Online language library

Michel Thomas was a gifted linguist who reputedly mastered 10 languages in his lifetime. He spent 50 years continuously refining his courses and perfecting his method, which build strong foundations of knowledge and fluency, similar to how you learned your own language – step-by-step, listening, repeating, and gently taking you back over earlier points to reinforce your understanding and iron out any problems.

According to Thomas, his method can help students “achieve in three days what is not achieved in two to three years at any college.” The system is simply a series of recordings featuring Thomas and a small group of students. Thomas poses sentences for translation and the students attempt to translate them in response. When they make a mistake, Thomas corrects them. For the home listener, Thomas emphasizes the need to not take notes or force memorization. There is “no homework... not even mental homework,” he explains in the beginning of each series. The goal is to be relaxed. Indeed, even Thomas’s speaking voice is calm and soothing.