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Bow to leain any language in six months: Chiis Lonsuale

Bave you evei helu a question in minu foi so long that it becomes pait of how you think. Naybe
even pait of who you aie as a peison. Well I've hau a question in my minu foi many, many yeais
anu that is: how can you speeu up leaining. Now, this is an inteiesting question because if you
speeu up leaining you can spenu less time at school. Anu if you leain ieally fast, you piobably
woulun't have to go to school at all. Now, when I was young, school was soit of okay but I founu
quite often that school got in the way of leaining, so I hau this question in minu: how uo you leain
fastei. Anu this began when I was veiy, veiy young, when I was about eleven yeais olu I wiote a
lettei to ieseaicheis in the Soviet 0nion, asking about hypnopaeuia, this is sleep leaining, wheie
you get a tape iecoiuei, you put it besiue youi beu anu it tuins on in the miuule of the night when
you'ie sleeping, anu you'ie supposeu to be leaining fiom this. A goou iuea, unfoitunately it uoesn't
woik. But, hypnopaeuia uiu open the uoois to ieseaich in othei aieas anu we've hau incieuible
uiscoveiies about leaining that began with that fiist question.
I went on fiom theie to become passionate about psychology anu I have been involveu in
psychology in many ways foi the iest of my life up until this point. In 1981 I took myself to China
anu I ueciueu that I was going to be native level in Chinese insiue two yeais. Now, you neeu to
unueistanu that in 1981, eveiybouy thought Chinese was ieally, ieally uifficult anu that a westeinei
coulu stuuy foi ten yeais oi moie anu nevei ieally get veiy goou at it. Anu I also went in with a
uiffeient iuea which was: taking all of the conclusions fiom psychological ieseaich up to that point
anu applying them to the leaining piocess. What was ieally cool was that in six months I was fluent
in Nanuaiin Chinese anu took a little bit longei to get up to native. But I lookeu aiounu anu I saw all
of these people fiom uiffeient countiies stiuggling teiiibly with Chinese, I saw Chinese people
stiuggling teiiibly to leain English anu othei languages, anu so my question got iefineu uown to:
how can you help a noimal auult leain a new language quickly, easily anu effectively. Now this a
ieally, ieally impoitant question in touay's woilu. We have massive challenges with enviionment
we have massive challenges with social uislocation, with wais, all soits of things going on anu if we
can't communicate we'ie ieally going to have uifficulty solving these pioblems. So we neeu to be
able to speak each othei's languages, this is ieally, ieally impoitant. The question then is how uo
you uo that. Well, it's actually ieally easy. You look aiounu foi people who can alieauy uo it, you
look foi situations wheie it's alieauy woiking anu then you iuentify the piinciples anu apply them.
It's calleu mouelling anu I've been looking at language leaining anu mouelling language leaining foi
about fifteen to twenty yeais now. Anu my conclusion, my obseivation fiom this is that any auult
can leain a seconu language to fluency insiue six months. Now when I say this, most people think
I'm ciazy, this is not possible. So let me ieminu eveiybouy of the histoiy of human piogiess, it's all
about expanuing oui limits.
In 19Su eveiybouy believeu that iunning one mile in foui minutes was impossible anu then Rogei
Bannistei uiu it in 19S6 anu fiom theie it's got shoitei anu shoitei. 1uu yeais ago eveiybouy
believeu that heavy stuff uoesn't fly. Except it uoes anu we all know this. Bow uoes heavy stuff fly.
We ieoiganise the mateiial using piinciples that we have leaineu fiom obseiving natuie, biius in
this case. Anu touay we've gone evei fuithei, so you can fly a cai. You can buy one of these foi a
couple hunuieu thousanu 0S uollais. We now have cais in the woilu that can fly. Anu theie's a
uiffeient way to fly that we've leaineu fiom squiiiels. So all you neeu to uo is copy what a flying
squiiiel uoes, builu a suit calleu a wing suit anu off you go, you can fly like a squiiiel. Now, most
people, a lot of people, I woulun't say eveiybouy but a lot of people think they can't uiaw. Bowevei
theie aie some key piinciples, five piinciples that you can apply to leaining to uiaw anu you can

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actually leain to uiaw in five uays. So, if you uiaw like this, you leain these piinciples foi five uays
anu apply them anu aftei five uays you can uiaw something like this. Now I know this is tiue
because that was my fiist uiawing anu aftei five uays of applying these piinciples that was what I
was able to uo. Anu I lookeu at this anu I went 'wow,' so that's how I look like when I'm
concentiating so intensely that my biain is explouing.
So, anybouy can leain to uiaw in five uays anu in the same way, with the same logic, anybouy can
leain a seconu language in six months. Bow. Theie aie five piinciples anu seven actions. Theie
may be a few moie but these aie absolutely coie. Anu befoie I get into those I just want to talk
about two myths, uispel two myths. The fiist is that you neeu talent. Let me tell you about Zoe. Zoe
came fiom Austialia, went to Bollanu, was tiying to leain Butch, stiuggling extiemely . a gieat ueal
anu finally people weie saying: 'you'ie completely useless,' 'you'ie not talenteu,' 'give up,' 'you'ie a
waste of time' anu she was veiy, veiy uepiesseu. Anu then she came acioss these five piinciples,
she moveu to Biazil anu she applieu them anu within six months she was fluent in Poituguese, so
talent uoesn't mattei. People also think that immeision in a new countiy is the way to leain a
language. But look aiounu Bong Kong, look at all the westeineis who've been heie foi ten yeais,
who uon't speak a woiu of Chinese. Look at all the Chinese living in Ameiica, Biitain, Austialia,
Canaua have been theie ten, twenty yeai anu they uon't speak any English. Immeision pei se uoes
not woik. Why. Because a uiowning man cannot leain to swim. When you uon't speak a language
you'ie like a baby anu if you uiop youiself into a context which is all auults talking about stuff ovei
youi heau, you won't leain.
So, what aie the five piinciples that you neeu to pay attention to. Fiist: foui woius, attention,
meaning, ielevance anu memoiy, anu these inteiconnect in veiy impoitant ways. Especially when
you'ie talking about leaining. Come with me on a jouiney thiough a foiest. You go on a walk
thiough a foiest anu you see something like this. Little maiks on a tiee, maybe you pay attention,
maybe you uon't. You go anothei fifty meties anu you see this. You shoulu be paying attention.
Anothei fifty meties, if you haven't been paying attention, you see this. Anu at this point, you'ie
paying attention. Anu you've just leaineu that this is impoitant, it's ielevant because it means this,
anu anything that is ielateu, any infoimation ielateu to youi suivival is stuff that you'ie going to pay
attention to anu theiefoie you'ie going to iemembei it. If it's ielateu to youi peisonal goals then
you'ie going to pay attention to it, if it's ielevant you'ie going to iemembei it.
So, the fiist iule, the fiist piinciple foi leaining a language is focus on language content that is
ielevant to you. Which biings us to tools. We mastei tools by using tools anu we leain tools the
fastest when they aie ielevant to us. So let me shaie a stoiy. A keyboaiu is a tool. Typing Chinese a
ceitain way, theie aie methous foi this. That's a tool. I hau a colleague many yeais ago who went to
night school; Tuesuay night, Thuisuay night, two houis each night, piacticing at home, she spent
nine months, anu she uiu not leain to type Chinese. Anu one night we hau a ciisis. We hau foity-
eight houis to uelivei a tiaining manual in Chinese. Anu she got the job, anu I can guaiantee you in
foity-eight houis, she leaineu to type Chinese because it was ielevant, it was meaningful, it was
impoitant, she was using a tool to cieate value. So the seconu tool foi leaining a language is to use
youi language as a tool to communicate iight fiom uay one. As a kiu uoes. When I fiist aiiiveu in
China I uiun't speak a woiu of Chinese, anu on my seconu week I got to take a tiain iiue oveinight. I
spent eight houis sitting in the uining caie talking to one of the guaius on the tiain, he took an
inteiest in me foi some ieason, anu we just chatteu all night in Chinese anu he was uiawing pictuies
anu making movements with his hanus anu facial expiessions anu piece by piece by piece I
unueistoou moie anu moie. But what was ieally cool, was two weeks latei, when people weie
talking Chinese aiounu me, I was unueistanuing some of this anu I haun't even maue any effoit to
leain that. What hau happeneu, I'u absoibeu it that night on the tiain, which biings us to the thiiu

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piinciple. When you fiist unueistanu the message, then you will acquiie the language
unconsciously. Anu this is ieally, ieally well uocumenteu now, it's something calleu compiehensible
input anu theie's twenty oi thiity yeais of ieseaich on this, Stephen Kiashen, a leauei in the fielu
has publisheu all soits of these uiffeient stuuies anu this is just fiom one of them. The puiple bais
show the scoies on uiffeient tests foi language. The puiple people weie people who hau leaineu by
giammai anu foimal stuuy, the gieen ones aie the ones who leaineu by compiehensible input. So,
compiehension woiks. Compiehension is key anu language leaining is not about accumulating lots
of knowleuge. In many, many ways it's about physiological tiaining. A woman I know fiom Taiwan
uiu gieat at English at school, she got A giaues all the way thiough, went thiough college, A giaues,
went to the 0S anu founu she coulun't unueistanu what people weie saying. Anu people staiteu
asking hei: 'Aie you ueaf.' Anu she was. English ueaf. Because we have filteis in oui biain that filtei
in the sounus that we aie familiai with anu they filtei out the sounus of languages we'ie not. Anu if
you can't heai it, you won't unueistanu it anu if you can't unueistanu it, you'ie not going to leain it.
So you actually have to be able to heai these sounus. Anu theie aie ways to uo that but it's
physiological tiaining. Speaking takes muscle. You've got foity-thiee muscles in youi face, you have
to cooiuinate those in a way that you make sounus that othei people will unueistanu. If you've evei
uone a new spoit foi a couple of uays, anu you know how youi bouy feels. It huits. If youi face is
huiting you'ie uoing it iight.
Anu the final piinciple is state. Psycho-physiological state. If you'ie sau, angiy, woiiieu, upset,
you'ie not going to leain. Peiiou. If you'ie happy, ielaxeu, in an Alpha biain state, cuiious, you'ie
going to leain ieally quickly, anu veiy specifically you neeu to be toleiant of ambiguity. If you'ie one
of those people who neeus to unueistanu 1uu% eveiy woiu you'ie heaiing, you will go nuts,
because you'll be incieuibly upset all the time, because you'ie not peifect. If you'ie comfoitable
with getting some, not getting some, just paying attention to what you uo unueistanu, you'ie going
to be fine, you'll be ielaxeu anu you'll be leaining quickly. So baseu on those five piinciples, what
aie the seven actions that you neeu to take.
Numbei one: listen a lot. I call it Biain Soaking. You put youiself in a context wheie you'ie heaiing
tons anu tons of a language anu it uoesn't mattei if you unueistanu it oi not. You'ie listening to the
ihythms, you'ie listening to things that iepeat, you'ie listening to things that stanu out. So, just soak
youi biain in this.
The seconu action: is that you get the meaning fiist, even befoie you get the woius. You go "Well
how uo I uo that, I uon't know the woius." Well, you unueistanu what these uiffeient postuies
mean. Buman communication is bouy language in many, many ways, so much bouy language. Fiom
bouy language you can unueistanu a lot of communication, theiefoie, you'ie unueistanuing, you'ie
acquiiing thiough compiehensible input. Anu you can also use patteins that you alieauy know. If
you'ie a Chinese speakei of Nanuaiin anu Cantonese anu you go vietnam, you will unueistanu 6u%
of what they say to you in uaily conveisation, because vietnamese is about Su% Nanuaiin, Su%
Cantonese.
The thiiu action: stait mixing. You piobably have nevei thought of this but if you've got ten veibs,
ten nouns anu ten aujectives you can say one thousanu uiffeient things. Language is a cieative
piocess. What uo babies uo. 0kay: Ne. Bat(h). Now. 0kay, that's how they communicate. So stait
mixing, get cieative, have fun with it, it uoesn't have to be peifect, it just has to woik. Anu when
you'ie uoing this you focus on the coie. What uoes that mean. Well with eveiy language theie is
high fiequency content. In English, 1uuu woius coveis 8S% of anything you'ie evei going to say in
uaily communication. Suuu woius gives you 98% of anything you'ie going to say in uaily
conveisation. You got Suuu woius, you'ie speaking the language. The iest is icing on the cake. Anu

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when you'ie just beginning with a new language stait with the tool box. Week numbei one in youi
new language you say things like: 'how uo you say that.' 'I uon't unueistanu,' 'iepeat that please,'
'what uoes that mean,' all in youi taiget language. You'ie using it as a tool, making it useful to you,
it's ielevant to leain othei things about the language. By week two that you shoulu be saying things
like: 'me,' 'this,' 'you,' 'that,' 'give,' you know, 'hot,' simple pionouns, simple nouns, simple veibs,
simple aujectives, communicating like a baby. Anu by the thiiu oi fouith week, you'ie getting into
what I call glue woius. 'Although,' 'but,' 'theiefoie,' these aie logical tiansfoimeis that tie bits of a
language togethei, allowing you to make moie complex meaning. At that point you'ie talking. Anu
when you'ie uoing that, you shoulu get youiself a language paient. If you look at how chiluien anu
paients inteiact, you'll unueistanu what this means. When a chilu is speaking, it'll be using simple
woius, simple combinations, sometimes quite stiange, sometimes veiy stiange pionunciation anu
othei people fiom outsiue the family uon't unueistanu it. But the paients uo. Anu so the kiu has a
safe enviionment, gets confiuence. The paients talk to the chiluien with bouy language anu with
simple language they know the chilu unueistanus. So we have a compiehensible input enviionment
that's safe, we know it woiks otheiwise none of you woulu speak youi mothei tongue. So you get
youiself a language paient, who's somebouy inteiesteu in you as a peison who will communicate
with you essentially as an equal, but pay attention to help you unueistanu the message. Theie aie
foui iules of a language paient. Spouses by the way aie not veiy goou at this, okay. But the foui
iules aie, fiist of all, they will woik haiu to unueistanu what you mean even when you'ie way off
beat. Seconuly, they will nevei coiiect youi mistakes. Thiiuly they will feeuback theii
unueistanuing of what you aie saying so you can iesponu appiopiiately anu get that feeuback anu
then they will use woius that you know.
The sixth thing you have to uo, is copy the face. You got to get the muscles woiking iight, so you can
sounu in a way that people will unueistanu you. Theie's a couple of things you uo. 0ne is that you
heai how it feels, anu feel how it sounus which means you have a feeuback loop opeiating in youi
face, but iueally, if you can look at a native speakei anu just obseive how they use theii face, let youi
unconscious minu absoib the iules, then you'ie going to be able to pick it up. Anu if you can't get a
native speakei to look at, you can use stuff like this: |sliuesj.
Anu the final iuea heie, the final action you neeu to take is something that I call "uiiect connect."
What uoes this mean. Well most people leaining a seconu language soit of take the mothei tongue
woius anu take the taiget woius anu go ovei them again anu again in theii minu to tiy anu
iemembei them. Really inefficient. What you neeu to uo is iealise that eveiything you know is an
image insiue youi minu, it's feelings, if you talk about fiie you can smell the smoke you can heai the
ciackling, you can see the flames. So what you uo, is you go into that imageiy anu all of that memoiy
anu you come out with anothei pathway. So I call it 'same box, uiffeient path.' You come out of that
pathway, you builu it ovei time you become moie anu moie skilleu at just connecting the new
sounus to those images that you alieauy have, into that inteinal iepiesentation. Anu ovei time you
even become natuially goou at that piocess, that becomes unconscious.
So, theie aie five piinciples that you neeu to woik with, seven actions, if you uo any of them, you'ie
going to impiove. Anu iemembei these aie things unuei youi contiol as the leainei. Bo them all
anu you'ie going to be fluent in a seconu language in six months.
Thank you.