Learn Spanish Smart Tim Ferriss Style

Tim Ferriss,author of The Four Hour Work Week , is a great example of someone who knows how to learn Spanish smart. He understands his learning style when it comes to learning a foreign language. I have followed his blog and see that he is very in tune with how his mind and body works even in learning other subjects such as swimming or tango dancing. He embodies the idea of "learning smart" vs. "study harder" when tackling new skills. For those of you who feel an affinity with the way Tim Ferriss thinks and processes languages, I have deconstructed the Spanish language using what he calls "six lines of gold." This taken from a blogpost by him called, "How to Learn (But Not Master) Any Language in 1 Hour."

So if you were to sit next to me on a plane ride to Mexico, I would show you this as to how those six sentences would be said in Spanish.

1. The apple is red. La manzana es roja.

2. It is John's apple. Es la manzana de Juan.

3. I give John the apple. Le doy a Juan la manzana.

4. We give him the apple. Le damos a el la manzana.

5. He gives it to John. El se la da a Juan.

6. She gives it to him. Ella se la da a el.

In deconstructing the language, these are the differences you have as an English speaker learning Spanish.

1. The apple is red. La manzana es roja.

Sentence 1. You see that Spanish is the same as English in the word order of a simple sentence. Most of the time Spanish word order is subject-verb-object (SVO), just as in English.

2. It is John's apple. Es la manzana de Juan.

Sentence 2. You see that "Es" by itself expresses "It is" Also it shows that there is no possessive "'s" or another letter that can be hooked on to the end of a name to show possession. The structure to show possession is "the apple OF Juan".

Sentences 3, 4, 5 and 6, all deal with what Tim Ferriss calls the "uber pain" of indirect and direct objects. If you're speakers of other languages, this may not be too painful.

3. I give John the apple. Le doy la manzana a Juan .

In sentence 3: John is the indirect object (IO) and apple is the direct object (DO).

It starts with "le" which is the indirect object pronoun (IOP), it's like saying "him". From the very beginning of the sentence, a Spanish speaker must be told to anticipate that someone is going to receive an action. That person is revealed to be John, by "a Juan".

You may notice the lack of the subject pronoun "I", all you see is the verb "doy". Spanish verbs are conjugated. Meaning, the verb changes its form depending on which person is doing the action. (I, you, he, she, we, they). Now, because the verb form can tell me who is speaking, the subject pronoun does not need to be mentioned, BUT looking at sentences 5 and 6 you will see the cases when you do need the subject pronoun.

Spanish puts the indirect object pronoun (IOP) before the conjugated verb, and then clarifies at the end who you're talking about by adding "a Juan".

4. We give him the apple. Le damos la manzana a el.

In sentence 4. You see the use of the (IOP) "le" again at the beginning with the clarifier of "a el" this time for "him". The apple (DO) is there too with "la manzana". The verb form has changed to "damos" for "We give" and there is no need to include the subject pronoun "we" in the sentence.

5. He gives it to John. El se la da a Juan.

6. She gives it to him. Ella se la da a el.

In 5, the "El" at the beginning is for "He". The verb has now changed to the "da" form, which is the same verb form used in sentence 6. There, "Ella" is used for "She".So the third person singular pronoun is needed to be clear that it is "El" or "Ella" doing the action. Now back to dealing with the (IOP) and (DO).

In both 5 and 6 the direct object pronoun (DOP) of "it" is now being used to refer to the apple. In 5, notice the English word order: "He + verb + (DOP)+ to John". In Spanish, when you're just using the pronouns to represent the (IO) or (DO), the order is always El/Ella (IOP) + (DOP)+ conjugated verb +clarifier. In this sentence, the (IOP) + (DOP) seen as "se la". So though you might have expected to see the "le" again for the (IOP) as in 3 and 4. It it changes to "se" here when coming before "la" (referring to the apple). In Spanish, they don't want the alliteration of "le la", so the (IOP) is changed to "se". And once again there is the need for a clarifier at the end to know who is receiving "it". You may be wondering why it was necessary to have "se la" in sent. 5, if "John" is mentioned at the end in name, and not as "him" an IOP. As mentioned above with sent. 3, Spanish indirect objects, which usually are persons who are receiving something, have to be "marked" in a sense, at the beginning of the sentence to know that someone else is going to be mentioned. The clarifier "a Juan" tells me who the someone else is. It does not mean "to John" as we want to think in English.

Is this useful to you? For you learners who groove on grammar, this can be helpful. To those of you who started freaking out the moment you read "subject-verb-object", maybe not. Tim Ferriss' learning bent leans toward the analytical and linear. He has learned to "hack" many skills because he understands his learning style. When it comes to learning another language, it also helps to have an sociable personality.

Additional blogposts by Tim Ferriss:

"Why-language-classes-dont-work-how-to-cut-classes-and-double-your-learning-rate"
In his conclusion, he refers to "real ego-crushing interaction." This is so true if you want to learn to speak another language. Just get out there and talk to native speakers. Let go of your ego and don't be hindered by trying to say everything perfectly.

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