Category: Language Hacks


How to convert PDFs/daily news/anything to ePUB/mobi for your eReader/Kindle

written by Benny Lewis

(Note: The Fluent in 3 Months book has been converted to be read on all devices, using the techniques in this post.) Thanks to ditching dead trees and embracing 21st century technology I have been reading a lot more lately and really enjoying myself. I’ve got the fantastic Amazon Kindle (International free 3G version since I’m […]


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Reading time: 9 minutes

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How to speak multiple languages without mixing them up

written by Benny Lewis

Let’s face it; being able to speak multiple languages would be really cool. But can it be done by the average person without getting really confused? When I was living in Spain, still only able to speak English, I hung out with a Brazilian who absolutely wowed me as he switched between people at our […]


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Reading time: 8 minutes

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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 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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Your worst enemy on the path to success? You!

written by Benny Lewis

Whether your goal is to lose weight, save money, or speak a language, out of the many obstacles you will encounter on your path, the biggest one by far is you. In a language-learning context I see people spending countless hours on forums and even the few blogs like this one to get the latest […]


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Reading time: 6 minutes

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