Notes

As we all know, learning a language is tough, but have you ever traced back to its background and tried to find out why are we wanting to believe this idea? Recently, I watched a great TEDx talk by Gabriel Wyner, a former opera singer, and current CEO of Fluent Forever. I think he did an excellent job by giving his TEDx speech, and he helped me find an answer to my question.

In his speech, firstly, he states why our excuses are inadequate about learning a language. He thinks that there are a lot of myths that are wrong about learning a language. He refuses that learning a language is not about age. Then, he starts to tell his life story. He says he was not good at learning new languages when he was a kid. After a certain time, he decides to apply to Opera and Mechanical Engineering schools at the same. For the Opera degree, he has to receive a certificate in German, French, and Italian. With advice from his friend, he applies to a summer school for German. He signs a contract that declares that he will not speak, hear and read any other language than German, and then, he becomes fluent in German in 14 weeks. After that, he realizes that he has a passion in the process of learning a new language. He studied Italian in 2008. In 2010, he became a fluent French speaker in only five months. He learned these languages by linking words to visual objects with the help of online flash cards.

I loved his speech. Not only did he inspire me, but also, he gave me a spirit. I was impressed how he managed to learn French in 5 months. I think he is both a genius and hardworking. His story is worth a TEDx talk. I learned so many things.

To conclude, learning a new language is not as hard as it seems. I agree with him as a bilingual. According to Gabriel Wyner, "If you want to learn a language efficiently, then you need to give that language life."