Can you REALLY make progress with 1 hour per day?

[@anbur9197]

I'm not an englishman (I have about 1500 hours of comperhensible input) . What is azilian?

[@SimplyChinese]

I’ve lived in Canada for 23 years so far, but I’ve never come across this word either.

[@Refold]

Azilian isn't a real language. It's actually a reference to the book *How I Learn Languages* where the author uses Azilian as an example of how she'd approach a new language. - Ben

[@SimplyChinese]

@@Refold thanks for the clarification, Ben!

[@SimplyChinese]

I’ve just passed my 1,500 hours mark of Dreaming Spanish. 🎉🎉🎉

[@Refold]

Way to go @SimplyChinese 😄 - Ben

[@ewen1140]

And how was it can you speak the spanish well now?

[@vendingservices8900]

How do you feel now?

[@oversavior6892]

To be fair, I really don't like the idea of "if you don't study at least X hours a day, it will take you X years to reach fluency" because it already misses the biggest part of language learning, that it's not linear. If you only study for half an hour today, that doesn't mean you will be studying for half an hour a day for the rest of your life. I think it's a harmful mindset that forces people to study more than they can manage at first, which leads to burnout. There's a quote from James Clear that says "A habit needs to be established before it can be expanded upon." And I think it applies to language learning as well. I think it's perfectly fine if a beginner doesn't study even one hour a day, maybe only just half an hour at first. That's because with time, as you learn more about the language, learning even more becomes easier as well, the same way immersion gets more enjoyable the more you begin to understand. I think not burning out and enjoying the process is far more important than how much you study, because if you enjoy the process, it will inevitably lead you to spending more time with the language.

[@Alec72HD]

If you take it too slow you are really swimming against the current of forgetting. Also the beginner stage is the most difficult because you cannot enjoy the native level input yet. And for younger teenage students, they are running out of an opportunity to learn a language as an adolescent.

[@coolbrotherf127]

There's also that point where you don't even have to "study" the language as much as just enjoy using it which means that you can spend like 2-3 hours a day listening to podcasts and such while doing other things making things go much faster.

[@nBp4tB12]

As someone who's in the middle of that process, or just past the middle, that sounds pretty accurate.

[@philipdavis7521]

I’ve been studying Japanese for several years with little progress - I got a bit of a shock when I saw a Matt v Japan video where he said that its almost impossible to get to a good standard in Japanese with just one hour a day, even over 10 years. I hate to say it, but he is right. I just wish so many language teachers would be honest about this.

[@Refold]

If you do a solid hour of good study per day, every day for 10 years, you probably could get to a "good standard." But, in general, you're right. Being a Category 4 language puts it in a totally different league. 1 hour just isn't enough time to allow your brain to wrap itself around things and understand what's happening. That x1.8 number I mention isn't a joke -- Most native English speakers could learn 2 (or even 3) European languages in the same amount of time as Japanese or Mandarin. But, based on what I know about Japanese learners, that difficulty and stark difference between the languages is part of the charm. - Ben

[@paulwalther5237]

Have you seen Liva Kiva’s KZbin videos? He did 1 hour per day for about three years before he upped it. Granted, after he upped it the progress was a lot better 😂. I don’t know if I could duplicate his results though. I’m older for one and he seems a bit smarter than the average person. Great documentary of his progress though.

[@philipdavis7521]

I wish someone had told me about Cat 4 languages before I started….. but oh well, it is mostly fun.@@Refold

[@philipdavis7521]

Thanks, I’ll look him up.@@paulwalther5237

[@cesarydrogo5973]

Gracias por colocar los subtitulos estoy cansado de los subtitulos se youtube

[@ganqqwerty]

Yeah, I think that the main metric is not the amount of years till functional fluency but the amount of years till the end of misery.

[@Refold]

We don't phrase it like that 😂 but you're totally right. The first number we focus on is the fun threshold cause that's when it's HARD to stop learning since you're just having a good time. - Ben

[@Komatik_]

Absolutely. I'm vacillating between starting Japanese or Korean and it's a pain between not having any real Korean vocab but being able to read easily since they write with an alphabet, and being tortured by Japanese videos I don't quite understand but hear familiar words again and again. Then I pick up a manga and oh, right, the worst writing system in the world. Both taunt with the promise of a route to understanding but it's hard to choose.

[@GospelFire]

Love these videos. I've been learning Bengali for about 18 months, typically 4+ hours a day of active listening immersion, reading and Anki, and yet native shows targeted at adults are still a total blur to me. High ambiguity content makes me feel like a non-speaker, despite the fact I can listen to certain audio books (typically books that have familiar content) and understand just about 100% of what is read. I can understand why Bengali is counted as a category 3 language, as the basic structure isn't all that different from English, but boy does freely engaging with true native content seem to be coming slowly.

[@bobfranklin2572]

Ive been doing passive listening and around 1 hour or so 5 days a week, 4 hrs the other 2 for about a year now. I work 13 hour graveyard shifts so yeah. So far its been ok. But its more just maintenence or prep for when i can ACTUALLY take it serious when my job changes in roughly 8 months😂I

[@lukefagan2431]

How far did you get with this approach? I’ve noticed that just one long day can make a big difference. Curious how the effect would be overtime when repeated like that.

[@Khevaril]

I wanna watch TV shows in Azilian. I'm looking forward for letting Azilian be part for the rest of my life.

[@douglasmendes6934]

I’be been studying English for exactly 3 years. Half that time I was in Brazil and the left over I’m in Australia. In Brazil I started with Anki app, but I gave up when I had 4000 cards because I’d read 5 book in that period so I thought it would be the waste of time. Some practices I could track it down, then I read 20 books, 2000 hours movies + tv show without subtitles (with subtitles I didn’t count it, but it was’t too much, just 3 tv shows) podcast on passive listing is over 2500 hours. Content from KZbin I watched over 500 hours, so I lost my count. I can’t understand everything of my contents, I miss the nuances. People non native speakers and naive speakers I’ve been talking to every single day. The point is I’m not fluent yet, it’s crazy, isn’t it ?! I perceived my speak skill is better when I’m talking to non native speakers, I thinks it’s a lack of confidence. The other thing I think is despite I spent a lot of time in short time, the process a mind gets used to a language with takes longer. I think the fluency is close but I don’t feel fluent yet.

[@blackmartini7684]

From reading this you're pretty close, some things you say are confusing or not the way that I would probably say.

[@douglasmendes6934]

@@blackmartini7684 which one ?

[@ConstanzeWitch]

I am doing 1 hour of Japanese a day, sometimes more... It is hard to sit down, but once I start it feels great. I am quite unsure if I am doing enough, but I am scared if I do more I will burn myself out eventually, which is of course a worst-case situation. Maybe I will try keeping my current amount for one or two more months (I have been learning for a bit more than 2 months at this point) and then once my habits are solidified I will try to slowly add one more hour on top.

[@Refold]

That's a very wise approach! Enjoyment is very important for getting through that "initial difficulty." Especially with a language like Japanese. Another "trick" you can use is to have a minimum daily goal (1 hour) and then additional checkpoints for the days that go well (additional 30 or 60 minutes). That way, you can push yourself to do 2 hours on the good days, but when you're not vibing, you don't have the pressure to do 2 whole hours. Good luck!! - Ben

[@-haruto1601]

You should look up Livakivi's yt channel. The guy started learning Japanese a little over 5 years ago and only spent 1 hour per day doing duolingo, 5 words/day from the Core2k/6k deck and casually reading Tae Kim for the first 2 years. He then increased this to 1.5 hours/day until the end of the 3rd year (when he finally managed to finish the core6k deck). It was only during the last two years of his japanese journey that he increased the amount of time spent from 2h/d to 5+h/d. He only started sentence mining AFTER finishing the core deck (at the 3-year mark) and since then he has learned well over 20'000 words. On top of that, he did ONLY 500-ish hours of immersion during those first 3 years, and even now he has only spent 2500-ish hours on active immersion. This, in turn, proves once and for all that, albeit being incredibly useful at any stage, 1h of active study in the beginning is far more useful than 1h of by-natives-for-natives immersion (this would definitely NOT be the case if we were to take into consideration using actual 90-95% Comprehensible Input), while the opposite is true at later stages (1h of immersion is invitably going to be far more useful than 1h of active studying once you've reached a 7k+ vocab size). I'm of the idea that, despite the incredible results, his overall learning journey still had A LOT of room for further optimization. In the sense that, had he actually started immersing sooner (maybe using CI videos or other forms of graded content) he could have probably sped up the process by a lot. But still... IMO, being able to reach basic fluency this way is still an incredible accomplishment given that, if someone only having 1h/d to devote to language learning had asked ex-ajatters like Matt for advice, they would have probably been told to give up in the first place and would have never been able to travel to Japan, read books in Japanese, play games in Japanese etc. Despite passing a jlpt n1 mooc test, his Japanese still has a lot of room for improvement (pitch accent, kanji, formal/literary language etc.) but he's still far more fluent than anyone convincing themselves (or their audience) that if you don't dedicate 6-8h/d to Japanese you'll never achieve anything and will forever be stuck at a broken beginner level. btw, he is now currently on vacation in Japan (in one of his latest videos he actually demonstrates how he has almost no trouble living his life completely in Japanese at this point)

[@Nirr0]

What happened to Matt vs Japan with refold? Did he step aside or something I haven't seen him in forever.

[@Refold]

Hey there! Matt is one of Refold's co-founders and he helped created the company. His main role was as a successful language learner and having a media presence. However, in early 2022 he stepped away from Refold to pursue other interests and is no longer involved. Most of the team, besides Ethan, has never actually met him. I hope that clears things up!

[@mikjailcarrillo]

Thanks, @@Refold, for clarifying this! That "independence" gives a very fresh air and credibility to your project / method / company. Cheers!

[@kythian]

Wednesday. Every time: Wednesday!

[@LuigiCotocea]

That's how it happened to me when i was 6 when i watched minecraft on youtube as a native romanian, no knowledge of english at that time

[@vendingservices8900]

Hellooo this is Stampy haha

[@LuigiCotocea]

@@vendingservices8900 Stampylonghead fan?

[@vendingservices8900]

@@LuigiCotocea I think every kid ever, was a stampy fan

[@kennyclobers7310]

How do you make porgress???

[@andreab616]

So, from English to Spanish is a category 3 at 2000-2400 hours? I'm at 1350 hours of comprehensible input in Spanish and 2000-2400 hours makes sense to me. My understanding of KZbin and TV is pretty good in Spanish, on the street, it's okay, but my speech is still quite rudimentary. But fine to talk about how cute my dogs are with anybody (and everybody). Thanks for the video.

[@Refold]

Spanish is category 1, but those numbers are relative anyway. I have well over 3000 hours in Spanish at this point and still have plenty of things that I want to improve. That "end number" is more to mark the shift between learner and speaker. In my experience, even the easier languages take closer to 2000 hours to achieve a functional level. My theory is that, since it's easier to *pretend* with a language closer to English that it's messed with the numbers a bit. Keep up the great work, and you'll be fluent before you know it! - Ben

[@mr_mr]

These are great scenarios to help build some perspective. I'm just curious, how many languages does Ben speak? And how many of those are with the immersion method? Thanks for the video!

[@angelmarquez5153]

English and Spanish, I think he's living in México right now, but maybe I'm wrong, and he's also learning Czech at the moment. There are two videos on this channel where he talks about that

[@mr_mr]

@@angelmarquez5153 thanks. I did hear the "fierro viejo" in the background of the new Refold course lol. So that makes sense

[@Matt-jc2ml]

Is this trick question? Is an hour every single day enough to make any progress?

[@Alicia-yn6gt]

Is there a threshold where there isn’t much extra benefit? If someone studied 3 hours a day, would it be much different than 2?

[@Refold]

We're not really sure, but there does seem to be a threshold around 4-5 hours per day. 3 hours is certainly better than 2, which is much more than 1... But there aren't a lot of people vigorously testing the differences of immersion learning for 8 hours per day vs 7.5 😂 If you're trying to find the best time/day for you, I highly recommend you start with less than you think you can do (maybe 2/day). Then work your way up from there. It'll be healthier for your habit building and make it less likely that you stop all together.

[@Alicia-yn6gt]

@@Refold thank you for the reply! It helps immensely.

[@Glareth]

Are these hypothetical 1-2 hours per day meant to include flashcards reviews, or just immersion?

[@Refold]

Everything language learning related, since that's the number most people think about. We recommend that your flashcard reviews never exceed 25% of your total time with the language (ideally, less than 20%), so it's still *mostly* immersion.

[@vendingservices8900]

I spend between 20-30minutes per day on Anki, and then listen to podcasts while driving for about 30 minutes per day. Somewhat focused listening. Curious at what your thoughts are. I feel like I am maybe making progress, but not sure.

[@Refold]

It depends on how much you understand from the podcasts. But it sounds like you're doing a lot of low attention listening and study. If you spent more time on interactive immersion, you would probably make faster progress.

[@vendingservices8900]

@@Refold​​⁠​⁠I have lowered my amount of new Anki cards per day to only 10…. What you recommend in Refold. That’s lead to me only spending about 10-15 minutes a day on it. I’m now listening to tv shows for between 30 minutes to an hour a day (watching at least one episode intensively every morning). Then I do passive listening when I feel like it throughout the day. I feel like this is more productive.

[@Alec72HD]

How much to learn Azilian ? Is Gazillion enough ?

[@superholy2009]

hello. how many hours I need to be fluent in english?

[@Refold]

Depends on your native language! For speakers of a sorta similar language (Spanish, French, German), it'd take around 1500-2000 hours. For speakers of a distant language (Korean, Mandarin, Arabic), it might take 3000-4000 hours. There are lots of different factors that play a role in learning speed. - Ben

[@keithleow]

Just focusing on the technical side of the video production, you could use a better mic and/or software processing for the audio. It still sounds a bit hollow, as if you're in an empty room.

[@Tyler-Al]

Ben, I am sentence-mining your content, I hope that's okay with you.

[@Refold]

I see that 😂 All your "m" comments are in the back end of the channel. Keep it up! You're doing great 💪 - Ben

[@-whackd]

Six years is pretty long. We will probably have some simultaneous language interpretation from AI that is really comfortable and allows you to connect with people of all languages, before that.

[@PaleoalexPicturesLtd]

AI cannot solve untranslability ; it can just go around it, like any translator. If you learn a language for purely utilitaristic reasons, then sure, go for AI. If you want deep connection with a particular culture, AI will never do the job for you.

[@SupremeDP]

Even if they got as good as interpreters, which they might do pretty soon, you'll be communicating, but you won't be experiencing a different language and a culture. You're making it fully pragmatic, and removing the human element. That's fine if your only motivation is work, or getting around. It isn't if you actually like a language or want to connect with people who speak another language. Depends on your priorities.

[@filoreykjavik]

I want to learn Azilian, shut up and take my money!

[@ortizbryan27]

6 hours to learn Spanish lmfao

[@RosanaRuFer]

exagerated

[@colinlyne7399]

What is?

[@othercontent-vd9kd]

Does the 1 hour a day include anki and other studying? Or is the timeline only covering immersion time?

[@Gabeoverthinks]

I think it depends on the language. For example, if you’re a native English speaker trying to learn Spanish than an hour a day would be pretty sufficient but if you’re a native English speaker trying to learn Japanese than you’ll need at least 3-5 a day to get decent in a reasonable amount of time.

[@Refold]

Yep! It also depends on the person and what activities you do in that amount of time. That's why I included the .75x and 1.8x multiplier. In our experience, 1 hour per day of Spanish is approximately equal to 2 hours per day of Japanese in terms of "progress speed." - Ben

[@angelmarquez5153]

The road ahead seems so long, but at the same time, Im looking forward to improving my habilities by being consistent

[@paulwalther5237]

I decided to learn Japanese when I was 34. I had heard somewhere that it takes 6+ years to learn and I figured that seemed reasonably accurate unfortunately. It took me a while to take the plunge but inevitably I decided that six years will pass, albeit slowly, and where do I want to be then? After you get used to the grind it’s not so bad. I didn’t just do 1 hour per day. I did as much time per day as possible and 6 years I was conversational. I even moved to Japan for two of those years and so you could say I was motivated. Trying to duplicate that with Korean but the motivation isn’t quite there. Still not bad but I don’t think I’ll move to Korea for two years 😂. Who knows though.

[@Refold]

That's great! Slow burning a language can be great... if you're enjoying it 😅. I hope you find your spark for Korean, absolutely crush it and then go on an awesome extended vacation to impress all the street vendors 😛 - Ben

[@paulwalther5237]

@@Refold or maybe go on a date. You never know 💕❤️

[@EasyGreekVideos]

It really took you 6 years? It all went as planned? I'm in year 2 of my journey in Japanese (spending about 1 to 1.5 hours per day).

[@beezowdoodoozoppitybopbopb9488]

​@@paulwalther5237 6 years?! Here I was thinking that I could get reasonably competent doing 3 hours per day for 3 years. Idk if I can justify double that just to be conversational.

[@paulwalther5237]

@@beezowdoodoozoppitybopbopb9488 You might learn faster 😂. And your idea of conversational may be different than mine.

[@TheHakon98]

I am pretty fluent in Japanese (N2 level, can read about 1800kanji), and I have never really spent more than 1 hour a day. In total maybe 6-700 hours. I certainly believe I can pass N1 in a years time with this pace. I dont believe the notion that a hard language like Japanese cannot be learned with only 1h/day. My native language is Norwegian btw

[@jesusmolina8979]

Hi, Ben. Thanks a lot for this video. I'm a Spanish Native, and I'm learning English. This is an amazing journey for me, and I know that is a long-term goal. But I want to know what is the time in English if you are dedicating about 2 hours per day, I'm sure that depends on the case and your discipline, but I don't know what is the category of English. Sorry for the mistakes. Happy immersing!

[@Refold]

Learning English as a Spanish speaker is roughly the same as learning Spanish as an English speaker. So you can use the numbers in the video x.75 (roughly). About 1600 hours to "basic fluency," 2000 to functional fluency and 3000 to be "very good." If you can do a solid 2 hours per day, you'll be fluent in English within 3-4 years. - Ben

[@hector_sh3861]

Thanks a lot for that video, is really valuable and motivational for me. I'm working among an 8 month in my improvement of English.

[@Fabio-qx2ns]

In my opinion 40 months to speak for the first time is ridiculous, I learnt Swahili and started speaking at about 3 months (not well) I only started about 29 months ago but managed to live in Tanzania for a year and build a stable relationship with my girlfriend where for the first roughly 6months we only spoke Swahili and now we only speak English to help her improve. Honestly a language is for enjoyment and holding a conversation is one of the greatest joys in language learning and without plenty of speaking it’s hard to get as in touch with the culture as you otherwise would

[@elliscaicedo9045]

in my opinion just 1 hour daily your take a large time

[@christianbrown3751]

I'm trying to learn the best i can with the time i have. I work in the mines so i work 14 hour days and i work 6 days a week. My one day off i try to catch up life and exhaustion from the week. I still manage to get about 30 minutes a night before crashing 7 days a week. My progress has been really slow which is what is a struggle for me. Plus i can't use input at the moment as i still have pretty much 0% comprehension. My Vocab list is only about 100-200 words big. So listening to stuff while driving doesn't help either. I'm pushing through this first stage the best i can so i can start using passive input and comprehend it enough to actually help me. I'm hoping to be B1 in Dutch by mid 2026. Here's to hoping 🙏

[@lukefagan2431]

It’s never too early for input. If you can’t find anything you want to listen to that’s also some what comprehensible I’d recommend watching a movie you’ve seen in you native language and watch it 10-20 times (cut out non speaking parts to make this go faster) even if you’re passively listening to it you will continue to learn a lot from it for at least the first 30 times through.

[@tmr6666]

i have a question, by "1 hour a day" is he only including stuff like learning grammar and the meat and veg of the language in that hour or is he including immersion in that number, because if so yes i only get about 1 hour of actual grammar, writing and physical practise in but i also get on average 2-3 hours of mostly active immersion but i find it hard, even though i see growth and development in my listening ability, to include my immersion into that number and call it 'study'.

[@Refold]

We count everything that you do with your TL. There are ratios that you should pursue (you can't just put on talk radio for 1 hour per day and make progress). Here's a video I made about what kinds of things you should be doing: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ennFXomaptipmZo But it sounds like you're doing plenty and getting more than enough exposure to the language! - Ben

[@tmr6666]

Thanks for the quick reply, all i can hope for is that im doing the right things in order to make the best progress :)@@Refold although i never used languages apps in the past as i know they are completely useless but thanks for the video suggestion lol

[@RadgarPL]

Hi Ben, I have a question. I have been learning German using the refold method for 2 months. I live in Germany now and I don't feel like I understand a lot but I can't say anything. I kind of know one side. Input but I have a problem with output. What would you recommend?

[@Refold]

Hey Radgar! I hope you're enjoying Germany and your German studies. To be honest, if I were in your position, I would completely forget about output for at least another 6-9 months. It's stressful, difficult and will continue to be that way until you have a lot more experience with German. Instead, I'd focus all my efforts on understanding German media, KZbin and books. If you give yourself the express focus of input, it can be a lot less stressful and more fun. That doesn't really solve the problem of "connecting with Germans," however. For that, you can see if any Germans are interested in crosstalk (kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZnzWfauvjtONd80) or make friends with English speakers! In the future, you'll have tons of time to make friends 100% in German, but forcing yourself into speaking can pull a lot of the fun out of living abroad. It's not an easy journey, but the results are super worth it. I hope this helps, - Ben

[@SupremeDP]

Not Ben, but my tip is: keep inputting. Two months is not a lot, and you'll need much more input to start grasping the language truly. HOWEVER, if you need or want to output FAST, then study and practice some output. Learn basic phrases, practice saying them, use them when you need to. This might have SOME effect on how natural your accent will become... But that's about it. So unless accent is critical to you for some reason (and most people don't get completely natural accents anyways), you'll be alright. Just remember that most deep, proper learning will come from input.

[@jonathangamble]

If you study for 3 years and don't know the word for Wednesday lol... Matt is absolutely wrong on waiting to speak