How to Learn ANY Language (and be AWESOME at it)

[@storylearning]

Check out these 5-minute hacks to become awesome NOW! 👉🏼kzbin.info/www/bejne/hoG4qqR-pahrqs0si=2eF8gyYT3hK-E9rd

[@EricEngle-f1q]

Like so many other men without s country Olly joined the Legion to forget a girl

[@e-genieclimatique]

in brief: The video covers his personal journey and strategies in learning seven different languages: French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese, Cantonese, and Arabic. 1. **French**: Olly's first language learning experience began with French, sparked by a desire to escape a bad breakup. He emphasizes the importance of creating opportunities to use the language, such as finding a good language exchange partner and speaking the language in the country where it's spoken. 2. **Spanish**: Inspired by the poetry of Pablo Neruda, Olly's journey with Spanish involved language exchanges, reading, and immersion in Spanish-speaking countries. He highlights the power of immersion and the importance of reading in the target language. 3. **Portuguese**: Olly's passion for Brazilian music and culture drove his learning of Portuguese. He stresses the role of passion in language learning and the effectiveness of immersing oneself in cultural aspects like music. 4. **Italian**: He took on a three-month challenge to learn Italian, focusing on listening and reading for the first month, speaking in the second, and refining his skills with professional lessons in the third. The key lesson here is the importance of accountability and setting realistic goals. 5. **Japanese**: Despite living in Japan, Olly initially focused too much on studying from textbooks. He realized the importance of speaking practice and started doing language exchanges daily, which significantly improved his Japanese. 6. **Cantonese**: Olly set himself the challenge of watching an entire TV series in Cantonese. This approach, combined with some study, helped him improve his understanding and speaking of the language. He emphasizes the value of massive exposure to the language. 7. **Arabic**: Learning Egyptian Arabic for a job in Cairo, Olly created his own learning materials and focused on speaking practice with a teacher. He advises learners to focus on practical phrases and real-life situations, especially when resources are scarce. Throughout the video, Olly Richards shares personal anecdotes and insights, illustrating how different strategies and a focus on immersion, passion, and practical use can significantly enhance language learning.

[@jdmmg4904]

❤

[@phillipnelson8567]

Olly’s tips of how to be AWESOME at any language: Learning French? “I moved to Paris for six months.” Learning Spanish? “I went to Spain and Argentina.” Learning Portuguese? “I listened to some music for a while, and then moved to Brazil for half a year” Learning Italian? “I read some Italian and then went to Italy” Learning Japanese? “Go live in Japan and do language exchanges” Learning Arabic? “I moved to Cairo” Great tips. Very practical. Study and immerse for a while to get the basics...and then drop EVERYTHING and quit your job, and move to a country where the language is spoken? Never thought of that. lol This video should be called: "How I traveled the world, learning languages along the way."

[@AlinefromToulouse]

Indeed, Olly could also talk about how to have enough money to afford to go and live abroad here, there, then over there...

[@prapanthebachelorette6803]

@@AlinefromToulouse I want to know too

[@crb2061]

@@AlinefromToulouse Well, if you watched the video, he was working while living abroad. So that helps a little bit. Being young and having little in the way of obligations is also a key part.

[@AlinefromToulouse]

@@crb2061 Sure!

[@EmilyGrace20]

That’s all I heard, too. That must be nice for those with the freedom and funds to allow such a lifestyle. 😔 Back to my textbooks.

[@daisyagboola999]

I started watching your videos a few weeks ago without the knowing I have your ‘short stories in French’ book. I didn’t know you made that series. I absolutely loved it - it definitely increased my confidence in understanding the French language. Thank you ❤

[@jack4688]

Just had delivery of my Short Stories in Swedish book today and I’m already having more fun learning than I ever have before! Looking forward to reading more and more 😃

[@captainpugwash2317]

I bought the italian one ,really good ,can understand a few words, great with audio aswell.

[@jack4688]

@@captainpugwash2317 were you starting from scratch or had some experience learning Italian before? I tried learning Swedish about 6 years ago when I worked a summer over there. Never really enjoyed learning through babble, but I still had enough vocabulary left over to get started learning this way

[@captainpugwash2317]

@jack4688 not entirely from scratch learnt the basics such as vocabulary ,and basic phrases.i used apps to begin with, but now I watch netflixs ,listen to music ,TV shows etc....

[@emmafaulkner8468]

When we were in Japan last year I went to a second hand book store and was lucky enough to come across a full set of kids fairy tale books in Japanese, so I bought the lot and am slowly working my way through them. Still a work in progress but its getting there.

[@sidharth1123]

Thanks for this inspiring video Olly. While it's impractical going to each target country as a working professional (however tempting it may be), your other tips like cultural immersion, poring over books, bingeing content, telling people to hold yourself accountable, and speaking will undoubtedly help me in my journey to French and Spanish fluency.

[@rashidah9307]

Thank you, Olly! It was neat to see you reflect on your language learning journey from its beginnings and pull out the lessons you learned along the way. Each language and stage presented its own unique challenges and draws. Fascinating! I also appreciated how you pointed out that simply going to the countries didn't magically make you fluent. Thanks for all the hard work you put into each one of your videos.

[@Overlycomplicatedswede]

I’m a native Swedish speaker and I have a similar about how I found a native German speaker while at work She was interested in Swedish and I was interested in learning German so we got together every week for a few hours and practiced each other’s languages 2 years later we are still good friends and we both are confident in each others languages I can have conversations with her in German and she can with me in Swedish! love from Sweden

[@linguaphile9415]

That's a really beautiful anecdote. Thank you.

[@vladimiralvarado9145]

I watch many of your videos, but have to say that this one stood out for me. I am an aficionado in learning languages, but my time is always limited compared to what I would like to dedicate to languages. I have used your method for a few languages, because it fits my style, but somewhat unintentionally I have used some of the strategies you talked about in this video to get input while doing chores. While sometimes passive, my dogs speak only dog, so I can focus on more active listening while walking them out, because they don’t care about my shadowing recordings. Thanks.

[@hellion2009]

im getting short french stories for xmas!

[@niall7597]

I've just started your short stories in Irish, I love the audio that comes along with it! Thank you for being such a positive influence on my language journey!

[@Connorhayes2010]

I am a native Irish

[@YogaBlissDance]

you are a wonderful storyteller, I watch for tips but also to learn how to make engaging videos!

[@londongael414]

Lots of excellent advice here! I particularly liked your approach to languages short on written materials - passion will drive you to use whatever you have! This has been my experience with a language which did not have much to read when I started learning it (the situation's better now). Also "volume makes up for everything" - yes!

[@solascriptura-e7t]

I'm currently studying three languages (Spanish, French, and German). What I most find motivating about language learning: is speaking to natives of your target language. ...even if you might get some grammar and articles (or partiples) incorrect; it is still a far better experience doing such, rather than reading books, with the hope of getting better through time.

[@soundjip6195]

I love your personal stories so much! You are very inspirational, I'm learning Portuguese and your short stories and videos have helped me so much. Thank you Oilly!

[@storylearning]

Thanks so much :)

[@phoenixknight8837]

This is awesome. But I would greatly appreciate a video about how to make a career out of languages as you did.

[@balumfull]

oh my. you're so brave to ask people if they want to language exchange 😅 I'm in the process of looking for a local language tutor and it's so out of culture here, people look at me like I'm crazy lol I'll keep trying though. Thanks for the motivation boost Olly!

[@Tehui1974]

Thanks for sharing your language learning history.

[@Krisz71-t4i]

Ciao Olly, seguo con molto piacere i tuoi video, contenuti assolutamente interessanti! Ho i tuoi Icelandic e Norwegian short stories, li trovo fantastici! Grazie di questi tesori! In cambio ho un "regalo" per te, sono gli auguri per Natale nella mia madrelingua( ungherese): Boldog Karácsonyi Ünnepeket kívánok!🙂

[@davidsthoughts60]

Very good video. I studied Russian a while back and have forgotten much or most of it. This year I'll dive back in and first try to get back to where I was, then continue toward fluency. I'm a long way from that, but the desire is still there, so will get back into it and will continue watching your videos for tips and motivation.

[@captainpugwash2317]

Singing in Cantonese, thats next level. Very impressive!!

[@thelias91]

really cool you learned cantonese, we need more spoken cantonese content to study it haha.

[@bhami]

9:14 "having no idea what I was actually singing". Wait a sec, you were already fluent in Spanish (~90% lexical similarity to Portuguese) and French (~75% lexical similarity to Portuguese) and you still couldn't understand any Portuguese ?

[@tekenaabere]

Lexical similarity really only helps in the written language. Real life fast spoken language plus very different pronunciation is what really sets the languages far apart

[@Joshua-y2d8y]

Thank you very truly for your teaching, Mr olly!!

[@AdamYLM]

Your videos never disappoint, love this channel.

[@Arbee1000]

I learned Spanish in high school and have been re-learning it using Duolingo for the past 1.5 years. But I’m at the point where I really feel like I need to find a Spanish speaker to practice speaking!

[@mohibquadri4053]

Outstanding 🎯

[@mikkareads]

You give me hope. I cannot roll my rrrrrs, though I've been practicing.

[@davidsutton7914]

Olly, I am a huge fan of your work. I own a ton of your easy reader books, and their Audiobooks, at various levels, in six languages. Bravo to you ! Highly recommended. I have been eagerly awaiting for you to release your books in Egyptian Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, and European Portuguese. I was surprised to hear you , in this video, dismiss Egyptian Arabic as a spoken language only. Several other publishers of easy readers have published in Egyptian Arabic, including Lingualism, Talk in Arabic, and the American University in Cairo Press. They use a combination of Arabic script and transliteration and English, and it works very well. Similarly, I believe you’re missing out on a huge market by not publishing your books in Mandarin Chinese and Pinyin. Converting your books to European Portuguese would be a relatively simple task after having already published them in Brazilian Portuguese. Then work with a clear native speaker to read the Audible versions. Leo from Portuguese with Leo would be an obvious candidate, as he is a popular KZbinr polyglot like many of your international friends and business associates. I know you are always working on new projects. I encourage you to consider these. I’ll bet there are many potential customers out there like me. Best wishes to you, Olly.

[@akademiapsychokinezy]

Love this channel. Thank you for this video!

[@storylearning]

glad you enjoyed it :)

[@H-DA]

Thanks for sharing, you have done a great journey after all, it must have been very inspiring. But if it comes to languages, you took the easy way. 😅 English to Frech is not to hard, because of vocab that matches rather often. French to Spain as well and you werde already introduced to conjugation at that time. Spanish to Portugese and Italy can of course be done by reading or listening only, they have so much in common. When you went for Japanese you started to study again, because it was much of a change. Then, having some basic, learning through speaking is a great idea and worked well for you. In my experience, it really depends on how familiar the target language is. Like e.g. in russian I can't just start learning by reading because I first need to get used to the alphabet and learn how words are pronounced. Also learning by listening only doesn't work in that case, because it has got very litte similarity to the languages I already now and I hardly understand anything. So if one chooses a language, that is somehow close to the languages one already knows, go learning by doing. If one chooses a language, which is completly different, one should go to study it first and than make use of it as much as possible and I guess that's your message about it, too. More or less.

[@MrTonyradford]

This is inspiring.

[@johntyb9495]

Cantonese, Japanese and Arabic?? That's the stuff of nightmares!

[@agatastaniak7459]

Arabic has lovely script and Japanese has lovely sound. As for Cantonese, yeah, this one is hard for Europeans who usually do not hear all the tones correctly but again- lovely script. So why not? I wish I had enough time for all of them. But shall God allow life long enough I hope to get to know them as well. And if people get born everyday in countries in which they are used and use them then obviously human mind is perfectly capable of mastering them and using them for communication between humans.

[@noamflorin4554]

Hey Olli, great video. I was wondering while watching though, do you plan on learning new languages anytime soon? If so which ones?

[@agatastaniak7459]

I need inspiration for getting passionate about German. Seriously. I have high motivation to master this language but so far haven't found my "passion trigger" in this language. So any ideas welcome. Passionate about German anyone? If so, why?

[@chadb7694]

Do you recommend the Italian way for all languages (no speaking for a month)?

[@kevincasey1280]

Wait. What was the name of the youth hostel you worked at and what year was this? Was it near the Barbes metro?

[@globulidoktor1733]

I feel that Japanese story totally similar things for me with Korean happened

[@devirss]

a lição maior: seja rico e viage para esses paises, seja pobre e morra sem aprender. Vou aprender sem precisar viajar, se vai ver.

[@sel1ena]

Resumo do vídeo: tenha dinheiro e viaje pra esses países. Kkkkk mas aprender sozinho tbm é possível, até de graça sem aqls cursos ridiculamente caros. Desejo-lhe sorte. ✌🏻

[@Devon_maloy]

The only Brazilian music is Sepultura

[@gamingwithpurg3anarchy157]

I hope some day I'll understand Portuguese like a Brazilian. After 2 years I'm Still far far far away :")

[@astralplays1359]

I wanted to learn punjabi language through music but I am not able to find appropriate meaning of it. How can I do it?

[@danielestrano1016]

I am a spanish native speaker, if you want to practice with me answer me

[@crooniegrumpkin4415]

What is the story behind the Mango Languages t-shirt you are wearing in this video?

[@isaacthomas9279]

15:43 I heard you accidentally say a Spanish word there 😂 these languages are quite similar

[@gamingwithpurg3anarchy157]

Brazilian Portuguese has been such a struggle for me for 2 years now. I wish I could go to Brazil, maybe even Live there for awhile. Maybe I'll do that a year or two from. I hope 2 years from now someone replies to this and asks me if I have lived or do live in Brazil (or at least have been there) and I hope my reply is yes. It's 12-26-23

[@mariomarroquin86]

You will. Have faith.

[@李德躍]

太棒了

[@alizo3]

Please make a Hindi course. Thanks

[@lamorena6379]

How did you keep up with previously learned languages while concentrating on a new language?

[@thattpsplayer]

I think if you learn the language well enough you don’t have to do anything

[@rosaschwanz3038]

​​@@thattpsplayerI think you do. But it's just about learning new words from time to time, listening to podcasts/videos and keeping in touch with some native friends. So you still have to use these languages not to forget them, but it wouldn't be that hard, especially when you're already fluent:]

[@erdemataman6959]

literally one of my friend's name is Awesome (he's Nigerien that's normal for them I guess)

[@KnightInWhite93]

The weird part is introducing Portuguese with the flag of Portugal, when you learned Brazilian Portuguese because of Brazilian culture and music

[@unoreversecard1o1o1o]

How’s that weird? Portuguese comes from Portugal

[@lazstan]

As an Internet troll that's quite a reach

[@JoseMarcelïno1]

​@@unoreversecard1o1o1obut that is the weird, he is learning Brazilian portuguese and put the flag of Portugual

[@unoreversecard1o1o1o]

we get it ur from brazil aint no one caring portuguese comes from portugal@@JoseMarcelïno1

[@wilsonalfa6614]

It is not a big deal. It's the same language with just a few differences, like the accent and some idiomatic expressions.

[@benjaminj4535]

Hey olly did you or your editors take this thumbnail from HealthyGamerGG? No accusations I just am curious

[@AlinefromToulouse]

It always strikes me that most, if not all of the KZbinrs who have channels dedicated to language learning, are very clever people, and hyperactive. Of course, everybody can learn languages, but for some, it will be faster naturally, and for introverts and shy people, even worse.

[@agatastaniak7459]

Being an introvert does not mean that one is shy. And as for shy- research show such people learn even faster than outgoing people due to being good listeners sensitive to being socially "correct" in conversations.

[@AlinefromToulouse]

@@agatastaniak7459 I should have mentioned only shy and inhibited people because indeed, an introvert can practice when he/she chooses to, go live in the country for a while, which in the end, remains the best way to progress faster.

[@gamingwithpurg3anarchy157]

I've been learning Portuguese for 2 years and I really want to live in Brazil for a little bit. I don't have the money for even a plane ticket.. maybe I need to do what you did and just spend money on a ticket and Live there. I'd be so much happier that I am here I think (Michigan).

[@mamoonkhan68]

but it is hard to find language partners in hellotalk specially for boys.😂😂😂

[@OhiChicken]

Why does it have to be boys? Can you not talk to girls? Maybe that can be another hurdle you can jump!

[@mamoonkhan68]

girls are there for finding bfs, but boys don't reply to boys. @@OhiChicken

[@bhami]

Whoops, your Arabic timestamp points to the END of the video instead of to the beginning of the Arabic section.

[@storylearning]

Good catch! All fixed.

[@someinteresting]

Sorry, what? Grammar isn't input how?

[@EricEngle-f1q]

After getting dumped snd joining the legion olly finished his contract got drunk and bought a ticket to london Like i said he was really drunk He wound up in lisbon. Slurrrd speech. Aftere the legion we learned not to adk questions like why is olly in argentina and who is that strange shady "uncle" of his.

[@ThemantleofElijah]

Polyglot

[@eastern7103]

3

[@wearealsohumans]

Stand up and travel😂😂 Well, it is a way if you are British. But with my passport, for example, it is impossible. I am still able to learn online, but it is not so deep. However, it really works, if you've caught the travel opportunity.

[@rosaschwanz3038]

You could just get a visa tho. Or if travels are that important to you, you could get a stronger passport by moving abroad - this is the option I'm going to use. If it's not possible to you, then getting visa is still a thing!

[@azr6288]

What made you interested in languages?

[@thattpsplayer]

Are there jobs where you get paid to learn languages?

[@habibihaya]

Maybe becoming translator for business men or tutors idk

[@dylan.-6527]

Lots if you transfer to countries in business. Military.

[@OhiChicken]

How to learn spanish: dont die

[@Alphegoron]

I don't understand the point of learning so many languages.

[@christopherspinzor3268]

It can be kind of fun. It’s like a puzzle, and your reward for getting better at the puzzle is being able to interact with new people in a different way. It also can be more rewarding if you travel a lot and can use the different languages more

[@andressanascimento7364]

Portuguese with the Spanish flag? hahahaha

[@aidagholampour100]

Literally, learning new languages is a journey

[@ScaraMeow.e1]

hey im early first 900 view

[@AlinefromToulouse]

Why always Russian literature! I'm learning Russian simply because I need to as it is a lingua franca, not to read the great authors in the text.

[@EsraaMohamed-zt7iq]

secondly ❤

[@divanadonis9620]

first

[@nsevv]

Hire teacher is best, don't waste money on any story books or apps.

[@storylearning]

Well I agree with you about the apps at least.

[@justinharkins3422]

It takes thousands of hours of contact with a language to learn it. Paying a teacher is waaaay more expensive than books. Teachers can play an important role, but most of the time learning a language should be spent reading and listening.

[@user-zm9gc1kt8b]

Reading books give you endless input 😊👌

[@splashwellington29]

But what about people who are poor and cannot afford to just move and buy tutors etc?

[@PabloEscobar-bl2mo]

If you're homeless just buy a house! dur!

[@splashwellington29]

@livingroom9555 because its fun and learning a language gives you life skills that increase your pay and opportunities to not be poor dumbass

[@Devon_maloy]

The only Brazilian music is Sepultura