Benny Lewis: TEDx talk on Rapid Language Hacking 

I was 21 too when I started learning my first foreign language seriously after doing badly at French at school and dropping it at the first opportunity, I am now trilingual and starting my 4th language. The difference for me at 21 was having a really big reason for learning Spanish, I met a Mexican girl and started learning her language to prove I loved her and we got married a few years later...now I find it amazing watching my children growing up bilingual and being really proud of them.

I moved to France on a whim with my girlfriend (now my wife), speaking no French. Now, after 6 years, I speak great French (I think) and learnt exactly the way Benny Lewis talks about. I got a break working in a bar and spent a lot of time nodding and smiling and spending 10 minutes explaining basic concepts. Don't worry, go for it, learning a foreign language is fantastic!

Benny never said he's against grammar. He even said it point blank. As a beginner, your job should be to pick up common vocab and set phrases, and once you get used to using those in conversation, you'll have a good enough command to use them creatively at will. From there, you can start studying grammar, but always make speaking/listening the priority. Remember, your main goal in attaining fluency is getting used to speaking the language, not memorizing its rules. Even if you understand the rules, it doesn't mean you'll be able to speak it. A key component in language learning that, for the most part, gets ignored entirely is muscle memory. It doesn't matter how well you understand grammatical concepts in your target language. If you don't speak them, then you can't use them. Your ears and your mouth still have to get used to hearing and speaking the language, and coordinate that with what you already know in your head: the mental representation of the world around you. That's something we all have and language is only the tool we use to express it. Impressing people with what we learned is always fun, but communication comes first. Reading and writing can always come later. Most native speakers don't understand half of those grammatical concepts anyway; they just know what sounds right from what doesn't and know how to get their mouth to communicate their ideas readily. That's all fluency is and that's the goal that should be aimed for. Just look at the amount of illiterate people with limited vocab that are still native speakers of a language. Sure, they might be stigmatized as being uneducated or stupid, but you can't say that they don't know their language or that they can't be understood. Not saying that you should aim that low, but you got to start somewhere. Besides, it's better to speak the language from day one and make mistakes as a beginner, rather than study the grammar for a month and still not be able to speak simple phrases well by the end of it due to lack of practice. The more often you speak, the easier it will become to iron out those mistakes and lessen their occurence. That's how we learn as humans: through practice and experience. Not by studying rules that are irrelevant to where you are in actual speaking ability of your L2.

Makes a lot of sense. When you observe a baby/toddler trying out language they go through the same process without any fear of being incorrect. They just make the sounds and eventually it works out :)

"I have a black shirt'' XD I couldn't get over that

I have been wanting to speak Spanish for years now, I was also really bad at Irish and French in school and have a bad memory, you have really inspired me to go and learn now! thank you so much for you video!

when you gotta learn it, you will learn it. For example; when I travelled in India I visit a place there, a building. I forgot where, either in Delhi or Jaipur, anyway. The Indian tour guide showing tourist around, have not left that country of India. BUT these young Indians guides spoke either French, German or Dutch for the tourist. I asked how them how did they manage to learn the language, because naively, I thought it would have been difficult for an Indian speaking person having ever only seen India to speak another language... they said they did schooling, setting themselves homework and then having the confidence to speak it out aloud there self-taught skill. Very impressed I was indeed.

its so true about people being scared to speak through fear of making a mistake and looking stupid...people may laugh but admire you for having a go. having spent a lot of time in argentina where very few people spoke english i have witnessed this from both perspectives. whats the worst that can happen? just have a go!!!!

Your presentation was great, Benny. Very well said. I hope a lot of potential language learners will be encouraged by your video and take the next step: opening their mouths and just speaking.

Wow! These are great practical tips. I have always feared talking the second language to native speakers, but when you said embrace speaking and aim to make at least 100 mistakes a day, that opened my eyes. Thanks Benny!

From all the youtuber polyglots, you're the best!!! Thank you so much for all the help you provide us. That's gold! :)

Always nice to see one of my first Inspirations three years ago. Thank all of them sooo much

You just changed my point of view about learning a language in 100%.

Guess what everyone - I just gave a brand new talk!! It's way better than this one. Can't wait to show you (will take a few weeks before it's in TEDx stream - subscribe to the email list on my blog to get notification)

God bless you, Benny Lewis! I'm an extremely exasperated ESL teacher in Germany, and it's a constant struggle to get my corporate clients to understand the true science of language acquisition and the futility of studying grammar, as opposed to focusing on speech. Thank you so much for your insight-it's exactly what I've been telling students for year. Now, if I could only get them to listen...

Right on. This has been my language learning experience. Thanks!!

I just watched this video and i totally finished it! the way you speech and the words coming out of your mouth giving me chills, i am motivated and i really learn some tips from you to learn my new language THANK YOU A BIG THUMBS UP!

Your video has been the most inspiring video I have heard yet. Thank you.

Great talk! Thank you! You've help me find the missing key; SPEAKING the language instead of just studying it.

Great talk, Benny. I am a believer that concepts here can be applied more generally in other areas of learning: don't just study the theory, but also interact with it or try it.

thank you Benny!

I'd like to thank you for one of the best language talks I've seen. I failed to get past beginner Spanish for 20 years then dated a Spanish speaker for 2 years. In those 2 years I've watched TV and read novels in Spanish but was also able to ask questions and try sentences. One place I'd disagree is in Italy I was insulted by a shop keeper for butchering his language. Maybe he was just one bad egg. A waiter in the same city had a go at me for eating pasta 'wrong' So maybe I just don't get along with venicians! Now I'm thinking in Spanish every night and have started to learn Italian using Spanish as my base rather than English. Sometimes I'll realise I don't know the Spanish as well as I'd thought so I'm learning both. It's a wonderful journey I'd recommend to anyone and I have a terrible memory too!

amazing thing this guy was done! That's great, i will give it a try to be like that! :))) Thanks Benny!

Thank you for the inspiration !

Thank you! That was very inspiring!

"Tengo la camisa negra" He likes Juanes. Juanes is a Colombian singer and that is the name of one of his songs.

I had come to many of the same conclusions on my own through my life. This shows how natural it is to learn languages. Nice.

Really inspirational. Thank you.

Benny muy inspirador tu discurso sobre el aprendizaje de idiomas... No hay nada mas bonito que aprender un idioma.. Realmente eres un ejemplo a seguir para mucha gente... Saludos desde Venezuela....

Im going to learn French, Japanese and Hindi, Benny is my inspiration

Thank you so much benny

What a beautiful closing statement!

Very positive way of looking at language. Can't wait to do the Fluent in 3 months challenge! 😀

Thank, Mr Lewis for your advice,

Wow! You did speak at Tedx!! That's impressive :D

I loved that video! Amazing, congrats.

Loved your talk, very inspirational!!!

the last 2 minutes gave me chills...bravo!

I think its important to note that he mostly likely wouldn't have made such rapid progress had he not heard Spanish daily for 6 months, he already had a strong 'repertoire' in the language but a block in oral expression (probably out of fear).

Great explanation of circumlocution -- my students will be watching this video next week! Merci, gracias, danke!

I really appreciate this mate. Your passion and enthusiasm for language is very evident in this video. The stuff you touch on is incredible important for a lot of learning in general really. Language is one of those skills that can be difficult to maintain motivation for as the results of your hard work can be quite intangible at times. It can feel like your putting all this effort in and going nowhere; a truly sisyphean task. That's were all those excuses you were talking about come into play; you give yourself all the reasons in the world as to why you are not capable of learning a language: I'm too old, I just don't have the brain for it, my memory is not good enough, I don't have the time/money, etc. You have to realise that all these things are just reasons to justify giving up, and that if you give way to these thoughts you will never be able to achieve ANYTHING truly difficult in your life. You have to accept that the process of learning and development is filled with failures, wrong turns, and dead-ends. That to fail is to learn! Too many people see them as separate, and even more detrimentally, that failure is a sign of inablilty or poor methodology. The reality is that failing is learning; they are synonymous. At the end of the day you have to have faith in the incredible machinery of the human brain, even when it seems as if progress is halting or stunted. You have to have the composure to understand that your brain is making the pathways and connections that will open up new degrees of comprehension in the future. I think you show a great understanding of that principle when you implore people to, just start speaking. I couldn't agree more mate, just give your brain the information in needs, and the context to compartmentalise it, and just enjoy the process of allowing the brain to do what millions of years of evolution have wrought it best at, learning.

I am in the process of learning German and I tried the trick of telling all my friends I am doing it. I can't quit now! :D Meine Deutsch ist etwas schlecht aber es ist spaß noch zu lernen!

Thank you so much. I have taken Chinese and ran into difficulties, mainly because I did not use it because I felt I did not know enough. I am now learning German and I feel very inspired from all the points you made. You rock!

It was hard for me, when I went to university. I spoke on Skype and learned how to speak it! I'm fluent now.

The way you say "Thing" is a thing of beauty.

great video love it! and love your attitude men!

Read his book, HIGHLY recommended. Got me over humps for Spanish, Italian, and Russian. very easy read. thanks Benny!

FANTASTIC speech, so full of wisdom and actual understanding about what languages are all about! They are a tool! the hell it matters if you are not brilliant at using it in the way the book says you should, if you get the job done, which is communicating yourself and understanding what others are saying to you! A very inspirating talk indeed. Thank you Benny Lewis. pd: you absolutely catched it when you say that people don't get frustrated when you "butcher" their language, but rather feel surprised and happy to see you trying to learn. In many cases, it even gains you instant respect from other people when they see you are trying to learn their language.

Awesome words, Benny. Keep on hacking language learning!

Benny Lewis is my Hero.

This is awesome!! I am learning three foreign languages and this is so inspiring for me. :)) Thank you for your advices how to not give up in life.

I'm a Dutch speaking Belgian, studied English, French and German in school and taught myself Spanish. I love what you said about grammar, I use it in the exact same way. When you're at a level you can communicate and express yourself and then start learning the grammar, it feels like you're glueing all of the pieces together. Suddenly, it all starts to make sense, I love that feeling. -- Knap wat je op je eentje bereikt hebt, erg inspirerend. :)

I'm an au pair in Germany and I'm taking my 2nd language course right now (though it's not the only practice I'm getting, I speak it the whole time with the kids too). Last week I went for ice-cream with some classmates and we were talking our imperfect German together. The owner overheard and asked where we were from (Ireland, France, USA, Poland and the Czech Republic) and like you say, she was pleased and encouraging and also said to just keep talking it, and not to mind the mistakes :)

Great speech. I like the whole premise of just do it no matter if it's wrong. Reminds of a quote - "if you keep getting up every time you fall, you become unstoppable". Back to learning/speaking Japanese :-)

I was nodding along enthusiastically the whole way through! ☺️

Great speech benny. Thank you

Thank you for this amazing video, it's totally true, I am gonna try right now at work!

Great speech Benny! Good job!

I found this very liberating! thank you, I will try speaking to some of my polish friends this weekend! peace

Merci pour la vidéo! Mange takk!

you are my new favorite person in the world!

very good speech! thanks

so 1:learn language by associating situations,2:make the commitment to learn

very inspiring. Thank you

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I've just been to your website and I had been thinking about a lot of the things you talk about (the excuses) even tough I loved learning French and English before and I let it go. And I'm now learning German and I was feeling so demotivated because I keep thinking how hard it is. Thank you.

You're amazing!

No. Being hosted once is enough. I'll link to the new TEDx talk once it's up!

Just my luck! I just discovered this guy days ago and I missed him while he was in San Antonio.

Well done Benny, makes a alot of sense and you live your approach every day - I like that! From a Cork Sp&lang.therapist....boy:)

This guy is inspiring me I'm gonna be fluent I'm it's first I owe myself that

love it

Hey Benny, great speech!

Wonderfully put, The key phrase i keep seeing is "MAKE MISTAKES" iv done it myself and yep if you screw up it doesn't matter. Iv said "your welcome", when i meant to say some thing completely different. But they laugh and then are so pleased to correct you. Iv done this myself from the other way round.

Hi This is Pankaj Joshi From India... I too Believe in your way of Learning a new Language... i too follow many points you brought out in learning new Language... Thanks a lot Benny Lewis keep inspiring us All...

You are so correct!

Not yet. I'll announce it on my email list when they notify me, don't worry! It's taking longer than expected for some reason. Should be up within the next week or two.

I started learning Japanese before few months ago (end of age 16) it also feels a bit old actually xD But it's never too late to learn a new language and encounter a new culture, it is always there for you and the right time is when you start learning it because you want to

I salute this guy

Amaising ,thank you ,i speak arabic,english,french ,and little of spanich ,now for my studies i need german !!!!,and li found my self in your speach

So right Lewis. I'm just associating a lot from what you say. I speak 5 languages and I am also bad in remembering names. I believe too every one can learn any language.

wow, that was a really nice speech, got me motivated to do things, finally hehe

Gratulon! Mi konsentas kun vi. Oni ekparolu tuj!

One of my tricks is listening to music of other country and try to sing them, than I learn the meaning of the words. I just repeat it and like that I know sentences, words pronunciation!! I watch the news in different language, and try to understand what they are talking about :D

You're my inspiration bro. I'm currently learning Japanese, Spanish and Arabic

An Irish man good at languages, i have heard it all now!

Excellent presentation Benny. I realised today that I am might be a language hacker as well, came home and googled it to see if there were any others in the world to find the first 3 search pages about yourself !!! I might be more of a Grammar hacker though... About forgetting peoples names, I have heard it said that the reason we forget is because when we are getting introduced to someone, we are listening to how they pronounce our name. For example: Benny, this is Mike. Your not listening to the word Mike, your listening to how your friend pronounced the word Benny. Also, I have found that you are 100% correct. We have to be brave in order to be fluent, and that takes time. A quote by Charlie Chaplin is "It takes courage to make a fool of yourself". i would say it takes the most courage.... For me, Language teaching is 95% psychology. I Enjoyed your talk, not many Cavan men have given TED talks yet, and that´s comming from a Monaghan man. Take Care. Mick.

i have a feeling he may have a degree of dyslexia based on being highly visually associative, having problems remembering names, and having problems learning his mother tongue. what a creative, dynamic individual and great advice. all the ted talks on learning a language emphasize the necessity of not fearing mistakes in the beginning, and this is so true. this talk brought out the power of using association, which i use and teach my students, and the fact that many will encourage you if you are learning a non-English language. unfortunately, in the US there are many who are impatient with English Language Learners. but don't let them stop you.

very good. you rock!!!

I love his shirt

I’m reading his book and before then I thought he was serious about being fluent in a language within 3 months just based on the book title but now I realize his method is to get you speaking the language and consistently studying the language within just 3 months no matter what; he also doesn’t believe general fluency exists and simply wants you to speak in your target language with other people no matter the flaws in your grammar or vocabulary. On chapter 2 and I’m really enjoying his book

Nice one Benny!👍🏾

One week into learning Slovenian and I can say for certain, flashcards are heavily underrated!

The whole world will end when you try to speak another language. That's exactly what I feel every time I try to speak English in front of local people even though I just go to Starbucks and order some drink. I'm Chinese and I've moved to the us for 1 year. I'm currently in high school. I gotta do a bunch of presentations in front of the whole class, a class full of local English speakers. I just feel so stressed before presenting and I'm horribly exhausted after finishing them. I don't have friends here. I've been suffering self-abasement since I was really young, this feeling is just getting worse after I came here. I really can understand what u said in ur speech because that's what I'm struggling and what I feel right now. I started to talk to less people and talk less since I'm so afraid as soon as I speak English, people will look me weird, which I have experienced a lot. I kinda know people look me weird is not because of accent, but my nervous looking which may look really dump. I tried to get over it, but it was just something out of my control. I care of what others think of me, I DONT want them consider me as a nerdy dump girl who looks so oddly nervous when talking. I watched ur video today, it's just so inspirational to me. I don't really know how do I start to talk with others, but I'll try. THANKS❤️

What I find helps is to look at everything in english and think "how can I say that in said language?" At first it wont be as usefull at first but as your vocabulary grows translating what you see solidifies it.

Benny, é admiravel vc falar tantas linguas especialmente o portugues vc fala muito bem.

This applies across all disciplines. Are you trying to learn economics, don't just study it, speak it! Great video.

A WHOLE NEW WOOOOORRRLD

Sei un' ispirazione Benny!...sei un' ispirazione!!! :)

Great speech! Sometimes starting with reading books can help a lot. I'm now reading Harry Potter in spanish and because I've read the books in dutch and english a thousand times it's pretty easy to figure out what everything means.

Beautiful speech (':