Velocity Instant Fluency: The Ultimate System for Fast Fluency in any Language 9780978375515

Citation preview

Is there is a Fast and Easy way to Learn a Language and become Fluent? In 1985, Powell Janulus was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records for fluency in 42 languages. He could often show beginner fluency and comfortably converse in a new language in just a few days. How was this possible? Did he have a unique gift, or was his ability something anyone can do? Marilyn Atkinson, Ph.D., spent 7 years researching Powell’s unique abilities and developed a system that would allow anyone to accelerate their language learning. Paul Gossen refined this into the Velocity model for Instant Fluency in any language. Velocity is based on an advanced experiential learning methodology that embeds sophisticated accelerated learning approaches into simple ideas, actions and games. This methodology has been refined over 20 years by Marilyn Atkinson and has been intensively developed by Paul Gossen. The process has been tested by everyday people around the world and is supported by a community of raving fans.

What if you could Learn a Language like a Two-Year-Old? Velocity Language Learning shows you how to stop struggling with traditional language learning and step back into your natural learning system. What if you could emerge into your new language in a completely automatic way, without any hard work. Imagine being able to confidently talk with anyone anywhere in the world. Imagine being able to instantly communicate in any language in just a few days. Welcome

to Velocity.

Break the Language Barrier: How is it possible that most humans cannot communicate with most other humans? In today’s world of free communication and instant travel, this barrier of language is unacceptable. Easy Language Learning is a basic human right. This Book was Written with a Single Aim:

To create peace on earth by making easy language learning a basic human right.

Velocity Instant Fluency

The Ultimate System for Fast Fluency in any Language

Marilyn Atkinson Paul Gossen Velocity Learning Press Vancouver Canada V3B 6Y2 www.VelocityLearning.com Copyright © 2014 by Velocity Learning Inc. and Paul Gossen All Rights Reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part. Velocity Learning, Intoning, Enchart Sticky Words and Missioning are registered trademarks of Velocity Learning Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publications Data Velocity Instant Fluency / Marilyn Atkinson / Paul Gossen. 1. Languages. 2. Learning. 3. Fluency. 4. NLP. 5. Brain Science I. Marilyn Atkinson – Paul Gossen II. Velocity Instant Fluency ISBN 13: 978-0-9783755-1-5 Thanks To: Rie Kurokawa - Book Layout

Element

Introduction The Model History 1. Mindset 2. Intuitive 3. Sticky 4. Missioning 5. Intoning 6. Enchart 7. Become 8. Fun 9. People 10. Mapping 11. Confidence 12. Every Day Glossary

The Velocity Model Welcome to Velocity Instant Fluency. Velocity is based on 12 core principles:

This book is dedicated to Powell Janulus, whose celebration of human friendship has created a flood of fluency around the world!

Introduction

Grandma was Alone: Alone in a way that you and I will never understand. Her language was dying. She had no one left to speak to. Imagine knowing that you will never be able to speak to another human again in your lifetime. Imagine that there is a thick wall of ice separating you from every other human alive. You might see people through the ice, but you will never again be able to share yourself with the people you love. Everything you know and love about life will stay with you alone, forever.

Grandma was Alone: She had left the forest and was sitting in the center of a room crowded with busy city people, and yet she was completely alone. Grandma was from a remote tribe, up north, on the west coast of Canada. Her language was an old dialect of Kwakiutl (Kwa-ki-oo-tul, also known as Kwakwala). The few remaining elders who spoke the language were

scattered up the coast. Grandma’s children had died. One of her adult grandchildren had tried for several years to learn the language. He had tried to chip through the wall of ice, but in the end had failed. In one last desperate attempt, he sought out a very special man: Powell Janulus.

Powell had the Opposite Problem: He was on a quest to learn every language. He loved to learn languages. He would devour a new language in the same way you and I might eat that first perfectly sweet strawberry each spring. Above all, he loved learning fresh languages. He had just been entered into the Guinness Book of World Records for fluency in 42 languages. He was working on about 80 languages. His problem was that every language was similar to one he already knew. In Powell’s world, there was only one language, the Human Language, which just happened to have a few variations. So there they were, Grandma and Powell. They were sitting on the stage in a big room jammed with people. Many had heard about Powell’s language learning abilities and filled the room to see him. There was a buzz of excitement in the air. We were there to study Powell. We had arranged this event to acquire first hand data on how he did what he did. The video cameras were running. The research assistants were poised with note pads to track his every movement.

So What Would You Do? You have two hours to start to speak a new language that you have never heard before. You have a translator who only knows a few words. How would you begin? Powell began as you might. He asked a few questions. “How do you say this?” and “How do you say that?” He spoke back her words carefully and asked for her confirmation through the translator. He structured the words into sentences on a big whiteboard. He started to map out sentence variations in a big grid. This went on for some time.

Then it Happened: Powell switched entirely over to her language. At around the halfway point, he stopped speaking English and only spoke in Kwakiutl. He had absorbed enough of her language that he could carry on the learning process without the translator. They started to have a conversation. The translator struggled to keep up. Apparently they were talking about how to bake bread over an open fire. Grandma and Powell laughed with delight. The ice had melted. The wall between her and everyone else was gone. In less than two hours, Grandma had returned to the world of human communication.

Powell had Done it Again: So just how had he done all this? How could he start the process so powerfully and begin to learn a language so quickly? How could he jump into a conversation after just a few hours of study? How on earth could he keep all 42 languages in his head at once? We could never have anticipated the significance and magnitude of these questions at the time. It was 1991 and little did we know that these questions would lead us deep into Powell’s inner world of fast fluency. These questions would force us to reconsider everything we thought we knew about language education. This inquiry would lay a foundation for a model that would fundamentally increase the velocity of human language learning. How could we know that these questions would begin a global movement to transform human communication?

The Model Welcome to Velocity Velocity is a new domain of instant language fluency based on 12 core tools and principles:

1.Mindset* Setting an effective Mindset is the foundation of Velocity. How do you best approach the challenge of learning a new language in a fast and easy way? In the world of Velocity, we don’t like rules. Traditional language learning is full of rules. The most dangerous set of rules are grammar rules. Often the difficulty with grammar rules is enough to put people off language learning for the rest of their lives. Fortunately, at Velocity, we have a secret weapon in the battle against grammar rules. Our secret weapon is the one and only Velocity rule: love making mistakes. Love Making Mistakes: This is a key idea in Velocity. It is an easy concept to grasp. However, in practice, it can be a challenge to sustain. Most people actually don’t like making mistakes. The thought of attempting to speak your new language to a stranger and making a whole bunch of mistakes is quite intimidating. So how do we get around this? We need one more super-powered tool: The Silly Hat.

The Silly Hat: Around the world, you will see people attending Velocity events wearing silly hats and crazy wigs. Why all the silly hats? Is this some silly gimmick to embarrass people and get attention? The answer is YES. The point is that wearing a really silly hat is so ridiculous and embarrassing that no one will take you seriously. Once you have dealt with the Velocity peer pressure and put on your silly hat, you will be so far past the point of caring about making a few grammar errors in your new language that you really won’t care. You might even notice that you are having a lot of fun making mistakes! Around the world, at the beginning of every Velocity event and exercise, we say “Everyone, put on your silly hat.” This is the easy way to love making mistakes. There is a deep connection to the brain science of how the silly hats work. Recent fMRI neuro-imaging studies have demonstrated that people learn best when they are relaxed and able to access many parts of the brain and

many learning systems. In contrast, noticing an error or making a mistake can only take place using the Reactive System of the brain. This is the part of the brain that ‘reacts’ to danger. Add in some negative criticism, social pressure or embarrassment, and the reaction tends to shut down all learning. It is a bit like the gearbox on a manual car. You can either be going forward and learning in the first gear, or going backward and reacting to errors in reverse. However, under no circumstance can you drive your car forward and backward at the same time. Velocity is all about getting from first gear into second gear. You learn a little faster and then shift to third gear. Your learning builds momentum. This is how we achieve the ‘escape velocity’ required to break through the language barrier. How did Powell Janulus deal with mistakes and errors? Powell would often describe himself as a learning machine with 42 forward gears and no reverse. He simply had no self-criticism or doubt about his learning abilities. He knew he would be successful and truly enjoyed the process of getting there. He loved making mistakes.

What if You Became Powell Janulus? Perhaps the most powerful approach to the Velocity mindset is to pretend to be Powell Janulus. Powell simply loved learning new languages. Try putting on the Powell Janulus hat and test drive being someone who truly loves learning languages.

2.Intuitive* If you think about how you speak in your first language, you probably don’t really know how you do it. You just want to say something and the words pop out of your mouth. You have been talking most of your life and it just seems to happen. This is the essence of an Intuitive System. The right thing just pops out when you need it. Contrast this to traditional forms of language learning that are based on memorization, logic and our need for understanding how the rules of the

new language work. Think about it. If you try to understand all new language rules all at once, you will quickly become overwhelmed. The brain’s Logic System can understand a language concept such as a grammar rule. But knowing a language concept doesn’t actually help us much, because it hasn’t been integrated into our language habits. Knowing how to conjugate a French verb doesn’t help much, unless the right verb form happens to pop out of your mouth at the right time.

Wash and Condition: A key concept is the idea of Conditioning. Conditioning is any structure of ongoing practice and repetition that makes a habit or skill automatic. If you wish to run a marathon, you practice and train on an ongoing basis to condition your body and mind for success. Preparing for a marathon is a long-term project that takes time. This is the same for language learning; it is a long-term project that takes time. What about saving money? Can you finish saving for your retirement in one day or one week? No. Saving money takes time. This is obvious. However, you can think of the Intuitive Learning system as a piggy bank. Every day you add a few words and phrases. What if you wish to save money, learn faster or with less effort? You simply practice some of the Intuitive Learning principles to be found throughout this book.

Three Key Ideas: Fun: Fluency is just like sex; if you are not having fun, you are doing it wrong. Your accelerated Intuitive Learning capacity will not turn on unless you are relaxed, and having fun is the easiest way to get there.

Easy: There is always an easier way to learn; we simply have to try. The Intuitive System loves easy multi-layered learning games. Take a children’s classic game like hopscotch. This can involve hopping, counting, singing, melody, rhythm, repetition, competition and even jumping rope if you are really good. This is an example of a peak-learning activity. Even the most difficult grammar rules and exceptions can be turned into easy games.

Fast: This book is loaded with fast ways to learn. Almost every approach involves some form of fast Intuitive Learning. The Intuitive System loves rhythm and repetition. If you take some of the top Velocity power tools, such as Intoning and Encharts, and practice them with rhythm and repetition for 30 days, you will experience magical results. For those of you who are more accustomed to logic-based learning, here is one more key suggestion:

Don’t Try to Understand Velocity. Just Do it. This book examines in detail the underlying principles behind the practices and mindset. However, at some point you will simply have to stop making sense of it all and jump in with both feet.

3.Sticky* Making learning stick in your brain is one of the key foundational elements of Velocity. This is best explained with a simple brain science phrase: things that fire together wire together. This means that things that happen at the same time in the brain and body get linked together. We can use this to speed up learning. Most of the Velocity games and systems appear very simple, but actually link many layers of learning. When we link many layers of learning together at once, we create a rich learning experience that has much more impact. The experience seems more vivid because it gets wired in many parts of the brain. Learning gets sticky and has a good chance of becoming a long-term memory or habit because it has more wiring.

Sticky Words: What if you could learn a word once and remember it for the rest of your life? Sticky Words create visual, Auditory and emotional linkages that create an easy access system for the brain. You create sticky ‘links’ in both your first and new language. Sticky Words combine many images, rhythms and sounds to create word links. The linked pictures or rhythms allow words and phrases to stick more easily in your memory.

4.Missioning* Build Your New Language Mission: In order to be successful in your new language fluency adventure, you must build a personal mission. You fluency mission links every element of your new language universe. Your mission is your source of positive energy. Building your new language mission is the key to success. We call this process Missioning. Velocity is founded on the notion of positive energy. Building a strong structure of motivation is the key to success.

Why Do You Want to Learn Your New Language? One of the most important questions you can ask yourself is “Why do I want to learn my new language?” The more you explore this question, the stronger your motivation will become. A single answer is usually insufficient to create long-term success. We need to answer this question in many ways, and then link it to the many future outcomes that we can imagine enjoying. For example, take a moment and imagine that you wish to travel to Italy and speak Italian. Which city will you visit? What does the café you are sitting in look like? What do you see? Now imagine that you are having a meaningful conversation with your new Italian friend. How do you feel having achieved this? Do you notice this is becoming a rich future vision of success? Can you see that learning how to speak about your vision in Italian would be the key to keeping that new Italian part of yourself strong? This would be one of the best things to learn first. It takes a little work to build and maintain this sort of positive vision of success. To build a strong motivational structure, you have to revisit the vision Every Day. It takes a little energy, but it yields a big result. It provides the key to long-term success, and real fluency is a longterm project. Your values are key power tools for positive motivation. Values are mostly expressed with a single Value Word. Anything you wish to do could be

boiled down to some simple key words like:

Success Learning Fun Growth Love Family Value Words build positive motivation. Linking your everyday practice to your long-term goals and your core Value Words is the key to success. Again, the more you can do this in your new language, the stronger you will become in your new language. Take a little time to build your structure of motivation and the rewards will multiply.

5.Intoning* Don’t Memorize Words – Intone them. Have you ever wondered why a hit song sticks in your brain? Music is a great example of the learning power of rhythm and melody. Don’t memorize words – instead, wrap them in a tone. Intoning is a very simple process of speaking aloud a list of words and adding a rhythm and melody. We speak slowly, in a low tone of voice, to engage the Intuitive Learning system. Often, we use a musical beat to keep the rhythm. It is best to loop through a short list of 20-40 words at least three times. By the third repetition, everything changes. The mouth, ears, brain and body begin to synchronize. The words start to flow and mouth movements become natural. People around the world consistently tell amazing stories about the power of Intoning. This is the most effective way to expand your range of words and build great pronunciation at the same time.

Have you ever noticed that a singing voice has no accent? The most exciting stories of the power of Intoning come from the people who have struggled with a heavy accent for years. They take on Intoning once a day for 30 days and everything shifts. Their spoken tone becomes vibrant and playful and their ability to hear words vastly improves. Their entire relationship with the new language moves from awkward to natural.

6.Enchart* Enchart Your Way Through Greece: Andy was going on vacation to Greece. He decided to take along the Velocity book, that you are now holding, for some light reading. On the plane, his interest was engaged and he read most of the book. Excited and inspired, he declared to his wife and kids, “I have to do this in Greece!” The next day, he started his holiday. His wife and kids went off to the beach, but he stayed in the hotel room. He set out some basic goals for speaking and learning the Greek language. He mapped out some Encharts for simple activities such as ordering food, enjoying a meal and getting to know a stranger. He used the basic approach from this book to Enchart out a bunch of sentences. He defined the standard Enchart Word Types, determined the Greek Word Order and created a 4x4 Enchart grid pattern. He used a translation app to translate the individual words and fit them into phrases in the correct Word Order. At lunch, he started testing them on the restaurant waiters. At first, several people stopped and corrected him on his sentences. That helped him to update his Encharts. He kept at it all afternoon, trying to have short conversations with the hotel employees and the people working in the shops. By evening, he had created a new set of Encharts. He ordered a coffee in the tavern and got into a conversation with the waitress. He knew he was

making a lot of mistakes, but the waitress humored him and helped him with pronunciation. They chatted for about ten minutes. Finally, the waitress asked him how long he had been studying Greek. “One day,” Andy replied. She made a funny face then laughed. Later, he shared his story with others: “I tried to explain to her, but she still didn’t believe me. But then why should she? Even I couldn’t believe how well I was communicating after just one day.”

What are Encharts? Encharts are the key sentence-building systems that combine words and phrases in their logical order to communicate complex ideas. Working with the Encharting System offers an easy-to-practice sentence building approach for fast fluency. Encharts are based on a set of Universal Communication Needs. This offers a Mapping system that uses ‘grammar-like’ Word Types to mix and match many sentence combinations. Encharts provide the magic system for establishing Word Order habits quickly. With your basic Word Order in place, you are ready to start building sentences. This will help you become fluent rapidly by putting multiple words, sounds and vocalizations into real communication. Encharts use a 4x4 grid. With only 16 words, you can create 256 sentences. As you practice a few of these sentences, the entire grid becomes embedded in your mind and you learn all 256 combinations. This is the key to accelerated language learning and Instant Fluency

The Power of Encharts: Around the world, Velocity students will rave about the power of Encharts. Encharts allow you to bypass grammar and simply start speaking in sentences.

The Paradox of Language Learning: The easiest way to learn a new language is by speaking to people. You can’t speak to people unless you know the new language.

Encharts bypass this entire paradox by allowing you to speak in full sentences and walk through simple conversations. This gives you the experience of speaking the language, before you know the language.

Native Speakers don’t do Grammar Rules: Too many grammar rules can create a barrier to speaking your new language. Consider your first language. You don’t need to understand it; you just use it. Compare that to grammar. If English is your first language, take a moment and ask yourself…what is a reflexive pronoun? Do you know? Do you care? The answer is that the word ‘yourself’ is a reflexive pronoun. You just said it to yourself without needing to understand it. English speakers say this word Every Day and most of them have no idea that it is a reflexive pronoun. This is not to say that you should never look at grammar rules. Try to put 5% of your attention on ‘the rules’ and 95% on a learning flow. If you put too much attention on all the grammar rules and definitions, it can really set back your ability to speak your new language. In contrast, Encharts are the very best way to learn the language structure. Forget the rules. Learn grammar by ignoring it. Encharts embed the structure of the language into the learning process. As you use the Encharts, you condition the structure of the language into your speaking. This is the natural way – the way that everyone learns to talk for the first time in their lives.

7.Become* Are you ready for a big boost? Many people spend years studying a new language, but they never really become a speaker of that language. Why not just skip the years of studying and simply become your new language?

Don’t Learn your New Language. Become your New Language. Kasia just had to Eat a Donut: “I remember the exact moment I became an English speaker. I was sixteen years old and travelling to London by ferry. In

the café, they were selling donuts and I just had to have one. All the English words were a jumbled mess in my head, but somehow I knew that I would get my donut. Suddenly, it all clicked and the right words came out in the right order. In that moment, I realized I could speak English.”

Water unto Fish – Humans unto Language: What do we mean by “become your new language”? Think of the way a two-year-old starts to talk. They don’t learn a new language, they emerge into the language. Humans are creatures of language. We live in a world of language the way fish live in a world of water. As children, we grow into language. Learning to speak a new language always happens the same way. This can help or hinder the learning process. Most people think about themselves in the first language they learned as a child. If this is the case, the new language may seem awkward and irrelevant. Conversely, we can flip this around to make the whole learning process natural and sticky. All you need to do is keep building a strong vision of yourself in your new language. The more you focus on your New Language Identity, the more relevant and meaningful the learning will become.

Become Your New Language: This whole process can happen quickly. First, you need to build up a sufficient level of learning intensity. Intensely play with your Sticky Words and Encharts for a few days, until it seems that you are swimming in the new language. Next, build a big vision of who you want to become in that new language. This is your New Language Identity. Continue to step into your New Language Identity for a few minutes each day, for 30 days. Notice the results. This is one of the big secrets of how the Velocity workshops can create such a big transformation to spoken fluency in just a few days.

8.Fun* Look at a Group of Kids Playing:

Watch them with new eyes. You will see a group of humans in a state of hyper-learning. They might be engaged in layers of social interaction, group games, visual-special games, imagination, Visioning, acting, rhythm, numbers, words and body movements; all are tied together with a silly context such as ‘hide and seek.’ Foremost, they are learning to how to be ‘human’ in a safe and simulated problem-solving environment. This is what hyper-learning looks like, but most kids just call it fun.

Fun is Learning: As an adult language learner, we can use fun to dramatically speed our rate of learning. All of the best Velocity learning systems include games, but the most important element is the relaxed joy you bring to the process. Group games are the very best. Communication requires other humans. However, any time you bring in other people, you cannot predict their response. They may not understand you. They may reject you. Communication carries risk. Humans know this and start cautiously. Fortunately, the ice will always melt with a little playful group rapport. What comes next is the big tsunami. Once we relax and start to have fun, everything changes. We get hit by the big tsunami of learning. Fun group games always work wonders for accelerating the language learning process. Go find your group.

All the World’s a Stage: At this point, we need a special mention for acting. Of all the group games that can speed up language fluency, acting has a special place. The moment that you step into a role and become someone else, all of your first language barriers to learning fall away. Just as the silly hat allows you to step around your embarrassment, acting allows you to experience a range of expression in your new language. The more you add melodramatic emotion and silly humor, the stickier the learning becomes. Even though it is all pretend, any kind of social interaction with real humans will make the learning real. Finally, we lock it in with laughter. The moment

we laugh at how silly we are, what we have learned becomes part of who we are as individuals.

9.People* Drop the Books and Talk to REAL People: We keep studying more, thinking that someday we will be ready to talk to real people. Confront the obvious. The reason language learners hide in books is to avoid the fear of making mistakes and being embarrassed. Shift this habit. Break the language barrier and talk to real people. This is the absolute fastest way to learn. But how to begin? In Velocity, we have one more power tool: The Conversation. The Conversation is an awkward and contrived simulation of ‘people talking’ that lets language learners experience what it would be like to have a real conversation. The Conversation uses Encharts and scripts to walk people through ‘something like’ a real conversation. Ready for the secret sauce? Somewhere in the conversation, the magic of authentic interest kicks in and we forget that we are having a ‘pretend’ conversation. Basic human rapport takes over and we end up in a real conversation. Expand the script a bit more and suddenly we are getting to know someone new and finding out what they are most passionate about in life. Authentic interest is the key. At the point where our interest in the other person exceeds our interest in learning the new language, the entire learning process becomes sticky. When this happens, our Intuitive Learning process takes over and everything becomes easy. Welcome to Velocity.

10.Mapping* Fear No Grammar: Don’t let grammar rules scare you. Think of grammar instead as a simple language road map. Every language has its basic structure which is, in most cases, easy to pick up.

The key idea is that humans have a basic set of communication needs. Grammar is just a system of agreed-upon maps for how we express those basic communication needs in any given language. Remember, at the highest level, communication is dead simple. You can desperately yell ‘food’ and people will understand that you are hungry. As you go deeper into the structure of the language, the complexity increases. Focus on communication before complexity. Once you are communicating in a basic way in your new language, you will be able to quickly extend your map to new territory. Velocity offers a simple way to explain grammar concepts because simplicity is the essence of what makes learning fast and easy. In order to learn grammar, all you need to do is to slowly discover the map of your new language by Encharting more and more complex conversations. For example: Humans need to agree upon Word Order in sentences so that communications can be understood. Human language will always have a universal set of communication needs such as who, why, how, what, where and when. How these are ordered in the sentence will differ from language to language. This is usually very easy to map out and start using right away. The rest are simply details.

Don’t Try to Understand it. Condition it: The key approach to Mapping out the structure of any language is to play silly group games that slowly introduce the structural map of the language through a series of Encharts. The more you play, the more grammar you add to your Encharts, and the more automatic and simple the essential grammar rules become, the more detailed the map you begin to build and use.

11.Confidence* Fall in Love with Your New Language: Confidence comes from fluency, but not the kind of ‘never make a mistake’ fluency that so many

people get stuck on. We are talking about the REAL fluency that can only come from the JOY you feel when speaking your new language. This is a very specific sensation of loving everything about communicating in your new language. This, in fact, is the only thing that separates the new speaker from the native speaker – this one key experience of loving your language. You can even love making mistakes in your new language. One more trick for confidence: speed. Confidence is speed. Here is the rule:

Slow is Smooth – Smooth is Fast. What does this mean? If you try to go too fast, you will make a mess. Start very slowly in the beginning. This is the magic of Intoning. We slow everything right down to a snail’s pace. Next get smooth. This will happen quickly once you find the rhythm of the mouth sounds and start to spend consistent time working with your Encharts. Now you are ready to go fast. Once you really get the feel of the new language, you will be able to talk quickly, just like a native speaker. Practice from the beginning and your confidence will build.

Relax and Enjoy Your New Language: You could spend a lifetime waiting for an external evaluation of your acceptance into the club of native speakers or you could simply start enjoying your new language now. What is fluency anyway? Fluency has the same Latin root as the word ‘fluid.’ Fluency is when your words FLOW like water. You relax and enjoy speaking and your words being to flow. If you do this, you will naturally start to communicate and think in your new language. Finally, you must keep talking. Each time you put together a sentence and try to communicate, you take this little risk: Will I be understood by the other person? Each time you see the light in their eyes that lets you know that they got the communication, your confidence expands. This is why you can only go so far with books. Real conversations are the only path to fluency. Keep talking to people in your new language Every Day.

12.Every Day* Fluency is Calling You: Success suddenly seems achievable. Do not underestimate your opponent. Distraction is also calling you. Distraction is an ever-present force that wants nothing more than the total destruction of your New Language Identity. You cannot win with willpower alone. Success will depend on your ability to build habits that you use Every Day. If you spend a little time Every Day, fluency wins. If you don’t revisit your new language Every Day, distraction wins. Choose your path, and then go build some habits.

Play Every Day: What do you do for fun? What do you do when you are bored and need to kill time? Do you check email or Facebook? Do you play Candy Crush? What if learning your new language was even more fun and relaxing? Can you see that success would be automatic? You job is to find a way to make language learning the BEST part of your day. Find a way to play Every Day.

Feedback Learning Loop: How do you know if you are making progress in your fluency adventure? Are you making progress and moving forward, or are you slipping backwards? Your ability to assess this is dependent on how you measure success and how you take in feedback. Are you noticing the small steps that build success, or do you have an unrealistic expectation of Instant Fluency? Are you open to learning feedback, or does everything seem like a personal attack? Who are you taking feedback from? Do you have a supportive group and community committed to your success? Or are you taking feedback from some critical person, who doesn’t believe you will succeed? The most dangerous source of feedback is closer to home: your Internal Dialogue. This is the internal commentary you say to yourself.

Shift: Learn how to shift into the positive gear. Negative Internal Dialogue is the fastest way to sink the ship. Negative self-talk can also be very sticky,

so you need to catch it before it builds momentum. This is an old habit that is actually easy to shift. Learn to catch yourself and shift to the positive. This book is full of positive messages. Building the habit of repeating positive internal messages is the number one predictor of success. Remember, positive messaging only works if you also commit and take some small action Every Day.

Ask Yourself this Strange Question: What language is your negative Internal Dialogue speaking? Almost guaranteed, your negative Internal Dialogue speaks in your first language, the language you learned as a 3-yearold. As such, your negative Internal Dialogue has no place in your new language universe. Only accept self-feedback in your new language. The only self-judgment that could ever be valid consists of positive words and phrases in your new language. These are some of the first words and phrases you want to learn. Learn them now and remember to say them to yourself Every Day.

The History of Velocity Where did Velocity come from? Powell Janulus was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Although he was exposed to many Slavic languages as a child, English was the only language he could speak as a teenager. While traveling in China at the age of 18, he tried to learn Mandarin, and struggled with the academic teaching style at a school in Beijing. Rather than give up, he became curious about the process of language learning. He grew interested in the way that children learn languages so easily and began a lifelong project of modeling natural language acquisition. He played with Chinese conversations and practiced talking with as many people as possible. Slowly he began to develop a very special methodology for fast language fluency. Later, back in Canada, he became a court translator and got paid for each language he could translate. He worked to learn two or three languages per year, as each language allowed him to earn more at his job. Gradually, he became deeply interested in language variations and could quickly learn related languages such as Spanish and Portuguese. He began to run out of languages to learn and expanded his repertoire to include less common languages such as Tibetan, Romani (Gypsy), Inuit (Eskimo) and Swahili. In 1985, Powell was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records for knowing more languages than any other human. To qualify, he had to pass a two-hour conversational fluency test with a native speaker of each of the 42 different languages he spoke at that time. The previous record holder had passed with 28. He considered himself skilled in 64 languages and, in his lifetime, he has worked on about 80 languages in total. Despite this phenomenal world record, very few people have known about his great skills. After suffering a stroke in 2006, he resumed language learning as soon as he could.

Seven Years of Research: Marilyn Atkinson heard about Powell Janulus’s entry into the Guinness Book of World Records. She was an early pioneer in NLP Modeling Skills. NLP, or Neuro-Linguistic Programming, is a human potential movement that specializes in building systematic models of how extraordinary people produce results. Marilyn began a formal cognitive modeling analysis of Powell’s amazing capabilities. This was part of a larger project to study great language learners worldwide. She began an extensive study of Powell’s skills that continued for one week every year for seven years. She and her team actively observed him working with many languages and with many different language speakers. Each time, she worked with a video camera plus a group of about fifteen people to observe and explore the intake, storage and retrieval patterns of the language expert. This research is summarized in the notes at the end of the book. The aim of the research was to understand the specifics of genius learning abilities in minute detail and to turn this into a model that anyone could use to reproduce the results for themselves.

How to Learn 42 Languages: The research demonstrated that Powell Janulus had developed a unique language learning methodology. His approach was quite the opposite of the traditional academic style of memorizing vocabulary lists and studying grammar structure. Powell ignored books and written language and focused entirely on the spoken language. Armed with just a few phrases, he would find a native speaker and ask them questions in their language. He was a master at striking up a conversation with strangers. He thought of each word as a sequence of sounds. In his mind, he would attach those sounds to pictures of objects, actions or rhyming phrases. He listened carefully and encoded new words using a simple phonetic system. He would immediately capture these new words into his unique system of Encharts. He often began his Encharts on a whiteboard and would later reduce them to simple 4x6 index cards, which he used to map out each

area of the language. He would then use these Encharts to practice speaking in simple conversations, as often as possible.

Powell Loved Language. Powell wanted to get inside each language as a complete culture of communication. While interviewing a native speaker, he mirrored their sounds, facial expressions, and gestures. This mirroring included the tone and, most importantly, the rhythm of each language. He would physically mirror and repeat this process until he got a feeling of connection with the speaker. He would memorize how it felt to say each sentence, so he could retrieve it later as a complete expression. He had a different rhythm or ‘gear,’ as he called it, for each new language he learned so that he would never confuse them. In order to know the language from the inside out, he completely identified with that language by immediately pretending to be a native speaker. His goal was to think like a native speaker of Chinese, Hindi or Swahili. While on his own, he intensively continued a practice of thinking in the new language.

Powell Loved Making Mistakes: Instead of being afraid of making mistakes, he embraced them. He asked permission to explore the language in such a passionate manner that native speakers would enjoy stopping their day to give him free language lessons. He took advantage of all opportunities to speak his new language. He was constantly looking for people to talk to. He genuinely loved talking to people in his new language. This fascinating research of Powell Janulus and his skills was part of a larger program by Marilyn Atkinson to study and model accelerated language learners from around the world. Going back in history, the first true hyperpolyglot to be well-documented was Giuseppe Mezzofanti. This famed Italian cardinal lived from 1774 to 1849 and was known to be fluent in at least 29 languages. While Marilyn found many such stories of great language learners, she noted that few of them had been studied or researched

externally in depth. She approached this research process using a cognitive modelling approach. Marilyn studied a man called Sergei Halipov, a 45-year-old Russian teacher who knew 24 languages. She studied Sergei for several weeks. He was a debonair resident of St. Petersburg. He learned many of his languages early in life through reading, listening to radio broadcasts and diligently practicing phrases. He loved live theater and would often practice each new language by reading theater scripts aloud. Marilyn also worked with the students of Georgi Lozanov. Lozanov was an early pioneer of accelerated language learning in Bulgaria in the early 1970s. The Soviet authorities challenged his ground-breaking work. He was persecuted through much of his life. Much of his work was lost until a small group of students recreated his approach. This research program also included many other multilingual people Marilyn discovered that most multilingual people learn many of their languages as children, through family or travel. She noted that true polyglot language acquisition after the age of 12 was a rare skill that required a much more systematic approach. She focused on integrating the very best accelerated language learning approaches for adults. In 1991, the complete Velocity Language Learning model began to emerge.

The Growth of Velocity: In the early 1990’s, Marilyn began to test and train the Velocity Language Learning model in Russia. The Russians are natural ‘systems thinkers’ so the students quickly took to the model. Audiotapes of her programs were bootlegged around Russia, and hundreds of people practiced fragmented parts of the process. This first early success in Russia provided a fertile garden to fine-tune the system. Since 2000, Marilyn Atkinson has expanded the system and linked it to current research based on recent fMRI brain studies of human learning. More recently, Paul Gossen created and codified the process and model,

resulting in this book and the Velocity Instant Fluency programs, games and social movement now spreading around the world. As the Velocity Instant Fluency system has developed, its approach has been gradually discovered internationally. After Russia, small Velocity Language Learning communities began to grow in Turkey, Korea, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. More recently, groups in China have discovered the Velocity system, resulting in the explosive growth we see today. In the last few years, the Velocity Instant Fluency system has turned into the global movement we see today.

1 Mindset ************* Step into the Velocity Mindset

Attack the Very Idea of Hard: Learning language is like eating ice cream; if it’s hard, you’re doing it wrong. There is Always an Easier Way to Learn: We simply need to find that easy way and build a system. Catch yourself getting stuck in ‘hard’. This is the number one barrier to progress. You have to build an awareness of those ‘hard’ thoughts and catch them before they build momentum and you actually start to ‘believe’ that it is hard. Learning a new language is not hard. Have a look through this book and you will find hundreds of pages of ‘easy.’

-------------------------------

Start Speaking in 1 Week: When my daughter, Nellie, was about 24 months old, as a proud father I avidly studied her first vocalizations and words. At first, she had only one word, Baabab. This was something like MaMa and meant “Give me attention.” After several months, I noticed that she had added a few more words. I made a list of eight words that she was using. By the end of the following week, her list had expanded to 17 words. Her vocabulary had doubled in one week! Very impressive, I thought. But it was in the week after that something truly amazing happened; she had expanded her word bank to well over 100 words. She also started talking in simple sentences like “Give milk.” – Paul Gossen

-------------------------------

What is Easy? Easy is a state of mind. Easy is a positive mental attitude. Easy is an internal frame of reference. Easy is a way of being.

Learn Language Like a Two-Year-Old: What if you could learn language like a two-year-old? Imagine emerging into your new language in a completely natural and intuitive way, without any hard work. How does a Baby Learn Language? A baby first learns language quite passively. Even before birth, a baby has already spent months listening to their mother speaking in her native tongue. At birth, an infant emerges into a ‘language bath’ of constant language learning. Scientists have observed that three-to six-month-old babies will track an adult speaker with their eyes. It has also been observed that babies will synchronize their tiny body movements with the flow of a conversation. Parents naturally talk to their children, explaining the world as they feed them, dress them, play with them and respond interactively moment by moment. A parent may request an action from the child, such as to smile or wave, and openly invite the child to respond. Listening to the interaction, the child becomes an immediate participant in the language. One-year-olds are not learning a new language. They are learning how to speak. This kind of ambient learning sets the stage for a listening phase. Babies distinguish single words, but also learn the melody of a language, the rhythm of sounds and pauses, as well as the different patterns

of loudness and softness. They carefully distinguish all voices they hear. Melody and rhythm help infants recognize the language and distinguish words. Here is the Big Discovery: You NEVER lost your two-year-old language learning ability. Your adult thinking system simply blocked it. As we develop our language as a child, we also build our adult Logic System. As your Logic System became stronger, it disrupted your natural, intuitive fluency capability with evaluation, commentary and judgment. With this book you are going to turn that Intuitive Learning system back on.

What Happens at Age 11? At about the age 11, it seems as if a young person’s natural language learning process ends. This entire book is designed to turn back the clock. This book asserts that fun filled, easy fluency is a natural process at any age. We give you a system that assists you to go back to the natural language learning system that you mastered at the age of two. When you learn like a child, you will learn languages quickly, without all the hard work. Your New Language: Before we proceed, we need to distinguish between first languages and second or new languages. In this book, we refer to first languages as any language that you started to learn before age 11. We refer to second or new languages as any languages that you started to learn after this age. Most of the focus of this book will be on your new language. Your new language is any language that you commit to learn any time after the age of 11.

Learning How to Learn: For most people, learning a second language is entirely different from learning a first language. Learning a first language seems intuitive, automatic and easy. By contrast, learning a second language may seem forced, awkward and endless. Learning a second language as an adult, in the way that a young child learns, is possible, but requires the first step of learning how to learn. Success becomes effortless, fun and fast when you consciously learn with effective tools. The Velocity system compiles and integrates some of the best language learning methods so that you can build your own love-torepeat-them learning habits. Yes, you will learn a language, but you will also sharpen all the learning systems you use in every area of life. Learning to have real conversations in your new tongue is a big project and will take real focus and regular practice. However, it is both easy and fun using Velocity. As you systematize your language learning, you will have many creative insights about your learning process.

Sprint vs. Marathon: It is important to remember that language learning is a marathon, not a sprint. A sprint is all about speed, right out of the starting gate. By contrast, a marathon is about sustainability. For example, a sprinter might create a 4-hour intensive session of learning and play. By contrast, the marathon runner would engage in 20 minutes a day for 12 days.

Both approaches require the same amount of time. Which learning approach would create more impact? Research demonstrates that the spaced repetition of 20 minutes per day over 12 days would have much, much more impact. But how to stay motivated and disciplined for 21 days? Simply notice your progress each day. Embrace the Concept of Progress: Learning a new language is a big project. It is important to keep yourself energized and motivated. Don’t worry about the end result; just get comfortable with the idea of playing every day and making some progress. Make a little progress every day and celebrate each step. With the traditional language learning approach, it can be difficult to enjoy the learning process because there is a log jam of learning all at once: vocabulary, sentence structure, verbs, grammar and pronunciation. You may find yourself overwhelmed by too much information and not see your progress. The Velocity way is meant to be easy. If you become frustrated, STOP and shift your focus. Keep in mind, you are not learning a new language, you are re-learning HOW to learn. You are learning how to learn, the way a small child learns. The concept is very simple: practice the Velocity system. It is the art of fast and easy fluency. As you practice, you will notice your progress and this will further energize your practice.

21 Days to Make it Stick: When learning a language, think in threeweek segments. In brain science, three weeks is an important milestone. As we learn, we create new connectors in the brain. However, to make that learning stick, we need to review our new learning at least three times in each of the three weeks. Repetition = Do Not Erase: If you look at the SD card in your digital camera, you will see a tiny ‘do not erase’ switch. This is the very same switch that is wired into your brain and engaged through repetition. Each time you have a thought, you are forming connections in the brain and each

of these connections requires a web of associations. Each time you review your learning, you make the connections stronger. Each time you play a learning game, you build new connections in your brain. Each time you practice again within a few days, you make them stronger. If you forget to practice, all those new connections will get written over and gradually disappear from your memory as you think of other thoughts. After three weeks, any connections that are consistently being used will get a more permanent protective coating called myelin sheath. As you practice regularly for 21 days, your new words, sentences and thoughts in the new language becomes persistent. You will begin to speak and think in your new language and this new ability will stay with you for a lifetime.

Velocity is Fast: Using the principles of the Velocity Instant Fluency system, you will engage your entire brain system. For advanced language learners, this can speed up the learning process dramatically. However, for most of us, the effect is much more profound. It becomes POSSIBLE to learn a language. Let’s face it: Most people on Earth have only ever learned ONE language. They learned most of that language between the ages of two and five years old, and may believe that ‘somehow’ they later lost that language learning ability. With this book, you will quickly discover many ‘two-year-old speed’ processes and how to recognize the true Velocity approach. Pay attention to the process, because you will be expanding your own process over time. ‘Accelerated’ means developing useful methods that will speed up every element of your fluency process. If you are just beginning, you can begin with some of the valuable Velocity Instant Fluency skills to start. However, if you are further along in your language development, you can add the Velocity methods together so that your conversations become much easier. You can test and integrate these methods into conversations, and you will discover the difference. Most likely you have already engaged in some of the approaches in this book. Until now, you just haven’t been aware of it. As you read this, you will recognize these ideas as familiar. Learning is naturally accelerated. Our job is to bring you back to the intrinsic natural style of learning that we all started with. We encourage you to get Fun, Fast and Easy.

How do You Reach Escape Velocity? Each sentence we speak in our new language successfully adds dopamine to our brain. This is the great ‘learning chemical’ that keeps children energized and learning. Success builds success. Dopamine represents the joy of learning.

Commit: Ask Yourself, Is it possible that I could dramatically increase the speed at which I learn my new language? Can I actually learn to have enjoyable conversations in my new language?

When? NOW. STOP! Before reading any further, you must commit to trying out this process with your new language. If you read this book out of curiosity or in search of ‘tips,’ it will not ensure the same success. You MUST commit now! To learn skiing, you need to put on your skis. Just begin! If you are curious, commit to testing this for 15 minutes a day for just 30 days. If you are looking for more of a challenge, commit to testing this for 30 minutes to an hour each day.

Commit to Begin: Keep in mind that you are not promising to become perfectly fluent. You are only committing to experiment with the tools for at least 15 minutes each day for 30 days. After 30 days, you can re-evaluate. If everything is working well and you find yourself learning and having fun – you are on the rocket ship for ‘Escape Velocity.’ Enjoy..! Add some Teeth: If you like a little extra spice, you can add some teeth to your commitment to test the tools. If you miss a day’s testing, give yourself a risk-reward: agree to triple your daily practice time for the following day, with a personal reward at the end. Choose Your New Language: It doesn’t matter whether you are a beginner, have failed at language learning before or are experienced with your new language. In each case, the system, tools and ideas in this book dramatically accelerate your learning absorption.

Capture and Declare: You will need a notebook or binder to be used solely for your language learning. The first step is to open your notebook and write the name of the language you are committing to becoming. Pick a time of the day, a comfortable location to begin, and the start and end date for your 30 day plan. After writing this out, sign it as a formal agreement. Now, here is the key that will lock it all into place; in the next 24 hours, show this notebook to five people who are important in your life and tell them all about your 30 day challenge. If you know some speakers of the new language, invite them to support you.

You have Officially Started NOW. ------------------------------

Language is a Verb:

What is fluency? Language is an organic process, not a static set of rules. No human ever learns an entire language because language is always changing. To speak a language is to change it. We call this process Languaging. The word ‘fluent’ has the same root meaning as fluid. It means that your words flow like water. There is no absolute state of fluency in a language. To have any exchange of ideas in a flexible way is a form of fluency. You move toward fluency as you expand your ability to connect with people; enjoy your interaction; and speak meaningfully. Give up on trying to reach an end. There is no end point. Instead, embrace the idea of progress. Make a bit of progress Every Day, and remember to celebrate. Keep in mind you are not learning a new language, you are re-learning HOW to learn. You are learning how to learn, the way a small child does! The concept is very simple: practice the Velocity system. It is the art of fast and easy fluency. As you practice, you will notice your progress and this will further energize your practice.

------------------------------

“ When I came to Velocity I was very skeptical. I wanted to learn French, but I had zero prior knowledge. How could a 2-day intensive program make any real difference in my French. On day one it started to click, but by the end of day two it all came together. I could see the whole system working and feel my French identity coming together. That afternoon I had a wonderful 15-minute conversation entirely in French. It was very magical. Alexandra – Vancouver Canada

”

2 Intuitive ************** “Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal.”

– Thomas Jefferson

Natural and Automatic Learning: Staying motivated and using an effective approach are essential strategies for learning a language. In order to get back to your inherent two-year-old’s fluency capability, you first need to understand your Logic System and how to gently bypass its control over your learning.

Your Super Learning System: Let’s do a quick overview of how your brain learns best, so you will be able to develop your own ‘brain user’ strategies. Humans have many interlinked brain systems, each with its own unique functions. In this section, we will explore the function of these systems. As we better understand each system, we will better understand its role in our learning process and then be able to develop more control over some formerly automatic tendencies. We need to take charge with a systematic learning process. ------------------------------

The Big French Test In grade 11, I had THE BIG French test. While I had learned a bit of French in previous grades, in grade 11 the pressure was on and I needed to pass the big provincial exam. I studied hard, night and day. Finally, in the exam room, I spilled it all out onto paper. I received a grade of 90%. After the test, all that learning disappeared! I did not have another French thought for many years. So what does this story mean for the process of learning language? I didn’t care about learning French after the first month because the process seemed so boring. It was detailed, hard, and there were lots of exams. Over time, I became less motivated.

Often children go to language school because their parents want them to learn. The parents are motivated, but their children are not. Children reluctantly remove themselves from play, thinking, “I haaaave to learn English – I muussst. It’s necessary!” As a result, they tense up and learn to hate the process. – Marilyn Atkinson ------------------------------

The Voice in My Head: Consider that what we call logic is merely a style of Internal Dialogue. Here’s a quick experiment: Take a moment and notice that, as you read this text, you are actually speaking the words internally to yourself. Can you hear them? Research shows that this Internal Dialogue often runs at more than 200 words per minute. Your Internal Dialogue is a powerful force. Depending on the habits you build, it can either block or dramatically increase your language learning abilities. What about the visual process? The process of reading this text starts with your eyes looking at lines and shapes on the page. Your Visual System matches them to patterns. Finally, as you integrate, these words now ‘appear’ in your thoughts. However, from your point of view, you are just reading. This is because your logic and Internal Dialogue systems are all that you are aware of right now. The logic and Internal Dialogue systems think they are running the show but, in actuality, they only make up the tip of the iceberg. Your ability to read this text rests upon a vast pool of intuitive associations that you have built up over time. Your Internal Dialogue does not speak in the new language. To re-assess the system you used when you learned your first language, you need to move past your continuous Internal Dialogue habits. Further on, we will explore how to do that.

Don’t Get Tied up in Logic: In most cases, our logic and Internal Dialogue systems serve us well. These systems enable us to solve problems

and navigate human relationships. However, on some occasions, the logic and Internal Dialogue systems can get in the way. You might say to yourself, “I am not making any progress,” or, “This is too hard for me.” These words come from the Logic System and can cause you to freeze and thus block your progress. Your old Internal Dialogue usually operates like a small town judge comparing the level of ‘perfection’ between your old and new languages. Bad idea. While learning a language, we want to jump past this comparison and leave the judgement back with our first language. Your internal judge doesn’t speak the new language. So leave it behind. A two-year-old is not influenced or inhibited by old Internal Dialogue judgments and negative logic because they have no ability for self-judgment about their learning progress. Babies learn by trying new things. If something works, they enjoy it and do more of it. They do not have a selfjudgment system to assess their performance. Their internal system is like a traffic light where the green light is always on. If you listen carefully, you will notice that your old Internal Dialogue judgments give you start/stop traffic lights with lots of ‘red light thinking.’

“But it won’t work for ME…!” If you don’t think it is possible for an adult to learn a language like a twoyear-old and you are only reading this book to PROVE that it is wrong, you might as well stop now. However, if you have tried to learn a second language before and have given up because you didn’t feel like you were making any progress, we have some powerful tools which can support you. You see, the old Logic System is a hard taskmaster. It easily engages negative emotions with words of selfjudgment. If you feel that you have ever failed at learning a language, you can go to the end of this book and SHIFT that old negative Internal Dialogue. For everyone else, let’s begin a gentle exploration of your natural,

intuitive fluency system. Notice that it immediately starts to build some effective learning methods as part of your New Language Identity. First, give up the word “HARD”: Give up the idea that language learning is “HARD”…! “But wait. I know second language learning is hard because I tried it once and failed!” The idea that learning languages is hard is common. For most of us, this is based on real experience of our own difficulty in trying to learn a language. But, consider this:

People learn best what they enjoy most. Holographic Memory Your brain’s Intuitive Learning system is like a Holographic Memory storage system with an entire 3D image stored inside each part of the hologram. When we have a vivid learning experience, any part of the brain that is involved will interlink and store one facet of that new idea. If you break a hologram into little pieces, you can still see the entire image in each fragment. The more parts that are involved the deeper the learning.

Things that fire together – wire together With our new language, we want a large and robust hologram that we can see, hear and feel from any angle. We want our new language habits to become stronger and easily accessible. We do this by connecting words, images, sounds and feelings together. As you give this new learning process more attention, your new language hologram will quickly displace your old Internal Dialogue. You quickly learn to build a new language Internal Dialogue that truly supports you.

The Reptilian System: The reptilian system is also called the reticular or Reactive System. It is a tiny enlargement in the brainstem at the top of the spinal column. It was developed during the era of the dinosaurs, 100 million

years ago. This is the part of you that reacts to things. It is extremely useful for immediate action or response to potential danger. If you accidentally put your hand on a hot stove, this is the brain system that automatically pulls your hand away from harm. The reptilian system is responsible for your ‘fight, flight, or freeze’ response as a self-protection or survival mechanism. How is the reptilian system useful for language fluency? With Velocity, this reptilian system links the Body Learning system as you learn a new language through rhythm and movement.

The Emotional System: The limbic system, often called the emotional system, encircles the reptilian system like a small glove. It runs the chemical messaging process that floods our system with chemicals, such as serotonin and endorphins, when we experience positive emotion. The emotional and reptilian systems have worked closely together since mammals first appeared on Earth, 50 million years ago. Together, these systems link our physical and emotional awareness.

Emotions Accelerate Learning The Emotional System:

It is a simple ‘sameness’ system. Emotionally, we like to maintain long-term habitual patterns It is dualistic. This means responses are ‘either/or,’ ‘yes/no,’ ‘black/white.’ Emotion can operate quickly like a light switch It is Auditory and tonal, linked to sound-based communication. We communicate emotions with the tone of our voice We are able to work as a team by using our emotional brain, which develops group and communication awareness

These last two points are highly relevant for language learning. We learn language when it is meaningful emotionally. To connect we need to make our speaking relevant to others. This means it is important to have real conversations with people. Having fun playing group language games is critical because it allows us to relax, connect and feel safe. All of this is required to make the learning stick.

The Visual System: The Visual System includes the whole Cerebral Coretex. It occupies the vast majority of the brain cavity. The Cerebral Coretex, with its expanded Visioning capacity, is responsible for ‘futures creation.’ It is a thousand times more flexible than the emotional/reptilian system and has the power to process many time frames, address multiple tasks simultaneously and problem solve. This is the brain system which gives us our truly ‘human’ capacities… but only when we are relaxed. If we tense up with any threat, we retreat to emotional reptilian, or react-survive responses. This amazing system does our ‘imagining’ for us. For example, we can create short moving pictures or small ‘inner movies’ as we think through ‘future’ strategies.

Think Visual The Cerebral Coretex or Visual Brain System Is less than 3 million years old Needs to be relaxed but alert to function well Occupies the vast majority of the brain cavity and has 16 trillion neuron connectors Can ‘see things’ that aren’t present Can range through time – past, present, and future Is future-oriented Is 10,000 times more flexible than the emotional brain Is not fully integrated with the reptilian/emotional systems

Can initiate the Reward System, which means strong motivation and pleasure Your Safety Response: The emotional and reptilian brains interlink for self-protection, giving you a safety system.

In times of danger or stress, we react and our emotional system takes control of our attention. Thinking becomes simplistic: black or white, fight or flight, or freeze. Creative problem-solving abilities shut down and immediate reactions take over. In language learning the emotional system often codes safety and survival as: ‘no mistakes equal no embarrassment.’ This means we stop learning. So, how do we break the cycle of negative self-talk that freezes learning? In order to produce results, the emotional and reptilian brains require a foundation of relaxation, trust and security. In other words, we need relaxation so that we can ‘turn on’ the visual brain and move into an accelerated learning state. Once this foundation of trust and security is in place, the Visual System can move past the worry of safety and begin to engage in learning. Visualizing yourself speaking your new language fluently in a relaxed state will strengthen your ability to do so. Your brain will not notice the difference between thinking of yourself as a fluent new language speaker and actually

being one. So, relax and visualize yourself as a fluent new language speaker and you will become one.

The Reward System In a powerful conversation, the visual brain makes a series of pictures or movies about your interpretation of that conversation. As we repeat the process over time, the Reward System gets energized. Think of your favorite food. When did you last eat it? Make a close-up, colorful picture. See it. Now, smell it. Is your mouth watering? If it is, you are using your Reward System. As we link our Reward System to what is important to us, the emotional system starts to support this future possibility. We link the reward to the steps required to get there. We also emotionally attach to the fun of the process – the true joy of play that a child appreciates.

Engage Your Intuitive Learning System: When we take in new information for learning, we want to use all of our senses: Auditory, visual and Kinesthetic. Kinesthetic includes smell, taste touch and feelings. Sensory rich learning experiences get coded as important in all internal systems. This makes it relevant and the language gets saved for future use. Humans love sensory rich experience. This is why we love our first language as much as we do. It has been deeply coded into our feelings, our values and our identity. Avoid Single Channel Learning: By comparison, the Auditory System on its own, can only track and process one single stream of verbal communication at a time. This is slow, just one word or sentence at a time. Memorizing words through Auditory only repetition is slow. It becomes even slower as we understand tonal nuances and emotional content in our communications. To make the learning stick, we must repeat the new learning inwardly. To understand it we must connect to the emotional

undertones. Listen to a native speaker talking fast in your new language. It is easy to get overwhelmed.

Vision Leads Learning: Our Visual System can organize complex systems with ease! When we are able to communicate visually with maps, diagrams or quick sketches, we can organize our learning. Our conscious mind is able to focus attentively on the details of a plan, so we can relax. Using Encharts, maps and pictures in learning allows us to use our whole brain system to overview the plan or goal. This creates more relaxed and effective action steps and can take us to the long-term motivation that we need. We add enjoyment to our vocalization and we are on our way. When we start to visualize ourselves motivated and in action, it allows all of our inner brain systems to become aligned and work together. We now think like the two-year-old, building a powerful system for producing results and keeping promises.

Relax and Unlock the Power of the Visual Brain: The Visual System works well when we are relaxed, which means that relaxation is a key aspect of the Velocity Instant Fluency approach. The most powerful decision you can make is what mood you are going to be in as you talk with someone. Being relaxed, having fun and maintaining a sense of humor are all very important to fluency. We need to engage our whole body and mind in the learning process and relaxed fun is the doorway. Remember, the Emotional and Reptilian Systems have a tight grip on our general attention. Together, they are on the alert both for the safety of the group (our ancient mammal family) and for the safety of the physical body. They scan for danger and trigger the fight, flight or freeze response instantly, as if something is suspect. The Emotional System is intertwined with the Reptilian System and is therefore inclined to use negative emotions to motivate action. Tonally, it tends to rely on the strong tones of internal judgment and comparison. “I

don’t want to fail my English test. I have to study...” is an example of the rigid kind of Internal Dialogue that does not support your language learning. When we speak this way, we tend to tense up and our visualization ability stops. We need to be relaxed to visualize and truly learn well.

Relax and Step into Velocity: Anything you can do to help yourself relax will work. It is easy to use the visual. Think about success and make a picture in your mind. Play an Enchart game with brightly colored Post-it notes. Relaxation is the key to tuning in to the vast power of your huge and intricate Visualization System. The great language teacher, Georgi Lozanov, used to play the soft, rhythmic classical music of the Baroque period to his language learning students to help them relax. Make it a habit to take several deep breaths and stretch, taking even just one minute to relax and see yourself enjoying the process, before you begin your daily language learning events. This one minute could be the best investment you make in your future as a speaker of this new tongue. Commit to the Process: Finally, to fully activate the Intuitive System, we must commit to the process. The moment we do this, we experience a ‘just do it’ moment, and everything shifts. We have moved from fear and doubt to confidence and certainty. You can see the future and you know it will happen. Now we can have fun.

Fun is Fast: One of the key steps to relaxation is having fun. You will only be able to have fun if you feel safe, secure and relaxed. Having fun is a sure sign that you have built a solid Velocity foundation. People become strong learners when they enjoy the process. Throughout this book, the Velocity Instant Fluency system will introduce fun, silly and playful elements. Your job is to use them, invent even more of them and keep generating a relaxed and playful space for your learning. Fun

makes a huge difference, because people learn best when they are pleased and happy with their experience.

“

When I listened to English, I was always confused and negative. I would say to myself, “I can’t

understand” and “I will never get it.” Since Velocity, I don’t worry about understanding English. I just relax, listen and understand. Everything has changed. - Amira, Lebanon

”

3 Sticky *********** “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” – Benjamin Franklin

STICKY TEST: Sing this song:

Happy Birthday to... ...what is the last word? Notice how your brain fills it in automatically. Do you recognize this song? Almost every human on earth knows this song. Why do we remember songs and rhymes? What mades them stick in your mind for so long when you don’t sing them anymore?

When we refer to ‘getting sticky,’ we are talking about the best way to get information to stick in your brain. You have probably noticed that repetitive memorization is a slow and arduous procedure. Here we present the key principles to make any word, idea or piece of information stick in your mind.

Logic vs. Intuitive Learning First, we have to study the Logic System. Your Logic System can’t understand your intuitive/visual learning system. Logic tenses up and stops your easy intuitive/visual learning from being used to its fullest. The Logic System is a simple cause and effect process.

Examples of Logic:

1 2 3

2+2=4 The Logic System loves math because it is purely digital and always correct. Because I studied hard, I got a good mark on my French language test. The Logic System loves cause and effect relationships, hard work, testing, and results. ‘Thanks’ (English) = ‘Merci’ (French)

The Logic System immediately understands this as a direct formula. Unfortunately, the Logic System can’t go much further than this. This third example is especially important because it reflects the traditional way that many people try to memorize a new language. You tell yourself that you need to memorize something and the Logic System sends the ‘this equals that’ formula off to the storage system. Unfortunately, the Logic System hasn’t given the deeper memory system anything interesting or relevant about this information. Nonetheless, we have asked ourselves to memorize this information. Later we try to retrieve the information and it is not available when we need it. This puts us in a stressful bind. The Logic System has limited resources and we are asking it to do something it can’t

do. This can create even more stress and increases the risk that people may drop out of the process.

How will this Help Us? The Logic System hasn’t provided a relevant context to make the new data stick in the brain, so it is easily discarded or displaced by other more important pieces of information. All three of the above examples are ‘logical’ because we are accustomed to this way of thinking. Now, let’s translate these statements into a form that the intuitive thinking system can process and really keep. Next we will engage the Intuitive Visual System.

Examples of Intuitive Visual:

1 • • + • • = • • • • (2+2=4) Math is inherently logical; therefore, formulas don’t translate well to visual memory. However, the Intuitive Learning system can easily process any kind of visual image. What is an example of an image that represents a visually succinct mathematical equation? How about E=MC2?

2 Your inner visual planning system loves positive intentions. We can shift from cause and effect statements to positive intentions and future images of success, which naturally engage your motivation. For example, a beginning English student told us, “The other day, I was playing with the English language. I was exploring some fun and silly ways to remember English words, and I got into a relaxed learning flow and really enjoyed myself. During my test, I remembered how much fun I had the other day. I was able to relax again, laugh and I actually had some fun with the questions. Of course I got a good mark, but the most important thing was that I enjoyed myself.”

Notice that the visual example of the statement

2 is much longer than the

logical version. It takes more time to ‘prime the pump’ with positive intention and motivational language. However, open-ended thinking is much more effective than the closed cause-effect style of logical thinking when it comes to long-term motivation.

3 ‘Thanks’ in English is ‘Merci’ in French. Here we need to get a bit metaphoric. The Intuitive System loves visual metaphors and tonal associations: Example: Once upon a time, a white crane was just about to eat a bright green frog. Suddenly, the crane had a change of heart and decided not to. To this, the frog humbly replied, “Thank you for your mercy.” He bowed quickly three times, repeating over and over again, “Thank you for your mercy.” Then he hopped away and had a wonderful day. A story or a memorable picture with a phase like “thank you for your mercy” creates a strong and sticky association between the English words ‘thank you’ and the French translation of ‘merci.’ This kind of connection provides context and meaning for your new word and ensures that it will stick in your brain until it integrates... while you practice speaking.

What is a Sticky? A sticky is the simple idea or that new information that needs to be attached to other bigger ideas in order to stick in your brain. As we proceed, you will discover that your deep organization for your inner language system and your natural language learning ability are one and the same. Developing this system means developing your ability to quickly and easily learn a new language until it becomes intuitive.

Why is this Important? At the end of this section, we will be working with Sticky Words, to help associate words and images you know with words you want to learn. Making Sticky Words is the fastest way to get through the very early stages of word learning. But, before we can begin making Sticky Words, we need to understand a little bit more about why one idea sticks in your brain while another disappears like a puff of smoke. Later, we will apply the principles of sticky learning to the entire learning process. Why is Sticky Learning so Effective? The brain is being overrun with information every moment of your waking, and even sleeping, day, and 99% of all this sensory input must be discarded. It is the manner in which we pay attention and absorb new information that determines its importance and whether it is something that we need to remember or that can be discarded. Sticky thinking starts when you pin as many ideas, images, actions, colors, rhythms and sounds to the new piece of information that you wish to remember. The more, the better! This is the most important key to the intake process. How you Intake Information Determines How it is Retrieved: This may seem complicated, but in practice, it is actually very easy because it is so much fun! The process is usually started with the building of Sticky Words. Think of Sticky Words as small ‘Post-it’ notes with visual images and tonal associations. We will explain the use of Sticky Words and working with pins to make them stick, but first we need to examine which elements are most effective at making things stick in your brain. To do this, we must briefly revisit the Visual System.

See it – to be it I’m sure you are familiar with the famous phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words.” We have already discussed the Visual System and the

ability of the Cerebral Coretex to process detailed information and complex systems in a simple Enchart, photo, or a one-second inner movie. Learning a second language is a perfect example of a complex system full of detailed information, and the visual brain is the ideal tool for the job. But how do we put it to use? For years, people in my workshops would tell me that they couldn’t visualize. To this, I would reply, “How did you get here this morning?” or “Tell me the color of your car.” The Visual System is always on. You can’t see without the Cerebral Coretex going through a complex ballet of integrated processing. To your eyes, the world is merely blobs of light. It takes the power of your brain to organize the blobs of light into the world you are seeing now. At this very moment, your Visual System is running a complex 3D simulation of your environment. The Visual System makes sure that all the right bits stay in the right places. This is what we have all agreed to call ‘reality.’ Our wonderfully Visual System is always on. Even when we sleep, we dream in pictures. Right now, you are using your Visual System to read the words on this page. However, the vast majority of your Visual System is being used to process the images that the words on this page are triggering in your mind. To really understand this, we need to bring in a bouncing pink ball…

It’s All about the Bouncing Pink Ball: If you wish to understand the Visual System, you must remember that visualization is just like a bouncing pink ball. Take a moment and picture a bouncy pink India rubber ball… the kind that would keep bouncing all on its own long after you started it. How many times could you make it bounce… ten times or more? Did you ever step into a tiny room and bounce it off the floor, ceiling and wall? What kind of sound did it make when it bounced? Why is the Visual System Just Like a Bouncing Pink Ball? Nobody knows for sure, but one thing is certain: The visual image of a bouncing pink

ball is now firmly implanted in your brain. When an object is described in such detail, it engages the Visual System in creating a clear and familiar picture of the item and the movie you have made in your mind. With the addition of color, shape, size, texture and a personal experience, this exercise builds a strong visual learning Anchor and an ideal Sticky Word. This is a great example of the amazing sticking power of the Visual System. We will delve further into Sticky Words later. -------------------------------

Visualize Success: Sports psychologists have learned the power of assisting an Olympic athlete to become masterful, even ‘over-the-top,’ by seeing themselves succeed. The athlete learns to make a high-powered inner visual commercial of themselves at their best, doing ‘the hard part’ and doing it magnificently. ------------------------------

Try breaking the words down into separate syllables, and look for matching sounds in your first language. Find anything that connects you to meaningful, inner animated visuals. It’s the bright, silly image that counts. As long as it looks similar to something you already know, it will stick in your brain.

FRASSI is an outrageous French strawberry which will remind you to stop memorizing and start making words STICKY. The FRASSI memory system is your way to make word associations stickier than superglue. F – Fun R – Rhyme A – Action S – Silly

S – Similar I – Image

Fun: Even the slightest bits of silliness can warm up the Reward System. Silly fun and play and are also linked to relaxation. Humor is like a lightning bolt that instantly connects ideas into long term storage. See yourself playfully linking the new words with an image! Make the image silly and it will stick. Suppose the word you are learning is ‘judge.’ Take a moment and imagine yourself in a silly black hat with long white curly hair and a big label with the word ‘judge’ written on the front. See yourself swagger into the judge’s chamber muttering “judge” and wearing that hat while everyone laughs.

Why Humour? Humor relaxes the emotional brain. Humor uses both the Auditory system and the Visual System. Humor engages connection and group learning We get pleasure, laughter or a smile out of jokes and silliness. This response incorporates the Kinesthetic system, responsible for your movement, and engages the Body Learning system which we will talk more about this later.

Rhyme: Any kind or rhyming will dramatically increase the stickiness of words. Think about pop music. Musicians and poets inherently understand this concept when they write lyrics. Rhyming creates a FLOW of words, and the Intuitive Learning system loves to hear words flow – especially if we can also see them. A lot of the challenge of the first stages of language learning is wrapping your mouth around all of the new sounds. Because rhyming is a silly way to play with this process, it makes this often challenging task a lot easier.

Action: To make any visual image super-sticky, one must add movement. First and foremost, our Visual System is designed to track movement. Any action, motion or movement in your visualization alerts the brain that something is important. Think of the bouncing pink ball in the moment that it hits the ground. It is very hard to get these fast-moving images out of your brain. To make visual images even stickier, turn up the brightness and add more color to those moving images. Take a moment, and try making the pink ball an even more vivid shade of pink. See what happens in your mind.

Similar: Similar is an entire memorization orchestra that includes similarities: ‘sounds like,’ ‘smells like,’ and ‘looks like.’ Anything that is similar to, or reminds you of, something you already know can be a great link. This is a huge advantage for anyone who speaks a European language and is learning another European language because the languages share many common Latin root words. There are many other language groups, such as Greek, Slavic, Turkish and Mandarin, that share words. For example: The verb ‘to write’ in English is ‘escribir’ in Spanish. The verb ‘escribir’ contains a fragment of the word ‘scribe,’ which links to the word ‘scribbling,’ which is SIMILAR. In your mind’s eye, visualize a silly looking scribe, with a long beard and scholarly robes, scribbling with a long feather pen. This may sound complex, but actually it is very easy. With just a little practice, your brain will begin to do this automatically, and your learning will accelerate. Think Phonetically: What does the word sound like? When I was practicing Spanish, I rhymed ‘vamos’ (to go) with ‘a moose’ and visualized a funny looking moose running away. Later, I discovered that the word ‘vanish’ was an even better fit in both meaning and sound. In the end, ‘a vanishing moose’ was what stuck in my brain and I still have not been able to erase that silly image from my memory.

Silly: Silly is the key. If the ‘logic leap’ in your associations get big enough, they become silly. If you can make them way out of proportion, they become even more outrageous. There is something about out-of-proportion images and bizarre jumps in association that make the images ultra-sticky. Sexy works too! When the picture association gets too outrageous for the logical brain to work out, it gives up. It hands the work to the Intuitive System which can easily become fascinated by bizarre, amazing images and linkages.

Image: Always finish the process with an image. Associating a visual image with a word increases your retention by 40%. Add motion to that visual and the retention jumps to 75%. Big, out-of-proportion, sexy, moving reminder pictures are easy to find again. Write the new word on a hat or bosom, or envision a flag being waved around by a crazy, sexy character and remember it forever!

Take the FRASSI Challenge For the Next 24 Hours – Try not to think about FRASSI, the CRAZY French strawberry who reminds you to stop memorizing and make words STICKY

Add More Sticky Rhythm: Rhythm works as the connection between the Auditory system and the Kinesthetic Learning System. The timing of words and phrases makes a repeating pattern. You can’t help but move your body in time with a rhythm, and this helps to establish a lasting connection between the verbal material, the tonal system and the physical body. Georgi Lozanov pioneered the use of rhythm by slowly repeating lists of words to Baroque music. This added a beat to the intonation pattern and

created a connection between the mouth and ears. Hearing and speaking with rhythm makes everything much easier to remember. Powell Janulus would rotate one hand and arm to speed up a new sentence to further embed learning in the body. We will get into this in more detail when we explore Rhythm and Body Learning. Melody: Nothing beats melody for sticking power. Think of the simple formula that the Beatles used to conquer the world: “All you need is love, love, love...” and all the words repeat in your mind. A simple rhyme and melody can transmit a message across the globe faster than any government or corporation and can create long-term stickiness. Relevancy: When building Sticky Words, try linking your words and phrases to the most relevant things in your day-to-day life. Your ability to remember them will instantly increase.

3X3=STICKEY 3x3 is Best: We need to inform the Intuitive Learning system that this information and experience is important and should be committed to your long-term memory. To do this, we need to repeat the process at least two more times. Wait at least 24 hours, and then re-flash the images and sounds in your mind three more times. Repeat this process again within the next seven days.

Let’s summarize the Sticky Word system step-by-step:

1 Listen to the word from the best source available. A native speaker is ideal, but an audio recording can work. Remember reading the word from text and imagining how it sounds will always be a low-quality, stopgap measure until you can get access to a higher quality source.

2 Roll it Around in your mouth. Say the word or phrase a few times. Feel your tongue moving as you say the word. What is the flow of that tongue movement? What are the sounds?

3 Break it Up into smaller sounds and repeat each one slowly. Think of each syllable as a mouth sound. Where else have you heard such sounds? What image or rhyming sound comes to mind? Capture any images. Move them and enlarge them to make them funny.

4 Immediately Write Down the word/sound phonetically… in syllable form. Don’t think about the correct spelling. Write it out as it sounds. For example, ‘merci’ could be ‘mare-see.’

5 What is it Similar to? What is this word similar to in your world? What does it remind you of? What does it rhyme with? Come up with some kind of outrageous, fun, moving visual image or tonal sameness. Use the FRASSI principles to make the visual sticky.

6 Link Back to the Meaning. Add something to the visual image that links to the original meaning you wish to associate with this new word.

7 Animate it to get exaggerated movement into your visual image! If the word reminds you of a bat, imagine the bat grinning like a Cheshire cat and

flapping its wings. A visual image will increase retention by 40%. A crazy, moving visual image will increase retention by 75%. For example: “Shouw Chang How” means “Good Morning” in Mandarin. To learn this, I created an image of me and a Chinese guy (with a big name tag that says “Chang”)… I’m showing him how to ‘ring the bell’ for our meeting. The bell is huge and I am ringing it in a crazy to say good morning to everyone. In other words, I “show Chang how.” The phrase is now unforgettable.

8 See it in your Mind Three Times. To make anything sticky you have to repeat it in your mind at least three times. See an image. Make it large and silly and repeat it three times. FLASH it into your intuitive memory system with three quick repetitions – each more and more outrageous.

The Sticky Progression 1 Hear it 2 Write it 3 See it 4 Say it 5 FRASSI it 6 Repeat 3×3 So far, we have discussed the Visual System in detail and have begun to play with the vocalizing system. Language is an inherently Auditory process that we can maximize by the use of FRASSI tricks such as Visioning, exaggeration, rhyming and melody to add richness and fun to learning. Now, let’s put this all together and start making some Sticky Words!

3 x 3 = sticky is one of the most powerful learning tools to use with the 3x3 method. Repeat each learning segment three times in one sitting. Do this three days in a row. Sticky Words remind you of your associated pictures. To begin with, you will create Sticky Words on paper, but as you keep practicing you’ll notice that you don’t need them anymore. The paper Sticky Word is just a temporary vehicle to get the new information into your mind. They will continue to exist in your mind, not on paper.

Sticky Words can include ANY kind of association in which you capture the intake principles from the last chapter. Take some time and build some Sticky Words for common words in your new language. Focus on some topics that you are interested in or passionate about and build Sticky Words for them. Sticky is NOT Memorization: The purpose of Sticky Words is not memorization. You can use them for that purpose, but the real function of Sticky Words is to train your brain to make associations and visualizations automatically, quickly and with fun-filled imagery.

Three is the Key: The emotional system is a sameness system, and it loves repetition. The first time you run a Sticky Word association, it may seem like a random set of images and sounds. The second time you run the set, the organizational learning links begin to operate. The third time you run the set, it clicks. The Intuitive System begins to lock the new information into a storage format. Brain scientists and mathematicians have proven and documented that it takes three repetitions of any one thing to make a pattern. After three times, each repetition of the Sticky Word strengthens the

association. As we make the patterns richer and more intricate, they become ingrained in our memory. In this sense, traditional memorization got it right by repeating something over and over and over again. However, unless we add rich details and context, the repetition gets boring, and we tune it out as irrelevant. The Intuitive Learning System MUST discard 99% of your sensory input. Think of the amount of data your nervous system is collecting every second of the day. You need to make your language learning fit into that 1% of information that your Intuitive Learning System wants to keep.

Why make Sticky Words? A Sticky Word is a single word association between the SOUND of a target word that you are learning in your new language and a similar sound of a word you know well. Sticky Words capture the key associations that pin one idea to another and make them stick in your brain. On the sticky note, you will put these ideas into a whole sentence so that you see – and learn – a whole idea. It only takes a few moments to make a strong set of visual associations, and it really works. If you take a word or phrase that you wish to remember, add in a few silly, colorful, exaggerated, animated images, then PRESTO – that thought sticks in your brain! For the first few months of your program, spend a few minutes every day making Sticky Words – especially around sentences you want to use in conversation as soon as possible. Store them all in your new language binder. Sort them by subject areas.

The Power of Sticky Words is in Making Them: The more you use them, the less you need them. Sticky Words exist in your brain, not on paper. The paper simply reminds you of what is already in your brain so that it can become persistent.

As you practice taking a first language meaning and associating it with a second language word, you are training your brain. As you use the Sticky Word approach, this practice of layering associations, similar words, rhymes, visual metaphors and funny movies with your first and second language will become quite natural. If you keep doing the practice and getting results, the process will become automatic as you listen to the language more and more moving forward. Automated learning is where your system really takes off. As the learning process becomes automatic, you won’t have to work at it anymore. It will become a fun learning process as you watch your brain make all kinds of interesting associations without any effort on your part. You become a passive viewer and get to be entertained. This was the true genius of Powell Janulus and Sergi Halipov. Both had developed their associative ability to a point where their learning process had become fully automatic and pleasurable. Imagine if learning a second language was more enjoyable than eating ice cream? This is your challenge: If it’s not more fun than eating ice cream… keep adding more fun. You will get there. See Yourself Succeed: Whenever possible, build a sentence and say it with the new word, fast. At first, you might work with a small group of single words and then, later, some simple sentences. This will help to get you comfortable in the new language. Using your Sticky Words will also build your FRASSI visualization habits. Later, you can use Sticky Words to make various tricky grammar exceptions stick in your brain. Make Sticky Sentences: The basic unit of communication is a sentence, not a word. Use Sticky Words to warm your learning brain and then quickly move past them. Don’t get stuck trying to memorize all the words in the language. It won’t work. Trying to memorize all the words is one of the most common ways that new language learners can get stuck. As soon as possible,

move on to building sentences using Encharts. Using a word in a sentences is the fastest way to remember it.

“Positive anything is better than negative nothing -Elbert Hubbard”

4 Missioning ***************** “The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential ...these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.” Confucius

Missioning Your New Language: In order to be successful in your new fluency adventure, you must build a personal mission. Your fluency mission links every element of your new language universe. Your mission is your source of positive energy and building your new language mission is the key to success. We call this process Missioning.

Positive Energy Accelerates Learning: If you look at the motivations of successful language learners, you will find that their reasons for learning are very strong and very personal. They may be moving to a specific country to live or marrying someone who speaks that language. If someone has an intense and personal need to learn a language, they will do whatever it takes to learn it.

From the age of 18 to his mid-80s, Powell Janulus often spent hours every day engaged in language learning. One of the most explored questions in conversations with him was why he felt the need to learn all those languages. What was his motivation? Although he had many reasons to learn languages, one word came up time and again in discussions with Powell regarding his motivations. That word was friendship. Powell linked learning a new language with making new friends from faraway countries. He loved to go on cruise ship holidays and would spend most of his time in the kitchen, making friends with staff from around the world. This drive for friendship was the core motivation for Powell Janulus’s success at learning new languages. His personal need for new friends from all over the world gave him the positive energy to focus and play every day. There is this deep-rooted assumption in traditional language education that everyone is 100% motivated and committed. Few teachers ever ask this most important question:

Why do You Want to Learn Your New Language? The strength of motivation is the primary determining factor that has one language learner succeed and another try again and again to no avail. We need to explore our motivations and then tap into the positive values that excite us. We need to learn to have conversations with ourselves about which things we truly value and need. Example: If you are learning your new language in order to pass a test or finish a class, this reason will usually NOT be sufficient to keep your motivation alive. You can use the techniques in this book to assist you to pass a test, but you probably won’t continue to learn the language.

Build a Foundation of Motivation. Positive motivation allows us to relax and visualize results so that we get engaged and move towards what we want, with excitement and desire.

Questions to Discover Motivation: What is the Personal Value in Your New Language? Why do you want to learn this new language? To answer this, you must explore the big picture. Think through the details. Do some soul-searching on this question. Start by enVisioning the specific conversations you want to have in your new language. What are they about? With whom are you having these conversations? What will be the best part? Envision yourself speaking, laughing and enjoying the best part of this wonderful new world of communication. What else will this bring to your life? Even if you don’t speak the language yet, but you would like to, imagine the kind of person you will become as you begin to master your new language. This is a key step in building motivation. How will this Add to Your Life? At the big picture level, you will only ever remember things that are relevant to what you want in life. Ask yourself what your deep interest is in speaking this language? What will You Enjoy Most in Your New Language? Is it a new job or romance? Is it travelling or corporate leadership? Is it making new friends around the world? What is your passionate pursuit that will require communication in your new language? Where will You have Wonderful Conversations? What could be some great conversations you can imagine in this context? Who would you like to include? What would you like to be talking about?

Missioning = Sticky The more you build positive VALUE, the faster and stickier the learning gets. Your Intuitive Learning system is always filtering information by personal value or relevance. It will automatically ask: “Why is this

information important to me?” and “Should I keep this new learning or discard it?” How you FRAME your inner questions as to why you are learning is of critical importance to the stickiness of that learning.

Begin with Passion: Focus on what interests you most. Link the words and phrases you are learning to things that are most relevant to your day-today life: eating, exploring, sharing, requesting and enjoying. In this way, your Intuitive Learning system knows how to process this information and why it is relevant. This will make it personally important enough for your Intuitive Learning system to keep, and the resulting creation of a link to personal value will stick this to your memory. The more links you create to value, the more access you will have when you need to retrieve these words and phrases in the future. If you take a little more time to process them in a way that serves your intuitive value learning system, it will be well worth the extra investment of time and attention.

Build Your Motivation Just when you need it, they will POP into your mind! Come up with three great reasons to succeed:

1. Go deeper into your motivations… what do you want to gain? 2. Ask yourself the real reason behind learning this language 3. Think long-range. How will this be valuable over the long term? Three possible reasons:

1. I want to present myself as a cosmopolitan world traveler. 2. I want to expand my opportunities for life, love and adventure.

3. I want jobs to open up to me because I’m fluent in many languages. Visualize a Strong Outcome: Turn your reasons into a strong, wellvisualized set of outcomes. Ask yourself: “What will learning this language amplify for me that makes a significant difference in my life?” Visualize various contexts. Build ‘motivational movies’ in your mind that activate your imagination. Make them positive, achievable and relevant for you. Do you have a model of someone who has achieved the goal you imagine? Put yourself in their place in your mind’s-eye inner movie, and visualize yourself with the same speaking ease in the new tongue. Suppose your aim is to get a job and live in Paris as an educator. You will want to have interesting conversations with your students. You will want to live, love and laugh with your news friends in Paris. You will want to be able to discuss your educational specialty with other colleagues. Visualize all this, seeing yourself as the ‘star’ in your own value-packed series of movies. Create a Code Name: Make a name for your vision of success in the new language. For example: If your aim is to learn French so you can get a job as an educator in Paris, create a nickname as a code name, like ‘Conversation King’ or ‘Teacher at the London School of Economics.’ This code name will conjure multiple images. The aim is to engage your visualization system and to align it with your Intuitive Learning system. You want to invite your imagination to become personal.

Where will you go? What will you see? Who will you talk with? Learn Your Value Words First: What do you love about life? What will you love about your new life in Paris as a teacher? The most important

thing you want to learn in the new language will tie to what you value most about life! Collect a few Value Words of things that you know are important to you. Then move those value ideas into specific personal details. Imagine saying these words to yourself in your new language and see your motivation increase. For example: It might be the value of fun. Visualize some specific contexts where you might have fun speaking your new language – what you have fun doing: touring, hiking, playing tennis, boating, going to restaurants, shopping, listening to local music and meeting people. Visualize the conversations you will have while doing these fun things. You can use this structure for creating learning Encharts and having the conversations that we outline later in this book. Value Words: Your Value Words are the most important words that you will have in your new language. In order to make them stick in your mind, you will need to create Sticky Words for these Value Words and phrases. These words and phrases encapsulate your new language learning values and are your first sustainability system for genuine long-term conversation development. Make a list of the conversational questions you want to ask in your new language. Envision the people to whom you want to direct those questions. Ask yourself: Why? Why do you enjoy… ? How? How do you travel from… ?) What? What do you like about… ?

Where? Where is the best place to eat? …take a walk? …shop? When? When will you travel to… ?

Get fired up! Get positive! Get moving!

See yourself BECOMING Your New Language Make personal ‘positive energy lists’ in your new language of the topics that interest you and are the most important for you to learn. As you do this, you will notice yourself getting fired up about learning more of your new language… and you will begin to visualize your Value Words. Next step: Take these small visualizations and make little internal videos of yourself having the best time of your life living in Paris...and speaking exactly the way you want: confident, relaxed and effective. Make this process positively and absolutely fabulous!

Visualize yourself in your new life (with as much detail as you can). Visualize yourself at different parts of your day. Visualize yourself ‘all fired up!’ Visualize yourself partying with friends. Visualize yourself touring with colleagues. Visualize yourself meeting and conversing with valuable allies. You are learning to build your baseline motivation structure in the new language.

You can also bridge over your most important ‘mother tongue’ values. Later in the book, you will learn to Enchart out this value to your life. Build your Value Web: In the positive visualization process, you are building a value web. Create positive images of what you value about learning your new language. See them in your mind. Link these images to potential conversations you want to have in your new language. These images now being connected broaden the web of positive value experiences. Normally, a person’s first language value web is stronger than their new language value web. Your mission is to make your new language values interesting and exciting so that you are pulled into your new language. How to Use the Life Purpose Link: Life purpose is about why you are here on the planet, who you are subconsciously motivated to be and what you are moved to create. Your purpose serves as a reminder of who you are and the impact you naturally create in the world. When you are living your purpose, life is fulfilling, effortless and satisfying. When you disregard your purpose, you may feel empty, anguished and unfulfilled. When you learn to link your positive values, you have an inner story of your life’s purpose. Try to see how learning this language helps you unfold your purpose.

Key Missioning Concepts: Vision: Mental images inspire you to take action to make your dreams a reality. Vision provides direction and can create meaning in your life. “I have a dream… “ Mission: Statements of what you will do to make your vision a reality – what you wake up and do every day to get you there. Contribution: How will your success in your new language benefit others? Keep thinking about this. Linking the success of your vision to the success

of other people is the key to unlimited energy. Add more contribution – add more energy. Values: Who are you right now and who are you becoming throughout space and time? Values are the main central concepts that you hold to be of great worth in your life. People often confuse values with morals. Values are not a ‘should do’ system. They are concentrated positive emotion that is expressed through single high-energy words. Goals: The end outcomes you strive to attain which actualize your vision and mission.

SMARRT: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Realistic and Timed (dated) To announce publicly and personally (to achieve support and accountability) To constitute a leap out of your comfort zone Action Steps: Write down the key action steps that need to be accomplished to make the goal a reality. Get very specific. What will you do and by when? How, when, and where will you play every day in your new language? Practice – Build your Value Map:

1. Journal a few pages of notes on why this language is deeply important to you. 2. Highlight key points, key phrases and Value Words with a highlighter pen. Highlight some lists of questions you want to ask in the new language – even as you are learning it. 3. Pick the top 10 values you find and map them into your new language value story. 4. Explain this value story to three of the most important people in your life. Also, if possible, share with three native speakers of the new

language.

Share it to Make it Stronger: The more you share your new language Mission, the stronger it will become. This takes courage in the beginning. Stay strong. Keep sharing your new language Value Words, and the people in your life will begin to stand up for who you are becoming.

“The whole velocity idea is mind bogging and absolutely overturns my conventional way of thinking of the language learning process. We have started a Velocity Chapter here at SAP and we meet each week.

”

- Derek Yang, SAP Labs, China

5 Intoning ************** Dance your Way Through Medical School: Natasha was in her final year at medical school and swamped with exams. Late one night, she still had hours of studying ahead for an exam the next day. She needed a way to stop herself from falling asleep, so she decided to keep her body moving and indulge her real passion for dancing. While she was dancing around, thoughts of her exams kept going through her brain. She didn’t want to stop dancing, so she picked up one of her textbooks and started studying while dancing. Yes, it was silly, but it was the only way she could stay awake to study. She completed her medical exam with high marks, so she studied this way every night and went on to become a successful doctor.

Several years later, Natasha found herself in one of our Instant Fluency workshops learning English. When we mentioned the Rhythm Learning approach, it all suddenly clicked for her. She understood how she had unlocked her Body Learning system in medical school. She remembered how she had combined the rhythm of the music with the movement of dance and how it had made her learning process much easier. From this point on, she danced her way through learning English the same way she did through medical school. She had accelerated her English language intake with the Rhythm Learning method.

What is Rhythm Learning? Rhythm Learning is any process that combines rhythm and repetition with body movement. So far, we have explored accelerated learning by using the visual brain to intake and store information. Now it is time to get moving – one of the fastest ways to learn.

Get Moving Learning is Holographic. When we take in new information, we take it in with all our senses: visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic. The more senses that are involved, the stronger the learning hologram gets. Remember the brain science rule: Things that fire together, wire together. We need to have our language learning stick in our brain and be available from many angles and systems. The more novel and unique the learning experience is, the stickier it gets. We need unique learning experiences that touch all the three main sensory intake channels: sight, sound and feeling. So far, we have discussed the Visual System in a lot of detail. We have touched on the Auditory system. Language is inherently an Auditory process. We have learned FRASSI tricks such as ‘sounds like,’ rhyming and melody to add richness to the learning. So far, we haven’t really delved into one of the most powerful of the modalities: the physical or Kinesthetic system.

Move your body to make it stick: ‘Get Moving’ has very broad definitions and connotations. We are all ‘moved’ in different ways. Feel free to explore the principle of Rhythm Learning in your own ways. Regardless of the personal method you choose, Rhythm Learning is fast learning. Time and time again, students report amazing results with the techniques in this chapter. It’s just like riding a bike; if your body learns something, it never forgets. DANGER! Use it or Lose it: Much of what you have learned from reading this book is conceptual. All these new ideas swirling in your mind could be whisked away and forgotten. You must act on them in the next 21 days! Attention is the scarce resource that drives the economy of the brain. Concentration takes a lot of energy, and the process of learning requires more brain energy than anything else you do. The brain needs a constant source of food to make new ideas stick. Without repetitive practice, all those brain connectors could still be reassigned to other things which may get more attention. --------------------------------

One-Year-Old Counts to 20: Before my daughter Nellie could speak any language, she could count to 20. How was this possible? When she was about a year old, we set up a baby swing. Each evening, I would take her for a swing. For some reason, I started to count out loud each time I pushed the swing. I would count to 20 and then start again. This went on for weeks and I didn’t think about it too much. Then, one day I heard it. She was quietly counting along with me in a tiny voice. I stopped counting and she continued counting without me. She could barely form the numbers, but they were clearly there. The motion of the swing, the rhythm and the repetition had combined with her natural language

learning ability to create an accelerated system. As a proud father, I tried to show her abilities to many people, but I realized she could only ever count while on the swing. The fall rains came, the swing sat unused, and she lost this ability for a few more years. – Paul Gossen -----------------------------If you want to Anchor new learning to the brain’s connectors, you need to build a strong, stable platform. You need to ground it in the physical universe so that it can become constant and stable through time.

Anchor Your Learning Our Intuitive System knows that a concept is just an IDEA Our Intuitive System also knows that the physical universe is REAL To make language learning persistent, it must be attached to a real physical object To make a concept real, it must be able to be visualized as a reality (the same way an artist makes a drawing of what’s in their mind) For the language learning purpose, we will use the one physical object that is most stable and always fully within our control: Our Own Body. Why is Kinesthetic Learning so Powerful? The Kinesthetic system (K) includes your feelings and sense of touch, taste and smell. Emotions always include feelings, which are a motor response or component of the physical, so the Kinesthetic system is inherently tied to the Emotional system. What this means is that emotions, touch, taste and smell all tend to be accessed as a single system, especially when we use our original language.

By indexing so much of our day-to-day experience, our body becomes a powerful master system for learning. How can we use Body Learning to accelerate our fluency? To understand this, we first need a direct experience of the memory power of this system.

K is the Smell of Baking Bread. The baking bread exercise below is almost 100% effective at stirring up deep memories for anyone who grew up in a wheat-based culture. Try this Simple, 4-Step, Physical Experiment Right Now: Take a deep breath between each sentence.Close your eyes and experience each stage individually. • Find

a deep memory of the smell of baking bread. If you go back far enough it might be fuzzy – more like a feeling with that wonderful smell attached. • What kind of bread was it? Smell the scent. Perhaps it was a cinnamon bun. Take a moment to take in the rich cinnamon scent. Or, maybe buttery garlic bread? What is it about garlic bread that smells so good? • Are you getting images? • As you think about that wonderful, rich smell, how do you feel about life? Go back and smell it once again. Take a moment and write down three single words that express that feeling about life. What Did You Experience? Did you get a rich set of memories or feelings? Did you get a feeling for the VALUE of life? Smell links us to food, which is an element of survival. Food is also one of the great pleasures in life. -----------------------------------------------------------

Learn A New Language – by Eating!

For many people, their first real language learning in a new culture is through food. My first experience of Japanese was through food. When I was around 14 years old, Japanese food became popular in Canada. I recall my first time eating sushi. I was fascinated by the new tastes, smells and visual images of eating sushi. I made a game of trying to remember all the new Japanese names for Japanese food. I was having fun. This created a powerful learning experience for me. – Paul Gossen Powell Janulus has another secret weapon of language learning: Food. Almost everyone likes to eat and they are usually quite happy to chat about food. One of Powell’s most effective leading conversation questions is “What is your favorite food?” This will almost always get a conversation going with a stranger. -----------------------------------------------------------

General Principles of Body Learning: Movement: The more you can bring movement into your learning, the richer the sensory landscape you create. Even a finger tapping out the syllables of a word will help. Whole Body: It would be ideal if you can get your physical center or core moving. It can be any type of rhythm: dancing, skipping or even simple swaying – any rhythmic movement that involves the whole body. Flowing Rhythm: For best results, you need to have a natural flow to the rhythmic pattern. This is all about creating a flow state that links the body and mind together in the learning state. Rich Repetition: The pattern has to loop and have some depth or intricacy to engage the Intuitive Learning system to its fullest. Think about an African drumbeat – the pattern repeats and changes. Now, put this all together.

Dance to the Drum Imagine dancing around a fire to an African drumbeat while practicing your language learning with a group of friends. Combining whole body movement, rhythm and repetition is easily the most tested method of memorization known to humankind. The African tradition of drumming around a fire was part of a storytelling system that embedded oral culture into the group. Humans have used this learning system successfully for at least 20,000 years. Take as many elements of this system as you can and try it. Your learning will become rich. Movement = Learning: One of the early pioneers in accelerated learning was Brent Cameron (1947-2012) who started Wondertree Learning Centre. He ran a school that specialized in the ‘movement equals learning’ approach. Every day, kids would practice their multiplication tables while bouncing on a trampoline. Notice that most traditional learning systems run counter to these principles. In school, children are told to sit still at their desks. Without moving, it is difficult to internalize the learning into their new information base, so most of it gets lost. Consider that sitting at a desk with your head down, stressed, and cramming for a test at the last minute is the least effective way to use your body memory, but bouncing towards your vision – seeing and feeling at the same time – will enhance the learning process.

Store More in the Body: The brain is interconnected with the nervous system. Memory is linked across many brain cells, and these links also include the cells that make up the entire nervous system. This is a vast array of connections. Adding more K experience makes the information much richer and much more widely accessible. The body is a great gateway for memory retrieval. If you wish to get a sense of how powerful the Body

Learning system can be, the story below is a great example of how Powell Janulus used it to encode and store an entire language. ------------------------------

Can One Rhythm Hold an Entire Language? As Powell learned each language, he would pay close attention to the pacing, tempo, tone, flow and rhythms of each sentence. He would try to match his rhythm style with that of native speakers while he was learning languages. Once he felt confident that he had acquired the rhythm and tone of the language, he would practice everything to do with the new language, using that unique rhythm and tone. Powell called this rhythm the GEAR of the language. In his world, each language would have its own gear. As he progressed deeper into the language, he would spin his hand and move his body to the rhythm. He used his spinning hand method to build speed and confidence.

64 Languages in Your Head: When Powell switched languages, he was simply shifting his language gears. We really got to see this one time when Powell worked on learning four new languages over a two-day period. As he was learning each language, he would memorize a specific tone and rhythm for that language. When he was switching languages, he would simply get into the ‘gear’ for that language again. That language identity, with all the tones, words and phrases, would quickly flood in, and he would step into fluency again. --------------------------------

“Neurons that fire together, wire together.” – Hebb’s Rule of Associative Learning, 1949

Language Lives in the Mouth and Ears: One of the biggest challenges of learning a new language is warming up the mouth and ears. Often a new language seems alien, and the words seem to slip easily out of the brain. We are forced to make new mouth sounds, and our mouth simply won’t work as requested. Listen to the ease with which a native speaker talks and compare this to your own first clumsy attempts. This might be the time to get discouraged, but don’t. This next section is full of tools to warm up your ears and your mouth.

Mouth and Ears Sound Jam: Before you even begin your first steps in your new language, what is your very first experience of that language? When first you listen to the words, what do you hear? Let’s be honest. For most of us experiencing a new language for the first time, it is a mishmash of strange mouth sounds jammed together. For example, read these two sentences:

1. When Iphirst triidto wrearn Japanese oilthe niwwhords weresho strrenjethot. rlaysiimed toham togedderintwo amishsmash ofsownds. 2. WhenIfir sttri edtolea rnJap aneseall thenewwor dswer esostran gethatthe yseem edtojam toge therin toami shma shofso unds. These may seem like silly sentences, but they reflect a common experience for very new language learners. The sounds are so alien that we don’t know where one word begins and another ends. As such, we need to be very forgiving of ourselves when we first approach listening and speaking in our new language. Listening: Your ability to listen in your new language is a long-term process of skill development. At the very beginning, it may take some time to warm up your ears in your new language. This takes tremendous concentration in the beginning. Nothing beats having access to a native speaker and listening to them while watching their exact mouth movements. However, this can

also be a great area for Passive Learning. Watching TV or videos and listening to radio or audio clips will help to warm up your ears.Don’t worry about comprehension – you are not there yet. Simply use the Passive Learning experience to get familiar with the sounds you will later be integrating. Mouth Sounds: For your very first attempts at speaking in your new language, it is often useful to experience the process as a game of Mouth Sounds. Forget about learning words or the letters in written text. Simply start to practice moving your mouth in these new ways. Many languages make use of the mouth and vocal track in very different ways. Never mind the rare click-languages of Eastern Africa; the differences in mouth sounds between Mandarin, French or Texan English are immense. Give yourself some time to slowly begin to use your mouth in this new way. Keep in mind that a native speaker is a virtuoso in their language. In their life so far, they may have spent 40,000 hours speaking and listening in their language. Again, nothing beats having access to a native speaker. Listen to them and try to copy their exact mouth sounds. The more you can slow the process down and examine each mouth sound transition, the more you will build a good foundation for future learning. In the beginning, don’t worry too much about good pronunciation or becoming accent-free. Above all, keep an image in your mind of yourself AS a native speaker. Keep this out front in your future, and imagine that you are becoming a virtuoso native speaker. What does it feel like when you imagine yourself in this master flow? Warm up Your Ears with Mirror Words: You can put this all together into a simple practice by using Mirror Words. Mirror Words are words that are the very same word in both your native language and your new language. While the meaning may be the same, most often the mouth sounds and accents are very different. As such, this is an ideal way to warm up your ears

and try out your new mouth sounds. You can find lists of Mirror Words and audio and video exercises in the many resources offered by Velocity. Don’t Memorize Words, Intone Them: Now we would like to introduce one of the fastest methods yet found to quickly intake the most commonly used words in any language into your base Word Bank. The most powerful tool for warming up the mouth and ears is Intoning. This is a simple process of repetitively speaking words in a ‘low and slow’ manner that intuitively links them to the Body Learning system. This very simple process is one of the most valuable ways you can spend five minutes every day. It will dramatically speed up your new language learning. Intoning uses a singing or chanting voice, so it can also quickly reduce your first language accent. Most of all, Intoning allows the right words to ‘pop’ out of your mouth at the right time.

“Before, the sound of English was harsh, like nails on a chalkboard. I have been Intoning every day for one month. Everything has changed. English sounds musical. I hear a flowing rhythm and melody, when people talk. YounJoo – Victoria, Canada

”

Intoning Have your ever wondered why a hit song sticks in your brain? Music is a great example of the learning power of rhythm and melody. Don’t memorize words. Instead, wrap them in a tone.

Low and Slow: Intoning is a very simple process of speaking aloud a list of words, adding in a rhythm and melody. We speak slowly, in a low tone of voice, to engage the Intuitive Learning system. Often, we use a musical beat to keep the rhythm. It is best to loop through a short list of 20 to 40 words at least three times. By the third repetition, everything changes. The mouth, ears, brain and body begin to synchronize. The words start to flow, and

mouth movements become natural. Around the world, people RAVE about the power of Intoning. This is the most effective way to expand your range of words and build great pronunciation at the same time.

Why Practice Intoning? Intoning is the ultimate form of multi-layered learning. Intoning combines many elements all at once to create a RICH learning process that includes: Mouth Mechanics: Intoning begins with the mouth mechanics in SLOW motion. The slower the better in the beginning. Many western languages are spoken with the front of the mouth. Many eastern languages are spoken with the back of the mouth. Learning to move your mouth properly takes a lot of time and repetition in the beginning. Keep Intoning. Listening to the Words: You have to hear words to say words. Listening is a skill that you develop fast through Intoning. By slowing the process down, you will begin to hear tiny details of how to say each word. If you go deep into the world of Intoning, your senses will shift. You will move into a world of sound in which all you hear is the sound of each word. Speaking: Each time you say the words, they get a little smoother. By their third repetition, the words will begin to flow. Over time, you will start to speak in a natural and relaxed manner. Listening to Your Voice: You have to hear the sound of your own voice to say words. It takes time to get attuned to connection. You have to develop your listening feedback loop. You say the words, hear your voice and then fine-tune it. This is a bit like playing the violin, you listen to the tone and adjust your voice in real time. Rhythm: Get a nice beat going. Perhaps some music you like that has a slow consistent tempo. Some people like a metronome. As you practice Intoning, you will naturally synchronize with the rhythm. Remember to move your body with the beat to engage full Body Learning.

Low Tone: A low tone is critical as it deeply engages the Intuitive Learning system. Your holistic intelligence system loves a soft, deep tone of voice. Keep in mind that your first nine months of life was in utero. Your very first experience of language was the soft, muffled voice of your mother speaking. You listened to this voice a lot over those nine months. Slow: A slow rhythm is the key because it shifts from brain learning or memorization to Body Learning. By slowing down the entire process, everything becomes manageable and relaxing. We move from the stress of memorization to the comfort of Intoning. Go slow. 3x3 Repetition: Start with a list of 20 words, and go through them at least 3 times. Do something else for 2 to 24 hours; then come back and repeat the process again. Do this three times in total. We call this 3x3 learning. Recognize Words: The purpose of Intoning is NOT to memorize the word, but to condition your mouth and ears. However, here is the truth: Intoning is actually the fastest way to get familiar with lots of new words. You will simply start to recognize them everywhere. You will hear a native speaker talking, and it will be impossible to understand anything. Then, suddenly, you will hear a word you recognize. Just like this: Blah, blah, blah, Intoning, blah, blah, WORKS, blah, blah, FAST.

Build Your Hyper-Learning State: As you practice Intoning, these learned elements become stacked and amplified, and you continue on and go deeper into the process. After a while, the experience becomes a state. As you repeat the practice, you get better and better at accessing this state. You develop a new capability for stepping into accelerated learning. This learning state gets broadly generalized into your new language speaking and listening abilities. You become a person who learns fast. The first method, Intoning, is passive. It begins when you sit back with a list of about 20-50-100 words a day, hear the pleasant heartbeat of the

metronome in the background, listen to the measured pronunciation on the recording, and see a set of the words as you hear them one by one.

Accents Disappear Have you ever noticed that a singing voice has no accent? The most exciting stories of the power of Intoning come from the people who have struggled with a heavy accent for years. They take on Intoning once a day for 30 days, and everything shifts. Their spoken tone becomes vibrant and playful, and their ability to hear words vastly improves. Their entire relationship with the new language moves from awkward to natural.

Take the 30-Day Intoning Challenge: Practice Intoning for 15 minutes a day. Keep this going for 30 days. Following this approach, many people report the following:

They can hear their new language much better Their native accent is reduced Words ‘pop’ into their brain much faster The delay in forming a sentence is reduced They are much more confident when they speak They feel more relaxed when they speak Intoning Word Banks: Intoning is a magnificent method for faster vocabulary building. What wide range of words and phrases do you want to develop in the first few months of your new language? Start with the 100, 300 and then 500 most common words in the language you are learning. Break them into groups of 20 to 50 words and repeat them 3 times per day for 3 days. Then shift to the next batch of words. Keep it up and the results will be startling. ------------------------------

The History of Intoning – Suggestopedia: This method, as originally practiced, was based in part on the work of Georgi Lozanov (1926–2012), a Bulgarian psychiatrist. Lozanov, who has often been called the father of accelerated learning methods, worked with yogis, explored sleep-learning and used hypnosis – among many of his unbridled experimentations. Eventually, he developed his own more complex version of a Rhythm Learning method which he called Suggestopedia. He practiced his new method in specially organized classroom settings while Baroque music played in the background. -------------------------------

6 Enchart ************ How did Powell Janulus Get Conversational Lift-Off? Conversationally, Janulus was brilliant. His technique was to focus entirely on sentences. As opposed to learning a series of disconnected words, learning full sentences allowed him to communicate simple but relevant ideas right away. A great example of this was our story, at the beginning of this book, about the First Nations Grandma. We asked Powell Janulus to learn Kwakiutl. Kwakiutl is a rare First Nations language from the West Coast of Canada. We brought in an old woman, who only knew Kwakiutl, along with her grandson, who knew some Kwakiutl and English. The woman’s intonation challenged Janulus. The language had complex tonal patterns that Powell would repeat back, happy if she even understood him. Powell had never encountered Kwakiutl before, or any language like it. For one hour, he asked questions in English, tested words in Kwakiutl and created his Encharts. Then the Magic Occurred: As he built his Enchart on the large whiteboard, he became more and more delighted. He started talking, trying question after

question, in a state of sheer joy over the language structure! The Kwakiutl woman, in awe, assisted him with pride. She answered, laughing at his pronunciation, but with full understanding. The two were now alone together in the conversation while the rest of us watched, amazed. Powell was becoming Kwakiutl. Remarkably, after less than two hours, Powell switched gears and started continuing the conversation entirely in Kwakiutl. Everyone in the room was stunned. From that point on, he primarily continued learning by asking questions, mostly in the new language.

Instant

Communication:

How did Powell get to beginner conversational Kwakiutl in less than two hours? This sort of thing might take an experienced linguist six to twelve months to accomplish. The rest of us might never succeed. Powell created the system of language Encharts. He used them to quickly integrate and understand a few useful phrases with which he could begin a conversation. He spoke using full sentences immediately. Most of those sentences were questions that took the conversation deeper. Now, to be fair, the conversation he was having was very simple. Most of his questions followed the format detailed in the Velocity Conversations section that comes later in this book. With the use of Encharts, many people around the world now master this skill, although it usually takes them more than two hours. With just one Enchart, you can have many simple conversations.

What are Encharts? Encharts are simple word grids from which you can build complete sentences. Imagine a 4x4 grid of words. The magic of an Enchart is that you simply pick one word from each vertical column and you will always get a correct sentence.

Encharts allow speaking to become easy. Encharts allow you to experience being a native speaker. They allow you to map out conversations about things you are that interested you. The fastest way to learn your new language is to use your Encharts to practice conversations with REAL people. Using your Encharts, you can speed up the mouth movements and

build the ‘natural spoken’ style that allows you to relax and be at ease in your new language. When in Doubt, Enchart it Out. Encharts simply bypass one of the trickiest parts of learning a new language by connecting words into a spoken sentence structure. Encharts allow you to speak and think in complete sentences in your new language – right from the start. This allows you to quickly integrate the new Word Order and sentence structure into your spoken language habits. ------------------------------A Quick Enchart Brain Game: Take a moment and look at this sentence:

¿Por qué Juan le gusta caminar en el parque el domingo? Look at the Spanish sentence again. Unless you are a Spanish speaker, you may notice that your eyes seem to slip past the words without recognition. Your brain can’t pattern match and discards the information because it seems incomprehensible. You could spend some time on this, and you might decode some words, but this is brain work. Most people don’t like burning through brain energy because it requires intense focus and uses up all our sugar and oxygen reserves. Now look at this sentence:

Read this three times: What is your experience now? Many people report that it is hard to read the black text because your eyes keep getting pulled to the colored words. It is difficult to avoid looking at the orange and red words. Once you look at the colored words, you can’t help but link them to the English words above them. From there, you may notice that the sentence structure seems the same, and then suddenly you may – for a moment – imagine that learning Spanish could be fun and easy.

Can you see that it is pretty much impossible to avoid learning Spanish when the words are presented in this second format? This is not a random experience. You may notice that this second sentence is presented in a very specific way, with spacing and color to maximize the stickiness of this learning.

-------------------------------

“Right after the workshop, I woke up in the middle of the night. Spanish phrases started to pop into my head. I started building Encharts and soon I had a working 4x4 system in my mind. I hadn’t studied Spanish since high school, but suddenly I could see the whole language. Later, while travelling, I had a 90 minute drive to the airport. I spoke in Spanish to the taxi drive the whole way. I managed to keep the conversation going and found out all about his family and his life. I now know that I can learn any language I wish. Tony - Seattle

”

Paradox of Language Learning: The easiest way to learn a new language is by speaking to people. You can’t speak to people unless you know the new language. The Paradox Gets Worse:

Speaking to people when you are just beginning might seem, at first, uncomfortable and embarrassing. You try to get around this by isolating yourself until you can get enough ‘book learning’ to feel comfortable. Isolating yourself with books is the best way to end up ‘lost in the woods’ and frustrated to the point of giving up. Encharts Bypass the Barrier: Encharts are a simple, multiple-choice formula for building sentences and conversations. Encharts are very easy to make, but before we get into that we need to explore the structure of language.

Let’s Get Technical: Are Humans Pre-Wired for Language? Have you ever thought about how languages come into existence? The American linguist, Noam Chomsky, was the first to conceive the idea that humans are pre-wired for language. Creole languages offer insight into the process of language formation. ‘Creole’ refers to languages that are spontaneously created. In the 18th and 19th centuries, children developed six Creole languages in completely different areas of the world. This happened in families where one parent spoke the local language and the other spoke a foreign one. The children were forced to reconcile these two ways of speaking, thus languages like French-Haitian Creole in Haiti and English-Jamaican Creole in Jamaica were formed. Researchers note that these ‘homemade’ languages followed a systematic order and structure that matched most common languages.

In 1983, 400 deaf children in Nicaragua created a sign language with no assistance from adults. Having the concept of sign language, but left to their own devices, two small groups of five to seven-year-olds separately devised effective, operative sign language systems. They were both naturally and beautifully ordered and touched all major areas of necessary human communication. These new languages also had a functional grammar system! The children could now communicate with each other, and they did. What is the Meta-Structure of Communication? What unites these new languages with older languages is the common order of their construction. This correlates with research carried out by Marilyn Atkinson and Robert Dilts in the 1980s when they examined the ways that humans decode and organize their reality. Based on earlier research, Robert Dilts had documented that humans categorize their experience into natural layers of importance. He developed a model to explain this in a simple, visual way. He found five key levels at which humans organize their day-today experience, which he called the Neuro-Logical Levels of Experience.

A Rosetta Stone for All Language: Much of Marilyn Atkinson’s early work involved understanding, refining and simplifying Powell Janulus’s original charting system. Through this research and her study of NeuroLinguistic Programming (NLP), Marilyn saw that Powell’s charting system was a map of how humans organize their day-to-day experiences through language and that this paralleled Dilts’ Logical Levels system. She collaborated with several linguists to study the sentence structures of 1500 unique languages to confirm that, for all of them, the full Logical Levels organization could consistently be found. You see, the key to Powell’s genius ability was the advanced system of language Encharting that he created. Using this method, he could ask a minimal set of questions and be able to communicate a wide range of ideas.

His amazing formula, what we call a Logical Levels formula, could be used for any new language he wanted to learn. The Logical Levels of Language: In the 1990s, when Marilyn was researching language, she found that humans organize their communication into levels of importance. Working with several linguists, she tested this with 1500 languages. She found that this common organizational structure was reflected in the general architecture of all 1500 languages. In essence, this was a map between the internal organization of thoughts and the external expression of those ideas in language. It was a bridge between the way people organize the mind internally and the external structure of their language. In this process, she found six universal needs that people fundamentally wish to express in all languages.

Universal Communication Needs Consider that humans have a Universal Set of Communication Needs. Just as humans need food and shelter, all human communication systems reference a single set of standard needs. This set of Universal Communication Needs is the heart of the Velocity Learning System. If you view your new language through grammar rules, learning becomes hard. However, if you view your new language through this set of Universal Communication Needs, learning becomes easy. Seven Universal Communication Needs: Identity: People need to know who they are and who they are becoming. They need to know which people are taking actions. Value: People need to know what they want and why it is valuable to them. A value is the emotional driver in all communication and action. How: People need to know how they can get what they want and what qualities will be needed to achieve key results. They need to amplify or modify other words and ideas.

Action: People need to know what action is needed. They need to understand and communicate actions. What Where When: People need to have an understanding of what things they are talking about, and where and when actions will take place. This might seem mind-numbingly simplistic... because it is. Consider that these seven Universal Communication Needs are wired into our language and thought processes and organize every idea we speak.

A Higher Order Language System: Consider that this universal set of communication needs is linked directly to the language processing system of the brain. First, we set an intention for a communication. Then we use our language habits to express that communication in whatever language we are speaking. We express that communication using lower-order grammar habits. Over time, these grammar habits become a set of rules that are used to torment people who wish to learn a new language.

The key point is that grammar rules are much more specific, with thousands of variations from language to language. If you focus on figuring out all the lower-order grammar rules of your new language, you will be overwhelmed by complexity. If you focus on understanding the higher-order Universal Communication Needs of your new language, the learning becomes simple and clear. This was a key discovery in understanding how Powell was able to display beginner fluency, with just a few hours exposure to a new language. The Encharting model built from Powell’s original charting system, matches the Logical Levels of Language system exactly. Over the past 15 years, this model has continually stood up to cognitive testing with different languages. Current research continues to confirm this model.

People naturally ask questions at each of the levels: Who? Why? How? What? Where? and When? The progression of these questions is directly linked to our neurological organization, as each level provides basic information that needs to be clearly established before moving forward in a conversation. This is expressed in the following Enchart Word Types.

Velocity Word Types: Beginner Encharts always follow the same basic Encharting structural order, questioning: who, why, action, how, what, where and when. Usually, we place only one ‘what’ or ‘where’ in a simple sentence that we are using as a learning frame. The eight primary Velocity Word Types are displayed below. Some of them also have subtypes which can link to traditional grammar:

Question Question words: who, why, what, where, when, how Question preface: Do you like...? Would you like...?

Who Simple: I, you, he, she Plural: we, they, everyone, Names: John, Susan Abstract: people, Americans, humanity

Why Possibility: like, want, choose, might, will, can Necessity: must, need, require, have to, should Possibility Abstract: love, hate, celebrate Being: to be, is, am, will

Action Simple Action: give, run, walk How How Action: (adverb) slowly, quickly How What: (adjective) The ball is big, small, red.

What Simple What: Objects, ideas, things Where Simple Where: house, park, shop Where Preposition: in, on, at, under When Simple When: today, yesterday, 2:00pm When Preposition: before, after, during Particles are outlined in red in this example: There are other Word Types that are not included in these eight Word Types. These often show up in advanced Encharting. A good example would be negatives. This is a very important communication concept, but we are not yet ready to include it into our system. If this seems too simple, that is because it is simple. We are speaking to the two-year-old language learner who each of us is when we first approach a language. Give yourself permission to be a two-year-old language learner if that is where you are at, or quickly move past this stage if you are further along.

Particles: Until you have a much deeper understanding of your new language in your Encharts, all sentence elements that don’t fall into the standard, universally translatable Word Types are called Particles. Particles are best displayed with a different color. For example: the ‘s’ in ‘wants’ is considered a particle because it is not a universally translatable element and perhaps we don’t yet understand why it should be there. For now, it is simply an unexplained English convention that we practice.

In the beginning, Enchart templates are very simple with only a few Word Types. We always use a single clause. With just a few words in each column, we can mix and match elements to communicate a vast range of ideas, with just a small amount of practice.

Map the Word Order: Foremost, we must always follow the Word Order of our new language. The Word Order on the Enchart assists us to do that immediately. However, Encharts also have a hierarchical standard order that generally follows the Logical Levels. Although the order of Enchart elements can change in more advanced Enchart templates, in the beginning it is best to follow the standard order to maintain consistency. The standard order in English is: Question Who Why Action How What Where When For example: (reading top to bottom)

As we advance in our learning, we will add complexity. There are many advanced Enchart ideas and grammar objects that tend to move around and add complexity to this simple process. For example, when learning English, Mapping out an advanced idea like verb tenses (I eat, I am eating, I will eat, I ate, I have eaten) can be complex. Verb tense modifiers tend to be attached to the word they are modifying, and often impact other words in a sentence. However, adding all this at the beginning will make the Enchart too complicated. We will have to put this off until later when we begin using more advanced Encharts. There are many complex, advanced Mapping approaches that we will use to do advanced Encharting in the chapter on Mapping.

Condition, Rinse and Repeat: Condition your new language through repetitive usage. Use your Encharts to practice speaking real sentences in a real context of communication. Embed the new language structure into those Encharts. Repeat these spoken Enchart games over several days, until they seem natural and flow through the mouth and mind. Slowly expand the Encharts and add complexity.

Don’t do Grammar: Don’t memorize grammar rules. In the early stages, memorizing grammar rules will slow down your new language acquisition. Too many rules can trigger the Reactive System, which can be easily overwhelmed and freeze. This is not to say that you should never study grammar rules. When you feel you are ready to dig into some verb tenses or verb conjugation, go ahead. However, in the beginning, you will find it easy to start speaking right away, if you focus on simple Encharting. Focus on WHY: Why words are the emotional drivers in a communication. For example, words like choose, will, like, love, want, have to or need tell us why we want to do something. Build these into your first Encharts and practicing with a few support words and Action Words such as ‘to go’. They can be mixed and matched to make hundreds of sentences about things that are important to you.

Go Off-Road in a 4x4: ‘Four-Word’ sentences mark a critical learning stage that most adult language learners often rush through. Consider that most young children spend at least 6 to 12 months talking in four-word sentences. The point is that you can say a lot and communicate many ideas with very simple sentences. As you communicate this way, your natural speaking ability begins to integrate broadly. Language IS a Holographic Memory system. ‘Languaging’ is the process of creating linguistic distinctions in your mind and becoming your new language. This Languaging function will only work if you imprint the hologram through repetition. Here, we are repeating four-word sentences that form a complete communication. A sentence must form a complete communication, or the Intuitive Learning system will reject the effort as non-relevant and the Holographic Memory won’t get stronger. Think of a very simple Enchart with 4x4 and four variables. Try something like the Enchart laid out below.

4 x 4 x 4 x 4 = 256 If you look at the previous Enchart, you will see 16 words in 4 columns. You can combine any word from any column and you will ALWAYS make a correct sentence. If you practice and condition this Enchart until it seems natural, you can make hundreds of sentences, 256 to be exact. If you use this approach with 50 to 100 to 200 carefully selected words in 3 to 6 to 12 hand-crafted Encharts, you will gain a great territory of conversational possibilities with your new language. Try to build your Encharts with the topics that interest you most, such as people, travel sports, movies, dating, parties, or food – whatever you are most interested in.

Why Motivational Words: Why words are the motivational driver of action. These are some most important words to learn in your new language. They bring emotion into the sentence, which does most of the work transmitting the communication.

You could say that the Velocity Word Types are similar to traditional grammar. Grammar can easily be mapped around the Word Types. However, grammar tends to add a brittle ‘rule-based’ experience to language learning. Introducing all the grammar rules early on in the fluency process tends to interrupt our natural learning flow. Conversely, using these simple Word Types to learn language feels like a natural expression of the way that we are already accustomed to talking. This is because it maps across to our intrinsic set of human ‘thinking needs’ in any natural conversation.

Ignore Grammar – Follow Communication Needs: As you can see, all of this FEELS very simple and straightforward. We can list the Word Types in columns on our Encharts and put words from each list together to make simple sentences in a very natural and organic way.

Let’s examine some simple Communication Needs: The one rule in Velocity is to take some time to map the Word Types into the correct Word Order of our new language. We will do this by arranging our columns in the right order for the new language when we lay out the Encharts. Once we have done this, we can often reuse this for other sentence templates. You might notice that we include an absolute minimum of grammar. What about all of those language forms and rules: passive, active, masculine, feminine, verb conjugations, negative exceptions, and even varying tones? Where do all those fit into the Encharting model? The answer is... they

don’t. At this stage, we are going to use them in speaking when needed, but ignore ‘figuring out’ the complex grammar ‘stuff.’ The entire point of Encharting is to start SPEAKING your new language right away – just like a small child does. This system is all about learning by doing, which is 10x faster than abstract grammar rules, or memorization. People learn best by having meaningful conversations. For now, we are taking real action to get real results. Your aim is to start communicating with people first and to enjoy the process. Later on, we can build more complex Encharts which will include more of the language’s sophistication. Now, let’s make some Encharts!

Get the Word Order: The Word Order of sentences can be a challenge of learning any new language. This is especially true for transitions between European, Asian, African and Middle Eastern languages. However, once you get the Word Order correct and start using your new language’s Word Order in Encharts, from the start, you will get comfortable with this new thinking style. It is important to use the correct Word Order for your new language in your Encharts at all times. This is the habit that you will base all your communication on. The Enchart assists you to speak correctly from the getgo. Here is a quick example for English and Japanese. Below, we have two simple Encharts to contrast English and Japanese Word Order. English speakers will see that the three example sentences don’t quite make perfect sense. This is okay. It shows us the limits of the Encharting approach, but also gives beginners some freedom to get going. Notice that you can still understand everything that is being communicated in each of the three sentences, even without the correct prepositions. English Word Order:

In the Japanese example, we have now adjusted the Word Order to match the target language. We have also mixed in a few Japanese words to help the sentence structure. We have added des (to be) to make this feel Japanese. This Enchart is mostly in English, so you can’t quite use it as a language learning tool yet. However, reading this you will immediately get a feel for what speaking Japanese is like. Japanese Word Order:

Notice that the two Encharts don’t perfectly map across. With the Japanese Enchart, we added three elements to make the sentence a bit more workable in Japanese. If we didn’t add these elements, a Japanese speaker might still understand the communication, but it would require a bigger jump.

Add some Fudge Factor: When we make an Enchart, there is always a little Fudge Factor. Making it workable is a much better aim than trying to be correct. I suggest you forget the notion of ‘being absolutely correct’ for the first few months of your fluency adventure. The one exception is Word Order. Word Order guarantees understanding! Keep with this compulsively. If you

are being understood in your new language, then the process is working! Just keep adding workability to your Encharts. Learn ‘grammar’ later if you want, as it is mainly a bonus. As a language learner, your aim is to communicate.

It is important to understand that not every idea can be communicated with the simple Encharting system. Encharting works best for learning short and simple sentences. You may have to break complex ideas into multiple sentences or simply hold off communicating those ideas for now. Adjust to your Level: Most language tourists are at least at the level of a 3 to 4-year-old child. If this is you, be proud of the stage you are at. For now, you will have to build your Encharts at this level. As you progress, you can add more elements to the Encharts. They will get more complex, so it is important to inculcate the basic Word Order and to keep your first Encharts simple and comprehensive. Later, when we get to Mapping, we will add more grammar and language complexities.

Enchart an Important Conversation: Pick a simple and even a silly conversation to begin with. You will want to build Encharts that are relevant to you – anything from going for a run in the park, to eating at a restaurant. Previously, we talked about the value of learning this new language. What you value and are passionate about makes a great starting point for building your first Encharts. This provides a great foundation for Building Your Identity. Later, we will begin to build your new identity in your new language, using your Encharts! After that, we will practice turning our Encharts into games and real conversations. This is one of the fastest ways to get comfortable in your new language. From here on in, Encharts will be the foundation of everything we do. You may use your Encharts so much that one day you might realize they have disappeared.

How to Make an Enchart:

1. Start with a blank, letter-sized sheet of paper in landscape position 2. Draw five vertical lines to make nine columns 3. Establish the correct Word Order for your new language 4. Fill in the titles across the top in the correct Word Order 5. Pick a subject and write a title on the top left corner 6. Now find 4 to 16 words from your word lists which relate to the topic for each column

7. Cross-check the Word Order with a native speaker so that you can create real sentences the native way For example, in English you might Enchart out questions with who, why, how, action, non-action, what, where and when.

Enchart your Motivation: Enchart your values and motivation for learning the new language. This is the most important element of the book, as this is your motivation structure. Build your prime interests into the new language and Enchart them for speaking. This will keep you interested and excited about talking with people and learning more. You immediately become a speaker.

For many languages, you can use four to eight basic ‘why’ words to communicate a vast range of motivational needs. The four simplest forms of ‘why’ words create an easy format to start speaking. The best and easiest we have found are: want, need, choose and like. You can then add in a simple who with an action to build a simple communication. Or, you can put the question words: Who? What? Where? and When? at the front of the sequence to turn it into a question. This will work in most languages as long as you swap the Word Order to match your target language.

Later, you can add another column for non-action or negatives once you have mastered several basic Encharts. The location for this will vary with the language. In English, we usually use the word ‘don’t’ before the ‘why’ (or modal verb) as in “I don’t want to go to the park.”

Simple Encharts like these pack a tremendous amount of learning potential and give you communication speed… real velocity! You could memorize all these words; however, that would be very different from being able to use them fluently in real communication. Take your time, and hang out at this important learning stage. Perhaps you are embarrassed by the simplicity of the communication. In order to be successful, you will have to give up this fear. Get comfortable with being a beginner, and use your simple Encharts. Delay Complexity:

1. First, practice a mind-numbingly simple approach. Delay the complexity until later. 2. Use fun individual or group games to get into a learning flow. 3. Once you or the group is relaxed and having fun, slowly introduce more complexity. Drill your Encharts: Practice your Encharts to build comfort and familiarity with the mouth movements. Practice speaking out loud and try to build a rhythm when drilling. You may synchronize to a metronome or, better yet, speak or sing in time with a moving hand or use light rhythmic music. Quickly increasing the speed of your rhythm is one of the best ways to build confidence.

It is a good idea to keep your current set of Encharts fresh in your mind for the first three weeks, with regular review. Rhythmic practice with Encharts for memorization is useful to a point; however, it can become repetitive unless you start right away to use it with real conversations. Notice and track your enjoyment of the process. Drilling with someone else is always better as their presence and your shared commitment will build focus and fun. Shortly, we will add people and games and Encharting will become a lot of fun.

Use your Encharts The more you use the Encharts; the less you will need them. The Encharts exist in your mind, not only on paper. As you use them, the meaning-to-mind-to-mouth flow becomes established, and the paper disappears.

Reality Check: You may hear your own embarrassed Internal Dialogue complain, “The lack of grammar is driving me insane!” or “If I try to speak using this little Enchart, I won’t speak correctly and people will think I am stupid.”

However, if you are practicing with multiple sentences, you are really doing fine! To build any habit takes about three weeks of practice and you are learning to build key sentences! Encharting is training you to think in the new language. You are progressing even if, when people speak back to, you mostly hear a blur of sounds. This will gradually change. Now that you have made some Encharts and have started to use them, you are ready for the BIG step. You have just been shown the backbone of the Velocity Instant Fluency System. Your next step is to add muscle and sinew with lots of words so that you can become familiar with speaking your new language quickly!

7.Become ************* Don’t learn your new language; Become your new language Many people spend years studying a new language, but they never really become a speaker of that language. Why not just skip the years of studying and simply become your new language?

Water unto Fish – Humans unto Language: What do we mean by “become your new language”? Think of the way a two-year-old starts to talk. A two-year-old doesn’t learn a new language, they emerge into it. Humans are creatures of language. We live in a world of language in the way that fish live in a world of water. As children, we grow into language. Learning to speak a new language ALWAYS happens the same way. This can help or hinder the learning process. Many people identify their personality in the language they learned first as a child. In this case, the new language may seem awkward and irrelevant. Conversely, we can flip this

around to make the whole learning process natural and sticky. All you need to do is keep building a new vision of yourself in your new language. The more you focus on your New Language Identity as relevant and meaningful, the easier the learning will become.

Become Your New Language: This whole process will flow quickly if you build up enough learning intensity for your new language and then continue to step into your new language for a few minutes each day. This is one of the big secrets of how the Velocity workshops can create such a big transformation to spoken fluency in just two or three days. When you BECOME a fluent speaker of your new language, you are, in essence, establishing a new identity in your new language.

Don’t learn your new language Become your new language Step into your New Language Identity: Stepping into your New Language Identity is the very heart of becoming your new language. Building a New Language Identity will add an additional dimension to life. Ask Yourself: Who do I want to be in my new language? Who do I want to become in my new language? Who am I becoming in my new language? Always Respect Identity: ‘Identity’ is a BIG word and some people may worry that there is some intention in all this to externally manipulate their personality. In truth, building your identity in your new language is quite the opposite. We always approach language identity with the utmost respect. Only you get to say who you want to become. It is extremely difficult for any single experience to manipulate an individual’s core identity. A person’s core Intuitive System is an inbred, supreme, top-level management system. It is a very effective and efficient self-correcting mechanism. If anything

comes along which doesn’t feel right, your Intuitive System rejects it very quickly. Below are two very simple thought experiments you can try with your own identity to demonstrate this concept. They prove that any identity shift has to fit and link to the real world to make it stick. An identity level shift is not magic; you have to do a huge amount of work or go through a major experience to make it a permanent reality. Test 1: Say to yourself, “I am a frog.” Notice if anything happened. Are you a frog? No, you are not a frog – proof being that frogs cannot read books. In order to shift to a frog identity, you would have to declare to yourself and the world that you are a frog, every single moment of every day. Your mind would have to commit to becoming a frog. Finally, you would have to take physical and mental action every day to become a frog. As you build solid, concrete evidence over time that you are a frog, this new identity would get stronger. Finally, everyone in the world would have to agree that you are a frog. Clearly this is not going to happen. Before any of this could happen, your body and mind would reject the entire process as ridiculous – at least under the normal reality that we all agree upon. Test 2: Say to yourself, “I am a parent.” For any of you who are parents, this would fit with who you know yourself to be and the statement would reaffirm your existing identity. The statement seems obvious. For any of you who are not parents, this statement would seem a little strange, and your inherent intuitive identity would probably ignore it. However, there is a third category. This third category will begin to demonstrate the real power of an identity level shift. What if you are thinking about becoming a parent? How would the phrase “I am a parent” impact you? What if you were actively trying to have children? What would be the effect of this statement in this case? What if you were expecting a baby soon? This statement would be exciting and would really

support you in becoming fully prepared for this key life shift in your identity. The moment you had that new child, you could declare “I am a parent.” The evidence (your physical child) would complete a big shift in who you know yourself to be. While the shift would have been completed the moment you saw your new child, it would have begun the moment you originally declared it.

4 Steps to Building a New Language Identity: With language learning, we are using this natural process to build energy and an unstoppable learning momentum. As we build this identity, all of our new learning will fit into this identity and provide the context that our Intuitive Learning System needs to make the learning stick. We will build this one step at a time using this proven formula: 1 Declare 2 Commit 3 Take Action 4 Build Evidence

1 Make a Declaration: I speak... (insert your new language here) Declare this in your spoken word and in writing. Speak it in your mother tongue. Speak it in your new language. REPEAT this declaration out loud in your new language as a daily ritual. These are the MOST important words you will ever say in your new language. Repeat this declaration in your new language, every day. A Declaration is Not an Affirmation: If you are familiar with positive psychology, this may sound like an affirmation. An affirmation is a feel-

good phrase that you say over and over again. Affirmations usually are ineffective because, at some level, your gut knows the statement is currently not true. The more you say it, the stronger the untruth gets. This is because an affirmation lacks commitment, action, and evidence. A declaration is FOUNDED in commitment to action and realized with new language evidence.

2 Commit Formally and Publicly: In the beginning of the book, we asked you to formally commit to practicing every day for 30 days. Now we will ask you to commit to building your New Language Identity for the next 30 days. This is a key tool and practice. It will make your language learning sustainable over time. We do not ask you to promise to become a native speaker or 100% fluent in 30 days. We simply ask you to follow these steps: In the next 30 days:

1. Commit to making a small step towards fluency, 2. Commit to beginning to build your New Language Identity, 3. Make your commitment in writing. 4. Share this with 3 family members or friends you trust. Be sure to set end date out 30 days. Make your commitment now.

3 Take Action Every Day: Make the commitment to take physical and mental action steps for the next 30 days. Action is the most critical step. Our Intuitive Learning system knows that sometimes we say things but don’t really mean them. Likewise, our Intuitive Learning system knows that action takes place in the real world, not in words or intentions. If we take action, our Intuitive Learning system knows the declaration was real, and the new identity will begin to become stable and generalized through our day-to-day awareness of self. If we don’t take action, our Intuitive Learning system knows the declaration was false, and the new identity gets discarded. The

New Language Identity is then used as brain food for other habits or areas of attention.

Step into Your New Identity Every Day You may have an “I like watching TV” identity or something else linked to comfort. To maintain learning over the long-term, your language learning identity must be stronger than your comfort identity. You must perform the action to make the new identity stick. Even if the action is small, it still works. Ten minutes of any kind of formal language learning practice daily is enough to make the identity start to stick. However, ten minutes of practicing the identity building activities outlined here, followed by language learning practice sessions, will be even more effective with the practice outlined at the end of this chapter. This way, you will be working directly on building the new identity and the new language together. Your motivation intensity now develops along with your interest in the practice.

4 Build Identity Evidence: There are three was to build evidence. 1. Do the Work. You don’t have to work hard. Just follow the steps in this book and keep practicing. Build strong habits and practice at least once every day. Maintain the order of your evidence building to create a set ritual. 2. Notice that you are Making Progress. Spend a little time each week to recognize the results you have achieved. Look again at your cards and Encharts and other materials. This evidence shows you that your new identity is getting stronger. Build your evidence further, whenever possible, through enjoyable and simple conversations with native speakers. 3. Actively Appreciate your Progress. You have to be systematic in how you measure, express and declare your progress, both to yourself and to the people in your life. The evidence won’t stick unless we speak our progress in real dialogue. Powell Janulus discovered that it would take

about 80 to 100 Encharts, well practiced in conversation, to really speak each language comfortably. You can begin to count your Encharts against his mark, noticing the progress you are making each week. Identity building is inherently linked with accelerated language learning. All language learners begin for the same reason: to become someone who can speak the new language fluently. Next we will give you even more ways to make your New Language Identity stronger.

Three Roads to Identity: The fluency process is always intertwined with the identity-building process. People reach their peak of language learning by exploring and expressing the areas of life that they are most passionate about. There are three unique approaches:

Personal – Business – Metaphoric Personal Identity: Your personal identity is ‘who you are’ most of the time. You are always in in the driver’s seat, creating your new-language personal identity by building your vision of who you are becoming as a fluent speaker of your new language. Enchart your Passions: Your New Language Identity will develop by learning how to talk in your new language about the things in life that most interested you. Enchart your passions and your New Language Identity will form quickly. This can also includes your preferences, values and intimate thoughts. All the things you might share with close family or friends. In the beginning, this development moves through narrow channels of building Encharts about things you wish to talk about. Next, you begin to practice self-expression with learning partners. Finally, as an advanced learner, you think and express yourself naturally, in your new language. This is the Velocity approach that will vastly expand your depth of communication in your new language – and do it quickly.

Your personal identity in the new language is always the mirror of your firstlanguage identity. Your new-language personal identity is paradoxically both private and shared. Share it to Make it Stronger: You have to share your new language personal identity to make it stronger. Therefore, because it also touches on the innermost areas of your private life, there is always some risk in the beginning of that sharing. You must seek out practice partners and people who you can trust with the intimate details of ‘who you are’ to support you in your quest to merge your New Language Identity with your core being. As with any partners in every situation in life, it takes time to build trust in this new learning context. Take the time to assemble a circle of trusted friends. You need to talk about ‘who you are becoming’ in your new language in order to build strong interest in continuing your drive towards your goals. Your present personal identity is focused on ‘who am I now,’ which includes your interests and experience. Your future personal identity is focused on expanding to ‘who am I becoming,’ which is an expression in your new language of your future aspirations, goals, vision, and values of life. As you develop and express your vision and values of life, you get more energy and engagement, which further entrenches your new language personal identity. A strong personal identity base is your main foundation. All other identities are built on that solid base.

Business Identity: Your Business Identity includes your professional goals and results. These are things that you share publicly. Think about your public image and how you wish to ‘look good,’ or ‘look professional.’ This is usually based on an external reference of ‘how others see you’ or ‘how you wish to be seen.’ Some people are highly motivated by building their own personal brand. If this seems to fit for you, focus on doing this in your new language.

Your Business Identity is the ongoing process by which you develop and manage ‘who you are’ as a successful person in business. Many people wish to learn a new language to achieve a professional career result. Building your Business Identity in your new language requires you to be able to talk about yourself as a professional and about your work goals in a professional manner. As you progress, you will begin to express your Business Identity in your community and later expand that community. All this is intertwined with the fluency process. Your Business Identity is inherently public in nature; therefore, in the future, you will wish to manage this information as your professional persona. Exercise: Past – Present – Future

Enchart some of your career achievements, current projects and future business goals Practice building sentences with these ideas and talking about them This will build up your Business Identity in a broad spectrum, which includes your professional work goals, mission and vision. Link back Business Identity to your personal identity and share your biggest goals with your trusted friends and practice partners.

Metaphoric Identity: Humans constantly use metaphors to express themselves. Metaphorically compare yourself to someone or something. Have fun expressing and sharing fantasies with others in a playful way. This is the core foundation of a metaphoric self-identity.

Elvish or Klingon? Around the world we ask this ‘geeky’ question; do you want to learn Elvish or Klingon? For about 60% of the people in the western world, this single question will take them into a Metaphoric Identity. If this is you, focus your learning attention here.

Metaphoric Exercise One:

What animal most represents you: An eagle, lion, dolphin? Why do you choose that particular animal? What quality does this animal have that you feel most represents you as a human? Translate that quality word into your new language. Link in and feel it as you do! Make it one of your key words! Metaphoric Exercise Two:

Who do you admire: Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey? Which great leaders inspire you: Gandhi, Einstein, Mandela? Which fictional characters would you like to be: Gandalf, Superman, Rocky? What are the qualities that you like about these people? Imagine you possess these qualities. Imagine becoming that person. Step into the visualization. Learn how to talk about these metaphoric qualities in your new language! Keep your Metaphoric Identity Anonymous: As you are building an identity of ‘who you imagine yourself to be in your language,’ you must keep your thoughts about yourself to yourself. If you share your building blocks, the foundation for your identity that you are building will weaken and the power will dissipate. Anonymity provides the freedom to explore your secret identity without fear of judgment or self-doubt. The sky is your only limit if you don’t have to justify yourself. Privately, you can build and adapt your own personal values, and link them to your own unique visions.

Your Metaphoric Identity will accelerate your learning abilities. It allows you to create your own unique personal journey forward. Some people see this as a form of personal branding.

The Internet is full of Metaphoric Identity The virtual worlds of the internet are the perfect places to express and develop your Metaphoric Identity with complete anonymity. In a virtual setting, no one can see that you are NOT actually Gandhi or Gandalf. You don’t need a phone booth to change into your Superman costume. Check out any virtual world on the internet, and you will see that thousands of people have populated it with their metaphoric identities. Once you start living this persona in your new language, you won’t believe what happens. You will quickly and easily take on your New Language Identity and merge it naturally and powerfully with your foremost values.

Anchor your Identity into your New Language: Step into the world of your inspiring identity, knowing you are firmly Anchored and that your identity and confidence are secure. Discover your playfulness and link it to integrating and vitalizing contexts. The more you use your new language to build your inspired identity, the more you send a powerful message to your Intuitive Learning system and the more confident you become. Your confidence and commitment propel you into the useful conversations that you need to move forward. Your new language now becomes a natural shortcut to what you want. Declare yourself to a Native Speaker: “I am learning your language, and this year I plan to dramatically expand my proficiency. Please feel free to support me by telling me what I’m doing well and what I can do even better!”

Start Visioning your New Identity: Previously, we explored the powerful effect of the visualization of moving images in your mind’s eye. It takes only 10 seconds to review a small movie in which you view yourself being a natural speaker in your new language – easy to do each day, anytime and anywhere.

Become your Mission Then think about the value of learning your new language and design some personal commercials or short movies, with your new identity in the starring role. See yourself as a native speaker – talking with the people you want to talk with the most! Make these moving images bright and fun, maybe even absurd, so they are memorable. Structure your day with 10–second commercial breaks that pop up. Watch these with frequency, like any commercial on TV or any online pop-up ad. Make sure that your new, inspired identity, the truly natural speaker, is always cast in the lead role.

Build your Identity Profile: Creating a visual display. This is a physical and material representation of your New Language Identity. This is the very best way to keep your New Language Identity in existence. Construct a large, flip-chart poster of who you want to become in your new language. Make sure to build your Identity Profile in your new language. Use different colors, Post-it Notes and images to make your poster visually attractive. Keep it in a place where you can see it every day. Here are some suggestions of the things you can add to your New Language Identity Profile:

Your name (ideally in your new language) Your key Value Words Graphic images cut out of magazines or downloaded from the internet

Logos of products relating to your new language Images of animals found in the country of your new language Flags, ethnic dress, food or customs relating to the culture of your new language Post-it notes with inspiring ideas People you admire Your learning goals Your life goals Your career goals Success in your new language Visuals that represent your new language travel plans

Put your New Self Around the House Use Post-it notes to display elements of your New Language Identity Profile around your home. The bathroom mirror is an ideal spot because you will see the notes when you brush your teeth twice a day. DO NOT ignore them or the words will lose power. Your Intuitive Learning system will not value them unless you do. Stop for a moment to honor them and they will gain power. Sticky Post-it Notes are one of the most useful tools. Post them near the fridge or on the bathroom mirror for a 5-second review of your new identity. Introduce your New Self to your Trusted Circle: In life, we all maintain an inner circle of people close to us. As you declare your New Language Identity to those people in your life who you trust the most, your commitment gets stronger. You can’t let down your closest confidants, so what you have shared with them must remain strong and committed. This step takes courage, so begin slowly if you need to. As you build evidence, it will get easier.

Start Talking About yourself in your New Language: Talk to others about your interests and intentions, using your new language. Map your identity profile to talk about the values you personally will get from your new language. You now can feel the intensity of purpose and inner power that your Value Words provide. These two practices form a solid foundation for building your New Language Identity. Keep Talking to yourself in your New Language: For example, keep a small display of your key Value Words from your Identity Profile on the steering wheel or dashboard of your car. Acknowledge one word at every traffic light. Imagine becoming the person that matches that value word. Later, we will discuss this in great detail when we look at the power of Internal Dialogue. Depending on how you use your Internal Dialogue for language development, it will either be your best friend or worst enemy. Upgrade your Identity: You will find yourself needing to constantly add to and upgrade your vision, values and identity because they will develop as you get stronger in your new language universe.

Be a Beginner Say to yourself, “I am a beginner.” Your New Language Identity is newly born and therefore fragile. You cannot expect too much of yourself. You have a beginner’s identity in your new language. Keep giving yourself permission to NOT know how to speak the language very well. Enjoy being a beginner just as a child delights in learning to speak.Keep it all in perspective: Here is a scenario. A person practices like crazy to prepare for a trip. They imagine arriving and being able to speak the language. They arrive to discover the rapidly spoken language and grammar habits of the locals are far beyond their abilities. They end up giving up, convinced that they can never learn the language. So they stop practicing for the rest of the trip and miss out on the rich and immersive learning environment.

We call this scenario: New Language Identity Collapse. It is very common and easily preventable with a little planning.

First and foremost, always give yourself permission to be a beginner Keep your language speaking level in perspective and be proud of beginning. Use basic Encharts to begin to have simple conversations with real people Learn this key sentence in your new tongue: “Please speak slowly!” Jump to the People section for many more tips and how to practice The Conversation.

Become ‘One of Them’: Catch yourself when you think you feel separate or alienated from ‘them.’ Keep stepping into your New Language Identity and culture. Keep expanding your immersion in your new language to include its culture. Language includes many forms of expression besides words. Start with accent, tone, and rhythm. Expand this to include a mindset which encompasses mannerisms, movements, facial expression, gestures, bearing and behavior. Make it your own – the way a great actor becomes the role. Enjoy it. Immerse yourself in your New Culture: A language like Japanese, Turkish, Russian or Mandarin is usually linked to a single culture. A language like English, however, is linked to many cultures. For instance, if international business communication is your motive for learning English, immerse yourself in the culture of business English. Learn the latest Harvard MBA jargon and practice talking like an experienced international consultant.

Communicate with Culture, Not Words

If you travel to India or Northern England, you will discover vastly different variations of English that would be tricky for most native English speakers to understand. These language cultures vary greatly in terms of accent, tone, rhythm, and body language. Step into the culture of communication as you step into your New Language Identity. Maximize your immersion by taking on the culture, body language and mindset. While you are practicing the words, also take on the mindset. In our research with Powell Janulus, he demonstrated, time and time again, that taking on the mindset of the New Language Identity accelerates every other element of the learning process. More than anything, Powell loved becoming an Italian. You could feel his passion. Try this. When you fall in love with your new language, you will have fully stepped into your new language identity. Become Powell Janulus: It’s true you are not, nor can you ever be Powell Janulus, but you have exactly the same basic brain technology. If you are trying to learn Spanish, for instance, don’t give up the process if you don’t feel Spanish at the end of the first day, week or even month. The idea is to maintain the intention of becoming a Spanish speaker. This holds true with whatever language you are trying to learn. Commitment simply means that you commit to re-commit, step by step. By exploring how to see yourself as a native, or how to immerse yourself in the culture to the point where you feel yourself a native, you will discover more and more opportunities for easy accelerated learning. The waiter serving you coffee will enjoy the repartee with you while you practice. The Velocity system is a process of being open to acceleration. Give yourself the opportunity to get so much enjoyment out of learning that you expand your identity. Become someone who succeeds at speaking your new language and quickly start to build relationships in that new language. Step into your New Language Identity and feel the sudden rush of acceleration and speed.

“When I moved from Korea to Canada, English became my prison. Everyday I tried to connect with people, but I kept failing. I was a prisoner, alone and isolated. In Velocity I discovered that in English, I can be anyone I want. I am reinventing myself as a dancer of the English language. In

”

Velocity, I went from prisoner to dancer. - YounJoo – Victoria, Canada

8.Fun ******** “People rarely succeed unless they have fun with what they are doing.” – Dale Carnegie Kids are Experts in Accelerated Learning: Look at a group of kids playing together. Watch them with new eyes. You will see a group of humans in a state of hyper-learning. They might be engaged in layers of social interaction, group games, visual-special games, imagination, Visioning, acting, rhythm, numbers, words and body movements – all tied together with a silly context such as ‘hide and seek.’ Foremost, they are learning to how to ‘be human’ in a safe and simulated problem-solving environment. This is what hyper-learning looks like, but most kids just call it fun.

Fun is Learning: As adult language learners, we can use fun to dramatically speed our rate of learning. All of the best Velocity Learning Systems include games, but the most important element is the relaxed joy you bring to the process. To add velocity, we layer fun into Group Learning games that include acting. Group Learning games are some of the very best ways to bring in fun.

Fun Melts Risk: Communication requires other humans. However, any time you bring in other people, you cannot predict their response. They may not understand you. They may reject you. Communication carries risk. Humans know this and start cautiously. Fortunately, the ice will always melt with a little playful group rapport. What comes next is the big tsunami. Once we relax and start to have fun, everything changes. We get hit by a big wave of learning. Fun group games always work wonders for accelerating the fluency process. Go find your group.

Fun Drives Learning Making the learning experience enjoyable is the key to fluency success. You discover your fun genes whenever you feel safe, secure and relaxed. Fun is always there in the gene pool of possibilities; however, we need to set ourselves up for it, protect it and encourage it to blossom. Having fun is a sure sign that you have built a solid foundation to your practice. You will notice that throughout this book, and in every aspect of our system, we have sprinkled fun, silly and playful elements. You job is to use them, dramatize them, invent even more of them and keep generating a relaxed and playful space for learning. Eat Ice Cream Everyday: Set a clear intention for FUN for your time and your practice. Learning a new language is just like eating ice cream. If it is hard or annoying, you are doing it wrong. The same goes for fluency. Your mission is to find a way to have FUN learning EVERY DAY. Laughter = Learning: The highest form of fun is humor. The moment you laugh, you have achieved the perfect foundation for accelerative learning. Laughter is the bridge from our everyday awareness into the relaxed and intentional focus of effective intake. This is not to say that humor alone will get you there; you could observe something very funny and not learn anything!

Humor also has a tremendous ability to reset and align our focus. Later in this chapter, we will introduce games, play and acting, which are some of the fastest ways to become comfortable speaking the language with other people.

Put on Your Silly Hat: In the Velocity workshops, we ask people to put on silly hats and ridiculous, brightly colored wigs, masks or costumes when they play learning games and perform their short comedy performances. It is hard to take yourself too seriously when you are wearing a rainbow-colored wig. The embarrassment of your silly wig is much greater than the worry that your words might come out wrong. Anything that makes you laugh will work. The more outrageous, the better! It is important to understand that we need lots of humor to offset the challenges that come with language learning practices.

Kids Play to Learn Children see their world of learning as fun. A two-year-old child exhibits 100% language learning efficiency. Most language teaching methods operate at about 4% effectiveness. Fun is the difference. The more extreme a person can get in their silliness or their personal idea of enjoyable absurdity, the more their brain can relax into that pure, child-like, two-year-old state. Every human being has the ability to learn a language in nine months to a year. Each of us did it once. We can do it again. Think of fun as one of the batteries that keeps you going. When you have fun, you are charging your fun battery. The process of challenging your brain to absorb new language learning ideas and testing new tools depletes your fun battery. Your job is to keep your fun battery boosted so that you can take on more learning challenges while making it a pleasurable experience. The more you practice, the more you are building up your risk-taking capacity, which will end up recharging your whole life!

Recharge Your Fun Battery: What happens if you totally empty your fun battery? If the fun battery runs dry, this can easily trigger old cynical emotional systems which start the internal thinking processes of negative thoughts like “This is pointless / embarrassing / stupid / hard.” Your brain naturally disengages in order to protect yourself. The sad truth is that the world is full of people who learned to read and write a second language in school, but have never felt comfortable speaking that language. There is a simple solution to that problem. A sufficient amount of fun will always break through the spoken language barrier.

Plan a concrete foundation of relaxed and playful engagement Plan your next practice event to be as entertaining as possible Get silly hats or a crazy wig that reflect your New Language Identity Get a group involved in planning a fluency party Get everyone to bring food, costumes or props Plan to have fun

The Fun Philosophy Use the power of fun to relax the Reactive System. Fun can override your old negative self-comparison and self-judgment. As you start to have more and more fun in your practice, you forget that you are even learning a new language and just go with the game. The brain’s Reward System gets activated. Learning happens best when we do what we enjoy most. Around the world, everyone is playing games on their phones or devices. Not just kids anymore, but everyone. Consider that the brain is wired to enjoy learning, and learning is one of the reasons that everyone enjoys playing these games.

Fun is focused motivation. Fun is a single-minded immersion in the moment. Fun represents the ultimate in harnessing one’s emotions in the service of learning. Fun allows the emotions to be positive, energized and aligned with the task at hand. Fun is energized focus and success in the process of the activity. Add More Fun: Ask yourself, “What do I normally do for fun in my everyday life?” What activities might you engage in that bring laughter or happiness to your life? What would you do if you woke up one day and could do anything you wanted? Make a list of 10 everyday activities that you would do just for fun. Find ways to bring your language learning into this activity.

The Brain Science of Fun: Fun and relaxed learning is the key to a healthy brain. Research has identified areas of the brain associated with the perception of novelty, which are stimulated by unusual or surprising circumstances. Anything new, extreme or unexpected will kick off this process; however, humans must feel safe and relaxed, or it will not begin. Information is initially received in the Hippocampus, the site of long-term memory. The brain attempts to match new information with recognizable patterns stored in long-term memory. When it is unable to do this, the brain releases dopamine, a chemical which stimulates the amygdala, the site of emotion, and creates a pleasurable feeling that is associated with the new memory. In other words, fun is created by stimulating the brain with novelty.

Dopamine – Reward-Driven Learning: Neuroscience correlates the concept of fun in a learning environment to a positive healthy addiction to dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter and

hormone that functions by sending signals to other nerve cells. The release of dopamine is associated with pleasure, motivation, concentration and learning. Every time an activity releases a jolt of dopamine, you connect that activity with a pleasurable or fun feeling, which motivates you to do that activity again and again.

Group Games: The very best learning fun comes from group games. Group Learning games are a bit like party games, in which a small group of 3-5 people work through some silly and embarrassing game. We almost always work from an Enchart, so the first segment of the game is building your Enchart. Brightly colored Post-it Notes are one of the best ways to warm up the visual brain and assist everyone to get into the learning flow. Add More People, Add More Fun: The addition of 2-4 people into your learning process will increase your learning power by ten times. The more people, the more power! Plan a party and invite friends and friends of friends who speak the new language. Start a Meetup group. Attend a Velocity program and jump into the fun. Build your group.

“Pretend Anything and You Can Master It.” – Milton Erickson Acting: At this point, we need a special mention of acting. Of all the group games that can speed up language fluency, acting has a special place. The moment that you step into a role and become someone else, all of your first language barriers to learning fall away. Just as the silly hat allows you to step around your embarrassment, acting allows you to experience a range of expression in your new language. The more you add melodramatic emotions and silly humor, the stickier the learning becomes. Even though it is all pretend, any kind of social interaction with real humans will make the learning real. Finally, we lock it in with laughter. The moment we laugh at how silly we are, what we have learned becomes part of who we are.

Break the Embarrassment Barrier Having a conversation when you are new to a language carries the risk of embarrassment. You shy from it because you don’t know if your attempts at communication will work or be humiliating. Human instinct is to avoid shame and embarrassing situations. The Acting Approach:

Uses the power of ENCHARTS to build sentences Uses the power of PEOPLE to embed the learning into interactions Uses the power of FUN to break through the language barrier The moment you communicate an idea in your new language and it is understood by the person to whom you are speaking, a critical fluency circuit is completed in your brain. This integration happens in your Intuitive Learning system. This happens because it suddenly becomes relevant. This is especially true when we move from memorized phrases to customized sentence construction.

Acting ‘As-If’ You Were Fluent: All this business of acting or ‘skits’ is just a cover for the real work that is happening at an intuitive level. The “AsIf” frame, sometimes called ‘the pretend game,’ is one of the most transformative shifts you can undertake.

Act ‘As If’ you were a fluent native speaker. Spend a little time each day, acting as if you are a native speaker to have. Take on the style. Imagine each element in detail. What if you had the point of view of a native speaker? How would they see you? What might they enjoy discussing? What if you used the natural gestures that the native speakers use?

What would those gestures look like? What if you had the natural rhythms and tones a native speaker would use? How would you sound? Add More Emotion: Acting takes us into the world of emotional selfexpression which is the very heart of communication. This makes our new language our real language. Children know that acting games are the best ways to learn, and every kid’s pretend game has some element where they try on emotions of an imagined adult character. I can’t Act –It is Silly and Embarrassing: The trick to getting over embarrassment is to add more embarrassment until it becomes ridiculous and therefore loses its power to embarrass. In the Velocity workshops, we have tested this method over many years by using group games, silly skits and playful Enchart games to put people into fun, but slightly embarrassing, situations. The very best way to do this is by adding silly and fake extreme emotions to the process.

4 States of Existence: In ancient Greek theatre, there were three types of theatre: drama, tragedy and comedy. We add in romance because it has a profound ability to put people into extreme states of over-the-top embarrassment. Drama: Always pump up drama until it becomes melodrama. Push the motions to the extreme over-the-top limit. The classic example is Fire-FireFire in which you pretend that you are trapped in a burning building and know you are going to die. You SCREAM “Fire!” at the top of your lungs. This produces almost no new language learning, but always generates a breakthrough in self-expression. Tragedy: Take Romeo and Juliet to the next level. Keep in mind that it is very sad and all the main characters die at the end. Take this to the limit.

Comedy: Once you ‘redline’ the emotions, almost everything gets funny and silly. Everything becomes comedy. This has the strange effect of making the learning very sticky and hyper-relevant. Romance: Bring the full range of love. Scale from an innocent first love to sexy flirtation to burlesque overacting. If possible, have the men play female characters and the women play male characters. This is one of the best ways to breakthrough embarrassment and extend the range of expression.

The Wheel of Emotions: A Wheel of Emotions is an ideal way to trigger over-the-top emotional acting during a skit or game. Your wheel may have eight choices of emotions that can be acted out in outrageous ways. Later, you can add an intensity range that will move from low to high on a scale from one to ten. Eight Segments of the Crazy Wheel: There are many versions of this wheel, but this CRAZY Wheel seems to work best.

Silly Sentences

Silly Sentences bring fun and acting into the sentence construction process and begin to build natural and intuitive fluency. 1. Build an Enchart: Build a simple Enchart using the template below. Ideally, use a big, flip-chart-size page. Use brightly colored Post-it notes for each column. Put the names of each group member in the Who column. Use a group brainstorm to fill in lots of words in the Action and Where columns. Add in lots of crazy and silly words. 2. Make a Silly Sentence: Take turns making a Silly Sentence. Read it out loud, using the name of another person from the group. John says: Susan loves umping in the zoo 3. Act it Out: The person who was called says the exact sentence back, and then makes up some silly actions to act it out in an exaggerated manner. Have fun. Get crazy.

Action Learning: Action Learning is a simple and popular way to embed the learning of Encharts into your physical world. It also allows you to listen – the way a small child listens – as an active participant. Below, you will find a simple action learning game that you can play with the following Enchart. It requires that one person speaks and at least one other responds

with actions using real objects. The second person doesn’t need to speak at first, but only take the action steps. Build a similar Enchart in your new language. Build an Action Learning Enchart: Use the example below to build an Enchart in a big flip-chart page. Find some objects to use as props and put each one in the WHAT column. Put the names of each group member in the WHO column. Use a group brainstorm to fill in lots of words in the columns. Use brightly colored Post-it notes for each column. Add in more silly words or actions as you go. Act it Out: The person in the WHO column repeats the exact sentence back, and then gets up and performs the actions using the random objects you have provided for props. Have fun.

Do three or four rounds one way, then revise for another go around by simply re-arranging the words on the Enchart. This 4x4 action learning Enchart will give you enough steps for this preliminary learning level. Take turns, each telling the other person what to do. Add more crazy elements to take it over-the-top. Add people to the final WHERE column to mess things up. Here are some classic examples: Paul put Paul on the tomato. (This caused a big red splat.) Paul put the universe in Paul. (I am still trying to figure this one out.)

Enchart Skits: When we start to have more and more fun with skits, we forget that we are learning a new language because we are immersed in the game. The brain’s Reward System is getting activated. This is the ultimate value of acting. Having fun with other people is the purpose of language. A 55-year-old man doesn’t worry about his sentence structure when he is wearing a bright pink wig and acting the part of a young woman flirting with a fireman who has just rescued her cat. This is what Instant Fluency looks like.

Set Up a Skit: Start with Roles: Assign roles randomly, even if the role may seem completely wrong for the person. It makes it very funny. It is fun if there is a demonstration beforehand, so people will feel confident when they start their own version of the script and play.

Select a writer who comes up with an idea and writes the script. Select a director who can change the script as you go. Select a cast who will follow the instructions of the director Select a cinematographer to record it on their phone, post the video on Facebook and email the link to everybody. Switch roles each time the group meets. Writer: The writer writes a funny script based on Enchart conversations. Try to tell a story using a series of Encharts. Each Enchart might have a two parts: a question or action from one actor and a response from another. Build a full 4x4 Enchart for the response, so the actors may choose how to respond. The writer chooses the cast and directs the scenario. The writer casts the roles as outrageously as possible. Director: The director picks one emotion for each ‘take’ and explains the motivation. The director announces the level of intensity for the emotion to

each player and demonstrates it. Finally, the director announces and changes the cast, script and Encharts as the action proceeds to keep the story flowing. Actors: The cast should value the importance of each role and practice the lines like a real actor. Practice the acting full of emotions! Overacting should be encouraged and praised. Every actor has permission to add their own unique elements to the skit to make it even funnier. Indulge yourself in high drama and over-emphasize physical actions so the skit is hilarious and fun. Everyone: Contributes costumes, props, wigs, masks and playful word guides so that people get maximum enjoyment from the play. Guidelines:

Use popular topics: cops and robbers, zombies, vampires, firemen and fires, dating and flirting, families on holidays, fashion shows, beauty contests, dog shows, etc. Create a simple Enchart that develops some interaction within the language. Keep it basic at the beginning; you are acting in your new language. This is a challenge. Use the simple keywords to keep the story moving. The director can interrupt the process at any time to demonstrate outlandish postures that would go with the words or intonations and allow people to take on dramatic qualities. Repeat the skit. Take one, take two, take three. Repeat each scenario three times, with three different people playing three different roles three times. Storytelling Skits: Storytelling is a very simple approach for building simple skits out of well-known stories. Pick a classic one. Build a set of Encharts with the intention of telling that story. You can build on storytelling

with others by taking turns adding one sentence to the tale, using combinations from the Encharts. Example: The princess must kiss the frog; the frog must turn into a prince. As you build the Encharts, try to create a whole range of variable things by changing words around. It is always fun when the princess kisses a flower and the flower turns into a dragon. Storytelling skits add an exciting new level to language learning. You can take well-known stories and hand out script Encharts to people in your circle a week before the get-together. This lets everyone prepare and allows them to get comfortable with their new language Encharts.

9.People *********** “He that converses not, knows nothing” – Turkish proverb Drop the Books and Talk to REAL People: We keep studying more, thinking that someday we will be ready to talk to real people. Confront the obvious. The reason language learners hide in books is to avoid the fear of making mistakes and being embarrassed. STOP. Break the language barrier and talk to real people. This is absolutely the fastest way to learn. What is the difference between practicing on your own and talking with another real person? Isn’t it all just the same, as long as you are practicing and making progress? The Intuitive System knows the huge difference between saying a sentence to yourself and speaking it to another person in a real conversation. In this chapter, we get very clear on the exact nature of this difference and how you can use real conversations with people to dramatically accelerate your language learning.

Search for Native Speakers: At one point, Powell Janulus set out to learn Polish. This wasn’t a big challenge for Powell; he usually conquered a new language in about 4-6 months. He was confident, and he set off polishing his tools: He made word lists, he created his Encharts and he built

his Encharts. Then he came up against a big roadblock. He didn’t know anyone who actually spoke Polish. Polish has a unique written consonant system that can be a challenge for spoken fluency. For Powell’s accelerated language learning to succeed, he had to start by modelling a Polish person. He needed to become one with the Polish people and immerse himself in the Polish culture. He had given himself a six-month deadline and time was passing. Powell recognized that once he had given himself a new Polish identity, his brain’s Intuitive Systems would take over and he could let nature take the wheel. But he was stuck in first gear because he didn’t have a Polish community. He needed to fashion a surefire, people-sourcing widget for his toolbox. This is how the ‘The Velocity Conversation Process’ came into being. In his search for ways to find Polish people, Powell was forced to develop a system to establish some highly effective rapport and user-friendly questioning skills. Immediately, he set out asking everyone he came across if they knew anyone Polish.

Buy Milk – Learn Polish: Finally, he discovered that the owner of his corner grocery store was a native Polish speaker. He started arranging daily visits to buy things. It began slowly with Polish questions like, “Where is the milk?” Gradually, he began to take on bigger subjects. He practiced being interested and curious about the store owner. He worked on asking openended questions that would get the store owner talking. He focused on keeping the conversation going as long as possible so he could get the most learning out of it. Soon Powell had conversational liftoff. With delight, he started planning his daily shopping trips. He selected topic after topic, creating ten minute, card-sized Encharts constructed from scripts he wrote for casual conversations. He planned his time carefully, making sure his visits to the store occurred when customers were the least likely to be present, so as to maximize his chatting time with the store owner.

Step-by-step, Enchart-by-Enchart, topic-by-topic, Powell slowly built a relationship with the store owner and began to move towards his goal. Out of this experience, Powell developed the essence of the conversation which we pass on to you. Over the years, we have expanded this through deep research in the field of coaching. Coaching, at the very heart of it all, is the technology of having great transformational conversations. Talk to Everyone – Everywhere and Everywhen: Forcing yourself to constantly meet new people will give you the confidence to meet even more people, and the conversations with all those people will expand your capacity for learning until it snowballs, generating astounding results.

What if they judge me? Actually, this has nothing to do with language and everything to do with openness. Be open. All humans are scared of other humans. They are just as scared of you as you are of them. However, it doesn’t have to be this way. Be a Leader. Leaders Go First. Decide to be a leader and be the first to break the ice. Rule No. 1: People are Safe. Don’t even hesitate for a moment to think about what other people might think. It’s been proven that if a person is stopped and asked for help, in 99% of the cases they are delighted to connect and be of service. If the odd person rejects you, consider this experience as one small positive bump in the road. You probably would not benefit in interacting with that kind of person anyway. It is a positive occurrence when you are able to rule out negatives without too much effort expended. It is perfectly normal to feel a little afraid at the beginning of a new language learning adventure. You are just afraid of failure, and failure isn’t an option if you conquer fear. Challenge Yourself to Take a Few Risks! Through finding new friendships and discovering new possibilities, you open your endorphin learning center,

and lifelong learning becomes an adrenalin rush. You will soon discover that risks are rewarding. 90% of Language Learning Happens in Real Conversations. The Intuitive Learning system needs to make learning a persistent habit; it can’t grab onto abstract thoughts. Real person-to-person communication (or a strong visualization) is required or the learning process is simply reduced to the level of unimportant bulk memorization.

Real Communication: Saying a sentence to yourself is only an abstract thought. As such, it has limited learning power. Who are you talking to? Why are you saying this sentence? When might you say this? What is the point? Take a minute to contrast the concept of an abstract inner thought with any type of real communication with another human being. A sentence is formulated in the mind to communicate to a specific person for a specific reason. You speak the sentence. They hear it and respond. This response might take the form of body language or eye contact. Whatever the form, there is a moment where you know that communication was received, and this closes the communication loop.

Transactions – Close the Loop: In computer science and banking, this kind of interaction is called a transaction. In computer science, transactions are a handshake communication protocol that prevents data loss. In banking, a transaction is not complete unless both parties sign off that it actually occurred. In face-to-face human communication, the idea is the same. Transactions form the critical difference between solo learning and talking with a partner. Keep in mind that 90% of communication is nonverbal. Our communication includes both our focused awareness and our Intuitive System. In a communication between two people, both Intuitive Systems are also having

a conversation. They signal understanding and recognition back and forth to each other. Most of this signaling is done with body language and tone. Three Steps to Close a Key Loop in the Learning Process: 1. Practice and learn how to communicate an idea. 2. Speak it to another human. 3. Receive response/signal back that they have understood. These three actions represent a shift to the moment of understanding. This pattern closes a key loop in the learning process. Once this pattern is set, our Intuitive Learning system has a context for why the thought process is important, and it has a repeating pattern to which it has become accustomed. At this point, the abstract shifts into a reality. To ensure this pattern becomes permanently stored in your brain, you need to add people (receivers) into the sequence. If you avoid speaking to other people, the shift will occur too slowly to create an ongoing pattern or habit. This idea of transaction-based learning may seem simple and obvious, but it is often poorly represented in most formal language learning programs.

The Conversation: But how to begin? In Velocity, we have one more power tool: The Conversation. The Conversation is an awkward and contrived simulation of ‘people talking’ that lets language learners experience what it would be like to have a REAL conversation. The Conversation uses Encharts and scripts to walk people through ‘something like’ a real conversation. Ready for the secret sauce? Somewhere in The Conversation, the magic of authentic interest kicks in and we forget that we are having a ‘pretend’ conversation. Basic human rapport takes over, and we end up in a real conversation. Expand the script a bit more, and suddenly we are getting to know someone new and finding out what they are most passionate about in life. Authentic interest is the key. At the point that our interest in the other person exceeds our interest in learning the new language, the entire learning process becomes sticky. When this happens,

our Intuitive Learning process takes off and everything becomes easy. Welcome to Velocity. The art of constructed dialogue is a time-honored approach to having a real and meaningful conversation in any language. Some of the most successful and highly regarded professional ‘conversationalists’ are talk show hosts. The art of The Conversation is to appear to be in a natural conversation, not to conduct a cross-examination. It is a skill that must be developed and practiced over time. Enchart a Real Conversation: Generally, we use open-ended questions starting with Who and gradually moving up to How, What and, specifically, Where and When. Notice that these questions cannot be answered with a short ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response. Open-ended questions will accelerate your learning as you will be exposed to a wider range of words immediately at the beginning of a conversation. With some simple templates you can customize sets of Encharts and have a wide range of conversations. It is very useful to Enchart your conversations with learning or real life conversational partners. Build a set of cards with the intention of conducting very simple conversations with your partners. You need to make the conversations as ‘real’ as possible by focusing on things that you are interested in and things that you might really want to talk about. Asking questions is the key to keeping the conversations flowing. You can start with a few closed questions such as “Can we talk?” or “May I ask you a few questions?” and gradually begin to include open-ended questions. In the beginning, it is best to mirror back the question so that both partners get a chance to practice it. The point is to take a moment and think about your answers. Try to make them as authentic as you can within the limits of the Encharts. This single exercise is a powerful gateway for building comfort and relaxation as you

actually start speaking in your new language with other speakers or other learners.

Conversational Tools: This chapter introduces the art and science of having great conversations in your new language. Paradoxically, we do this by introducing scripted conversational tools. The Conversation, because it is pre-scripted, may appear to be the opposite of a real authentic conversation. However, in practice this approach works. Once you get engaged in a real conversation, the script appears to disappear.

Pick a topic that you feel very strongly about. Map out the conversational Encharts relating to that topic. Seek to engage another person in the area of your passion. Find out what they are most passionate about and find out why. Set an intention for a meaningful communication. Feel yourself relax and realize the script has disappeared. If you want to learn your new language fast, be curious and interested in people. Ask great questions, and authentically want to get to know everyone you talk to. The fastest way to learn your new language is by having real conversations!

Four Key Conversational Tools: Each of these four tools forms a critical element to getting the conversation going and keeping it flowing.

Warm-up Contract Topic Thanks These are time-honored tools that have been tested in conversations thousands of times. Using the Enchart structure, they are actually very easy

to master, even in a new language that you have never spoken before.

1 The Warm Up: Get Interested in Them: Powell Janulus had a passion for people. When he spoke to someone, he was fully engaged in the conversation, and he honestly wanted to find out as much as possible about the person. He asked questions and then asked more questions. This expression of interest showed that he sincerely cared about what they had to say. This basic interest in others is the foundation for all great conversations:

The Conversation Deal: I will be interested in you if you will help me learn my new language Here are some great questions to warm up the conversation. Use the 1-10 scale to practice a range of answers. How are You? Being genuinely interested in the current state of someone is the key to building rapport. Every language has a set of warm-up phrases and current-state questions. Some examples of the range are: “How are you?” in American English to “How is the weather?” in UK English to “How is your energy?” in Japanese. These are some of the best questions and Enchart conversation segments to learn first. These can range from very formal to very casual. Many learning processes focus on the very formal in order to maximize the chances of not offending anyone. This is always a good practice. However, to get a conversation flowing, it is best to focus on the more relaxed, casual end of the spectrum. Answer in a 1-10 Scale: Notice that this scale provides a great range of intensity levels of 1 through 10. This very simple tool allows you to bring the authentic emotion into a conversation that creates connection.

2 The Contract: Powell’s ‘conversation contract’ was to start a brief discussion in Polish: “Hey, Joseph. How are you today? Can we have a Polish conversation for a few moments? I want to ask you: Who do you think will win the game tonight?” These questions would, of course, be asked in Polish. His approach required a bit of charm, a relaxed tone and lots of interest – the foundation of basic rapport. The contract or contracting refers to anything structural that has to do with the conversation itself or your communication. Respectful permission is key. Always ask permission before assuming a person wants to chat with you.

I’m curious; may I ask you a question? May I ask you some more questions? May I practice (my new language) with you? May I have 10 minutes of your time to practice (my new language) with you? Conversation Contract Fundamentals: Keep these questions in your contract toolbox in case you need to pull them out. These are some of the best phrases to learn in your new language.

I speak a little English (add your new language). Can you repeat that, slower? Please say that again, slowly. May I ask you a question? How do you say (the word) in English? Remember the most important contract phrase: Please speak slowly.

3 The Topic: The topic is the focus of the conversation. As such, it is important to pick topics that link to natural enthusiasm. In the beginning, focus on topics that you are passionate about. This will make your preparation and focus much easier. Later, concentrate on topics that you think will engage your conversational partner. You don’t always know what you might be talking about, so it is best to have a few generic topics that can appeal to almost everyone. Powell’s secret weapon was food. Almost everyone likes food, so this is a very easy way to strike up a conversation.

Three Magic Topic Questions: Here are three magic questions to get the conversation going. You can loop these three questions around to keep the conversation flowing.

1. What do You like? This question is the key topic entry point. It is a meta-question with thousands of variations. You can ask it in the most open way, such as: “What do you like to eat?” or “What kind of music do you like most?” Or you can ask it in a narrow way using a closed question: “Do you like soccer?” or “Do you like sushi?” This will result in a “yes” or “no” answer, which you can follow with the next question: “How much do you like it?” It is very easy to answer a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question, so this is often a good way to get the conversation going in the beginning. What do you like to _______ ? (eat) What kind of _______ (music) do you like most? Do you like _______ ? (soccer)

Do you like _______ ? (sushi)

2. How much do You like it? Whether you are asking or answering this next question, it plays a very important role. It will bring out a range of emotional expression about whatever the topic is. This adds in the emotional expression that does 90% of the work of communication. Also, this emotional expression is the foundation of human connection that creates rapport and leads to friendship. Answer in a 1-10 Scale: Share your feelings about the object or action you are building into your conversational script by choosing from the intensity levels of 1 through 10 in the scale below:

I Really Really Hate It: You will notice that it doesn’t always have to be something you love. You can be just as passionate about something you hate. Maybe in The Conversation, you will find out how much the other person really hates something. This is one more very useful connection because it links to passion and conviction.

3. Why do You like it? Why words and questions are the gateway to deeper connection in a conversation. However, people won’t usually give you that next level of authenticity unless you show genuine interest and willingness to go a bit deeper. You may need to ask these questions a few times in different ways to show that you really want to get to know them. For example: Question 1 Why do you like soccer? Answer It is a FUN game Question 2 Why else do you like soccer? Answer It is EXCITING when my team WINS. Question 3 Why else do you like it when your team wins? Answer When our team WINS, we CELEBRATE!

Value Words: We now need to come back to the ULTIMATE conversational tool – Value Words. Value Words are the very fastest way to build rapport and connection and create the experiences of interest and friendship in a conversation. Value Words are single keywords that link to emotions or ‘what you want’ in life. For example, if we take the soccer conversation above, we can highlight the Value Words in bold: It is a fun game. It is exciting when my team wins. When our team wins, we celebrate! The key skill is to catch the Value Words and work them back into the conversation. In the soccer example, the third question is based on the value word from the second answer.

Listening: Catching the Value Words takes practice, especially when you are listening to a fast native speaker. This is a great place to use the power of Intoning. Intoning sets of common Value Words in your new language is a great way to build your listening skills. Build sets of common Value Words and practice Intoning them using the 3x3 method. That is, 3 times in 3 days. If you do this, the Value Words will start to POP out when you hear them. This is what the same soccer answers will look like when you listen to a fast native speaker:

Blah blah FUN blah blah EXCITING blah blah WINS blah blah blah CELEBRATE! This may seem silly, but it is actually tremendously useful in a conversational setting. Give yourself permission not to understand everything. This is the only way forward. Have some fun and laugh at your primitive conversational skills. The point is not to have a perfect conversation, but to get some kind of a conversation flowing until your natural Intuitive Learning system can kick in. Value Words are the key to making this happen. Powell Janulus was a master conversationalist. The truth is that he often didn’t know all the words he was hearing. However, his amazing ability for picking up key words allowed him to create the experience of having a conversation with a fluent native speaker. For the Guinness Book of World Records, he had to have a two-hour conversation with a native speaker. That native speaker had to have the experience of a fluent conversation for those two hours. This testing took place over a one-month period. Powell was trying for 64 languages, but he only passed on 42. Now you know one of his many ‘magic’ tricks. We challenge the next generation of polyglots to use this approach to break Powell’s world record. Perhaps it will be you!

4 Thank You: Complete the conversation with WARM appreciation. When you appreciate the person for the conversation, it creates even more

trust and connection. Again, this increases the relevance and stickiness of the learning for you. It also increases that chance that you can have another conversation with this person in the future. Pick Up the Gold: Appreciation is GOLD. Remember to ‘pick up the gold’ at the end of the conversation. Don’t brush past this or try to sweep it under the rug. Thank you for your time. I enjoyed this conversation. You can always explore the appreciation a little more to harvest more gold (Value Words): Q: What did you like about this conversation? It was interesting. It was fun. It was exciting. I got to know you a bit more. It gave me an understanding of your... (insert their Value Words).

The Arrow Here is the entire conversation mapped onto a simple Arrow. This is an amazing tool. Build one in your new language, and keep it with you all the time. Fall in love with your new language Conversation Arrow:

Keep THEM Talking: The point of a real conversation is to keep people talking so that you will learn your new language. The counterpoint to this is that the best way to keep them talking is to have an authentic conversation about what matters most in life. Don’t worry about getting it right, just keep the conversation flowing. Love making mistakes. The Conversation Deal:

I will be interested in you, if you will help me learn my new language. Your conversational partners will understand this deal. They get that you are looking for a practice partner, and they will probably generously give you their time because they are enjoying the conversation. If they are having fun, they will keep coming back for more!

More Talk Prepare in Advance: When he was learning Polish, Powell Janulus explained how he did his homework to prepare for his daily conversations

with his grocer. Each day, before he went off to shop, he built an Enchart with a few questions relating to a specific topic. Powell’s Polish Questions:

Questions about the neighborhood. Questions about an item in the daily news. Questions about other customers. Questions about current affairs. Questions about sporting events. Questions about TV programs. If he had enough rapport and the store owner didn’t seem busy, he would bring out all the questions he had about the language itself. He would build Encharts for technical questions and keep them in reserve. He would always try his best to ask these questions in Polish.

How to Approach the Conversation: Pick a relaxed moment to approach people. Relax, take a deep breath and put a smile on your face. Show genuine curiosity when you ask your questions. Find something positive to admire about that person. Show interest and respect in what they have to say. Show you want to be like them. Build an Enchart Chat:

Plan the sentence practice on a small Enchart. Stick to one topic. Ask open-ended questions so that the person replies to you.

Repeat what they say back to them – the way they said it. Be curious and ask for more info: ”Tell me more about that… ” Adopt a bit of their tone, tempo and accent when you start to reply. Enjoy them… people like people who like them. Make them laugh.

Add More People One of the main keys to success is adding more people. You cannot learn a language by yourself. Add more people to build more energy and learning momentum. Social Learning: Build Your Instant Fluency Group. Start small with a buddy or a trusted team of 3-5 people. Practice on a weekly basis. Give a report after you finish your practice play and games each day. Declare your goals to your committed listener. Share your New Language Identity to make it stronger. Appreciate each other’s successes and small accomplishments. Find Your New Language Community: Building or joining any kind of a learning community or meeting group is one of the most powerful ways to accelerate your language practice outside real life conversations. In the very best case, you can create or join a club, community or group that is founded on the learning principles of this book. A Velocity community, group or team will serve you on many levels. It will give you people with whom you can practice. It will allow you to work with people who are committed. It will keep your learning rooted in the principles of Velocity Learning. Connect with People Everywhere and Everywhen: Open that door, go outside and talk to the first person you see. Do this now.

“

Usually I talk a lot in Chinese, but when I speak English, I am shy. With Velocity I learned to just

start talking. Open my mouth and talk. This is the key. Flora - Beijing

”

10 Mapping *************** “Grammar Rules Kill Spoken Fluency” Here is another key paradox of language learning: The more you study grammar rules, the less fluent you become. Think about it. Each time you add a new grammar rule, you are sending an instruction to yourself: “This is right and that is wrong.” The Reptilian System loves this sort of rules-based yes or no thinking. However, the Reptilian System has a very limited capacity to deal with complexity. Unless you have taken the time to condition these rules into automatic habits, you usually hit Brain Freeze. This is the mind-lock process in which you try to speak and get... nothing. You might even know you know the words, but nothing pops out. This business of Brain Freeze is most evident when we run the Velocity breakthrough programs in China. Most of the students have studied English for 6-9 years in a harsh system of memorization and grammar-based rules. Using those rules, most students can construct written sentences and use them to pass the tests. However, when they go to speak, they tend to freeze. This kind of student is the IDEAL student for Velocity Learning. They know the language and they know the rules. They simply have never gone through any process to condition their spoken ability. Following the Velocity methodology, it only takes a few days to create a breakthrough.

Don’t Do Rules. Instead, Learn the Map.

Fear No Language Structure

Don’t let the structure of the language scare you. Don’t ever use the word grammar again. Instead, build a simple map of your new language. Every language has a basic structure and, in most cases, it is easy to pick up. Higher Order Communication vs. Lower Order Rules: The key idea is that humans have a basic set of communication needs. The map is just an agreed-upon structure of how we express those basic communication needs in any given language. At the highest level, communication is dead simple. You can desperately yell “food” and people will understand that you are hungry. As you go deeper into the structure of the language, the complexity increases. Focus on communication before complexity. Once you are communicating in a basic way in your new language, you will be able to quickly extend your map of the territory. Universal Communication Needs are the Higher Order system that governs all communication. Have a look at this pyramid. At the top of the pyramid, communication is simple. We set an intention to communicate and work our way down through the communication needs. At the bottom of the pyramid, we express that communication through our language habits. The language we speak is a Lower Order System. Below the language is the structure of the language. These are the ‘nuts and bolts’ that hold the language together. This is a much Lower Order System. You will notice that the pyramid gets wider at the bottom. At the bottom, there are a vast number of rules and conventions. This is a basic rule: Complexity increases as you go deeper into the language. If you start your learning process at the top of the pyramid, language fluency can be simple and easy. If you start from the bottom up, you are in for a rough ride. Trying to learn your new language through a filter of all its grammar rules is the ideal way to make the process complex and difficult.

Don’t try to understand it. Just Condition it. In traditional language learning, we worry about getting it RIGHT, so we try to memorize all the instances and exceptions. This is a bulk heavy lifting approach because we can’t use our natural ability to learn through speaking. We explored Encharts. We simplified the communication system by removing almost every element of grammar, with the exception of Word Order. In this chapter, we are going to begin to incrementally bring grammar back into your new language system. Here are a few examples to get you thinking about grammar in a fresh way. The key approach to Mapping out the structure of any language is to build a series of Encharts which gradually introduce the structural map of the language. The more you condition, the more grammar you add to your Encharts. Over time, the essential language maps become more detailed as does the map you begin to build and use. With repetition, this will become simple and automatic. Anyone who understands advanced grammar will find these concepts mindnumbingly simple. Even if you are not a student of advanced grammar, these

concepts appear naturally inherent to understand in your own language. BUT, when you try applying this knowledge to the alien architecture of a new language, it can feel like you are trying to turn your brain inside out.

Communication or a Ph.D. in Linguistics? A linguist might laugh at the simplistic approach that we are presenting here. We are explaining language structure in the most primitive way. Don’t you want to MASTER the language and confidently EXPRESS complex ideas? Be careful what you wish for. Early in your learning process, you will have to make a decision. Do you want to develop the ability to have real conversations and communicate in your new language? Or would you most enjoy pushing on for a Ph.D. in linguistics and never being able to speak at all. This may sound extreme, but over the years, we have seen so many students spend years trying to ‘perfect’ the complex structures of languages like English or German.

To use a Language is to Change it: Necessity is the mother of invention. When people have a challenging communication need, they naturally invent new words or use them in a new way. We often think of a language as a static set of words and meanings. However, language is really a set of personal associations which get linked to a set of mouth movements and sounds. We call this process Languaging. As we communicate, we naturally harmonize and agree on the associations that we use to create our words. Across our language culture, this happens at such a scale that it is hard to see the massive averaging process that is going on. Because so many of us all agree on a relatively similar set of associations, we forget that language is actually a personal process. How do you know that what you call the color blue is the same color blue that anyone else sees? You can never know this because you will never see through another person’s eyes.

When you contain language in a smaller group size or a more isolated setting, it is easier to see it moving. This is very evident in technical communities and in street language. In these environments, the broad social agreements for language don’t always fit with the communications needs, so the community creates unique jargon or slang. If a group gets isolated for long enough, perhaps several hundred years, they may even become unable to communicate in their original language. This is how all of the estimated 6,900 languages in the world today were created. Language is a set of shared communication habits that build up over time. As they develop, they get more complex. A word like ‘no’ might seem really simple, but negatives can actually be expressed in complex ways. A phrase like “don’t stop thinking about the pink ball that isn’t bouncing” is actually a whole bunch of complex negative ideas jammed together. To decode this, we need an agreed-upon set of conventions, otherwise the communication won’t transmit. Over time, those conventions get more complex. In some instances, the conventions don’t work well, so we agree on an exception. The problem is all those instances and exceptions. Every language has its own particular approach to resolving all instances and exceptions, and there are an awful lot of them. If you try to learn them all too quickly, it will easily overwhelm your ability to speak. Native speakers don’t usually know the grammar rules; they just talk. They set an intention to communicate, open their mouths and words come out. They live in the world of their language and have been conditioned since a young age. They NEVER think about the rules. This is the essence of what makes this approach powerful. The underlying structure of any language is mind-numbingly obvious to a native speaker, but alien to a new language learner. In order to build spoken language flow, you have to act like a native speaker. Spend lots of time Conditioning your Encharts, and the rest will happen automatically.

Yoda on Grammar

“Once you start down the dark path,forever will it dominate your destiny.Consume you it will.” Communication Before Complexity: Velocity offers a simple way to explain grammar concepts because simplicity is the essence of what makes learning fast and easy. In order to learn grammar, all you need to do is to gradually discover the map of your new language by Encharting more and more complex conversations. From Simple to Complex: You can think about language structure using the following range from simple to complex:

All of these communications could help you get a taxi. However, you can see that there is a big range from simple to complex. We are adding many extra layers of formality and detail. Now try to imagine building these same levels of complexity in your new language. Rather than just memorizing the phrase, imagine that you were really Conditioning the ability to construct these sentences naturally, in the middle of a conversation. What would the process of building all the Encharts look like? We chose this simple way to explain the structure of language because simplicity is what makes the Velocity system powerful. In order to go deeper, all you need to do is to gradually discover the map of your new language by Encharting out more and more complex conversations.

Your Bridge to Fluency Build your bridge to fluency with a series of Encharts that begin to map out the range from simple to complex. Below we have a set of Encharts that start simple and build in complexity. This is an ideal example of the kind of learning tools that you can build for yourself in your new language. You will notice that we have added a story line to keep it interesting. We have also added in an opening question so that you can imagine that you are in a conversation. All of these Encharts use the 4x4 Encharting approach, so that you can use any word from each column and always get a correct sentence. Office Chat in Your New Job: Imagine that you are starting work in a great new job. You are really excited to be working in this company. What are some of the conversations you might have with your colleagues in the first few weeks? How is your new job?

How do you like your project?

How do you like the training?

Where does your manager work?

How do they like working with clients?

When were they going to complete that project?

Why weren’t the negotiations successful?

Enchart from Simple to Complex: You can see from this process that there is a big range from the easy Encharts at the beginning to the complex Encharts at the end. You can see that advanced grammar concepts are getting mapped into the Encharts toward the end. However, you don’t need to understand all these advanced grammar ideas to use them. The map of the language is built into each Enchart. It does take time to build Encharts like this. However, building these Encharts is one of the best learning activities. You can build them on your own or work with a small learning group and share each other’s Encharts. It

takes time to condition the Encharts at each level. As you condition the Encharts through repetition, the structure of the language will naturally become part of you. If you take the time to work your way through this process, you will build fluency fast.

How to Begin to Your Map: Depending on the language you are learning, you will have to deal with some of the basic structures of that language. At the simple end of things, these structures can be very easy to map out and ready to use right away. As you go deeper, the complexity will increase, and you will have to spend more time Conditioning the simpler elements before going even deeper.

Simple Language Structures: Word Order: Humans need to agree on a sentence Word Order so that communications can be understood. Using the basic Word Types, you can map out some simple ‘template sentences’ in the correct Word Order. Unless you have a native speaker handy, you will have to test it a few times to work it into a working 4x4 Enchart. Google Translate is a great tool to assist in this, although some results are incorrect. Here are some common Word Order patterns: You will notice that English and Mandarin are also the same, whereas Japanese is very different. It is critical to note that these Word Order patterns are not absolute. Check with a native speaker. There are many ways to construct a sentence. These patterns are simply a good starting point for building simple Encharts. English: who, why, action, what, where, when Mandarin: who, why, where, what, when Japanese: when, who, where,what,action,why

Word Types: Human language will always have a universal set of communication needs that will be reflected in words such as WHO, WHY, HOW, ACTION, WHAT, WHERE and WHEN. You will always find words that don’t fit into this simplistic set. You may have to default to traditional grammar descriptions at some point. However, starting with these seven basic Word Types is one of the fastest ways to decode a new language. In the beginning, focus on a basic set of Who, Why and Action words. This will provide the perfect foundation for Instant Fluency. Questions: Conversations run on open-ended questions, so learning the structure of questions is a priority. Open-ended questions work best, so this is a priority for Mapping. Scaling Emotions: Humans have a fundamental need to express a range of emotions. Encharting a range of responses from positive to negative is a key activity. Try this with a number of questions, and see if you can reuse the same emotional scales of responses. Negatives: Most languages have a simple way to flip sentences into the negative. This is very useful to get into your early Encharts. Plurals: Every language will have some simple ways to differentiate one thing or many things and count multiples. Tense: Humans have a fundamental need for speaking about the past, present and future. This can range from the very simple to the very complex. In Mandarin, this is dead simple; simply mention the WHEN at the end of the sentence and nothing else changes. Compare this to English in which everything modifies something else. We will introduce some strategies shortly.

Don’t Memorize the Map – Condition it: Many people find they are in over their heads when they try to understand and memorize the entire grammatical system all at once, early in the process of learning their new language. Consequently, they miss the first few baby steps of using simple

Encharts – first in solo play and later in playful conversations. Baby steps are the natural way to fluency. Use it or Lose it: The power of Conditioning the language structure is how quickly you can use it to have simple conversations with real people. This embeds the learning in a real context. It sticks. As you speak each distinction, you begin to develop that skill in dialogue. In short, you have to use it to make it stick. Otherwise, it is just a bunch of abstract maps with too many rules.

If something’s worth doing... it’s worth doing badly (in the beginning). - G. K. Chesterton Mapping Challenges: Get Messy with the Language Structure: When you start to increase the complexity of the language in your Encharts and conversations, you are going to make mistakes. Recharge your ‘love making mistakes’. If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing poorly in the beginning. Don’t even think of your stumbles as mistakes. Think of them as interesting opportunities to develop your language maps. Some languages are easier than others, and some languages were invented to torture language learners. However, for every Mapping challenge, someone somewhere has developed an easy way to sort it out. Below are some of the big challenges and best strategies.

Blame it on the Vikings: English can be a real challenge. It is filled with many language structures that don’t appear in Asian languages. English speakers delight in using bits of the language left over from the time of Shakespeare. All this can be overwhelming. This isn’t your fault. Blame it on the Vikings. The Viking invasion in the 10th century created the English language. What you get today is a strange mixture of Latin, French and

German with lots of Gaelic, Scottish and Irish roots. If you are starting to learn English, start slow and blame all the complexity on the Vikings.

This Modifies That: Many languages are full of modifiers. That is, things that modify other things. This is one of the great challenges. Ask your linguistics professors, and they will give you all the rules for sorting this out. There is only one problem: a few little exceptions. It turns out that there are tons of exceptions. The rule is that there are no rules, only a few guidelines. Here is a simple approach to all those modifiers: divide and conquer. Break all those concepts apart, and build working Encharts for each variation. Try to build a working 4x4 Enchart where all of the modifiers are the same. This way, you can practice Conditioning the same correct pattern without having to think about the rules. This builds your speaking habits and conversational flow. Later, you can contrast different modifier variations to condition the difference. Trying to memorize all those rules and exceptions won’t help much. You have to condition the patterns. Here are some examples in English.

To Be or Not To Be: The infinitive English verb ‘to be’ requires a special note. This verb is a very unique element of the English language. It best fits as a special case of the WHY word type. This includes all of its variants: ‘to be’, ‘he is’, ‘I am’, ‘she won’t’, etc. These grammar concepts are some of the most challenging and non-translatable ideas in the English language. For people learning English, beginner Encharts should avoid the use of these words. By avoiding these ideas, we can support new language learners to quickly have an experience of using their new language in real communication. However, almost every grammar concept can be expressed in a simple way using Encharts. When you are ready, take on some of the following challenges.

Masculine – Feminine: Anyone who has studied French, Spanish or German has grappled with the masculine and feminine word forms and how

they modify words around them. The same modifier strategy we used above can work here. Build sets of Encharts entirely in the masculine form and feminine form. This way, you can condition the patterns separately. However, many beginners take an even easier approach: pick one. Simply pick one of the forms and stick to it for the beginning period. This will reduce complexity until you can condition the language patterns.

Negatives: Researchers theorize that humans first developed the idea of negatives around 10,000 years ago. Before this, humans could want things, but they couldn’t express reversals or say what they did not want. This might seem like a strange idea. Recall that zero is the more formal mathematical expression of a similar idea. The zero was only developed in India around 1,600 years ago. Humans have a basic need to say “no” and talk about things that are not here. How will you learn to express these negative ideas in your new language? There is always an easy way, you just have to find it.

Verb Tense Timeline: How does your new language deal with time and action? One of the trickiest elements in English and many other languages is how Verbs change tense and how this modifies other things in a sentence. This can be one of the biggest challenges in learning a new language. How can Velocity make this fast fun and easy? When Marilyn first studied Janulus and Halipov, she made a startling discovery. She found that both of them had independently developed a similar strategy for quickly internalizing verb tense modifications using a Timeline Learning strategy.

Timeline Learning In the 1980’s a number of NLP researchers including Tad James, developed a powerful system for understanding human learning based on how people encode their internal representation of time into a line that they imagine in their mind. They found that most humans organize their internal experience of time into a line stretching from past to present to future in their internal

mental space. They found that most cultures tend to put the past on the left side of the body, the present in the centerline and the future to the right. Using a timeline strategy to speed up your Verb Tense learning is easy. Here’s how to do it:

1. Create a line: This can be a line on the floor on a table front of you. Mark out the past on the left, the present at the center of your body and the future on your right. Post it note on a table work well. Post-it note on the floor are even more powerful. 2. Build you verb list: Build a word-list of verb tense combinations or verb conjugations. Also build a phrase or mini-sentence for each combination. Include some irregular verbs that don’t follow the pattern. Here is an example for English:

1. Use physical space: Create a rhythmic drill. On the table, place a Postit note in the right spot as you say each word aloud. On the floor, step onto the Post-it note as you say each word aloud 2. Energize and Repeat: Condition the process through repetition. Add rhythm and melody. Turn the sequence into a song that repeats. Form the line in your mind. Build up to short phrases.

Timeline Learning is a very simple process that produces startling results. Once you begin to build the line, it will generalize out to include all verb combinations. Once you have developed this line internally you can use it to pull in any verb, in the right tense, when you need it. If you keep following the sentence patterns, many speaking errors will simply disappear. How do You Fall in Love with Your New Language? Confidence comes from fluency, but not the kind of ‘never make a mistake’ fluency that so many people get stuck on. We are talking about the REAL fluency that can only come from the JOY you feel when speaking your new language. This is a very specific sensation of loving everything about communicating in your new language. This, in fact, is the only thing that separates a new speaker from a native speaker – this one key experience of loving your language. You can even love making mistakes. Relax and Enjoy Your New Language Now: You could spend a lifetime waiting for an external evaluation of your acceptance into the club of native speakers, or you can simply start enjoying your new language now. What is fluency anyway? Fluency has the same Latin root as fluid. Fluency is when your words FLOW like water. You relax and enjoy speaking, and your words begin to flow. If you do this, you will start to communicate and think naturally in your new language. Why Conjugate Verbs? If you think back to learning French in Grade 10, likely all you can remember is conjugating verbs…a lot of them! This was clearly a job for bulk memorization. No one ever told us WHY we had to memorize all those verb conjugations. There was no context so there was nothing for the memorization to stick to. In my experience, WHY we had to memorize all those verb conjugations was so obvious to my French teacher, a native French speaker, that she couldn’t explain it when I asked her. That was simply the way that French should be spoken. For me, conjugation

became a set of rules that must be obeyed in order to pass the grade. – Paul Gossen

Grammar is Magic: Did you know the word grammar means ‘magic’ in Old English? In the 14th century, the word gramarye entered English from the French word grammaire, which meant learning. This represented a broad range of learning that including Latin and philology. As time went on, the learning associated with gramarye came to include astrology and magic ‘grimoire.’ The word acquired a secondary meaning of occult power in the 15th century. This is the meaning that also evolved into the Scottish word glamour, which in the modern world is like a ‘spell of beauty.’ Ye gipsy-gang that deal in glamor, And you, deep-read in hell’s black grammar, Warlocks and witches. – Robert Burns 1793

11 Confidence ****************** How do you become confident in your ability to speak? “Usually I talk a lot in Chinese, but when I spoke English, I was shy. With Velocity I learned to just start talking. Open my mouth – start talking. This is the key.” – Flora, Beijing

Take a Risk Here is the challenge. Each time you put together a sentence and try to communicate, you take a little risk. Will the other person understand you? Each time you see the light in their eyes that acknowledges they have understood you, your confidence increases. This is why you can only go so far with books. Real conversations are the only path to fluency. Keep talking to people in your new language every day.

How do Kids Learn with Confidence? Small children are confident because they have no concept of self-evaluation. A small child learns language easily because they want to speak. They believe that everyone is just as interested in speaking with them too. A child treats learning as delightful play. To feel the confidence of a child is easy if you continue to treat yourself as a beginner with full rights to practice any time with anyone. Fluency is like climbing a rope. Your newly acquired language skills give you the confidence to get a foothold and start. You can be confident that the rope will hold you by engaging in ongoing practice; you lean on the rope of previously learned material as you climb further. A child is always confident in this way. Children always learn as native speakers. They feel at home in their new language and are native speakers from the very beginning. Anyone can take on this mindset. How do You Rebuild Easy Language Confidence? As you converse with a native speaker, allow yourself to totally engage with them. When you begin, allow yourself to have a child’s free-flowing attention, as much as you can. The easiest way is to start with open-ended questions. Plan your first conversation. Enchart it out on cards, and keep them ready in in your pocket. Jump in and start speaking like a native.

Enjoy Making Mistakes: The amazing vocal range of a native speaker is very different from what is possible for the new speaker. Many languagelearning schools teach advanced pronunciation and complex grammar from the start. This can quickly discourage the beginning learner’s desire to converse. We suggest skipping the obstacle of trying to speak with 10 out of 10 perfection. In fact, the key to confidence is to do the opposite.

Make More Mistakes To be confident, you have to increase the number of mistakes you make. You do this by talking in your new language ALL the time. It’s necessary to develop brazen confidence no matter how silly your new language sounds to

you. You simply have to be a little cocky and actually enjoy the process of making mistakes. Confidence is not about absolute correctness. Confidence comes with testing yourself as a learner and trial speaker, by jumping in and making mistakes. What do you talk about? Anything! You might talk about the weather, the elevator you are in, the season, or the topic of language learning itself. You know a real two-way conversation is taking place when native speakers are verbally interacting with you about something – even if the topic is a simple one! Talk, listen and respond with interest and appreciation.

I must Speak Perfectly: In our studies of master language learners, the pleasure of speaking always seems to be the main incentive for learning. Successful learners want to talk. Confidence builds quickly when people lower their perfection standards and raise their willingness to jump in and speak as often as they can. Take pleasure in a simple chat. Suppose you are learning to speak French. Your first step is to become adept with basic tongue speed practice. With time, you will be able to ‘shift gears’ to say a variety of sentences quickly with a relaxed mouth. It will take time to develop the tonal nuance – the wonderfully hollow, musical and nasal quality of a native French speaker. Why wait until your intonation is perfect? Imagine how wonderful it would be to be able to converse with a French speaker at any stage of your learning. If you were riding a bicycle, you would want to get the basic balance and flow first. Only later would you focus on doing top-speed maneuvers in and out of traffic on a busy street. Your key to quick progress is simply to enjoy speaking and to ‘become’ French as you repeat the words. Whenever a native speaker corrects you, consider yourself fortunate. Listen to their correction, try it their way and be grateful. Always continue the conversation if the native speaker permits you to. Most people will not

correct you, so consider the person who corrects your language an esteemed ally.

Practice Having Real Conversations Always give yourself the right to practice – even if people laugh at you. Your learning will flourish if you allow yourself the freedom to be imperfect. Like a young child, enjoy the process. Laugh with the native speaker, enjoy the conversation and launch yourself on the trajectory to fluency. Powell Janulus loved to talk. On one occasion at a restaurant, we watched him chat with a Hungarian waiter, a Turkish doorman and a Japanese member of our party. His conversation style was light and relaxed as he playfully joked with each in their individual languages. “Never waste a good opportunity to practice,” he said, “I hardly ever get to speak Hungarian!” Each time, he followed the same procedure; he would open with a simple question, pay eager attention and repeat the phrases or make requests using gestures and a few words. Then, while maintaining strong interest, he would slowly expand the conversation bit by bit. Emotions Connect Confidence: One of the disadvantages of learning a language after the age of 11 is that most people learn in an emotionally dry, information-only manner. This often leads to a very flat experience of the second language. The new language is not connected to any natural emotions and passions in their lives. As a result, people don’t enjoy speaking the new language much and prefer to return back to their first language and culture. This can be very challenging for immigrants to a new country. Talking about your passions builds the bridge between your new language and the joys of your life. And learning through games, parties, friendships and relaxed conversations builds this positive emotional connection to the new language even more. This is at the heart of all Velocity methods. When you speak from passion, even if you don’t know all the right words, your natural confidence shines through.

Emotional Range It is important to become relaxed and comfortable with a wide range of emotional and expressive thoughts in your new language. This is all about long-term enjoyment and confidence. If feeling joy in the new language has been difficult, you may want to practice this exercise regularly. As you continue to talk about your life expressively in the new language, it will become easier and easier to feel a full range of emotions in your new language. Your new language will become vibrant and alive for you. With practice, you will find it easier to become much more expressive and comfortable describing your emotions in the new language, thus touching the heart of emotional intelligence. Most important of all, you will enjoy speaking, and your confidence will carry the communication. Joy of Speaking: Velocity learning is based on the principle of ‘Joy of Speaking.’ We aim to bring back into the learning process the enjoyment of language that you had as a young child. Relaxed enjoyment connects everything. By practicing the Velocity way, you actively keep learning to enjoy your new language. Learn to speak the words with lots of feeling and amplifying your positive emotions as you do so. People love speaking their first language. What if you enjoyed speaking your new language even more that you enjoy your first language? Can you see that success would become automatic? We need to build positive emotion into our day. If the words we speak each day do not resonate, your new language experience may become flat and dry. Speaking a sentence is like riding a roller coaster. The very sounds and words are full of the hills, valleys, bumps and curves that create a full sensory experience. When you are relaxed and enjoying yourself, as you are while speaking your mother tongue, a positive vibe is built into the experience. We simply need to transfer this feeling into our new language experience.

Link Your Body to Confidence: Confidence is something that you feel in your body. To feel confidence, start with your body. The great language learner, Powell Janulus, demonstrated again and again the power of linking. He had a specific posture he would step into for each language. For example, once Powell was working with Finnish. It was a particularly difficult language for him to learn. We watched him build a ‘Finnish posture and gesture’ system that included a taller stance, his head up, specific and refined hand pointing postures and a high breathing pattern. This was all very different from the postures and gestures he used with his Italian language system. With Italian, his body was more crouched, with both hands open in front and moving actively. Speaking Italian, he used open tones, rolling sounds and bigger gestures. Powell optimized these postures into each of the ‘gears’ of all of his 42 languages. He consistently used these postures and gestures as an organized reference system. In this way, his postures linked him to each language. He had fun moving from language to language using this method and never got them mixed up. For him, language was like acting; he changed postures as he changed roles. One More Trick. Confidence is Speed. Here is the Rule:

Slow is smooth – Smooth is fast What does this mean? If you try to go too fast, you will make a mess. Start very slowly in the beginning. This is the magic of Intoning. We slow everything right down to a snail’s pace. Next get smooth. This will happen quickly once you find the rhythm of the mouth sounds and start to spend time in the Encharts every day. Now you are ready to go fast. Once you really get the feel of the new language, you will be able to talk quickly, just like a native speaker. Practice from the beginning and your confidence will build. Why is Speed so Effective at Building Confidence? Your ability to perform complex tongue movements quickly puts you in the ‘range’ of a

native speaker – a superb martial artist with their native language. The artistry of native speakers is in their tongue and tone. You quickly develop this artistry with Enchart practice. All Anchors, such as postures, gestures, tongue movements and tone, can quickly become integrated. The key to confidence is range of speed. When you have built speed, you can quickly develop the confidence to proceed in building all of the other integrated capabilities including fluency and ease of flow.

Powell’s Spinning Hand: This is a wonderful secret that Powell Janulus discovered: Spinning the hand speeds the mouth. The mouth and hand are connected. Imagine Powell Janulus learning a group of questions with one of his Encharts, perhaps while speaking to a young international student. He picks one modal operator such as the verb ‘like’ and a set of interchangeable active sentence objectives. He chooses a set of four verbs, for example: ‘talking,’ ‘learning,’ ‘thinking’ and ‘playing.’ He then links his mouth movement to his left hand and moves his left hand like a metronome: first slowly, then quickly. Looking at his Enchart, he starts his mouth movement. He mouths the words clearly, getting both the rhythm and articulation working. “Do you like talking in the hall?” Then another question: “Do you like talking in the cafés? ... the park? ... the street?” Each time, he speaks the whole sentence clearly and rhythmically. Once confident of his phrasing, he speaks faster and faster until he can speak the variations with smooth articulation at high speed, varying only the final nouns, until the phrasing is smooth. Then he begins again with a new verb and again gradually speeds the mouth movements. In practicing with his Encharts, Powell always spun his hand in time with the words. When he began to work with a new sentence, he began by spinning his hand slowly. As he got the feel of the sentence or language distinction, he spun his hand

faster and faster. This coordinated movement Anchored confidence and speed to his body. The spinning hand was used to speed the mouth and tone as the tongue and hand moved as one. Using this technique, tongue movement quickly became smooth. Smooth tongue movement builds confidence. He then felt comfortable and confident enough to speak his new language at a much slower speed at the next opportunity. By practicing tongue movement as Powell Janulus did, you can quickly learn the new language ‘tongue dance.’ You will be rewiring the brain to develop a strong linkage system between mouth movements (articulation), ideas (images) and relaxed physical tones, gestures, breathing and stance.

Trust You Habits Our aim is to build all these connections as quickly and successfully as possible – the same way that a musician practices scales. We link every mouth movement to a rhythm. We link every sentence structure to the visual flow of the Enchart and then practice speeding up, sentence by sentence. We link it all to the positive pleasure of conversing with a native speaker. Brain and Body: We combine key brain centers together as we link visualization to articulation to posture, movement, tone and meaning. The new brain connections are quickly created, practiced and connected into a permanent, brain-linked, habitual system. You learned other ways to do this in Chapter 10, which included singing the words, dancing the words, drumming with the words and skipping with the words. As children know, all of these methods work well. Singing as you drive your car also builds connections – if you are willing to build brisk mouth-moving behaviors into your driving routine.

Mind the Gap: You may notice a slight hesitation or gap when you start to speak in your new language. Your intuitive mind pauses to figure out how to get the next sentence rolling. Keep practicing speed, and this gap will shorten. Relax and visualize your ideas; the pressure will lighten. Get into

the language gear with the simplest phrases until more words begin to emerge.

Remember ‘to do’ Confidence How do you get fluent enough to be confident? First stop and flip this idea around. Confidence is something that you DO, not something you GET. If you are waiting to acquire external evidence first and THEN be confident, you may be waiting a long time. It is easy to find fourth-year Mandarin students in university programs who still won’t dare to speak Chinese with a native speaker. Confidence is something that you DO. You see a chance, you open your mouth and you start speaking your new language. Fear is a Lack of Action: The simplest way to overcome fear is to get in action. Speak in your new language Every Day. Speak to strangers when ever you can. Confidence will become a habit. Would You Eat Them in a Box? One of the great English confidence building tools is the children’s book ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ by Dr. Seuss. This book truly demonstrates the power of speed for building confidence. This crazy, rhyming text has been used by millions of English children to amplify their fluency through speed. Try it now. Start slow and smooth, then go faster and faster. It may seem like a silly exercise, but speed is the one of very most effective ways to build confidence. Try it to this Excerpt from the Book: Would you eat them in a box? Would you eat them with a fox? Not in a box. Not with a fox. Not in a house. Not with a mouse. I would not eat them here or there. I would not eat them anywhere.

I would not eat green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-am.

12 Every Day ***************** “Everything we make must first pass the toothbrush test: You have to automatically use it at least twice every day, without thinking, just like a toothbrush.” – Larry Page, Co-founder, Google

Distraction is Your Enemy: Success suddenly seems achievable. Do not underestimate your opponent. Distraction is calling you. Distraction is an ever-present force that wants nothing less than the destruction of your New Language Identity. You cannot win with willpower alone. Success will depend on your ability to build habits that you use every day. If you spend a little time every day, fluency wins. If you don’t revisit your new language Every Day, distraction wins. Choose. In order to defeat distraction, we must build beginner mastery in the four key areas that will give us the energy and momentum to ensure success:

Habits Feedback Shift Celebrate Brain Science has demonstrated that it takes 21 days to make it stick. Repetition is the ‘Do Not Erase’ switch in your brain. We must structure a system to keep our New Language Identity alive until we have evidence that conversational flow is beginning to occur naturally.

Four Quadrant Habits: How can you build habits that will support your long-term success? Consider the Four Quadrants of Learning They illustrate

some of the best ways to design your habits for maximum learning impact. Four Quadrants of Learning:

1 Passive 2 Active 3 Group 4 Social 1 Passive Learning: Any kind of learning that happens in an automatic or intuitive way is Passive Learning. It can range from watching TV in your new language to total immersion in your new language culture. It is important to build up your total exposure to your new language, and Passive Solo Learning is a good way to do it. However, be careful. There is a popular myth that total immersion is the best way to learn. This is true if all of the other learning quadrants are active, but this is rarely the case. Immersion alone will not give you the structure of the language. Immersion alone will not give you the power of the Velocity system. If you are watching TV in your new language, the words will slip past your brain unless they are at your learning level. Start with ‘Dora the Explorer’ on YouTube before you graduate to TED.com talks with subtitles. Also, try to remember to ‘warm up your ears’ with a little Intoning. This will accelerate Passive Learning.

2 Active Learning: You simply must spend some time Every Day working ‘on your own’ to keep your learning active. Solo Active Learning includes anything you do by yourself. Some of the very best Solo Active methods range from daily Intoning to speaking in full sentences from Encharts. However, do not underestimate the learning power of building your own materials. Creating your own Encharts and Intoning word lists is a key activity that lets you take ownership of your process. Building Enchart conversations about the things

in life that you are most passionate about is another key way to build motivation. Make it Fun: The danger of Solo Active Learning, learning on your own, is the old habit of ‘homework.’ Most humans have strong traditional education habits. You tell yourself you MUST do it in order to be a GOOD person and suddenly the learning seems HARD. This is because you have triggered a very old homework pattern that is strongly wired into your brain. Language learning is like eating ice cream. If it’s hard, you are doing it wrong. Your job is to find a way to make language learning the BEST part of your day. Find a way to PLAY Every Day.

3 Group Learning: A group can be two people. Any kind of practice that you do with another person will warm up your Group Learning brain. Communication requires other people, so this is the best place to warm up your conversation brain. Let the magic of rapport pull you into a conversational flow. Any kind of pretend conversation will get this going. Start with small interactions and conversations. Use the tools, ideas and simple games in this book to access the power of fun, relaxed conversations. You will naturally absorb the language and begin to quickly build confidence. Group Active Learning is the secret weapon of this book. Any kind of team language activity is the very fastest way to warm up your new language brain. Add in silly hats, fun games and melodramatic acting for maximum impact. Call up your friends and plan your first Velocity party. Start a Velocity Chapter in your town. Building an effective language learning team, group or community is the key to success. Group Feedback: If you regularly practice with other learners of your new language, the group feedback sequence is a great tool. Take it to the group, and show them the power of enjoying mistakes and creating positive

‘obsessions.’ Get agreements with your language-learning partners to make it safe to make mistakes.

4 Social Learning: What is Social Learning? Social Learning is any activity in which you publicly express your new language. As you develop your New Language Identity, there is one rule:

Share it to Make it Stronger The more you share yourself in a public way, the stronger you will become in your new language.

Now I speak German Spezeck, from Poland, went to a dinner party on Sunday after the 2-day Velocity Learning workshop. His friends asked him about his weekend, and he started to tell them. Suddenly he realized that he HAD to take this moment to share his new German identity. He proudly stated, “Now I speak German!” One of his skeptical friends immediately challenged him to speak in German. He had just spent all afternoon having Enchart conversations so, without hesitation, he launched into German. He said, “In that moment, everything seemed to change. I knew I could do it.” Dare to Share: In order to break the language barrier, you simply MUST share your New Language Identity. If you are worried or embarrassed, you can start off slow and share with a close friend. We learn best when we include and balance all four of these learning quadrants on a regular basis. Balance is the key to speed. In order to achieve velocity, balance the four quadrants of practice! Doing some practice in all four of the quadrants throughout your week, or even every other day, creates truly effective language learning.

Every Day Habits:

Time: Think about time. How do you spend your language learning time? What are your time and energy habits? How can you build strong time habits and use them to your advantage? It is not that you have to become a robot. Rather, notice what works well for you and turn this into a system. Do You Sprint? Sprinting is when you get excited and take a deep dive into your new language. Sprinting is powerful, but it can be hard to sustain. If you love to sprint, how can you turn it into a long-term practice? Same Time, Every Day: This is a key practice for people who like structure. Set up a routine that runs on a 24-hour cycle. Find a natural time and begin to build your habits Every Day.

Learning a new language is like brushing your teeth; you have to do it twice a day Random Times: Many people prefer to work in a less structured way. If this is the case for you, you will have to use some more creative ways to keep your ‘everyday’ habits in existence. Learning Interruptions: How can you build learning interruptions into your time and physical space? Set up tiny language learning breaks that happen several times per day. You can use a location or activity to trigger your language learning interruption. You will find more examples below.

Location: Physical space is a very effective Anchor for your learning state. If you study consistently, set up a desk or learning corner. The more time you spend in a relaxed learning state, the more you will wire this state into this space. Simply putting your body into this environment will turn on your Velocity learning mode. Never Waste a Pee: We need to make a special mention of the bathroom. You are required by nature to visit this location at regular intervals. This creates an ideal system for spaced repetition of learning interruptions. We also need to mention the mirror. This is a device in which you ‘see yourself’.

It seems kind of obvious that this is the ideal location to put your New Language Identity Profile. Fill the edges of your mirror with identity profile Post-it notes. You brush your teeth twice a day. Use this time to envision ‘who you are becoming’ in your new language. Do it in a Car: If you commute, your car is an outstanding learning Anchor. Play a Velocity word list on your car stereo. A car is an ideal place for Intoning. Try speaking five sentences from an Enchart at each red light. At the very simplest level, you can put a tiny New Language Identity profile on your dashboard. Do not brush past it. Take a moment during each drive to reflect on who you wish to become in your new language. Dive into Visual Immersion: Putting up posters, Post-it notes, Encharts and word lists around your home or work space is another great passive immersion booster. Here is a quest. Label 100 objects in your home with their new language translation. Start with simple WHAT objects like ‘cup’ or ‘door.’ Later, graduate to simple sentences such as, “I drink from a cup” or “‘I walk through a door.” Say the phrase to yourself, each time you take the action.

Commit to Activity Triggers Think about the things you do Every Day when you have vacant brain space such as walking, waiting in line, going to the bathroom, taking transit, cooking, or commuting. How can you work the Velocity approach into your unused brain space? Most people have a lot of spare room in their audio channel. Rather than listen to music, listen to Intoning words, and silently speak along with the words. Where do you spend time waiting? The first time you go through a mini Enchart conversation on 4x6 cards while waiting in a bank lineup, you may feel a bit odd. However, after you do it a few more times, you will start to build a habit. Build an Accountability Structure: You have to commit and tell a friend: “I will practice my Enchart conversations Every Day on the bus. After one

week, please ask me how it is going.” Once you say that to a trusted friend, everything will change. Try it.

The Reward System: When we are learning anything new, our brain has a built-in Reward System for success. As we encounter a new language idea, our brain creates a mind map of that concept. Eventually, over time, complexity becomes simplicity as we intuitively fit the concepts into our overall understanding. Confidence grows; therefore, we intuitively celebrate our small successes and begin to enjoy the process of learning. Enjoyment engages the Reward System, which links into our long-term value for learning the language.

The Reactive System: In direct contrast to the Reward System, in which we are trying to formulate a sentence and we discover that we have made an error, the brain’s Reactive System automatically engages. Add in a little stress from the challenge of dealing with all these new ideas, and the situation gets worse. The Reactive System takes control. When the Reactive System is in control, all real learning stops. The Reactive System can only think in yes or no. We are either 100% correct or 100% wrong. Unfortunately, as a learning system, the Reactive System is very limited and inflexible. Never Touch Fire: Here is an example of the rule based thinking of the Reactive System: Touch a flame and you get burned. This creates a rule in your mind: NEVER touch a flame. The Reactive System uses ‘black or white’ rule-based thinking. There are no grey areas in the Reactive System. This kind of thinking sabotages the complexity of language learning. The only kind of learning the Reactive System can provide is to avoid language learning or any difficult area – such as specific grammar ‘areas’ of the new language – altogether. Learning a new language is a process of making lots of mistakes. Your reactive system will avoid this.

Test Your Reactive System:

Is there any part of your new language learning that you are avoiding? If so, then you can be sure your Reactive System has taken control. Monitor your Internal Dialogue. Do you ever hear something like this: “I hate conjugating verbs...” or “I just can’t do this part...” This kind of Internal Dialogue is a sure sign that the Reactive System has taken control. You need to quickly relax and shift back into learning mode. There are ways to do this. Steps to Turning Off the Reactive System: Once you recognize the symptoms of your Reactive System, you have to get yourself back into the play, explore and enjoy mode as quickly as possible to trigger the Reward System. To do this, you must find a method to turn any error into a positive enjoyable experience and as quickly as possible. The faster you can reengage the Reward System to counteract any damage done by the Reactive System, the easier it is to get rid of negative responses. Powell and Halipov were masters at staying in the enjoying, exploring and learning mode. They conditioned themselves to instantly switch back into the Reward System, and they continuously integrated Positive Feedback by using the Reward System. Halipov’s technique was to treat the whole learning process as a hobby that he could take lightly. “I will figure this one out tomorrow,” he would say – and he did! Every Day, he would lightly enjoy his step-by-step learning process.

There are no mistakes, only better learning Imagine building a series of language maps that scale from very simple to very detailed. They would cover all the basic word learning requirements to speak your new language effectively. In the beginning, the maps would, by

nature, have huge simplifications of the language. If you make a simple set of Encharts using this process, some sentences would naturally have errors. Not a problem. When you are ready, you would add in the next level of detail. Errors are simply the next level of detail. Why we Brain Freeze: You cannot drive a car in forward and reverse gears at the same time. The difficulty is that learning and error correction require two very different brain responses. In 2002, a study of Language Learning systematically introduced grammar errors to people studying a new language, uing MRI scanning. As the increased the errors, they found that activity in the brain area associated with learning decreased, while activity in the area of the brain associated with stress response increased as participants tried to process the grammar errors. This is a paradox of language learning. We need a relaxed and playful attitude in order to learn, but we also need error correction which kills our relaxed and playful learning system. There is a solution: ‘Love making mistakes.’ For Powell, when he discovered an ‘error,’ he would get excited and his enjoyment level would dramatically increase. He had conditioned himself with the concept of “errors = more learning = more fun.”

Learning Feedback: How do you know if you are making progress in your language learning adventure? Are you making progress and moving forward, or are you slipping backward? Your ability to assess this is dependent on how you measure success and how you take in feedback. Are you noticing the small steps that build success, or do you have an unrealistic expectation of instant success? Are you open to learning feedback, or does everything seem like a personal attack? Who are you taking feedback from? Do you have a supportive group and community committed to your success? Or are you taking feedback from some critical characters who don’t believe you will succeed? The most dangerous source of feedback is closer to home: your Internal Dialogue.

Getting useful feedback means that you more easily celebrate your joint achievements. The more you celebrate, the more you relax and really learn together. Here are some ideas you might share with your friends and fellow language learners so that you do get good feedback.

Strong Language Learners: From her studies of polyglots from around the world, Marilyn Atkinson observed many similar patterns. She documented that: Strong Language Learners Have: - a clear vision of themselves as competent speakers - a daily methodology – to build creative habits for learning - a taste for ‘eating the dinosaur bite by bite’ - ability to find pleasure in small gradual achievements - ability to take each step separately within a large plan - ability to grab random opportunities to make the process fun - ability to reach out and grab ‘shining moments of engagement’ Strong Language Learners: - keep motivation high with ‘the future’ imaging - reward themselves with recognition for each step along the way - use tools to ensure and further mastery – a day at a time - realize fun and expressive enjoyment is a powerful motivator - seek out pleasure every day in speaking their new language Strong language learners take action to: - decide on the goals they want to achieve - make sure what they want is within their personal control - determine if this goal fits in with their other goals - publicly state their goals as specific steps: e.g. “I plan to know 100 new phrases in 2 weeks from today.”

Strong Language Learners Apply a SMARRT Framework:

Specific – make you learning goals specific Measurable – make your goals easily measurable Achievable – ensure your goals are achievable Relevant – make your goals relevant to your life Realistic – make your goals optimistically realistic Timeline – plan out the beginning, middle and end Master the Skill of Positive Feedback: Do you use a Positive Feedback sequence, or a failure sequence? When we hear what seems like a mistake, we habitually go to either the failure or feedback sequence, as described herein. This is an old habit, which most people develop before the age of five. The failure sequence often disables learning, so you may want to shift your habit. Develop the Positive Feedback sequence to give yourself the maximum positive reward possible. Ask People for Feedback – All the Time: With language learning, it is possible to find native speakers who are willing to correct you, in both pronunciation and usage. However, the sad fact is that the majority of native speakers will not think to correct you. You may need to actively request feedback. People are sometimes habituated to being polite, and it doesn’t really occur to them to correct you. Unfortunately, without their correction, you could learn poor usage. If possible, find honest listeners who tell you what sentence structures work well. Find people who are willing to correct your new language usage. Ask them to please tell you the right way to say it! Without a system for selfcorrection, you could learn poor usage and then need to ‘unlearn’ and ‘relearn’ a whole area of speech after you become aware of your error. The Velocity System is here to help you with this.

Take the time to connect with potential friends who are willing to serve you in a positive way. Celebrate the feedback they give you, and enjoy relaxing and talking with them. A native speaker who will assist you to practice learning on a regular basis is a highly prized friend. Even a non-native speaker who will practice with you consistently can make a big difference to your speed of learning.

Celebrate Each Success Learn to appreciate tiny steps: Although this may seem VERY simplistic, learning to appreciate the tiny steps is what separates the power learners like Powell Janulus from most other people. This is simply a thinking habit. You have to take a moment to notice and appreciate the tiny steps you are taking. In the Velocity workshops, we build an implementation checklist of tiny and very easy steps. These are fun and silly quests and achievements that build momentum. It doesn’t take a lot of effort to tell one friend about your New Language Identity, and after you have done it once, it will get much easier. After you do this and check it off your list, it will give you energy for things like Intoning three times on three days. Build your checklist. Embrace the concept of progress. Learning a new language is a big project. It is important to keep yourself energized and motivated. Don’t worry about the end result; just get comfortable with the idea of playing Every Day and making some progress. Make a little progress Every Day and celebrate each step. With the traditional language learning approach, it can be difficult to enjoy the learning process because there is a logjam of learning all at once: vocabulary, sentence structure, verbs, grammar and pronunciation. You may find yourself overwhelmed by too much information and not be able to see your progress. The Velocity way is meant to be easy. If you become frustrated, STOP, and shift your focus.

Shift into Positive Gear: Negative Internal Dialogue is the fastest way to sink your ship. Negative self-talk can also be very sticky, so you need to

catch it before it builds momentum. This is a small old habit that is actually easy to shift. Learn to catch yourself and shift to the positive. This book is full of tools, strategies and positive messages that can easily be turned into success habits. Ask yourself one question: What language is your negative Internal Dialogue speaking? Almost guaranteed, your negative Internal Dialogue speaks in your first language, the language you learned as a 5-year-old child. As such, your negative Internal Dialogue has no place in your new language universe. Only accept self-feedback in your new language. The only selfjudgment that could ever be valid consists of positive words and phrases in your new language. These are some of the first words and phrases you want to learn. Learn them now and build a habit to say them to yourself Every Day.

See it to be it Shift Every Day Language learning is a daily challenge. You will be required to ‘shift the negative’ time and time again. Occasionally, it may seem like you are stuck in old language learning rejection habits, and you may find yourself thinking that you are not making any progress. Of course, these occasional negative thoughts don’t actually reflect the real truth. We all have had the experience that we are natural learning machines, and that the language-learning is an natural human function. Your logical mind may accept this idea, but occasionally difficulties pop up that appear to be very real. You may even have what you feel is concrete evidence of negative difficulties. To make your Velocity Accelerated Learning practices sustainable over the long-term, you will need to learn how to shift your thoughts from the negative back to the positive. Fortunately, you already know how to do this. You have been doing this all your life. You typically repeat this process

hundreds of times a day. Anytime you want anything, you shift your thoughts into the positive. You can’t get a cup of coffee in the morning without wanting it first. Why else would a caffeine addict get out of bed? Your motivation for everything you want in life is your starting point to get what you want. Our job in this chapter is to make you become much more aware of your existing process for shifting from negative to positive thought patterns. Once you become aware, you can take that existing ability and enhance the skill. But first, you will need to strengthen the ability to ‘catch and recognize’ when you are in the negative so that you can shift out of that mode.

Your Internal Dialogue System: Internal Dialogue is playing in the background of your mind from the moment you wake up until the moment you drift off to sleep at night. Here is the bad news – you can’t turn it off. Go ahead and try! Most people tend to ‘become’ their Internal Dialogue, not noticing that it is just a system of habitual, internal tape recordings on a continual loop. If you can’t turn off Internal Dialogue, you must learn to use it to your advantage. If you don’t take charge of your inner mind chatter, your Internal Dialogue will manipulate you. In this case, you might easily drift on the moods and messages it habitually sends to you – like a balloon caught in a windstorm. Learn to use your Internal Dialogue to remind yourself of how successful you are at positive thoughts that motivate you to success.

Four Ways to Stop Yourself Most humans will stop their language learning process in one of the four following ways:

1 Hard: You keep telling yourself that learning the new language is hard, until you believe that this is ‘true’ and then you give up. This is a pattern.

Catch the pattern and then shift to easy.

2 No Time: You keep telling yourself that you have ‘NO Time’ to play with your new language. You find evidence that there is a lack of time in your life. You avoid building the motivation and ‘instant learning’ habits. Then you give up. This is a pattern. Catch the pattern and create more time.

3 No Results: You keep telling yourself that you are not making progress and it won’t work for you. This is a thought pattern. Catch the pattern and notice the tiny steps you taking each day. Add more appreciation. Do not trust your internal assessment. Get external feedback from your trusted learning community.

4 Embarrassing: You keep avoiding situations where you might have a chance to speak your new language. You ‘pull back’ from the intensity of emotion. This is a pattern. Catch the pattern and regenerate ‘Love Making Mistakes.’ Put on your silly hat. Notice which pattern you would use to stop yourself. Stage an ambush. Set up a positive habit to interrupt the negative pattern. Do this in the beginning so you have the overwhelming momentum of positive habits to push through the negative. The principle of overwhelming force is key to military strategy. You want 10 times the positive energy so that you can burst through the negative pattern. The Practice of Positive Learning: We have said that the process of ongoing positive learning requires some attention Every Day. The shifting process becomes a source of motivation. Notice success and add an upbeat tone of warm self-appreciation. You will build positive Internal Dialogue. If you build this habit, you will receive extraordinary payoffs that go far beyond the value of language learning. This shift gathers momentum. Building positive Internal Dialogue provides fuel for you in all areas of life.

Positive Internal Dialogue - In your new language: At any point, you can ask: ‘what language is my Internal Dialogue is

speaking?’ You can then switch to upbeat positive messages in your new language. You can link these messages to the Value Words you are building and to the successes you are creating. Now go back and add some Value Words to your New Language Identity. Express those Value Words. Feel them increase your energy. Learn to SHIFT: The important thing is to shift both the tone and the words of your inner messages. Make your positive new messages specific, valueoriented and achievable. As well, make them particularly kind to yourself. Really notice that you deserve some extra appreciation for what you are doing! Some people have a thousand reasons why they cannot get what they want. To be successful, simply come up with a thousand reasons why you can!

Easy = Relaxation = Learning The visualization area of your Cerebral Coretex provides an incredible system for easy learning. With relaxation, we are able to open our minds up to power of visualization. If your mind thinks of the process as ‘easy,’ you relax and let down the barriers. If your mind thinks of the process as ‘difficult’, you immediately tense up and put up barriers to new ideas. The concept of ‘easy’ is powerful. Recent research shows that advanced language learners emphasize the word ‘easy’ over and over in their learning. With easy language learning, you are building a whole new habit system for learning success in multiple areas of your life! Appreciate your success. Be satisfied with your small achievements. Before you know it, you will have adopted the patterns that will quickly bring you to easy conversational fluency. However, the result is not the point. The point is that getting there was easy. Making it easy is always more important than the result. The essence of easy is the enjoyment you feel playing the game. If you can keep doing this, it will become a habit.

Easy Becomes Effortless: Amplify easy to create effortless! Keep ‘feeling’ that language learning is easy! Keep generating the easy state of being! Intuitively move from easy to effortless! Powell Consistently Created Easy: ‘Easy’ goes hand in hand with consistency. Powell Janulus was consistent in his practice and his main practice was believing that learning the new language was easy. Once Powell started with a new language, it was an ongoing project. He didn’t stop. His Encharting led to question after question and the emergence of Enchart after Enchart! When he talked about his ability, he would address all and any who were interested: “You can do it too! I’m not special.” He resisted people’s efforts to call him a genius: “They don’t notice how all my simple actions simply add up,” he said. Can Anything Actually be Effortless? You get to declare how effortless the learning process will be – to yourself and to others. You choose what to put your attention on and then you amplify it. As you build success, you can take on even bigger challenges. Easy offers you a pathway to effortlessly step up to any challenge. Effortless is the master game. Going from ‘easy’ to ‘effortless,’ we relax, and the learning becomes natural. At some point easy becomes a natural way of being. You just don’t even have to think about it. Everything is easy. This how we know that we have stepped into effortless.

Completion is Calling You Let’s Speak about the Paradox of Easy, Effortless and Done. Language fluency is never done! You will always be learning. However, if you are consistent in your daily practice you will find that mastery is in the wind. Mastery is only a matter of mindset.

You Commit and Declare Done Now: This takes discipline and focus. However, if you can consistently take the action that goes with your commitment, you will experience the power of ‘Done’. You simply know that the result is going to happen, because it already HAS happened. It is done. Keep in mind that you are simply mastering a state of being. If you keep moving forward and remember to enjoy the process, the world will begin to agree with you. If you operate from this state consistently, your focus and discipline will bend time and space, until the future you are creating becomes now. This is the game of mastery. Language learning is best approached as a game – a game worth playing because it develops your mind and being in multifold ways. Create your own game. Call it easy. Call it fun. Play your game as if your life depends on it.

Seek, above all, for a game worth playing. Having found the game, play it as if your life depends on it. Flourish a banner bearing the word ‘engagement.’ If life does not seem to offer a game worth playing, then invent one. Any game is better than no game. The Master Game, Robert S. de Ropp, 1950

Easy What is easy? Easy is a state of mind. Easy is a positive mental attitude. Easy is a frame of reference. Easy is a way of being

Glossary of Velocity Language: 3x3: Repeated exposure 3 times on 3 days

4x4: Enchart grid with 16 words Active Learning: Intensive practice and play Anchor: To link in the brain, Associations, NLP Auditory: Sound brain processing, NLP Become: Process of identifying as a native speaker Body Learning: Movement based practice and play Brain Freeze: Block in memory stopping speech Brent Cameron: WonderTree Learning Business Identity: How you wish to be seen in public Cerebral Cortex: Largest brain area, Visual brain Communication Transaction A moment of understanding Conditioning: Repeated practice and play Conversation Arrow: System for dialogue and connection Emotional Range 142, Expressive acting, Increasing intensity Enchart Skit: Series of Encharts that tell a story Enchart: A simple sentence construction system Every Day: Building automatic habits for learning FRASSI: Word association memory formula Georgi Lozanov: Bulgarian learning pioneer, Suggestopedia Group Learning: Team growth games Higher Order: Simple communication needs Holographic Memory: Broad memory links and associations Instant Communication: Simple dialogue system Internal Dialogue: Self-talk, repeated negative messages Intoning: Rhythm based sound learning Intuitive Learning: Generalized conditioning Kinesthetic: Perception of taste, touch, smell, feelings Languaging: Becoming self aware through words Logic System: Decisions based on internal dialogue Logical Levels: Hierarchy of experience, Dilts, NLP Lower Order: Complex language rules, Grammar

Mapping: Language usage patterns, Grammar Metaphoric Identity: Fictional new language self Mirror Words: Similar loan words from another language Missioning: New language goals and motivation New Language Identity: Successful fluent future self, Become NLP: Neuro-Linguistic Programming. Personal growth system, Bandler, Grinder Particles: Unknown grammar elements Passive Learning: Language acquisition through exposure Positive Feedback: Shared appreciation of success Reactive System: Reptilian brain, Reticular brain Reward System: Brain system for positive motivation Rhythm Learning: Word association based on beat and tempo Robert Dilts: NLP Author, Logical Levels Sergei Halipov: Russian Polyglot Social Learning: Group or public sharing of success Sticky: Easy to remember Sticky Words: Silly word-sound-image associations Suggestopedia: Rhythmic word conditioning, Lazanov Timeline Learning Linking verb tense to time association Universal Communication Needs: Internal human language organization Value Words: Positive emotion in single words Visioning: To see a desired future, Visualize Wheel of Emotions 106, Series of states that increase expression Word Order: Specific word sequence of a language Word Types: Communication need word categories

About Velocity: Velocity is a global community active in more than 30 countries worldwide. The Velocity network links more than 100,000 people and thousands have participated in Velocity events. Velocity Instant Fluency programs have been conducted in locations that include, Russia,

Indonesia, Turkey, Korea and China. Around the world Velocity Chapters meet each week and more are starting everyday. Become a champion of Velocity and create your community. Velocity offers intensive training programs, ongoing weekly programs and an active support community. Velocity also offers games, apps, videos, workbooks and lots of other support materials. Velocity programs range from DIY study groups through to Fortune 500 corporate transformation programs. However, every Velocity program stays true to the Velocity mindset and approach of Fun, Fast & Easy Language Learning. Marilyn Atkinson, Ph.D. Marilyn Atkinson is global authority on human development and accelerated learning. Marilyn first began organized research on rapid language learning in 1985. As the founder of Erickson Coaching International and Co-Founder of Velocity Learning, she now travels globally 300+ days per year in service to her human development mission.

Paul Gossen Paul Gossen is well known as an author, speaker and global authority in leadership, language and learning. Paul has been a serial entrepreneur for more than 30 years, with successful ventures in software, games and learning. Paul has conducted Fortune 500 transformation projects in Russia, China, Europe and the Middle East. As the CEO and Co-Founder of Velocity Learning, he dedicates his energy and passion to the growth of the language transformation movement worldwide.