StoryLearning Podcast

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 I'm lazy, I'm bored,  I'm not motivated, studying is so hard, I don't have an hour a day to study. These are all things that I, at various points in my life, have told myself about language learning.

And as a result, I end up not doing any study. And it's a real shame because in order to get good at a language, you do actually have to sit down and study. 

But there is a trick that I have found to get me to study that's almost embarrassingly simple. And I'm going to dedicate this entire video to this one trick.

👉 Got a question you want Olly to answer on the podcast? Submit it here: https://storylearning.com/ask_Olly_your_question

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A listener wrote to me frustrated that, although he’s at B2 level, he keeps using the same vocabulary over and over again when he speaks. This is a common problem - even in our native language, we understand twice as many words as we actually use.  Extraordinarily articulate people, with a wide vocabulary, stand out because most of us just use the same words all the time. So what is it that those people do differently and how can we apply that to language learning?

Mentioned in this episode: 👉 Olly demonstrating reverse translation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VXmDiBfzwA

👉 Got a question you want Olly to answer on the podcast? Submit it here: https://storylearning.com/ask_Olly_your_question

👉 Get a 7-day FREE trial to one of my story-based language courses: https://storylearning.com/Language_Courses

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I released a video  on how I would learn Spanish again in 2026 if I was going to start over.  When I first learned it, I was immersed - I was living in London and had Spanish friends. Someone left a comment saying - people with lives don't have two years to immerse themselves, how are people supposed to replicate that with one hour a day? The truth is, although it would be ideal, you don't need full immersion to learn a language. In this episode, I'm going to show you how can replicate my immersion experience in one hour a day of focused study.

👉 Got a question you want Olly to answer on the podcast? Submit it here: https://storylearning.com/ask_Olly_your_question

👉 Get a 7-day FREE trial to one of my story-based language courses: https://storylearning.com/Language_Courses

👉 Check out my all-inclusive VIP language programme with guaranteed results: https://storylearning.com/StoryLearning_VIP_Info#storylearning #learnthroughstories

👉 Grab your FREE Guide, Lamont’s 8 Best Language Learning Tips: https://l.storylearning.com/lamont_tips

👉 Sign up now for the StoryLearning App: https://l.storylearning.com/SL.app.2026

In this episode, I’m delighted to be joined for a second time by Lamont McLeod from the Days and Words YouTube channel.

We talk about getting over hurdles in language learning, our appreciation of language as an art-form, the Australian Military Linguist Test, accountability practices, Lamont’s take on AI and more.

In just under an hour, we pretty much solve language learning!

More from today’s guest:

💬 Our first interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaeMO_Xyby4

📺 Lamont’s YouTube Channel, Days and Words: https://www.youtube.com/@daysandwords

🗣️ Lamont’s Spanish accountability channel: https://www.youtube.com/@lamontespanol/

👉 Got a question you want Olly to answer on the podcast? Submit it here: https://storylearning.com/ask_Olly_your_question

👉 Get a 7-day FREE trial to one of my story-based language courses: https://storylearning.com/Language_Courses

👉 Check out my all-inclusive VIP language programme with guaranteed results: https://storylearning.com/StoryLearning_VIP_Info

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How fluent do you have to be in a second language before moving on to a third language? How do you know when is the right time? Do you risk forgetting the language you are currently learning or not?

This is the most common question I've ever received on the podcast - Can I learn two languages at once? And if not, when's the right time to learn another language?

👉 Got a question you want Olly to answer on the podcast? Submit it here: https://storylearning.com/ask_Olly_your_question

👉 Get a 7-day FREE trial to one of my story-based language courses: https://storylearning.com/Language_Courses

👉 Check out my all-inclusive VIP language programme with guaranteed results: https://storylearning.com/StoryLearning_VIP_Info#storylearning #learnthroughstories

👉 Grab your FREE Binge-Worthy Resources for Fluency: https://l.storylearning.com/fluency.resources

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Struggling to understand TV in your new language? Today’s questioner, Lisa, has the same problem. She speaks French and Italian at a decent level but still finds TV tricky. She told me that sometimes she just wants to collapse in front of the telly.

And this is what trips people up when they're trying to learn a foreign language by watching TV. Most of us associate TV with just zoning out. But in order to get good at anything, you have to be able to focus and concentrate.

There are a couple of parts to this dilemma. First is understanding what type of TV you're watching. And then second is actual techniques for getting better and for learning. So let’s get into it.

👉 Got a question you want Olly to answer on the podcast? Submit it here: https://storylearning.com/ask_Olly_your_question

👉 Get a 7-day FREE trial to one of my story-based language courses: https://storylearning.com/Language_Courses

👉 Check out my all-inclusive VIP language programme with guaranteed results: https://storylearning.com/StoryLearning_VIP_Info

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👉Grab your FREE Guide, How to Read in Any Language: https://l.storylearning.com/reading_guide

👉 Sign up now for the StoryLearning App: https://l.storylearning.com/SL_app

I’ve had a lot of questions come in  about different ways to learn vocabulary from reading and the best books to use if you want to read to learn a language.

 I do quite a lot of episodes on reading and this is going to be a rapid fire one. I'm going to very quickly go through a bunch of different types of books that you can read and tell you if they're helpful or not.

Mentioned in this episode:

📖 My 101 Conversations books: https://l.storylearning.com/books

🎓 Sangers, N.L., van der Sande, L., Welie, C. et al. Learning a Language Through Reading: A Meta-analysis of Studies on the Effects of Extensive Reading on Second and Foreign Language Learning. Educ Psychol Rev 37, 96 (2025). https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10648-025-10068-6

👉 Got a question you want Olly to answer on the podcast? Submit it here: https://storylearning.com/ask_Olly_your_question

👉 Get a 7-day FREE trial to one of my story-based language courses: https://storylearning.com/Language_Courses

👉 Check out my all-inclusive VIP language programme with guaranteed results: https://storylearning.com/StoryLearning_VIP_Info

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👉 Grab your FREE Guide, Xiaoma’s 7 Best Tips for Learning Any Language: https://l.storylearning.com/xiaoma

Today's guest, Xiaoma NYC, a.k.a Arieh Smith, probably needs no introduction. He first came on the podcast in 2020, so it's high time we caught up with him. He's been busy since then, managing to learn 70 languages. So how did he do it?

Links mentioned in this episode:

Arieh’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@xiaomanyc

Teacher AI: https://yourteacher.ai/

Arieh’s language courses: https://www.streetsmartlanguages.com/

👉 Got a question you want Olly to answer on the podcast? Submit it here: https://storylearning.com/ask_Olly_your_question

👉 Get a 7-day FREE trial to one of my story-based language courses: https://storylearning.com/Language_Courses

👉 Check out my all-inclusive VIP language programme with guaranteed results: https://storylearning.com/StoryLearning_VIP_Info

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👉 Grab your FREE Speaking Guide: https://l.storylearning.com/speaking_guide 

Today's question is about speaking and how to go from knowing a lot of stuff in a language to actually speaking the language fluently.

 As I always say, if you want to speak fluently, so if you want to be able to interact in the real world confidently and fluently like a native speaker, you've got to be speaking a lot.

Let’s look at some ways to do that, both by yourself and with other people.

Mentioned in this episode:

Langua: https://l.storylearning.com/Langua-AI

Daniel's podcast, My Fluent Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/myfluentpodcast

LanguaTalk: https://l.storylearning.com/Langua-Talk

👉 Got a question you want Olly to answer on the podcast? Submit it here: https://storylearning.com/ask_Olly_your_question

👉 Get a 7-day FREE trial to one of my story-based language courses: https://storylearning.com/Language_Courses

👉 Check out my all-inclusive VIP language programme with guaranteed results: https://storylearning.com/StoryLearning_VIP_Info

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As a beginner language learner, you feel progress happening very quickly. Everything you learn is useful and practical.

But once you've learned the basics, it’s normal to get stuck. In fact, it's so normal that it has a name: the intermediate plateau. Every learner reaches it, generally around the one to two year mark.

So, how do you get over it?  When you’re stuck and you just can’t break through to fluency, there are only two possibilities and two ways to fix it. And one thing you must never do.

Mentioned in this episode:

Find high-quality language teachers on LanguaTalk: https://l.storylearning.com/langua_talk

👉 Got a question you want Olly to answer on the podcast? Submit it here: https://storylearning.com/ask_Olly_your_question

👉 Get a 7-day FREE trial to one of my story-based language courses: https://storylearning.com/Language_Courses

👉 Check out my all-inclusive VIP language programme with guaranteed results: https://storylearning.com/StoryLearning_VIP_Info

#storylearning #learnthroughstories