Launch Weekend, FAQs Answered, and some notes
Understanding the program, the material, and the vision
Welcome, budding polyglot! Happy April! Normal schedule will resume next week, two articles going out this week. Thank you for sticking with me. Now, the course.
What even is it?
This course is designed to help anyone who is seeking to learn a language become conversational in that language in 90 days. Originally it started out as a 6-week course, but as it went on and got longer and longer I realized I basically designed actual immersion and it would take a lot of brain power and dedication to work through everything in just 6 weeks. Thus the 12 week course was born and, while it is certainly advantageous to have a background in the targeted language, it is certainly not a requirement. All that is required is knowledge of the alphabet, though I am currently working with someone who is learning a brand new alphabet, we will see just how far he can go in the coming months!
We launched over the weekend as a celebration and memorialization of the one year anniversary of my grandfather's passing. He was always looking for similarities to bond over rather than differences to fight over. I like to think he imparted a bit of that on me and that I've been able to live out that sentiment up to this point in my life. Overall, launch went really well! To the several people who are getting started already, if you haven't heard from me yet, you will be EOD tomorrow, 4/4/2023. I want to make sure you have everything you need to be successful irrespective of the language you are learning (or if I even know it) and so we will have several consultations throughout this process.
Thus far, launch has been a massive success. The amount of people who are working on a language again, with real direction and fervor, is astounding. I am so excited for this community and all of you who, with or without the course, are taking your brain health and language acquisition seriously.
It's only day 3, but so far we have someone who is getting a handle of a brand new alphabet, someone who is already writing complete sentences in Italian without any prior exposure, and someone who is finally speaking a second language after spending nearly a decade just studying them.
These may be little victories, but little victories compound and the momentum these people and everyone else are building will carry them forward when they feel they are plateauing. It's difficult to feel stagnant when you see your first 5 word sentence from week 1 side by side with your paragraphs from week 5. I'll take these little victories every single day of the week, they will lead to massive victories. One person has a planned trip to Italy in May. I very much look forward to seeing what one person can do in just 45 days!
How does it work?
This program works by leveraging a few different things. While I can't guarantee fluency, I can guarantee that, if you do the work, you can be conversational in 90 days. So long as you know the alphabet, this course is for you. Heck, even if you don't this course will help you advance much quicker than you think possible. The more knowledge you go into this with the more advantageous it will be to you, but it is far from a requirement. That said, while I know this works with Slavic languages, I have yet to test it with Asiatic languages, therefore if those are your targets, please reach out so we can develop a plan together. This is what it looks like from 30,000ft:
Logbook
Your logbook will be your life blood when going through these exercises. When you're starting out, day 2 you'll be writing complete sentences.
Will they be good? No. Will they be correct? Maybe. Will they be foundational? Absolutely.
One of the greatest misconceptions many people have is that they need to speak their target language perfectly in order to use it. However:
This logbook (might even need two) will be written in every single day, even if it's just 5 sentences to stack some Ws at the end of the day. I get it, life gets busy, but when you can go back and look at week 1, correct some mistakes, add better words to contextualize, and altogether revamp sentences from weeks 1-4 things suddenly don't feel so suffocating. As I mentioned above, having momentum built by the time you plateau (and you will plateau) will carry you through that period of pseudo stagnation.
Learning something, particularly a language, often is most difficult simply because it can be nearly impossible to visualize progress. Keeping a detailed logbook eradicates this issue. At the end of the course you will be able to physically see the progress you've made laid out before you.
Progressive overload
Every day the challenge gets more difficult, but not that much more difficult. Because it is up to you to set your pace, you can go as quickly, or as slowly, as you want. Though the course is designed to be completed in 12 weeks, it can be extended if you have too many time constraints. The idea of progressive overload obviously works for physical fitness, but it works just as well for mental fitness. If you are seeing 100% too often at the end of a test, barring C2 fluency, you are not being challenged enough. In the first two weeks, I challenge you to learn 200+ words and use them all. Then slowly, but steadily, we build something magnificent from that foundation. I’ve covered progressive overload before here:
Facilitated Immersion
Briefly, facilitated immersion is immersion that you create within your own home and life. For more on that check here:
Recovery
Your brain, like any other part of your body, needs to rest and recover when it is being worked. When I was fully immersed I was sleeping 10+ hours a day and even when I was awake I was completely exhausted. Thinking in another language is not easy, getting there is even harder. For more on recovery read this:
Language Recovery Idea
When this began, as I mentioned, it was meant to be a 6 week course, but I realized as I was working on it that anyone could benefit from this, not just people who have prior knowledge of a language. That said, any knowledge you already have of your target language will be beneficial when going through these exercises and competing for the prize. More on that later. For more on language recovery in general, check here:
The Investment
Now that all of that is laid out, I want to talk about the investment. We launched with a sale setting the price at $150 for the course. However, that ends on Friday, at which point I will be raising the price to $500 and it will not be lowered again. While it makes me sad, American universities charge on average $8000 for a minor in a language, and many require a minor in second language for graduation. The vast majority of students I was in class with through those courses are incapable of speaking the language for which they hold a degree. Those who work with me are different. 90 days into learning French, this person is dreaming in French.
2 days into the course and BowTiedGrandma is already making jokes in Italian, prepping for her trip to Italy in May:
Many such cases.
However, the people who are seeing success are all seeing success for a reason. I cannot learn the language for you. I cannot do the exercises for you. I cannot recover for you. I can only guide you and provide as many resources as possible. That is why I am in the process of creating a content library to cover every language that someone I’m working with is working on over at my Library.
With that, let’s answer some Frequently Asked Questions.
FAQs Answered
What comes with that price?
Full course with almost 70 slides full of information and exercises to help you not only learn a language, but create a framework to take on just about any challenge.
Odin’s Guide - 15 slides covering material that will help you maximize your experience and potential throughout the course duration.
1 on 1 guidance and help with specific questions. If I don’t know the answer, I know someone who does.
Full access to the paid portions of the website for one full year, including any additions made for 12 months from the time of first access.
Exclusive discounts on future products.
The road map to bilingualism and beyond.
How long will I have access?
The course is a PDF, you will be able to download it, print it, and keep using it indefinitely. I designed it to be used with any language because I want people to use it multiple times, if you get it I hope you decide to use it several times throughout your life. Access to the full website will be limited to 1 year.
Is there any one on one guidance?
YES! There will be one on one guidance. While we won’t have calls, barring special circumstances, I will provide answers, guidance, resources, and more via email or DMs on Twitter or Instagram.
If you have a question, please reach out. I am always happy to help when and where I can.
What in this course is available to me that isn't available for free on the internet?
Aside from the one on one guidance, there’s really not much in this course that is not available to you for free elsewhere on the internet. However, the same is true for every collegiate level course at this point. The thing available to you in the course that you won’t find elsewhere is not information, it’s network. We are building a community of language learners who share what they know and help each other. We want to communicate. So much so that our very own resident
dropped this thread on Twitter today basically teaching Russian 101 through 202:
He even had something extremely kind to say,
If you are working on Russian he is certainly worth following @BowTiedSalticid
If you have any other questions please leave them in the comments or email me @ odin@secondlanguagestrategies.com.
Becoming bilingual is difficult, but you can do difficult things and be great. So go do difficult things and become great. Here I’ve given you some of the tools, but in the end, there is no comprehensive guide, no tips or tricks to carry anyone across the finish line. Language acquisition requires time, effort, and consistency. That said, it is something that anyone of any age is more than capable of accomplishing. I’ll be here rooting for you and watching your progress.
For more content find me on Twitter or Instagram. I look forward to seeing everyone’s progress in the months and years to come.