📲 The app I use to learn languages: tinyurl.com/4nde62e9 🆓 My 10 FREE secrets to language learning: tinyurl.com/58e383vh ❓What is the key element in your language learning? Let me know in the comments!
6 elements of learning a language. 1. Do not focus on details, focus on patterns 2. Commit to intensity of input 3. Believe you can learn 4. Be flexible 5. Do not be rushed to speak 6. Stay curious
@@khier-eddinehennaoui9783 just try to learning comprehension like reading, watching movie or listen some conversation and if you have a chance to apply this point you just applying it as you can
@@AgusBusiness-xf4px Yes i did that when i was learning french in my childhood but it took years and only my comprehension was good. But if i do it now when learning german i may focus on learning more than the medium which will frustrating me, but i ll try!
How much better our world would be if we stayed curious about others, and found a way to make them less "foreign" to us. As always, great advice, Steve!
@@Tamake872she sounds like a globalist. Her ideals would only destroy the unique and intriguing qualities of people essentially making us "all the same".
I love your thoughts about learning languages just for learning about another culture, that's brilliant and relaxed my anxious about learning English, because I was told frequently that I should be good at speaking in English for several years, and that should be the final aim of learning English, while I just want to use it as a key for my trial in English books and great videos, to see how other people in this world to live, and find my way to achieve a peace and meaningful life.
I think my key elements are discipline and curiosity. Some days I have to force myself to start my daily lesson but after 1 minute or so I'm fully in. Even if I just watch a video in my target language I never skip my daily input. And I discovered when I switch between advanced and easy stuff it's more rewarding. Once a week or a month I look for a short video, article or text which is really above my current level. And then I work myself through this content, often with the help of Lingq. Sometimes I need 3 days to get through a text, but I stick to it. And when I finish, it's so so rewarding. And afterswards I treat myself with content at a lower level and I speed through it because it's a lot more easier now. Second reward 😅. And for friends of the italian language: The channel geopop italia here on youtube is awesome for this method and my current favorite ❤ (Sorry for the long text and errors. Very passionate non-native speaker.)
I love your honest approach to language learning. The fact that you have knowledge in 20 different languages some extremely well spoken and others are a work in progress is so refreshing! I love that you are so real in the fact that when it's not our native language there will be mistakes to some degree and that is OK and NORMAL the point is to communicate. That is a fantastic message for some people(me included). I'm not sure if there has been a bit of criticism but if that is the case, in my mind, they don't know what they are talking about and just looking to find something, someone to criticize! You are one of the few people I have found on the internet who is just so real about language learning, it's a fantastic message.
I love everything you mentioned, Steve. Many people forget that it's our habits - habits of thinking and habits of behaviour - that ultimately shape how fast we achieve our goals. I personally stopped striving to speak the languages I'm learning like a native speaker and focused more on the habits and beliefs of a successful learner who gets as close to speaking like a native speaker as humanly possible.
Japanese was the first foreign language I learned. I think what really helped me with that was really understanding the difference between transitive and intransitive verbs. It was never explained properly to me for ages, until I found someone and a text book that did. I finally could get the verbs sorted out and which ones to use when, and constructing Japanese sentences with the correct particles became so much easier!
@@fatiseei-tofi95 It was back in the 90s when I studied it. It was a book called Conversational Japanese and was an intermediate textbook. I will try and find it!
Steve for us you have achieved alot of success and you are a role model for us .I am also currently learning french and I like your method of learning ,reading and listening not classroom setup grammar
As someone who used to teach ESL in Temecula and lived in Murrieta, I am very happy you mentioned Temecula in your video! I finally signed up for LinQ because I intend to brush up on my Korean, and I am loving reading intermediate-level articles and listening to podcasts even if I don't comprehend everything. As someone who mastered Japanese in the 90s, I am very happy to see your Japanese-related videos!
Great video. I often tire out hearing bunk advice or people just repeating what Krashen has already said (which I agree with & maybe needs repetition to stick), so I found the positive attitudes & habits really helpful
You are so right about not rushing to speak! I had trouble convincing my teacher in Mexico that when I was ready I would speak, that she should not worry. Another way I would put it was, if I spoke Spanish I wouldn't be here learning it! Now I'm learning Hebrew and that's the way I feel about it - first learning to read and write and read and write and read and write… I don't have to speak it I'm in Canada!
I love your insights! I'm trying to learn Hebrew. It's daunting at times, but your first tip, "recognizing patterns" is encouraging. Toda Rabba. Thank you much!
being openminded in pronunciation really helps. Imitating the details of how english pronounce, like how the tongue, mouth, throat move and the tone, how words link together, different way of linking of the same phrases. It greatly improves my ability of listening as I know the correct way to pronounc a word.
Thanks for the great tips. Loving LingQ. I’d love to know more about what sort of patterns we are trying to recognise - if you were looking for future video content!
I agree with you that our brain is good at seeing patterns. I see that in my own study of languages, and I saw it when my daughter was young. She made certain grammar mistakes, which followed a pattern but, in actuality, do not exist in English. For example she used "had brung". Something she had never heard anyone in the family say, but it does fit the pattern for words such sing, wring, etc. Anyway, I enjoy your content. It seems very practical to me. 😊
Steve, thank you for this video, which has addressed many of my uncertainties. Lately, I have been learning Spanish as my third language. Throughout this period, I have felt stagnant in my progress. Despite studying daily, I have felt powerless in my lack of advancement. Your fourth and sixth recommendations have alleviated my anxiety, clarified my uncertainties, and rekindled my motivation to persist in my studies. Thank you.😁
This is another super-helpful video! The focus on patterns is a key point I will be using going forward. I also found the point on not putting too much emphasis on talking in the early stages quite revelatory. And certainly the intensity of content is crucial, something that most language learners probably underestimate the extent of which is required... certainly this language learner did! :)
I'm French, and studied French at school of course, and I totally understand you. It was in my private life that I learned the more : grammar lessons or conjugation is basic but not "alive", as datas we can't read/exploit. The "solo time" is more than important to embrace the weird structure (hello exceptions) of French 😂 For others languages, the hard part for me is to create a strong link between datas and experiences made in real life. Two tools. The goal is being able to use these tools with precision, I guess, still searching how it could be more effective Ps: I love the idea of "white heat", really ! Have a good journey with Hindi
Another great video. While I agree with you that speaking isn't important, I will say that it can be *exciting* to do so. It's showing oneself our own progress and that builds enthusiasm to do more.
I would say: don't focus on details AT AN EARLY STAGE. But as an adult you won't develop accuracy if you don't pay attention to details at some point. Adult brains function differently than child's. As for your six elements, three of them are not "doable". Be this, be that, be flexible, believe in yourself. You ARE curious. I am not so much. Still, there are things I can DO to improve my language.
Hello Steve, I am a US citizen. 18 years old. And have recently obtained a desiring skill to speak a different language,(Turkish),as where I come from most people are Mongolian, or just simply don’t care to expand horizon, I agree with you 100% learning new languages opens a lot of opportunities, and prospectives. I watch all of your videos, and I gradually take your advice into consideration, implementing it in my every day life, so I just want thank you very kindly For your personal tips and tricks, as most polyglot give misinformation. ❤ Ps: If language simp had you at 🔫 point at the beginning of the video it’s ok, you can tell us!
i couldn't agree more everything you said in this video was right learning a language is a dedication to the learning and you need some tools to learn fast memorizing words mastering the vocab and being fluent without forgetting the prononciation trying to speak with natives nowadays there are many plateform that can help people to practicing and enjoy the learning of a language
Instead of learning 30 minor languages to B1 or B2 proficiency (e.g., Hungarian, Tigrinya, and Quechua), focus on mastering a few major ones like French and Spanish, enabling you to effectively use them in any situation. This approach will benefit you much more. Personally, I "only" speak eight languages, but those are eight languages that I use daily and weekly when communicating with clients. I may also consider picking up Mandarin as well to attract more Chinese clients, as very few people in my profession here speak Mandarin, which would give me a competitive advantage, but I haven't decided yet.
B2 is quite a high level already. You could cover almost all daily situations with B2, and then supplement with technical vocabulary for whatever your specific needs are.
Thank you so much, i was loosing confidence on myself for not be capable of speaking properly but, with your advices i'm a little bit more calm an relax about my performance, i really love your videos and so am i'd like to be a polyglot person as you 🩷🩷🤝
Hello Steve Kauffman, I have been listening to you for a long period of time. I like your comprehensible English language as well as clarity of speaking. You are a much more devotee learner of many languages, now you want to learn Hindi. I am from India and speak Hindi very well. If you want to learn Hindi You can learn with me. I enjoy your videos and learn from them also. Thanks a lot.
Very informative and explains some certain important things why I learned other languages in some degree. Now I make an effort to learn Mandarin Chinese though development of patterns are so slow comparing to English learning process
I believe I learn languages better when I focus on the details, it makes me understand better what I am saying and why I need to say it that way and only after I understand the details I can then focus on patterns.
Portuguese-Speaker here. About your mentioned "illusory" efforts on mastering conjugations tables of languages, I have something to say: There are patterns even in conjugation, and when there is no pattern it is irregular. And as Noam Chomsky says, languages are innate to ourselves. For example: I searched for how to say innate in English and then typed it down. But I could have simply ignored my desire for searching it and had typed down "innanate" which would be different but still comprehensible for those whom know what innate means to begin with. By languages being innate to us, it means that through God Himself you will be able to form even the irregular conjugations if you are immersed enough, id est, if you have a good knowledge already on the verbs and the language you're learning overall.
I agree fully with your message (except Chomsky, whom I have not read), but you glossed over one thing. You need to a certain amount of details to access the pattern. How I handled that was to read a page, memorise the new words, and then read the next page. I read a real text, not a textbook, so I got real patterns. The speed with which I read each page showed I was continually improving, thus giving me daily motivation. The problem with a real text is that many words are used only once, wasting a certain amount of effort (no reinforcement means a loss of memory). And a textbook is usually a translation into that language that uses limited patterns or even wrong patterns. What students need are real patterns using the same vocabulary for reinforcement of both patterns and details. Good luck finding that.
Funny because I live next to Temecula. I just started learning Spanish for the past 3 months. Everyone is shocked saying I know a lot for 3 months but I feel like I'm not learning well enough. This video has helped me
Thank you for making this encouraging video! I'm so looking forward to hear of your progress in Hindi. Will you be adding Hindi to LingQ as you study it?
Could you consider offering a “lesson” sharing examples (many!) of patterns of a language. Would especially love thoughts on patterns to look for learning Spanish. Thank you.
I asked Chat GPT for some examples of conjunctions in Spanish with examples. This came up immediately. give me the most common 20 conjunctions of Spanish with 5 examples of each ChatGPT Sure, here are the 20 most common conjunctions in Spanish with 5 examples for each: y (and) Juan y María van al cine. Compré pan y leche en el supermercado. Estudié español y francés este semestre. Pedro es inteligente y amable. La comida estaba deliciosa y la compañía agradable. o (or) ¿Quieres té o café? Puedes elegir entre la pizza o la pasta. Mañana podemos ir al cine o al parque. ¿Prefieres el rojo o el azul? Tienes que decidir si vienes o te quedas en casa. pero (but) Me gusta bailar, pero no sé cómo. Quiero salir, pero estoy cansado. La comida estaba buena, pero el servicio fue lento. Hoy hace sol, pero mañana lloverá. Quiero ir contigo, pero no puedo. porque (because) No fui al trabajo porque estaba enfermo. No salgo de casa porque está lloviendo. No pude estudiar porque mi hermana tenía la música muy alta. No dormí bien porque el perro ladraba toda la noche. Me gusta el chocolate porque es dulce. sino (but rather) No es alto, sino bajo. No es inteligente, sino listo. No es un gato, sino un perro. No está en la cocina, sino en el jardín. No es rico, sino modesto. si (if) Si estudias, aprobarás el examen. Si tienes hambre, puedes comer algo. Si quieres, podemos ir al cine. Si llueve, lleva un paraguas. Si tienes tiempo, podemos hablar más tarde. aunque (although) Aunque hizo calor, salimos a caminar. Aunque tenía sueño, terminé el trabajo. Aunque no tenía dinero, compré el regalo. Aunque estudié mucho, no saqué una buena nota. Aunque no te guste, debes hacerlo. mientras (while) Mientras tú cocinas, yo limpiaré la casa. Mientras estudiaba, mi hermano veía la televisión. Mientras paseábamos, empezó a llover. Mientras dormías, llegó una carta para ti. Mientras vivas, aprende. como (as, like) Baila como un profesional. Come despacio, como hago yo. Se comporta como un niño. Se viste como si fuera al trabajo. Estudia mucho, como su hermana. pues (well, so) No puedes ir, pues no tienes dinero. No me llamaste, pues pensé que no querías hablar conmigo. Hace frío, pues ponte un abrigo. No me lo dijiste, pues no pude ayudarte. No llegué a tiempo, pues me perdí en el camino. también (also) A mí también me gusta el helado. Él también quiere ir al concierto. Quiero viajar también. También tienes que hacer tus deberes. También necesito tu ayuda. ni (neither, nor) No quiero café ni té. No vino ni cerveza están en la lista de compras. No hablé con Juan ni con María. No le gustan ni las películas ni los libros. Ni tú ni yo entendemos esto. que (that) Dijo que vendría a la fiesta. Sé que lo hice bien. Creo que esto es verdad. Espero que todo salga bien. No estoy seguro de que venga mañana. sino que (but rather) No es solo alto, sino que también es fuerte. No solo estudia, sino que también trabaja. No solo es inteligente, sino que también es divertido. No solo lee libros, sino que también escribe. No solo canta, sino que también baila. así que (so) Estaba cansado, así que me fui a dormir. Llueve mucho, así que mejor lleva un paraguas. Estás enfermo, así que debes ir al médico. Terminé el trabajo, así que ahora puedo relajarme. No tengo dinero, así que no puedo comprarlo. luego (then) Termina tus deberes y luego puedes salir. Desayuna y luego cepíllate los dientes. Primero estudia, luego podrás divertirte. Limpia tu habitación y luego vamos al parque. Haz tus tareas, luego juega. antes (before) Debes terminar tu comida antes de tomar el postre. Primero debes estudiar, antes de salir a jugar. Antes de hablar, piensa en lo que vas a decir. Llegué antes que tú. Debemos resolver este problema antes de que sea demasiado tarde. después (after) Come tu cena y después podrás ver la televisión. Estudia ahora y descansa después. Después de llover, saldremos a pasear. Hablaremos después de la reunión. Termina tu tarea y después podrás jugar. cuando (when) Cuando sea mayor, quiero viajar por el mundo. Cuando llegues a casa, llámame. Me gusta salir cuando hace buen tiempo. Cuando era niño, jugaba mucho. Cuando estudias, aprendes. donde (where) Vamos al parque donde jugamos ayer. No sé dónde dejé mis llaves. Busquemos una tienda donde podamos comprar ropa. ¿Sabes dónde está la estación de tren? Quiero vivir en una ciudad donde haya mucha naturaleza. These examples should help you understand how each conjunction is used in different contexts in Spanish sentences. Message ChatGPT… ChatGPT can make mistakes. Consider checking important information.
Focusing on patterns rather than details is a great principle. This is exactly the problem with many teachers who are native speakers: they they tend to teach exceptions rather than rules
Hi great content, thank you Steve because with this video I have more confidence that I can learn a new language, I know only 2 my mother language Spanish and English not that great but I get by with my heavy Spanish accent , I'm leaning bahasa indonesia and I have passion for the language terima kasih pak steve... I'm also a subscriber in lingq ❤
Krashen also says the same thing about speaking but I think you underrate it. Speaking basicslly shifts the process of learning from a passive to active one. It’s a form of testing your capability and memory retrieval in real time, both of which are vital components of learning anything. It also reinforces what you know and puts it into many different contexts. Without speaking, the learner will probably have a false sense of knowing more than they actually do.
I can say from experience that I learned English when I was 9 just by listening, I would watch hours of Friends, everyday until one day something clicked in my mind and I was fluent. I had never tried to speak before that day.
You mean pasive to active. 🙂 When you have a lot of input and you say sh333t like this, you usually hear yourself and stop talking sh333t, unlike Trump does. Steve is right, listen to Steve! Krashen copied Steve's method, not the other way around 😃.
You always your visions realistically, optimistically and with a certain portion of encourage how to learn languages. I can't agree more with you, Sir. The only one note... Some polyglots and instructors support the idea that attempt to speak, at least something primitive, should be started from the very beginning of this routine. We can agree to disagree. Thank you.
Hi Steve. Congratulations on passing 1M subscribers. I love your videos which greatly motivate me on my journey to learn French. I’ve been learning for a couple of months now and feel that I’m making goon progress by reading and listening but when I watch a French film or TV show I hardly understand a word. What can I do?
4:17 Wow that's incredibly motivated how you can see your " known words " in your Lingq Statistics. Hope you can show me the application being used in 4:17. Thank u so much
5:38 this is definitely true. I remember going to Mackinaw for the first time, I WAS YOUNG and it is a 4 and a half hour long car ride. it felt like an eternity. now I'm 23 and go there 2-4 TIMES a year so it feels quite short. a few times I was like "we're already here!? wow it feels like it's been an hour!"
the pattern thing is soooo much true. i speak Portuguese and i remember trying to teach my sister how to conjugate verbs in korean and i kept say that there was some sort of patterns in there, even though i just felt it, it was just my gut telling me so and thats why now im anke to conjugate pretty much every verb i come across
Oh yea i agree to some of the points especially to focus on the details so much but I disagree with duolingo unhelpful because it helped me so much with my korean
...and daring to take (social) risks. When you are a child, you are totally dependent on your closest social envirionment (a k a parents), and you can't socially "afford" to not take the risk of making a "fool" of yourself when learning your first language. When you are an adult, the social pressure and cost of making a fool of ourselves is (percieved) is even higher, since we have invested social capital in the groups and hierarchies we surround ourselves with. But since we don't "have to" learn a new language to survive, we don't dare to spend social capital from one venue to get social capital in an unknown group, which at the moment is unknown in height and width. So finding the right context of daring equals is really key.
Summary: 1. Focus on patterns not details. Immerse Yourself in things of interest and the accuracy will naturally improve. The ability of children to learn languages is not based on intelligence or linguistic ability, it's the ability to recognise patterns. How to become better? Stay curious and expose yourself to a variety of situations. The brain is not very good on remembering details but recognising patterns. 2. Commit to intensity of input. Massive listening and reading, and it requires intensity, which is very important. The problem of Duolingo is that it lacks meaningful content. 3. Believe you can learn. The first language is the Toughest so it's difficult to have that confidence. Celebrate your achievements because you have evidence you have learned something. There will be times when you forget things and feel that you don't make any progress. You have to continue. Don't feel upset and don't set yourself a speed goal. 4. Be flexible. Children have a high degree of plasticity in their brains. As adults - battle between plasticity and stability neurons = brain reluctant to change. Be open to get things wrong, to imitate new sounds etc. Being open-minded is a must when learning a new language. 5. Don't be in a rush to speak (especially in early stage). There's more to language learning than speaking. You don't have to speak in order to learn, or to be an extrovert to be successful. Don't be interested in showing off but in how language works. The main goal is to discover the culture. If you're learning multiple languages, don't always expect to speak them equally well. 6. Stay curious. About the language and culture. Do want to learn about different places, people in this world and how they think. This is much more important than perfection.
Chomsky, I think is not wrong completely. May be there is no universal grammar but verbs, nouns adjectives, pre post positions, adverbs, etc are universal. There is an instinct for communication with words, a kind of preprogrammation, samskar. That's why language reveal by itself and not that we make language, language is part of the univers. Everything comes from sounds, articulate sounds even thoughts, no words no thoughts, no knowledge....
I have a goal to meet with the European Framework for Greek to a B1 within 3 years. I need to learn to at least that level as a requirement for a life goal. I think it is a relatively easy goal to attain.
It all works very well when I'm on vacation and can really free myself for immersion into the language. But then the work begins where this language is not a part, and very different things consume my brainpower. Any advice for us, usual corporate material?
This is very informative and interesting. I wonder if any polyglot accepts Chomsky’s theories on language learning? I have the impression he decides how the world should be, then tries to fit the evidence to match. ,.I feel that the major problem an adult faces is that they make so many assumptions when learning a foreign language. Their own language acts as a barrier, and they often retain their mother tongue’s phonemes, timing, grammar and idioms. Children just seem to soak it up directly, and at some stage that ability to just listen disappears, and it becomes a skill that we have to relearn, or at least I did.
