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.
Grammar comes secondTomasello, 2003Children build grammar from the sentences they hear, not from rules.
Books in Korean
Browse Korean books →
첫눈 속 한 시간KoreanLevel 5Survival
서른두 살 윤서는 오후 네 시 십 분에 지리산의 좁은 능선을 걷고 있었다.
창문 옆의 커피KoreanLevel 4Mystery
서울의 작은 회사에는 주인이 없는 책상 하나가 창문 옆에 있었다.
금고의 흠집KoreanLevel 4Crime
부산의 작은 작업실에서 민호는 금고 앞에 앉았다.
눈이 오기 전 고개KoreanLevel 2Adventure
민수와 준호는 새말 집 앞에 서 있다.
마흔의 경기KoreanLevel 2Sports
오늘은 민호가 권투를 시작한 뒤 처음 하는 경기다.
금요일 밤 버스KoreanLevel 2Slice of life
오늘은 금요일이다.
마지막 검은 띠KoreanLevel 3Martial arts
대전의 작은 태권도장 벽에 달력이 걸려 있었다.
시장 김밥 가게KoreanLevel 1Slice of life
오늘은 토요일이다.
여름 식탁의 냉면KoreanLevel 7Travel and food
한여름 서울의 냉면집에서는 차가운 그릇과 가위가 함께 식탁에 놓인다.
쌀 두 말KoreanLevel 4Historical fiction
천사백사십육 년 가을, 한양 궁궐 부엌에는 비가 조금 샜다.
돈 없는 봉투KoreanLevel 3Noir
1988년 서울, 올림픽이 열리기 전날 밤이었다.
운수 좋은 날KoreanLevel 8Classic
현진건1924
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