It’s now been over a month since Vat and I returned from Korea and ended the year without English. Now is the most sensitive time for determining whether I can maintain the ability to speak Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese and Korean, so I wanted to share my plan. If you learn something quickly you also forget […]
How Well Did the No-English Rule Work for Learning Chinese?
Readers familiar with Vat and my current project of attempting to learn four languages in one year, will note that the big focus has been on one method: not speaking English. Today I want to talk about the failures and successes in applying that philosophy to learning Chinese. My Chinese After Three Months (+100 Hours […]
Bold Moves are Often Easier than Small Ones
How often do you floss your teeth? Flossing is a habit generally recommended by dentists that takes an incredibly small amount of time and effort each day. Then why do so many people not do it? Is it because these people have made a careful cost-benefit analysis and decided the two minutes wasn’t worth their […]
Why You Shouldn’t Learn a Language the Way Children Do
Now entering the fourth week of my year without English, I’ve seen a lot of different advice for learning languages. Some people believe in huge amounts of listening and reading. Others say take classes or dive into conversations immediately. I won’t comment on those strategies (yet), but I will point out one common suggestion: you […]
I'm a Wall Street Journal bestselling author, podcast host, computer programmer and an avid reader. Since 2006, I've published weekly essays on this website to help people like you learn and think better. My work has been featured in The New York Times, BBC, TEDx, Pocket, Business Insider and more. I don't promise I have all the answers, just a place to start.