Fluent in 3 Months Book Review: In this post I take a look at the best-selling book, where acclaimed polyglot Benny Lewis teaches everyone how they can learn the fundamentals of a language quicker, and have conversations in a new language within 3 months.
If you have been a part of the on-line language learning community for any amount of time, you will have heard the name Benny Lewis at some point or another.
He runs the content-packed blog; Fluent in 3 Months where he for the last many years has blogged about travelling and language learning.
During his travels he has obtained fluency in over 10 languages with working knowledge of more than half a dozen more.
[alert type=warning]Update! Benny has released Fluent in 3 months Premium![/alert]
His story is a fascinating inspiration because he was just like any other adult with regards to languages.
He spoke only English at the age of 21, because he thought he was simply ‘bad' at languages or he did not possess the language gene.
Then he changed his whole mindset around and that lead to the aforementioned achievements, proving that any limitation we impose on ourselves is a limitation of belief and mindset and not some silly lack of a mythical language gene or just talent.
What do other people say about Fluent in 3 Months?
Before I dive deeper into my own opinion about the book, I thought I'd take a look at the many reviews on amazon. It's easy to conclude, that people are overwhelmingly positive about Benny's book. It has over 137 reviews and a 4/5 overall rating.
The Book – Fluent in 3 Months
Benny's new book is called Fluent in 3 Months, which is a title I'm not a big fan of.
Yes, it is the same as his blog, but I feel that a more creative title could have been born to perhaps lure in people who are not currently learning other languages.
Fluent in 3 Months is a catchy title, but at the same time it may confuse more than not.
When that is all said and done I love the book.
Benny's story is inspirational and he very methodically deconstructs the method of which he gained fluency in over 10 languages.
He's a big fan of speaking from day one, an example of which can be found on his blog where he speaks Polish over skype after having spent just one hour learning it.
I think this is perhaps a bit too extreme, but it underlines his point that if you want to achieve rapid fluency you must take the proverbial plunge as soon as possible.
If you only do input-based learning, your fluency will be a lot slower and it will sound unnatural when you get to speak to native speakers.
In addition to this, Benny Lewis also sprinkled links in the book that leads to a secret membership area where book owners can get access to additional goodies.
Kinda like DVD bonus features. I first saw this method used in Tim Ferris' Books and I'm happy Benny were inspired to do this, it really adds to the value of the book.
Get the book on Amazon: > Fluent in 3 Months
How Fluent in 3 Months helps my language learning
I recently started learning Russian, about 3 weeks ago, and although my vocabulary is severely limited I have already been speaking full sentences to a native speaker.
Of course the sentences are basic in form, but they force me out of my shell and trust me, I'm not exactly an extrovert, trying to pronounce things correctly in front of a native speaker with such a limited experience to the language is incredibly scary!
The good part of this is that the more you do it, the easier it will become and the less nervous you will be.
He also further attacks some of the excuses I have done with regards to language learning, for instance the “I will speak when I am ready!” excuse, which I think you might even be able to find in my original Russian goal entry.
He hammers home the point that if you want fluency, you must speak as soon as possible and as often as possible. Everything else you do is just icing on the cake (such as Anki or other studies).
The negative aspects of my Fluent in 3 Months Book review
I'm always honest and upfront about any book, product or course targeted towards language learners.
I particularly pride myself in being unbiased.
This means that I also have a few negative points to add to this review. I already mentioned how I think 3 months is a bit unrealistic and creates a “lose 50 lbs in a week” kind of feel to the book, but Benny has proven time and time again that it is possible – so I suppose I'll let this one slide for now.
But just be warned, learning to speak a language in just 3 months requires a very considerable time investment.
The other thing I need to comment on is that, while the book provides a complete easy-to-follow framework to learning languages, it is not re-inventing Benny's method he has used for 10 years.
If you have been following his blog for a while, you might not find any new things in the book.
Although if you have enjoyed his blog content for that long I would suggest you buy the book anyway, to show your support and have the resources conveniently packaged.
Conclusion
In spite of the above small negative aspects I had with the book, It is a great book.
It reads very fast and Benny provides a framework for people to get out and speak a language very quickly.
If you are interested in learning a language to fluency faster and more efficient you need to read this book.
I can fully recommend it and conclude my Fluent in 3 Months book review with 4/5 stars. Well worth a read.
Where to buy Fluent in 3 Months:
I recommend picking up the book on Amazon.
Fluent in 3 Months Premium
As you might have seen in the Book, Benny provided some bonus features on a site he calls Fluent in 3 Months Plus.
The site had free videos, text and even chapter summaries from Benny himself.
Now Benny has taken it one step further and introduced: Premium. Which is like Plus, but on steroids.
Premium isn't free, as the name suggests but you will be blown away at just how much Benny is providing in terms of value within the Premium program.
> You can read my complete review of Premium, here.
That's the end of my Fluent in 3 Months Book Review.
Did you read the book? What did you think?
Kris is the founder of Actual Fluency, and has spent the last 8 years becoming an expert in language learning software, methods, and techniques.
He lives in Denmark and speaks 5+ languages at varying levels. His other interests are Wine, Online Marketing, and Travelling.