Is there a shortcut to conversational fluency?

[@Thelinguist]

📲 The app I use to learn languages: bit.ly/49syNx8 🆓 My 10 FREE secrets to language learning: bit.ly/49hTD2o ❓Do you have a question you want me to answer in the Q&A video? Leave it in the comments below!

[@berlin3918]

Hi, Steve! How can I know the Real meaning of a word? Many times I look up the meaning in online dictionaries and google, google tranlator and chatgpt, but I feel so lost and confused, because the meaning of the word in a particular context, doesn't match with the context. There are many meanings for only one word. 😥 What should I do?

[@berlin3918]

I'm learning English, and I was watching the movie Fast and Furious 1, a movie about races, and the sentence was: I used to drag here back in high school. To drag in that context is to race for a short period of time, in my language Brazilian Portuguese We say🇧🇷: Tirar um racha. São corridas de arrancada. Drag race! To drag is a slang in that context? Even if a word is a slang, when I search for the meaning on Google, still there're a lot of meanings, and again I feel so lost and confused about the Real meaning to that context.

[@Andrey_Lavrushkin]

Здравствуй, Стив! У меня есть вопрос для твоего стрима. Я смотрел твоё первое видео в этом плейлисте, где ты даёшь новогоднее обещание себе, что будешь получать удовольствие от процесса обучения языкам. Ты указываешь, что на Lingq существуют системы мотивации, например, челленджи и монеты, но это всё не главное. Я полностью с тобой согласен! Может быть ты читал книгу Альфи Кона "Наказание наградой", в которой рассказывается, что наше общество во-многом построено на ошибочно представлении о мотивации - что внешними стимулами можно повысить мотивацию. На самом деле это два разных типа мотивации: внешняя и внутренняя, и внешняя мотивация не поддерживает внутреннюю, которая обычно сильнее и и стабильнее, а наоборот, подавляет её. Некоторое время назад я занимался на Lingq, но потом заметил, что стал выполнять минимальное количество заданий, только чтобы сохранить прогресс, при это совершенно не получал от этого удовольствия. Так вот, мой вопрос: не хотел бы ты рассмотреть вопрос пересмотра системы мотивации на Lingq? Я много размышляю на эти темы и был бы рад обсудить с тобой то, как можно это сделать. Можно создать локальный проект, чтобы проверить эти теории, а в случае успеха, мы смогли бы помочь огромному количеству людей осваивать языки успешнее и привлечь на Lingq больше пользователей. P. S. Спасибо за то, что высказываешься по поводу войны в Украине! Я из России, но после начала войны мы с женой уехали из России в знак протеста и ради своей безопасности. Сейчас мы живём в Аргентине и мы очень благодарны всем тем добрым людям, которых мы встретили за границей и которые помогали нам.

[@fruzsinaguba5821]

@@berlin3918 My suggestion would be: use academic dictionary. A book is a book. Online translaters are only shortcuts, which can be good but not in a long term.

[@shomskylubin4719]

@@berlin3918I feel your pain because I was going through the same situation back in the days,but I can give a piece of advice about it.For example,if a word has 5 different meanings you can try to familiarize yourself with them 5 one by one .Like today,you can challenge yourself to use the word in only one of the 5 different contexts until you master it well and tomorrow,try to learn it in a different context and so on. Never try to learn them all at the same time at the beginning

[@hatersgotohell627]

I agree with you. There's no way to short cut learning a language. You need to consume it in massive quantity, especially with reading.

[@RogerRamos1993]

And you can't do it all in 6 months. There's just so much your brain can retain at a time. It needs rest. So, realistically, to get good in a language one needs at least 2-3 years. Many become great talkers before that, but acquiring a large vocabulary takes time.

[@borissapron6696]

It possible drastically cut learning time if hit with a club every time said wrong)

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

Sort of, the shortcuts only really apply to the early stages when you don't know anything. You need a few shortcuts to get good enough to where you're not miserably using the language. When I was living in China learning Mandarin, I had to get from basically zero to some usable level of fluency as quickly as possible. It was a practical thing that I couldn't just spend a bunch of time with my head in books or watching movies. So, I memorized entire sentences for basic things like eating. I'd learn sentence frames and the things that were allowed to go into them and it got me far enough in a matter of a few months that I could largely function. That being said, that's about as far as you're likely to ever go doing that. Beyond that memorizing phrases and sentences benefits you at most in terms of helping you to follow along with the things you're reading and hearing. You get a bit like that, but not really that much.

[@anarchoappalachian]

​@@borissapron6696Ah, the French Foreign Legion method of language learning. Aka "beating the B1 into you."

[@gc3k]

It can be argued that starting to learn a language at a later time than childhood requires shortcuts

[@Suhnik]

I think what people tend to forget is what true „learning“ is. Being able to recall something after a certain amount of time does not mean you „learned it“ in my experience. The degree to which something seems to deeply engrain into your brain when you use it everyday for a long time in different circumstances, the moment when you stop thinking about a word in its different translations for example and just KNOW what someone said or wrote when you look at it, that is so different and there is no shortcut to achieving that. You can memorize a few thousand words or characters in a few months, but they will hang in your head very loosely and won’t be of great use, at least that’s what my experience was with things like Anki. The return for the time and effort invested is extremely small compared to just natural exposure to the language.

[@PeterSmitGroningen]

In defense of Anki: I use it ~10 minutes a day and feel it works pretty well for me. But I use it for words that I have looked up (encountering them in a book or tv-show), and want to be sure I don’t forget again. Small but key difference in my opinion, trying not to forget something that appears useful to know, instead of using Anki as a main source of learning new things/words.

[@Syssn3ck]

@@PeterSmitGroningen what's so bad about forgetting? Forgetting is an important part of learning and if the words are relevant and frequently used in your TL, then they will come up often enough anyway.

[@PeterSmitGroningen]

@@Syssn3ckDepends. We forget things all the time, that’s normal. But when I read a book, and I realize that it’s already the 3rd time I’m looking up the same word… that just feels useless to me. Also I realized after reading a lot that I didn’t know how certain a words sound (especially words with irregular accent), so I add some audio (from a Text-To-Speech service for instance) to the Anki card. Two birds in one stone. I’m not saying everyone should use Anki, or that it should be your main tool. Just that I like using it to keep newly learned words and concepts stick a little better in my head. Steve doesn’t like it, that’s clear, but he does like other tooling to help with learning like LingQ. What is your approach? What works for you?

[@Syssn3ck]

@@PeterSmitGroningen fair enough and it seems like you found an approach that works well for you. Personally, I don't have the discipline and motivation to do that (that's probably the main reason for me 😅). For my Spanish, I currently don't worry about output too much and just get more input via intermediate podcasts and the occasional graded reader thrown in to keep things fresh. I started two video games in Spanish over the past few weeks, just to test the waters, and I was surprised that I could mostly follow along, but my comprehension is still on the low end and so I put it aside for now. My English will go into maintenance mode in the next few months so I can ramp up on my Spanish input. I'm at a point, where the curse of diminishing returns leads me to think, that my time would be better invested in another language. I help kids with their reading fluency in German and it's interesting to see the similarities of struggles that we have to overcome. All in all, I think nothing beats the amount of time we spend in contact with the language, but how we do that and what is enjoyable may differ greatly from person to person.

[@PeterSmitGroningen]

I agree 100% that time spent with the language is the main driver. The tools are just there to make the process a little more enjoyable or frictionless

[@BijuuMike]

Hey Steve! Congrats on the huge milestone. Here is my question: How many hours a day did you spend when you first learned Chinese and Japanese in order to become fluent and if you could go back, would you do anything differently to be more efficient? Been using LingQ for a while now for Japanese and I'm really enjoying it!

[@fillipe6732]

Bro, I'm studying Japanese 1 hour every day . some days I study 2 hours but it's becomes boring and stressful. I still think that 1 hour is not enough for me😢.I'm learning English too, I'm trying to do my best every day, when I find a video in Japanese on you tube there are a lot of unknown kanji an vocabulary. I started learning in 2022

[@Suhnik]

@@fillipe6732It might help you to accept the fact that there will be a lot you won’t understand for a long time and it’s totally fine. You’re learning it, it’s necessary and natural to not be able to do something for it to be learned. But you can still enjoy content where you don’t understand many things. A lot of communication goes through context, tone and mimic I found, even in anime where you can’t see real faces at all. Be patient, I am sure you’ll do fine 👍

[@flokiflok318]

He had spend six hour per day with chinese but because he was pay for that. ( It's in his book )

[@flashgordon6510]

@@fillipe6732 Do you vary your study methods? Using different resources helps break it up a little.

[@fillipe6732]

@flashgordon6510 Yes, I read and listen to a large variety of subjects that I can understand a little bit. Generally, I'm watching KZbin videos , interviews and online newspapers in both languages:English and Japanese

[@robertoestrangeiro]

People sometimes talk about subjects without knowing much about them or without thinking much about them - They just want to show off, show how eloquent they are, Steve Kaufmann however talks about his experiences - His speeches are never empty!

[@cornelombard8029]

Well thought out. It is the practical suggestions and experience that speaks louder.

[@muhammad-emdad-rony]

This golden prize not only makes you happy but we also happy with you. Love you for your daily class.

[@Ngt96]

1M subscribers 🎉 Congratulations Steve.

[@radhe1o8]

Thank you for sharing The 13-sentence method. I don’t see it as the destination, but rather as a helpful jumping off board from which to start learning some of the intricacies of a new language.

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

Memorized sentences is where I usually start when I've got a new language that I need to be able to manage in. It helps me know that if I pronounce that correctly, I can focus on the response that I'm getting rather than just on what I'm saying. After that, I'll usually learn a bunch of sentence frames and what's allowed to go into the blanks. Then, it's just a lot of practice and exposure for the rest of it. The first two bits are definitely shortcuts as there are longer ways of doing it, but I got a ton out of doing it with Mandarin when I was living in China and needing to get things done on my own. I started with effectively zero Mandarin and within a couple months I knew enough to be able to feed myself and get around. I could even travel city to city by bus without too much trouble. That being said, there's still a ton that I don't know because I haven't really studied long enough, and that's basically just going to be a combination of book learning and exposure to the rules alongside actual exposure to real media and learning whatever grammar and vocab makes that easier.

[@RyNzOr]

Reading and listening is the best way to really improve, but once to use a word you have to really understand it to let your brain be confident to prompt you when you speak.

[@flashgordon6510]

Congratulations on the well-deserved subscriber count! You've been such a source of encouragement on my Japanese language journey. I wish you continued success!

[@lazstan]

Thanks for the videos Steve. I'm born bilingual English and Hungarian in NJ... Then at age 50 you and others got me to go full on into Spanish reading Harry Potter. Never missed a day for 3 years. Now I'm onto french because of you and Olly and others.

[@陈沉沉-m2v]

can i ask you,when your beginning stage to learn spanish,what did you do for it,i mean,reading Harry potter in a new language is very difficult.because it is not very easy for beginner. i am a native Chinese speaker,i tired to read harry potter in english two months ago,but it is too difficult for me,so many difficult adjective and some difficult words.i fell that reading it in a foreign language is to hard.so i can't consist to read it. can i get some experience about how to improve reading skull of a foreign language from you?

[@tartarus1322]

@@陈沉沉-m2vGo slow. Reread chapters as needed. Sound it out and say it.

[@lazstan]

@@陈沉沉-m2v . Sorry I just saw this. Well English and Spanish were similar enough. And Spanish is easy to pronounce and is spelled very much like it sounds. This is not the case for french. To go from Chinese to English seems like a tough crossover with Harry Potter. For french I'm watching more tv and movies and trying to not have subtitles on at all after I've seen it once. Then I retry reading every couple weeks. Sorry I don't have better answers. But I'd say do anything that you will keep doing every day and you'll get somewhere

[@陈沉沉-m2v]

@@lazstan Thinks for your reply.I am very appreciate it!Since i've send that comment to you,two months have been pass. Even thought i've said that reading harry potter in english was too difficult for me four months ago.But now i can almost understand the first book of harry potter series.Harry potter and philosophy stone.Due to keeping learning.Not only my reading ability but also my listening and writing and speaking capability have a great breakthrough.According my own experience,I one hundred persent agree with what you have said in the comment applied to me.Keeping do it every day will make you better and better.

[@paulwalther5237]

I have to comment on the making the same mistakes week after week with your tutor. I took online Japanese small classes and this website offered several classes taught by a few teachers. Once in a while they would get a new teacher etc. but usually they were regular. I remember one new teacher and I was kind of excited because she was a young and kind of pretty. Well, she taught us a lesson... and explained a few expressions, grammar etc. The lessons aren't designed to review material but for whatever reason we asked the same questions about the same things again and she had to explain the EXACT same things again to us... and I think I was the only one who even noticed that she explained this the week before (And I only noticed AFTER she explained it again). I could tell by the look on her face she might not be the patient type that's able to explain things over and over and over to adults that can't remember much. She was gone shortly after. When you find someone who really can explain something to you over and over even though you're a dumb foreigner that just doesn't get it.. you've found someone special. Patient teachers are the best.

[@陈沉沉-m2v]

yep,when i begin to learn a new language,sometimes just like,you know,jues like i am a little baby,but a adulted baby, so when someone gald to answer to me the same question over and over again,it to me is very helpful.

[@headinthemountains1666]

Congrats on the gold KZbin plaque. !! My questions for the Q&A: -How many hours of Comprehensible Input should you have before you start speaking (ie output) -What is your opinion on watching material in your target language (eg spanish) with subtitles on in the target language (eg spanish) Thanks for sharing

[@LeftToWrite006]

I think a lot of people don't realize how many skills are needed to be in a conversation. As I learn Italian, I find I can understand the conversations of others as long as I am not taking part in the conversation.

[@squaretriangle9208]

It's a generatonal thing, in my opinion. Nowadays especially because the internet exists and there is so much information available, people tend to think learning in the traditional sense is no longer necessary and to know something comes easy, this isn't the case. Learning a foreign language is just a proof of that misunderstanding, to comprehend and be able to use a language demands concentration, motivation and a lot of practice, there is no short cut....

[@finkodelica]

Congratulations Steve! Thank you very much for your videos, they mean a lot to all of us! The questions I wanted to ask are 1. Can you give your opinion on Mandarin Blueprint method? I’m both subscribed to LingQ and them but I’m switching to LingQ more and more as I progress. Their method of learning Chinese is quite different from yours. 2. Do you believe that the quality of language learning drops when you are simultaneously occupied by physical activity? You usually say that you listen to podcasts while running - do you think that you are equally productive when combining running and listening just as when you are listening at your desk? 3. Have you noticed that a short break after a hard studying period increases your level? I was learning Dutch daily for 3 hours for a year, took a test and almost failed. Then after 2 month of no practice it felt like the language was finally digested and I got C1 without almost any prior training. Thank you very much once again! All the best to you and your channel!

[@marcoarrieta4983]

Mr.Kauffman may you be blessed for eternity. Even when pronunciation's not your primary goal back in the day you did work on your pronunciation in French and Chinese.. what kind of training did you do or which activities did you engage in back in the day, besides massive input?

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

Personally, I recommend minimal pairs and working to identify which one it is until you can hear the difference. (A minimal pair is just a pair of words that are only separated by a sound. For example, that and fat, they only differ in that initial th versus f) Once you hear the difference, then you should be able to focus on making the correct sound and identifying it as you speak. And yes, that works with tones, it's just that the tones are another layer. You'd learn the 4 tones of Mandarin, then you'd learn the pairs of tones, then you'd work to replicate entire sentences in the language to get a more natural tone sandhi. It didn't take me that long to get that down to the point where I could get myself in trouble because the folks I was talking to thought I knew far more Mandarin than I needed. (Having the language on in the background at all times will help that as well, this is an exception to the rule about not being able to learn by mindless exposure)

[@luisguilhermeoliveira5794]

I love watching videos on KZbin in the language I'm learning and leaving a comment even if the only thing I'm able to say is "nice video, I agree with you". Understanding a language and using it well are two distinct abilities. It's like memorizing recipes and actually cooking something. I'm always trying to have conversations with myself since I usually don't have anybody to practice it, and it's a great way to find the gaps in my knowledge.

[@didierlafond3365]

C Cordialement de Montréal, votre ville d'origine! Didier Cher Steve! Un grand bonjour de Montréal. Je suis vos vidéos depuis longtemps et les trouve toujours passionnantes. J'apprends le japonais de manière intensive depuis 3ans et, cette semaine, je commence un livre scolaire unilingue en japonais pour les élèves du primaire. Comme vous le dites, il faut prendre du plaisir dans l'apprentissage des langues. Cela me plaît énormément de lire en japonais - sans traduction.

[@jujudis2008]

Thank you very much for your content. Without a doubt, immersing yourself in the language is one of the best ways to learn it faster.

[@gooiehoop20]

Ok, 50% of a language is made with 500 words, (a, and, or, etc.) which I find easy. The problem is that native speakers mix in another 50,000 words in between these 500 words. It's the 50,000 words and their forms (cases etc.) that I struggle with.

[@larrysankey6976]

Makes so much sense. There are no shortcuts. Put in the work.

[@eliscmj]

It's so cool to see the progress you've made over the years with this channel and your app project. I love the refreshing takes you've done lately, where you challenge ideas. My question is: Do you have any favorite books in Mandarin Chinese, any subject.

[@tomasmills8258]

How effective has your general approach of "dont spend too much time on grammar and just let the language wash over you" been when studying a language as gramatically complex as Arabic? Congratulations on one million!

[@Musicienne-DAB1995]

I think I recall him answering a similar question about Russian.

[@ArchanaWasanik]

Hi my the respected as well as a Fluent and Proficient Master, Steve Kaufmann, my name is Ashok Wasnik and I am an Indian.I am so much excited and inspired by listening your the most guidanable, miraculous, mind-blowing, delightful, magnificent, fantastic and excellent lesson in term of improving conversational fluency. You are one of the best linguistic of a English language who achieved the best type of enlightenment of the English language and have becomed the unique master of English language by all the ways. Finally I would like to hat your enlightenment of English language.

[@Also-This]

Congratulations sir! Thank you so much for adding another layer to my undying interest in neighboring cultures. You deserve it!

[@emanstv]

Question and LingQ request: I’m currently learning Thai (requesting to pls bring Thai to LingQ in the future!) primarily through the KZbin channel “Comprehensible Thai”. The channel emphasizes to just watch and listen and try to acquire the language through comprehensible input from the videos. It’s been helpful so far, but the channel also advises against reading in the beginner stages because they say toddlers first learn to comprehend the language, then they’ll start to speak/output naturally eventually. Only after some certain level comprehension is when they can start to learn how to read (and write). They emphasize a lot of listening first instead of reading since listening will help your ears get used to the sounds of the language. What do you think about this? Do you think reading should only be started after some level of familiarity with the language?

[@bernhardrulla]

I do support that Thai should be added to LingQ! 😊 Same second question, different wording : does it make sense that we as adults use the same way of learning as toddlers?

[@KateWitt]

When he speaks about your brain knowing what you're supposed to do but still wanting to revert to your native language! Truth. I definitely experience that. Sometimes I speak a Korean sentence and then I'll stop and just say "wow I just Englished all over that thing!" Yeah, it's technically using Korean words but it said in a very Englishy way.

[@gelisabethelisabeth]

Thanks 🤩 dear We know that you are right that’s very true, In three months we can learn some vocabulary, but never a language. So thanks 🙏

[@nicelalija]

Hello from Van! Can’t believe you live not far away! Great channel that was recommended to me by KZbin!

[@elel2608]

The 12 sentence method is good only for those who are absolute beginners and have never studied a 2nd language and don’t have the confidence to speak in that language. That’s what it is at most though.

[@mrgrumpycat9049]

Congrats for the milestone Steve! My question would be, we know very well how you do your input, but how does the output session looks like? it would be awesome if you can explain in detail.

[@kingdomkhmer]

Congratulations, Steve! Well-deserved for the interesting and helpful content. My question would be: What is the best way to teach English as a second language in a classroom setting? I will be volunteering as an English teacher in rural Cambodia and want to be effective. Would it be to focus on providing comprehensible input? What is the best way to use classroom time for beginners/mid-level English learners? How would you do it?

[@JEspin2024]

Congrats on your Gold plaque!🎉

[@amiwan9596]

thanks steve for sharing your journey. You have a first principles approach to language learning that encouraged me to look into Stephen Krashen's theories and I'm learning spanish thru lingq and lingopie

[@bronx7886]

Wonderful channel! I am so pleased for discovering it.

[@svitlanakovalyk2493]

Congratulations on your Gold plaque! My question is as follows: How do we juggle 3 new languages most effectively? My mother tongue is Ukrainian,I am fluent in Russian ,English and Polish,now I’m trying to improve my German (B 1 at the moment),Italian - A1 ,starting Turkish (wanted another language family). Is it advisable that I should devote separate days or weeks for every language ?Can I learn them all on the same day and how much time should I devote to it? My previous experience was to learn 1 language at a time and for a long period of time. Thank you for sharing your experiences and knowledge with us!

[@HowToExcelBlog]

Congrats on 1M! Question: Do you think there is any correlation between speaking early as a baby and learning a second language as an adult more quickly?

[@repacharge431]

Congratulations on the 1 million subscribers!

[@juanitotucupei]

The REAL reason I come back to his videos: they ALWAYS encourage me to just keep going no matter what. No gimmicks, no shortcuts, no magic number of steps, etc. Just keep at it, and I will eventually learn the language (in my case Russian).

[@NullGameDesign]

Congratulations on passing 1 million subscribers Steve

[@Mamoona-fw8ty]

Steve Sir! great your words as your achievements . congratulations. My kids are fluent in english and I m struggling to reach their neighbourhood . Three of them are under 16 and they never went abroad from PAKISTAN.

[@hukuhukuinthesky]

Congratulations 🎉1 million subscribers 😊 You really deserve it.

[@PatratTrainer]

Congratulations on 1 Million! What would you say is the best method for learning romance languages? I'm looking at Brazilian Portuguese in particular but I want to learn the European dialect of Portuguese, Spanish and French afterwards.

[@shimakara]

I appreciate it steve I have got a high level of conprehension to japanese.But because I just never expose myself to a japanese situation i got so nervous.Your takes help me a lot😊

[@danubiodeoliveira6108]

Mr. Kaufmann, congratulations for your achievements on the KZbin platform!

[@gosiapawowska5934]

Congratulations Steve! Great, well deseved achievement! It's always nice to see people appreciating good and meaningful content on YT. My question for Q&A: my level of spanish is very close to reach C2. I've challenged myself to write a book in that language. Do you think it's a good way of practice and improve or it's a waste of time? Maybe is better to stick to diffrent ways of learning which are less time-consuming? Thank you and greetings from Poland! Dziękuję i jeszcze raz gratuluje! :)

[@futurez12]

Hi, Steve! Congratulations on reaching 1 million! 🏆 If a more deserving channel exists, I've yet to find one. 👏 Here's my question for your upcoming Q&A: Even if it may not be optimal, desirable, or even possible (time-wise for some people), do you think it's at least doable to learn _any_ language in the same way as a baby/child does? If you had comprehensible content, like shows/books/audiobooks, aimed at toddlers right through to high school level, could it be done with a language like Mandarin (assuming we're a speaker of a European language)? Also, despite the helpfulness of grammar review, is simply understanding the message enough, (as Krashen suggests) or is at least a little bit of grammar absolutely necessary, at some point (assuming our end goal isn't to become a professional writer/speaker at some point)? Just to add, without you, I'd never be at the level of Spanish I'm at now. It's been 12 years since I started (at age 31), and I never for one second thought I'd get to the point of understanding most of what I hear. Thank you for all that you've done, and for being so honest with your experience and advice. The more experienced I myself become as a language learner, the more I discover that the things you talk about begin to ring true with my own experiences. You don't know it, but you've been the biggest influence on my life over the last decade. Thank you for that. 🙂

[@peggylopipero-langmo7894]

Congrats on reaching that amazing milestone!!!!!

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

You wouldn't invest a lot of time into mnemonics. You'd select a smaller number of important words that aren't sticking, and use mnemonics on those. You'd also use it for things like learning Chinese Characters as it's faster to decompose the characters into their components and memorize their placement and combination with mnemonics than other methods. When I do it, I quickly generate the mnemonic, and I don't even bother to memorize that. I'm just trying to generate what Harry Lorrayne referred to as "original awareness" of the word. If I do that with the words that I really need, or want to know, over time that will speed things up a bit and make the process of using, and enjoying, the language a lot more pleasant. But, I do completely agree, that there's little point in forced memorization in this method, at best that gives you a hook to hold the other meanings and you're looking at potentially 10-20k words to be fluent.

[@StillAliveAndKicking_]

That makes sense. I struggled with l’argile, meaning the clay in French. So I remembered this: Ahhh Gilles, you have a clay soil. It worked.

[@johnvienna3422]

As usual, the Voice of Reason, right here. We would all love to have meaningful conversations with 12 phrases. But proper fluency is where the action is at.

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

IMHO, the best way to learn is to build the bridge from both ends. A lot of exposure to the language and book learning of possible vocabulary and sentence frames. Over time, you should be able to shift more of the effort to exposure and use with only occasional memorization of vocab and grammar.

[@garygreen5670]

I've been using Mnemonics for about half a year, and found them to be extremely useful in learning lists of vocab quickly. At first I did find it difficult to come up with images that worked - some worked well; others didn't - and I did find it time consuming. However, like everything else, the more you practice the easier it gets, and I have got better at thinking up mnemonics that work, and I can do it very quickly - in usually, no more than a few minutes now. If I can't think of anything, I'll leave it and move on - and usually come up with something later.. I'm learning Japanese right now, and I'm pretty sure I would be finding it much more difficult without mnemonics. I still regularly astonish myself, when I find I can recall a set of words which I heard for the first time several hours, or a day before - without any repetition practice. And when I do add repetition to my practice (in combination with the mnemonics), I'm able to commit new pieces of language to long-term memory very quickly. So, in my experience, mnemonics are an extremely valuable tool, and well worth the time invested in developing that skill.

[@justjordan1300]

I've also been learning Japanese, and mnemonics have been a tremendous help when learning kanji. Especially for the more complex ones, being able to break them down into parts and create a mental image or story has really helped me recall new characters. I've been using Wanikani, and it's been great for those reasons. It doesn't focus as much on vocab or sentence structure, so LingQ has been helpfully for that.

[@oswaldocaminos8431]

​​@@justjordan1300Hi, could you please explain to me how it works? thank you.

[@justjordan1300]

@@oswaldocaminos8431Which part? Wanikani?

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

@@oswaldocaminos8431 If it's for the Kanji, the correct way to do that is to learn the components and what sort of components they are and structure the mnemonics around that. Kanji is pretty annoying compared with learning them as part of Chinese because they have more possible ways of being read. Chinese characters rarely have more than 2 possible ways of being read, and it's usually because the character is the result of multiple characters having been merged at some point. Outlier linguistics has some pretty good resources for characters whether they're being used in Mandarin or Japanese.

[@poliglota-uu9fx]

Hey, Steve! How are you? I study 4 languages (English, Spanish, Japanes and korean.) I"m Brazilian, my language native is portuguese. My biggest difficulty is remembering specific vocabulary when I need it. I can't express my thoughts properly because I don't remember the words that represent what I want to say... How can I improve?

[@quostad]

Greetings from a fellow Brazilian! It's quite hard to find those of us who also like learning languages, but just in this comment section I already found three - excluding myself, of course. Our language sets us in a good spot for learning other ones, structurally and phonetically. It's a shame many Brazilians don't even give themselves a chance to language learning - or just fall in the whole language, mostly English, course scams - e.g. in my school, besides me, only two other students speak English. Eu podia ter respondido em português, mas segui no inglês só por coêrencia mesmo. Fora que é bem provável que outros que leiam esse comentário não falem Português, enfim

[@Slaash8]

Congratulations, Steve. You deserve every success. My question is: what was your main mistake when learning your first language and what did you learn from it? Please write a new book Greetings from Brazil, you are my inspiration for learning English!

[@properpolymath2097]

So glad Steve finally got a microphone (15 years after starting his channel)

[@slowlearner4341]

Realistically, honestly and quite painful for many language learners. A few comments are as clear-cut and precise as conclusions of Mr. Kaufmann. Chapeau monsieur! This is an issue where this always slow and sometimes pleasant torture needs to be accepted. Thank you, Ladies and Gentlemen.

[@Jackdkchannel]

Playing fluently piano takes me 10 years. I think language is pretty similar. I don’t say it « must »take. It's an average, depending on how you use it, how you are involved. So could take 5 years for really quick studies. But 5 years it’s not one week 😅. Even in my own mother tongue I'm not fluent in subjects I don't master such as car mechanics, hydrocarbons or politics 😅. I am fluent in subjects that I enjoy.

[@ChandlerBing-t3k]

I agree 👍

[@Jackdkchannel]

@@ChandlerBing-t3k 🙏

[@demonk4722]

One question I have is that when you are listening to the language in the early stages, do you have to pay attention to it? Like if I am cleaning or playing a video game or something and not really paying attention to what I am listening to, does that affect how much I get out of listening? Love your videos, and have a great day!

[@sorted7405]

you will learn almost nothing with that strategy. it needs to be active listening. It's the reason why people can move to a foreign country and live there for years without ever learning the local language. Unless you intentionally try to decipher what you're hearing you won't make progress. Google "is passive listening effective?" for more insight on this topic if you want.

[@demonk4722]

@@sorted7405 Ok, thanks!

[@BERRUEZA]

Hi there Steve! Congrats on the million subscribers milestone :) I have a question for you regarding learning Chinese characters. What would you recommend for the average learner who has around an hour a day for study? At what point should one transition from pinyin to learning characters? Essentially, how much should one already know/understand (comprehension) before committing to learning characters? And what is a good method for learning them / what is a good goal to strive for during the first few months of studying characters? I apologize for the long-winded explanation to my question 😅 Thank you! Borja

[@anthonyfialand9040]

Congratulations Steve! Great job 🎉

[@백인줄어든다]

I am practicing listening skill today also~ it is infinite repetitoon~ which also is I think the key of language learning ~

[@ddn784]

Congratulations with the KZbin Gold Plaque!

[@hatersgotohell627]

I really wish I was obsessed with reading. I can only read 10-20 pages a day of a book a day especially a book in my own native language. I feel like massive reading is the big secret to mastering a foreign language.

[@deivid7200]

Hola Steve, llevo meses utilizando la aplicación de LingQ y me ha gustado, no se a veces pienso que estoy estudiando mal y por eso no avanzo, podrías hacer un vídeo en como tú estudias en LingQ, como por ejemplo en qué momento pasas a otra lección o cuántas veces repites la lección y cosas así, me ayudaría muchísimo

[@BERRUEZA]

A mi también me parece una buena idea que haga un video sobre eso! Me encantaría ver sus métodos. Yo soy bastante novatillo con Lingq, pero por ahora me está yendo bien. Como utilizas Lingq? Por que crees exactamente que no estás avanzando? Espero que pronto sientas que estás teniendo éxito con tus estudios! Ánimo!

[@deivid7200]

@@BERRUEZA más que todo por el tema de avanzar de nivel, me tomo como 4 meses para avanzar a principiantes 2 y eso que le dedicó de 2 a 4 horas al estudio, entonces no sé si es que estoy repitiendo mucho los capítulos o le dedicó mucho tiempo a un capítulo que no conozco. (estoy estudiando inglés)

[@BERRUEZA]

@@deivid7200 ​ Le dedicas de 2 a 4 horas todos los días? De ese tiempo, cuanto lo pasas en Lingq? Cuando empecé a usar Lingq, me vi varios videos en KZbin sobre como utilizar/estudiar en Lingq de una manera eficiente, y aunque los videos que me vi eran en Inglés, seguro que puedes encontrar videos similares en Español. Te lo recomiendo! Podrán explicarte a fondo como usarlo mejor de lo que te podría yo explicarte aquí por escrito. Quizá lo que te está produciendo supuesto atasco, o el parecer que no avanzas, es tan simple como que no estás exponiéndote a contenido mas complicado o avanzado, es decir, mas complicado o avanzado para ti. Uno se puede quedar atascado sin avanzar por el hecho de que piensa que tiene que entender todo al 100%, antes de seguir adelante. Esto es incorrecto, o al menos innecesario. No conozco la lección que mencionas "principiantes 2", pero te sugiero probar ir al siguiente nivel, a ver como te va. Luego vuelve al principiantes 2 a ver si lo entiendes algo mejor. Hay que darle tiempo al cerebro que procese toda la información nueva que le estás dando. Y por su puesto combinar el estudio con un montón de "input", mucho mas que el propio estudio, ésta parte es suuuper importante! Mírate videos de KZbin en Inglés, contenido más o menos a tu nivel, o alguna serie en Inglés. Eso te ayudará tremendamente. Lo último que diré es que 4 meses no es "demasiado" tiempo. No te preocupes de eso. Tu ve a tu paso, y que los demás vayan al suyo. Cuanto más tiempo le dediques, más entenderás; y recuerda que 1 hora al día consistentemente, tras varios mese, es mucho más efectivo que 2 a 4 horas unos cuantos días. La consistencia todos los días es la clave.

[@deivid7200]

@@BERRUEZA de las 2 o 4 horas que estudiaba todo el tiempo era en LingQ, igualmente todo los días, yo creo que es lo que tú dices que le hasta que no sepa las cosas al 100% no paso a la siguiente, de igual manera, solo estoy estudiando una hora y pues tratando de no repetir tanto y consumir cosas nuevas

[@TaeKinzel]

Hi Steve How do I learn a language with little media and resources?

[@internetual7350]

What language are you trying to learn?

[@squaretriangle9208]

👏🏻 for your plaquette and your many subscribers of which I'm one

[@pedrolira3524]

awesome video. i thank about this! you is fantastic professor

[@fastenedcarrot9570]

Tim Ferris is the physical embodiment of midwittery.

[@SO-ym3zs]

A good rule of thumb: if you're the type of person who's looking for a shortcut, an easy way, a trick, a quick fix, etc., then don't bother with languages. Languages, like so many worthwhile things, take both effort and time. Finding efficiencies is one thing, but so many language channels and apps prey on insecure, gullible learners, making them think that if they only do this or buy that, they'll suddenly gain the magical language shortcut that far smarter people haven't been able to come up with for millennia. A lot of speakers never become highly skilled with their mother tongue, despite many years of exposure and schooling, so don't expect a magic pill for a foreign language, even for a rudimentary level of conversational fluency, let alone actual eloquence, correctness, and precision in speech and writing.

[@babayuri8673]

Congratulations on 1 Mil Steve! For my question: I often find myself keeping listening and reading separate. Aside from watching shows or KZbin with subtitles, when I read say a book I do it separate from say an audio book, and when I'm listening whilst doing other tasks it's often to a podcast I've never listened to before. I've done this from the very beginning and while listening my comprehension can be pretty low as I've never studied the content say on LingQ or some other resource. I don't really enjoy reading transcripts from podcasts or videos, and often times I can't find audiobooks for what I'm reading. Is this still a viable strategy for improving my listening abilities in the language? I should mention that my listening is improving ever so slightly, but still pales in comparision to my reading.

[@ztravica]

Hey Steve - My question follows: I would love to ask what tips or advice you can give for learning Slavic Languages and what you think the best approach is. I am learning Croatian and have been learning the language (in Zagreb) for the past year and whilst I've learnt a lot (I was a complete beginner when I arrived) I've only just discovered your method of input vs output. With Slavic languages, for English speakers, it can be extremely difficult at times, especially with cases, word order and most importantly dialects... (as i'm sure you already know, I saw your video re Croatian). There isn't that much content or specific discussions online for and about Croatian compared to other Slavic languages (from my experience anyway) so anything you can share on how you increased your Slavic language learning journey would be greatly appreciated.

[@Thelinguist]

Slavic languages share a lot of the same difficult issues for learners. Just do a lot of listening and reading and occasionally read the grammar rules without trying to remember them or expecting to be able to apply them until much later.

[@wolfxlover]

HOOORAYY! :D Congrats Steve! My question is: do you have a strategy for finding meaningful content in another language? I am fluent in French...yet I have never found any resource or media that has truly "entertained" me or left me in awe. I know it's out there but I find that I am mainly exposed to the general pop music, news podcasts, and "the classic stories"...I even spent a year in a French speaking country with a host family. I feel like while this has helped me reach fluency...I still have not found anything that has *spoken* to me or has made me feel a childish joy! Any advice?

[@Joyce-t2f]

Congratulations on the million followers! I have a question on maintaining languages. How much and how often should one spend on maintaining languages? When I devote more time to a new language, I am afraid of forgetting my other languages because I have less time for them. I know eveyone is different and learns in different ways but would you have some general advice? Thank you! I enjoy your videos and learning new language learning tips.

[@yuritarelko9916]

Hello Steve! Congratulations on reaching 1 million subscribers! Your videos and LingQ kind of "restarted" my passion for language learning. My question is: Are there any plans at LingQ to make more courses free? Like Icelandic and Ukrainian. Thank you. Greetings from Belarus.

[@Thelinguist]

We have no immediate plans to do that.

[@triplea9505]

Hi there, Steve! Thank you for all the information you provide and turning around my French progress which was basically, as you put it in one of your videos, drills and exercises!😂 I have now aspired to learn Icelandic🐋🗻after and want continue to learn languages in the future! Congratulations on 1 million subscribers🎉, thank you for the continued inspiration & keep up the great work you legend! 🙌🤘 Alex (UK) My question is🔍🤔: I don't know if you have already answered this in another video, but which of all the foreign languages you speak is your favourite and why?

[@bernhardrulla]

Hello Steve, thanks a lot for creating LingQ and the many, many informative videos about language learning! My question: when learning a new language, what are your criteria that you want to achieve in a lesson before proceeding to the next? Zero blue words? A minimum number of litening to the lesson? When you get bored by the old lesson?

[@Anton-V]

Question: I just reached your channel, what are some good videos to start with? English is my second language and I think I'm pretty good at it

[@bOstik210]

Amazing Steve, congrats on reaching 1m subscribers. Keep up thegreat videos :D

[@jackbombay1423]

Congrats on your 1M subs.

[@englishimmersion-bt6iw]

Hey Steve! Here is my question: How many hours of practice do I need to get comfortable with speaking? I started to speak English on first day of this year and since there I don't feel comfortable, I push my self into talks

[@MatthewSmith-fb2bw]

Firstly, thank you so much for the amazing advice and help you give us! 😀 Secondly, here's my question: How do you (as in you personally) decide which language to study next? Could you give us some general guidelines to help us make our own decisions on this as well, please?

[@alliswell44596]

Wrong. You keep forgetting an important fact. As a retired person who has nothing better to do than just sit at home and keep yourself busy with this hobby - learning for the sake of learning. But for most people its not the case:they have very little free time AND they have a specific purpose to learn a language - to travel or work or relocate. Speaking like a native is a very rare objective, although always a desirable one. Most ppl dont learn to be conversationaly fluent. They learn to resolve specific problems. Thats why your approach - learn everything, every moment of your life to become perfect in everything doesnt work for them. They DO need shortcuts. And guess what - even an impetfect conversation gets them to resolve those problems - be it participating in a business confi-call, or ordering a taxi. And the shortcuts DO work. Those 12 sentences is a fab idea. The high frequency words is a fab idea. Marvelous. They will not get you read Shakspire. Neither will you speak like one. but you will certainly resolve most issues around you and go home happy. Which is the original reason why you started learning a new language.

[@English-qh8vb]

My question is a little different, I would like to know better who Steve Kaufmann is. Of course you've already mentioned a little about your life, but I (and I believe other people) would like to know more about your life. I believe many people follow you not only for your advice but also because they like you as a friend. Thank you for all your help in the language learning community.

[@Justus-f8r]

Hello Steve Kaufmann, I started using LingQ two months ago. I have a question about listening and how concentrated I have to stay. If im listening to the mini stories for example in Turkish because im learning Turkish. Do i have to concentrate and try hard to understand or do i just have to relax and wait until i can comfortably understand the meaning of the whole sentence, and the whole story. Is it more effective if i think hard about these words i hear and try to build slowly the meaning of the whole sentence even if it is very hard? Congratulation for the 1Million subscribers on the channel, and Thank you for sharing this great knowledge with all the language learners world wide.

[@expericiencia]

For someone who is a native English speaker and wants to learn Portuguese, I am Brazilian and would like to improve my english.We could talk to each other. I would really like to do this exchange of knowledge

[@kevinjones2145]

This rings true with everything I've experienced over the years.

[@gabriellawrence6598]

I agree with most things Kauffmann said, however Feriss' advice on using mnemonics works wonders. Kauffmann says it takes a lot of time to create these associations, but you can do them in a minute or so. What takes a much longer time is hoping the same word will appear again and again, and if it does, hoping your brain will retain it. Some deliberate effort to learn does pay off.

[@untethered_Marco]

I gave them a shot but most of the words in my language have similar sounding syllables therefore it took me more time to create associations. Do they work for grammar and corrections?

[@TheWandererTiles]

I think they work for those words that I keep blanking on. But I avoid it for almost all other words.

[@jamesdrennen7896]

Love your work and congratulations 🎉 My question is, what would you recommend I do to balance delivering HS level Social Studies content while also supporting acquisition of the English Language? I have a very unique situation. I am a high school history teacher, but 3 of my classes are all ELD students who are native Spanish speakers. My job is split between teaching them content and language. Fortunately, I speak Spanish rather fluently. I've even spent 3 years teaching the language to HS students at my previous job. I moved away from conjugation tables and vocab lists and got into TPRS and Total Body Response, but never really perfected it. Right now, I draw on those tactics, but it can be difficult to get along in class if I speak English so I find myself speaking a lot of Spanish in the class (great for me, but not for them 😅). Any and all suggestions would be wonderful!

[@coryjorgensen622]

"Learning a language is not hard." True. It just takes a long, long time and a lot of input.

[@дианалуценко-с9и]

Hi Steve! Congratulations on 1 million subscribers!!! I have a question. So, my English student struggles with learning new words. He may have heard and looked up a word dozens of times, but he still can't remember what it means. Do you have any advice for how I, as a teacher, can help him learn English when he has this problem?

[@aternald]

Hi Steve! Thank you for keep motivating me and making language learning fun! I’m a native Swedish speaker living in Sweden trying to learn polish. My wife is polish but speaks Swedish better than me. She speaks only polish with our two children. I realize a have a great opportunity to learn polish with a native speaker at home but I’m not sure how to use this to my advantage in the early stages. I’m still in the beginning of the mini stories. How would you use my advantage to learn polish faster, better and/or easier? Thanks again 🎉

[@Thelinguist]

I will try to answer this in my video/But a quick answer, don't expect your wife to be your teacher. Learn the language on your own, then when there are opportunities with Polish friends, relatives or in Poland you will find natural occasions to speak Polish with her. Meanwhile you will probably mostly speak the language you are used to using.

[@dandreer3150]

Hello Steve. Congratulations on reaching a million subscribers :) This is my question: How should I learn Arabic? If I understand correctly, you recommend learning languages through reading. However, this is impossible in Arabic since the written (al-Fusha) and vernacular (al-Amiya) languages are completely different. Also, I should tell you I am from Israel, so going to an Arab country, especially now, is completely out of the question

[@AliceHegrová]

By the way, greetings from the Czech Republic, I am from Olomouc , a city very near to Prostějov

[@mangoman2148]

What are your opinions/experiences of language exchange applications that allow regular correspondence with native speakers through messaging and phone/video calls? How much time would you allocate to these exchanges, compared to the usual input methods of reading books and listening to podcasts?

[@NodnarbRS]

Who’s doing these graphics? I lost it at 2:22 😂

[@gemgem-hl7ii]

I very much agree with your points. However, I do think that a little bit of spaced repetition is helpful. In the same way, when we were kids we were taught some words through repetition. I have been using Linq for a week now, and it's an incredible tool. I'm amazed by the almost limitless possibilities it provides for language learning. My only gripe is that the translations are unreliable and there is no grammar explanation aside from the bare minimum grammar guide that it has. It's okay for more advanced learners, but for beginners and maybe intermediate learners it would be a bit unproductive. One can argue that we learned language as children without beinf taught grammar, but I would argue back that it took very long and there's no reason to emulate babies when we as grown-ups can learn in a more efficient way. I wish Linq had some more complex content that are actually manually translated and contains some necessary grammar points.

[@Sarah_Eva]

My question: When you offer the Slovenian language? Surely you can understand how difficult it is to find good material. It's nearly impossible to find any videos in Slovenian with Slovenian subtitles. I have rarely encountered one with English subtitles. I try to read books and listen to music, but without any native speakers to practice with, I have a hard time keeping at it. I really agree with your methods, which is why I think I would love to try LingQ. I know that there aren't so many Slovene learners, but you could really corner the market. 😊 Thank you and congratulations on your channel's success.

[@hneubac]

Congrats on 1 Mio! Question: Have you tried to get Manfred Spitzer for an interview or podcast? I saw he did some podcast recently. I love his work an would love to hear you both in a conversation!

[@alineverrier2171]

Congratulations Steve!!! 👏🎉 My question for you is about how learn different languages at the same time? It's a big issue for me I'm trying to learn two languages (not at the same level) and I dream to start another one but I'm afraid because I don't know how to keep my attention, my focus to each one. I not fluent in any languages it's just a goal to be abble to understand and communicate. What's the best way to do that? And also what's the best way to start a new language from scratch?

[@kittenverysmall]

I very agree with you. I've done so many techniques as you've had mentions in this videos. If you ask is it help? I can say "yes it is!", but you must put a lot of your energy and time especially to Anki and it is very very much unproductive. Just remember how to learn a language just acquire as Steve said. Take a lot of listening and reading just like that. I've been listening and reading for 3 months. I've improved more than using Anki and others mentioned techniques for 2 years. For real. I've had wasting so much time, but at least I got an experienced for doing a mistake and trial and errors.

[@archiesenol9104]

Hi Steve, you have more than earned you subscription milestone with your great content. Truly an inspiration. My question: I can only read Japanese with the aid of furigana. I realized that for certain kanji I don‘t need them anymore, cause they stick immediately. But it‘s gonna take ages for me to acquire the joyo kanji with this approach. Any help would be highly appreciated. Thx. Archie from Switzerland