PODCAST · education
StoryLearning Podcast
by Olly Richards
Got a burning language learning question? I’m Olly Richards and I've learned 8 languages through stories. Every Wednesday, I answer your questions and chat to world-class language experts. Whether you're learning Spanish, German, Japanese, or something else, tune in for insider tips and practical strategies to get fluent fast. Each week you get:- Answers to your biggest language learning challenges- Story-based techniques to accelerate your progress- Tried and tested tips from my 25+ years of experienceNo flashcards or memorisation. Just story-based learning that actually works.
Episodes
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554: How to Read a Language You Can't Read ... Yet!
👉 Grab your FREE Guide, How to Read in Any Language: https://l.storylearning.com/reading-guide 👉 Sign up now for the StoryLearning App: https://l.storylearning.com/read_in_15 How do you read in a foreign language if you cannot read the alphabet or the script yet? How can you read if you can't...
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553: This weird study habit gets you fluent FAST (even if you're lazy)
👉 Grab your FREE Binge-Worthy Resources for Fluency: https://l.storylearning.com/free.fluency 👉 Sign up now for the StoryLearning App: https://l.storylearning.com/15_min_read I'm lazy, I'm bored, I'm not motivated, studying is so hard, I don't have an hour a day to study. These are all things...
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552: How to 10 x your vocabulary without flashcards
👉 Grab your FREE Guide, How to Read in Any Language: https://l.storylearning.com/read_guide 👉 Sign up now for the StoryLearning App: https://l.storylearning.com/read_app A listener wrote to me frustrated that, although he’s at B2 level, he keeps using the same vocabulary over and over again…
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551: This one-hour language routine gets you fluent in a year
👉 Grab your FREE Language Goal Planner: https://l.storylearning.com/goals_2026 👉 Sign up now for the StoryLearning App: https://l.storylearning.com/reading_app I released a video on how I would learn Spanish again in 2026 if I was going to start over. When I first learned it, I was immersed - I...
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550: The secret to staying motivated in language learning
👉 Grab your FREE Guide, Lamont’s 8 Best Language Learning Tips: https://l.storylearning.com/lamont_tips 👉 Sign up now for the StoryLearning App: https://l.storylearning.com/SL.app.2026 In this episode, I’m delighted to be joined for a second time by Lamont McLeod from the Days and Words YouTube...
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549: Learning 2 languages together? Don't make this mistake
👉 Take your FREE Level Test: https://l.storylearning.com/language_test 👉 Sign up now for the StoryLearning App: https://l.storylearning.com/SL.app How fluent do you have to be in a second language before moving on to a third language? How do you know when is the right time? Do you risk…
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548: How to understand TV in ANY language (without the subtitles)
👉 Grab your FREE Binge-Worthy Resources for Fluency: https://l.storylearning.com/fluency.resources 👉 Sign up now for the StoryLearning App: https://l.storylearning.com/SL-app Struggling to understand TV in your new language? Today’s questioner, Lisa, has the same problem. She speaks French and...
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547: The Best Books to Learn ANY Language FAST
👉Grab your FREE Guide, How to Read in Any Language: https://l.storylearning.com/reading_guide 👉 Sign up now for the StoryLearning App: https://l.storylearning.com/SL_app I’ve had a lot of questions come in about different ways to learn vocabulary from reading and the best books to use if you…
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546: Xiaoma's secret method for learning 70 languages FAST
👉 Grab your FREE Guide, Xiaoma’s 7 Best Tips for Learning Any Language: https://l.storylearning.com/xiaoma Today's guest, Xiaoma NYC, a.k.a Arieh Smith, probably needs no introduction. He first came on the podcast in 2020, so it's high time we caught up with him. He's been busy since then,...
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545: 7 speaking tips to get fluent in any language FAST
👉 Grab your FREE Speaking Guide: https://l.storylearning.com/speaking_guide Today's question is about speaking and how to go from knowing a lot of stuff in a language to actually speaking the language fluently. As I always say, if you want to speak fluently, so if you want to be able to interact...
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544: How to finally get fluent... even when you're stuck
👉 Grab your FREE Language Goal Planner: https://l.storylearning.com/goals As a beginner language learner, you feel progress happening very quickly. Everything you learn is useful and practical. But once you've learned the basics, it’s normal to get stuck. In fact, it's so normal that it has a...
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543: The Introvert's Guide to Learning a Language FAST
👉 Grab your FREE guide, How to Read in Any Language: https://l.storylearning.com/6_steps_read I don’t know if you've noticed, but language learning advice is often geared towards extroverts - put yourself out there, just speak, don't be shy. That makes perfect sense if you're that way inclined....
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542: How to choose the perfect language to learn
👉 Grab your FREE Language Difficulty Guide: https://l.storylearning.com/difficulty_guide Today we have a question about choosing your next language. And it comes from someone who's already a polyglot, who speaks four languages and is a bit confused over what their fifth language should be. An...
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541: How polyglots learn LOTS of languages FAST
👉 Get Your Free Guide, Dr Popkins' 8 Best Tips to Learn a Language and Keep Going https://l.storylearning.com/dr-popkins-tips In this episode, I'm very happy to welcome Gareth Popkins, longtime friend and language compadre, to the StoryLearning podcast. Gareth got the language bug in his early...
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540: How to ACTUALLY understand FAST speech
👉 Grab your FREE Binge-Worthy Resources for Fluency: https://l.storylearning.com/fluency-resources Understanding native speakers on the streets is one of the most difficult, challenging and disconcerting elements of language learning. But when you learn to deal with fast speech, it is the most...
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539: How to learn a language when you feel like quitting
👉 Grab your FREE Binge-Worthy Resources for Fluency: https://l.storylearning.com/free-fluency Today I’m answering a question from a frustrated Japanese learner with a 650-day streak on Duolingo. Their question: What do I do? Do I keep on, do I switch to a different language? Do you have any…
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538: The ONLY way to learn 2 languages at the same time
👉 Grab your FREE Language Goal Planner: https://l.storylearning.com/fluency_goals In this episode I’m going to be talking about this old chestnut: learning two languages at the same time. I’ve got two questions on this that have come from a recent video. Long-term listeners will be very familiar...
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537: The ONE habit that made this American sound like a local
👉 Grab your FREE guide, Dave Pinto's 7 Best Tips to Sound Like a Local: https://l.storylearning.com/sound-local I am absolutely delighted to welcome to the StoryLearning podcast, my longtime friend, partner in crime and fellow language enthusiast, Dave Pinto. Professionally Dave focuses on...
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536: How to learn a language with ZERO motivation
👉 Grab your FREE Binge-Worthy Resources for Fluency: https://l.storylearning.com/fluency In this episode, I’m tackling a really difficult question that I feel a lot of sympathy for: how you can learn a language when you have no motivation? I taught English for five years in Asia and the Middle...
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535: I created the ultimate reading app for language learners
👉Join the app waiting list: https://l.storylearning.com/app_wait_list In this episode, I’m doing something a little bit different. I'm going to take you behind the scenes of the new StoryLearning app that I've been building. It's a work in progress, but I thought you might like a sneak peek. I'm...
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534: How to read any language when you're a beginner
👉 Grab your FREE Language Goal Planner https://l.storylearning.com/goal_plan How do you bridge the gap between being a complete beginner and not being able to read anything and then doing what I did a few years ago, which is to learn Italian from scratch in 90 days through reading? That's what…
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533: He learned 15 languages with this simple reading habit
👉 Grab your FREE Guide, Luca's 12 Rules for Learning Any Language Faster in 2026: https://l.storylearning.com/Luca_tips I am absolutely thrilled to be joined by Luca Lampariello who has been teaching languages online longer than I have. He was one of my very first references when I first started...
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532: Should you use subtitles to learn a language?
👉 Grab your FREE Binge-Worthy Resources for Fluency: https://l.storylearning.com/TV_movies I've had a lot of comments come in all asking the same thing: when you watch TV or movies, should you use subtitles or not? Subtitle on or subtitles off? Subtitles in which language? Which subtitle-audio...
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531: If you've got 15 minutes, you can learn a language
👉 Grab your FREE Language Goal Planner: https://l.storylearning.com/language_plan Why do we fail at language learning? It's not that we find it difficult, it's that staying consistent is difficult. We set ourselves this target of studying for an hour a day and invariably life gets in the way.…
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530: How to learn any language fast starting from zero
👉 Grab your FREE Language Goal Planner: https://l.storylearning.com/plan_study What's the best way to learn a language as a complete beginner? The whole premise of my method, StoryLearning, is that you learn a language through reading. People understand the concept. But then they say - I'm a...
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529: I learned impossible languages with stories - here's why it worked
👉 Grab your FREE Binge-Worthy Resources for Fluency: https://l.storylearning.com/fluent_resources How do you learn difficult languages with the StoryLearning method? This is a question that came from Carlos Rabino 5125. He asked - how does your method work with Russian, Chinese, or Japanese?...
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528: Polyglot reveals how to learn 10 languages FAST
👉 Grab your FREE Language Guide, A Polyglot's “No-Method” Method: https://l.storylearning.com/polyglot-tips Stefano Suigo is one of the most interesting language people (if I can put it that way) that I know, and I know quite a few. He’s fluent in 10 languages and can get by in more. A lot of...
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527: Why you can't stop translating in your head (and how to fix it)
👉 Grab your FREE Grammar and Vocabulary Study Sheet: https://l.storylearning.com/learn-vocab In this episode I'm going to tackle the second most popular question I've ever been asked about language learning: How do I stop translating in my head? It is easy to say "stop translating in your head"...
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526: How to learn a language you hate (and actually enjoy it)
👉 Grab your FREE Language Goal Planner: https://l.storylearning.com/set-goals What do you do if you hate the language you're learning? Is this even possible? I'm tackling a genuine listener question about this topic. It's something that can happen to a lot of immigrants, but there is a way…
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525: The lazy language habit that actually builds fluency
👉 Grab your FREE StoryLearning Blueprint: https://l.storylearning.com/free_story In this episode of the StoryLearning podcast, I reconnect with longtime language-learning friend Kerstin Cable, creator of The Fluent Show podcast and teacher on my course, German Uncovered. Kerstin is one of my...
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524: 3 things I wish I knew when I started learning languages
👉 Grab your FREE Goal Planner: https://l.storylearning.com/free_planner There are all kinds of techniques and tricks and that you can use to learn a language. But they're all just that - tactics and techniques. In today’s episode, I’m answering an interesting question about the deep truths that...
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523: How to learn 2 languages without breaking your brain
👉 Grab your FREE Language Difficulty Guide: https://l.storylearning.com/free_difficulty Today's question is about the most asked about topic in the more than 10-year history of this podcast: learning two languages. So many of us want to learn tons of languages, so we often study two at once. And...
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522: Can you really get fluent just by reading?
👉 Grab your FREE Grammar and Vocabulary Study Sheet : https://l.storylearning.com/read_sheet I'm always going on about why it's so important to read a lot if you want to learn a new language - and I'll do it again in this episode. But is it enough to be able to speak a language fluently? Links...
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521: Why people can't understand you (and how to fix it)
👉 Grab your FREE StoryLearning Blueprint: https://l.storylearning.com/free_fluency In this episode of the StoryLearning podcast I chat to my good friend and fellow podcaster Anna Tyrie, creator of the popular YouTube channel, English Like A Native. Anna started her career in acting and, via some...
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520: How to learn a language at any age (7 tips)
👉 Grab your FREE Language Goal Planner: https://l.storylearning.com/lang_goals Can you be too old to learn a language? What about kids? They soak up languages like a sponge, so surely that means there's never any chance of me learning another language. Well, we'll see about that. Tune in for…
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519: How to learn kanji FAST (do this or keep struggling)
👉 Get your FREE Grammar and Vocab Study Sheet: https://l.storylearning.com/study_kanji In this episode, I tackle a question from four years ago, but the topic is as relevant as ever: how to learn Japanese kanji. There are strong opinions online about the best way to learn Japanese, kanji…
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518: NEVER use flashcards - learn vocabulary this way instead
👉 Get your FREE Grammar and Vocab Study Sheet: https://l.storylearning.com/free_vocab In this episode, we're revisiting a topic that I feel we'll be talking about until the end of time. The sun's going to expand to engulf the Earth and we're all going to be frazzled up like sausages and I'll be...
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517: How to learn a language without sacrificing your life
👉 Get your FREE StoryLearning Blueprint: https://l.storylearning.com/learn_stories In this episode of the StoryLearning podcast I chat to my good friend and fellow language enthusiast John Fotheringham, creator of Anywhere Immersion. John has been blogging and podcasting about language learning...
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516: Should I test my language level?
👉 Grab your FREE Language Goal Planner: https://l.storylearning.com/test_goals Should you bother taking language proficiency tests like IELTS ( International English Language Testing System) or the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test)? Two listeners asked me the similar questions about…
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515: The easiest way to remember new words when speaking
👉 Grab your FREE Grammar and Vocabulary Study Sheet: https://l.storylearning.com/vocab_sheet Today we've got a question that is going to strike to the heart of every single language learner listening to this podcast: why can’t I remember the words I know when I’m speaking? It’s something we all...
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514: This simple reading habit will 10x your vocabulary
👉Grab your FREE Language Goal Planner: https://l.storylearning.com/reading-goals Want to pick up vocabulary naturally while exploring topics that interest you? I've got the perfect the solution and I lay it all out in this episode, including how I used this habit myself to expand my Japanese…
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513: The harsh truth about advanced fluency
👉 Grab your FREE Language Goal Planner: https://l.storylearning.com/free-goals I don't aim for C2 in the languages I'm learning and I don't think you should either. But it is possible to get there with a lot, and I mean a lot, of time and effort. So, the real question is, is it worth it? 👉 Got…
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512: The ONE language rule you should ALWAYS break
👉Grab your FREE Binge-Worthy Resources: https://l.storylearning.com/binge-resources Can you really perfect your accent to the point where no-one knows you're not a native speaker? You can get close, even as an adult, but the real question is - is it actually worth the time and effort? Link...
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511: The ONLY study habit that actually makes you fluent
👉 Grab your FREE Language Goal Planner: https://l.storylearning.com/set_goals Success in language learning almost always comes down to a very small number of things done well. Successful language learners understand what those few things are, and they do them very consistently and very well. And...
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510: Why you can understand a language but can't speak
👉 Grab your FREE Language Goal Planner: https://l.storylearning.com/goal-planner Struggling to bridge the gap between understanding and speaking? You’re not alone. I’ve been there too, specifically when I learned Japanese. Discover the exact steps I took to go from silent to confident Japanese...
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509: The hidden danger of AI language learning
👉 Grab your FREE Tips for Learning a Language with AI (inside the Bonus section of my FREE StoryLearning Kit): https://l.storylearning.com/fluency_AI The Black Friday offer mentioned in this video is no longer available. If you’ve learned languages in the last week or two, have you used AI? AI…
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508: How to actually learn a language in 12 months
👉 Grab your FREE Language Difficulty Guide: https://l.storylearning.com/difficulty Can you really learn a language in 12 months? Definitely, with the right mindset, approach and effort. To give you inspiration for and insight into fast language learning, I look back on two of my wildest language...
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507: I don't maintain my languages...and you shouldn't either
👉 Grab your FREE Binge-Worthy Resources for Fluency: https://l.storylearning.com/binge I’ve learned eight languages - so how on earth do I maintain them all? It’s a question people often ask me. And my answer surprises and confuses them. Find out why. 👉 Got a question you want Olly to answer on...
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506: Spanish vs Italian - which is easier to learn?
👉 Get your FREE Difficulty Guide: https://storylearning.com/difficulty_ES_IT Spanish vs Italian: which is easier to learn for native English speakers? I’ve learned both - find out which one I found easier and why and which one I recommend you learn. And above all, how long would it take to pass…
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505: Are hard languages even worth it?
👉 Grab your FREE Difficulty Guide: https://storylearning.com/difficulty-guide-super-hard 👉 Get your FREE Language Goal Planner: https://storylearning.com/goal-planner-super-hard Are super hard languages like Japanese or Mandarin worth learning? I've learned three of the world's hardest…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Got a burning language learning question? I’m Olly Richards and I've learned 8 languages through stories. Every Wednesday, I answer your questions and chat to world-class language experts. Whether you're learning Spanish, German, Japanese, or something else, tune in for insider tips and practical strategies to get fluent fast. Each week you get:- Answers to your biggest language learning challenges- Story-based techniques to accelerate your progress- Tried and tested tips from my 25+ years of experienceNo flashcards or memorisation. Just story-based learning that actually works.
HOSTED BY
Olly Richards
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does StoryLearning Podcast have?
StoryLearning Podcast currently has 402 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is StoryLearning Podcast about?
Got a burning language learning question? I’m Olly Richards and I've learned 8 languages through stories. Every Wednesday, I answer your questions and chat to world-class language experts. Whether you're learning Spanish, German, Japanese, or something else, tune in for insider tips and practical...
How often does StoryLearning Podcast release new episodes?
StoryLearning Podcast publishes regularly with 402 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to StoryLearning Podcast?
You can listen to StoryLearning Podcast on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts StoryLearning Podcast?
StoryLearning Podcast is created and hosted by Olly Richards.
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