How Long Does It Take to Learn a Language?

[@Thelinguist]

How long does it take to learn a language? My wife has been learning to play the piano for a long time. She derives immense enjoyment from it. How long does it take to learn to play the piano? Maybe learning a language should be looked at in the same way. --- FREE Language Learning Resources 10 Secrets of Language Learning ⇢ www.thelinguist.com LingQ Grammar Guides ⇢ www.lingq.com/en/grammar-resource/ My blog ⇢ blog.thelinguist.com/ The LingQ blog ⇢ www.lingq.com/blog/ My Podcast ⇢ soundcloud.com/lingostevepodcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/learn-languages-with-steve-kaufmann/id1437851870 --- Social Media Instagram ⇢ instagram.com/lingosteve_/ TikTok ⇢ www.tiktok.com/@lingosteve Facebook ⇢ facebook.com/lingosteve Twitter ⇢ twitter.com/lingosteve LingQ Discord ⇢ discord.gg/ShPTjyhwTN

[@CloudJ5]

man, Thank you so much for all these videos, very informative, im using LingQ for the first time ( a month), Studying Japanese, going to Russian and Turkish and German next, i can already Speak English and Hebrew (fluent) and Arabic ( as a native speaker) would like to practice it with you mister if you dont find anybody to practice with.. Thank you again ... :)

[@ayi3455]

It's more difficult to learn the piano than foreign languages. I got that experience, too... My friend who plays Piano pretty well, and understands French and a little Japanese once said that too...

[@jamesward-parrish2309]

3 months? That seems really unrealistic... It takes much longer than that for humans to learn a language.

[@kukualdulimy3699]

I didn't find any lessons for grammar in lingQ

[@DanClapp]

That's funny because I play the piano as well, and a lot of people ask me if I can show them how to play the piano. I always say something like "sure, if you're wiling to dedicate the rest of your life to it" lol People see the results and think it would be kind of neat to play the piano, but many don't realize it's a lifetime endeavor. I'm starting to realize the same thing with languages. Even as a native English speaker I still look up words in the dictionary. There is always something new to learn.

[@africubanbronco6784]

One of the things I enjoy the most is watching someone's face light up when you speak to them in their native language. It's beautiful.

[@rattlehead001]

It’s a great feeling.

[@brentlocher5049]

I want to experience that

[@chloewiill]

I completely agree :)

[@willianbarreiro9925]

If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart

[@sleepsmartsmashstress8705]

It's beautiful.

[@luizantonio0808]

Steve's passion for learning is so inspiring! Even if I hadn't learned anything else from him, this lesson would've been enough: enjoy the process!

[@nightflight1975]

Steve-san, nice to see you, I'm a middle-aged Japanese guy who have been interested in learning languages. "Enjoying the process of learning" is what refreshed my mind. As you might know, we, Japanese, want to be so perfect in everything. We're afraid of making mistakes, being a laughing stock, and in schools from 12yo, we've learnt English as if we could have learnt to decode Enigma. I've been interested in Russian. In my juvenile days, Mr. Gorbachev's speech fascinated me. His voice was so powerful as changed the world. But as soon as I saw the conjunction chart of nouns and adjectives, my mind was broken. 6 ways of conjunctions by three sex and plural, 6*(3+1)=24. I'll continue to learn Russian again, though it might be like a walk of a turtle.

[@abdulrahmanabdulghani8833]

Keep it Sir

[@cesarg.campos5016]

Don't give up, sir! Greetings from Nicaragua 🙌

[@ivan_3578]

I am a ukrainian guy, who speaks russian and learn Japanese. I feel like I'm looking at alien's writings when I am reading japanese. Conjugations seems not so hard. I wish you all the best on your journey.

[@nightflight1975]

@@abdulrahmanabdulghani8833 Thank you, I will.

[@nightflight1975]

@@cesarg.campos5016 Muchas Gracias, señor.

[@canalmusicaefutebol4587]

I am English teacher in Brazil and use many tips given by Steve in my own classes. His knowledge is a present for someone who likes to learn languages.

[@zsoltpapp3363]

I was very good at understanding english for like 10 yrs, i had no problem watching films or news broadcasts in english, and i understood everything. This was after many yrs of classroom learning and language exams. I wasnt very good with everyday communication though, because i didnt specifically practice that. Anyway, after spending a lot of time with natives, a couple of months was enough to get to a near native level. Speaking is the fastest way to learn to speak, but it helped a lot that i already knew the vocabulary.

[@lewisfitzsimmons1271]

Passed the Scottish version of the GCSE for French like 15 years ago. I don’t speak any french...all passing that taught me, was the language learning was something I was “bad at” and didn’t “have the genes” for =/ Until I stumbled butt first into Lingq, the polyglot community and Krashens comprehensive input ideas, after that I got to a confident level in German in about 4 months and am now pretty fluent and confident. Going back to french very soon to do it properly. Thanks Steve

[@iolojones8810]

I passed the GCSE 4 years ago... I could say my age I want to go the cinema. I like football. After school I watch the TV. I'm positive if we self studied it would take 2 months - 3 months to pass French GCSE.

[@TheJadeFist]

School can be bad for learning. I took one semeseter in college for french, and just had a bad time with it. The teacher was this guy from Ivory Coast, you know with that african french accent, and I couldn't even understand a word he said in english or french lol.

[@unusualfootballfanfoot686]

I have been enjoying your wonderful lessons, Stevens

[@ghosthunter0950]

Hey I'm just starting to learn German. Can you give me some advice on what I should be doing and learning at the beginning when I'm starting from scratch? And then later on?

[@weave_girl325]

I love " what's the hurry" because it's true, everything takes time, also I'm just enjoying my language journey, learning Korean for about 2 months now. 😊 I'm along for the ride ❤❤ thank for videos!

[@danisilva23]

Depois do Inglês quero aprender coreano tbm. Amo Kdramas.

[@shamimmir361]

In two months u cant reach that high level but it takes long time 5ye and 10year to gain full control over it...

[@Overheated521]

I need to get a job

[@mpforeverunlimited]

There definitely can be a hurry. Maybe you're learning for work or you're going to the country

[@_Woody_]

The hurry is, you need to pass important language tests for which you are given 2 years max. That is the hurry.

[@KarenVanessaBuitrago]

It really depends. It took me around 10 years to get to C1 in English, but only a year to get to B2 in Portuguese

[@romesdiniz5235]

Hey, I’m subscribed to your channel. You’re awesome. Great to see you here in the comments.

[@lukecooper3820]

Hey, I speak Portuguese fluently also English as my second language, plus I want to learn more languages in the future because I love the process so much!

[@sherlock6254]

Yeah, there is also the fact that per every language that you learn it's going to be easier with the next

[@KarenVanessaBuitrago]

@@sherlock6254 100%

[@RhafaelViruel]

Legal

[@IKEMENOsakaman]

As Mr. Kaufmann says, it really depends on people. I also don't think we need to hurry. We have our own pace. Let's have fun with it and not stress.

[@blueicer101]

"you will learn as quickly as you learn" is so true. Everyone has a different basis of knowledge so learning at different rates is to be expected. Additionally, we all have a different amount of energy and free time for this language learning process so it's almost ridiculous to think anyone can tell you how long it will take. I'm learning Japanese as my first second language and I have to say it's almost strangely similar to english, the sentence order is reversed sometimes but it's grammar is like a kid's train track set where things just snap into place. I don't know why people say it's hard, it's just different and requires more learning such as the kana which is like their alphabet. I won't say it's easy but I think it's a good first language because it'll make other languages seem easier when I move on.

[@g_sm0ke]

Even in English its not like we know everything, that's why certain professionals get paid so much because they know a particular domain that others don't. Impossible to speak a single language 100%

[@DWpeep]

Yes you're completely right! I know so many English speakers that don't have a good range of vocab and they've known English since birth! Many choose not to read books too as "reading isn't my thing" but I think there's more to it.

[@Geo-st4jv]

this is so important for learning with anki like mattvsjapan said the tool makes you feel like you can learn literally anything and its easy to fall into obsessivly learning words that maybe naturally occur once every few years for natives like transubstantiation and other useless stuff

[@DWpeep]

@@Jess-737 sorry I don't mean to cause offence. I said English as the OP referred to it initially and as it's widely spoken, and one of my first languages too. It's easily accessible for most as there's literature, movies and music at every corner. So I just meant many fluent speakers struggle, especially with grammer.

[@Langermar]

In Russia the most commonly used source to resolve hesitations and arguments about Russian grammar, orthography and punctuation is the "Rosenthal's handbook" written by a genious lingust Dietmar Rosenthal. And there is a joke about it: "the only person who knew Russian language was a Jew". The fun thing is, it even wasn't his mother tongue. Even though he spent most of his life in Russia, he actually was born in Poland and raised in Germany.

[@DWpeep]

@@Langermar this is the greatest fact I've ever learnt, truly! Wow.... If this doesn't encourage anyone to keep learning then nothing will. Очен спасебо мой бпат!

[@foreverlearningfrench]

"Enjoy the process of language learning." J'avais besoin d'entendre ça. Je vais enregistrer cette vidéo pour la motivation. Merci Steve !

[@cspel002]

I began to get so discouraged in learning Korean. I've been learning for 2 years slowly but surely. I haven't engaged in Korean seriously for almost a month now. But after watching this it really encouraged me to continue 🙂

[@philipdavis7521]

I know its a frustrating question for language learners, but I do think that giving a number of hours needed for language goals is useful. When I started Japanese evening classes a few years ago I had no idea how hard it would be - after struggling for a while I came across the 'official' figure of 2200 classroom hours and it was quite a shock to me (but it did explain why I wasn't getting anywhere!). For me, having a reasonable total number our hours per day/week/year gives me a target and has helped me settle down with a realistic study pattern, and has helped me avoid the frustrations in not being able to read/communicate as much as I'd like - I know I'm a year or two away from that, and I'm comfortable with that now.

[@TheSpecialJ11]

Japanese is even considered 2200+. I believe it's the only language the FSI teaches to receive that rating.

[@obinnaobiekwe4910]

It's 2024. What's your status on the language?

[@philipdavis7521]

@@obinnaobiekwe4910 I’ve done about 1500 hours, and I’m around B2. Very slow progress. I need about double that amount of hours to get to my target level (moderate fluency)

[@maicidiecagem]

Hey man, how are you?? I'd like to know too. How is your Japanese level right now ???

[@kerim.peardon5551]

As I was talking to myself this morning in Polish, I realized that I finally know more Polish--and am much better at speaking it--than Spanish. I had 3 years of Spanish in high school. I have been learning Polish (a language that the Foreign Institue says takes about twice as long to learn as Spanish) on my own for 1.75 years. So it's really hard to gauge how much time It will take to learn a language because it depends on 1, how much practice you do daily. I am now doing an average of 1 hour of Polish a day, which is a lot more time than I ever spent on Spanish. 2, the quality of your learning. I have used Duolingo, flashcards, and now LingQ. I think all are better than traditional classroom methods that emphasize grammar first. And 3, prior languages are a factor. Because I had learned verb conjugation in Spanish (which took a while because it was such a foreign concept), I recognized it in Polish and learned the present tense conjugations in a day. In other words, because I already understood the concept, all I had to do was look and see what letters Polish does to accomplish the same thing. When I get to the point that I understand cases in Polish, then it wouldn't take me long at all to learn another inflected language, like German or Russian, because I will have already mastered the concept (which is what takes time); I will just need to learn the letters the new language uses to do the same thing. There's also the fact that the act of learning, especially a foreign language, rewires your brain and makes it easier/faster to learn more. And you figure out what technique works best for you, so you learn subsequent languages faster because you don't have to waste time again on things that don't work well.

[@obalfaqih]

Totally agree, it's mostly about the journey itself. I feel that language learning is just like sports, you always exercise to stay fit, and most importantly, enjoy it 👌 Thanks for sharing your thoughts, insightful as always! 🙏

[@FireFistMot]

Got it ✔️ the secret to learn a language without stress is to enjoy the learning process

[@russianwithevgeniy]

Thank you for the great video! From my own experience I can say that consistency and building a habit of everyday studies is really a key. It's really like learning playing an instrument. For instance, the Russian torfl standard states that you need approximately 100 hours to reach the A1 level. But in reality it's realistic only if you study 1 hour every day consistently and with a right approach. I'd say 100 hours is a minimum in reality. But ultimately it's just better to relax and study every day, and not think about big goals. This often turns out to be more efficient.

[@divereconomist3960]

Hi Mr. Evgeniy. I'm from Saudi Arabia. I've been learning Russian from scratch since over a year now. My main reliance is on YT videos, apps including LingQ ofcourse : ) and casual meetings with Russians online. But I'm unsatisfied about my level and progress so far. Do you have any tips?

[@russianwithevgeniy]

@@divereconomist3960 Hello! Make sure that you study at least 45 min a day. One of the most common problems is simply lack of time. If you do study consistently, but feel no progress, try to make sure that you have a right balance of input, grammar and production activities. Let's say you study 45 min (I would recommend reading with audio and translation for at least 20min + grammar. You can check Havronina Russian in exercises for example) studying grammar is very important, you can't really efficiently assimilate without understanding what's going on inside the sentence.

[@BradenLaughlin]

This video felt like a breakthrough for me, I went from using the books (or a whole YEAR with not much success) to doing the things I wanted to (actually talking to natives of my target language) I struggle a lot but I'm getting more exposure to the language and more confident everyday and am learning it on my terms. Thanks Steve!

[@marwakamel6229]

انا مصريه اعيش بكندا وبحاول اتعلم اللغه الانجليزيه من عام تقريبا والان اجد نفسي افهم واتحدث بشكل صحيح الي حد ما I'm an Egyptian, living in Canada, and I've been trying to learn English for about a year, and now I find myself understanding and speaking correctly to some extent. Thank you so much Steve I’m always trying to lesson to your Accent is very useful for me ❤️❤️

[@springbreak2021]

Thank you so much for these videos, Steve. I have been learning Mandarin for about a year and a half now, and I really have fallen in love with the process. I often still feel like a small child when trying to speak with others (lol), but it really hasn't deterred me. Thanks for all of the inspiration and insight!! Language learning will be a journey that I will walk for the rest of my life.

[@kaducamilo2012]

2:50 This is absolutely the main advice someone can get from an experienced learner, we need to enjoy the process, enjoy making mistakes although sometimes it can be frustrating. I can remember how anxious I used to feel when I just started to learn English, it was always like there's someone holding a chronometer in front of you when actually there wasn't. But then when I just learned how to be quiet and enjoy the everyday process I realized that I was finally able to learn. It's been like 4 years since I decided to start this journey and currently I'm able to have amazing conversations on Cambly and to meet incredible people from all around the world.

[@acealexander9070]

Thanks a lot for your videos, Steve. Much appreciated.

[@waaagh3203]

Exactly! It's small goals that you reach a long the way that you need to savor and look forward to. It's the "I can now order in x language at a restaurant." Be excited about little things. Even if you can do it roughly, who cares? You're improving. Some think that language learning is pointless until you can hold a lengthy conversation, without making mistakes, with a native speaker. That's not true. Enjoy the little successes along the way.

[@osamahabbas3443]

Its great to see you and hear your voice,I can't wait for the new version of lingq

[@Neo-Reloaded]

Don't you like the current version?

[@topspin1715]

I have been learning Spanish for 2 months now through combination of grammar book, a book that shows similar words in English and Spanish, language learning app, Spanish music only, Netflix in Spanish with English subtitles and practicing each day with native speakers for a few minutes per day. I am enjoying it but I realize it will take me likely one year or more before I will feel confident with conversational Spanish with native speakers.

[@Nihilnovus]

After studying Latin and classical Greek I found learning many other derivatives from said languages easier. If you have a base in some of the classical languages modern languages come a lot easier.

[@Haylla2008]

​@無垢яєιηнєιт Pretty sure they explained that already: all other languages that stem from that language become much easier to learn. I took Latin in high school and there are a large amount of words that I recognize in other languages. It also taught me a lot about grammar patterns that many other languages share. Knowing Latin also helps you recognize the general meaning of certain English words you may be unfamiliar with. Many English prefixes, roots, and suffixes derive from Latin. penlighten.com/list-of-commonly-used-latin-roots-prefixes-suffixes Outside of that, learning is never a waste of time just because someone else doesn't see the value in the subject being learned.

[@TheSpecialJ11]

This is what has made French very easy for me. I have a pretty strong vocabulary in Latin for someone who has literally never studied the language, and I speak English natively (at a very high academic level as well), whose vocabulary is 30% French in origin, 30% Latin in origin. Learning French vocabulary has been a breeze because over half of it I already know the word. Many times the basic French word for something is the academic word in English. Now the pronunciation though...my tongue has never done some of these sounds before in Latin, Spanish, or English.

[@motorprotein1797]

Any tips on how to go about learning latin and classical greek ?

[@TheSpecialJ11]

@@motorprotein1797 kzbin.info

[@iolojones8810]

You just made me remember how much they drilled je jouer au foot and je jouer du piano. The GCSE didn't get me far after 5 years of learning in school. Just after starting to self learn I'm realising how slow the classes were. Also thanks for the mini stories and lingq in general

[@DWpeep]

I use to love French at school and it's the only GCSE I bloody passed 😂 but looking back... After 5 years I couldn't hold a conversation... I never really got stuck in... We all saw French as a subject rather than a language or skill. Ah well cest la vie as they say lol

[@iolojones8810]

@@DWpeep Me too. It went more fun as time went for me but we really had the wrong mindset about languages probably because the way they taught and year 9 where we could choose are subjects. They were on that list and called as a subject. Oh well

[@yuritarelko9916]

What's the hurry - the best explanation. Couldn't agree more.

[@mertmaralmojo]

I really liked your approach about learning through fun because I think this is a must. Without getting some sort of a joy from the process it's not likely to sustain it for a long time. Thanks for the video Steve!

[@kanishk7267]

Whenever I get gloomy, I watch one of your videos, and they inspire me to keep going. I chuckled at the comment about the GCSE bureaucrat deciding which grammar rules to test the student upon - it's practically Kafka-esque and very true in the modern world. Seems that we've lost our way from being a learner-oriented society to now a teacher- and bureaucrat-driven society fixated on artificial gatekeeping. The idea of learning for pleasure now seems alien and foreign in the industrial world - almost as if it's self-indulgent or dilettante-ish; but then you remember that that's how children learn and how normal brains function - it's enjoyable, it's life-long, it's Taoist, and there's no bureaucrat to stamp something on your forehead at the end of the journey. Anyway. You are an inspiration. Never stop fighting the system. Thank you for your amazing wisdom and amazing content.

[@saharamiri522]

I'm Iranian . I'm really glad to hear you learning Persian .☺️☺️☺️

[@小田さん-f6s]

I’m a Japanese learner of English. I’ve been interested in languages since I was a junior high school student. I’m good at reading and writing English. But I’m poor at listening to and speaking English.😇 Sometimes I study, sometimes I’m tired and then quit studying. However, I’ve wanted to comprehend and speak English someday since that day. I often struggle English but I believe your words and I continue learning that language with joy😊

[@VisualStoryNetwork]

I break language acquisition down to the number of hours I've spent in active and passive learning. It took me 2000 hours to be highly conversational in French (native American English speaker). I'm at 1650 hours in Turkish and need at least another 800 hours to be highly conversational in Turkish

[@barborajezkova8393]

Omg you know czech :') That genuinely made me smile

[@havvaalexander9520]

Interesting. I’m a native English speaker. I began learning Turkish whilst watching Turkish films 3 years ago. I recently started working with a tutor. The language hasn’t clicked yet, but I’m understanding more of how the language works.

[@merrh8819]

I listened to your answer word by word and I totally agree with everything you've said. Indeed at some point it feels like it's never ending but the sparkle of hope that you get when you feel that breakthrough is incomparable, that's the only thing for me that can fuel your motivation to keep moving even if you know that's an endless journey; and this video was somehow very promising to me as it got my hope back again, thanks for the informations you're sharing Steve.

[@shutupsamandseth]

Great video as always Steve! I just want to say that I have been learning Spanish now for about a year and a half, and I still can't "speak" it as fluently as I like. But I am still learning words every day! Eventually I will do it!

[@danieltrejo1404]

Excellent advice Steve, it is wonderful hear you, thank you.

[@mariagarcis1797]

Hi Steve, I'm Mary from Uruguay ,many thanks to share your experience with languages with all of us, you are great, you really inspire everybody, you are admirable! Big huge from South América!🙏🙏

[@jean-lucchevrier2371]

Great analysis! Not only in the classroom (travel), never ending (tao of life), enjoying the process (singing, meeting people, movies...), don't focus ou your mistakes... Immersion in the country is a great tool too to stay motivated but you have to be well prepared and have a nice experience when travelling, no so easy to achieve... Especially for languages like Russian, Chinese, Croatian... an immersion is a must to trigger the desire to go on! Time is not so important, opportunities are! For instance, as I have new Chinese neighbours, I have resumed with learning Chinese for the third time in my life. My project to move to Croatia made me start learning Croatian at over sixty years old.

[@philipbuckley759]

take the to be and to have verb....use numbers and diagrams, for vocabulary, and start operating, as soon as you get, on site....

[@fbkintanar]

around 2:30 "2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th languages... I make mistakes in all of them. But I enjoy them" Learning to enjoy your mistakes is key! Every mistake is an opportunity to learn, you learn by trying, often failing, then pushing on. If you aren't making enough mistakes, you are doing it wrong.

[@berenyiandre2040]

Dear Steve, Thanks for your kind advice. Andre BERENYI

[@Elisa-xx2xp]

I started learning Russian 4 months ago (again!). I take private lessons 4 hours a week, I moved to a country where Russian is spoken (Uzbekistan) and I watch youtube videos in Russian. So far, I have learned a lot. I am able to communicate basic stuff, i can easily go to the restaurant and order food, take a taxi etc.

[@paulwalther5237]

I saw the title and my response was “it takes as long as it takes”. And unfortunately having learned two languages to a B2 level doesn’t mean I’m going to get there with my third 😂. It’s still just as painful and I question myself just as much. Learning Japanese kanji I don’t know how many times I googled how long does it take to learn kanji?? The answer is that it takes a long time. It will probably take you longer than anyone says on KZbin.

[@DWpeep]

Like Steve always said... Enjoy the process. I think it would suck to get to a goal very easily... You'll only make a make a new one and maybe with another language and forget the first 😂

[@ba8898]

Those fluent-in-3-months KZbinrs are a source of demotivation for the new learner. Those polyglots who really do have a near native level in a language have been learning it for closer to 10-15 years or more.

[@paulwalther5237]

@@ba8898 Yeah people making KZbin videos generally really do have a lot of experience with learning languages and know how long it usually takes most people. They should give real information.

[@shamimmir361]

I think first language is difficult.u know the difficulty language u understand it perfectly then we can learn any language of world...language means habit and natural way is listening and reading

[@franciscomachadocarvalho2456]

Wow, thanks Steve. Your words are so encouraging! I often pressure myself for not learning faster...or not speaking as well as I'd like to. I think i get it now. It shouldn't feel like a duty.

[@libriniserenagobbo9717]

You suggested several times Lernen: I bought it!!! I look forward to receiving It.

[@tomdoesstuff1978]

Hi Steve, I live in the UK and have experience of GCSE language learning. Perhaps my school was particularly bad but in order to pass the spoken test, the schoolteacher took us as students one by one out of the classroom and into the corridor with a tape recorder. She then proceeded to tell us exactly what questions she was about to ask AND gave us the answer in French which we should parrot back to her. After two years of studying towards GCSE french I could say nothing more than je voudrais un orangina, sil vous plait.... The amount of time spent on foreign language instruction through outdated, ineffective and inefficient techniques is borderline criminal. I have friends who studied German for 7-8 years through school and then college who insisted that they just translated word for word (with the same word order) between the two languages.

[@67ClayTones]

I very much enjoy listening to your wisdom and your enthusiasm. I needed this. Now, instead of just doing some DuoLingo before bed, I'm going to do some grammar. Thanks for your videos, Steve Kaufmann.

[@HotCarTrack]

Good valid points, enjoy the journey, what's the rush along with outside the classroom are so important. I'm learning Thai and teaching myself and not beating myself up with how slow I'm going.

[@solea59]

The transitional period can last for a very long time. Why are people in such a hurry ? These people who claim to have learned in X amount of months is very discouraging to people who are thinking of starting to learn a language. The pleasure is in the process as you say. I'm in full agreement with you there Steve !

[@SpankyHam]

It is possible to learn a minimal conversational layer of the language. But to learn a language deeply, you need to accept the cultural code of the country whose language you are learning, otherwise it will not work. Plus, the language changes and evolves, new words and expressions appear - and you can't "learn" the language until the end, once and forever even if you devote 20,000 hours to it.

[@c.d3304]

I like this old man, he is clear and wise

[@MobWave]

I am British and I took both GCSE German and Spanish and got the highest grade in each (A*). Now they consider this to be equivalent to A2 level in the CEFR. I remember being given each week a list of 20 words to memorise for a test and a lot of these words would be something I'd consider as specific topic words. Other than some high level verbs, the other words were always really specific to business or some other topic. Now the GCSE runs for 2-3 years before the exam, and by the end you're only expected to have A2. This is something that in the 'easy' languages such as Spanish, should be achievable in about a month maybe 2, depending on time each day of course. Also, the teachers spoke in English for the duration of the class, and I don't remember ever listening to anything as practice other than the listening exam audios themselves which were short 10-20s extracts of someone talking to you like you're a baby. (You can find free samples online if you're interested). Anyway, wanted to share my experience.

[@mcfc48]

I agree. I am also British. GCSE languages are a joke. I studied French at school. I got a B in French and I was fooled into thinking language learning is just memorising phrases for an exam. You never practice speaking or having an impromptu conversation. In our 5th year of French we were still learning how to describe the weather. I learnt a language as an adult and realised how bad languages are taught in the UK.

[@pleciugakowalska3965]

I teach modern languages at a British school. A lot of the content you are required to teach is unrelated to actually being able to use the language in a meaningful way and is mind-numbingly boring because it's just feeding students with the content they need to pass the GCSE.

[@kennethtan6485]

To enjoy the journey not the destination. No words ring any more true.

[@qavi9967]

Thanks Steve. Even I can't understand all vocabulary and sentence that you say but I enjoy to listening to you.

[@vinzetti22]

I love the process...I want to be able to communicate and understand obviously, but fluent for me, would be being able to understand a joke and tell a joke in my target language. Also, being able to argue if I had to, since you don't really think when arguing sometimes, words just come out

[@brendon2462]

Not too hard to reach that level in a language. Speed of progress primarily depends on. How willing you are to spend time with the language. How many hours each day of listening and general exposure. If you think about it we've spent hours and hours everyday with our native language. Some reach it in only a few years. But they sacrifice a lot of time everyday.

[@lebronwade2077]

Thank you steve.This video teach me a lot and give me confidence.

[@alanoliveira6596]

I like so much watching videos like that because it's helpfull to build a sense of what we need to focuss on to really improve your golas. Thanks!

[@Nateeeeeeee]

Спасибо 👍🏼 очень интересно. Я сам изучаю русский язык и БЛИН его очень сложен. Каждый день сделаю ошибки с друзьями и в изучением но, я люблю этот язык, культура, и думаю, что русские люди добры... И та моя мотивация

[@sahinoudiengo816]

Русские люди разные бывают, но добрых среди нас немало всё же, особенно по отношениям к иностранцам, если они учат русский язык))) Удачи и терпения с языком

[@vincentaurelius2390]

I gave up on Russian after two years because I felt like I wasn’t progressing at all, but I just understood every word you wrote. I guess it takes time to sink in. Maybe I’ll pick it up again.

[@piphany4858]

@@sahinoudiengo816 по отношениЮ. Русский? 🤣

[@МаринаМоон]

Мы очень добрые.

[@sahinoudiengo816]

@@piphany4858 да, рашн Ой, точно, отношению)

[@veronika9464]

It's interesting. Always when I hear from some stranger mentioning Czech, I just start paying attention more, cause it's not often to see someone learning my native language.

[@IbrarHussain-qs6vn]

Steve, your ideas about languages are superb

[@youssefelmrabet7033]

the moment I see the notifications, my brain is like voilaa some enjoyment.

[@sohersaker7578]

as usual it's an inspiring teacher for his students.

[@jamesgallo3967]

I have always been intrigued by the question how long does it take to reach fluency. The problem is that it is a moving target. Are you trying to read the language which is generally easier as you have no time constraints on it, or, to be able to listen to a lecture in which a speaker is trying to be make him/herself understood by an audience, or to speak one on one with someone in the target language? That is a bit harder but it lends itself to speed adjustments that accommodate each other's oral comprehension capacity. Finally, are you striving for an understanding of the spoken language in a setting of unbridled speed and distractions and to concurrently express yourself without requiring the listener to wait for your words to come out? Each level requires more of you, and this doesn't even address the level of complexity of the language used. Being a perfectionist, I catch myself looking ahead at all of the language I don't yet know, but then look at the unabridged Larousse dictionary on my shelf, and remind myself that nobody knows all that is in it. Only you can define what "fluent" is for you, and it is when you find a level of understanding that is sufficient for what you want.

[@solea59]

You are correct, it is a moving target and always will be ! . Even C1 is STILL a moving target. We can see the stars but we'll never get anywhere near them. As I have mentioned before, I'm 69 now and have less time probably to get near C1 with my Italian and Portuguese but at least I'm doing something useful. I enjoy the process too much to put into words. Impatience is a bigger hill to climb over than the language itself. I believe that when people are confronted by the so- called intermediate plateau they just give up. I won't go up there, ...I'm tunneling under it !

[@李白-f5u]

我很钦佩你在没有网络的时代能把北京话学得这么好。我记得小时候为了学英语专门买了一个复读机，结果一开学复读机就用不上了，磁带改成了光盘。有意思的是，现在光盘也被淘汰了。不过换一个角度来看，有了网络也不一定能把外语学好，各种social media诱惑太多，让人很难沉下心来钻研一门外语，人类对知识的贪婪会让人不切实际的同时学习很多门外语，反而分散了精力。同时，网络时代的强势语言会越来越强势，弱势语言会越来越弱势。今天的人讲得中文也已经和十年前不一样了。在美国文化的强势冲击之下，中文开始越来越美国化，甚至连央视的新闻语言也被美式英语传染了。不过我认为podcast很好，单纯听而不看，可以减少画面分散精力，让人集中注意力，很多外语的小说、名著、新闻都可以拿来听。一边听书，一边看原著文本。另外Edge浏览器的TTS朗读工具也是读外语书的利器。

[@jinfat6504]

说得非常好，学无止境，终身成长，不断进步。

[@hyagosales5513]

This point related to the GCSE (I hope I've spelled it correctly) is a reflex of what happens in many places in the world. It's ridiculous to me too. Grammer still has the supremacy in most of the language courses. Of course, it is important if you approaching a language that you have no clue how it works, but after you understand a bit, I agree with the input techniques. For me, it is effective, it is natural, because we learned our mother tongue like that. Anyways, I hope that a revolution takes place in language learning and language teaching as polyglots like you and others speak out.

[@bofbob1]

The current state of affairs in SLA is that grammar instruction works, but not in isolation. Put it this way. In one case, you teach students a list of grammar points upfront, without any real context (that's what most schools are doing today). In the other, you wait until a student runs into something he doesn't understand and asks you about it. Like he's reading something, and doesn't understand why the sentence is like that or whatever. And then you explain the grammar rule to him. The first case doesn't work at all. Students just think "why the hell am I learning this?!". The second case does work. The students get that "a-ha" moment. So really it's not about grammar vs. input. It's not an either/or thing. But yeah, it's fucked up. Essentially schools today are teaching solutions to problems the students haven't encountered yet, so they just don't see the relevance.

[@hyagosales5513]

@@bofbob1 Yeah, you made me think it in a balanced way. I really appreciate it. I agree with you 100%. I've been using Lingq for 1 year to learn Turkish. In this process, when I came across grammar patterns that I couldn't completely understand at all, I tried either to let it be for a while until my mind would get used to that and could figure out the meaning or I would search it and this a-ha moment would happen. So, this is the point, lack of contextualisation.

[@RoussinSong]

MONTH 6 - 13/04 The day I realized I could finally read and fully understand all of Ling's mini stories in Mandarin Chinese. I used to come to Ling mini stories at the end of each month, and each time, I was leaving very frustrated and Thinking: "just some basic beginner mini-stories? It took you less than two weeks to master them with Italian, 4 months should be more than enough for a hard language like Mandarin... You're not making any progress, Roussin". And i never came back to it again. ...That was until the 6th month when I discovered I had reached about 1500 words, and I decided to go and give it a try again. (I hadn't checked since the 4th month). ...And, suprisingly, I found myself reading hundreds of Chinese characters fluently, almost like I was reading French. In average, for each story, I could encounter one or two words/characters I didn't know yet and absorb them pretty quickly. That day I had the prouve that I was getting through this fascinating but taugh language. And since, I got addicted to Ling's mini stories which I find deeply boring when I use it for Spanish or Italian (easy to image why). The more difficult a language is, the more rewarding you feel for each little progress; and you find yourself addicted to Ling's mini-stories or to all Peppa pig's episodes. These stories are boring as hell, the user experience is a nightmare, it's even rediculous how messy it is; but those mini-stories are efficient as genius when you know how to use it.

[@gilzasoaresbaiao5042]

This is true is a continue process I agree

[@sleeplessinchicago9082]

The question is really what does one mean by learning a language? What proficiency is implied? Does it mean you know a language when you can ask for directions to a bathroom or an ability to express and understand complex topics and think in a foreign language without translating it in one's head? Is one practicing a language 1 hour a week or is he/she immersed in the language? All these points make a huge difference.

[@blueblimp]

As someone who plays piano (as an amateur), that analogy was clarifying.

[@abdhussain2413]

You are one of the best teacher s thanks so much

[@kamilsiwiec4151]

I really enjoy listening to your voice and your accent Steve :) It's been so many years , when I found you on the KZbin for the first time. Since then I didn't make a huge progress in English to be honest, but I did some! :D. I think that the reason why my progress isn't huge is that because I listen to English too rarerly. Greetings from Poland :)

[@tuliobgood]

Excellent!! My friend Steve, thank you for sharing about your experience.

[@李白-f5u]

“步步前行，日日不止，自有到期，不必计算远近而徒长吁短叹也。” --《曾国藩家书》道光二十七年二月十二日与诸弟书

[@victoriaaghazaryan2309]

Hello Steve!! Thank you so much for the great video!

[@j.burgess4459]

Yeah, I think this depends a lot on the target language, on what languages we already know and on how much learning intensity we can realistically achieve. For example: Indonesian is grammatically simpler (thus easier) than Korean or Polish - that's just a kind of immutable characteristic. And a Spanish speaker will almost certainly find it much easier to learn a related language like Italian than would someone who only knows, let's say; Japanese. If a learner is deeply immersed in the target language (typically by having heavy contact to native speakers through force of circumstances) he or she can get more contact time per day with the language than someone studying more remotely. I guess one can use satellite TV or the internet for remote immersion - but there would have to be the mother of all motivation to replicate actual physical immersion, in my opinion.

[@aimhighsmile1]

Firing on all cylinders! : ) Probably one of your best videos. : )

[@benwilliams5236]

I learnt some Spanish from watching the end credits of Community, Season 1, Episode 2. Donde esta, la biblioteca - Where is the library? Me llamo T-Bone la arana discoteca. - My name is T-Bone the disco spider. Discoteca, muneca, la biblioteca. - Disco, doll, the library. Es en bigotes grandes, el perro, manteca. - Is in big moustache, the dog, butter. Manteca, bigotes, gigante, pequeno. - Butter, moustache, big, small. Cabeza es nieve, cervesa es bueno. - Head is snow (cocaine?), beer is good Buenos dias, me gusto papas frias - Good morning, I like cold potatoes. Bigote de la cabra es Cameron Diaz. - The goat's moustache is Cameron Dias.

[@rozhinahadi]

Your arguments are amazing. I hope someday I can look back and talk about my language learning experiences, as you do! I wish I could help you with your Persian as it’s one of my mother tongues. من عاشق ویدیوهای شما هستم :)

[@dond2807]

Thanks so much for this inspiring video steve !

[@ruiseartalcorn]

Great advice! :)

[@ADHDlanguages]

It's certainly true that the answer to "how long does it take to learn Spanish?" (or whatever) is "Well... how long you got?" because the word learn isn't specific enough by itself. I DO however think it's productive to ask more specific questions, like "how many pages/hours/lingqs/whatever until I can read a YA novel on paper and not be lost?"

[@edwinmendez9884]

How an intresting and practical recommendation. Thank you, indeed.

[@shamimmir361]

Wonderful teacher admire his knowledge

[@RingsOfSolace]

I haven't been officially tested but I'm pretty sure I speak Spanish now at a B2-C1 level. It was mostly a grind. And I'm still improving, but improvement is slower but costs less effort now. I can simply listen to stuff and pick out things they say, and when I find something new I simply look it up and go from there. But that's all it was. Grinding for the end of the tunnel. I have maybe a little over a year studying it, and people almost never believe me when I say that. Truth is, my grandparents spoke the language, so even though I never learned it until recently, my pronunciation is pretty damn convincing. A customer I see sometimes is learning English, and I spoke to him and got to know him. I see him from time to time. The other day he asks me who my teacher was, how long was I studying it before I could speak. I told him I study on my own and I've got about a year. The shock on his face gassed me up so fucking much.

[@galinor7]

Yes, your mother tongue effects how quickly you can learn another language. I guess however that people in the USA find Spanish much easier than say for British people. We have almost zero contact Spanish. I mean zero point zero contact, whereas the US has Spanglish and Spanish Speaking areas, the UK doesn't, so we don't find it as easy. We start from having less exposure and familiarity to start with. We might hear much more Welsh and Gaelic though. Maybe even more Dutch.

[@FilipP88]

depends too much on the motivation, enjoyment, study methods and simply free time a person has but in general 1000+ hours should be enough for "basic fluency", especially if the language is close to a one you already know fluently

[@dwaynekeenum1916]

Basic fluency seems like an oxymoron

[@jtrow5023]

I really appreciate your videos. They are great at keeping me motivated. I have recently had the "treading water" feeling as well. Thank you

[@revedko]

Video starts at 7:45

[@rodrigopimenta2643]

Thanks for your words.

[@pavlakudrnova9079]

Your videos are so amazing and it help for me so much because I haven't lose my motivation ☺️

[@marcosgoodenglishneto7950]

I love your english class is great the way that you teach is great thanks a lot bye best wish

[@Tehui1974]

"She's no concert pianist!" - Good luck sleeping on the couch, my bro.

[@DangRenBo]

I'm a DLI-FLC grad, so I can explain the FSI numbers that you see. Firstly, students take an attitude test and are placed in languages that they are most likely to get working proficiency in in the allotted time. The length of the course is based on stats of previous grads and whether they made it to working proficiency. (This level is not particularly proficient, but higher than beginner.) Students generally study a couple of hours after the six hours a day of class.

[@dilbardjv9246]

You are amazing teacher

[@melodywilson]

im a beginner in self learning korean, 3 months. Im struggling a little bit. i love listening to people talk in different languages, sence i was young. im enjoying myself in the process even if i cant get out of beginner and move up to elementry stage.