by Olly RichardsIs it really possible to learn a language in 6 months? If you've tried learning a new language and struggled, it may seem like an impossible goal to get fluent enough in Japanese, Spanish or Swahili to have a conversation.
It's not!
Meet Jannah.
In just six months, Jannah went from speaking NO JAPANESE AT ALL to blowing her best friend Aaisha's mind by being able to have a whole dinner conversation in Japanese.
Jannah's experience has important lessons for all language learners. Including the understanding that it's absolutely possible to have a meaningful conversation if you really put your mind to it.
So, let's dive into what we can learn from Jannah and how she managed her special surprise.
By the way, if you want to learn a language in 6 months like Jannah, I recommend learning your new language through StoryLearning®, a fun and effective method that gets you fluent thanks to stories, not rules.
Find out more and claim your free 7-day trial of the course of your choice.
Jannah's Action Steps To Learn A Language In 6 Months
If you like watching videos, just hit play on the video below to discover how to learn a language in 6 months. Otherwise, keep reading to find out how Jannah learned Japanese fast.
Use A Language Course That Works
Jannah started her language journey with Japanese Uncovered, a “foreigner friendly” series of courses designed to teach you Japanese through the power of stories.
Memorising unfamiliar words (that all sound similar to the untrained ear) and struggling with strange grammar rules doesn't work.
Instead, Jannah immersed herself in original stories that naturally introduced her to Japanese culture, vocabulary, grammar and speech.
Find Someone To Talk To
Immersive listening is great for getting the hang of a language. Still, if you want to have a conversation, you must practice with someone else.
Jannah increased her lesson intensity by conversing with various tutors on iTalki for one or two hours every day for seven weeks.
Practise What You Need To Know
Jannah and Aaisha weren't likely to be discussing world affairs or nuclear physics. Jannah knew that they'd be talking about their families and their lives.
And, of course, the remarkable fact that Jannah had learned enough Japanese to even have the conversation in the first place.
So, Jannah and her tutors focused their conversations on the topics and ideas that might come up when she and Aaisha met for their long-awaited catchup.
This is a powerful ploy to use for getting ready to talk when you're travelling, too.
Predict things you'll need to say in different situations and practise the words and phrases that will help you cope.
Watch TV And Videos With Subtitles
Jannah discovered some Japanese TV programmes (with English subtitles).
Watching and listening to native Japanese speakers talking at speed — with the subtitles to give her context — helped with fluency and introduced new vocabulary and some slang.
Jannah's persistence paid off, and Aaisha's reaction when Jannah began speaking in Japanese was worth all the work.
How To Learn A Language In 6 Months: 7 Essential Takeaways
Jannah proved that it's absolutely possible to learn a language in 6 months (even a complex one!). Anyone could do it if they have the secrets to success.
Are we talking about a “magic formula” or “perfection in six months?” No, of course not. Mastery can take years, and you always have to put the work in to achieve your goal.
But there are some vital ingredients to Jannah's success that could give you massive inspiration for your own language journey.
1. Motivation + Tangible Goal = Increased Chance Of Success
Jannah had two powerful motivators.
- The immediate goal of talking to Aaisha, and
- Her long-term aim of travel and work in Japan.
If you intimately understand WHY you want to take on a project — and have a clear, tangible goal for achieving it — you have an explosive combination to organise your study around. And, you're much more likely to keep going through the tricky bits.
So, think about it. What's your reason for learning a new language? You may already have a powerful answer to that question.
But what if your reply is along the lines of “I think it'll be interesting”, or “I might want to travel there one day”, or even “I learned it in high school, and I'd like to pick it up again”? These reasons might not get you through the messy middle when it's hard to keep going.
So, if your ‘Why' is a little vague, try to come up with a decisive goal to aim for.
- Book that trip.
- Release your own YouTube language video.
- Set a date for your own surprise conversation.
- Promise yourself a shopping spree, a skiing trip, a day at the spa — whatever reward works for you.
Having a tangible goal or reward could make all the difference in your learning journey.
2. Immerse Yourself In The Language
The process of learning through input is very different from traditional formal methods.
Traditional language teaching focuses on working in class with a teacher and learning structured vocabulary and grammar through reading and completing written exercises in your book.
On the other hand, immersion throws you headfirst into the language — but offers guidance and structure along the way.
Jannah started knowing nothing about Japanese.
“I remember listening to chapter one… and trying to hear words here and there.”
Jannah listened to Japanese as often as she could — often in the evenings and while doing other things. After a while, it even crept into her dreams. In fact, it became a big part of her life.
“But as you progress, you find yourself understanding the gist of what's going on, and you learn more words through that… you're just immersing yourself in the language.”
Listening to Japanese Uncovered stories and working through the associated explanations, adding conversation lessons and watching videos all kept the Japanese language in Jannah's head.
After a while, your brain starts to sort out what it's hearing. Bit by bit, you understand more and have to translate back to your native language less. Finally, one day it hits you; you're thinking in Japanese (or Spanish, or French, or Korean…)
That's the power of immersion learning.
3. Focus On The Most Important Things
You can't learn everything at once.
We don't do that when we're children. We learn our native languages in stages. First, we listen and begin to speak.
Then we notice words on billboards, in TV ads and in the books our parents and teachers read to us. Most of us don't learn to read and write those words until we've had at least five years of immersion.
Jannah wanted to have a conversation with her best friend, so speaking and listening became her focus. Trying to read and write unfamiliar scripts like Kanji or Hiragana would have taken effort away from her primary goal.
So, Jannah put those aside to focus on speaking and understanding and left reading and writing to be her “next steps.”
4. Frequency Is Vital
Jannah started slowly, studying once or twice a week, but realised that she was learning at a snail's pace. Those gaps meant she had to reconnect her brain with the language every time she came back to it.
That forced a re-think. Jannah switched to working on Japanese Uncovered for 30 minutes a day and immediately zoomed ahead.
The lesson here is that it's not the total amount of time that's important but how often you spend with the language. In other words, you'll get faster and more effective results by listening and studying for 30 minutes a day than you will with two hours twice a week.
5. Put Your Sticking Points Aside And Come Back To Them Later
Sometimes you'll come across a complicated concept that you just aren't ready to master yet.
That can be a problem if you're working through a linear course. Traditional teaching methods often insist that you master each learning point before continuing.
Immersion methods allow you to put those sticking points to one side and move on. You gain exposure to other things when you do that, and your general awareness and knowledge rise.
Then, one day, you'll have an aha moment, where suddenly you understand. That's when you go back to study that concept with success because now you have the context and experience to handle it.
6. Speaking Is A Different Skill
Even though immersion is a powerful language learning process, listening and reading alone won't teach you to speak the language fluently.
Speaking involves your brain and mouth in learning different skills.
Your brain has to process the sounds differently when you're making them yourself. Your face muscles work differently, too, when creating the sounds that your own language doesn't use.
It takes time to train for that, so speaking practice and having conversations are incredibly important.
In the six weeks leading up to the dinner with Aaisha, Jannah got herself “match fit” by speaking daily with different tutors. So, when the big day came, it wasn't the first time she'd ever had a conversation.
7. Don't Worry About Making Mistakes When You Speak
Embarrassment and fear of people laughing at your mistakes are two primary reasons that stop language learners from having conversations.
But think about your reaction when a tourist or traveller tries to speak to you in English. Do you laugh or mock them for trying?
Of course not! You probably understand exactly what they mean, even if they use the wrong conjunction or mix up their word order.
And when they get stuck, you help them out by providing the word they need or modelling the correct way to say a particular phrase.
Jannah was worried about that too.
“I can't even tell you how nervous I was… but when the conversation happened it was like literally the best thing I've ever done in my whole life.”
But her fears were unfounded. Far from laughing at her mistakes, Aaisha was astounded and flattered that her best friend would take so much time and effort to learn her language.
Jannah had enough Japanese to hold a conversation, and that's all that mattered.
Bright Future
Surprising Aaisha with a Japanese conversation seemed like a massive goal for Jannah when she started her project.
But, as she's since discovered, it was actually the start of a much larger journey full of potential for future surprises and experiences.
With this great start, she can now aim to talk to Aaisha's family and Japanese friends — gaining more experience in having real conversations.
She can continue her studies by learning to read and write Japanese. That will also give her more understanding of Japanese grammar and structure and add to her vocabulary.
And she can travel to Japan with confidence, knowing that she'll be able to talk to people there and find her way around.
Who knows? She may even realise her dream of working for a Japanese tech company one day.
How To Learn A Language In 6 Months
Can you see how much it means to Jannah to achieve this fantastic goal?
She astonished and delighted her best friend — Aaisha's reaction was everything Jannah had dreamed of during her six months of work.
But also, she's now acquired a language she can use for the rest of her life. And she now has the skills to continue learning and growing.
She's even created her own YouTube channel to share her learning experiences with others.
It's fantastic to learn languages by immersing yourself in stories.
Are you as inspired by Jannah as I am?
Find out more about the StoryLearning® method that Jannah used to learn a language in 6 months and claim your free 7-day trial of the course of your choice!
Olly Richards
Creator of the StoryLearning® Method
Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearning® method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.
Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.
When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preaches—he speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.
