Our website uses cookies to provide you the best experience. By continuing to use our website, you agree to our use of cookies. For more information, read our Cookie Policy.
Customize Consent Preferences
We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.
The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ...
Always Active
Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.
Cookie
AWSALBCORS
Duration
7 days
Description
Amazon Web Services set this cookie for load balancing.
Cookie
opt_out
Duration
1 year
Description
This cookie is used for preventing the installation of third party advertiser or other cookies on the browser.
Cookie
wt_consent
Duration
1 year
Description
Used for remembering users’ consent preferences to be respected on subsequent site visits. It does not collect or store personal information about visitors to the site.
Cookie
wpEmojiSettingsSupports
Duration
session
Description
WordPress sets this cookie when a user interacts with emojis on a WordPress site. It helps determine if the user's browser can display emojis properly.
Cookie
__cf_bm
Duration
1 hour
Description
This cookie, set by Cloudflare, is used to support Cloudflare Bot Management.
Cookie
_cfuvid
Duration
session
Description
Calendly sets this cookie to track users across sessions to optimize user experience by maintaining session consistency and providing personalized services
Cookie
__cfruid
Duration
session
Description
Cloudflare sets this cookie to identify trusted web traffic.
Cookie
m
Duration
1 year 1 month 4 days
Description
Stripe sets this cookie for fraud prevention purposes. It identifies the device used to access the website, allowing the website to be formatted accordingly.
Cookie
__stripe_mid
Duration
1 year
Description
Stripe sets this cookie to process payments.
Cookie
__stripe_sid
Duration
1 hour
Description
Stripe sets this cookie to process payments.
Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.
Cookie
player
Duration
1 year
Description
Vimeo uses this cookie to save the user's preferences when playing embedded videos from Vimeo.
Cookie
ytidb::LAST_RESULT_ENTRY_KEY
Duration
never
Description
The cookie ytidb::LAST_RESULT_ENTRY_KEY is used by YouTube to store the last search result entry that was clicked by the user. This information is used to improve the user experience by providing more relevant search results in the future.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Cookie
_ga_*
Duration
1 year 1 month 4 days
Description
Google Analytics sets this cookie to store and count page views.
Cookie
_ga
Duration
1 year 1 month 4 days
Description
Google Analytics sets this cookie to calculate visitor, session and campaign data and track site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognise unique visitors.
Cookie
_gcl_au
Duration
3 months
Description
Google Tag Manager sets the cookie to experiment advertisement efficiency of websites using their services.
Cookie
MR
Duration
7 days
Description
This cookie, set by Bing, is used to collect user information for analytics purposes.
Cookie
_fbp
Duration
3 months
Description
Facebook sets this cookie to display advertisements when either on Facebook or on a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising after visiting the website.
Cookie
cppro-ft
Duration
1 year
Description
This cookie is provided by Convert Pro and used to track how a user has behaved on your website or a call-to-action.
Cookie
cppro-ft-style
Duration
session
Description
This cookie is provided by Convert Pro and used to track how a user has behaved on your website or a call-to-action.
Cookie
cppro-ft-style-temp
Duration
1 day
Description
This cookie is provided by Convert Pro and used to track how a user has behaved on your website or a call-to-action.
Cookie
_hjSessionUser_*
Duration
1 year
Description
Hotjar sets this cookie to ensure data from subsequent visits to the same site is attributed to the same user ID, which persists in the Hotjar User ID, which is unique to that site.
Cookie
_hjSession_*
Duration
1 hour
Description
Hotjar sets this cookie to ensure data from subsequent visits to the same site is attributed to the same user ID, which persists in the Hotjar User ID, which is unique to that site.
Cookie
ajs_group_id
Duration
never
Description
This cookie is set by Segment to track visitor usage and events within the website.
Cookie
ajs_user_id
Duration
never
Description
This cookie is set by Segment to help track visitor usage, events, target marketing, and also measure application performance and stability.
Cookie
ajs_anonymous_id
Duration
never
Description
This cookie is set by Segment to count the number of people who visit a certain site by tracking if they have visited before.
Cookie
cf:aff_sub2
Duration
1 year
Description
ClickFunnels sets this cookie as part of an affiliate program to track referrals.
Cookie
cf:aff_sub3
Duration
1 year
Description
ClickFunnels sets this cookie as part of an affiliate program to track referrals.
Cookie
cf:aff_sub
Duration
1 year
Description
ClickFunnels sets this cookie as part of an affiliate program to track referrals.
Cookie
cf:affiliate_id
Duration
1 year
Description
ClickFunnels sets this cookie as part of an affiliate program to track referrals.
Cookie
cf:cf_affiliate_id
Duration
1 year
Description
ClickFunnels sets this cookie as part of an affiliate program to track referrals.
Cookie
cf:content
Duration
1 year
Description
Internal tracking cookie, set by ClickFunnels, to track a user's movement through the site.
Cookie
cf:medium
Duration
1 year
Description
Internal tracking cookie, set by ClickFunnels, to track a user's movement through the site.
Cookie
cf:name
Duration
1 year
Description
Internal tracking cookie, set by ClickFunnels, to track a user's movement through the site.
Cookie
cf:source
Duration
1 year
Description
Internal tracking cookie, set by ClickFunnels, to track a user's movement through the site.
Cookie
cf:term
Duration
1 year
Description
Internal tracking cookie, set by ClickFunnels, to track a user's movement through the site.
Cookie
cf:visitor_id
Duration
1 year
Description
ClickFunnels sets this cookie to assign a unique visitor ID to each visitor, to ensure the accurate tracking of unique visitors.
Cookie
vuid
Duration
1 year 1 month 4 days
Description
Vimeo installs this cookie to collect tracking information by setting a unique ID to embed videos on the website.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Cookie
AWSALB
Duration
7 days
Description
AWSALB is an application load balancer cookie set by Amazon Web Services to map the session to the target.
Cookie
sync_active
Duration
never
Description
This cookie is set by Vimeo and contains data on the visitor's video-content preferences, so that the website remembers parameters such as preferred volume or video quality.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.
Cookie
uuid2
Duration
3 months
Description
The uuid2 cookie is set by AppNexus and records information that helps differentiate between devices and browsers. This information is used to pick out ads delivered by the platform and assess the ad performance and its attribute payment.
Cookie
MUID
Duration
1 year 24 days
Description
Bing sets this cookie to recognise unique web browsers visiting Microsoft sites. This cookie is used for advertising, site analytics, and other operations.
Cookie
ayl_visitor
Duration
1 month
Description
This cookie is set by omnitagjs. This cookie stores the data of the visitor, this collected information is used to show relevant advertisements to the user based on user interest.
Cookie
CMID
Duration
1 year
Description
Casale Media sets this cookie to collect information on user behaviour for targeted advertising.
Cookie
CMPS
Duration
3 months
Description
CasaleMedia sets CMPS cookie for anonymous user tracking based on users' website visits to display targeted ads.
Cookie
CMPRO
Duration
3 months
Description
CasaleMedia sets CMPRO cookie for anonymous usage tracking and targeted advertising.
Cookie
mv_tokens
Duration
14 days
Description
Mediavine Exchange sets this cookie to create a unique ID for the visitor, allowing third-party advertisers to target the visitor with relevant advertisements.
Cookie
anj
Duration
3 months
Description
AppNexus sets the anj cookie that contains data stating whether a cookie ID is synced with partners.
Cookie
test_cookie
Duration
15 minutes
Description
doubleclick.net sets this cookie to determine if the user's browser supports cookies.
Cookie
YSC
Duration
session
Description
Youtube sets this cookie to track the views of embedded videos on Youtube pages.
Cookie
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
Duration
6 months
Description
YouTube sets this cookie to measure bandwidth, determining whether the user gets the new or old player interface.
Cookie
VISITOR_PRIVACY_METADATA
Duration
6 months
Description
YouTube sets this cookie to store the user's cookie consent state for the current domain.
Cookie
yt.innertube::nextId
Duration
never
Description
YouTube sets this cookie to register a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen.
Cookie
yt.innertube::requests
Duration
never
Description
YouTube sets this cookie to register a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen.
Cookie
IDE
Duration
1 year 24 days 1 minute
Description
Google DoubleClick IDE cookies store information about how the user uses the website to present them with relevant ads according to the user profile.
Other cookies are those that are being identified and have not been classified into any category as yet.
Cookie
_seg_uid_15816
Duration
1 year
Description
Description is currently not available.
Cookie
_seg_uid
Duration
1 year
Description
No description available.
Cookie
_seg_visitor_15816
Duration
1 year
Description
Description is currently not available.
Cookie
_na
Duration
session
Description
Description is currently not available.
Cookie
XANDR_PANID
Duration
3 months
Description
Description is currently not available.
Cookie
receive-cookie-deprecation
Duration
1 year 1 month 4 days
Description
Description is currently not available.
Cookie
visitor-id
Duration
1 year
Description
No description available.
Cookie
data-c-ts
Duration
1 month
Description
Description is currently not available.
Cookie
data-c
Duration
1 month
Description
No description available.
Cookie
criteo
Duration
1 month
Description
No description available.
Cookie
mv_tokens_eu-v1
Duration
14 days
Description
Description is currently not available.
Cookie
am_tokens
Duration
14 days
Description
Description is currently not available.
Cookie
am_tokens_eu-v1
Duration
14 days
Description
Description is currently not available.
Cookie
niva
Duration
14 days
Description
Description is currently not available.
Cookie
tvid
Duration
1 year
Description
No description available.
Cookie
tv_UICR
Duration
1 month
Description
Description is currently not available.
Cookie
tld
Duration
session
Description
Description is currently not available.
Cookie
SOC
Duration
1 year 1 month 4 days
Description
Description is currently not available.
Cookie
debug
Duration
never
Description
No description available.
Cookie
addevent_track_cookie
Duration
1 year
Description
This cookie is used for adding events to the visitor's calender by the website.
Cookie
cf:NTU5MTA5ODQ
Duration
1 year
Description
Description is currently not available.
Cookie
wcc_bypass
Duration
1 year
Description
Description is currently not available.
Cookie
is_eu
Duration
session
Description
No description available.
Cookie
rw22m8zzb9zlaysv
Duration
1 year
Description
Description is currently not available.
Cookie
6631582_viewed_1
Duration
1 year
Description
Description is currently not available.
Cookie
seg_domain_test
Duration
session
Description
Description is currently not available.
Cookie
cf:ODQ1NzM2OA
Duration
1 year
Description
Description is currently not available.
Cookie
mmyflrrr10oxpwx8
Duration
1 year
Description
Description is currently not available.
Cookie
2441741_viewed_1
Duration
1 year
Description
Description is currently not available.
Cookie
__cflb
Duration
1 hour
Description
This cookie is used by Cloudflare for load balancing.
Cookie
hmt_id
Duration
1 month
Description
Description is currently not available.
Start learning a new language today with a 7-day free trial
In my early days of language learning, I had a very close friend – a Spanish speaker called Tomás.
He was – and still is – a bit of a comedian.
One of the things he used to say to me was: “¡Qué tonto eres, tío!”
…which translates as: “You’re such an idiot!”
Now, he used to say this to me quite a lot.
A lot, actually…
Like 10-20 times a day.
“Qué tonto eres, tío!”
Good job it was affectionate. (Most of the time.)
Anyway…
The first time he said it, I probably didn’t understand.
Nor the second time.
But after the 500th time, I knew this phrase very well indeed.
Then… I started saying it myself.
Before long, I could say it just like him.
“Qué tonto eres, tío!”
I knew this phrase so well that I could use it in just about any situation with Spanish people, to take a jibe at someone with just the right intonation to give it a nice comedic effect and endear myself quickly to the people around me.
It was pure gold.
By the way, if you're looking for a language learning method with plenty of built-in review to get you from beginner to intermediate fast then look no further.
Simple — my friend repeated that phrase so damn often that I had no choice but to learn it!
You might ask:
“How many times do you have to hear a word or phrase to learn it?”
The answer is, of course, that you never know.
It’s always different.
However, we can just keep it simple by saying:
“Quite a few times!”
That's right! Research into literacy development suggests that it might take up to 17 exposures to learn a new word.
And that’s in your mother tongue – a language you already know.
So, in a foreign language, it’s often going to be a lot more.
But whatever… sometimes less, sometimes more.
Point is:
You need to see new vocabularya lot of times in order to learn it.
Why You Have To Go Beyond Your Textbooks
Now…
Let’s go back to my lovely phrase “Qué tonto eres, tío!” and think what might happen if you learned that phrase in a textbook.
You are, of course, unlikely to learn a phrase like “Qué tonto eres, tío!” in a textbook!
(That’s probably a good thing … being a “high-risk phrase”!)
But even if you did find this phrase in a textbook…
How many times would you see it?
Once, in a dialogue?
Maybe twice?
A third time … if there’s a review section?
You might, then, practise the phrase a few times, depending on the focus of the class.
(Which would be quite funny to see, actually, a class full of Spanish students telling each other how dumb they are!)
But that’s it.
You’re basically shown this new phrase once or twice, and you’re on your own!
That’s all the help you get.
In the next class, you’re on to the next chapter, with completely new information…
And the whole cycle starts again.
So you’ve got to critically examine claims from textbooks that tell you:
“You’ll learn 1,000 new words in this course!”
Well…
No you won’t.
“You’ll see 1,000 words… but it’s down to you to go and learn them!”
That’s the inconvenient truth!
The important thing is this:
Seeing something new in your textbook is just the beginning.
The rest of the work is still to come.
There’s a big gap between seeing a new word for the first time in your textbook… and internalising that word, so you truly know it – inside out & back to front!
What matters is that you deliberately review what you’ve learnt.
Do that, and you’ll find new vocabulary sticking in your mind far more reliably than before, so you can feel a stronger sense of progress and satisfaction in your learning.
Make Review Part Of Your Daily Routine
Now, let me give you one very simple way to take action on this right away.
What I want you to do is to add one very simple activity to your daily study routine…
You don’t need to write anything.
You don’t need to “study” anything.
Just take 15 minutes to look back over whatever you’ve learned recently…
What you’re doing here is adding one extra touchpoint into your day…
One little repetition that’s going to be like crack cocaine for your memory. (In a good way)
You’ll see.
(Just don’t go near the crack… ok? Be sensible.)
Just add these 10 little minutes into your study routine, and you’ll be amazed at how you just retain stuff more easily.
So give it a try, and let me know how it goes.
FREE StoryLearning Kit!
Join my email newsletter and get FREE access to your StoryLearning Kit — discover how to learn languages through the power of story!
Olly Richards
Creator of the StoryLearning® Method
Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearning® method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.
Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.
When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preaches—he speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.
Which language are you learning?
What is your current level in [language]?
Which language are you learning?
What is your current level in [language]?
Download this article as a FREE PDF?
What is your current level in Latin?
Download this article as a FREE PDF?
What is your current level in Norwegian?
Download Your Free StoryLearning® Kit!
Discover the world famous story-based method that 1,023,037 people have used to learn a language quickly…
Which language are you learning?
What is your current level in [language]?
Download this article as a FREE PDF?
What is your current level in Swedish?
Download this article as a FREE PDF?
What is your current level in Danish?
Which language are you learning?
What is your current level in [language]?
Download this article as a FREE PDF?
Download this article as a FREE PDF?
What is your current level in Arabic?
FREE StoryLearning Kit!
Join my email newsletter and get FREE access to your StoryLearning Kit — discover how to learn languages through the power of story!
Which language are you learning?
What is your current level in [language]?
Download a FREE Story in Japanese!
Enter your email address below to get a FREE short story in Japanese and start learning Japanese quickly and naturally with my StoryLearning® method!
What is your current level in Japanese?
Download Your FREENatural Japanese Grammar Pack
Enter your email address below to get free access to my Natural Japanese Grammar Pack and learn to internalise Japanese grammar quickly and naturally through stories.
What is your current level in Japanese?
What is your current level in Portuguese?
What is your current level in German?
Train as an Online Language Teacher and Earn from Home
The next cohort of my Certificate of Online Language Teaching will open soon. Join the waiting list, and we’ll notify you as soon as enrolment is open!
Train as an Online Language Teacher and Earn from Home
The next cohort of my Certificate of Online Language Teaching will open soon. Join the waiting list, and we’ll notify you as soon as enrolment is open!
Download this article as a FREE PDF?
Loading…
What is your current level in Portuguese?
Download this article as a FREE PDF?
What is your current level in Portuguese?
Download this article as a FREE PDF?
What is your current level in Turkish?
What is your current level in French?
What is your current level in Italian?
What is your current level in German?
What is your current level in Japanese?
Download Your FREEJapanese Vocab Power Pack
Enter your email address below to get free access to my Japanese Vocab Power Pack and learn essential Japanese words and phrases quickly and naturally. (ALL levels!)
What is your current level in Japanese?
Download Your FREE German Vocab Power Pack
Enter your email address below to get free access to my German Vocab Power Pack and learn essential German words and phrases quickly and naturally. (ALL levels!)
What is your current level in German?
Download Your FREE Italian Vocab Power Pack
Enter your email address below to get free access to my Italian Vocab Power Pack and learn essential Italian words and phrases quickly and naturally. (ALL levels!)
What is your current level in Italian?
Download Your FREEFrench Vocab Power Pack
Enter your email address below to get free access to my French Vocab Power Pack and learn essential French words and phrases quickly and naturally. (ALL levels!)
What is your current level in French?
What is your current level in Portuguese?
What is your current level in Russian?
What is your current level in Russian?
What is your current level in Italian?
What is your current level in Italian?
What is your current level in French?
What is your current level in French?
What is your current level in Spanish?
What is your current level in Spanish?
What is your current level in Spanish?
What is your current level in Arabic?
What is your current level in Portuguese?
What is your current level in Turkish?
What is your current level in Korean?
What is your current level in Russian?
What is your current level in Japanese?
What is your current level in Chinese?
What is your current level in Spanish?
What is your current level in Italian?
What is your current level in French?
What is your current level in German?
Download Your FREENatural Portuguese Grammar Pack
Enter your email address below to get free access to my Natural Portuguese Grammar Pack and learn to internalise Portuguese grammar quickly and naturally through stories.
What is your current level in Portuguese?
Download Your FREENatural Russian Grammar Pack
Enter your email address below to get free access to my Natural Russian Grammar Pack and learn to internalise Russian grammar quickly and naturally through stories.
What is your current level in Russian?
Download Your FREENatural German Grammar Pack
Enter your email address below to get free access to my Natural German Grammar Pack and learn to internalise German grammar quickly and naturally through stories.
What is your current level in German?
Download Your FREENatural French Grammar Pack
Enter your email address below to get free access to my Natural French Grammar Pack and learn to internalise French grammar quickly and naturally through stories.
What is your current level in French?
Download Your FREENatural Italian Grammar Pack
Enter your email address below to get free access to my Natural Italian Grammar Pack and learn to internalise Italian grammar quickly and naturally through stories.
What is your current level in Italian?
Download a FREE Story in Portuguese!
Enter your email address below to get a FREE short story in Brazilian Portuguese and start learning Portuguese quickly and naturally with my StoryLearning® method!
What is your current level in Portuguese?
Download a FREE Story in Russian!
Enter your email address below to get a FREE short story in Russian and start learning Russian quickly and naturally with my StoryLearning® method!
What is your current level in Russian?
Download a FREE Story in German!
Enter your email address below to get a FREE short story in German and start learning German quickly and naturally with my StoryLearning® method!
What is your current level in German?
Download a FREE Story in Italian!
Enter your email address below to get a FREE short story in Italian and start learning Italian quickly and naturally with my StoryLearning® method!
What is your current level in Italian?
Download a FREE Story in French!
Enter your email address below to get a FREE short story in French and start learning French quickly and naturally with my StoryLearning® method!
What is your current level in French?
Download a FREE Story in Spanish!
Enter your email address below to get a FREE short story in Spanish and start learning Spanish quickly and naturally with my StoryLearning® method!
What is your current level in Spanish?
FREE Download:
The Rules of Language Learning
Enter your email address below to get free access to my Rules of Language Learning and discover 25 “rules” to learn a new language quickly and naturally through stories.
Which language are you learning?
What is your current level in [language]?
Download Your FREESpanish Vocab Power Pack
Enter your email address below to get free access to my Spanish Vocab Power Pack and learn essential Spanish words and phrases quickly and naturally. (ALL levels!)
What is your current level in Spanish?
Download Your FREENatural Spanish Grammar Pack
Enter your email address below to get free access to my Natural Spanish Grammar Pack and learn to internalise Spanish grammar quickly and naturally through stories.
What is your current level in Spanish?
Free Step-By-Step Guide:
How to generate a full-time income from home with your English… even with ZERO previous teaching experience.
Download this article as a FREE PDF?
What is your current level in Thai?
Download this article as a FREE PDF?
What is your current level in Spanish?
Download this article as a FREE PDF?
What is your current level in Cantonese?
Download this article as a FREE PDF?
What is your current level in Russian?
Download this article as a FREE PDF?
What is your current level in Korean?
Download this article as a FREE PDF?
What is your current level in Japanese?
Download this article as a FREE PDF?
What is your current level in Italian?
Download this article as a FREE PDF?
What is your current level in German?
Download this article as a FREE PDF?
What is your current level in French?
Steal My Method?
I’ve written some simple emails explaining the techniques I’ve used to learn 8 languages…
Which language are you learning?
What is your current level in [language]?
Which language are you learning?
What is your current level in [language]?
I want to be skipped!
Join 84,574 other language learners getting StoryLearning tips by email…
“After I started to use your ideas, I learn better, for longer, with more passion. Thanks for the life-change!” – Dallas Nesbit
Which language are you learning?
What is your current level in [language]?
Download this article as a FREE PDF?
What is your current level in Chinese?
Which language are you learning?
What is your current level in [language]?
Find The Perfect Language Course For You!
Looking for a breakthrough in your language learning?
Complete this short survey to find the perfect course for you!