How to Get Started Learning a Language

[@Thelinguist]

The app I use to learn languages -> bit.ly/3m3Bf9H My 10 FREE secrets to language learning -> www.thelinguist.com How did you get started in your target language?

[@aliceiankovsky]

Wow, 38 different subtitles !

[@carovegan94ec60]

I love LingQ mini-stories. It's incredible how effective they are. I have learnt so many words in Polish in just one month and I don't need to rack my brain trying to understand what they mean, it's very easy to remember vocabulary when words are put in a context. Thank you so much!

[@olafharoldsonnii4713]

Is LingQ worth it for someone coming over from duolingo and now beginning pimsleur? I’ve reached A2 level on German with Duolingo and Netflix, by my speaking is lacking behind.

[@DonAnimegaOriginal]

@@olafharoldsonnii4713I know you posted this 8 months ago but I can personally say that LingQ is probably one of the best language learning resources available. Pimsleur is cool and all, but it doesn’t get you to have a familiarity with the language. It’s very scripted, and if anything deviates from the script in natural conversation or entertainment, you’ll be lost.

[@berenyiandre2040]

Dear Steve, I really admire your intelligence and your energy. There are very few people like you. Warm regards. Andre BERENYI

[@darioshub]

I speak six languages (Croatian, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Japanese) and have one video in my channel speaking them and wanted to say that learning a language is a passion for any polyglot and whenever I learn any language, I use all possible tools online, from newspapers to radio channels and TV shows first getting used to the pronunciation even without understanding it. Any material online is worth using when learning a language. I try to immerse myself into the language that I try to learn.

[@DanielSantos-hs7pt]

Vc fala portugues que legal

[@pauld3327]

Graded readers are a great way to start learning a language. They are pretty much like mini stories.

[@ericasouza699]

Eu quero aprender inglês!!! Este canal está me estimulando! Obrigada!😘🇧🇷

[@manasseh7]

Oi como vai? Eu sou dos estados unidos e falo inglês e espanhol. Todas as noites eu estudo português. É uma lingua muito bonita! Tchau

[@ericasouza699]

@@manasseh7 Tudo bem? Você é cristão Manassés? Eu quero aprender inglês por um propósito especial. Falo português e espanhol. Espero que você aprenda o meu idioma. Abraço do Brasil!!!!

[@polyglotsjourney]

As melhores dicas para aprender idiomas estrangeiros! Eu também quero aprender português do Brasil. É um idioma muito lindo 😍

[@chikincinema2243]

Steve ever since I've been following your advice my Russian has improved a lot. Так я просто больше спасибо. У меня есть был изучаю для 131 дней теперь. Пытаюсь становиться В1 скоро.

[@RorinoTheGreat]

Очень хорошо! (I just started but I’m getting there)

[@RorinoTheGreat]

Currently learning Russian. I’m 21 and in it for the long run. Hoping to eventually understand/speak many languages; I’ll list the languages in the order I want to learn them, let me know how you other commenters feel: 1. Russian 2. German 3. French 4. Spanish 5. Mandarin 6. Persian 7. Arabic 8. Korean 9. Japanese 10. Portuguese 11. Romanian 12. Polish I fully expect this list to change over time, but this is my current feeling!

[@tomdoesstuff1978]

Others may disagree, but my thoughts are that unless you have some immediate interest to learn a specific language i.e., Russian for work/a relationship etc, you would be better served tackling them in some sort of relative sequential order, whether that be established by perceived relative difficulty or closeness of languages within the same language families. To acquire Russian and then German as your first two is going to take an awfully long time. I'm not saying you shouldn't do that, just if you were equally interested in French or Spanish for example, they would take a significantly shorter amount of time to acquire if we consider the same effort will go into the process of doing so as it would for Russian or German. This list is a lifelong endeavour. Choose wisely and good luck.

[@RorinoTheGreat]

@@tomdoesstuff1978 Funnily enough I've been struggling with that idea already. I live in Las Vegas and work with several Mexican people so from the outside perspective Spanish would make so much more sense. I just find I'm so eager to learn Russian that I spend hours a day learning it just for fun. Would it be wise in the long run to focus on Spanish now? I'm about two months into Russian, and I'm well aware that I have at the very least, a year left of studying every day. I like to plan long-term for myself, and if learning Spanish now might be more beneficial for myself down the line I would be willing to do so.

[@tomdoesstuff1978]

@@RorinoTheGreat If I were in your situation I would put Russian aside for now, go and watch Dreaming Spanish for several hundred hours followed by podcasts, KZbin videos and then series - then once you've hit maybe 1000 hours of comprehensible input...slowly start talking with your mexican friends. If in amongst all of that they want to do some crosstalk to learn English and give you more Spanish input, then do that alongside everything else. It makes much more sense to learn a language that will be useful and practical in the day to day than an obscure one for the sake of intellectual curiosity. Again, the decision is yours but Russian and (maybe) Russia will still be there when you have acquired Spanish. Notice I said acquired, not learned. Good luck.

[@RorinoTheGreat]

@@tomdoesstuff1978 haha I love the "(maybe) Russia will still be there" that was a deterrent for me, I don't know anyone that speaks Russian, and traveling to Russia or even Belarus or the Stans seems a bit out of reach right now. I'll tell you what, I'll do about 10 hours of Dreaming Spanish input over the next week, and I'll make my choice from there. Thanks for the advice!

[@Basheez]

Where's Finnish on the list?

[@aspookyeel]

I just checked lingq to see georgian is now available! Perhaps I just missed it before, but I've been building up a lot of interest in georgian these past few months. Glad to see it

[@MikePailleur]

I would also add with the mini-stories you don't have to ask yourself every day what am I gonna study. You just go through them, read and listen many times like you mentioned many times before. I used to try to find so many different beginner materials or what was the better method that I ended up learning nothing and wasting hundreds of hours.

[@tomdoesstuff1978]

As an alternative to the mini stories, I am seeing more KZbin channels posting "absolute beginner" series. You Can Chinese has one that is over 12 hours long for example with lots and lots of repetition totally in Mandarin and it is fantastic. Dreaming Spanish has a ton of content too that is native language only for the very early beginner stage. Comprehensible Thai has many videos in the same vein, although needs some more absolute beginner videos. Alice Ayel for French, Naturlich German for...well, German of course, have more of the same. Assimil too is perfect for beginners. So what are you waiting for? Get listening!

[@jamesmccloud7535]

The thing I am still conflicted about is I follow Pablo's way of learning which is no translations to English at all and just learning every word through context. Personally I find that this works and I am progressing at a steady pace. But seeing how Steve recommends LingQ which is akin to Duolingo as it heavily relies on translating each word and doing exercises, I don't know if I should do this as well. When I listen or read in Spanish I don't translate and just get the meaning through context, but I wonder if I will learn faster if I just translate everything back to English.

[@rick_grimes8434]

Is there one for German?

[@tomdoesstuff1978]

@@jamesmccloud7535 I have had this inner dilemma too. My question to Steve is whilst using English as a crutch for making input comprehensible in the short term, does it increase the affective filter when we try to produce output, i.e. when we speak? My feeling is that yes, it would. Of course Steve is selling LingQ and seems to have carefully latched onto Dr Krashen's hypothesis as the prevailing method of acquisition in recent years, but I can't help thinking translation of unknown words from L1 to L2 was not the intention, original intention at least, of the CI theory.

[@tomdoesstuff1978]

@@rick_grimes8434 I don't know if a y absolute beginner series for German but there are a number of channels now offering CI lessons for German. See my OP above.

[@rick_grimes8434]

@@tomdoesstuff1978 man I don't know how I missed you mentioning German😅 appreciate your response:)

[@MDobri-sy1ce]

I have been learning Russian on and off maybe actively in you include high school maybe 4 years plus . I still get tried from reading the Cyrillic alphabet but gradually it becomes easier. No different from learning English growing up but the only difference is English less focus needs to be used compared to Russian.

[@MDobri-sy1ce]

When learning languages I remember when I was young growing up learning English and French this harsh at the time lesson but true like, Why is that word spelled and said like that? And a lot of the times I would get this reply, “I don’t know why but it is way it is!”

[@ramprasaddas948]

Very lovely discussion

[@FrankKimono744]

I learn whole sentences saying them aloud. 5 days - 300 repetitions per day at least. Later I don't need to translate. I know the meaning of words straight away like in my native language. And also I remember the meaning longer than by learning separate words. This method is called: chunking. It was a real game changer in my learning process and communication skills in English and other languages.😊😊

[@chrisbunka]

スティーブさんのアドバイスがいつも役立つと思います。

[@賴文茹-y1w]

1. Laozi proverb , One thousand miles jouney with first step. Well begun is half job done 3. Topics with verb repeatotion. Jump into mid stream

[@routetomorocco8722]

Thank you for this vedio because it is very important

[@chaitanyag5017]

Hello Steve! I'm Ms Chaitanya, your follower from India. I'm so impressed with your videos. When you say learning a language, does it necessarily include reading and writing?

[@gsantini8518]

I want to get started learning Russian with easy short stories with alot of repetition. I'll try your linQ as I'm very committed but seem to be stuck. Thanks for any suggestions, I love books but not easy to come by in rural Alaska and internet is spotty like the electric power, lol

[@muhammetyoutube]

Good video

[@sajza1728]

🤣🤣🤣🤣I literally laughed loudly. I liked your metaphor.👍👏🏻😁

[@ferstr3156]

I really like to use rosetta stone to get start with languages. Then I move to reading and listening what I enjoy.

[@dutchessdreamer4543]

I’m learning six languages right now. I might learn more in college.😊

[@turbosnail6119]

I thought I was crazy for learning 3 at the same time (Spanish, for school, German, for historical research so I can read old documents, and Japanese for fun). What languages are you doing?

[@dutchessdreamer4543]

@@turbosnail6119 French, Japanese, Spanish, Dutch, German, Mandarin, Korean. Might start Italian soon.

[@dutchessdreamer4543]

@@turbosnail6119 I recommend the apps: Duolingo, Drops, Infinite German, Infinite Spanish, Infinite Japanese, HeyJapan, and LingoDeer.

[@erayhayrettinozer]

@@turbosnail6119 I thought i was the only person out there that was learning German PRIMARILY for being able to read historic documents lol. I am also reading it to read the articles and researches about the ancient Greece and Roman world that are not translated into another well-know language such as English or French.

[@zarxgggg7706]

What about sign language

[@acmll]

Hi from Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦

[@gabriellawrence6598]

What Iranian History Series are you referring to? Seems interesting

[@Thelinguist]

It is on LingQ

[@LanguageswithErman]

👍👍👍

[@coconutpineapple2489]

I do the same thing. When I make English sentences, I learn patterns from reading. I don't use grammar knowledge such as SVO structure. I don't like the advice like don't afraid of making mistakes. If you just used patterns not grammar knowledge, you would not make many mistakes except small mistakes.   

[@Whithin1]

❤❤❤

[@placebo8256]

Hello Steve, has anyone turned what Stephen Krashen told into a training program? I am very confused about how I should work. You are telling but without giving general details.

[@zinnikk0334]

❤️

[@zarxgggg7706]

I recommend u to learn sign language

[@grandprix_79]

Hello. Can anybody help me and answer should I read out loud or just read? (English stories)

[@1bluegrassbass]

I am currently learning Brazilian Portuguese, and I love this idea, but if you don’t know 95% of the words how can you learn from listening or reading short stories? I am not criticizing, I’m truly curious. Maybe I missed something?

[@patcoughlin1987]

I’m learning Irish and it’s not in LingQ atm. If anyone has any tips for a good starter book or anything of the sort, please let me know.

[@Thelinguist]

We may Irish at LingQ in the new year. Shhhh.

[@patcoughlin1987]

@ thank you Steve. I really hope you guys do.

[@Spanish702]

Cool

[@behzad1313]

Hello srphenester .P here.

[@ramprasaddas948]

Hi

[@kaleykaley2389]

first

[@sajza1728]

Hi Steve. I have requested for a refund. I didn't mean to use the site anymore. Today on 25th/02/2023 I have been charged a monthly payment up until 25th/03/2023 but I don't want to use it. So please may I have my money refunded please. Also in the Account section there is not an option for cancellation. Apparently it should be "Cancel your account" link but there is nothing. Please could you refund me. I would appreciate you if you do that for me I really need that money. Many thanks.

[@keti.rg.editzzz]

Did you get your refound?

[@sajza1728]

@@keti.rg.editzzz yes I did. They were so quick after I asked them.

[@patrickmcevoy3257]

Hay Mr Steve haven't seen you in a while on u tube I did the same thing back off on my language learning getting back into it it is fun to learn a language ur u tube channel is great 👍 😃 keep it up stay well and please do more videos on KZbin on language learning thanks stay well ❤️‍🩹