You guys should have done your homework. Steve Kaufmann is no more a linguist than a homeopathy is a medical doctor, he's a language enthusiast. Jessica Coon at McGill University is an actual linguist. Steve Kaufmann has no formal training in the field.
Hi Daniel surprising to realize that noise is a vibration . Noises are vibrations in different frequencies. It seems to me that the universe is all vibration. So much we don't know. Cheers!
1. Spend the time 2. Do you what you like to do 3. Learn to notice 4. Words over grammar 5. Be patient 6. Get the tools 7. Become an independent learner.
Spoilers ahead: 1. Spend time. 2. Do what you like. 3. Learn to notice. 4. Words over grammar. 5. Be Patient. 6. Get the tools. 7. Become an independent learner.
@@redacted5035 why no hack? All I did at school was: grammar, grammar, and grammar. I had no idea about the concept "words over grammar" and that learning a new language is something even remotely possible for normal people but once I heard about it and learned how to imply it, it became easy as fuck. So there is a hack in his speech
When I needed to learn English, I bought a book in English that I read few years earlier in my native language - I knew the basic plot, but didn’t remember too many details. I sat down with the book and a dictionary (this was before the internet) and started reading. First chapter took several weeks because I had to look up every word. But little by little I was reading faster and faster. It took about 7 months of daily reading to finish the book. But for the last chapter I needed to look up maybe only two words. I acquired about 80% of the vocabulary I use today from reading that first book. Of course, I couldn’t really speak the language because all I did was reading. But I understood spoken English from the radio. My brain somehow connected the sounds of spoken English to the visual/written form. So I could understand spoken language too. However, it would take maybe another year to learn how to speak the language.
M’y mom did the same for me when I was a little girl I asked her to bring me back mother goose nursery rhymes from Mexico, because I wanted to be able read in Spanish as I was already bilingual. It really helped me understand as I grew up!
I completely agree with his no. 4. words over grammar and 5. be patient points. Vocabulary is more important than grammar. We didn't learn grammar in our native languages, still most of the time when we speak, we speak grammatically correctly. I'll say first learn most common 5,000 words in your target language, then learning other words will be much easier. And be patient 'cause language learning takes time; so don't frustrate if you're not understanding everything at first.
Words over grammar is an interesting point because I always thought that grammar is definitely the more important aspect to learn first. That was how English was taught to me, was definitely a strong focus on understanding the grammar well. The vocabulary was learned alongside with the grammar from beginner to advanced levels. One thing I found with English learners is that if they don't get their grammar taught properly they can never learn at an advanced level (higher education study). They'll probably only be able to speak and listen well, which again is what most people aim for. But to truly master a language linguistically, the grammar must be learned properly.
@@yihaw149 I'm in the words over grammar camp. You can understand or be understood to a certain extent without using grammar, by simply using vocabulary, so I would argue that words are more important for a language. It wouldn't work as well, the other way around. This calls into question (for me, at least) the classification of English as Germanic, because most of our words are French or Latin-derived. As a native English speaker, I found French much easier to learn than German, which reinforces my arguement. I'm fluent in both. Of course we need both grammar and vocabulary to make a language more useful and precise.
I'm afraid that is only partially true. A lot of input and also some awareness of grammar are important if you learn languages with complex grammar. Of course, if you want to speak badly,, it doesn't matter.
I accidentally used this methode to learn english and got fluent. I just read an watched movies because my fav show wasn't translated to german yet. Didn't know this methode existed, but it worked really well for me.
@@User-jr7vf don’t bring someone down if it’s a new language that they weren’t born with because I find that very disrespectful- right now I’m learning Korean and it’s very difficult so if I got good at it and tried my best and someone told me something like that I would be sad so if you didn’t mean it in a rude way think about how you type things or say things before you say them ~
@@User-jr7vf there are native english speakers who don’t know the difference between they’re their and there, what is the point of rudely correcting someone whose first language isnt english because they got one word wrong?
Hello steve l'm from dominican republic and l'm 18 years old, l'm learning 4 languages for my own, sometime l feel tired, but everytime that l watch your useful videos l get motivated and keep moving on with my languages learning, you are a amazing human being, keep it up.
Hi Steve happy to find you. I am an Iranian doctor (pathologist)living in Iran. It’s been 20 years that I passively have learnt English and maybe I am in upper intermediate level. Thanks for your kindly advice in your interview with Lisa that I caught you. I knew there are hundred thousands Iranian living in Canada yet I am ready if I can help you learning farsi language. please do not hesitate to get help. I’ll follow your remedy learning English too
I'd like to point out one tip that helped me a lot when learning a new language, as soon as you know the basic turn your phone language to the one you are trying to learn. At first it can be overwhelming but as smartphones nowadays are so intuitive most of the things you do with it will come out inconscuously. It's a great way of getting continuously involved in the language and not only the time you sit down and study. Also is great to acknowledge a lot of vocabulary, also get your self a g-board keyboard of that language and look up in the internet using it. Another thing, don't base you learning on only your native language, for example. I am Spanish and i am learning Ukrainian, i usually search for gramar explanation on those 3 language as a lot of the phrases formations are more similar in English than in Spanish, some of them we don't even have it in Spanish (for example "already" (вже), in Spanish is "ya" which has a much more open meaning than the word in English) some other things must been learn in the language you are learning as there are not such things in your own. I hope this can help anyone!
Over emphasis in grammar is a death to a desire to learn a language. I "learned" english for 6 years before moving to US but all i got is "cat, dog, books" and small phases. The best way is to throw yourself in the country of origin. When you are force to be in a situation where you are frequently using the language, obviously, you gonna learn much faster since you will most likely going to hit all 7 tips that he suggested. I got the grammar part by realizing pattern in speech while having conversation with other more than grammars I learn in class. I love music, and that's how i learn. Catchy tones with rhyming words and repetitive phases are a great start.
The second best way if you cant go the country where your target language is spoken is to self immerse in the language. What i used to do with english and russian was(assuming learning english): 1. Change the language in every device you own to english. 2. read every article or book and watch every video/movie/tv show in english. You can support yourself with subtitles but once you find out that you can understand 99% of them just transition to watching without them. 3. Get efficient tools to quickly and painlessly look up words. For books you can use kindle. it has an amazing english-english dictionary built in. Install a chrome translate plugin. Then when you read an article you can just double click a word and get a translation. It will save you a lot of time and frustration. 4. In the beginning learn the most frequent words. If you like flashcards use anki, memrise or similar software. if you like reading read a book that you already read in your native language. I like reading Harry Potter. First book is written for much younger audience than the last one so it gets progressively harder and also it is translated to 50+ languages and there are a lot audiobook versions. After reading the first book you will know more words than most people who learn at school for a few years. Oh and its much more fun than reading boring textbooks. 5. if you want you can read a bit of grammar once in a while just so you will be able to notice stuff during reading.
One of my favourite videos on the channel! Recently I've come across the idea of vocabulary over grammar a lot, so definitely going to try and put it into practice
Practical Inspiration i did learn english on my own by learning mostly vocabulary and translating texts and a little grammar. Listened to mostly english music and movies and developed a sense of how a correct sentence would sound like! Voila! And now I’m learning French,,
I think you cannot really understand the grammar without the vocabulary and enough examples and context. And you can learn words without the grammar. I still think that grammar is kind of important but it makes way more sense once you already know the language:)
Thank you. I am currently (trying to) learn Thai. I live in Thailand so I have no excuses. Where I am is a corner where Laos is spoken and the older people speak only this. Everyone else speaks a patois of Thai/Laos and it is confusing. Thanks for the encouragement.
I've been stuck for years on learning German. After so much effort I've never felt to hve made any progress! Thanks to Steve Kaufmann I know what i did wrong. I focused only on grammar, totally neglecting vocabulary
I speak a few languages myself and the way I learned them is by memorizing the words phonetically ("translating" it to my mother tongue) while expanding the vocabulary, followed by getting the grammar right, then listening to the correct pronunciation by a native of that language....and repeating it many times.
After my learning of various Rubik's cubes, Jazz improvisation, English, programming, discrete math, juggling, freeskating, card throwing, whistling and many many other knowledges about improving learning(Researches on lifestyle, study methods, brains etc.) I conclude that this gentleman tells you not the secrets of learning any new language. He actually just tells you the AXIOMS of learning ANYTHING in 10 minutes!
8. Play. I find play as if you already speak it, with what little you know can help immensely. Strangely enough it may depend on culture. I'm fearless in my little Spanish, but never dared the same with Danish (which spoilt the fun of learning) or Italian (how are they more serious?).
The coolest feeling is definitely when ‘noise’ turns into meaning. There’s no better feeling than understanding a piece of text or a video that was completely incomprehensible 6 months ago.
Glad to get the confirmation about the importance of words over grammar. I have been against jumping straight to grammar as we did in Spanish and French class back in school. I've always thought that the best way to learn a language is the way a baby learns a language for the first time. They begin with learning words, being grammatically incorrect but as mentioned in the video, due to mass exposure of the language the correct grammar eventually basically solves itself.
I totally agree with Steve in all these tips ! And the feeling of aquaring a new language, a foreing language that is not ur native one is tremendous ! I highly encourage everybody to do it, u can do it buddy, if I could, you can =) everybody can do it
Not only does this seem like the most enjoyably way to learn a new language but it also seems like the way all of us have already learned our first language. We don’t learn our native language vocabulary by memorizing flash cards and most of us still couldn’t describe the rules of grammar in technical terms. We learn what sounds right over time through lots of input
amongst all the popular language learning channels on youtube, Steve Kaufmann's channel is probably the only realistic and genuine channel that would teach you how to learn a language properly. The rest are either advertising a product (most times their own product) or give you useless advice and methods for views.
This is the best info on language learning....or learning of any kind....that I've come across. Having realized late the truth that we learn what we need and like, I'm chagrinned to know I didn't connect this with just listening a lot and reading and speaking the extra language aloud, however imperfectly. THANK YOU!!!!! New adventure coming up!
I almost haven't ever learnt English in a class like people usually do. Instead, I've been reading a lot of webcomics in English and whatching RU-vid videos. But I did it everyday for years before I actually noticed that I think English. I could't speak, only think or text, because I hadn't had any chance to train pronunciation :"D But I still could say that I knew the language. I believe, we "know" a language to the point where we use it. If you don't need to use one, no matter how hard you try you won't make much progress. And on the other hand, if you only need language to communicate with people while playing games, then all you need to learn is terminology that you use in that game to say "I know this language" Btw I started communicating with foreign people because of my job, and after a few months it became something natural for me, or at least it's not painful anymore lol
In order to learn a new language people have to understand that english is not the 'normal' or 'default'.... More so, english is so basic that its simpleness may intervene with your leaning
My favorite too is music music music. If I can sing along, it helps me to pronounce the words. I just can’t do that when other people are around because I’m a terrible singer.
The other day I listened to a teacher who teach non-Chinese people mandarin saying that there are people who get confused about 二，and 两，and why we say 二十 instead of 两十，but why we say 两千 两万 instead of 二千 二万。that teacher was surprised to hear questions like this and so was I. Because to a native speaker we never really think consciously why we use that form but not the other and we don’t know the grammar rules for that too. It’s just how people normally say it. So the same applies to other languages as well. It’s better not to memorize the rules, it’s better to listen and read as much as possible and you will gradually grasp it and slip out naturally
I'm trying to learn Korean Language but I'm here to hack my brain.. 😂😂😂 Funny but it really works.. Thanks for this Sir.. I also subsribed on this channel cause I love listening to you.. Cheers!!
I agree. Finding something you enjoy is fundamental. Literature or videos really anything that uses a wide enough range of words and is something you enjoy from the sound of listening to it and so on. The process 🤔of learning it gets much easier 😊
I am not a native English speaker but I used to teach English to hundreds of students. The funny thing is that I only started to learn grammar when explaining it to my students. Up until that moment, I would only memorise words, and more importantly - entire sentences (which came easily because English has a nice rhythm). And I guess that grammar has somehow settled in my brain and I never really had to think about it too much. So yes, words over grammar!
Thank you for summarizing these points of learning. It's so true and with a little tweaking it applies to anything we are doing. Kids are cracking the kode for language so fast. The words and meaning first then the grammar :)
Thanks for the informative video :) Congratulations on being able to speak all those languages (at any level) :) I started with Russian, added German, English, French (gave up after 1.5y)... Overall I would recommend to anyone to learn at least English, as it gives you so much more content to "learn from" (YT etc.) Greetings from the Czech Republic ;) Jan
How do I choose a language. Do I like how it sounds? Do I like their food? (Because I may be invited to their celebrations). Do I like their Culture and Customs? Do I like the way the written language looks? Because I may be writing a lot of it. Do I like the countries climate and terrain? Does my partner like these things also because they will be indirectly and or directly exposed to all of these things above and if they don't like any of that then I created a problem for myself or I can just get rid of my current partner. Do I have a native speaker to practice with? If I can answer yes to those questions it will be easier and more enjoyable learning that language.
Can you give me some comments? I am Cambodian, I have learned English since I was young. I am studying Bachelor of English at university. By the way I want to learn other languages such as Thai and Korean. I want to ask you that Is it good or not to learn 2 or three languages in the same time? Or we should wait until one language is influent so I can learn other languages?????
Learning grammar is the biggest mistake I did when learning Japanese. I didnt learn words AT ALL (I did but I learned more grammar than words). So after awhile I gave up because I didnt understood anything, because the grammars that I thought I needed was apparently useless
Without doubt. But you have to ask yourself, you should? I learn French and English now, but my level in English is relatively good so I basically only expose myself to content to "study" (watch a ton of series). Otherwise, I started French by zero 1,5 month ago and I do some other things to study, because of my level. I do not think that is good you start two totally different languages (different TO YOU) at the same time, because it you consome a lot of your energy and time. Remember, sometimes is better master one rather than be nothing in two.
@HAMZA AMG the similarities between Japanese and Chinese are the same as the similarities that a dog and a chicken have between them, if you don't know of what are you speaking... don't do it, anyways I don't recommend to learn japanese and chinese at the same time 🤣🤣🤣
Learning grammar in order to learn a language is like learning how an engine works in order to learn how to drive a car. In both cases, its wasted time and effort.
Bro I'm Slovak and I'm very used to no-one even knowing where Slovakia is, but every once in a while I find out something like Steve's father was Czechoslovak. Like what. Why didn't I know this xD
Hello teacher Steve I would like tell you about my situation with the English. I need your help, but I don't know how can I contact you, few minutes ago I downloaded your app.
Hi Steve, I do understand English very well spoken like you with clear accent. But dnt understand at all of the stand up comedian or sarcastic comments. How should I overcome this problem of mine.
