The Mimic Method Blog

How to Learn Basic Conversation By Ear

August 11, 2017 By Idahosa 5 Comments

In our current case study, twin brothers John and Bryan Tublin are competing to learn Spanish before they turn 30.

This is the first foreign language they’ve learned, and they’re doing it with The Mimic Method.

In The Mimic Method, there are three stages to learning a foreign language:

Capacity
Conversation
Command

In the first posts of this series, we discussed how the Tublins built their capacity to hear and pronounce the sounds of Spanish.

First, they focused on the 39 Elemental Sounds of Spanish. Then, they practiced combining these sounds in syllables. Finally, they practiced pronouncing whole sentences by memorizing song lyrics.

Through this training, the Tublins built the ability to mimic native speakers of Spanish. With this ability, they can now build their conversational ability through mimicry.

In this post, we will look at what they did to build their simple conversation abilities

Twins Connect with Native Speakers Through Singing

August 4, 2017 By Idahosa 3 Comments

There are two reasons why I chose to incorporate music into our language learning process. The first reason is practical.

Mastering pronunciation in a foreign language requires lots of repetition to ingrain the muscle patterns.

Rote repetition is boring, but musical repetition is fun. So the musical element is a sort of motivation hack for language learners.

But I also had a more philosophical reason for linking our brand to music.

Language is a tool for connecting with people, and so is music.

To demonstrate this point, I had the twin brothers from our current Spanish case study (read more about that here) go out and ask native speakers to teach them a song in Spanish.

At this stage in their learning, they haven’t learned any vocabulary or grammar, so they can’t converse yet.

They did, however, complete our musical pronunciation training program – The Flow of Spanish. Therefore, they now have the ability to listen to Spanish and mimic it.

In this post, you’ll see how they use that skill to connect with native speakers on their favorite music.
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How to Learn Portuguese Vowel Sounds “E” & “O”

August 1, 2017 By Idahosa 2 Comments

If you want to master Portuguese, you must learn to pronounce the Portuguese vowels.

In this article, I’ll go over the pronunciation of the Portuguese “e” and “o”.

First, need to know that there are three ways each to pronounce “e” and “o”.

Sometimes, you can figure out the correct Portuguese vowel pronunciation by looking at the accent marks.

The “open” vowels are sometimes written with an acute accent (é/ó). The “closed” vowels are sometimes written with a circumflex (ê/ô). (More on what “open” and “closed” means later.)

Bust in most cases, these vowels are written without any accent, so it’s not obvious what the pronunciation should be.

Pronounce “e” or “o” the wrong way, and it’s a dead giveaway that you’re a gringo.

If you want to get closer to Brazilians by impressing them with your accent, you need to master these vowel pronunciation distinctions.

This post tells you everything you need to do precisely that.

Why The Fear of Failure Stops You Succeeding

August 1, 2017 By Sophie Austin 6 Comments

Language is about communication. You learn a language to speak with and understand others. Likewise, we want to be understood.

It’s frustrating when someone doesn’t understand you. It’s even more frustrating when you don’t understand them. It creates a communication barrier that one or both speakers then need to try and bridge.

Often, it’s the fear of this barrier that prevents us from even trying to talk to someone in the first place.

But why?

This fear is illogical. This becomes clearer when we put language into the context of another skill we might want to learn. Let’s take skiing for example. You’ve never skied before. Some of your friends ski though, and you’re starting to think you might want to try it out.

How would you go about this?

Would you read books to try and understand the movements your body needs to make?

How to Master Syllable and Sentence Pronunciation

July 27, 2017 By Idahosa 4 Comments

This is the third installment of our “Twin Brothers Race to Learn Spanish” case study.

In our last installment, we discussed how John and Bryan Tublin learned to see, hear and feel the 39 Elemental Sounds of Spanish.

But in Spanish conversation, the 39 Elemental Sounds don’t appear in isolation, they appear in combination.

Elemental Sounds combine to form syllables. Syllables combine (with melody) to form sentences.

Now that John and Bryan have mastered the Elemental Sounds, their next mission is to master full Spanish sentences.

In this post, we review what the Twins had to do to achieve this.
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How to Learn Language Like a Kid

July 25, 2017 By Idahosa 2 Comments

When you try the exercise above, do you notice yourself getting better and better with practice?

What you’re experiencing is implicit learning.

Implicit learning, or “learning by doing,” is done unconsciously through repetition or exposure. We learn just about any motor skill this way—think shooting a basketball or riding a bike.

Explicit learning, on the other hand, is “learning by studying.” This is a process in which you actively try to master the structure of information. Learning by studying is used for things like mathematical formulas or memorizing the capitals of countries of the world.

As kids, we learn by doing all the time—how to use scissors, how to jump rope, how to swim backstroke, etc.