learn arabic
learn chinese mandarin
learn french
learn german
learn greek
learn hindi
learn italian
learn japanese
learn portuguese
learn russian
learn spanish
learn more languages

ASK A QUESTION
SEND FEEDBACK
CONTACT US

Instants that win every time! A special feature by www.languageadvantage.com

Elisabeth Smith, author of the Teach Yourself Instant language series, tells us the raison d'etre behind her best-selling courses in 9 languages and how her pure determination to get the course published has helped nearly half a million people learn a language!

If you were to ask me why I wrote the INSTANT series while supposedly in retirement in glitzy Marbella I would probably say "I love a bit of stress". If I then told you that I bashed away for a year or so on my PC at INSTANT German, Spanish, French and Italian at five o'clock in the morning and wrote the rest on a seasickness-inducing yacht in the Med - you'd think I'm a bit of a nutter.

But let me assure you that I am extremely sane (and my two children will bear me out here). In fact, they would add that in keeping with my German origin I have a tiresome need to excel, but also, and in mitigation, a pleasant reckless streak that makes me challenge the impossible. So, with a track record of "dare and do", three decades of teaching experience and a love for languages, I decided to capture a gap in the learn-a-foreign-language market.

Where was the gap? Booksellers' shelves groan with language guides, grammars and phrasebooks. Beginners, business, essential and advanced. Lots of earnest stuff that takes for ever, in spite of promises…"in 30 days". And so much waste! Are you ever going to buy a dozen handkerchiefs while having a tooth extracted when in Düsseldorf? And do you really want to study the subjunctive?

So I sat down and wrote "Barebones", the original title of the series, with a pledge to deliver: no frills, no fuss, just the bare bones and go!

Now to get them published! Hodder & Stoughton were a little bemused by my sample chapters, but curious enough to give me an interview. They explained that it was somewhat unusual to consider a manuscript from somebody "walking in from the street". They then offered me a chair behind a desk piled high with "Teach Yourself a language" books.

I remember moving them aside, spreading out my glossy mock-up covers and announcing my "fierce determination" to get them published. After that it got quite friendly and promising.

Experience taught me how long people are motivated by a new project - a few weeks - and how much time they are prepared to study - just over half an hour a day.

With this in mind I created a core vocabulary limited to 400 words, enough to mix, match and juggle and cope with any situation. I spread these over six short chapters to complete in six realistic weeks. An easy storyline links the most likely scenarios - travelling, accommodation, shopping, eating out and general chit-chat with the locals. My story characters are not your standard paragons of virtue; my hired cars break down; it rains; and the tables in the café are not squeaky-clean.

With my husband as role model - he speaks impressive all-purpose Spanish with a total disregard for linguistic niceties - I reduced grammar to the barest minimum. And even then you can forget half and still succeed. Will any Continental throw a fit about declensions as long as you communicate?

With so much sophisticated teaching on the shelves I chose the back-to-basics route: the book and cassette approach but with a difference. You have 15 pages of flashcards and flash sentences to take the boredom out of word and sentence learning. You can "turn and learn" on the bus or while you are waiting at the dentist. Then there's a piece in every lesson, some eight lines, to learn by heart.

Old-fashioned? I don't mind. It works to get you talking in full sentences from week one. Getting you to use words and simple sentences as building blocks in endless combinations - that's what I am after. And say it simply: why learn "kennel" when you can say "house for dogs"?

But can you also understand what people say to you? "Spot the Keys" is an exercise to tune you into "foreign-speak". It teaches you to spot the keywords and understand the gist when listening to rapid foreign talk.

There are two things I discovered in my years of teaching: students like precise instructions and want to know that they are doing well. That's why each week starts with a Day-by-Day Guide. "Do these things today, in your 35 minutes… and then you can mow the lawn or watch TV…" Call it Germanic, but you get it done - and come back for more the next day.

Then at the end of each week there's a written test and a score to enter on your personal Progress Chart, so you know how you're doing and what an excellent grade you are getting. There's even a certificate on the final page when you have finished the course at the end of week six!

My "fierce determination" to get published what I considered a winning formula was helped along by a contract offer from Barron's in New York. But as I had intended the INSTANTS primarily for the UK traveller to the European Continent, I signed with Hodder & Stoughton in 1998.

Congratulations to our prizewinners of the January 2003 Language Advantage Newsletter giveaway! They were the first 15 to return their emails in response to the competition in the Language Advantage Newsletter. Sign up to the newsletter to be able to take part in future giveaway competitions!

The Teach Yourself Instants have sold nearly half a million books, cassettes, CD packs and cassette packs. They are now available in 9 languages:

French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Greek
English for French speakers, English for German speakers, English for Italian speakers, English for Spanish speakers
Each pack contains a book and cassette and RRP (UK) is £12.99 (which is a real bargain for the progress you can make ... and we often offer them below this price too!).

If you'd like more information or to buy one of the Teach Yourself Instant language series, then take a look at our Teach Yourself page or read a review!

If you would like to subscribe to our newsletter and be kept up-to-date with any new language and cultural providers and other developments in the language world, please subscribe to our newsletter at www.languageadvantage.com/newsletter

Browse our archive of special features>>