Fluency Made Achievable

by Kerstin Cable

Discover the secret to confidence in any language, learn how to spend time learning productively, and finally find the key to fluency with Fluency Made Achievable.

Ever asked yourself "How do I learn a language?"

Fluency Made Achievable is your Step-By-Step Guide!

We all know this problem: Learning a new language can be difficult and frustrating. You spend hours with the book and CD set, or watching foreign movies, and when you open your mouth it feels like it's done no good.

But what you really want is to build your confidence and skills evenly, with fun and varied exercises that leave you ready to face all learning situations.

Discover the four core language skills for long-term success in language learning through
- fresh exercises
- expert interviews
- a personal 3-week Study Planner

The exercise suggestions are divided into the categories of listening, reading, speaking and writing to make it easy for learners to go straight to practicing core skills in a targeted way.

This entertaining book is guaranteed to help every independent language learner and language tutor evaluate their progress so far, and with the handy 3-week Study Plan this book can make a difference to your learning routines in less than a month.

Features interviews with David Mansaray, Gabriel Wyner, Jared Romey and more!

Genres: Language, Nonfiction

38 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 10, 2013

About the author

I'm called Kerstin Cable since my wedding in 2015, but the following books are published in my pre-married name:

The Vocab Cookbook
Fluency Made Achievable

Reviews

[Kerstin]

I can't review this - I wrote it!

5 Stars :)

[André Klein · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are too many books about language learning which are based on lazy shortcuts and empty promises. This book, however, is very different! Author and teacher Kerstin Hammes walks readers through the four language core skills of listening, reading, speaking and writing. Instead of favoring speaking over reading or writing over listening, Kerstin advocates a holistic approach in which all four skills are working concertedly.

This book is packed with practical tips, exercise suggestions, advice on how to create a learning schedule, and a series of interviews with language experts and polyglots.

Highly recommended!

[Elly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Liked this book a lot. Gave good tips on possible fun exercises for all the core language skills for those who are not in formal language training, but who still want to see progress. The expert interviews are short but to the point and the links to the expert web pages give lots of opportunities to expand your search to further knowledge. I also liked the 3 week learning plan. One slight minus-point: the password given for the page with the resources is slightly wrong: it starts with a capital in my copy, but the webpage does not accept it that way. All small letters does work, so that was an easy try. And there are some extra links too. Strongly recommended.

[Andy Barker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. As a language enthusiast I often speak to people who have a desire to learn a second language. Usually this entails buying textbook after textbook on Spanish, French, German, etc. But almost never do they buy a book about how to learn a language. To be honest I'm not surprised, after all if you don't have the motivation to read a textbook for a language you 'really' want to learn, what chance do you have of reading a 400 page tome about how to go about it in the first place. Kerstin's book combats this problem perfectly. It is short enough to be read by anyone interested in language learning without losing interest, yet it is long enough to contain everything you need to know. Every page contains information that will drive your language skills to the next level. How to focus, create a balanced and sustainable study method and achieve your dream of foreign language fluency. Read this book before you even memorise your first word and I guarantee you will see greater results.

[Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I think the tips and actions that Kerstin presents are good to help you get started in developing a solid language learning plan.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought and read this book more for the support for Kerstin, since I love her The Fluent Show podcast. It didn't offer too much for me, since I've learned several languages and I'm pretty much aware what works for me and what doesn't. But for someone that is struggling to see progress, I think this is pretty awesome, even if it is a bit short. I did get a few ideas as well :)

[Bilal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just purchased this book a few hours ago and it's a quick read (for me, it was less than two hours); short and concise. This is an excellent piece of work and one that I think language learners should begin with before they even start learning a language (even though I say this, it's still very useful for those of us who have already been at work trying to learn a language).

Hammes gives straight to the point suggestions on how to best utilize ones time when working on languages and how to spread their learning over all four of the main skills rather than focusing heavily on one skill at the expense of the others. This is very important not only because it brings about balance to the learner, but it also (in my opinion) enables one to gain more confidence. The more areas a person works on, the more growth they're able to see and the more growth they see, the more they'll be encouraged to continue towards their objective.

This book is also refreshing for me because, while it does talk about results in language learning, it doesn't follow the current trend of searching for "language hacks" and trying to reach fluency overnight. More than anything, this book stresses effective study methods and how to use variety so one is not bored and also so the learner is well rounded in whichever language(s) they're learning. There's even a supplemental chart for writing out language goals and objectives over a certain course of time. I've already downloaded, printed, and wrote out my objectives for the remainder of this month, so almost immediately, I've gained something from this book. I'm glad I bought this. I only wish it had been out years ago, but better late than never.