Has anyone ever learned another language in 6 weeks?
Instant Italian and Instant French claim that you can learn another language in 6 weeks. Using a limited vocabulary of about 400 words they claim that if you study for just 35 minutes per day you will be able to speak another language and make your way around in another country in this short time. I have my doubts. Anyway, have you succeeded ? What do you think?
Well, intensive language courses in the Army do teach how to speak a foreign language in very short amounts of time – however, that’s usually studying it for 12-14 hours a day. According to people I know who have been in it, there’s a fairly high burnout rate.
However – most common sentences in English use a vocabulary of 100 to 150 words, with some proper nouns (like place names and people names) thrown in as well. So their claim that a vocabulary of 400 words will get you around daily is actually probably close. This will get you directions, financial interactions, basic social introductions, eating, and other touristy things. I’m also guessing that you will be speaking in simple verb tenses with other simple grammar structures.
EDIT – as another example: all air traffic controllers speak English. However, they’re only required to have a vocabulary of something like 100 words. So it’s entirely possible to have a meaningful (and potentially life-threating) conversation with someone with a limited vocabulary – as long as you limit yourself to the right words.
So what they’re saying is that you’ll be able to learn the BASICS of French in 6 weeks – which I would agree with. Especially because you’re probably a native English speaker: for native English speakers, it’s a toss-up between French and Spanish for “easist language to learn” – Spanish has completely consistent spelling, while French shares a huge vocabulary. (English borrows a HUGE amount of words from French).
Anyway – my experience with learning French was taking 3 weeks of a beginning college-level French course. After two weeks I quit, because I was getting bored. (I was auditing it, so the only thing I lost was some money.) However, afterwards, I’m still able to work my way (slowly) through French news articles online. Of course, I also have 4 semesters of college-level Spanish, which certianly helps.
Learn Italian – Vocabulary: Numbers
