How I study languages 📚🎧 (My current self study approach)

This video covers my current approach to language self study. I hope it inspires some interesting discussion about learning methods and approaches to studying!
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Music
Main: “In Case You Forgot” by Otis McDonald.
Outro: "Majikk" by Jingle Punks.

[@robertchitty3603]

For all that it's worth, Duolingo has taught me how to say "the bear drinks beer" in four different languages 😎

[@karunakar2229]

El oso bebe cerveza.

[@felipearaujo9211]

L’orso beve birraaaaa

[@josegabrielsolanopaniagua5395]

@@karunakar2229 oso*

[@karunakar2229]

@@josegabrielsolanopaniagua5395 Sí. Gracias .

[@lea-ko7uv1ou7w]

L'ours boit de la bière

[@loriemartinez3468]

“Male model speaks 75 Languages” LMFAOOOO THE SHADE

[@sanderskovly7641]

Does he actually speak 75 languages?

[@jesusrodriguez2533]

@@sanderskovly7641 OMG, sarcasm?

[@sanderskovly7641]

@@jesusrodriguez2533 He speak atleast 30 thoe. So maybe said it in his last video or something

[@ryang1992]

Sander Skovly r/whoooosh

[@lyn1114]

Who's he shading?

[@teresajadia3291]

"I whisper sentences to myself and everyone around thinks I'm crazy." Been studying russian for awhile now and this I can relate in so many levels. My co-workers would often find me whispering random russian words and they think I'm summoning some demon from other realms 😂😂😂

[@cvspvr]

how's your russian studies going?

[@ProfesionalAP]

Jajajaa

[@lamueldagon7618]

Very funny!

[@Ma-oh6xo]

I have the same situation in metro.

[@MohammadALObaidi]

When you hear him with the background music you feel like he's rapping 😂

[@dianahullinger]

Lol thanks for that. Now that is all I think when he talks 😂

[@wewewewewewewewwewe]

😂😂😂

[@SrNeoxNGT1kk]

That's true, I don't notice it before.

[@itsabuscus1619]

NO!!!! You’ve ruined me!!

[@maryamalenizi9845]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@charlesd3]

"I whisper the sentences to myself, and everyone around me probably thinks that I'm crazy" ... I feel ya man 😂😂😂

[@ThePlanetProject]

Charles Denney people think I’m possessed hahaha

[@heloisaheng3189]

Haha I’m like Paul, I don’t care

[@PainterVierax]

It's already a bit weird for western people but imagine that in Japan where people have the mentality of not acting strange and ashamed themselves in public ^^

[@konradhalman5104]

for a better effect try it with Latin :)

[@smersmer1855]

My mom when I try to speak French. She gets so damn mad and idk why XD

[@the_major]

My language learning process these days can be summed up in this phrase: "What new German shows are on Netflix?"

[@Langfocus]

Is that the US version of Netflix?

[@the_major]

Yup! There's actually more German programming than you would expect. (Babylon Berlin, The Heavy Water War, Dark and Charite are the big ones I've come across.) I always watch them in German with English subtitles and try to ignore the subtitles when I can. However, I can't say how well other languages are represented in the Netflix catalog. Hopefully you'll find something you like.

[@the_major]

Actually, my wife watches a lot of Chinese and Korean shows on Netflix so I can say that there are a fair amount of shows in those languages.

[@Monkeywe]

I'd kill for more french programming on netflix 😢 (btw, Mexican netflix here)

[@blackoutgo2597]

@@Monkeywe you can find a french show called mafiosa on youtube. I watch friends in french now a days

[@Neon8787]

NEVER STOP INTRODUCING YOURSELF BY NAME!!!!

[@PixelBytesPixelArtist]

I spend most of my time talking in Chinese saying that I don't know Chinese.

[@eundongpark1672]

Yep. In both of the languages I’ve learned/ am learning, it’s my most available sentence (or to say that I don’t speak it well)

[@formeraccount1529]

He is Paul

[@kinarast]

日本語を分かりません

[@seid3366]

His videos 2021 onwards: Your Intro is no longer needed

[@TioDeive]

Duolingo taught me to say 'The horse eats rice". Now I am fluent!

[@Langfocus]

Yeah, that’s all you need! 😄

[@danial9864]

El caballo come arroz.

[@kimaya.3563]

​@@danial9864 Sí, es verdad, a los caballos les gusta mucho el arroz.

[@danial9864]

@@kimaya.3563 jajaja gracias para la repily

[@tompeled6193]

הסוס אוכל אורז.

[@ankskwk1980]

Twenty two years ago, the first foreign language I learned was French. At that time, all the technological tools we have available today did not exist. The learning methodology was very “academic”: a French teacher in a classroom before two dozens of students; taking lot of notes from what she wrote on the blackboard; passing daily written tests in grammar, vocabulary, spelling, reading comprehension, essays; watching VHS movies and hearing recordings in magnetic cassettes... All of that took 20 hours a week plus homework. That intense “training” was a compulsory requirement to be admitted at the French High School of Mexico City! Later on, I could improve my French written skills as all the subjects in that High School were taught by French teachers. Definitely, the biggest improvement happened when I studied mechanical engineering in France for six years: communicating every day with native speakers and being fully immersed in the French culture was an invaluable experience! The second foreign language I tried to learn was English. I considered I did not have any formal tuition. Even though I had a certain knowledge of English grammar and vocabulary, what really helped me to develop some fluency was working with American engineers in the first job position I ever had after graduating from university. Although it may have seemed tough at the beginning, that was a very enriching experience that got me used to a wide variety of accents and ways of thinking in English. Nowadays, I continue practicing by watching a lot videos in English (e.g. Langfocus channel), as well as series and films on streaming services, avoiding as much as possible any subtitling. I will seriously consider shadowing for further improvement! Thank you Paul for your amazing videos! For foreign languages lovers, they encourage us to keep learning and enhance our communication skills!

[@ankskwk1980]

Husarz Thank you for your message. Actually, I am from Mexico! Thus, it would have seemed natural for me to learn English before French, given the proximity and cultural influence of the USA. My first contact with the English language was at the equivalent of Junior High School, but it was limited to basic words and sentences. When I completed Junior High School with “honors” (I do not really know if such words are appropriate at that education level), I was awarded a scholarship to join the French High School of Mexico City, which followed the same curricula as the High Schools in France. It was a four-year program whose first year consisted in an intensive course (20~25 hours per week) to learn French. The other three years were those of the French High School. After that, the French Government awarded me a scholarship to study mechanical engineering in France. I think this may explain why I learned French before English! Needless to say I am more fluent in French than in English!

[@cazgerald9471]

I saw a video recently stating that subtitles in the language you're trying to learn, for example watching a movie in English with English subtitles, is more beneficial than no subtitles. But having subtitles in your native language does not increase learning at all. Here's a link to that portion of the video if you're interested kzbin.info/www/bejne/gJCogneqpb6GhK8 BTW if you keep watching the video a little longer, the host discusses shadowing.

[@vaneenusa1776]

Omar Ivan Rivas Miranda Omar if you are more fluent in French than in English than your French must be at the highest level possible since your English at least in written form already is impeccable! My native language also is Spanish, I am Colombian, and I was raised in the USA.

[@zakme5638]

I learned French as second language since 4th grade up till high school, but I didn't get full grasp of it as the method used in teaching was fultie, All those years I had no idea about English till I got to uni and I was selected to study it as a major ,I grabed the opportunity, And here I am after 3years of full time learning at college and self-studying approach I can speak, understand and wield the language very well. However, my French language got rusty cuz I put all the efforts into English and I'm still dedicated to it. Till now,I feel blessed to learn a language that everyone in ma country wish to study.Also,the most spoken language worldwide which I had no idea of👨‍🔧.All in all ,my admission into the faculty of languages was a bolt out of the blue ,and my efforts put into learning paid off eventually.

[@Rb5241]

@@ankskwk1980 I had never heard of such a program. It seems it opened doors for you and you took full advantage of it. Congratulations!

[@JohnJohnson-bd9zq]

I learned 3 languages fluently starting when I was 23. I don't come from a bilingual family nor did I grow up in a linguistically diverse environment. The way I became fluent in these languages at an older age was by doing pretty much exactly what he's saying in the video. It's pretty incredible, I was shaking my head in agreement for almost every tip he was giving. I've been doing "shadowing" for years with TV shows and movies, I just didn't know there was an actual term for it. Seriously, try to follow these methods more or less. Change slightly for your tastes.

[@Joy-wd9ez]

This is inspiring

[@andang7005]

I was somewhat discouraged by the increasing slowness with which I learn foreign languages. Your comment helped me realize it's perfectly possible, I just haven't tried the right methods.

[@Historyboi-vn7gd]

Duolingo taught me: すみません私はりんごです which literally means, Excuse me I am an Apple

[@afz902k]

Same here, "pardon, ik ben een appel"

[@WaterFAK]

me too! xD

[@aliceanimals3768]

Same but french 😭

[@Gussani]

Better than Portuguese Duolingo that teaches you that the cobra, the cat, and the dog eat bread. Feel like Oprah, you have break, and you have bread, everybody has bread!

[@metronoth]

Извините я яблоко😓

[@bartoszbondzior2617]

This video motivated me to try shadowing. I'm beginner in Portuguese, so I found a short (under 1 min) audio dialogue with transcription. I slowed down the audio (0.6x), because it was to fast for me, and I began to repeat the words. I spend nearly an hour to master the dialogue, so I didn't stutter or get lost. I pretty much have learned it by heart. After about an hour I tried to demostrate to my SO what I've accomplished and it didn't go so well as an hour before. Till the evening I basically forgot the whole dialogue. And now the twist: the next morning I woke up and spoke out the whole dialogue by heart, with the intonation and all, without stuttering, fully automatically. I would really appreciate, Paul, if you elaborated on the topic of shadowing in a separate video, because I got excited to discover this technique and all the instant benefits of it.

[@Rb5241]

Interesting.

[@RenzoGualberto]

Are you learning brazilian portuguese or portuguese from Portugal?

[@rafa-ep1ps]

@@RenzoGualberto I'm learning Portuguese from Brazil, are u learning Portuguese?

[@RenzoGualberto]

KZbin oficial I’m brazilian, brazilian portuguese is my mother language haha. Actually, I’m learning russian

[@RenzoGualberto]

KZbin oficial I really wish you good luck! You can be sure of this: brazilians think is amazing when a foreigner learns portuguese. Vá em frente que você vai conseguir!

[@MrBkbnk]

Read the Wikipedia page on your languages phonology before starting it, really helps give your pronunciation a bit of accuracy from the get go

[@Hwyadylaw]

Just combine it with listening to understand what it should sound like. It's very obvious when someone has learned the pronunciation from IPA transcription but little to no listening.

[@Matheus_Braz]

@@Hwyadylaw I think both listening to lots of audio and being aware of some troublesome aspects of the language's phonology are crucial.

[@Joy-wd9ez]

I started doing this with french to get a firm base to start Its very interesting

[@anneonymous4884]

Omniglot is another good resource.

[@Griff10poldi]

I just laughed at that Indonesian Linguaphone dialogue, it is so 80s (or maybe early 90s) style Indonesian speaking style.

[@elliotvernon7971]

It was made in 1977.

[@LordOfBrownies]

@@elliotvernon7971 this course is ahead of its time.

[@ace24680]

@@LordOfBrownies lmao :)

[@raikozy35]

yeah it's so funny, reminds me of old warkop movies of speaking style.

[@belajardisana.6539]

Is it appropriate for me to say "Ok boomer" here

[@NiksWickOfficial]

i know this video is old now but as a language lover ive learnt how to speak 4 languages, my approach is firstly learning at least 300 words and then slowly ease into grammar and how to form sentences, then after a get a good grasp of the nature (that what i like to call it) i then spend time everyday learning 2 new verbs, 2 new complex sentences and 10 words! after 50 days of doing that you can effectively say 100 verbs, over 500 complex sentences (due to mix and match) and 500 nouns and of course while you're doing all of this i tend to listen to songs in that language and translate them, this helps train your ears to recognise sounds and keep up in speech, as well as learning new words and slang in said songs, and lastly i use you tube a lot to make sure what i am learning is correct if its available on KZbin! i hope this helps you guys master languages like i did!

[@NiksWickOfficial]

@Profit Tracker I'm glad! I'm curious tho, what language are u learning?!

[@randomguy6843]

The Number1 your comment inspired me to learn Spanish

[@NiksWickOfficial]

@@randomguy6843 ohhh wow I'm so glad I have :) please update on how it goes :)

[@jonathantavitian7283]

Thanks so much for sharing with us your journey! I’ll definitely be trying this for my language learning

[@pedromiguel709]

@thenumber1 how do you chose which words and verbs you want to start from and learn next

[@encyklop]

The shadowing technique seems pretty interesting to me, I've never heard about it before. But I think that I'll have problems using it even in my mother tongue xD It's extremely hard for me to concentrate on two activities (speaking and listening) simultaneously without getting lost and confused in all these words and sounds, though I understand that it must be a very useful skill.

[@vladthemagnificent9052]

agreed! I would've thought that it is ipossible but apparently some people have such a skill. but maybe I should give it a shot. One friend of mine once told me that he was able to communicate in two different ways e.g. speaking + reading, writing + listening, etc if it is different languages, as though that languages are just different channels for the information. he said he could easily read an English text and listen to some russian speach and understand everything perfectly, but if the same language he would get stuck. for me it's even worse - it always takes a couple of seconds to switch the languages in my brain and parallel processing in different languages seems impossible :)

[@vladthemagnificent9052]

забавное совпадение что вы выпустили видео почти на одну тему - странные способы изучения языка - с перерывом в день :)

[@euclidesribeiro8810]

With support from the transcript it is less difficult than it sounds, keep in mind it is a repetition exercise, you will take over two dozen tries to get to a 100%, if you ever do, and that is ok, you are not trying to be a ventriloquist, you are trying to learn a language.

[@AlexeiKremliovsky]

@@vladthemagnificent9052 Тоже заметил)

[@FordyHunt]

Look up Alexander Arguelles for more information

[@nosotrosloslobosestamosreg4115]

I had to learn english by myself, because my country's teaching system sucks. I had to develop my own way.

[@nosotrosloslobosestamosreg4115]

In my case, I focused mostly on grammars, and begun to make all kind of sentences, no matter the meaning or un-meaning of the phrase as long the "blocks" were on the "right spot", thus "The closed cat was meowing in green" is grammtically "right", but since it has no rational meaning, your brain tried to imagine that closed cat thus more areas of your brain got involved in the learning process (imagination, emotions), it was like replicating my childhood process to learn my mother language. The next step was begining to read, write and talk about my most beloved hobbies, in english of course, because without emotional content and commitment, there's no real learning. BTW, my hobbies were, and still are, genetics and D&D.

[@nosotrosloslobosestamosreg4115]

@forwatchingu2ubeclip It became an addiction, my friend.

[@nosotrosloslobosestamosreg4115]

@以蔵岡田 In my case, I focused mostly on grammars, and begun to make all kind of sentences, no matter the meaning or un-meaning of the phrase as long the "blocks" were on the "right spot", thus "The closed cat was meowing in green" is grammtically "right", but since it has no rational meaning, your brain tried to imagine that closed cat with the additional outcome of more areas of your brain getting involved in the learning process (imagination, emotions), it was like replicating my childhood's process to learn my mother language. The next step was begining to read, write and talk about my most beloved hobbies, in english of course, because without emotional content and commitment (imho), there's no real learning. BTW, my hobbies were, and still are, genetics and D&D. I followed with Old Spanish, then Latin, and now trying Italian and Portuguese.

[@Indrazill]

@@nosotrosloslobosestamosreg4115 It's like the common English learning system in country. Teachers always over focus on grammar formulae without encouraging their students to practice the language. That's why only a few people can speak English here although they may have been learning English for over 10 year (from elementary school to high school).

[@ingridp4457]

instead of using the word sucks, use deficient

[@labyrinthwomb]

DuoLingo has updated a bit - At least for French, they have a "stories" section with conversations and questions, and they have context clues and questions for the more advanced lessons. I also appreciate the spoken word sensing feature - always feels good when the computer recognizes what you said on the first try!

[@anneonymous4884]

Spanish has also added stories. In general Duolingo is improving.

[@azzamfs]

1:52 "These old Linguophone courses can be pretty gangster though" Me: Oh I think he means these courses are hard to follow Proceeds to talk about smoking in airplanes, reckless gambling, gold diggers and ridiculing hippies Me: Oh

[@kkeanie]

I want to learn all of that in french! isnt that awesome

[@martinpattison8916]

I did Linguaphone German when I was about 13. I remember the dialogue between a couple of teenage cousins: "Was, rauchst du auch?" (What, you smoke as well) "Ja, aber nicht vor Vater und Mutter." (Yes, but not in front of mother and father) "Das kann ich gut verstehen." (I can understand that) I can remember a lot of the texts from the French and German courses even though it is over 40 years since I did them so that validates their effectiveness.

[@aharris206]

Paul, thank you SO MUCH for introducing me to Anki! A little context here, I am learning Romanian with Duolingo and some other side resources since it's my Mother and her family's native language, but was never spoken with me growing up. Anki has been SO helpful learning new vocabulary so I can go through the lessons with ease! I even record myself saying the words, so I make sure I am putting the right emphasis on the correct syllables. I never new this free resource existed, and it has made my language learning journey so much easier! Mulțumesc foarte mult! (Thank you very much!)

[@Langfocus]

My pleasure! I’m glad it helped!

[@JonBastian]

Dude... make no excuses. You have no idea how much you've done to inspire the rest of us to learn languages. So... go on being on being you. And keep on learning on and sharing. And... kudos, because... what you do really helps the rest of us more than you can ever know.

[@JohnnyLynnLee]

I've found that the approach of Stephen Krashen about massive input and comprehensible input, and about ACQUIRING a language rather than LEARNING a language was quite usefull to me and improved A LOT my process of learning language. I strongly recomend you all to watch one of his videos. HEAR (and read), passively is more important than everything. Don't focus on try to reproduce the language, as he says. This will come NATRUALLY as soon as you are exposed to enough comprehensible input.

[@bafouilleetcharabia1814]

this word "passive" is to experiment. This something subtile, too much passive, you never get it, to much active, you loose energy and maby time. Actually, i try to find the balance, when I learn as passive as possible, it's more comfortable, but I learn faster being active. More you are attentive how you learn, time after time, you can feel the balance between active / and passive and use both as best as possible. Also we are not equal in languages. But for sure : put an audio on of a 5 seconds sentence. At the first listening, it's maybe for you only "whale speaking", you've catched nohting. But listen this phrase, just listening, not thinking, 3 times, 10 times, 15 times and you'll repeat it automatically. (sorry for unperfect english). And thank you for the name of Krashen :)

[@azuregriffin1116]

@@bafouilleetcharabia1814 *imperfect Other than that, English was good.

[@millymoreira9407]

This is how I learned english, reading fanfictions and whatching shows without subtitles.

[@Acro_LangLearn]

@@millymoreira9407 nice

[@Acro_LangLearn]

Yup

[@bookle5829]

IDK WHY I LAUGHED SO HARD AT THE HIPPIES PART. Maybe it's because I didn't expect to listen my own native language in this video and maybe it's the way they speak it. lmao

[@user-fc7dh8yz9d]

does this part sound unnatural or wrong to you as a native?

[@user-mr1hs4fx7z]

@@user-fc7dh8yz9d another person in the comments said it sounded old fashioned so there ya go lol

[@anantav51]

@@user-fc7dh8yz9d It's natural but it's too formal.

[@shofwannur4718]

@@user-fc7dh8yz9d i'm a native. It doesn't sound unnatural...more like a conversation between mafia bosses in movies or between higher ups in goverment.

[@inyour_wetdreams]

@@user-fc7dh8yz9d to put it on perpective in english, its kinda like hearing how people in the 90s speaks english that you hear on TV which makes sense because the audio that he uses is pretty old

[@NikhilKumar-wv3to]

My Current Approach- First Day, I watch some videos, listen to audios and songs and also read some text(without caring about the meaning) to just get familiar with the langugae. Next, I study many common phrases, greetings and many common words by making flashcards for next 2-3 days. Then I study the grammar using good books and simultaneously learn 10 new words every day. For a simple language like Spanish, it will barely take 2-3 months. After that, I listen to podcasts, make flashcards of new vocabulary, practice listening and speaing. Then I chat with native speakers on Speaky App or Website (It's free). Then when I am done with whole process in 1 year, I watch a lot of movies, keep learning new words and revising the older words, have talk with native speakers. After this, tour to that country is perfect(though I've never done it but will do when I grow up). In this way, I can learn a language within 1 - 2 years.

[@Acro_LangLearn]

This is a decent approach ngl. I especially liked how you do lots of input.

[@Joy-wd9ez]

Great ideas!

[@henroriro]

Thank you for this video, I can't rely on that green owl anymore

[@YangSing1]

No Budget Movies Duolingo is the best

[@uranus2970]

Hmmm...Men jag lär mig svenska med Duolingo och det fungerar.Well at least it helps a little.You obviously cannot really learn a language with Duolingo but it is an acceptable tool for studying.

[@Knute360cool]

No Budget Movies, duolingo is good for spanish and pretty much nothing else

[@heloisaheng3189]

The owl turns gold when u complete a tree ~

[@uranus2970]

@@Knute360cool It also works for Swedish and English.Assumingly because these languages are not that hard to learn.Also bei mir funktionierts zumindest mak.

[@deepdarkmidnight]

For flashcards, I use Memrise. I honestly don't have the time or the patience to use something like Anki where I have to produce the flashcards myself. Memrise has been incredibly good for me to learn German.

[@Knute360cool]

Tiefe dunkle Mitternacht, try using memrise with quizlet, I am learning Finnish and quizlet makes the experience “game-like” and there are “spelling” tests which are super helpful for listening comprehension

[@deepdarkmidnight]

Thanks for the tip.

[@mep6302]

Yeah. I use Memrise for all the languages I'm currently learning. It's really been helpful for vocabulary

[@user-xu7kg8dp3u]

i also use memrise for japanese mandain korean and when i can mongolian and french and vietnamese...

[@acampos8422]

Tiefe dunkle Mitternacht I use Memrise for learning Hebrew

[@francishaight2062]

Thanks Paul! The way you describe your method of study sounds like it would be right up my alley.

[@dmytrandr]

I've improved my English dramatically since I started to learn it through KZbin videos. I think I will never be so patient as to learn it through courses.

[@adriangjonca680]

Дмитрий Ященко your English is really good

[@tyshadonyxs2008]

Not to spoil, but wouldn't drastically be a better word choice than dramatically?

[@johnjcb1]

@@tyshadonyxs2008 no

[@dmytrandr]

I've heard both variants in such context, so I think they are often interchangeable, "dramatically" is even more suitable.

[@razalasreficul6902]

@@tyshadonyxs2008 not to spoil, but wouldn't "choice of word" be a better choice of word than "word choice"? Just kidding, bro. You're right.

[@vietnamesemadeeasy9869]

2:22 Go to the vocabulary list for the lesson, and make a flashcard for every word 3:22 Listen to the audio recording of the lesson dialogue and try to shadow the speakers' voices 5:32 Make flashcards for every sentence in the dialogue 6:25 Do the Q&A drills (and other types of drills) on the audio recording This method of self-learning a new language is very useful. I am trying to practice it myself. Thank you for your sharing!

[@sethe6814]

Paul! You are truly an incredible guy since you are able to elocute your points so well!

[@YassoKuhl]

Thank you so much for suggesting Anki! It's great!

[@kaseywahl]

I've been studying Mandarin for 6 months, the last two of which I have been living in China. My daily study regimen has been about 2-6 hours per day depending on my schedule. I use a cocktail of the HSK workbook (HSK 3 currently), Pimsleur's audio tracks, and Anki. I need to start doing shadowing! My reading has improved considerably since arriving in China, but listening comprehension and automaticity have still been huge barriers, in spite of hearing the language around me all day and speaking it when I can. Thanks for the helpful suggestions!

[@umuttekin4734]

I used to translate rammstein songs to learn Deutsch of course that's not enough but it s funny.

[@sebbyh9764]

Fun or funny? My gf always get them mixed up (she's Andalusian) haha

[@umuttekin4734]

LoL IDK

[@SantiagoG18]

Yes, me too hahahaha

[@OractheIII]

Ich Will

[@fab006]

Translating song lyrics is how I started off learning English :)

[@cernowaingreenman]

You are crazy, Paul--- crazy genius! Love your videos. I always learn something from them.

[@josemanuelmayagoitia1177]

Shadowing is a great advice. Thank You Paul. Very good as always.

[@caiofariasgs]

I really like your videos. We can really learn about languages. We can see that you do a long research about the language before and it adds a lot of value for us. Good job!

[@vitorcarvalho7832]

This shadowing approach reminds me of what I did when I learnt English. I memorized songs and it became a bit like shadowing. I also thought in English most of the time and I still do. Watching videos constantly and talking to people also helped me a lot. :-)

[@gerozayas9425]

Your channel is great, I really appreciate your videos and content, thanks a lot and keep going!

[@randomizednamme]

Wow I've been watching you for years but never realized that you are all the way up to 500k subscribers! So congrats and we appreciate your hard work, Paul!

[@Langfocus]

Thanks! Well, 560,000 people have clicked on the subscribe button but most of then don’t watch regularly. I’d say there are 50,000 real fans who watch everything, so it’s still a fairly small tribe.

[@Faith_Hope_Guy]

@@Langfocus planning on watching all the videos. So interesting. I teach languages and have shown the Romance Languages video to my students. Loved the dialect and continuum parts. Your channel and the "Geography Now" Channel, and Wikipedia are some of the great blessings of the Internet age, fast, fun access to knowledge that makes us better global citizens.

[@elianamckee]

Paul, you are great! Thank you for this video

[@ultracool9782]

Congratulations Paul. Great channel. Wow, job well done.

[@BMtodaP]

I've been to two extremes when it comes to Anki. There was a time when my language study was exclusively making and studying flashcards. I didn't realize that when a word is "well known" in Anki, it's still just in your short-term memory. Then I started to just read texts, watch videos, and practice with native speakers, figuring that I could just soak up the language purely through exposure and context. But with that approach, only the most common words and grammatical structures really stuck, and my vocabulary was really lacking. Recently I found a good balance between Anki and context (texts, videos, speaking practice), I seem to be making progress faster. For my listening exercise I usually watch movies and try to pick out words that I know. It's exciting when I can understand a whole sentence. Shadowing sounds like an interesting idea though.

[@vaxelband2439]

Thank you for sharing these amazing information with us 🙏❤️

[@dude9864]

Your advice about reading along with the audio is a godsend! I actually felt my brain understanding and hearing more Spanish when I read along with the natives! Sounds I could barely recognise before are now as clear as day after just one attempt... thank you so much!

[@joshadams8761]

Thanks for sharing your technique.

[@nadiab.8869]

Shadowing, huh?? Never thought of it, GREAT IDEA! Years of consistent great content and now such a useful practical tip! Thanks! That's absolutely worth a monthly coffee! See you on Patron!

[@patbreacadh]

Your videos are very useful, and to-the-point. Great work!

[@WilliamCarterII]

"...is pretty gangster." I cackled until I realized it was literal.

[@TommyJapanBrony]

I've been studying German and Korean, this video is helpful.

[@Oliver-dh1bh]

if you need a native speaker to practice German with let me know! :D

[@lenaarkenberg9434]

Very nice 😊

[@Josh-bf6sk]

Never understood why people actually want to learn german...I mean we literally have sentences like "Ist mir Wurst".

[@zak.886]

Josh xD what does that sentence mean ik not german

[@Veevee.Smollfox]

It means "I don't care", literally translated it is "It is sausage to me". Very wierd.

[@dactylntrochee]

I haven't learned a language for years, but I have a hunch. At 9 or 10 I learned a bunch of songs on an album by a popular folksinger. The words were written out in the languages in question if they used Roman letters, and were transliterated if not. They were also translated, so I had a picture of what I was saying. I can still sing them to some extent in Russian, Hebrew, Spanish, French and Serbian. I did poorly in high school Spanish (failing 3rd year), but a trip to Peru that summer as an exchange student gave me a good insight: Since I already had sounds and sentences in muscle memory, all I had to do was substitute the appropriate word in a pre-existing structure. When I got back home, I garnered a 98 on our statewide (Regents) examination, and in the next year, I managed a 798 (out of 800) on the national achievement test. (This was especially useful in the area of accent and vowels, since I didn't rely on preconceived notions of what the letters signify. I just sang what I heard.) Understanding was, and remains, more difficult than speaking -- but I don't get to practice much. A project on my bucket list -- probably something I'll never get around to -- is to go on a trip to the north European countries and learn lullabyes in the various languages. I'd start in eastern England, learn a bunch, then go to the Netherlands and find if I could get people to teach me the words in Frisian to the melodies I already knew. I'll bet there are many in common. Then down south to standard Dutch, across to Germany, up to Scandinavia, and finally to Iceland. My guess is that all those languages have some common baby songs with basic sounds, grammar and vocabulary. (Though they might be poetic or archaic.) The hunch is that I could, even late in life, use those seed sentences to "build out" a working knowledge of the language. It brings to mind the phrase from the Wonderland (or Looking glass) caterpillar who, fooling with an old adage, said "Take care of the sounds and the sense will take care of itself." BTW, a friend who knows lots of arias in Italian and Russian uses the same method when speaking those languages. Of course, the project depends on the notion that an old American coot can walk into a bar in Denmark with his guitar, look for people to teach him cradle songs, and get the desired results. That might be a stretch. I don't imagine that opera singers are generally polyglot, but I'll bet you those who pursue it are pretty good at it, since they have a good portion of the job already done.

[@secretariatgirl4249]

Thanks for your clear discussion of shadowing!

[@WezaBeatz]

Shadowing is excellent, as for Anki, thank you for have making me discover this app ! 😊

[@lucasmatias.coaching]

I guess this is the best way to learn any language as a salf-study. I use this same way and it fited on me perfectly. I use shadowing, aki and a lot of extensive reading. Thanks for this channel.

[@arjaygee]

Very interesting and useful video. Thanks!

[@englishiguana4304]

Thank you Paul, I have gained a lot from your channel watching it over the past couple years. Your videos are always very helpful and interesting at the same time! Thanks for all you do 👌🏽

[@Langfocus]

It’s my pleasure. And thank you! I’m glad to hear that.

[@englishiguana4304]

@@Langfocus yessir! You’re welcome!

[@amirahaaji]

Firstly I love this channel and your videos - so thank you so much! I would just like to share my experience. I started using Duolingo to teach myself Spanish almost a year ago. I finished the tree within three months, and then now I feel I don't use it anymore because it's just too easy. I'm possibly around a B1 speaking/writing/listening but a B2 with reading. However, I have to say it definitely helped me so much to get started. For the first couple of months Duolingo was all I used to help build up vocab and understand simple grammar. And then I would start incorporating books and other mediums. I still think it's a fantastic (free!) app and great for easing you into language learning! Now I'm about to start French, and will be using both Duolingo and trying out the new Fluent Forever app. Lots of love to all you other language learners!!

[@rhettvaughan880]

I'm studying spanish interpretation in my college and our drill practices involve shadowing, it's really really helpful.

[@aloolyjoseph5604]

The shadowing technique was so much useful to me when I was learning Turkish. And I haven’t used it with English language, so I have been studying English since two years. Actually after this video I am excited to back to the shadowing technique and use it for English this time.

[@aldoriverarobles]

I shadowed the entire video! I agree, this technique is super efficient, it really helps to improve your listening comprehension and pronunciation skills. I've been doing this while watching series without knowing this technique actually had a name or exist. Greetings from Puebla, Mexico.

[@karolinamagdalinska6908]

Thank you for this video, you’re doing an amazing work here, I’m so grateful that I found this channel ;) Now I feel motivated to learn languages - finally!

[@Langfocus]

Thanks, Karolina! I’m glad to hear that. 🙂

[@zsomborsuto5574]

I think that Duolingo is a very good support when you are learning a language. I've completed the Swedish tree and it helped me lot.

[@ayinstrumentals7731]

Not by itself though

[@heartsthekitteh6239]

@@ayinstrumentals7731 Duolingo does well for what it hopes to achieve, not as a standalone tool. Besides this, I have a single complaint: the CG pronunciation for generated sentences ranges from great (Dutch) to okay (French) to often unintelligible (Italian.) Seriously, sometimes the words at the end of a clause will be inaudible or fade out quickly.

[@ayinstrumentals7731]

@@heartsthekitteh6239yeah, same, heck, the audio won't even work for me

[@deniaridley]

I love it! But I use it specifically to keep up with the 3 languages I speak other than English. I recommend it to everyone who asks me how I can speak four languages. I would never try to learn a completely new language with it. It is quite simply a great tool.

[@GarnetsWeb]

@@deniaridley What do you use on the sidelines with duolingo?

[@flairball]

Anki is fantastic. I’ve used it for studying Japanese, and studying for a promotional exam at work. I’m moving on to another language and Anki will be part of it.

[@R21EMAN]

I wanted to thank you so much for putting this video up. I watched it the day it came out and I started using AnkiDroid the very next day and I haven't missed a single day! I find that I am motivated so much more and I am more reliable with this app than with previous ones that I've tried, such as Duolingo etc. I see lots of improvements in my vocabulary and I've even been able to use it to start learning some new tenses! Thanks for introducing me to it!

[@EnterHacker]

Great vid. Missed this one! Keep em coming 👌👍

[@EasyFinnish]

Duolingo taught me to say: ” are you a horse?” I couldnt answer NO...

[@xdgamer2765]

The Language Lab same this also happend to me, i got offended because duolingo called me a american in french class.

[@mollyr.goates8097]

Duolingo once told my friend that cats are food... It also told him that students aren't cool, and that he is not good.

[@Historyboi-vn7gd]

¿Tu eres un caballo?

[@jasmineagyakwa]

ты лошадь?

[@anonimus500p6]

Historyboi 1492 No, soy yegua :)

[@benjaminprietop]

Seems like a cool and effective method, I think I'll give it a go

[@priscillakhan491]

Ive been looking for a video like this! Loved how you explained with full details, Ill def give it a shot! Thanks for the info! :)

[@stefaniasmanio859]

Thank you so much!! One of the best and more useful videos about learnig languages I have ever met!!!

[@Langfocus]

Thanks! I’m glad to hear it!

[@infinity365]

I learned Koine Greek using Anki. I highly recommend it. It made me feel like I was making progress because I knew it was keeping track of both my successes and failures.

[@Alicexxhottie1]

I love shadowing and do it all the time. I started doing it when I heard dialogue in anime that sounded cool to me, and wanted to repeat it and sound like the character. It was only recently I found this fun activity for me was called shadowing. I'll be putting in more of an effort now to do this more as now I know it is also a studying technique!

[@michelamarcellino4029]

Hi Paul, I've become addicted to your wonderful videos 😁 I think that every person should try, and see which method or which methods work best for them, according to their habits, their age, and the way they learnt to study. I wish I had started learning foreign languages before. Anyway, I'm really enjoying the process

[@markdonovan1540]

Great video, I haven't used Anki, nor do any of my students of English. Listening to your approach has given me the idea to try and incorporate some of the ideas, both in my own language learning and also for my students. You're completely right about the speaking and listening deficit experienced by many language learners who mainly practise reading and writing skills.

[@limmykinh]

When I was in 5th grade, I started learning Japanese on my own. I watched a lot of anime and listened to a lot of Japanese songs. My dad was like, "how do you know you're not saying any weird stuff in those songs?!" so that challenged me to translate the songs to English from the kanji/kana lyrics. I learned a lot! That's pretty much all I did to study Japanese. Got busy with life after highschool and didn't really pursue language-learning until recently again. When I finally went to Japan last year, the people I met in Japan said I sound good. I took Hebrew classes last year and that's the same approach I did. Helped me excel at my Hebrew vocabulary too.

[@Acro_LangLearn]

That seems kinda unlikely, as you would’ve forgotten a lot of the words unless you used some sort of revision method like an SRS or something. Also I’m pretty sure if Japanese people say 「日本語上手」they sometimes don’t mean it...

[@TheirWisecrackingUncle]

I am on disability due to liver issues that I've had since I was in my teens. My wife works and so I spend a lot of time at home with my two cats and one dog. As such, I started changing things I normally would say to them in English (such as "get off the counter" or "do you want to go outside") to my target language. I also try to think in my target language when I'm by myself, or when I talk to myself. I've also found it helpful, oddly enough, to learn about my health issues in my target language (such as medication names, disease names, procedure names, etc).

[@orange_lime]

A huge like for the shadowing technique. I've been practicing it for around a year, first with English and then with French. I'm so grateful to my university professor to have adviced me to do it. I'm no longer ashamed of my English pronunciation and I became much more confident and fluent in both languages. The only drawback of it for me is that you need to have at least A2-B1 level, beginners would find it too hard.

[@carpediem6568]

The connection of words and phrases to a meaningful concept makes perfect sense. Can't help but make it all work together much better. Would think these online courses would have thought of it.

[@elmirasmiscellaneous1129]

I've almost never tried shadowing except for some languages classes when teacher asked us to repeat a dialogue and paused it and also when I used to use Pimsleur for Swedish. but now that you have mentioned it again, I think it could be an excellent method to accelerate the flunecy or automaticity as you say. I'd give it a try as soon as possible. I think SRS is a very effective method for memorizing words and phrases. I have been using apps like Memrise and another app for memorizing words and also other stuff and it does help a lot. I had never heard of Anki and I feel like I might give it a try as well. I usually love to attend language courses and classes, to me that is the most effective way to start a language, but since I don't always have enough time to attend classes and with accessibility of apps and videos nowadays, I tend to kickstart my language learning with duolingo and memrise and I try to watch series and vids in the target language and I also try to find grammar books for the language which sometimes is hard especially for less common languages such as Danish and some other languages. Thanks for sharing yoyr methods Paul, they were somewhat new and more useful comparing to some other videos I have recently watched on language learning methods.

[@santiagosancho2317]

Just my experience here: Personally I took english classes when I was young, like from 12 to 17 and I also had english in my school, still my english was poor. Then I did something, I needed to learn how to use certain programs (adobe after effects, maya, etc) so I started watching tutorials, trying to understand what they were saying. Eventually, I did understood, and because I understood enough, I was able to leave the video playing on the background while I was working, that way I could follow the tutorial. This allowed me to understand what they were saying, and that lead me to watching youtube videos in english, I did look up for some words I didn't know, but little by little I got pretty decent.

[@JulianaFully]

Loved your tips! Thank you so much. When I start learning a language I usually try to focus on the Grammar cases and write sentences that fit in each case over and over. Also reading them out loud and trying to find those cases in the audios and videos I listen to. Oh, of course one needs some vocab to do that, so the flashcards and word lists are essential!

[@sk8catatonik]

Thank you. This is wonderful to know.

[@nominatorchris5591]

Can't even shadow English. Let alone another language.

[@CaptainsMorning]

Many Western languages link their words together while talking naturally → "I played on my phone" will sound kind of like "I play d'on my phone".

[@jcd5533]

Hi, Paul! When I learn a language and go deeper in, I also get a try with a neighbouring language. For instance, I m learning Russian, so learning Ukrainian is also interesting and allows me to match grammar and vocabulary. I do as well with German: I m getting a try with Yiddish. This process is very interesting and efficient. I m surprised to switch from one to another, each language seems to help each other!

[@dankhnw8]

I so needed this thank you!

[@ninonippon]

Thanks for share your own method ! Greetings from Mexico.

[@vanderlinojunior7895]

Good video. It helps a lot.

[@86TrapHouse]

When I saw those cassettes it reminded me of hooked on phonics.

[@Langfocus]

LOL

[@_rozto]

Hi, thank you for sharing. Most important thing imo is, to put a lot of time into it. When I was learning Japanese and Korean I also used Anki, but I didn't do shadowing... I think what helped me a ton is listening to dialogs, in my case, there is a website, that teaches Korean through mp3s on their website. I was listening to all of the lessons multiple times, which made me remember a lot!

[@swordofdoom1517]

What a great channel! By the end of the day, gotta love KZbin.

[@sivanhalperin7116]

what a great video, Paul! תודה רבה

[@stelline11]

"Living in the country where people speak the language you want to learn" This is the best and fastest way to obtain foreign language IMO

[@TariqNavabiGaming]

Not always possible though

[@robertomendoza2227]

The best way...

[@dondieggito1931]

The hard thing is affording it :"v

[@clarkroth1298]

One thing that's helped me immensely is memorizing songs in the target language...you get the native enunciation but often at a more measurable pace, so you can really digest the details, both sonically & grammatically. Plus it hits your brain in a slightly different way than normal daily conversation.

[@ruslanst.2339]

Your speech is so clear so even I, not native speaker, can understand it, that's cool.

[@cheesecakelasagna]

There's a channel named JOLLY and they used this Korean social app that's kind of like Tinder but instead of matching via a visual profile, you talk (audio only) to a random person for a short while, only after talking you can decide to "match" them or not. They used it to help the one of them to practice Korean in terms of structuring sentence, doing back and forths, etc. (the other guy is already fluent)

[@steffahn]

hmm, never heard of shadowing before, sounds interesting though. I'll definitely try it out for my Japanese language study. I'm not that far into language self study, but as far as I can tell, Anki (which I've been using for vocab) is pretty neat - and I think I personally prefer textbooks over apps, too.

[@Langfocus]

Anki gets pretty spooky sometimes. Sometimes I remember words that I have no memory of ever learning. The context is long gone from my memory, but because of the spaced repetitions I remember the word.

[@davitube4747]

@@Langfocus I've stopped using Anki because I realized that when I wasn't using it, I couldn't remember words I always remember on Anki... That's probably because when I speak a foreign language, I never fall into the translation phase... I think it lets you commit too many errors by trying to translate sentences literally and it also slows down your speech a lot imo... So as I begin feeling comfortable enough with the language, I skip translation, as I said before...this means that when I use Anki, I'm actually training a process I never come across because I would match the (e.g.) Japanese word with the English word, whereas, if I'm speaking, I match it with the thing itself .. Maybe creating image/word flashcards could help, but it seems like too much work...

[@josephwarren3498]

Frank: You apparently do not have children. More than three decades past, that "game" was their favorite annoyance to use on me.

[@steffahn]

I see, apparently they know how to practice their language skills :D - yes, indeed, being in my early 20s I don't have children (yet)

[@Elemy69]

Shadowing is part of the training of professional interpreters, I think that's a good indication of how effective it is. If not shadowing, even listening and repeating sentences is proven to be very effective.

[@timflatus]

Thanks for doing this one Paul. This is reassuring, as I've been looking to improve my learning techniques and have just started using Anki. I'm also just searching out fun videos in the target language with lots of dialogue and preferably without subtitles and I have been shadowing, even if I can't translate any of it yet. I often feel as if I understand a lot from context and body language.

[@cristobalsilva2121]

Thank you for this... I'm currently trying to learn korean so this is going to be really helpful for my language learning journey... I've never been so commited and this has me very excited...

[@toorganicpi]

I use Anki for Thai. Seems to help but it is only good for learning vocabulary. The HSK approach to learning Mandarin is really good since it defines standard vocabulary, written / reading and comprehension skill for every level. This is well thought out and the model should really be used by others.

[@AboAli-pc5qw]

I used shadowing in linguaphone it helps you speak quickly

[@gergelybakos2159]

Dear Paul, I very much enjoy and appreciate your videos. As for shadowing, I think I should try it.

[@marcamant7258]

this,is a pure jewel of an individual experience that we all have to considere when Learning languages.