Chris Lonsdale New Zealand psychologist and linguist Date of Birth: 18.11.1958 Country: New Zealand

1. Biography of Chris Lonsdale
2. Early Life and Education
3. Language Learning Journey
4. The Method and Achievements
5. Philosophy and Criticism
6. Authorship and Critiques

Biography of Chris Lonsdale

Chris Lonsdale is a New Zealand psychologist, entrepreneur, and linguist who is dedicated to studying the problems of learning foreign languages. He is the author of a series of simple principles that reduce the time required to learn a foreign language to six months. According to Chris, who has spent the last twenty years researching the brain and the properties of human memory, any conscious adult only needs six months of language study to achieve a high level of proficiency and comfortably converse on simple topics.

Early Life and Education

Chris Lonsdale was born on November 18, 1958, in Christchurch, New Zealand. After finishing school, he enrolled at the University of Canterbury, where he studied psychology. From a young age, Chris was interested in the processing of new information in the human brain. As a teenager, he even experimented with "night learning" systems that promised acquiring knowledge while sleeping, but these experiments did not yield any results.

Language Learning Journey

After moving to China, Chris set a goal for himself to become fluent in Chinese within two years. At that time, learning Chinese was considered an insurmountable obstacle for the Western world, and some spent many years studying the language. To his surprise, after just a few weeks, Chris started understanding individual words, and within a couple of months, he could express simple feelings and emotions. He admits that he never focused on perfect grammar since even in the English language, many people make minor mistakes that do not hinder understanding. The same applies to other languages. By following the principle of "I will speak until understood," one can feel comfortable in an unfamiliar country from the first days.

The Method and Achievements

Chris Lonsdale's language learning system, known as "Kungfu English," is currently one of the most popular English learning programs in China. He believes that a small vocabulary is sufficient for the early stages of language learning. Knowing just 30 words, including 10 nouns, 10 adjectives, and 10 verbs, one can construct hundreds of different phrases and simple sentences. After these basic words become second nature, one can move on to words that transform simple thoughts into complex sentences, such as prepositions, conjunctions, and linkers. Chris asserts that the learning process becomes easier after acquiring these minimal language skills, and knowledge accumulates, even if it may seem like the learning process has halted.

Philosophy and Criticism

The key idea underlying Chris's methodology is setting clear goals. "You cannot learn a language by promising yourself a chocolate bar, nor can you foolishly learn a language 'just in case'—that will never happen." All knowledge accumulated during "aimless" learning suddenly returns when the learning process gains some purpose that stimulates the brain and self-esteem. Another important factor in Chris's system is the presence of a language (or linguistic) parent, someone who knows you well enough to understand even the simplest and most nonsensical sentences but can respond at a higher level, thereby forcing you to meet the set level.

Authorship and Critiques

In 2007, Chris Lonsdale published the book "The Third Ear," in which he systematically explained his methodology and supported each point with stories from his life and education. Despite the success of his methods, they are often criticized because the subjects most frequently exposed to them are Chris himself. Critics argue that it is impossible to determine if the methodology will be beneficial to students if their hearing or other senses are not as acute as those of the creator himself.