How to Learn Almost Anything in 48 Hours

by Tansel Ali

  • Know your key message when presenting.

  • Rehearse your presentation.

  • Use imagery, stories and key words as triggers for your talk.

  • Double-check content before you speak or press send. Will the audience or reader easily understand it?

  • Use mind maps or illustrations to help encode big blocks of data.

  CHAPTER 9

  LEARNING LANGUAGES

  ‘Learning never exhausts the mind.’—Leonardo Da Vinci

  Learning another language opens a door to a new culture and expands your assumptions of how other people, often very different from you, live their lives. It also demonstrates to everyone your dedication and discipline, which may result in other, extra benefits and opportunities. There are, however, a raft of reasons people use to explain why they’ve not managed to learn another language, many of them similar to those made in chapter 5.

  ‘It’s too difficult’

  I used to believe Chinese was an extremely difficult language to learn because of its bewildering written text with its vast number of characters, and the very different sounds it makes being spoken. But when I began studying it I found some principles were easier to understand than with English. You never know unless you give it a go.

  ‘I don’t have the time’

  People are busy and time is precious. Most people, though, don’t know how to use their free time effectively. New technologies are also needlessly keeping us busier as well as wasting our time.

  And what if learning a language wasn’t so difficult or time-consuming?

  In 2013 I spent a year as a participant in the Asialink Leader’s Program. This program allows leaders in a range of professional fields to initiate projects that engage and build stronger Asia–Australia relationships. As the ‘memory expert’ I wanted to apply memory techniques to learn Chinese Mandarin in the most effective and efficient way possible.

  I couldn’t begin by opening any book on Mandarin and memorising but instead had to develop a plan, similar to the one I used to memorise the Yellow Pages. I knew I had to:

  • develop a memory strategy

  • choose the most suitable memory techniques

  • develop a learning program incorporating the techniques

  • test it myself.

  This project helped me develop a template not just for learning Mandarin, but for any language. And the cool part is that if you spend forty minutes a day on this you’ll be speaking the language within a month.

  How it works

  Many people believe we need to learn and memorise vocabulary to learn and speak a language. While this may be true in one sense, memorising hundreds or even thousands of words doesn’t mean that you’ll learn the language. This is because words on their own have no context and meanings can differ enormously depending on the situation. When we were children our parents spoke to us with phrases like ‘Come here’, ‘Hello, how are you?’ and ‘What on earth are you doing?’ (Okay, the last one was inspired by my wife dealing with my four-year-old.)

  We learned our mother tongue through repeated phrases, so it makes sense for us to memorise phrases instead of individual words. The difference between remembering through rote learning (the repetition of phrases) and memory techniques is time. You may repeat phrases hundreds of times, while memory techniques may only require three or four repetitions. Memory techniques enable you to learn much faster, with better long-term recognition. Memorising phrases helps us learn things in context and gets us speaking much faster than if learning individual words. The concept then is: the more phrases you memorise, the more language you will be able to speak.

  To begin you will need to do three things:

  1. learn and memorise the pronunciations

  2. memorise the phrases

  3. review phrases.

  If you don’t learn the correct pronunciation then the memory connections you make will be incorrect. Yes, you’ll likely remember them, but you’ll end up saying the wrong thing! It is essential to spend time memorising the pronunciations, and this is especially the case for languages that are tonal like Chinese. Tonal languages use different pitches to distinguish meaning. Memorise the wrong pitch, and you could be offending someone instead of asking for their name.

  Chinese Mandarin

  Pinyin system

  This system was designed to translate the pronunciation of Chinese characters phonetically. Pinyin is Chinese for ‘spelled-out sounds’.

  Pronunciations

  b Similar to ‘b’ in ‘boat’, softened to a ‘p’ sound.

  p Similar to ‘p’ in ‘top’—with more finality.

  m Same as ‘m’ in the English ‘ma’.

  f Same as ‘f’ in the English ‘fat’.

  d Similar to ‘d’ in the English ‘down’: softened to approach a ‘t’ sound.

  t Similar to ‘t’ in the English ‘top’.

  n Similar to ‘n’ in the English ‘name’.

  l Similar to ‘l’ in the English ‘look’.

  g Similar to ‘g’ in the English ‘go’: softened to approach a ‘k’ sound.

  k Similar to ‘k’ in the English ‘kiss’.

  h Similar to ‘h’ in the English ‘hope’.

  j Similar to ‘j’ in the English ‘jeep’: tongue is positioned below lower teeth.

  q Similar to ‘ch’ in the English ‘cheap’: tongue is positioned below lower teeth.

  x Similar to ‘sh’ in the English ‘sheep’: tongue is positioned below lower teeth.

  zh Similar to ‘j’ in the English ‘jam’.

  ch Similar to ‘ch’ in the English ‘cheap’.

  sh Similar to ‘sh’ in the English ‘ship’.

  r Similar to ‘z’ in the English ‘azure’.

  z Same as ‘ds’ in the English ‘woods’.

  c Similar to ‘ts’ in the English ‘bits’.

  s Similar to ‘s’ in the English ‘see’.

  (y)i Similar to ‘ee’ in the English ‘bee’.

  (w)u Similar to ‘oo’ in the English ‘room’.

  yu Purse your lips and position the tongue high and forwards.

  a Similar to ‘ah’ in the English ‘Ah-ha!’

  (w)o Similar to ‘or’ in the English ‘bore’.

  e Similar to ‘er’ in the English ‘hers’.

  (y)e Similar to the English ‘Yay!’

  ai Similar to the English ‘eye’.

  ei Similar to ‘ei’ in the English ‘weigh’.

  ao Similar to ‘au’ in ‘sauerkraut’.

  ou Similar to ‘ou’ in ‘dough’.

  an Similar to ‘an’ in ‘fan’.

  en Similar to ‘un’ in ‘under’.

  ang A Mandarin ‘a’ followed by the ‘ng’ sound like in the English ‘sing’.

  eng A Mandarin ‘e’ followed by the ‘ng’ sound like in the English ‘sing’.

  er A Mandarin ‘e’ with the tongue curled back.

  Tonal system

  There are five tones in Chinese Mandarin, which are critical to understand as you learn to speak the language. Warning: if the tone you use is incorrect you’ll be saying something completely different from what you meant to say.

  1. Level monotone mā (mother)

  The tone is consistent, just like opening your mouth at the dentist and saying ‘ahhhhh’.

  2. Rising tone má (hemp)

  The tone rises up as if asking a question: what?

  3. Dips down then up mǎ (horse)

  The tone dips down and then back up again, like stretching out the word ‘door’: doo—oor.

  4. Fast fall down mà (scold)

  The tone quickly dips down, similar to saying ‘the’ quickly.

  5. Neutral: No emphasis ma

  Sounds as it is read, like ‘meh’—like you jus
t don’t care.

  How to memorise Chinese phrases

  Use the Yellow Elephant association techniques to help you.

  Abstract: Nǐ hǎo ma: How are you?

  Image: Nǐ (knee) hǎo (how) ma (ma: as in mother)

  Association: You hit your ‘knee’ on the table and started to scream in pain. You hear a voice behind you asking: ‘Howww’ did you do that?’ You turn around and see that it was your ‘ma’, who then says, ‘How are you?’

  French

  Many of us likely began to study French at school but gave it away after a couple of years. This romance language shares many similarities with English, and the same alphabet certainly helps.

  Pronunciation

  Vowels

  a, à, â Similar to ‘a’ in ‘card’.

  e Similar to ‘a’ in ‘around’.

  é Similar to ‘ay’ in ‘lay’.

  ê, è Similar to ‘e’ in ‘get’.

  i, î Similar to ‘ee’ in ‘deed’.

  o, o, ô, au, eau Similar to ‘oh’ or ‘aw’ in ‘saw’.

  ou Similar to ‘oo’ in ‘food’.

  u, ù Similar to ‘ew’ in ‘few’.

  y Similar to ‘ee’ in ‘deed’.

  Consonants

  b Same as ‘b’ in ‘bed’.

  c Same as ‘c’ in ‘colour’.

  ç Similar to ‘s’ in ‘sit’.

  d Same as ‘d’ in ‘dog’.

  f Same as ‘f’ in ‘fit’.

  g Same as ‘g’ in ‘get’.

  h This is a silent letter.

  j Similar to ‘g’ in ‘orange’.

  k Same as ‘k’ in ‘kite’.

  l Same as ‘l’ in ‘luck’.

  m Same as ‘m’ in ‘mine’.

  n Same as ‘n’ in ‘nose’.

  p Same as ‘p’ in ‘peach’.

  q(u) Same as ‘k’ in ‘kite’.

  r Similar to first ‘r’ in ‘rare’.

  s Same as ‘s’ in ‘sat’.

  t Same as ‘t’ in ‘take’.

  v Same as ‘v’ in ‘viper’.

  x Same as ‘x’ in ‘exit’.

  z Same as ‘z’ in ‘zip’.

  Gliding vowels (diphthongs)

  ail Similar to ‘i’ in ‘light’.

  ais Similar to ‘ea’ in ‘head’.

  au, eau Similar to ‘oh’.

  an Similar to ‘ahng’, without the ‘g’.

  eu Similar to ‘oo’ in ‘poodle’.

  œ Similar to ‘e’ in ‘me’, but faster.

  er Sounds like ‘air’.

  ez Similar to ‘ay’ in ‘lay’.

  en, em Nasal sound; same as ‘an’.

  in Nasal sound; like ‘ang’ in ‘gang’, without the ‘g’.

  oi Similar to ‘wa’ in ‘wander’.

  oin Nasal sound; like ‘ang’ in gang, without the ‘g’.

  ou Similar to ‘oo’ in ‘fool’.

  on Nasal sound; like ‘ong’ in ‘thong, without the ‘g’.

  oui Similar to ‘wee’ in ‘weep’.

  ui Similar to ‘wee’ in ‘weep’, but with the tongue forward.

  un Nasal sound; like ‘ung’ in ‘lung’, without the ‘l’.

  ch Similar to ‘sh’ in ‘push’.

  gn Similar to ‘ny’ in ‘canyon’.

  il Similar to ‘y’ in ‘years’.

  ll Similar to ‘l’.

  ph Similar to ‘f’ in ‘fan’.

  tch Similar to the ‘ch’ in ‘chess’.

  th Similar to the ‘t’ in ‘tap.

  tr The ‘t’ followed by rolling of the tongue.

  How to memorise French phrases

  Abstract: Comment allez-vous? How are you?

  Image: Comment (comment) allez (Ali) vouz (you)

  Association: A really funny ‘comment’ was made to ‘Ali’. He turned around and asked ‘How are you?’ to the person making the remarks.

  It will take some time at first to come up with associations for the foreign words, but a minute or two is all that’s needed to make up a story connecting the phrase similar to the example above. The more you practice, the better you will get.

  Try and visualise the story and the sounds around you and you won’t need to repeat phrases a hundred times to learn them. A simple association with some emotion will make things so much faster and you’ll be well on your way to learning any language in record time.

  Learning 1500 phrases will have you speaking the language at its very basic form. If you spend around forty minutes a day memorising twenty-five phrases then you’ll pick up the spoken language in two months. That is less than forty-eight hours’ study! If you like, you can build on this with seventeen phrases a day for three months. This system means that you can learn to speak any language within months not years.

  Try your memorisation skills with the following Mandarin and French phrases.

  Pinyin English

  Juéduì bú shì Absolutely not.

  Nľ gēn wǒ yìqǐ qù ma? Are you coming with me?

  Nǐ néng kěndìng ma? Are you sure?

  Kuài dàole ma? Are we almost there?

  Jìnkuài As soon as possible.

  Xiāngxìn wǒ Believe me.

  Mǎi xià lái! Buy it!

  Míngtiān dǎ diànhuà gěi wǒ Call me tomorrow.

  Qǐng nín shuō de màn xiē hǎo ma? Can you speak slowly?

  Gēn wǒ lái Come with me.

  Gōngxǐ gōngxǐ Congratulations.

  Bǎ tā zuò duì Do it right!

  Nǐ dàngzhēn? Do you mean it?

  Nǐ jīngcháng jiàn dào tā ma? Do you see him often?

  Nǐ míngbái le ma? Do you understand?

  Nǐ yào ma? Do you want it?

  Nǐ xiǎng yào xiē shénme? Do you want something?

  Bú yào zuò Don’t do it.

  Bú yào kuāzhāng Don’t exaggerate.

  Bú yào gàosu wǒ Don’t tell me that.

  Bāng wǒ yíxià Give me a hand.

  Yìzhí wǎng qián zǒu Go right ahead.

  Zhù lǚtú yúkuài Have a good trip.

  Zhù nǐ yì tiān guò de yúkuài Have a nice day.

  Zài lái yígè Have another one.

  Nǐ zuò wán le ma? Have you finished?

  Tā méi kòng He doesn’t have time.

  Tā xiànzài yǐjīng zài lù shàng le He is on his way.

  Nǐ hǎo ma? How are you doing?

  Nǐ yào dāi duōjiǔ? How long are you staying?

  Duōshǎo qián? How much?

  Wǒ duì tā zháomí le I am crazy about her.

  Wǒ zài làngfèi shíjiān I am wasting my time.

  Wǒ néng zuò I can do it.

  Wǒ jiǎnzhí bùnéng xiāngxìn I can’t believe it.

  Wǒ bù néng zài děng le I can’t wait.

  Wǒ méi shíjiān le I don’t have time.

  Wǒ yī gè rén dōu bú rènshi I don’t know anybody.

  Wǒ bù xǐhuan I don’t like it.

  Wǒ rènwéi búshì I don’t think so.

  French English

  Merci beaucoup. Thank you very much.

  Vous parlez français? Do you speak French? (formal)

  Pourriez-vous parler plus lentement, s’il vous plaît? Could you speak more slowly, please?

  Pourriez-vous me l’écrire, s’il vous plaît? Could you write it down for me, please?

  Je ne comprends pas. I don’t understand.

  Je ne sais pas. I don’t know.

  À demain! See you tomorrow!

  Excusez-moi, où sont les toilettes? Excuse me, where’s the toilet?

  Bonne journée! Have a nice day!

  J’ai un petit nez et un visage rond. I have a small nose and a round face.

  Tu as le visage très rouge. Your face is very red.

  J’aime le chocolat mais je n’aime pas le lait. I like chocolate but I don’t like milk.

  Qu’est-ce que vous
voulez boire? What would you like to drink?

  Je cherche le centre commercial. I am looking for the shopping mall.

  Combien coûte le billet? How much is a ticket?

  Je peux essayer cette robe? May I try on this dress?

  Pouvez-vous m’aider? Can you help me?

  Très bien. Je vous souhaite une bonne journée, Mademoiselle. All right. Have a good day, Miss.

  De quoi souffrez-vous? What’s wrong with you?

  Vous prenez la carte de crédit? Do you take credit cards?

  • Make sure you memorise the pronunciations before memorising phrases. It will make learning much more effective.

  • Take your time and don’t rush making associations for phrases. Use the SMASHIN ScOPE technique to help you.

  • Visualise the end goal of speaking the language. How will it feel to communicate with someone in their language? Use this as motivation to keep you going.

  • Have fun making silly stories for characters and phrases.

  • Make sure you can practise with someone who speaks the language. You don’t want to be memorising for hours only to have done it incorrectly!

  • Don’t worry about getting the exact memory associations for words or phrases. Even making an association to the first letter can be enough to trigger the rest of the word.

  CHAPTER 7

  MUSIC

  ‘One good thing about music—when it hits you, you feel no pain.’—Bob Marley

  Learning to play a musical instrument is often at the top of people’s wish list of things to do, but most just don’t get around to it. I taught myself how to play guitar, and back in the day played in a band in front of thousands as well as recorded in studios. And there are many famous self-taught guitarists such as Keith Richards, Jimi Hendrix, Prince and Eddie Van Halen. I’m not saying ditch the lessons because learning the fundamentals and music theory will give you musical know-how and many more ideas on how to make your own music. But if you just want to play then it makes good sense to start with a simple approach.

  How to play guitar

  Most people will have some idea of how to hold a guitar. Usually it rests on your leg (right, if you’re right-handed) and is kept close to your body, upright and straight. It’s important not to slouch as it’s bad for posture and will make you tire more easily.