The Mimic Method Blog

4 Steps to Get Proficient in A Language Fast

October 24, 2017 By User Test 3 Comments

Starting a new language can be daunting.

With all of the competing priorities in our lives, it’s hard to find time for anything new.

Plus, so many unknowns can cause fear and frustration:

How long will it take to “sound good?”
When will my conversations stop sucking?

At the same time, there are so many language learning resources out there, you’ll likely suffer from information overload.

So how do you get the greatest return on investment in a short period of time?

According to guru Josh Kaufman, you can a good start on learning anything in just 20 hours!

Student Case Study: Sam Studies Spanish with The Mimic Method

September 20, 2017 By Sam Grigg Leave a Comment

Hello everyone!

I’m back again to share more of my experiences with you all. After my success with The Mimic Method’s German Elemental Sounds course, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and learn a completely new language: Spanish.

I had little to no exposure to the Spanish sounds before I started (minus a few songs) so I was starting from scratch in a way that I hadn’t with German.

Italian Pronunciation: The Ultimate Guide

September 12, 2017 By Idahosa 28 Comments

Most Italian pronunciation guides are really only about pronunciation rules for the language. They tend to fall short of teaching you how to actually hear and pronounce said sounds.

Here at The Mimic Method, our mission is to help bridge the cross-cultural gap between people and inspire real human connection. If you’re the kind of person who wants to make real long-term relationships in another language, this is the place for you. We do this by teach unique pronunciation method through mimicry.

By the end of this Italian pronunciation guide, you should be familiar with most of the sounds associated with the Italian alphabet in their phonetic form. You may even discover a few tricks to overcome things like ‘trilling your R’s’.

In general, Italian pronunciation is quite regular. You can tell how to pronounce a word from the way it’s written once you know what sound each letter (or group of letters) represents.

Luckily, the sounds almost always match the spelling. Many speak the consonant sounds in a similar way to English. For instance, the main differences are with the dz, ʎ, ɲ, r, ts sounds.

Vowels are pronounced the more-or-less same wherever they occur – unlike English, in which each vowel can be spoken in several distinct ways (i.e., through vs. tough vs. though). Read on to learn more.

Why Learn A Second Language When Everyone Speaks English?

September 11, 2017 By Sophie Austin 3 Comments

“Why should I bother learning a second language when everyone already speaks English?”

We get this question all the time.

And while it’s true that over 330 million people speak English as their first language, this is actually relatively small when compared with the 982 million native Chinese speakers.

However, once you’ve factored in the 1.5 billion people that speak English as a second language… it’s easy to see where the question comes from.

How To Get Out Of Your Language Learning Rut

September 5, 2017 By Sophie Austin 2 Comments

It’s a familiar situation for many language learners.

Maybe you learned a language at school that slowly ebbed out of your mind. Maybe you’ve picked up a language as an adult and found yourself stranded on a language plateau – feeling uninspired and unmotivated to move forward. However you arrive at a language rut, understand that it’s a place that most language learners have been at some point in their journeys.

In this post, we’ll look at 4 ways to kickstart your progress back into language.

Student Case Study: How Sam Studied The German Elemental Sounds

September 1, 2017 By Sam Grigg 1 Comment

Hi there, my name’s Sam and I am a 27-year-old designer, writer, foodie and language lover. I recently purchased The Mimic Method’s German Elemental Sounds course and wanted to share my experience with you all.

Where it all began…

Like most teenagers in England, I was forced to study two languages at school and I chose French and German.

I was terrible!

I used to hide at the back of the class and dread the day the teacher would point me out and ask me to say something.

After 4 years of study, I was pleasantly surprised to receive decent grades but had no real useable knowledge or language skills. I wasn’t even able to order food in Germany on our school trip… embarrassing!

After leaving college and heading to university I gave German another try as I was offered a free language course alongside my degree. After two weeks I had given up and resigned myself to that fact I would never be able to speak a second language.

That all changed when I decided to book a surprise trip to Rome for my fiancèe’s birthday and I thought it would be an even better surprise if I could speak Italian when we went. I wasn’t aiming for anything fancy, just to be able to order a coffee. At the time I worked away from home so filled my hour drive to work with Italian podcasts, hoping that if I sat talking to myself for long enough something would stick…and it did!

I checked in to the hotel, ordered food and even gave Italian’s directions to the Vatican. A new world of possibilities opened to me and I have never looked back.

Five years on and I have now reached an intermediate level in Italian and dabbled in French, Icelandic and now German.