This is true. My native language is spanish and I've had to learn english in school since I was like between 9 and 12 years old. My parents also made me attend some special cambridge english classes and take many exams for 8 years, more or less. Let me tell you, I HATED it! And I never became fluent, it was so hard. However, one day I decided I wanted to try to watch some english youtube videos (Pewdiepie's videos, since it was popular at the time, haha) and, even though I could barely understand what was being said, I enjoyed it. It was really fun and I learned so much more than what I was taugh in class! Watching someone play a videogame while commenting what they were seeing or how they were feeling helped my brain understand phrases and expressions like if it was my native language, so many things that have inaccurate translations or are non existent in spanish! In conclusion, I didn't learn to speak english, I learned to think in english :) (Even though I still make silly mistakes here and there, I can at least understand perfectly when someone speaks and communicate pretty well)
Similar situation, though I was doing good in school English. I was a teen when I stumbled across an American Let's Play channel. He used a lot of repeating catch phrases (mainly as an in joke about the tropes of the JRPGs he showcased, like a recurring "gee, I wonder what could be the deal with that slightly off colour cracked wall" rant), so I could get a lot of the jokes despite only understanding like 50% if the words. Over time, went from 50 to 99, began watching other English channels, and now I understand everything (IRL I'd be worse) and basically every channel I watch is English.
I did great in school English. But Pewdiepie caught my interest in watching English content and basically introduced me to the English part of RUclips. And this made my listening and vocabulary much better, because I used it every day, not only for class tests.
@@someoneirrelevant1518 that's great! So watching RUclips videos in my target language everyday can help improve my fluency? Are there any other things you did too?
@@angelstarfire I'd say it can help immensely, but shouldn't completely be a substitute for some boring rote memorization if you're still only beginning. Even as very small children we are taught very basic things through rote methods "this is an APPLE, this is a BANANA". Learning some initial words and some basic grammar is always helpful so you can at least know what should go where ( especially if this language isn't related to your native one ). But once you know enough I'd argue still doing this could begin to hinder your abilities since as we grow, we don't really use these methods and mostly gain our knowledge through the entertainment we consume Btw what is your target language?
People I know: How can I learn languages like kids do? Me: Be consistent, start from the basics, expose yourself to a lot of media in that language People I know: No, kids have magic brains I'll never get it, because I'm old
"Children's material repeats itself, then adds on to that, than repeats those two things, adds something and so on." So... this is why almost every country on earth can fill concert venues with people who can fluently shout, with basically perfect pronunciation: DU DU HAST DU HAST MICH DU HAST MICH DU HAST MICH GEFRAGT DU HAST MICH GEFRAGT DU HAST MICH GEFRAGT UND ICH HAB' NICHTS GESAGT
Also, Pimsleur teaches the last words first. Children remember and learn the last words they hear. Do you want some more milk? Milk. More milk. Some more milk. Want some more milk. I want some more milk. Pimsleur teaches: cano mericano. americano. Soy americano.
@@natsuki6190 8 yaşından beri internetten tükettiğim içeriklerin tamamı ingilizce. Tarih, felsefe, biyoloji, fizik konulu videolar izlemeyi deneyebilirsin. 17 yaşındayım bu arada. Ingilizce dışında dil öğreneceksen kaynak önerebilirim.
i'm sorry but when you said your wife told you your son wasn't even reading from harry mclearry and just randomly shouted out that paragraph i burst out laughing that was my favorite part of the video
Why would you be sorry about that? That story is a favourite among us, we think it's hilarious haha. Just in this video I didn't tell it in a funny way - but I have used it as a joke in a speech before.
This is really interesting. I never thought about it like this before. Just learning vocabulary not really caring if it is useful in the current moment or not. Simply just learning the language. I'm gonna start doing this. Thanks for the help!
Thanks. I had actually forgotten how much of my good advice was in this video; as you can see, it's technically (camera, sound, lights etc.) really poor compared to my newer videos, but yeah I do think there are some good points in here. Yeah, don't worry if you learn a bunch of "useless" words, there are no useless words as long as the words do exist in your target language!
Ha that is a good point. There are no useless words, just words. Even if they are only used in specific situations, like "transformation", it's still a word, and you are still learning, which is what really matters. Also, I don't worry too much about how it looks, what really matters to me is the lesson, and you sure got it across!
Also, I'm also the guy who commented on your Luca Lampariello video, I just changed my name. It means Boring Name in Japanese. I also just realized that I actually apply this concept, but I just don't realize it. Yesterday I simply took a small sentence someone said in an anime, which read "You guys didn't even necessarily disobey your superiors" Although "Superiors", and "disobey" might only be used in certain situations, I still learnt two new words I didn't know, and I learnt them in a context which applies to both.Being Disobeying your superiors. So I think my strategy is beginning to solidify and become something I can use and apply to be even more efficient in learning Japanese. And your videos have been a big help!
Days of French 'n' Swedish yeah I might learn German when I’m older cuz when I had to do Spanish at school, all we did was memorise random phrases that meant absolutely nothing to me and wasn’t really that useful and I found it incredibly boring so for a long time I assumed that language learning was just like that and there were no other methods, but there are other ways that are more fun and engaging! :D
Spongebob is a great show to learn languages. It's dubbed in many languages, and it's still entertaining as an adult. The first 4 seasons are the best.
I was actually thinking about this because Ive seen it as an adult and still cracked up! I’ll have to see where to watch it in Spanish (and French while I’m at it!)
I was able to roughly recreate the process when I was 18 by moving to my family's village in greece. I went from nothing to maybe a B2 level in 2.5 months. I did it not with vocab lists but by existing and doing all of my tasks exclusively in the new language (conversing at meals, family outings, playing with neighborhood kids, etc.). By acquiring almost all new vocab exclusively in context, I memorized it without an insane amount of effort. It was my life for an entire summer. Unfortunately, adults with jobs and kids don't have the luxury to set aside life for such a task, so I always encourage others to seek out immersion opportunities early on if they're serious about language learning.
I took a "2 months of holiday" by not learning French at all, after 1 year of French intensive class (25 hours/weekdays)... plus DELF B1 & B2 *sigh I still watch French films/series/youtube videos and see French memes everywhere, but I took a step back from "intense study". Because I don't want to feel overwhelmed, I want to enjoy French and use it unconsciously.
And repeat. Input is massively important but so is output. I know far too many adults that can listen and read but are terrified to speak from embarrassment, even if it's their parents' native tongue
THIS (SpaceViking's answer). This is why I am hesitant about input based approaches, because a lot of people will always be scared to speak. I spoke Swedish early and a LOT, as a result, I could probably address a room of people in Swedish and would only be slightly more nervous than I would be in English. I would screw up but I am almost as "comfortable" speaking Swedish as I am English, even though my Swedish sucks.
The language is already there. We just have to discover it, imitate it and assimilate it (internalize it). I always would try to learn phrases in context and apply them immediately. Instead of learning just the word December, for example, I would write phrases which are important to me. Christmas is on December 25th. I was born on April 17th. Everything in context. I would pay close attention to the sentences natives used and imitate the structure, accent and intonation. I always would write entire sentences so I'd also learn the grammar simultaneously. Children spend immense hours exposed to the language. They are also tested constantly in the language during many years of school. As a self-taught language learner, we have to be very pro-active and creative a learning environment.
Think about how many songs you heard as a child, over and over again, especially on TV in commercials. You did not understand all the words, but you can not help but retain them since they are saved in your subconscious mind. I am using songs in Norwegian to help me learn. It is fun, not boring.
It's cool to hear that my habits with music are actually pretty good for learning! I just thought it was good for combating my auditory processing issues (apparently it's an ADD/ADHD problem) which makes it hard to understand words at times. I've been listening to Japanese music for years but in the last three or so months since I picked up German I can hear a lot of words even if I don't know them.
We should compile a list of kids' books as resources for language learners hahahah. Thanks for the video, I'm embarking on my journey with my fourth language (German) and I have found this, great video.
Honestly compilations of books and other kinds of media for various languages at various levels of reading would be really helpful for learners Since it's never really easy to find stuff in other languages (even just finding decent media in your native language can be hard enough lol)
Idk how far you are now with your German, but as a native speaker I can recommend you Lustige Taschenbücher (Donald Duck/Micky Mouse comics), they use really fun German in them and you can understand a lot by context because it is a comic.
I been using tv and music to learn German i was able to pick up a few words here and their. But i'm gonna keep at it as it seems easier for me to learn a new language by listening to the language for about 2 hours a day.
Unironically recommend Rammstein. The repetitiveness of their well known simplistic songs will engrain itself into your head (e.g. every Rammstein fan on the planet can count to ten in German, whether they wanted to learn that or not), similar to a children's song, and a lot of other songs are much more complex. Unless you're sensitive about very uncomfortable subjects turning up in the lyrics, in which case, stay away. :D
I really recommend watching and listening to kids songs/rhymes in your target language if you're an absolute beginner. It's awesome for comprehensive input. Not only do they increase your vocab, but they give you a vague sense of the grammar in that language. Directly relating the words to pictures helps tremendously, instead of using your native language to connect to your target language. Like he said, they're repetitive and help us to comprehend better.
Adding on to acting like a child, a great tip that helps a lot is to watch kids’ shows in your target language. I watched Arthur in French when I was learning it and following along with the plots were effortless.
2:44 I couldn't agree more. I decided to learn French recently so I set all my devices to the language. I learned the days of the week and words like tomorrow solely through seeing when my assignments for school were due on Google Classroom. I hadn't looked at a single wordlist.
my best friend and I are starting to learn Dutch together I'm 15, and they're 16 gonna see how far we get with this kinda stuff, and learn all these tips to learn it quicker and easier! wish us luck!
This is one of your best videos Lamont, very good advice here. I need to quit wasting so much time on DuoLingo and start focusing more on books and video. I'm close (I think) to breaking through to a level in which I can finally start enjoying "real" content. You video on Bookmate was great as well...I think the hardest part of learning a language is getting over that initial hump and getting to a point where you can start consuming content that doesn't bore you to death. Maybe that would make a good RUclips video, "How to break through a language"....just a suggestion. Keep up the great work!
I'm a native Dutch speaker. I learned English from a young age in school but I was always at a higher level then they would teach in class. How did I do it? I have no idea. All I did was game in English and talk to English people in game and watch English RUclips. But how did I learn English from that? I truly don't know. Now I'm learning Korean. And I find myself learning on purpose. While with English I was never learning on purpose. So I think I should try to recreate what I did with English.
did you look up any english words you didnt know at first? or did you ignore those words and said to youself oh ill just learn them in school anyways!? sorry for the late questions
@@tracymorrison1785 no worries, I never waited for school no. It really depends, I'd either not look it up and eventually figure it out by the context of the entire sentence, or I would search the translation but I would often forget it anyway but I only started searching it online later in my journey. (I didn't have a phone nor a computer back in the day)
@@-seesaw-kpop4370 wow that’s brillant any other lanaguge you are learning? Or learnt? Edit: sorry I just realised your learning Korean ahaha have fun!!
I’ve been trying to understand movies in my target language, even tho Im able to understand fast podcasts to an extent of 95% , movies tend to be way harder, because of mumbling, therefore changing the frequency of the sounds, like matt says. The thing is, I always watch without subtitles, and when im not able to differentiate the sounds , i rewatch at least 3 times with maximum focus, and then i turn on the subs to see what i missed, then I turn it off and try to this time catch the sounds that I initially missed. Although its been working, I cant tell if the process of watching with substitles and searching for the sounds is helping, or just the fact that im increasing my active listening(if thats even doable haha!) just thought about sharing, love your enthusiasm about languages, its great! wish i had found this community earlier ;)
Im 15 and I watch Chinese children shows with my little sisters who are 3 and 4. Its like they repeat the words they like. It's entertaining to be honest
Watching my 5 kids' language development has always been my favorite. I love language, and watching them memorize things like this, and correct themselves is so fun. A couple of days ago, my 4 year old said to me that "If I say, 'I don't not want it,' that would mean I do want it!". I live seeing kids figure things out like that. :). My kids all love audiobooks, and my 9 year old has a bigger vocabulary than i do, because he uses English words all the time that he learned in context from some audiobook.
Totally agree with the children's books. Shortly after hitting the intermediate level in Russian I dove straight into the children's tales, not only because of their inherent potency for language learning but also they give so many insights into the culture. Aside from each story clearly extolling the traits they find important, there's an instant emotional connection when you bring them up in conversation as most of them have read these stories in their childhood too. Most of the time the vocabulary's also quite nuanced, to nurture imagination. I like to say I'm a child in the Russian language =)
Bit of a late add on but, a fantastic resource for russian is something called the dliflc glossary. Its a military language training course for like 45 languages including tussian and it has almost 200 russian assignments. Pretty good for covering a wide varof content
"don't remorize random words" M8 that depends on the goal, my goal for Vietnamese is to understand music and translate live, it's just about starting to come together If your goal is to speak to someone to work in the language I think days of the week, numbers and stuff related to the job would be best If it's just an interest go with what you're interested in
Hi... thank you it was very good 1- almost all thing kids do help them learning 2- stop memorizing words but books or songs or ...that you like and enjoy 3- it's very necessary to repeat them .... read that book over and over again and kid books is very good and full of words we may haven't heard before kids may don't understand the meaning and don't search for words that is useful for them they just learn all of that and it's not waste of time it may be useful for u one day [however when we use something we like so we don't think about waste of time i guess ] did i understand it well?
Thanks. I really like this approach. I've been keeping a journal in French using Google translate. I write the English sentence then copy the translation while I listen to it pronounced and repeat that. I write about the woodyard I manage so a lot of repeat phases come up each day. Some days there's new phases that come in when something out of the norm happens. I kept this up for three months each day and I noticed a lot of recognition of the spoken language when I listened to French programs. I do that quite a bit too, for example guitar lessons. Since I know guitar when I listen to a lesson in French the subject is familiar and though I don't understand everything I pick up on some of it. Thanks.
there are three main takeaways for me here. memorization permutations repeated watching/reading of insert media and with all these, they are things that matter to you, and things that you enjoy.
as native german i learned dutch in one month. and i know i learned it very well because i had to write scientific papers and communicate on a high level in dutch after this month. so its actually possible.
@@wolfzmusic9706 yes they are, when hearing and reading easy texts. speaking is a bit harder though. and if someone tells you to write a high quality text in dutch, you probably struggle. so the "theyre quite similar" only gives you some advantage, but not that much
As a developmental psychologist, and a learner of foreign languages, this is an interesting view that never occurred to me. (Although, I would add to you point, that most of what children do from birth helps their language learning - not just from 2 - as the non-verbal communication cues they get from others, helps them learn to respond, and adults talking to them, greatly helps their vocabulary later on).
Here's something I picked up, as an Australian you sound very different from most other English speakers, as a kid I watched a lot of American movies, shows, and other stuff, cause it was aired here. I soon picked up on the different ways they pronounced words and so in my everyday speech now I will sometimes say it in an American or even British accent, cause of the exposure I had to it as a kid.
4:27 "I read a book called, 10 Ways to Destroy Your Child's Imagination." I didn't stop laughing for about 5 minutes after hearing this part 😂😂 It just killed me 😂
This is so interesting. I started learning English around 17-18 and got my C2 certificate by age 22. Now I want to learn another language and I don't even remember how I did it the first time around lmao
omg same i am 15 years old and i started 'learning' english at 12 years old. i was watching minecraft videos but somehow i got so good that i have always been the best in my classes.
Great vid and great point about not worrying whether or not certain words are useful or not! The amount of time you spend worrying or strategizing on what to learn, could have just been spent learning it. Good channel Subbed.
I think you are wrong. Children learn lists of words in school as they are growing up, starting in the 1st grade. They learn the days of the week and months in a list.
as a 13 year old, i do a bunch of this stuff when learning icelandic, i always find the best way to learn a language is hearing and seeing as much of it as possible
You can combine grammar study with memorisation in context. If I'm studying a pattern like, say, possessive pronouns, I'll gather together some useful vocab I want to learn and make a story that works the pattern to death. It can either be an outrageous mnemonic story, or a useful "language island" that will come up regularly when I'm taking to natives. Then I learn it off by heart till I can recite it at conversational speed. It's very helpful to use the techniques actors have developed when they memorise lines. They don't use brute-force rote learning. Instead they follow the thread of the story - the logic and emotional development behind it - and they hook the words onto that. And they act it out, with emotion, gestures, and moving from spot to spot as the story dictates. Studies show that simply making the right movement can trigger their memory many years later. This form of multi-sensory learning helps create strong recall. And it's fun - beats massive flashcard decks any day of the week...
omg, i did the same thing as a kid!! i can’t remember what book it was, but my mom said i would “read” the same book, no matter what book i actually had. i’m still pretty good at picking up stuff that rhymes and memorizing from repetition, always have been. why have i not been listening to audiobooks on repeat in korean? what a revelation lol
Thanks for your comment, sorry for the slow reply! Yeah I should give this a better thumbnail because the video is, material wise, one of my better ones, but also one of my least viewed. Thank you!
On this moment, I'm learning the Russian language and every day I watch some Russian Miffy on RUclips. It's really fun. Especially when you recognize more and more words.
At 16 you can definitely become so fluent in one language that you'll be mistaken for a native speaker. Check refold.la and use that method! Good luck!
Thanks for this video, it really helped! I started to speak Russian when I was 3-4 years old, I learned them through cartoons. Like you said, I watched the same episodes many times. My third language is English, which I started to learn at school, but I really started to speak and understand after watching videos on RUclips. I'm now learning French and since you are as well, can you give me some advice?
My son would also like to know how kids learn languages so fast. We spent a whole year in Germany when he was six. He went to a German school. He learnt zero German.
Did he enjoy the experience? Did he interact with German people while there? I’m wondering if he absorbed a lot of information but simply didn’t practice speaking it.
@@RoaringMind No, he hated it, unfortunately. I think some children pick up languages quickly, but it depends on their personality. Many children are shy, and face similar hurdles to shy adults.I hope that in the future my son realises that he got something from the experience.
Eh. I was required, as a child, to memorize lists of things; vocabulary, poetry, geography, authors, grammar rules, etc, etc, etc. It vastly improved my abilities in these areas. It's imperative to do, both as a child and an adult language learner. It's just that adults have a choice and they are generally too lazy to do it.
years ago i started to watch german chanel for kids without knowing the language. i didnt study it also. then i stopped and forgot about it, but when one year ago i decided to learn german, got the motivation, i found out how easier it was for me than for all my friends whos learning german with me. i guess thats because i already had an experience of listening the language for a pretty long time and i understand it better intuitively. I also know some phrases and words i never learned, thats really cool thing.
Kids are amazing learners, but they begin at age 3 months. At that age their brain learns to distinguish between two categories: language and non-language sounds. If a child hears two languages, he will distinguish three categories and is becoming bilingual. Kids learn to understand spoken language long before they can speak, and long before reading or writing. Even though the processing power of the human brain peaks at age 14 years, the infant's ability to learn language will never be matched later.
I remember playing word games a lot as a young child, such as wordsearches and seeing how many words I could make using just the letters from one long word. I was read to a lot and also read books by myself. I have fond memories of 'Roger Red-Hat' and 'Jennifer Yellow-Hat' etc. Not to mention writing short stories. Once upon a time....
i just wanted to add more evidence that kids do learn faster in terms of language which is my sister and i. we're both born and raised in the ph but were exposed to a lot of english television and books which resulted in us learning english first before our mothertongue. i remember my mom and dad telling us their experience with my sister and i when we were kids saying that they could barely understand us when we spoke english to each other (cause at that time they could only understand bits of english) lol. gotta give prompts to our parents tho cause if it weren't for them buying all those english books and cd's, we wouldn't be able to speak fluent english. and ofc we learned filipino along the way cause we were then exposed to a public school (i was 6y/o and my sister was 8y/o) where most of our classmates spoke tagalog/bicol.
One thing that I realized is that children learn their languages because this is the only language they know, for them, there are no other languages, only their native one, and I guess that we struggle to learn a second language because we have our native language in the middle of the path blocking the new language to flow.
yea learning a second language is difficult because we gotta understand it in both our native language in our target language so it become frustrating since we gotta keep going back and forward translating each and every word
When I was around 6 or 7 I would watch Frozen over and over and over. I was obsessed and I still remember most of the lyrics to “let it go” after not seeing the movie in years lol. I’m saving my money to get a manga I like in German (the language I want to learn) and I plan on reading it over and over too
I pretty much always have octonauts playing in the background of my day to day life in spanish and if im bored ill watch encanto for the quabillionth time in spanish and you absolutly start to see the difference in your understanding
I learned 3 languages in school formally, reading, writing, and speaking. I learned 2 more at home because it's what my grandparents and my parents spoke. Now I'm trying to learn another language and I'm noticing that with the 2 languages I speak at home I learned them basically by just hearing my family speak it and them telling me how to say things for years and years and years. I wasn't taught grammar, I can't write or make a blog in those languages but I speak fine and native speakers understand me. I'm trying this approach in my 6th new target language and see where it gets me in 6 months. I'm also trying the gold list method for every phrase or sentence I would like to say in the target language. I just hope the translator is correct LOL.
Love this video. So true! My kid grew up bilingual and she makes mistakes and brings words from one language to another but in the end she gets it right. I don't really correct her, I just make sure that she hears the right word more often when I hear her make a mistake frequently. I'm not a native English speaker and my kid learned English in daycare from her New Zealandic teachers. I spoke with her occasionally out of fun as a baby. And they said, she was by far the kid who had the least issues with understanding them, sentence structure and pronunciation. We've lived 3 mo in Sweden now and she also does well with the language. Now that we don't have English daycare anymore, I will speak English with her. No, I don't give a crap about whether or not I'm perfect. I did my CIII test and I see languages like sewing. Sewing helps me to save money and do something cool everyday! Am I a master seamstress/fashion designer? Nope. But I'm still capable of making my own clothes and I don't give a rat's buttocks about the level a pro seamstress is at. And mostly, I don't need her permission to teach my kid some decent sewing. However, my problem is, I want to really level up my English and I'm at the point that I'm just not getting better. I can say everything I want in English, but I want to do it in a more sophisticated way. If you have any tips on that, I would love to hear about your approach.
I will probably do a video on exactly that in a few months because I am up to a similar-ish level in my Swedish. Your English would be better but my Swedish is also functional in every situation, it just sometimes sounds a bit dumb and a feels clumsy.
@@daysandwords Awesome! Thanks for answering. I just saw the one you did with Kaufmann, where you talked about audiobooks a lot (and I am thinking about that option too). However, I am a visual type and like to see a word. E.g. in English, I thought "WTF is an eterney (attorney), an f-a-david (affidavit) etc. while watching SUITS... I knew those were law termini, but not how to write them (and sometimes finding words by their sound can be really tricky). That problem I simply don't have when reading a blog, a book or an article. Everything is curated and 99% written in perfect English. I also found your example of that Irish(?) book interesting. About all the landscape terms. I was reading Ulysse in the original and also Catcher in The Rye, because both translations to German are softened down (less swearing and really odd language). But Ulysse was really the hardest read ever and I gave up (both in German and English). Any tips on hard and "old-ish" literature would also be sooo very much appreciated. I will follow your journey, as I study Swedish myself. I am not a "language RUclipsr", but maybe I'll share my progress too. Have you seen BRON? I loved the show. And also ÄKTA MÄNNISKOR? :)
To be fair, children under 6 actually do have far more synapses firing in their brain than adults do, which means that it's drastically easier for them to learn languages (look up the Critical Period Hypothesis if you're interested). Still, you give some great tips! Thanks for the video!
Hi - thanks for your comment. Yes but children have a lot of disadvantages, and overall, given the most similar conditions we can muster, adults learn languages faster. The critical period hypothesis has a lot of questions from successful language learners. It seems that what it proposes IS the case the majority of the time, but that minority of cases throws a lot of doubt on the idea that it is not just environmental.
Molly Taylor Ah yes, The Critical Period Hypothesis ! But how to explain people who were able to acquire a second tongue when they were adults. I know a Frenchman who started to learn English at 25 now not only his English is perfect but also his Yorkshire accent. You can't put him appart from a native. By the way if it was absolutely impossible to learn a second tongue why to spend so much money to form language teachers etc. There were a time when we believed that we had a certain amount of grey cells and unfortunately they started to disappear when we reached twenty years old. We know now it is wrong. We still develop grey cells and of course synapses. At least if we use our brain.
@@aquarius4953 I agree. Also there is Matt vs Japan, and also I've met Norwegians whom one could swear were from Sydney's western suburbs (i.e. crazy strong Australian accent). I believe the critical period hypothesis to be more like gravity: It would be significantly easier to fly without gravity but it CAN be done anyway.
@@aquarius4953 Hey! Your friend sounds incredible! I think you might have picked up on a slight misconception of the Critical Learning Period - I am 22 and currently learning Danish! I believe the part of the hypothesis to which you're referring is that, when introduced full concept of language for the first time after 6 years old (aka, one didn't have any concept of speaking/signing/writing/etc. in an actual language), it is essentially impossible to grasp grammar; and likely, that person will only be able to learn a limited amount of words. What I'm referring to is the idea of bilingualism becoming increasingly harder after that same time period. Naturally, we see bilingual people all around us who didn't start learning their second language until they were much older than 6. However, doing so becomes drastically harder as time goes on; in my case, I will likely never learn a perfect Danish accent, and my level of understanding with Danish grammar probably will never reach my level with English grammar. I'm guessing your French friend might have learned a bit of English or another language as a child, because any amount of other-language learning growing up really helps with grasping new languages as adults. If not, then he's a language genius, and I really wish I had his brain! 😁
There is a difference between children's brains and adult's brains. Children's brains, up until around the age of 5 or 6 are geared toward learning and memory. They're like sponges, they soak up everything. Adult's brains are geared towards honing. That is, to let go what isn't essential and to strengthen what is essential, like specialised language for careers. For adult learners to get the best results from both, do everything you said, but spend more time focusing on what is of particular interest. Still read the kid's books for fun. Still watch the movies for fun, and to develop a sound loundscape in the mind of the new language, but put the focused energy into a passion, baking, history, reading about stamp collecting, etc.
Everyone says they are like sponges, but if I buy a sponge and then leave it in dripping water for 10 hours a day for 5 years, it HAD FREAKING BETTER SOAK UP SOME WATER! I am not denying that kids do amazing things. But 90% of their "talent" for language learning is from the fact that a) they don't have a language already and b) they are exposed to their language for 8-12 hours a day. If I watched only Swedish TV and had Swedish "parents" for the next 2 years of my life (putting my Swedish study at a total of 5.5 years), then I'd be a heck of lot more fluent than any Swedish kid under 12. My point is that very little of what kids "do" or "have" cannot be replicated.
The ONLY language? That's interesting. Surely you could include at least all the languages which have completely foreign characters, such as Japanese? I used to believe that memorisation didn't make sense but now I am learning about 20-30 Swedish words a day through memorisation, so I think at some point it starts to make sense for any language (and by some point, I mean, trying to progress from inter. to advanced.)
@@daysandwords Thank you for your reply love your videos. I agree once you get into intermediate or advanced in languages memorization is next best thing to do. The reason Chinese really fits the route memorization from the start is that there are only a few contextual elements in the language. This is from the English -> Manadarin perspective. However, in a language like Korean I agree that starting out by memorizing the first 100 verbs should not be a goal because if you do that your making your job harder because in the wild the verb can look way different then it does in it's basic form (jesus I don't even think Korean has a basic form of verbs). That's the reason that this time I am starting by analysis sentence structures and reading basic text off first rather than memorizing from a verb sheet. As for Japanese I would think it's a bit of both the Korean and Chinese methods. I think it all depends on how creative you can be when formulating the langauge.
Osman Shamet I don't think so. Babies learn by chunks (blocks of words). To try to save a phrase word by word is not the best solution. In French words are linked . Nous avons deux enfants. You hear : Nouzavondezenfan as if it was one word. To learn nous/avons/deux/enfants will give you a robotic way of speaking. so start with short easy phrases . Nous avons > nouzavon vous avez> vouzavez Ils ont > ilzon un oiseau > unoiseau trois oiseaux > troizoiseau. laisse moi faire. laissemoifaire. Tu es capable > Tècap (ok this one isn't easy to catch but it is what a French kid will say to a mate instead of : Tuècapable. Tu n'es pas capable > Tèpacap (same that above) Je ne sais pas> jen'saipas>jesaipa>chaipa. So yes chunks . Listen a lot of authentic French material . Easy audio books, tales in French any things make by French for French.
Aquarius same for spanish, so ive come to notice. You will hear a phrase usually as a bunch of clumped words, but if u break it down into chunks, then put those chunks together, it helps tremendously. My major problemwith learning spanish is that it sounds like phrases are one long word. It helped me break down things easily when i learned chunks then applied said chunks to other chunks to form a sentence.
john gossett Yes for us (French) it's the same in English. Words are linked. in English>inenglish Put an apple on the table>putanaplonthetable. Or even I am> I(y)am. So natural to add a sound y between I and am. Apparently a two month old can make the difference between the sound (t) at the beginning of table and the sound (t) at the end of bat.
@@johng6080 I'm learning Spanish. What methods are you using to learn. I'm doing Spanish in university (it's been for 2 sems, 1 academic year) and this vacation I want to concentrate on immersion/input instead of all the grammar stuff we learnt in school. I've kinda put that aside for now till the next sem
I have a pretty perfectionistic personality, sometimes bordering on obsessive thought-patterns, so my languages are always improving, because I hate making mistakes and usually remember them and subsequently correct them in my mind as they happen. I live in Denmark and my partner is Danish, but my native language is Faroese, so I speak Danish pretty much all of the time. He usually corrects any mistakes I make in pronunciation, but my grammar skills are above that of most native Danes, simply because I really focus a lot on using "proper" Danish. I think my English is pretty close to a native level as well, if I may say so myself... lol :P What really helped me with my English was actually playing World of Warcraft in my teen years. xD
My problem isn't pride - my favourite book series is CHERUB (check them out for French) which is aimed at 8-12 year olds, but it's that repetition is boring and the mind drifts.
3:20 I feel like if I was memorising lists of months as a child it would've been more useful, Because I legit don't think I actually knew the order of the months of the year until I was like 15 or something.
Kids' books can be great, but they often have some strange quirks, often they go for something that will sound magical to a child, but doesn't necessarily make any sense to an adult. Comics can be a good source of input, they generally have fairly consistent logic, even if that logic is a little fantastical, I played the video game XIII when I was young, and found out it was based on Belgian, French-language comics (which straight up stole the plot of the Bourne Identity, but that's another matter lol), and they're actually a decent read, the plot is developed enough that it will keep you interested but it's not too challenging to read, and it's a LOT less intimidating for beginners when the text is broken up across the page instead of opening a book to a wall of text
I’m here because I’m learning Korean before I move to Korea in a few months and absolutely nothing is sticking. So I’m looking for a new method. Might have Train to Busan on repeat for the next few weeks lol
Yep, AKATT. (All Korean all the time.) When you're in the shower, when you're in the car or on trasnport, Korean podcasts and videos in your ears. Flood your brain with Korean and give it no other choice but to start comprehending.
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
the key to be fluent in a language is to have curiosity
Yes, that's a big part of it.
Passion and obsession.
💯
right!!
this about sums it up, yeah
"2-16 year olds"
Me a 15 year old: time to learn as much as I can
i'm 17 so my days are over:(
We both have a lot to learn :P
relatable
*is 16*
@@agatworose4534 I am 58. I am just beginning.
This is true. My native language is spanish and I've had to learn english in school since I was like between 9 and 12 years old. My parents also made me attend some special cambridge english classes and take many exams for 8 years, more or less. Let me tell you, I HATED it! And I never became fluent, it was so hard. However, one day I decided I wanted to try to watch some english youtube videos (Pewdiepie's videos, since it was popular at the time, haha) and, even though I could barely understand what was being said, I enjoyed it. It was really fun and I learned so much more than what I was taugh in class! Watching someone play a videogame while commenting what they were seeing or how they were feeling helped my brain understand phrases and expressions like if it was my native language, so many things that have inaccurate translations or are non existent in spanish! In conclusion, I didn't learn to speak english, I learned to think in english :) (Even though I still make silly mistakes here and there, I can at least understand perfectly when someone speaks and communicate pretty well)
Hey there - thanks for watching and for your comment!
Similar situation, though I was doing good in school English.
I was a teen when I stumbled across an American Let's Play channel. He used a lot of repeating catch phrases (mainly as an in joke about the tropes of the JRPGs he showcased, like a recurring "gee, I wonder what could be the deal with that slightly off colour cracked wall" rant), so I could get a lot of the jokes despite only understanding like 50% if the words.
Over time, went from 50 to 99, began watching other English channels, and now I understand everything (IRL I'd be worse) and basically every channel I watch is English.
I did great in school English. But Pewdiepie caught my interest in watching English content and basically introduced me to the English part of RUclips.
And this made my listening and vocabulary much better, because I used it every day, not only for class tests.
@@someoneirrelevant1518 that's great! So watching RUclips videos in my target language everyday can help improve my fluency? Are there any other things you did too?
@@angelstarfire I'd say it can help immensely, but shouldn't completely be a substitute for some boring rote memorization if you're still only beginning. Even as very small children we are taught very basic things through rote methods "this is an APPLE, this is a BANANA". Learning some initial words and some basic grammar is always helpful so you can at least know what should go where ( especially if this language isn't related to your native one ). But once you know enough I'd argue still doing this could begin to hinder your abilities since as we grow, we don't really use these methods and mostly gain our knowledge through the entertainment we consume
Btw what is your target language?
People I know: How can I learn languages like kids do?
Me: Be consistent, start from the basics, expose yourself to a lot of media in that language
People I know: No, kids have magic brains I'll never get it, because I'm old
EXACTLY. And a lot of people have come here to basically say that. They're like "BUT SCIENCE!" and I'm like "BUT EXCUSES!"
"Children's material repeats itself, then adds on to that, than repeats those two things, adds something and so on."
So... this is why almost every country on earth can fill concert venues with people who can fluently shout, with basically perfect pronunciation:
DU
DU HAST
DU HAST MICH
DU HAST MICH
DU HAST MICH GEFRAGT
DU HAST MICH GEFRAGT
DU HAST MICH GEFRAGT
UND ICH HAB' NICHTS GESAGT
Haha love Rammstein, cool point
I finally understand this!
You have asked me, and I have said nothing.
Also, Pimsleur teaches the last words first. Children remember and learn the last words they hear.
Do you want some more milk?
Milk.
More milk.
Some more milk.
Want some more milk.
I want some more milk.
Pimsleur teaches:
cano
mericano.
americano.
Soy americano.
What is this language O-O is a tongue twister to me XD
@@Vee_Vee662 German
I learned English by watching 3000+ hours of content but damn it was worth it.
Knk seviyen nedir skjxksjc
@@natsuki6190 c1-c2 sanırım
@@66yozgattandrkebap48 vay be ben de geliştirmeye çalışıyorum önerin var mı ve yaşın kaç merak ettim
@@natsuki6190 8 yaşından beri internetten tükettiğim içeriklerin tamamı ingilizce. Tarih, felsefe, biyoloji, fizik konulu videolar izlemeyi deneyebilirsin. 17 yaşındayım bu arada. Ingilizce dışında dil öğreneceksen kaynak önerebilirim.
@@66yozgattandrkebap48 öner valla çok iyi olur 1 haftadır falan günde yaklaşık 5 saat falan çalışıyorum
i'm sorry but when you said your wife told you your son wasn't even reading from harry mclearry and just randomly shouted out that paragraph i burst out laughing that was my favorite part of the video
Why would you be sorry about that? That story is a favourite among us, we think it's hilarious haha. Just in this video I didn't tell it in a funny way - but I have used it as a joke in a speech before.
The key to be fluent in a given language is to love someone who speaks that language.
this hits hard
Thanks for your advice, I’ve already lost interest in that person because their language is so damn difficult
@@arandomuserl6353 oof
@@arandomuserl6353 LMAO
I need a norwegian girl then
This is really interesting. I never thought about it like this before. Just learning vocabulary not really caring if it is useful in the current moment or not. Simply just learning the language. I'm gonna start doing this. Thanks for the help!
Thanks. I had actually forgotten how much of my good advice was in this video; as you can see, it's technically (camera, sound, lights etc.) really poor compared to my newer videos, but yeah I do think there are some good points in here.
Yeah, don't worry if you learn a bunch of "useless" words, there are no useless words as long as the words do exist in your target language!
Ha that is a good point. There are no useless words, just words. Even if they are only used in specific situations, like "transformation", it's still a word, and you are still learning, which is what really matters. Also, I don't worry too much about how it looks, what really matters to me is the lesson, and you sure got it across!
Also, I'm also the guy who commented on your Luca Lampariello video, I just changed my name. It means Boring Name in Japanese. I also just realized that I actually apply this concept, but I just don't realize it. Yesterday I simply took a small sentence someone said in an anime, which read "You guys didn't even necessarily disobey your superiors" Although "Superiors", and "disobey" might only be used in certain situations, I still learnt two new words I didn't know, and I learnt them in a context which applies to both.Being Disobeying your superiors. So I think my strategy is beginning to solidify and become something I can use and apply to be even more efficient in learning Japanese. And your videos have been a big help!
Days of French 'n' Swedish yeah I might learn German when I’m older cuz when I had to do Spanish at school, all we did was memorise random phrases that meant absolutely nothing to me and wasn’t really that useful and I found it incredibly boring so for a long time I assumed that language learning was just like that and there were no other methods, but there are other ways that are more fun and engaging! :D
Spongebob is a great show to learn languages. It's dubbed in many languages, and it's still entertaining as an adult. The first 4 seasons are the best.
Where can u watch spongebob on
I was actually thinking about this because Ive seen it as an adult and still cracked up! I’ll have to see where to watch it in Spanish (and French while I’m at it!)
I was able to roughly recreate the process when I was 18 by moving to my family's village in greece.
I went from nothing to maybe a B2 level in 2.5 months. I did it not with vocab lists but by existing and doing all of my tasks exclusively in the new language (conversing at meals, family outings, playing with neighborhood kids, etc.). By acquiring almost all new vocab exclusively in context, I memorized it without an insane amount of effort. It was my life for an entire summer. Unfortunately, adults with jobs and kids don't have the luxury to set aside life for such a task, so I always encourage others to seek out immersion opportunities early on if they're serious about language learning.
I took a "2 months of holiday" by not learning French at all, after 1 year of French intensive class (25 hours/weekdays)... plus DELF B1 & B2 *sigh
I still watch French films/series/youtube videos and see French memes everywhere, but I took a step back from "intense study".
Because I don't want to feel overwhelmed, I want to enjoy French and use it unconsciously.
So from my understanding I just read and absorb and watch the language as much as I can and I can learn a lot just from that
And repeat. Input is massively important but so is output. I know far too many adults that can listen and read but are terrified to speak from embarrassment, even if it's their parents' native tongue
THIS (SpaceViking's answer). This is why I am hesitant about input based approaches, because a lot of people will always be scared to speak. I spoke Swedish early and a LOT, as a result, I could probably address a room of people in Swedish and would only be slightly more nervous than I would be in English. I would screw up but I am almost as "comfortable" speaking Swedish as I am English, even though my Swedish sucks.
The language is already there. We just have to discover it, imitate it and assimilate it (internalize it). I always would try to learn phrases in context and apply them immediately. Instead of learning just the word December, for example, I would write phrases which are important to me. Christmas is on December 25th. I was born on April 17th. Everything in context. I would pay close attention to the sentences natives used and imitate the structure, accent and intonation. I always would write entire sentences so I'd also learn the grammar simultaneously. Children spend immense hours exposed to the language. They are also tested constantly in the language during many years of school. As a self-taught language learner, we have to be very pro-active and creative a learning environment.
When you return to your favorite children's movie as an adult and realize some jokes went over head
Like that one Scooby-doo movie
Dude, thank you so much for recommending troll hunters. Just started watching it in Spanish and it’s perfect. Honestly a pretty damn great show.
Yeah I watched all of it with my son in English (later) and it's hilarious. But now I want to watch it in Swedish again.
Think about how many songs you heard as a child, over and over again, especially on TV in commercials. You did not understand all the words, but you can not help but retain them since they are saved in your subconscious mind. I am using songs in Norwegian to help me learn. It is fun, not boring.
It's cool to hear that my habits with music are actually pretty good for learning! I just thought it was good for combating my auditory processing issues (apparently it's an ADD/ADHD problem) which makes it hard to understand words at times. I've been listening to Japanese music for years but in the last three or so months since I picked up German I can hear a lot of words even if I don't know them.
We should compile a list of kids' books as resources for language learners hahahah. Thanks for the video, I'm embarking on my journey with my fourth language (German) and I have found this, great video.
Honestly compilations of books and other kinds of media for various languages at various levels of reading would be really helpful for learners
Since it's never really easy to find stuff in other languages (even just finding decent media in your native language can be hard enough lol)
Idk how far you are now with your German, but as a native speaker I can recommend you Lustige Taschenbücher (Donald Duck/Micky Mouse comics), they use really fun German in them and you can understand a lot by context because it is a comic.
@yunstrum6217I 'm glad I stumbled upon your comment. I'm a beginner in German, and I'm grateful for the recommendation..
I been using tv and music to learn German i was able to pick up a few words here and their. But i'm gonna keep at it as it seems easier for me to learn a new language by listening to the language for about 2 hours a day.
Yep! If you stick at that, you'll definitely improve long term!
Unironically recommend Rammstein.
The repetitiveness of their well known simplistic songs will engrain itself into your head (e.g. every Rammstein fan on the planet can count to ten in German, whether they wanted to learn that or not), similar to a children's song, and a lot of other songs are much more complex.
Unless you're sensitive about very uncomfortable subjects turning up in the lyrics, in which case, stay away. :D
I really recommend watching and listening to kids songs/rhymes in your target language if you're an absolute beginner. It's awesome for comprehensive input. Not only do they increase your vocab, but they give you a vague sense of the grammar in that language. Directly relating the words to pictures helps tremendously, instead of using your native language to connect to your target language. Like he said, they're repetitive and help us to comprehend better.
Adding on to acting like a child, a great tip that helps a lot is to watch kids’ shows in your target language. I watched Arthur in French when I was learning it and following along with the plots were effortless.
2:44 I couldn't agree more. I decided to learn French recently so I set all my devices to the language. I learned the days of the week and words like tomorrow solely through seeing when my assignments for school were due on Google Classroom. I hadn't looked at a single wordlist.
Demain, ce n'est pas sufficient temps!
'Aight, I'm gonna listen to disney songs in Icelandic now
Pls don't
Barka-Dono why not ?
Just listen to Sigur Ros man
@@ivanknowswhat Or Hatari
my best friend and I are starting to learn Dutch together
I'm 15, and they're 16
gonna see how far we get with this kinda stuff, and learn all these tips to learn it quicker and easier! wish us luck!
This is one of your best videos Lamont, very good advice here. I need to quit wasting so much time on DuoLingo and start focusing more on books and video. I'm close (I think) to breaking through to a level in which I can finally start enjoying "real" content. You video on Bookmate was great as well...I think the hardest part of learning a language is getting over that initial hump and getting to a point where you can start consuming content that doesn't bore you to death. Maybe that would make a good RUclips video, "How to break through a language"....just a suggestion. Keep up the great work!
Thanks Jason, I will look into that!
You just gave me a reason to watch my favorite episodes of my favorite anime over and over again. Thank you.
I'm a native Dutch speaker. I learned English from a young age in school but I was always at a higher level then they would teach in class. How did I do it? I have no idea. All I did was game in English and talk to English people in game and watch English RUclips. But how did I learn English from that? I truly don't know.
Now I'm learning Korean. And I find myself learning on purpose. While with English I was never learning on purpose. So I think I should try to recreate what I did with English.
did you look up any english words you didnt know at first? or did you ignore those words and said to youself oh ill just learn them in school anyways!? sorry for the late questions
@@tracymorrison1785 no worries,
I never waited for school no. It really depends, I'd either not look it up and eventually figure it out by the context of the entire sentence, or I would search the translation but I would often forget it anyway but I only started searching it online later in my journey. (I didn't have a phone nor a computer back in the day)
@@-seesaw-kpop4370 wow that’s brillant any other lanaguge you are learning? Or learnt? Edit: sorry I just realised your learning Korean ahaha have fun!!
@@tracymorrison1785 haha thank you! You too
I’ve been trying to understand movies in my target language, even tho Im able to understand fast podcasts to an extent of 95% , movies tend to be way harder, because of mumbling, therefore changing the frequency of the sounds, like matt says. The thing is, I always watch without subtitles, and when im not able to differentiate the sounds , i rewatch at least 3 times with maximum focus, and then i turn on the subs to see what i missed, then I turn it off and try to this time catch the sounds that I initially missed. Although its been working, I cant tell if the process of watching with substitles and searching for the sounds is helping, or just the fact that im increasing my active listening(if thats even doable haha!) just thought about sharing, love your enthusiasm about languages, its great! wish i had found this community earlier ;)
The way he set of those languages books behind him, good point.
Im 15 and I watch Chinese children shows with my little sisters who are 3 and 4. Its like they repeat the words they like. It's entertaining to be honest
Does she learn Chinese? Have you learn?
Watching my 5 kids' language development has always been my favorite. I love language, and watching them memorize things like this, and correct themselves is so fun. A couple of days ago, my 4 year old said to me that "If I say, 'I don't not want it,' that would mean I do want it!". I live seeing kids figure things out like that. :). My kids all love audiobooks, and my 9 year old has a bigger vocabulary than i do, because he uses English words all the time that he learned in context from some audiobook.
This is the only video that explain in detail way how to learn a language like a kid
This is one of the smartest tips, the very best advice I've ever heard on learning a second language.
Totally agree with the children's books. Shortly after hitting the intermediate level in Russian I dove straight into the children's tales, not only because of their inherent potency for language learning but also they give so many insights into the culture. Aside from each story clearly extolling the traits they find important, there's an instant emotional connection when you bring them up in conversation as most of them have read these stories in their childhood too. Most of the time the vocabulary's also quite nuanced, to nurture imagination. I like to say I'm a child in the Russian language =)
Bit of a late add on but, a fantastic resource for russian is something called the dliflc glossary. Its a military language training course for like 45 languages including tussian and it has almost 200 russian assignments. Pretty good for covering a wide varof content
"don't remorize random words"
M8 that depends on the goal, my goal for Vietnamese is to understand music and translate live, it's just about starting to come together
If your goal is to speak to someone to work in the language I think days of the week, numbers and stuff related to the job would be best
If it's just an interest go with what you're interested in
I get motivation to learn my target language from your videos, thank you !
I generally read children's books. With Estonian, I'm doing like that.
Hi... thank you it was very good
1- almost all thing kids do help them learning
2- stop memorizing words but books or songs or ...that you like and enjoy
3- it's very necessary to repeat them .... read that book over and over again and kid books is very good and full of words we may haven't heard before
kids may don't understand the meaning and don't search for words that is useful for them they just learn all of that and it's not waste of time it may be useful for u one day [however when we use something we like so we don't think about waste of time i guess ]
did i understand it well?
Thanks. I really like this approach. I've been keeping a journal in French using Google translate. I write the English sentence then copy the translation while I listen to it pronounced and repeat that. I write about the woodyard I manage so a lot of repeat phases come up each day. Some days there's new phases that come in when something out of the norm happens.
I kept this up for three months each day and I noticed a lot of recognition of the spoken language when I listened to French programs. I do that quite a bit too, for example guitar lessons. Since I know guitar when I listen to a lesson in French the subject is familiar and though I don't understand everything I pick up on some of it. Thanks.
there are three main takeaways for me here.
memorization
permutations
repeated watching/reading of insert media
and with all these, they are things that matter to you, and things that you enjoy.
and boy are these relevant to learning music as well.
as native german i learned dutch in one month. and i know i learned it very well because i had to write scientific papers and communicate on a high level in dutch after this month. so its actually possible.
yes but dutch and german are quite similar
@@wolfzmusic9706 how similar?
@@wolfzmusic9706 yes they are, when hearing and reading easy texts. speaking is a bit harder though. and if someone tells you to write a high quality text in dutch, you probably struggle. so the "theyre quite similar" only gives you some advantage, but not that much
As a developmental psychologist, and a learner of foreign languages, this is an interesting view that never occurred to me.
(Although, I would add to you point, that most of what children do from birth helps their language learning - not just from 2 - as the non-verbal communication cues they get from others, helps them learn to respond, and adults talking to them, greatly helps their vocabulary later on).
Here's something I picked up, as an Australian you sound very different from most other English speakers, as a kid I watched a lot of American movies, shows, and other stuff, cause it was aired here. I soon picked up on the different ways they pronounced words and so in my everyday speech now I will sometimes say it in an American or even British accent, cause of the exposure I had to it as a kid.
4:27 "I read a book called, 10 Ways to Destroy Your Child's Imagination." I didn't stop laughing for about 5 minutes after hearing this part 😂😂 It just killed me 😂
This is so interesting. I started learning English around 17-18 and got my C2 certificate by age 22. Now I want to learn another language and I don't even remember how I did it the first time around lmao
omg same i am 15 years old and i started 'learning' english at 12 years old. i was watching minecraft videos but somehow i got so good that i have always been the best in my classes.
Great vid and great point about not worrying whether or not certain words are useful or not! The amount of time you spend worrying or strategizing on what to learn, could have just been spent learning it. Good channel Subbed.
I think you are wrong. Children learn lists of words in school as they are growing up, starting in the 1st grade. They learn the days of the week and months in a list.
as a 13 year old, i do a bunch of this stuff when learning icelandic, i always find the best way to learn a language is hearing and seeing as much of it as possible
You can combine grammar study with memorisation in context. If I'm studying a pattern like, say, possessive pronouns, I'll gather together some useful vocab I want to learn and make a story that works the pattern to death. It can either be an outrageous mnemonic story, or a useful "language island" that will come up regularly when I'm taking to natives.
Then I learn it off by heart till I can recite it at conversational speed.
It's very helpful to use the techniques actors have developed when they memorise lines. They don't use brute-force rote learning. Instead they follow the thread of the story - the logic and emotional development behind it - and they hook the words onto that. And they act it out, with emotion, gestures, and moving from spot to spot as the story dictates. Studies show that simply making the right movement can trigger their memory many years later. This form of multi-sensory learning helps create strong recall.
And it's fun - beats massive flashcard decks any day of the week...
omg, i did the same thing as a kid!! i can’t remember what book it was, but my mom said i would “read” the same book, no matter what book i actually had. i’m still pretty good at picking up stuff that rhymes and memorizing from repetition, always have been. why have i not been listening to audiobooks on repeat in korean? what a revelation lol
Awesome video! Thank you!
Thanks for your comment, sorry for the slow reply!
Yeah I should give this a better thumbnail because the video is, material wise, one of my better ones, but also one of my least viewed. Thank you!
On this moment, I'm learning the Russian language and every day I watch some Russian Miffy on RUclips. It's really fun. Especially when you recognize more and more words.
I am learning to write and read Japanese and putting most of my focus on that so that I can read stories and build up my vocab through that and videos
I love this guy approach to truth.
"2-16 year olds"
me who's 16 in October: time to become fluent in every language.
At 16 you can definitely become so fluent in one language that you'll be mistaken for a native speaker. Check refold.la and use that method! Good luck!
honestly a proper channel
Thanks, my friend. Cheers!
Thanks for this video, it really helped! I started to speak Russian when I was 3-4 years old, I learned them through cartoons. Like you said, I watched the same episodes many times. My third language is English, which I started to learn at school, but I really started to speak and understand after watching videos on RUclips.
I'm now learning French and since you are as well, can you give me some advice?
My son would also like to know how kids learn languages so fast.
We spent a whole year in Germany when he was six. He went to a German school.
He learnt zero German.
Did he enjoy the experience? Did he interact with German people while there? I’m wondering if he absorbed a lot of information but simply didn’t practice speaking it.
@@RoaringMind No, he hated it, unfortunately. I think some children pick up languages quickly, but it depends on their personality. Many children are shy, and face similar hurdles to shy adults.I hope that in the future my son realises that he got something from the experience.
@@ailblentyn if youre not willing to learn its not going to happen. That love for the language has to be there.
Thanks
7:11 so is the Rattlin' Bog a Children's song now?
thanks, helps a lot....
I'm 11 and learning Japanese and ive been learning for a couple months and i know atleast 10 kanji all hiragana and about half katakana
Damn, how did you do it?
Thanks! I will learn some songs! but not lists
Eh. I was required, as a child, to memorize lists of things; vocabulary, poetry, geography, authors, grammar rules, etc, etc, etc. It vastly improved my abilities in these areas. It's imperative to do, both as a child and an adult language learner. It's just that adults have a choice and they are generally too lazy to do it.
Fascinating... Thanks for all the great info.
years ago i started to watch german chanel for kids without knowing the language. i didnt study it also. then i stopped and forgot about it, but when one year ago i decided to learn german, got the motivation, i found out how easier it was for me than for all my friends whos learning german with me. i guess thats because i already had an experience of listening the language for a pretty long time and i understand it better intuitively. I also know some phrases and words i never learned, thats really cool thing.
What was the German channel called please?
@@angelstarfire it wasn't utube chanel, Kika iirc.
Kids are amazing learners, but they begin at age 3 months. At that age their brain learns to distinguish between two categories: language and non-language sounds. If a child hears two languages, he will distinguish three categories and is becoming bilingual. Kids learn to understand spoken language long before they can speak, and long before reading or writing. Even though the processing power of the human brain peaks at age 14 years, the infant's ability to learn language will never be matched later.
I remember playing word games a lot as a young child, such as wordsearches and seeing how many words I could make using just the letters from one long word. I was read to a lot and also read books by myself. I have fond memories of 'Roger Red-Hat' and 'Jennifer Yellow-Hat' etc. Not to mention writing short stories. Once upon a time....
Because children can watch the same tv shows 50 times and i am amazed how focus they are when they watvh tv
i just wanted to add more evidence that kids do learn faster in terms of language which is my sister and i. we're both born and raised in the ph but were exposed to a lot of english television and books which resulted in us learning english first before our mothertongue. i remember my mom and dad telling us their experience with my sister and i when we were kids saying that they could barely understand us when we spoke english to each other (cause at that time they could only understand bits of english) lol. gotta give prompts to our parents tho cause if it weren't for them buying all those english books and cd's, we wouldn't be able to speak fluent english.
and ofc we learned filipino along the way cause we were then exposed to a public school (i was 6y/o and my sister was 8y/o) where most of our classmates spoke tagalog/bicol.
One thing that I realized is that children learn their languages because this is the only language they know, for them, there are no other languages, only their native one, and I guess that we struggle to learn a second language because we have our native language in the middle of the path blocking the new language to flow.
yea learning a second language is difficult because we gotta understand it in both our native language in our target language so it become frustrating since we gotta keep going back and forward translating each and every word
Tack så mycket! Allt detta är värt att begrunda.
When I was around 6 or 7 I would watch Frozen over and over and over. I was obsessed and I still remember most of the lyrics to “let it go” after not seeing the movie in years lol. I’m saving my money to get a manga I like in German (the language I want to learn) and I plan on reading it over and over too
I pretty much always have octonauts playing in the background of my day to day life in spanish and if im bored ill watch encanto for the quabillionth time in spanish and you absolutly start to see the difference in your understanding
I learned 3 languages in school formally, reading, writing, and speaking. I learned 2 more at home because it's what my grandparents and my parents spoke. Now I'm trying to learn another language and I'm noticing that with the 2 languages I speak at home I learned them basically by just hearing my family speak it and them telling me how to say things for years and years and years. I wasn't taught grammar, I can't write or make a blog in those languages but I speak fine and native speakers understand me. I'm trying this approach in my 6th new target language and see where it gets me in 6 months. I'm also trying the gold list method for every phrase or sentence I would like to say in the target language. I just hope the translator is correct LOL.
How is your progress going with
With your new approach to learning languages?
finally! a no BS method.
Love this video. So true! My kid grew up bilingual and she makes mistakes and brings words from one language to another but in the end she gets it right. I don't really correct her, I just make sure that she hears the right word more often when I hear her make a mistake frequently. I'm not a native English speaker and my kid learned English in daycare from her New Zealandic teachers. I spoke with her occasionally out of fun as a baby. And they said, she was by far the kid who had the least issues with understanding them, sentence structure and pronunciation. We've lived 3 mo in Sweden now and she also does well with the language. Now that we don't have English daycare anymore, I will speak English with her. No, I don't give a crap about whether or not I'm perfect. I did my CIII test and I see languages like sewing. Sewing helps me to save money and do something cool everyday! Am I a master seamstress/fashion designer? Nope. But I'm still capable of making my own clothes and I don't give a rat's buttocks about the level a pro seamstress is at. And mostly, I don't need her permission to teach my kid some decent sewing. However, my problem is, I want to really level up my English and I'm at the point that I'm just not getting better. I can say everything I want in English, but I want to do it in a more sophisticated way. If you have any tips on that, I would love to hear about your approach.
I will probably do a video on exactly that in a few months because I am up to a similar-ish level in my Swedish. Your English would be better but my Swedish is also functional in every situation, it just sometimes sounds a bit dumb and a feels clumsy.
@@daysandwords Awesome! Thanks for answering. I just saw the one you did with Kaufmann, where you talked about audiobooks a lot (and I am thinking about that option too). However, I am a visual type and like to see a word. E.g. in English, I thought "WTF is an eterney (attorney), an f-a-david (affidavit) etc. while watching SUITS... I knew those were law termini, but not how to write them (and sometimes finding words by their sound can be really tricky). That problem I simply don't have when reading a blog, a book or an article. Everything is curated and 99% written in perfect English. I also found your example of that Irish(?) book interesting. About all the landscape terms. I was reading Ulysse in the original and also Catcher in The Rye, because both translations to German are softened down (less swearing and really odd language). But Ulysse was really the hardest read ever and I gave up (both in German and English). Any tips on hard and "old-ish" literature would also be sooo very much appreciated.
I will follow your journey, as I study Swedish myself. I am not a "language RUclipsr", but maybe I'll share my progress too. Have you seen BRON? I loved the show. And also ÄKTA MÄNNISKOR?
:)
To be fair, children under 6 actually do have far more synapses firing in their brain than adults do, which means that it's drastically easier for them to learn languages (look up the Critical Period Hypothesis if you're interested). Still, you give some great tips! Thanks for the video!
Hi - thanks for your comment.
Yes but children have a lot of disadvantages, and overall, given the most similar conditions we can muster, adults learn languages faster. The critical period hypothesis has a lot of questions from successful language learners. It seems that what it proposes IS the case the majority of the time, but that minority of cases throws a lot of doubt on the idea that it is not just environmental.
Molly Taylor Ah yes, The Critical Period Hypothesis ! But how to explain people who were able to acquire a second tongue when they were adults. I know a Frenchman who started to learn English at 25 now not only his English is perfect but also his Yorkshire accent. You can't put him appart from a native. By the way if it was absolutely impossible to learn a second tongue why to spend so much money to form language teachers etc.
There were a time when we believed that we had a certain amount of grey cells and unfortunately they started to disappear when we reached twenty years old. We know now it is wrong. We still develop grey cells and of course synapses. At least if we use our brain.
@@aquarius4953 I agree. Also there is Matt vs Japan, and also I've met Norwegians whom one could swear were from Sydney's western suburbs (i.e. crazy strong Australian accent). I believe the critical period hypothesis to be more like gravity: It would be significantly easier to fly without gravity but it CAN be done anyway.
@@aquarius4953 Hey! Your friend sounds incredible! I think you might have picked up on a slight misconception of the Critical Learning Period - I am 22 and currently learning Danish! I believe the part of the hypothesis to which you're referring is that, when introduced full concept of language for the first time after 6 years old (aka, one didn't have any concept of speaking/signing/writing/etc. in an actual language), it is essentially impossible to grasp grammar; and likely, that person will only be able to learn a limited amount of words.
What I'm referring to is the idea of bilingualism becoming increasingly harder after that same time period. Naturally, we see bilingual people all around us who didn't start learning their second language until they were much older than 6. However, doing so becomes drastically harder as time goes on; in my case, I will likely never learn a perfect Danish accent, and my level of understanding with Danish grammar probably will never reach my level with English grammar. I'm guessing your French friend might have learned a bit of English or another language as a child, because any amount of other-language learning growing up really helps with grasping new languages as adults. If not, then he's a language genius, and I really wish I had his brain! 😁
Why are the bookshelves so empty :'(
Only the important stuff, I suppose
There is a difference between children's brains and adult's brains. Children's brains, up until around the age of 5 or 6 are geared toward learning and memory. They're like sponges, they soak up everything. Adult's brains are geared towards honing. That is, to let go what isn't essential and to strengthen what is essential, like specialised language for careers. For adult learners to get the best results from both, do everything you said, but spend more time focusing on what is of particular interest. Still read the kid's books for fun. Still watch the movies for fun, and to develop a sound loundscape in the mind of the new language, but put the focused energy into a passion, baking, history, reading about stamp collecting, etc.
Everyone says they are like sponges, but if I buy a sponge and then leave it in dripping water for 10 hours a day for 5 years, it HAD FREAKING BETTER SOAK UP SOME WATER!
I am not denying that kids do amazing things. But 90% of their "talent" for language learning is from the fact that a) they don't have a language already and b) they are exposed to their language for 8-12 hours a day.
If I watched only Swedish TV and had Swedish "parents" for the next 2 years of my life (putting my Swedish study at a total of 5.5 years), then I'd be a heck of lot more fluent than any Swedish kid under 12. My point is that very little of what kids "do" or "have" cannot be replicated.
Memorization is the only way most people teach Chinese and it takes out the fun of it.
but I think it's also the only language where memorization actually makes sense
The ONLY language? That's interesting. Surely you could include at least all the languages which have completely foreign characters, such as Japanese?
I used to believe that memorisation didn't make sense but now I am learning about 20-30 Swedish words a day through memorisation, so I think at some point it starts to make sense for any language (and by some point, I mean, trying to progress from inter. to advanced.)
@@daysandwords Thank you for your reply love your videos. I agree once you get into intermediate or advanced in languages memorization is next best thing to do.
The reason Chinese really fits the route memorization from the start is that there are only a few contextual elements in the language. This is from the English -> Manadarin perspective.
However, in a language like Korean I agree that starting out by memorizing the first 100 verbs should not be a goal because if you do that your making your job harder because in the wild the verb can look way different then it does in it's basic form (jesus I don't even think Korean has a basic form of verbs).
That's the reason that this time I am starting by analysis sentence structures and reading basic text off first rather than memorizing from a verb sheet.
As for Japanese I would think it's a bit of both the Korean and Chinese methods.
I think it all depends on how creative you can be when formulating the langauge.
I got an advert for Duolingo before this video... 😂
these days I'm learning french from scratch and it's hard to save an entire phrase it's easy to save it word by word . what do you recommend
Osman Shamet I don't think so. Babies learn by chunks (blocks of words). To try to save a phrase word by word is not the best solution. In French words are linked .
Nous avons deux enfants.
You hear :
Nouzavondezenfan as if it was one word.
To learn nous/avons/deux/enfants will give you a robotic way of speaking.
so start with short easy phrases .
Nous avons > nouzavon
vous avez> vouzavez
Ils ont > ilzon
un oiseau > unoiseau
trois oiseaux > troizoiseau.
laisse moi faire. laissemoifaire.
Tu es capable > Tècap (ok this one isn't easy to catch but it is what a French kid will say to a mate instead of : Tuècapable.
Tu n'es pas capable > Tèpacap (same that above)
Je ne sais pas> jen'saipas>jesaipa>chaipa.
So yes chunks . Listen a lot of authentic French material . Easy audio books, tales in French any things make by French for French.
Aquarius same for spanish, so ive come to notice. You will hear a phrase usually as a bunch of clumped words, but if u break it down into chunks, then put those chunks together, it helps tremendously. My major problemwith learning spanish is that it sounds like phrases are one long word. It helped me break down things easily when i learned chunks then applied said chunks to other chunks to form a sentence.
john gossett Yes for us (French) it's the same in English. Words are linked.
in English>inenglish
Put an apple on the table>putanaplonthetable.
Or even I am> I(y)am. So natural to add a sound y between I and am.
Apparently a two month old can make the difference between the sound (t) at the beginning of table and the sound (t) at the end of bat.
@@johng6080 I'm learning Spanish.
What methods are you using to learn. I'm doing Spanish in university (it's been for 2 sems, 1 academic year) and this vacation I want to concentrate on immersion/input instead of all the grammar stuff we learnt in school. I've kinda put that aside for now till the next sem
Me, a 13-year-old whose native language is German, but fluently speaks English as well: "Russian, I'm coming for you."
Imma talk gibberish to my future child so my child can only speak gibberish
I have a pretty perfectionistic personality, sometimes bordering on obsessive thought-patterns, so my languages are always improving, because I hate making mistakes and usually remember them and subsequently correct them in my mind as they happen. I live in Denmark and my partner is Danish, but my native language is Faroese, so I speak Danish pretty much all of the time. He usually corrects any mistakes I make in pronunciation, but my grammar skills are above that of most native Danes, simply because I really focus a lot on using "proper" Danish.
I think my English is pretty close to a native level as well, if I may say so myself... lol :P
What really helped me with my English was actually playing World of Warcraft in my teen years. xD
i was 15, and 6 months before i became 16, i started learning japanese, i regret not starting earlier
I am twelve and learning Japanese 😊Good luck in Swedish
An audiobook read by David Tennant?
That's good stuff
My problem isn't pride - my favourite book series is CHERUB (check them out for French) which is aimed at 8-12 year olds, but it's that repetition is boring and the mind drifts.
I actually have read those when i was younger, did you buy them? Actually pretty good method but i dont think i can read them in my target language
But kids do memorize the names of the months. I remember doing it in school
That's not how you end up being fluent in them though.
3:20 I feel like if I was memorising lists of months as a child it would've been more useful, Because I legit don't think I actually knew the order of the months of the year until I was like 15 or something.
Kids' books can be great, but they often have some strange quirks, often they go for something that will sound magical to a child, but doesn't necessarily make any sense to an adult. Comics can be a good source of input, they generally have fairly consistent logic, even if that logic is a little fantastical, I played the video game XIII when I was young, and found out it was based on Belgian, French-language comics (which straight up stole the plot of the Bourne Identity, but that's another matter lol), and they're actually a decent read, the plot is developed enough that it will keep you interested but it's not too challenging to read, and it's a LOT less intimidating for beginners when the text is broken up across the page instead of opening a book to a wall of text
Yeah I have mentioned that in other videos and am working on a video at the moment that talks about that exclusively.
Troll Hunters - I have watched it in Chinese, Spanish, Hindi, and English. It is AMAZING!
I’m here because I’m learning Korean before I move to Korea in a few months and absolutely nothing is sticking. So I’m looking for a new method. Might have Train to Busan on repeat for the next few weeks lol
Yep, AKATT. (All Korean all the time.)
When you're in the shower, when you're in the car or on trasnport, Korean podcasts and videos in your ears. Flood your brain with Korean and give it no other choice but to start comprehending.
Im twelve but this still helped me
I need alll the repetition in my language learning.
What should I use so I can learn a language like a baby?