Canadian language learning expert

Nikolay Ignatov

Creator of the Bilingual Synchronism Method

Headline

Language is not what you remember.
It's how fast you react.

A science‑based training system that hard‑wires vocabulary into fast, automatic reactions instead of fragile memorization — developed in Canada and powered by a unique intensive training tradition.

Discover the method
Nikolay Ignatov
"40 years of experience distilled into one methodology."
About the method

Bilingual Synchronism

Unlike traditional methods that exclude your native language, Bilingual Synchronism uses it as the foundation for building true multilingual fluency.

The method uses your native language as a stable base and builds new languages on top of it as additional codes and labels for the same inner reality. Language is not about memorizing words. It is about building reflexive language reactions within a single, unified cognitive space.

The method was first formulated in Canada in 2005 as a synthesis of Soviet intensive training techniques and modern neuroscience. Since then it has been tested and refined with hundreds of learners of different ages and in different language acquisition contexts.

Some of the original intensive techniques were first developed for people working in high‑stakes international settings and are now adapted for everyday learners.

After nearly 40 years since first encountering this methodology, Nikolay still remembers those initial words and phrases as clearly as if he learned them yesterday. The words don't fade from memory—they become as native as your mother tongue.

Proven Results That Speak

Over 1,000 students have experienced this transformation, working individually to achieve unprecedented results in language acquisition.

50–60 new words in 30–45 minutes
with long‑term retention
Works from about age 7 to 70+
effective across all ages
Leads to reliably high retention
when learners follow the method
"Words don't just stay in memory — they become part of your native thinking."
"
I don't teach a language. I sit beside the student and begin studying it together with them, walking this path anew and making daily discoveries alongside them.
— Nikolay Ignatov
How the method works: the five pillars

The Five Pillars

This methodology transforms language learning from abstract theory into a reflexive motor skill — like walking or breathing, it becomes automatic and never fades.

I

Native language as the foundation

The native language is not an obstacle but cognitive infrastructure. One unified system of meanings is built, where each new language becomes just another set of symbols for concepts already understood.

II

Reflexive neural pathways

Direct neural connections bypass internal translation. Words and phrases emerge instantly and automatically — just like in your native language.

III

Task and game-based learning

Language becomes a tool for achieving game objectives, not the subject itself. This dramatically reduces the "affective filter" and increases natural acquisition.

IV

Personal symbols instead of flashcards

Learners create their own visual and symbolic cues for each word. This personal encoding forms much stronger and more stable neural connections than standard materials.

V

Language as a motor reflex

Training is designed so that speech behaves like a motor skill, not a memory exercise. Reactions in the new language occur without passing through short‑term memory or inner translation — like riding a bike without thinking of each separate movement.

Applications

Who it's for and what you get

Who can use the method

  • Schoolchildren and students who need a lot of vocabulary for exams
  • Adult beginners starting from scratch and afraid it will be too hard
  • Intermediate learners who "know, but can't speak" and search for words too long
  • Advanced users who want near‑native fluency and to remove the "thinking accent"
  • Polyglots who mix languages in their head
  • Families abroad whose children are losing their native language

How it can be used

  • With schools and courses — to multiply the effect of regular lessons
  • With communicative methods — to build a solid lexical base for free speaking
  • With apps and self‑study — to bring structure and real retention to chaotic practice
  • With tutors — to speed up progress and lock in results
  • As a standalone system — from zero level to confident, automatic speech

Your situation → What you get

"I forget words I've learned"
Words stay and resurface automatically when needed
"I'm afraid to speak"
Confidence: words come without long searching
"I think too long / translate in my head"
Fast reactions without inner translation
"Years of study, no real result"
Visible progress in weeks, not years
"Languages get mixed up"
Each language has a clear place in one unified system
"I need many words quickly"
50–60 words in 30–45 minutes is a realistic standard

Key point: the same principles work for a 7‑year‑old learning English and a 70‑year‑old learning Spanish — what really matters is not age, but the architecture of training.

Nikolay Ignatov giving a lecture

Teaching and sharing the methodology with students

Expert profile

Expertise & Experience

From diplomatic work to innovative educator, bringing rare methodology to modern language learning.

Nikolay Ignatov teaching

Nikolay Ignatov

Toronto‑based Canadian language learning expert

Nikolay Ignatov is a Toronto‑based Canadian language learning expert and the creator of the Bilingual Synchronism Method, rooted in the Soviet/Russian psychological and linguistic tradition. He holds an MA in Philology (Institute of Asian and African Studies, Moscow State University) and is a former diplomat and diplomatic interpreter at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he provided high‑level interpretation at international summits and top‑level negotiations. He is also a certified memory development instructor with over 30 years of practical work with learners of different ages and languages.

The Critical Revelation

A key turning point came in Ankara, Turkey: "After years of traditional language training, my first evening watching local news on TV in a foreign country was a shock — I couldn't understand a single word in the flow of natural speech. Watching Turkish news still felt like listening to noise." This exposed a core problem of traditional education: it teaches about the language instead of building the language as a living system in the brain. This experience revealed the same frustration many learners face today: years of study, yet real‑life speech still sounds like noise.

"A foreign language opens the 'system of concepts of other people,' requiring conscious comparison with the native language for deep assimilation."

— L.S. Vygotsky, Pedagogical Psychology (1931)
Short history

From intensive schools to a modern method

The method stands on a long tradition of intensive language learning. It grows out of:

  • 19th‑century work by Heinrich Schliemann with parallel texts and massive input
  • Intensive Soviet training programs for interpreters and specialists, with a strong focus on group practice and real‑life tasks
  • Cold War era intensive programs that pushed language training to the limits of human attention and memory, setting new standards for what fast acquisition can achieve
  • Vygotsky's idea that a foreign language opens the "conceptual system of other people" and must be compared with the native language for deep acquisition
  • Modern research in cognitive science and second language acquisition (including Stephen Krashen, who distinguishes between conscious learning and subconscious acquisition)

Several intensive techniques from this tradition were originally created for training specialists working in highly sensitive international contexts; today they are re‑engineered for open civilian education.

In 2005, in Canada, this legacy was re‑assembled and rethought into a single framework: the Bilingual Synchronism Method. Today this framework is moving into the digital space as an AI‑powered application.

1847

The Schliemann Method

Heinrich Schliemann develops an intensive language‑learning method based on parallel texts and contextual comprehension — the foundation for many later innovations.

1926–1938

International Lenin School (Comintern)

The Comintern creates intensive training programs using and extending Schliemann's approach to prepare international activists for work abroad.

1930s

OGPU / NKVD special courses

The foundations of Soviet intensive operational language training are laid, combining Schliemann's principles with collective pedagogical practice.

1931

Vygotsky's theoretical foundation

Lev Vygotsky formulates the idea that a foreign language opens the "conceptual system of other people", and that deep acquisition requires conscious comparison with the native language.

1938–1942

School of Special Purpose (SHON)

The NKVD organizes elite training using Schliemann‑based intensive methods, with participation from Comintern specialists and American communists. Early attempts were made to radically enhance the method for high‑stakes tasks.

1940s–1950s

Maurice Thorez Institute

Advanced Soviet intensive methodology is implemented for training elite interpreters, with a focus on group drills, fast lexical buildup and real‑life simulation tasks.

1977

Parallel development by Stephen Krashen

Stephen Krashen publishes work that formalizes key principles of second language acquisition, distinguishing between conscious learning and subconscious acquisition and popularizing input‑based approaches worldwide.

1980s–1990s

Experimental adaptations

Elements of intensive Soviet training and cognitive psychology begin to migrate into experimental school and university programs, including early prototypes of bilingual synchronism‑like techniques.

2005

Canadian innovation

In Canada, Nikolay Ignatov synthesizes intensive Soviet traditions, Vygotskian psychology and modern cognitive research into a single coherent framework: the Bilingual Synchronism Method.

Today

Digital and AI era

The method is being transformed into an AI‑powered application, making techniques once available only in intensive offline training accessible to ordinary learners, families and schools worldwide.

App preview

Experience the method in an app

The method that once existed only in intensive offline training is now being transformed into an AI‑powered application. What was previously available to a limited circle of learners will soon be accessible on any phone.

Coming soon in the app:

  • Tools for creating and storing personal symbols
  • AI‑guided sessions that implement the method step by step
  • Drawing‑based encoding for a unified cognitive space
  • Language pairs and tracks optimized for different markets and goals
Nikolay Ignatov
2025 Release
Connect with the Expert

Work with the method creator

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Name
Nikolay Ignatov
Title
Creator of the Bilingual Synchronism Method
Canadian language learning expert
Location
Based in Canada

Available for:

  • Individual and group consultations
  • Method training for teachers and schools
  • Collaborations on innovative language learning projects