In the You Tube video below, Brian discusses his 'blueprint' for learning German but, really, the method can be applied to learning any language so I thought it was a useful resource for you if you are thinking of learning Cantonese or Mandarin Chinese.
Watch the video below and see what you think of Brian's ideas.
Learn Chinese in 3 Months - What Brian Says in the Video
Hi everyone, my name is Brian Kwong and this video is about “How to learn any language in 3 Months”. You can watch me implement this blueprint during my “Learn German in 3 Months Challenge”.
So why learn a new language? Maybe you want to travel the world or move to a new country. Or maybe you want to get lucky with an opposite sex who speaks a different language.
"I love you Julia. Can I rub my face in your boobs?"
Learning a new language will open up a whole new world for us. And there are many way to learn a new language, but here is the best way to learn a language in 3 months that I found.
There are many ways to do this and I have broken it down into 3 simple parts:
Overall strategy, da game plan and the resources you need to make this happen.
You Ready?
Lets go!
Part 1 - The Overall Strategy
We gotta use the right resources to do two things everyday:
1. Learn and memorise phrases and words. 2. Practice speaking the language with native speakers. Simple enough right?
Using the right resources will make it a lot easier and that's the key we will cover in a minute.
Part 2, The Game Plan
Milestone 1The first thing we got to do is to practice speaking the language with a private native speaking tutor who is willing to spend time and break down the language with you. Having a 1 on 1 tutor is much better than learning in a class because it is very easy to be lazy and not be an active learner.
The second thing we gotta do is to learn and memorise 30 phrases and new words everyday by using your memorisation software. Why 30? Because by the end the 90 days, we will have 3000 words under our belt, which means we will know approximately 80% of the most commonly used words in a language. That is why we are shooting for 30 per day.
And the last thing is, we add words and phrases that we want to learn into our memorisation software.
Milestone 2
This is when we can have basic conversations with people, so we've got to expose ourselves to the new language as much as possible. So we have to go out there and find new language partners. And we've got to start building the habit of thinking in the new language. That's milestone #2.
Milestone 3
This is is when we go “Yea, I think I am getting this!” We've got to find language partners and find new friends who can speak the language. And we can start watching TV, DVDs or listen to the radio. It's ok if we don't understand in the beginning, because its harder to understand a movie compared to when we are having a conservation. And thats the game plan.
The Resource is really what make this whole thing click and it will save you a plenty of time and make it a whole lot easier when you are implementing this.
Part 3 - The Resources
We need 4 Essential Tools:
1. The first one is a grammar book.
Use the Dover Essential Series, its easy and simple to use and its only 6 bucks on Amazon.
2. The phrase book.
This is where we get the phrases in the beginning in our memorisation software. Any phrase will work and you can try the Lonely planet for some ideas.
3. You need an online dictionary.
4. The memorisation software.
Lets face it, memorising things is a pain in the butt but it is 50% of the game and it will help you get what you learned into your long term memory. So having the most effective and easy to use memorisation software is the key to this whole thing. If you have a PC, you can try Anki.
If you have a Mac, you can try Genius, I tried it, it works like a charm for memorising and it is really why i can see myself doing this challenge only after using this software.
I love it so much, I am even developing an app call Genius+ for the iPad and iPhone and that's all the tools that you will need.
Finally, lets talk about how to find private tutor and language partners because thats the other 50% of the game. Now for private tutor, you can try Craiglist to see how much it cost in your area. If you have a tight budget, you can try Edufire. com, but remember skip the group class. For language partners - you can try the mixxer. Its a site that allows you to connect with language partners all over the world via Skype.
You can also try couchsurfing and the meetup.com.
So now thats the blueprint of how to learn Chinese in 3 Months. All we gotta to do is to make it happen! The cool thing is you can follow along while I am doing this challenge. So if you like this video, like it, share it with your friends and subscribe to my challenge.
If you want to beta test Genius+ when its ready on the iPad, you can sign up for free with the this link below this video.
Lastly, I want to hear from you, what language do you want to learn and why? AND if you are thinking about taking this challenge on with me, let me know in the comments area.
Thanks for watching and I will see you soon.
I've personally not tried this 'blueprint' but I have known many people who have tried the memorisation techniques that Brian suggests - with great success. I've heard that Anki is great for this.
So whether you are learning Chinese, German or any other language, why don't you give it go. And please share your experiences by leaving me a comment.
