@bigpete871 It is actually quite common for immigrant children to speak more and more English, which they learn at school and from their peers, and eventually that becomes the language they use with their parents. No we always spoke English in Japan. We were there as temporary residents, not immigrants intending to become Japanese, and the kids went to international school and were really in an English not Japanese environment.
As a beginner I suggest you go to LingQ. The audio book on the 30 years war is not for beginners, Georg Schmidt wrote it, and Bodo Primus reads it, from AME Hoeren. 2 cds 158 minutes long.
@614jgirl If yo learn the languages through massive input, listening and reading, you tend not to forget them. I do not practice every day and go for months and years without using them. They often improve on their own while I learn other languages.
He's my role model! I used LingQ to learn portuguese. Now I volunteer as a portuguese to english interpreter at my church. I also teach an english class to portuguese native speakers. Now I'm at a low intermediate level in German. I read German with LingQ, and recently found a native German speaker tutor where I live. Thanks Steve!
When there are many words I don't know I read on the computer, and usually listen to the audio of the same text. I use LingQ, or I use a reader with a glossary for each lesson. It is only when I am further along that I read without a dictionary or glossary or without LingQ.
Thanks for sharing your experience Steve. Similar to your method, my biggest investment when started to learn English in the 70's was an novel in English which cost 1/3 of my monthly salary. I just delved into the book by using limited vocabulary and constantly checking the dictionary, as time went by the frequency of dictionary usage dropped dramatically. After reading several novels and other books I suddenly found that I could communicate quite confidently in English, I never tried to memorize new words, they just pop up in my mind whenever I wanted to write or say something, specially after a couple of beers. Lol
@LukaSkrbic No my family was Jewish but they felt themselves, I think, more a part of German culture. As soon as Czechoslovakia was formed they went to Czech schools. I know that my father had mostly Czech friends at university etc. However, the coffee house that the Jewish community frequented in their town was apparently called the Deutsches Haus. This community was wiped out by Hitler and his willing henchmen, including many Germans living in Czechoslovakia at that time. History.
I agree 100 % with Steve. The most important is to read and listen, you just have to start doing it, no matter how much. I suppose many people won't be able to read many pages in their first month, but start with some sentences, then do more as you progress. Same goes for any other language. Although I personally like to put some more effort in grammar too, but I do it i a manner that if I see a structure I don't know, I just look it up and learn it. I don't sit and read grammar like a book.
@vinayaka70 Just to show that I have been working on my languages at LingQ here are my known words total in all the languages as counted by LingQ. More than anything this just indicates my level of activity rather than what I know. Czech (24686) Russian (75885) Italian (16012) Spanish (16944) German (17137) Chinese (2728) French (3910) Korean (6077) Dutch (365) Japanese (1081) Swedish (3173) Portuguese (17218) English (4788)
Really interesting, I have an uncle situated in Vancouver who worked with lumber as well, of German origin. However, being in a country is what gives you so much input which no language course can ever give you. I just passed two days in Poland and enjoyed the possibility to try to communicate with people knowing few words I read before, asking for directions, also using sign language and accumulating so much in this little time. I think the most important is to not be afraid to speak, even if there is not so much basic knowledge and trying to go into depth afterwards and then try again. Must have a look at your method.:) By the way, I saw some of your videos and from my knowledge can tell you that your pronunciation in German and Italian is very good. Keep up the good work :)
@vinayaka70 It is mostly in the last 10 years that I have been so keen on learning and improving in my languages, but there were other periods where I would go at it for a few months or so, as I will explain in the next few videos. I think that LingQ has enabled me to easily go and refresh in my languages. Today I speak them all better than ever.
@archa000 I agree with this. I regularly review grammar, either to look something up, or just to flip through a short grammar book. It is just that I spend very little time on it, and never expect to remember or learn anything. It is just a part of getting familiar with how the language works.
@TheSeductiveArts " I can't learn Spanish, because I will mix it up with my Italian " you need to trust yourself a little more. You can do whatever you want to.
Get a little Spanish grammar book or google Spanish grammar. The read and listen to things of interest at your level where you have glossaries, or just use LingQ.
Great video, I love the story telling and it's helpful to know how you went about learning German. I'm trying to learn German now, but I also feel the rules and tables are difficult to remember-- I will try to do more reading and listening as you suggest. Thank you for sharing your experience!
@chasejapan I wrote one about 7 years ago. The Linguist, a language learning Odyssey. You can read it at TheLinguist(dot) com website or order it from Amazon. It has been translated into 5 or 6 languages and is available as audio books at LingQ.
@Minnikoo It is a gradual process, with moments where you feel you have made gains, and moments when you feel that you have stagnated. I really feel that I am turning the corner on my Czech now. I guess I have put in 150 hours so far.
@lingosteve I can slightly agree with this, I just look at language learning as a very special asset to posses, and most children in America are monolingual, and I think a parent would be equipping their child with a life skill by easily teaching them their language.
Thank you for sharing this. Being Austrian myself and having followed your channel for quite some time now, I really found it interesting to hear about your ancestral background and about how you learned German.
I listen to Swedish radio for passive exposure to the language. And it really helps, you start to automatically register new phrases and learning through a textbook becomes very fluid.
I also think its good to start with listening and some reading as well. I have massive paperback Russian literature collection I bought here in Moscow for next to nothing. Music is a great place to start. The melodies can make it easier to remember the words you hear and you will become accustomed to the new sounds in the foreign language. I learned Russian in university, but I think listening to the Russian rock group Kino for hours on end is what helped me the most. Also films are great, especially once you can watch them with subtitles in the spoken language, which gives you good word to sound association.
my parents did not force the japanese language in the house. By the 2nd grade, they allowed me to quit the "japanese" after-school school (Kumon). 20 some years later, I have so much trouble trying to learn japanese. I am sad :-(
trying to learn german to appreciate my great-grandma who has sadly passed away but she was german and I want to learn the language with no previous knowledge
Steve, I completely disagree with your statement on parents who speak their natural language with their children. Both of my parents were not born in the States and none of em were raised in English. My Dad is from Chile. My mom is from Germany. So I grew up speaking 3 languages. How do you like that? I never felt emotionally blackmailed by my parents or pressured to identify with either of their cultures. We did speak BOTH languages at home though haha Whenever I'm alone together with my Dad, to this day, we speak Spanish. I also speak German with my Mom. As a family, we speak mostly German. My dad has some German heritage too, so his German is much better than my Mom's Spanish. She's trying hard to master it though. We never speak English. Only when it's inevitable of course. Like when there's other people around and stuff
+Frank Paul Lomas theres a difference when parents speak to you in their native language from the day you were born, rather than for example, being 13 years old and suddenly parents want/ expect you to learn their (parent) native language.
There are a few books centered around teaching Japanese through manga. Japanese in Mangaland, Kanji in Mangaland, Japanese the Manga way, Kanji de Manga vols 1-7. These are all presented as manga, but also focus on teaching vocabulary and grammar. Japanese in Mangaland 1 + 2 even have workbooks for additional practice. These might prove useful/fun to you. One of my friends said he learned more English reading Calvin & Hobbes comics than he did in school! :)
Gracias Steve, estudiè German in el colegio only one year, but i remenber just a some songs like carols . ahora estoy estudiando frances con un profesor que viene a mi casa y comenzò mi hijo de 18 años a estudiarlo tambièn,el habla un poco de mandarin e inglès bien,y por su cuenta esta aprendiendo ruso.
Many of us including myself lived through the immigrant experience. The parents' generation often feel that there are certain things we do back home that are better than the Canadian way. Kids get very academic and study all the time. And they would be playing the piano or violin. When we were younger, many of us tend to associate our culture as being strict / discipline or money-oriented. Parents trying to get kids to speak the mother-tongue is 1 thing but they often answer back in English...
It saddens me that you don't appreciate your roots. But I enjoy your linguistic flashbacks, as I am in this language learning process as well. Have been for quite some time. Your advice certainly helps! Thank you for your videos, they are fascinating.
@AndresJC777 I think that kids should find their own way. I believe that identity or culture is not tied to the DNA. I think that newcomer kids to a country are happier if they identify with the main culture. They can then study whatever language interests them. I find it ridiculous, for example, when the parents of adopted children push them to learn the language of their ancestors. This may be a minority view these days, but that is what I think.
Steve, I don't know if you're going to read this, but I've to say that I really enjoyed your speech and how interesting your life is. I'm taking advice to polish my french ;D
Have you been to Prostejov or plan going there any time soon? Designed the wastewater treatment plant there some decades ago and have never seen it operating. Another topic to complement the familiar woodpecking...
In some cases, it's crucial for parents to try to teach their children their ancestral language. I say this in regard to dying or endangered languages, such as many Native American languages, numerous languages/dialects in Africa, languages of natives in Russia, etc. Having grown up in Alaska, I appreciate firsthand how important it is to keep these languages and cultures alive. Some of these languages have only a few dozen native speakers left. I think it's regretful when a language dies.
thanks Steve, I enjoy your videos and all your hard work you do to get out your new videos. I am now loving LingQ it is a great approach to learning a language and I found out that PIMSLEUR works pretty good two, I listen then wright it all down in English then rewrite it in German, along with a good German book called AUF DEUTSH BITTE. Thanks Man!
I'm an undergrad history student focusing on central Europe (ich bin lerne deutches) and I'm curious on what life was life during the rule of the Austrio-Hungarian Empire. Could you shed some insight on their personal experiences during their reign?
How are we supposed to find comments in order to answer them. It seems I can only get to the whole list and then it is very time consuming to find the comment that we want to reply to. Anyone know?
hello ,Steve, my speak the arabic and I want learning English, and I my listening the story and reading and repeat the pronunciation, and this my story (level1 -Classic tales cooking ), but can I translate story from word English to arabic ? I hope my writing will be correct
Oh wow, so your roots are in Prostějov then? I currently live in Olomouc, which is near there (I come from the Czech Republic)! Well I accidentaly came to this video but never have thought I'd discover an English speaker interested in Czech language! I admire you for that as I know it's a difficult language to learn for most people. Good luck with whatever language you're learning now, Steve!
Hi Steve. How do you feel about parents who are both of the same nationality, let's say Danish, who teach their child that language in addition to the language of the country they are currently in? One parent speaks Danish, the other only speaks English to the child. I'm imagining how infuriating it must be to not be able to speak to your own child in your own native language. There is really no downside if the child still speaks English in my opinion.
This is an interesting question. It would seem likely that the child would become bilingual eventually, whether the native language (danish) was spoken exclusively at home and the child learned english at school, or if the parents used both languages from day 1. There are definite social and linguistic benefits to child, learning both languages from the get-go, rather than waiting until school starts, but I would wonder if the non-native level of the parent speaking english would compromise those benefits in some way, weather it be in regards to language acquisition or parent child bonding.
Steve, in the video you mentioned that you dislike parents forcing their children to speak their heritage language. This sort of suprised me in a way, and I have always felt it is a great disfavor for parents to not teach their children a second language if they could. But if possilble could you explain a little bit of why you hate when parents force a language on a child?
Dear Mr Kaufmann, I have only just discovered your RUclips channel, which offers some very good, widely-applicable advice on learning languages. I have, for some time, wanted to learn German (mainly because I like Germany as a vacation destination but also to enable me to enjoy German opera more fully). While I was fairly competent at French and Welsh at school (I am originally from Wales), I'm now in my mid-50s and, having browsed several 'Learn German' textbooks, I think I'd still be able to learn a reasonable amount of vocabulary but won't be able to commit to memory the associated genders (I had no problem with this in French all those years ago!). Am I simply too old to start German? I was also interested in your own initial approach of reading general-interest German-language books and of listening to interviews in the language but how on earth did you even start to decipher the text and recordings without a good preliminary grasp of the basics? With many thanks from Oxford.
Hallo Steve , Ich heiße Enas , ich komme aus Ägypten , ich bin ein und zwanzig Jahre alt und ich lerne Deutsch dann es ist interessant , I'm trying to learn German , still a beginner but it's kind of hard for me cause I'm an Arabic native speaker so sometimes it's confusing the sentence structure and grammar but it's fun learning though
Do you do a daily workout using all of the languages you learned. If you don't practice the languages you learned every day or a couple of times a week will forget them?
These new stories how you when about learning languages are rather interesting. Not sure if you got a request for this one yet but I,m curious and I bet others are too How did you go about learning Russian? what inspired you to learn such a formidable language a very fascinating one indeed and very elegant in my opinion but what sparked you to go dive right into it? I put Russian on my languages to learn last year I really like how the writing is and spoken Russian sounds amazing too.
How do you feel about self-teaching software and books for learning German? (I am using several right now combined with reading and listening). Are they a solid learning resource?
Mr.Steve, should I neglect learning how to write german and focus more on reading, listening and speaking? So I can improve better or it is better to do writing also? Thank you.
Hi Steve, when you did a lot of reading and listening in German or in any language that you were studying, did you already have the basic foundation of the language, in other words, did you understand or partially understand the material you were reading and listening to? I am studying Spanish and when I read I don't understand what I am reading, should I continue to read (don't see how this will help) or should I move onto easier material that I somewhat understand?
Steve im trying my best to learn Italian and I don't know how or where to start do you have a video about a strategy or process I could learn from or could you make a video on it ? id be very appreciative for your help . I have 2 sound cds and two books one on vocab and other on grammar
How do you start reading as a basic newcomer when the percentage of known words is fewer than unknown? Do you just look for the words you know and just get a feel for the new words and their context? I’m currently using LingQ, Babbel and FlashAcademy to get some exposure but I also want that exposure to words in books.
I start with easier content and just keep going, creating LingQs, listening, reading, listening and reading again, reviewing the words and phrases again and again. Lots of repetition in the beginning in order to get some traction.
It's up to you. I don't find children's stories easy. Newspapers are difficult at first. Use the content in the LingQ library. I like the mini-stories for those languages where they exist. Search for "mini" and you will find them.
@Imyirtshashem That is exactly how I feel, I am just a typical American with no real hertitage ties, but if my family was directly from another country and spoke a different language and never taught me, I would feel left out and upset most of the time.
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
Your stories are always very interesting Steve.
@bigpete871 It is actually quite common for immigrant children to speak more and more English, which they learn at school and from their peers, and eventually that becomes the language they use with their parents.
No we always spoke English in Japan. We were there as temporary residents, not immigrants intending to become Japanese, and the kids went to international school and were really in an English not Japanese environment.
As a beginner I suggest you go to LingQ. The audio book on the 30 years war is not for beginners, Georg Schmidt wrote it, and Bodo Primus reads it, from AME Hoeren. 2 cds 158 minutes long.
@614jgirl If yo learn the languages through massive input, listening and reading, you tend not to forget them. I do not practice every day and go for months and years without using them. They often improve on their own while I learn other languages.
He's my role model! I used LingQ to learn portuguese. Now I volunteer as a portuguese to english interpreter at my church. I also teach an english class to portuguese native speakers. Now I'm at a low intermediate level in German. I read German with LingQ, and recently found a native German speaker tutor where I live. Thanks Steve!
When there are many words I don't know I read on the computer, and usually listen to the audio of the same text. I use LingQ, or I use a reader with a glossary for each lesson. It is only when I am further along that I read without a dictionary or glossary or without LingQ.
Thanks for sharing your experience Steve. Similar to your method, my biggest investment when started to learn English in the 70's was an novel in English which cost 1/3 of my monthly salary. I just delved into the book by using limited vocabulary and constantly checking the dictionary, as time went by the frequency of dictionary usage dropped dramatically. After reading several novels and other books I suddenly found that I could communicate quite confidently in English, I never tried to memorize new words, they just pop up in my mind whenever I wanted to write or say something, specially after a couple of beers. Lol
@AndresJC777 As long as the kid wants it. But often parents push it too hard with negative results.
@LukaSkrbic No my family was Jewish but they felt themselves, I think, more a part of German culture. As soon as Czechoslovakia was formed they went to Czech schools. I know that my father had mostly Czech friends at university etc. However, the coffee house that the Jewish community frequented in their town was apparently called the Deutsches Haus. This community was wiped out by Hitler and his willing henchmen, including many Germans living in Czechoslovakia at that time. History.
@daysin1234 That is great to hear. We are working to make it better all the time.
German is HARD, i am learning it and i sweat for sure BUT i love it, so i take it easy with no pressure and just enjoy the road.
@Septhiy Not much I can say since they were born in 1910 and 1914 just before WW1.
I agree 100 % with Steve. The most important is to read and listen, you just have to start doing it, no matter how much. I suppose many people won't be able to read many pages in their first month, but start with some sentences, then do more as you progress. Same goes for any other language. Although I personally like to put some more effort in grammar too, but I do it i a manner that if I see a structure I don't know, I just look it up and learn it. I don't sit and read grammar like a book.
@vinayaka70 Just to show that I have been working on my languages at LingQ here are my known words total in all the languages as counted by LingQ. More than anything this just indicates my level of activity rather than what I know.
Czech (24686)
Russian (75885)
Italian (16012)
Spanish (16944)
German (17137)
Chinese (2728)
French (3910)
Korean (6077)
Dutch (365)
Japanese (1081)
Swedish (3173)
Portuguese (17218)
English (4788)
I completely agree... This is my first time coming across this guy and I'm already mesmerized.
Really interesting, I have an uncle situated in Vancouver who worked with lumber as well, of German origin. However, being in a country is what gives you so much input which no language course can ever give you. I just passed two days in Poland and enjoyed the possibility to try to communicate with people knowing few words I read before, asking for directions, also using sign language and accumulating so much in this little time. I think the most important is to not be afraid to speak, even if there is not so much basic knowledge and trying to go into depth afterwards and then try again. Must have a look at your method.:) By the way, I saw some of your videos and from my knowledge can tell you that your pronunciation in German and Italian is very good. Keep up the good work :)
Thanks for the kind words.
Thanks for the kind words Ethan.
@vinayaka70 It is mostly in the last 10 years that I have been so keen on learning and improving in my languages, but there were other periods where I would go at it for a few months or so, as I will explain in the next few videos. I think that LingQ has enabled me to easily go and refresh in my languages. Today I speak them all better than ever.
@archa000 I agree with this. I regularly review grammar, either to look something up, or just to flip through a short grammar book. It is just that I spend very little time on it, and never expect to remember or learn anything. It is just a part of getting familiar with how the language works.
Absolutely stunning live story!! Thanks very much Steve!!
@TheSeductiveArts " I can't learn Spanish, because I will mix it up with my Italian " you need to trust yourself a little more. You can do whatever you want to.
Get a little Spanish grammar book or google Spanish grammar. The read and listen to things of interest at your level where you have glossaries, or just use LingQ.
Just check out LingQ. You will find lots of audio and text contents for free download, and a system that really works if you want to use it.
Thank you and good luck in your language studies.
Great video, I love the story telling and it's helpful to know how you went about learning German. I'm trying to learn German now, but I also feel the rules and tables are difficult to remember-- I will try to do more reading and listening as you suggest. Thank you for sharing your experience!
Will do, maybe the next video.
@chasejapan I wrote one about 7 years ago. The Linguist, a language learning Odyssey. You can read it at TheLinguist(dot) com website or order it from Amazon. It has been translated into 5 or 6 languages and is available as audio books at LingQ.
@Minnikoo It is a gradual process, with moments where you feel you have made gains, and moments when you feel that you have stagnated. I really feel that I am turning the corner on my Czech now. I guess I have put in 150 hours so far.
@lingosteve I can slightly agree with this, I just look at language learning as a very special asset to posses, and most children in America are monolingual, and I think a parent would be equipping their child with a life skill by easily teaching them their language.
Thank you for sharing this. Being Austrian myself and having followed your channel for quite some time now, I really found it interesting to hear about your ancestral background and about how you learned German.
@utubesqueeze Yes most of these stories are in the book.
@DarkOchestra2008 Will do.
I suggest you give LingQ a try. Let me know how it goes.
I listen to Swedish radio for passive exposure to the language. And it really helps, you start to automatically register new phrases and learning through a textbook becomes very fluid.
Viele Grüße aus Hamburg/Deutschland!
Very fascinating story, Steve! Your videos gives me a motivation boost for learning languages! :)
This is probably the best resource I find on learning languages! Good Job Steve! Yeah for Canadian!
Quite an interesting life story, Steve. I'm currently studying German, so this provided some much needed motivation. Keep up the good work with Czech!
I also think its good to start with listening and some reading as well. I have massive paperback Russian literature collection I bought here in Moscow for next to nothing. Music is a great place to start. The melodies can make it easier to remember the words you hear and you will become accustomed to the new sounds in the foreign language. I learned Russian in university, but I think listening to the Russian rock group Kino for hours on end is what helped me the most. Also films are great, especially once you can watch them with subtitles in the spoken language, which gives you good word to sound association.
You are an amazing person.Thanks for doing what you do.
Ja, genau!
Gude! Sie führen das Wappen Darmstadts.
my parents did not force the japanese language in the house. By the 2nd grade, they allowed me to quit the "japanese" after-school school (Kumon). 20 some years later, I have so much trouble trying to learn japanese. I am sad :-(
I find these videos very interesting. Thanks for posting them.
I honestly find your stories fascinating. I really wish I could learn nearly half of what you've learned.
@NarcissusXXIII Will do
It takes time to improve. Check my stats at LingQ to see how active I am.
@utubesqueeze agreed!
trying to learn german to appreciate my great-grandma who has sadly passed away but she was german and I want to learn the language with no previous knowledge
Steve, I completely disagree with your statement on parents who speak their natural language with their children. Both of my parents were not born in the States and none of em were raised in English. My Dad is from Chile. My mom is from Germany. So I grew up speaking 3 languages. How do you like that?
I never felt emotionally blackmailed by my parents or pressured to identify with either of their cultures. We did speak BOTH languages at home though haha
Whenever I'm alone together with my Dad, to this day, we speak Spanish. I also speak German with my Mom. As a family, we speak mostly German. My dad has some German heritage too, so his German is much better than my Mom's Spanish. She's trying hard to master it though. We never speak English. Only when it's inevitable of course. Like when there's other people around and stuff
+Frank Paul Lomas theres a difference when parents speak to you in their native language from the day you were born, rather than for example, being 13 years old and suddenly parents want/ expect you to learn their (parent) native language.
La volaita
Fascinating story! Keep them coming
An amazing story. Thank you so much for sharing. 😊
@Imyirtshashem I don't see why the pride or interest of the parents should be foisted on the child.
There are a few books centered around teaching Japanese through manga. Japanese in Mangaland, Kanji in Mangaland, Japanese the Manga way, Kanji de Manga vols 1-7. These are all presented as manga, but also focus on teaching vocabulary and grammar. Japanese in Mangaland 1 + 2 even have workbooks for additional practice. These might prove useful/fun to you. One of my friends said he learned more English reading Calvin & Hobbes comics than he did in school! :)
Gracias Steve, estudiè German in el colegio only one year, but i remenber just a some songs like carols . ahora estoy estudiando frances con un profesor que viene a mi casa y comenzò mi hijo de 18 años a estudiarlo tambièn,el habla un poco de mandarin e inglès bien,y por su cuenta esta aprendiendo ruso.
these have all been very enjoyable, as well as insightful.
Many of us including myself lived through the immigrant experience. The parents' generation often feel that there are certain things we do back home that are better than the Canadian way. Kids get very academic and study all the time. And they would be playing the piano or violin. When we were younger, many of us tend to associate our culture as being strict / discipline or money-oriented. Parents trying to get kids to speak the mother-tongue is 1 thing but they often answer back in English...
It saddens me that you don't appreciate your roots. But I enjoy your linguistic flashbacks, as I am in this language learning process as well. Have been for quite some time. Your advice certainly helps! Thank you for your videos, they are fascinating.
@AndresJC777 I think that kids should find their own way. I believe that identity or culture is not tied to the DNA. I think that newcomer kids to a country are happier if they identify with the main culture. They can then study whatever language interests them. I find it ridiculous, for example, when the parents of adopted children push them to learn the language of their ancestors. This may be a minority view these days, but that is what I think.
Steve, I don't know if you're going to read this, but I've to say that I really enjoyed your speech and how interesting your life is. I'm taking advice to polish my french ;D
Have you been to Prostejov or plan going there any time soon?
Designed the wastewater treatment plant there some decades ago and have never seen it operating.
Another topic to complement the familiar woodpecking...
I prefer reading and listening often while doing other tasks. I have no idea which software you are talking about.
I wish my college professors were people like you.
In some cases, it's crucial for parents to try to teach their children their ancestral language. I say this in regard to dying or endangered languages, such as many Native American languages, numerous languages/dialects in Africa, languages of natives in Russia, etc. Having grown up in Alaska, I appreciate firsthand how important it is to keep these languages and cultures alive. Some of these languages have only a few dozen native speakers left. I think it's regretful when a language dies.
His story regarding resenting his families language is a lot like my experience. I'm just now trying to learn.
greetings from a german...i like your explanations
Perfect! Great method
@lingsteve Thanks Steve Your the man and awe inspiring as usual what ever you upload I,m sure to see it.
Thank you so much sir!
thanks Steve, I enjoy your videos and all your hard work you do to get out your new videos. I am now loving LingQ it is a great approach to learning a language and I found out that PIMSLEUR works pretty good two, I listen then wright it all down in English then rewrite it in German, along with a good German book called AUF DEUTSH BITTE. Thanks Man!
Very interesting video. 😊🥰
I'm an undergrad history student focusing on central Europe (ich bin lerne deutches) and I'm curious on what life was life during the rule of the Austrio-Hungarian Empire. Could you shed some insight on their personal experiences during their reign?
How are we supposed to find comments in order to answer them. It seems I can only get to the whole list and then it is very time consuming to find the comment that we want to reply to. Anyone know?
hello ,Steve, my speak the arabic and I want learning English, and I my listening the story and reading and repeat the pronunciation, and this my story (level1 -Classic tales cooking ), but can I translate story from word English to arabic ?
I hope my writing will be correct
"dont' appreciate my roots"? Please elaborate on what you mean and why this saddens you.
I would think that Germany would be the more interesting experience.
Oh wow, so your roots are in Prostějov then? I currently live in Olomouc, which is near there (I come from the Czech Republic)! Well I accidentaly came to this video but never have thought I'd discover an English speaker interested in Czech language! I admire you for that as I know it's a difficult language to learn for most people.
Good luck with whatever language you're learning now, Steve!
Thank you. I was in Olomouc with my family this past Dec 30 to Jan 1 . We were in the man square for the New year's eve fireworks. A lovely town.
Hi Steve. How do you feel about parents who are both of the same nationality, let's say Danish, who teach their child that language in addition to the language of the country they are currently in? One parent speaks Danish, the other only speaks English to the child. I'm imagining how infuriating it must be to not be able to speak to your own child in your own native language. There is really no downside if the child still speaks English in my opinion.
Raise the child bilingual. They will learn the native language at school and with friends.
This is an interesting question. It would seem likely that the child would become bilingual eventually, whether the native language (danish) was spoken exclusively at home and the child learned english at school, or if the parents used both languages from day 1.
There are definite social and linguistic benefits to child, learning both languages from the get-go, rather than waiting until school starts, but I would wonder if the non-native level of the parent speaking english would compromise those benefits in some way, weather it be in regards to language acquisition or parent child bonding.
My little sister is sort of bilingual as a toddler, as she is exposed to both languages at home.
I can relate how difficult it is learning all those articles and I definitely don't wanna talk about adjective endings.
I'm doing exactly what u say . reading and listening. The next language will be French because I live near French Guiana.
i literally laughed so much hearing your story
Your pronunciation of your German is pretty good! Just wanted to let you know. :) Greetings from Germany.
Steve, in the video you mentioned that you dislike parents forcing their children to speak their heritage language. This sort of suprised me in a way, and I have always felt it is a great disfavor for parents to not teach their children a second language if they could. But if possilble could you explain a little bit of why you hate when parents force a language on a child?
Dear Mr Kaufmann, I have only just discovered your RUclips channel, which offers some very good, widely-applicable advice on learning languages. I have, for some time, wanted to learn German (mainly because I like Germany as a vacation destination but also to enable me to enjoy German opera more fully). While I was fairly competent at French and Welsh at school (I am originally from Wales), I'm now in my mid-50s and, having browsed several 'Learn German' textbooks, I think I'd still be able to learn a reasonable amount of vocabulary but won't be able to commit to memory the associated genders (I had no problem with this in French all those years ago!). Am I simply too old to start German? I was also interested in your own initial approach of reading general-interest German-language books and of listening to interviews in the language but how on earth did you even start to decipher the text and recordings without a good preliminary grasp of the basics? With many thanks from Oxford.
Hallo Steve , Ich heiße Enas , ich komme aus Ägypten , ich bin ein und zwanzig Jahre alt und ich lerne Deutsch dann es ist interessant , I'm trying to learn German , still a beginner but it's kind of hard for me cause I'm an Arabic native speaker so sometimes it's confusing the sentence structure and grammar but it's fun learning though
Hallo Enas mach weiter so! Grüße aus Deutschland
Do you do a daily workout using all of the languages you learned. If you don't practice the languages you learned every day or a couple of times a week will forget them?
Eres una inspiración 💕
Your voyage on the german ship is great! I'm a seafarer of 10 years and that is unthinkable nowadays :( such a shame!
Yea Canada
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These new stories how you when about learning languages are rather interesting. Not sure if you got a request for this one yet but I,m curious and I bet others are too How did you go about learning Russian? what inspired you to learn such a formidable language a very fascinating one indeed and very elegant in my opinion but what sparked you to go dive right into it? I put Russian on my languages to learn last year I really like how the writing is and spoken Russian sounds amazing too.
hi steve just a question if i may ,did you translate each word you didnt understand as you read these books or just skimmed across, thanks in advance
How do you feel about self-teaching software and books for learning German? (I am using several right now combined with reading and listening). Are they a solid learning resource?
Mr.Steve, should I neglect learning how to write german and focus more on reading, listening and speaking? So I can improve better or it is better to do writing also?
Thank you.
Amazing ! I started learning German language on my own :) I have a request can you pleaseeeeeeee put the titles to all books you showed here?
Hi Steve, when you did a lot of reading and listening in German or in any language that you were studying, did you already have the basic foundation of the language, in other words, did you understand or partially understand the material you were reading and listening to? I am studying Spanish and when I read I don't understand what I am reading, should I continue to read (don't see how this will help) or should I move onto easier material that I somewhat understand?
It's very interesting hearing how you fell into learning each of your languages. I'm curious how you learned italian?
Very interesting life time story! Is Germam very popular in Canada?
Steve im trying my best to learn Italian and I don't know how or where to start do you have a video about a strategy or process I could learn from or could you make a video on it ? id be very appreciative for your help . I have 2 sound cds and two books one on vocab and other on grammar
How do you start reading as a basic newcomer when the percentage of known words is fewer than unknown?
Do you just look for the words you know and just get a feel for the new words and their context?
I’m currently using LingQ, Babbel and FlashAcademy to get some exposure but I also want that exposure to words in books.
I start with easier content and just keep going, creating LingQs, listening, reading, listening and reading again, reviewing the words and phrases again and again. Lots of repetition in the beginning in order to get some traction.
Steve Kaufmann - lingosteve ...children’s books? Or would you suggest newspaper articles that aren’t that long?
It's up to you. I don't find children's stories easy. Newspapers are difficult at first. Use the content in the LingQ library. I like the mini-stories for those languages where they exist. Search for "mini" and you will find them.
@Imyirtshashem That is exactly how I feel, I am just a typical American with no real hertitage ties, but if my family was directly from another country and spoke a different language and never taught me, I would feel left out and upset most of the time.