The Mimic Method

Speak a Foreign Language Like a Native

Languages

The Principle of Post-Game Analysis

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I’ve been learning Italian on and off for the past few months now. Things started off strong, but as is always the case, life got in the way. The holidays came around and there was a lot of other work to do. 


Despite this, I still progressed quickly to quasi-conversational level. I owe a lot of this progress to systematically approaching the language from a differently, instead focusing first on the sounds and how to speak them. This meant that I spent my practice either listening or speaking to native speakers from a swath of resources. The most important parts of this process involved meeting and talking to as many native speakers as possible.

But I found that it’s not enough to simply be efficient. I found that the best way to maximize the fruits of my labor was to go back and review my mistakes often.

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French Pronunciation: The Ultimate Guide

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eiffel tower

Most French pronunciation guides are really only about pronunciation rules for the language. They tend to fall short of teaching you how to actually hear and pronounce said sounds.

Here at The Mimic Method, our mission is to help bridge the cross-cultural gap between people and inspire real human connection. If you’re the kind of person who wants to make real long-term relationships in another language, this is the place for you. We do this by teach unique pronunciation method through mimicry.

By the end of this pronunciation guide, you should be familiar with most of the sounds associated with the different combinations of the French alphabet. You will even discover a few tricks to overcome things like the dreaded ‘throaty’ R sounds.

Although there are many rules and spellings, French is quite a regular language. Yet many times the letters and combinations of letters will sound different than how they are written. Luckily, except for a few words here and there, almost all French words will follow certain patterns and rules. Read on to learn more.

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Spanish Pronunciation: The Ultimate Guide

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spanish pronunciation is not just about reading and writing

Most Spanish pronunciation guides are really only about pronunciation rules for the language. They tend to fall short of teaching you how to actually hear and pronounce said sounds. Here at The Mimic Method, we think this latter part is even more important than just recognizing the location of a sound in word spelling.

By the end of this Spanish pronunciation guide, you should be familiar with most of the sounds associated with the Spanish alphabet in their phonetic form. You may even discover a few tricks to overcome things like ‘rolling your R’s’.

In general, Spanish pronunciation is quite regular. You can tell how to pronounce a word from the way it’s written once you know what sound each letter (or group of letters) represents.

Luckily, the sounds almost always match the spelling. Many speak the consonant sounds in a similar way to English. The main differences are with c, g, h, j, ll, ñ, qu, r, v, z. Vowels are pronounced the same wherever they occur – unlike English, in which each vowel can be spoken in several distinct ways (i.e., through vs. tough vs. though).

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