CRACK THE CODE AND GET FLUENT FASTER. I had to learn [a new language] in a handful of days for a TV interview. I asked Benny for help and his advice was invaluable. - Tim Ferriss Ten years ago, Lewis spoke only English. But constant travel, along with a buoyant attitude, has unmasked the polyglot within. - National Geographic What if you could skip the years of study and jump right to speaking Mandarin? Sound Crazy? No, it's language hacking. It's about learning what's indispensable, skipping what's not - and using what you've learned to have real conversations in Chinese - from day one! Unlike most traditional language courses that try to teach you the rules of a language,Language HackingMandarin shows you how to learn and speak Mandarin Chinese immediately through proven memory techniques, unconventional shortcuts and conversation strategies perfect by one of the world's greatest language learners, Benny Lewis, aka the Irish Polyglot. The Method Language Hacking takes a modern approach to language learning by focusing on the essential conversations that learners need to start speaking from day one. There's no need to study every word and grammar rule before you start using the language. Instead,Language Hacking applies the 80/20 principle to language learning, giving you the most versatile phrases and most effective shortcuts to help you get fluent faster. Through speaking, you get the practice you need to progress and the confidence to use the language. Each of the 10 units culminates with a speaking mission that you can choose to share on the italki#LanguageHacking learner community (www.italki.com/community) where you can submit your missions, give and get feedback and extend your learning beyond the pages of the book. The audio for this course is available for free on library.teachyourself.com or from the Teach Yourself Library app. You don't need to go abroad to learn a language any more.

Learning Chinese can be frustrating and difficult, partly because it's very different from European languages. Following a teacher, textbook or language course is not enough. They show you the characters, words and grammar you need to become proficient in Chinese, but they don't teach you how to learn them! Regardless of what program you're in (if any), you need to take responsibility for your own learning. If you don't, you will miss many important things that aren't included in the course you're taking. If you study on your own, you need to be even more aware of what you need to do, what you're doing at the moment and the difference between them. Here are some of the questions I have asked and have since been asked many times by students: How do I learn characters efficiently? How do I get the most out of my course or teacher? Which are the best learning tools and resources? How can I become fluent in Mandarin? How can I improve my pronunciation? How do I learn successfully on my own? How can I motivate myself to study more? How can I fit learning Chinese into a busy schedule? The answers I've found to these questions and many others form the core of this book. It took eight years of learning, researching, teaching and writing to figure these things out. Not everybody has the time to do that! I can't go back in time and help myself learn in a better way, but I can help you! This book is meant for normal students and independent language learners alike. While it covers all major areas of learning, you won't learn Chinese just by reading this book. It's like when someone on TV teaches you how to cook: you won't get to eat the delicious dish just by watching the program; you have to do the cooking yourself. That's true for this book as well. When you apply what you learn, it will boost your learning, making every hour you spend count for more, but you still have to do the learning yourself. This is what a few readers have said about the book: "The book had me nodding at a heap of things I'd learnt the hard way, wishing I knew them when I started, as well as highlighting areas that I'm currently missing in my study." - Geoff van der Meer, VP engineering "This publication is like a bible for anyone serious about Chinese proficiency. It's easy for anyone to read and written with scientific precision." - Zachary Danz, foreign teacher, children's theatre artist About me I started learning Chinese when I was 23 (that's more than eight years ago now) and have since studied in many different situations, including serious immersion programs abroad, high-intensity programs in Sweden, online courses, as well as on the side while working or studying other things. I have also successfully used my Chinese in a graduate program for teaching Chinese as a second language, taught entirely in Chinese mostly for native speakers (the Graduate Institute for Teaching Chinese as a Second Language at National Taiwan Normal University). All these parts have contributed to my website, Hacking Chinese, where I write regularly about how to learn Mandarin.

Crack the Code and Get Fluent Faster! "I had to learn [a new language] in a handful of days for a TV interview. I asked Benny for help and his advice was invaluable." - Tim Ferriss What if you could skip the years of study and jump right to speaking Mandarin? Sound Crazy? No, it's language hacking. It's about learning what's indispensable, skipping what's not - and using what you've learned to have real conversations in Mandarin - from day one! Unlike most traditional language courses that try to teach you the rules of a language, Language Hacking Mandarin, shows you how to learn and speak Mandarin immediately through proven memory techniques, unconventional shortcuts and conversation strategies perfect by one of the world's greatest language learners, Benny Lewis, aka the Irish Polyglot. The Method Language Hacking takes a modern approach to language learning, blending the power of online social collaboration and the 80/20 principle of learning (Benny's ten #languagehacks show you how to achieve more with less!). It focuses on the conversations and language that learners need to master right away, rather than presenting language in the order of difficulty like most courses. This means you can start having conversations immediately. Course Features Each of the 10 units culminates with a speaking mission that you can choose to share on the italki Language Hacking learner community (www.italki.com/languagehacking) where you can give and get feedback and extend your learning beyond the pages of the book. The audio for this course is available for free on library.teachyourself.com or from the Teach Yourself Library app. You don't need to go abroad to learn a language any more.

CRACK THE CODE AND GET FLUENT FASTER. I had to learn [a new language] in a handful of days for a TV interview. I asked Benny for help and his advice was invaluable. - Tim Ferriss Ten years ago,Lewis spoke only English. But constant travel,along with a buoyant attitude, has unmasked the polyglot within. - National Geographic What if you could skip the years of study and jump right to speaking Mandarin? Sound Crazy? No, it's language hacking. It's about learning what's indispensable, skipping what's not - and using what you've learned to have real conversations in Chinese - from day one! Unlike most traditional language courses that try to teach you the rules of a language,Language HackingMandarin shows you how to learn and speak Mandarin Chinese immediately through proven memory techniques,unconventional shortcuts and conversation strategies perfect by one of the world's greatest language learners,Benny Lewis,aka the Irish Polyglot. The Method Language Hacking takes a modern approach to language learning by focusing on the essential conversations that learners need to start speaking from day one. There's no need to study every word and grammar rule before you start using the language. Instead,Language Hacking applies the 80/20 principle to language learning,giving you the most versatile phrases and most effective shortcuts to help you get fluent faster. Through speaking,you get the practice you need to progress and the confidence to use the language. Each of the 10 units culminates with a speaking mission that you can choose to share on the italki#LanguageHacking learner community (www.italki.com/community) where you can submit your missions,give and get feedback and extend your learning beyond the pages of the book. The audio for this course is available for free on library.teachyourself.com or from the Teach Yourself Library app. You don't need to go abroad to learn a language any more.

It's true that some people spend years studying German before they finally get around to speaking the language. But here's a better idea. Skip the years of study and jump right to the speaking part. Sound crazy? No, it's language hacking. Unlike most traditional language courses that try to teach you the rules of German, #LanguageHacking shows you how to learn and speak German through proven memory techniques, unconventional shortcuts and conversation strategies perfected by one of the world's greatest language learners, Benny Lewis, aka the Irish Polyglot. Using the language hacks -shortcuts that make learning simple - that Benny mastered while learning his 11 languages and his 'speak from the start' method, you will crack the language code and exponentially increase your language abilities so that you can get fluent faster. It's not magic. It's not a language gene. It's not something only "other people" can do. It's about being smart with how you learn, learning what's indispensable, skipping what's not, and using what you've learned to have real conversations in German from day one. The Method #LanguageHacking takes a modern approach to language learning, blending the power of online social collaboration with traditional methods. It focuses on the conversations that learners need to master right away, rather than presenting language in order of difficulty like most courses. This means that you can have conversations immediately, not after years of study. Each of the 10 units culminates with a speaking 'mission' that prepares you to use the language you've learned to talk about yourself. Through the language hacker online learner community, you can share your personalized speaking 'missions' with other learners - getting and giving feedback and extending your learning beyond the pages of the book . You don't need to go abroad to learn a language any more.

Benny Lewis, who speaks over ten languages—all self-taught—runs the largest language-learning blog in the world, Fluent In 3 Months. Lewis is a full-time "language hacker," someone who devotes all of his time to finding better, faster, and more efficient ways to learn languages. Fluent in 3 Months: How Anyone at Any Age Can Learn to Speak Any Language from Anywhere in the World is a new blueprint for fast language learning. Lewis argues that you don't need a great memory or "the language gene" to learn a language quickly, and debunks a number of long-held beliefs, such as adults not being as good of language learners as children.

Reinforce your written Chinese with this practice book for the best-selling Tuttle Learning Chinese Characters. Learning Mandarin Chinese Characters helps students quickly learn the essential Chinese characters that are fundamental to the language. This character workbook presents 178 Chinese characters and over 534 standard words using these characters. It is intended for self-study and classroom use and includes the characters and words students need to know if they plan to take the official Chinese government HSK Level 1 Exam or the Advanced Placement (AP) Chinese Language and Culture Exam. Each character is presented plainly and transparently. A step-by-step diagram shows how to write the character, and boxes are provided for freehand writing practice. The meaning and pronunciation are given along with the critical vocabulary compounds and an example sentence. Review exercises reinforce the learning process, and an index at the back allows you to look up the characters according to their English meanings or romanized Hanyu Pinyin pronunciation. Key features of this Chinese workbook include: Designed for HSK Level 1 and AP exam prep Learn the 178 most essential Chinese characters Example sentences and over 534 vocabulary items Step-by-step writing diagrams and practice boxes

It's true that some people spend years studying Italian before they finally get around to speaking the language. But here's a better idea. Skip the years of study and jump right to the speaking part. Sound crazy? No, it's language hacking. Unlike most traditional language courses that try to teach you the rules of Italian, #LanguageHacking shows you how to learn and speak Italian through proven memory techniques, unconventional shortcuts and conversation strategies perfected by one of the world's greatest language learners, Benny Lewis, aka the Irish Polyglot. Using the language hacks -shortcuts that make learning simple - that Benny mastered while learning his 11 languages and his 'speak from the start' method, you will crack the language code and exponentially increase your language abilities so that you can get fluent faster. It's not magic. It's not a language gene. It's not something only "other people" can do. It's about being smart with how you learn, learning what's indispensable, skipping what's not, and using what you've learned to have real conversations in Italian from day one. The Method #LanguageHacking takes a modern approach to language learning, blending the power of online social collaboration with traditional methods. It focuses on the conversations that learners need to master right away, rather than presenting language in order of difficulty like most courses. This means that you can have conversations immediately, not after years of study. Each of the 10 units culminates with a speaking 'mission' that prepares you to use the language you've learned to talk about yourself. Through the language hacker online learner community, you can share your personalized speaking 'missions' with other learners - getting and giving feedback and extending your learning beyond the pages of the book . You don't need to go abroad to learn a language any more.

It's true that some people spend years studying Spanish before they finally get around to speaking the language. But here's a better idea. Skip the years of study and jump right to the speaking part. Sound crazy? No, it's language hacking. Unlike most traditional language courses that try to teach you the rules of Spanish, #LanguageHacking shows you how to learn and speak Italian through proven memory techniques, unconventional shortcuts and conversation strategies perfected by one of the world's greatest language learners, Benny Lewis, aka the Irish Polyglot. Using the language hacks -shortcuts that make learning simple - that Benny mastered while learning his 11 languages and his 'speak from the start' method, you will crack the language code and exponentially increase your language abilities so that you can get fluent faster. It's not magic. It's not a language gene. It's not something only "other people" can do. It's about being smart with how you learn, learning what's indispensable, skipping what's not, and using what you've learned to have real conversations in Spanish from day one. The Method #LanguageHacking takes a modern approach to language learning, blending the power of online social collaboration with traditional methods. It focuses on the conversations that learners need to master right away, rather than presenting language in order of difficulty like most courses. This means that you can have conversations immediately, not after years of study. Each of the 10 units culminates with a speaking 'mission' that prepares you to use the language you've learned to talk about yourself. Through the language hacker online learner community, you can share your personalized speaking 'missions' with other learners - getting and giving feedback and extending your learning beyond the pages of the book . You don't need to go abroad to learn a language any more.

At long last the approach that has helped thousands of learners memorize Japanese kanji has been adapted to help students with Chinese characters. Book 1 of Remembering Simplified Hanzi covers the writing and meaning of the 1,000 most commonly used characters in the simplified Chinese writing system, plus another 500 that are best learned at an early stage. (Book 2 adds another 1,500 characters for a total of 3,000.) Of critical importance to the approach found in these pages is the systematic arranging of characters in an order best suited to memorization. In the Chinese writing system, strokes and simple components are nested within relatively simple characters, which can, in turn, serve as parts of more complicated characters and so on. Taking advantage of this allows a logical ordering, making it possible for students to approach most new characters with prior knowledge that can greatly facilitate the learning process. Guidance and detailed instructions are provided along the way. Students are taught to employ "imaginative memory" to associate each character’s component parts, or "primitive elements," with one another and with a key word that has been carefully selected to represent an important meaning of the character. This is accomplished through the creation of a "story" that engagingly ties the primitive elements and key word together. In this way, the collections of dots, strokes, and components that make up the characters are associated in memorable fashion, dramatically shortening the time required for learning and helping to prevent characters from slipping out of memory.