I TRIED to speak PERFECT Spanish

[@matt_brooks-green]

Personalized 1-on-1 language lessons with native teachers on italki🎉 Buy $10 get $5 for free for your first lesson using my code MATT 👉 Web: go.italki.com/mattbrooksgreen 👉 App: go.italki.com/mattbrooksgreenapp

[@neilfazackerley7758]

I prefer it if my teacher makes a note of the biggest mistakes and goes through them at the end than constantly interrupting the flow.

[@TylerG7777]

Great video. Great effort. Very entertaining & inspiring. I love your channel. Thank you.

[@nidhishshivashankar4885]

I think you sound a gazillion times more fluid and comfortable where you aren’t getting corrected - and as somebody who is learning Latin languages was much much easier for my ears to decode than your other session

[@nidhishshivashankar4885]

I did make to to the end obviously and I don’t sweat errors I just soak in more

[@sandcurves]

As someone who started with Italki first before I learned about CI, I was used to corrections. In the early days they were really hard to handle, and were I to start over, I'd avoid that. But, now I find them far less intrusive because I've now done Italki consistently for 2 years and it's just become a way of life. But, now we don't dwell on them. My teacher corrects me, and we move on. If I remember it, good, if not, no worries. I actually think the biggest key with lessons is almost that you fall in love with doing them. When your Spanish lessons are a part of the week you look forward to most, it almost doesn't matter what you're doing, so long as you're getting interaction with the language. Early on, though, I think it can cause a lot of harm. I didn't learn about cross-talk in time to really give it a try. I think I heard about it from you first and by then I was having full, hour long conversations. But if I start a new language, cross-talk will certainly be how I go about it.

[@matt_brooks-green]

Yeah, they really affected my experience before whereas now I actually want them. I think it depends where you are on your journey. Crosstalk is great!

[@BrendaBoykin-qz5dj]

Thank you, Maestro 🌟🔥🌹🔥🌟

[@juanperez-morenodelavega7955]

Hi Matt, I love your videos, and I learn a lot of english with you, I reaslly like the way you share content and so on.. (by the way I´m a spaniard, so I can understand you perfecly well), but I wanted to tell you that I'm more focused in learning and moving forward, rather than being worried about my mistakes (wich are a lot I think), specially if we are talking about speaking, the most difficult of all skills.. anyway , thanks for sharing,

[@raysouth1952]

I chat weekly with someone in French. He pops in corrections occasionally but I have to say they go in one ear and out the other. For Spanish, I’ve started crosstalk on iTalki with one of your tutors actually and it’s working well. I was worried that my level of comprehension wouldn’t be high enough but so far so good. PS The iTalki ad with Ralfie (?sp) was very entertaining.

[@matt_brooks-green]

Thanks Ray. Yeah, Abel mentioned. His classes are great. Well done on the crosstalk, I hope you enjoy it. I found it incredibly helpful. Ralph was helping to earn the money for his food in this one!

[@jeffreybarker357]

I’m a native English speaker and still mkae mitsakes. Great work, Matt-and thanks for looking at this. Pablo has been saying this for years (correcting mistakes isn’t helpful), but it’s great to see someone else put this to the test. Definitely happy to stress less and use the language as best I can since the point of language is to communicate-not to master. After all, every language is just a bunch of sounds people agree mean things. None of it is as solid as we sometimes think.

[@matt_brooks-green]

Thanks Jeff. There are a handful of things I can point to where I definitely found a particular correction useful. For example after A LOT of listening and not much reading I hadn't made the distinction between fui and fue. But the vast majority of corrections since then have probably had little impact. There's also the opportunity cost of getting corrections and potentially drilling them over getting more input and negotiating meaning in a conversation. I think a lot of people want to control a lot of the process and error correction seems like a way to 'fix' your mistakes. It was certainly an interesting experiment though!

[@ijafklasdf]

Correcting mistakes works when it's not demotivating and you have either amazing recall or have developed the language enough to internalize the correction. There is a window of time where corrections can stick but wouldn't before, and not getting the correction will take a LONG time to internalize (if at all) the correction when speaking. There gets to be a point where you don't bother with the correction because everyone understands you. A really good example of this is German speakers speaking English and how they use the word "since" is wrong in English but because nobody ever corrects them they keep doing it because they are understood, and this is Germans who speak English at a very high level. Also, you probably need to hear the correction enough times BUT you need to focus on the correction and not the mistake. Otherwise your anchoring the correction to the mistake and will still make the mistake. Instead of focusing on the mistake just keep the correction and keep repeating that and ignore you learned it from a mistake

[@patriciabuendia5771]

Gran avance en tu español. Muy bien!! He visto algunos de tus videos, son muy buenos! De paso yo tambien trato de mejorar mi ingles consumiendo muchos canales de KZbin y leyendo libro de interes de mi nivel. Otro idioma que estoy aprendiendo actualmente es el ruso.

[@matt_brooks-green]

¡Gracias! ¡Buena suerte con tu aprendizaje!

[@zak8953]

Love the video! Love the channel! You've got a framerate error on this video. Also, with all of the linguists you have interviewed, would it be possible to ask the next one this question: "What's the **exact** best method (with current scientific knowledge) to sound, think, and function like a native?" I seriously can't seem to get a straightforward answer to this question. Maybe it's natural sounding native input from a select region? Any information would be greatly appreciated! You have one of the best language KZbin channels!

[@matt_brooks-green]

Thanks so much for your kind words. Good spot on the frame rate! I never usually change it so didn't think to check when I recorded 🤷‍♂️. I think it's impossible for someone to say exactly because there are too many variables. I know a lot of people point to Paul Nation's work on the 4 strands. It certainly looks like a solid learning plan. My thought though is that, for a lot of people, something so structured might not work for them in terms of their personality or lifestyle. If you haven't read much on it there are free pdfs online from him I've read

[@SzczeryPoliglota]

4:10 This "nada, eh!" was a great "nada, eh!".

[@matt_brooks-green]

Hahahaha! Thanks!

[@meghanmartin8492]

Se nota muchísimo tus avances, enhorabuena 🎉 sonaste tan nativo cuando dijiste “joder”

[@matt_brooks-green]

Jajaja! Es una palabra muy útil 🤣. Gracias por tu apoyo!

[@daysandwords]

Hey Matt, Another great concept for a video! I actually think that the "knowing you'll get corrected means I make more mistakes" thing is not due to pressure (at least with me), but due to the anticipation of being interrupted. You can sense this in English: When you're talking to someone whom you know has something they want to say, your thoughts tend to drift of what you were saying and you're more likely to say something that isn't what you meant or go back over things or something... You don't make language mistakes because it's nigh on impossible in your native language, but yeah, that's happening for me in a second language. I don't like being corrected because I just don't feel that it's helpful... I'm not going to remember that, and that's not how we learn languages. My guess is that what happened during your experiment was that you got better at monitoring yourself and avoiding saying things if you were at all unsure about them... that's my guess, but I spent 20 minutes looking at it and not 30-50 days like you (assuming a few weeks to make the video). BTW, we continue to buy the same types of things... I have the Rode Pod Mic, except the XLR version... and yeah, it's a great mic. Like everything from Australia, it's hefty haha.

[@matt_brooks-green]

Thanks man. I think there was also the knowledge that I was putting the recordings (or at least some of them) on the internet. The comments section isn't always a positive place! I think you're right though, sometimes I was overly aware of making mistakes and the corrections which took me away from focusing on the message being communicated. I also meant to say in the video but forgot to record it for some reason, there's no guarantee the changes here will stick long term. I might have some short term gains but that's not the same as building the mental representation of the language in my head (necessarily). Watching this back I can see mistakes which I'd been corrected for multiple times and it clearly hadn't gone into my brain. Hahaha, it's a really nice mic. The stand is so heavy it's like a weapon. I don't know if it's due to fighting off the wildlife down under but you could do some serious damage with that thing!

[@loistalagrand]

You guys have great equipment! I need to upgrade mine, but it's hard to get it shipped to Tahiti!

[@daysandwords]

@@matt_brooks-green "I think there was also the knowledge that I was putting the recordings (or at least some of them) on the internet. The comments section isn't always a positive place!" This is one of the main reasons I don't put more Swedish online. It's not even about "hate", it's about how unhelpful it is for my Swedish for a potential 100,000 people to have the correction they want to make. I've been corrected on my English, both when it's been incorrect and when it's infact been perfect... which just shows that people will say something because they want to have their say. In fact, I've now realised that it's SO unhelpful that I am not even discussing my language learning on my channel anymore... Language learning as a concept yes, but my own, like what languages I'm interested in or whatever, no.

[@daysandwords]

@@loistalagrand Yeah I can imagine. I actually wouldn't have gone with the Rode pod mic if all things had been equal - but I got a good price second hand from a guy who happened to live a few suburbs away, which is kind of incredible. Also, Rode is a bit cheaper here because it's an Aussie brand... I was OK with my gaming USB mic before... the Rode just means I can plug it directly into the camera so I don't have to sync audio. If you can get the mic close to your face, that's going to make the most difference, which you probably know already. And in the language learning niche, most poeple don't worry too much about production quality so it's not that big a deal.

[@matt_brooks-green]

Hey man, I can imagine! Though I find the more tech I use, there more things there are to go wrong!

[@philipdavis7521]

When I first came across the theory that correcting errors was ineffective or counterproductive, it sounded very counter intuitive to me. I’m not really at the stage of any of my languages that I can put it to the test, but I think the evidence behind it is quite sound. Most experienced teachers i know generally minimise corrections, they prefer to let things develop naturally.

[@matt_brooks-green]

I've read stuff going both ways. I think the thing that often isn't reflected in the 'pro-corrections' camp is how long those corrections last for. At the end of an experiment it might show a difference but what about a year from now? I don't have the answer for that obviously but it's a factor for sure

[@lizzethmancilla5197]

Nosotros los hispanohablantes tampoco hablamos un español perfecto así que..todo bien 😅 Felicidades por tu avance Matt

[@matt_brooks-green]

Ah, es verdad. Muchisimas gracias!

[@WanderingTuckers]

Que bueno, Matt! Cuándo estoy tomando clases de español mi maestro escribe mis errores en la ventana de chat. Si es un gran error podemos hablar de ello. Adiós, amigo!

[@cpnlsn88]

My preferred is judicous soft correction. This means the listener might use the unerroneous phrase either straightaway or later on in the lesson. In the event of a repeated error the teacher can deliberately add in sentences of correct usage in their own speech. That means repetition of the sentences used as a conversational strategy. In rare occasions corrections can be done (in my case the German pronunciation of Athen). If the student is struggling with a construction then this can be added by the teacher regularly so there is more exposure, and more chance of getting it right eventually. At the end of the session I am not against adding one or two feedback points but not more than that and geneally not during speech. Fluency of self expression is an important goal in itself and the trade off is some errors will get made. If you are on the look out for your errors all the time you'll be fairly self conscious.

[@cpnlsn88]

PS Fluent speech of L1 speakers generally contains..... errors......

[@coolbrotherf127]

I only speak perfect in my first language about 90% of the time. My Japanese is lucky to get half of that.

[@StewartSteven-r9p]

Keep going

[@matt_brooks-green]

Will do!

[@mfc4655]

15:58 can you not write them down during the lesson? Or even type them in the italki chat. Maybe just the corrections? And tranacribe them on paper maybe as a type of review.

[@matt_brooks-green]

You can but it takes longer to write them down which breaks up the flow of the conversation even more. Making sure they were said out loud made listening to the lesson again useful and a low effort activity I could do a lot of. You're right though, it's definitely a useful option to have

[@Englishallthetime-qb1gb]

Really a good content to watch to, congrats, but I have a question. In your actual Spanish level, do you consider yourself fluent in this language?

[@matt_brooks-green]

Thank you. No, I don't. Even watching this back it's obvious to me I'm making some pretty fundamental errors, not to mention vocabulary issues. I don't think I'm a million miles away but I wouldn't say I am yet. The better I get the more the word fluency seems extremely subjective. There's no nuance there and it doesn't seem that helpful to use

[@janelle.loves.languages]

The problem is not really the mistakes though. I mean yes you proved you made a lot of them and were corrected a lot. And at the end you made less mistakes - but I believe that's a false correlation and here's why: The real persistent problem overall is your vocabulary is very limited compared to a native even though you can speak at around a B2 level. We know this because you can talk around a lot of things and be understood and the tutor would never bother to correct you because it's technically correct even though you didn't actually use the vocabulary choices a real native of your age would naturally use. There's no way to correct that so they just let you speak as long as you are understood. So you really aren't improving your Spanish as much as you think you are with the corrections. Corrections aren't really the measure for assessing how fluent you are. There's a pretty big gap in your language abilities even though you are speaking correctly sometimes that you can't quickly or easily identify. That's why best measure is literal vocabulary size. Think Paul Nation. That's why for efficiency's sake, it's so much more valuable to kill two birds with one stone and get input...mainly reading as per minute you will receive a richer more detailed vocabulary than if you just listened to just a podcast for the same amount of time - that way by just reading you will naturally correct your speech (as you speak) with more input AND expand your vocabulary at the same time. There's just no replacement for that.

[@matt_brooks-green]

Hi Janelle, thanks for checking out the video. This video was just focusing on one idea being whether corrections help improve your production of the language. I've done a number of other videos about reading too which I've said is useful in improving your vocabulary and production

[@janelle.loves.languages]

@@matt_brooks-green Sure I get that. It's for entertainment... it's just a bit misleading and I was just trying to explain why.

[@francegamble1]

Honestly? I make errors in every language. My husband teases me that I don't have a "native" language since I cannot speak in any of the. 😅 I think we all make errors. Language is hard.

[@matt_brooks-green]

Hahaha. The better my Spanish gets, the worse my English is!

[@spoonerboy6281]

Eeh It's impossible to speak perfectly. Sometimes you need correct big mistakes in order to avoid misunderstood. For example I was making tandem with a Japanese girl (my mother tongue is spanish) and she said "pito" rather than "pitbull". I explained to her that it was bad word "ちんぽ" and how to pronounced it correctly.