It helps to be SMART ( Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time bound) when setting this goal. There are so many ways you could create a tangible reason why you would want to learn a language, from booking a flight in 6 months to Japan, to asking your girlfriend’s parents for their blessing. He also creates some brilliant content on YouTube too.

He has published 10s of books devoted to helping language learners learn through story. Olly Richards speaks eight foreign languages, and is well known online for being the man behind the popular website I Will Teach You a Language and the creator of the StoryLearning® method. I took this approach into two, hour-long interviews with Olly Richards and John Fotheringham, who live in the world of language learning 24/7. Writing for, I am always curious to find the small ideas that make a long-term difference in our lives. I have always been someone geared towards self-improvement. So as a content creator, I felt obliged to understand the minds of polyglots and successful language learners, so I could seek advice that would help me learn Spanish practically from scratch. Preply’s mission is to “shape the future of effective learning”. The language expertsĮarly into the pandemic, I started a job in the content team at Preply, a platform that connects tutors and students for 1-on-1 language lessons. These conversations equipped me with methods, mindsets, and the motivation to make language learning more fun - and more effective. I have learned so much about my own mind, the limits of my comfort zone, and Spanish culture through language.Īlong this journey, I had the opportunity to interview two well-known polyglots in the online language-learning world. Even with years overlapping with different cultures, I did not know enough of their language to create nuanced interactions that can be so special and memorable.īut now, learning a language has been one of the most enriching experiences of my life so far. Living much of my life knowing only English and enforcing it onto other people has always been a huge source of regret, as it is for many others too. I thought I didn’t have the “language gene”.

In fact, for a long time, I fell into the same language learning traps as many other people. I am no language expert, nor do I claim to be one.

Olly richards language learning