Getting Fluent In Italian In 6 Weeks (Weeks 1 & 2 : The 1000-Word Method)

One of the questions I get most often is how to start learning a language from scratch. In this video, I chose a language I had no prior knowledge of - Italian. My approach to learning a brand new language was to start by building a solid base vocabulary of about 1000 words. I wanted to do this as efficiently as possible so I decided to memorize an entire Italian YouTube video in order to develop a very deep understanding of all the words and phrases contained in the video. This video is the first of a 3-part video series. Each video will detail my learning process over 2 weeks, which means this video series will cover a total of 6 weeks, in which I will attempt to build conversational fluency in Italian from absolute zero.

Link to the Easy Italian Video I Used As Source Content ::

Easy Italian YouTube Channel ::

Easy Languages YouTube Channel ::

My Entire 1000-Word Vocabulary (Easy Italian 102 Script, My Personal Conversation Topics & My List of Basic People, Places, Things, Time and Position Words) ::

Link to Video of Me Reciting the Entire Easy Italian Video From Memory ::

Please Like, Subscribe & Hit The Notification Bell If This Is Helpful. Thanks!

[TimMcNaught]

Not only are you getting better at language learning, your video editing skills keep leveling up too! Really impressed with your dedication. Thanks for the inspiration!

[Susu]

The method

1. choose 1 Italian video and memorise the first 10 minutes (or any language you’re learning)

2. Once you memorise the video, use the same video in every exercise you do (shadowing, speaking, etc)

3. Master verb conjugation from the same video (have a word document written of the video you are memorising)

4. Start speaking to natives ( once you master the video content you have memorised and learnt what you’re talking about)

The goal of this method:
To become familiar with all the words from the video you are learning.

His 4 steps to handle memorisation:

1. Shadow the first 30 second section 10 times (try to say it with the exact pronunciation and accent)
The purpose of this to get familiar with the overall meaning of the section in both English and your chosen language

2. Repeat each line of the section for 1 minute each, after learning the lines go back to see if you remember the previous lines
The purpose of this is by repeating each line makes the brain get familiar with what you’re saying and helps you memorise an entire line instead of individual words, this also helps with improving pronunciation and accent.

3. Start from the beginning of the section and recite as much as you can remember. If you don’t remember the next line, look at it and restart the section again (do this until you can recite the whole 30 second without stopping)

4. Recite the entire 30 second section 10 times from your memory and then move on the next section. Do this method until you have memorised the entire video you are Learning from

[David_J._Fisher]

I was actually shocked when I came across this high quality, well-produced video today just to find this guy only has a handful of videos on his channel. This guy is going to be huge in the language learning community if he keeps going like this, he's literally got me writing a transcript of an Easy German video lol.

[BoyBlessing]

HOW TO LEARN ANY LANGUAGE IN 6 WEEKS
(NOTES)

WEEK 1
- Memorize a 10 minute video in the language you want to learn

5 steps to memorizing the 10 minute video

Step 1
Memorize the first 30 seconds of the video. Do this sentence by sentence. Pause the video after each sentence. And repeat the sentence out loud with the same pronunciation and accent as the speaker in the video. Repeat this exercise 10 times. The goal of this exercise is to learn and make sense of what they are saying.

Step 2
Repeat each sentence individually (from the 30 second segment) for 1 minute. After doing this for 4 different sentences, repeat all of them together for 1 minute.

Step 3
Start from the beginning of the 30 second segment, and recite as much of the section as you can remember. If you can’t remember the next line, look it up, and restart the section from the beginning. Continue reciting what you remember, until you miss another line. Repeat this process until you can speak the full 30 second segment, without stopping or forgetting any lines.

Step 4
Recite the entire 30 second section 10 times from memory. Then start this same 4 step process for the next 30 seconds of the video.

Step 5
Maintain what you have memorized by reciting the previously memorized sections 5 times before starting the next section.

By the end you should know what each word and phrase means.

WEEK 2

4 Steps

Step 1
Write 2 paragraphs about 6 different topics
Examples:
- Your Career
- Your Goals & Desires
- Your love life
- Entertainment that you enjoy
- Your Hobbies
- Food that you enjoy
- Important people in your life

Step 2
Translate what you wrote to the language you’re learning with DeepL translator. And then memorize what you wrote each day using the same process you used in week 1.

Step 3
Create a list of individual words commonly used in conversation in any language (people, places, things, time, commonly asked questions, etc.)

The goal is to build a base vocabulary of 1, 000 words. This will allow you to start having conversations with native speakers in weeks 3 & 4.
Doing all of this is for the sake of developing a very deep understanding of all the words and phrases that make up your Italian vocabulary.


WEEK 3-6
Speak with native speakers

[brownrowntown]

I know someone who did something similar to learn a base of Spanish, but she used songs. It worked so well for her that I’ve been using songs in the same way because I don’t get tired of listening to them dozens of times.

But I also like the easy languages idea because songs sometimes take creative license with vocab and grammar so you don’t know if what they’re saying will truly be useful.

Easy languages videos are a great idea because 1) transcripts / translations as you point out, 2) they interview a variety of native speakers so you can get used to how different people speak, 3) there’s a lot of repetition baked in because they ask the same questions to a bunch of people. I’ll try it!

[khalilahd.]

Oh my god I’m so so glad you’re back! I was worried something happened! I’ve been so inspired by you and have been using your process (the one from your Spanish journey with less flashcards) and it’s been so helpful so thank you! I’m glad you an updated method!

[heyitsvonage]

It sounds like you're boiling down a child's experience with learning their native language into a more repeatable and efficient format. So instead of hearing thousands of words hundreds of times in different context, you'd hear hundreds of words thousands of times in the same context...And you are able to look them up in your native language. That's such an efficient idea! There's so much reinforcement. And while having a large vocabulary is nice, most of us repeat the same shit all the time. Especially due to life having routines and such. But this way, you'd reinforce a modest variety of sentence structures into your mind as well. So this method sounds like it has the potential for giving anyone a VERY stable base to start from with a new language, and then they can go about continuing to build their vocabulary and grammar through interactions like anyone would naturally, as they did growing up with their native language. Great videos on this channel. I can't wait to see how far you go with these experiments.

[josephrusso]

This is such a different method to all the other language youtubers, and I think it’s the best! Love your vids man

[marcobagnoli_]

I’m Italian and all I can say is… complimenti! Italian is a hard language, especially the grammar, but I can see your commitment and I’m sure you’ll reach fluency in no time. Keep up the great work, Cameron! Continua così 👍🏻

[chandnisahi]

I'm a graphic designer and I'm currently at the A2 level, trying very hard to get fluent in Italian. I have to say, this content that you uploaded might be my soulmate in the form of a video. Everything from the aesthetics to what you say is soooo on point. You're a genius! Thanks for sharing your experience.

[DrGodzirra]

Great that you actually showed the details of how you study. A lot of these language learning videos just broadly go over the ideas to effectively learn but actually seeing the process is way more helpful and encouraging!

[dubu]

THE MOST WAITED COMEBACK IS FINALLY HERE !!

[PierreGASMR]

That's a great method you are using to learn Italian. It's true that when we memorize a dialogue or a text and review it everyday, we can remember it for a long time, especially when we start using words or expressions from that text. I remember watching one of your videos a few months ago, which was great, went to your channel but didn't subscribe because there were no new videos for a while. Glad to see you are back. Also, your video editing skills were already great but wow, wow, you have improved a lot in that field too. Bon, je vais regarder la prochaine vidéo. I have now subscribe. Hope you reach your 100k subs goal soon!

[ericc.]

I'm using a slightly modified version of this method and I'm getting great results! This method simply WORKS! Thank you very much for sharing this method!

[DanielLeoSimpson]

800+ views hours after the bell went off for me to come here and see a list of positive comments down the page, all speaks for itself. Another slam-dunk - and great videography as well... complimenti!

[bikesherpa]

Da italiano ti devo fare i miei complimenti, hai pure un'ottima pronuncia

[virginiai.]

I'm in awe Cameron. there's a young italian YTer here that nearly gets to what you're laying down but without the clear concise map. For example. "don't understand me? repeat this video 20 or 50 times until you do!" this actually helped me couple years ago on my journey. My ears are pretty good at catching conversational Italian. Speaking it with any sort of fluidity? OUCH. I just spent 90 minutes testing your method and holy crap, I'm speaking naturally in some complex - to me - sentences. I feel like I owe you some cheese. Have a donation place?

[knibtronic]

Great method!. The method you use is based on hardcore science and is absolutely effective. it's called: "Deep learning", or "Learn less but learn it better". It's highly effective because we can only be fluent or good in subjects/things that we dominate well or have a deep level of automaticity. I know this from experience, I had read hundreds, maybe thousands of pages in English but I couldn't speak fluently because I knew a lot of words but I didn't have enough sentences automated to be able to speak.

[levegenusaltivolantum]

Welcome back, man !!! Keep posting ! All the people exspect your videos!!! So good!

[TrevoyLenear]

Most practical video out there … his videos are all you need thanks brother