And that was the exact moment I discovered the secret to learning foreign languages. Or at least, that’s what I tell myself. The truth is, there’s a lot more to it than that…
But were it not for my near-death experience in a tiny village at 2,780m above sea level, there's ZERO chance I would have discovered the secret to learning languages through stories.
And I certainly wouldn’t have managed to learn the 8 languages I speak today…
Argentina, 22nd December 2004
I was learning Spanish.
Spanish wasn’t my first foreign language. In fact, I had taught myself French and Italian in the years before that. But despite my experience with languages, there was a problem I couldn’t shake…
I didn’t enjoy the “study”.
Sitting down with textbooks. Memorising verb tables. Cramming vocabulary into my head.
Not only was it boring, but it didn’t really seem to work!
After a lot of effort studying, I would forget most of it when it came time to actually speak to someone! Not only is that deeply frustrating, but it’s embarrassing and demotivating too.
Anyway…
It was 2004, and I was in Iruya – a tiny village in the mountains in the North of Argentina, on the border of Bolivia.
After a fun night with friends, eating steak and drinking Malbec, I woke up at 3am…
Unable to breathe. As you can imagine, it’s not a nice feeling.
I jumped out of bed and hurried outside, to see if some fresh air might make a difference.
Nothing.
I started to panic, which made the situation even worse.
I was heaving… desperately trying to get some oxygen into my lungs.
“Is this where it all ends?” I remember thinking.
The haunting view of the valley from my balcony is still etched in my mind today…
The End?
Eventually, the breathing started to return. Trembling, I sat down on a nearby chair. I focused on my breath, like my life depended on it.
Too scared to go back to sleep, I picked up a book I had bought a few weeks earlier. (So far unopened.)
Cronicle of a Death Foretold, by Gabriel Gárcia Márquez.
The book was in Spanish. I started reading. I had never read a book in Spanish before. It was hard, and there was a lot I didn’t understand. But there was no way I was going back to sleep.
So I kept reading.
.
.
[—FLASHFORWARD, NEXT DAY—]
Walking through the village in the midday sun, I felt different. Sure, I was still a little shaken from the night before…
But my mind was on something else.
There were words in my head that weren’t there before. Spanish words.
Certain words and phrases would pop into my mind as I walked down the street. Words from the story.
Usually, when I study with a textbook, new words never stick the first time. (If ever!) But after just one hour spent reading a Spanish story in the Argentine moonlight…
New words had been firmly planted in my brain.
Turns out researchers have known this for some time…
“We do not master languages by hard study and memorization, or by producing it. Rather, we acquire language when we understand what people tell us and what we read.”
– Dr. Stephen Krashen
Over the next couple of weeks, I kept reading the book. By the end of the trip, I reached the end… my first ever book in Spanish!
The Moment Of Truth
While I was reading the book, I could tell that I was learning. But the real surprise came later.
I headed back to Buenos Aires, where I was going to stay with friends. Last time I was there, I had a hard time following conversations in Spanish.
But now, everything was suddenly different. It was like a new world!
The transformation in my Spanish was as shocking as the feeling of almost dying on a mountaintop!
I discovered that it wasn’t just a few new words I had learned…
There was so much more…
- My grammar was better, as I noticed the same patterns over and over in the story.
- My listening comprehension had improved, as I knew so many more words.
- And my speaking was more fluent, as I simply knew so much more!
But that’s not even the best thing. Nope. The best thing of all? I transformed my Spanish, and had fun doing it!
The story motivated to keep reading every day because I wanted to find out whodunnit! And this is why I now believe the simple key to language learning success is…
Reading.
The Power Of Learning A Language Through Stories
And it made perfect sense what that was the case…
When you’re learning from a textbook, in a class, or from a teacher, there’s only so much that you can fit in, when you’re choosing specific things to learn in each lesson.
There just isn’t enough time.
And that’s why it’s so common to hear complaints like:
- I want to enjoy myself when I’m learning, not bore myself to tears with grammar and exercises
- I want to be able to learn from home, not be in class all the time
- I want to learn to speak without putting myself in awkward social situations
- I want to sound intelligent when I speak…not just parrot a few tourist phrases
But learning through story changes that.
When you read, you take in so much more information.
- You see 100X more new words
- You see the full range of grammar being used
- You learn how people speak in the dialogue
Obviously you don’t remember everything… But you don’t have to!
All you have to do is keep reading, notice how the language is being used…
And your brain can soak up what it needs, when it needs, while you just enjoy your time with the language!
Teaching Languages Through Story
Every part of this story is true. Including the rapid transformation in my Spanish. I went on to learn 8 foreign languages using this approach, and I’m still going strong!
But you might be wondering how to use stories to learn a language yourself.
After all, you can’t just pick up any old book and start reading… it would be far too hard and you’d quickly lose interest.
That’s where I come in.
You see, over the last few years, inspired my experience in Argentina, I’ve been developing a methodology to help people use stories to learn new languages at all levels.
Like I said earlier, this method might not be for you.
But if you say: “Yes” to any of the statements below, you might like to find out more…
- I want to become truly fluent, not waste time on another ineffective course
- I want to enjoy myself when I’m learning, not bore myself to tears with grammar and exercises
- I want to learn from home, not uproot myself to another country
- I want to learn to speak without putting myself in awkward social situations
- I want to sound intelligent when I speak…not just parrot a few tourist phrases
- I want to do all this without sacrificing hours every day (…and without the need for any death-defying antics on Argentine mountaintops!)
If this sounds like your cup of tea, then enter your details in the box below. I’ll send you my best tips for learning a new language with my StoryLearning method…
See you on the other side!
Olly Richards
P.S.
How do you know you can trust my advice?
It’s a fair question.
Well, I’ve worked with some of the largest organisations in the world, such as the Open University, the British Council and the European Commission.
My website, podcast and YouTube channel attract 100,000s of people a month.
I’ve sold 100,000s of copies of my bestselling books.
I’ve been featured in media across the globe.
And I teach others to start their own language learning businesses at my sister site, Langpreneur.
