Fluent Forever: How to Learn Any Language Fast and Never Forget It is definitely categorized as a self help book. It's a genre that a little odd to try to review, but here goes.
This book is aimed at people who are trying to teach themselves a new language, a notoriously difficult task if you don't have learning partners or traditional immersion. So Gabriel Wyner sets out to break down how your brain processes new languages and how you can hack that process to make words and grammar stick with less effort.
I love languages, and I figured a book that was so confident it could hack my brain was worth a shot. I've always had a difficult time reading self help books. To me, their tone always feels a little off, both off-putting and encouraging. And Fluent Forever did have this tone, but the author is comfortably fluent in at least six languages and I so desperately wanted to know his secrets, so I stuck with it.
In truth, the methods he describes are traditional learning practices that have been modified based on how the brain connects and forms memories. His main goal is to get his students to cut out the middle man, and skip the delay of painstakingly translating. Instead, all of his methods go back to this idea of hearing and understanding the target language. Of thinking in the target language. And this is something that really appeals to me, and I'm sure to most other language learners.
Wyner suggests ways to get a solid grip on pronunciation, pointing readers to resources and exercises to help you get used to any sounds English may not have. He also modifies the traditional flashcard method, removing all English words from vocabulary cards and replacing them with pictures (and linking them to a memory) in order to encourage learning without translating. In short, these are all relatively easy modifications I can see myself trying. I think the methods he introduces can be used either by traditional classroom learners or by the self-taught crowd.
If you have no interest in language, definitely skip on this one. But if you're struggling through a language class, or starting the journey on your own, these techniques might give you an edge.