Spanish is spoken across three continents, and learners worry constantly about picking the wrong version. But compared to English or Portuguese, the variation is surprisingly small. The vowels stay consistent whether you are in Mexico, Colombia or Spain, and most of what really changes is slang, rhythm and a couple of consonants. I have found that after a day or two in a new country you stop hearing the accent at all and just hear the meaning. Which Spanish accent do you find hardest to follow?

I have somewhere between 60 and 70 shelves of books in this house, well over a thousand of them, in several languages, and I have finally started cataloguing the lot. Going through them reminded me why paper still matters to me. The research is fairly clear that we retain more from paper than from a screen, and I think the reason is simple. When it is just you and the book in your hands, there is nowhere else to go, no pixels, no navigating, no temptation to scroll away. When did you last read a paper book for three hours straight?

I was with some Canadians recently who all agreed that French would help them professionally. Within a few minutes I had heard three reasons why they hadn't learned it: I can read but I can't speak, the Montreal accent is too hard, and they changed our class this year. Every one of those puts the problem somewhere outside the person saying it. I lived in Hong Kong where nobody spoke Mandarin and I learned Mandarin anyway, because I did the listening and reading. What's the reason you give yourself?

Reading is a huge part of how I learn languages, but it is not equally easy in every language. In Spanish or Turkish I can sound out almost any word the first time I see it. In Arabic and Persian I often cannot, so I read those online where I can hear the word pronounced. The writing system changes the whole shape of my routine. Which language has been the hardest for you to read?

Friction is what reduces our enjoyment of language learning, so in this video I go through the nine forms it takes and what I do about each one.

Should you focus on words or grammar? Here's how I approach grammar as an input-based learner, and why most corrections never stick.

In this video I'll you how I'm getting ready for my trip to Portugal by using point-of-view stories, circling questions, and AI to create custom lessons.

Today I want to talk about the fifth language skill — the one nobody teaches alongside reading, writing, speaking, and listening, and the one that might matter just as much.

Today I want to talk about the state of flow — that feeling of being completely absorbed in what you're doing — and how you can use it to become a better language learner.

Vocabulary is the clearest measure of your level in any language, so here is how I acquire and review words, and why I skip most of the popular methods.