The Most Important Thing in Language Learning

[@TopDogIK]

My impression is that the single most important thing in language learning is: How badly do you want to know what is being said in your immersion? Babies for example are extremely interested in knowing what their parents are saying, since it might have to do with food, water, or other needs. More than noticing or anything else, your interest level in your immersion content is the single most important factor. For example, if you have a strong emotional connection to a show, this will make you more interested to learn what the characters are saying.

[@内田和哉-j6s]

I'm a 58 year old Japanese. When i was young, I wanted to be a bilingual, so I learned English, Italian and Russian. Actually, I lived in Italy and visited Russia several times. As you know, our language has nothing in common with European languages. As a result, unfortunately I was not a genius of learning the foreign languages and all 3 finished unsatisfactorily. Looling back now, I should have put all efforts and time into only one, that is, English true universal language.

[@unownnnn]

Your English is good so consider the goal achieved

[@tiagotriga]

When I read your words I identify, because I resolved keeping focus just in english until reach the fluency and after that start studying Spanish; although my native language is Portuguese and it is very close to Spanish in the writing and meaning of words, but as you wrote, today English is the general language in the world. By the way, your english is really good.

[@mattydee1996]

Good luck on your English learning journey! You’ll get there!

[@sugarly69]

This is the correct way to learn. I think Steve is a polyglot because he’s really good at utilising his approach to learning. I guess what Steve is saying here is also to make contextual learning more important than rote learning and learning by grounding rules. The most natural way to learn is by doing, by using. I wish traditional institutions would do this, but not me.

[@Tighris]

So true. In school I struggled so much with language learning because I just wasn't interested at all. I had nothing related to languages in my daily life (except for my native language of course). Only when I started to notice that a lot of cool content is only available in english, I started learning it "by accident", because it interested me. Same goes for french that I'm learning right now.

[@btrook1981]

Love my lingQ membership and love all of these videos. Thanks for making all of this content it really helps me stay motivated!

[@douglasmendes6934]

The best ever polyglot on KZbin I watch all his videos, thank you for help me.

[@yagmurcamd]

Consistency and immersion.

[@FitProVR]

Thanks for all the great motivational content Steve!

[@annmcewan6080]

Hi yes I agree, I find at the beginning there are aspects of languages that I don't find interesting and it is good to hear you say this because I feel as though I am fault.

[@luisfernandoespinal7084]

I for one, the most important things is to enjoy what you’re learning and you’ll take off

[@simonyann699]

Thank you so much for your important idea that assisted me to have a good beginning in my English language study.Respect from China.

[@dmsosa08]

Hi Steve. I really appreciate any time you talk about the learning process. I have to tell you that these concepts are really useful to jump to a wiser and more effective way to learn. But more importantly is any time you explain that and these three factors that you mentioned in this video are vital and useful to learn anything you want... I mean an instrument, music, programming.. the ability to notice is what feed your necessity of knowledge and make you advance.. Merci beaucoup pour touts tes astuces pour apprendre une langue... Voilà...🍷Trinquons!.. Santé... Tchin Tchin!

[@matteomagurno3068]

love the camera quality now!

[@erturtemirbaev5207]

Спасибо вам.

[@papaoangelo3162]

Ângelo, from Belém, Amazon, Brazil! ❣️

[@daniel_gh87]

totally agree, it doesn't matter if you try to memorize tons of words or when your teacher explains a certain grammar subject, as subjentive in romance languages, if it's not important to you at that time, you won't learn it, it's not a meaningful information to you so you will forget it

[@StoryLobby]

Very great Important lesson as usual , Thank you so much.

[@light.spanish]

It is great what you say about the third aspect. I have talked about something very similar with my students and team, about respecting the process of the student and the right moment to introduce new language structures or vocabulary. Also giving this vocabulary landed in useful activities. I have seen the same urge to share cultural curiosities or celebrations. However, in the first stages, students are more likely to listen and read to simple everyday conversations that they could get useful words from, and not necessarily vocabulary related to carnivals. Excellent as usual! Thanks for these short and useful videos, Steve!

[@Tim_638]

Thanks Steve! You’re the best!

[@PolyglotSecrets]

So true! We are long overdue to break away from cookie-cutter teaching... Learn what you want to learn in your target language :)

[@Hasatame]

One of the best videos, Steve! Amazing!

[@ihavenoname6724]

Excellent video as usual, Steve. Allow me to add a no.4: The ability to remember, i.e. how strong a memory you have. I'm not gifted with a strong one, so I tend to forget a lot of words, expressions, etc., that I've previously noticed.

[@patchy642]

As always, so FRESH and INSPIRED! Steve, when are you coming for a visit, to try out some great if primitive restaurants and their wine with us? Best wishes, Patchy. 🍀

[@austinlang6946]

The most important thing for me is just not quitting. Do something everyday. Learn something everyday. Language learning is cumulative…keep showing up day after day and somewhere in the future you will meet the you whom speaks and understands how you wish to now

[@YamatoTre]

I agree, but it's also important not to get burnt out! Taking short (1-3) day breaks every once in a while can really help keep that knowledge hunger.

[@austinlang6946]

@@YamatoTre agreed. We all find our balance….on those days for me I do like 15 min a couple times. Real light stuff typically review.

[@YamatoTre]

@@austinlang6946 I took a camping trip to get away from studying and work for a little bit, ended up camping next to someone who speaks Japanese LOL. I was excited and grateful for a little practice though, very rare in Southern US

[@austinlang6946]

@@YamatoTre aye! That’s awesome! How long have you been studying Japanese?

[@YamatoTre]

@@austinlang6946 Not long at all, three months, but my girlfriend teaches at a local community college and it’s clicked with me way more than Spanish ever did. I only know probably 100-something kanji and I can only read books for five year olds. But I could chat a little about the super hot humid weather and stuff like that, it was gratifying to see that I’m not learning gibberish and he understood me 😂

[@hesfan4143]

Hi Steve, hace unos díass te escuché decir que el oido se acostumbra cuando escuchamos un podcast o vemos un vídeo, y siento que eso me esta pasando, t e escucho a ti y a Tiffani, y me estoy acostumbrando a su timbre y aprenndo nuevas paalabras, gracias por los consejos, buen día.

[@gedeonlouwehadoumadji7813]

Thanks for all your videos and i like your way of teaching in spite of being old.But your the best one of teachers online

[@nadiapullig]

Probably I caught your idea. The most important thing when learning a language may be to bring it into your life and, gradually, to build it up with your routine. Am I right? Good video, many thanks.

[@Zhuo-t9z]

really impressive idea! Thanks for sharing it!

[@MOHAMED-ul3xc]

شكرا لك

[@auron1319]

Really great video! But one oversight in my opinion, is that radicals are extrememly important for differentiating similar characters, so it makes sense to teach a beginner these so that knowledge of each character can be built using these.

[@Evgeny-z1v]

Steve thanks a lot for good advice Appreciated

[@J_Trask]

Excellent information!

[@lorenzgluck5144]

An anecdote on the ability to notice: I've been listening to a lot of Japanese music, as I developed a strong liking for it learning Japanese since January. Most of the time, however, in music the lyrics are impossible to make out for me, Japanese lyrics where more like a musical instrument to me. Recently I have made a step towards more difficult listening content, that is, content for natives. I was graduating from mostly listening to a podcast for learners to watching primarily relatively beginner friendly anime as my listening practice. All the sudden, within 2 days of quite intense listening for maybe 2-3 hours, when I put on some of my favorite songs, I could make out and understand much more of the language than before, even though I had known most of the words already for months. I think I cultivated some unconscious infrastructure that was necessary to understand the words I had already known, this ability to notice them, by encountering them in my listening practice that was challenging but bearable at my level.

[@jordanmcmorris5248]

Wow, good stuff!

[@yaylalascar8794]

I think that we learn what is interessing to us

[@Dreamuntilyourdreamcometrue]

Thank u mr kayfman for your importand advise

[@isabellac.8155]

Thank you!

[@tiklitokubay7044]

Welcome Teacher

[@this2shellpass]

תודה רבה , ברכות חמות .

[@theymademepickaname1248]

I am a straight man, but I am attracted to Steve because he's a hyper polyglot and a athlete.

[@InterFīnumRērum]

Reading and listening. INPUT

[@abcrm101]

An important thing is to realize that language learning is a process

[@haroldwood1394]

Hello, Steve. You mention that teachers like to teach what they think is important. However, teachers are often constrained by other authorities who may be completely divorced from the immediate classroom. I recall how a major Australian employers' group would greatly influence the testing of adult students. One test included the text 'cul8r' as a component. How any beginning student should be expected to know that this meant 'see you later' is beyond me. Language teachers often have to teach in spite of such constraints, rather than being simply able to focus on whatever most helps the students.

[@sabrinasayshi]

youre amazing!!!!

[@TheRealJoseramirez]

Hello Steve, thanks for the videos. They're interesting and motivating. I'm not being pedantic, I'm curious; why do refer to the language as Persian and not Farsi? I'd have thought Farsi would be the term referring more specifically to the language.

[@speakrussian6779]

The most important thing in language learning is to have fun. In science, it's called aesthetical perception. 😀

[@muslimrasulawlajwana2999]

Well done

[@philpeng2715]

Three things that matter for language learning 0:57: attitude of the learner; time spent with the language and the ability to notice. The ability to notice means things that are important to you are the most important in language learning.

[@joshuacollinson8905]

Everyone has a different view when it comes to languages. For example I really want to learn Japanese but I also want to learn Persian at a small level. Japanese I am aiming for fluency. However, with Persian I only wish to memorise a few phrases in order to chat with someone that speaks it. There are languages I want to learn for different reasons, many I plan to get fluent in and perhaps that number will increase or decrease over the years depending on my interest in both the culture and the language. I love Japanese and Korean culture so it only makes sense for me to learn them. I am only interested in talking to this person in their mother tongue for a brief time. So yes, you can learn a language but it depends on what the definition of "Learn" is.

[@ayi3455]

I understand 6 foreign languages : English, German, French, Arabic, Russian, and Mandarin with different levels of abilities. I speak German pretty well, and been to Munich to learn German. It was long time ago that I reached B2 level, nearly C1. But it seems that my German deteriorates. I also learned French and Russian, but I don't speak those languages very well like my German, and of course, my fluent English. I learned Mandarin since 2017 until some time ago.I believe my Mandarin reached A2 or B1 level, because I got Hsk-3 in October 2019. The problem is maintaining the ability. Once you get the B level, you start to be fed up with the language you have learned, unless you have a very high motivation and specific purpose to learn the language. And after that the next question is whether you can maintain the level that has been attained. I reached B2 or even almost C1 in German long time ago, but now it seems that I can only answer relatively correct the B1 level. My German deteriorates. Language is a matter of habits and habitation....

[@rylork]

@@ayi3455 are you an native arab?

[@ayi3455]

@@rylork I'm Indonesian.. 🇮🇩🇮🇩

[@rylork]

@@ayi3455 wow nice, im kurdish but im learning arabic do you have any tips, im learning grammar right now

[@ayi3455]

@@rylork I think my Arabic is the poorest among the languages that I've learned. therefore I didn't mention it.

[@retireditguy9493]

Some time ago you mentioned that Vietnamese would be added to LingQ. Is there any update?

[@Thelinguist]

We have the mini-stories translated but the quality of the recording was poor. We are working on getting an acceptable version to put up. Work in Progress.

[@jeremydbriglia7310]

Tagalog soon?

[@crescermeditando]

Ive just discovered his content, I’m interested in fast learning Icelandic, I’m Brazilian. What are his most important videos to watch?

[@Nathan00at78Uuiu]

I know you believe in input being the focus and then speaking will come at some point. But I was born in a spanish speaking family and predominantly spanish speaking area in Texas all my life and I can't speak spanish fluently nor without spanish speakers having trouble understanding me. So what do you make of this? I'm super frustrated with Spanish because speaking it is hard but I understand a lot of spanish.

[@lamis9810]

❤❤

[@muslimrasulawlajwana2999]

Ok

[@Rickroll2158]

Steven, is this your website?

[@octaviorizo4482]

Steven do you consider that is possible to learn two languages totally different at the same time(in my case portuges and Chinese)?

[@Thelinguist]

I wouldn't recommend it but it is definitely possible with enough energy and commitment.

[@賴文茹-y1w]

How do we courage youngster s when they haven't realized these experience.

[@sysyphenf8ewtfr603]

I find grammar important to me so I started learning German grammar first. Is that a wrong approach?

[@sysyphenf8ewtfr603]

@@datacoderX thank you