Russian learns French by reading Harry Potter

Well here's an interesting article. A few things have been coming up recently about how long it actually takes to learn a foreign language. This chap would say a year of reasonable effort, there's another story about students learning English in Arizona will have to spend four hours a day learning English in the hope that they'll become fluent in one or two years.

I read, too, a book which I've subsequently lost which talked about learning to read a language before trying to speak it, which seems to be the way Ryabitsev approached it. I think, too, that book talked about reading kids books.

Compared to all that, my favourite Learn Spanish Fast course seems rather small somehow. It takes a lot to get proficient in a language, and 12 days doesn't really cut it. But I absolutely stand by the course. Where Ryabitsev looked for a grammar primer to help him with his first steps, I'd say something like Learn Spanish Fast course would give an even better primer because it gives you really solid foundations. And no-one's saying in 12 days you'll be able to make a living as a Spanish language after dinner speaker.

But, you know, I do have some doubts about Ryabitsev's strategy. Doesn't it make sense that a course, designed to teach and help you learn, will be the most effective and efficient way to learn a language? What Ryabitsev has done is designed his favourite way to learn a language. It may very well not suit you. He's clearly used to learning and has the time and space to read Harry Potter in French. A well designed course will suit everyone. If Ryabitsev's methods work for you too, they'll work better than any course. But I think it's very likely 99% of people wouldn't like to study that way, wouldn't be as determined as he obviously was, and wouldn't be happy to self direct the way he did. So a course that's aimed at satisfying the majority of students, that's more likely to work.