I learned 1547 Tagalog words in 1 day.

I learned 1547 Tagalog words in 1 day.

Why? Because I can.

Want know how? Keep reading...

Tagalog is one of the official languages of the Phillippines, together with English.

Tagalog belongs to the Austronesian language family.

But after 300 years of Spanish colonial rule, it has taken thousands of loan words.

It's estimated that around 20% to 33% of Tagalog vocabulary has Spanish origins.

Those words don't look and sounds exactly the same as in Spanish, but they are recognisable enough.

Tagalog also uses the Roman alphabet.

These 2 facts make it by far the easiest Asian language to learn for a European.

It is still more difficult than Romance or Germanic languages though.

So how did I learn fifteen hundred words in a day?

As well as all the grammar?

This is what I did:

I used LingQ's 60 Mini Stories.

They have exactly 1,547 unique words in Tagalog, out of a total of 25,322 words.

I am a Speed Reader. I can read extremely fast.

Going through a 25k word text several times in a day is not challenging for me.

And you know that repetition is the key to mastery.

I've already used the Mini Stories to learn over a dozen languages.

I know exactly what each story says, I just need to learn it in the new language.

This is by far the most effective way to learn the basics fast.

Back in the day linguists used to do this with the Bible.

Before grammar books and all that nonsense.

Scholars used to learn different languages by reading and later translating different language versions of the Bible.

Because they already knew what the book said.

So I took the LingQ Mini Stories in Tagalog.

And I applied the Natural Language Learning system:

1. Memorise the key vocabulary with associations

2. Get as many repetitions as possible with reading and listening

3. Translate into Tagalog and self-correct

First I did it with each Mini Story, memorising the key words and speed reading the whole story once.

After doing this with the whole list, I reviewed the whole list of stories over and over again.

I also applied the concept of interleaving, alternating between 3 different types of exercise during the input sessions:

1. Speed reading with English translation on.

2. Speed reading without English translation.

3. Listening to the audio while reading (x1.5 and later x2 speed) with English translation.

4. Listening to the audio while reading (x1.5 and later x2 speed) without English translation.

Interleaving has been shown to be an effective learning strategy that can enhance retention.

Plus it keeps things interesting.

Reading and listening without the translation helps you see what you understand and what you don't.

Finally, I copied the stories into Google Translate and translated them into English.

Then translated the English translation back into Tagalog by hand.

Compared my translation to the original text and corrected my many mistakes.

This exercise is way more effective than studying grammar rules.

If your goal is to speak well.

How did I do all this in 1 day?

Basically by staying focused, going fast and spending all day doing this.

I also applied most of the concepts from Andrew Huberman's Neuroplasticity Superprotocol:

As many repetitions as possible.

As many errors as possible (with immediate feedback).

I took breaks from my learning every 60 to 90 minutes.

I introduced random 10 second micro-rest intervals.

And I did 3 NSDR sessions throughout the day.

This consolidates neuroplasticity.

Basically helps you remember what you just learned better.

I've got ADHD and I used to struggle with focus, discovering Huberman's neuroplasticity protocol has been a game-changer.

Do I recommend doing this?

Probably not unless you're in a rush to learn.

But I wanted to prove a point.

Even if you don't want to goggins your language learning.

Every technique I just showed is still super useful.

You'll improve fast just by doing it 20 to 30 minutes a day of this.

And if need results fast.

Because you've got a trip abroad or a language exam next week, feel free to try this on your own.

Want to learn a language fast? Join Natural Language Learning.