(Here’s why I failed to learn Spanish; but succeeded with Japanese.)
For context, I come from a Puerto Rican family.
But I grew up in the United States far away from any Spanish.
My mom told me,
“My biggest regret was not raising you in Puerto Rico for a few years so you could learn the language.” – Mom
Yes! I would’ve loved that too, because I was annoyed…
“Why can’t I speak the language?”
My parents tried to teach me.
They even bought a Rocket Languages course for about $500 and sat together with me. – Failed
I took 4 years of Spanish in school. – Failed
And I even tried studying on my own after high school. – Failed
What Went Wrong?
Sure, I learned a lot of words…
And if my parents said something, I could “kind of” understand them…
But as soon as I tried to speak – I froze.
This is the #1 issue for language learners and it all starts with one problem…
We Try to Learn Languages Backwards
In school, they give us vocabulary first.
“Learn these important words!”
“Now, use those words in a sentence.”
“Great! Let’s get in groups and use what you learned.”
It makes sense.
Start from the base and build your way up…
Like a pyramid.
It sounds good until you realize…
This is NOT How We Learned Our Native Language
When you were a baby, you didn’t know what “words” were.
The world was filled with sounds you’ve never heard before.
All you could do was sit, and listen.
This is the natural starting point.
- Listen to the world around you…
- Then understand phrases…
- Then understand vocabulary…
A top-down approach – From a pyramid, to a funnel.
But Does This Really Make A Difference?
In the beginning, you can get away with the Pyramid Method – anything you learn is more than nothing.
However, this leads to…
The Language Learners Curse
💀 I studied for years. I can even read and understand what is said… But I just can’t speak.
This is what happened to me with Spanish.
And this is the same thing that happens to many language learners around the world.
When you build from the bottom-up…
You’re left trying to construct the language in your head.
You know what you want to say.
You know what grammar you should use.
But when you try to put it together – It comes out unnatural.
You might start thinking, “Am I just bad at language learning?”
It’s not your fault – we were just taught the wrong method.
When in doubt, remember…
Not Even AI Learns from the Bottom-Up
AI models are taught from tons of human content – first.
We don’t give it a bunch of vocabulary and some grammar rules.
Because we know it will turn into robotic sounding language.
So why do we try to teach humans this way?
When You Switch to the Funnel Method
You listen to a lot of content…
Then you break the language down into phrases…
Then you understand the meaning of the vocabulary.
You stop “thinking” about the language, because you can hear the language. It’s like…
The language flows like the song stuck in your head.
Your speaking just naturally flows.
3 Easy Steps to Become Natural in Any Language
1. Start With Video
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?”
Of course, YouTube can be a great starting point…
But it can feel overwhelming.
“Where do I find good videos?”
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
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?”
Easy answer: Flashcards.
However, Mezasu.com does something a bit different than other language learning apps.
📝 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 Being Fluent.
Many people start their language learning journey 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.
So, I can’t tell you how long it will take to become natural…
Because it’s different for everyone.
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
Try this for 1 week:
Watch 1 video a day – But don’t watch just once.
- First, just listen. Don’t pause the video.
- Go back and rewatch parts that stood out to you.
Pick 3 phrases in that video – And create audio clips.
Use Mezasu.com’s (Mimic Tool), to practice speaking.
Do this until you feel confident.
Look up words – and try to fully understand each phrase.
Many words have different meanings.
By reviewing these words in context, you build a deeper understanding of the language.
Just try this for a week.
This practice is different than most of us are used to.
I get it – watching native content can be overwhelming.
That’s why we break down the language into smaller pieces and forget about the rest…for now.
Once I started this process with Japanese, my progress skyrocketed.
Now, there are other methods I did as well – but I’ll leave that for another time. 😉
If you follow everything in this article:
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…