How to Learn a Language: Building Your Path to Fluency

My heart pounded through my ears, palms sweaty, butterflies swamping my stomach. I was terrified. I had been teaching myself Spanish for a few months – without having any idea of how to actually do that – and I was about to have my very first attempt at a conversation with a native Spanish speaker on Skype.I took a deep breath as I hit the call button. I’m an introvert, so I don’t often talk to strangers in English, let alone in a foreign language. Oh God. This was a stupid idea. Why am I doing this? My thoughts raced, trying to outrun my jittery emotions. Within a few seconds, my language exchange partner answered:“Hola! ¿Cómo estás?”“Eh, hola,” I replied meekly. “Um, estoy bien… ¿Y tú?”Thus my first ever interaction in a foreign language began. I’ve repeated this process in Japanese, German, Esperanto, and Portuguese – all languages which today I have varying degrees of ability in. When I first started out, and for a long time afterward, I didn’t have a clue what I was doing.Through time, experience, experimentation, tips from polyglots, and my own insights as a certified professional ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher who has now given thousands of one-on-one classes, I’ve come a very long way. This book is the culmination of everything I’ve learned, packaged and presented in a way that is true to reality so that you don’t have to wander and stumble lost through the forest like I did.
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