Language Learning Techniques: How I became fluent in 5 languages

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

Photo by Alex Kennedy on Unsplash

Over the years, I’ve learned to read, speak, and write 7 different languages to varying degrees of competency, 5 of which I would consider myself fluent in. As people often ask me how I learned those languages, I’ve written this article to describe the three main techniques I use to teach myself foreign languages.

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Happy learning!

So if you want to learn a language, you’ve probably noticed there are a ton of methods and apps available to you right now. It’s a growing industry — and many platforms, both free and paid, offer tools that will help you on your journey to fluency. However, in my experience, there are three techniques that truly take the cake — and although by profession I am a software engineer, none of them are digital! They are all very analogue.

It’s not Duolingo or Rosetta Stone, and it’s not some new app that promises you can play games to get fluent. Not to throw any shade on those methods, but they haven’t worked particularly well in my personal experience, however fun and easy to use they may be.

What has worked for me are these three techniques:

1. Shadowing

2. Scriptorium

3. Side-by-Side Reading

Shadowing

First of all, there’s the Shadowing method. This one’s the big kahuna! Developed by Prof. Alexander Arguelles, a linguist who knows literally over three dozen languages, this technique integrates all three NLP learning modalities of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic.

The bare bones idea of Shadowing is just like singing along with a song on the radio — except instead of singing along, you’re speaking along with a recording of a text. You need a bilingual text with your target language (e.g. French) on one side and a language you’re comfortable with (e.g. English) on the other, as well as a recording of the original text.

Resources for Shadowing

The ideal resource for this is produced by a company called Assimil, founded in the 1929 by genius French linguist and language teacher Alphonse Chérel. Assimil, la méthode intuitive, is designed to guide you in learning a language as you learned your native language…or at least, based on similar principles of fluid assimilation. They have over 100 languages you can learn from French and 9 from English, as of summer 2020 (there are other languages available in out-of-print editions, but finding them might be tricky).

(Side note: if you’re considering becoming a polyglot, it would be wise to learn French first, namely because of the wide selection of languages that Assimil offers in French, as well as the high quality of their material. Otherwise, as of summer 2020, they have English editions for German, Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese (Mandarin), Dutch, French, Spanish, Yiddish, and Italian. They also have phrasebooks for other languages, but they are not suitable to our purpose.)

For example, for learning French, they have French With Ease and Using French. French With Ease will get you to B2 — which is advanced intermediate — and Using French will get you to C1 — which is advanced fluency (for reference, C2 is native fluency).

Shadowing step-by-step

How does Shadowing work? Each of the other learning styles is integrated into the auditory experience step by step, starting with the kinesthetic:

1. Pre-Shadowing. First just listen to the recording, while walking at a brisk pace — preferably outside in a garden/park somewhere, but you could of course do it anywhere. No need to run, but definitely don’t lollygag; it’s time to move and groove! At this point, simply listen to the words. Professor Arguelles doesn’t actually have you do this, but I find it extremely helpful. It helps me get a feel for the rhythm of the language, and become familiar with the sounds in general. Note: Try not to read the lessons until step 3; I’ll explain why when we get to that stage.
2. Speak Along. Now the fun begins! After you’re comfortable with whatever section of the text you’ve been listening to (ideally work through them in 7- or 14-lesson chunks), start the actual Shadowing. This entails speaking along with the recording — not after the voice, but together. This will be a bit tricky at first, but it shouldn’t take too long to get used to, especially if you do the pre-shadowing from step 1. After a few days of this, you should be able to shadow the text comfortably.
3. Doing the Lessons. Once you can shadow that chunk of lessons, take a break from the Shadowing. Sit down and do the lessons you just shadowed as normal — read through the dialogues, review the notes, and do the exercises. Remember that you haven’t opened the book until now. This is essential! For the past few days, you’ve been wondering, “What am I saying? What does ‘cafard’ mean? What is ‘nombrilisme’?!” Now when you see those words, you’ll have a serious a-ha moment : “Wow, so that’s what I’ve been saying! Who knew…” What’s incredible is that it solidifies the meaning in your mind. This is a key part of the process. Note: To get the most out of step 3, read aloud each lesson as you go through it, read all the notes, and do each exercise fully.
4. Shadowing with the Text. Now things get really interesting. Go outside and start shadowing the same section again — but this time, take the book with you. Make sure you’re on a clear path without too many obstacles! Reading while walking isn’t actually that hard, and while you might look somewhat strange to passersby as you walk at a brisk pace with headphones on while reading a book out loud, it’s worth it! Trust me. This is where everything comes together: the meanings of the words (because you can see the English translation on the right in your peripheral vision), the pronunciation, and the spelling. So definitely don’t skip this bit, it’s the best part! Also works wonders on your hand-eye coordination ;)
5. Rinse and Repeat! Do the same process for the next 7- to 14-lesson chunk of the book. You can also experiment with different schedules, where one day you’re working on the first step for one set of the lessons and the next day you’re on step 4, for example, with a previous set…but honestly, I’d say in the beginning stick to a linear process. Go through each step in order for a given set of lessons, then move on to the next.

While it might look complicated at first glance, the method is actually quite simple once you get the hang of it. Essentially, you work your way step by step to full understanding, excellent pronunciation, and natural rhythm.

Demo and In-Depth Explanations

If you’re looking for some more info, here are some videos that will help you get a deeper understanding.

First is a video of the professor demonstrating the method. He shows only what I refer to as steps 2 and 4. Note: as he mentions in other videos, you don’t need to be on a bridge, it’s just for the camera ;)

Then this is him discussing the technique:

And here’s an in-depth, step-by-step explanation, much like what I wrote above, but way more detailed:

Scriptorium

This next method was also developed by Arguelles, and is excellent at improving your reading and writing skills in the language.

This might be superfluous if all you’re looking for is conversational skills in your target language. On the other hand, if you’re going to move to or travel extensively in a country where they speak your target language, it will definitely be helpful.

Scriptorium is incredibly simple. Given a text in your target language, follow these three steps:

1. Read the sentence from the source text out loud.
2. Write it down while saying each word out loud as you write it.
3. Read your copy of the sentence out loud.

Then repeat for the next sentence. If the text is separated into paragraphs (rather than a dialogue like Assimil’s lessons, or some other format), then I also like to read the whole paragraph out loud before going to the next. This helps me remember what I just read and wrote; plus it helps keep the story flowing in my mind.

Bonus tip: use Scriptorium and Shadowing together! For step 3 of Shadowing — when you go through the lessons as Assimil intended — do Scriptorium on each sentence of the dialogue and the exercises. This will help you truly solidify your knowledge; this is in fact the main way I use Scriptorium myself.

Here’s an explanation and demo:

Side-by-Side Reading

The final method that I’ve used was inspired by Assimil’s bilingual text format. What I do is choose a book that I know and love, find a translation in my target language, and read both simultaneously. I’ve mostly used Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, as I grew up reading the series. By now, having used this method with the same book in various languages, I know the story quite well and actually don’t need to open the English version too much anymore, but essentially in the beginning you have both open and read one paragraph of one, then the other.

Experiment to see whether it’s better for you to read first in your target language, then English, or vice versa. Also maybe a paragraph is too much or too little; try a sentence or two, or maybe page by page…whatever works best for you. The better you are with the language, the bigger chunks you can read at a time. This method is really fun because you’re reading something you already know and love.

Depending on your level, you could try children’s books or teen fiction; in addition to Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, I’ve also used:

• The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
• The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
• A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
• Other Harry Potter books (you can tell I’m a fan)

A variation on this is to read a book in both languages that you haven’t read before, something in a field you’re interested in. This would generally work best once you’ve attained at least a level of A2 or B1 in the language (perhaps by using Shadowing).

General Tips & Tricks

In addition to the actual methods described above, here are a few pointers that can help you along the way:

• Context is key. All three of the techniques in this article are fundamentally rooted in learning the language in its natural environment: human situations. Reading long lists of words or grammar rules is about as effective as trying to learn to dance by reading a list of dance moves and never getting up to move your legs! So always look for ways to learn in context — your retention will be much higher, as well as your enjoyment.
• Use the language in your daily life. If you’re a movie lover, watch with subtitles in your target language, so your subconscious starts to pick up on new vocabulary…again, in context! Better yet, watch a movie in your target language with English subtitles (pro level is watching the movie in your target language with subtitles in the same language). Another trick is to put your computer, phone, browser, and/or Google account in your target language.
• Think in your target language. Form basic sentences in your mind to describe what’s around you. As you get more and more advanced, it’ll come naturally to think fully in your target language. This is key to attaining fluency: while you’re still translating from thoughts in your native language, you won’t have that fluidity and ease of use you need to feel truly comfortable. Once you’re thinking in the language on a regular basis — especially using the language, but also in general — you’ll see a huge leap in your level.

Hopefully this has been helpful to you. If you have any questions about how to use these methods specifically or language learning in general, feel free to comment below or write me a message!

And I’m curious: how do you learn languages? I’d love to hear from you on what techniques, tips, and tricks you’ve used yourself to attain fluency…so share your knowledge in the comments below!

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