Do you remember when was the first time you started learning Spanish? Or any other language? I'm sure it was so many years ago, and yet the only thing you can say in a conversation is:
¿Dónde está la librería?
If this sounds like you, well... you are not alone, and is totally not your fault! You might feel disappointed, maybe frustrated, or just given up at this point.
Grammar to early
But here's the thing, books, language teachers, schools and even popular apps fail at one simple fact, they all teach a lot of grammar!
Grammar in itself is not bad, we all need to learn it at some point, but definitely not when starting. Learning grammar too early will only frustrate you and do more harm than good.
Once you can communicate and talk with people, is time to take your language to the next level! that's when grammar comes in. You will enjoy learning all the rules because they will give you confidence when expressing yourself.
Odd vocabulary early on
I still remember when I was learning Japanese, there was a very odd word at the first lesson in the book: Kenkiusha! This means researcher, but... really? When am I going to use this word? To this day I've never needed it, even when traveling to Japan on many occations.
I feel like my brain is being wasted by having all these useless words, yes I'm sure at some point I'll need them, but definitely, they shouldn't be on the first lesson!
Learning useless and unpractical vocabulary is totally the wrong way to learn a new language.
Focusing on reading and writing before talking
Do you remember learning your native language? Of course you don't! Because you were exposed since you were a baby, it was natural to you and so easy to pick it up!
So why not take the same approach? Why not learn a new language in the same way you did with your native language? Why do schools and teachers always start by teaching you to read and then to write, but never really to have meaningful conversations? I really don't know, and that frustrates me.
Finding native people to practice is hard
The best way to achieve fluency is to go to the country where people talk in that language. But, it might be hard to go for a year (or more) and talk with native people, right? Yes, it is! But nowadays you can just go online and find new friends, on Facebook or Twitter.
The reality is that finding people online willing to talk to you might be hard. Believe me, I tried platforms like iTalky and Duolingo before, and not many people want to connect with you, everyone is busy.
But what if there were a platform where every member wanted to achieve the same goal? Being able to talk with other native people around the world! In UpFluent you will be able to connect with people from different countries and cultures.
There will always be teachers and members available that will be able to connect with you! Isn't that awesome? I can guarantee you that if you practice talking with someone for 5 mins every day, you will achieve fluency in no more than a year!
Sign up for the beta and we will let you know when the platform is ready! You can use the form below.