People always learned this way
You’ve already done this onceAges 0 to 5You learned your first language, grammar and all, from the talk around you, with no rules, no tests and no flashcards.
Ten seasons of Friends, no classesSeoul, the 2000sA generation of K-pop idols learned English from one sitcom, watched with Korean subtitles, then English, then none.
English before the first lessonFlanders, 2020Belgian ten-year-olds know hundreds of English words before their first lesson, picked up from games, videos and TV.
Stories beat grammar, two to oneFiji, 1980Fijian classes given storybooks learned English twice as fast as classes drilled in grammar, and stayed ahead for two years.
Sixteen languages, no textbooksBudapest, 1944Kató Lomb learned sixteen languages, each from a novel she couldn’t yet read. The Russian one she read in a cellar under siege during WW2.
From no English to Heart of DarknessAt sea, 1878Joseph Conrad learned English at sea in his twenties, kept a Polish accent all his life, and wrote Heart of Darkness in it.
Adults can learn faster than kidsThe Netherlands, 1978Adults who moved to the Netherlands learned Dutch faster than young children all year. Teenagers were fastest of all.
Ten meetings and a word is yoursWebb, 2007Meet a word about ten times in real sentences and you know its meaning, its spelling and how to use it.
Read and listen, remember moreWebb & Chang, 2015Read a story while you hear it read and you learn more of its words, and still know them three months later.
Forty-nine studies agreeJeon & Day, 2016Across forty-nine studies, people who read a lot in a new language got measurably better at reading it.
How many words you really needNation, 2006The 2,000 most common words are about four fifths of any book. A novel takes 8,000 to 9,000, and stories get you there.
Listening counts as readingRogowsky, Calhoun & Tallal, 2016Adults given a book as text, as audio, or both understood it equally well, right after and two weeks later.
Babies crack a language in minutesSaffran, Aslin & Newport, 1996Eight-month-olds pick out the words of a made-up language after two minutes of hearing it. Nobody taught them.
How diplomats get fluent fastForeign Service InstituteThe US Foreign Service trains diplomats all day in small classes, and gets them to Spanish in about 30 weeks and Japanese in 88.
271 books in 118 languages
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السوقHijazi ArabicLevel 2Slice of life
في جدة، سارة في مطبخها الصغير.
La strada di tre giorniItalianLevel 2Adventure
Quel giorno era importante per Anna, perché compiva diciotto anni.
SokoSwahiliLevel 1Slice of life
Katika Mombasa, soko la chakula liko karibu na nyumba ndogo.
İnce Belli Bardakta ÇayTurkishLevel 5Travel and food
Türkiye’de sıradan bir kahvaltı masasında ekmek, peynir, zeytin ve çayın yeri hazırdır.
六秒の間JapaneseLevel 4Science fiction
榊が北環線の車庫に着くと、車掌室の座席に白い箱が置かれていた。
La luz de reservaSpanishLevel 5Historical fiction
La última tarde de octubre de 1900, el viento golpeaba las ventanas del faro de Cabo Lousado.
तीन शादी के पत्रHindiLevel 1Humor
दिल्ली के एक घर में आज सब बैठे हैं।
বর্ষার পাতে সর্ষে ইলিশBengaliLevel 6Travel and food
বাংলার বর্ষার খাবার টেবিলে সর্ষে ইলিশ একটি পরিচিত প্রধান পদ।
Ang palengkeFilipinoLevel 2Slice of life
Nasa Maynila ang babae ngayon.
Une année dans les vignes de BourgogneFrenchLevel 5Explainer
Prenez une bouteille de Bourgogne et regardez le nom du village sur la bouteille.
Pierogi przed świętemPolishLevel 2Travel and food
Przed świętem w domu robi się pierogi.
Die markAfrikaansLevel 1Slice of life
In Pretoria woon Anna nou drie weke in ’n klein kamer.
aloglot
/ˈæl.ə.ɡlɑt/AL-uh-glot
- 1n.noun A person who speaks a language other than their mother tongue.
- 2adj.adjective Speaking a non-native language.
- 3n.noun You!
Origin
French alloglotte, from Greek ἄλλος “other” and γλῶσσα “tongue”.
Compare to polyglot “speaker of many languages”.
Why stories, not flashcards?
You’ll want to study
Books about whatever you’re into
Books at every level, help a tap away
Alo, a patient AI speaking partner
It actually works
Knowing phrases beats memorizing rules
Key words keep coming back in context
Reading, listening, speaking, AND writing
It fits with a class
Extra practice anytime, judgment free
Grammar lessons become instinct
Turn this week’s lesson into a story