2024 the best way to learn a language review

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(as of Dec 04, 2024 20:14:09 UTC - Details)

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • For anyone who wants to learn a foreign language, this is the method that will finally make the words stick.
 
“A brilliant and thoroughly modern guide to learning new languages.”—Gary Marcus, cognitive psychologist and author of the New York Times bestseller Guitar Zero
 
At thirty years old, Gabriel Wyner speaks six languages fluently. He didn’t learn them in school—who does? Rather, he learned them in the past few years, working on his own and practicing on the subway, using simple techniques and free online resources—and here he wants to show others what he’s discovered.
 
Starting with pronunciation, you’ll learn how to rewire your ears and turn foreign sounds into familiar sounds. You’ll retrain your tongue to produce those sounds accurately, using tricks from opera singers and actors. Next, you’ll begin to tackle words, and connect sounds and spellings to imagery rather than translations, which will enable you to think in a foreign language. And with the help of sophisticated spaced-repetition techniques, you’ll be able to memorize hundreds of words a month in minutes every day. 
 
This is brain hacking at its most exciting, taking what we know about neuroscience and linguistics and using it to create the most efficient and enjoyable way to learn a foreign language in the spare minutes of your day.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harmony (August 5, 2014)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0385348118
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0385348119
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.1 x 0.7 x 9.2 inches
Reviewer: Thomas Pentzer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Wyner is an Anki-Ninja!
Review: I've been dabbling in learning a second language for some time now, and always seem to lose steam. I had tried various text books, audio courses, and Anki decks that I found in Anki's database, but never made much progress. That's where Mr. Wyner's book came in. I was initially skeptical, but elected to risk the twelve bucks for a copy after I read a guest post by Wyner on Tim Ferriss' site.In short, it's worth every penny. Other reviews detail what the book is made up of, so for brevity I won't include a detailed list. This book's value, in my opinion, lies in the breadth of techniques Wyner offers the reader. I'm familiar with immersion programs like Middlebury, websites like iTalki, and mnemonic devices, including the PAO system used by memory athletes. However, awareness of such things has only come after years of slogging around on the net, reading books here and there, and talking with professors at my college. Wyner's book would have shaved years off of my own journey into languages, and he includes many more resources I wasn't aware of that are worth the price of the book alone (and that's not even including the FREE resources he links to on his website).Where Wyner truly shines is his mastery of Anki's software. I have used Anki for some basic vocab stuff before, and had made some flashcards for classes before, but nothing nearly so in-depth as what he recommends. Wyner is truly an Anki-ninja, and clearly one of the beneficent ninjas, as he not only extolls its proper use, but also provides tutorials on how to maximize Anki so that one entry can become up to six flashcards, but also how to make web browsers to the mindless work for you.The icing on the cake is the emphasis on auditory and pronunciation training. By focusing on repeatedly testing minimal pairs (words that are *almost* the same that non-native speakers might not hear the difference between), Wyner asserts that we can indeed begin to hear the difference between speech sounds that we had been unable to distinguish before. He demonstrates how to make Anki cards for this sort of practice, but he's also in the process of creating "pronunciation trainers" that work within the Anki framework. I don't mind saying that I've pre-purchased the Russian trainer, which will hopefully be out soon.In closing, this book is a great asset for language learners of all sorts. The author wisely avoids getting bogged down in cases, tenses, declensions, etc, as each language has its own unique set of rules to learn. Instead, he brings to light a number of efficient and effective tools that help the learner to spend their time wisely. Having added about a hundred new words into my Russian vocabulary this week through efficient learning, I'm motivated to learn more.

Reviewer: Jhengis
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Best way to learn vocabulary
Review: This is an extraordinarily powerful method for building vocabulary, which is easily the most important part of learning a second language. I’ve been trying to teach myself German over the last six years with little success. (My wife was born in Germany, and we visit every other year). After 5 months of practice 2 or more hours a day with the methods described in this book, I consistently score at advanced levels (C1) on various online tests.The author provides detailed and clear instructions, including videos, on how to use the Anki flashcard software (which is an amazing product in its own right). Using images, sound and even emotion, he shows you how to learn vocabulary so that it truly “sticks.” He also shows how to learn basic grammar without memorizing rules, and his website has a forum where you can get more information from other users. Perhaps most importantly, his methods are moderately fun.At the same time, he does not over promise. He doesn’t claim you can attain mastery in a short time, and he encourages the additional use of other methods. (Sentence based methods have also helped me - Foreign Service recordings from the 60’s and Pimsleur).To make the most of the book, you should also buy the intro 650 word list and the pronunciation trainer - another $20 but still cheaper than most other methods.My only minor criticism is that, even with the Applescript he provides, making the learning cards takes me about 4-6 minutes a word instead of the 2-3 minutes he suggests. It may not sound like much, but by the time you have cards for 2000 words, that is a huge time difference (80 or so hours vs. 150 actual hours). Making the cards is more than 50% of the learning process, so this is by no means lost time, but I do wish I could make them faster.The key question in learning a second language is which method is most efficient. Any method will improve your skills with enough time invested. I can safely say I have tried 10-12 distinct techniques (Rosetta Stone, Memrise, Duo Lingo, Babel etc.), and nothing comes close to the progress I have made with Forever Fluent.

Reviewer: Oscar Carrillo
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Excelente método para agilizar el aprendizaje

Reviewer: Lorraine
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Really brilliant book, so very helpful and the answer to your language learning prayers!

Reviewer: Philipp Humm
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I'm learning turkey and found quite a few really useful nuggets in the book.Found the parts around creating flashcards the most interesting!Thx

Reviewer: Dawid Izydor
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I really liked the intro about how learning works and it gave me a lot of really nice insight into improving on learning. However after a couple of chapters you start getting referenced to the autor's website rather often - where you can buy his anki cards.Honestly, if you like theoretical knowledge about learning then this book is great but you could also skip it, go directly to authors website and just buy his anki cards instead

Reviewer: João Gabriel
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Livro apresenta um método bastante útil e simples para aprender uma língua. Apesar de ainda não ter o utilizado para aprender uma nova língua do zero, usei o método ( com algumas adaptações ) para melhorar meu inglês, principalmente o vocabulário. Claro que ele sozinho não dá certo, você não vai deixar de gastar dinheiro para aprender, mas é bem válido o método e com certeza continuarei o utilizando no futuro. Recomendo 👍