You may have heard of the 10,000 Hour Rule, popularized by noted journalist and author Malcolm Gladwell. It supposes that it takes 10,000 hours of active, intense focus on a talent or skill to attain expert-level mastery.
There's debate over whether that theory is actually true or not, but it's also spawned a lesser-known spinoff, the 100 Hour Rule. Here, the rule says that it only takes 100 hours of active learning for a student to have developed out of the beginner stage in that craft.
Speakly endorses this vision – and the language-learning service says all it takes is 100 hours with their system to have you speaking a foreign language with confidence and authority. Their collection features lessons through your smartphone and computer to have you speaking fluently in English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Russian, Finnish, or Estonian with just 100 hours of study.
The Speakly approach veers away from the traditional language-learning model you probably suffered through in school. Rather than boring recitation and verb conjugations, Speakly focuses first on teaching you the 4,000 most-used words in order by their relevancy. That arms learners with the most frequently used words to help cultivate their language skills many times faster.
Those new words are immediately put into use as students write and speak whole sentences, using those words right from day one. As the wider vocabulary rounds out, the lessons then put users into real life situations and listening exercises. Through discussing topics like shopping, asking directions, socializing, food and drinks, and more, they apply what they've learned to build confidence in their new language.
The system is working for loads of language learners, generating a 4.8 out of 5-star rating from more than 1,400 reviewers in the Apple App Store.
Plus, getting this lifetime subscription to Speakly with access to materials in all eight languages is hundreds, even thousands of dollars less than the cost of a typical language course. On top of that, Speakly access, which usually would cost $399, is now on sale at more than 80% off, just $69.99.
Prices subject to change.