Can you learn a language just by listening?

Imagine if you could learn a language without doing any studying. What if instead of studying grammar, reading in the foreign language, learning vocabulary, and doing speaking practice, all you had to do was listen to what was happening around you and watch movies? Wouldn't it be great if you could naturally absorb the language and start speaking yourself? This is a popular language learning method across the world, but in this video I answer the question of whether learning a language this way will actually work for you.
For example, many people try to learn English through listening using the following methods:
- Watching TV in a English with the subtitles on in your native language
- Listening to talk radio in English in the background while doing something else
- Being around foreign friends when you yourself do not speak the language
Babies learn to speak their first words by listening, but will it work for you? Check out this video to hear my opinion on learning a language through listening. I've tried it, and I'll share my personal experiences with you!
www.engvid.com/...
TRANSCRIPT
Hey, guys. Welcome to engVid. Today's lesson is a little bit different, it's me talking about: Is it possible for you to learn a language just by listening? This is something that I think many of us would love, love, love, love to be true. I can just learn a language by listening, I don't have to really do anything if I just spend enough time listening, then, you know, I'll be able to speak; I'll have learned the language.
So, some ways we might do this are... Could be watching... Watching TV in that language you're trying to learn and just think: "Well, I'm... I'm learning. I'm learning stuff just by watching." Another way is you move to a different country, and you spend time around native speaker friends, and you don't understand anything, but you're like: "Well, I'm learning. The more time I spend doing this, I'll get to a point where I can just speak the language."
And that is a situation that I, myself, have been in many times in my life. If you put all the time together, I would say I probably wasted a couple of years of my life, taking that approach, just thinking you learn by listening. Now, don't get me wrong, you do learn how to understand what people are talking about if you take that approach. You know, you're the only one who doesn't speak the same language that everybody else speaks, you're the only one who doesn't speak it, after a while you do kind of understand what people are talking about, so you can often guess from the situation. But that doesn't mean the same thing as being able to put a sentence together, and join in in the conversation in that language. Because although you kind of understand what people are saying, you just haven't developed the skill of moving your tongue and saying the words of the other language. So I would say taking that approach is a very, very frustrating, and slow, and ineffective way to learn any language. And that's based from my personal experience.
If the language that you're hoping, trying, wishing to learn is very close to your language, then of course, you will understand much, much more of what is being said, and you'll be able to guess many of the words. But if the language is completely different to your native language, it's a really ineffective way to expect to learn a language, because there's just not a lot you can guess. The words are very different, the grammar structure is very different.
And have you ever been in that situation when you're the only one who doesn't understand anything? Well, I've been in that situation many times, and I don't know if this happens to all people, but this happens to me. After a while, you stop listening. And, at least I do, and I start thinking about my own things in my head. So you're there, but you're not even listening. And you have to ask yourself: Is this the same thing that's also happening if you're watching a movie that's spoken in a language that you don't understand? Are you actually listening to the words, or are you just reading subtitles in your own language that you understand? So that's an important part of it as well. Is that time you are listening to the language you want to learn, are you using that time with your ears, really awake and switched on to what people are saying? Because I think most of the time, when you don't actually know that language, you're not fully listening because you don't understand anything. You're really concentrating on something you don't understand, it's a very hard thing to do for more than a couple of minutes.

[@abdullahpilot5537]

I believe that listening one of the most powerful thing you can do.

[@user-pr8uf3xr7e]

I agree.

[@maggied8468]

I agree as well. Especially if you're a good listener. I hear Turkish in my head in the mornings just from watching Turkish dramas at night 😁. I have the English subtitles on and I often spot translation mistakes. I have a long long way to go but it's enjoyable. There are other helpful things like listening to the rhythm and flow. Also watching someone's mouth. I'm dyslexic but listening works well for me. It helps with my memory issues as well.

[@Thomas-ei9mh]

I agree. But maybe it's not the only thing you should do to learn a foreign language.

[@faru379]

@@Thomas-ei9mh I just did it, I just listened to learn language

[@faru379]

Can anyone suggest me what should I listen to learn English

[@klarity1111]

The way I have it figured: 45% listening, 45% reading, 10% talking.

[@jiankaixia3504]

Klarity*11 yes but with who ??xd

[@klarity1111]

I'm planning to use i-talki.

[@valesid6929]

Klarity*11 for me it's 30% speaking 30% listening 40% writing/reading

[@klarity1111]

Everybody's different, I guess.

[@amazingtutie9000]

How do you read if you are trying to learn Korean or Japanese

[@mikasa2272]

I learnt how to understand Tagalog through my parents. They never thought me, however, the more I hear them and Filipino dramas, the more I understand Tagalog.

[@antoniorsoftware]

I learned German by watching TV series and cartoons on German TV channels when I was a kid. I had no previous knowledge of German language, I just watched and eventually I started to understand. And even though I eventually stopped watching those TV channels and never spoke it myself, I can still understand it after all these years, without any issues. It's weird how human brain works.

[@11lvr11]

It's exactly how I'm learning german now^^

[@mohdkaleemuddin9485]

So you meant its possible to learn English by listening..am I correct?

[@shamimmir361]

True....listening difficult first but it imprint in mind slowly...

[@hm762j]

@@mohdkaleemuddin9485 yubbbb i learned english just by watching youtubers i really like after a year i started talking to ppl in english and now i am good at it i didin't know if i should do with korean i learned the alphabet i will try Listenin to a video first in korean then subtitled and maybe i could learn it better like i did with english 😂😳

[@ellis1469]

As a kid you soak up the words much better than as a teen or adult

[@dd.oliver]

Weird, I've learned 3 languages just by listening/reading, including english.

[@maggied8468]

Thank you for that comment. It's helpful. I'm dyslexic and I find listening really helpful.

[@jackdarby2168]

Other two are German and French, is it? How'd you do it, I'm trying to learn German and quite stuck here

[@maggied8468]

@@jackdarby2168 My daughter loves German and Russsian.She does speak some. Shes learnt from various sites like KZbin. She's listened to songs and the Duolingo website which she's recommended to me. I watch Turkish dramas and I've picked up a fare amount which is pleasantly surprising.

[@maggied8468]

@@trunchqin4292 Everyone learns differently. If someone was blind they could still learn a language and years ago before the internet and books people learnt language like Latin. I think it varies from person to person. I'm dyslexic and listening helps a lot for me. Repetition of words helps me. A guy here on KZbin under the name of Iaosh50500 speaks a multitude of languages and he says he's learnt them by reading and then going out to practice with strangers. He's fascinating to watch and listen to but I also think he has a natural talent for it.

[@maggied8468]

@@trunchqin4292 Bless your heart. No I mean the guy learns as much of the language as he possibly can and will practice by talking to strangers who speak the native language he is learning. I think it helps because he is a language teacher himself. Everyone learns differently. I myself find it easier to learn when I watch and listen. You may learn in a completely different way which suits your natural way of learning, memory and how you retain information. There is no wrong or right way just different ways that's all. I'm interested in how you prefer to learn a language and what advice will you share to help others? Its interesting to know and maybe helpful.

[@TheNarutoshipuden5]

The process of learning another language is very fun, and I love it. Yes, sometimes I feel very tired by not getting reach fluency, but, in the end, I think it doesn't matter. The results are no as important as the process. And, I have something to tell you who thinks you are not learning English...If you are reading this, is because you are learning. Keep going, you are almost there.

[@user-cn7ls4hm9Alnajih]

Thank you your comment is very motivation ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥💕💕

[@vladimiry4441]

I'd say you are wrong underestimating the importance of listening. For me the purpose of listening is not to learn new words, but learn verbal expressions, including modern ones, understand speech at the hearing, including rapid speech, and get used to understand different accents. Yes listening should not be the only one way of learning English, but in my experience it's the key way to work out a real English. Surely it's advisable to start listening only having a basic grammar knowledge (basic means no need to stuck at this) and considerable vocabulary. Besides when I watch something I prefer English subtitles. I guess having a lot of conversations in English in addition to listening would be a more effective way than just listening, but usually it's hard to have a lot of conversations if you don't live in a suitable environment. I was managed to greatly improve my conversational English by just listening a lot. I can say so because I recently started taking a job interviews in English and I'd say it goes better than I expected (for example I recently had an about 2 hours conversation with a 2 native speakers).

[@quantus5875]

The author of this video doesn't discount listening -- she is just saying that it is super hard to learn a language by just listening. IMO listening is super important -- but listening is super inefficient until you build up a decent vocabulary -- reading is much more efficient at building vocab initially. Once you have a decent vocab I think then is where listening starts to shine.

[@kentlab3850]

I learned english by listening at 75% and reading at 25% i've never talked in english which may explain why my accent is so bad.

[@nickblooruk]

How long did it take you to understand what you where hearing?

[@marlongameplayscfl2061]

@@nickblooruk for me it took roughly one year

[@t1000bay]

The best way to learn is to read books. Because when you read you revise words you know. It really helps

[@myroslavatrishch3997]

realy?

[@yxchen5362]

As a non-native speaker ,I have studied English for over 10 years by reading English articles of science and techonlogy. But when I watch a English movie, I still don't understand what they are talking about unless I open the subtitle. Now I realize that talk to myself in English after finish reading a book maybe a better way to improve my english level.

[@Latertoe39]

and how do you keep track of the new vocab?

[@phamluc2661]

I think watching and listening video be better to speak english language!

[@vietpham4119]

it's the best way to learn vocabulary, but not a good way to learn listening and speaking. You need to practice listening, speaking, reading and maybe writing in combination.

[@lyrics2142]

All I know is that living in a country is the best way to learn a language. I'm Polish and I live in Italy since 2011. I was trying to learn English by simply learning words and grammar and I thought it was enough... Well then I went to London and I understood that that wasn't actually enough so I started watching and watching and watching videos in English and now as you can see I'm here writing this comment by myself, without any dictionary or translator, so I can say that listening is a good exercise only if you learn new words at the same time, and you can also improve your pronunciation, like I actually did...

[@shamimmir361]

Yes... listening build our basic skills of language in mind... listening audio radio...story everything...build language structures in mind automatic transmission...but take long time...

[@user-po2gq8ro4j]

If I b1/b2 level can I improve my English only watching and listening? Or same time I should learn words? I watching and understand everything wat I watch.

[@pasqualecangiano4679]

Hi I'm sorry but, I disagree with you in my humble opinion, learning a language by listening is very useful, I've learned a lot by listening to the podcast on my smartphone. Of course you're right if you want to be able to speak it's important to be active speaking and writing. For instance: without listening I couldn't understand what you have said in this video, this is the reason why LISTENING is the most important skill if you want to be fluent and learn a second language. By for now

[@magdao.9612]

I believe that what she meant was that one can't learn by listening only. Of course it's incredibly important, but it can't be the only thing we do and probably shouldn't be the first thing we do. When you listen to podcasts you probably understand parts if not most of what is said. That being said, I believe that watching a video with subtitles in the same language can be useful even for people who have just begun learning - they are learning to recognise sounds the words they see.

[@pasqualecangiano4679]

Magdalena Orańska Hi! I think it's important to do everything when you are learning a new language, for example listening, speaking, writing, reading, but in my opinion Listening is more important because you have to increase your level of comprehension if you want to be able to understand what people are saying. I started to learn English in a course 9 years ago, and honestly after the course even though I was one of the best students, I was disappointed about my level of English skills, specially for comprehension, but 17 months ago I decided to learn English on my own by listening to the podcast, watching videos on KZbin, writing on whatssap and speaking on Skype with native English people. finally with this method I can see my improvement, obviously my English is not perfect, but it's better then before. Thanks for your answer, as said A. J. Hoge one of my favorite English teacher on KZbin: "Learn with your ears not with your eyes. bye for now

[@magdao.9612]

Hi! I definitely agree ;) My English wasn't too good until I started reading a lot and later listening - I recommend finding TEDTalks about something that interests you. I just believe that she was talking about something slightly different - learning by just listening and nothing else.

[@pasqualecangiano4679]

Ok! I already know TEDTalks you're right it is a very interesting program, i have put on my smartphone a lot of mp3 version of it. how long do you study the English language?

[@makondo3384]

You're right. She just was talking about to learn English by listening isn't enough to learn any language. It's a little of everything to learn and to improve a language.

[@oscarsk587]

Speaking with yourself is a great way to improve your learning, it helped me a lot to get my TOEFL iBT for the speaking section, if you are some shy you can try to speak in your mind in the foreign language, it works too.

[@hattanalotaibi5664]

I'm Arabic and I used to watch a lot of movies since 2 years about 5 or 7 Hollywood films just in one day (without a sub ) and I didn't even wanted to learn English I just wanted to see the film and after a couple of months I became speaking English with a really bad grammar or in a wrong way and after another couple of months my bad English has became better note before I started watching the movies I couldn't even say hello or how are you in English

[@hamzamahboub7333]

Hattan Alotaibi good for you brother same think happen for me but I'm steel bad very bad في الكتابة ياخو ابعثلي فايسبوك نحكو اذا مافيهاش احراج

[@AbdulmajeedJoya]

i m Pakistani . /can you speak with me in English . my id abdulmajeedjoya11(Skype)

[@yagoophgrhqd858]

Hattan Alotaibi السلام وعليكم هل تنصحني بالاستماع لتعلم الانجليزي؟. وكم من الوقت احتاج للتعلم

[@BangerW13]

I actually learned english mostly by just reading. Weird I know

[@abcfefghijklmnop3947]

*learnt

[@BangerW13]

+Abcfefg hijklmnop both are right sooooo..

[@patriciabarbosa3656]

ambas estão certas uma está na versão inglesa outra na América.

[@Marcosmkm1]

+Ana Patrícia Barbosa kkkk respondeu em português eu não acho que eles vão entender, rsrs

[@BangerW13]

+Ana Patrícia Barbosa What is this

[@insooyeo1180]

I've been watching hundreds of engVid lessons for a year and I feel this lesson is one of the best lessons for me. I've been using passive methods most of the time so I felt frustrated because of my slow improvement. This video gave me a genuine lesson today.

[@hunglydieu3542]

I've been learning English for 2 years. In my opinion, when we learn a language, we should focus on every single skill like listening, speaking, reading and writing. However, some of my friends tell me that they learned English just by watching TV and playing single player game. In conclusion, no matter how you do to learn a language, it depends on your constancy and your determonation.

[@Aponiwe]

It's a relieve to see that I'm not the only one who talks to himself to improve a languague :)

[@Hasanbasri_96]

In my opinion, this is different for every person. Find where your strenght lies first. If you are an auditory learner, listening would be very helpful while learning a new language. If you are a visual learner for example, try to find cartoons in the language you are trying to learn(they tend to be very visualised). Imitate the sounds and try to find friends to actually communicate(this is very important, because this is the main reason we learn a langauge) with. Try to minimize the participation of your main language as much as possible. Study their culture as well, because it is reflected in the language. I have found the cartoons with subtitles(in the language you' re trying to learn) to be the most efficient way to learn a new langauge. They include lots of mimics, visuals, simple language, cultural elements and whatnot. After a point where you can "feel" the grammar and understand basic conversations you can up your game a bit and watch stuff like series or ted talks etc.

[@juansegura5280]

Jade , I had been tried to learn English by listening and helped me a lot because when I go to school and finished the intermediate class, I did not understand when people talks; now I had listened to You tube English videos for a long time and I'm able to understand any conversation.

[@TrareNgyenFiong]

+Juan Segura However, just make you understanding what people say. Don't make you able to speak the lahguage

[@juansegura5280]

I may not speak as well as you do but I'm tried to I can go any where spoke to people and they say that my English is good.

[@TrareNgyenFiong]

Glad for you

[@NecolosSparks]

+Juan Segura practice make you perfect so keep try practice every day for more conversation to me send me mail [e-mail] thanks

[@juansegura5280]

Jade thanks for the advice I will practice English every day I listening to the T.V. news for two hours' also I'm studying Advance English and practicing my English all the time I think in order to learn the language need both listening And take lessons.

[@CSharpInArabic]

You are absolutely right Miss Jade, i learned English by both listening and studying the Grammar + Vocabulary in a book, also reading is very important, it must not be a book, a good newspaper can be good enough for that. Thanks for your effort and your channel. Please do keep continuing this.

[@maximiliano7735]

It's possible, children learn like this indeed, but you need to listening a lot of understandable English input, at least over 90% . And go on step by step.., In fact I'm doing it, and I'm able to understand normal conversations and I began to learn 8 months before by myself and mostly with several listening methods, without studying grammar or tradicional English methods , and not forcing speak either. Listening a lot, sometimes reading and being quiet: this is the key to learning by listening. On time, I'm sure that I'll be able to speak naturally and spontaneously.

[@hangnguyenhang7650]

you're right

[@hunjoey]

When I was learning English everyone advised me to read books and watch movies and that if I don't understand something just try and figure it out on my own. But this just didn't work. I had a slight idea of what a particular word could mean but most of the time I was wrong. After checking those words in a dictionary the meaning of a whole sentence changed. I misunderstood the sentences and at the end I was completely frustrated because the text that I was reading didn't make any sense. This approach may work with simple words for e.g. when someone talks about an apple and you see the fruit in their hands then you may be able to connect the word to the item. But with words that are not that simple like "superstitious" there's no way to find out the meaning without any help. At least for me.. :)

[@krasimirdimitrov7252]

+hunjoey Thank you to share your experience and your opinion, if you don't mind could you tell as well the way you have used to improve your English, please Thank you in advance

[@hunjoey]

+Krasimir Dimitrov For me listening (vlogs are great to learn) and reading (books and articles) is the way to get better but grammar and a wide range of vocabulary is necessary. When I bump into an unfamiliar word I check it in a dictionary and learn it instead of guessing (it doesn't work for me as I mentioned). I think the most important thing is to learn words and phrases. I use Anki for that. It's a really helpful software. And as it was mentioned in the video speaking and writing are helpful as well. I also tried to think in English. When we are thinking about something it's like we are speaking in our minds. So I tried to do that in English.

[@krasimirdimitrov7252]

hunjoey Thanks for your answer, I did the same thing when I learned french, but when I learned french, I didn't know the new technologies, and now I admit, I began a little lazy with my computer. Thanks again

[@MarcinVoyager]

Don't be superstitious man. 😉

[@yurii2451]

So helpful. I actually thought that listening can improve my language without any action. But it is so many resources in web saying "Listen, listen. It is one thing what you need to improve your language. When child learn language - it is only about listening".

[@kirkrammsy]

From my experience , I could say that learning a language through listening to songs is a very effective way!. At least , in my case it works great , because you can remember the words better , it's fun, it shows you how to pronounce the sounds and gives you some context for the vocabulary

[@MuhammadEgypt]

Listening, speaking, reading and writing should all go simultaneously. But in my opinion, what really accelerates the learning process of any a language is your ability to speak that language. So, the more you speak a language, the more fluent you'll become in it.

[@Nightmare200]

I learned by watching tv/playing video games and listening to music.. I'm not so good speaking tho because I don't usually speak english to anyone (unless sometimes when I'm playing overwatch but just some simple callouts).. but I understand everything now.. xD

[@mrworldwide2870]

I recommend going on somewhere where there’s a large community of native English speakers that you can converse with; I recommend finding a discord with a demographic of people who enjoy the same thing as you, such as the overwatch discord (since you’ve expressed interest in the game through this comment.) Who knows, you may find a native English speaker willing to converse with you long-term!

[@Chris-ng2gg]

Well 1. I understand you 100% 2. I can speak English (American) and do other accents like British 3. I have learned all of that by watching series. I think it’s possible, but of course you have to know a little bit of that language to understand it and after that expend it and learn more. I watched series WITHOUT any subtitles. However, I am not the best person at grammar, but it has helped me a lot. The school has helped me improve my English, but I think the series have helped me the most with the speaking and how to not have an accent when I speak. I think it's possible to learn by ear, however you have to know a little bit of the language to understand it. And if you were wondering, I’m 14 and Norwegian😂☺️

[@reenamoon8843]

Cool,I wish one day I'll visit Norway and see fjords))

[@moontube5246]

She speaks quite slowly, clear with standard British English, no wonder you (and I) can understand 100%. Did you try with "How It Should Have Ended" channel? Their English speaking is quite difficult to understand, especially when the superheroes talk in café.

[@Chris-ng2gg]

you would love it☺️ it's quit beautiful there👌🏽

[@reenamoon8843]

Moon Tube Or try just watch some TV shows or films,yeah! That's why I don't watch them without subtitles.Yeah,I can understand some sentences clearly,but i'm not a native speaker and can't say that i know english fluently,although really well.There may be new expressions or words for me.Sometimes people talk fast and with some accent and it's not clear at all. It's how I tried to watch Misfits!And subtitles firstly helped me a lot

[@greivinvalle6112]

I believe that we must practice all the habilites together, there is no one more important that the other, however, we should focus on the one that is being hard for us, the one that is the weakest. If we struggle trying to understand instead of speaking, we should definitly spend more time listening.

[@Crash10833]

Yes it is true ! Listening is the best way to learn any laungauge

[@alec95]

I actually learnt English just by Video Games (subtitles in my native language). At some point then I started watching series with subtitles and then I slowly started without subtitles, which was hard at first, especially if there were characters speaking accents differing a lot from American English. I also got in touch with some Brits and started reading books. The thing is though, I never really had vocabulary problems, since I knew French and German before, and English doesn't have lots of words that it doesn't share with either French or German. My spoken English is still pretty shitty, since I barely have any practice on that part.My English is certainly not the best, but I think it would be decent enough for everyday life.

[@filipK14357]

@Plautus egal It's useful to switch on the subtitles from time to time when you hear a new word to get it's spelling right. English spelling system isn't that phonetic to say the least.

[@ehab6266]

It is absolutely right, I have been in Turkey for 1 year and I had the same Idea of learning the Turkish language by just listening but I figure out that this a life long project.

[@danil8383]

I've been studying english for 4 years here in Brazil and I'm also giving english classes lately. In my opinion and the way I learned the easiest way to learn a new language is by associating with your native language. Even though a lot of teachers disagree, it is what worked for me and I try to help my students in this way. There is not a perfect methodology, we are human, each one learns in a specific way, we need to find it out.

[@maryu6593]

+Danilo Vieira hi,i"m from Russia.Can you help me to improve my English,please

[@redouanelondon2620]

I can fully relate to what you’ ve said. I really believe that listening alone is not an effective way of learning . Being active while you learn is absolutely important at any stage of the learning process . I used to approach the listening 👂 method it has halped me but not to the extent that I wanted . When I started practicing the four skills of language i felt the difference after just a few months , to make a long story short , a person should practice the four skills to make the language solid in their mind .

[@preptobebanker2686]

Four skills, what are they?

[@joela7430]

@@preptobebanker2686 Think it is referring to reading, listening, speaking, and writing

[@HomoSiliconiens]

Learning a foreign language is a life-time long process. It's my own personal experience too. I've worked as a professional translator over 20 years... I still learn new words and expressions every each day. -- Listening and Reading are passive process, i.e., taking in information from outside. - Speaking and Writing are active process in that we create new information and share it with others. I believe I can make a good speaker only when I learn and practice speaking "consciously and intensionaly." And I can be a good writer only by practicing writing.

[@nowfalmrs6907]

Watch watch, listen listen... yes I was really wrong. And the method I adopt for learning was really a frustrating process. " Be active" yes. Thank you for the most valuable advice.

[@tranngocphan5659]

Your lesson is completely useful for me to recognize my misunderstanding. I had thought that " Great ! I will listen as much as I can to quickly improve my English !". As a result, I didn't expand my English as my expectation. Thank you so much.

[@craqueadrian]

I was bitten by your accent in this video. I had to read the subtitles some moments. And this brings up to me that a good way to learn a language is to focus in one accent/vocabulary from a specific country. This or you'll have to learn almost two idioms.

[@oOcitizenOo]

+Adrian Dias try to listen to BBC Radio 4. Its speakers' accents drive me crazy :D

[@GospodinovGalin]

I cant speak English fluently. I just cant...But I understand every word she says. And I am bulgarian for the record. Nothing common in native languages... And I do not need subs :)

[@antoniodelima2066]

sorry, but it's the first time I desagree with you, I have been learning english for 03 years just listening you and several other english teachers on youtube, and I have already talked to many native people and all of them understood what I said very well.

[@jinbumyoo8521]

I just found out her youtube class a few days ago. her class is very helpful(thank you). It could be very different depends on their mother language. But I think there is no easy way to learn a new language. I am a Korean uni student. I have been studying English hard for about a year. I am pretty improved now but still barely speak........... Is there anyone who want to improve speaking in English together?? lolol

[@4verageYTuser]

i learned English and I don't know how, I am Brazilian, my language is Portuguese. one day I was watching a video in English and I realized that I was understand 80% of what was said. so I kept watching videos in English and at this point I can perfectly read, hear and speak with a native in a very natural way. i promise tou I never touched a grammar book

[@ricardovega5161]

Iam learning by myself english my tecnique its a neurology method you imagine everything in your mind in english, and in this way your brain becomes better and better to recreate english situations

[@pabloi2735]

k fuma

[@persieprince9345]

agreed ,this situation works for me sometimes

[@leyomlove9332]

thank you jade for help and i like your english pronausation !

[@TriptoPal]

If we pay a good attention to listening, then we can improve that language very easily.

[@quantus5875]

I'm like 8 years old to this video. Yes, great video. Agree with you 100%. I believe listening can be useful -- but I think it's probably most efficient to start with reading or some kind of starter course -- to build up your vocabulary. I think listening when you have almost no vocab is pretty worthless. Once you build up a decent vocabulary then I think listening should be one of the things on your list -- but not starting.

[@flyversusfly76]

Thanks Jade, I think you have a good point. This reminds me to always combine several methods when learning a language.

[@MXP2]

I've lived in Birmingham (West Midlands) for 4 years and i can understand almost all accents of the UK, love your accent tho :)

[@dailyforman]

nice glasses, they fit you really well. You look good

[@classicsforeveryone2927]

Good point. I totally agree with you. Only listening a language that we don't master will not improve dramatically our knowledge of that language. I think that just talking to ourselves works much more than only listening other people speaking!

[@shen7630]

Good point made! In my opinion, this is a very common mistake made most of the people after leaving school. It really slows down the learning and if no effort is made, it is likely that the standard will remain constant forever.

[@Bruh4896]

Thank you very much for you lesson, I am French and I want to learn English and live ( if it will be possible ) in England. And for a long time I searched a person who have the pronunciation that I want to have and I finally found ! If you know a channel where she have the Southern pronunciation of england say it to me please ♥ Sorry for mistakes I am 13 years old ^^

[@InfectedoOG]

Is it weird that English is my second language, but I have no memory of learning to speak it. I consider myself a pretty good speaker of said language, but I don't remember being taught anything. When I got to my teenage years and actually started having English classes, I was already a fluent speaker and knowing most of the grammar without even paying attention to what I was saying. I am currently trying to learn to speak both German and French (French is my #1 priority, but German is easier) and I can't help but think it's going so incredibly slow. French classes for 4 years now and German for 3 years... I can have a conversation in German (albeit a really easy one) but French man...

[@InfectedoOG]

Dutch

[@guileastore]

Me too! English is not my native language but I'd say I'm quite fluent in the language. However, I cannot remember how I learned English. Currently, I'm learning my third language, I've been struggling for 4 years now but I still cannot understand a simple conversation in the language. Does anybody have any suggestions?

[@Kiseman]

What a lucky man!

[@user-py5iu5ez8d]

It is easy to you to learn English, Deutsch and Français))I'm from Russia and I also learning this languages

[@InfectedoOG]

Yes, most Dutch people do speak English to a good extent. I'm not denying that, it's just that you can hear in their voice that it's their 'second' language due to their accent. My parents have this accent too, my brother and sister do aswell. I don't have the Dutch accent, and it's never been there for me either.

[@nikolayivanov5106]

"You can speak to yourself" are your gold words, Jade! It is the cheapest, simpest way of learning English. If you have only internet, then you are an independent student - your teacher is KZbin and Google translate as a dialogue partner.

[@DeepakShakyaaa]

you are completely right, I wasted so much time watching tv series to learn Chinese, but a turning point came in when i switched back to watching it, but i made sure, i understood every single sentence using google translate or with friends help so that i can make most out of it, that i what i did when i was learning English, and it was complete success

[@imtiyazhussain8873]

If watching shows makes you learn a language, then I would be fluent in Japanese based on the many anime I have watched.

[@phiphicupcake5754]

Black-leg Sanji Lol 😂

[@hamzamahboub7333]

Black-leg Sanji and this what really happening( arigato ...semimasi .......koros....shenihe....whatashewa)

[@TRAD444]

Black-leg Sanji Yeh well me I can only understand and say some words but a making a sentence is hard

[@steph769]

No because reading the english subtitles takes your brain away from the Japanese being spoken. listening really helps but it has to be active listening, which means your undivided attention needs to be focused on the language being spoken. It's like trying to have a conversation with someone while simultaneously writing an essay. Your brain can only focus on one thing at a time.

[@Oo-vr2jn]

if you watch without subtitles then you will become fluent, check out the AJATT method/MIA on youtube, they are the best foreign speakers of Japanese you can find online

[@ajaymalhotra7937]

Definitely you can learn a language by just listening provided you are listening the level of english you already know.

[@ludmilamaiolini6811]

I’m a little confused by the comments. To the people who say they learnt a language just by listening, did you learn enough to understand, enough to speak, or enough to write? What skills did you develop? My guess is that if you just listen, you will be able to… well, listen, perhaps read if you were listening and reading at the same time. You probably got familiar with the sounds of the language, so that helps with speaking, but if you want to communicate effectively, usually people need to practice writing and speaking specifically. Obviously having massive imput is the most important thing in language learning, but usually people have to do a thing or to on top of that to develop all the skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening).

[@Eriktheskater1]

The key with listening is comprehensible input, being able to understand at least 80-90%

[@kennethkall5197]

she looks like Meryl Streep

[@kurtthecat3995]

If you're listening to a language that is way above your level, ie you comprehend 25% or less, it's going to be an exercise in frustration. Second point is that yes, you're probably going to be lacking in speaking skills. However where I disagree, is if you are able to listen to material that you are comprehending 50% or more, you are definitely going to follow the story and have an idea of what is going on. At the same time you'll be able to pick up a few new words. The result is your vocab is growing and at the same time your brain is learning and recognizing the speech patterns of the target language. It's even more effective if you can mix your listening comprehension with material that you understand 90% or more to reinforce what you already know. Eventually you'll find yourself progressing to more challenging material. My German comprehension has improved considerably by using this method. Once the language is "in" you, the output skill (speaking) should come easier.

[@VernonJLawrence]

I got a role, a small role but a role, nonetheless, in a play which takes place in the Victorian era. The monologue the auditioner chose had to be spoken with the accent appropriate to the character's background. Some monologues were upper class, some low to middle class. After watching you for over six months, listening, watching your lips and trying to catch your tongue placement, repeating your sentences-I thank you for being a part of my small success. I took 4 years of French. I learn to read it fluently but with exceptions of short sentences, speaking the language would throw the translator on the Enterprise out of whack. I concluded the only way to speak it fluently was to go to France and speak 'to survive.' I couldn't afford that so no French pubs for me. When I watch a foreign language film, I read the subtitles but I have to hear the dialogue as well. It's the only way I can feel the emotion of the film (so I can cry at the end). By Jade. Have a great day.

[@MXP2]

I think speaking is the best way to learn any language.

[@user-ud3sx6cr7n]

Synergy WR I am with you 👍🏻

[@satzuislife3221]

Yep listening and speaking... Reading would come eventually...

[@akiotk6440]

You should look up "Input hypothesis" and "language acquisition"

[@Leon.Stanic]

It's a very good way to perfect a language, but it should be avoided in the beginning because you will get used to speaking with lots of mistakes which can be hard to correct later on, therefore you should focus on input in the beginning.

[@TheRedFoxMcCloud]

gotta memorize the words before even speaking it tho

[@JohnRaschedian]

The best way to learn a language when you go to another country is to get a girlfriend or a boyfriend. This will get you up to speed to the point where you can then start the academic approach of reading, writing, etc. The Michel Thomas method taught me German in 20 days before I moved to Germany although that method uses English as a base language but it's entirely based on listening. Thank you Jade!

[@YashSharma-wu7kr]

Yes it's easy to get a girlfriend or boyfriend. Btw I am 40 years old Virgin

[@metalji_20s]

@@YashSharma-wu7kr haha I see the irony. I myself am a 19 yo virgin immigrant living in Germany for years now and still never had a German girlfriend. So it's not that easy for a rather introverted person.

[@YashSharma-wu7kr]

@@metalji_20s you'll get soon my friend , hopefully on new years eve

[@metalji_20s]

@@YashSharma-wu7kr that'll be great

[@trinaroni]

I fully agree that writing down all words and sentences in the language I'm learning helps. I put in equal amounts of time speaking the language to myself.

[@yuswifty1341]

Based on my experience learning Arabic, Spanish and Japanese, the trickiest part in learning languages is speaking. Yes, I could stay in my room everyday, sharpen my skills through listening and reading. I can understand books, movies, etc. But when it comes to speaking, you will be stuttering because your brain isn't active in forming sentences and if you haven't practice, it's hard to be spontanenous when you are in certain circumstances. You have to get the words out and experimenting with sentences. That's how you acquire fluency in speaking. And obviously you will remember words better because you actually use them.

[@junya815-kr]

Anyway, listening is the most fundemantal part when it comes to communication with native speakers of it

[@empressqi1722]

I think its speaking.

[@meinungabundance7696]

I dont agree with this opinion. As a European you can learn most of the European languages by listening first(mostly being in the country of this language for a certain period of time - the longer the better). I've learned English and French this way. If the language does not belong to your language group like Japanese or Chines, it is of course another story. Also, this is a highly individual undertaking, some students learn better by ear, others by reading and so on. Thus, your generalising the issue, is not professional.

[@brunotupi83br]

+Meinung Abundance She doesn't generalise it. She advices people to practice reading and writing now and then alongside listening. Although some people learn remarkably better by listening and speaking they ALSO need to read and write now and then to increase their vocabulary and build sentences in the language.

[@adriano7678]

Przecież powiedziała dokładnie, że tyczy się to języka który nie jest podobny. znając język Polski nauczysz się słuchając Rosyjskiego Ale Węgierskiego możesz słuchać kilka lat i nic z tego nie wyniesiesz.

[@MohammedJitarayahmj]

This is correct, I have been listening and watching many movies, even reading a lot of articles, but still my english level in medium. I'm trying these days to push myself more, and this video gave me good tips.

[@user-dz4ny5zq6m]

I‘ve been listening English Radio for about 1 year and I still didn't feel my listening comprehension make any progress. So I decided to not do it and write down what I thought, your videos is really helpful, it leads me to speak more like British,my friends said so to me, haha. I was pleased to watch your video and find some ways to be Master in English, thanks, anyway. This is my first to write a comment by the way.

[@datpham31415]

Your voice is Cute. Should I learn British English or American English? Both of them Is useful?

[@imtiyazhussain8873]

Ngoc Dat Pham Nguyen, Both of them are useful*

[@datpham31415]

Yes, my mistake :-o. Thank you ! :)

[@Leonschaos]

Ngoc Dat Pham Nguyen Both of them are useful; either way you're still learning English. But in my opinion American English would be the better choice

[@someguy5874]

it depends on you. for example, if u wanna go to us or watch too many hollywood movies, learn american eng. and likewise if u watch or listen english in uk accent, learn uk.

[@datpham31415]

i like both !

[@ethmanealgeria3224]

if listening not useful, what do we do with you, you should quit your online lessons

[@jeoenriquez7151]

Very clear explanation. I absolutely agree that listening alone doesn't make us good at learning a language. We need two basic things: 1. Listening and 2. Speaking

[@dungdinh5547]

Woa. After your talk there are a lot of comments. that's a good idea to learn English by active way. Thanks so much.Now i have one more tips

[@CleonaPattersoneFluentEnglish]

Jade, I totally agree. When learners ACTIVELY produce new language by speaking and writing they test what they think they have learnt from reading and listening. They drive the process forward and speed it up.

[@babs1277]

I mean, I did it once to improve my English and it worked! I should be doing it again

[@Abdelhadi.oran7]

in my opinion the listening is very effective way to improve your target language,i d'ont say that you can learn a language just by listening but it very helpful and fun for me

[@Alexey224]

Absolutely true! Listening, reading, writing and speaking are different skills .

[@Jordan-md4wr]

I really admire anyone who speaks multiple languages. I've been learning Spanish for a while (no es fácil) and I'm hoping to become fluent at some point.

[@rodrigooliveira494]

My first language is Portuguese( Brazil). I learned English by reading and translating a lot. I also liked listening to music. Now I don`t need translation like before. My life was really hard when I decided to learn English because I didn`t have a job, internet and any device to listen to that language. Now I like using youtube, watching a tv series on dvd and once in a while watching a movie.

[@emanoelpereira1844]

I pretty much enjoyed today´s lesson, teacher Jade. My student´s parents think he´s going to acquire the language only by listening to it, that´s why his whole family is going to leave to USA in July. They´re desperate! I did my part in order to prevent them from making such a big mistake and told them he´ll never get it right effortlessly, that he should practise a little bit more on writing, reading, listening and speaking as he does here with me in Brazil. I fear he may speak just broken English by doing that. By the way, thanks a lot for the lesson. I will share it with them now. I have to :D

[@oj555oj]

I absolutely agree with you..I have listened to tons of English.. for about 20 years.. But I still find it hard to speak English fluently.. Interesting and comprehensible input and.. talking to native speakers on and on are the key to success when it comes to language learning.. way to go... I am Korean... and I am learning Chinese and Japanese too.. I hope I will be able to learn them fast this time...

[@wichayaporn321]

You're absolutely correct ,I think the same way you can only improve your listening but is to really make a big process just listen to the radio , people or perhaps tv movies news etc. You need to combine with write and read and have a conversation in English . otherwise it doesn't work at all in my opinion .

[@memglish]

Thanks, now I know, that I learned english absolutely wrong. You helped me understand that I need more practice. I should try to develope my writing and speaking skills. Not only listening. Your advices are always very helpful. You inspired me.

[@aminaelbou3687]

I agree with you. I happened to believe learning a language is by listening, by just taking in and not making the effort to produce full sentences. I did my studies in English Language in college, and i spent the whole time of my college years just learning about the grammar and listening to professors speaking and to podcasts in English till I, to some extent, believed myself to be fluent in English, but the shock was too hard on me when one day I tried to speak in front of the public in one of the activities the college held at the time as i kept trying to say full and correct sentences and I just could not ! I felt stuck , and that was really embarrassing. Then I decided to be more active, and so I started recording my voice, and just keep talking about whatsoever. It worked actually !! Thanks for the video 👍👍

[@tanzaniaunforgettable4401]

Listening is a powerful tool un language acquring example a child or baby is not taught how to read or write or gramma insted acquiring through listening.....so don't study gramma instead acquire through listening then after time You Will start reading

[@igorfranca4697]

Hello teacher, my goal is to learn English, I'm learning seeing native speakers to have a better improvement and I am watching your videos. very good thank you.

[@cristianaravena6302]

i've been learning english because of several hours of KZbin vídeos as this one, and i would say my english level has improved as never before. just by hearing and hearing and keep hearing

[@0boarder0]

I moved to another country when I was 9. Only thing I did is listen and after about a year I started speaking the language and two years later I spoke it quite fluid. For English I have been watching English content on yt and television for the past 5-6 years daily and that is how I learned English.

[@israelcazares6975]

i am just like she i have to write write and write that's how I have learned the most of my English and German and I think I'm going straight a head in a good way. I feel very good to hear someone like she who apply my method :)

[@mahmoodsayed5117]

I am totally agree with you because I have been listning to english since a year and I feel a very little change.

[@cab711]

I think the problem with listening is its just random. My own research has pinned it down to setting small language goals like: 1. Learn to ask for directions 2. How to order food or book a reservation etc.... If you set these small goals and you target them around what you think would be likely scenarios you would encounter I think your off to a good start. The good thing about having small goals like this is you can create discussions in which you will be familiar and try to control the conversations and you will also start to pickup on the likely responses from the other person. Try starting there. Good luck on your learning journey and remember that failure is a good thing, its how we learn. If someone else is better at you at something its usually because they have failed more than you have.

[@williambudd2850]

She presents a good case that immersion doesn’t work. I lived in Germany for four years while I was in our military. I bought a TV and watched it every evening in order to learn German. That didn’t work. After a month, I had not learned any German words so I turned the TV off. From my experience, I would say that you have to do more than just put your self in a position where you hear a new language. You have to make a focused effort to understand the words by studying their meaning and attempting to memorize those meanings. The biggest lesson that I have learned in my present effort to learn German is that its not about learning/remembering the meaning of every word that you attempt to learn. It about learning most of them and then moving on to new words. Its a numbers game. Total words learned is more important than specific words learned. Its better to focus on learning 100 words a month and only actually learning 80 of each set of one hundred words than to spend three months learning all hundred of one set of words. Most important of all, is to used spaced repetition to learn the words. It works.

[@VoteforAndrewYang]

I have been learning English for two decades now. The first decade was about reading and writing, the second was more about listening and speaking. I don't believe I would ever become a fluent English speaker. The reason I m still learning English is i want to finish what I have started. Don't wanna quit halfway.

[@user-ew8li5to9v]

OMG, this is so real. I am Russian and watching films or serials in English without subtitles seems too much difficult for my mind, so I spend most of my time just reading the running lines. And I`ve never thought it is not good for my studying. You opened my eyes. Thank you.

[@lemontree18]

Thanks Jade, one of my most favourite methods is by mimicking or shadowing English speakers. In this case You tube videos are very beneficial for my purpose because I can stop and rewind if it' s the case...anyone else who is comfortable with this practice?

[@ajcaroline307]

You are very smart. Your insight and explanations make a lot of sense. Thank you. I believe you saved me time and frustration.

[@mygmail2402]

I completely and strongly agree with you dear, as you said learing only by watching or listening is frankly weasting of time For example : let us imagine that you want to learn how to drive a car will you really be able to drive a car just by watching some one driving it or even if he explains to you days and days about how to drive , will that make you a professional driver ? Absolutely not !! So I just gave this example to enhance and strengthen the idea of your video Thanks for your efforts and your advises ,

[@alexiscorbacho8021]

one of the best ways of learning english is to watch series along with subtitles. Both subtitled and dubbed in english. Doing this for almost two years I've seen some good series, some of them are: prison break, game of thrones, breaking bad, the flash, the arrow, big bang theory. I really never got to go to an academy for learning. Just leaving this comment here to help Jade, which has made me up a notch as to english is concerned. Thx Jade :)

[@italkicambly2977]

You're right. I also have fallen into this trap, but everything depends on what results you want for yourself. I started learning English by listening to a lot of English, and with this method, I developed my listening, and now I'm able to understand spoken English easily. Can I speak fluently as well? No, I can speak in a modesty way because I have a lot of English in my mind, but it's not enough to speak freely. I don't regret of starting by listening because this was what I want, to be able to understand movies and Tv show, but as you have already said, just listening isn't enough to develop all English areas. Right now, I'm focusing on speaking by taking classes on Italki, and it's helping me a lot.

[@bhagwandas9151]

Hi Zade I became your big fan, English is my second language, from today onwards I will stick to your 20 minutes discipline method daily not more nor less hope it will work. I have good vocab , gone through grammer book and learnt and practiced a lot but listening and speaking part was missing so I will focus on these point as you advised. I can't thank you enough for this motivational lesson. ❤️❤️❤️👍👍🌹🌹🌹🌼👌👌

[@jimsmitherman9095]

If done wrong - as it usually is, then listening alone is a slow way to learn it. But, if done right - it is an extremely powerful, fast way to learn a language. To learn a language fast, you need to get into three habits, listening passively is one of those habits. This habit takes no time at all. Specifically, you have a story playing in the background, in the target language, but totally ignore it. Study math, watch your tv shows, eat, do chores, browse the internet, play games, all while having the target language playing lightly in the background, not interfering with any of your normal day. Habit two is ear tuning exercises. This is an invention of mine, something I basically stumbled into really. The first time I did ear tuning exercises, I did not know I was doing them -my ear tuned into Spanish at full speed speech. I examined what I had been doing, then repeated it with German then French. It worked. But, it took me another several months working with this method before I fully understood how it all works. Ear tuning exercises go like this: You tell your student to do the impossible, or well, actually, keep attempting to do what seems impossible. You provide the student with a string of about 70 ear tuning syllables, written in english letters. These syllables represent the sounds, syllable by syllable, of a native speaker's voice, in their target language. The student is told to repeatedly play that thirty seconds or so of speech, from the audiobook that has the story they are learning, that correspond to these 70 ear tuning syllables. The student is told to attempt to always keep their eye on the ear tuning syllable that is being spoken at each exact moment. This is of course impossible to actually do, since the student's ear is not tuned to the target language yet. But the student is told to keep struggling to catch up to the voice. For most languages, just an hour a day, for two days, is enough to where the student's speech center will click into the pattern of the target language. Though now the student can follow those ear tuning syllables, they are told to keep doing the ear tuning exercises - because a tuned in ear is not a native ear and its a native ear that you always strive for. (one additional instruction, use this pattern: 5 times trying to follow the ear tuning syllables, then 5 times close your eyes and just listen carefully. keep repeating until a half hour is done) (ear tuning exercises is not training as such, but rather feeding your speech center data that it needs to tune into the language. Note, you are always continuing hours per day of passive listening, along with daily ear tuning exercises. Ear tuning exercises should always be an hour per day for the first week, but then you do less and less; but never less than 40 minutes per week.) In all, these first two habits take very little time. The third habit can take some time daily - associating the target language with a known language. The associations can be written for the known language end, but must be both written, and spoken, for the target language end. Specifically, you read (or listen to) the translations / explanations, given in your known language, the listen and read that story you are learning from the audiobook in your target language. This 3rd habit, associations, is done most efficiently by having two audiobooks open. One is explaining / translating the story, while the other is just the story in the target language (with text). Depending on your level, you work with anywhere from one sentence at a time, to an hour of story at a time. Lets say you are just beginning: Listen to the translation / explanation for the first sentence from the first audiobook. Now go to the second audiobook, the one with just the story. Play that first sentence up to 12 times - in this pattern: read while listening 3 times, then just listen with your eyes closed 3 times. Repeat 1 to 3 more times. Move onto the next sentence. This is not studying - but rather feeding data to your speech center. Let your speech center do the real work, as you sleep each night. Association work each day should be done on new material half the time, and on old material half the time. Its the repeated revisiting of old material that eventually really teaches you it. This method may sound slow - but is actually very, very fast - your level continually goes up, in a constantly accelerated fashion. The more target language words you know, the quicker new words stick. And your ear is always going more toward native, helping to further accelerate the absorption of the language. That passive listening you are doing is more and more fully understood by you, helping to boost the learning rate even further. By the 14th audiobook, just listening to the explanations once, followed by listening to while reading the one hour audiobook just once, and you know that audiobook. By the17th audiobook (one hour long each), you just already know the audiobook, just by listening to it. (yes, some new words - but we all read novels, and enjoy them, without looking up the occasional word we don't know. And yes, if you come across an audiobook on totally unfamiliar subject matter, of course you will need to look some stuff up.) Now, notice, I said nothing about speaking. My method has you soaking up the language fast, has your ear native, and automatically the ability to speak it correctly - that is a function of speech center. But to get fluent, you have to actually start speaking. Find a language partner, or if on your own find audiobooks with lots of conversation; and speak all the parts yourself. There are also methods, such as the "short story method" you can look up and try. Regardless of how you go about getting yourself to speak the language, you should be using my method to soak up the language. And I strongly suggest using my method for a month (which is listening / reading only) before making much attempts at speaking. (so to avoid speaking with any accent from your native language.)

[@user-fz3mr1io4y]

Thanks! It's really deep thought. Often you just stop listening if you don't understand stuff. The best way to learn english is speaking with native speaker....too much "speak" in last sentence... i have to increase my vocabulary