I recently came across this website: http://www.fluentin3months.com/
My entry in the google search bar was “how to learn a language busy.” In other words, I constantly feel I am too busy to learn Hindi and I thought, “I musn’t be the only one. Surely there is a way?”
My reason for learning Hindi is obvious – I married an Indian! I would love to be able to communicate in his mother tongue; not only with him, but with all his family back in India – especially when many of them don’t have great English. I also want to raise our kids (if we have any in future) bilingual…which would definitely require me to know the language (imagine what they could get away with if I didn’t)!
So, for that reason, this website is pretty appealing. I mean, if I could be fluent in 3 months…amazing!
Ok, let’s come down from the clouds. That is not what this website is actually claiming. The author Benny, fully admits that here. He says that his aim is to help people who NEED to learn the language in 3 months e.g. a journalist who has to live in a country short-term. Or perhaps a worker or student who is planning an exchange. Benny’s aim it give these people a motivational and practical kick up the rear to get them learning their language – no excuses.
Importantly though, he also says that if you don’t NEED to learn the language within 3 months, then the kick up the rear is not necessary. It’s perfectly ok to learn a language at a slow pace…in fact, this may even improve the retention of the language later on. If you’re in this situation, then you can definitely still get some great tips from the website, but he readily tells these readers to ignore his rants about laziness etc.
So where does it leave me with my desire to learn Hindi? Well, in approximately 3 months we’re planning to visit our Indian relatives. I’m still hesitant, but I think my goal will be to have at least a basic conversational level of Hindi by then (beyond “My name is Cathryn. How are you?”…my current level of the language).
My final thing I like about this website? Benny admits that learning a language is hard, a consistent struggle and often like pulling teeth….but hopefully the result is worth it 🙂
