We Need to Talk... My Response to This Polyglot

[@PARAMONARIOS]

TEDx will never give platform to someone who will say "in order to learn language you need to put in a lot of effort and resources. Over your lifetime you will constantly be improving, but still natives will be able to tell that you are a foreigner"

[@Alec72HD]

Doesn't matter how well a white guy can speak Chinese, dies it ? They can tell he isn't Chinese Rofl 😂

[@PeregrinTintenfish]

My understanding is that TEDx will give a platform to almost anyone.

[@magicbuns4868]

Now I've read this, I am especially noticing it from Metatron.

[@8thdayadventist911]

TEDx is for selling stuff, I believe. Regular TED is for real, life changing stuff.

[@dumdum7099]

There are certain exceptions though. If a foreigner grew up in a country, it will be extremely difficult to tell if that person is a foreigner. That person would be able to achieve high level of proficiency in his native and second tongue.

[@kenmartin6631]

When someone compliments me on how well I speak my second language, I think two things. First, pride, because I worked really hard to get there… and secondly, if I was really that good, no one would comment. I realize I only brag on someone’s English if they are clearly a foreigner, so I have to assume the same applies if someone compliments me. My good day is when they guess the wrong country from my accent.

[@lunedefroid8817]

Having an accent does not mean “being bad at the language”. As long as it's not super thick, I mean

[@R3_dacted0]

" 日本語上手 " enters the chat.

[@byulharangforlife]

that's stupid. having an accent is not "bad". ive noticed metatron speaks English very well. but he still has an accent.

[@dusk6159]

True but there's to say that that happens only if they know you're not a native. Otherwise they would already think the second thing.

[@staying_Afrosty]

relax, they are just saying they can't believe how good your second language is.

[@kamikitazawa]

After several years of language learning, I eventually learned to drop “native level fluency” as a goal. Many people talk as if that is the obvious end point of learning a language, but I have since come to the understanding that total comprehension and an ability to communicate without much effort on a variety of topics is my goal for my target language, not “sounding like a native”. Who cares if you sound like a native? I have no less respect for a person for having an accent or making some grammatical errors when speaking in English, so why should I not be just as forgiving to myself? Perfection is unnecessary

[@Ponto-zv9vf]

Some native speakers are not that able to discriminate. In Italy, I have spoken to Italians and they don't know I am not Italian, yet their friends do know. I sound very English when I speak Italian.

[@KS-yp1jl]

The guy's not American, he's from NZ--I'm surprised you didn't pick his slight down under accent. He's totally salesman-y, using weird examples to prove wacky points. And dude, he literally crafted this speech one logical fallacy after another. I bet he sells books and courses. What a load of BS! Keep up the great work, man--your videos are always on point.

[@Stoirelius]

Why is his “r” rhotic then? He sounds Irish to me.

[@AJeziorski1967]

Well said. The whole thing stank of sales pitch and reminded me of a whole bunch of fitness and weight loss BS that you see and hear on line. Also, he was constantly citing anecdotal evidence - the lowest form of evidence. "This is what happened with me" and "this is what happened with this person I know", as if those things were automatically applicable to everyone. Nonsense.

[@liambyrne5285]

​@@StoireliusIrish don't do the rolled r it's in the Irish language but not very common now the Scottish do have rolled r

[@Stoirelius]

@@liambyrne5285 I’m talking about the rhotic r, which is the opposite of rolled.

[@lewiitoons4227]

It’s an interesting accent it has some of those nasal qualities and the longer vowels but his r sounds like an old fashioned Cornish one especially at the end of a word

[@edwinvanvelthoven5294]

I really liked what you said about the danger of overpromising. Spot on.

[@Hawaiian_Shirt_guy]

33:13 no, he means if you're upset about something else! I spent 3 days at a resort in mexico with no running water or electricity after a hurricane. Believe me, my Spanish improved immensely during this time.

[@dusk6159]

True, although good thing that it was spanish. With russian, japanese, finnish, even german, instead..

[@JohnWho6197]

thank you for making this video. I was exploded by polyglot videos who are like performing speaking 10 languages on KZbin since I once klicked on one of them. It’s truly making my own effort in learning to seem meaningless. Your video saved my motivation.

[@RogerRamos1993]

If I write down a set of phrases in languages I know a bit and train a lot, I could make a video speaking Portuguese (native), Spanish, French, English, Italian, Catalan, Romanian, German and Galician. Now, the truth: Catalan (can read and understand, but not speak), Romanian (can read some, but not speak), German (know a bit, something around a1), Galician (dabbled a bit, know how it is pronounced, it is extremely close to Portuguese). In fact, what you are seeing mostly are people who speak 3-5 languages with a decent degree of competency and know bits and pieces of other 5-8 languages.

[@Cavouku]

I'm reminded of some stuff in the health and fitness community. Where there's a difference between people telling you "eating from a smaller plate is a small psychological trick that could potentially help you feel satiated earlier. Over time, this could lower your calorie consumption, helping you to lose weight, so long as you're not using this 'trick' as a crutch to avoid other dieting principles." Compared to "LOSE 10LBS in 1 WEEK with these 5 EASY TIPS, GUARANTEED (norefunds)."

[@johnthefinn]

Chris Lonsdale sounds like an Australian or New Zealander with heavy American influence.

[@slange1829]

Same

[@oz_jones]

He is a Kiwi

[@KS-yp1jl]

Correct. He is from NZ

[@TheGoatConnor]

His accent feels very unnatural. Almost as if he's trying to do an American accent intentionally, but he's failing miserably.

[@RidleyHolmes-sr2tw]

He's not American. Clearly has an accent.

[@amphitheres]

12:40 The incredible thing about the 4-minute mile story is that Roger Bannister wasn't so much an athlete insofar as he was also a great scientist, and that is what made the difference. He developed a training regimen based on cutting edge research and basically doing field research on himself using himself like an experimental subject. It's a great story, and very inspiring, highly recommend anyone to read up about it.

[@teresamerkel7161]

With all the massive respect I have for you Metatron you do not sound like a native English speaker. You do sometimes have an English accent since that's where you learned English. And your English with your Sicilian/Italian accent is wonderful. You are my language learning hero; or at least one of the top. I am subsequently learning Portuguese (worked on high school French and Spanish half a century ago) and have now decided to work on Hebrew. I'm no spring chicken but you were assuring in previous videos it is not out of the question to work on languages even at my age. Thank you Metatron. love those 72 wings.

[@Ponto-zv9vf]

He has a Southeast English twang, other times he sounds American in pronunciation.

[@marty8895]

He doesn't have an Sicilian/italian accent in his English. If you didn't know he was Sicilian/Italian you would have never guessed it. You definitely dont know how Sicilian accent sounds like. He doesn't sound native but it would be very hard to tell where he is from.

[@olekbeluga314]

You 100% sound like a native in English. You know English better than some people born in U.S. You speak fast, there is no internal translation, like it looks like you might be thinking in English, your vocabulary is splendid.

[@117swordsmen]

No...maybe I have a keen ear. But I can tell he's not native. It should be obvious.

[@ridleyroid9060]

I am learning Japanese on my free time (which is a fair bit of free time considering I barely have a life tbh) and even tho I spend 4-6h on it daily, and have been for the past 3 months, I know there is NOT A SHOT IN THE WOLRD I'll be able to speak this language anywhere NEAR fluency for at least another 3 years at an optimistic guess. I speak 2 languages, English and Serbian, but I honestly do not know how I picked up English other than early age immersion, which really doesn't work anymore now that I am 26. Maybe I could pick up a neighboring slavic language - say Slovenian, Bulgarian or Macedonian within a short timeframe because they are already mostly legible due to my native language. But a completely foreign language like Japanese? It just takes so much reprogramming of my brain and learning new concepts and a new culture, it is not and can never be a quick process.

[@langmastery9382]

Great job, Metatron! Your thorough analysis and critical thinking skills are truly impressive. Keep pushing boundaries and challenging the status quo in the language learning community. Your dedication to exploring different perspectives and providing insightful commentary is truly inspiring. Keep up the fantastic work!

[@maissthro3645]

I find very disrespectful the whole behavior from this polyglot. Way too many cheap salesman things brought to my attention how much of an overpromising on his "infallible" method. To be honest, the part that bothered me the most was "you can learn to draw in 5 days" since I have dedicated my life to drawing (I'm 43 and have no memory without a pencil on my hand) and the examples he shows are indeed an improvement but that's it: improvement. You get that by investing time on whatever you want to do, and if it is a thing of understanding and muscle memory you go miles by dedicating even 30 minutes a day. I do teach my students always "anyone can learn to draw" because it means that you can reach a level of proficiency that goes on a commendable level by taking your time to practice, but I also say that your progress is also tied to how easy the practice is on your preferred craft (talent). I've seen so many salesmen do his whole number to the letter: taking some facts from a reduced number of people and applying to the whole human race in order to sell something related.

[@davidbreier84]

It's always a matter of perspective and expectations, I believe. I strongly believe the pareto principle is a real thing, and you can reach a mostly sufficient level in just about anything by just investing a bit of effort. For example, I am pretty sure that I could train somebody to do most of my job in 2-3 months, easy. Doesn't mean the person would understand the intricacies or would be competent in a crisis situation, but they would be able to perform most of the work, adequately. Of course, these sales people use this fact for their personal gains, though it should be just common knowledge.

[@p.s.shnabel3409]

In a way, a total lack of talent will probably also be coupled to an unwillingness to invest energy into learning something. For example, I cannot draw. I'm in my late fifties, I can just about draw stick men (very uneven and scraggly ones at that), that is the extent of it - so I'm starting from zero. And if I spent 30 min every day of the next week training, I'd maybe be able to draw nicer stick men. Why would I do that? From observing myself and others around me, it seems to be something about how I process visual input. It seems to slightly differ? I can't quite say how, I am not color blind or have problems with depth perception *shrugs* On the plus side, I'm extremely good at finding objects; shapes "pop out" to me (if that makes any sense?).

[@friedeyeball]

@@p.s.shnabel3409this is one of the misconceptions about learning how to draw. You are correct that you don’t know how to process visual input in the right way to draw. The fun part is that practicing changing how you look at things for thirty minutes a day will enable you to sketch things on a semi-competent (and definitely beyond stick figure) level literally immediately. Some of drawing is physical skill and some of it is mental understanding. You can look into “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” for more info, but I have diagnosed visual processing issues and I can still draw, though I did need to have the book teach me. It turns out it’s easier for those like us (non natural talents) to learn how to draw from other non natural talents, because the natural talents will be expecting us to have some of those base mental skills that non natural talents need to be taught. But of course once you understand how to “see,” your progress hits an eventual limit where your motor skills need to be refined and progress slows. But as far as the mental skills go, you can make immediate progress.

[@huks9380]

@@p.s.shnabel3409 Absolutely. It's a waste to invest time in something if you don't have talent. I'd rather invest that time into something that adequately reflects my efforts.

[@dethswurl117]

Aw, we never got the clip of him speaking Chinese Excellent video as always, though!

[@ChristopheGand]

Thank you! I saw this video some time ago, and I thought it was BS: overpromising impossible results by applying a method (a totally valid and widespread one, that said). I always thought that someone claiming to reach fluency in 6 months (and native level in a little bit longer!) is either a genius or a liar. And in any case, it doesn't apply to me or to most people. Some may find this guy video inspiring, but it is not, quite the contrary to be honest. I absolutely loved your analysis, this is exactly what I think and it makes me feel good to see that we have the same point of view. You have a new suscriber.

[@amd.amdamd]

You can indeed reach B2 level in most of the languages in 6 months if you work on it fulltime (≥5 hours/day). Do try it out once and you'll know for sure.

[@ChristopheGand]

@amd.amdamd Maybe you can do it, I can’t. Also, I don't have time to study full-time any language. I reached B2 in two languages, and it was probably after 10+ years of study (granted, sometimes as little as 3 hours a week, but still). Now, I have been learning Japanese for almost 5 years, 1 or 2 hours a day, and will take the JLPT N2 (maybe B1+ level?) soon.

[@amd.amdamd]

@@ChristopheGand Japanese will definitely need a lot of time. Japanese, Chinese, Hungarian. These 3 languages will take more time than usual because of how difficult they're. Chinese is actually easy if you ignore the tones and the characters. The characters and the tones make it one of the most difficult. The grammar is super easy like Indonesian. Same goes for Cantonese and Japanese Kanji. Hungarian as a language is insanely difficult. Almost 18 to 25 cases. These 3-4 are gonna take at least a year full-time. The rest of them including Russian are more/less doable in 6-8 months.

[@ChristopheGand]

@amd.amdamd Yes, true! In the beginning, when I started learning Japanese, I told myself that if I had put the same amount of time and effort to learn, let's say, Portuguese, I would be fluent by now! In the past, I also tried to learn Mandarin, spent 18 months, reached A1 (I have the certificate!) And then dropped because I knew I would never get any close to fluency.

[@Felixxxxxxxxx]

I watched this many years ago, and I agree with most of what you are saying. Seems like the guy wanted to inspire, but chances are that the end result will be the opposite. It was fun back when I first watched his Ted talk and I belive your criticism is justified.

[@raelit8130]

Greetings, sir. I have just subscribed to your channel. As a multilingual person myself, I totally agree with you. You learn a foreign idiom faster, if you interact with native speakers of the language you are trying to learn. I have learned Spanish in less time by conversating with the natives, than I would have, if I tried to learn it from the books or any other resource.

[@Leftyotism]

27:37 I learned English in school from grade 5 to 13, but I really learned English when I watched Breaking Bad with subtitles. And yes, I looked up words I didn't understand a lot after school, simply because I wanted to know what they mean, instead of needing to know what it means for a test. Motivation is key. I also watched Hell on Wheels with subtitles after that, and those two shows helped me understand thick English slang and dialect. I never expected that. Now I can even understand people speaking English with a very heavy accent that native English speakers don't even understand. It's weird how that works, I am nor perfect though. I also look up words in my native tongue to check the etymology, knowing words and wanting to learn helps a ton I must say.

[@emmanuelwood8702]

Youre 100 percent right Raffa.

[@WKogut]

Don't be hard on yourself, you ARE speaking native-like kind of english, you even emulate sort of an RP accent which for someone like me (I'm Polish) is near impossible as my mouth does not produce some of these sound

[@greatestcait]

His accent definitely makes him pretty recognizably European, but I don't think I could reliably tell his native language is Italian by his accent alone. He sounds just a hair different from an RP English speaker to me, as an American.

[@burt591]

What is RP?

[@Unpainted_Huffhines]

​@@burt591"Received Pronunciation". It's how British people speak English.

[@burt591]

@@Unpainted_Huffhines Thanks!

[@stevencarr4002]

@@Unpainted_Huffhines British people do not speak Received Pronunciation, except King Charles. We don't pronounce 'pens' to rhyme with 'pins', not for 50 years....

[@narsplace]

Quite simply comprehensible input is really controlled immersion if you're able to be immerse into a language gradually with simple stories and language that is related to how you live and that relate into your interests, then you are going to do much better in a language then in a high stress immersion environment.

[@Rationalific]

I haven't looked Chris up, but he definitely doesn't sound American. He sounds Australian but just sometimes putting an "r" sound at the end of some words for some reason for another, where most Australians wouldn't. At any rate, a Southern Hemisphere English speaker. Also, I'd never mistake Metatron for a native English speaker, just because of these perceptible accents that are basically impossible to get rid of (nor should one get rid of them, as it gives more personality and has a connection to one's own native language). But that being said, when it comes to word usage, speed of talking, and general understandability, Metatron's speaking is as good a native speaker's. I think that accent and fluency are nearly completely separate things.

[@Fedorevsky]

Close, he's from New Zealand

[@Rationalific]

@@Fedorevsky 👍

[@AngusMcFife-sd8cm]

As someone who recently started learning German, I completely agree when Metatron says that it's impossible to 'learn a language' in short time like 6 months. Language learning is like cooking a delicious Spaghetti. It's a slow process. Once rushed then it becomes either overcooked or undercooked, we can't be having any of that! Remember, a true chef as well as a language learner needs to first and foremost enjoy the process instead of expecting a quick result. I am so frigging hungry right now...

[@Retro_Rainer]

it shows. wonder why 😂

[@maurotassinarizugnitauro2990]

A sentirlo parlare, sarebbe potuto essere un australiano. In effetti è un kiwi. Mi piacerebbe gustare il suo accento nel parlare italiano...

[@p.s.shnabel3409]

I'm your polar opposite: my first language is German and I've been learning English for over four decades now. Since I also immigrated to the US about a decade ago, am married to an American and our common language is English, I'd say I'm immersed ;) And you're absolutely right, there are no quick results. Reaching "perfection" is an elusive goal, because there's always something new to learn. Not just the vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation but also the culture around the language. If you rush it, there's going to be weird gaps. Things you don't understand about the people who speak the language, finer points of grammar, the inability to correctly interpret tone of voice etc. I know you say you just started, but maybe you are able to understand some of the words and a lot of the body language should be self-explanatory: Loriot. He was a German comedian, famous for his tv sketches. He excelled at showing the absurdity of your typical middle-class German - without being derogatory.

[@JenXOfficialEDM]

I cannot agree enough. For me, learning a language is like playing a really fun, long and hard video game. :) It takes time, dedication and it helps to learn a language you enjoy. :)

[@skeletorlikespotatoes7846]

That's not true. People used to learn languages in a matter of months or so. It's our memories that have become wwak

[@YaelEylatTanaka]

I speak a few languages myself, and I love English. Your English is perfect, gorgeous syntax. Love your video.

[@MrX_TV]

If English was your 1st language and you started learning French, 1-2hrs a day, then realistically after 6mths you would probably be able to do the following: Watch French TV and Films with French language subtitles, read simple books and instructions, understand 60-70% of something a French person said to you IF they're speaking slowly and clearly, be able to string a few sentences together and be understood. For someone very gifted or extremely motivated who put in more hours a day, they might do a bit better but not much better in 6 months.

[@engespress]

I'm glad you're calling him out. He really makes outrageous claims.

[@Fafner888]

The easiest way to refute this kinds of claims is to just consider how much vocabulary you need to know to be at a comparable level with an educated native speaker. Most estimates put the figure at around 20k (very educated and well-read people can know as much as 40k). Now with a simple math, assuming that one learns 4k words a year (which is A LOT of work - this means learning 11 new words a day) it will take you 5 years to learn all the words. And this is just vocabulary, because you also need to know grammar, know how to naturally formulate things in the language, develop speaking fluency, and many other things (and the word count refer to word families, which means things like conjugation forms of the same verb count as one word - it is assumed the you understand grammar well enough). There is no way to learn this many words in half a year AND do these all other things. Now it is possible to reach a decent level of proficiency with around 9k-10k words, which is still not a native-like level (maybe of a native middle schooler), but even 10k you are not gonna learn in half a year (you would need to memorize 55 new words every day - and from my experience of daily Anki use, even doing 10 new words daily is very taxing).

[@paulwalther5237]

You can try to learn 11 words per day but you'll forget them and need to relearn them so basically you can't.

[@RogerRamos1993]

I don't know how large my Portuguese (native) vocabulary is, but it may be in the dozens of thousands of words. According to online tests, my English vocabulary is around 15-20k words. Close to that of an 18-year-old native speaker. Seems accurate to me. It is important to notice that half (wild guess) of the words I learned in English were learned very easily due to their similarity to Portuguese. I also know French and some Italian, Catalan and Spanish (and a bit of German). So, there's a lot of overlapping. You don't need to learn 20k new words for each new language. And that's a great vocabulary for those who want to read good literature almost without recurring to a dictionary. If your aim is travelling and talking to locals, then 5k words is an excellent vocabulary.

[@testingsomething5280]

@@paulwalther5237 Depends on the individual, some people learn incredibly well by rote. You do need to review the words you learnt though

[@GaliosUA]

@@paulwalther5237 It depends. It's not a crazy number to learn 11 new words per day if you go for 15 and have 80+% retention using SRS like Anki. But even then, you would still need to grind it for half a decade every day.

[@Likexner]

​@@RogerRamos1993 I always wondered how one can know how many words they know. Online tests you say? I might have to do one, or a few, just out of curiosity. It would be funny to just tell someone "write down all the words you know in this language" and see how many they could come up with :D

[@CptAHad]

I love you, you silly little Italian man. We need you here in America

[@Deibi078]

lol

[@CaroAbebe]

Little?

[@pluto19leo]

You have a beautiful musical lilt to your English which I assume is the Italian influence. Don't lose that musicality and great enunciation! 😍

[@amd.amdamd]

Lol. There's nothing like that in his English. 😂😂😂

[@alekid]

I speak 3 languages (italian, spanish and english), a tiny bit of french and learning mandarin for 2 years after hearing cantonese and mandarin on a daily basis for many. I will never believe anyone's claims about becoming fluent (whatever they mean) in months, not even in a year, like some others claimed. Even getting from school level English to conversational, able to read any books, understand various native accents, etc took me a long time of full immersion on a daily basis in a foreign country. And English was not such an alien language compared to mandarin. Moreover the process is still ongoing and forever will be. Let me add that I draw since I'm a kid and that is now my profession. There is no way anyone can learn to draw in 5 days. I don't even know what "learn to draw" means as it's an ever evolving skill, much more complex than one might think. It doesn't have a "last level" sort of thing one can reach and say "now I know". This polyglot is a mere salesman that beats around the bush without even going to the core of the topic he is trying to present. Besides, since when learning is a race? People have different learning abilities and possibilities. Do what you can in the time you have for the goal you intend to reach. (I still can't believe he said that about drawing....what a joke, truly. Ignorant, insulting and ultimately a scammer)

[@Likexner]

Just a little correction. "I have been drawing since i was a kid". In my next reply, allow me to give you my personal definition of what "fluent" means.

[@Likexner]

I take that word, "fluent", very literally. To me, being fluent means that your speech _flows_ , meaning you dont need to pause to search for words, think about how to conjugate the next word etc. You think in that language. Your accent, tempo and intonation sound natural and consistent. You can talk about anything. You can talk _about_ the language _in_ that language, dissecting the meanings of words and their relationships. You only need to learn new words that a native speaker would have to learn in the same situation. This is usually limited to specific fields of work or study. For example, if you get a job at a railway company, youre going to have to learn railway jargon, just like a native speaker would have to. Otherwise, you might hear a new word more or less once a month. I call those "bonus words". The last thing you need to have to be fluent is the ability to play with the language - create new words that you wouldnt find in a dictionary, use words in contexts that would usually not be the most appropriate for comedic effect or just to be witty, make puns, double meanings, etc.

[@519djw6]

Hello Metratron! First of all this guy is an Anglophone--but he is *not* an American. My guess would be that he's Australian. Myself, I'm an Anglophone, but I live in Japan--although Japanese is the weakest of my acquired languages. My most fluent foreign language is German (both the spoken and written language), because I am interested in German Literature. After that, I can *read and write* Russian, as I also am also interested in Russian Literature. (I have a long way to go with *spoken* Russian, though.) As for your spoken Japanese, I can understand perfectly what you say--but I have a very hard time comprehending what a Japanese physician is saying to me. Any comments from you would be appreciated!

[@roberth3449]

Agree- he sounds like an Aussie to me too

[@TomRNZ]

I'm a New Zealander, and he is definitely a New Zealander, although he sounds like he has spent a lot of time either in the USA or speaking to people from the USA as there is some rhoticity in his accent which isn't typical in New Zealand.

[@metatronacademy]

Yes I'm aware. I said that before I started listening to him. At that time, I had only heard him speak Mandarin.

[@roberth3449]

@@metatronacademy I think it rather proves your point regarding fluency vs. native speaker. I’m a native American English and fluent German speaker (since 5 years old). Even so, there are times I recognize the region, but have a harder time pinpointing the exact origin. Especially in a limited context. West Tennessee or North Alabama? Sachsen or Südbrandenburg? It’s tough.

[@LovePikaMusic]

tbh, I *am* one of those people who don't want to even start talking until they reach a certain level, but... it has worked for me. But like, i wasn't just waiting for that day to come. I read a lot of books in the language, I listened to music in the language, I paid attention to how words inflected. And eventually, the speaking just came. Some notes: I did learn the pronunciation rules first, and most of the languages I speak are closely related both to eachother and to my native languages (i have multiple - two official languages + 2 or 3 dialects, i'm not sure whether or not i should count one as native but i was daily immersed from ages 3 to 14). I also tend to get really immersed in good stories, so I will think of them even when I'm not currently reading them, essentially "write fanfiction" in my head, in the same language that i read it in, so it's not like I don't get any practice in forming sentences, it just happens out of anyone else's view. Listening to music also goes with singing along, or singing to myself, I always check the full lyrics of a song if i don't understand it. I've also been told my pronunciation is much better when singing, I think it's because when I sing I'm trying to copy the original singer *exactly*.

[@yurakolesnikov9725]

4 years at the university and FOUR years in Japan... Dude you just killed my motivation haha. I wanna learn several languages to Intermediate level, I love travel and different cultures, especially Asian.

[@frogdeity]

I don't watch you too often. But you sound like a native English speaker to me.

[@kahlilbt]

As a professional language teacher and linguist, the message I would prefer is this: Anyone can learn a second language with enough time, the right materials, and enough motivation or passion to see it through. Setting yourself a short timeline might be fun if it's motivating for you, or it may be due to some kind of need, but ultimately, you're going to have more fun and success learning your language if you take it slow, at your own pace. We acknowledged that "school gets in the way of learning". Part of its problem is trying to cram too much knowledge in faster than your brain can absorb it (and feeling stupid when it doesn't work). Relax. Savor learning. You'll get there, and learning is part of the fun! (At least, it should be.) "Fluency" is something you have to define for yourself; you can't let anyone else define it for you. For me, fluency doesn't mean "mistake free", and I consider many many people fluent in English / other languages who don't have 100.00% accurate usage. That's how I see things. You can look at yourself differently. But when you do, be honest with yourself about what you, what you need, and what you can tolerate of yourself.

[@kahlilbt]

Great channel and video by the way! This is my response to the TedX guy

[@Alec72HD]

​@@kahlilbt I disagree. Taking it too slow is a waste of time. It's much better to start with high intensity to get over the beginner stage ASAP. Also for kids It's a wasted opportunity, because with every passing year their ability to acquire a language diminishes.

[@kahlilbt]

@@Alec72HDtaking it too fast, learning sloppily and frustrating yourself are the real wastes of time! ability to acquire language does not diminish at all as you age (except in ways that you have already lost by the time you are a schoolchild).

[@Alec72HD]

@@kahlilbt You know none of that is true. Let's observe immigrant kids vs adult immigrants trying to master a second language. Those kids that start learning a second language with full intensity, often 16 hours a day, will become native speakers in a short time. Meanwhile most adults (taking it slow) will never reach an intermediate level not to mention having heavy accent for the rest of their lives.

[@kahlilbt]

No one is studying a foreign language for 16 hours a day, let alone at full intensity. Let's be serious! But let's take your comparison seriously. Do you honestly think a generic schoolchild will excel in language learning faster than a generic adult if they use similarly effective materials and methods? Not in my 2 decades experience as a language learner, or 10 years as a linguist/English teacher have I known that to be true. In fact, it is a common myth/fallacy that children are better language learners. Adults have many more cognitive facilities and experiences that children simply do not. The only linguistic ability lost over the course of life is universal phonemic differentiation, which is lost before 1 year of age. The myth persists more because of our perception than any cognitive reality: schoolchildren have time set aside for routine learning every day. They are constantly graded and evaluated by instructors. They are given abundant materials and varied learning tasks. They are put in environments where questions are encouraged. Most of the adult learners your referring to do not have that kind of structure to their learning, and so of course their results are different. It's a fallacious comparison not based in the science of the matter.

[@TheWandererTiles]

I have experience about immersion. My son moved with me aged 4 to our new country where we live now. We both speak English natively. Two years in with complete immersion at preschool he learned....maybe 10 words. He understood virtually nothing. After 2 years I was shocked and horrified. Surely this is just a freak learning issue. Then at that point one day I met another expat by chance at a playground, turned out her son also could not speak after 3 years. I then went home and did some research and turns out this is a really common myth, immersion is not how kids learn. Comprehensible input is also false. It often does not work at all! Anyway he was recommended to have explicit instruction in the language and thankfully 4 years on knows enough to keep up at school but is very much behind. I wish I knew that before as its held him back a lot. Nobody is sure exactly how kids learn language but, probably learn by explicit instruction(from parents) and imitation. This is part of an iterative process where they are doing this test-feedback loop to build up a mental model of the world.

[@Giraffinator]

"My English isn't at a native level, I can only discuss complex academic topics at length in English" Native-level fluency is a lie, strive for history-KZbinr-level fluency instead.

[@bobon123]

More importantly, "native" is not a level of fluency. It is like saying "Italian-level of pizza making": although the point you are trying to make is clear ("you are as good at pizza making as the best pizza makers in the World") you cannot take it literally and assume that every Italian is a better pizza-maker than every non-Italian. There are plenty of foreigners speaking English better than plenty of natives, although they will still have a foreign accent.

[@Awakeandalive1]

I'm from NYC. As a result I grew up surrounded by Caribbean Spanish speakers -- Caribbean Spanish is more labial & glottal, generally softer, characterized by slurrings and elisions of consonants, so the word for fish ("pescado") can wind up sounding identical to the word for sin ("pecado"). This proved helpful when learning to speak Brazilian Portuguese later in life, since it's very similar in that regard, but I've been trying to learn Italian and just could not get the pronunciations right...until I realized that Italian is more like MEXICAN Spanish, characterized by over-enunciation and precise pronunciation of all consonants. I have to stop my tendency towards natural slurring and elision and imagine that I am performing (to my mind) as an exaggerated stereotype.

[@NoahNobody]

I've lived in my target language's country for 23 years and yet barely speak nor understand it. I'm not sure if this has anything to do with that, but this year I found out that I have ADD. I think one of the biggest problems is that I have a terrible short term memory, and also poor comprehension of anything.

[@NuLiForm]

it absolutely does hamper difficult tasks. My step mum had ADD & it took her twice as long, or longer, to learn Difficult subjects. She was smart, but the pathways from point A to point B were winding & tangled & fuzzy. BUT! Once she pushed through, she Shone.

[@Likexner]

If ADD prevents you from learning languages, how come you learned your native language? Did your ADD develop later in your life?

[@NoahNobody]

@@Likexner I've always had ADD problems. I failed my native language educational qualification like with most of my other subjects.

[@Likexner]

@@NoahNobody But you can still speak it fluently, right? I assume the educational qualification included reading and writing as an important part of it. What if you just disregard that and try to learn a foreign language by listening and speaking only?

[@miguelferrazcosta]

I'm Portuguese, but you sound like an Italian speaking fluent English, and that's fine. :)

[@StarlightedWanderer]

Exactly. I'm a native English speaker, and our friend Metatron sounds like an Italian speaking functionally perfect, fluent, eloquent, and articulate English with a lovely Italian accent.

[@rpoutine3271]

7: 00 Yeah just like people who learn the French language for a while then call themselves ''fluent'' while speaking some broken French with a limited vocabulary focused on everyday conversation. I think being fluent should mean that you mastered a language enough to be able to participate in conversations with complex subjects and that includes online conversations with the written language. English is my second language, it took me 10 years to become fluent (Using my definition) and I do have a more advanced vocabulary than the average native... But I am not ''native'' level as English still feels unnatural for me to speak and I still have difficulties with the pronounciation, so I don't sound native and the language doesn't feel like an extension of my mind when speaking.

[@PeregrinTintenfish]

I don't call myself fluent because I don't know what it means. I think the categories like A1-C2 are more helpful.

[@cahallo5964]

I don't think it should include written language, you can be fluent and completely illiterate. I agree with the rest of your comment tho

[@rpoutine3271]

@@cahallo5964 I don't count sub-standard English as ''fluent'' English.

[@cahallo5964]

@@rpoutine3271 So illiterate natives are not fluent? I've met people that can't write gallician for example but it's their native language

[@rpoutine3271]

@@cahallo5964 They speak sub-standard or familiar versions of their languages, their comprehension of more complex subjects is limited, they don't have the intellect to master their language. They are however native. Basically they have fluency for day to day life, but they don't have proficiency in higher levels of language.

[@newcreation1cor517]

As a language nerd who is at least conversational in two languages outside of my first and who now teaches said languages to beginner students, I like to say that a lot of things depend on a student's ability to hear, ability to memorize, and their tolerance for ambiguity. If you have good ears, are able to memorize fairly quickly, and have a high tolerance for ambiguity, his suggestions are great! Otherwise, be cautious, friend. Anyone can learn a second language, but it will not be the same for everyone.

[@Kjalarrr]

I think his drawing analogy actually works. When he showed how well he can draw after five days, it was okay. You can say you can draw, but no one is gonna wanna see it. So he likely has a lower standard of fluency than you

[@jchinckley]

Perseverance is far more important than talent. You can use perseverance to cultivate talent. That we may have a predisposition toward something or other and be able to pick it up faster than others, but it is also true that you can cultivate talent.

[@uchicha666]

I started learning English at age of 16 and it pisses me off whenever someone says it's so easy it takes only several months. It won't even give you an advanced level, let alone fluency. Apart from the words, you need to know what context they can be applied to so you also need to learn entire phrases. And of course the grammar like understanding how things are constructed in relation to time etc. Speaking is another thing, passive learning like reading and listening comes faster than discussing things in the real time, using different terms with correct grammar at the same time. And yes, one's mouth can hurt at the early stage.

[@runningriot7963]

Being happy while learning makes it easier to continue, but it's not the only emotional state that can help. Any strong emotion can fuel learning. For example, I've been using anger to motivate myself to learn Japanese kanji. I’ve mainly focused on oral skills and neglected kanji, knowing only about 800. Every time I text a Japanese friend, I encounter kanji I don't recognize. After five years of studying, I still struggle to read books. This frustration drives me to properly learn kanji. I think a happy peacefull state is ideal, but it's not neccesary like the guy said.

[@argentum3919]

I've tried learning a language whilst sleeping. It's horrible, you learn absolutely nothing and you don't get a proper night's sleep

[@estranhokonsta]

That idea is worse when we know that good sleep is essential to learn anything well.

[@argentum3919]

@estranhokonsta exactly

[@Phylaetra]

In one sense, I do agree that immersion alone is not sufficient (I lived in Belgium and spent a lot of time with locals and not speaking English), I did pick up _some_, but I learned more from even short classes. However - immersion with both controlled and uncontrolled input _and_ some class time will _definitely_ lead to greater results. The FSI has research that shows immersion is more effective when you are at least at an intermediate level (A2/B1) or higher.

[@stacey7529]

I agree with you 100%.

[@Likexner]

To me, being "fluent" and sounding indistinguishable from a native speaker are two different things. I take that word, "fluent", very literally. To me, being fluent means that your speech _flows_ , meaning you dont need to pause to search for words, think about how to conjugate the next word etc. You think in that language. Your accent, tempo and intonation sound natural and consistent. You can talk about anything. You can talk _about_ the language _in_ that language, dissecting the meanings of words and their relationships. You only need to learn new words that a native speaker would have to learn in the same situation. This is usually limited to specific fields of work or study. For example, if you get a job at a railway company, youre going to have to learn railway jargon, just like a native speaker would have to. Otherwise, you might hear a new word more or less once a month. I call those "bonus words". The last thing you need to have to be fluent is the ability to play with the language - create new words that you wouldnt find in a dictionary, use words in contexts that would usually not be the most appropriate for comedic effect or just to be witty, make puns, double meanings, etc. Being indistinguishable from a native speaker is another thing entirely. Its a lofty goal and _almost_ impossible to achieve unless you start very young. By that, i mean early childhood. Younger than 10. If you want to achieve this later in life, you need to have the talent required, proven by your previous successes with learning languages, and you need to dedicate yourself to actively using the language all the time. In practice, this pretty much means you have to live wherever the language you want to master is spoken. Being this good means you could effectively impersonate a native. You could hang out with native speakers in their own country, talk to them every day, and they would _never even suspect_ you werent native yourself. This is astonishingly hard, even for very talented people. Very few will ever achieve this later in life. All it takes is _one_ mistake, _one_ slip of your accent, _one_ weird change in intonation, and you will reveal yourself. I wouldnt recommend anyone set this level of mastery as their goal. Anyone who does will most likely be disappointed when they hit 99% mastery but cant get to 100%. Not only is this _almost_ unachievable, it is also, in my opinion, unwise. If 99% isnt good enough for you and you really want that 100% so bad, maybe youre just doing it to flex. Dont get me wrong, im not saying flexing is universally bad, but is this amount of effort really worth it? Wouldnt it be better to be content with the 99% in that language and use the remaining effort to learn 20%, 30% or even more of a different language? For me, the answer is yes, it would be better.

[@BakerVS]

When you speak English, you don't (ever) sound Italian, but you also don't quite sound native English, but it's 99% there. You sound the best in videos like this one, where you're speaking in a normal educated accent. Sometimes, however, when you put on a London accent, things go off a cliff and it sounds a bit weird. Insomma, sei un bravo!

[@tlilmiztli]

As an artist I call BS at "learning how to draw in 5 days". Good luck learning anatomy in 5 days for example. Plus how material folds. Plus lighting. Plus composition. Plus perspective... Such ignorant statement. edit: ow I saw what he meant - drawing "en face" portrait with terrible result, no shadows, looking like drawing of a kid. Yes, you can learn it in five days. Two even. Also his statement about talent is this now popular nonsense that you dont need talent just hard work. Sure talent without hard work is worthless, but talented person will obviously reach higher level then not talented one putting same amount of work.

[@southcoastinventors6583]

I can easily draw by just typing words in a screen and in saying in a pencil sketch art style.

[@tlilmiztli]

@@southcoastinventors6583 YOU cannot draw. You are getting it generated FOR YOU by pseudo "AI". Generating isnt drawing. Its like saying you can cook because you have ordered a meal.

[@kahlilbt]

25:19 true. My first second language was French. I did the entire grammar book without talking to anyone. I could read an entire novel at that point. One day a Congolese man noticed my book and tried to strike up a conversation. I was fully frozen. After that I realized taking and listening was paramount in learning.

[@izyserin7010]

ah sleep learning, makes me thing of that one episode from dexter's laboratory.

[@edpereira7767]

Hi, Metatron ! I really like your work here and at your other channels. It would be nice to hear your opinion on the use of AI in real time translations. Do you think the need to learn other languages can become obsolete in the future ?

[@grzegorzbrzeczyszczykiewic8954]

That disdain for learning grammar has really been getting on my nerves for the past couple of years. I realise that immersion is extremely important in the process of language learning but just immersing yourself in a language is not enough. It's like jumping into deep water without having learnt the basics of swimming. Sure, some people with innate talent will survive it, but in most cases it will result in drowing.

[@hermonymusofsparta]

This simply isn't true. If we look at the components of language (the ability to listen, speak, reading and writing, and grammar) knowledge of grammar is the least important for the purposes of communication and comprehension. Grammar is supplemental information that enhances the others, but by itself it is insufficient. Most people don't even (consciously) understand the grammar and syntax of their own native tongue. Their knowledge and ability is intuitive based on experience and input. Those who attempt to learn a language through studying grammar first almost always fail because they're learning things in the exact opposite direction. I would also argue that grammar is not basic at all. In many languages when you learn "basic grammar" the concepts that you learn are actually very comlex. Native speakers know them intuitively and for them they're basic and easy, but they're not basic at all. They're actually very advanced and just used very often. Most people throughout history lived without knowledge of grammar at all. Language simply isn't mathematical or scientific. It's more like an art than a science. If you go to an isolated tribe that has a spoken language without a writing system, and you were to learn their language and then create a writing system for them, you would not create any grammar. You would simply discover it. The tribes would have no idea what the grammar was, but they'd understand it intuitively way better than you.

[@grzegorzbrzeczyszczykiewic8954]

@@hermonymusofspartaI didn't say that grammar is the most important when it comes to comprehension and communication. It's debatable if knowledge of grammar is as important as speaking or listening but it is undoubtedly significant when you learn a foreign language. Knowing how a given language works really helps. Let me give you an example. Here are two really basic sentences in English: "I go to school." "I'm going to school." When translated into my native language they're exactly the same so a student has to have at least basic knowledge about the difference between Present Simple and Present Continuous tenses (and trust me, it's not so difficult, even for an average student). When an Anglophone learns my language, they must have some knowledge about for instance grammatical gender, declensions and conjugations because using a wrong inflectional ending can lead to misunderstandings. And I'm talking here about two Indo-European languages. Knowledge of grammar is even more important when learning a language unrelated to your mother tongue. Of course you don't have to know the grammar rules of your native language (although such knowledge can be beneficial) because you've acquired them unconsciously as a child which can't be said about the grammar rules of a foreign language. I also don't agree with the statement that language is not scientific. Linguistics is by definition "scientific study of language" and grammar is an essential part of it.

[@fanshi5302]

you don't need more than basic grammar before starting to read/listen since can always just look up (its not 1900s we have google) grammar points. learning grammar in isolation and doing drills is just a waste of time for majority of learners.

[@grzegorzbrzeczyszczykiewic8954]

@@fanshi5302 You're right, learning grammar in isolation is a waste of time, you need to combine it with other skills to get strong theoretical basis and then immerse yourself in a language in order to be somewhat fluent.

[@hermonymusofsparta]

​​@@grzegorzbrzeczyszczykiewic8954 Listening and speaking to me is far more important than grammar. To me it's not even close. Listening is by far the most important skill and it is the foundation to become proficient in all the other areas. Through a mass immersion comprehensible input approach, you could understand the example you gave without learning grammar from a book or a class, it just would take longer. As adults, studying grammar accelerates the process which is where grammar really has its place. Grammar is like sprinkles on ice cream. They make the dessert better, but you would never eat sprinkles by themselves. I'm learning Greek right now and I've "discovered" grammar rules just by focused listening. Linguistics is called a science but I would argue it's a soft science at best and often linguists delve into pseudoscience. You simply can't run experiments and test hypothesis the way you can in hard sciences. The best example is when linguists try to claim they "know" what ancient languages sounded like. But, they *can't* know. At best they have an educated guess. However, my statement was that *language* is *more* art than science which I believe is true. Language is irregular in unpredictable ways and arbitrary in countless ways. Yes, you can study it like mathematics and in that way it's somewhat scientific, but unlike math it doesn't have hard fast rules. In math it's either right or wrong. 2+2 will always be 4. In language, if enough people make an error long enough the rules will just change to reflect that and it will no longer be wrong.

[@evanbasnaw]

Metatron, you speak English better than many native Americans, even myself at times. My own goal in language learning is to be able to speak about as well as a 3rd grader (8 year old) native.

[@PedroMachadoPT]

I will never master English as well as an 8 year old British infant. Even if I know many things about English that he doesn’t.

[@GaliosUA]

@@PedroMachadoPT 8 y/o is not an infant, you better look that word up.

[@PedroMachadoPT]

@@GaliosUA I was in doubt. Which word should I use? Child?

[@hermonymusofsparta]

​@@PedroMachadoPT child is the appropriate word. Infants are newborn babies.

[@rpoutine3271]

What do you think about the proto-Indo-European reconstructed language and I.E language shifts? I personally think it is one of the most interesting things.

[@Unpainted_Huffhines]

It's especially interesting when you see the cognate words between European languages, and eastern languages like Hindi and Farsi.

[@rpoutine3271]

@@Unpainted_Huffhines Indeed.

[@thelordraj5412]

The point I think he's trying to make is that talent is not a requirement to learn a second language or more specifically to use "his system" (make of that what you will) but he is correct talent is not a prerequisite to learn and achieve fluency. Obviously someone with natural amplitude will be better, faster, etc.. but that doesn't mean a person without said gifts can't also try and make significant progress through dedication and work. In the end it seems like semantics but talent doesn't matter for that reason if you're will ling to work.

[@thelordraj5412]

I think it's a positive message because often as a culture (America at least) we've become so fixated on talent and natural ability that those without, or even those who think they might not have (for whatever reason) don't even try new things to better themselves.

[@fanshi5302]

@@thelordraj5412 his message is negative, it gives unrealistic expectations and if someone were to try his or other method and fail to reach fluency by 6 months mark they would just get discouraged

[@SupremeDP]

I did not speak any japanese whatsoever until I found myself in a situation where I needed to speak, and so I spoke, and pretty well for that matter. I got better at it after a while, sure... But the speaking caught up reaaaally quickly to my comprehension. My experience learning english as a child on the internet was similar. I had noone to talk to, so I just didn't. But then a swede came home, and I just started to speak english with him, pretty well. Again, got better with time. You don't need to speak from day 1, and in my opinion it creates bad habits. You need to speak to learn to speak, but you do not need to do it early, and if you're shy, you don't have to force yourself to mangle the language you're learning if you're 3 months in. Just listen and read, and speak once you have a proper idea of how the language works and you don't have to strain your mind to say basic stuff, and you can hear the differences between you and a native more clearly, and correct them yourself. I heavily side with Steve Kaufmann and Krashen and Refold on this one, because it's my personal experience.

[@Bongbong-2000]

I’m a native English speaker and in my opinion you are a better English speaker then me than again I do have a speech impediment.(edit I couldn’t even tell English wasn’t your first language)

[@olekbeluga314]

Also at 32:25 strongly disagree with you. Not a long video. Love your videos! Such knowledge. Much learning.

[@MM62442]

Can you explain in more detail how immersion language learning works, Metatron? I don't understand it. I've never experienced it, and never had money to travel anywhere. But I used to work with a lot of Hispanic people, and I only understood a few words here and there when they spoke Spanish and only because I had looked up those words or was told what they mean in English. For example, I was told that "buenos dias" means good day, "buenas noches" good evening, "hola, como estas," hello how are you. I was told or looked up the translation into English of these sinple phrases and so could recognize them. BUT when these guys were having normal conversations it all sounded like gibberish!! I didn't understand a thing. So how exactly could I just "pick up" the meaning when I have no idea what any of the words mean? No one told me and I haven't looked up the translation in a dictionary, so how can I just know? That is what frustrates me because a foreign language sounds like gibberish so I don't see how I could just figure out the meaning by listening. I've never experienced immersion, like I said. I mean if he's pointing at an object and says a word, I get how you can figure that out. But usually it's not that obvious... and I find most (non anglo) native speakers don't want to bother translating for you or teaching you. If you don't understand they will just speak English to you. If they don't know enough English they'll just use a friend or child as translator. When you're a child I get it because you're still learning the words for everything for the first time. But as an adult, it's different, my brain is already set to English. So are you saying you can just learn the language by being immersed, even without ever having someone translate for you or look up the words in a dictionary? Or do you mean immersion plus studying the words and translations? Cuz that would make more sense to me. Also, I find in general I learn much better through reading and writing and not by listening. So for me, trying to learn French, I can understand the written words but not spoken. And I have no idea what to say in conversation beyond "hello how are you"... bonjour comment ca va. Lol. But I do know a lot of French words and can recognize them in written form. I can understand some spoken but much less and only if they're talking so slow and clearly.

[@Jorell420]

26:34 I would also assume the native speaker on that train was using very simple vocabulary with him. I grew up in Miami and learned Spanish at home even before English. I’m constantly assumed to be a native Cuban by my Cuban customers but because my vocabulary is lacking in comparison with my English, I hesitate to consider myself FLUENT in Spanish.

[@FENomadtrooper]

Oh hey, a fresh language video from Raph.

[@Cavouku]

Also, I think Andrew Huberman was discussing that neuroplasticity is induced by cortisol, a primary stress hormone. Not that the colloquial definition of "stressed" is necessary for learning-but rather inducing eustress, or a hightened emotional state and awareness of surroundings, will help induce it.

[@Alec72HD]

Indeed, I was very stressed when I was placed into a foreign military academy where I wasn't allowed to use my native language in any way. French Foreign Legion also does that, but they don't have such a large ratio of native speakers to non native. It's true, I was very stressed until a foreign language became my second language (3 months) and within 6 months I became fluent and understood all forms of speech in my second language. On One year mark I was fairly advanced, could have tricked a native for a minute to think I was also a native speaker.

[@damian_madmansnest]

I listened to his interview on the Phoenix Hou channel from 2020, and his Mandarin level is indeed quite formidable, but of course not nearly native, somewhere like B2 to C1. You can still hear pauses when he’s trying to remember words. But he states in the interview he came to the Mainland during Cultural Revolution, which means a long history of learning Chinese, certainly not learning it in six months as he claims. He also speaks Cantonese in the interview audibly with more fluency but i cannot attest to it as i don’t speak Cantonese. But then again he admits living in Hong Kong for many years.

[@PC_Simo]

21:22 Yep. That’s a faulty analogy (by him), to begin with. I’d say it’s more like trying to solve a polynomial equation, where *_EVERY_* number is a variable (including the powers; so, you don’t even know, which formula to use; not that it would matter, in that situation; but you get the point, I hope; and I’m rambling). Like; good luck, with that one. 🤯

[@jimwu4579]

Great video! This is cheesy, but love makes a big difference. If you have genuine love for the language, the people and the culture, then you'll go very far in learning a language. Cybernetic implants couldn't hurt either.

[@irmar]

I will add that love makes a big difference in another sense. If you fall in love with someone of a different culture/language, then your motivation to learn the language soars, and of course being with your partner will help you familiarize yourself more easily. That is, if the two of you actually strive for it. Because I know couples who have been communicating in a third language, for instance English, for years, and none of them has learned their partner's language. Which is sad.

[@jimmeven1120]

@@irmar Oh so true! That was my experience learning German in the eighties. Happy days! Another thing that sharpens your wits (or so I've been told) when learning a language is taking up an activity like sailing or rock climbing, where there is scope for catastrophe or disaster and you need to act fast.

[@vladislavshevchenko634]

I learnt German to B1 level in one month, but it was my 4th foreign language, i had a pari motivating me (afraid to lose 3 my monthly salaries if i fail, inspired to win 3 my monthly salaries from the doubters if I win) and i studied German 8-12 hours a day

[@olekbeluga314]

Pari means bet btw. In French and in Russian. So he bet 3xmonthly salary on winning.

[@amd.amdamd]

I reached B1 in German in 3 months starting from A1. And, then, another 2 months and I was done with B2.

[@CrispyCircuits]

I took seriously your suggestions to learn words for everyday things and use to improve vocabulary, etc. And with all of the stress and medical problems and other serious issues, I actually managed to not get a friggin thing done. Let me explain a bit better and I believe that I may have found a better starting out method for me. I am trying to learn Latin, Russian and up to date CSS. CSS is the part of web pages that take the content (the headers, paragraphs, bullet lists, buttons, form inputs) from what is just a black and white page you would print out and "styles" it. Which means all of the colors and backgrounds and borders and changes when your mouse is over something. In other words, makes it look good. Just one problem so far for CSS. No damn content to style. Which naturally makes doing it a chore versus a desirable thing to do. (I also program, but since I closed my company, I have few desirable things to actually program.) So, per your suggestions, I will write out web pages with Latin and Russian content that I am learning (starting with your excellent suggestions). Then I have that much wanted and needed content. Which then gives me tons of stuff to style with CSS. I now can learn words and grammar, put them on pages. Then I can take each page and do all kinds of different styling for each page. A total mix of wildly different looking pages to pull me forward into making all three things fall together and learn a mountain of new CSS which over the years has gone from pretty simple to now having all of the wild designs on so many sites. Also, I have the equipment now to make audio and video recordings of myself speaking, too. I will also just mention that many operating systems (OpenBSD, FreeBSD, Linux) have built in web servers that you can set up and just run on your one computer and serve your browser with your web pages without needing any external network. Most of these operating systems can be put on a USB stick and booted to without messing with your existing operating system.

[@Leftyotism]

Artists who draw are great at drawing though, learning how to draw rather means it looks okay I think. There is a difference in learning the basics, and then getting great at it. But I get what you were saying.

[@lewiitoons4227]

I do fall asleep quite often with movies and whatnot in Spanish which encourages my dreams to be in Spanish this doesn’t help me learn per se but it is fun, my most effective method of acquiring words and internalising them is via music and songs as music is so expressive I feel it easier to absorb the connotations and feelings of the words and structures but as it is a creative medium they can be more flexible with grammar so I have still needed to look at grammar books but I’d say music got me 40% of the way and the rest raw embarrassment via speaking to natives and hard study I feel the same as you in that I’m functionally fluent but my Spanish has clear Scottish influence every now and again tho funnily enough I’ve been asked if I’m Italian jajaja probs the melodic way we speak or the person asking is just ignorant

[@anabeatrizpalermo]

I learnt how to play piano in two weeks. What I mean by that is that even not knowing anything about the piano before, I managed to learn to play the complete “Für Elise” after two weeks, rather well in fact. Yet, not to brag, I am talented. I do not correct people when they say “It is impossible to learn how to play piano in two weeks”, nor do I tell people it is possible or easy. I believe that we have built a society where no one is allowed to be better at something than another person- it seems that we have ignored the existence of talent. At the same time, I have been trying to play the violin for two years and still cannot play a proper scale!

[@coolbrotherf127]

I definitely seems like he was talking the "dinner table conversation" level fluency, and not fluency as in "could take an advanced college class in the language" level fluency. In most languages, dedicated study for 6 months is totally enough time to learn basic conversational skills, but it's another thing entirely to master a language to a level similar to a native speaker. I think it can be incredibly rewarding for people who have failed at language learning in the past to make a lot of progress in the first 6 months, but people need to be prepared for the intermediate plateau when new words don't pop out in every other sentence and they have to really dedicate themselves to learning a language over the course of years instead of months.

[@Commentcomment321]

I think fluency and proficiency are two very different things. I'm a fluent Italian speaker but I make grammar and vocab mistakes all the time and my accent at certain times is stronge. Proficiency in a language is being great at all language skills in that language

[@Guitcad1]

12:28 "A hundred years ago, everybody believed that heavy stuff doesn't fly." When is this from? 2000? A hundred years ago the question wasn't "Can machines fly?" It was "How should aircraft carriers fit in the scheme of naval arms limitations?" That whole portion of his speech is just the "Galileo Fallacy." "You don't believe me? Well they didn't believe Galileo either!"

[@PedroMachadoPT]

The perfectionist thing is hindering my learning classical Greek, I believe. Because I want to pronounce it with perfect reconstructed classical pronunciation, phonemic vowel length and pitch accent. Should I relax on these things and learn it wrong for now and later correct my pronunciation? I’m a bit lost. The problem is that the Greek class at university doesn’t wait for me to learn the basics perfectly. And the professor doesn’t care about these details, only I do. Also, I joined Greek II without having made Greek I. Help me!

[@EdLeeSB]

Hello Pedro, you’ve answered your own question: an efficient way is to work on your biggest weakness. If pronunciation is your current biggest obstacle, then yes, work on it. But if you’re focused on “perfecting” your pronunciation while there are bigger problems elsewhere, then... 🤔 The day may come when all your other areas are much better than your pronunciation, at which point yes, work on it. 🙂

[@hermonymusofsparta]

There is no such thing as "perfect classical reconstructed pronunciation". 1) The reconstruction of classical Greek phonology is highly debated. 2) The pronunciation of Classical Greek was variable with different accents. It was not a monolith. Spartans, Athenians, Thebans etc all had different dialects and accents. 2) You can never be perfect because there's no way to verify if it's correct. We do not know what Classical Greek sounded like. All we have is an educated guess. Anybody who says they "know" or can "prove" their reconstruction is either lying or is delusional.

[@atrucrime]

As someone who was raised bilingual (English and Spanish) "Native speakers" are just specialized language experts, they choose to specialize in one language which we can call a "native speaker", a "Native speaker" is not real though, rather I agree with the subjective fluency theory he made. I grew up speaking both languages all the time and I still get fellow Americans who say I have a Spanish accent and Spanish people say the same thing about my Spanish lol. To me "native" is not real-no one is born knowing a language.

[@PC_Simo]

15:00 Yeah; you can learn to draw, in 5 days. ”How well?” That is the question. Like, I can learn to draw a damn stick figure, in *_5 SECONDS!_* Does it mean, I can draw properly? Of course, not!

[@PC_Simo]

”Talent doesn’t matter.” Yeah; tell that to someone, who’s tone deaf and learning a tonal or pitch-based language, like Mandarin or Japanese. 😅

[@kahlilbt]

8:58 to your point, I (native English speaker) heard the presenter we're listening to and immediately thought, "Oh no, fam, he's not American. Maybe... Scottish? Australian? NZ? His accent is definitely American-esque. I could tell howa non native speaker would hear American though

[@insanemakaioshin]

Depends on your definition of native, there are several people in the U.S. of Italian descent who only speak English. I wouldn’t be able to tell you apart from them.

[@Alec72HD]

I wrote something similar. Only he has some British influence mixed in. Still sounds better than most Brits, not to mention Australians. Those 🇦🇺 sound hideous.

[@dantae666]

I'm going for Thai and it's slow. But i would make zero progress if i could not read the alphabet. I also think there is a lot of immersion that can be done before i get on a plane. books, tv, radio.

[@RogerRamos1993]

I believe you can learn a language in 6 months, but you never finish learning it. By learning I mean being able to understand most grammatical concepts, acquiring a vocabulary of a few thousands of words, being able to hold conversations about most subjects, being able to read literature, following the news, among other things. All of that can be done in a period of 6 months for a number of languages, but not every language. And it can be done in 6 months, if you study or listen or read that language for hours a day, reaching over 500 hours by the end of your 6 months. But why do I say the learning never ends? My strongest foreign language is English, and sometimes I realize there are words I know whose meaning can signify 10 different things depending on context. That kind of information can't be learned in 6 months. First, you learn the most common meaning, then the secondary meaning, and then you realize that in IT said word has a complete new meaning, and so on. What the real polyglots mean is that you don't need to have a very high aptitute to language learning to become a polyglot and you don't need to take lessons for 4 years to pass a b1 test in, say, French.

[@zoeolsson5683]

... Even native speakers can come across new words and meanings in their language. Recently "woke" has come into Australian English contexts .... I still don't know what it really means.

[@c0mpu73rguy]

Alas, Ted x Talk being less regarding towards who can do presentations there, it's the place where a lot of scammers get. As the HBomberGuy showed, Tommy Tallarico was one of them for example.

[@alanguages]

Benny Lewis was on TED Talks and other lecturing platforms. Not one time did he ever give a seminar in another language, aside from his native English. I am still a fan of his, but even his Spanish was notably not that great and I am sure if he attempted to do a lecture in Spanish, he would be dreadful. He seems to be effectively a motivational speaker, than an actual polyglot.

[@6Uncles]

Chris is a new Zealander. He also speaks Cantonese, where there are also videos of him speaking. Pronunciation is also pretty good. I think he tries to apply a lot of NLP (not the computer kind) principles to language learning.

[@TheArrieman]

The drawing thing is actually a real thing. Coming from someone who draws portraits. OK you won't be able to paint like Caravaggio in 5 days, but it's about the fundamentals. I recommend reading Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. It's a great book teaching anyone who doubts or thinks they can't draw, to draw. The premise being that drawing is a skill very similar to writing. And once you stop using that skill at a young age, your brain stops developing in that area. It's a very interesting read.

[@Amioran]

And that's the point. It all depends what you mean with the words "you can draw". I could draw like that at 8 years old, but that's not at all what I would define being good at drawing, or even actually knowing how to draw because that's simply mannerism, i.e. learning a couple of techniques and repeating them; once you are outside the boundaries of those techniques you have you will be completely lost and having no clue what to do. Knowing how to draw (the real meaning of the term) is when it's not more a matter of techniques but you have integrated the fundamentals of the skill so deeply that they come naturally and you can adapt easily to new territory. For example even if you have never drawn a horse before you can still draw one from a picture, impromptu, at near photographic level. The same is true for any other field. You can learn for example to use Word but that doesn't mean you know how to use a PC so if you then have to use another program you will be completely lost.

[@TheArrieman]

@Amioran I was solely talking about the Drawing point, not the whole Tedtalk. He didn't say to become good at drawing at any point btw. just to be able how to draw. Your points are actually very interesting since to some artists, your art skills at 8 would have surpassed their years of experience ("It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.” - Picasso). Drawing from imagination is not the only way to draw and using references does not make you less of an artist. It's actually encouraged. To me drawing is an interesting reference Chris Lonsdale makes, especially since he mentions being able to draw in 5 days, which like I said, is a real thing, and I'm pretty sure it's a direct reference to Betty Edward's work. Language, drawing and writing have an interesting neurological connection which I wish it was more talked and researched about.

[@patricialavery8270]

Anyone who said they didn't know you are Italian were either being polite or were thick as a plank.lol.Not insulting you,you are actually quite pleasant to listen to,I love accents and you are far more agreeable to my ears than Americans from a certain famous big city.You can fly a car,just not "fluently".lol. I can always tell people who didn't learn American English by immersion,they tend to be very stiff and formal and often sound British not American. Also some expressions mean something different in a different context.

[@0MissNemo0]

Gotta say I disagree with you at 21:15 yes, children are technically among adults but adults engage in what is called "Baby talk" when they talk to children. We are wired, as more proficient speakers, to go above and beyond to decode what kids want when they start being verbal. Language development in kids varies a lot depending on the personality of their immediate socialization circle. Dedicated caretakers that listen to kids and genuingly look after their well being are going to help the kid's language development. Caretakers who dont pay attention or dont have time/patience to engage with kids are not.

[@ctcladdagh2000]

I have been taught that "fluency" is separate from "language level." So, fluency normally only comes from functioning in the language day to day.

[@LovePikaMusic]

Note that it also depends what you mean by "learn". Learn how to draw in five days, does it mean "become an expert in five days" or "become good enough at drawing that you are decent at it" - i'd be more inclined to think the latter. Same with learning a language in a short time. Though of course, from people advertising this stuff I'd expect more clarity on what they actually offer. I've also seen some people in linguistic and language learning circles say things like "you can never be fluent" and arguing with them because they evidently have a different idea of what fluency means. You can replace "become fluent" with "learn" if you wish. What does it mean, exactly? The people who say you can never be fluent seem to have this idea of fluency, that it means mastering everything there is to know about the language, which is unachievable even for native speakers - and therefore completely useless as a term, because you can't actually use it to describe anyone's skill level. I think fluency just means being good enough at a language that you can comfortably use it to discuss any topic at the same speed and detail as you could in your native language. (this definition ensures that poor communication due to unfamiliarity with the topic discussed is not a problem in determinging language skill. Re: talent, well I don't know about you, but I've seen people (a particular example that stands out in my memory came from a language teacher, even!) claim that, if you don't have talent you will never be able to learn a language no matter how much you try. Which seems to be the sort of mindset he is responding to. Often in our overzealousness to correct one wrong, we go too far in the opposite direction and end up in the other wrong. Or sometimes we might have a balanced view but don't get it across clearly enough. Cheers.

[@michelguevara151]

agreed. I am french, born in belgum. when I was very little I had walloon, french, flemish and a smattering of yiddisch with the odd word of polish. I spoke mostly french being as we lived in brussels. when I was nearly 4, I moved to england and learned english fom the telly. after 3 months I could get by at most. due to family issues, I all but forgot everything in non english, (if that's a word), then after nearly 40 years, I moved to france and discovered that french had changed somewhat. I have been resident in france for a about 10 years now, and I still don't consider myself fluent, yet it was my first language. I do not think this 6 month claim has any truth to it, I would have to read a ton of french litterature to improve, yet I have talent in languages, simply because I find languages fascinating. I also have a self taught technique that accelerates language uptake, I consider all languages as 'song', if one can sound exactly the same a s a native, even not understanding everything you are saying, you can be assured that others will comprehend what you are trying to say, the caveats are , one needs to understand the cadences of the language, and, you need vocabulary, which only comes from hearing vocabulary and readiing vocabulary. essentially : experience. my english level is , so I have been told exemplary, but I read very extensively on many subjects in english. my chagrin is that in my own language I do not have any erudition, I cannot speak on many subjects as I simply do not have the words to convey the comprehension that I learned in english.

[@LovePikaMusic]

Curious what you'd say to Lydia Machova's language learning methods. I'm not going to post a link since you've said you don't click links in comments, but you can easily find her talks on youtube, she's had several, now i've only listened to them in Slovak but the English versions are also up. And from her talks that i've listened to, I found myself agreeing very much, a lot of her methods and principles are what I've used myself and (as someone who also speaks and has studied multiple languages) had me thinking "yeah, exactly!".

[@muayboran6111]

Many Vietnamese people here in Bangkok have many Thais fooled including myself, indistinguishable from a native... until they start asking what words mean. So, sounding like a native and talking like a native are 2 different things. Some people are better than others at sounding and it gets easier if the languages have similarities.

[@slightlyaboveaveragebutaverage]

Immersion is crucial. My younger sister was required to do like one spanish class from 5th grade up to 12th. We lived in a small white community in the north. Guess how much spanish she knows now at 25? None.

[@natalliastsezhkina4020]

I'm just wondering...... so for 9 months of studying chinese typing the girl didn't consider the typing skill on chinese relevant for her, and than in 2 days she suddenly realised "oh, I need this skill very much! that's why I have to start learning!" Is that how it works? why on earth a person who doesn't consider any language relevant for his life would even start to learn this language as an adult?? Also I would never have had enouth patience to watch this speaker untill the end without your comments. He really sounds like a person who wants to sell you a thin air but at a really high price.

[@davidstewart1829]

I wouldnt say that acquiring a language (any language) is difficult, but the process does take a long time. The exception, where you will need to drive yourself to some degree in my experience is when you have to pick up reading/writing in a new writing system.