Brian Kwong: Add1Challenge and tips for success
Kris Broholm welcomes Brian Kwong to discuss the Add1Challenge. They explore how the challenge helps people add new languages and offer practical tips for succeeding in language challenges. The conversation highlights the benefits of learning languages collaboratively.
July 11, 2014 · 36 min
EP 19: Brian Kwong: Add1Challenge and tips for success
0:00 / 35:42
Guest
Brian Kwong
What You'll Hear
- 1 Meet Brian Kwong & Ad One Challenge Launch
- 2 Brian's Language Journey: German, Japanese, and Beyond
- 3 Why Ad One Challenge: Tackling Motivation & Community
- 4 Ad One Challenge: New Features, Requirements, Cost
- 5 5 Tips for Kicking Butt in Language Challenges
- 6 Avoid Burnout: Start Small, Build Consistency
- 7 Sign Up for Ad One Challenge Today!
Links Mentioned
Questions Covered in the Show
Why was the Ad One Challenge created?- 6m
What are the minimum time requirements to participate in the Ad One Challenge?- 11m
What are the top tips for succeeding in a language challenge?- 15m
What should language learners avoid doing to prevent burnout?- 31m
How can someone sign up for the Ad One Challenge?- 34m
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On this episode of the actual fluency podcast, I'm joined by Brian Qu from Ad One challenge. We talk about the challenge and how to succeed in language challenges. Welcome to the actual fluency podcast. The podcast that gives you the tools and inspiration to learn languages faster and more efficiently. And now your host, Chris Brohol.
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the actual fluency podcast. My name is Chris Broho as per usual and today got a very special episode. And before we get into the interview, I just want to talk about how it came about. And it all started when I was in Polyglot Berlin gathering in was it the middle of June. So it's a few weeks ago. And I was busy socializing, talking to people, networking. Uh but there was one guy that I hadn't quite had time to meet. Obviously with over 200 people there, it's quite hard to meet everyone. But Brian Kwong, who I had seen from the Ad One challenge last year, was one of those people that I hadn't quite had a chance to talk to.
So on one of the final days, I simply bumped into him and I said, "Hello Brian, I'm Chris and I do this little podcast thing. Um so if you ever want to come on it and talk about Ad One challenge, well, come on." And basically he was like, "Oh yeah, that sounds cool and uh I'll I'll be in touch and we'll talk about it." And usually what what I do after these kind of conferences is when I come home, I kind of ping the people that I talked to because you might not remember that you talked to say 200 people. Uh but for some reason I I kind of put it off and I I I forgot about Brian for a second.
And today I just randomly stumbled upon him on the Facebook Messenger and I was like, "Hey Brian, how's it going? Um by the way, you're you're still up for that interview regarding your next Ad One challenge?" And Brian was like, "Yeah, we're launching it today." Today, which is the 11th of July, which is the exact same date that this episode goes live. And I guess I can share a little uh secret about the show here is, you know, the the episodes are not recorded on the same day as they're released usually because there's a lot of kind of editing work and there's kind of a lot of planning going into it and I might not be free on every Friday or the guests might not be free on every Friday. Usually, I just kind of, you know, I I call someone and I say, "You want to be on the show?" And then I let them choose the time. I'm not, you know, this isn't Oprah, so um anyway, it was just really funny and and Brian was like, "All right, let's do it." And you know, it's really wonderful to see people uh be kind of um have that mentality which I do myself is very you want to just get it done, you know, you want to do it and you can be persuaded to do kind of things without planning too much and I I really love that.
So, today I'm talking to Brian about the Ad One challenge that just started and I really encourage you guys to go check it out if you're serious about learning a language because learning together is really more powerful than learning on your own, as we get into in the interview. But that's enough for me. As always, if you want to know more, learn more, or, you know, find out more about the actual fluency, uh go on to actualfluency.com and you can read my blog posts, you can read how I'm doing about Russian and kind of um what's what's in store for me. So, um enjoy the interview and I'll see you guys in a later episode.
All right, on today's episode, I'm joined by a very special guest, Mr. Brian Kwong. Brian is the man behind the Ad One challenge where people add additional languages. He also runs the site of Polyglot World that provides motivational interviews and helpful tips for language learners. Hey Brian, thank you for coming on the show. How are you doing today?
I'm doing great, Chris. Thank you for having me.
No problem. Well, I'm excited to talk to you about the newest edition of the Ad One challenge that's going on right as we speak.
Yes.
But before we get into that, let's take a step backwards and talk about yourself for a second.
Yeah.
How did you get into languages, language learning, of that sort?
Well, how it all got all started was maybe about four years ago, three, four years ago, um, I married an Austrian girl. And um, well, we're not together anymore. Let me just get, get that, get that out of the window first.
Um, when after we got married, we moved to Austria. And and the problem is, everything's good. The problem is that, uh, my, my ex-father-in-law, I call him papa, can't speak any English. So, I resisted learning German for two years while living in Austria, but, um, eventually, I finally gave in and wanted to actually, I wanted to learn German to speak with him, to communicate with him, to build better relationship with him for him and for my, um, um, then wife, yeah.
So, that's how I got into learning German. And how I got started was actually get, you know, doing the, the 90-day challenge. The one that we're doing right now, but I would just basically doing a challenge on my own. And my goal was to have a 15-minute conversation with, um, with papa on day 91 on video. And everything's on YouTube right now.
Oh, awesome.
Yeah, and so I made that goal and that's how I got started.
All right. And, uh, did you have any kind of inspirations for this? I I know Benny is doing the 90 days as well. Did you kind of peek at what he was doing at the time?
Oh, totally, totally. I, I got inspiration from a guy named, um, Manish Sethi from hackthesystem.com. He basically had a blue a 90-day blueprint that I follow and, um, after, after finding Manish and I, so I then I found Benny. I'm like, "Wow, this guy's, this guy's awesome. You know, he's traveling the world, learning languages." And, um, so I follow his motto also. So, you know, you learn from everybody.
Right. Right. So, so you, you, you taught yourself German, or or at least a a lot of German. And and what, what where did you go from there? Did you go to a new language or?
Yes, I went to a new language because, well, after we, we kinda got separated, I didn't really have to speak German anymore.
Right.
So, um, so then, so the next thing I look at is, "Okay, what is it after we all separate, I I was asking myself, okay, what is it that I want, I want to do and I haven't done, I still want to do?" What came out was going to Japan, touring Japan.
Mhm.
And so, this is the perfect opportunity to learn Japanese. I've always wanted to learn Japanese. And at the same time, after the challenge that I, you know, after I actually go through a challenge myself and then go into Japan, it'll be awesome. So, that's what happened. I, I took on the, um, Ad One challenge, uh, in Japanese and then I went to tour around Japan, around the bike on a bicycle.
Wow.
And, um, I cycled around Japan for 4,000 kilometers. So, it was, it was awesome.
Wow, and you got to use the the language.
Oh, yeah, yeah. I in Japan is, um, because I'm I've been to Japan a many times actually, but always Tokyo. And Tokyo, there's a lot of expats there. Um, but, um, if you go around the country, it's, it's very, most people can't speak English. So, if you want to, um, connect with people, if you want to get a discount, if you want to get things done, you need to speak some Japanese.
Right. Oh, excellent. So, how did you go from, you know, doing this for yourself to thinking, maybe other people would be interested in this or maybe it would be beneficial to have more people doing it at the same time?
Well, when I first started learning German, I was actually developing language learning app. And that didn't go well, but at the same time, I was building an email list. So, what happened was, I sent a survey out to my email list. At that time, I only had about 200 people, 150 to 200 people. And I sent it out and then sent out the survey asking people, "What is your biggest struggle when you're learning a language?"
And then I got 77 replies back and it's an open-ended question. People can write anything they want. It's not multiple choice. So, what I got, what I learned from that survey, what I got is that I saw two different groups of struggles that people are facing, who are learning a language.
The first group of struggle is based around how to learn a language. How to memorize vocabulary, how to learn grammar, where do I get the best material, what are the methods, approach? That's one group of struggles. Okay?
The second, um, group of struggle that I saw was, um, lack of motivation, um, procrastination, no time, um, inconsistent, don't have a consistent routine. So, what I realized, looking at these two group of struggles, I realized that even if you have the best material in the world, best method, um, on how to learn a language, if you don't have motivation, if you don't have a consistent routine, you would not learn any language.
So, I going, looking from the experience that I had about learning a language in a challenge, um, I thought, "What if everybody can strive on the same goal together and we can help motivate each other and we can support each other?"
Right, so the group mentality.
Exactly. Community, group, mentality, keeping each other accountable, sharing each other's um, victories, sharing each other's um, struggles, learning from each other, sharing resources. It's, and that's that's how I got the idea.
And, yeah, and then when I first started, when I launched the first Ad One challenge in September, I had about five or six friends that, that, that I approached and say, "Hey, you guys want to do this with me? Let's, let's all learn a language together. You're going to learn a language anyways, right? Let's do it together." And they're like, "Oh, sure."
Right.
"Why not?" Because they're all into language learning anyways. Like,
Right.
And, um, and then I launched it, I shared it. I thought I'm going to have like maybe five, six people. But 116 people showed up to the Ad One challenge.
A lot of people.
Yeah, I'm like, "Whoa! Wow, okay, I guess people need this. People want this." Because, you know, they see this, because people when you're learning a language, most of the time, we feel like we are alone.
Sure.
And and if we have people to to understand what we're going through, and learning together, striving for the same or similar goals together, it would be a lot more fun and it would be a lot more effective. So, that's how the Ad One challenge came along.
Awesome, and I can definitely relate to, uh, I mean, the probably primarily the second group for me. I mean, finding the method and stuff, I I always found that pretty simple. I mean, just just read on any of the big language learner blogs, you're going to find some inspiration.
Exactly.
But the whole motivation of sticking with it and doing something every day, and I, that's definitely my problem. So, I'm I'm I'm glad I'm not the only one.
You're not the only one.
No worry.
No worries.
But you're bringing it back. And that's a that's obviously why I I invited you on the show. And what what's different this time around from compared to the first edition of of the Ad One challenge?
Well, a lot has, because, so I I'm not going to say the Ad One challenge is, is um, uh, perfect. I mean, I don't have all the answers. So, basically, I am just, um, learning from each challenges and then talking to people. I talk to everybody on Ad One challenge to get feedback. So, I'm implementing new things from one challenge to another.
So, this current Ad One challenge, um, we are going to have a buddy group. And what a buddy group is, is basically just a quick touch-base communication, say, "Hey, I'm going to do this today. Uh, this is what I learned today. Oh, I struggle from this day." Just a quick, you don't have to meet in person or anything like that. So, just like a maybe a Facebook message group. So, I'll match people up.
After people sign up, after after I accepted people, it's a actually, we have an application process. Because um, we want people who are serious, because because this is all about community, right? So,
Of course, yeah.
So, we're very careful of who to let in and so we have an application process. So, we make sure everybody's committed to do the work. Because no matter how amazing the community is, if you don't do the work, it's not going to work.
What would be the requirements for it? Like, if somebody's sitting out there and thinking, I'd like to join this, but I have wife and kids and jobs and everything. What's kinda the minimum requirement you need to put into it? I mean, I know you can't give a precise answer, but if you had to estimate a a kinda of a a minimum requirement of activity.
Um, I would say, it's as long as as long as there's consistency there. If it's 30 minutes a day for five days a week, that's great.
Right.
That's, I think everybody, even if you have jobs and kids, I we have plenty of people who have jobs and kids who still got amazing results because they're committed. They actually stick to the, um, their schedule and and they have results. So, not that long, but the consistency is the key.
Right, so checking on most days and
One more time?
Uh, checking up on on the other people most days and and touching base like you said in the Facebook groups or
Yes, so we have a Facebook group where we can communicate. Um, with the, with there's a bigger group. There's um, Ad One in Ad One challenge in action group, which everybody's in the group, right? And we'll we'll basically break it into subgroup of three. So, we have a buddy group. And then we'll also schedule, um, a study group who for the people who are learning the same language. So, that so that people can practice speaking.
And, and I don't know and yeah, so that's that's these are two things that we have. And and the current Ad One challenge that that I just we just opened up today and it's actually going to close, um, on the 18th of July. Um, we actually going to have Benny Lewis in the group and his girlfriend, Lauren,
Awesome.
is going to be in the group too. She is going to take on Russian from zero.
Oh, really.
Yes. So, she's learning, so she's learning. I'm sure Benny's going to give her tips and teach her and she's going to share her progress and and we'll be all in the group. So, it would be really awesome, it would be a really awesome Ad One challenge.
Right. Yeah, and of course, Benny doesn't know Russian, so he can't really help her beyond the the normal coaching that he's doing.
Exactly. Well, if if Lauren's struggling about how to learn a language, he can definitely step in and help.
So, so if I want to sign up, I I know there's a lot of work to organize and there's a lot of kind of stuff going on behind the scenes.
Yeah.
What's what's it going to cost for me to sign up?
It's going to cost $47 for three months of support or 90 days of support.
Right.
That sounds like a very good deal.
It is an amazing deal.
Excellent.
So, I get access to the to the kind of the support groups and and and to everything. Do I get anything that we haven't touched on yet?
Yes, um, we have, um, Google Hangout once a month with an experienced polyglot. It's called Burning Questions. So, as you are, if you're as you're going through the challenge, you're in action, you're learning, eventually, you're going to hit a wall.
Of course, yeah.
Right? So, if you have any burning questions, you this is an opportunity to ask an experienced polyglot.
And so, the first, in this Ad One challenge, the first, um, Burning Question session is with Benny. So, if people join this Ad One challenge, they have the opportunity to hang out with Benny and ask questions directly. Or they can people can submit questions and we'll go over the questions as as much as we can with the limited time that we have.
Great. All right. So, we've talked a lot about how the challenge is kind of structured and and how you can get into it and how it's going to help you. But maybe we should I I wouldn't say step back, but let's step to the side and talk about how you perform better. Because I know I met you in Berlin at the Polyglot Gathering.
Yeah.
And I know your talk was on how to kick butt in a language challenge.
Yes.
And obviously, you're probably referring to your own Ad One challenge. But um, what what if you could just summarize some of those, was it five overall tips you had or?
Yeah, we had, we had five overall tips.
Could you share some of the biggest ones for the listeners? I'm sure they would be excited to know kinda, you're an experienced challenge, uh, learner. What what would be some of the biggest tips that somebody can embrace?
Um, the biggest tip, okay, let me just run over them really fast, okay?
The first one is, you're perfect wherever you are in your journey. Your pace is the the best pace. Now, if you're learning a language and you're watching and and you're listening to this podcast or you're watching YouTube, like these amazing polyglot video, you'll be most likely you'll be comparing yourself to them and say, "Oh my God, they're so amazing. I'm just I'm just I'm dumb. I don't have the genes or something like that, you know, or I'm not not learning fast enough. I'm not making enough progress." Um, but that will slow you down because that's doesn't inspire you. That pushed you down, right? So, you just gotta get that, wherever you are in your journey, wherever pace you're going, is is perfect. It's the best pace, as long as you continuously put in the work. So, whenever, so, so that's number one. Your wherever you are is perfect.
Number two is, distinguish and balance your play time and study time. So, play time is basically what you love doing when you're learning a language. Some people love grammar, so they just dig into the books. And and that's great. They're very good at reading. Um, some and that's play time.
Study time is something that you may not enjoy doing as much, but it will also help you advance in your language. For example, maybe you don't like to speak much. You don't want to. So, because learning a language is dynamic. It's there are different there are different dimensions of learning. You know, there's four areas like speaking, read speaking, listening, reading, writing, right? So, it's multi-dimensional. Um, so it's very important to balance play time and study time, so you can advance as much as possible. Because if you spend all your time playing, then you may not advance as you may not advance much. In other areas.
Drift, people kind of drift to their preference and although that is something to have one, you you need to kind of look at the balance between study and play. That's a great one.
Exactly. And and and everybody has different play time and study time. So, you got to distinguish what is your play time for you and what is study time for you. And then you you allocate accordingly, balancing them accordingly.
And I guess it has to be said in connection with the motivation earlier, that some people might not have play time, right? I mean, it's you know, some people might not see any of it as particularly, let's say, fun or something. So, so even if that's the case, don't worry about it, you know, that happens as well.
Exactly. Yes. Now, that now, that that's a great point because most people, how do people, okay, how do we know to learn languages? Go to the books and like read a go, go, go open up like some course book and from beginning to end and hopefully you can speak the language by the end. Or the traditional way of sitting in a classroom, go, you pay for a class and you sit in a classroom with a group of people with a teacher teaching you stuff. And that's that's boring and that's like and and that's the only way we know how to learn, right?
So, so, so, um, I think what's what's I'm going to bring a little bit of Ad One challenge. What happened in Ad One challenge is that you're playing, you're experimenting, what is play time and what is study time for you? And if you don't have any play time, this is when you can ask your community, ask the community and ask, "How do you guys play?" Or like, you know, how, what are some creative ways that can we can make, make, make it more fun. And and that's part of the big thing in the Ad One challenge. People learn how to learn a language that's best for them.
Right. Drawing on the experience.
So, yeah, exactly, it's all experimentation because most people don't really know how to learn a language that's best for them. So, you got to experiment and try things out and and develop more play time and also balance the study time.
Yeah. Excellent.
So, that's number two, that's number two. Distinguish and balance your play time and study time, okay?
Number three. Um, most people had a a a a problem with time. They don't have time. And because, I mean, I understand everybody has has to deal with their everyday things, right? They got to do what they got to do. They got to work, they got a family, friends and all that. And and so, how would I suggest is to create more time, you wake up early to create more time. Oh, yeah. And and most people, if I tell them that, they're like, "Oh my gosh, you crazy. I no, I can't. I can't do it." I I and I'll be the first one to admit that I can't do it either if you tell me that.
So, so here's the trick. The trick is to set up some kind of language exchange session 30 minutes to 60 minutes before you usually wake up. That way, somebody's waiting for you. You're not waking up early to open a book to study because you definitely fall right back to sleep in the books, right? So, when that way, you have somebody waiting for you and when you, what happens when you actually meet, when you wake up 30, 60 minutes in the in the session, when you start talking, when you're in the in the beginning of five, the first five, ten minutes, you may be struggling a little bit. But after five, ten minutes, as you're activating your foreign language brain, some it's just something about when you're activating the learning a foreign language, it wakes you up.
So, what happens to me is, is every time I get tired or sleepy in the first five minutes, but but by the end of the session, I'm wide awake and I'm ready to to kick ass in the rest of the day. So, yeah, so that's number.
There's also studies done on, I'm I've read a study about school kids and the fact that they learn more in the morning. So, there's also something to be said about putting your language learning at the beginning of the day rather than the end. Not saying it's impossible to study at night, but you retain more information if you do it at the upfront in the morning, when you just got up.
Totally, what what happens with the with people what what I learned from the Ad One challenge, from people who share with me is that most of the time by the end of the day, they're tired, they're drained.
Of course.
You know, so it's like a struggle to open the to to to do do their study. So, if you actually get it out of the way in the morning, then you got one thing out of the way.
Yeah.
And you're ready to kick ass through your day. So, waking up early to create more time is it's it's it's really effective, highly recommended.
Great.
Okay. So, number four. Language learning is a team sport. It's not an individual sport. Especially if you are learning to speak the language. If you want to speak with somebody, you need to speak with somebody, right?
Yeah, that's.
Yeah.
You can speak with yourself, I guess.
Well, I
I guess.
but yeah, that would be, I don't know how fun that that conversation would be or if you are, or I guess you understand yourself, right? You know what You at least think you understand, you know what you're talking about because you're just talking to yourself, even though you're saying it all wrong, right? So, so eventually if you if you want to communicate with somebody, language learning is a team sport. So, the more people you get involved, the better is it for it is for you.
And and most people are afraid to share, um, what they're doing, especially, um, if they're taking on a big challenge, it could be Ad One challenge. Most people are reserved and they don't want to share this. But, um, what hap when when they do that, what happens is they're closing a lot of opportunity for other people to contribute.
Like, for example, one time, when I was doing the Ad One challenge, I was just sharing with everybody as much as I can. Just letting other people know, "I'm taking this on, this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to make sure that happens, um, on the day 91, so I can speak with papa on video. Because my punishment is, if I don't speak with him in 15 minutes, uh, for if I can't hold a conversation in 15 minutes, I'm going to have to wash his toilet and live with him for a day for a week. So, that's motivation. Yeah, so, so to motivation, I need to for motivation for me, that's of course I I that set up, you know, that that's something that's think I created that's fun for me. Or not not washing the toilet, it's not fun for me, but but but but it's motivation for me to get get going at the same time. When I tell people, it also holds me accountable too.
Right.
Right? So, what happens is, one of my friend is a German teacher in in a high school.
Mhm.
So, she shared with her student, showed my video to her student. And her student are so excited. You know, this guy wanted to communicate with his, his father-in-law and let's help him. And so, they created a project to meet me once a week.
Wow.
To help me with my German. Now, that's more practice that I wouldn't have if I didn't actually share it and tell people I what I'm up to in life. So, by sharing what you're up to and involving people in your language learning on your goals, you allow people to contribute with you and also you benefit. So, language learning is a team sport.
And you share it with people who actually understand, like, you don't get the question, "Well, why are you learning that?" You know, that you might get from outsiders.
That, well, that's I I actually have that that's totally, um, I understand that happens, right?
Sure.
Which is why the Ad One challenge is so so effective because everyone in the Ad One challenge understands.
Exactly, that's why they need to.
Because everybody's everybody's going through the same thing. So, with a with a with this kind of environment, we'll definitely support you.
Like-minded people.
Like-minded, exactly. Like-minded people will support you your goal because they also want to do the same thing.
Exactly.
So, the last one, last one, okay? Um, actually, this last one is is is uh, um, something that happened in the previous Ad One challenge. Uh, it's it's when you're learning a language together in the Ad One challenge, um, we when we share ideas with each other, just like how I'm sharing ideas with you, you're sharing ideas with me, we get new ideas.
Of course.
Right? So, in Ad One challenge, what happens, one of the Ad One challenges, named Kevin, he thought of idea of, "Hey, why don't we go into a Google Hangout and, um, and and we can share, one of us can share our browser in the Google Hangout." And so, we'll have like three people, we're looking at his browser and he will go into Google Maps and we'll go to Japan together on Google Earth.
Oh, wow, yeah.
And then we can look on the streets, we can walk around on the streets in Tokyo.
Right.
So, while we're in the Hangout, we can give each other instructions, we can, "Hey, you know, say, hey, that's a ramen shop. Are you hungry? Do you want to go?" So, we can practice speaking Japanese in sort of in Japan on a computer, having a blast. Um, so, so it's just awesome.
Yeah, that sounds amazing.
Yeah, so it's it's it's so, so that's what happens when you learn with other people, involved with other people and new things comes up.
Right.
And so, that's, um, even if you don't, if you if you join the Ad One challenge, this is what's there for you. But if you don't join Ad One challenge, it's all it's all good. See how you can apply it in your life and maybe get a few friends and see if you come up new ways to to learn the language and make it fun.
Right, innovate and.
Innovate. Exactly. Because this is really new because, you know, most most people learn in the traditional way. But, you know, it's time to and and obviously, we we all know that it's not effective, it doesn't work.
Right.
So, it's it's so it's up to us to do something about it.
Exactly, and and indeed you are. Um, so you those were five really great tips of of of what you should probably do if you want greatest success. Do you have anything that you absolutely should not do when you're doing it?
Okay, great. That's a great question. Um, what happens when most people join the Ad One challenge, they get really excited. And what happens is, is that if they do too much in the beginning, they'll get burned out. Okay? So, what you must not do is to, um, overload yourself too much in the beginning. You'll definitely get burned out and you would not be able to sustain. Because, you know, if learning a language is a journey, it's a long-term long-term journey. It's not just 90 days. This 90 days is just getting you started.
So, getting you started and and the the trick is to how you can integrate a learning routine with your life when you're handling everything else that's happening in your life. Exactly. And that's what I encourage people to do in the Ad One challenge. You're not here just to do a sprint and do a 90-day thing. You are learning how to incorporate this in your life so it's become part of your life.
Totally, totally. It's a huge it's a it's a big step stepping stone. And in meaning that it helps it's very effective. Um, so what not to do? So, what I suggest is that it's better if you start uh, small. Meaning, you study maybe 30 minutes a day for maybe five times a week. And if you can study more, then you increase a little bit of time, but don't not too much. And then if you want to increase more, then you slowly increase. Exactly. You build on it instead of starting a lot from the beginning and then you get burned out and you lose motivation. So, you so you built on it from starting a little bit or built on it. Yeah, because you got to because you're learning, you're you're this is a new thing, you know, you got to you got to practice, you need to see what works and what doesn't work.
Yeah, and adding from your first part of the interview, where you talked about, wherever you are is the is the perfect place to be. Again, if you had three months and you're not quite fluent yet, don't despair and just give up language learning altogether. You know, it's a process.
Yes, it's a process. But at the same time, you'll be surprised. If you actually put in the actually, most people are surprised. If they people actually do the work and, um, and consistently practicing speaking with somebody, and I recommend using um, Italki. It's a website that connect language learners with tutors easily, fast, and and and cheap, in my opinion. If you, if you actually schedule those, have a lot of those Italki sessions, or you have a lot of um, language exchange um, um, sessions with with um, native speaker, you'll be surprised how far you can go in 90 days. You may not be fluent, but you'll be surprised, I guarantee you, how far you can go if you just practice speaking.
Yeah, exactly. You, I mean, we've seen lots of, lots of people with uh, doing just that, so it's definitely not a myth or anything.
No, no, it's not a myth.
All right, Brian, well, it's been wonderful to talk to you, but there's one critical point that we haven't mentioned yet. How do I sign up?
Okay, great question. How you can sign up is, um, now, depending on when you're listening to this podcast,
Yes, it's limited time, only a only a week until the 18th of July.
It's only to the 18th of July. So, the best way I think is is to go to my website, polyglotworld.com.
Right.
A, polyglotworld.com. And on the right upper corner, there will be a tab called Ad One challenge. So, you so you click on Ad One challenge and you, um, put provide your email address and opt in to the email list and email, uh, newsletter. They'll give you the instructions, um, to sign up. And if it's not open, then you'll be notified when it's open.
Of course. It's still limited and there's still the application process, so just signing up doesn't guarantee a spot.
No, it's an application, exactly. So, even if you pay money, you apply, it doesn't mean that you will get accepted.
Well, I think that's a fantastic way to do it, so you make sure that people are, you know, motivated because even even if you have serious people, having that extra bit of financial investment actually also provides motivation.
Totally.
like, "Oh, I put $47 in this. I better, you know, do it properly."
Yes.
So, it's extra motivation for the participants as well.
Totally. It's it's all about, you know, what what I'm creating right now is all about how I can help language learners to break that first language barrier. That's why it's called the Ad One challenge. It's not Ad Two, it's not Ad Five.
Right.
It's Ad One. So, everything that I do, it's around how I can help language learners around the world to be able to break that barrier.
That's a wonderful way to end. Thank you so much for coming on, Brian, and I'll definitely be joining the the challenge, assuming I can, uh, pass the application process.
Oh, awesome, Chris. That would be awesome.
Yeah.
Of course.
Cool. Well, see you within. All right.
Thanks, Chris. All right, see you. All right.