1) hearing (parsing the language and deciphering word boundaries) 2) pronunciation (knowing "elemental sounds" of the language & producing them) -- including rhythm and cadence 3) comprehension (with some sort of structured learning tool) 4) speaking & fluency (being able to express yourself) -- practice, conversations, and memorized "script training"

I agree with you 100%. I have tried to learn Spanish for what is now 3 years and have failed tremendously. I focused so much on reading and writing and thinking I would just be able to talk and listen to spanish once I knew how to read and write but I was completely wrong. I've been digging myself a hole for three years now and am trying to basically learn spanish with a clean slate as though I have never learned it. (Which is harder than starting off with no spanish at all) Whenever I look at videos about tips to get better in learning a language I always heard "start speaking from day one" but I tried and it made everything harder because 1. I sounded like such a Gringo it was hard for the people to understand me and 2. Everything they said was complete gibberish to me. This phonetics method is brilliant! Now looking back, when babies in english say their first word (which is usually dada or mama) they have no idea what they're saying but because they've heard it so many times they start repeating it with the same intonation and accent themselves. Later we learn the meaning of dada or mama. We don't come out from the womb "speaking from day one" but rather hearing the sound and intonation of the language as you said. I am definitely gonna use mimic method. (when I get the money lol) You really have changed my whole view on language learning. Thank you so much!

You put into simple words what I learned in Linguistics courses. I've always known that pronunciation is important, but this is an easy way to communicate that to my students. It is so fun to be in those conversations with fluent-speakers and actually hold your own for the first time! Thanks Idahosa!

Thank you, thank you , thank you... This was well needed.

This is spot on !! Thanks for sharing

+MimicMethod Hey Idahosa! I love your videos! please make tons more! I do have a question, though. With these 4 breakthroughs, like the third one, does it mean that you understand everything that native speakers say? I've just started your Flow of Spanish course (I love it!), but im still a bit foggy on how the listening comprehension and hearing breakthroughs work... "hearing" meaning, the sounds don't all sound like a blur? and "comprehension" meaning understanding everything, or just a percentage? Lastly, how do we use your method after we go through your courses? i would love to hear what you have to say about learning a language to an advanced level with the Mimic Method. Thanks so much, sir! once again i love the videos! keep up the great work! (and please make a flow of russian course!!!)

I'm trying to learn Finnish and German at the moment. I've grown up around German / German dialects (The majority of my family speaks Low German, and there are a lot of Swiss and German people living in my area), so the hearing / pronunciation / speech rhythm aren't as nearly big a problem for me with German as they are with Finnish. The German 'ch', 'ä', 'ö', and 'ü' sounds are actually really easy. One of my problems is that I freeze when I have to actually speak in another language. I saw one of my favourite bands for the second time last year, and one of the members either recognized me from my comments online and knew I was learning Finnish or heard me say "Vihdoin!" to one of the other guys. He asked me "How's it going?" in Finnish, and I understood the question, but I completely forgot my vocabulary for a couple of seconds; when I did remember, I used the wrong word, although thankfully I wasn't too far off and didn't accidentally curse at him. :P I have a few Finnish friends, and they tell me that my pronunciation is pretty good (I still feel uncomfortable because I can't say the trilled 'r'), although one of them did say that the '"music" of my sentences, as she called it, is different than a native speaker's. XP

Great advice Thanks

Thank you! Gracias! Danke!

I am trying at the moment learn a language so I can get a job in the language field.

lol I've been in that place with a bunch of Spanish people talking and having no idea what the heck is going on. It does suck.

I'm still working towards the point where the things I say no longer suck...

People please stop wasting time watching videos. Go study the language, learn it, use it. Listen, read and write a lot. Speak when you can. Don't be afraid of making mistakes. Don't give up, be patient. Time flies. The rest is crap. 😂