Speak a Foreign Language Like a Native
Imagine this: you’re at a party, you see an attractive partner across the room, and you muster up the courage to walk up and ask them: “Want to dance?”
They respond: “Sure?”
Now imagine that a second person caught your eye and you asked them the same question. Only this time, they respond: “Sure!”
Who would you rather dance with?
[Read more…] about How to Train Intonation—and learn your target language faster!
Although it seems complicated, German pronunciation is easier than it looks: no letters are silent, it is phonetically consistent, and some of the more peculiar looking vowel sounds (the umlauts, in particular) actually resemble sounds that are familiar.
Most guides are really only about pronunciation rules for languages. They tend to fall short of teaching you how to actually hear and pronounce said sounds. But here at The Mimic Method, we think this latter part is much more important than recognizing letters in a written word but not recognizing it when you hear it from a native speaker.
By the end of this German pronunciation guide, you’ll be familiar with most of the sounds associated with the different combinations of the German alphabet. You may even discover a few tricks to overcome things like the dreaded “CH” and “R” sounds.
At The Mimic method, we create products for people to learn languages online. But our approach is different from that of other language companies. We don’t teach literacy, grammar theory, or translation like everyone else.
Instead, we help people unblock their hearing and pronunciation in the language.
The more you can understand and impress people in conversation, the more you can connect with them. We don’t care about people reading foreign language newspapers or passing language certification exams.
We care about people making human connections across the language barrier.
We believe the world would be a better place if more people did this. There would be less fear and violence and more love and creativity. If you agree with our philosophy, and you want to help us in our mission, then we may have the perfect job for you…
UPDATE MAY 13, 2016: We are no longer accepting applications for this internship. Thanks everyone who applied!
UPDATE: Positions are closed until further notice. Sorry!
I started The Mimic Method 3 years ago to build myself a source of "location-independent income" that would allow me to travel the world, learn new languages, and get into as much trouble as possible.
I had a lot of fun operating the business on my lonesome, but at the dawn of my 27th year of on this planet, I decided to get more "serious" about my projects and focus my energies on realizing their full potentials.
The Mimic Method is now a 5 person team, and I'm looking for three motivated individuals to fill some new roles. If you have interest in any of the positions below, please click the corresponding link to learn more. If you know someone who might be interested, please forward them this blog post.
Forget about The Mimic Method approach and all the other language philosophies out there for a moment and take some time to consider this simple fact: You learn skills ONLY after many hours of practice.
People are always amazed at how polyglots like Moses McCormick and I are able to achieve fluency in a foreign language in a matter of months when they themselves have spent years studying the language and still struggle to hold a basic conversation.
The flaw in their thinking lies in their perception of “time”. You may have taken a language class for 2 years, but in a 1 hour class you’ll be lucky to get your lips moving for more than 10 total minutes; the rest of the time is typically spent listening to the teacher, other students, or writing some stupid stuff.