Fluent in Three Months Review: Clever Language Hacks but Lacks Traditional Lessons

Fluent in Three Months Premium is a language learning program that focuses on language hacks, tips and techniques that have been personally tested by its founder, Irish polyglot Benny Lewis.

Overall, I found that Fluent in Three Months Premium has a lot of helpful hacks and techniques on offer. But it was missing some organization and traditional language lessons that I needed for the basics, as you’ll discover in my review below.

Overview

Name: Fluent in Three Months Premium

Description: A language learning program that focuses on inspiration, mindset and learning hacks, developed by Irish polyglot Benny Lewis.

Languages offered: Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Russian, Arabic, Chinese, American Sign Language, Irish, Japanese and Esperanto

Offer price: $97 one time fee

Visit Fluent in Three Month's website

6.5/10

6.5/10

Summary

Fluent in Three Months Premium, started by Irish polyglot Benny Lewis, includes great language hacks and a lot of resources for a one-time fee of under $100, but the program feels unorganized at times and lacks the structure of most other language learning programs. Notably, it also lacks any traditional language learning lessons.

• User friendliness - 7/10
  7/10
• Delivers on promises - 6/10
  6/10
• Authenticity - 7/10
  7/10
• Value for price - 6/10
  6/10

Pros

• Excellent language tips and hacks
• Language hacks are personal and proven
• Lots of resources available
• Language connectors are useful

Cons

• Lack of structure
• Lacks actual language lessons (like grammar, vocabulary, etc.)
• Can feel unorganized
• One time fee feels pricey

• FluentU Review
• Duolingo Review
• Rosetta Stone Review

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The Key Features of Fluent in Three Months Premium

Fluent in Three Months is a little difficult to navigate at first because when you first sign on, you have so many choices. But after a little while, you’ll become familiar with its key features and its organization.

Language Hacking

One of the main concepts of Fluent in Three Months Premium is the idea of language hacking. These are tips, tricks and hacks developed by the polyglot founder of the program.

He also includes interviews (both video and audio) with well known polyglots, so you can become inspired by their tricks and tips, too. 

It’s all very actionable, meaning that you can actually start doing these things right away. 

This section contains many subsections, but the most helpful to me was the “Speak from Day 1 Video Series,” which tells you how to start communicating in your chosen language right away. It includes helpful mindset hacks (basically motivational tips) and lots of other great advice, but no actual Spanish lessons.

The “Conversation Connectors” section, which are basically PDFs that contain all sorts of super useful phrases you can use right away when you communicate in your chosen language, are also very helpful. I tried some of them in a local Spanish grocery and they seemed to work like a charm!

For Spanish, there are phrases about how to start a conversation, how to ask questions and filler words, which Lewis points out make up a big part of the words we actually say.

To complete each section of Language Hacking, you have to complete a checklist afterwards.

Language Immersion

The Language Immersion section is basically a list of resources you can use to help you learn your chosen language. For Spanish, there are loads of links to websites, apps, videos, news sites, etc. But for less common languages like Japanese, the resources are more limited, so keep that in mind depending on which language you are going to study with the program.

Each section is introduced with a well produced video.

This section also includes a suggested daily schedule to follow for your learning journey. This schedule is rigorous, keep in mind, for people who really want to be fluent in three months, which isn’t much time at all.

If you’re looking to learn your language more slowly, this schedule may seem totally unrealistic, so keep that in mind.

FAQs

This is the place to go to read the many hundreds of questions that other students have asked Benny Lewis, and it’s also the place where you can ask him new questions. 

I asked him a Spanish question about how to listen better to fast Spanish speech and he responded within 24 hours, although I don’t know if it’s always this fast. His advice, which was to imagine the speakers like little kids, actually really helped. (Well there was a little more to it than that, but that’s the gist of his answer.)

The Fluent in Three Months Library

This is another large resource section of the program. It includes Lewis’s book on language learning, which is a bestseller, and lots of other resources—articles, videos, interviews and more that contain even more language learning hacks.

The Pros of Fluent in Three Months Premium

It’s inspirational

One of the key motivating factors to succeeding in becoming fluent in a language is staying inspired. And inspiration can be hard to come by on apps like Duolingo, where you’re sitting alone in your room clicking buttons, right?

If you like to learn from the experiences of other language learners (and accomplished polyglots), Fluent in Three Months gives you a lot of that in the form of motivational speeches and interviews with the world’s leading language learners.

Here’s Benny Lewis speaking some of the languages he’s learned through this method:

The program emphasizes oral fluency

OK, oral fluency may not be everyone’s goal when studying a language, but for me, I just want to be able to get around and talk to locals in Mexico, so fluency is my main goal, so this program suits me perfectly.

If you have other language goals in mind—business, studying, etc.—you may want to find a more traditional program like Babbel or Speakly.

But if you want to talk fast and loose and quickly be a part of the conversation in a language you barely understand, this program is really helpful.

There are effective language hacks

There’s no doubt that there are many bits of gold in this program in terms of effective and actionable language hacks.

For example, Lewis’ suggestion of developing your own “utility belt” of phrases and sentences and really getting those down to use when talking with native speakers has really helped me on a trip to Mexico.

Actually, I’ve been continually shocked how well just having a few memorized phrases has helped me in terms of fluency.

The Cons of Fluent in Three Months Premium

It can feel unorganized

When I first signed onto this program, there were so many choices, I didn’t really know where to start. After a while, I figured it out, but what I was really craving was one learning path, clearly laid out from start to finish.

If you’re like me and you like structure and actually appreciate being told what to do occasionally, you may find this program’s design a little unorganized, too.

There aren’t really any traditional language lessons

What surprised me the most as I worked my way through this program was the lack of traditional language lessons. The program doesn’t teach you conjugation or vocabulary or pronunciation. It just gives you advice on how to learn these things.

I’m not saying that’s not important, and it’s an element lacking from most other language learning programs, but I was a little disappointed that instead of teaching me grammar and vocabulary, the program advises that you join other programs like Memrise and italki. 

Sure, those are great programs, but I sometimes felt like I was paying for advice instead of language lessons.

Fluent in Three Months Premium Alternatives

All language learning programs have their advantages and drawbacks, so I thought I’d compare Fluent in Three Months Premium with some of the most popular language programs available today. Here’s how they match up:

Fluent in Three Months vs. FluentU

Since one of the features I most missed while using Fluent in Three Months was authentic video, I wanted to start this comparison section with FluentU, which has video at the heart of its program.

I don’t know how many times I’ve heard from foreign friends who’ve told me that they learned English through watching movies. In fact, I’ve heard it so many times, I definitely believe it. 

FluentU works really well for me because I’m a person who really likes to watch movies, TV, music videos, news and vlogs on YouTube already. So it feels like a really sustainable and fun way to learn and review a language and it’s worked really well for me.

Overall, I’d choose FluentU here, both for the large video library and for the other features like the quizzes and dictionary.

Fluent in Three Months vs. Duolingo

I mentioned Duolingo in this review because one of the elements that I was missing the most while using Fluent in Three Months was the fun colors and other visual elements like illustrations that Duolingo has. I also appreciate the more traditional language learning approach taken by Duolingo.

I think that Duolingo is more fun and more gamified, and that cute little bird is always encouraging you, but Fluent in Three Months has those great Master Class interviews that accomplish the same thing.

In this match-up, I’d say that these two programs would work really well together.

Here’s our full review of Duolingo.

Fluent in Three Months vs. Rosetta Stone

Rosetta Stone has those vivid photographs that really make a huge difference for me, and they actually teach the language explicitly, unlike Fluent in Three Months, which feels more like a collection of tips and resources than an actual language learning app.

In this match-up, I’d personally go for Rosetta Stone, though Fluent in Three Months could be a good supplement.

Here’s our full review of Rosetta Stone.

What Does Fluent in Three Months Premium Cost?

The Fluent in Three Months Premium program goes for a flat fee of $97. That’s it for lifetime access. 

The Final Verdict on Fluent in Three Months Premium

I would recommend Fluent in Three Months, with some caveats.

Keep in mind this program is more about gaining the motivation, mindset and hacks to learn to be fluent in a language quickly. But it is not a full language learning program, so those looking for grammar, verb conjugation and vocabulary will have to supplement the program with more traditional programs.

Is it worth it? I’d say it is, especially if you’re the type who wants to take their learning journey into their own hands and use the experience of accomplished polyglots to guide you. But if you’re looking for a traditional program that starts with vocabulary and verb conjugations, you’re not going to find that here.

And One More Thing...

If you dig the idea of learning on your own time from the comfort of your smart device with real-life authentic language content, you'll love using FluentU.

With FluentU, you'll learn real languages—as they're spoken by native speakers. FluentU has a wide variety of videos as you can see here:

FluentU App Browse Screen.

FluentU has interactive captions that let you tap on any word to see an image, definition, audio and useful examples. Now native language content is within reach with interactive transcripts.

Didn't catch something? Go back and listen again. Missed a word? Hover your mouse over the subtitles to instantly view definitions.

Interactive, dual-language subtitles.

You can learn all the vocabulary in any video with FluentU's "learn mode." Swipe left or right to see more examples for the word you’re learning.

FluentU Has Quizzes for Every Video

And FluentU always keeps track of vocabulary that you’re learning. It gives you extra practice with difficult words—and reminds you when it’s time to review what you’ve learned. You get a truly personalized experience.

Start using the FluentU website on your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes or Google Play store. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)