Fluent Forever
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- Опубликовано: 7 фев 2025
- Link to Fluent Forever: amzn.to/42AoSoS
There's a new edition of Gabriel Wyner's Fluent Forever, and it's a perfect time to revisit. Will it make you fluent? Forever? It changed my approach to language learning ten years ago, and he's updated his approach with even more language learning tips. So if you're not sure how to learn a language, we'll talk about exactly what you can learn from fluent forever to become a polyglot.If that's your thing.
patreon: www.patreon.com/languagejones
#languagelearning #fluentforever #fluency #polyglot #linguistics #memory #howtolearnalanguage
Dear algorithm please feed this man and his family 🙏
😂🙏
Dear algorithm, Dr. Jones is hilarious and very smart about languages, linguistics, and language learning. Please, in the words of English SuperUser George W. Bush, help him put food on his family.
🤣😂
At age 73 working on language #8, Russian, I have always found comprehensible input (level + 1), a huge vocabulary, compelling activities: realia, puppets, easy songs, level appropriate stories, and lots of native speaker input to be the most effective. I am currently only fluent in 3 of those 8 languages and I will probably never achieve fluency in Russian, but I don't care, I just love the process and being able to observe my brain in action. I usually hire a tutor, since most language learning classes are abysmal, and I design and create the activities the tutor and I will use. This way I don't have to pay for a trained teacher (usually trained in very antiquated methods), but can instead use any educated native speaker. Works for me and is always loads of fun.
Do you watch russian from afar on RUclips
Yes, I love Сергей! I also follow Инна at Comprehensible Russian and Никита at Inhale Russian. Nikita and Inna are the easiest to understand, but Sergei's presentations are sooo good, particularly the puppets. All three understand what it takes for a native speaker to lower the level to i + 1 so Beginners can actually understand. I also read and do a tiny bit of grammar, just for fun, but I am under no illusion that grammar study will enable me to acquire the case system. That seems based on CI. At any rate, I'm having so much fun. Russian is harder for me than Hebrew!
I'm doing that with Italian but I can't speak it nor write it. Any tips?
What activities and exercises do you use with your tutors, if I may ask?
Interesting, because I am trying to forget Russian language 😂
This makes absolutely sense coming from an opera singer. Not only do we have to learn languages, but we have to learn how to cram 3 hour operas into our heads in languages we aren’t fluent in, and then move people with our communication
I have an opera coach friend who has a business called Diction Police who I feel you would enjoy talking to. She is a polyglot, but mostly because of her work in opera. If you ever want to be in touch, I’m happy to do that
I’ve often wondered how people do that! I would think it would be hard enough as it is to memorize and emote opera in your own language
@@barbdunn8886 It takes incredible talent for sure! Learn the words, sing them in a very challenging vocal style, AND do it while acting at the same time.
@@akirak1871 but it’s also extremely systematic. I went to a state school, but the general BM (Bachelors of Music) in Voice Performance is 4-5 years, including diction and language classes on top of the standard music history, music theory/sight reading, and piano lessons. It’s pretty intense and only gets crazier in the Masters Degree and the doctorate, if they go that far
@@akirak1871 I'm always in awe!!! So happy you found your niche! I remember hearing that the definition of a professional is making something difficult appear effortless; that would be you! 🙂
More than 50 years ago a classmate and I had to memorize dozens of constellations. She suggested thinking of the well endowed Mama Cass for Cassiopeia. I told her that was really stupid, and I have never forgotten it.
I think even more memorable than naughty mnemonics are stupid mnemonics. Mnemonics that when you see or think of them you get upset because that doesn't make any sense. But then years later, you still remember it because of course you remember the one that is so bad you're not supposed to remember it.
@@watariboshithe stupid mnemonics are the best. When I was a young tween I was taking a Russian course and the provided mnemonic for 2 (два) was "imagine dividing a shoe into two pieces. Divide. Dva." I was beyond confused at why it was a shoe specifically instead of a cake or a piece of paper or something traditionally cut into multiple parts. I haven't studied Russian in two decades but the joke was on me because I never forgot!
Wait a minute...and your name is _Cassandra?_
@@jeff__w Is she your long lost classmate?
@ Ha, no. I would have thought that, with a name like Cassandra, she wouldn’t have needed some mnemonic involving Mama Cass to remember Cassiopeia. (Maybe that’s why she thought the suggestion was stupid.) But I get the point that, no matter what, the mnemonic was, well, memorable. (And who doesn’t like Cass Elliot?)
This is by far the best channel of language learning I've ever encountered
Having a life dedicated to learning a dozen languages, you and Steve Kaufmann are the only language RUclipsrs I truly trust. Such great content!!
Luca Lampariello and Richard Simcott are legit too.
Let’s also not forget Alexander Arguelles!
I used to absorb every Steve Kaufmann video I could find, until I reached a very high level of French and realized that Steve’s French-purportedly his *best* language that he’s been speaking for the longest-is really mediocre. That really put everything into context for me. I guess he’s good if your goal is to half-learn the surface level of a bunch of languages, but if your goal is to someday have a deep and extensive understanding of your TL, he’s not the guy.
@@jeremybuckets I can't get on with his videos since everything is an advert for LingQ.
That only is the case, because he doesn't see a reason to keep improving a language he can already use for all the purposes he wants (usually reading and listening). His spoken French propably was a lot better when he spoke fewer than 10 languages, but the man never stopped learning languages. He knows that if he were to live in a France for a few months his French skills would skyrocket and be top-notch again.
As a German pupil, i had to learn English. I could not remember how to to write the word "sausages" correctly. Then I just memorized the German sentend "Sau, sag es" - "Sow, say it". Never forgot it after that.
The way I remember German vocabulary is Eselsbrücke.
Kohl is cabbage? Coleslaw
Hals is throat? Halls cough drops
Having tangential connections has gotten me through 2 years of German in only 1
Das ist Zo EZ, just say “Frankfurt-er”.
And now, I am English native learning German, will never forget how to say "Sow, say it".
I am sure that will be very useful.
Not a mnemonic for an L2, but in high school English we had vocabulary words and part of it was coming up with a story to make a dumb mnemonic for it. In each new group of words the teacher would give her example story.
The word was “ethereal.” The teacher talked about this absolutely enchantingly beautiful woman. Her dress was elegant and seemed to float around her. Her hair flowed in the wind and shined in the sun. Her face, her body, everything about her was captivatingly beautiful. Then she was asked, “how did you get to be this beautiful?” Then in a thick southern accent she replied, “well, I ethereal every mornin’!”
I’ve never _ever_ forgotten the meaning of that word
Etymology works better for me.
Eat cereal never sounded so good. I could not hear it till I did it out loud! Damn your eyes, and thanks.
@@RogerRamos1993Me too. More effective, less work, AND it helps you understand how the language actually works.
@@artugert And you end up learning a bit of history, as a bonus.
LOL
I'm old, so like 100 years ago, when I was in high school, I bought Barry Farber's How to Learn Any Language. It was the first time I realized that there were other people in the World who loved languages. I spent decades looking for another book that was as helpful to me as Farber's book had been. Wyner's has come the closest. It really is great. I guess I'll be buying the 2nd edition.
Thanks! You rock, Taylor. appreciate the review, forgot to use your affiliate link, so here 😊
No worries about the link, and thank you!
Loved this video! As a former HS biology teacher I was, in no small way, teaching a new language to my 15 & 16 year olds students. Excellent that you put wack pictures in your head and hack the amygdala! The more silly, risque, scary, et cetera, the better! There are also great examples that medical and veterinary student use, too. All the books on memory tell us that this really works, because it does & the effort to do it enhances the repetition required to learn it.
I read the old edition last year and the difference after I started applying his instructions is so big it’s ridiculous. It’s not only easier and faster but also so much more fun.
Love your channel man, my favourite liguistics youtuber. Keep it up!
Thank you! Will do
Oh, a second edition, cool. This book introduced me to ANKI, frequency lists, IPA, and many other useful stuff, like all the way back in the 2016. And now has Chinese become my second nature, partly also thanks to Gabe. Happy to see you like this book, too.
Another great book is Paul Nation's How Vocabulary is Learned
When I was in high school I followed a junior Navy program to avoid having to take gym class. In the beginning, a lot of students kept forgetting if "port" or "starboard" was "right" or "left". I came up with the expression, "Look right to the stars" and to this day anytime I doubt myself the expression pops into my head to remind me.
I was told that posh stood for "Port Over, Starboard Home". The posh people wanted ships cabins that kept the shore in view when the sailed from England to India (?). Going out the shore would be on the left, and going home it would be in the right.
I bought the book through your affiliate link for my wife. She is a multilingual linguist and nearly finished with her doctorate in second language instruction. I often hear her saying a lot of the same things you say about learning languages. It would be oddly fun to listen to the two of you having a conversation over the topic.
Another gem- Wyner is unique. It’s your channel that got me resyllablfying spoken target language, segregating phrases, clauses and sentence into structural units into which I can pour new vocabulary, creating peculiar to bizarre sentences correct in form and easily remembered. I can read english aloud as though the phonemes were french and all voyelles nasales. The sound-to-picture works especially well on idioms which coalesce to a vivid picture from the sound and meaning. This last is golden.
First time visitor, now subscriber. This book sounds interesting and I think I'll click your link. Mostly I excited as a 60 yo new(-ish) Spanish learner and knowing no other languages, to add your channel to my few times a week YT watching for language understanding, beyond '300 Essential Phrases for your Dog -in Spanish' type videos LOL
Excellent channel
I came across Gabriel on RUclips almost 10 years ago and wound up going to Middlebury for German. It was a life-changing experience.
I was also skeptical of the book, since I figured it was more "learn my system and you could be fluent in x days" than actual useful advice. But, since it has a legitimate linguist's (you) seal of approval, I bought it. Thanks for the recommendation.
I'm only 2 minutes in so this comment is before watching. I tried and failed to learn or even retain any language before, and then read fluent forever. It gave me some confidence in language learning and understanding the process and led to me actually learning Spanish (finally). I'm now learning French. It also helped me put other things together for learning in general. Also, finally, anki is amazing and not just for language.
Happy to oblige. Always enjoy your vids.
I remember a friend from Spanish class and I drilling each other with flashcards. Every time I messed up on "los ojos". Finally she drew pupils in the 'o's and the 'j' naturally looked like a nose and I learned it just like that.
"Don't piss in la piscine (swimming pool)". 30 years later, I still remeber that one word from my first French class.
Ooh! I read this book back in 2022 after my sister bought it for me, I really liked it! Glad to see it gets your seal of approval too and interesting to hear someone elses view on it
Thanks!
Thank you!
I borrowed the first edition from the library a month ago and liked it so much I ordered it, making sure I clicked on the new edition so I would have the latest and greatest. It just came yesterday, and I didn’t even realize they shipped the wrong book - the first edition- until seeing you holding up the new edition in this video. Thanks so much! Gotta ship this back and get the right one!
I did the same thing hahaha. I see you can only preorder the new one? Slightly confused… let me know if you have the same thing.
Feeding the algorithm for your family, Dr. J. A lot of what you cover is over my head, but I love language so I listen and glean what I can.
When he said, "Surely there is something..." I immediately thought, "Don't call me Shirley", and when I saw it in the left corner, I subscribed. :D
Feeding the algorithm and DEMANDING AN ANKI VIDEO!
Seconded!
Engaging tactical reply for engagement
Anki!
Responding because jOOONNNNEESSSSS
This video would be magical
I don't have a specific mnemonic example, but when I was in grade school my mom would use it to help memorize vocab words. I still find it helpful in my language learning journey today
Thanks
Thank you!!!!
I am a dancer and can remember physical action MUCH easier than auditory or read words. For this reason the action of writing down a word had always been my go to to help trigger remembering new vocabulary in any language (including my native language). But that massively changed once I started adding the ASL sign or even an arbitrary physical movement for words or concepts that my mouth would get stuck trying to form as my mind would go completely blank searching for it. If I incorporated the movement 3-5 times as I searched my brain for and found the word or concept, I could find the formation of the word in my mouth much easier in the future. Then I would fade the external physical movement. My surprise came when I could use these signs as a way to confirm to myself that I did know what I was saying without translating back to my native English. I also found that when listening to the target language I could feel or visualize the movement to again confirm my understanding without translating to English as a baby step to "not translating."
Very cool and unexpected that you covered this! I came across Gabriel's book in 2017 and it immediately resonated with me. In 2019 I began using some of the concepts, particularly related to Anki for studying Russian (alongside a frequency dictionary), and yes my progress was insane for my own expectations. Though I do speak Polish natively so I was on easy mode, truth be told ;) Nonetheless after about 5 months I was B1~B2 conversational with my italki teacher and my Georgian mother-in-law-to-be!
Motivation!
Just found your channel not that long ago, and...now I am hooked. Valuable information and simple ways of explaining things. Thank you
Just got it on Audible to listen to for my runs. Thank you for the recommendation.
Thank you for posting this. I have his first book, and while I haven't done much with it, I've been thinking about going back to it as I work to learn Urdu. I was unaware that a new version is out. I will have to check it out. Thank you again.
Fluent Forever is the book that changed my language learning journey too! I'm glad to see you like it too. I use the app, and while it's clunky, I find it quite useful and continued paying for the subscription even when not actively language learning just to support what they're doing with it and hope it improves.
I'm glad you reviewed this. I bought it last year and I'm sorry to admit I haven't opened it yet.
I'm so glad you've done a review of this book because I have come across it in the past and I was skeptical of the "sounds too good to be true" nature of the title
Nice review of Gabriel Wyner's book! It's one of my favorites. After reading it, I made my Ivrit Anki decks from scratch, by the way :-)) Shabbat Shalom to you!
Thank you for the book recommendation! I have seen this book but similar wrote it off as another polyglot regurgitating the same rudimentary advice. But after hearing summary of it, I’m excited to read it. I have been following your channel for a while so I trust that if you say it’s a quality resource then it certainly is.
A lot of new ideas and concepts to apply in order to improve the approach that I am having to learn. Please create more content with these concepts, they are very helpful and useful. Greeting from Colombia.
This is timely! I checked out this book from the local library, so now I'm more motivated to actually read it. Thanks.
Not translating is such a good advice. Reminds me of my favorite book I'm currently in the process of reading - Lingua Latina per se Illustrata. The book is without a single word in non-Latin, it makes me guess the meanings of the word and get used to their usage cases instead of reading dozens of possible translations. And I always catch myself thinking in Latin, which is a language I JUST STARTED learning. 22 years ago, when I took my first steps aquiring the big and scary language of English, I would laugh in your face if you told me thinking in your target language is possible and is actually not a hard skill, if you tackle it the smart way.
Yes, 22 years ago I was 6😐
Happy this video popped up in my feed!
Than ks for the review! I bought the first edition on the strength of your earlier comments about the first edition, just bought the revised edition after this one. Your comments about under-resourced languages REALLY resonates with me right now, hopefully the tips in the revised edition will help me with the DIY necessary
I read the first version of the book back in 2014 myself and also found it super helpful, I saw the thumbnail with the new version and immediately bought the book 😂
Fluent Forever is an awesome book! I read it about a year and a half ago and it's got a ton of great info, strategies, and ideas.
I just got this book today, so RUclips's algorithms are on point. I also read the 2014 version, but I am particularly looking forward to this updated one. Incidentally, I am currently learning Spanish using dreaming Spanish. It has proven to be quite effective and employs the comprehensible input method.
Bro, you're videos are awesome. Thanks
Happy to help feed your family. I like your approach and of course you are intelligent and approachable, like having a friend as a study buddy.
I love being able to use more than one language for mnemonics. I’ve been learning Chinese characters using the Heisig method, but since I also want to associate each character with its most common pronunciation, I’m also using Matthew & Matthew’s approach to pinyin mnemonics. A good example I have is that I can easily remember that 灭 “destroy” is miè because my mnemonic is a Spanish-speaking dwarf (4th tone) saying “mierda!” as he sees his things being destroyed by a fire.
Ordered the book. Thank you!
Not sure what to comment since I can never remember any of the funny examples I would definitely have for the specific situations you bring up, but want to leave one nonetheless to feed the almighty algorithm. Love the channel!
Will definetly pick up this book, thank you!
Glad you reviewed this. One of my favs.
I stumbled upon Gabriel's book early in my Spanish learning journey. I almost forgot about it. Guess now that there's a new version, I may need to revisit! Thanks for this video!
I was gifted this book for Christmas. Still haven’t read it yet though. Glad to hear that it’s a rewarding read. I’ll be sure to make use of it while I learn Swedish & German. 👍
I am going to check the book out. Thanks.
Thank you for the review -- I just got the first edition - - I think i will finish reading it 🙂
Thank you for a brilliant video . From a language learner in Kyushu, Japan
Thank you for the recommendation!
Algorithmic Engagement Comment: love your content and your snarky presentation style. That is what I tune in for the most, actually.
I bought the book as soon as you said you thought it was good. Looking forward to reading it!
Gracias, vielen Dank and anymay anksthay! I bought the book on your recommendation and explanation alone. I have several half-finished languages that I now think I'll be able to get my mind around. Thank you so much!
This is a great video! Thank you for this. Straightforward review that gives me everything I need to make a decision on this quickly!
Just watched it . Great review. Best regards from São Paulo BraSil. Todaraba . Got the book already .Happy year Sir
One of my favorite reviews-because it seems pretty well-reasoned and backed up-on one well-known book-selling site (naming it might filter this comment) is this one from 2016 [for the original edition of the book]-among other things, the person reviewing takes exception to the usefulness of “violent mnemonics” (or, as you might say, “naughty mnemonics”)-and, obviously, the research he cites is roughly a decade old:
_I am a Board Certified Behavior Analyst who has thought about the topic of second language acquisition extensively, and I was eager to read Wyner’s book as a manual of practical wisdom about language learning. I was delighted by how some of his ideas lined up with ones of my own, but at the same time there are many missteps that I think hinder his readers._
_On the positive side, Wyner acknowledges that for vocabulary we often learn to translate words from our native language into the foreign one, whereas what we SHOULD be learning is how to seamlessly comment in the foreign language on something we see or feel, without the intermediary step of thinking it out in the native. This jells_ [sic] _nicely with ABA research showing that speech-speech connections (intraverbals) are typically weaker than requests (mands) and labeling (tacts), both in terms of retention and in terms of generalization. Wyner is also spot-on to argue against the idea that accent should not be a focus of early learning; the behavior-analytic scientific literature has long shown that errorless learning-getting it right from day one-reduces the likelihood of continued errors after the skill has been mastered. Moreover, Wyner speaks of the importance of forcing oneself to communicate exclusively in the foreign language; having spent time in Dr. Edward Taub’s lab working on ways to test his “learned nonuse” theory of stroke aphasia, I deeply appreciated this insight._ [continued in the reply] 1/3
_But on the negative side, Wyner is firmly entrenched in cognitive neuroscience. Now, while I AM the sort of behavior analyst who is open to ideas in cognitive psychology and neuroscience IF they have practical value (disclaimer: I’m a Relational Frame Theory guy), I also think the sword cuts both ways and cog-neuro guys need to stop ignoring behaviorist ideas and research._
_Take, for instance, Wyner’s constant refrain that massed grammar drills are ineffective and boring and that spaced repetition is the magic bullet for retaining content. On the contrary, there is a stream of ABA research that shows that massed trials result in superior initial acquisition compared to the interspersed trials Wyner recommends (Hendrickson, Rapp, & Ashbeck, 2014; Majdalany et al., 2014)-or, at the very least, that interspersal probably does not offer any advantage for maintenance (Volkert et al., 2008). There is an equally compelling stream of research that shows that basing a system of target mastery on a single trial-as Wyner’s spaced repetition systems do-typically results in an inaccurate estimate of the student’s skills (Cummings & Carr, 2009; Najdowski et al., 2009; Lerman et al., 2011). While I feel that spaced repetition and Leitner boxes are a valuable technology for consistently scheduling maintenance of previously mastered targets-one that I plan on incorporating into my therapy case load-there just isn’t the research to back it up as a system for _*_acquisition._*_ Yes, massed trials can be boring, and no, they don’t seem to offer many advantages in terms of retention; but making 30+ flash cards per day can also be boring, and massed practice is a useful tool for certain jobs._
_I also find fault with Wyner’s recommendations for memorizing grammar. In short, he advises the use of violent mnemonics and fill-in-the-blank flash cards. What Wyner does not seem to realize-because again, he’s thinking like a cog-neuro guy, not a behavior analyst-is that this introduces the same complications as learning language through translation: it gums up the process with extra steps (in Relational Frame Theory, we would call them “nodes”), and it relies on learning weaker intraverbal relations instead of tacts and mands. What he ought to have done is advise making flash cards that have images that must be described with _*_sentences._*_ Yes, mnemonics and fill-in-the-blanks can be useful as PROMPTS if you consistently fail at these full-sentence requests and labels. But to rely on them 100% of the time takes a process that should go like, “See bear riding a unicycle-->comment on bear’s actions,” and belabors it with a middleman, “See bear riding a unicycle-->imagine bear exploding-->comment on bear’s actions.”_ [continued in the reply] 2/3
_Along with this come over-simplifications of behavioral science. Wyner repeatedly says, for instance, that “neurons that fire together, wire together” and that the reason why some events are more memorable than others is because they have more associations in the brain. Well, not quite. It is more accurate to say that events that uniquely signal a context in which we can obtain things we find rewarding, wire together with the behavior required to obtain said reward. Events that are contextually irrelevant tend to be forgotten. And it does not really matter how many events are present. What matters is whether the events that _*_are_*_ present signal a specific reward IN THAT SITUATION. Wyner drops the ball in that he never arrives at the principal_ [sic] _of all language-learning principles: Language is contextually functional-language is only learnt if it creates rewarding effects in our current circumstances. Everything else follows from that, and no “layers” of memory or Chomskyan Language Acquisition Device or other theoretical claptrap is necessary._
_So overall, I give this book four stars. Three because it is highly readable, an additional fourth because it has lots of sound and practical advice and materials, and one lost star because its failure to grasp and apply the central insights of language as _*_behavior_*_ costs readers what I feel is quite a lot in terms of efficiency._
Personally, this reviewer’s advice regarding mnemonics aligns with my experience-it’s super annoying to conjure up that middleman when I think of a word and I have to hope that I somehow _unlearn_ that mnemonic later. (And I recall one [possibly failed] Korean learning program that used mnemonics for _everything._ I never even considered it but the promotional materials recommended learning 매일 [maeil] “every day” by picturing “May” (somehow) and “eels” and, to this day, I still, unfortunately, think of those things when using 매일. Dreadful.) 3/3
Sounds like a great resource! Thank you!
Very interesting!
I grew up in Algeria where I learnt to speak fluently Arabic, French and English in addition to the local dialect. I also have intermediate level in German and Spanish.
My language learning experience through immersion ( other than English) stopped at the moment when I came to the US. I believe I need to use some of the mnemonics to prevent the loss of what is left of my German and Spanish
For my Chinese flashcards, because the different parts of a character have different meanings, I put those pictures of those meanings in my flashcard and then I remember the word's whole meaning and remember what parts to write to draw the entire Chinese character. These flashcards were laborious to make, but the only way I could memorize the words. Now, I know enough Chinese words to use the Chinese dictionary definition on the flashcard, not all the time, but enough of the time that making flashcards are much faster than using pictures to make a flashcard. Thanks for the book review!
Exactly what I needed. Thanks for sharing!
It's so good to see Jone recomending a book that has been published in Brazil. I actually stopped the video twice to search for a good offer hahaha.
Sounds like a really great resource, I'm snagging it next time I do an amazon order. Thanks!
Best regards from Norway!
I read the book years ago and got a lot from it, lots of useful information for language learning
Oh, a follow up comment. I like your observation that just because someone is good at something, that it does not mean they necessarily have some new knowledge or understanding to teach others.
This book also changed my life as well. It inspired me to learn a third language, to which I made a fair amount of progress. It does take a lot of work and discipline though. It ain't no cake-walk.
I got the original edition back in the day as well, so it's great to hear an endorsement of its message from you! For the fun of a mnemonic, I'm currently trying to learn Japanese, and for baseball (yakyuu) I was struggling to remember it, as I'm British and the sport holds very little meaning to me, but since it sounds a little like "j'accuse" I have opted to imagine Hercules Poirot dressed in some 1920's Yankees gear, striking a pose like in an anime shouting "j'accuse" just lazily enough to sound like yakyuu...Seems to work for me!
I’ve been studying memory techniques for the past few years. I’ve been kind of frustrated in my attempts to apply it to learning languages, but for some reason I find it really easy to use for learning bird species and families. Word plays often work best for me, so I’ve got, for instance, embarrassed by buntings (buntings are the emberizidae family), the necessity of being stern with starlings (sturnidae family), or larks allowed (or aloud)- alaudidae family. Planning to go back to languages and give it another try once I finish the birds. I bought the book, so maybe it will inspire me to try it sooner rather than later.
@@sarahshawtatoun6492 yeah I also haven’t found it too useful for language learning other than like mnemonics. Very useful for memorising over 600 digits of pi however 😅
Love the s-backing! Excellent video and I'm excited to read this book!
These sound like great ideas, which I will try to apply to the small and under-resourced language that I have to learn. I have a bit of a problem with the "don't translate" idea, though. For a motivated individual learner, I can see how it could work, but I also teach English in the classroom, and I find the only way that I can effectively check on children's understanding is to make them translate back into the native language.
I picked up that book early in my study of French, and I used the app to get started. It absolutely set me on the right path, learning and practicing the sounds the French. It also got me started on what Dr. Jones would call "naughty mnemonics." My custom-made Fluent Forever flash cards were très sexy, très drôle
Learning Arabic (i'm sure like Hebrew) provides a million opportunities for association with triliteral roots.
Some of my favorite:
n-z-l (descending) the nozzle of the hose drops water
3-r-f (know/announce publicly) very smart dog
n-s-ii (neglect) the nosy neighbor neglects their own yard
I probably built hundreds of these over the years...
Just bought. I love mnemonics and memory techniques, and am plodding my way through Spanish/Italian on Duolingo, so will use to supplement.
I used the cloze deletion technique to help a French kid do French conjugation exercises... It worked and was so much more fun for the both of us than trying to get him to write the second person plural pluperfect indicative of the verb "souffrir"... Coming up with a funny story that used all the random verbs, persons and tenses in the exercise list was part of the fun and made it much more engaging for him! It is also a bit closer to the way we use conjugation in real life!
You definetely sold me on that book
Former Russian lang major 40 yrs ago at Temple U and masters in Slavic linguistics survivor from SUNY Albany here.
Ok, first I've got to say that I ADORE your channel and content (well, aside from the brief dally with ASMR which grates on me, LOL). You speak to the linguistics geek part of me! I've had Gabriel's book for a number of years so I'm jazzed to see there's a new edition, and I even have it as an audio book. But back to what you were saying. Yes, I too wish there was more to say about lesser learned or minority languages (rabid Irish learner here!). And wanted to share my best ever mnemonics story:
Back when I was moving and surrounded by JUNK that I needed to get rid of, I came across the Irish word for it "truflais" (kind of sounds like "truff-lish"). I was attending a weekly conversation course and wanted to use that word SO much but it wouldn't stick in my head. Initially I thought, 'well truflais sounds like truffles', but I don't consider truffles to be junk at ALL, so back to the drawing board. And then the famous image of Captain Kirk from the original Star Trek series, surrounded by a sea of furry 'tribbles' that had fallen out of the grain bin in the episode "The Trouble with Tribbles" came to mind. Troubles-Tribbles- Truflais!! That's pretty much how I felt, chagrinned by being surrounded by a sea of junk, and well... 5 years later it still works to bring the word back when I need it! Here's the image that comes to mind. I still laugh over this one!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trouble_with_Tribbles
Now I have to order a copy of the revised version of Fluent Forever. Keep on rocking on Taylor!
I don't know why exactly, but only now, reading your story, it hits me that if they have that replicator for food, they'd never need a grain bin. Is that addressed in the episode?
Dear Algorithim, I ordered the book before it was even reviewed... can't pass up a text that may light a fire under me to scrape the rust off 5 languages that I used to have fluency in, and flex the memory machine on the one that is still fresh, aside from the F1. I love a good book, especially a useful one. Thanks man!
I read Fluent Forever 12 months ago and it prompted my desire to start a 3rd language. I picked Spanish and am 292 days into Duo for that (plus other strategies), and reading well known novels (veeery slowly) like Matilda and Harry Potter.
I think I’ll buy the updated book. Tēnã koe.
Ben Iceland was my Latin teacher for 3 years in early 1970s at South Plainfield HS in NJ. He let us bring a full 3x5 card to every test. So I got a Bic Accountant's Fine Point Black Ink pen and wrote that card and re-wrote that card so many times before every test that by the time we had the test we were calm and hardly even had to look at the card! Brilliant! I guess he knew about those 1885 forgetting curves!
Oh wow, one of my favorite linguistics RUclipsrs talking about someone I've hung out with!
Love the video, I’ve been trying to implement some of your tips to my studies of French. One thing I’ve noticed: מייבא should be pronounced with a v sound rather than a b sound, as in “me-yah-veh”, it shares the same root as the word for “come”, יבוא. Hope this helps and have a great day :)
עד כמה שידוע לי (ו-"פעלים" מחזק את דעתי), כל הנטיות של הפועל "לייבא" הן עם ב' דגושה...
UK viewers: the Kindle version is available for a pound. I presume it may be on offer elsewhere too.
It’s available on Amazon as an ebook for US $4.99 as I write this!
Thank you so much - I’ve just bought it on my kindle for 99p!
Thanks for the tip- fastest quid I ever spent!
Yeah - couldn't believe my luck when I spotted that!
Yeah I got it on Amazon US for like $2, 90% off, holy hell
Thanks for the vid! I read Fluent Forever back in 2017 and I kept wondering when he was going to update his method.
Thank you for this video. I have purchased the book as well.
I purchased and read this book nearly ten years ago and enjoyed it but didn’t really get around to using it as I wasn’t actively learning a language at that time. Just purchased the updated version through your affiliate link and look forward to rereading and applying the methods to my current study of Spanish and Czech.
The only mnemonic story that I remember really working for me-“I don’t remember” in Polish is “nie pamiętam,” and “pamiętam” sounds a bit like 泡麵湯 （pào miàn tāng) in Mandarin, or instant ramen soup. So I would think something like “I don’t remember the pao mian tang/instant ramen soup” every time I saw “nie pamiętam,” and I still remember what it means now even though I’ve forgotten most of the Polish I studied back then (would love to take up Polish though).
Subscribed! Nice video and will read the book