Professor Reveals Way to ACTUALLY Learn a Language (backed by research)

[@matt_brooks-green]

👉 Get more free language learning tips every week: matt-brooks-green.ck.page/5c3f11e6e3

[@werkzeugmann6224]

Negative Self-talk could also be considered laziness - no? Ones natural Abilities contribute to the proficiency & learning time factors, which involves patience, without personal comparisons to others learning skills, like learning & playing proficient piano, the motivation is key. there is a proverb that says a mans stomach works for itself - meaning you learn how to make sustenance (food) because you are forced to eat to live. So fear can be a great motivator too! Fear over-powers self-talk... Fear also can reduce learning time and improve learning efficiency (proficiency = fluency / time).

[@saregama-r8td]

I personally find a non-native speaker who has learnt the foreign language the best teachers, because they understand all the mistakes, the lack of confidence and the need for patience, kindness and encouraging the learner. They have a literal understanding of the struggle and common misconceptions.

[@DianaM.-ht8ls]

Thank you for this post about your experience. I have benefitted from having language partners who are non-native speakers. And I can now easily see how selecting a teacher whose first language is not my targetted one could also be helpful.

[@lynntfuzz]

Totally agree. And it is a lot less intimidating and it gives hope that it really is possible to learn the language.

[@Rosannasfriend]

Oh, that’s an excellent point. That’s exactly what I should look for when I look for a teacher, thank you.

[@ladybluelotus]

Absolutely! Teachers that know the struggles of learning any subject tend to be way better teachers than teachers that don't have to struggle as much.

[@alvodin6197]

You'll be surprised how many teachers are the opposite of the things you mentioned, be it a secondary language or primary language teacher.

[@thedavidguy01]

Very helpful video. In my experience the biggest impediment to learning a language is perfectionism, which leads to an unwillingness or reluctance to make mistakes. At least that’s my biggest problem.

[@DY-cq3qd]

Hi Adrian.

[@yard3707]

You're not alone! I have the same issue it helps sometimes that i wanna perfect everything I talk about in English it maxes my energy and stimulates my mind and confidence to keep pushing forward yet it takes a horrible time to shift a mindset while learning anything not only a language .. still trying Suttle it slowly accepting that I might make a mistake but I won't be allowed more than one or two

[@alejandraahmed1177]

Especially if a spouse expects to learn his language with perfection. It is very discouraging.😢

[@tommybinson]

Great comment, thanks. Perfectionism and consciousness of gap between native and target language form my biggest challenges. Best wishes!

[@auntyjo1792]

​@@alejandraahmed1177 That's a partner problem.

[@jasonlockwood7992]

Informative and encouraging interview. Just about everyone I’ve known who only speaks English has declared they’re incapable of learning another language. In the next breath, they then proclaim how amazing I must be that I became so fluent in French. And then they ask: How did you do it? My answer is bit by bit, and all the while giving myself the opportunity to learn without stressing over perfection. I recognise I have a gift for languages, but that alone didn’t make me fluent. It merely meant I was able to acquire French more quickly than others. I started learning French at age 15 in school, enjoyed it a lot, did well with it, and pursued an opportunity to live in a French-speaking country at some point. After high school I spent a year in Belgium, followed by four years in Quebec City at university. In both places, I held fast to one principle: minimise the amount of time speaking English, and maximise exposure and practice of French. Over the course of my first six months in Belgium, I became very fluent. In the time after that, it was all about improvement and mastery. Flash forward to today (40 years later) and my French is very nearly as fluent as my native English. That was my goal from the beginning, and therefore my approach was likely quite different from those whose aim is to become decently conversant.

[@gaufrid1956]

Seven years ago I married a Filipina grandmother from Mindanao Philippines. I've spent most of the last seven years living in Cagayan de Oro City Mindanao with her. She is a polyglot, a fluent speaker of Bisaya (the Mindanao dialect of Cebuano), her tribal language Higaonon Binukid, Tagalog, Boholano, Hiligaynon, and English. As a young man, I'd studied French and Latin. I've been immersed in the culture and language here, and, as a result, I can communicate in Bisaya, and a little in Higaonon Binukid and Tagalog. I've concentrated on everyday speech, and the habits that native speakers have. I haven't concentrated on grammar. Over time, I've picked up the way that native speakers put their sentences together. The other thing I love is singing in the language. You can learn a lot that way. I don't worry if I make a mistake. Being able to think in Bisaya without translating back into English is something that I'm happy that I can do.

[@EdwardLindon]

The point of flashcards is not to memorize vocabulary (i.e. forever). It's to memorize words until the next time you see them, ideally in context. Vocabulary learning is pointless without other (preferably copious) input. But continuous input without targeted vocabulary learning is also rather scattershot.

[@sabrinusglaucomys]

Idk to me flashcards never work out because how do I know what flashcards to prioritize? I'll go through spurts of adding a ton of them to a list and then not being able to review often enough so they all, hundreds or even thousands of them, end up "due" so the list is useless. Or I won't feel like I need the list at all and I'll never review the ones I added. It's way easier to me just to wait to see them in context again. I think pre-Internet if you weren't in an immersion environment maybe flashcards were useful, but honestly, what is the probability that there are words you actually need that you won't be encountering in context frequently enough to remember? And why not just engage with more content related to that context if you need to make sure you don't forget the words? (All this said, my ability to remember vocab is way above average and I couldn't develop a daily review habit to save my life but can binge content so maybe it depends on the person.)

[@vyli1]

indeed flashcards were very useful in my learning of Japanese. But on the other hand I have never used them to learn English (although at the beginning I did memorize vocabulary without Flashcards but in a targeted manner. But really only in the beginning). But I also don't think I'm acquiring any new words in Japanese now ever since I stopped doing flashcards... Based on my experience though I agree, targeted study of vocabulary based on rote memorization was the key to acquiring critical mass of my vocabulary in any of the languages I have studied. Never doing it not even once throughout the whole language learning journey sounds like a receipt for extremely long vocabulary acquiring process.

[@jamesdewane1642]

​@@vyli1*recipe

[@vyli1]

@@jamesdewane1642 meh, I was typing it on a mobile phone with swiping, which sometimes inputs incorrect words. Must have flown under my radar while typing.

[@crooniegrumpkin4415]

Dr Neubauer is an impressive find. She offered lots of source-hints and ‘what-to-look-for’ advice for the independent language learner. I really appreciate that. Thanks for the video.

[@qwlea]

Great video! People are quick to be intimidated by Chinese/Japanese due to the characters, but in my personal experience learning Japanese for 4 years, Dr. Neubauer is absolutely right about associating sounds/pronunciation to meaning first and then trying to associate that meaning to a character. I started out mostly by just listening to Japanese through anime, dramas, and conversations with no care about trying to learn Kanji at all. Once I had reached an intermediate level in conversational Japanese, the moment I started consuming written content, my brain just absorbed the characters like a sponge honestly. Obviously I still forget certain kanji now and then, but you can't be too hard on yourself about it. Anytime you learn something over again, you will remember it for longer and longer. I also believe that many people in the language learning community (especially with regards to Japanese) are far too adamant about using Anki or some other form of hard spaced-repetition training. I have not used Anki a single time while learning Japanese and am quite confident I could read 99% of words in a Japanese newspaper. Just as was stated in the video, the most pleasurable and meaningful way of acquiring words and character knowledge is by seeing the words in context from whatever material you are reading. Language learning is all about taking baby steps to complete a marathon. It is going to take a while to get to the finish line, but even a baby can make it if they keep on walking.

[@TheCompleteGuitarist]

I am a language teacher and a learner. As an adult learner I personally find that I speak way better than I understand listening to people talk. Mainly because they don't talk at the level of my competency. The issue is that parents modify their speech to the needs of the child. Adults are expected to just be able to handle it. As a teacher working mostly with 9 and 10 years, native spanish speakers learning English, I talk to my students utilizing my classroom form of 'motherese' which gives my students time to hear and intuitively reflect. Similar to how adults talk to little children. Age appropriate. Ultimately it is the responsibility of the communicator to make themselves understood, not the listener. If my students don't understand me, it is my fault, not theirs. I started to learn Spanish by listening to children's stories and reading children's books. Find a level and start there. While it is important that responsibility lies with the communicator, as the listener, we also need to tolerate not understanding everything, let some things go without needing to know why. The more we experience something in meaningful communicative context the more the meaning emerges from inside us. Language is effectively an agreement between people that utterances (etc) have established meanings and context will guide us to it through repeated exposure. This is why we easily remember words we use a lot but words we use rarely we often have doubt over the exact meaning (even in our native langauge)

[@David-cm4ok]

Excellent comment.

[@tedgilmore9657]

Excellent tips and advice. Thank you.

[@DB-du9qc]

I know the video is going to be worth watching when I read comments of this quality.

[@Tommat194]

While I appreciate the sentiment and part of me agrees with it, I have to say that as a language teacher and learner myself, I hesitate to agree that it is the communicators responsibility to make themselves understood and not the listeners to understand. Maybe it's due to the different demographics; I teach almost exclusively adults, and many of them constantly complain that native speech is too fast, saying that one particular native speakers accent is ridiculous, or otherwise just putting down native speech in one way or another. Come to think of it, not only regarding natives, but also proficient second language users. I actually try to impart the exact opposite on students; when I learned Portuguese, Spanish, German etc., the onus was on me to get a grasp on native speech. That entails everything, from pronunciation to idiomatic language use to "strange" grammatical forms and all the rest of it. Otherwise, I would get completely lost listening to natives speaking to each other and, of course, I wouldn't have a snowballs chance in hell to converse among natives. Likewise, if one of my students is trying to have a conversation with some native speaking people and can't understand, in my mind it's much more in their interest to work on their comprehension as opposed to constantly asking the natives to slow down which, whilst that is of course fine for beginners, actually begins to grate on many of those natives and leads to a less enjoyable time using the language. Also, I know from my own experience that when you ask people to slow down or otherwise adjust their speech, that can actually produce some pretty negative reactions and makes it really hard to connect to the people and culture beyond surface-level touristy "order a drink at the bar" level of language. All of that said, I do completely agree that learners shouldn't get bogged down in trying to learn and understand every single last piece of language, and I do try to show my students to have some tolerance for not understanding everything, though I have found that to be a real struggle with some students as it seems to be drilled into them from a young age that they must strive to 100% understand every last morsel of language they're presented with. Just some thoughts.

[@Gabu_Dono]

@@Tommat194 I’m also a language learner and a teacher of German, English and Japanese and I agree more with this opinion. And as a teacher I too am prone to long and impassioned posts ^^. Native speakers and learners who get lots of comprehensible listening input generally have better listening comprehension than speaking ability, because their active vocabulary is smaller than their passive one. This is a fact. However, in some cases language learners don’t get enough listening input. English classes in Japan are a prime example. Because students language ability is limited to what they themselves can produce, and because they don’t practice enough listening at native speed, their ability to speak is generally better. For beginner language learners this is also generally true, because they haven’t listened enough yet. Having said that, when teaching beginners, I believe that speaking slowly and making sure students understand is part of your job. In some cases people can only hear the sounds of a language once they’ve learned how to produce them. For those who are interested, “The Language Podcast with Richard Simcott: Nailing Pronunciation in a New Langauge” is informative. However, once students get used to the speed and sounds, it’s also important to say it at a native speed. As a learner, I think it is your responsibility to get more exposure outside of the classroom through language exchanges, etc. Your teacher should also know good resources for comprehensible input to do on your own, preferably at native speed or with a faster option. Nowadays people are transitioning from using training wheels on bikes to making bikes with lower seats so that children can easily touch the ground. This is better because children can retract their feet to simulate actual riding. Language teaching and language books must also transition to more real-world use.

[@TheLopsidedobject]

6:38 I couldn't find any teacher advertising comprehensible input lessons in my target language. so I sent messages to several teachers and explained exactly what I wanted. I tried a few different teachers, and one in particular was amazing. I actually sent her a couple videos from Dreaming Spanish to show her what I was hoping for, and she nails it!

[@pj61114]

Soon an Artificial Intelligence teacher should be developed.

[@lisaahmari7199]

The read along comprehension stories on youtube have been more helpful to me in learning french and spanish than any tool I have ever used. If I had had them from the beginning, I would easily be fluent by now. It is the same concept that we used as little kids with our native languages: our parents read to us as we read along, sounding out the words. SO helpful in speaking/reading/writing and comprehension of the spoken language! And there are hundreds of them on youtube!

[@elaineporter182]

Do you have any that you would recommend ? I have found a few, and you’re right the stories really do help

[@lisaahmari7199]

​@elaineporter182 For french, the french converstion videos of Tarik Elamari called 239 Dialogues en francais are great. If you put that in, the algorithm should offer you a lot more. For spanish just put in the search bar conversaciones en espanol para aprender....a whole bunch should pop up. I like that they are not boring like textbooks. Good luck!!

[@clivelinton7657]

Can you point me towards any A2/B1 German videos?

[@lisaahmari7199]

I imagine they would...I have never studied german. Maybe put "gesprachs in deutsch" in the search bar of youtube or whatever the word for dialogues is?​@@clivelinton7657

[@lisaahmari7199]

​@clivelinton7657 oh...i just found "dialogues in German for learning" popped up....maybe see if those are good?

[@laurar6446]

Excelente! That's exactly how I learned Russian at 60 years old, how I teach Spanish now and how I Homeschooled my children. Muchas gracias! ✝

[@theidlelanguagestudent]

Very interesting how many different factors influence the language learning process. You notice right from the start of the interview that Dr Neubauer is not just a scholar but also an active language teacher with lots of practical experience.

[@jori4345]

Sehr interessant, Frau Neubauer ist eine beeindruckende und kompetente Persönlichkeit!

[@MiloMay]

lernst du auch Deutsch?

[@DungNguyenTri-v8w]

@@MiloMay Ich auch, A2

[@Schpoizchnebel]

Dr. Neubauer has a very pleasant voice to listen to.

[@StephenVenablesMusic]

It's very cool to come across this thoughtful discussion about how to study Chinese. I've been studying Mandarin for six years now. A year ago I wrote an album of songs in Mandarin and went to China to try to figure out a way to promote it. They are on my channel. For me it has been helpful to have project-oriented goals, that then naturally lead to new projects. I also postponed really learning characters for a very long time, instead prioritizing speaking and comprehension. 加油 everyone!

[@NelsonStJames]

We definitely need more people spreading this message. Americans in particular have been told since I was young that: 1. After a certain age learning a second language is next to impossible, and 2. You will never be able to speak a second language fluently as an adult. Yet these people never seem to have an answer for why non native speakers coming to the U.S. often are able to do exactly what they are saying is impossible. This is especially head scratching when one keeps hearing that English is among the hardest languages out there.

[@szymonbaranowski8184]

migrants are more active and adaptable subgroup if your hearing isn't good you won't learn new language as well as playing on instrument or singing...

[@speakeuropeanportuguese]

They mix with native speakers from day one and acquire the language. English is a language that also does not require excellent grammar to be understood. Our verbs are pretty straight forward too.

[@ggalvaorn]

I agree with you but English is quite easy. At least if compared to German, French, Japanese etc.

[@TysonJensen]

English is very easy to acquire at a basic level -- all Empire languages are (Chinese included). An Empire language that can't be picked up is going to find itself shifting to be easier to acquire. We're even seeing this right now in some of the English rules being casually dropped so we can get more Asians proficient -- like using learnings as a noun, or saying things like "what is the ask?" Things that would have gotten your hand slapped by nuns not so long ago, now common and accepted.

[@chamorvenigo3128]

"1. After a certain age learning a second language is next to impossible." I am not bad at learning. You are just teaching it wrong! Let me elaborate what is the problem that I encountered, the resistance to learning that stems from adult instinctual aversion to con-artistry, scams, and deceptions.

[@philipdavis7521]

She seems to be a very inspirational teacher, its always a pleasure watching someone who has really thought about their subject very deeply and can express it so well. I must admit I have always thought that its better to study by yourself to get to a higher level, and only then engage with a teacher to push up to fluency. She makes a very persuasive case for having a teacher from day one - but of course finding someone who does it well is always going to be a challenge.

[@matt_brooks-green]

Always the way. I do think there is a social element which can be helpful. Learning on your own without any interaction in the language might feel lonely for a lot of people. I've had some absolutely fascinating discussions in some classes which can be really motivating. Crosstalk is great here too to get started early

[@michelodonnell7240]

As a polyglot totally fluent in 5 European languages and a retired teacher and tutor I really enjoyed this interview and I really emphasised with it❤

[@ClaySuddath]

Empathised perhaps...?

[@nadinemclean1671]

@@ClaySuddath Good catch!

[@alexandresantos5442]

I've never imagined that I would enjoy discussing the subject of learning a language while searching for some videos on KZbin to learn a new language.

[@Lilyeh-OMJ]

Insightful details about the mechanics of language learning. I enjoyed the interview. Very helpful. Definitely will do the KZbin read-alouds. Thank you.

[@phen-themoogle7651]

I can relate to many points in this video. I'm fluent in Japanese (been using it more than half my life now), but there were a few things that made/make it very hard to say get to a more 'native' level (or even to get fluent took more years than expected). 1. The Social aspect you mentioned...many Japanese people I encounter randomly from either language exchange sites or real life in Japan will judge me on appearance first (normal since I'm not Asian and 98% of population or more is Asian so it's kinda like wtf to some people) and assume I don't know Japanese. And if I do know it it takes new people days or even weeks/months to get used to that I am in fact speaking Japanese (so if it's just a one time encounter the conversations will be exactly the same each time "you know Japanese""why" etc, then it ends). It's like some Japanese-people bug-out/glitch-out like a computer error or something and it takes them more time to adapt. And of course they are super supportive of beginners and at that stage they would mainly say "nihongo ga jyouzu desu ne" or you are so good at Japanese, in after you just say "konnichiwa" or a simple greeting that people sometimes know that they haven't even studied...so finding people that would get used to me or be willing to speak in Japanese when I was a beginner was hard just because the misconception of a foreigner not knowing the language is just so high it makes them hold back always, and even some people try to use English even if you are fluent in Japanese. So because of that issue and how much I studied the language my pride was too high, and I would even avoid some teachers since most teachers weren't teaching me anything new, but stuff 'foreigners probably don't know' and it's hard finding someone that really adjusts to my level even though I have over the years. But eventually many of them said "you don't need lessons, I learn more from you than you do from me lol" or something like that, and then it's been a frustrating experience after getting to a fluent level 10-15 years ago. I probably will have to go back to get a teacher again or wait for AI to become native-like, just because it's easy to not challenge myself in the language and get lazy, just because I'm not going to have enough positive stimulus or conversations overall. A lot of Japanese people judge on AGE too (won't talk to people few years different sometimes and most are in their 20s on apps), and it could be 6 months+ before somebody actually talks to a 37 year old like me on an app like Hellotalk. Being in Japan was the best experience though, although I almost died there I did get to use Japanese in the hospital and talk to doctors for dozens of hours and learn lots of medical terminology, that was one of the best experiences of my life (I didn't use any English at all in Japan), and knowing the language SAVED my life! they said they wouldn't have sent the ambulance if I didn't know Japanese cuz they didn't have translators/interpreters working at the time. So in a way I'm glad I knew the language, but I feel from too many negative social interactions and not really getting true friends kinda messed me up a bit. But I still enjoy Japanese entertainment. TLDR: The social element is extremely important for fast progress/motivation to keep it up/prevent you from going insane. (Depending on your reason for studying the language, I wanted to marry Yamato Nadeshiko (The ideal Japanese woman)/have a family/have a job in Japan and everything, but that was just a pipe dream) Nowadays I'm gonna take a step back and redefine my goals/meaning for why I'm using this language so much lmao

[@Mister69K]

Great interview. Thank you.

[@dasimmyr9840]

Hi Matt! Another top top video! I am soooooo grateful! Thank you!! Super guest! 😀👍👍👍

[@sophiachen8900]

Great interview! I learn a lot as a language teacher and also a language learner. Thanks Diane!

[@pj61114]

Soon an Artificial Intelligence teacher should be developed.

[@MZ-jn1xh]

Good video! I learn at home by listening at a comfortable speed for me. Listening to stories, conversations but also attending 2 hour grammar lessons once a week. It's both for me.

[@DianaM.-ht8ls]

I gained so much from this podcast! Now I want to implement some of the suggestions shared. Is there anyone else here who is learning either Swahili or Czech? Would love to have non-native speakers as language exchange partners.

[@gnostie]

The advice on learning Chinese is very good.

[@leslieguerrero4834]

Great tips & input. I now feel re-energized for my language journey. Thank you 😊

[@Andrew_Bell209]

A really interesting interview - thanks to you both. I agree with Dr Neubauer about grammar, which I used to regard as very important but I now think that being familiar with common sentence structures is more useful. I also don’t think that flash cards are useful or interesting. But, to be honest, I now see grasping tones as very important when learning Chinese. I know that I will never sound like a native speaker but I have found that speaking with the correct tones is essential if I want to be understood. Thanks again.

[@breadman5048]

yeah she is dead wrong about tones.. the main problem with tone learning is that students are not taught the way people actually speak. and this isn't reinforced by needing to properly produce the tones to be understood by natives. I don't think it takes long to learn, but i think it's completely ignored in instruction

[@TheMeditatingPhilosopher]

Just FYI, your first link in the description, the one for her yt page, has a typo. Thanks for sharing the great talk!

[@chocolatefudge5263]

Great video! Thank you❤

[@grantorino948]

Hi , so glad I found this, thank you ❤

[@wueric2855]

Very helpful. I believe she is correct.

[@girliegirl615]

This makes me feel better. I teach Spanish. Language acquisition through comprehensible input. After two years, my students were talking pretty well even though they would get confused with some conjugations. However, that’s not a big deal because the message came across enough to keep a conversation going.

[@rebekahblesi7526]

I find that native material and native speakers are the best models or references, although not necessarily teachers. Whatever you can do to supplement your listening and reading with material by and for native speakers, it’s helpful so you can hear that natural speech.

[@frankgradus9474]

Thanks awfully. That's a huge help.

[@camslumlord]

I started my language journey in the mid 1970’s. We had a family friend from Colombia. I ask him what was the way I could learn Spanish. He suggested finding Spanish language books and get a Spanish-English dictionary and look up all the words. It was very tedious but it worked. When the internet came along I was able to expand my knowledge by watching Univision and other Spanish language Television. Thank goodness learners do not have to do what I did. But foreign language was not even taught in our public schools. That was it ( translating books)other than buying records. I have traveled all over Latin America and Spain and I have had no problems conversing with the native population.

[@jamesdewane1642]

I was excited to learn about my role as a language parrot. So disappointed it turned out to be something else. I thought she was going to confirm a concept i made up, a little tongue in cheek. Primarily, teachers are Native Language Generating Devices. I start a class with whatever, then the whole rest of the time, I'm reacting as quickly and naturally as i can at a level that doesn't lose interest, interest being my proxy for comprehension. And i have to work in the target vocabulary and grammar and elicit whatever they're capable of doing... Language teaching is a hoot! A lot like coaching a sport.

[@Skiddla]

more important than any complicated method of optimizing your learning is this: Have fun! it really works 加油

[@matt_brooks-green]

💯🔥 🔥

[@tommybinson]

Great discussion. Thanks! 😊 Best wishes.

[@CreolePolyglot]

def agree with takin a couple wks off every now n then, but they don't normally mention that!

[@Gerard_2024]

"Way to actually learn a language" as opposed to "Way to learn a language" . What does "actually" mean in this context ? In other words, is there a difference between "learning" and "actually learning" ?

[@MisterGames]

To get the clicks 👍😉

[@Andy_Pandy2000]

One way to master tones is to listen to a phrase, then think of an English sentence that mimics the “up and down” sounds. For example, say “I think so” and notice the intonation. Now you are aware of the stressed and unstressed words, match an English phrase with the Chinese tones.

[@cathybroadus4411]

[in my other native language, AAE] C’mon somebody! She laid out the blueprint. If the lady that teach the thing say go do XYZ , why try to be smarter than the teacher? Oh my god, it was like it was laid on my lap. I’m playing at, I’m doing a lazy model of comprehensive input for Mandarin daily but I was waking up feeling adrift. I was dabbling in it all. This video just solidified the role of each part of my study. Can’t thank ol’ girl enough. Also I’m a big fan of the learned. Dr. Diane Neubauer just revolutionized my life! Girlfriend laid it down now! All jokes aside, Dr. Neubauer was the first person to explain the concepts of language acquisition as an adult. And the concept of distance not difficulty. Coursera has free courses in Mandarin. After I passed my first test in all Hanzi, I said alright now. I had proof that all you gotta do is want it. It’s a marathon not sprint like everything else in life. I am on top of the world from this video. Much obliged.

[@rc....]

Many people don't believe that Chinese as a spoken language is actually one of the easiest languages to learn, it is easier than many European languages and even Japanese because the grammar is simple. Probably the easiest language to learn is Indonesian because unlike Chinese, it uses the alphabet system. What I meant be learn is to be able to converse with a native speaker, perhaps speak like grade school level. Not to take anything away from Dr NeuBauer. The thing about tone is some people will never master it but doesn't matter because even in English in sounds different in different regions but most of the time there is context in every sentence and people will understand.

[@schwaemmy]

Wow, 7:45 is so insightful, and really requires having a different mindset towards language acquisition

[@SimplyChinese]

If you can only get one point out of this interview, it’s at 23:50

[@simalakasatsimaganda]

The United States is a wonderful place to learn languages, especially if you are in a City. You may progress through at least beginner-intermediate fluency in any language simply by locating events, shops, markets, or businesses with native speakers of your preferred language, and learning a few phrases. Then, GO AND INTERACT. Example: I can pick up a coffee each morning and speak some basic Arabic with the shopkeeper (my 4th language in progress). This kind of active practice will do wonders to expand your vocabulary and understanding, because it's REAL. Also, instead of being constantly chained to a book, screen, or the storm of your own mind that can take over in familiar places, this kind of practice pins a new location in your mind, and this extra dimension and extra color obviates much of the usual effort needed to rapidly recall words for any occasion. This is a very nice and informative video from the Professor - however, beyond the academic discussions, the easiest way to actually learn any language is not through theory, but through PERFORMANCE. Having said that, i'm no language expert and am not trying to contradict anything in her video (this is great stuff); i would only caution that I see this kind of extended information as merely the cherry on top of the dessert after the main course - namely the meat and potatoes of deciding for yourself what you will learn, then going out to do it ACTIVELY. This approach of course depends on your location, but it is very likely in the United States that most of the critical resources you need are ALL AROUND YOU IN PEOPLE - it's your choice whether or not to take advantage of the rich variety of culture and language we enjoy as a population. Cheers;)

[@scotth5988]

Just a heads up. The link that you gave for Diane's channel doesn't seem to work. Fantastic video!

[@robertnilla]

i am learning russian.. i have learned many phrases, words and some idioms! Not easy. so i will continue to go foward!

[@mathematix-rodcast]

I really do not see the magic in this approach. I heard so many opinions. Where were all these facts? I learned both my foreign languages to C2 levels, and I did it all based on applying the grammar rules. The languages are: English (native), German and Spanish. Admittedly, I learned the Spanish subjunctive virtually effortlessly but my professor was a linguist - Dr Errapel Mejías- Vicandi at the University of Nebraska. He is truly exceptional. He made the Spanish subjunctive pathetically simple because he understands and conveys his knowledge so exceedingly well. I agree with instructor that native speakers are often not ideal as instructors at the introductory levels because in so many cases, they really do not know their own language that well. In my case, my linguistics professor was a massive exception. It is also worth noting that he instructed us on the nuances and generalities of Spanish all based on structure. In my case, it was high input via all modalities and knowledge of grammatical structure that made learning my languages easy. I do not think we have figured out how to instruct languages well just like we do not instruct math and science well. I have had a great deal of mathematics and science to rather high levels, and understanding theory (structure) and applying it always seemed to be key. Most never learn biochemistry, organic chemistry, calculus, etc...because they never understood theory.

[@RechtmanDon]

I compare students studying vocab books like "800 Essential Words" as an exercise of memorization and not a language process; it is instead comparable to memorizing numbers. Only when the words are used in the linguistic context of communication (speaking, listening) do they become a part of the language.

[@anthonydavid5121]

I 100% disagree with your opening statement. Building blocks are essential for understanding the rules that govern and dictate grammer, understanding and use of a new language that will improve the more these rules are understood and applied. Building blocks are great, should be introduced in level 1. They serve as wonderful frameworks from which to operate from and learn within. They provide guidance and help to eliminate doubt and obscurity.

[@thedealermusic]

That’s how I learned German - learned all the grammar rules first and then added vocabulary. For my learning style it worked very well

[@anthonydavid5121]

@@thedealermusic In my experince, this appraoch worked for me. I wish this immersion crap had never come around becaue I am wired differently because of how I was once taught French.

[@KarlLew]

The key to a language is often in the cadence of its sounds. Coming from a different language is terrifying because our current aural expertise simply cannot cope with that sound barrier. So we tend to obsess about grammar and vocabulary. But if we instead listen to the foreign cadence of sounds, finding a new personal resonance with those alien utterances, we build ourselves a strong framework that allows us to emote and express in a rich new world. Take each new phrase you learn and say it, yell it, sing it in as many ways as you can to Google translate. If GT can understand you, then 👍🏼. Learn sounds with all your heart first. Vocab and grammar then follow easily.

[@MrTerp32]

Try Dreaming Spanish!

[@kinjizakora1665]

Billingüe Blogs is great as well!

[@oakstrong1]

I understand English at native level and I use English every day at work, but I still make basic grammar mistakes in my writing, and in speech particularly with the use of articles and especially when I'm tired. I wonder if there is any way of breaking that fossilization after years of "malpractice"?

[@kerrieross9327]

I have lived in Thailand for 7 years and can still barely put a sentence together. Even worse I struggle to understand what people say to me,as it is also a tonal language and I'm in Southern Thailand the dialect changes a bit, my husband does not help me, or VERY moderately rarely. I panic when people speak directly to me, I find it better to try and listen and if I hear a word repeated try to find the meaning, that is also problematic as there are various spellings. I will never be fluent but to understand those around me would be such a help and minimise my paranoia.

[@crush_override]

Well, here is the question: have you taken Thai language classes while living there for 7 years?

[@kerrieross9327]

​@@crush_override ​ I began to take lessons, I paid for a year's school, but ended up attending for about 2 months, due to other study, husband, the bf taking me to his hometown for a month then getting a job. I personal study is very inconsistent. I'm currently back living in hubby's hometown and wish to ask his English teacher he had when at school if she can help me. I really need to understand more than speak. Inconsistency and finances are my biggest challenge.

[@debbied9842]

My son knows many Thai words, does ok to communicate. He went to Thailand when he had R&R while in the Marines. When he got out of the Marines he worked contract jobs in Afghanistan and Iraq, he continued to go to Thailand on R&R. He made good Thai friends. He would like to live there one day. I was always impressed on the language he picked up just visiting.

[@kerrieross9327]

​@@debbied9842Lucky boy, some people seem to have a knack of learning languages. It would be a wonderful skill to have.

[@nanettej9760]

There are courses on tones. If you start with that and then practice by reading subtitles and repeating out loud. This helps train your ear and so you can actually recognise the sounds that people are saying. That is the foundation. It will take perhaps around 4 months to get your ear in following a course and doing it 20-30 mins a day. And so you don't get bored you should also do an app to help expose you to vocab and sentences because the brain likes to construct. And then after those 4 months of doing those 2 things get yourself a tutor on Italki and they will then be able to guide you. You can do this 💪💪💪💪

[@werkzeugmann6224]

Her point about the conscious and sub-conscious, and one's self-awareness really affect successful inter-personal communication through verbal language. Intentional meanings vs meaning of words versus cultural context are also troubling. So if you act like a child when learning and kill your pride then you may learn faster, let them laugh at your speech! And you'll learn faster.

[@dagneeitutyte5623]

i am learning mandarin chinese now. it is a lot of fun. learning to write hanzi is a lot of fun too especially if you like calligraphy! I was wondering if learning japanese would be a lot easier when knowing hanzi? I usually looked up the writing of both chinese and japanese

[@tbrucia]

Learning a language is not a single skill: speaking, reading, writing, and understanding are all different skills. A lot of emphasis on "learning a language" focuses on conversation, but not on reading or writing. There are many (and I'm one) who can speak Spanish at B-2 level, but my goal is to read at a C-2 level. And then there's my native language: increasingly I find myself unable to understand many Americans whose basic problem is that they're trying to fill time with minimal meaning content. (They blather and you can't figure out what they're talking about. Some politicians are great examples!)

[@kcc879]

I found mandarin easier to learn than German. There are many things in Mandarin that make sense and helps make it easy to learn. In regards to tones, I found I could hear them clearly because I played the violin for a long time and my attitude was to practice as I was having conversations - than that's all that mattered. Most Chinese people give us foreigners a bit of slack and just ask them to help you learn Chinese and they'll offer baby corrections as you go.

[@terencenxumalo1159]

good work

[@pm_ordinarychap]

I can learn to write read and speak languages but never been able to listen. Native speakers speak too quickly and too unlike the way their language sounds in a classroom

[@kerrieross9327]

@nanettej9760 ​Fabulous advice. When asked about a tone or when I listen and guess I always get it wrong, mostly the rising and falling tones, I don't know why 🤦🏼‍♀️. I agree with everything you say. I need to stop procrastinating. I also find living in Southern Thailand they have many of their own words and phrases, but understanding the basics would be a great lead in. Thank-you, I REALLY need to seriously get started and involved 👍🏼. Thank-you

[@alanhollands8901]

50 yeers ergo i starteed two lurn Ingleesh hand me finks that hat larst i can not ownly speek good but right well as well..A few problems wiv wurds who has moore than threee letterrs but all inn all i are happy.Startting Mandrin sooon.

[@dieseldan5189]

I second the opinion fluent non-native speakers are generally better teachers than native speakers. The only trade off is that pronunciation and cultural slang will likely suffer. The big challenge for native english speakers is that it is almost impossible to find native english speakers who are fluent enough to teach a foreign language outside of the traditional romance and Germanic languages. Try to find a native english speaker who is fluent enough to teach a Slovak language, Japanese, Arabic language or mandarin. The fact that she teaches Mandarin makes her a Unicorn.

[@abrahemsamander3967]

I agree. But to be fair. One is never limited to one teacher. For an absolute beginner, a non native fluent speaker will help. And you can refine your skills by conversing with natives.

[@myalterego2878]

Would it be any fun at all if there weren't communication issues?

[@mjsmcd]

Man in japan saw a toyota sign and thought wow they do have signs in english here

[@everydaymontana]

I speak four languages, and come from a culture and schooling that encourages and supports learning foreign languages. We do have to address the most important aspects of the grammar, as it is the skeleton of a language. Grammar then has to be put into context, and practiced a lot, but we can’t consider it secondary, if we want to get to a high level of knowledge of a language. Do study grammar, please, read, and speak, and listen to songs, sing the songs, if you want to gain fluency.

[@frankgradus9474]

Thanks awfully. That's a huge help.

[@kalyasaify]

no. no just no. lol no.

[@breadman5048]

27:36 but tones does code meaning..

[@AnimaLibera]

Perfect is the enemy of good.

[@AnimaLibera]

Recovering perfectionist 😂 Yep! Me too!

[@yitzhakpachas3010]

How many languages does she speak?

[@musashidanmcgrath]

A non-native teacher is OK up to a point, but to learn the language properly and comunicate much more naturally you have to learn from native speakers. A far better option is a native teacher who has learned YOUR language and knows what to look out for from the opposite perspective. I'm only at B1 in Spanish, but I live in southern Spain. The more I learn the more I realise just how many nuances Spanish contains and how very different it is to English in so many ways. There's no way you can learn to speak 'la lengua de las calles' unless you learn from natives. It's not possible.

[@laura3619]

👌👌💯💯

[@nativeinyou]

not bad. she gets the gist. in time she might get to the core as well

[@philipbuckley759]

it is not complicated....the to have and to be verbs, with numbers and diagrams, for vocab....and start filling in the missing pieces...

[@GeriatricCareSolution]

The age range from birth to 6 years old is considered the absorbent mind for children, as they have the ability to absorb information easily. It is always the best age to introduce a new language.

[@manzmoez9099]

Michelle Thomas is a genius in languages.... His method is the best... Unfortunately no longer with us...

[@-Luka-Brazi]

I am a political editorial cartoonist. People marvel at HOW it’s done and wish they too could do it. Can they? Well..no, not really. You could do it…but it would be a lot like learning German! Unless, of course, I was pushing a YT channel. Then I would say “Easy to learn!” and “fast”!

[@samm8654]

20:45 fossilization

[@pearl1606]

But you beg the question - how do you link sound to meaning!!!!! Answer? You must let go on trying to understand a vast torrent of stuff that is unintelligible (to you). And you must, must, must start to think in the language by constructing your own sentences. This is what I do.

[@meinungabundance7696]

You might be wrong as to the AI. AI nowadays can translate texts almost perfectly! One exception: literary texts and poetry.

[@twodyport8080]

I've had all the same observations myself. Except pure CI is a massive waste of time with some languages.

[@heidar14]

You’re stealing DOAC’s thumbnails… not cool

[@matt_brooks-green]

It's an established thumbnail type on the platform. Both Colin and Samir and Tengo Un Plan have used it as well as countless others

[@davidbrisbane7206]

If children only knew how hard it is to learn a language, they'd probably not bother learning it 🤣😂.

[@twhoskins4729]

"Learn" and "Teach" are not appropriate terms, as they imply CONSCIOUS activity. Acquisition is the term that applies here. See Stephen Krashen and Noam Chomsky. Language acquisition is an UNCONSCIOUS process.

[@jeffreylevans]

My Russian continued to improve after 6 mos to years after leaving Ukraine.

[@szymonbaranowski8184]

not really, you need understanding rules, except it's a weird language as Chinese that you can learn whole life and not learn fully... you think how AI learns languages... it knows most common thing to say and answer and applies rules all the time, she seems anxious here like introvert so trembling voice but did good job still! you need both chemospheres to learn language but in end only left one will stay that's when you stop learning and only use... never let kt happen

[@peterreid9769]

A whole lot of waffle. Lol. Put some effort in and you'll get there.

[@Ken129100]

Okay, I have a problem. I don't trust a professor

[@user-ov4wr5yu4r]

Most depressing video thumbnail ever. Just what I need, problems. I almost didn't cllick.

[@studentofspacetime]

If you watch interviews of Charlize Theron, you notice that she speaks deliberately slowly, in order to have perfect US pronunciation, but it's a huge turn-off for the conversation. Very contrived.

[@johnke996]

Very long-winded answers mean this video is of limited usefulness.

[@opensourceradionics]

31 Minutes of my life ... I will not spend to your video ... wise words from Master Yoda

[@Shirden]

lol a language teacher that doesn't understand communication 😆 😆

[@NoFaithNoPain]

Thus is just not true. Neuroscience tells is that ability to learn language is linked to gender and hormones and age .. yes teaching method and immersion is important ut if yiu have a lot of testosterone and are older then your neurones will not rewire well e ough for a new language

[@nanettej9760]

It's called neuroplasticity. It is possible.

[@vince1229]

Nothing useful in this video.

[@callmeswivelhips8229]

When people say that aiming for full fluency is too high, I cease to take their opinion seriously on the surface level. If you want to learn a language poorly on purpose, then I'm going to think there's something else going on in that which has nothing to do with the current desired task at hand.