Step into their shoes, become a native

Anna Cook - Beyond the Bottomline
3 min readDec 19, 2022

Literally “step into the shoes” of a native speaker in order to pick up the relevant verbal and non verbal aspects involved in producing quality output in the language.

OPAL — The magic spell for learning another language…

Created and developed by the genius of Yves Thevenot:

The OPAL credo is the acquisition of another language as a genuine second language and even a ‘second 1st language’ in its advanced levels!

The main goal of the Opal method is to favour the fluent integration of any «foreign language» by implementing underlying and supposedly universal patterns. Those “organic patterns” are shared by all human beings and can be applied at any given time although, most of the time, they are kept dormant, which accounts for the difficulty most people experience when trying to “learn” another language. The heart of the approach is based on the creation of a «second linguistic position» also called «linguistic character», which is to be opposed to the conventional paradigm of «learning» another language. OPAL takes into account every single aspect of language acquisition, both verbal and non verbal, including pronunciation and tonic intonation which, although critical, are often overlooked in conventional pedagogy.

Who can benefit from OPAL?

Anybody who wishes to discover and implement the key elements which will trigger an exponential progression in their oral and comprehension skills as speakers of foreign languages can greatly benefit from this approach. The OPAL models and techniques are applicable to learning any language so that they can be used over and over again to acquire more idioms.

What will you learn with OPAL?

OPAL will especially guide people towards “quality acquisitions” in foreign languages that they will then know “in the muscles”, leading to a spectacular rendering of most verbal and non verbal aspects of these.

Ultimately, the Opal model describes and transfers specific skills which “gifted language learners” consistently use. These critical skills are seldom if ever dealt with in “conventional” pedagogical literature.

With OPAL you will learn to:

  • Understand what are the “building…
Anna Cook - Beyond the Bottomline

International Executive and Wellness Coach · Podcast Presenter · Author · Writing mostly about holistic success · Career + Wellness together... www.annacook.uk