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Thanks for this! Quick question, what do you think about learning two or more languages at the same time? Would it be better to focus on one or is it okay (or rather, did you find it was the case for you) to learn two or more at the same time?
Get comfortable with not knowing every single word and enjoy the process is my takeaway from this video. It’s how I pushed myself to get comfortable with English and French when I started.
Yeah the same with me and Russian. I speak it everyday with my friend and sometimes she speaks so quick that I miss a few words but I still understand what she’s saying.
That is the big question. It is not that they don't have enough time. It is that they are not sufficiently motivated. How to motivate them is the question.
I agree, I've been recently reading about a method devised by some American polyglot and he said that you got to be addicted to the way you learn, you got to like it, believe in it and stick to it. Of course you can experiment with different approaches, but you should continue with your method if it's working for you.
One of my favorite things about the language classes I took in school was that every week our teacher gave us homework of doing at least 30 minutes of whatever we wanted in or with the language and showing a few things we learned (which could be vocabulary or grammar rules or cultural facts or whatever). My absolute favorite homework I've ever had. I was excited to do it every week.
When you will reach that level when you deal with a language the same way you deal with a women at the very beginning, there your learning hour will be Like a having a date with a women you really love❤ and have all the time to spend with it. By the end its the pleasure you get when you listen,feel and express in a language with who you❤to be with. I had an experience the I spend 16hrs continue in learning something I love to learn ,then I said why I don't use that love with my love to languages , I enjoyed speaking from day one ,I even teach and learn (langue exange) to have more confidence while doing mistakes. I told her at our first date learning spanish:if you don't understand my Spanish it's your problem And if you don't understand my English it's my problem. From there we beggen.
Another thing that I don't think I heard mentioned in this video is the fact that--especially for beginners--if you are telling a student which way they should learn, and telling them "this is the best way, you need to use this method" the student may try the method and try very hard to stick with it, despite the fact that they don't like the method, and they may be turned off completely to the language! What's sad though is that they'd stop learning the language because they dislike the method of learning, not the language itself. Just something else to ponder.
this is so true. this happened to me with french. I hated the methods my teachers used and now I'm scared and kinda disgusted by starting the language again even though I find it beautiful. it sucks
I remember my 7th grade literacy class, my teacher would make everyone create flashcards for about 30ish words but I would often hear my classmates complain about wasting paper and energy making them solely because none of them were actually going to take use of the notecards and go through them. This isn't because the method was not effective(in fact, flashcards are one of the best ways to help you remember as you're practicing active recall). Some kids just don't pay attention or care about it tbh.
For those that say "but there is a proper way! you don't want someone to learn the wrong way!" I'd say, it's better for me to learn something slightly wrong but still enjoy the language and continue than QUIT because of some frustrating method that pains me to do.
Steve, enjoyed your ideas. In case you didn't know, enjoyment causes dopamine, and dopamine feeds dendritic growth (accelerates learning). That's the neurology of it, so I hear. Bruce Thomson in New Zealand.
I've been learning German for a long while now, and I've done this method, writing it down and coming back 2 weeks later, and I can say it works, it works very well
Do you think that it works because you already know (at least the basics of) German so it makes it easier to remember an expression that you've written? I am trying to learn German as well, but I know next to nothing so far so I have my suspicions that it would work.
xeonome just do it if you fail you’ll learn something, it’s better than doing nothing, and if you write those words down no problem you have learned something for sure you didn’t wasted your time but grammar is important too
Hello Mr. Kaufmann, I really enjoy your videos and I just signed up at LingQ. I am legally blind so language learning has been difficult but I am returning to my Spanish studies with a new motivation, mindset and understanding. Your methodology for learning languages makes a lot to sense to me. You are such an inspiration! Thank you for sharing your lifetime of experience.
You’re so inspirational! I speak 4 languages myself and am a translator but I’m still on a long language journey trying to learn more languages! This video really helps! Thank you!
Great Steve! It is as simple as this. It's really hard to convince learners of this, however, because they've been programmed to be dependant learners, always looking for answers from someone else. Self-awareness is key
How to speak english fluently 👇 1 - use shadowing technique 2- talk to yourself , record yourself 3- read aloud 4- speak 1 on 1 5- sing a song out loud Do these 7 days regularly and consistently.
all the steps you listed none of them I did like perhaps there's no certain way to learn languages it depends on how you experience them, after all, it's just about input and acquiring information.
And you are definitely right! I enjoy when I'm learning english! I watch talk shows, different scientific things, movie and I like it! If I don't understand some word, I just write it down and translate it,next time I'll know the meaning of it! So yeah! It's awesome! I Am russian by the way!)
+Max Luther for me I have just 2 months to master english and become a fluent speaker is really a challenge for me and a very difficult challenge cause I'm very busy and i have not just english to learn it i have a lot of other things and most important if u have any advise can u please share it with me (sorry for mistakes)
I can't believe yt recommended me this, it's been a year since I subscribed and all I did was nod my head while watching the whole time since I do relate with this. Thank you so much!
I like your voice and the way of saying,and explanation,so I’m listening to your channel every day for my English study. It’s very very useful! Thank you so much!!
Thank you Steve, this is a very good explanation about how enjoyment relates with memory. I started 3 months ago to learn Spanish, French and German using Pimsleur, Michel Thomas and Assimil in rotation. At the end I believe, language learning is all about "knowing yourself" in terms how your concentration,enjoyment and mnemonic techniques works best. And knowing oneself is just addictive! ;)
When i was learning english, i remember i had difficulties with 2 or 3 words...what I basically did, was to recreate a context of them in my brain...literally used my imagination to save them..and it worked.
Some times I felt confused about How to learn English. Lots of videos telling us to speak, said that's the best way to learn English fast. Today, so lucky to watch this video: whatever you enjoy doing with the language is the most effective way, and I'll keep my way to learn English. My aim is to be able to understand News and movies.
One thing I like to do that works especially well for me with declined languages (e.g., German, Polish), is to learn short phrases, usually of two or three words (prepositional phrases, noun/adjective phrases, adverb/verb phrases)...this helps with seeing the various declensions, and how they are involved in different situations without having to force-learn them, and also it provides context and reinforcement for the words. I liked your thoughts on learning languages. Probably different students prefer different things since different people learn things different ways...some people are auditory learners, some are visual learners, some are kinesthetic, etc.
I think having a passion for something, and truly enjoying it is when you learn and it passes by so quick. It breezes by, and soon you know so much, and all you know is wow you were having so much fun. That's why I strive to fall in love with things, not force myself to learn them(:
Steve, I've listened to a number of your videos over the years and what I remember most about them is your enthusiasm for learning languages. You have an open and effusive way about you and it's very expressive and very entertaining. I drop in when I need a good pep talk or a dose of inspiration. Today you introduced me to David James. I looked him up, listened to one vid and was blown away by his insight into the human mind and the relationship between short term and long term memory and the effect of interval training. The mind is a subject I have devoted much of my time over the last ten years to learning more about and I have to say he connected a couple of dots. I was taken by his hypothesis that we have no control over long term memory, and the reason he gave was that it's programmed in for our own safety, like maintaining heart beat or rate. There's a damn good reason. The mind can only do one thing at a time. It can't be trusted to control these biological functions. There's a built in governor in the brain I like to call our need to know which I believe separates our biological processes from our reasoning and emotions. We know enough to put a coat on when we are cold, but we know nothing about activating the immune system when we contract pneumonia. Why am I focused on ST and LT memory? It's more about an interest I have in the neuroplasticity of the brain, how it changes itself daily to accommodate our needs, or to improve or repair itself. Behavioral psychology addresses the Gestalt, that "other" which manifests in us as our reason for being. Our gestalt represents who we are as a person, the entirety of our individual biological systems taken together, which is quite different from our biological systems. We think of our brain and mind as one. Our brain and mind are separate and distinct in what they do. The brain and peripheral nervous system together goes about its business monitoring our individual organs and bodily functions and adjusting our temperature, blood pressure, hormonal balances, etc. to keep us in a near perfect state of equilibrium no matter what the environment is like outside our bodies. It is called homeostasis and It's a fine line to walk. According to the second law of thermodynamics perfect equilibrium equates to death so there is a dance it must do to keep us dynamically active. Conversely our gestalt manifests in who we are as a whole organism and what purposes and intentions we adopt through our consciousness, and given that, which of them motivates and moves us to take action. The mind can do things the brain would not, like make us sacrifice our life for what we would deem sound logical reasons, or not, for a belief, a cause. for love or hate or some other fleeting emotion. All the while the brain does everything it can to keep us alive. The brain is just being judicious when it takes its time choosing which memories we should keep permanently archived inside our heads.
What a refreshing video. I have drilled my way to high-intermediate fluency in Spanish. It worked because, well, I *like* drilling. Others would die of boredom. Now I want to go further. Wanting to supplement drilling with other methods, I am overwhelmed by the infinitude of pedagogies I'm finding online, I'm seized with the fear I'll choose the "wrong" one. Then I come across your video. So simple. Find a way that you love and do it. Sounds like a plan. Thanks!
I agree. I enjoyed Anki a lot, therefore, I was learning fast. However, it have been getting boring as I was learning less. So if we get bored doing something it won't work. In fact, I think every one should create their own method because you are free to change everything in order to make it fun.
When I started with Dutch, I grabbed an audio of the children's book Minoes and a PDF of the book in Dutch. I listened to the audio. I then translated one page of the book a day. By them time I was half way through the book (it's not long), I was able to understand 80% of the audio, almost 50% of dutch TV shows. No flash cards, no memorizing. It flawed me how I was learning it like magic. I only now found out about GOldList and realize I was doing a kind of version of it with my translating. AMazing.
Hi Steve, I have become a great Fan of you since I joined Lingq. I am a native german and i am learning french right now. Here is something that I have discovered with my ANKI deck: When a german phrase comes up, I write out the french phrase before I flip the card. That has proven to be extremly effective. It is kind of an alternative to the "golden list" concept. I believe the reasons why it is effective are: 1. your brain has to phrase the sentence correctly. 2. by writing it down, you activate a different portion of your brain because it now is a motoric action. 3. You commit yourself to your answer. I think there is a lot of self bias after flipping the card that you still got it right after all... 4. You have to think of all the accent aigues and grafs that you would otherwise just oversee by just looking at the translation. ANKI now takes me an hour instead of half an hour, but I feel that it is time well spent and it tremedously improves my writing skills in the target language. At the end of the day, it is precisely what I would have to do when I would try to write a letter in french. Keep enjoying your live ! kind regards from Germany! Klaus
Obdivuji vaše nadšení pro češtinu, protože je to jednoznačně hodně těžký jazyk. Ani mnozí rodilí mluvčí češtinu neovládají na 100%. Přeji hodně úspěchů.
I really appreciate your honesty. Learning a new language is a long, continuous journey and I found those claims from some to "hack" learning new language with a "secret method" for profits rather disappointing. I enjoy watching your videos as they come across as someone sharing the journey of learning with a honest, genuine heart, and not to try to sell something. I support LingQ as a user but appreciate that you also encourage us to use all other resources to learn languages!
I've seen a couple of your videos on here, and this is probably my favorite. You speak so much sense in your videos. I found this one especially helpful with my learning. I really hope in the future other likeminded people discover this video to help them along the way. 👍👍👍 Thanks for posting
10 years living in Czechia, studying daily, talking with people daily , but I am still waiting for my passive vocabulary to become active. People barely understand me, if at all.
Well, of course, you have to enjoy what you do to be effective and see results. I am a native French speaker, and I learned English in no time because I loved it. That's all I did all day. I couldn't sleep if I had a question I cold not figure out. That being said, plenty of language methods out there (including the most famous ones, but I don't want to name names: "Je ne veux pas citer de noms") teach you things that are irrelevant, obsolete if not plain wrong. I would also say they are very very incomplete. There re so many things they don't teach, including the most used idiomatic expressions...
I love Anki because it helps me so much with my french pronunciation. Every time I see myself using a word or phrase in English which I don’t know in French, I take a note and when I get home I make a flashcard from it to enjoy on the next day. I’m not a fan of vocabulary list or paper flashcards, however, Anki is my exception that I can have all cards together and use them anytime and anywhere I want.
Hi Steven. I love listening you. I'm learning English since September 2020. I'm following your advices for languague learning and it helps me a lot ❤❤❤ I'm very grateful for your content. Greetings from Buenos Aires
I wanted to find a native a French speaker for so long in my city and yesterday I finally did at a little French cafe that she owns in my city centre, when I started speaking French to her she was so shocked but happy that me, a British English native, was coming in using her language and not my own and then when I started speaking French to her; she her mouth dropped in surprise, and French, Steve - is how I've learnt it all with the process of listening and listening and listening, in my cas
@gutaraneko I don't find watching TV or listening to music to be efficient but some people may only do that, and would not do anything else. I think meaningful and comprehensible input is more enjoyable for most people.
You are very wise man,Steve....just recently discovered your videos adn veru glad about it... I enjoy reading in English, but when it comes to writing or speaking I am not so confident....also I would recommend another way to improve significantly your foreign language is to go and live for some time in the country which language you want to speak, it when all your comprehention skills start to activate and you are forced to speak, write and comunicante in this language....
I was relieved to watch this video. I’ve heard many cases that many person mastered thick word book, and a professor told that we must perfectly memorize how to write it. But to me, it was just too much! It wasn’t fun at all!!! I just read one word book and enjoyed to know how much I remembered, but I was not sure if my way of learning was okay. After checking this video, I felt relieved and I’ll continue my learning style! Thank you for your opinion!!!! It helped me a lot!
Hi! I'm a 14 year old girl who really wants to learn japanese, korean and spanish but I really didn't know where to start. This video cleared a few things out and made me a lot more motivated to learn. I've decided to start with Japanese since I've got some of the basics down and I'm very excited to see how far I can go. Thank you :)
my method is to always start with duolingo, as you get your feet wet when learning a new language. Complete a whole section of possible, then move on to pimsleur, babbel, or lingodeer.
I have always said that the most effective way to learn a language or something else is the interest students get on learning it. It does not matter the method or the good or bad teacher a person may have before him/her: if that person is interested in learning, he/she will learn for sure. I´m a teacher of English in Cuba. Thank you for your doucumentary
this kind of videos are great and enjoyable, you got my respect from Colombia, those ''gurus'' of english dont make so much sense here and im improving a lot with your advices, thank u a lot !!
This idea of fun thing is probably the single most important thing you talk about. It's so easy to grasp how important this is. It's very easy to become hypnotized by a few doubts that inhibit motivation. Fun is the one real way to change that. I wonder what it will take to banish laziness and doubt. I'm a lazy one. Thanks again Steve
after trying an anki (khatzumoto) approach and lingq ive found the difference is, lingq you will understand more from the beginning and retain more as you go and feel interested in the content from the get go, the SRS method is you are cramming any words you can "pick" and listening to comp. and incomp. input. You feel lost for longer at the start but are building words cos of anki. Eventually both methods eventually come to the same point in the long term as far as progress goes. My experience.
An important bit seems to be that we have an emotion that fires when we feel like something is going to be difficult to remember, and that emotion just obliterates the usefulness of our memory. I did experiments with a few people where I give one word and they repeat back the growing list, and about a word or two before the emotion strikes, their eyes start to move more. At this point, stop, shrink the list, and cover a different section which you can then add to the former. Amazes them!
That is so true Steve !!!! For me language through songs with coherent lyrics catchy melodies and rhythm have worked beautifully and best of all, I do really enjoy it !!
I agree. As an English teacher, it is vital to know your students - infuse technology and make it interactive. The rule I hear a lot is have the students speak 70% of the time (I push that to about 80%). Teach the language by incorporating games and fun - they will learn and stick with it longer (so many language students give up too early).
Highly agree. Tbh, what Steve really means is to do any super fun activity that you really, truly enjoy in your target language. So, you get to enjoy the benefits and the pleasures of the activity, whilst subconsciously being exposed to and passively absorbing the language you are learning.
Thank you for this :)) I recently have wanted to learn a few languages but didn't know how to start. I've started to grow a passion for learning foreign languages. I really appreciate this video
Thank you, Steve, i enjoy your English))), I have a same approach to learn languages, however I speak not so much languages French, German, English and just a little bit Japanese, native russian.Will be glad to practise with others polyglots))
What you say is so refreshing to hear. Jusr find what works for you. I hate the flashcards too. I have given up on spaced repetition. I know scientifically it should work but maybe a scientisct can explain why when I see words and phrases on a screen they never advance from my short term memory. It really knocks my confidence when I've got to the point when I can tick it off as learned after seemingly endless repetitions but a month or two later they're all gone and I realise they were still just in my short term memory. Again you're right to steer clear of the Gold list if it's going to bore you but I found that's the method that has helped me most for various different reasons I won't bore you with but with a language I knew quite well but wanted to take to a more advanced level. Anyway, I agree. Find what you enjoy and it'll work and you'll enjoy it more because it does work.
It's very interesting how you delve into time distribution and efficiency. It's definetly an additional time sink but i'll try the goldlist for sure. Thanks for your insight Steve
That’s so true. I used to look up each vocabulary that I didn’t know while reading English books but I get bored and frustrated pretty quickly. Later on I find out a better method which is to ignore the words that I do not know and make a reasonable guess. Most of the time the words that I did not know has little impact on my comprehension because I could guess its meaning right according to the context. Unless it is a word that is really important which if you do not look up, you will completely lose track, if in that case, I will look up in dictionary or else I just ignore them and continue reading.
I want to be your friend. Kaufmann. I am just a super normal Chinese student in Canada. I am trying to be a polyglot. You really motivated me a lot. Thank you for your video. Sincerely.
In my opinion, there are three most effective and fundemental activities to learn languages: Listening: use your cognitive ability (language processing) which everyone has to abstract and gather information. Speaking: in term of using language to communicate in order to wired everything up and turn information into unsconcious knowledge. Writing: use your creativity to use language in a superior way to achieve better performance, and also a good way to judge how good someone is at using a particular level of language. That's it. Hope this help
I have tried to do the gold list. And it is boring. but it is really effective. Because it is boring it is not the activity I have done the least. But whatever words I did with the gold list system I do remember. The big secret about the gold list is that if you remember after 16 to 20 days you know it. If you remember it after 5 days you don't really know it. If you are motivated, (say you have to speak to a beautiful russian girl) Then even the boring gold list will become enjoyable. Easy and enjoyable and doing what you like doing is good, but if you want to up the effort you might not enjoy doing all you do, equally.
@gutaraneko That appears to me to be a waste of time. Do they enjoy doing it? Would they do anything else? It seems if they are content to write words over and over they probably are not too interested in learning English. But I guess you have a point.
To endorse your view ... Scott Adams reminds us that willpower is a limited resource in humans. So trying to beat information into our brain is likely to be ineffective on two fronts: firstly, you're probably mentally resisting absorbing the material, and secondly, you'll only have limited firepower in any event.
Hand writing something you are learning is proven to aid in remembering the material. It involves additional aspects of your mind, learning and remembering to listening, reading and speaking. If I have to look up a few words while reading, I'm fine with that. Some people say the best way to learn is to just watch videos of 'comprehensible' content, but idk how it's comprehensible if you don't know any or most of the vocabulary. I think a mix of all methods is ideal, and in that find what you enjoy.
Always enjoy your videos. I know that I was an early reader, learning how to read before entering kindergarten. My intense enjoyment of reading equipped me with an natural sense of the music and style of speaking, writing and enjoying reading English. I want to strive to to do that with Spanish and also employ the Gold list method. I need to use Linck more. Thank you.
What an awesome video! I just started watching your videos today and it's been really helpful! I didn't know which technique to use and I've been watching videos for so many weeks. Finally, I've decided to spend my time on SRS and just have fun with it :'D
Hi Mr. Kaufmann! (saying Steve feels odd to me), stumbled across your channel while reviewing language learning software. I had decided to start working on my 4th language (dutch) for kicks so I could speak with my mom and improve pronunciation. Anyway I think you hit it on the head, you have to enjoy the learning process. For me, I found watching movies that I enjoyed in english, dubbed in italian for example, was a lot more benneficial than listening to italian movies. It worked for me because it was much clearer than actors on a live set shooting their lines. It also tended to be the standardized language verses regional dialect. Later on, italian movies became a synch because I built up to them. Anyway, looking forward to checking out your channel and hope you are doing well.
I always enjoy your videos and appreciate the useful learning tips and insights because I am quite limited by time due to my age in how much more I can learn. (I am impressed by your ability to speak extemporaneously but, after a radio personality mentioned that he was annoyed by the excessive use of “you know” in speech, I find myself counting how often a speaker uses this “filler phrase”. This interferes with the message conveyed, so either the listener must stop hearing it or the speaker could change his habit. I think that the former is the more reasonable approach.)
Thanks for the video :) ... I think the three days is right oddly. For the foreign languages I understand (because I almost never speak them and because I get sooo uptight speaking for fear of mistakes), for the first three days, it is as if I do not know the language at all. I will stumble over everything like I am a beginner (especially verbs). Then after about three days, everything settles and as if by magic, I am speaking.
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Ok, i will see it
Thanks for this!
Quick question, what do you think about learning two or more languages at the same time? Would it be better to focus on one or is it okay (or rather, did you find it was the case for you) to learn two or more at the same time?
we should respect someone who wants to teach something for free, so THANKS A LOT
Yeah, that's right so much value for free is a big present/gift. No truth :)
That's right 👍
KALE Anders just want your money
He does gain like 15 euros a month if you start using lingq though
@@julian-xy7gh really, then this is a very profitable business. :-)
Get comfortable with not knowing every single word and enjoy the process is my takeaway from this video. It’s how I pushed myself to get comfortable with English and French when I started.
So how many languages do you speak now?
Yeah the same with me and Russian. I speak it everyday with my friend and sometimes she speaks so quick that I miss a few words but I still understand what she’s saying.
great
That is the big question. It is not that they don't have enough time. It is that they are not sufficiently motivated. How to motivate them is the question.
E
I agree, I've been recently reading about a method devised by some American polyglot and he said that you got to be addicted to the way you learn, you got to like it, believe in it and stick to it. Of course you can experiment with different approaches, but you should continue with your method if it's working for you.
That is good advice. I have my own method that i use. I will eventually find better ways to learn by myself.
One of my favorite things about the language classes I took in school was that every week our teacher gave us homework of doing at least 30 minutes of whatever we wanted in or with the language and showing a few things we learned (which could be vocabulary or grammar rules or cultural facts or whatever). My absolute favorite homework I've ever had. I was excited to do it every week.
When you will reach that level when you deal with a language the same way you deal with a women at the very beginning, there your learning hour will be Like a having a date with a women you really love❤ and have all the time to spend with it.
By the end its the pleasure you get when you listen,feel and express in a language with who you❤to be with.
I had an experience the I spend 16hrs continue in learning something I love to learn ,then I said why I don't use that love with my love to languages , I enjoyed speaking from day one ,I even teach and learn (langue exange) to have more confidence while doing mistakes.
I told her at our first date learning spanish:if you don't understand my Spanish it's your problem
And if you don't understand my English it's my problem.
From there we beggen.
Now google tells me I am not allowed to comment on my own youtube channel. !!!!
haha...
Because you have to update your normal account for Google + :P
Funny , man.
No you totally are it's very common
Tell me what you want to comment and I will do for you. ✌️
Another thing that I don't think I heard mentioned in this video is the fact that--especially for beginners--if you are telling a student which way they should learn, and telling them "this is the best way, you need to use this method" the student may try the method and try very hard to stick with it, despite the fact that they don't like the method, and they may be turned off completely to the language! What's sad though is that they'd stop learning the language because they dislike the method of learning, not the language itself.
Just something else to ponder.
@wearealltubes totally agree!!! no pain no gain
this is so true. this happened to me with french. I hated the methods my teachers used and now I'm scared and kinda disgusted by starting the language again even though I find it beautiful. it sucks
@@mariategus5184 happened to me with dutch 😔
I remember my 7th grade literacy class, my teacher would make everyone create flashcards for about 30ish words but I would often hear my classmates complain about wasting paper and energy making them solely because none of them were actually going to take use of the notecards and go through them. This isn't because the method was not effective(in fact, flashcards are one of the best ways to help you remember as you're practicing active recall). Some kids just don't pay attention or care about it tbh.
For those that say "but there is a proper way! you don't want someone to learn the wrong way!"
I'd say, it's better for me to learn something slightly wrong but still enjoy the language and continue than QUIT because of some frustrating method that pains me to do.
Steve, enjoyed your ideas. In case you didn't know, enjoyment causes dopamine, and dopamine feeds dendritic growth (accelerates learning). That's the neurology of it, so I hear. Bruce Thomson in New Zealand.
That is cool.
I'm from NZ too :)
Ahau hoki. ;)
@@ADawoodKiwi and me
I've been learning German for a long while now, and I've done this method, writing it down and coming back 2 weeks later, and I can say it works, it works very well
Do you think that it works because you already know (at least the basics of) German so it makes it easier to remember an expression that you've written? I am trying to learn German as well, but I know next to nothing so far so I have my suspicions that it would work.
xeonome just do it if you fail you’ll learn something, it’s better than doing nothing, and if you write those words down no problem you have learned something for sure you didn’t wasted your time but grammar is important too
Hello Mr. Kaufmann, I really enjoy your videos and I just signed up at LingQ. I am legally blind so language learning has been difficult but I am returning to my Spanish studies with a new motivation, mindset and understanding. Your methodology for learning languages makes a lot to sense to me. You are such an inspiration! Thank you for sharing your lifetime of experience.
You’re so inspirational!
I speak 4 languages myself and am a translator but I’m still on a long language journey trying to learn more languages!
This video really helps! Thank you!
Great Steve! It is as simple as this. It's really hard to convince learners of this, however, because they've been programmed to be dependant learners, always looking for answers from someone else. Self-awareness is key
How to speak english fluently 👇
1 - use shadowing technique
2- talk to yourself , record yourself
3- read aloud
4- speak 1 on 1
5- sing a song out loud
Do these 7 days regularly and consistently.
but you don't know what the words mean?
all the steps you listed none of them I did like perhaps there's no certain way to learn languages it depends on how you experience them, after all, it's just about input and acquiring information.
how to do the shadowing tec?
@@johnchen3065 watch a video of someone speaking english and record yourself saying the same thing, try to make your pronunciation sound like them
@@buggy-boythank you.I will try .
And you are definitely right! I enjoy when I'm learning english! I watch talk shows, different scientific things, movie and I like it! If I don't understand some word, I just write it down and translate it,next time I'll know the meaning of it! So yeah! It's awesome! I Am russian by the way!)
+Max Luther for me I have just 2 months to master english and become a fluent speaker is really a challenge for me and a very difficult challenge cause I'm very busy and i have not just english to learn it i have a lot of other things and most important if u have any advise can u please share it with me (sorry for mistakes)
Talk shows are a great idea! Nice!
English is my 2nd language and planin russian for my 3rd because im fan of vladimir putin 😃
But Vladimir Putin was a Russian Spy
+Hendry Ramadhan Are you a fan of a Russian fashist?
"If you dig it, do it. If you really dig it, do it twice." - Jim Croce
I can't believe yt recommended me this, it's been a year since I subscribed and all I did was nod my head while watching the whole time since I do relate with this. Thank you so much!
I like your voice and the way of saying,and explanation,so I’m listening to your channel every day for my English study.
It’s very very useful!
Thank you so much!!
祝你学英语快乐！
Thank you Steve, this is a very good explanation about how enjoyment relates with memory. I started 3 months ago to learn Spanish, French and German using Pimsleur, Michel Thomas and Assimil in rotation. At the end I believe, language learning is all about "knowing yourself" in terms how your concentration,enjoyment and mnemonic techniques works best. And knowing oneself is just addictive! ;)
Such a nice point of view, exactly, I experience just that at my A1 German learning as a Turkish woman.
When i was learning english, i remember i had difficulties with 2 or 3 words...what I basically did, was to recreate a context of them in my brain...literally used my imagination to save them..and it worked.
I eventually realized what he says is the best way to learn languages. Thank you so much!
Some times I felt confused about How to learn English. Lots of videos telling us to speak, said that's the best way to learn English fast. Today, so lucky to watch this video: whatever you enjoy doing with the language is the most effective way, and I'll keep my way to learn English. My aim is to be able to understand News and movies.
I wasn't looking for this. But I am definitely glad I found it. Thanks.
One thing I like to do that works especially well for me with declined languages (e.g., German, Polish), is to learn short phrases, usually of two or three words (prepositional phrases, noun/adjective phrases, adverb/verb phrases)...this helps with seeing the various declensions, and how they are involved in different situations without having to force-learn them, and also it provides context and reinforcement for the words. I liked your thoughts on learning languages. Probably different students prefer different things since different people learn things different ways...some people are auditory learners, some are visual learners, some are kinesthetic, etc.
I think having a passion for something, and truly enjoying it is when you learn and it passes by so quick. It breezes by, and soon you know so much, and all you know is wow you were having so much fun. That's why I strive to fall in love with things, not force myself to learn them(:
well said :)
Hello Steve! I'm Henrique, I'm from Brazil.
I thank for your video, I'm learning English and Your method will help Me in this walk.
Steve, I've listened to a number of your videos over the years and what I remember most about them is your enthusiasm for learning languages. You have an open and effusive way about you and it's very expressive and very entertaining. I drop in when I need a good pep talk or a dose of inspiration.
Today you introduced me to David James. I looked him up, listened to one vid and was blown away by his insight into the human mind and the relationship between short term and long term memory and the effect of interval training. The mind is a subject I have devoted much of my time over the last ten years to learning more about and I have to say he connected a couple of dots. I was taken by his hypothesis that we have no control over long term memory, and the reason he gave was that it's programmed in for our own safety, like maintaining heart beat or rate. There's a damn good reason. The mind can only do one thing at a time. It can't be trusted to control these biological functions. There's a built in governor in the brain I like to call our need to know which I believe separates our biological processes from our reasoning and emotions. We know enough to put a coat on when we are cold, but we know nothing about activating the immune system when we contract pneumonia.
Why am I focused on ST and LT memory? It's more about an interest I have in the neuroplasticity of the brain, how it changes itself daily to accommodate our needs, or to improve or repair itself. Behavioral psychology addresses the Gestalt, that "other" which manifests in us as our reason for being. Our gestalt represents who we are as a person, the entirety of our individual biological systems taken together, which is quite different from our biological systems. We think of our brain and mind as one. Our brain and mind are separate and distinct in what they do. The brain and peripheral nervous system together goes about its business monitoring our individual organs and bodily functions and adjusting our temperature, blood pressure, hormonal balances, etc. to keep us in a near perfect state of equilibrium no matter what the environment is like outside our bodies. It is called homeostasis and It's a fine line to walk. According to the second law of thermodynamics perfect equilibrium equates to death so there is a dance it must do to keep us dynamically active.
Conversely our gestalt manifests in who we are as a whole organism and what purposes and intentions we adopt through our consciousness, and given that, which of them motivates and moves us to take action. The mind can do things the brain would not, like make us sacrifice our life for what we would deem sound logical reasons, or not, for a belief, a cause. for love or hate or some other fleeting emotion. All the while the brain does everything it can to keep us alive. The brain is just being judicious when it takes its time choosing which memories we should keep permanently archived inside our heads.
What a refreshing video. I have drilled my way to high-intermediate fluency in Spanish. It worked because, well, I *like* drilling. Others would die of boredom. Now I want to go further. Wanting to supplement drilling with other methods, I am overwhelmed by the infinitude of pedagogies I'm finding online, I'm seized with the fear I'll choose the "wrong" one. Then I come across your video. So simple. Find a way that you love and do it. Sounds like a plan. Thanks!
Yes, the most important criteria is the time available + do something you actually enjoy
I appreciate your open mindedness about learning methods. It is very different for different people what works best. If you enjoy it, do it!
Hi Steve!!! I am learning so much from your channel!!! Watching almost everyday!!! Thank you so much!!! You are such an inspiration!!! 🙏☺️
I agree. I enjoyed Anki a lot, therefore, I was learning fast. However, it have been getting boring as I was learning less. So if we get bored doing something it won't work. In fact, I think every one should create their own method because you are free to change everything in order to make it fun.
When I started with Dutch, I grabbed an audio of the children's book Minoes and a PDF of the book in Dutch. I listened to the audio. I then translated one page of the book a day. By them time I was half way through the book (it's not long), I was able to understand 80% of the audio, almost 50% of dutch TV shows. No flash cards, no memorizing. It flawed me how I was learning it like magic.
I only now found out about GOldList and realize I was doing a kind of version of it with my translating. AMazing.
Thank you for this RUclips channel, the content is very useful
Your channel is a treasure for langanguge learners✨ Thanks a lot!
Hi Steve,
I have become a great Fan of you since I joined Lingq. I am a native german and i am learning french right now. Here is something that I have discovered with my ANKI deck: When a german phrase comes up, I write out the french phrase before I flip the card. That has proven to be extremly effective. It is kind of an alternative to the "golden list" concept.
I believe the reasons why it is effective are:
1. your brain has to phrase the sentence correctly.
2. by writing it down, you activate a different portion of your brain because it now is a motoric action.
3. You commit yourself to your answer. I think there is a lot of self bias after flipping the card that you still got it right after all...
4. You have to think of all the accent aigues and grafs that you would otherwise just oversee by just looking at the translation.
ANKI now takes me an hour instead of half an hour, but I feel that it is time well spent and it tremedously improves my writing skills in the target language. At the end of the day, it is precisely what I would have to do when I would try to write a letter in french.
Keep enjoying your live !
kind regards from Germany!
Klaus
Obdivuji vaše nadšení pro češtinu, protože je to jednoznačně hodně těžký jazyk. Ani mnozí rodilí mluvčí češtinu neovládají na 100%. Přeji hodně úspěchů.
I really appreciate your honesty. Learning a new language is a long, continuous journey and I found those claims from some to "hack" learning new language with a "secret method" for profits rather disappointing. I enjoy watching your videos as they come across as someone sharing the journey of learning with a honest, genuine heart, and not to try to sell something. I support LingQ as a user but appreciate that you also encourage us to use all other resources to learn languages!
I've seen a couple of your videos on here, and this is probably my favorite. You speak so much sense in your videos. I found this one especially helpful with my learning. I really hope in the future other likeminded people discover this video to help them along the way. 👍👍👍
Thanks for posting
10 years living in Czechia, studying daily, talking with people daily , but I am still waiting for my passive vocabulary to become active. People barely understand me, if at all.
Well, of course, you have to enjoy what you do to be effective and see results. I am a native French speaker, and I learned English in no time because I loved it. That's all I did all day. I couldn't sleep if I had a question I cold not figure out. That being said, plenty of language methods out there (including the most famous ones, but I don't want to name names: "Je ne veux pas citer de noms") teach you things that are irrelevant, obsolete if not plain wrong. I would also say they are very very incomplete. There re so many things they don't teach, including the most used idiomatic expressions...
I love Anki because it helps me so much with my french pronunciation. Every time I see myself using a word or phrase in English which I don’t know in French, I take a note and when I get home I make a flashcard from it to enjoy on the next day. I’m not a fan of vocabulary list or paper flashcards, however, Anki is my exception that I can have all cards together and use them anytime and anywhere I want.
The best advise for any learner, thank you Mr Kaufmann
Hi Steven. I love listening you. I'm learning English since September 2020. I'm following your advices for languague learning and it helps me a lot ❤❤❤ I'm very grateful for your content. Greetings from Buenos Aires
I can help anyone who wants to learn Arabic
I wanted to find a native a French speaker for
so long in my city and yesterday I finally did at a little French cafe that she owns in my city centre, when I started speaking French to her she was so shocked but happy that me, a British English native, was coming in using her language and not my own and then when I started speaking French to her; she her mouth dropped in surprise, and French, Steve - is how I've learnt it all with the process of listening and listening and listening, in my cas
@gutaraneko I don't find watching TV or listening to music to be efficient but some people may only do that, and would not do anything else. I think meaningful and comprehensible input is more enjoyable for most people.
You are very wise man,Steve....just recently discovered your videos adn veru glad about it... I enjoy reading in English, but when it comes to writing or speaking I am not so confident....also I would recommend another way to improve significantly your foreign language is to go and live for some time in the country which language you want to speak, it when all your comprehention skills start to activate and you are forced to speak, write and comunicante in this language....
I was relieved to watch this video.
I’ve heard many cases that many person mastered thick word book, and a professor told that we must perfectly memorize how to write it.
But to me, it was just too much! It wasn’t fun at all!!!
I just read one word book and enjoyed to know how much I remembered, but I was not sure if my way of learning was okay.
After checking this video, I felt relieved and I’ll continue my learning style!
Thank you for your opinion!!!! It helped me a lot!
Loved it! Best answer ever for this question!
Hi! I'm a 14 year old girl who really wants to learn japanese, korean and spanish but I really didn't know where to start. This video cleared a few things out and made me a lot more motivated to learn. I've decided to start with Japanese since I've got some of the basics down and I'm very excited to see how far I can go. Thank you :)
Thank you 😊
I can help anyone who wants to learn Arabic
Yes I have improved. It’s a slow process but I can now listen to audios I didn’t understand anything from before. :)
my method is to always start with duolingo, as you get your feet wet when learning a new language. Complete a whole section of possible, then move on to pimsleur, babbel, or lingodeer.
@@OnlyTruth2023 can you teach me
I have always said that the most effective way to learn a language or something else is the interest students get on learning it. It does not matter the method or the good or bad teacher a person may have before him/her: if that person is interested in learning, he/she will learn for sure. I´m a teacher of English in Cuba. Thank you for your doucumentary
Mr Kaufmann, your method works well. Thank you
this kind of videos are great and enjoyable, you got my respect from Colombia, those ''gurus'' of english dont make so much sense here and im improving a lot with your advices, thank u a lot !!
Thank you Mr. Kaufmann. You are an awesome professor.
This idea of fun thing is probably the single most important thing you talk about. It's so easy to grasp how important this is. It's very easy to become hypnotized by a few doubts that inhibit motivation. Fun is the one real way to change that. I wonder what it will take to banish laziness and doubt. I'm a lazy one. Thanks again Steve
after trying an anki (khatzumoto) approach and lingq ive found the difference is, lingq you will understand more from the beginning and retain more as you go and feel interested in the content from the get go, the SRS method is you are cramming any words you can "pick" and listening to comp. and incomp. input. You feel lost for longer at the start but are building words cos of anki. Eventually both methods eventually come to the same point in the long term as far as progress goes. My experience.
An important bit seems to be that we have an emotion that fires when we feel like something is going to be difficult to remember, and that emotion just obliterates the usefulness of our memory. I did experiments with a few people where I give one word and they repeat back the growing list, and about a word or two before the emotion strikes, their eyes start to move more. At this point, stop, shrink the list, and cover a different section which you can then add to the former. Amazes them!
That is so true Steve !!!! For me language through songs with coherent lyrics catchy melodies and rhythm have worked beautifully and best of all, I do really enjoy it !!
GREAT! MANY THANKS. VERY INSPIRING AND MOTIVATING
You are a great thinker, fun is absolutely the essential
Glad you agree
your site is the best in analyzing the languge learning aspects
Great ideas! I am going to try the gold list and flash cards. Thanks for the great videos.
speaking of interesting content ... your videos are one good example for the type of content I like to listen to. I really enjoy watching them.
I agree. As an English teacher, it is vital to know your students - infuse technology and make it interactive. The rule I hear a lot is have the students speak 70% of the time (I push that to about 80%). Teach the language by incorporating games and fun - they will learn and stick with it longer (so many language students give up too early).
14 days! I forget a new word or phrase after 14 seconds! Might explain why it has taken me 20 years to become mostly fluent in Spanish!
I think it depend of what method you applied. You know there are some different tecnic to use... What was your?
Hi Steve, Excellent video I completely agree. I think the biggest hack in language learning is doing what you enjoy 😊
Thank you. This helped me reassess how I'm going about learning German.
Had to pause this video in the middle because I got too dang inspired to do some language learning!!
Highly agree. Tbh, what Steve really means is to do any super fun activity that you really, truly enjoy in your target language. So, you get to enjoy the benefits and the pleasures of the activity, whilst subconsciously being exposed to and passively absorbing the language you are learning.
Thank you for this :)) I recently have wanted to learn a few languages but didn't know how to start. I've started to grow a passion for learning foreign languages. I really appreciate this video
Very knowledgeable!!!
Keep it up
Thank you, Steve, i enjoy your English))), I have a same approach to learn languages, however I speak not so much languages French, German, English and just a little bit Japanese, native russian.Will be glad to practise with others polyglots))
What you say is so refreshing to hear. Jusr find what works for you. I hate the flashcards too. I have given up on spaced repetition. I know scientifically it should work but maybe a scientisct can explain why when I see words and phrases on a screen they never advance from my short term memory. It really knocks my confidence when I've got to the point when I can tick it off as learned after seemingly endless repetitions but a month or two later they're all gone and I realise they were still just in my short term memory. Again you're right to steer clear of the Gold list if it's going to bore you but I found that's the method that has helped me most for various different reasons I won't bore you with but with a language I knew quite well but wanted to take to a more advanced level. Anyway, I agree. Find what you enjoy and it'll work and you'll enjoy it more because it does work.
It's very interesting how you delve into time distribution and efficiency. It's definetly an additional time sink but i'll try the goldlist for sure. Thanks for your insight Steve
That’s so true. I used to look up each vocabulary that I didn’t know while reading English books but I get bored and frustrated pretty quickly. Later on I find out a better method which is to ignore the words that I do not know and make a reasonable guess. Most of the time the words that I did not know has little impact on my comprehension because I could guess its meaning right according to the context. Unless it is a word that is really important which if you do not look up, you will completely lose track, if in that case, I will look up in dictionary or else I just ignore them and continue reading.
Great video! I love the main idea: do what you enjoy. Thanks!
I want to be your friend. Kaufmann. I am just a super normal Chinese student in Canada. I am trying to be a polyglot. You really motivated me a lot. Thank you for your video. Sincerely.
4:01 Same in France 😂 most people just don't care and pretend to learn but then when we have tests, they don't remember a thing !
I'm here trying learn english, your videos are an expiration for me Steve, thank you, your content is wonderful.
Great point, Steve. I need to keep this in mind!
12
Thank you for sharing your insight to learning languages.
In my opinion, there are three most effective and fundemental activities to learn languages:
Listening: use your cognitive ability (language processing) which everyone has to abstract and gather information.
Speaking: in term of using language to communicate in order to wired everything up and turn information into unsconcious knowledge.
Writing: use your creativity to use language in a superior way to achieve better performance, and also a good way to judge how good someone is at using a particular level of language.
That's it. Hope this help
I have tried to do the gold list. And it is boring. but it is really effective. Because it is boring it is not the activity I have done the least. But whatever words I did with the gold list system I do remember. The big secret about the gold list is that if you remember after 16 to 20 days you know it. If you remember it after 5 days you don't really know it. If you are motivated, (say you have to speak to a beautiful russian girl) Then even the boring gold list will become enjoyable. Easy and enjoyable and doing what you like doing is good, but if you want to up the effort you might not enjoy doing all you do, equally.
I think you're gonna become one of my mentors in the path of learning English
Thank you very much Steve
I learned English by watching RUclips. I found it very helpful to watch videos of music with lyrics. It is a funny way to learn and very effective...
@gutaraneko That appears to me to be a waste of time. Do they enjoy doing it? Would they do anything else? It seems if they are content to write words over and over they probably are not too interested in learning English. But I guess you have a point.
Interesting stuff Steve! Has given me a lot of food for thought!
To endorse your view ... Scott Adams reminds us that willpower is a limited resource in humans. So trying to beat information into our brain is likely to be ineffective on two fronts: firstly, you're probably mentally resisting absorbing the material, and secondly, you'll only have limited firepower in any event.
Hand writing something you are learning is proven to aid in remembering the material. It involves additional aspects of your mind, learning and remembering to listening, reading and speaking. If I have to look up a few words while reading, I'm fine with that. Some people say the best way to learn is to just watch videos of 'comprehensible' content, but idk how it's comprehensible if you don't know any or most of the vocabulary. I think a mix of all methods is ideal, and in that find what you enjoy.
Always enjoy your videos. I know that I was an early reader, learning how to read before entering kindergarten. My intense enjoyment of reading equipped me with an natural sense of the music and style of speaking, writing and enjoying reading English. I want to strive to to do that with Spanish and also employ the Gold list method. I need to use Linck more. Thank you.
How to Improve Your reading
That is true , thanks for your recommendation 😊
What an awesome video! I just started watching your videos today and it's been really helpful!
I didn't know which technique to use and I've been watching videos for so many weeks. Finally, I've decided to spend my time on SRS and just have fun with it :'D
Hi Mr. Kaufmann! (saying Steve feels odd to me), stumbled across your channel while reviewing language learning software. I had decided to start working on my 4th language (dutch) for kicks so I could speak with my mom and improve pronunciation. Anyway I think you hit it on the head, you have to enjoy the learning process. For me, I found watching movies that I enjoyed in english, dubbed in italian for example, was a lot more benneficial than listening to italian movies. It worked for me because it was much clearer than actors on a live set shooting their lines. It also tended to be the standardized language verses regional dialect. Later on, italian movies became a synch because I built up to them. Anyway, looking forward to checking out your channel and hope you are doing well.
+kevin andrigo Hi Kevin, nice to hear from you and hope all is well. You should also give LingQ a try, we have Dutch there.
Thank you so much, this video is quite helpful.
I always enjoy your videos and appreciate the useful learning tips and insights because I am quite limited by time due to my age in how much more I can learn. (I am impressed by your ability to speak extemporaneously but, after a radio personality mentioned that he was annoyed by the excessive use of “you know” in speech, I find myself counting how often a speaker uses this “filler phrase”. This interferes with the message conveyed, so either the listener must stop hearing it or the speaker could change his habit. I think that the former is the more reasonable approach.)
gold. thank you mr kauffmann!
Спасибо за ваши видео! Это видео записано 11 лет назад, но актуально и сейчас. Спасибо за вдохновение!
Thanks for the video :) ... I think the three days is right oddly. For the foreign languages I understand (because I almost never speak them and because I get sooo uptight speaking for fear of mistakes), for the first three days, it is as if I do not know the language at all. I will stumble over everything like I am a beginner (especially verbs). Then after about three days, everything settles and as if by magic, I am speaking.
Nice! looking forward to the Luca interview.