If You’re Going to Learn a New Language, Learn This One
Two weeks of Esperanto could save you months of learning Spanish
In the late 70s, Helmar Frank, German Professor at the University of Paderborn, first presented a revolutionary idea to teach children foreign languages more efficiently. The method became known as the Paderborn method, and it worked by teaching students an easy language for two years before introducing a more difficult language.
Frank first proposed this new teaching method shortly after conducting a six-year study that consisted of two groups of students: Group A and Group B. (Keep in mind, these are native German speakers.) Group A learned English from 3rd through 8th grade; meanwhile, Group B was taught Esperanto for the first two years of the study, before receiving lessons in English for the last four.
This meant that by 5th grade, Group A and B were in their third and first year of learning English respectively. By the time they reached 7th grade, both groups of children had attained the same level of English skills. Ultimately, during 8th grade, which was the last year of the study, the English comprehension of Group B surpassed Group A, despite the fact that they received two fewer years of lessons.
