How has the school system gotten away with this for so long?
You’re not the only person who’s taken a foreign language class in school…
And you’re not the only person who still can’t speak the language…
Why is this?
Do we just become bad at learning languages when we get older?
That’s what the school system would lead you to believe.
But what if I told you…
- It’s NOT your fault…
- Their teaching method almost guaranteed you would fail…
Do you want to find out? There’s no going back.
You’re going to be mad at how ONE simple change could’ve saved you from a lot of painful classes…
The ONE Simple Change to Learn Languages Like a Pro
In school, they gave you vocabulary first.
“Learn these important words!”
“Now, lets take those words and learn grammar.”
“Then, if you’re lucky, you’ll get to hear those sentences from native speakers.”
AKA – A Bottom-Up Method
On the surface, it makes sense. And I’m sure it’s worked for some people.
But this is NOT how you learned your native language.
When you were a baby, the world was filled with sounds you’ve never heard before.
But you started to pick up on small details…
Oh, a pause, is that a sentence?
Oh, and that’s a word my parents said before…
Fascinating!
See the difference?
Where school…teaches you from the bottom-up. (Vocabulary, sentences, then context).
You really learned from the top-down. Context first, then sentences, then vocabulary.
From a pyramid – to a funnel.
This one simple change took me from frustration…
To being mistaken as a native speaker in Japanese.
So let’s bring back that childhood wonder!
But how do we undo the years of poor training?
3 Easy Steps to Become Fluent in Any Language
1. Start With Video
A child listens to the world around them.
They understand nothing – but they HEAR everything.
Don’t pressure yourself to understand everything all at once.
Sit back, relax, and enjoy watching the world.
“Cool, But What Do I Even Watch?”
Glad you asked!
Right off the bat, you probably considered YouTube or Netflix, but there’s one problem…
How do you start your search?
You can try searching in your target language…
But since you’re still learning, how do you know if you’re getting good results?
I felt the same way as you. That’s why I created…
🔎 The Search Engine for Language Learners
Here on Mezasu.com, you can search anything (in any language) and find interesting content in your target language.
Plus get video recommendations based on your interests.
2. Break Down the Language
Sentences are the heart of language.
If you want to get good fast, your best bet are phrases (not just vocabulary).
Every video you watch can be broken down into easy to understand sentences.
Take your time and break down the language.
“Okay, But Which Sentences Get The Best Results?”
Some sentences, you may already know…
While other sentences, make you feel like your brain is going to pop…
I’m all for easy learning – there’s no need to spend too much time with sentences you don’t understand at all.
I say: Collect sentences you already understand that has one word you want to learn.
AKA – Take, What you know +1
So while you’re watching videos, start collecting sentences.
How do you do this?
✂️ Clip Audio To Create Your Own Study Material
With Mezasu.com, you can clip audio from the videos you’re watching and save them for practice.
Use your audio clips for speaking practice!
1. Listen to the audio you clipped.
2. Record yourself speaking that same phrase.
3. Compare.
3. Pick Up the Pieces
When learning vocabulary, Context is King.
Every video on Mezasu.com has captions so you can read along and click on words to learn their meaning.
Take the sentences you collect and look up words you don’t know.
Try to fully understand the sentence.
Little by little, you will start decoding the language.
“I See…But How Can I Learn Vocabulary Fast?”
Well, I have some good news and some bad news…
Flashcards are the easiest way to learn a lot of vocabulary fast.
The Bad News:
Flashcards are tedious.
It can feel like you’re a robot trying to learn a language.
The Good News:
There is a simple method to make flashcards more enjoyable and effective for language learning…
📝 The 2 Review Decks of Mezasu.com
Vocabulary Deck: Save images, write notes / mnemonics, and add sample sentences for every vocabulary card.
Images
Notes
Sentences
Sentences Deck: Turn your vocabulary into usable sentences. (Add your audio clips for extra immersion).
With vocabulary, your goal is to create usable sentences as fast as possible.
As you become more familiar with each word, Mezasu.com automatically pushes you to create sentence cards.
Plus, it cleans out old cards to make sure you only review what you need.
How Long Does it Take to Speak Naturally
Before I explain, I want to be clear about one thing…
⚠️ There is a difference between Speaking Naturally and Speaking Fluently.
Many people start their dream by saying, “I want to become fluent in [x] language!”
It’s a nice goal to have, but there’s one thing that happens to everyone…
You never ‘feel’ fluent in the language.
I’ve been studying Japanese for years now. I’ve even lived in Japan for 15 months…
And I still feel nowhere near fluent.
However, I’m confident I could speak naturally.
I won’t tell you how long it will take to become natural…
This entire article is meant to get you to create your own learning journey.
How long it takes is entirely up to you.
That said, I do have…
A Challenge For You
Start with the 2,000 Most Frequently Used Words of your target language.
These account for about 80% of spoken language.
Impressive, right?
But don’t forget; Context is King.
Get these words into usable sentences as fast as possible.
I challenge you to collect 3 sentences for every word.
At minimum, that’s 6,000 sentences to collect.
That might sound like a lot! But these sentences could easily add up by shifting around words and phrases you already know:
- I like dogs.
- I like to go swimming.
- I like playing sports.
- I like my mom’s cooking.
- I like learning languages.
If you follow everything in this article:
You watch videos…
You collect sentences…
You learn how each word is used…
And you practice what you’ve learned…
Then I guarantee you’ll become a more natural speaker.
How long will that take you?
Well, there’s only one way to find out…