Benny Lewis facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Benny Lewis
|
|
|---|---|
.jpg)
|
|
| Born |
Brendan Richard Lewis
1981/1982 (age 42–43) |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Occupation |
|
Benny Lewis (born September 5, 1981) is an author and blogger from Ireland. He calls himself a "technomad language hacker." This means he travels a lot and finds clever ways to learn languages. He is famous for his website, Fluent in 3 Months. On his site, he shares his adventures of learning new languages quickly. He usually tries to learn a language in about three months.
Benny Lewis wrote a book called Fluent in 3 Months in 2014. He also created a series of language courses. These courses are called Language Hacking. They include popular languages like Spanish, French, German, and Italian.
Contents
Early Life and Language Journey
Benny Lewis grew up in Ireland. He has said that he wasn't very good at languages in school. He got a "C" in German and barely passed his Irish language tests. After college, he studied electronic engineering at University College Dublin.
Later, he moved to Spain and tried to learn Spanish. It took him over a year to learn it well. This made him frustrated with traditional ways of learning. So, he decided to try a new approach. He shares this different way of learning on his website and in his book.
Career Highlights
Benny Lewis is the person who started and runs the website Fluent in 3 Months. He has given two talks at TEDx. These are special events where people share interesting ideas.
In 2013, National Geographic magazine named him a "Traveler of the Year." This was a big honor for his unique way of traveling and learning.
He has written five books, including his well-known Fluent in 3 Months. He also worked with "Teach Yourself" to create four course books. These are Language Hacking Spanish, Language Hacking French, Language Hacking German, and Language Hacking Italian. Benny has also taught language lessons to people over the phone and on Skype.
Benny's Language Learning Approach
Benny Lewis believes that anyone can learn a language quickly. He thinks you can become "fluent" in as little as three months. For Benny, "fluency" means you can talk easily in social situations. It means you can use the new language almost as well as your native one.
His main idea is to start speaking a new language right away. He says it's okay to make mistakes. You can start with very simple phrases like "me want go supermarket." The goal is to communicate from day one.
Benny explains the name of his website, Fluent in 3 Months: He says the name can be confusing. He is not promising that everyone will learn a language in three months. That would be silly because everyone learns differently. Most people take years to learn a language.
The name comes from his own goals. Benny often moves to a new country for about three months. During that time, he aims to speak the local language fluently. So, the website documents his own language learning adventures. It shares the ideas that help him learn languages quickly. The title is about his objective, not a magic solution for everyone.
Language Learning Projects
Benny Lewis has tried to learn over 20 languages. He shares his experiences on his website with blog posts and YouTube videos. He started recording his efforts in 2009. He wanted to show that it was possible to learn a language well in three months.
Some people, like other language experts called polyglots, have doubted his claims. They say it's very hard to become truly fluent in such a short time. Research also suggests that learning languages like English or French usually takes at least eight months. This depends on how much you practice.
Czech (2009)
In 2009, Benny started his Fluent in 3 Months blog. He announced he would learn Czech in three months. His goal was to have good conversations with locals. He wanted to speak clearly and understand a lot.
After three months, he said he had studied Czech for two months part-time. He felt he reached a "pretty good level." But he admitted he didn't reach his goal of full fluency. He found the Czech grammar, especially its case system, very difficult.
Brazilian Portuguese (2009)
Later in 2009, Benny went to Brazil. He aimed to learn Portuguese so well that Brazilians would think he was a native speaker. He had some experience with Portuguese before this trip.
At the end of this project, he called it a "partial success." Some Brazilians did think he was a native speaker for short times.
German (2010)
In 2010, Benny decided to learn German to a "mastery" level in three months. He wanted Germans to believe he was from Berlin. He also planned to take a very advanced German exam. He had studied German for five years in school, but felt he couldn't speak it.
After three months, Benny was happy with his exam results. He passed four out of five parts of the exam. He did not pass the listening part.
Chinese (2012)
Benny also tried to learn both Japanese and Chinese. He found these languages the hardest. He didn't fully reach his goals, but he still learned a lot.
In 2012, he aimed to learn Mandarin Chinese to an advanced level (C1) in three months. After five months, a Chinese teacher assessed his skills. The teacher said his spoken Chinese was "very impressive." However, his overall level was lower than he aimed for (B1, intermediate). His listening skills were "very good." His reading and writing were not as strong. Benny realized that cultural differences in Taiwan made learning Mandarin harder for him.
Japanese (2013)
In 2013, Benny tried to learn Japanese to an advanced level (N2) in three months. Other language experts were doubtful. They thought it wasn't possible to become fluent in Japanese so quickly. Benny extended his deadline, but eventually stopped the project. He didn't reach fluency, but he did learn a basic level of Japanese.
Awards and Recognition
Benny Lewis received the "Language Ambassador of the Year" award in 2012. In 2013, he was named a "National Geographic Traveler of the Year."
