts that we can indeed begin to hear the difference between speech sounds that we had been unable to distinguish before. He demonstrates how to make Anki cards for this sort of practice, but he’s also in the process of creating “pronunciation trainers” that work within the Anki framework. I don’t mind saying that I’ve pre-purchased the Russian trainer, which will hopefully be out soon.In closing, this book is a great asset for language learners of all sorts. The author wisely avoids getting bogged down in cases, tenses, declensions, etc, as each language has its own unique set of rules to learn. Instead, he brings to light a number of efficient and effective tools that help the learner to spend their time wisely. Having added about a hundred new words into my Russian vocabulary this week through efficient learning, I’m motivated to learn more.
by Oscar Carrillo
Excelente método para agilizar el aprendizaje
by Dawid Izydor
I really liked the intro about how learning works and it gave me a lot of really nice insight into improving on learning. However after a couple of chapters you start getting referenced to the autor’s website rather often – where you can buy his anki cards.Honestly, if you like theoretical knowledge about learning then this book is great but you could also skip it, go directly to authors website and just buy his anki cards instead
by João Gabriel
Livro apresenta um método bastante útil e simples para aprender uma lÃngua. Apesar de ainda não ter o utilizado para aprender uma nova lÃngua do zero, usei o método ( com algumas adaptações ) para melhorar meu inglês, principalmente o vocabulário. Claro que ele sozinho não dá certo, você não vai deixar de gastar dinheiro para aprender, mas é bem válido o método e com certeza continuarei o utilizando no futuro. Recomendo ð
by Reading Girl
Best language book hands down. If you’re into deliberate learning, then this is the absolute best book for you.
by Marek
Very good book ! Thank you !