How to Learn A

Language in 90 Days
If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If
you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart. ~Nelson
Mandela

Editor s note : This is a guest post from Maneesh Sethi

of Hack The System .
I still remember the happiest moment of my life. I had decided to throw a party for my
Italian friends while living in Florence, Italy. My friends didnt speak any English, and I
vividly remember throwing the party and trying to only speak in Italian. And then,
someone asked me to tell a joke.
I dont know if you know this, but telling jokes in another language is one of the most
harrowing experiences you can imagine.
I began the joke. Cera una volta (Once upon a time)
Halfway through the joke, I began to get flustered. I couldnt remember the Italian
word in the punchline. And 30 Italians were staring at me, waiting for the joke to end.
At the last minute, I remembered and completed the joke. I waited for the sound of
crickets but instead experienced a thunderous laugh and a round of applause. I had
made dozens of Italians laugh, in their country, in their language.
Until today, that memory continues to be one of the happiest moments Ive ever
experienced. And its the reason that, over the last four years, Ive studied languages
and now speak five: English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and German.

The Benefits of Bilingualism

Becoming bilingual opens up a whole new worlda world of different people, of
different cultures, of different emotions.
Learning a second language has many cognitive benefits. For example, learning a new
language has been shown to delay Alzheimers, boost brainpower, reduce cognitive
biases, and even increase concentration and the ability to tune out distractions. Your
ability to build better habits will improve by learning a new language.
But, more so than cognitive effects, the ability to speak a second language has a ton of
social benefits. Theres bliss in having the ability to order food in the waiters native
language, to eavesdrop on people in an elevator, to impress natives by speaking with
and understanding them.
The coolest thing about learning your second language is that it makes learning a third,
fourth, or fifth language much easier. The challenge isnt in learning a new language,
but rather learning how to learn a language. Once you know the techniques, youll be
able to apply the same grammatical patterns and language techniques in every new
language you learn. Its for this reason that, while Italian took me 3 or so months to
master, Spanish took only 2 months and Portuguese took just a few weeks.

Why most people are wrong about language

learning
I studied spanish for several years in high school, and even got good grades on national
exams. But one day, when I actually tried to speak the language, I suddenly realized.
Four years of studying Spanish in school, and I couldnt even order a burrito.
So what went wrong? According to official standardized tests, I was an expert in
Spanish. But I couldnt even do the most basic of tasks!
The fact is that we not taught languages in the ideal way. Students study languages in
huge groups and think that a few worksheets and grammar exercises will be enough to
learn a language.
Yet almost no one actually learns to speak.
In actuality, by doing worksheets, we are practicing for just thatfor worksheets. But if
you want to learn to speak, well, you actually have to practice by speaking.
So when people try to learn to speak a language out of a book, or with Rosetta Stone, I
try to show them that they wont achieve their goals that way. If you want to speak, you
have to practice speaking. And if you want to speak a language rapidly, well, you have to
start speaking. A lot.

The Basic Strategy Of Rapid Language

Learning
Learning a language can seem daunting, so Im going to provide an overview of the
general strategy, before we get into the specifics.
Here is the breakdown. Well go more in depth into each of these later on.
1. Get the right resources for learning: A grammar book, memorization
software, and films/books.
2. Get a private tutor. You want one for at least a month. I recommend four
hours/day.
3. Attempt to speak and think only in the new language. Every time
you cant remember a word, put that word into your memorization software. Practice
your vocabulary daily.
4. Find friends, language partners, and other speakers of the
language. Once you can have basic conversations with your private tutor, you need
to find other partners. If you havent already, think about moving to the country where
the language is spoken. Consider a group class. Practice continuously. Stop speaking
English.
Thats the basic strategy. Again, this strategy is intensive, because learning a language
in three months is a difficult task. If youd prefer to learn the language more slowly or
you dont have the ability to move to a new country and practice 4-8 hours a day, then
you can modify the plan. It is extremely important that you practice every day, however
20 minutes a day is much better than once or twice a week.
Some of these concepts are hard to understand through the written word, so I created a
video series, just for Zen Habits readers, that teaches the steps to learn a language. Get
the Hack The System Language Learning Videos here.

The Resources You Need To Learn A

Language
In order to learn a language, youll need some items that you can practice with. Here
are the resources I always use.
The Necessary Resources
A good grammar book. This is essential if you want to learn a language. I
recommend Dovers Essential Grammar series: the books are very cheap, concise, and
thorough. When I lived in Italy, the Dover Essential Italian Grammar book became my
bible. I read it everywhere, slept with it, and even memorized it.
A phrase book. This is similar to a dictionary, but for phrases. You can start
memorizing full sentences and phrases, and youll naturally learn the individual words.
Ill talk more about memorization tactics shortly.
An online dictionary. For most romance langauges, I
recommendhttp://wordreference.com. For German, try http://dict.cc. Google
Translatecan be useful, but it easily becomes a crutch. Use it sparingly.
A memorization app. You have to memorize vocabulary. I always put new words
in my app, and practice them every night.
If youre on a Mac, check out the app Genius. This genius app (pun intended) uses
time-spacing techniques to test our knowledge. Youll randomly be quizzed on words or
phrases you are trying to learn, and the more often you make a mistake, the more often
youll be tested. I recommend you put English on the left column and your desired
language on the right, so that youll learn to speak in a new language, not translate from
it. If youre on a PC, Ive heard good things about Anki.
Resources to learn from
A Private Tutor. I highly recommend getting an in-person private tutor through
Craigslist or a nearby language school. However, if you cant find anyone in your area or
they are too expensive, check out Edufire.com. Edufire is a website that allows you to
take private and group classes online over the Internet. Again, remember, private
lessons are essential, so skip the group classes.
Free language partners and tutors. The Mixxer is an incredible resource. Its
a site that allows you to connect, via Skype, with language partners all over the world.
Just choose your native language, and what you are trying to learn, and The Mixxer will

find partners with opposite needs (who speak your target language and want to learn
your native language).
At the beginning, online partners are a big help. Why? First, because chatting is much
easier than speaking, so you get a chance to practice your language. Second, chat gives
you a log of what youve been sayingand it makes it easier for your partner to correct
you.
I use Couchsurfing.org and Meetup.com to find language partners and language
meetups, no matter where I live. Check out Bennys article to learn about finding
language partners through Couchsurfing.
I dont recommend Rosetta Stone. Rosetta Stone is incredibly slow. In Level 1,
which takes 1-2 months to complete, youll only be familiar with the present tense. This
is not a good use of your time.
Pimsleur tapes, on the other hand, can be beneficial because they help you practice
pronunciation in the context of conversations. However, they are still quite slow. To
test this, I started training with the German Pimsleur tapes two weeks before beginning
my German classes. I felt like I was making huge progress by finishing 1/2 of the
German 1 tapesuntil I had surpassed that knowledge in fewer than two days with an
actual teacher.

The 90 Day Plan to Learning a Language

Its possible to achieve fluency, or at least a high speaking level, in just 90 days, but it
requires intense focus. The biggest shift was in mindset: I had to change my self
conception from Maneesh: a blogger who wants to learn Italian to Maneesh: Italian
learner (who blogs in his extra time).
If you dont have the freedom to focus fulltime on learning a language, thats okay, but
the process will take longer than 90 days. Just make sure that you continue to practice
every day, or else youll lose your knowledge rapidly.
Days 1-30
The first thirty days are critical to learning a new language. You need to immerse
yourself as fully as possible.
I highly recommend moving to a country where the language is spoken if you want to
learn a language in 90 days. This will help you get into the language learning mindset,
and will allow you to surround yourself with the new language. If you are able to move
to a new country, try to live with a host family. Youll learn a lot by eating meals with a
family that hosts you.
In any case, during the first month, work one on one with a private tutornot
group classes. Group classes allow you to sit back and be lazy, while a private tutor
forces you to learn.
This is important: you must be an active learner. Most people allow
themselves to be taught to, but you have to take an active role in asking questions. The
best way to understand this process is via videopart of the video series I made to
supplement this post includes a sample of a class I took while studying Swedish, with
explanations of the questions I ask during private training. Check out the language
learning videos Ive made for this post here.
Youre going to start encountering a lot of words and phrases that you dont know, both
with your private tutor, and when you practice languages on your own. Enter these
words in your memorization software.
You want to start memorizing 30 words and phrases per day. Why 30?
Because in 90 days, youll have learned 80% of the language.

This great article talks about the number of words in the Russian language.
the 75 most common words make up 40% of occurrences
the 200 most common words make up 50% of occurrences
the 524 most common words make up 60% of occurrences
the 1257 most common words make up 70% of occurrences
the 2925 most common words make up 80% of occurrences
the 7444 most common words make up 90% of occurrences
the 13374 most common words make up 95% of occurrences
the 25508 most common words make up 99% of occurrences
As you can see, you need to learn around 3000 to hit 80% of the words probably
enough before you can start learning words easily by context. At 30 words/day, youll
have learned almost 3000 in 90 days.
Use mnemonics to help memorize words.
Days 31-60
After your first month, its time to focus on exposing yourself to the language as much
as possible. After a month of private tutoring, youll have the ability to have basic
conversations.
If your private tutor is getting expensive, you might consider doing advanced group
classes at this pointitll save you money and give you access to other friends who are
learning the language. Just be careful of speaking only in English. Try to make it a rule
to speak in the new language as much as possible. Continue with your private tutor, if
possible.
If at all possible, find a boyfriend or girlfriend who is a native speaker. Learning a
language is much easier when youre dating someone who speaks that language. I once
met a man who spoke fluent Russian, and when I asked him how long it took to learn,
he answered, two wives. The best advice I can give you for finding a significant other is
something my Italian friend once told me: Couchsurfing isnt a dating site but it
helps.
Now is the time to start finding language partners. Check out the Resources section
above and use The Mixxer and Couchsurfing to find people who speak the language you
want to learn. Attempt to spend a few hours everyday practicing your language. At this

point, because you have a basic grasp of the language, it shouldnt be a choreyou are
basically spending time socializing with new friends.
Try reading simple books in your target language and underlining words that you dont
know. You can add these to your memorization app.
You should start trying to think in the new language. Every time you try to express a
thought to yourself, but cant remember the word, write it down in your memorization
software. Continue learning 30 words and phrases per day.
Days 61-90
By day 60, you should be in a good position to speak the language. You just simply need
to keep practicing. Have deeper conversations with your language partners. Try to go
out with them as much as possibleIve even found that a moderate amount of alcohol
helps significantly with language practice.
Continue studying 30 words a day and practicing the ones youve already learned, and
youll be approaching the 3000 word markenough to speak a language close to
fluently.
By now, you can start watching TV and reading books in your target language. Rent
some DVDs in the foreign language and try to follow along. If you need to, turn on the
subtitles. Dont worry if you have trouble, because understanding film is a lot more
difficult than having a one-on-one conversation.
Keep on working on the language for several hours per day, and by the end of the
month, youll find that you have a good grasp on the language. Its pretty amazing what
you can do in just 90 days with intense focus.

Conclusion
Congratulations! Youve done ityouve learned a language in just 90 days. The best
part is that youll find it much faster to learn your next language. Youve done the hard
partlearning how to learn a language.
Youve unlocked a new skill. Language learning is about building a new habitthe habit
of thinking and speaking in a new language. And once you perfect a single language,
youve laid the foundation for doing even more.
Imagine, the next time you meet a waiter or tourist from Italy or Mexico or Greece, you
could start talking, tell a joke, andif you can remember the punchline in timeget to
experience the elation of making someone laugh in their own language.
That, my friends, is zen.

Adapted from: http://zenhabits.net/how-to-learn-a-language-in-90-days/