Step-by-step Guide to Learn Any Language Efficiently to Fluency [Full update 2025]

This blog has been turned into a book: Zilch to Conversational

Think of anyone who has achieved anything, and you’ll find repetition at the core of their success. – the greater the achievement, the greater the repetition. – me

Learning is Tough, thankfully

Language learning is an understandably daunting task. There are many programs out there claiming to have you acquire a new language – guaranteed and quick – but how do you know which one to trust without wasting your time trying them all?

Program aside, how do you know the person selling it is legit? (foreshadowing..)

The decision is tough yet essential. In this transmission, I will share notes on the system I have tried and know to be effective in the three secondary languages I speak – Spanish (B2), Portuguese (B1), and Russian (A1) – and the half dozen I fool people into thinking I speak because of my adapted method.

Here is my Anki dashboard (we’ll come back to Anki soon). If I’m in a city for more than a month, I’m learning the language.

Author Introduction

In America, we learn a foreign language quite possibly at the single worst time in life – high school – when hairs are popping out of unusual places, boners are popping up randomly, and your eyeballs are popping out of their sockets looking at some ever-so-slight high-school girls’ side-titty.

That was my first attempt at learning Spanish. FAILED.

Five years later, just after graduating from college and living with my parents in the Silicon Valley home where I was raised, I purchased Rosetta Stone (review below) and gave it a try. While it was a genuine attempt, in hindsight, I did it mostly becuase I was bored and had no real use for the language.

Believe it or not, this was pre-Instagram, Tinder, and X. I don’t even think I created my YouTube account yet.

My Spanish journey really began in October 2017 with a full workweek of hours dedicated to online research to understand the best and most efficient way to learn a language. That’s key. Teachers, please take note. I, rightly, knew that I needed to first learn how to learn efficiently before my next attempt.

Although my journey continues through today, below is a video of me giving a speech in Spanish about how to earn more with your Airbnb. See the full video on my Instagram.

In the first half of this transmission, you’ll find my notes, based on Gabriel Wyner’s excellent book Fluent Forever. This book made it to my all-time favorites; you’ll find seven other books out of 500+ I’ve read.

I have revisited this blog over the years, having added more and more. You’ll find my review of dozens of programs and apps that I’ve used and paid for. We’ll sniff out the polyglot frauds. And, we’ll cover nuanced topics like pronunciation.

As you’ll find throughout this blog, proof is a non-negotiable for me from someone claiming to be a polyglot with a strategy or course. You’ll also find that proof is non-existent for 50% of the language learner YouTubers. I am not a polyglot, nor do I claim that, but I’ll provide you with my Russian. I’m not selling anything.

Who Is This Blog For?

This transmission is for those considering learning a second language, all the way through to advanced language learners like me.

It’s easy to get to the intermediate level in most languages because:

1. There are more people who’ve done it, which translates into more people wanting to share their methods and strategies.
2. You can feel the learning easier at the beginning.

It’s also for those poking into the advanced C1/C2 level who aren’t sure how to proceed becuase they’re at a level where people are complimenting them on their fluency in X language. They’re fooling themselves a bit, too.

These notes will help you avoid common mistakes and pitfalls of learning a new language. There are methods out there that can seriously reduce your study time and help you pick up a foreign language faster than you thought possible.

These are tried-and-tested skills that help you pick up languages with efficiency. Let’s get started:

Spaced Repetition System

The whole concept is based on the Spaced Repetition System, something that you can use for much more than learning languages. And it’s free.

Essentially, the Spaced Repetition System is a tool to help you memorize to learn. It can be used for many things, but its application in learning a foreign language is very powerful.

Spaced repetition, when used effectively, is a complex system based on sophisticated algorithms. But the gist of it is similar to using flashcards. You see a word in another language, test yourself to see if you know it, and then reveal the answer.

What makes spaced repetition unique is that it spaces out the time between presenting each word, ensures that you see the word enough times at the beginning, and that once you’ve started to memorize it that enough time has passed between reviews so that you are forced to dig into your memory to find the answer.

There are many apps and helpers out there to lower the learning curve and help you learn a foreign language fast. Additionally, the constant feedback and recognition that you know more and more words will boost your motivation to keep going.

Introducing Anki. It’s an application for both your computer and phone that will allow you to use the SRS system. Download it and learn how to use it. I find that learning 30 new cards per day is my maximum, and I lower it to 10 if I’m learning advanced words or grammar rules.

A very important note: Each flashcard should have one answer. Do not force yourself to recall 7 conjugations of a single word with one flashcard, as this will not help you recall quickly during a conversation.

You will create your own decks and cards, and you will develop your own system, but for now I will provide you with mine as a starting point. Below are the basic decks all my languages have:

• By year
• Colloquial
• Conjugations (for irregular verbs)
• Slang
• Rules (grammar)
• Pronunciation (add specific words that you need help with and do this from the beginning)
• Sexual (yup)

And these are additional decks as you get further into a language:

• Problem Areas (for Spanish, I added all the verb tenses of poner, poder, pedir, and perder because they were giving me trouble being so similarly spelled)
• A deck with a special focus would be on sounds if a tonal language, could be a difficult tense like the subjunctive in Spanish
• Everything else

Two URLs that you will frequently use are:

1. www.Forvo.com for proper pronunciation. I recommend using a phrase rather than the word by itself in your flashcards. This way, you will hear how the word is pronounced without a sentence (which sounds different than said by itself) and pick up another word or phrase at the same time.
2. www.TinyURL.com/BasicImage to create another connection to the word with an image

Once you have sufficient fluency in a second language, when creating flashcards in the third+ language, use the secondary language rather than your native tongue.

For example, when I’m learning Russian, the translations are not in English, they are going to be in Spanish or Portuguese.

Phase I – Train Your Ears

The first step in your learning is to become accustomed to the basics of the language. This includes the types of sounds, the alphabet, and how to pronounce different words. This provides a solid foundation, allowing you to continue learning the language and expanding your vocabulary.

Pronunciation guide. This will introduce you to all the sounds of a language and teach you how to properly make them with your mouth. Learning the International Phonetic Alphabet will be helpful throughout your language learning journey. The videos introduce you to how to make any sound.

Fun Fact: Every sound on Earth has to do with:

• where your lips are,
• where your tongue is,
• whether or not your voice box is vibrating, and
• if the air is going through your nose, mouth, or both.

Mimic Method is a solid beginner-friendly resource here.

It teaches you the baseline of how to pronounce sounds and words, and then you can move on to learning what the words and the grammar actually mean. But the sounds are first. The mouth is incredibly complex and you’ll have to move it in new ways to produce new sounds.

Create minimal pairs flashcards to rewire your brain to hear new sounds (an example of a minimal pair in English is ‘wide’ and ‘wise’. If you were learning English, you would add this card into your Anki.)

The “minimal pairs” method helps you distinguish especially tricky and similar-sounding words. You will find that if you can point out the difference between the most similar-sounding words and pronunciations, then you will be well-equipped to not only pick up on the differences between words, but you will be able to start pronouncing them yourself.

There is one famous polyglot who does not recommend using minimal pairs, but I do not recall who. If I can remember, I will post it here.

Phase 1 is really about sounds and pronunciation. You don’t have to be perfect, but you don’t want to embarrass yourself when the opportunity arises to speak in front of a crowd of target-language native speakers.

Side Quest: Improve Your Pronunciation

In Phase 2, we will start to speak, and as you do, you should phase out hand motions because they provide clues to the listener, and you want to know that your pronunciation is sufficient.

There are many ways to improve your pronunciation. One simple way is to read a book to a native speaker (they don’t have to be a teacher, just someone you want to sound like) and have them correct your pronunciation. This will work as long as you can make pronunciation corrections without detailed instruction.

Or,

Olle Kjellin, a Swedish linguist, is known for developing the chorusing technique, formalized in 1998, which focuses on achieving native-like pronunciation through intensive repetition of short audio clips to master prosody (the rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech).

Chorusing is based on shadowing, a language learning technique that’s been around a long time and was made popular and formalized in the early 2000s by Alexander Arguelles in his YouTube tutorials. (Arguelles’ specific technique has you walking outside swiftly with good posture and speaking loudly, but here’s an at-home setup I found tremendous.)

Every language has a unique rhythm, called prosody. You can hone prosody through several methods: Chorusing uses repeated playback of short recorded clips. Shadowing involves mimicking long recorded native audio in real-time. Parroting alternates your repetition with a native speaker’s model. I prefer chorusing, but Kjellin’s materials are academic and technical without clear, practical guidance. I suffered through paper’s like this and watched videos like this, so you don’t have to.

Essentially, it’ll get you saying “words ‘n sounds” (native) instead of “words and sounds” (accent).

The prosody of any language typically consists of fewer than ten or so rules based on only three fundamental elements that every language uses in its particular prosody: voice pitch (Hz), voice loudness (dB), and length of sounds (ms).

When you pronounce something wrong on your own, the error might not be that obvious to you. But, if you listen to your pronunciation on top of the native speech you’re trying to mimic, the dynamic of assonance and dissonance will show you errors.

There are four steps:

1. Listen all the way through (like it’s a song, pay attention to the melodies, pitches, tones, rhythms)
2. Listen and speak along
3. Record your version
4. Listen to how you did

This language learning process is done with the free audio software Audacity, and this YouTube is a fantastic tutorial on how to use it with the chorusing strategy.

There are some tips for using Audacity: Change Tempo to slow down the audio. Here is a tutorial on using Audacity and the shadow method with and without a good mimicking of the native speaker.

Finding the right volume level for both audio tracks can be difficult. People often report that they either can’t clearly hear their voice over the audio or can’t clearly hear the audio over their voice.

You can get around this issue by using a microphone or audio interface that allows you to hear your voice through headphones. This also has the benefit of allowing you to hear your voice more objectively (see linked video above). You can either have your voice coming into one ear, and the recording coming into the other, or have both voices coming into both ears.

When using this technique, make sure you have an audio setup with minimal lag for your voice. If the lag is more than a few hundred milliseconds, it will completely interrupt your ability to speak. In fact, there is a device called a “Speech Jammer” that does exactly that.

This article does a really nice job of explaining the nuances of shadowing.

Does it work? Well. I don’t know. I’m yet to try it. And you won’t know until you try it. But once you find something that works, it’s your golden ticket to learning a variety of languages and passing plateaus.

To appease the skeptic in me, the second answer on Quora says the inventor of shadowing could barely communicate in Chinese with this native speaker after having done a ton of shadowing in Chinese.

There are language experts who don’t recommend these techniques for beginners. Others who say you should start in your native language.

You do NOT have to use chorusing. I suggest you try it. You DO have to find a language learning technique that you have conviction about and that you will consistently work at over the long term. Otherwise, you’ll be stuck in a multi-year plateau like I am.

That’s what this article is about: me finding the technique(s) and app(s) that give me conviction to push my Spanish from B2 to C1.

Useful tool: www.RhinoSpike.com — Pronunciation of sentences

Useful tool: Youglish – in-context pronuncication of words in organic videos

Phase 2 – Vocab, Grammar, Conversation

Now that you have covered the basics of how pronunciation works and how to identify different sounds within the language you are learning, you can move on to learning what these words mean, you can start to learn vocabulary, and you can learn how to string it all together with proper grammar.

Of course, this is a lot of memorization work, and it does require commitment, but here are some techniques to make this big task seem a bit easier:

Memorize the language’s most common words. Usually, around 600 words make up 80% of spoken language, including cognates. You can search ‘frequency list [target language]’. This part is super easy, so I recommend starting with 1,000 – 2,000 words.

These are the most important words to learn first because if you are able to understand the most common words that are used, you will be able to understand a big chunk of a language’s conversation. And of course, based on simple probabilities, it makes more sense to learn these words first, especially if you want to start speaking and conversing right away.

Pay attention to important and highly used nuclear verbs:

• to come
• to do
• to give
• to go
• to have
• to have to
• to hear
• to know
• to listen
• to make
• to need
• should
• to say
• to see
• to smell
• to take
• to taste
• to touch
• to understand
• to want

How many verbs do we use in English? Maybe you’d be surprised to know that only 70 verbs make up 90% of verb usage in the language. Above are the top 21 verbs in all languages – only 49 to go! It’s really not much. Russian has the most, around 180, followed by Spanish with 110, and, finally, Portuguese with around 100 verbs.

Find conversation partners. Finding a conversation partner can be an excellent way to learn a language. Either use iTalki or go on CouchSurfing and message folks in the target language to talk to you in exchange for a meal or coffee. Fluent in 3 Months has a forum dedicated to this. Baddie Talk is a new business out of Colombia where your teacher is an attractive female.

The conversational method is proven to be effective, as it essentially forces you to understand; otherwise, you can’t properly respond.

If you’re not a naturally talkative person, free-version artificial intelligent tools like Grok have proven to be an exceptional conversational partner who only talks about things you want.

Buy a grammar book. (If you have a teacher, you do not need this). Use the book to create flashcards with grammar rules using a common sentence. Sometimes, a great way to learn something is to take your time and read about the rules. While it should be combined with conversation as well, a book can be a great tool for learning grammar.

Related Read: Learning A Language In A Foreign Country-Antigua, Guatemala Edition

Tim Ferris recommends learning the following sentences to help you start to understand word order and how sentences are put together:

• 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.

Buy a phrase book. Not one of the travel books that gives you really basic phrases. Get something more relevant. This way, you will not get caught up while speaking with natives when they use common phrases that don’t have exact translations based on the words you know.

Just as important as memorizing words is memorizing phrases/patterns. All languages use similar speaking patterns (word order, etc.) and memorizing these structures will help with your listening comprehension.

You can use Tatoeba (a mega confusing website, be ready to dedicate an hour to learn how to use it), an online database of sentences and their translations, to find the top 10,000 most commonly spoken sentences. This is especially helpful in difficult languages like Russian, where I decided to start my studies by memorizing 500+ of the most common words and sentences so I could start communicating sooner.

Here’s my very first Russian language learning purchase from 2019 from the Fluent Forever store:

Buy a familiar, low-level book in the target language with audio. Read along with the audio, and this will train your ears. You MUST focus here. Don’t passively listen; instead, actively listen. Itis okay to pause the audio to look up a word or sentence. The goal is to understand as much as you can of the book from start to finish.

You can also buy a book of short stories in the target language, which will identify new words, have short chapters, and ask a few multiple-choice questions at the end of each chapter. Note: If you choose the wrong things to read, you will stop reading in the target language. For example, I bought a newspaper and it was extremely unenjoyable because it was too advanced, the text was too formal (the goal is to speak and listen well), and the subjects didn’t interest me (not to mention they were all sad!). Reading/listening is the basis of what Steve Kaufmann teaches in LingQ.

Noche Oscura is a novel written in Spanish for Spanish language students.

Watch TV series/cartoons in the target language with subtitles in the target language. Eventually, you can turn off the subtitles. Avoid comedy until you are advanced. Read a summary of the episode in the target language before watching.

By using subtitles, you will begin to associate the words being said with their proper meanings. Just be sure to actively listen, not just passivly watch. Try to connect the words in the subtitles to the words said on screen.

When you run into fluent English speakers who never paid for a course, often times they will have gotten fluent exclusively through watching Netflix with native language subtitles.

Side Quest: Study Your Native Grammar

Every language developed organically, then we backfilled the grammar rules and yelled EXCEPTION when the language disobeyed our rules.

And, while it’s true that children never learn grammar rules yet speak fluently, it also takes them 30,000 hours of listening to acquire their language.

Grammar will speed your learning curve as an adult.

Somewhere along the road to fluency, you will likely realize that if you knew English grammar better, it would’ve helped you acquire the language you’re currently studying faster. Without further ado, let’s go back to school and reintroduce only the needed parts of grammar common to all languages.

Below is taken from both Sem Limite by Patrick Lencastre, How to Speak Any Language Fluently by Alex Rawlings, and Spanish For Dummies.

1. Nouns: name things
   • Person: Trump, Danny
   • Place: San Francisco, home
   • Thing: stove, tweezers
   • Quality: envy, complicity
   • Idea: Communism
   • Action: The plane’s departure is immiment.
   • Compound (2+ words): cat food, sandcastle
   • Derived (from another noun): gossiper, journalist
2. Articles: tiny words that introduce a noun and identify its gender and number
   • Definite: the
   • Indefinite: a, an
3. Gender
   • While English does not use gender, other languages divide up words into two or three genders: he, she, or it
4. Number: indicates quantity
   • In English, there are two and we only show number in the noun. Other languages may show number in the adjective, article, and/or verb. Hebrew has three nubmers (one, two, more than two).
   • Singluar: dog
   • Plural: dogs
   • Cardinal: one, four, nine
   • Ordinal: first, second, third
   • Fractional: one third, a quarter
   • Multiplicative: double
5. Adjectives: describe nouns
   • Possessive: It’s my book.
   • Simple: unbearable, generous
   • Compound: navy blue
   • Primitive: good, pure
   • Derived: German, lover
6. Pronouns: replace or accompany the noun when it’s clear what you’re talking about (a shortcut)
   • Subject/Personal (people, or the subject or ‘doer’): I, you, he, she, they, we, it
   • (Direct/Indirect) Object (not the subject): me, you, him, her, them, us, it
   • Possessive: my, mine, his, yours, ours, etc.
   • Demonstrative: this, these, that, those
   • Relative (introduce relative clauses): that
   • Indefinite (when we don’t know who/what something is): some, none, somebody, nobody, everything, everyone
   • Interrogative (questions): what, who, where
   • Reflexive: yourself (always ends in -self or -selves)
   • Address/Treatment: Sir, Your Majesty, Dr.
   • Prepositional (used after a preposition): without me
7. Verb: action or state of being
   • Action: to strike, to cook
   • Linking: The dog seems happy.
   • Auxiliary: She would do that.
   • Intransitive (can stand alone): I sit. I speak.
   • Transitive (cannot stand alone): I bring (something).
   • Verbs are conjugated in many languages, and would be classified:
     • Regular: walk/walked, love/loved
     • Irregular (in conjugation): go/went/gone, eat/ate/eaten
     • Defective (missing tenses): can, must
     • Abundant (more than one): burn/burnt-burned, spill/spilt or spilled
     • Anomalous (super irregular): be (am/is/are – was/were – been)
8. Adverb: modifies a verb, adjecive, or adverb
   • Location: there, above, near
   • Time: today, tomorrow
   • Mode: softly, violently
   • Negation: no, nor
   • Doubt: maybe, probably
   • Intensity: too much, a lot
   • Affirmation: yes, certainly
9. Conjunctions: join sentences or clauses
   • Co-ordinating (join or contrast): and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet
   • Subordinating (introduce a subordinate clause): while, becuase, even if, although, as soon as, after
   • Correlative (link two equal parts): either..or.., both..and.., neither..nor..
10. Cases: slightly change a word to express information about its role
    • Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French do not use cases
    • German, Russian, Greek, Polish, EE do use cases
    • Nomative: the brother
    • Genative: of the brother
11. Clause: is the smallest grammatical part of a sentence that contains a proposition (or can be its own complete sentence)
    • The man who said hello to me had brown hair.
    • After I’d studied German, I decided to visit Berlin.
      • Main
      • Relative
      • Subordinate
12. Conjugation: changes the verb to reflect who is doing the action.
    • Depending on the lanauge, this can happen in the beginning, middle, or end. English have almost no conjugations.
13. Prefix (beginning)/Suffix (ending) change the words meaning
    • Prefix: discount, disqualify
    • Suffix: countable, doable
14. Interjections: express emotions
    • Ouch!
    • Wow!
    • Ew!
    • Shh!
    • Uh-huh
15. Prepositions: tell where, when, how, and why something’s done
    • Essential: before, behind, between, under, over
    • Accidental: except, according to, as, but, otherwise, such as, by means of
16. Subject: (“does” the verb)/Object (done by the verb)
    • Object: The dog caught the ball.
    • Indirect object (passive thing in the sentence): The dog gives the man the bone.
    • Direct object (active thing doing something): The dog gives the man the bone.
    • Prepositional objects (similar to IO but needs a preposition): The dog barks at the skateboard.
17. Word Order: how the language structures information
    • English has a fixed word order: Subject-Verb-Object
    • Japanese has a fixed word order: Subject-Object-Verb
    • Russian, Hungarian, and Greek have a free word order. You can say the cat ate lunch or lunch ate the cat.

Conclusion To B2

The key throughout this article, and a major point in your (and my) quest to learn a new language, is to follow a formula that includes repetition. A language is a massive piece of data to process/learn, with many rules, many words, and many nuances. Therefore, applying a formula and learning essential concepts before others will really accelerate your progress.

The method that I covered, along with spaced repetition techniques, has proven to be an excellent tool for learning not only languages but parts of grammar, the constitution, and anything to be memorized.

As it relates to language acquisition, starting with basic pronunciation and sounds (ie train your ear), then moving to vocabulary and grammar, is an excellent method to pick up a language.

For more details on these strategies, pick up Fluent Forever or my book, Zilch to Conversational, and get started today with just five minutes of dedication daily. Do that until the motivation overcomes you to want to study for five more minutes.

Ninety-nine percent of language learning is simply repetition. Whether it was your native language, which took you 15 years and 30,000 hours of repetition to learn, or that foreign friend with English fluency via Netflix (mind you, watching Netflix weekly for years), the commonality is repetition.

Does a Language Learning Gene Exist?

I present to you two friends: Laura and Martin. Laura is the girl in the video up top. She speaks English at a C1 level. Martin pretty much has native level English fluency without ever having visited the USA.

I asked Laura what she did to get to that level, and her answer surprised me. She didn’t really know. She lived in Los Angeles. She babysat kids. She listened to music and watched Netflix. But as far as her progress and baby steps into the language, she just learned with exposure.

Let’s compare her experience learning English in a year to my experience learning her language over many years.

If you asked me how I learned Spanish, I could map out step-by-step how I learned Spanish. It started with a Spanish school and private lessons. I read some books, then I moved on to learning common words with flashcards, I paid for group and personal classes and online courses, and heck, I even lived in the same house as a Guatemalan family for two months.

This last point is interesting because many people attribute their fluency to this direct immersion experience, similar to what Laura had in the United States.

I did that. Now, maybe I didn’t do it long enough? But I felt it was not helpful. It was passive learning, and I didn’t feel it ever clicked. Like most things in life I achieve, I put out a tremendous amount of effort. But I do achieve. I always achieve, with enough time, and so will you.

Martin. He has a knack for understanding languages, tones, accents, and speaking them well. We happen to be in Brazil at the same time. We exchanged some voice messages, and his accent and fluidity in speaking Portuguese are drastic and sound already near fluent. He says that he’s fluent. I don’t know how that would be possible in only a few months, even at his level, already speaking two other foreign languages.

But, I hear him. He’s fluent, or at least upper B2 level.

Does he have a language learning gene? I think yes. Same with Laura. I don’t think they’re normal. I think I am more firmly in the “normal” camp of language learners.

You be the judge.

The 5 Pillar Skills

To become fluent, you need to read, write, listen, speak, and think in your target language. The most efficient way to learn a language is to practice multiple skills at once. “Most efficient” ≠ “most pleasant”.

The 5/1 Circuit below has you practice all five skills with the same activity. While efficient, it consumes a lot of metal energy, and you cannot do this for more than an hour a day.

Don’t discount the single or double skill activities below becuase simply reading a book in your target language for minutes before bed could prove better in the long run if you can stick with it ten minutes every night for a year (61 hours) as opposed to the 5/1 Circuit that burns you out over the course of a month.

Let’s start with a single skill, followed by improving two, then three skills at once.

Speak (medium impact, more enjoyable)

Speaking is the most straightforward skill. You must open your mouth, and that will be with someone you’re paying or an organic conversation in public you seek out. I’ll give you suggestions for both.

While in conversation with a native, avoid saying you don’t understand (“Qué?” or “Puedes repitir?”) as this will stop the conversation in its tracks. Instead, say anything related to the subject. Conversation is a funny thing, and as long as you say anything, it will continue to flow. Even if you rephrase the last thing you said. If you’re really lost, ask the speaker to explain to you better, which translates to ‘I understand the words, but not the concept so please rephrase what you just said‘.

An easy way to keep the conversation in the native language is to play games like eye spy, 5 questions, back writing, and murder/marry/shag. This is especially useful at the beginner stages when your conversational creativity is lacking.

Look for street vendors to talk with and then purchase something from them. They are always happy for a few minutes’ chat, and it will expose you to real/non-teacher language pronunciation.

Online platforms with humans (I am NOT a fan of AI yet):

• www.iTalki.com
• www.HelloTalk.com 
• Conversation Exchange
• InterPals
• Preply
• TUTOROO
• LingQ
• VerbalPlanet
• Verbling
• NaTakallam – working with refugees

Conversation with your language teacher isn’t bad, but it’s not going to get you where you want to go because your teacher is used to using 100% proper grammar and speaking slowly without slang or colloquialisms.

This is the reason you think you’re good and then get hit in the head with a sledgehammer when you go out into the real world. You must actively listen to the target language. Here are some videos if you happen to be learning Spanish:

• Beginner
• Intermediate
• Advanced

To achieve true fluency, you need to discuss a range of subjects with various people. If you’re talkative, this will be easy. If you’re not talkative, try talking about different subjects on different days of the week (relationships, health, science, travel, etc.).

I like to talk about factual topics that teach me something, so I’ll often ask my teacher to explain the country’s healthcare and educational systems. Or maybe I’ll discuss something I notice about the culture. How the metro system works, governmental programs, etc.

Read (low impact, high enjoyment)

Books are the obvious choice here, but I also have alternative recommendations. I am a big reader in the English language.

Toucan is a Chrome extension that helps you learn a target language by translating some words on any webpage. It’s beginner-friendly. Yomitan is another (was recommended).

Quora is a free questions/answer app. Download it onto your phone and read the answers you find interesting.

Teach Yourself, recommended by Patrick Lancastre in his book Sem Limite, is a book publisher with recommendations based on your level in dozens of languages. I talk more about this in The Most Complete Guide to Language Learning Apps and Courses.

You can read shorter book summaries if you’re short on time or at the beginner level. Here’s a website for Russian language learners.

*Important Hack: As wild as it sounds, simply rereading the same sentence or paragraph two or three times can unlock more understanding than you’d think. On the first pass, your brain is overloaded and misses connections. On the second or third pass, those same sentences suddenly make more sense, even though you didn’t study or look anything up. Most people skim, hit something confusing, shrug, and move on. Big mistake. That “I don’t get it” feeling usually disappears with just one or two more reads. It’s the laziest, most effective language hack there is. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

YO! This is a subtle but important point. Here’s an example from my Portuguese study: Quem mais compararia idiomas a filhos a não ser aquele que é pai de 4 crianças?

Even if you don’t speak Spanish or Portuguese, let me take you through what just happened to me (and repeats itself). I read that sentence four times. The first time, I understood the first half of the sentence and another few words, but all the tiny connector words messed me up: a, a, é, de

Comparing something plus children and father. 40% understanding.

I read it again, filling in some gaps: who would compare languages to children plus father plus 4 children. 60% understanding

I read it again, focusing on filling in additional gaps to the tipping point of full understanding: who would compare language learning and children, plus not, than, father, 4, children. 80% understanding and bingo. I know I’ve arrived at the final reading of the sentence.

Who else would compare languages to children than a father of four? 100% (you don’t even notice it, but even in your native language, your understanding of many sentences is only 85-90%.

If by the end of the 4th round, you still don’t get it, then just look up the word in question, of which there is probably only one or two. Of course, you have to read at your level, or slightly above it if you’re feeling frisky.

When you try to read a book in your target language, there are a few problems you’ll want to solve. First, if there are many dialects, such as in Spanish, ensure the author is from the country/region you prefer for the accent/grammar. Second, you’ll need to identify the difficulty level of the book. I suggest choosing a level that is one step below where you think you are. If reading becomes overly tedious, you’ll lose interest. Too easy, and you’ll lose interest. Third (I’m skipping ahead with this), if you get the matching audiobook, you’ll need to verify that the audio actually matches the text.

Learning With Texts is a totally free tool. I found this video explanation on how to use it. It’s not the best, but it’s simple. I published a deep dive on all the language learning tools, apps, and courses that I’ve tried.

Once you’re at an intermediate level, you’ll want to switch your phone to your target language. This is because the more exposure you get in various ways, the better your brain will be able to latch on to words. You’ll pick up dozens, if not hundreds, of new bonus words that you wouldn’t come upon in daily speech just by using your phone. You can also switch your Netflix, YouTube, Facebook, web browser, etc. to your target language. Don’t do this too soon because it will be frusterating. If it feels frusterating, change it back to your native langauge.

Listen (low impact)

If you’re a beginner, active listening is trying to hear the words, not necessarily the meaning. Listening for gaps is a learning trick. This is the first step before true active listening. It’s more helpful than you might think at first.

As you get to advanced, or if you want an accent from a specific region, start watching soap operas (credit to Language Simp’s Book).

Add Video Speed Controller Chrome extension to make video playback easy.

Another, newer option is Language Reactor, helping with Netflix and many other video platforms.

One Minute Languages is suitable for beginners, offering $10 courses.

TuneIn offers free internet radio from around the world.

Book Mate app offers free (and paid) audiobooks.

Watch the news in your target language because of the lack of slang and simple sentences. If you’re interested in current events, try Linguista360 (very good!). Or news spoken slowly.

I didn’t place much emphasis on listening to music in the target language until I found two apps that made it a more worthwhile activity:

• Apple Music (comes with auto lyrics in the target language, but only on mobile)
• LingoClip (it’s an app, see below)
• LyricFluent

Be sure to sing aloud. Slang or colloquialisms are often used in songs.

Watch movies/TV in accordance with your level. If you’re a beginner, watch Disney movies. And, watch movies you’re already familiar with because you can focus more on listening, because you already know the plot.

Search “popular YouTube videos in [country name]” into Google.

A SHORT BREAK: I want to pause here to explain something important, especially if you’re a beginner. There is no one right strategy. Stop searching for that. Stop when you find somethign that catches you attention and go for it. You will mend that strategy to your style because everyone has their own slightly unqiue learning sytle. The chance that you find a video or strategy that works perfect for you is one-in-a-million. I won’t say it can’t happen, but don’t count on it. The right strategy, and this is true for your diet and exercise and any routine, is the one you’ll stick with long term. The one that works for you, and that means you’ll have to, at least slightly, modify any language learning technique. If you’re the person who likes to talk to everyone you see, then focus here. I recall being in Cali, Colombia, with a friend, and once we got in the car, speaking English, he suggested we switch to Spanish for the driver. This worked for him, yet for me, it feels more like a chore. If that’s not for you and you prefer practicing in silence by yourself, focus on reading. You want to get to the tipping point where it all starts to make sense. There is a point at which the pieces come together, even the pieces you didn’t know existed.

Write (low impact)

It’s strongly suggested that you use a physical pen when practicing writing. Maybe it’s that I’m an author, but I think this makes learning more efficient than digital typing as I’m doing now.

HiNative is an app designed to get you feedback on written sentences. You could also use Tandem for one-on-one chats with other language learners or HelloTalk, a community-based social-media-like language learner app.

Here are some writing-based tools:

• https://journaly.com/ (my favorite) – You can write small/medium posts in a target language and others can comment or correct your writing. 
• https://nyan-8.com/ (entirely free)
• https://langcorrect.com/ (largest)

When sending and receiving messages (texting, Facebook, etc.), don’t immediately rely on Google. Take a second to use your brain. When sending, try to type the entire message, then use a translator. When receiving, actively read for comprehension before using a translator. It’s very easy to rely heavily on translators, but this limits the speed of learning. Eventually, start leaving voice messages instead of text messages to improve speaking ability.

Start a daily journal. Daily is better than weekly. Just start with a paragraph and explain your day. Get it corrected with the tools above.

Two tools mentioned that I couldn’t understand, but see how there could be value, especially in more obscure languages, are: Google Input Tools and LanguageTool

Thinking (low impact)

Do you, like me, have a constant narrative running through your head throughout the day?

I don’t like traditional studying becuase it seems less relevant to me (ie I’m learning things that don’t have immediate relevance). However, one learning method I could get behind is taking sentences that I’m actually speaking, yet can’t fully say, making note of them, and fixing them in my own time.

The problem is that I need to remember the individual sentences while I’m out and about. I can, but this process is slow becuase I’m only getting a couple new sentences per day, at most.

On the other hand, I can change my thinking to the target language, and write down immediately all the sentences that I’m not able to say fluidly. Then start to separate them out into certain categories, whatever makes sense to me.

You’ll have to force yourself to do this for a few months before it becomes second nature. Habits are formed no sooner than 28 days. I find it especially useful to find gaps in my speaking.

That document I referenced above would look like this:

Double Combo: Read and Write (medium impact)

Read a book in your target language and translate it into a third target language if you know one at a B2+ level (ideal) or into your native tongue. Then, get those translations corrected via an online platform.

Double Combo: Read and Listen (medium impact)

Assimil (passive phases 1-49), for beginners

book2 by 50 Languages – Good for beginners to get exposure to basic sentences

Double Combo: Speak and Listen (high impact)

Language exchange or dating. There is something invaluable about speaking with a real human, especially if you’re engaged and passionate about the topic and/or the human. As much as I hate to say it, getting into arguments in a native language is a fluency hack. It’s less about the argument and putting yourself into a stressful state of mind while having to perform. Giving a speech in public would do the same thing (join a local Toastmasters if you’re in the target language country?). No replacement for this duo.

Sometimes, language exchanges try to match you with someone who is learning your language, so you both speak in the language you are learning, which makes this technique half as useful, right (ie you are only speaking and not listening because the other speaker is talking in your native language)? While that’s technically true, I have two observations:

1. You can easily find a lazy language exchanger who will speak in his native tongue. This is more common than not!
2. You can improve your listening ability on your own time, so the skill is much less critical than the highly prized speaking skill.

I’m pretty sure I got fluent in Spanish becuase of my time in Colombia, going on so many dates, giving me so much time to really want to both listen attentively and speak clearly.

If you don’t have a date, you can use Clozemaster hands-free option to listen to a sentence, then you repeat it out loud right afterwards. You can do this with audiobooks and movies. It’s like shadowing Lite.

MundoLingo is a nice website with a bunch of language exchange meetups in 50+ major cities across the globe.

Polyglot Club may be defunct (at least in Medellin, it is for 2 years), but it could be a good option if you’re in a more popular city.

Double Combo: Speak and Read (medium impact)

Read a book out loud.

Double Combo: Speak and Write (medium impact)

Self-transcription.

Assimil (active phases 50-100)

Double Combo: Listen and Write (medium impact)

One level down from full-on transcription (see next section) is called scratching. This is where you are only keeping yourself engaged by writing down words you don’t know, or words you do know, maybe a phrase you don’t understand. The point is to just keep you engaged when you don’t want to stop the audio so often, as you will with transcription.

As we move on to high-impact triple combos, they are not necessarily better. You may find that the high-impact learning activities move too slowly for you, ruining any enjoyment. Learning must be enjoyable. If you want to read and listen to a book, practicing two skills, then later listen to another book while transcribing it, there’s nothing wrong with that. A personal preference.

Triple Combo: Listen and Read/Write (high impact)

In his short 2011 article, The Most Effective Method for Learning a Language Alone, David Macleod describes a simple yet effective strategy for learning a language: transcription – listen to something that interests you in your target language and then write it down. Make sure the audio is long and has matching text like a book. This makes you actively listen. Audacity might prove useful.

Transcribe. This is the act of writing down what you hear from a podcast, movie, audiobook, etc.. You’ll notice many gaps in your understanding.

Buy a book in your target language and at your level, plus the accompanying audiobook. Listen to the book while transcribing what you hear, paragraph by paragraph. Compare what you wrote to the actual text a fix any gaps in knowledge.

Triple Combo: Speak/Listen and Read (high impact)

Read a book in your target language aloud while listening to it and reading it. Don’t be afraid to slow down the audio. This moves much faster than when adding in the transcription portion. Do this for half and add in transcription for the other half.

Triple Combo: Speak/Listen and Write (high impact)

Shadowing with Transcription. First, play a short audio (listen). Second, replay and mimic immediately: Speak along word-for-word, matching rhythm, intonation, and speed while recording yourself (speak). Third, transcribe fully from memory (write). The ‘from memory’ part is important. Ever try to remember a series of six numbers in your native language (maybe to log in to a website)? You could do that pretty easily. Trying to put those same six numbers into your short-term target language memory.

You can use Youglish to find short audio/video clips of specific target-language words.

As a slight variation on the above strategy, the Transcription Method (also known as “Shadow Transcription”) employs a Listen-Write-Speak flow, rather than the Listen-Speak-Write flow used in Shadowing with Dictation. I prefer this, depending on your level, because it will be frustrating if you don’t actually know what is being said while trying to speak it. Try both and see which strategy feels better.

Triple Combo: Speak and Read/Write (high impact)

Language Experience Approach (LEA) with (optional) Discussion. First, verbally narrate a 1-2 minute personal story into a recorder. Second, transcribe your spoken story verbatim. Third, read the written version aloud multiple times, varying tone and noting the parts where you need a pronunciation fix. You can upload both the spoken and written parts to online platforms for corrections.

The Holy Grail 5/1 Circuit: Speak/Listen and Read/Write and Think

If you can achieve this, you’re operating at Trump-level God-mode. But to do so, you really need other people (live or via a platform) for the speaking portion. Here are the steps and how I do it:

Step 1: Think of a piece of short-form content I want to discuss in my target language. (skill: think)

How I do it? I think about a topic I want to record for a 60-second video in Spanish that I will upload to my Spanish content Instagram account. In this step, I am only thinking. I’m rearranging words to increase watch time and attention. I’m playing with the language in my head. Target language word/phrase retention.

Step 2: Draft it in the target language with a pen. (skill: write)

How I do it? Put those thoughts down on paper, ideally real paper with a pen. Do a one-pass over yourself to try to bring it to 100% for when you have it corrected by a native.

Step 3: Have it corrected by a teacher or platform, or friend if you have a patient one! Do this part online and exclusively in the target language to improve your reading of the comments/corrections. (skill: read)

How I do it? I send the piece of content to a friend asking them to correct it. If I don’t have a friend, I can upload it to HiNative, Journaly, nyan-8, LangCorrect, or smaller portions to HelloTalk.

Step 4: Speak it out loud to identify which areas you have a problem saying fluently, or discuss with a local friend to identify one or two areas that sound the most unnatural (in phrasing or accent). Use the shadowing/chorusing technique discussed above to correct these pronunciation mistakes. (skill: speak/listen/pronunciation)

How I do it? I speak it out loud, and if a portion gives me difficulty, I will find that word online (Youglish) and compare how I say it to a native speaker with shadowing. Using a friend here is not ideal unless they have a phonetic ability (some do) and are there with you. Doing it over text is not efficient.

Step 5: Record yourself. You can share it on Tandem, HelloTalk, or iTalki, or with a friend or teacher. I post to my @airbnbespanol Instagram account. Talk about five birds with one stone! (skill: speak)

Want something easier to hit all four skills?

Read a book (reading) out loud (speaking) while listening to it (listening) and then transcribing it (write). Or, listen and transcribe first; read and speak, second.

Here’s another from master polyglot Patrick Lencastre’s book Sem Limite: Choose something that has audio and text, like a YouTube video. Then, look for a different piece of text on the same topic. Next, summarize both in your own text and send it to your teacher or language platform along with an audio talking about the same topic (not reading the text you sent). Finally, talk with the teacher/friend about the same topic. As a bonus, use your favorite AI tool to ask a question about grammar or any confusion points. Have it explain the rule and use it in a common dialogue and create exercises for you.

Here is one more:

The final four-skill God-mode technique is called Dictogloss, but you need group involvement for the speaking part, where you debate the accurate text you wrote down solely based on your own memory after listening to the audio clip a few times.

Finally, create your own list of ways you can study with my guidance above, and be sure to filter by ease and time period (car ride, on the toilet, in a line, over lunch when you can’t use your hands). For example, if you’re in line at the grocery store, a low-commitment app or game is best. Choose other language-learning activities for before bed, when waking up in the morning, and during your morning bathroom routine.

Here’s what I do by activity:

• Cooking/eating lunch: YouTube videos
• Walking to gym/warming up: podcasts
• Before bed: read a couple pages of a book
• Dedicated study time, usually morning (15min): grammar book or programs/courses
• Bathroom routine: listening activity
• On the toilet/in elevator: Anki flashcards

The trick here is actually finding stuff you WANT to listen to in the target language. It’s a balance of topic and level of understanding.

Advanced Learner Topics

Collocation – language-specific restrictions on how words can be used together (for example, in English, you should say ‘blonde hair’ but not ‘blonde car’)

Polysemy – multiple meanings of the same word (for example, head in English can mean a body part, or the head of an organization, or the head of a pin). See ‘Improve Your Pronunciation‘ above.

Idiomatic Expressions – metaphorical and culture-specific phrases like ‘estar en las nubes‘ (ie daydreaming) or ‘se me fue la paloma‘ (ie I forgot what I was saying).

Phrasal Verbs – verb + preposition/adverb combinations that alter the verb’s meaning, requiring memorization as a unit for fluency. ‘Echar‘ is to throw, as in to throw away, but ‘echar de menos‘ is to miss someone. You could jokingly say ‘me echaste de menos‘ to your server when she returns.

Quick Start Language Learning Study Guide

1. Get accustomed to the sounds of the language (alphabet and programs like Mimic Method)
2. Memorize the most common 1,000 words with Anki
3. Conjugation in present, most common past, and most common future of that languages’ most common verbs (between 50-100)
   • Once you feel you get it 90%, go on to irregular conjugations in those same tenses. I add to Anki because for me, that’s what works most efficiently.
   • If you find the language is hard, focus on the I and You conjugations first. This is because your conversations will likely be one-on-one, where you’ll only need these forms.
4. Add in one favorite activity (watching or reading or an app) for daily downtime (lines, elevator, toilet, transit)
5. Start making as complex statements as you can to strangers. For example, I’m in Brazil and just formed the sentence ‘it started to rain hard while I was in the elevator’ (Comencou a chover forte em minha viagem no asencor). It got a laugh, but did not start a short conversation.
   • You may also talk to strangers if you’re confident enough, find a teacher, attend a language exchange
   • Use Google Translate/Claude AI a lot, and when you get home, add those words into Anki. The first 6 months, you should be memorizing 30 new words every day (5,400 after 6 months)
6. Look up which verbs go with which prepositions. In English, we say “I’m on the bus” but in some languages, that would mean you’re sitting on top of the bus. Those languages might require the word ‘in’. Memorize these language-specific verb+prepositional connections (phrasal verbs)
7. Look up language- and region-specific idioms (this is to fool native’s to think you’re more fluent than you are to keep the conversation going longer)
8. Create a study plan to avoid the intermediate plateau which is simply where you’re comfortable in the language with common tasks, and for every hour of study, the net benefit becomes smaller and smaller to the point of being unnoticeable.
   • Listening
   • Speaking
   • Writing
   • Reading
   • Activity for downtime (getting ready in the morning, commute to/from work, exercise, cooking, evening bathroom routine)

You need a plan to progress. Even if it’s one thing daily. And, you need to measure progress to stay motivated.

Plan to progress. Measure to motivate.

Even if you practice for only 15 minutes every other day (which is 45 hours per year of study time), you will progress over the long term. A good way to measure early progress is to watch a cartoon and note how much you remember. Then, watch the cartoon again (same episode) once per month, and you will understand more and more.

Industry Giants and Their Strategies

I began this section with the purest of intentions, and halfway through, I realized something about the world of influencer polyglots that I should’ve already known, having a YouTube channel, but changed me forever.

If you want to know what changed my forever, skip to “Important Realization (!)”.

Below is a list of the most famous polyglots and their associated strategies, apps, or courses. Some are not to be trusted, so as a shortcut for you and me, I have added a ‘YES’ and ‘NO’ which correlates to their credibility and strategy.

Steve Kaufmann of LingQ, Lingosteve YT, and The Way of the Linguist

Focus 80-90% on reading and listening, and speaking will come naturally after ~500 hours; stresses that enjoyment and consistent immersion are key to long-term retention. YES-ISH

Gabriele Wyner of Fluent Forever (book and app)

SRS flashcards with mnemonics and pronunciation focus on deep memory encoding. NO-ISH

Michel Thomas of Michel Thomas Method

100% auditory learning. NO

Olly Richards of StoryLearning and YouTube

Story-based learning through graded readers and narratives, turning passive input into active retention by making grammar and vocab emerge naturally from engaging, context-rich fiction tailored to learner levels. NO

Luca Lampariello of Polyglot Conference (cofounder) and YouTube

Bidirectional translation and accent mastery. YES

Benny Lewis of Fluent in 3 Months and Irish Polyglot YouTube

“Speaking from day one”. YES

I read the book and hated it because it was 90% fluff and 10% actionable information. With that said, the guy is confirmed to know 10+ languages and offers a premium service. It should be noted that I loved Grabriele Wyner’s book, yet I can’t find any videos of him speaking Spanish (my best language and one I can judge his abilities).

Olle Kjellin and Alexander Arguelles known for Shadowing/Chorusing

See ‘Improve Your Pronunciation’ above about speech shadowing and chorusing. Kjellin is a linguist (not a polyglot), so keep that in mind for his strategies, and there exist zero easily found videos online of Arguelles speaking any language. NO-ISH

Ikenna Oke of Fluyo app and Ikenna Languages YouTube

Horrendous game that’s already bankrupt after raising $1M+. Makes videos like ‘my spanish level after 7 days’. NO

Paul Noble of the Paul Noble Method

Limited presence online, but somewhat known in the language learning field for his audio-based method similar to Michel Thomas or Pimsleur.

Let’s stop here because I had a BIG realization (see the last section): Let’s cut through the noise and find the real polyglots (oftentimes not so famous) that we should be paying attention to. I found Evildea investigative series and the following language influencers are legit:

Patrick Lencastre (only 626 YouTube Subscribers; I book Portuguese classes with him)

The Language Simp (industry giant nearing 2M subs). Compliments on his accent. His book is pretty bad, and only for beginners.

Lindie Botes (~500k subs)

Sonnywils (Indonesian; not selling anything, but also doesn’t teach. Videos are entertainment only)

Go with Kob (2,000 subscribers! Mostly entertainment videos but some instructional ones)

Gabriel Poliglota (Brazilian; 6 languages at B2 level)

languagejones (a rare linguist who is also a polyglot)

Mikel Telleria (speaks 6 languages well)

Alex Rawling gained some fame in 2012 but went silent online. He demonstrated proficiency in 11 languages on TV. He stopped making YouTube videos in 2020, tweeting in 2022, and even his website appears to be defunct since 2019. He published a book in 2017.

Who are the polyglot frauds?

Wouter Corduwener – From a country where it’s likely to speak 3 languages, and maybe he knows a couple more. Mostly Fraud.

Austin Zhuang of Xiaoma – fraud based on languagejones opinion

The following are frauds until I can find indisputable proof from the list above:

• Gabriele Wyner (very sad! I only found this 2min video from 2013, although his accent got complimented on various occasions in the comments in different languages c’mon, you’re selling a method for learning languages, so prove how well you speak them)
• Michel Thomas
• Olly Richards
• I’m putting a placeholder on both Olle Kjellin and Alexander Arguelles. While I don’t doubt their authenticity, I need (and without expection) undisputable proof of them speaking multiple languages to a high degree and I could not find anything.

Extra Resources + Notes

I’ve got more tips and tricks that are blog homeless!

• Learning German? Explore the free and comprehensive DW courses.
• Learning Japanese? The Kana app is excellent.
• Learning French? Check out the Change ma vie podcast.
• Learning Spanish at an advanced level? HoyHablamos has an authentically, positive review on Reddit.
• Learning Russian? Check out the Orusskomporuski YouTube
• Learning Chinese? HSK materials (book, YouTube, website) and Pleco
• LingoDeer is good, but only for the Asian languages
• The single best thing you can do as an English speaker to learn a new language is to go to a place where they only speak the target language. I know, generic advice, but maybe I can add to it with my explanation of why: As an English speaker, most places you go to, there will be many people who would love to practice their English with you. And it feels good to help people while at the same time being looked at as an authority. As hard as you might want to avoid English, you eventually will speak it. It’s like when you travel to a new destination, and all the locals are trying to rip you off (I’m looking at you Marrakech), eventually, you will get ripped off. Place yourself in a situation where you are most likely to succeed.
• This webpage titled Learn Languages Fast With These Free Recursos from Gabriele Wyner is useful.
• If you are having a problem with a specific topic in your target language, search for it on YouTube. And, it can be very specific like ‘help with haya in Spanish’. The more popular a language, the easier this will be.

Reviews of Language Courses and Apps I’ve Tried

tl/dr: My current favorite apps: Anki, Clozemaster (hands-free mode to listen on the go), Conjugato (Spanish only; Conjuu for French), Glossika (for speaking), Beelinguapp/LingQ (for reading/listening), Innovative (if I want a serious app), HelloTalk (for the social media/community aspect), LingoClip (train with music)

Smartphone apps will be your best friend (Tandem, Conjugato, Clozemaster, Speechling) becuase you can use them to study even when you have a 45-second break waiting in line for the bathroom.

In general, I find mobile apps the best for practice (not learning new concepts). For this reason, you might not want to use them until later in your learning journey. They can reinforce previously learned concepts in a new/fun way.

This section was overtaking the entire blog post, so I decided to create a dedicated thread: The Most Complete Guide to Language Learning Apps and Courses (constantly updated)

KEY POINT: No one app is your magic bullet. None. No matter how suave the language influencer or expert is. If you plan to use Duolingo (please, no!) exclusively, you are not using your time optimally. This is true because your brain works differently from the app developer’s brain. You will need to supplement. Take Clozemaster, for example, a wonderous app; however, the grammar explanations don’t resonate with me. I’m using the app, not relying on it. You will miss crucial self-teaching opportunities if you blindly follow the app, thinking that it alone will get you to fluency. YOU ALONE WILL GET YOU TO FLUENCY.

Important Realization (!)

After spending 40+ hours over the past weeks refining my knowledge on how to best learn a foreign language while updating this blog post, I’ve made an important realization.

I like to learn how to learn. What’s the optimal way to learn a language? You’ll find many answers from many experts. I did. But how do you choose? What if you choose wrongly and use a strategy or program that didn’t even work for the person promoting it?

In other words, how well does the language learning expert speak a foreign language? Unfortunately, to judge their level in any language, you need a decent level of that language.

If you don’t, I hope my blog can help.

I speak Spanish at an upper intermediate level (B2), giving me the ability to judge how well someone else speaks it. Mosses McKormick, a black American who claimed to know 40 languages, whom I remember hearing about and promoted to many people as being an impressive polyglot, and who died in 2021 before his 40th birthday, spoke Spanish no better than a beginner.

Steve Kaufmann speaks Spanish better than Moses (not a high bar), but nothing impressive.

As mentioned, I couldn’t find a single video of Alexander Arguelles speaking Spanish (or any language)! How is that even possible? That’s like me talking about Airbnb tips without providing any proof of my experience running Airbnbs.

No videos of Gabriele Wyner or Olly Richards were easy to find.

Here’s a video of Benny Lewis speaking Spanish. He’s good!

Ikenna speaks Spanish poorly, but only after 60 days.

Luca Lampariello was the last I searched, and he speaks the best Spanish!

Any language learner or polyglot you’ve heard of is generally selling an app or course, or promoting a specific strategy. While it’s true that any individual who speaks many languages will have some stronger than others, there is a minimum standard if you’re going to be promoting something, whether free or paid. Let’s call it B1.

I expect that if you’re getting behind an app/course/strategy, then it should be able to take you easily to the B1 level in the 10+ languages you claim to speak. But that’s not the case with the majority of these folks. Many of them, we’ve now come to realize, claiming 10 or even 20+ languages, speak most at A1 and only one or two at the C1/C2 level.

A1/A2 is nothing special. Anyone can get there quickly, within a month or two. B1/B2, while impressive, is generally achieved if you’re not lazy and if you stay with a language for a period of a few years (and you don’t even have to actively study). C1/C2 takes actual deep focused dedication over many years.

Why would I put any faith behind someone else’s app/course/strategy that doesn’t meet my standard? You can create your own standard. But you need a standard to help you decide which of the hundreds of study options and strategies out there to start with.

Why would I waste my time using an app, buying a course, or following a particular strategy knowing that whatever I did to learn that same language got me to a higher level than the supposed language expert, even if Spanish is not their strong language? Mind you, these language experts typically claim a 10+ year learning journey, and it’s their profession. I have been learning languages for seven years, and at a slow pace.

If you’d like to know my honest, non-affiliated reviews of a hundred of the most popular apps, websites, courses, and more, please visit The Most Complete Guide to Language Learning Tools.