Summary
Lomb’s landmark work, originally published in Hungarian in 1970 as Így tanulok nyelveket and later translated into English. A mix of memoir and methodology — she recounts how she learned each of her languages, what worked, what didn’t, and why. The core argument: language is acquired through massive, motivated reading in real content, not grammar drilling or memorization. Introduces the Lomb Formula and the Core Novel Method.
Notes
- Primary source for the Lomb Formula: Result = (Time × Interest) / Inhibition
- Core Novel Method: start with a dictionary as a puzzle, pick a compelling novel, read without stopping for every word, only look up repeatedly-appearing unknowns
- Strong stance against the innate talent myth — method and motivation outweigh aptitude
- Her argument for output early: “Language is the only thing worth knowing even poorly”
- Widely cited by Steve Kaufmann and the modern comprehensible input community as a foundational text