Thank you for the video! As a professional teacher of English and Russian as a foreign language and a University teacher, as well as a language learner who is learning Chinese (as I am living and teaching university students in China now) and German and planning to learn French, I can say that ALL factors are important in learning languages: both conscious learning and subconscious, memorising and acquiring, studying textbooks and reading fiction books, noticing and just looking around, spaced repitition and repetition in context, talking to native speakers and talking to a teacher, even memorising dialogues are important (it does serve you good) - all the nuances are worth taking into account. Even flashcards are important. The idea is THE MORE TIME YOU SPEND ON INPUT AND OUTPUT, THE MORE PROFICIENT YOU BECOME. I agree that learning vocabulary as isolated words is not worth it but we always learn it in a chain: a word - a phrase - a sentence - an extract - a text or a dialogue - similar dialogue - real life talk and exposure. It is impossible to acquire a language just by listening or living in the country unless you make real efforts. It is time-consuming, that is why we have to be patient and consistent in how we learn it. "Systematically" - that is what important, as in any other business or area. I have a question: who in the mordern world just memorises words without a context? All students whom I teach, they use flashcards only for reviewing. All is important. Every single detail. For one person, talking to a foreigner is enough to improve. For another, they should sit and write and read and learn and repeat. We are all so different. There are many cases described in the "SLA" theory showing that some people acquire languages easier than others. Brain and our psyche are very complicated areas. Good luck to us all.
When I was 16 and Duolingo was getting popularized I used to dabble a lot on it but it never felt like I was applying anything I was learning there... Nowadays I'm learning Mandarin Chinese and Basque, for Mandarin Chinese I started with comprehensible input and nowadays I do intensive reading, watching TV (CCTV has a lot of free and interesting programs) and listening to podcasts. And for Basque I've been taking classes which helped me get started but I want to transition to intensive reading / watching tv / podcast as well. This is much more effective than any app, including Anki which I've tried to make work time and time, but I can't avoid making it feel like a chore.
Sorry, this is just reheated Krashen leftovers, which means he’s appealing to the wannabe language learner’s . . . no, wait, ACQUIRER’s . . . wishful thinking that learning additional languages can and should be as “easy and effortless” as we (incorrectly and ignorantly) assume first language “acquisition” (but really, it IS learning) is. And appealing to people’s wishful thinking is a gagillion dollar industry.
Very very concise. You talk about very complex things in simple terms. That shows immense experience and thought before writing this video. Well done Matt. The point I resonate most is: follow the routine that you can stick to. My chalenge is I always want to "do more" to "get there faster" but that leads to weeks and months of no effort because I've developed some sort of resentment towards it. I ahd to realise this after 10 years of dedication to French and stop/start of other languages. How many takes did you do for this video? :)
I bought a French Grammar textbook written by a well-known RU-vidr. The book is so incredibly dry and boring and she just throws a thousand grammar rules at you at once. I regret buying these books.
I don't have Netflix, so I'm screwed. I tried Lingopie because of your video and I did not like it. When you change your student level, they don't change the material at all. All they do is slow down the audio slightly.
Interestingly enough this is very close to the way generative AI systems learn to talk, after crunching tons of meaningful and labeled materials. NOT through grammar study.
I’ve found it very useful to learn the grammar rules after having some experience with them through acquisition first. In other words, don’t front-load the grammar, but don’t ignore it (as this guy suggests) either. Same with vocabulary. I use flash cards and could not learn words through acquisition alone. I’m dyslexic (both auditory and visual), so I may find this modification useful because of that challenge. It’s also been useful to find language teachers who don’t correct every mistake but do let me know if I’ve made a mistake when I ask. I speak Spanish at a B2 level now. Dyslexics untie!
Thanks for the interview -- I really enjoyed hearing Dr. McQuillan's insights; they square with what I have discovered over years of acquiring/learning the German language.
I just LOVE the Comphrensible Input approach. Do you know if there is any website similar to that but for French? I only follow Comphrensible French and Anice Ayel's youtube channel but I haven't found any websites similar to this one. Thank you for your input!!!
I like the two apps that I use for maintaining my language skills, not for learning. Though I will admitt, I just picked Duolingo back up and I am actually enjoying the listening and speaking portions where even two years ago (when I broke my streak) and twenty years ago, when I was first learning, I rebelled against. I am not saying that the listening and speaking portions are great, but I do think I am a place in my life where I have learned that being able to understand what I am listening to is more important that just being able to read it, and even then I was never great at reading it! I am hoping that I can get to a point in my life were I can begun actively work on learning a language again instead of maintaining.
I keep completely abandoning Duolingo and coming back to it. I could finally stop caring about rankings and xp. I also found out that for English, Spanish, French, and Italian, which are languages I can read books in, using Duolingo is a waste of time. I skipped to the last level of their new intermediate English course which seems ok for a bit of practicing. I took the shortcut to half of the German tree and am learning a bit there. But its best use for sure is that of helping you in the first steps of a language. That's why I started Russian and Norwegian a week ago and have been advacing quite fast. As for English, Spanish, French and Italian I have been juggling to read books in all 4. Some days, I read a bit in each of them. Some days in only one or two. Mostly reading a detective novel in French that is about to get finished. Oh, and I use the free ReadEra app on my tablet that makes looking up words easy and fast without ruining the reading experience.
I think its pretty clear that with so many apps and other courses, it is more important for them to give the perception of learning a language - this is what keeps people subscribed. And often, by the time you realise one isn't working... well, you've wasted a lot of time and money. The same can be said for the traditional class based industry. In my struggles to acquire Japanese, I've found that it is necessary to 'grind' a little in order to get to the point where I can enjoy input (still struggling to get there) - whereas in an 'easier' language like French its possible to just dive in as soon as you find something interesting. But so few courses are interested in helping you do this - its all about marketing and pushing specific techniques, few of which really work as advertised.
*sigh* Matt…we’ve been over this. My family and our breakfast time used to be sacred before you came around! 😆 Booting up this video now! As always, I’m excited to see what wisdom you’ve brought us today! The title alone has me super interested.
Why do we say la mano and not el mano? seeing that ends in masculine "o", and "la" is a feminine definite article. This is an accurate proof of this video. It is better to acquire and not learn.
My question is, as a beginner 1 year learner of Polish, how do I find content that I can understand 95% of? I'm studying at a language school also so I do understand the basic grammar, but I don't know enough words or verbs to be able to string long sentences. I've tried finding content that I can actually comprehend, but it seems really difficult as most things I read or watch, I might understand 10% of.
Comprehensible Input resources will vary hugely between languages. A language like Spanish will have far, far more language resources that provide Comprehensible Input than a language like Dutch, Polish, Swedish, etc etc. Because of this, you will be at a disadvantage because you would likely spend far more time trying to find input that is understandable than someone learning Spanish would. 95% is not a requirement. That's just considered optimal. If you understand 10%, you can still acquire, it will just be much less efficient and/or effective. But if you understand even a single word, you acquire a small piece of the word that gets stored into your brain. The next time you come across it in a context you understand, you will acquire another piece. And so on and so forth until you get many pieces to understand the nuances of the word intuitively. For a language like Polish, I wouldn't focus so hard on only using comprehensible input sources or super heavily leaning into it. But definitely try to get resources you can understand. And if you can't and it's something like 5% comprehension, MAKE it more comprehensible. You can use something like "Google Image Search" in the target language for words you don't know and actually see what the word refers to, in order to make it more comprehensible. You can also use translation, as it is _technically_ comprehensible, but the link to the actual meaning is weaker than understanding through context.
I wonder why is this even a thing. Comprehensible input has been around for ages and I gotta say that while comprehesible input alone works for some people it may not for others. Not adding grammar into the mix is a recipe for disaster. Learning a language as an adult is way different than as a child. Experience tells me that learning/acquiring a language should be a mix of learning the grammar and produce as much language as possible and getting as much input as possible too. The best students are the ones who are able to correct themselves while using the target language, and that is achieved by learning the grammar and also by getting lots of input. "First, we learn the rules, then we learn how to play it"
I have been thinking about learning English for quite a long time, but I have found that learning is useless. Grammar is boring. I hate learning the rules even though I naively thought I would learn English this way. I've wasted ten years at my desk with textbooks to no avail!!!! For me, it's listen, read, speak English out loud to myself at home, sometimes with a friend. Dictation helps too, but I enjoy it. I just want to do what I enjoy. This guy knows what he's talking about. He's right. I came across you by accident and I applaud you!!!! Thanks for this video and for confirming what I've been thinking for a long time. Katya from the Czech Republic
I have learned 4 foreign languages and I can assure you that already in the first sentence he is wrong - grownups and children learn languages completely differently. Children don't learn, they aquire, while grownups learn analytically. Recently I had to re-learn academically a language that I had been fluent in as a child and by consciously analyzing it and since trying to understand the grammar rules I actually started to lose the ability to speak freely, as I once did. Because now I'm questioning every phrase, every word and every case suffix... It's a nightmare, I wish I never did that!
It isn't wrong. Adults can acquire just like children can, and has been proven time and time again through research and many, many anecdotal anecdotal experiences. Outside of Linguistics and in general learning fields, there is a similar separation between "acquisition" and "learning" through the concepts "Implicit Learning" and "Explicit Learning", which adults are also capable of Implicit Learning and is not unique to children. Adults _typically_ learn differently by choice. Adults believe that they are superior to Acquisition/Implicit Learning because one puts too much stock into the effectiveness of Learning/Explicit Learning. But the fact remains that no matter how much Explicit Learning you do for any skill (including languages), a majority of the time you spend should be spent learning implicitly (acquiring). The basis for this is simple. In neuroscience, we understand how the brain stores information, by placing sensory input data that the brain processes into a neuron, connecting that neuron to a relevant neuron to form a neuronal pathway, eventually making a network of these neuronal pathways. This process is the same as a kid as it is for an adult. The idea that children and adults learn completely differently is preposterous. We learn the same. Children just have higher neuroplasticity and less inhibitions, allowing themselves to consistently acquire whatever skills they seek out. They aren't afraid of not participating or surrounding themselves into the unknown. Adults limit themselves to consciously learning things despite having the ability to acquire too. The unfamiliarity scares many, and so they stay in their comfort zone of Explicit Learning.
I'm already at an advanced level with Spanish and I'm just exploring DS as something else to do, just another project for improvement if you will. But what I'm wondering is... if the DS concept of just listening for a ton of hours works so well, then how do you explain people who move to a foreign country, stay there for years, and still can't speak or barely understand the language worth diddly squat? And there's plenty of people like this all over the world. I'm not saying this doesn't work...at least for some people...but is this the most effective way (or at least one of the most effective ways) for most people to learn Spanish? Definitely things that make you go hmmm.
In my country,one cannot be an 'ex'professor. Professor has been an academic title one gets after graduating from the University,which means if one was studying English and graduated,one is an English professor for life. One can be a retired professor when one retires. So it is very strange for me to see this ex professor title. Does it mean one looses one's academic knowledge when one retires?
I've watched a few of your videos and really like the content. But I can't find the answer to this question: If you are an absolute beginner in the language, especially if it does not use the same alphabetical system as you, how much learning do you need to do before being able to do language acquisition? If I don't know Arabic, I cannot read a basic story. So don't we need to do some studying to get started? and if so, how much?
Also he's plain wrong that children acquire language at the same speed. It's been proven many times that the human capacity to learn is increased during their "childhood". So, yes, children in general have a super learning aptitude.
No, he spent 20 minutes indicating the difference between learning a language and acquiring a language, indicating that the source of improvement in language ability comes from acquisition and not learning. Most people believe that language ability comes from grammar and vocabulary memorization and output practice, which it does not. Practice does not yield greater understanding, as it gives you no new information for your brain to store into neurons. As for the children remark, you are right that they have a higher capacity to learn due to higher neuroplasticity. However, due to a child's lack of world experience, they are hindered. Children struggle to understand abstract concepts, especially the younger they are. Due to this, they don't acquire abstract concepts quickly. Additionally, adults have a greater critical thinking capability, able to figure out and understand through context better than a child can. So despite the advantage in neuroplasticity, that gets off-set by the lack of world experience and developed brains.
Theres a chatecter i would want to play in a live action version of an anime...thats why i want to larn Japanese...cause i would probably have to speak it
That's not true for everyone. For 4 months now, I've been speaking English 5 hours a week with 3 native speakers, and listening English for hours too, of course (podcasts, RU-vid videos, series, movies). And to be honest, I didn't make a lot of progress, I'm still a B1 and it's very frustrating because I did believe people like you who repeat that adults can learn a language just as children do. Actually, I've been making progress since I started doing exercises in my textbook, 2 weeks ago. More progress in 2 weeks than in 4 months, how do you explain that? Furthermore, children learn their language with textbooks too. Not the first 6 years of course, but after, they do use books. At least that's how it happens in my country, kids have grammar exercises from ages 6 to 15. Because listening and speaking are not enough. We have to test ourselves. Testing oursleves is known as the most effective way to learn something. And when you listen to a podcast, you don't test yourself. I'm not saying it's useless to read ou to listen to something in English. I'm saying it's not enough, as least not for everyone. I'm saying grammar exercises are usefull for some of us.
