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The Rapid approach adopts a neurological approach to learning languages. It is designed to fit in with how the brain works, not on linguistic principles.
Why the traditional approaches don’t work
The ‘linguistic’ approach is based on traditional school teaching methods - it’s probably how you were taught languages at school. By understanding the underlying grammar and structure of a language, and practicing reading, writing and speaking according to a set curriculum, you are expected to ‘figure out’ the language in a logical way.
Our brains simply don’t work in a logical way. Most of what we learn becomes subconscious. The moment we have to think about what we are doing consciously, the more complicated and unnatural it gets.
The ‘immersion’ approach is based on the fallacy that children pick up the language of their environment very quickly. This is not so. Children take 5-7 years of continuous exposure to develop a very basic competence in their own language. For an older child, a second language can be acquired in about six months, but only at a very rudimentary level and the child is usually immersed 16 hours a day, or around 2,000 hours in total. It is a very inefficient way of learning.
The Rapid Approach
We break the entire process down into a few simple areas.
Firstly, the top 3,000 key words make up around 90% of words used by the majority of educated adults in everyday conversations. We give you only the most important words you need to know.
Secondly, our brains are able to subconsciously ‘absorb’ language usage from the environment - but only if the basic building blocks are already in place. This is not the same as ‘immersion’. Immersion is a little like being thrown in the deep end. If you don’t already know how to swim then you will probably drown!
Thirdly, our brains can remember certain kinds of images infinitely better than words, so long as they are in some way significant to us.
Many traditional approaches try to emulate this by using illustrations, photos or videos. It doesn’t work.
The Rapid Approach creates visual associations, which are are funny, bizarre, zany, quirky or unsettling to develop the core vocabulary. You only need to look at a word once for it to stick forever in your mind.
The Rapid Method downloads the necessary vocabulary into your head, just as in The Matrix.
Finally, our ears have to be developed to have the ability to actually hear what people are saying. This has to be done in a special way - just like building muscles in a gym - because (unless you are going to stick to books alone) a theoretical knowledge of a language is useless in an everyday situation.
You cannot appreciate jazz or modern classical music if you’ve never heard it before - it will sound like noise.
Another interesting point about our innate aural abilities is that we somehow know how to say something correctly intuitively - it sounds right.
A little understanding of grammar does help, but is not necessary for communicating effectively. The Rapid Approach is based on the principle that you will develop better language skills by having conversations and absorbing the language from the environment.
Listening to the radio (especially talk shows or phone-ins) and paying attention to signs and notices when you are out and about is a very effective way of absorbing a language. Watching foreign language TV or movies is fairly futile as the visual activity in the brain dominates and drowns out the aural/language activities.
How it works in practice
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In a non-Latin based language such as Hebrew, Arabic, Russian or Thai, you first learn how to read and sound out the words. This improves your ability to absorb the language from the environment (by reading signs, notices, labels, etc.)
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The fundamental aspect of the course is to acquire the core vocabulary through visual associations. The cartoons have been designed to be engaging enough to follow for their own sake. You will start by learning the most common 60% of words in everyday usage - almost as a side effect - as well as the essential grammatical principles. This can be done within a week and will be enough to enable to get by in most basic situations.
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At the same time, you listen to MP3 tracks of basic words and sentences that have been graded in a special way so as to develop your ear. Listen to these tracks whenever you are commuting or whilst walking to school or work.
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The aural system has been designed to be subconsciously appealing. There is a narrative that gradually unfolds, and the sounds are pleasing to the ear in their own right.
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By spending only an hour a day on building your vocabulary, and another hour during your in-between time to listen to the aural tracks, with hardly any effort on your part, you will be able to get by in basic situations within a week or two, and be relatively fluent within three months.
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After that, you can make rapid progress in polishing your language skills by following some of the traditional approaches, reading a lot, listening to the radio and making friends and socializing with native speakers.
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The aim of the program is to be able to learn Hebrew to conversational standard (level gimel) subconsciously and with little effort.
For those who don't know how to read, we also teach you the alphabet in a way that enables you to read immediately. We deliberately avoid teaching or using vowels. You will learn much faster this way - in the same way as a child learns quickly to cycle without training wheels.
The process is quite straightforward. We associate the sound of a Hebrew word with something in English. So mitbach sounds like "meet Bach", iton sounds like "eat on" and so on. We show you a cartoon that illustrates this association:
We all have an amazing capacity to memorize images, especially if they are funny or zany. And it only takes a few seconds for the image to be memorized - for ever!
The course is available online. It incorporates aural training so that you learn to develop an 'ear' for Hebrew as you learn the words. By the time you have finished the program, you will be able to understand a native speaker - speaking reasonably slowly and clearly - and have a fairly decent accent of your own. Exactly as one develops an appreciation for jazz or classical music, and is subsequently able to sing or hum in tune.
Did you know that 90% of all the words we use in conversation is made of a vocabulary of approximately 3,000 words? If you learn these key words then you will be able to participate fluently in virtually any everyday conversation.
Another interesting fact: half of all the words we use is made up of only one hundred key words. So an essential vocabulary of 400-odd words will enable you to get by in most basic situations. Something you can easily learn within a week. Or in a single day if you're in a hurry!
Make more friends and enjoy your travels more.
[Disabled] Check on the other many benefits of learning a language. Sign up for a free demo or buy a course now.
Try it yourself:
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the the chicken has gone off |
ma’s leg (fork) |
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ta puz (orange) |
guardoll (big) |
Now see if you can figure out the gist of these sentences - or at least recognize the words you've just learnt:
- Ha off al ha eat-on.
- Ha ma's-leg al yad ha ta-pooz guard-doll ba meet-Bach.
- The chicken (is) on the newspaper.
- The fork (is) next to the large orange ("orange big") in-the kitchen.
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