Articles


Why Hungarian is easy

Why Hungarian is easy

written by Benny Lewis

I’m sure the title of this post will have many people doing a double take, but yes you read that right: Hungarian is easy. Hungarian is not an Indo-European language (i.e. Hindi actually has more in common with English/French/German/Russian etc. than Hungarian does), so it’s very different to all of its neighbours and this gives […]

Pimp out your browser searches for language learning

written by Benny Lewis

This tip is taken from one of the weekly Language Hacking League e-mails. For more free tips like this in your inbox, as well as two free chapters of the Language Hacking Guide, enter your e-mail address on the right of the site. In this post I’d like to share some of the enhancements I’ve […]


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Reading time: 4 minutes

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Free book: The polyglot project, how to learn languages

written by Benny Lewis

Today I’ve got an interesting treat for you all! Almost 140,000 words (534 pages) of free information about learning languages. This project was headed by Claude Cartaginese, who gathered the advice from dozens of “youtube polyglots, hyper-polyglots, linguists, language learners and language lovers” and put them all in this one book, which is free to […]


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Reading time: 3 minutes

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Any language anywhere hack 3: Helping tourists for free language practice

written by Benny Lewis

In my current language mission I’m trying to prove that you can speak any language in the world anywhere in the world. So far I’ve mentioned how you can search social networks for nearby speakers, and take culturally relevant classes in the target language. There are actually infinite ways to practise your target language without […]


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Reading time: 7 minutes

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Any language, anywhere hack 2: Dancing, painting and cooking your way to fluency

written by Benny Lewis

What are you doing with your target language? Reading? Listening to Podcasts? Watching movies? That’s nice, but why should everyone else be having all the fun and leave you to be nothing more than an inactive spectator? It’s time to get active with your language and/or travels! This doesn’t just mean finding ways to meet […]


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Reading time: 6 minutes

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The many benefits of English-free travel

written by Benny Lewis

When I meet other travellers, it’s great to be able to share stories and relate to them in ways that only nomads can. Because of this I do like to spend time with other travellers when I can. However, most of my time is actually spent socialising with locals, most of whom speak little to […]


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Reading time: 7 minutes

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Any Language Anywhere, hack 1: Social network language search

written by Benny Lewis

The time for excuses is over. Stop studying your language too much and go out and speak it! It’s the only way you’ll make real progress. Think you can’t speak it because you can’t travel? Travel is quite easy, but speaking your target language without leaving your home town is too easy. The countless opportunities […]


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Reading time: 7 minutes

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The Captain Jack Sparrow approach to language learning

written by Benny Lewis

Of all the idols to have when learning languages (I’m sure there are plenty of amazing polyglots throughout history), mine is quite an unlikely one: Captain Jack Sparrow (from Pirates of the Caribbean). As far as I know, his character doesn’t even speak any foreign languages, but he has all the traits I feel are […]


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Reading time: 4 minutes

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Travel anecdote: How the Kindle saved me

written by Benny Lewis

“I’m sorry sir, but there’s no way I can let you fly to the states today!” Of all the times to hear this, 33 minutes before your international flight is scheduled to take off while you are still trying to check in, is among the worst. Not getting into the states would have meant well […]


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Reading time: 8 minutes

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