author headshot

Articles by:
Benny Lewis


First month in Berlin & 8 language 6 dialect tour of my flat

First month in Berlin & 8 language 6 dialect tour of my flat

written by Benny Lewis

It’s been a month since I arrived in Berlin, so it’s about time for a mission update! To make it more interesting, I’ve decided to include this multilingual video tour of my flat. I also made (just English) videos to show my home in Prague and Rio, since I host Couchsurfers most of the time […]


Language:

Reading time: 6 minutes

Read More

Stop being such a crybaby

written by Benny Lewis

My life is so unfair – forget the starving children in Africa, or people with terminal illnesses; they have no idea what I have to put up with. I have seperable verbs and conjugations to deal with. Oh, woe is me!! For example, German has strange word orders, prepositions at the end of sentences that […]


Language:

Reading time: 6 minutes

Read More
First WeekFirst Week in Germany, No English. Here's How I Did It in Germany, No English. Here's How I Did It

First Week in Germany, No English. Here’s How I Did It

written by Benny Lewis

*Note: Written in 2010  Just one week into my latest crazy mission and I am happy to report that I have only been speaking German with Germans since I got here. Apart from with my landlord (who is American) and lunch with a Canadian friend, I have used no English at all outside of the […]


Language:

Reading time: 15 minutes

Read More
German 3 month mission: Sit C2 exam

German 3 month mission: Sit C2 exam

written by Benny Lewis

Take Note: I wrote this post while preparing for my German mission in Berlin back in 2010. It’s a good post to read when preparing for your next language mission, so you can see what I take into consideration and how I approach short and long term goals. Enjoy! OK, I’ve had several months of a […]


Language:

Reading time: 8 minutes

Read More

Are you close-minded? How I finally learned how to get along with Parisians

written by Benny Lewis

If you ask someone the question “Are you close-minded?” the answer will almost certainly be a no. I don’t think anyone in the world sees themselves as closed minded. They are always sceptical or simply convinced that the other guy is wrong. The description closed minded is one we tend to reserve for someone else. […]


Language:

Reading time: 10 minutes

Read More

Getting along with other learners & conclusions of Thai mission

written by Benny Lewis

What an experience!! This “dipping my toes” in my first Asian language has helped me see so many things I hadn’t realised before, despite the extremely little amount of time that I actually put into it, i.e. about 15 hours in the first month exclusively to be able to read the symbols and understand the […]


Language:

Reading time: 9 minutes

Read More

My Thailand experience

written by Benny Lewis

Travel update – no language tips in this (long) post My experience in Thailand has ended and I’m already back in Europe (in Paris for the weekend, Ireland for the next 3 weeks and then starting the next 3-month mission). I’ve learned quite a lot in terms of general life lessons, as well as for […]

Don’t just stand there… Say something!

written by Benny Lewis

My 8 weeks in Thailand are up – I had made some great progress in reading Thai symbols and tone rules in the first month, but for nearly all of the last 3 weeks in Bangkok I’ve have to work double time and have, unfortunately, barely been out of my apartment! This meant that the […]


Language:

Reading time: 9 minutes

Read More

One simple step to improve chances of success in any mission

written by Benny Lewis

When you take on any major project like learn a language, get out of debt, lose weight etc., out of all the things that can hold you back from reaching your goal, there is one that stands out above all the rest: Motivation You clearly want it; it could even be one of the major […]


Language:

Reading time: 10 minutes

Read More