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How to Learn (But Not Master) Any Language in 1 Hour

fourhourworkweek.com — Secrets Unlocked to learning new languages

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  • aprenot, on 11/11/2007, -8/+27Excellent article. It re-motivated me to learn Russian
    • billib, on 11/09/2007, -2/+20poshol nahui !
      • easypie, on 11/08/2007, -3/+2Lumba Vamba.
      • AriaStar, on 11/08/2007, -0/+16Используйте надлежащие характеры!

        (In English: Use appropriate characters! )
        • johnmalc, on 11/08/2007, -0/+2я учу русский от "калл оф дюти 4"!!
        • phavn, on 11/08/2007, -0/+3You know those online translators do a pretty bad job
        • xpankrat, on 11/10/2007, -0/+3no, they don't. "characters" is "буквы", "характеры" is "personalities"
        • EMyslin, on 11/08/2007, -0/+1actually, it wouldn't be буквы, it would be "shift"
      • 4eloBek, on 11/08/2007, -1/+2i v pizdu!
    • larryg2k3, on 11/08/2007, -5/+3ooh ti blyat! ne pravilna
    • Twoodge, on 11/11/2007, -11/+59In Soviet Russia, Rus... oh ***** it.
    • Butros, on 11/08/2007, -3/+5vodka puzhalsta!
    • PinkoComrade, on 11/08/2007, -7/+4Seriously dasvedanya is the only phrase you will ever need in Russia
    • theuniversal, on 11/09/2007, -3/+23"1. Are there new grammatical structures that will postpone fluency? (look at SOV vs. SVO, as well as noun cases)"

      Going from English to Japanese or Chinese, the answer to this question alone would fill thousands of pages. One hour my ass. The article has a few reasonable tips but the "one hour" in the title is completely meaningless.
      • NorthKorea, on 11/08/2007, -0/+6i agree. this guy is a moron.
      • altrego99, on 11/08/2007, -3/+2May be it's easy for him... I wouldn't call Hawking moron if he said "Should we use Schwarchild or Kerr-Newman metric to describe this black hole?"

        It's another matter that he will only say that to probably a very special group of people and not the rest of us...
      • DMCer, on 11/18/2007, -0/+1Add Arabic to that list. Also, this guy is, in fact, a moron: http://www.ivygateblog.com/blog/2007/05/timothy_fe ...
    • solid12345, on 11/08/2007, -2/+1Privet. ya lublyu pivo.
    • objectcode, on 11/08/2007, -2/+2vodka puzhalsta! Privet. ya lublyu pivo. poshol nahui !
    • Vodka2389, on 11/08/2007, -2/+1Valai atsuda, pizdets!
    • Iwantawii, on 11/08/2007, -3/+5Hakuna matatta!
    • jd33, on 11/09/2007, -3/+3The thing with learning Russian is "if you're Rushin, you're Finish"
    • xpankrat, on 11/08/2007, -1/+2He he he .. the only word you need to know is "наливай !" (na-li-why). Note the exclamation sign.
      Roughly translated as "pour", it's effectively a shut-the-*****-up-and-resume-drinking request.
    • DMCer, on 11/18/2007, -0/+2This guy is an idiot: http://www.ivygateblog.com/blog/2007/05/timothy_fe ...
    • robbiemuffin, on 06/11/2008, -0/+1horrible article. the instructions would present the least problems for isolating analytic languages. Yet these are notoriously hard to learn. Such as chinese.

      in a way, I have to agree ... I mean that, japanese and chinese are considered harder than they ought to be. but easiest? mmm, I doubt you'll find many people that just come out and say that.
  • Wiini, on 11/11/2007, -17/+154I wonder if they'll teach me the sweet sweet language of love.

    Oh it's ladies night... oh what a night.
    • _Ty_, on 11/08/2007, -8/+6 Oh what a niiiiight.
      • GeForce8800GTX, on 11/09/2007, -2/+9Late December back in '63?
        • PRlME, on 11/08/2007, -3/+2What a very special time for mee
        • jcusano, on 11/08/2007, -1/+1'Cause I remember what a night.
          (PS: I think we're mixing songs at this point...)
      • reddfox321, on 11/08/2007, -0/+1Ty had it right... its the deep voice response in the song.
    • SuperWinner, on 11/11/2007, -4/+15I wish the people who made WordPress word actually learn just one programming language....
    • JBish828, on 11/09/2007, -0/+4I'm afraid it'll take more than just an hour, my friend.
    • gamche, on 11/09/2007, -0/+1They could teach you but you would be no master. I'm sorry but to do that you would need years.
  • Richandler, on 11/09/2007, -2/+71I would have liked to see his writings and papers for how he actually broke them down.
    • jimmick, on 11/08/2007, -3/+4I'd pay a lot of money for his japanese papers, damn that language is hard to learn.
  • LucasKane, on 11/14/2007, -6/+215eh.. I'll just keep waiting for the usb cable connection to my brain so I can just download them all
    • Elranzer, on 11/09/2007, -2/+36I know... Kung-Fu?
    • jcannonb, on 11/08/2007, -1/+9Jacking a FIREwire cable into my brain sounds more fun... It will also get the data there faster :)
      • Almightymole, on 11/08/2007, -0/+7Be careful, otherwise you will burn a few neurons.
        • Koookie, on 11/08/2007, -0/+2If it starts feeling bad, just jack off. (/shameless plagiarism)
    • thealliedhacker, on 11/08/2007, -0/+11Yeah, you'll get USB 2.0, then 3.0 will come around and you'll have to upgrade your brain?
    • jcroisant4, on 11/09/2007, -0/+20I have a serial port . . . but that is where I put my corn flakes . . .
    • seeyounorth, on 11/08/2007, -0/+2INPUT. Need more INPUT!
    • ShyDiggFantasy, on 11/08/2007, -0/+1hmm, why are you in the old stone age. It's wifi connection to the brain baby!!!!
  • Rhenthalin, on 11/08/2007, -20/+12Very useful I'll give it a try. I started on german so maybe SOV wont be so bad. This should get dugg up. If you can't function in at least two languages you can hardly be considered a citizen of the world and the way things are going you're going to want to get out and go somewhere else and knowing the language is a good start.
    • superspud, on 11/08/2007, -2/+13Good thing I don't consider myself a citizen of the world then, isn't it?
    • Rhenthalin, on 11/08/2007, -0/+1In this day and age it wont be long before you need another language, not knowing one at least can only hurt you
    • diggdallas, on 11/09/2007, -0/+2I recommend learning Spanish, I think it's mandatory at schools here in Texas.
  • yomamaisfat, on 11/11/2007, -1/+139Just learn the basic curse words and a few stock phrases like "Where's the bathroom?" Then just say yes or no depending on body language cues and hope for the best.
    • hansk, on 11/09/2007, -1/+5hey, that worked for me! now im married to one! wait.... uuggghh damn.
    • wild, on 11/08/2007, -1/+1Clearly you didn't see Hostel...
  • SyntraFTW, on 11/09/2007, -5/+68Neat! Now it'll be easier to learn Klingon!
  • urbannomad23, on 11/08/2007, -1/+9i know 4 languages... yeh wallah website bhot dher lageytee hahn. =/
    • affanjam, on 11/08/2007, -0/+4server achaa nahi hahn...;)
    • atozand1to10, on 11/09/2007, -0/+19Nice try at hindi but "website" is feminine so it should be "yeh *wali* website boht der lagaati hai"
    • IllBeBack, on 11/09/2007, -3/+28Nachos Bel Grande!
      See, I know Spanish now.
      • Ayumi01, on 11/09/2007, -6/+4Estupido. Come mierda.
        • abuelos84, on 11/08/2007, -0/+4que habra querido decir con bel grande, me pregunto...
        • xruntime, on 11/09/2007, -1/+2yo se el espanol y no puedo comprender lo que ustedes dicieron
      • PueSi, on 11/08/2007, -1/+1quiero taco bell
      • Jedimind66, on 11/09/2007, -0/+6yo tengo un gato en mis pantelones
    • r3adah3ad, on 11/12/2007, -0/+2Bring me Solo and the Wookie?
  • edicius, on 11/08/2007, -6/+4http://www.duggmirror.com
  • Cowfrommars, on 11/14/2007, -3/+33How to Learn to Take Down Any Server in 1 hour.
  • jm1234567890, on 11/08/2007, -9/+3mirror?

    http://www.duggmirror.com
  • Idura, on 11/08/2007, -10/+2website is down in less than 100 diggs, owned.
  • edicius, on 11/11/2007, -14/+53This post is by request. How long does it take to learn Chinese or Japanese vs. Spanish or Irish Gaelic? I would argue less than an hour.

    Here’s the reasoning…

    Before you invest (or waste) hundreds and thousands of hours on a language, you should deconstruct it. During my thesis research at Princeton, which focused on neuroscience and unorthodox acquisition of Japanese by native English speakers, as well as when redesigning curricula for Berlitz, this neglected deconstruction step surfaced as one of the distinguishing habits of the fastest language learners.

    So far, I’ve deconstructed Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, German, Norwegian, Irish Gaelic, Korean, and perhaps a dozen others. I’m far from perfect in these languages, and I’m terrible at some, but I can converse in quite a few with no problems whatsoever—just ask the MIT students who came up to me last night and spoke in multiple languages.

    How is it possible to become conversationally fluent in one of these languages in 2-12 months? It starts with deconstructing them, choosing wisely, and abandoning all but a few of them.

    Consider a new language like a new sport.

    There are certain physical prerequisites (height is an advantage in basketball), rules (a runner must touch the bases in baseball), and so on that determine if you can become proficient at all, and—if so—how long it will take.

    Languages are no different. What are your tools, and how do they fit with the rules of your target?

    If you’re a native Japanese speaker, respectively handicapped with a bit more than 20 phonemes in your language, some languages will seem near impossible. Picking a compatible language with similar sounds and word construction (like Spanish) instead of one with a buffet of new sounds you cannot distinguish (like Chinese) could make the difference between having meaningful conversations in 3 months instead of 3 years.

    Let’s look at few of the methods I recently used to deconstructed Russian and Arabic to determine if I could reach fluency within a 3-month target time period. Both were done in an hour or less of conversation with native speakers sitting next to me on airplanes.

    Six Lines of Gold

    Here are a few questions that I apply from the outset. The simple versions come afterwards:

    1. Are there new grammatical structures that will postpone fluency? (look at SOV vs. SVO, as well as noun cases)

    2. Are there new sounds that will double or quadruple time to fluency? (especially vowels)

    3. How similar is it to languages I already understand? What will help and what will interfere? (Will acquisition erase a previous language? Can I borrow structures without fatal interference like Portuguese after Spanish?)

    4. All of which answer: How difficult will it be, and how long would it take to become functionally fluent?

    It doesn’t take much to answer these questions. All you need are a few sentences translated from English into your target language.

    Some of my favorites, with reasons, are below:

    The apple is red.
    It is John’s apple.
    I give John the apple.
    We give him the apple.
    He gives it to John.
    She gives it to him.

    These six sentences alone expose much of the language, and quite a few potential deal killers.

    First, they help me to see if and how verbs are conjugated based on speaker (both according to gender and number). I’m also able to immediately identify an uber-pain in some languages: placement of indirect objects (John), direct objects (the apple), and their respective pronouns (him, it). I would follow these sentences with a few negations (“I don’t give…”) and different tenses to see if these are expressed as separate words (“bu” in Chinese as negation, for example) or verb changes (“-nai” or “-masen” in Japanese), the latter making a language much harder to crack.

    Second, I’m looking at the fundamental sentence structure: is it subject-verb-object (SOV) like English and Chinese (“I eat the apple”), is it subject-object-verb (SOV) like Japanese (“I the apple eat”), or something else? If you’re a native English speaker, SOV will be harder than the familiar SVO, but once you pick one up (Korean grammar is almost identical to Japanese, and German has a lot of verb-at-the-end construction), your brain will be formatted for new SOV languages.

    Third, the first three sentences expose if the language has much-dreaded noun cases. What are noun cases? In German, for example, “the” isn’t so simple. It might be der, das, die, dem, den and more depending on whether “the apple” is an object, indirect object, possessed by someone else, etc. Headaches galore. Russian is even worse. This is one of the reasons I continue to put it off.

    All the above from just 6-10 sentences! Here are two more:

    I must give it to him.
    I want to give it to her.

    These two are to see if auxiliary verbs exist, or if the end of the each verb changes. A good short-cut to independent learner status, when you no longer need a teacher to improve, is to learn conjugations for “helping” verbs like “to want,” “to need,” “to have to,” “should,” etc. In Spanish and many others, this allows you to express yourself with “I need/want/must/should” + the infinite of any verb. Learning the variations of a half dozen verbs gives you access to all verbs. This doesn’t help when someone else is speaking, but it does help get the training wheels off self-expression as quickly as possible.

    If these auxiliaries are expressed as changes in the verb (often the case with Japanese) instead of separate words (Chinese, for example), you are in for a rough time in the beginning.

    Sounds and Scripts

    I ask my impromptu teacher to write down the translations twice: once in the proper native writing system (also called “script” or “orthography”), and again in English phonetics, or I’ll write down approximations or use IPA.

    If possible, I will have them take me through their alphabet, giving me one example word for each consonant and vowel. Look hard for difficult vowels, which will take, in my experience, at least 10 times longer to master than any unfamiliar consonant or combination thereof (”tsu” in Japanese poses few problems, for example). Think Portuguese is just slower Spanish with a few different words? Think again. Spend an hour practicing the “open” vowels of Brazilian Portuguese. I recommend you get some ice for your mouth and throat first.

    Going through the characters of a language’s writing system is really only practical for languages that have at least one phonetic writing system of 50 or fewer sounds—Spanish, Russian, and Japanese would all be fine. Chinese fails since tones multiply variations of otherwise simple sounds, and it also fails miserably on phonetic systems. If you go after Mandarin, choose the somewhat uncommon GR over pinyin romanization if at all possible. It’s harder to learn at first, but I’ve never met a pinyin learner with tones even half as accurate as a decent GR user. Long story short, this is because tones are indicated by spelling in GR, not by diacritical marks above the syllables.

    In all cases, treat language as sport.

    Learn the rules first, determine if it’s worth the investment of time (will you, at best, become mediocre?), then focus on the training. Picking your target is often more important than your method.

    [To be continued?]

    ###
    • KyleGoetz, on 11/08/2007, -1/+8In my opinion, the post was great until he started asserting that there are no good speakers who know Pinyin. According to Chinese people I've talked with, my tones are, at worst, merely near-native (vocabulary, weeeell, that's another story...) and I learned with Pinyin. But that doesn't really matter because, in my opinion, if you're learning using Roman alphabet a language like Chinese, you've already failed (unless you're in your first couple months).
    • michael43, on 11/09/2007, -23/+0I sure your comments are vital to everyone, but did you have to write a fricking novel?
      • Herald42, on 11/09/2007, -0/+16Er, he re-posted the article here because people were complaining about the site being down.

        Next time read a comment/article before you criticize, please.
      • kokuei, on 11/08/2007, -0/+3Yes, he did. Just to piss you off.
    • Ruqsaq, on 11/09/2007, -5/+2Why would you repost his post here on digg? He wrote it... doesn't he deserve the right to have the traffic? He earned it... why is posting it to digg better... people like this piss me off. The same type of people who think some sites with ads and video are not worthy of visits but other sites with ads like digg (which by the way produces no original content) and Youtube (ditto) are.
      • rjam710, on 11/09/2007, -0/+6OK smartass, what happens if that site crashes due to the imminent Digg effect and there are no working mirrors? Then we have no access to the content whatsoever. We're not trying to deny the author his credit, we're just making sure everyone has the chance to read his work. While it's not *always* necessary, it does help sometimes.
  • captainsdead, on 11/08/2007, -0/+31sabado gigante here i come! i must know what is so damn funny.
    • DarkDx, on 11/08/2007, -0/+6It's not *that* good I give it a 7/10. I'm native spanish speaker.
    • metric7, on 11/08/2007, -2/+2It's not, horribly racist and mysognistic
  • batshitcrazy, on 11/14/2007, -1/+38norwegian girls are so hot
    • samsneaky, on 11/09/2007, -4/+1why dont you move to Minnesota if you feel this way ?
  • neutrascrub, on 11/08/2007, -0/+2hen you yisi
  • sb76117, on 11/09/2007, -25/+10im a citizen of america... SPEAK AMERICAN DAMNIT! and we wont have a problem
    • MLisa, on 11/08/2007, -3/+10lol...I wasn't aware that "American" was even a language. At least learn to use proper punctuation if you are going to be so arrogant as to type in "Speak American."
      • captainsdead, on 11/08/2007, -1/+1ha! i always love when i hear people ask if i speak mexican and i am just a white guy thats a little darker than most.
      • Wartz, on 11/08/2007, -1/+2whoosh
    • sgoogle, on 11/08/2007, -1/+20American is not a language, just a hacked up version of English
      • Elranzer, on 11/08/2007, -9/+3Except spoken by more people than "proper" English.
    • computergod, on 11/09/2007, -1/+15Sarcasm and parody is lost on some people.
    • Chicken2nite, on 11/08/2007, -0/+11http://xkcd.com/84/
  • Derter, on 11/09/2007, -14/+6I've taken a 60 hours class on Arab and you'll never be able to learn this language (or even 0.05%) in an hour.
    • Roryking, on 11/08/2007, -1/+13Did you read the article?
    • admdrew, on 11/12/2007, -0/+49In 60 hours you've yet to discover the language is not called "Arab?"
      • SuperCow1127, on 11/12/2007, -0/+10He's obviously still learning English too. Go easy, not everyone is a native speaker.
  • marsbar, on 11/11/2007, -7/+72I'll just wait for everyone else to learn English.
    • PinkoComrade, on 11/09/2007, -1/+16eye lerns it gud wit hukt ahn fonix
      • mitchlourens, on 11/09/2007, -0/+25for a second i thought that was another language like in the posts above...
        • lacronicus, on 11/08/2007, -0/+4This was what I thought the post above was supposed to be. You can imagine my puzzlement.
      • defectDS, on 11/09/2007, -1/+5H-HOOK-ED AWN PUH-HONIKZ WORCKED FOR MEH!
  • trunkster, on 11/08/2007, -2/+12I want to learn Japanese and thought this article would motivate me. Well sense every example pretty much said that this will work but not for Japanese... I guess you can't "learn" any language in 1 hour.
    • PinkoComrade, on 11/08/2007, -1/+7No, I have studied Japanese for three years its not only the new character set but the SOV, like said in the article, that makes this language difficult
      • kinggimped, on 11/09/2007, -0/+16I found learning Hiragana and Katakana very easy, I had it down pat within a week. Then Kanji came along and I just couldn't handle it. Remembering all the alternate readings and contextually-specific meanings, stroke order, and just recognising the bloody things... couldn't get my head around it before.

        Actually learning spoken Japanese isn't as challenging as everybody says it is - it requires a decent grasp of grammar, an ability to absorb new vocabulary quickly, and enough enthusiasm for the language that you practice daily and do the necessary work.

        Japanese grammar is actually very logical and analytical, especially when compared with English. There are comparatively few irregularities, no distinction between singular/plural, no definite article, and particles (esp. wa, ga & o) help you determine the sentence structure. It only really starts getting hard when you start tackling longer sentences and their equivalent to subordinate clauses, as well as the afore-mentioned Kanji.

        To those that want to learn Japanese, don't be put off by its reputation as a difficult language. Unless you start young, comprehension of Kanji can evade you for your entire life, but as far as the actual spoken language goes, it just requires a keen mind, common sense, and most importantly, the enthusiasm for daily practice.

        Oh, and watching anime does not count as 'practice'. There's only so many times you can learn the word "yurusanai".
        • PirateFSM, on 11/08/2007, -0/+2fuzakennayo!
        • otakushark, on 11/08/2007, -0/+2Kanji is definitely a huge challenge, but you can get by with the much easier Hiragana and Katakana while you learn. Also, the other thing I think that Japanese has over English is its relatively simple and straightforward word construction and pronunciation. English has so many rules and exceptions that you practically have to hear a new word pronounced by a native speaker in order to say it correctly.
        • Veritate, on 11/08/2007, -0/+1I learned a fair bit of kanji by taking up karaoke. Yes, it's silly, but the reason Japanese enjoy it and Americans often do not is not so much in what it is, but how they approach it.
          Hiragana and katakana are quite easy. Just get a reference, and write every Japanese word you can think of. Katana, karate, sushi, sashimi, Hiroko-chan, whatever.
  • SiNN4R, on 11/11/2007, -1/+19I've downloaded Rosetta Stone.. err I mean bought Rosetta Stone to learn Japanese but couldn't sit there for the time needed. With this maybe I'll give it another go and try my luck. I was actually getting the begining level of it but I did need to put a lot of time into it so put it off.
    • PinkoComrade, on 11/09/2007, -8/+3Do you know of the torrent of bits?
    • Elranzer, on 11/11/2007, -0/+14Rosetta Stone is great for the speaking/listening aspect (which makes it good for French and Spanish) but it's balls horrible for learning a new writing system. Your best bet for that is good ol' books or different software.
    • endersadvocate, on 11/09/2007, -0/+1I did the same, Definitely agree with Elranzer though, I am more interested in reading japanese (manga) then learning to speak it. Ill trudge through the lessons but I want to learn to read!
  • DirtySnachez, on 11/08/2007, -0/+16My favourite part is how he begs other bloogers to link him so he can game Technorati.
    FTA
    Odds and Ends:
    Please help me break the Technorati 1000 today!
    I’m around 1070 on Technorati’s rankings, and it’s killing me. Can those of you with blogs PULEEEEASE register your blogs with Technorati and find something interesting to link to on this 4HWW blog? It would really be a milestone for me and I’m so close! Just breaking 1000 would be enough. If you can find something to link to in the most popular posts or elsewhere, please do whatever you can in the next 24-36 hours! Thanks so much :)
    • Elranzer, on 11/09/2007, -0/+11You like that better than all his shirtless Flickr photos?
      • ellecon, on 11/08/2007, -0/+3I really liked his shirtless Flickr photos...solely for their artistic merit, mind you.
    • KyleGoetz, on 11/08/2007, -0/+12I really hate the author of the blog. Tim Ferriss basically gets to travel the world whenever he wants, running his web company out of cybercafes wherever he happens to be that day. That's why he wrote the book "The 4-Hour Workweek." I wish I could do that, too, but I need a little more security and a little less risk. I suppose if you're still unattached, it's good fun for a few years to do it his way.
      In my opinion, that's the /real/ way he's learnt all these languages: by actually going to those places.
  • tamingu, on 11/08/2007, -1/+2This is absolutely brilliant work! Take his approach and sprinkle with Lozanov's techniques ("suggestopedia") and you will indeed learn languages at incredible speeds.

    And what's wrong about wanting to break 1000 on Tecnorati, and asking people to help?
  • Elderon, on 11/10/2007, -0/+32Interesting post but effectively useless im afraid. He went on about how great it works to break these languages down but he doesn't show you how. Good tips about those couple sentences but other than that nothing special. We need to see an effective example on how he deconstructed and learned a languange, say french or arabic or something otherwise his post is all show and no game.
    • taosbob, on 11/08/2007, -0/+10Precisely. I've spent years learning Korean, Chinese, and Japanese, including living in those countries (Peace Corps, etc.) and obtaining a Ph.D. using them, and it's been a long struggle at times. Just knowing the classification of syntax doesn't get you that far. I do like his notion of treating language learning as a game, though. Students who get too hung up on textbook approaches or who are afraid of making mistakes generally flounder about before giving up. In the end attitude is the key. It also helps to have a hot girl friend. The ultimate motivation, at least for straight men . . .
      • TWINFM, on 11/08/2007, -0/+1I don't think he ever claims that these tricks will take you all the way...It is just important information to know, and makes the process much smoother. By the time you get into any linguistics in a foreign language class you are too bogged down in vocab. At least with this method or a similar one you know what to expect from the language you are dealing with. I'm not saying that it's a perfect method, and I'm also not say that this guy is not a douche bag, I'm just saying it's a good place to start.
    • TWINFM, on 11/08/2007, -0/+5That is probably because he didn't want to pack an entire linguistics 101 curriculum into his blog
  • xlar54, on 11/09/2007, -0/+25This sounds to me like how to judge how difficult a language is to learn - not how to actually learn it. Not sure I can digg this, given the title. Someone sell to me that he's actually showing how to learn as per the title, rather than just understand how hard it will be.
    • kigabit, on 11/08/2007, -1/+2Well, he did pretty much show how to learn the skeleton/structure of a language in an hour. SOV vs. SVO, conjugation, pronouns, basic writing and pronunciation, auxiliary verbs, direct/indirect object location were all in there, which could feasibly give you a working basic grammar for a language. Vocabulary's a different matter of course.
      • simpleblob, on 11/15/2007, -0/+2how to learn the skeleton/structure of a language in an hour
        V.S.
        how to learn a language in an hour

        Simply not the same.
  • philipkaplan, on 11/09/2007, -12/+7From the article: "but I can converse in quite a few with no problems whatsoever"

    Yea ***** right. What a complete douche.
  • 9a3eedi, on 11/11/2007, -1/+13Yes, but does it work on programming languages too? didn't think so..
    • Elranzer, on 11/08/2007, -0/+8You can learn Visual Basic in 15 minutes. Generation Z is born with this "knowledge."
    • KyleGoetz, on 11/08/2007, -0/+4Actually, I bet so. He is a web entrepreneur with an e-Company (or whatever you kids are calling it these days). I flipped through a few pages of his book, and I got more and more jealous as I realized he's got money and just travels the world all the time.
    • LeRenard, on 11/08/2007, -0/+1Actually, yes. If you can determine the lineage of the language (Is it a C derivative for instance) than for the most part all you need to know is the differences in syntax. Usually all that's needed is a short crib sheet until you've worked with the language enough to remember the differences. That is, if you know the earlier programming language to begin with. Computer programming languages tend to be more "dialect" than "language", in my opinion.
    • silencerar, on 11/08/2007, -0/+1Once you know how the paradigm works, you are pretty much done and the rest is almost just learn new syntaxis. If you know for instance, Basic, then learning C wouldn't be that hard for you. Or if you know haskell, then possibly won't take you that long to learn another functional language.
  • theuniversal, on 11/09/2007, -0/+24There are no shortcuts to learning a language. The article is has some good tips, like approaching a language as a sport (ie. it's about practice not memorization of rules). But the title is retarded. No different than "how to make millions in an hour" or "how to get an MIT degree in 10 minutes". Like most worthwhile things in life, learning a language is hard work. It takes discipline and lots of practice. There's no shortcut for the lazy and unmotivated. Anyone can do it, but if you're not up for a tough long haul, don't even bother.
    • Nerys, on 11/09/2007, -1/+9Not sure I agree. The hardest part of language is the concept of language itself. You do not have to relearn that when you learn a second language. The problem is memorization no matter how you spin it. Its not about skill its about retention and recall. Once you have learned one language you can learn any language if you study just a little bit and put enough of it to memory (and can recall it on command)

      The rules themselves are not hard even for languages like chinese and japanese. The problem (this is my problem) is commanding your memory. My brains just not wired for it. Too much content. I have a weird memory. I can remember credit card numbers and bank account numbers but I do not control it. It just "happens" one day these numbers are just "there" at no conscious command from me.

      THIS is why languages are hard. YOU ME everyone else spent YEARS "memorizing" our language. It only takes a few hours to "learn the rules" (applying them is something else) but really think about it. HOW hard are the rules (the basic get your thought across rules) ?? you could probably fit them on a page or two. Add a few days to learn how to produce the sounds (and then again just memorization. There is nothing in the in the character "W" that says I sound like doubleyou. You just KNOW it. or you don't

      ITS THE WORDS and knowing what they mean that are hard. You have to try and crunch YEARS of "memorization" down into a smaller time frame. The faster you can memorize the faster you can learn a language. Its that simple for the most part.

      I mean consider your own language ? DO you know it? I am betting NO for you ONLY know as much of it as you have so far memorized or been exposed too.

      ANd its so hard to teach it. you are NOT taught english in school. Your are taught SPECIFICS of english (Quantifying the rules) and your vocabulary is expanded. you "learn" english by speaking it as your parents tell you "cup" as they point to a cup. You can not "perceive" it as "cup" you associate a shape with a MEMORIZED sound. And to truly memorize it you have to make this connection OVER and OVER again.

      ANY language learning done in less than say 3-4 YEARS is by definition a short cut and I HATE those that are so damned good at it :-)
      • theuniversal, on 11/08/2007, -1/+3"The hardest part of language is the concept of language itself ... The problem is memorization no matter how you spin it. Its not about skill its about retention and recall."

        First off, learning the rules of a language does not only take "a few hours". It takes a few hundred hours.

        Second, it's not about memory any more than getting good at basketball is about memorizing the rules of basketball. That may be an exaggeration but only a slight one. Gaining proficiency in a second language is about practice - in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Ask anyone who has actually attained proficiency in a second language. I have and know many others who have and who haven't. It's about practice or lack of practice. You say your memory "isn't wired" for it, but if you are of average intelligence and willing to devote a few hundred hours doing the right kind of practice, you can learn a second language.
      • LordVoldemort, on 11/12/2007, -1/+1"First off, learning the rules of a language does not only take "a few hours". It takes a few hundred hours."

        No, it doesn't. Being able to recall new words/sounds/rules all together takes a few hundred hours.

        Consider pig latin; it's easy to learn, because all the recall is there. Also, I can mix up English structure easily---I know the words!
        • theuniversal, on 11/09/2007, -0/+1Look, you obviously have never learned a 2nd language as an adult. To become proficient in a real language, there are hundreds of rules you have to learn well, and learning each one well takes time. You did it in your native language over a period of years you just don't know it. You can mix up English structure easily and it's still English because you know the rules. If you only knew the words and not the rules to string them together you couldn't have written your post. Anyway, if you know of a language with rules so simple they can be learned in a few hours, let me know, because I'd like to learn it. And I mean a real language, not pig latin.
    • hansk, on 11/09/2007, -1/+1meh meh meh monster post
  • unearth, on 11/14/2007, -0/+58I must give it to him.
    I want to give it to her.

    Sounds like this young man is confused!
  • Stevo23, on 11/09/2007, -7/+9Buried for inaccurate title and corporate lifestyle douchebaggery.
  • grantmc1, on 11/08/2007, -3/+2This is cool but it is a shame i don't feel the urge to learn another language as of yet.
  • Grolsch, on 11/09/2007, -4/+1Tim Ferris also got a best-selling book called 4-hour-workweek which is pretty interesting and have alot of great concepts he is talking about.
  • Kruez, on 11/13/2007, -0/+28Finally, pig latin is within reach!!
  • computergod, on 11/08/2007, -0/+5Anything that sells its' self with something as silly and sensational as "Secrets Unlocked" gets buried by me.
  • mottsky, on 11/08/2007, -0/+1How about unlocking the secret to reading a story like this that normally takes 1 hour to read.....in 3 minutes. Now that would have saved me 15 minutes tonight, and I would have dugg it.
    • LeRenard, on 11/08/2007, -0/+0Read the words towards the center of the page and ignore the words towards the edges. Pay particular attention to the first sentence in a paragraph and the last.
  • monkeyboyhero, on 11/08/2007, -1/+10This article doesn't say anything about how to learn a language, only how to choose languages that are easy to learn.

    I thought the 8 or so sentences were useful for finding what languages these might be, but the whole article is written in such a self-congratulatory tone that I found it rather galling to read.
  • on9star, on 11/09/2007, -1/+9echo "Hello World";

    Your half way there
  • machambi, on 11/08/2007, -0/+1inaccurate - it takes an hour to read this article, and an additional hour to learn the language. so total two hours to learn a language ... cool stuff.. It is John's apple... yeah !
  • mesysg, on 11/08/2007, -2/+0mirror anyone?
  • sshuit, on 11/08/2007, -0/+1Somewhat inaccurate. What he means is learn IF you can learn a language by deconstructing its "rules" and phonemes in about an hour. Actual time to learn language from there will vary greatly.
  • firechill, on 11/08/2007, -0/+0Now I need to learn how to establish a database connection in 1 hour.
  • jnosanov, on 11/09/2007, -1/+8Learn a language in 1 hour? More like "Learn how hard it will be to learn another language in 1 hour."
  • WarMachineWCLH, on 11/08/2007, -0/+3Listening to this guy talk about language is what it must be like when someone overhears me and my coworkers at lunch talking about computers. Which is to say I had no idea what the hell he was talking about half the time. I was hoping there'd be some tips here to help me learn to speak German but it doesn't seem that way. Maybe I need to read it again when it's not 9 in the morning.
  • Azmeos, on 11/08/2007, -1/+1what if you want to learn the C++ language?
    • donte, on 11/08/2007, -0/+1If the Sams books taught us anything is that it takes 21 hours to learn a programming language (or SQL in 10 minutes).
  • theonewho, on 11/08/2007, -0/+6Anyone trying t learn other languages really should give mangolanuages.com a shot. It has quite a few nice features that make learning a bit easier like color coded words so you can see you one language fits with the other, and when you mouse over the foreign language it shows you phonetic spellings of the words to help you pronounce it.

    They don't have all languages of course, but they do have some of the most common (spanish, french, german, japanese...etc.).
  • weizilla, on 11/08/2007, -0/+6good luck trying to learn how to read and write Chinese in a hour. I was born in China and I can't even figure it out (moved to US when i was 5).
  • flink405, on 11/08/2007, -0/+1The answer:
    ig-pay atin-lay.
  • WaltDismal, on 11/11/2007, -1/+12The method works! Now I can say, "My sister is the best prostitute in Kazakhistan" without any chance of being misunderstood.
  • joswagz, on 11/08/2007, -0/+0Well this site is suffering from the digg effect !!!!!!!!!
  • prozoc, on 11/08/2007, -0/+3And after you "learn" a new language like this, wouldn't you still have to learn some vocabulary before you stand a chance of communicating with anyone?
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