CI/Compelling or Comprehensible Input in Language Learning

[@Thelinguist]

What are your thoughts on using CI in language learning? 10 Secrets of Language Learning ⇢ www.thelinguist.com LingQ Grammar Guides ⇢ www.lingq.com/en/grammar-resource/ My blog ⇢ blog.thelinguist.com/ The LingQ blog ⇢ www.lingq.com/blog/ My Podcast ⇢ soundcloud.com/lingostevepodcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/learn-languages-with-steve-kaufmann/id1437851870 --- Social Media Instagram ⇢ instagram.com/lingosteve_/ TikTok ⇢ www.tiktok.com/@lingosteve Facebook ⇢ facebook.com/lingosteve Twitter ⇢ twitter.com/lingosteve LingQ Discord ⇢ discord.gg/ShPTjyhwTN

[@LucaLampariello]

One of your best videos Steve! I wholeheartedly concur with everything you said =)

[@tedcrowley6080]

Thanks. The approach "look it up, but forget it" works very well for me. After a few lookups, I recognize the word.

[@HingYok]

I'm a beginner of Spanish and have found CI helpful for absolute beginners. There are lot of resources with CI for absolute beginners on KZbin, mostly with teachers telling stories or acting out dialogues in slow speed, as well as excessive amounts of pictures, body language, sometimes with props, to help students understand nearly everything they say. Some teachers also ask questions based on the contents and prompt students to answer them, making students use the sentence structures and vocabulary they just learned. That shows how languages can be fun!

[@chadbailey7038]

Great video Steve! I’ve been watching so much native content in Russian lately, only recognizing like 10% of the words. I recently started watching Peppa Pig in Russian and found out I can understand almost 50% of that! It was amazing haha! So much more comprehensible. I felt like I was on vacation lol 😅. I see why it’s important to not be lost in ur content all the time

[@ComprehensibleEnglish]

You might want to also check out the KZbin channel Comprehensible Russian (kzbin.info), especially the older videos (I think the newer ones are more advanced). They have lots of visuals and context to make Russian highly comprehensible for beginners, similar to how Peppa Pig is easy to understand and similar to what I do on my channel to make English understandable for beginners.

[@derronstravels21]

Молодец ребята! Peppa Pig was the first native Russian show I could understand too. удачи!

[@banjoemily3852]

I'm in the same boat as you! Свинка пеппа!

[@banjoemily3852]

@@ComprehensibleEnglish Inna has been very helpful to me as a beginner Russian learner 👍

[@alagunoff]

That's interesting to read your comments because I am a native Russian speaker and I started my diving to ci in English world exactly with Peppa pig show)

[@tedcrowley6080]

I agree with all the ideas. For me, sub-titles help make speech "comprehensible"(not at beginner level, of course). From the sub-titles I know (roughly) the meaning of the sentence. Now what did they actually say? An idiom? Slang? Mumbling? Dialect? Normal speech? Sub-titles change 50% content to 85%, or (different language) 80% to 98%.

[@ShyGuyTravel]

The LingQ system makes content with 10-20% unknown words considerably more comprehensible because you can look up the direct translation instantly, you just click on the word and it’s there. The extended reading approach, where you already know the vast majority of words, is great for fluency and gives you a kick that you’re consuming all this content in a foreign language without interruption.

[@elleryprescott]

Truly, Lingq is the epitome of comprehensible input!

[@alwayslearning7672]

Translation is a lie.Looking up a word that has many uses in different contexts isn't helpful. Plus grammar is so vague and abstract translation doesn't help. One must get a feel for how the word is used is separate contexts.

[@elleryprescott]

@@alwayslearning7672 yeah, thru reading extensively you get all of that including usage and different meanings a single word can have.

[@bofbob1]

@@alwayslearning7672 At least in the beginner stages it really doesn't matter. Whether you look up the translation or not, in the early phases of language learning new words will occupy the exact same locus in the brain as the equivalent word in your native tongue. Meaning that even if you don't use translations, your brain will, whether you want it to or not. That only starts to change in more advanced stages.

[@Jotun184]

"You need to see a word 8 times to have a 50% chance of remembering that word" - well now I feel way less bad about failing new anki vocab cards so often...

[@quand_meme]

Use mnemonic techniques along with the spaced repetition method. It will activate much more synapses.

[@ComprehensibleEnglish]

Another way of making language comprehensible and compelling, which so far hasn't really been developed, is content that uses lots of non-verbal communication alongside the spoken language to make it easy for beginners to understand the meaning from moment to moment. For example, on my channel I have many videos where I speak English while using drawings, gestures, props, and other visuals with almost everything I say to make it comprehensible. This way, even total beginners can watch, understand, and start to pick up English from them, no matter what language they speak and even if they can't read in any language.

[@alwayslearning7672]

This is the BEST CI. Thank you. Like Dreaming Spanish Pablo who teaches exactly how Krashen outlined. We learn when we understand messages!! Not translated words. Word translation doesn't help because it's way too abstract and vague and the word may have many uses in different contexts. Seems like people have forgotten Krashen's video in German drawing the picture and telling what it is or pointing to the hand. I understood that but imagine if i had looked up the German words. No chance to understand it!

[@BryanAJParry]

I love this man! I hope Steve lives forever. He's the best, a real phenomenon.

[@theveganpolyglot9746]

I find that looking up words takes a lot of time away from what could be spend on getting more comprehensible input, so I tend to reserve it to the cases where I cannot refer the meaning from context after having heard a specific unknown word for the umpteenth time.

[@McLartyFilms]

Excellent video as always. I always start my day with LingQ and a Spanish podcast. Thanks for all you are doing to help people cross language barriers and open doors to new worlds!

[@kanishk7267]

Interestingly enough, your hypothesis around the “assist” being things such as multi-sensory input (e.g., audio on top of reading), the selection of a meaningful domain (e.g., fun topic), not getting handcuffed by syntax, etc. - are now being studied formally and experimented with by academics/teachers at “learning challenged schools” for “special needs” children struggling with ADHD, dyslexia, and more. Almost as if traditional schooling methods are the unnatural way, and the natural methods you usually propose are the true way a human learns. I know you’re an entrepreneur and not an academic or a teacher, but in my opinion - your ideas and KZbin lectures are better and so ahead of formal “learning science” today that I hope they look back and formalize your ideas someday. I know that you celebrate “learner culture” instead of “teacher culture” - but in my opinion, you are (perhaps ironically) exactly the type of progressive teacher that organizations need in the 21st century. On a personal note, your ideas and videos and writings have had a profoundly positive impact on my intellectual life. Keep fighting the good fight and keep posting videos!

[@Thelinguist]

I have always felt that LingQ would be helpful to people who struggle to read in their own language. I know poor literacy is very costly both to individuals and to society. I have offered LingQ free of charge to literacy organizations but usually get a rather unfriendly reception.

[@juliusjohnson5967]

I like to use a personalized visual event or image that has happened to me in the past and then place those words, phrases, etc into that image or personalized event. I find that to be so fun. I use a separate image for each language for swahili and brazilian portuguese.

[@CaptainWumbo]

I like to focus on listening, reading the related text and looking things up once, but then listening to it later in the day and the next day by itself. I think it's important not to get hung up on remembering every word you come across. I don't know about this 8 times rule and how it was researched, but I guess that some small percentage of words I'll remember with just one or two exposures, and the rest I will wait until they come up again naturally. This is the piece I think people who focus on SRS suffer with, they struggle to let cards they fail at fall out of rotation. I believe there is a best time to learn every word, and sometimes I'm just not at the right level to memorise the word for attorney general or whatever. Memorising every word only really matters for a test, your brain is good at filtering out words you don't need to know yet, people just have to trust it more.

[@IKEMENOsakaman]

I LOVE your old books collection! ...wait, is that just a wallpaper??

[@bensomes7662]

It's such a great feeling when you can understand comprehensible and compelling input. For Finnish, I'm able to understand Harry Potter, knowing around 60-70% of what I read. It takes time though! A year and a half for me. I've followed exactly your advice in order to get to this stage, using more study-like videos, graded readers (for those learning Finnish, check out the selkokirjat and videos by Finnished and Finnish Language Nuggets for great CI). Now I'm full on hooked on Harry Potter, it's so great

[@dodgingcars]

I haven't read HP in any language, but one positive thing I've heard for language learners is that each book gets progressively more difficult, so it should ease you into more difficult language as you go through the series. I just started reading Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe in Spanish. I've found that my comprehension can rapidly shift from 95% to 70% from one paragraph to the next. I actually plan on reading Harry Potter in Spanish because my library has the entire series + the audio books in Spanish, so it's a zero cost for me -- but I wanted to build up my reading ability a little more with simpler books before tackling it. I have found some good, compelling, graded readers -- but generally those come at a more intermediate level.

[@bensomes7662]

Very interesting! I read the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in Finnish, and I noticed the same, some paragraphs were easy to understand, some were very complex, for me I think I was more around 50-60% comprehension at the time (6 months ago) and was a good challenge for me. And yeah, that's a good thing that Harry Potter gets progressively more difficult, looking forward to it! Thanks for the reply

[@javierfernandoagudelogomez1794]

I´m doing something in microsoft office, particularly in Excel: The words i´ve read or i´ve listened to and i didn´t know them, i highlighted them and in the end of my input activity i write it down on one column of an Excel sheet, on other column i write the exact example that i´ve read or listened to, on other column i write the definition from LINGUEE, MERRIAM WEBSTER DICTIONARY or CAMBRIDGE LEARNERS DICTIONARY, and on other column i write examples from these dictionaries (everything with copy and paste in a short period of time). i review them with spaced repetition (1 day, 3 days, 7 days, two weeks, three weeks, one month, two months, three months). That´s the magic of "copy and paste", because doing this activity manually in a notebook is very complex

[@jailtongiraodasilva2427]

I agree with you about combining INPUT and STUDYING the flash cards .

[@juliusjohnson5967]

I use digital and physical flash cards. But I dont use them too much because of boredom.

[@aldemarquinguirejo4853]

As always, you clarify a lot of ideas that are key in language learning and language teaching. Should all input be compelling? I think we can't always find material that's comprensible and compelling at the same time. Besides, finding textos with the right amount of unknown words is quite challenging, so what you do with your ling system is quite helpful. I want to try it.

[@LucasVenda]

Eai aldemar!! Tudo certo? Steve é fodão pra cacete msm. Eu uso o LingQ e é muito bom mesmo. Dá uns 50 reais por mês e vale a pena testar. Parabéns pelo inglês fino 😉 cê é professor? Abraço!

[@LucasVenda]

Ohhh sorry mate hahaha thought you were Brazilian!!! Aldemar sounded Brazilian enough to me hahaha (found out you weren't at your channel). Anyways, guess you could understand most of what I said. Good luck trying LingQ out. It's a real great software, with amazing features. Ciao (:

[@asheleyhenrique4928]

Variety is so important because you let your brain rest and, in a way, consolidate the information that you've gotten through comprehensible input

[@jaswinder369]

understanding of subject is perfect

[@jeanettekeegan471]

Thank you. Your words give me encouragement!

[@perleblanche974]

Thank you very much.

[@EFoxVN]

Thank you for another meaningful video.

[@blackseasailing8672]

Steve, I dream to meet you one day. Even on-line! You are doing great. Я из России и очень счастлив, что нашёл Вас. Если захотите поговорить по-русски, дайте знать. Русский для меня родной язык. И ещё я говорю на английском, который пока не так хорош, но мы вполне сможем общаться)

[@annaadams7102]

*Thanks a lot Steve!!🥰* I am a big fan of your method and your videos.. I have a question (sorry if it's random) Why is English full of acronyms? It seems like they would make an acronym out of every phrase ? Isn't that confusing? Wouldn't it be better to write out the words instead?

[@derronstravels21]

Thanks Steve! Your videos are always motivational! CI is great in theory, but to me, it's so hard to find interesting content at my level.

[@Thelinguist]

Language?

[@derronstravels21]

@@Thelinguist Russian

[@naturalanguages]

@@derronstravels21 Check out the "Comprehensible Russian" KZbin channel

[@derronstravels21]

@@naturalanguages I will. Thank you so much!

[@Cam-vg7lb]

I like a mix of both, I enjoy watching spanish daily vlogs that give me more comprehensible input and I also like repetitive.

[@juliusjohnson5967]

I like watching youtube videos in the target language and i then write down the words i hear in my notebook. Sometimes it takes me a couple of times for me to memorize that word into my long term memory. Some words it takes me longer to remember. I enjoy this process the most than the other ways i study.

[@rogerdodger1158]

I'm using a utube channel called comprehensible thai. They teach thai using 100% spoken thai language, by thai native speakers, in videos, using pictures and gestures. They want me to think in thai without translation. What are your thoughts.

[@helbert.epbrazil7285]

If you're thinking about buy some book, take a look first if it has a free audio version available on KZbin. I think it's a good advice! 😉

[@gogomaximoff4554]

Hi Steve. I have a question about the first thing you were talking about. I feel the same when it comes to CI. For example when i started learning Korean, I’ve started with Anki, reading and listening, and a lot of repetition. I believe that if one can just go and learn 1000-2000 most used words in one language, that in that way all other material that we are using becomes CI. What do you think about that? P.s. i know you are not a fan of Anki but for me it really works at least at the very beginning. Thank you sir! 🙏🏻

[@arturomedina2055]

Great video! Very useful. 👍

[@robertoobregon9411]

Estou tentando, goste do seu canal , um bom conteúdo .

[@marcoF123]

Hi Steve, great video. I just didn't get that part of the paper that is about the "2% of words and the "one in 50 words" What do you mean by that? I'm very interested. Thanks!

[@CassandraTel]

I laughed at the example of Finnish because from and by are communicated with case endings. So, it also requires (is faster with) a grammar book or dictionary with grammar. Also, it isn't always the same since these prepositions or postpositions have many meanings or potential case endings. By four o'clock is not the same as by writing.

[@tomdoesstuff1978]

As much as I respect your opinion Steve, I disagree about not being able to use CI as a true beginner. Have you tried some of the KZbin channels which use CI for "zero beginners"? I have tried Naturlich German, Alice Ayel and of course Dreaming Spanish amongst others at beginner stages and have found them to be incredibly useful. Perhaps this comes from the sensation of being able to understand something, albeit simple, entirely in the target language. For that reason alone I would advocate the use of them where available even if only in tandem with other resources.

[@Thelinguist]

I think it depends on your definition of compelling input. Content designed for beginners is not inherently compelling but can become compelling because of our interest in learning the language. At some point, however, I lose interest in this kind of content and need authentic compelling input. But all of this is subjective.

[@tomdoesstuff1978]

@@Thelinguist I agree with your point on it being subjective. I believe it is most certainly possible to find compelling input for beginners however. The aforementioned channels from my previous comment have plenty of content which I have found compelling as a beginner in the respective languages, although of course this is down to the individual's interests and propensity for "vagueness" in the initial stages. I do see a burgeoning market and appetite for CI within the KZbin language community which is great to see, I'm sure you will agree.

[@YuserAlhaj]

Thnx

[@Jredthepolyglot]

I’m at the point in learning Spanish where I understand mostly everything on a page and if Spanish subtitles are on I understand most of what I’m watching. Is it a good idea to take the subtitles off now to really focus on being able to comprehend the spoken language? I’m watching an 80 episode telenovela on Netflix that I really enjoy and I can understand basically what’s going on but still having trouble comprehending what I’m hearing. Will it get easier as I get farther a long in the show? I also started doing the English course for Spanish speakers on duolingo to reinforce what I’ve learned.

[@derpauleglot9772]

Maybe it´s a problem on my end but the French subtitles are about a completely different topic.

[@ariohandoyo5973]

This video talk about listen and reading, howver how if didn't understand what we listen or read? I'm weak on vocabulary, who's the same?😔

[@MohamedSalah-S]

when will lingq version 5 will be realsed

[@elleryprescott]

If you’re reading or listening WITHOUT tools such as Lingq, a dictionary, pictures, etc then it is NOT comprehensible input.

[@MohamedSalah-S]

When will lingQ version 5 would be available ?

[@Thelinguist]

Getting close.

[@eduardojablonski3442]

Hi, I am from Brazil and love to listen to you. I do it everyday. Well, I would like to know you personally. Is it possible? Can I travel and stay in a city near you? Well, I study 6 languagens everyday. I love it.

[@eduardojablonski3442]

I am an English teacher in Brazil for 30 years and I let my daughter fluent. And I promised her to take her to a country to listen to English. Then I thought to visit Canada.

[@alwayslearning7672]

I tried Lingq and I couldn't use it.It's way too complex.Way too much going on the screen.I spent more than an hour trying to understand what I needed to do. It seems 100% Explicit learning so not CI at all ,in my opinion. Translations doesn't really give you the meaning of a word, it's too vague/ grammar too abstract..In Spanish one word can be used in so many different contexts so looking up a word doesn't work .Translation is a lie.

[@huahuachao]

为什么你说的，基本上我都能听得懂？同样是一个介绍枪械的英文视频，听着听着就晕了（可能是美国当地方言吧）。