How to Talk Back at Chris Lonsdale

Fluently in Six Points

Every time someone claims to have found a new method for learning a language, I pause and listen
intently. Its not unusual to discover something useful and really effective by paying attention to
language learning experts. But there are also times when the expertise is not enough especially
when its connected to strong and bold claims. Can you really learn a new language fluently in six
months?

0. Introduction: What is the fuss all about?

Chris Lonsdale gave a talk at a TEDx event in which he said it loud and proud: anyone can learn to
speak a second language fluently in six months. You can watch the talk below.
Chris Lonsdale points you to some worthy principles and very effective actions. But hes wrong.
Heres six ways in which you can begin to find this out. If you know him, please ask him these
questions as soon as you can. Its important for language experts to have these conversations and to
keep learning about language. Weve a long way to go.

1. Learn to Speak means youre only halfway

there
Chris does not mention how he learned to read Chinese. He does not give useful tips for improving
your writing fluency. He mentions relevance and using tools which are effective to get the job done in
language, though. This, for many people, also includes reading and writing.
By learning to speak a foreign language, we focus on listening and speaking primarily and that was
what Chriss experience seemed to consist of. But the moment we begin to function in any language,
all four skills become interdependent. And learning to speak the way Chris mentions by listening a
lot and practicing pronunciation means not enough attention is devoted to at least 50% of the
language.

2. Fluent is a word Id like back now, please

This, to me, means being able to match up my language skills with the kind of life I lead normally. It
means being able to conduct any business, tell any joke, read any article, hold my own in any
conversation in both my mother tongue and my foreign language. Fluent, both in English and in
Polish, shares a lot with fluid and it means enabling your language to hold any shape, form and
volume. Not just a few thousand words. Not just a handful of pre-selected conversations. The whole
wild rough unpredictable hog.
Sadly, several recent developments I witnessed seem to devalue the word fluent. If the definition of
the word changes to a more limited one, then Chris may have a point. But I refuse to allow the word

fluent to mean getting by. It takes the motivation out of the whole process, and inflates it with lazy
thinking and lazy learning.
Id like my fluent back now, please. Im proud of my survival German and wouldnt let anyone call me
fluent.
[HT Chris Wilson for this part of the rant]

3. Anyone as long as youre tolerant of

ambiguity
This is a small thing, but its important nonetheless. In the talk, its mentioned that you can only
succeed if youre OK with ambiguity and dont need to know the meaning of every word. By tolerating
noise and uncertainty you can move much faster without it, according to Chris Lonsdale, youre
stuck.
The phenomenon refers to field dependence and field independence two well-known cognitive
types. Chris is right to mention that tolerance of ambiguity helps improve progress.
But telling someone you have to stop being that way is not solving the problem. Either you spend
some extra time with those students to teach them some useful techniques (therefore possibly giving
up the 6-month goal), or you accept that only the students who get on with the accelerated
programme will make it in time (which means its not anyone, not by a long shot).

4. Comprehensible input will not solve everything

Theres a brilliant piece of research shown on the TEDx slides which shows how comprehensible
input students ace every single language test possible. There are two things that Chris Lonsdale
does not tell you about the graph.
Thing one: comprehensible input is not a language learning method. Its not even a teaching
approach. Its a hypothesis. Krashen was rightly admired for the work he did around it, and it makes
sense to gauge the level of difficulty with every language text you encounter. But students taught by
comprehensible input will be hard to find today, since like most hypotheses it has been mixed into
the 21st century language teaching methods.
Thing two: the graphs show comprehensible input test results compared with Grammar Focus
Language Teaching. There are four tests measured. I could not find the Oxford Grammar test
anywhere, but that does not matter. What matters is this: ANY modern teaching method will do better
on the PET Listening, Reading and Writing tests than a grammar-focused approach. Grammar will not
perform well at a Listening test it will not perform at all.
So the slides there should not inspire you with confidence unless you like it when a nonexistent
language teaching approach is compared to a defunct one.

5. If someone tells you how your brain works, run

Psychologists have no idea what memory looks like. They cant prove that it exists. They can infer that
it does, based on changes in our behaviour. They can study the changes, the remembering, the

forgetting. They can and they have.

This does not mean that they found all the answers.
So the moment someone

tells you how it happens that new words stick to your brain, or how to

make them get there faster and stay there for longer the moment they begin mentioning mind maps
and mental images and new neural pathways
They mean well. And their excitement is showing. Frequently, they share what worked brilliantly for
them. But there are no shortcuts and no proven

measures.

You can slow down memory loss, but cant stop it from happening. You can improve your memory
techniques, but you wont find it working every time.

6. Languages differ (oh, and people do, too)

Chris Lonsdale looks like a clever academic person who is interested

in a lot of things and had the

good fortune to be sent to a foreign country. It also looks like he could learn the language in a nonthreatening, non-violent environment in order to perform better at the professional and academic
arenas that he could largely choose for himself. In effect, he took 6 months to learn to speak a
language with very little grammar and tense variation (he didnt mention writing).
Thats cool.
You are not Chris Lonsdale. Your language may have a lot more grammar. It may have several
tenses. You may not have so many interests. Your boss may impose a deadline. You may find yourself
six months away from a move abroad, where youll have to manage meetings and emails with people
youve secretly hated for a long time in a foreign language which you were keen to learn at some
point, but not just yet.
I cant believe I need to say this. Not after a TEDx talk, not again, not to anyone.
There are no shortcuts, no more Rosetta Stones to discover, no way to rewind back before Babel.
Weve been at it for a long, long time. There are too many languages, too many learning styles.
Go and watch Chris Lonsdales talk, and do absolutely everything he says. The advice is brilliant and
the enthusiasm is contagious. I say this 100% honestly.
But six months later, get back here and tell me how it went. I have a feeling I know what youll say I
just hope youll say it in the language youve been learning.

The five principles are:

1. Focus on language content that is relevant to you.
2. Use your language as a tool to communicate from day 1.
3. When you understand the message you will acquire the language unconsciously, i.e
comprehensible input (Krashen, et al)
4. Language is not about accumulating a lot of knowledge but is rather a type of physiological training.
5. Psycho-physiological state matters you need to be happy, relaxed, and most importantly, you
need to be tolerant of ambiguity. Dont try to understand every detail as it will drive you crazy.
The seven actions are:
1. Listen a lot it doesnt matter if you understand or not. Listen to rhythms and patterns.
2. Focus on getting the meaning first, before the words. Body language and facial expressions can
help.
3. Start mixing, get creative, and use what youre learning
4. Focus on the core the most commonly-used words, and use the language to learn more (What is
this/that? How do you say ? etc.)
5. Get a language parent someone who is fluent in the language and who will do their best to
understand what you mean; who will not correct your mistakes; who will feedback their understanding
of what youre saying using correct language, and uses words that you know.
6. Copy the face watch native speakers and observe who their face, and particular their mouth,
moves when theyre speaking
7. Direct connect to the target language find ways to connect words directly with images and other
internal representations.