The short answer to the title is “heaps”, but the long answer is a little more complicated, which is why I wrote the book BLITZED: What I Learned Reading 100 Books in 100 Days in My Target Language. It gives all the gory details of what I learned after blitzing through over 3 million words in 300 hours.
Remember the thrill of learning to ride a bike? The training wheels, the cautious starts, the inevitable falls, and finally, the exhilarating freedom of gliding on two wheels? Learning a language with the Bimodal Blitz method is similar.
The basic Bimodal Blitz method combines listening and reading to engage multiple areas of your brain, enhancing memory and making language acquisition as easy as riding a bike. Just as training wheels provide stability and confidence for a novice cyclist, tools like LingQ, Readlang, and quick translations act as linguistic training wheels. These supports allow beginners to grasp the general meaning of a text even if their comprehension level is non-existent.
However, over-reliance on translations will hinder progress and prevent full immersion in the target language. The goal is to experience the language as directly as possible, which is why translation aids are merely a starting point.
I just finished the nightmarish, heartwrenching book and audiobook Wrony by Czech writer Petra Dvořáková, and it reminds me of what makes a good pick for a Bimodal Blitz. I'll share five tips with you now.
USE AUDIOBOOK LENGTH to GUIDE YOU
When starting out with Bimodal Blitzing, it's best to choose audiobooks that are no longer than five hours. Wrony is three hours and 20 minutes, right in the sweet spot. As you become more comfortable with reading and listening to your target language at faster speeds, you can gradually increase the length of the books you blitz. The audiobook's duration is a quick way to gauge the book's length and complexity.
As I progress towards blitzing 100 Polish books in 100 days, I've observed a fascinating phenomenon: my brain seems to be "overclocking" itself to adapt to increasingly fast audio and reading speeds. In this technical-oriented post, I try to capture my experiences and insights on how this cognitive adaptation has been unfolding.
The OVERCLOCKING ANALOGY
In the world of computers, "overclocking" refers to pushing a CPU beyond its default specifications to achieve higher performance. I've found a striking parallel between this concept and what I've been experiencing during my Bimodal Blitz sessions. As I gradually increase the speed of the audiobook, my brain is able to process the information at a faster rate, much like an overclocked CPU.
For those new to this blog, I'm learning Polish with an experimental method called the Bimodal Blitz. It involves reading an entire book in your target language in a day, or even a sitting, while simultaneously listening to the audiobook. Since March 13, I've "blitzed" 58 Polish books in 58 straight days, aiming to reach 100 in 100 days.
During my recent Bimodal Blitz sessions, I experienced a cool breakthrough in my language acquisition “blitzathon”. There were passages where I seemed to be thinking and reading in Polish, without consciously translating the words into English, my native language. I was likely in a cognitive flow state, immersed in the language and visualizing what I was blitzing.
I want to share my thoughts as I hit the halfway mark of my Bimodal Blitzathon — attempting to "blitz" through 100 Polish-language books in 100 consecutive days.
The Bimodal Blitz, my experimental language learning method, involves reading a book in your target language while simultaneously listening to the audiobook... in a single day, even a single session. This immersive and intense approach aims not just for language acquisition but for a memorable experience within the literary world of your chosen language.
Today, I'm excited to briefly share some insights from my latest milestone: 50 books in 50 days.
COMPREHENSION and VOCABULARY EXPOSURE
As someone who started learning Polish just five and a half months ago with an A1 ability according to CEFR, my ability to follow along with native-speaking narrators has improved radically, even at 2x speed. My exposure to Polish vocabulary and the way words are combined continues to grow. Additionally, I am now familiar with many more Polish words in their various grammatical forms.
CHALLENGES and INSIGHTS
Blitzing isn't always easy. Some books, like the Polish translations of H.G. Wells' stories or Peter Thiel's "Zero to One," required a very high comprehension level. I spent a lot of time translating or making wild guesses about certain passages. Business and technical books in Polish are definitely not recommended for beginners like me.
Other times, the book felt too long for a one-day reading, like with one particular Polish version of "Heart of Darkness." Luckily, tools like the Natural Reader app, which reads the text aloud and highlights as it goes, helped me power through without losing my place.
The key to getting through any book, I've found, is knowing and leveraging the levers of flow. A flow state enhances cognitive performance and learning by reducing frontal brain activity, which minimizes mental interference and distraction. I'm going to share my findings after a bit more experimentation and fine-tuning.
Technology is also an invaluable ally in Bimodal Blitzing. From LingQ and Readlang for quick translations to Natural Reader's excellent TTS feature that kept me on track even during a treadmill session, these tools have made it possible to persevere through challenging texts and long reading sessions.
REFLECTIONS and LOOKING FOWARD
Fifty days and fifty books later, my understanding of Polish has deepened significantly. While I've encountered challenges, such as committing words to long-term memory and comprehending complex texts, the journey has been rewarding. Bimodal Blitzing has not only improved my language skills but also allowed me to explore a wide range of literature that I wouldn't have otherwise experienced.
As I look forward to the next fifty days, I'm stoke about the stories that await and the progress I'll continue to make. The Bimodal Blitzathon is more than just a language learning challenge; it's a feast of language and ideas, one book at a time.
