10 mistakes I made with my first foreign language 

What mistake did you make with your first foreign language (can be one of these or anything else!)

My #1 mistake: Watching videos _about_ language learning instead of actually studying!

"I was always a morning person. I just wasn't awake to experience that" that is pure gold, mate!

"For ten years I didn't think I was a morning person, until I started getting up in the morning, and I realized I was a morning person, I'd just never been awake to experience that." Brilliant.

The most realistic language channel on YT. No pretentiousness. No BS. Honesty within himself and realism in the world of learning. THIS is what a person who truly wants to help others looks like, instead of someone looking to make a quick many bucks. Kudos my Aussie language mentor and thanks you!

You’re so realistic about learning languages and I love it !

Having too high expectations was a huge mistake for me. You really need to be realistic when you set goals. Dont think you will be fluent any time soon, esp. if you dont commit thousands of hours to the language.

My main mistake was putting off mass input for too long. I think that spending the first few months focusing on mastering high-frequency vocabulary and understanding sentences structures was beneficial and definitely was my first big step in getting better. But there comes a point where you need to move from intensive study to extensive study, and I should have started extensive reading/listening and mass input much sooner than I did, because once I finally got around to it it made a huge difference in helping me start overcoming the intermediate plateau.

Just for my own notes. Watch the video for awesome explanations. 10. To think there is an end date for fluency. 9. Too much Duolingo 8. Have too much conversations without enough input 7. Pay for tutor if possible; not just use language partner 6. Try to understand using similar dialects 5. Kids material is not easier to understand. There is no logic. 4. Not reading things interesting to you or assume things you are interested are too hard. 3. Not prioritizing language learning for the da 2. Set hour goal. 1. Not let anyone told you what you want.

Thanks for being honest, unlike all the youtube poliglot gurus who make language learning seem way more easier than it really is!

It's like you are behind the car pushing and all you can see is the ground below so you don't know if/when the mud ends. Mud mud mud. You are asking yourself, why am I doing this, this mud never ends, is this the same rock as before? am I actually moving at all? The ground changes so slowly you don't even realize pushing has been easier lately. Then you look back and realize how much ground you have covered.

Waking up in the morning was the best thing I've done for my language learning. The mistake I made early on was spending too much time with early grammar instead of getting quick exposure to a lot of it. It's like trying to draw details of a scene before blocking out everything with circles, rectangles and cylinders. Sketch it out by covering a ton of grammar quickly.

My biggest mistake was focusing on output too early. Input is far more important.

"You want the best possible input at all times". Well said. Duolingo is not acceptable lol

My mistake was focusing on learning strictly from textbooks and having poor listening skills. Also, being nervous to speak Korean outloud. My family already knew I was studying it but if they were around, I wouldn't speak because I was nervous about sounding off. Now I'm doing pimsleur speaking comprehension and watching dramas for listening comprehension and I'm already improving a lot more. I think textbooks make the learning process too structured and feel like a classroom. I think I learn better when it's more interactive.

"Adults' material has inherent logic in them". Jeez, after only about 10 videos, you make more sense to me than anyone I have ever listened to. Truly and completely. I am a philologist. I have been addicted to a Catalan soap opera for months now, as there is nothing else as logical, practical, and dense in the kind of language one really must master in order to successfully participate in everyday communication.

The main mistake I made was not doing a lot of listening practice (my target language has strictly been Korean for 3 and a half years). I watched maybe 4 K-Dramas that I liked on repeat here and there, but I still should've listened a lot more. Thankfully though it's not a HUGE problem, and it's relatively easier for me these days because I try listen to Korean every single day for at least an hour and a half or more. Another mistake I made 2 and a half years in was wanting to be perfect and make perfect native sentences. I don't even have to explain how that's a mistake, it's so obvious to why. 😅

Reading something of interest is key! I first started reading Harry Potter when I was first advised by my teacher to read books in English and when I look back at it I don't understand how I managed to get through it. Now after learning English for years I still struggle with calling myself fluent because I still know there are so many more nuances to learn.

I’ve been learning English for 5 years in school now and I never understood Irish/Scottish people and I just understood that guy and I’m so happy ☺️

Wow. You hit the bullseye 🎯. I highly agree with your hindsight on the process of beginning, acquiring and maintaining your languages.

I'd agree with all these. Another mistake or two I made: Approached the learning method from a conscientious angle, trying "to learn" it in an academic manner. With my second language I've found a more immersive approach more effective. 2) related to the point above, concentrate on volume of input and don't try to become too advanced too quickly. By staying at your level for longer, you acquire the language, like a child would, rather than learn it.

So true about the audiobooks and the way they help to read a book! Thank you for sharing your experience! It's really helpful and inspiring!

Great tips and advice. Thank you!

So true about there not being an end date! Understanding and accepting that trying to achieve "fluency" was going to be a life long journey actually kind of made me feel more relaxed about my learning, like it took the pressure off or something

Hello! I wanted to thank you for all of your amazing videos! 😊 Your channel opened my eyes to many things about the language learning process 🌟

That last part where you mentioned how numerous polyglots script there videos is so important and shouldn’t be looked over. When I started learning French I would constantly go back and forth with Spanish as well because I wanted to be multilingual like all of these polyglots when I should of focused on just one. Because of these polyglots scripting and labeling their videos, “I speak 13 languages,” it is severely damaging the newbies of language learning since they don’t have any prior experience.

I always come to your channel for inspiration and useful information. And I'm never disappointed!! Love you, thanks! ❤️

Great video! Really genuinely helpful points.

Thank you, very helpful to hear from your experience

I love your channel! Thank you for sharing :)

Great advice! Thank you for making this. I'm going to work with my students with these in mind this year. Obrigada! ☘

Your videos are always a good wake up call to some bad habits I noticed I started doing on my language learning. The part about studying in the morning was a big hit hahah I started to create so many excuses... This video was great to remind me why I’m studying French and why it should be a priority. I started using Busuu and had one class on Italki because of your videos too and I loved it! Thank you so much and keep up the great work :)

I am so thankful that I started to learn German with a tutor first. It really made things more serious and I feel that I've actually learned quite a bit in the 9 months that I've been learning so far, 1 lesson a week. Duolingo and Babbel are just not good enough for me. My tutor gives me books and other resources that she has and is very encouraging. It's expensive but absolutely worth it.

Spot on! I like this video, and the idea behind it. Lots of super useful info. And i fully agree, getting up a little earlier for languages has been great, and you're right language first and everything gets done, languages last, and they don't get done all the time.

Like many others have said I really enjoy your no bullshit approach to language learning content. Keep up the good content!

You're so original and concise. Thank you for your videos! I'm enjoying watching all the way to the end for new information. You have a fresh take on everything, and I enjoy it!

My first mistake was in starting to learn my first foreign language. Now learning languages consumes lot of time. It is like bottomless barrel. And the fact is: I still suck it speaking and listening

Very helpful as always, Thanks😊💕

Fantastic video, thank you.

this is great stuff, I've been learning languages for 22 years now, and this is helpful ! + you are charming so thank you

Love your channel! Honest advice and not claiming to be an expert!

Good advice, particularly with the hour based goals

Dam!! I love this guy so much!!! So matter of fact!! You are better than these RU-vidrs that give you false hopes.

7:02 I'm actually really looking forward to a more comprehensive video on this topic👍👍

Another cool video! Great job, man and thanks for sharing all that. I can relate to many of the mistakes you mentioned. Just one suggestion. It would have been great if you had listed the mistakes in the description plus the minute in the video where you discuss every single one of them. Cheers!

English is my first language with Portugese and Spanish tied for 2nd and 3rd let me explain. I took 4 years of spanish in highschool, then I moved to Brazil for 2 years. I had 6 weeks of intense language Study. I had full immersion 6 hours a day in class 5 days a weeks, plus an extra hour of study on my own all 7 days. Spanish only being halfed learned then trying to learn Portuguese was a unique experience. I felt like i had to forget Spanish to learn Portuguese. When I finally got to Brazil it took me about 3 months for it all to click then I finally understood Spanish and Portuguese, it felt like once Portuguese clicked I remembered Spanish again. So I became "fluent" in both about the same time. I didn't realize I could speak Spanish until I was talking to a Spanish speaker in Brazil and like 3 minutes in realized I was understanding him through Portuguese and then speaking back in Spanish. I agree that fluency is a moving goal post because If I had know how well I'd speak 3 months in I couldn't have believe it. Here I am 4 years later I can't believe how much better I was 2 years in than 3 months, and how much better I am 4 years later. I Want to learn Japanese but the problem for me is I always feel like I have so much Spanish and Portuguese to learn that I have a hard time jumping in 😂

As someone trying to relearn a lot of the languages I forgotten I appreciate any and all tips!

The mud and car metaphor was good. I'm going to think about that one when I struggle getting myself started!

This is awesome! You're videos encouraged me to quit doing things to just get my hours in, but to instead spend quality hours doing what actually helps me learn. If that means 1 hour of flashcards in addition to my other methods of study... So be it.

This is great. It’s so refreshing to find a channel with someone who is earlier on in the language learning journey, and not already like 5 languages in. I’m particularly focused on getting to native/near native in my third language (Russian) while still working on my second (Spanish). It’s insane how many hours of dedicated work it truly takes to get to a near-native level. Sure, basic conversation is possible in months, but understanding poetry and jokes and rap music and learning/remembering obscure words like “grayish brown ” or “frolic” or “bell bottoms” takes such an obscene amount of time. I heard that the average high school grad (in the US, I believe) has like 60,000 words in their vocabulary when they graduate. I’ve been living in Central America for almost five years, and I can’t imagine how many years it will be before I reach that sort of level in Spanish, and Russian could take decades, assuming I want to maintain that Spanish level. Also, for anyone considering living in a country for immersion, be prepared to be very intentional in your learning, because it will NOT come automatically, and having even a handful of people who speak your native language living nearby can have a devastating impact on your quest for fluency. You can be stagnant for YEARS at intermediate level this way. Anyways, thanks for the video and the suggestions! Russian has been overwhelming me a bit lately as I consider how far I am behind in it and how long it took me to get to my current level in Spanish, which has made it harder for me to want to prioritize it. Just gotta keep at it day in and day out year after year, I guess, and definitely gotta get better at doing it in the morning.

thank you sir , you are truly inspiring

Thank you for the info

This video really intrigued me. I’ve been stuck in a higher-intermediate level plateau of Brazilian Portuguese for probably a year now and can’t seem to jump to an advanced bracket. Like you, I have a lot of language exchange conversations with native friends, however I never really progress. I’m always using the same words and remain in my comfort zone. I pick up maybe 5-10 new words each conversation, but never am able to commit them to memory. I lost motivation a while back, but want to change my ways and focus. Any advice?

Your insights are so damn lucid. Thank you...

"not letting external factors decide what I should be doing and why" 11:40 so important in every aspect of our lives

This is useful, thank you

I think the hour at which you do your language learning is highly dependent on your habits. For me, language learning is like a craving, and I'm always excited to do up to three hours of listening, reading, and flashcards after work. I can never get engaged in the morning, not for work, nor for language learning. Mandarin is my second foreign language, and the same way I learned English, even though it is a professional goal of mine, I always feel like it's a fun thing I do in my free time.

This is my favorite language learning channel. I come here when I'm discouraged.

My Japanese has made many leaps in 2020 alone, more specifically the second half of the year, and I contributed a lot of it to you (also Matt vs Japan for specific info on Japanese). Making it such a priority to the point where when I’m at work I am using my SRS app to hammer in vocabulary, watching dramas in Japanese, speaking with my long distance girlfriend in Japan. It has made me so happy to see the progress. And if about 6 months could’ve made this much difference, I’m dying to see what it’ll be like by the end of this year. I thought I was fluent until you helped me regain my humility. Thank you.

I'm studying a language at school but it's not very satisfying for me (because it's in school, it's at a very low level), which is why I'm studying another language on my own at the same time. I have a very good ear for languages and they're also completely different (from grammar to letters) so it's not too confusing....

I realised that I was also making some of them mistakes but you helped me a lot, sir.

Really interesting stuff.

This is a great video!

Thank you for a very helpful program. I am studying Hebrew with Duolingo. The high repetition is good for me because reading and writing in Hebrew takes a lot of practice. Erich from New Zealand

Man !! ur videos are just so good that after i finish the video i get sad because i have to wait a whole week to the next one haha keep up with these high quality vids

if it is a priority to you, it makes much more fun ;) thanks for these 10 mistakes, i see you have carefully thought about yourself and i think you're very selfreflected. i'm currently trying to get russian into my brain, and it's much more fun, the more time i'm able to put in.

Thanks, good vid

I've been wanting to learn Japanese for a few years and I have attempted to learn it a couple times but I usually don't make much progress... I am trying again now and I want to try different approaches, which includes getting advice from actual language learners (crazy idea, I know). I already have several new ideas that I've gotten from your videos so I wanted to say thank you! :)

You're really good at making these videos. They're appreciated by all of us! You pass on great information. I like the early morning idea and will have to start making that a priority. I think my biggest hangup is knowing what to do, how to start. I liked your review of Ouino and am considering it for the structure. I did play around in the trial and two things that really popped for me was in the vocab section. They used the word in a sentence and spoke that sentence both normally and then slow. I was quite amazed how much that helped me pronounce and apply the word. I'm working on French for my first language. One thing I notice about the language is that it seems to have a lyrical rhythm. You can tell if you're saying it right because it will 'sound' right. At least that's been my experience. Anyway, thanks for the few frames of your language learning log. It's good to see some sort of ideas of how to spend the study time. Thanks again for all your time making these videos! I look for them often!

Great video. I definitely have to start looking for better input than duolingo.

I think this is the best language learning advice I've ever seen, period

I make sure to get a minimum of 1 hour of French every day before work. That way no matter what happens or not matter burnt out / busy I am later in the day, I still get my language learning in.

This is actually good advice.

I just started watching you because you popped up by the RU-vid algorithm I think because I watch Steve Kaufman a lot. Anyway good info. I’m tempted to leave spanish when I’m only maybe at a B1 level and go to German. But i really want to be good at spanish so I’m gonna keep going. Definitely a mistake I don’t wanna make.

Thank you for this video :-)

Hi! Great video 👍 I agree with you 100% percent on every single point! Especially on getting tutor early on, and doing what you feel works best for you! Sometimes I see in the comment section that people disagree with you - mostly on either spending money or duolingo, but I really think they are missing the point. I feel that your channel / your thought process is generally geared towards somewhat serious language learners, and in that case I’m with you 100% (as someone who speaks 3 languages). Your advice would definitely speed up the learning process for any language 👍 Right now I’m learning German very casually, as in to substitute the time I otherwise would spend scrolling instagram😅In this case Duolingo has been great, because I know there are better options out there, but they just aren’t accessible to me - in the sense that when I use Duolingo, I know my alternative won’t be another language learning practice, but just Instagram. Sorry for mumbling on but I just feel the language community is so divided over Duolingo but it doesn’t even have to be..

I’ve been learning Hebrew about a year and a half now and I’m just now getting to the point that I can have a conversation. Learning a language is fun 😁 This is my first Language I’ve learned so excited to get to that higher level

J’étudie français maintenant. Merci pour le conseil!!!

Good video. I'm at an intermediate level in my second language. I've come to the realisation that although I spent time learning new words, I didn't spend enough time learning new phrases and sentences that I can use regularly. I'm currently rectifying that now.

Waw thanks ! This video is awesome ! I've been learning Russian for 6 months just for fun and I've made all 10 mistakes 😂😂😂 I had a feeling that I was making these mistakes, now I know for sure. But unfortunately I am decided ...to continue like this ...doing all 10 mistakes...because I love the way I'm learning...even if I know is wrong...but the most important thing when you learn a language is to enjoy it ..so I'm afraid if I corect the way I learn and do it right ...may be I will not enjoy it any more ...so I decide to do it in the wrong way but to enjoy ...For example I learn with partners ...although I am a beginner ...but all lessons are full of laughs ...I never laugh in my life so much ...I drink a glass of wine I lough ..and speak on phone learning russian...such a pleasure ....I don't see my self quitting this and go in a boring school class with a teacher. So in conclusion maybe all is coming to this: doing it wrong ...knowing I do it wrong but more easy and having the best time, enjoying it so much ....VS ...doing it right, boring and not enjoy ....I chose enjoy ...and I hope the progress will come from enjoying.

Absolutely loved your analogy of how starting to read a book is like pushing a car through mud. I can definitely relate. While it can be a little daunting at first, reading material I am actually interested in has done absolute wonders for my reading ability. I struggled reading children's fiction but am able to read non-fiction (Guns, Germs and Steel, and Sapiens etc) much much much easier than I expected. My biggest mistake when learning my first foreign language (Chinese) was neglecting tones and focusing too much on doing well in exams and not not spending enough time actually speaking. As for counting hours, for me personally I find that it can be a little redundant sometimes. For me it is easy to fall into the trap of saying that I've "studied" for an hour without really effectively studying per se. If I have a checklist I am able to concretely assess whether or not I have achieved what I set out to achieve. For me I guess it's kinda of quality vs quality.

Really cool video and helpful. I found myself in your mistake as well 🤣 And I can totally agree: If I don't do my language first, everything else gets done, but not my language. And true... kids books and movies are not easier 🤣 often they drive me insane and I think... hello...??? It's for 5 year old ones and I have no clue what they are talking about. Thank you for your great videos. 😄

Establishing tangible goals is so important. Your mood can change daily, even with the weather, so it's never a great idea to try to "feel" fluent. Personally I found my German improved massively, as did my feeling of understanding German, when I set myself the target of reading a specific, fairly advanced novel, and working my way up and through it.

I agree with just about all of this but my studying is very all encompassing. I really wanna know Spanish in full, and I've been doing pretty good for the short time that I've been studying it. But I think that's because I incorporated it into everything and study. And really, I think that's all it really boils down to. Study. Learn. Listen. Use.

I've been learning 3 foreign languages. English is my first foreign language and right now my level is C1 but my mistake back then when I was a kid was taking too much classes. My second foreign language is Spanish and my mistake was using too much Doulingo+ watching spanish series with English subtitle from the begining+ reading pure grammer too early, before making a strong vocabulary core+ not having a daily routine. The third one that i'm learning currently is German. I tried to fix all the mistakes I made with English and Spanish and right now i'm trying to learn 6k german words, intermediate grammer, watching youtube videos and listening podcasts to get the sense of the language. Now I think watching series isn't helpful for me, until B2 level. But when I started learning I made another mistakes too. I tried reading Herr der Diebe when I was just start learning+ tried speaking with native speakers when I knew too little German. Now that i'm concentrating on learning vocab and short sentences, I see i'm making progress much faster. I should try to count hours as you said. I like learning new methods and concepts on the way of learning anything. I always make new mistakes until there will be much less things to be corrected. Thanks for the videos and salud!^^

As always, very interesting. I‘ m not sure, if I agree on everything, e. g. I‘m not sure how to match audible with reading. I think I would get quite confused, if I try to listen and to read at the same time. But I agree on the problem of other language. I‘ m learning Spanish, but I tend to think of starting other languages like Japanese, Russian or Dutch. It‘ s kind of weird. I know how tough and long the language journey is in one language, but I alwyas picture myself speaking another. By the way: thx to you, I quite duolingo and make good use of the time won.

Came here to watch this video after watching 2h of a Swedish tv series and my brain felt like it had a mild aneurysm

I started at the beginning with English(I'm Italian) and I didn't remember literally anything of English Language from school, I didn't remember grammar, words and obviously I couldn't speak/reading/listening. So, I started with an italian-english book, and I finished it, then I started with another book of grammar, and another and so on. After having done a lot of grammar, I was still unable to speak fluently, and I looked for a teacher/professor online and I had been speaking, just speaking, for weeks. In the meantime I had started spanish too, which was easier than english(Italian and Spanish are quite similar) and with russian(which is the language that I am studying every day) I have took the DELE C1 in Spanish, but I do not have the same level in English I presume, though I listen every day to podcast/audiobooks in English. I have made a lot of mistakes, I chose professors who weren't really prepared or interested in my learning, I have tried to speak without a solid vocabulary, I thought I could handle several languages at the same time(months ago I was studying English, Spanish and Russian at the same time), but you know, I have never considered these things mistakes. I think that in language learning, experience makes a crucial difference. If you know how to start, which books you should pick up, if you are aware when you could speak and when you need just to study and listen Well, it's a huge difference between you and someone else, and you could develop this mindset throughout mistakes and the comparison between different languages. For example, while with English and Spanish it was easy to remember words(words in the long run make the difference between an educated person and someone who just speaks the language without criterion), with Russian it was nearly impossible remember words at the beginning, because of the different alphabet and letters that in Russian are pronounced in a totally different way. So I started writing as much as possible, in order to get confident with cirillic alphabet, but it took a very long time, 15 months at least. But, as I said, every mistake that you made will give you a new way of thinking if you pay attention, or in other words, if you really want to learn the language. As always, thank you for your videos, your channel and Luca Lampariello's channel are the best for language learning. Ps: sorry for my English, I haven't been writing for a long time :/

Mistake 3 about the morning is on point. Every time I delay language learning for the night, I find myself barely able to concentrate, or not in the mood to learn, so on, while every time I study in the morning I feel energised and excited.

One kids show that’s actually extremely helpful for a2 and b1 learners though is Peppa Pig! It’s on RU-vid in a billion different languages. The original British version is actually designed as educational content for little kids to learn to talk and you hear so many basic words and structures being used. Was my life savior for me when learning Cantonese and had no beginner material to listen to.

I'm about 3 months into what I call my polyglot journey. I attempted German in middle school and studied Spanish in high school, but I do not count those as I did not know anything about language acquisition. So far, I haven't noticed many major mistakes yet. I just more or less watch videos like these and tweet my study habits. Of course, the reason I haven't realized my mistakes is because I'm not at a high enough level. I just hope I do not come to regret the choices I am making now.

I love what you said about hours-based goals. I’ve really been trying to get my listening comprehension in Ukrainian up to a higher level, and going about it the traditional way, the one talked about in the language learning community, of having achievement-oriented goals just hasn’t been working. Working at it for a certain of number of hours will help a lot more, I think. Thanks for the advice!

I totally agree with all your points except the one about language partners. It depends. For me I try to look for someone who is a) an experienced language partner b)community tutor or teacher who wants to learn another language. I have found that these people are really happy to use resources they already have for lessons to teach you in exchange for the conversation but I guess it depends how well you get on... good video :)

Great list.. I have done at least 4 of them😂

Good video

The last line hahaha, I’m gonna use that!

You made me laugh when you mention Duolingo, you are absolutely right.

That point about doing it in the morning. That shit is damn true. It has been 2 weeks since I decided to Duolingo Russian during night and guess what, in 2 weeks I have not once practiced Russian on Duolingo.

7:15 I can't stop laughing at how calmly you said that, great video

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