Table of Contents
1 Introduction: Stab, Stab, Stab 1
Beginnings 2
Cheaters Occasionally Prosper: The Three Keys to Language Learning 3
The Game Plan 6
How Long Does Fluency Take? 8
Do This Now: The Path Forward 10
2 Upload: Five Principles to End Forgetting 17
Principle 1 Make Memories More Memorable 18
Principle 2 Maximize Laziness 27
Principle 3 Don't Review. Recall. 29
Principle 4 Wait, Wait! Don't Tell Me! 33
Principle 5 Rewrite the Past 36
Timing Is Everything: The End of Forgetting 39
Do This Now: Learn to Use a Spaced Repetition System 48
3 Sound Play 54
Train Your Ears, Rewire Your Brain 57
Train Your Mouth, Get the Girl 64
Train Your Eyes, See the Patterns 71
Do This Now: Learn Your Language's Sound System 77
4 Word Play and the Symphony of a Word 83
Where to Begin: We Don't Talk Much About Apricots 86
Games with Words 89
The Gender of a Turnip 94
Do This Now: Learn Your First 625 Words, Music and All 99
5 Sentence Play 108
The Power of Input: Your Language Machine 109
Simplify, Simplify: Turning Mountains into Molehills 118
Story Time: Making Patterns Memorable 122
On Arnold Schwarzenegger and Exploding Dogs: Mnemonics for Grammar 126
The Power of Output: Your Custom Language Class 130
Do This Now: Learn Your First Sentences 132
6 The Language Game 143
Setting Goals: Your Custom Vocabulary 144
Words About Words 147
Reading for Pleasure and Profit 151
Listening Comprehension for Couch Potatoes 154
Speech and the Game of Taboo 158
Do This Now: Explore Your Language 164
7 Epilogue: The Benefits and Pleasures of Learning a Language 170
The Toolbox
The Gallery: A Guide to the flash Cards That Will Teach You Your Language 177
The Art of Flash Cards 183
The First Gallery: Do-It-Yourself Pronunciation Trainers 191
The Second Gallery: Your First Words 199
The Third Gallery: Using and Learning Your First Sentences 215
The Fourth Gallery: One Last Set of Vocabulary Cards 235
A Glossary of Terms and Tools 243
Appendices 259
Appendix 1 Specific Language Resources 261
Appendix 2 Language Difficulty Estimates 267
Appendix 3 Spaced Repetition System Resources 271
Appendix 4 The international Phonetic Alphabet Decoder 277
Appendix 5 Your First 625 Words 293
Appendix 6 How to Use This Book with Your Classroom Language Course 307
One Last Note (About Technology) 311
Notes 313
Acknowledgments 319
Index 321