Lýdia Machová - The Power of Setting Priorities in Language Learning [CC English/Español]

The traditional way of teaching languages usually makes us develop all the main skills of a language at the same time: reading, listening, writing, speaking, grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. But do we really need that? And is it the most effective way to learn?
Wouldn't it make more sense to concentrate on just two or three areas for a given period of time, and to see greater improvements in those selected areas?
In the talk, Lydia, a language mentor from Slovakia, is going to share her practical experience with two projects. In these projects, dozens of university students and English teachers decided to improve their level of a foreign language by concentrating on just a few areas in their chosen language, and focused on those areas which they felt had the most room for improvement.
Following many hours of practice, both students and teachers gained immense improvements in their chosen areas, and these amazing results spurred them to even higher levels of motivation, to learn more, and improve further.
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Filming & Editing: Simos Batzakis

[@mgspunk]

4 pillars of learning a language 1:45 fun, quantity, frequency, system My language story 4:55 Harry Potter 7:40 The pitfalls of learning by yourself 11:05 no teacher, no guide, no check, no system In the same boat 14:00 Language mentoring program for English teachers Pitfall solutions 15:15 tutors, language mentor, logbook, priorities Set your SMART goals 17:13 Specific, Measureable, Ambitious, Realistic, Time bound English teachers learning English 24:35 Language mentoring for students 26:50 Questions 30:40

[@africaRBG]

Thanks ! Very helpful

[@r2wf]

Thank you!

[@Tehui1974]

Kia ora!

[@andychang8227]

Thanks a million!

[@4syekjaffer421]

Thank you

[@markchavez738]

She has such a great voice. It’s very pleasant to hear.

[@successkid284]

Mark Chavez I was thinking exactly the same.

[@FarTooFar]

The awesome thing is that you can hear that voice in multiple languages.

[@LTtrio]

sarcasm?

[@thegood9]

@@LTtrio What?

[@gardnerdean]

Yes, her voice is soothing, good for listening to when going to sleep

[@eon6595]

One of my most watched polyglot speaker.👍

[@eon6595]

- i could sense that she's really passionate with what she does

[@mysticalcatnip221]

She's the best! Love her so much!

[@gardnerdean]

Yes mine too. I watch her over and over again for motivation

[@danielac8497]

Lydia, you are so inspiring, thank you! You are a terrific public speaker.

[@sharonoddlyenough]

I just started reading the first book of the Percy Jackson series in Swedish after studying for 3 months. With each chapter, I am writing down words I want to look up in a separate notebook. At the end of the chapter, I am looking the words up and noting a short meaning in the notebook. Good series nased on Greek mythology. I'll report back how it goes.

[@PietsmietFan12]

How did it go?

[@sharonoddlyenough]

@@PietsmietFan12 It went pretty good. By the end of the first book, I was sick of all the writing, though. The second book I started reading and just immediately looking up words as I went, but I was much more confident and had to look up less words. Unfortunately I returned to my seasonal work by then, and I ran out of energy to read at all. I'm back on my winter break now, so I'm going to pick it back up, and thank you for the reminder! I have the whole series in Swedish so I will finish it eventually

[@sergeyprokhorov5170]

I thought I was the only one reading books about Harry Potter in languages I don't know well :-) Great video!

[@philipcox5601]

Sergey Prokhorov Do you listen and read as she suggested? Do you look up words or just try to get from context? People have recommended this before but I just can't make myself do it. It just feels like pulling teeth and like it will never improve.

[@jayme3557]

The way I'm learning a new language is by going back to how everyone learns their Mother language.... By HEARING tons of words and sentences and singing the words or something similar (song lyrics get stuck in your head after learning the song)... After a year or so, THEN the majority of us learn the reading, then the writing.... But NOW, we are old enough to speed up that process a little faster than a toddler 🤜🤛

[@italianwithkati]

Hello and thanks for sharing this video! I've never thought about prioritising, even if I've been doing it indirectly for 2-3 months now. I'm listening to a lot of English materials, so setting a goal is really helpful. I've been struggling for years to learn English, but only last year I decided to do it more seriously by studying on my own. I even took an international exam, just to prove myself that I can do it. Therefore, I'm going to start learning German by myself (actually, I already started) by using this method. Thanks again

[@LongAwaitedBaby]

kati raf thanks for sharing. Where are you from? I am also learning languages.

[@martinet1985]

that's super impressive considering the fact that you'd been learning English "seriously" for a year when you wrote this! kudos to you!

[@tompeled6193]

Tip: "priotitising" is used only in Commonwealth English; "prioritizing" is used in American and Canadian English.

[@stacyreeves]

Your English is great!!

[@nathanpiazza9644]

Man that lady who asked the second question is really aggressively anti-fun

[@thegood9]

not just me, then, lol.

[@sharonoddlyenough]

You are not wrong

[@gwh0]

First question is 31:00 and second is 32:35, Lydia agrees at 34:00

[@joseluisbruna4792]

I always enjoy watching Lydia thanks for the advice

[@suewright1299]

A huge thank you! What you have said really makes sense and has been a great help!

[@humanioresIT]

Vielen Dank, deine Vorlesungen verstaerken immer die Motivation!

[@saeedmohammad8765]

Thank you really amazing....... You revived my soul again

[@hussainboxwala8839]

One of the best advice I have heard in a long time for language learning

[@user-cz3vh1xs1n]

Here South Korea. I like your smart and intelligent voice and agree with your opinion.

[@user-xx7ox9cu2m]

I was giving up on learning language am doing two now but learning that I really need to prioritize I believe i need to improve on my systems and frequency..... Lydia Machova you are very inspiring thank you... For now I speak English and Swahili well would love to be a translator /interpret or like her soon

[@mattlee4181]

Like her voice and the way she demonstrated her experiences and suggestions.

[@muzicapentrusufletultau9115]

You are a great speaker! Thank you for this video.

[@peaceprosperity3951]

Wow, super talented with an incredible grasp! I have always loved mastering Arabic, Spanish and French, but still way too far from achieving this!

[@interparoloj]

Dankon, tre utila prezento por ĉiuj ni.

[@eduardobrandao3718]

Great voice, she has besides the knowledge

[@markokovalski2965]

l liked this video very much. l make many mistakes in foreign languages but l keep learning.

[@frantisekjanosik5339]

thank you very much for your lesson..

[@quadgod77]

Awesome video! I will be applying the system of priorities to my language learning and see if this 'experiment' will work. :D

[@baharehghobadi9235]

I have used your method.its so useful🌹🌹🌹

[@misscamay]

the 2nd person who asked a question ruined everything lol

[@aurum8024]

why?

[@jameskenney7849]

Отлично!

[@ineszka22]

Greetings from Poland:) Pozdrowienia z Polski:)

[@cristinacouplestherapy3819]

Thank you 😊🤗😊

[@williambudd2850]

The priorities should be #1 read stlories in your target language. #2 read stories in your target language. #3 read storiew in your target language.

[@alexamar3584]

There is life beyond language learning...I wonder who can dedicate his life only and exclusively to this

[@prodentimchannel]

Thank you!!

[@user-bj9qy7hn6z]

great speaker form great woman

[@michaeltietjens465]

Ly'dia is always so easy to listen to. Her ideas are great and her voice and presentation are just superb. I'm so happy I was able to find her talks and ideas.

[@sleepsmartsmashstress740]

Go Lydia Machova go ! You are so beautiful a person

[@ahmedluqman9362]

Relly I enjoy with your lesson

[@nicolasfastinus5346]

Lovely teacher

[@andersond.3593]

It's funny when I tell people I speak 6 languages they think im a genius of some sorts but little do they know that not only did it take me 8+ years to get there, but I have trouble concentrating and im overall the slowest person ever💀 learning languages actually HELPS me improve sooo many related skills that I needed to work on.. just keep on going yall😂 all u need is dedication!

[@shamimmir361]

Love u...muahhhh.... u say true

[@user-ug9xl1oi6r]

I like her with no reason:)

[@user-ug9xl1oi6r]

egg fart Correction: I like her for no reason;)

[@user-ug9xl1oi6r]

egg fart ^_^

[@jorgegomez524]

she’s blonde.

Hey, great stuff!

[@tamdanhphan9739]

Please tell me what music in presentation. Thank you!

[@leliacabrera6031]

this video was very interest y and educator.

[@fisayooyekole2151]

Contrary to what you said about "there is no guide, no one to explain the grammar rules" for self learning, that is not the case with teach yourself materials, which often have guides, translation exercises with answers. This is how I learnt german, russian, spanish and mandarin.

[@ecohumanism]

"fun" sounds little strange here, but you should be able to feel the result and be consistent (keep learning even if you feel difficulties). so "fun" goes away, and satisfaction remains, it motivates you to learn farther (because satisfaction is equal to pleasure and you want to receive more of it).

[@schlubenno3827]

I think she’s using the word “fun” loosely. Language learning should feel good, it should be satisfying and entertaining for the most part.

[@sharonoddlyenough]

She clarifies this at the end with the second audience question

[@gpgp01]

0:50 right but it is also difficult to reach out own way as she said. I don't like frustrating whenever listening English but inevitable. Ugh..

[@xixianne]

The A in SMART goal actually means achievable/attainable.

[@gregwiggins]

And the R is for Relevant

[@shamimmir361]

Listening is the technique and reading books.. but language developers after many mistake and many corrections...practice...

[@erisi6204]

When listening to your desired language should you be reading what is spoken in a language you understand or just listen to it without a translation?

[@aghaaslam9575]

Note for me : 20:20 is the point where I should do with japanese language

[@bxhome]

19:37 speaking after 2 months, is quite ambitious, especially if it is first language in language family

[@nglearning8310]

It's not, just be realistic - It's fine if you initially make lots of mistakes.

[@SiriusScientist]

After the 20 minutes you read and listen, do you go back and look up all the words you didn't know? I've found when I write in the book I end up "cheating" and just reading the English. I just picked up the first Harry Potter book and the accompanying audiobook in German. I've seen the little improvements you mention but still feel a bit overwhelmed, and don't like to move on with so many words I'm not retaining between sessions. While I'm in a formal class as well, I feel like I'm focusing on a lot of different parts of the language at the same time. Tips are appreciated!

[@kimjohn7409]

Priorities for learning periods 18:13

[@BrentStrathdeePehi]

I think the idea that the learning must be “fun” is misleading and therefore unwise - imo “engaging” or “stimulating” is better because let’s face it - it’s not always fun!? BUT if it’s engaging and stimulating then we still enjoy it and continue

[@sharonoddlyenough]

Watch to the end, she clarified this

[@shanghaineseaustralia4076]

Would you have any social media group for polyglots to interact? Thanks

[@fatihakhan4381]

Shanghainese Australia +1

[@BertYanez57]

What are the areas that you have to work on? I couldn’t read anything it was too small.

[@kimjohn7409]

Great speech , really helpful content there.

[@graceyinz]

What is the link for English teaches’ program?

[@masterjedisam1578]

Is she saying estranto? What language is that? 10:03

[@Abdo.R.Mohamed]

So how would u focus on Pronunciation and vocabulary if u're not going to read ? can someone explain this part ?

[@thomasrobertson2225]

My brother studied languages at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center in California. The pace of study was intense. Students had to master the language course in 36-64 weeks. Psychologically it was very difficult, but fortunately he was helped by Yuriy Ivantsiv's book "Polyglot Notes. Practical tips for learning foreign languages”. The book " Polyglot Notes" became a desk book for my brother, because it has answers to all the problems that any student of a foreign language has to face. Thanks to the author of the channel for this interesting video! Good luck to everyone who studies a foreign language and wants to realize their full potential!

[@user-jt8eg6bx2x]

Good video! Thanks to the author for his good work! I'd like to recommend Yuri Ivantsiv's practice book Polyglot's Notes: Practical Tips for Learning a Foreign Language. This book has many useful methods for learning a foreign language, how to develop your memory, how to memorize words, learn grammar, quickly learn to speak, read and write. All recommend this excellent book! Good luck to everyone in learning a foreign language!

[@-flabber6663]

Lydia, this was a very good lesson. I would like to ask, how many languages do you speak? Ďakujem. Exactly, in Slovak schools were only Russian, German or French, no English. Anyhow, the people spoke only Slovak or Hungarian. Perhaps Rusannian. Now, we are living in English speaking countries.

[@jeffryarrieta4745]

Ella ronuncia muy bien el ingles, lte entiendo mejor que a los nativos de habla inglesa

[@tompeled6193]

Los hablantes de inglés nativos no pueden estar entendido.

[@aravindm4584]

Why Lydia only speaks English of all the 9 languages that she's fluent in?

[@Makhabbat795]

күшті

[@jalalmohammed5070]

MRS Lydia I wish if I could get your email.I am English/Arabic interpreter.

[@user-ng3rq8vd9y]

今日は　初めまして

[@Axmedaxmed-oq7sb]

Today darh

[@abdeljabar88]

They don't want to tell you you can do it by yourself because they want you to PAY.

[@mothman84]

By that logic, isn't it even worse to have people PAY you to tell them they can do it by themselves? :) As someone who is very good at doing it by himself, I say let's be honest and realistic about this. They don't tell you you can do it yourself because most learners already know they _could_ do it by themselves _in theory,_ but then they find that they _can't_ do it themselves _in practice._ For most learners, the wonders of self-study are rather underwhelming. There are the good students at the top, and then there are all the others. These others -- who by definition need more help and guidance -- can't make progress just with a few tutorials, a good pep talk, and a pat on the back.

[@abdeljabar88]

Well the thing is if I am an instructor, I'd have people enroll for a period of time, teach them the basics and then have them continue on their own. I wouldn't have them keep coming back. And I don't think most people think they can do it by themselves. Most believe learning languages is a myth.

[@mothman84]

To address your original point, there is no conspiracy to keep the industry of language teaching running at the expense of some simple but hidden truth about language learning. Most students, by the simple fact that they ask a teacher to teach them, are defining themselves as being in need of something more than just a _Do It Yourself_ kit, however great it may be. For the purposes of presentation, she exaggerates the _Aha!_ moment students experience when they "find out" that they are responsible for their own learning, and that they are going to have to do most of the work by themselves and of their own initiative. That's a very open secret to most university students. Sadly, the desire to do something does not also imply the ability to do it.

[@abdeljabar88]

I agree on the fact students wanting teachers to help and paying for that. There is no problem with that. The problem for me is most textbooks drag the learning process on... You could find yourself bombarded with too much stuff you won't be using in real life. If teachers or those who prepare textbooks focus on usefulness I'd be happy. I actually skip most of the stuff in textbooks when I'm learning by myself. I'd love to hear your experience. I am open and willing to learn :)

[@mothman84]

Boredom can be a huge turn-off. I started having fun with my second language - English - when I started watching cartoons, TV shows, and movies in English with English subtitles. I had the audio, and I had the text to go with it. By studying the dialogues in great detail, I moved from B2 to native-like in about 1500-2000 hours of input. That's not the only thing I did, of course. I'm familiar with many methods and techniques, good and bad textbooks, etc. I helped a few adult learners out too. They are generally quite satisfied with the results, way beyond their initial expectations. Still, I see no miracles occurring. I show them how to study, how to pick input that is interesting for them, how to tackle it, etc., but then they need to _do the studying!_ Their results come slowly, and many give up in the mid/long-term, especially if I'm not there - say, at least on a weekly basis - to provide constant encouragement and positive reinforcement.

[@nathanpiazza9644]

Why Esperanto though?

[@ArchonLicht]

SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound. AR are not Ambitious and Realistic. Realistic is coded in A as Achievable. Ambition is not there at all, instead there is relevance.

[@AhmadAli-us9qh]

ــــ ﾜ

[@saint1633]

With KZbin , going to school for learning a foreign language or mastering a programming language , is a really a waste of time.

[@buchdrache1409]

That's a rather dumb opinion to state here.

[@felixfelix4405]

everyone loves languages here but is she married

[@michalidez]

@@jeffreyd508 shame on you

[@yuliruf5458]

@@michalidez I agree

[@Kyoto99952]

Haven’t yet stumbled on a polyglot who surprised me. Everyone is happy to share proudly that they can “speak” 5 languages, 7 languages, 15 languages, the more the better it seems! Next week Arabic and Chinese at the same time lol. No but seriously I haven’t seen a more profound example of quantity over quality. I didn’t come here to hate but it’s simply not true. They cannot actually speak the language. Unless we have very different definitions of “polyglot”, “to speak a language”, “fluently”. Because to “speak” means just saying the phrases you have memorized of the language without having to give a reply mid way through or what? Right? Haha.. I can just see when the play button gets pressed and it rolls out like a cassette tape. I just want to see a real polyglot have real random but non-standard conversations with people in their native language. And I want to see how that communication goes. I want a polyglot to read a novel in a foreign language and tell me what it is about. Polyglots never get criticized because who would even know 2-3 phrases in each of the other languages to test it out? You could be saying bunch of things that don’t make sense. That’s why I’m doing it. The term polyglot is abused. It basically means racing from one language to another by memorizing just enough what is relevant, for others to believe you actually speak the language.

[@Kyoto99952]

@Al 72 That would be multilingual. Bilingual, ''bi'' = 2, means 2 languages. I'm sure there are people who can handle 5 at native level. I'm just saying there are many fakes out there which annoys me.

[@user-ou7gr7hs7r]

I suppose if she didn't graguated the university by yourself, she wouldn't be able to be so succesful in languages.

[@billbirkett7166]

The secret of polyglots: they started off by learning a few languages very well and impressing people, and as time went on, they put more and more pressure on themselves to study more languages, overestimating their abilities more with each language. Finally, having split their attention so much between so many languages, and having created an illusion of being a polyglot, they spend the rest of their time trying to prevent others from realizing how poorly they speak the languages that they studied later, as opposed to how good they were at the languages they first started learning. Finally, the illusion of being fluent in 20 languages collapses and they have to admit that it's not humanly possible to be fluent in 20 languages.

[@BrentStrathdeePehi]

Bill Birkett wow , you’re so cynical! I think it’s fine to know a variety of languages to different ability levels - so long as we are honest about our abilities and limits then we can learn as many as we enjoy . Oh yeah plus it’s rare I’ve heard any polyglot actually call themselves one - it’s a label others give them

[@heniltada343]

I want some speaking partner.

[@williambudd2850]

Priotity number one. Get rid of the socalled polyglots who make dishonest statements about their language capabilities !

[@chrispbacon3042]

I am being to think schools should not be allowed to teach second languages…They do such a poor job of it.

[@asbest2092]

11:54 lie "сегодня(today)" IS pronounced with "г" it IS "сеГодня", isn't "сеВодня"

[@mulinghe7182]

I use Russian everyday and I have never heard anyone pronouncing it as seGodnya..

[@asbest2092]

@@mulinghe7182 this is the deaf sound. Everybody says "seGodnya", but some people can pronounce it without expression, swallowing the letter and you wrongly can don't hear the letter. For example "Солнце(The sun)" you can hear as "Сонце", but nobody says "Сонце", you just can wrongly hear this because the sound is deaf

[@Hansruedi2011]

awful

[@maximk7816]

Why learn russian? It's not a natural language at all. If you already know russian you should forget it)

[@SladkaPritomnost]

Come on why so negative? I know nothing about Russian, but every language has its magic...

[@tayl5960]

Name a natural language... None of them popped into existence of their own choice...

[@user-xz8cw4hi4h]

Sorry, but I comletely disagree with the assumption above. Ukrainian is an entirely different language comparing to Russian. Perhaps these languages have a similar roots but sounding isn't the same. Morover Ukrainian is considered to be more sophisticated and mellifluous. Anyway I think any language could be mocked or abused.

[@salmank1773]

pourquoi pas?

[@yuliruf5458]

@@user-xz8cw4hi4h it looks like Spanish ,Portuguese and Italian...

[@faithbwire9164]

I was giving up on learning language am doing two now but learning that I really need to prioritize I believe i need to improve on my systems and frequency..... Lydia Machova you are very inspiring thank you... For now I speak English and Swahili well would love to be a translator /interpret or like her soon