Christo Languages
I'm Chris, a 10 language polyglot and child of immigrants. Subscribe to my newsletter and get access to my Content Vault, packed with resources and tips I have actually used in my decade of experience.
How I reconnected with my Ukrainian relatives
When I was 15, my grandma came to stay with us for the summer. I was really excited to see her after a several-year hiatus, but a significant barrier between us had grown during that time. I could understand a fair bit of the Russian she spoke, picking up on the gist of her stories and questions, relying on my childhood knowledge that had been fading since the last time I saw her. But I could not respond to anything she said without lots of “uhh” and silence, even though my accent itself was...
Learn for hours without realizing it
Here is my step-by-step workflow to make sure I can maximize my time spent consuming a language throughout the day. Read and translate in depth (ideally with audio playing simultaneously) This part takes a bit more time, and should be done when you have 15-20 minutes to focus a bit deeper. This is the “work” part, but once you do this you can unlock some more time later in the day and reap the rewards. More on that in a bit. If you don’t understand what you are listening to, then you are...
Listen First, Speak Later
Many people think that in order to learn a foreign language you have to start speaking it as soon as possible. Ideally, they say, you should go live in the country where they speak it. Realistically, they say, if you don’t take those immersive steps you will have no chance of learning it. This advice is very common, but it doesn’t always come from those who have successfully achieved fluency through sustained effort. The main determining factor of success in language learning is whether the...
I'm Chris, a 10 language polyglot and child of immigrants. Subscribe to my newsletter and get access to my Content Vault, packed with resources and tips I have actually used in my decade of experience.