How to learn any language easily | Matthew Youlden | TEDxClapham 

Shortcut #1 - Look for similarities to your language (help you recognize patterns & understand meaning) Shortcut #2 - Keep it simple Shortcut #3 - Keep it relevant to your situation and needs. Shortcut #4 - Use 30 minutes study time a day or smaller periods more regularly Shortcut #5 - Listen to Radio, Watch Movies with English subtitles Rule 1) Live the language, own the language Rule 2) Make plenty of mistakes Rule 3) Make it fun. Friendly competition is good

I was in hawaii 3 years ago on vacation. while shopping i noticed the lady working there was korean cuz she murmered korean under her breath after dropping something. so i just started speaking to her in korean, something i studied as a hobby. i explained i was buying a gift for my moms birthday, and i ended up getting 70% off the necklace. she just took the price down because i "spoke her native language and she enjoyed the chat with me"

“Look for similarities in your language” *Laughs in Cantonese*

This video had me constantly checking my volume settings

"The more languages you know, the more people you are". Brilliant

The more languages you know, the more people you are. 😅😢👏👏👏 Beautiful !

“Learn a language, and you’ll avoid a war.” ― Arab proverb

Im learning russian by hanging out with russians and listening to russian music. Only problem is, it's hard to remember things because of the amounts of alcohol we drink...

I'm brazilian,16 years old, and I just wanna say that speaking another language is the best experience ever, I've been studying english for almost 8 years, I make mistakes for sure, but they exist to tell me that I'm capable of turning it into a different way of learning, now I'm studying korean, it is much harder for sure, but I won't give up, no matter how long it could take.

Why is the audio so quiet?

"Don't be afraid to make mistakes." Seems to be a common theme in a lot of these language Ted Talks and other videos. Noted. 👍

I'd like to correct the Ukrainian saying he quoted in the end (I'm Ukrainian myself). The saying translates as: "The more language you know, the more human you are."

I did change my phone's language to spanish Now I don't read anything on my phone

I am Ukrainian and I was so surprised when he spoke Ukranian in the end. Huge respect! :) Greetings from Ukraine

I can speak English and French and I just started to learn Norwegian. Language is cool

"The more languages you know, the more people you are" I really agree with this quote, because language is a means of connecting to communicate. Therefore, the more languages know ​​will make it easier for living things to relate to fellow living beings in all corners of the world.

he speaks 20 languages half of them fluently, wow this is staggeringly amazing wow.

"Скільки мов ти знаешь - стільки разів ти людина" this quote standing in my college, in my classroom for learning English! And now it's so pleasure to hear it from him!

The last Ukrainian proverb would be literally translated as: "How many languages you know, that many times you are a human"😊 Thanks for an interesting motivational speech!

Watch at 1.5 speed, press your ear to the speaker. You're welcome

We all can be like him. Some people may have a better ear or be more talented than others, but as he said this is not about perfection, it is about communication. If you put passion and work into a language, soon enough you will learn it. I wish you a happy language learning! Je vous souhaite un apprentissage heureux des langues! ¡Os deseo un felíz aprendizaje de idiomas! 祝你语言学习快乐！ Eu desejo vocês um aprendizagem de línguas muito legal! Belleza! (I would write it also in Italian, but I'm not that confident yet, I have just started this week. If you see a mistake in any of these sentences, don't hesitate and tell me!) Why don't you also add more translations of this sentence, it would be really fun!

As a spanish teacher, I can't express how amazed I felt with this speech. I totally agree with every single word he said. And I can assure you that, after being able to understand many ways of learning languages, everything he said was truth. Enjoy learning a new language!

I think learning a new language is like a brilliant adventure that everyone can have in Life.

I am Japanese, and learning English process is sometimes hard and I feel frustrated as to why I cannot speak it smoothly after years of study😢 but this video reminds me of the joys of language learning! Sometimes I feel as if I could go to a different world just by studying English in my daily life😊

I did French at school. Quickly picked up Spanish before travelling to Europe, found that I could read about 90% of Danish newspapers after about three weeks. Third trip to Europe is being planned. Also was able to get a handle on Basque. All of this in my sixties.

I only speak English fluently now but I'm learning spanish and I want to become a polyglot

I'm currently learning spanish language, Thank you for the words, it motivates me a lot. ❤️

How to learn any language easily ? Step 1: stop viewing this video, instead, start studying languages.

I speak 4 languages and i'm learning german, i'm a bit affraid of it but i'm gona do my best, this guy is an inspiration for me, I want to be like him and that's why i'm gona do my best to learn german and a lot of languages !

Besides my mother tongue, I have a degree in English, am fluent in Spanish and am currently learning German. I can also understand Portugese and French. I love languages and I soooooo agree on making the mistakes. I tell it to my students all the time.

"The more languages you know, the more people you are." I like that 👍

Him: Languages are beautiful! Him earlier: *_D I E_*

This is a great talk! I dedicate my channel to talking about languages and language-learning and I love watching talks like this. I don't speak 20 languages but I can converse in four! I agree with what he said and this isn't the first time I've heard this. I've heard the same advice from other successful polyglots, so I can tell you that what he said works for a lot of people. More people need to see this

in Africa it's standard to speak more than one language.

I loved this. I'm learning Danish at the moment. I absolutely love the language. Just switched my phone to Danish. Hope I don't get lost with it

Well... it was interesting... I think that learning a language is not a ONE way thing and you need to learn a little of this and a little bit of that. I have been teaching for more than 20 years and I got some great results... but there is just a simple fact that people should understand... you need to learn some grammar and understand how the language is structured if you want to learn it. The vocabulary is just a question of being able to remember the words. Then after will also come the way to pronounce... and French is a challenging language! But if you put yourself into it... everything is possible!!!

The title is a bit of click bait. It is not about how to learn any language easily, but techniques to make learning more engaging and effective which is not the same thing. As someone involved in languages, I can say that individual aptitude varies greatly and highly influences how much one progresses. Most languages require a considerable commitment to get to an intermediate level of communication.

Wow, this is one of the best learn language explanations I ever heard. Thank you very much Sir, you show us the way.

ただいま50歳。今までの人生で日本語以外の言語（＝英語）習得できませんでした。この歳になりフランス語を習得したいと思っています。しかし成功体験ないので踏み出せない、自信がない‥ そんな時に「外国語を習得するとホテルの部屋がアップグレードされるかも」「自分に関係あるものだけを学ぶ（＝私の場合はグルメと買い物なので観光会話できればOK）」この２つの言葉で頑張ってみようと思えるようになりました。 あと、「助けてー」「道に迷いました」も習得しようと思います。

I really enjoyed this presentation. As a language teacher for more than 10 years, I have reflected many times on why I was so interested in learning the languages that I have learned, and how I could instill that interest into my students. This presentation contains many excellent ideas and points that all make complete sense. I would recommend this video to anyone who feels apprehensive about learning a new language.

Hey Matthew :) that's a pretty cool talk and inspiring. I'm actually on the way to learn my fourth language and I can say that it has been one of the most fulfilling things I have ever done in life. Will start following you guys on Social Media.

Thank you! Very insightful The 30 minutes to study each day is such a game changer!

Let's be honest... If you have motivation to really study everyday, you can learn a new language. It doesnt matter if it's fun or not, it depends on how dedicated you are. I believe that most people keep looking for magic in language learning, but this doesnt happen. If you can have fun, great! But you'll always need dedication!!!

This is a really fun and motivating talk. I noticed when I was watching a film tonight in Romanian and Russian how similar some of the words were to Spanish and English. I definitely resonated with what he said about finding the similarities. Bravo, Mr. Youlden.

I`m brazilian, i speak english fluently, and last monday, i started to study french!

This was encouraging. I am trying to learn a second language. It’s not been easy but I know I can do it!

I just love this presentation so much and it really hits every point right on the head. Im learning spanish currently and am doing everything that was recommended here. It helped reassure me that i am on the right path. I hope all are well on your ways in your respective language journeys!

I loved this so much I'm crying. "The more languages you know, the more people you are" was the best quote i've ever heard of.

Another tip, get a friend who is also a polyglot or aspires to be, and study with them. Learn a language together, or even get tips from each other on different languages, and eventually practice with them whenever you speak with them. Insteal of talking to someone foreign, you have a friend to study with nearby!

I like him; his voice is relaxing. He speaks without exaggerating his enunciation and pronunciation. I totally agree with Youlden's shortcuts to language learning and the golden rules.

I'm so glad I watched this video, my previous experience with a TED Talk was more of a product than educational and it's made me wary of clicking on the videos. I'm trying to learn Finnish and while some of these rules are great for languages that are more popular, it's hard to find the resources and media needed to gain experience in that language. I've put a Finnish option on my computer and I follow Finnish tags on social media (namely suomipaskaa lol)but as far as music and video, that's going to be a bit harder to run into. I appreciate the video and your time immensely, it's given me some things to mull over and think about while on my own polyglot adventure. Hyvää päivää!

Ironically, I need subtitles in order to know what he is saying.

The more languages you know, the more HUMAN you are.

Thank you a lot! Last phrase was unexpected, because I never saw phrases in TED about Ukrainian, and, because it’s my mother language, I was touched right in the heart ❤️ thanks for such inspired video 🙏🏻 with love from Ukrainian- з любов’ю від українців 🇺🇦

great and motivating!!! I am going to start with a new language this same week!

I am at pre-intermediate English level and I was wonder that I understood almost everything from this video. This is amazing. Also enjoed the sentence at the end in Ukrainian because I am from Ukraine ^_^ Thanks a lot, hope this video would help me and other to learn better and get such a great experience as I had

hey they're the guys from babel

Thanks for amazing time! Recently,I have started learning English again. So, This video was so useful! Thank you from Japan!

・楽しむ ・間違える ・日常に落とし込む、習慣化する

So motivational. Thanks for sharing! :)

I can speak fluently 4 languages and can't possibly learn anymore, and can't imagine how anyone can realistically claim to speak more than that. In my case it's a continuous challenge to keep all of them at a decent level. Our brain in this regard is like a muscle that needs regular intensive exercise to KEEP each language. It is also like a vessel with a limited capacity shared by languages you speak. Multilingual people would understand what I mean.

5:57 Weebs: Don't do that.... don't give me hope.

I moved to study in Turkey, I have been here for a month and the constant need to learn the language brought me to here (although I already speak 3 languages) He gave me the courage to learn harder, thank you TED

"make grammar fun" um, TELL US HOW lol

I am so happy to hear quote from my native language. I don’t even think that it can be possible. So proud for my language and Ukraine at all!

Language learning is brain improvement for me , if we know more languages it is mean more perspective we can look, go out to the routine of your life. it is mean also learn another culture and therefore realize your culture more. Thanks for nice videos.

Languajes are my pasión since i was a young Guy., definetly i want to keep improving my french and German and now with thé internet it's easier . Thé key Is practice every day great vídeo full motivation thanks.👏👏

The more languages you know the more people you are

I lived in United States, and I have this really cool Russian co-worker and we have been teaching eachother Russian and English.

¡Me encantó! Muy buenos consejos. Disfruté ver el video 😊

The way I remember vocabulary in a Hungarian, which I'm learning now, is to try and associate a situation or memory to that word - usually something to do with how or where I first learnt that word, so whenever I hear it I don't think of the English translation but rather that one specific memory related to it. It helps with listening as hearing a word then translating it into English takes to long and isn't effective due to how fast normal speech is, the listening part of a language has always been the part that I have struggled with but now I'm starting to break through and finally starting to think in Hungarian, I hope someone can find this method useful (I'm not the first to use it nor recommend it, and I actually got it from a comment on a TedTalk about learning languages).

I was impressed that he spoke Ukrainian! I didn't know people even learn it outside Ukraine.

When it comes to languages, some polyglots like Moses McCormick & Steve Kaufmann don't have perfect pronunciation in all the languages they speak. The main focus is to be able to speak and be understood by native speakers.

Great lesson. I love this. Thanks.

+ use small free periods of time to learn the language (about 30 min daily) eg in train, waiting, ... or in the Moring you could listen to radio in the targeted language + learn songs + videos/ Netflix with subtitle 1. life language: sing in it, dream in it, ... 2. Make mistakes: only way to learn it 3. make it fun eg about grammar (entertaining), try get others in it -> “ the more languages you know the more people you are “

Very insightful. I've been studying German on and off for about a year, and probably couldn't hold a basic conversation, and if I could then I wouldn't be understandable. My biggest problem is probably keeping things relevant. This really helped, let's see how I'm doing in a month or two!

Since i was a kid i have been speaking Turkish, Arabic, and English. I am now learning Italian, French, and Japanese! :D anything is possible yall

What a great video! Thank you for sharing this info! Thank you so much!

Excellent presentation! Thank you

I'm from India, and I want to tell you guys that it's almost impossible to find a person who knows only one language in India. That's the advantage of being born in a nation of a thousand languages.

i've already did this before and i speak now 6 languages Arabic-english-italian-spanish-french-chinese as i never start with alphabets just try to get words ,most important terms of of use and later try to make a sentences with these words,,listen to music even you don't understand but make yourself understanding try to get any word from the song or you can translate it to your native language until you can sing it and you know it's meaning and here it's very good step ,,also something very important is you must love that thing you are learning whatever it is and you will get it either a language or anyother lesson, without giving it a love you won't get it.

Great tips ! Very useful and helpful ! Thank you for sharing!

Oh, this feeling when you watching this video, because you try learning English language. Дякую лектору цього відео за досить цікаву подачу матеріала. Я вважаю, что людям потрібно зрозуміти, что будь-яка мова це не шкільний предмет. Язык - это прежде всего возможность взаимодействовать с окружающими тебя людьми. Да, я могу допускать кучу ошибок, которые будут смешны носителям интересующего меня языка, ну и что с того? Главное пытаться и учиться на своих ошибках)

This really inspired me. I'm a current monolinguest learning Russian,Swedish,Spanish and Portugese. Yes I do realise learning 4 languages at once is a challenge. But I have the freedom to learn it whenever and however I want. At school you're forced to learn a language which you might not be interested in and you go over useless stuff again and again. I have bought a specific notebook for each language and I study for at least 30min a day. It is very satisfying to see how many pages I have done. My motivation? the freedom of when you are fluent. I look at people who are bilingual and see them speak to others, it's amazing. Plus I just love being able to travel the world being able to speak to the locals.

I don't really have any of those problems he is talking about and I wasn't planning on watching this to the end... I just enjoyed his way of speaking so much :)

I'm a student. I have been leaning English for 3 years ago. I try my best with it. Thank you for this video

When he said "Aurélia" he truly sounded Portuguese, im impressed

I don't know it's just me who found the audio too low. But, this video has giving me a lot of tips for my knowledge about English!

É também com estas sacadas, que sigo aprendendo e aprendendo. Todas. 👀👏

I have been learning Turkish for about two weeks now! This is a very useful video thank you!

I was learning German maybe 8 years ago, could be 10. In order to learn words I used to write small notes with the words and put them everywhere (on the objects that they represent) now, 8 years later I picked up German again, and without using the language at all during all these years I still remember words and phrases. I guess I repeated them enough times so they could lodge into my long-term memory. When I picked it up again I was able to just recall the words without even trying to recall them (I didn't know they were still there, in my mind). They were just somewhere there in a shelf inside my brain. I was really surprised because I've heard that if you don't use the language you forget it. Keep in mind I learned it about a month 8-10 years ago. So, yeah, repetition in the thing with languages. As the guy said surround yourself with the language. I find learning a new language fun and I love it. It's never boring to me. Also while learning say out loud the words and phrases, speak, so you could use all your senses.

Entre muitas palestras e motivação, organização de pensamentos e o poder de tocar o coração, essa superou de uma forma magnífica e espetacular. Para motivar- me a continuar e fez eu entender , perceber, que também sou capaz de outro idioma aprender e não ficar presa num casulo de receios e medos de me aventurar. Pois o desconhecido quer me encontrar e eu almejo com ele estar.

Great video. But I didn't hear the speaker because the video is pretty quiet.

What an adorable accent, pure and comprehensive english. I wish everyone who’s first language is English spoke like that. That would’ve been great for us, english learners. Correct me please if I did mistakes :)

I've been followed babbel since 4 years ago that i started studying languages and i'm his fan number one!

i never understood why people strive for perfection learning another language then turn around, and butcher their own. doesnt even dawn on them nobody speaks any language perfectly, all the time.

I almost cried when I heard these words in Ukrainian. Thanks for learning our language❤

You're simply excellent and awesome Matthew!!!

Matthew Youlden!!! THANK YOU VERY MUCH! YOU INSPIRED ME!

Few people know about a pragmatic, efficient way to learn a new language. Those who do, advance in learning steadily and according to their schedule. While most people find themselves learning a new language as a necessity, many others do it because it is fun. It feels more sophisticated to know more than one language. It can be highly beneficial in your life over the long run. However, it is not an easy task to learn a new language no matter whether it is for fun or out of necessity. You've probably seen friends or acquaintances talk about wanting to learn a foreign language, then enthusiastically purchasing products, books, and maybe even enrolling into a course or program, only to ultimately see the reality of the fact that they have failed in their pursuit of learning another language. According to The Guardian, the ICM survey, which questioned 1,001 young people aged 14-24 from across the UK in June this year, paints a picture of a generation perhaps surprisingly open to the prospect of language learning, but often deeply lacking in the confidence of their ability to put their language studies into practice. The research had indicated that A-level languages are perceived as being harder than other subjects and their content is demotivating. Sitting down with a language textbook and trying to teach yourself a new language is not only boring, it takes an inordinate amount of time. It can take months to capture the basics of a particular language. Fluency comes far later. Often, we don’t have the luxury of spending months learning a language. For example, those people who are migrating or taking up a job abroad. However as an individual learner or with a tutor, the student can cut down the time it takes him/her to master the basics of a new language. There are methods that can be used to reduce the time it takes. Main Essentials of Learning a New Language - They distinguish three main essentials associated with learning a new language; namely the vocabulary, basic sentence elements / patterns, and grammar rules. Vocabulary - the most basic step towards learning a new language is to learn its words. Familiarity with the words will lead you to form sentences. Sentence Patterns and Elements - this has to do with how you ask and answer questions. Making coherent sentences is the way to make someone understand what you are saying. The ability will also help you understand what others are saying and how you might respond. Grammar Rules - Each language has certain rules that need to be followed. There is a special type of media developed for the first and second component - a bilingual graded book. Bilingual graded books are also called bilingual graded readers. They offer a parallel translation that allows the user to learn a new language in less time. With the translation on the same page, learners can effortlessly learn what any unfamiliar words mean. They can quickly pick up new vocabulary and phrases that are used over and over in texts of bilingual graded books. When they read a graded bilingual reader, they can pick up chunks of language and vocabulary that they can use in conversation and other real-world applications. It also significantly reduces the amount of time it takes to become conversational in a new language. As you read a bilingual reader, your brain begins to remember words and phrases simply because you are exposed to them several times. You don’t even realize, until you have to recall what you’ve learned, that you have already learned the new words and phrases. Listen to the audio tracks that should always accompany a bilingual graded book to learn how words are said and to improve your overall ability to speak the new language. A good idea is to use the free VLC media player to control the playing speed. You can control the playing speed by decreasing or increasing the speed value on the button of the VLC media player's interface. Decide what is better for you a paper book or an e-book. Many of the e-readers by Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo have dictionaries pre-loaded on their devices, with options to download additional ones, for free. If you do not have an e-reader, you do not have to buy one, because you can download it as a free app to your phone and use it right away. Writing your own notes, searching or making highlights is ridiculously simple with an e-reader or e-reading app. Anything you do with an e-book is also synced to the cloud, ensuring any change will follow you, no matter what device you are on. At first search on Google for "bilingual graded books" or "bilingual graded books for beginners". Choose and buy a book on a suitable topic, for example general, business, medical, culinary, dialogues, students, cooking, family, tourists, detective, short story or whatever you like. Read it for about twenty minutes a day. If you do it every day, you will be surprised how much you can learn in a month's time. Try to use the target language after you have learned for a month. If you don't have an opportunity to talk to native speakers at home or at work/study, use your target language in small talk on Skype or another online chat. Search on Google for "free online clean chat rooms" and pick up the one that suits your interests. Two or three minutes of small talk two or three times a week or more often will give you some motivation and encourage you to learn new questions and answers for new dialogues. Compile a list of questions and answers for your dialogues in a target language or find them on Google with keywords "Bilingual graded books dialogues" and try using them. Don't be afraid of making errors. They are your steps to success. You will spot and correct them sooner or later anyway. They will not be for the rest of your life. Better not to talk at all than to talk incorrectly? Wrong! Start talking as much as you can! Your language will improve every time you talk. A learner who knows only a hundred words and isn't shy of talking will progress more quickly than the one who knows a thousand words but remains silent because he or she is afraid of saying something wrong. It can usually take you from one to three months to finish a bilingual graded reader at beginner level (A1) and elementary level (A2). The amount of time depends on your previous experience with learning foreign languages and on your personal abilities. At this point you should be able to ask and answer simple questions with the following questioning words: What? Who? Where? When? Which? How many/much? As you improve and become more confident in your ability to use the new language, you can move on to the next reader level and continue your language-learning journey. After using a bilingual graded book for a week or two you are ready to study grammar rules, so buy a good grammar book. A grammar book will satisfy your curiosity about grammar rules awakened by the bilingual graded book. Read the grammar book to find out how you can use your target language more precisely. Follow this order - first read a reading book, then use a grammar book and exercises to make your learning experience uninterrupted. Language text with a parallel translation has helped many to uncover their potential for learning multiple languages. Whether you are learning a language as a hobby or for a necessary purpose, you will find such books are supportive. Using them is by far more pragmatic, efficient way to learn a new language than a "learn a language in two weeks" program. However you should frequently use the target language by using bilingual graded books with audio tracks, grammar books, chats, internet pages and even songs to maintain your motivation and progress. Remember - twenty minutes a day does the magic!