“Ultralearning” Author Scott H. Young Shares His Best Tips for Mastering a Foreign Language

Scott H. Young is a Canadian writer, programmer, entrepreneur, metalearning expert, and the author of the best-selling book Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career. His work has been featured in numerous newspapers, magazines, and sites, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The BBC, Popular Mechanics, Business Insider, and Lifehacker.

Scott has applied and refined his principles in a wide range of accelerated learning challenges, from completing MIT’s four-year undergraduate computer science curriculum in just one year, to spending a year abroad in four countries with a “No English Rule,” to a one-month at-home challenge to learn Macedonian, his wife’s native language.

In the conversation, we dig into how Scott learns languages, how best to apply his "Ultralearning" principles in language learning, and how his approach has shifted over the years.

Resources Mentioned

• Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career

• italki: Get $10 of free 1-on-1 language tutoring credits

• ChinesePod

• Anki SRS

Learn More

• Scott's site

• Scott's books