Heinrich Schliemann found the old city of Troy. He also said he learned Dutch, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese in about six weeks each.

His method was simple. He read aloud a lot, wrote about topics he liked, got corrections from a teacher, and memorized the corrected writing. Modern research supports much of this method. But the 'six weeks' story comes only from his own book, and he sometimes exaggerated.

Heinrich Schliemann, the archaeologist who discovered Troy, wrote in his autobiography that he could write and speak Dutch, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese after about six weeks of study each. His method had four steps. He read aloud a lot without translating, wrote essays on interesting topics, had a teacher correct them, and memorized and recited the corrected essays. Research supports several of these steps. A 2015 meta-analysis found that written corrections improve grammatical accuracy.

Another study found that three Chinese prize winners in English speech and debate contests had all memorized large amounts of text. However, the six-week claim comes only from his autobiography, and historians have shown that he tended to dramatize his life story.

Heinrich Schliemann, famous for excavating Troy, claimed in his autobiography that after spending about six months each on English and French, he mastered Dutch, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese in roughly six weeks apiece. His method combined extensive reading aloud, writing on topics of personal interest, correction by a teacher, and memorizing and reciting the corrected texts. Several of these components are consistent with modern second language research.

A 2015 meta-analysis concluded that written corrective feedback improves grammatical accuracy, and a study of advanced writers found that gains from feedback on article use were maintained weeks later. Likewise, interviews with three Chinese prize winners in English speech and debate contests revealed that all had memorized and imitated large amounts of text. The six-week claim, though, deserves skepticism.

First, its only source is Schliemann himself, and the historian Traill has shown that he embellished episodes from his career and excavations. Second, for a German speaker who already knew English and French, these related languages share much vocabulary and grammar. Third, 'speaking' may have meant handling business letters. Finally, no experiment has tested the whole combination, so learners should borrow the method but not the timeline.