Learn ANY Language Effortlessly with this LAZY Method
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- Опубликовано: 3 июн 2024
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About me:
I tried for about 10 years on and off to learn Chinese. Like most people who try to learn a language I got nowhere. I watched all the RUclips videos of polyglots and it felt like they had something I didn't. Eventually the penny dropped and I realised anyone really can learn a new language if they have the right approach. My goal is to help others achieve their aim of learning a foreign language
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❤
“The most effective thing is the thing you’ll actually do” is the lesson I have to keep re-learning in every single domain of my life. Thanks for bringing this up for me again.
Honestly, we overcomplicate everything. There is so much advice out there but if you do none of it, it wont help you at all. Glad it was useful!
@@matt_brooks-green does it work if im learning my 4th language :D
@@clairedelune61 your fourth? Damn here I am struggling with learning Spanish. I’m fluent in sarcasm, does that count as a second language? Lol 😅
Yup.
Very true
I've kind of done a mixture of the two. I've spent some time learning the basics of the English language, and then started immersing myself in the language, mainly by watching videos in English with subtitles on (very useful btw). I would translate the words I didn't understand, so that I knew what they meant the next time I heard them.
Eventually I started understanding more and more of the language to the point that I'm now writing a comment in English without the need for a translator app :)
Amazing! Great work!
@@davisemgolias what I did (not I made)
You sound just like a native!!🎉
@@afreen62 thanks!
Good job! Your hard work has definitely paid off!
I've studied about 4 languages now including both in a school setting and self study. I definitely think a slow increase in comprehensible input is one of the key factors in language acquisition. The one thing I would say is that certain languages like Japanese do have more difficult grammar, honorifics, and elements like kanji that are really difficult to learn through immersion alone. Consciously working on learning to read native writing systems will be necessary for everything above beginner level so don't skip that part. Also, working on studying vocabulary with a system like Anki even just 30min a day is really helpful for increasing the level of comprehensible input faster. I really recommend the Refold 1000 most common words packs as they are a fantastic way to get a good understanding of the common words and phrases much faster than with just input alone without that much effort.
Thanks for checking out the video. I’m sure you’re right about using the refold deck. Certainly coming from English to Spanish isn’t that bad so I didn’t feel the urge to flashcard but I know they can really help a lot of people so certainly wouldn’t dismiss them as a method. There’s so much content for Spanish now that doing it without flashcards seemed great to me. For Chinese though… it’s a no brainer!
I'm struggling through Japanese and French (and dabbling in Korean, Mandarin and Irish) and I'd generally agree with you in general. Immersion is very difficult with Japanese (for an English speaker) as the written material is so difficult to understand - and there is a chicken and egg problem in that you can't understand the written material without understanding a lot of the language, while you can't learn through immersion without knowing how to read it. And just listening to it is very hard as the entire structure of the language is so different from how your English speaking brain understands how language works. It is far, far, easier to read/listen your way into another European language than it is with something like Japanese, so you definitely need a more focused effort. I'd love to say I've discovered the secret for japanese, but I'm still struggling.
If I was starting Japanese again from scratch, I'd recommend a combination of reading quite a lot (not studying, just reading to understand) how the language works, while mixing in a steady mix of learning kanji/kana with lots of watching videos with Japanese subtitles so that your brain can match up the sounds with the written words. I think you have to rely on pure input to learn the vocab as there are just too many similar words (to the English speakers ear) to do much else.
@@philipdavis7521 During my time studying Japanese, I've just been learning common vocab with it's kanji mostly and just scanning through newspapers and anime subtitles to practice reading what I can. The other way is to study kanji by their radical group, but I didn't like that method as it contained too many random words I'd hardly ever see like "輸血" for "blood transfusion". For grammar I've just been reading through Human Japanese which does a decent job explaining the grammar and watching RUclips videos about it for more examples. Japanese is probably the most memorization heavy language I've studied but also one of the most rewarding.
This was the type of comment I was looking for as I'm pretty much always immersed in Japanese for several hours a day. I don't think simply immersing yourself in it will help you learn it at all, or at least it hasn't for me, it's just too complex. I used to watch things in Japanese all the time and I could never correlate the word with what it was/meant without actually looking it up several times until it was committed to memory. I think with Japanese you have to start by doing the time consuming, boring, often grueling studying/memorizing of katakana and the more commonly used kanji, grammar, sentence structure, even learning what the difference is between the formal/business speak and the casual friend/family speak is, all along with the correct intonation. With an emphasis on the intonation part if you want to sound native. It's a lot. If immersion alone worked I'd be at least at conversational level and I'm nowhere near that lol
Yes, unfortunately the dark secret they never tell you when you start to learn Japanese is that it takes far, far, longer to learn than almost any other major language. And thats not even taking account of all those westerners who claim to be fluent, but are nowhere near.@@shelbyjackson6903
Your final bit about how you're 900 hours in and you're understanding but not speaking honestly makes a ton of sense. I've tried learning languages in the past and they all emphasized speaking WHILE learning to understand. But as a person, I definitely listened and understood English being spoken to me for a long time before really being able to formulate my own thoughts into a sentence that made any sense beyond "See Jane run. This is Jane's ball. The ball is round."
I had a similar experience when I was younger, at 1 point I found out that I didn't need subtitles anymore to be able to understand the things that were being said. I one point I remember a documentary being played it they were using the wrong subtitles, so I started translating everything on the fly for my siblings and parents. It was then that it really clicked to me that I understood the language.
Going from understanding a language to actually speaking it is a whole different ballgame for sure!
But after 900 hours would that not be really demotivating not being able to speak the language?
@@EnglishCassettesTaking into account sleeping, that's really only 56 and a half days.
900 hours is a ton of time. That's 2 1/2 hours every day for a year.
So to recap:
Focus more so on input & absorbing the language
Focus more on ‘revision’ in the sense of strengthening the connections in your brain of what you already know.
Sounds grand.
I’m using Duolingo for a while which I find is doing great for me but I don’t want to limit my learning of a language to just that. I’ve started watching videos that are really helpful and trying to find other ways of absorbing the language.
Your approach is practical for people with busy lives but what I will say is depending on the language I do think it’s key to learn the basic grammar rules and a bit of vocab first before you start this more passive approach. That way, you have a place to start when listening your target language.
Just my 2 cents 🤷♂️
I've started learning Russian this year and granted I'm not as far into it as I could be (not consistent enough) but I feel like I can pick up phrases or read things here and there. I've been doing Duolingo as well as listening/writing with Russian "classes" on RUclips.
Babel has helped me more than Duolingo
watching this video made me realize i've learned english subconsciously, i didnt even set plans to force myself to stop using subtitles. One day i forgot turning on subtitles and i realized that 10 minutes into the video, but honestly i had no idea how to adapt the same technique to my third language because its grammar is more complicated than English but perhaps we have to take kids as an example, and surrender ourselves with the language we are trying to learn. Thank you so much for the video, if you could learn Spanish with this technique i can learn French too hopefully.
That's so cool. Thanks for sharing 😊
Same!
It kinda happened the same to me, although I consciously turned them off, but it is only uncomfortable for the fist few hours, then you notice progress and naturally keep it up.
This doesn't mean you won't need to look up words and stuff, but it is much more enjoyable like this
I think the comment means surround not surrender btw
I am in similar situation. I just somehow learned English doing things like and then a day I was playing and talking with an Australian man about 30 minutes. But I don't have any ideas of how I will learn Russia it's a complete different grammar(my native language is Portuguese).
I was recently asking myself the very question of "why do we learn languages in a different order to how we acquire them as a child?" I've found that listening to lots of music has been very effective for language learning, and Olly Richard's storybooks are awesome!
I listen to symphonies by Bach, Handel, Mozart, and Beethoven, but I haven’t learned a bit of Mandarin
I think there's actually some psychological research on how our brains change as we get older, and how our preferred learning styles may also change as a result.
LingQ is really amazing as well!!
The theory people went by was that kids are faster learners
Kids learn faster in part because they're not (nearly as) afraid to make mistakes and embarass themselves (nor is it generally considered embarrassing for children, who are learning, to make mistakes). Kids will happily chatter with incorrect grammar and pronunciation, but over time, it largely sorts itself out through exposure or recasting.
Agree with your approach, currently learning korean as my third language and have made the process more fun and enjoyable instead of long hours of boring grammar classes. I myself do a mixture of both(conscious learning + comprehensible input) because I like to increase the pace a bit sometimes because that motivates me to keep learning, however input and focusing on something that is sustainable(and motivating) is the key always.
Im also studying Korean ❤️. I also agree with this guy, picking vocab along the way helps, so I stated using I SPEAK app ❤️. Whats your main source now?
@@alliswell44596 what do you use that app for? sounds interesting
Hi Eudaimonia239, I have been watching Korean movies for the last 60 days and found myself speaking the language without even thinking about transferring English into Koren words. It was opposit. I speck Koren and in my head it is English. So I know what I'm saying. Now I need to learn the English and Koren spelling of the words.
Understanding what I hear has been my biggest challenge with French. They smoosh their words together so much. It didn't help that most courses teach "proper" French, not spoken French. Even my colleagues with the politest accents don't speak French that way!
What turned things round for me was the Pimsleur app. I started from the very beginning to unlearn the rubbish I've been taught. I only do the aural bits as I can already read French. It is a really well designed course and I often say to myself "ah, I see what you're doing!" I supplement that with the Mauril app to help with Canadian accents. My ability to understand spoken French is now at the point where I can follow what's being said on RUclips videos even if I don't recognize all the words.
Great work. Yeah, I know some people turn their nose up at Pimsleur but humans I know in real life seem to like it so it's definitely one to bear in mind
You are doing the right thing, I’m French Canadian. My advise is don’t get bogged down in noun gender, the complicated verb tenses, learning to speak slang, etc. you can get by fine in French speaking only 1500 words . Thr key is know another 4000 when listening or reading….that’s learned watching kids shows, cartoins, fun stuff. Stories for young teens are excellent for learning ‘real’ conversation.
Dude I just downloaded Pimsleur. Such a good app
This was honestly the most helpful video I've ever watched on the topic of learning languages like I'm actually genuinely excited to do so now. Thank you so much for the advice!! 😁
During high school, I found I learned more efficiently by mucking about with children’s songs, stories, and recipes. It helped with learning what worked grammatically, with idioms, and with things that don’t quite translate.
Also immersion! I got some index cards and labeled everything in the house
Great idea! I'll see if the dog will stay still long enough to get this post-it note on him! 🤣
Wait that's genius, I live alone and there's no one to stop me from covering my house in sticky notes... THANK YOU
I've followed this approach with more look ups but when I systematically immersed in material about my level until I mastered it, it was the quickest internalization of Spanish compared to anything else.
As I'm learning output and my input is approaching only native level material, I've found a method to intensely study that works with immersion. I'll read a page in a book or use an online reader like Lingq. I'll contemplate one sentence at a time until the whole meaning comes to me. When extensively reading I'm unconsciously taking in a lot but it also helps to really sit with a small piece of the language until it clicks. I only do look ups if I absolutely don't know the word or phrase.
This has really accelerated my Spanish level.
Thanks David. I’m with you on that. I’m finishing off a couple of graded readers but actually might just dive in to books I want to read in Spanish where my unknown words would be higher. I’m sure I can now follow the story even if some of the vocab I can’t understand yet: like you say I think the gap between my known words and unknown words would massively increase my vocabulary
Top notch. I learned German after about 8 years or so of school, grammar, etc. in contrast, Russian after about 3 years. I studied Russian grammar for an hour or so and that’s it. I then read books for 5 year olds, watched videos geared to the same age. Eventually worked up to Early/ mid teen level material. Hint. Don’t get bogged down trying to write a language!! I’m in the sciences and almost never write anything except in English even though I was raised mostly in French (Canadian).. the couple of times I write a message in German or Russian I just use an on line translator site…better than spending amillion hours toiling learning grammar, verb endings, etc.
Четвёртый язык всегда легче второго. Какова степень сходства между английским и французским? Большое количество французских и латинских слов в английском языке поможет при изучении французского?
I get your point but dude, you haven't learned a language if you cannot write and speak in it.
Awesome video, contains all of it! Mad respect for how fast you've build up your channel too.
I learnt English by reading toddler books, some of them being the same stories as on TV. The language is simple and supported by lots of pictures. From there I moved on to reading picture books with increasingly complex sentences and with fewer and fewer pictures until I could read without any visual prompt. By that time I had enough vocabulary to understand short articles in newspapers and magazines and figure out the meaning of odd words from the surrounding text. I still think that children's picture books and toddler TV are a great way for a beginner - very low-level material for adults is hard to find.
TV ads have also some use, because of the repetition and short and simple content that is often easy to understand with practically no knowledge of the language at all.
This is a super helpful video, man! Like most students, I’ve had years of Spanish and learned very little, so I’m trying to get an actual base. I made the mistake of trying to set up a rigorous schedule where I would target specific things on specific days, and it made it a burden. What I’ve learned is to tack it on to things I enjoy. Reading my favorite books in Spanish, watching English stuff with Spanish subtitles (actually incredibly helpful) along with Spanish with Spanish subtitles (do NOT use subtitles in your native language, you won’t learn anything), and have been using a few apps and vocab drills as an addition. Going much better!
Actually you can learn a lot by using English subtitles if you actually idk... Listen! 🤦🏻♂️ You can learn just as much if not more this way then English with Spanish subs.
Que gran video, gracias!😍
How delightful to see you posted right as I opened the app after work 😊
Great! Hope work was okay! 👌
Thank you! This encouraged me to get back into language learning!
Love this idea. You just earned yourself a subscriber!
Very good approach for a new language, I will give it a try!
There he is!!! Great to see a new upload from you, keep it up 🙌🏾
Jajajajaja! Thanks man 🙏
i have this approach to learning everything in life. Not just language learning. If you're obsessed with something, you'll get good at it. So it's not a question of whether or not you can learn, it's a question of how much fun you can have. Pass a certain fun threshhold, you develope an obsession, and become good at it without having to "work"
You’re absolutely right ✅
This was surprisingly motivating for me! Small steps matter more than you think 😊
I sometimes struggle to find interesting resources to listen to, I'll try to lower the friction so I can practise more often 😊
Honestly, it seems like such a small thing but it helps you stay consistent and that is the most important thing in my opinion
Thanks for the advice! Absorb the language 🎉
No study? Lazy? I think "studying" is not only learning words or grammar rules by heart, but also watching videos like this one on RUclips. I know that I'm not "lazy", but actively studying lots of things when listening to videos like that : vocab, grammar, comprehension, pronunciation, your great accent and so on. If you study with videos, maybe even for hours a day, you're not lazy, you're smart!🙂
LOL mate, you are delusional! Studying is studying, learning is learning. Two different things!
Will i learn close to fluently, understand about life and things if i studied german for 13 years ONLY by languange app. (Duolingo etc)
Will i learn close to fluently, understand about life and things if i studied german for 13 years ONLY by languange app. (Duolingo etc)
yeah dude, im trying to learn deutsch every day, i rlly love this languague
@@physicguy92093 yeah probably, but you would know every single rule and even natives don't understand every rule, they just repeat the words they heard when was a baby
This is how I learned english:
- Watching FRIENDS at the time, the TV often missed the subtitles. I realized I did not understood but could kind of infer it and get a few words
- I browsed the internet mostly in english. With time I translated and visited forums to check the why and the whats less and less
- Eventually I started reading and writing in english (arguing with random internet people its a good motivator to learn how to tell something. Google translate was even shittier at the time so eventually you pick up some stuff)
And thats it... consuming at the top, producing content next with theory however this applied specifically to what you want to do. Like learning a song in the guitar instead of doing scales (though in the guitar the scales are important)
Regrets? Not speaking... I have a decent level of english, I have worked in copywriting before, but when I speak im at toddler level, so if I did it again, I would speak with natives as much as possible
Great work. Is there anything stopping you from speaking now? If you have that level of comprehension (and perfect writing by the way), speaking just takes practice
Interesting and useful ideas -- which work for studying any language. Thank you.
Thanks for the great info. I really enjoyed the wooden spoon pointer. Have a great day.
I knew someone besides me would (no pun intended!)
I am a profi linguist (translator and interpreter) and can speak Czech, English, German, French and quite some Spanish. I always spend quite some time studying the basics, grammar, vocab... and then I start reading books in that particular language, speaking with foreigners and listening to recorded speech (RUclips is great for that). Learning a foreign language IS a considerable achievement and you just NEED to invest the time to do it. If you dont want to give the effort, you will never learn (I spent 1 year in Finland, but was only able to learn a few words... because I was too lazy to do that). Maybe some exceptionally talented people can learn a language without even really trying, but that is certainly not my case.
cZECH?? :O
@@TheoSur Yes, Czech. I am Czech, so I can speak Czech. What's so funny?
@@bohemicus8280Lol, your last answer was funny. But I think the other user was impressed because, let's face it, Czech is no walk in the park. It would be impressive if it were not your mother language. I am a professional translator & interpreter too, been working as one for the past 20 years. What combinations do you work with?
@@HaggenKennedyWell, I work with English, German, and French into Czech :D
Czech is actually very easy... once you know another Slavic language :)
Je ne peut parle français. Je suis apprendre français. Mon langue de premier est anglais. Mon grammiere est pas bien. Tu comprendre moi, correcté?
Agree. This is how I appear to be learning.
Unfortunately my teachers do not agree, and they insist on giving me lame tests on words and grammar they just taught me... the truth is those words don't stick for me until quite some time after, until I've heard them used many many times out in the wild.
Even if i were to memorize the words to pass the tests so what? If I did not learn by acquisition I will likely forget anyway.
Exactly this. I've searched for tutors that I just get on with and have interesting conversations with. Makes acquiring the language so pleasurable!
This is an incredible video, im trying to finish off what I started in school and actually try to become fluent in French. This is a really great video and it’s corresponded with the experience I’ve already had. Subscribed. ❤
Thanks David. Try French Comprehensible Input on YT - good luck!
Saw that snippet of Dreaming Spanish. Such a great channel
Great video!
Your main point's valid.
However, I highly recommend you start speaking early on.
It's incredibly frustrating to be tongue tied in basic conversations.
I'd suggest talking to yourself. Repeat some things you heard. If you can, describe what you're doing. Retell past events. Talk about your plans. Opinions. Whatever.
I speak as a language teacher with over 20 years of experience, and a language learner of an even longer period (but multiple languages). What sticks most strongly for me is the stuff I actively remembered and rehearsed through this self-talk method.
Bottom line: use speaking (output) in tandem with listening/reading (input).
Hi Matthew. Firstly, great name. Under appreciated in my book. I found speaking early didn't work for me but certainly don't have problems with anyone that does. I now prefer to speak later
Singing in the shower or car helps me.
hello! i'm learning spanish as my third language (i am bilingual in english and bangla, as i'm of bangladeshi origin and i've grown up in canada and the US), and this video was genuinely very reassuring and motivating to me. i'm only in high school but i've already found that i have a strong passion for linguistics; i adore languages and everything related to them. this may be, in part, due to my exposure to various languages through my cultural background and diverse friends from around the world - i have friends who speak languages varying from hindi and telugu and malayalam to spanish and french and german to yoruba and portugese and korean to mandarin and vietnamese and russian to turkish and tamil and marathi, and more. either way, the point is that i very much want to learn more languages. i know i'm not half bad with picking them up, but i've been struggling with figuring out a way that works for me (i'm very busy in and out of school) - this video has shown me a way that i've considered vaguely before, but it has definitely increased my confidence that i'll be able to achieve success with it. thank you so much!
Currently learninig a new language, and what i found very helpful, is just learning 1-2 new concepts every day, might be a new grammar, new word or a phrase, it keeps me busy and invested, but rest of the time i just listen and watch target language content, and every time i pick up more stuff not only from context, but an actuall things ive learned, like wow cool that new piece of grammar works like this in a living language etc.
Thank you for making this video. It made me realise, that even though I was getting input regularly, I seem to always aim for content much above my level and it makes the entire process way more frustrating than it should be. It makes me dread my daily immersion. I hadn't realised this until today, so for this I thank you 🙏
Hi Carl, so glad I could help. It’s really held me back in the past. Hearing words you already know in new contexts reinforces them. I found it a game changer!
Great video. I am an English teacher and spanish language learner (acquirer if you like). Regardless of what one thinks or method used, language only enters in one way whether it be the first, second or 10th. Language is acquired implicitly, meaning our brain sub consciously orders and processes the input. No amount of explicit intervention speeds up or skips over stages beyond extending exposure to the language. Motivation is a factor. Grammar and studying can be demotivating for many hence why many give up, especially in educational settings.
On the topic of when to focus on output, I heard of a really interesting method recently called ALG that advocates doing little or no output until it feels so natural that it emerges automatically. The idea was that trying to do output too soon causes you to map target language sounds onto your native sound set, which then hampers you perhaps forever. Seems to fit with some of Krashen's ideas. It seems to mostly be an interactive method though so I dunno how much you can do on your own. I think kids' cartoons or something might be a good approach, but I've struggled to find interesting yet comprehensible videos in Chinese so far.
Love it Matt!
Cheer dude!
I learned English without sit down and study, I was just watching RUclips videos, sometimes just pause and look on Google Translator, it took me a lot of years to finally understand one entire video
Duolingo helped me a lot, not sure why so many people hate this app.
Nowadays I am able to have conversations in both English and Italian (and of course my mother tongue which is Portuguese)
But I am trying to learn Korean, and daaaamn, is really hard, everything is so different
Same here, bro. I'm Puerto Rican, Spanish is my native language, I learned English through media, tv, video games, etc. Now I'm tackling Korean and I do agree with you, it's no easy task. But with motivation and discipline we got this! Good luck to you on your journey and remember to never give up.
@@SongpyeonPR Gracias Hermano! Yes, I admit i didn't think it was going to be so hard at the beginning, but after some months of study I am still a beginner, and imo the alphabet is the only easy aspect of the Korean language. What are you struggling? For me the most complicated thing is the particles, hierarchy, the order of the sentence and the 1000 ways to say the same thing.
But I am getting there, brick by brick
I can form some simple sentences
I watched a movie and I was happy to understand one complete sentence "Uri hion odi só" (Where is my brother?)
Nice work. I'm watching Letal Crysis for my input now which is insane considering I've just slowly increased the difficulty of my input. A very enjoyable way to learn a language! Keep going chap!
@@matt_brooks-green i like to watch trasmuro, a Mexican channel about Tiny Houses (Similar to the famous New Zealand channel)
@@ZFCaio every day is a struggle since I am living here on South Korea, atleast my wife speaks English but aside from that I'm pretty much a new born lol. I do agree with you that Hangul is easy, and a bit of pronunciation. Particles and sentence order are not easy but with time, practice and dedication we got this🤙🏽
I have "bumbled" myself into speaking pretty decent Japanese in 2.5 years by mainly just dabbling in content like videos, and podcasts on topics I like, and actively searching language exchange partners. So for the vast majority, it was just fun and it never felt like study. However, people tend to think methods are always a bit like religions and need to be followed "purely", but to me, it always makes sense to combine multiple things. In my case, and which I highly recommend, I used a few weeks of diligent "classical" study (maybe 1 month only) followed by a series of very cost-effective online lessons by private tutors which you can find on various sites. This way I built up a basic scaffold of grammar, vocabulary, and some initial speaking experience which then gave me the courage to try language partners as well as bootstrapped the rest of the more effortless learning experience that followed.
For reference: I can speak quite "fluently" about most topics that are in my range of interest. I have a pretty good "sense/feel" for the language already, which allows me to quickly shift between casual or Keigo or any mix in between, depending on the demand of the situation. Also, I can use quite natural and casual expressions, speak rather quickly and understand people if they speak very very fast and unclearly. In now probably hundreds of hours of talking Japanese, I can't recall a single instance where my partner had to say that they didn't understand what I was saying or asking. That being said, sometimes I still get flustered and lose my confidence and my speech drops to a more staggered and basic level (especially when I am tired, but it remains still useable). I occasionally have to ask my partners to describe a word that I didn't understand. Reading and writing are still quite basic: I can chit-chat everyday stuff online, but that's already where it stops. If I look at instructions on some bought item or try to read the news I have to guess 70% of it. I grew up bilingually with German/Swiss and Finnish, which always had given me an advantage in language acquisition. During high school, despite being mainly a "math guy" my grades in French were also always maxed out. 99% of my English skills also just stem from RUclips and trying to speak with people.
dude that’s sick, do you have an instagram? i want to talk and get some help with speaking haha
That’s cool. But I believe that it’s hard to be almost fluent in Japanese in 2.5 years. Of course if only you weren’t studying 24/7 lol
I'm learning Japanese right now, could you recommend certain youtube or podcast channels?
@@musicm1rage623 It is really hard. I supervise a part of a biomechanics research group, I run a small biotech business, I teach a few engineering classes at university, I am married, I have hobbies like the fitness, Karate, Golf and hiking, so you can imagine I don't have time to study 27/7 :D. To put the proverbial cherry on the cake, I did the Japanese study in "secret" so that I can prank my wife next time we go to Japan (hopefully end of this year, she still doesn't know!). First of all, I think I am pretty "fluent" but some language extremists who only consider "native level" as fluent might not consider me fluent. But I can certainly speak it pretty well. Also as I indicated, I am pretty efficient at doing things and I am used to cramming in a lot of stuff into my head in a short time. And lastly, i probably have pretty decent talent to acquire languages, so learning them never gave me too much of a headache. Especially since I am not a perfectionist, I can live with making mistakes and learned to manage them in a way that I am sure to still be understood well enough, no matter which language I speak. :) good luck on your studies!
Wow, I was surprised art the end to see you're not a native English speaker. All around impressive. Finnish oof
Immersing your self is the key
I've remember when i first learnt english it was the traditional way of class rooms and memorizing greetings and so on but when i start following youtubers, memes pages on facebook and the most important is slang i felt like i improved it more ,and also through that you can figure out the keys of lang such as phresal verbs which is the most important thing in english for ex
Enhorabuena! Hace un par de años tuve que aprender alemán en tres semanas para acceder a un programa de prácticas al extranjero. Combiné lecciones de gramática en youtube con leer historias para principiantes y funcionó maravillosamente. Sobre todo porque me podía pasar el día leyendo historias de forma entretenida mientras mi cerebro iba consolidando poco a poco las palabras que aprendía. Muy buen vídeo!
Thanks mate. Yeah, exactly that. Once my spanish is a bit more advanced I have a massive series of books that I want to start. I think reading about 50 books in Spanish will be insanely powerful
Thank you for sharing your story and progress. I appreciate how practical you are in how you are learning Spanish. I really do not understand how others are learning a language in 3 mos and call themselves fluent speakers (maybe they are maybe they are not). But it is good to hear your story, it is encouraging.
Thanks Josie. I really struggled for a long time so I hope by making these videos I can save some people a lot of the stress and uncertainty I went through
I learned English as a child by watching cartoons (here in the NL we don't dub it in dutch) and playing video games. So, remembering this, I replayed games I'd already played with the language set to Italian, I watched Italian shows with english subs, and later with Italian subs, and it's actually going pretty well! The only thing is that it takes a lot of content input to get to grips with the language, plus I do need to look up or google translate a bunch of things.
Greetings from New Zealand. Gabriel Wyner talks about that in his book Fluent Forever. You may be interested in it. He does use flash cards, but his approach to them is very different from the usual, and he is also a big believer in not spending hours studying in the traditional way.
A tip I picked up with watching tv is to watch it with the closed captions (rather than subtitles) on, it helps with understanding how the written words are pronounced. Cheers.
The harder the language (hard being a term used to describe the difference between your NL and TL), the less "lazy" you get to be when starting language acquisition.
Comprehensible input is great and it is the only way (before getting into output) through which I picked up Italian (I'm a native English/Spanish speaker)....but for a harder language that alone was not enough (at least for me)...The first language I picked up after my native languages was Japanese. Japanese has wayy too many kanji characters to just learn through input. Not only this, but because Japanese is so widely different from both of my native languages.....I needed some kind of SRS (used anki) to be able to remember vocab and even grammar so that when I hear/see it, it would be easier to recognize and then input would help solidify what I have studied.
I'm currently polishing up on my French & Swedish and learning Spanish & Russian from scratch. It's not easy at all but I enjoy the process. Duolingo does help but it's not sufficient. RUclips has a lot of useful material and channels like this help me keep going.
Ive been watching dramas to learn Chinese. I just listen and certain words and phrases get repeated and I can start to make connections. They are useful as the translations are there as well.
I also get to understand the appropriate contexts for words and phrase use. Also the use of tones in different situations. It also helps me to familiarize myself with sound of the language.
I learn simple vocab on the side as well.
Warning, dramas are addictive.
Also immersion in the culture, eating and cooking, history helps too.
Great advice on this vid, thank you, I am encouraged.
I have only spoken very simple things like greetings, numbers, things I like.
Wish I could give you 10 thumbs up! This is what I've been preaching to my friends that struggle to commit to language learning. Consistency is king, be lazy and don't actively study, just let it wash over you, and the human brain *will* begin to absorb meaning over time!
It really doesn't have to be complicated! Thank you for checking out the video!
The method for learning a foreign language is the same as learning your native language. You need more or less constant exposure to it in a big variety of situations. Then it must be followed up with classroom style instruction.
Some people are rather gifted, and can learn to read and writing with very little formal instruction, while others are more or less dyslexic in their native language. I'm fluent in one language besides my native language, and I can read and write the language.
I'm not sure about the classroom instruction but certainly some conscious knowledge can be useful to monitor your own speech in order to avoid mistakes
@@matt_brooks-green Granted - NO classroom instruction is actually necessary, but is nevertheless extremely valuable. A deep knowledge of a language cannot be obtained without some reading and writing.
Great video! I am close to 700 hours learning Spanish with Comprehensible Input. I am still not speaking yet. We got this!
Great work! Keep going!
I dont know if this will help but actively trying to talk with people in your target language will help your brain acquire it so much quicker and actively recall words, even if that means just texting somebody in the language. I spent 4 months studying, reading, and watching things in russian, but nothing helped me get used to speaking better than an online chatroom did. Even if you need a translator to speak, dont get discouraged because at some point you will need the translator less and less often!!!
Great video and I have to say I agree. Learning a language is all about the long game. Your approach deals with the input side and means that when someone speaks to you, then you’ll understand. But languages are about communication so the key point is the other side: expressing yourself in your target language. For this, you need dialogue if your aim is to speak the language. An interesting intermediate step which combines comprehension and vocalisation is music. As a Eurovision nerd, for the last two years. I have been going to Benidorm fest, the Spanish selection competition. I’ve been coming back with a selection of Spanish songs, which have all increased my level of comprehension and, because I like to sing along, have increased my fluency. It’s also fun to impress Spanish people by singing along to their songs.
Yeah, you've got to speak at some point. Crosstalk and using the occasional word in the TL is baby steps for me before full blow TL conversations. Benidorm fest sounds fun!
Thanks :D
Awesome, bro!
🙏 Thank you!
Good to have you back posting. I am coming to the conclusion that you are right about starting out with 'simpler' material. I was an enthusiast for the idea that you should start from day one on 'real' language and that with plenty of exposure I'd eventually come to understand it. In reality, it hasn't really worked for me - while it is important I think to mix 'real' language with more understandable (i.e. deliberately slow and simple material), the latter is more important.
Hi Philip! Grat to be back. Yeah, I have tried using it, thinking it is somehow better. I really got nothing from it. When we speak to children we alter our speech compared to chatting with adults. Children aren't expected to understand content above their level, even when they are native speakers. Linguistically we start off as babies. We can't expect toddlers to understand videos or books designed for adults. There are obvious differences between us an children but I think linguistically we are more similar than we think
@@matt_brooks-green The more I think about it, the more I think its important to make a distinction between slowly enunciated language (like you get on many apps, or teachers will use), where they pronounce each word separately, as opposed to speaking slowly and clearly, but still naturally (i.e. maintaining the pattern of a 'real' spoken sentence). When you do the former, I think you are teaching a false form of the language, which leads students to getting hopelessly lost when they find themselves exposed to the language as the natives speak. While with the latter, they can make the step across from prepared materials to the real thing.
Thanks for the graded reader tip! It was a revelation! They are on RUclips too! Thanks!!!
Maaaan, I wish I knew about graded readers sooner. I feel like less experienced learners don't know they exist which is a real shame! Thanks for checking out the channel!
This video is very helpful😊
Great advice! I lived in Mexico for 3 years and it was sink or swim.
I've been back in Canada for many years. I don't like listening to music or podcasts except when I'm exercising. So when I exercise I play Spanish-language reggaeton and other music that I like. The lyrics are simple and you hear the songs many times over the months or years.
Or I listen to Spanish-language podcasts about topics that interest me (mostly astronomy). Sometimes I follow along to exercise videos in Spanish. You'd be surprised how many there are on RUclips.
Most evenings I watch movies and TV shows in Spanish.
I also want to practice speaking. The last place I lived, I started a Spanish conversation group. In my current location, I have one local language partner, and one long-distance language partner I met on Tandem (a language exchange app).
I am aware of some grammar gaps, so when I'm in the mood I watch instructional RUclipss appropriate to my level. (There are tests you can do to find your level.)
If any of this wasn't fun I wouldn't be doing it.
oh I love the spatula you use instead of a pointer! 😀
sentence mining really works well with understanding and expanding my knowledge of grammar and vocabulary..
Merci beaucoup.
I intuitively got completely fluent in English just this way. I'm a native Russian, and at some point when I had good-enough comprehension of English, I've gone all-in on immersing myself. I've switched all of my devices' system language to English, viewed all my apps and websites in English instead of Russian, started watching English-speaking RUclipsrs instead of Russian ones. This was the turning point for me, I've for the first time learned to comprehend English by listening and not only reading this way, learned to form any sentences.
But, as for the basics of English which I had to learn before that, I have no idea how I've gone about learning them since that was so long ago, and I was a little kid back then.
Thanks, this is great advice.
I was thinking along the lines of what you've mentioned; immersing in podcasts, films etc. and listening to things in the target language.
I'm thinking now, after watching your video - the way we learn to speak as children, and at the same time learning to speak our language - we learn from watching, listening and observation - and after that we learn to read and write.
So it would make more sense to do it that way.
Although I suppose learning to read and write the target language would start to happen a lot sooner than the time-frame of learning as children.
That might seem obvious, but the takeaway is to concentrate on listening to and understanding the target language, instead of trying to read and write it at the same time - initially.
Do what you can with what you have in the time you have. That's how I learned and continue to learn Spanish.
I'm starting to learn Spanish from today. Wish me luck! Thank you for explanation about Spanish for us!
mee too
Mad good video. Ultimately,
1. Doing something you will ACTUALLY enjoy
and 2. Something that you can afford to put time into is the best way to learn.
Thank you!
I think this is a pretty interesting and often overlooked point about language learning. It is also important to mention that learning can never be left out completely and that the amount of learning is dependent on your current skill level. A complete beginner will need to start out learning basic vocabulary and grammar (depending on the language, also alphabets) simply because without this there is no comprehensible input they can use to acquire a language. I find that at the start working through a good textbook helps a lot. They often combine grammar and vocab learning but also give you comprehensible input to acquire the newly gained knowledge and they give you the chance to practice (and thus solidify the newly gained knowledge) by having you produce output (especially if they have a workbook).
After gaining a solid beginner knowledge of the language I think it's very important to find other sourced of comprehensible input. I still wouldn't stop learning because you will always need the learning in order to make new input comprehensible but learning should not be the main thing you are doing. Focusing on learning alone is like trying to learn the piano by only watching instruction videos and never actually playing it. If you don't use the newly learned knowledge your brain will think it's useless and just throw it out again.
By the way, this is also one of the many reasons why taking classes is so helpful. In a class environment you can try to use the language in many different contexts, you can work together with other people who are at around the same level as you are, while the teacher acts as a sort of scaffolding to the whole learning process. A good teacher guides you through the work material by giving you additional explanations, they tell you when something you do is incorrect while also helping you to turn the given material of a lesson into comprehensible input.
As for communication skills I learn whole sentences saying them aloud. 5 days - 300 repetitions per day at least. Later I don't need to translate. I know the meaning of words straight away like in my native language. And also I remember the meaning longer than by learning separate words. This method is called: chunking. It was a real game changer in my learning process in English and other languages.😊
I know I learnt English through immersion and I know it worked. I wasn't even actively trying to learn, I just used English internet because I liked the content there more than my native language content. Yet now when I'm trying to learn German the first thing I did was to look up grammar tables. For some reason I didn't even consider trying the same approach that made me learn English until fluency. Though to be fair, it did take around 5 years of me using English internet before I became fluent.
Finally, I have been waiting for you to make another video. I can't wait to hear you speak Spanish for the first time. I'm currently at 85 hours of input on Dreaming Spanish, and these videos are very motivating for me.
Thanks William. I’m going to document the whole thing so watch this space!
These are fantastic ideas and make me feel like I can do it! I’m going to look up some cartoons for children so that I can have at little bit of fun while learning because I plan on speaking it too.
Very interesting video. I'm learning Thai, it's the first language I've properly attempted learning and I have a tutor. It's so hard to do a level of imersion when you have no clue about the language.
Over time it builds up, I pick up words and then start to piece a sentence together as best as I can. Maybe I can't reply a lot of the time but I can definitely get a gauge and understand what the conversation is about.
I can speak a very basic level of Thai now in a conversation, introducing myself, ordering food somewhat and saying where something is. It's probably the hardest thing I've ever done, very easy to beat yourself up if you have a few days off from learning or a week but when you get back to it and understand that little bit more is just so fulfilling.
Keep up the great content
Cheers dude! Thailand kind of has the home of the ALG method. Not sure how much content is online for it but probably worth a look!
Thai is probably the language with the most comprehensible input material on RUclips! The one with the most content is Comprehensible Thai, I think they are at nearly 1000 hours of content, split up into several beginner and intermediate playlists. A lot of the teachers there are former teachers at AUA (where I think ALG was developed). There's also Understand Thai and Riam Thai, excellent resources for Comprehensible Input in Thai. I'm 800 hours into Thai, and I agree with everything you mention in the video, seems like the best way to learn a language. @@matt_brooks-green
Great video! I've been incorporating this approach into my English learning journey and it has greatly improved my listening skills. However, I've noticed that due to my excessive focus on listening, my speaking skills have suffered.
That's always the way. I guess it's not that they have suffered, more that they have not had as much time to develop. With more practice it will come
Thank you ♥
Podcasts are great you can play them over and over also songs are great to learn singing along is both fun and you practising pronunciation without realising it. And I found that listening to interviews on YT gives helpful insights into the everyday language
Thank you so much! Even though I've heard tons of times about the acquisition methods, storytelling and such, I feel is very easy to fall back into the classic school/ uni methods of learning. Simply because is what we've been told our whole lives and once you've been told something, for years, from a very young age, is very hard to fully detached from that way of thinking. However.... and I'm not trying to discredit you or the methods mentioned but I feel that there're 2 small crimps about this way of learning: Speaking and writing. How much of a handicap this actually is? depends on your goals. If you just need to understand the language, sometimes speak it and rarely write it (or you don't need to be proficient in these last 2), ok the acquisition methods are gold. But, if you are like me, and the goal is to speak, write, read and listen fluently, to appear as native as possible, then those methods are more on the bronze side. So my conclusion is that those methods are really good for one part of the learning journey, but there's another part that you do need in fact to sit down and speak (or shadow) and write in order for all the the language skills to be on the same level and reach full-on fluency.
This is a great video man.
I like the trick of imagining what level you'd have if you did all this stuff that's not realistic, and then imagining what else you'd give up to get to that level.
Thanks man. I think some people worry about optimising their input so much that it creates stress and psychological barriers to progress (ie the fear their not acquiring it fast enough). Lots of input you understand over a long enough period is a solid place to start for most people
For me, speaking my target language is very important because I feel like it cements in my mind the things I've learned. I learn by doing, and I consider speaking one of those things I do to get better at learning the language.
I also completely agree that the thing you'll actually do is the most effective way to learn. Very good advice.
Hey Matt, thanks for the video. I teach an endangered language that only came into written form in 2008. Up until about 5 years ago, I only taught grammar…and none of my students could hold conversations, even though they knew all the “rules.” I became aware of comprehensible input, and immediately switched my program to that method. Only 6 classes into it, my students could speak, read and write. It was shocking! Now I have taught over 50 groups of students, and all that go through my program, end up speaking, reading and writing in a very short period of time. Everything you said is so true. I have proved it over and over in my live online courses. My students report that between classes, the words and sentences just randomly pop into their minds, without the need to really “study.” It is pretty low effort for them. And fun to watch them grow. 🤩
That's so cool! Well done
Thank you for this informative video. Your advice makes a lot of sense. The only problem is that for some languages (including several I'm learning) materials like podcasts and graded readers simply don't exist thus I'll have a very hard time learning them in a lazy way.
Thanks Facundo Roncaglia for this video!
Hola me encanto tu video estoy en super estancada en mi nivel soy intermedio en ingles asi que mirare tu video varias veces ya que me gusta y asi preaticare mi input,gracias
30k views, man. I'm proud of you. Keep up the good work.
Cheers buddy 🙏
When i saw the name of the video i thought this makes no sense, but once i watched it i realized i learned english this way lol. I got to some basic level and then started watching english youtube, and 2 years later i'm pretty fluent in it. One huge benefit is it all comes naturally, just like learning your first language and even if your vocabulary is smaller than of some guy who learns 50 new words every month, your understanding and speaking abilities might be way more coherent and strong. So not only this is an easier way to learn a language, but also a better one.
Thank you for this video because as ive said until now i didn't realize i learned english this way, and now when im learning french it will be of a great help for me.
Amazing video. When you are advanced in a language, you learn the tongue in the ''automatic pilot''.
Hey nice vid! i always love to getting emerging small youtube channels who put a lot of effort into editing & content on my recommended algorithm.
I've started to learn chinese 12 days ago with duolingo and ever since i started i knew that i would only be using duolingo for breaking the beginner barrier. after that i am going to learn chinese the same way as i learnt english and portuguese, consuming visual & auditory content(movies, series, games, video essays, memes) and i'm confident that i am going to make this through(i've already begun to speak chinese to my internet friends and strangers online).
i'm really happy that over the last years this learning method has been made known to even more people and that the usuall academic way of learning a language is frustrating and unefficient. also the fact that the internet exists, we would all probably be monolinguistic were it not for it xD
There are a lot of comprehensible input Mandarin channels on RUclips so you're in the right place!
What a valuable video
Thank you 🙏
Very smart. This is a very wise man
I don't feel that wise surprisingly but thank you for checking out the video!
Listening to music of the language you want to learn helps heaps. Especially in your favourite genre with a foreign artist
Could you do a video on reading verses listening, when to start which and how it affects or doesnt affect your pronunciation
Listen from day one. Reading I would delay until you actually want to. It's another great form of input but it's not essential initially. I don't know the effect on pronunciation and don't know if there is any evidence for it but I do feel I would have ingrained bad habits if I did a lot of reading without having a solid idea for the sounds of the language
@@matt_brooks-green okay thx! I ask because I've learned Spanish with the traditional methods of study but as I progressed transitioned to input based methods and I've been studying Arabic for a while and have done entirely input but a lot of that includes listening. Now I'm starting with Swedish and I listened to a lot but ultimately I gave in and started to read just because I pick up vocabulary so quickly that way, but I don't want it to affect my pronunciation down the road.
The idea to gradually increase the level of input is good, but I've sometimes found it hard it find something at a good level, so I often end up listening to stuff that is harder than it should be, but it is what I got, and though it is not optimal, it does help.
Yeah, that's an issue but by sticking with a particular accent that is more familiar or just searching for different content the will be something out there
I love the Ideas shared on your video, (Great sense Of Humour) There is one thing I would add to your list of tips and advise about being actively lazy, that is start speaking from day one;.As most of us as learners already know certain words in the target language wether in French or Spanish and even Chinese just say the odd word now and then reinforces the desire to speak out loud kind regards W Robinson...
Thanks so much. I don't enjoy speaking from day one but we are all different. Ultimately you have to do what works for you. Thanks for checking out the video!
This is just spot on! Sometimes the most effective method is the one that requires less effort. Take me for instance, when I was avidly learning French attending classes and all that I understood but couldn't do much outside the classroom but by binging Kdramas, listening to Kpop, snooping around K news with Immersive Translate and watching subbed shows. I can even speak. I thought it was crazy but it probably is how the brain works when it feels relaxed it's easier to capture
thanks
This might work for me because an year or two ago. I started watching this historic drama called Omar RA and it was in Arabic. The series was all completed but being shown on TV only once a week and it just showed English subtitles. After watching a few episodes and reading the subtitles I just started understanding some stuff because I was actually enjoying it. Later I went to YT and found the full series but without the subtitles, I eventually had to put the effort in to understand. So because I understood some words I could eventually make out what they were saying though not sure how accurate I was and not always did I manage to make out what they were saying. What also helped me out was that when I was memorising the second chapter of the Holy Qur’an I used a website that showed the translation per word. So over time I’d gotten used to knowing what certain words meant.
So I guess that the following:
Watching something you enjoy
Reading, learning to read the language
honestly i’m glad i like sitting down and actually actively studying languages; for some facets of certain languages it is an absolute necessity. an example would be chinese; unfortunately there isn’t really a way to more passively learn [to write] characters. languages with difficult grammar rules would be another example although to a lesser extent because we DO naturally pick up on patterns. comprehensible input is such an enjoyable method overall though-it’s fun to listen to/read something you mostly understand because it feels like an achievement + it doesn’t explicitly feel like “work” or “studying”