Tracking your language learning progress - how and why to do it

[@simplynin97]

one thing i love about lindie’s videos is that she isn’t afraid to tell us she does some things late or when she has a bad week of studying! there’s so much pressure with language learning to do something EVERY day. I always try my best to actively study every day but we all have off days. i love her realistic, “life happens” approach :)

[@dripdrip08]

it was very comforting to see "did nothing" on your calendar... nice to know im not the only one haha

[@tiramisunsun]

I hate plans and keeping track of anything in general it stresses me out. I just learn languages freely, depending of my moods and time. So far it helped me staying motivated as I don't feel trapped or stress about it. It's just pleasure.

[@promiseadat3896]

I used to hate planning or plotting out my activities, but if you plan the in small bits, you'll see its more successful than learning based on mood, but I also like your advice.

[@thaynaralima6428]

I need to do the same. I keep trying to plan and taking everything but this always stress me, I even spend more time planning than studying, I should stop doing it. When I started leaning English I had no idea how to do it, I didn't plan anything I just started and I think I should be doing it again 😅

[@m.m4999]

Lindie... I’m actually really curious about your career as a designer, can you perhaps do a video on that soon??

[@timothydouglas9474]

Dear Lindie, if you wish to share, it would be fascinating to see how your language skills and career complement each other. There are many excellent videos on learning languages (such as yours), but fewer on how language skills are integrated into everyday life - which helps to improve and maintain your language level.

[@SomedayKorean]

I also generally don't keep track of time spent studying, especially down to the minute. I've found that focusing on quantity over quality is generally a bad idea, and this is no exception. Some people may find the numbers motivating, and those people can do what works for them, but for me, it's always just either stressed me out, made me feel like I'm not doing enough, or distracted me away from what's actually important, which is my progress in the language.

[@agatamilian6419]

omg ... Same feelings as yours ... When I use a calendar to plan my, say, weekly study time, I get nervous very easily. What happens if I have health problems and one day is missing from my calendar? What if I'm just having a bad day and doing nothing? Tracking the progress of my language learning is very stressful for me. It seems to me that it is better to count how many chapters the book we use has and divide it into the number of days in a month. Knowing that I will finish the textbook in, for example, a month and having a planned trip, I can do two lessons in one day to maintain the learning rhythm.

[@amadeusmalonje8263]

Do what works for you :)

[@llawliet8164]

Your name's my goal XD

[@wolfzmusic9706]

I agree! When I tried tracking how much time I was learning the language for each day, when I didn’t hit that goal the next day, I felt really demotivated and guilty so now I just spend however much time I want & go at my own pace

[@SomedayKorean]

@@agatamilian6419 Yeah I think everyone has a way that works best for them. Setting a goal to do a specific amount in a textbook every day, for example, also stresses me out, but if that's motivating for you, then go for it! I tend to like to not make a ton of specific goals, because the second that I miss a day or don't do enough in a day, I feel like a failure haha.

[@jul4659]

Lindie: "there are people who have excel spreadsheets where they log exactly how many minutes they spent on language learning..." Me, currently updating my excel spreadsheet after reviewing Japanese for 33 minutes: 😇

[@LindieBotes]

So cute! No shade meant at all. Everyone has a different way of tracking!

[@n1ense]

I do this as well lol. For the last year I know exactly how much I have been studying every day.

[@jssmedialangs]

My biggest struggles: over complicating things. Even at this very moment my mind is going into overdrive over making a journal log, "Should I do a calendar? What kind of paper should I use? Should I get one for all my TLs? Maybe I should do a digital log? How should I set that up? Would both be best?" 😱😱😱 I hate when I do this... I am working to be more positive and remind myself that it's fine if I did passive activities because I'm still engaging the languages I'm studying. I'm gonna try out some of these. 😊 Thanks for the tips Lindie!

[@zYuL05]

Same same same. I hate this.

[@dafstube]

I’m intermediate in Japanese and that’s currently the language I’m more focused on, I take lessons on it and all. But whenever I can, I study a little bit of mandarin and korean (beginner), without much effort, just to keep going. For now I’m focused on the JLPT and I’ve decided that, when I pass the exam, I will focus on learning mandarin and korean for real. Thanks for your amazing videos! ありがとうございまーす

[@azzahraputri9021]

What's the best book for self-study Japanese? Is it marugoto? Or what books you used?

[@suunanmoon]

@@azzahraputri9021 Im using minna no nihongo and it is amazing, furthermore i’ve heard that genki books are good too.

[@layrehorana]

@Dafne Colares what level will you do?

[@sasuberu]

@@azzahraputri9021 Marugoto is a nice resource (especially b/c it's free!). The Genki books are well-structured and a nice exercise is to make personalized versions of the dialogues :). I also love the Erin-san resources because they cover a lot of the cultural basics, but they might be a little hard for beginners, so you might treat them as immersion materials to start: www.erin.jpf.go.jp/en/

[@dafstube]

@@azzahraputri9021 I actually study with the materials of my course (Kumon) so I've never actually used any books. But recently I've bought the Speed Master N1 grammar book because of Kemushichan's recommendation (an American youtuber who lives in Japan)

[@h0pe-h3r3]

BIG FAN AND LANGUAGE ENTHUSIAST FROM VIETNAM HERE! HOPE YOU'RE HAVING A GREAT DAY LINDIE!!!!

[@EklavyaGoyal]

Do Vietnamese in general use Chinese characters or romanised script?

[@nekie_neka]

👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 Thank you so much for this video. It took me winning a Korean Speaking Contest to realize that I've actually gone from beginner to intermediate. This is going to help me measure my progress as I go, from now on. Thank you always, Lindie!❤️❤️

[@londonerlearnsjapanese3337]

I used to keep a diary and TRY to translate it into Japanese. The only issue is that with lockdown, my life is SO boring that there's nothing new to write about.

[@jessearth]

Write about movies you watched, interesting stuff you found online, etc. Seeking new experiences (at home) to have something to write about could be a great positive feedback loop

[@londonerlearnsjapanese3337]

@@jessearth Good suggestion. The issue is when it becomes too abstract for my level I sometimes get frustrated. Will give it a shot!

[@delciojoaogermanosantos2803]

I used to do something alike when I was learning English. That helped me a lot . At the begining, It was interesting how fast my brain got exhausted when I was using english.

[@jessearth]

@@delciojoaogermanosantos2803 At some point I tried forcing myself to think in English until it became natural. It can be very frustrating at the start when you have a more limited vocabulary.

[@delciojoaogermanosantos2803]

@@jessearth undoubtedly.

[@wrenbayley]

Learning language is fun for me. When it stops being fun, I back off for a break, but won’t let myself quit completely. That ensures I return and continue enjoying the process. I also keep the pressure on myself at a minimum by reminding myself I have an entire lifetime to learn this. A little grace for ourself is good.

[@Ellary_Rosewood]

I have never tracked my progress with language learning, and it's definitely held me back, I think. I studied Japanese for years, got to a pretty advanced level, but then quit rather suddenly to focus on other languages. Now I can barely speak it or read it. I think that if I had kept track of my progress, it would have helped to be able to go back and look at all the work I did. I am currently trying to achieve fluency in Spanish, and have also started studying Swedish. I better start tracking my progress, especially if I plan on learning more and more languages my entire life! 😭

[@_Astrogirl_]

Don’t worry you can do it I’m also learning Japanese. I would say just consume japanese content and some new vocabulary or old vocabulary start coming back. Good luck you can do it👍🤗

[@M_SC]

Oh man that’s scary

[@ajgryffindor]

I'm in a similar boat. I started studying Japanese 12 years ago, but then took a long break until I went back to school and have been studying for 5 years. I never really tracked my learning and I really wish I had. But I'm going to start now, especially since I've just started learning Korean.

[@azzahraputri9021]

I was really fast to understand a language, I learnt (self-study) spanish 2 weeks back then in middle school, and I could understand how to make sentences I wanted to say, buuut.. i think it's also because I rarely use it now and I never tracked my progress :( that's sad, I've ever been in my lowest motivation. I need to be more motivated now, if I were more motivated and always trying to make time for this, I should've been able to speak Arabic, Spanish, and Turkish xo Hope we'll be fluent in languages we want as fast as possible and always get motivated for this! Greeting from Indonesian language enthusiast!

[@gamingbeast6629]

I don't buy your story that you forgot after getting to a pretty advanced level. You can simply revive the language with little to no effort. My bet would be that you didn't cross the input stage and quit ( Input = Understanding media without subs ).

[@Urriisx]

Thanks for the video. I'm living in the UK for few months and having trouble with my English. This video helps me alot.

[@yastrinka5628]

Tracking my progress is the hardest thing for me. Thanks, Lindie!

[@dearivy131]

Oh wow! You're learning Tagalog/Filipino language. I'm from the Philippines and currently studying Korean. So happy to know that there are still people like you who wanted to know/learn our language (Tagalog). 😊😊

[@susiemangilit2313]

Filipino subscriber here! Rooting for your TAGALOG study journey Lindie! 화이팅! ❤️✌️

[@englishdaily21]

Thanks Miss. Your videos is really useful for us. I'm a non native English speaker. I live in Indonesia, I speak Indonesian. I'm a student of English education at college. And I've been learning English for almost 2 years. But start studying it seriously for a year. I've always wanted to get fluency in English. Even sometimes I get confused while understanding the English spoken or written in any sources. I remembered when I was in the first time learning English, everything was really confusing and I couldn't able to speak at all. But you see now I can a little bit write a comment in English though, that'd mean my English is quite better now. However, mostly people will think their English or any target languages isn't improving at all but I disagree with that, cause every small things and small tracks will make something bigger unexpectedly. So we just don't realize that..

[@lifeafterleo]

Journaling and video logs are two things I’m focused on doing this year for my Spanish study. I’m looking forward to seeing how I progress over the year.

[@yoona3729]

I'm learning English and Korean I started with English and after of year I started with Korean, my progress is slow but I'm really happy that I can understand your videos, This is the firts time in writing a comment sorry for my writing

[@mult-tea6107]

You’re English is really well🥺

[@yoona3729]

@@mult-tea6107 Thanks🥺

[@maurizio5a]

Untill now I'm not interested about tracking my progress down writing them on a notebook or something else. Only because I usually spend my study time focused on the language. Surely I believe that be aware of own progress help to move forward and motivate yourself. Infact a couple of day ago I found an old note on which I wrote the words I wonted to memorize. At that time unknowns for me. Cheerfully I noticed today I know almost the whole of them. And this is the proof of my forward steps. This was a small reward for my mind.

[@ToonMageChannel]

Your Tagalog skill is actually very good and looks like a native. It's very understandable that it's hard. Maybe because of the different conjugations that has the same meaning in English but has different nuances and usages. Keep up the good work.

[@J11_boohoo]

To be honest, I really have to disagree with you. This isn’t meant to say she’s bad but we all start at somewhere and make mistakes right? But based from my observations... it doesn’t seem like a native, but hey everybody improves and I’m pretty sure she’ll be like a native soon.

[@sumbunny2009]

@@J11_boohoo when you say not like a native do you mean she is still quite bad or quite good but doesn't sound native yet(due to some mistakes)?

[@ToonMageChannel]

@@J11_boohoo What do you mean? I saw one essay of her that's native-like. If you're talking about Tagalog from Manila then you will say that what she constructed isn't very native because most of the people in Manila used Taglish but for the people in the provinces that speaks Tagalog, that's very native.

[@_akiraff]

It's fresh to see that people still use notebooks for organize calendars

[@JohnnyUtah488]

100% agreed, tracking is a great tool for any positive habit you're trying to develop. Even something as simple as putting a checkmark on your calendar might seem trivial, but it really helps keep the habit going. It motivates me on bad days to put in at least 5 minutes just to avoid the blank days of shame! It makes your progress feel more concrete. Without tracking, your effort just sort of disappears into the ether and is forgotten about.

[@kas7076]

Great video! a native Portuguese speaker here✋, I'm fluent in English and currently I'm studying German and Italian. ~ Ótimo vídeo! Eu sou um falante nativo de português, sou fluente em inglês e estou estudando alemão e italiano

[@phoenixhou4486]

Your videos always encourage me to study languages with more passion! You've really been a great inspiration to me. I also love languages 🇪🇸🇨🇳🇰🇷🇯🇵🇷🇺🇫🇷🇩🇪🇧🇷 and make videos about my language experience. I hope to make great content like yours!

[@monikaz8739]

I think I have the opposite problem from most people. I'd like to track my language learning to see what I need to work on, however I always forget to write down that I read a book, studied, watched a movie etc. and when I take a look at my language journal, it's almost empty. It looks like I don't study at all even though that's clearly not the case. Today I finished a Korean lesson in an app, I read an article in English, I had a conversation in my native language (Czech), I had a German italki lesson, I read an e-book comparison in German, I watched youtube videos in English, Korean and Spanish for about an hour and I wrote a few comments as well... and it's just 11 AM. I'm gonna watch series on Netflix and read a lot for the rest of the day because it's my day off. Except the italki lesson none of this feels like something worth writing down because it's just what I do every day for fun without even thinking about it or planning it.

[@hawaiiatif4929]

Hey I wanna ask how your able to learn German and Korean at the same time how do y manage your time

[@paulwalther5237]

My studying is so disorganized I've never been able to track it. But my new goal for Korean is to read 92 books. So I'm keeping track of each book I read. So far Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone read, working on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

[@e.l.f.teacher]

0:50 I agree with you. Some of my students who are fast learners do this! Well but I'm embarrassed cuz I haven't been doing this as a Japanese learners 🤥 I gotta start right now!

[@IKEMENOsakaman]

I love the bookshelf behind!

[@sophiexxx455]

Me too

[@okaniedavis3551]

I couldn't stop staring at it 😅

[@SpanishLanguageCoach]

I absolutely agree with you Linda, tracking is key to see results and stay focused and motivated. ¡Gracias!

[@Day-in-our-Lives]

Great video Lindie! Lots of wisdom there. I'm definitely a hardcore time tracker when it comes to learning Japanese. you know....for the people who are interested in taking a language to a fairly high level, tracking your progress is really beneficial, not just just for you, but for the people around you and the people that look up to you in the future.

[@J11_boohoo]

Little tip in Tagalog, mga usually always have either ng, ang or yung before it So, when you say: I like to read books. It’s not: Gusto kong magbasa mga libro. It has to be: Gusto kong magbasa ng mga libro. One quirky thing though is never switch ang/yung and ng, they should always match the verb Nagbasa ako ng mga libro Vs. Binasa ko ang mga libro The first sentence gives emphasis on you therefore you use ng to refer to the book While the second emphasizes the book which means you use ang, and the verb congugations also have to match up 1st: I read books 2nd: I read the books/ The books were read by myself

[@halimahashi3884]

As a polyglot this really is helpful I'm a huge fan of your channel. Please could you post more videos xxx

[@damien5688]

Your videos are inspiring for languages learners.

[@keyOfSoul88]

I just write down phrases in google translate and then reading them with translate and it really work. I reading phrase first in my mother tongue and then reading same phrase in my target language. It's easy way to learn languages. I feeling progress every day when I reading 200 phrases 5 times. It take at me about 3 hours per day to write down phrases and then read them. But I started use this method only ten days ago and for this ten days I made good progress because 1000 phases contain about 2.000 or 3.000 different words. Before I learn English wrong way and I had slow progress, but now I found for myself the best way to learn languages and I intend use this method during next 3 or 4 months to learn 6.000 words. Anyway this just my experience. Most main thing in that it's easy way to learn languages. You just reading phrases and all. Key in that you first reading phrase in your mother tongue and therefore you understand meaning all words from phrase. You reading foreign phrase like your native. I think that is really cool. Maybe this information will be useful someone. You can start since short phrases like "I'm going along the road" to understand each words and then you can cross to more long and difficult phrases like "I decided to go to abroad to see the world" or some else like that. It's really easy way because you haven't stress and tense and you can do it relax, especially if you like reading. Such way. For example 5 month ago I can't speak English at all. But that five month I read phrases without translate, look in translate only when misunderstand some kind of words. But now I relaise that when you reading phrases in two language in time these languages connect with each other and you starting understand foreign language. Anyway it's just my experience in English.

[@ChrisBadges]

Wow, this sounds interesting. I will definitely try it out. Thanks for sharing, Петр! This is the kind of gold nuggets I always hope to find in the comments.

[@birdeynamnam]

Depending on the language, Google Translate may not be accurate at all! I have found Papago to be much better with asian languages like Korean and Japanese

[@rokaiabahaa390]

I was feeling down today about my progress in Japanese but I thought " imagine what I'd learn in a year from now if I kept going" it'd really be helpful documenting progress

[@vivianaleon3208]

Thanks, I always lose motivation because I feel like I'm not moving forward and I think this will help me a lot 💖

[@maitequijada5173]

I love your videos, you have such good energy! You've inspired me today to start my own language learning journal seriously, I'm a native Spanish speaker and I learned English years ago but never took it seriously, and then learned some basic french and stopped. As of today, I will start practicing my English again, will return to french as well, and keep track of my progress. In fact, I will track my progress in every aspect of my life; as you put it out, I believe that I will give me some clarity and motivation to pursue my goals. Thank you so much!

[@eda1102]

I do much more immersion than i did last year and I think i will start tracking it, too! (mostly im curious about what other media i could add) I only learn one language (plus one other that im Curious about), so i dont have that much to track, but it could be useful seeing some patterns in my motivation/energy levels. thanks for the video, lindie!! c:

[@vozreni]

I like using a time tracker (I start the timer before opening up a study app on the train or something) simply because at the end of the week I can check back at what I was studying in order to notate it on my calendar (it encourages me to see on my calendar that I've done something, especially when I often forget when I have or haven't studied in a while), and then at the end of the month I can see a pie chart of what I was focusing on most, and decide if I want to change up how much of a certain thing I focus on. Also I like to have sit-down study time set to Pomodoros.

[@pursuitsforjoy2022]

Nakaksayang makita na may banyagang gustong matuto ng aming wika. Thank you for this. I hope you can reach your goals🤗

[@EFsuffolks]

I've now been on Busuu for the last hour! Thanks! I use Rosetta Stone (which I loved) so this is a great supplement for when I finish a language or need an extra boost! Awesome and thank you

[@PininPrada]

Hi I‘m from Thailand and I just found your channel and now you inspire me for learning language thank you so much!! This year I want to learn German,Chinese,Malay,and Spanish🔥❤️

[@promiseadat3896]

Hello! I am currently learning Thai, still in the alphabets but I can read some words, any tips?

[@PininPrada]

@@promiseadat3896 keep going! Thai is actually really hard right😂 I think try to learn it in sentence will help you a lot. You will remember the word in the sentence immediately! Like the basic conversation or something like that!🇹🇭

[@promiseadat3896]

@@PininPrada Yeah. It does appear hard at first, especially for someone like me, whose first approach was not to learn the alphabet but sentences, but know that I am learning the alphabets everything seems more clearer. Thanks for the advice.

[@ellyna4057]

@@promiseadat3896 I’m currently studying thai as well. Would be great if we could be language partner

[@ellyna4057]

@@promiseadat3896 I’m currently studying thai as well. Would be great if we could be language partner

[@jacquelinevelez1982]

I just bought Busuu and I love it. Thank you for all your tips🙏💞!

[@Swiss_Mountain_Girl]

5:06 This suggestion is great! Thank you so much for all your effort, I love your videos! 😊

[@JerryRegistre]

Awesome tips, Lindie! So cool to see another product person using product concepts for language learning. I've been loving documenting my Spanish journey through video this year and can't wait to continue 🚀

[@becky3362]

Thank you Lindie, this video has really helped me out! For the longest time I have been trying to figure out the best way to track my progress in Spanish and I finally have a way to do it :)

[@Tameem-r6y]

Hey Lindie! I just wanted to mention that in 4:42 you wrote beaucoup de la Musique in French when it should be beaucoup de musique. Happy language learning.😅

[@thenaturalyogi5934]

I have gold list notebook, an everything notebook (where I write anything and everything in the target langauge which is European Portuguese at the moment) where I also list the daily hours I spend on the language listening, reading, etc, and I have a spread sheet for verbs and conjugations for whenever I feel like looking at it but I don't really look at it daily, and I have a gold list calendar spread sheet I like all the notebooks so that helps me. I'm 2 months into this and I'm still enjoying myself so far. All I keep thinking is that I know more today than yesterday because even in the languages I speak at home with my parents there are still a ton of words I don't know how to say in Hokkien or Cebuano but I have been speaking these 2 languages for 20 plus years. I'm the most fluent in English but that's because there is A LOT of content Netflix is 99.9% English so of course that's what I know, you know?

[@talulasaur]

i would love to see how you structure your studies for tagalog!!

[@kimberlyfrank7422]

Thanks for the tips! I'm currently learning german and trying to enhance my english too. i'm actually making a plan on how to track my progess. So this literally helped me a lot! Btw i would like to correct your tagalog sentences (3:38). I hope it is ok for you. "Natuto / Nag aral ng tagalog ngayong araw sa kapehan. Gusto kong magbasa ng mga libro. Nagbabasa ako ngayon ng libro sa Starbucks habang umiinom ako ng tsaa."

[@tharukik]

Good luck Lindie... 🥰 You're motivated me so much いつもありがとう…！

[@sweetpotato5464]

Hey Lindie! Thanks for your update and your pieces of advice. What I do to track my productivity actually rather than progress is a weekly tracking journal. For instance, I want to train my listening in Spanish so I have a little calendar of the month in my journal where I add check marks on all days when I watched something. And because I decided to do it three times a week, whenever I see that a week is ending and I only have two check marks, I add Spanish listening to my to-do list so I don't forget to do it and accomplish my goal for the week! And I have the same for some other tasks such as learn new vocabulary, use some specific apps, and get a unit in the textbook done.

[@zsofianagy2651]

I love your videos! After I watched one of your videos, I always feel better to learn languages! I learn english, german and korean. Thanks for this video and have a nice day! P.S.: A videóid alapján ítélve szerintem nagyon jól beszélsz magyarul! 😉

[@marianaamdarosa57]

I'm currently struggling to find a good way to track and plan my language learning. Writing and posting a text/diary entry on language forums has worked so far, I think I'll try to incorporate recording myself reading these texts. Also, I guess I'll try your weekly spread for planning :)

[@melissat9120]

I need to learn how to be disciplined AND flexible haha. You are so inspiring, Lindie! ♡

[@leticiaalbino5757]

I've been studying Korean for almost 2 months but the first one was almost wasted because I didn't plan well 😅 this time I'm making a monthly spread with every lesson I have to take and it's working so far (I've been studying almost every day because my classes haven't started yet). I think I will start to make diary entries and record myself once I learn more vocabulary 😁

[@haileeyuuno6233]

Stumbled on this video on searching how to improve my german.. thank youuu! i'll start tracking and build up motivation too. i do agree though that tagalog is hard to learn.. i somehow do think that it is a whole lot easier when it comes to grammar, just that it's hard to find media(like dramas/variety shows) or even filipinos who speaks tagalog well. it;s like 80% of the population speaks taglish

[@tattledorf]

Loved this video!! I definitely feel inspired to start tracking my study habits now. I've been slacking now that a new school semester has started, but I think incorporating it into my bullet journal and visually seeing how often I push myself to study will help a lot :) Will definitely start writing diary entries in other languages too (or in English and then translating haha). I grew up in a Viet speaking household and seeing you study it has motivated me to not only start learning new languages but also work on my fluency in my second and third languages

[@timothydouglas9474]

I like the idea of writing down one's successes - thanks!

[@okaniedavis3551]

I'm going to try video and journal logs to track my progress and see how that goes.

[@hereinspiration227]

your writing style is so cool

[@nickb1178]

Your videos are amazing and you are such a lovely person. Thank you for your content!

[@justmejus]

My Tagalog isn't the best, but just a few corrections on 3:38. The root of Natutulog is "tulog" which means to sleep. ("Natutulog ang Tagalog" = Tagalog is sleeping.) Perhaps you meant Nag-aaral ako ng Tagalog ngayon? ("I am studying Tagalog now"). And in the sentence that begins with "Gusto kong magbasa" it needs a "ng" as an object marker for what you're reading ("mga libro"). And lastly, I think "magbasa" is in the infinitive, so it wouldn't make sense to leave it in that form. If you want to say that you're reading a book, you can say "nagbabasa ako ng libro..." Or if you want it in the past tense, "Nagbasa ako ng libro..." I hope this helps!

[@Pat-Van-Canada]

Hi Lindie. Just some corrections to the corrections :) "Gusto kong magbasa" is correct. Verbs moved further back from the predicate position become verbal nouns and they do not always have to be in infinitive but often are. You can study or read Tagalog so both magaral or magbasa would be correct. if you say "nagbabasa ako ng libro" you have lost the modal of "wanting" so it is not the same sentence. I have tons of Tagalog books, my wife and live-in mother-in-law speak Tagalog and Ilocano. You may find Ilocano must easier than Tagalog although there are less resources to learn it. Tagalog is actually very difficult as the object/actor focus system is very irregular and Taglish is contaminating everything. You have to treat it as an irregular language just like French or English, it is just not the tense/aspect that is irregular but the affix system. No one can predicate which verb affixes will be required to switch from actor focus to object focus. It is often mag- to -in or -um- to -in but there are many combinations and sometimes there is no matching affix. I was actually going to contact you to see if we could pay you for Afrikaans help. If you need any help at all, we are here for you.

[@justmejus]

@@Pat-Van-Canada Thanks! Sorry regarding "magbasa" I was actually referring to two different sentences that she wrote in her notebook. In her first sentence, it said "Gusto kong magbasa mga libro." It just needed a "ng" as in "Gusto kong magbasa [ng] mga libro." Something minor. And in her second sentence she put "Magbasa ako ng libro sa Starbucks ngayon." I suggested conjugating the verb differently... Anyway I agree that Tagalog is quite complex. I spent my childhood in the Philippines, but I've gotten quite rusty in my Tagalog, so I could be wrong.

[@Pat-Van-Canada]

@@justmejus Ah! I get it, yes you are right :) Lindie, this is hard to do in the comments but here I go. actor focus version = AFV object focus version = OFV Let's mix English and Tagalog. Ate(AFV) ang squirrel ng mga nut(the squirrel ate some nuts) Ate(OFV) ng squirrel ang mga nut(a squirrel ate the nuts) the language is held together with particles not word order. The AFV verb means the ang marks the actor and the OFV means the ng marks the actor. This is needed to switch the object between "a" and "the". Actually Tagalog has some simple parts but when you need to switch between "a nut" and "the nut" it is pure murder as almost the whole sentence has to be reworded. Tagalog instruction books are horrible and some are so bad that you are better off not to have read them. None of them warn of the irregularities. "Ate(AFV) ng mga nut ang squirrel" means the same thing too, notice the word order change. I personally imagine it as if there are blocks, predicate block, ang bloc, ng block, sa block. The word order inside the block matters but the sa, ng and ang blocks can all be moved around but the predicate block comes first.

[@justmejus]

Lindie, I'm not sure if you'll see this, but here's a Tagalog teacher with some videos that might help with Tagalog verbs. I think she explains things in a methodical way: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oHumdZmQoZyIq6s​ and kzbin.info/www/bejne/h3KacneXd757b7M are helpful videos for this topic. @@Pat-Van-Canada I appreciate this conversation! This is something that I don't even really think about when speaking Tagalog. You're right. It really depends on the form of the verb that you're using. In the case of the verb "to eat" ("kain" being the root), for past tense, there's "kumain" (AFV) vs "kinain" (OFV). Using the former, you can either say "Kumain ang ardilya ng mga mani" or "Kumain ng mga mani ang ardilya" (The squirrel ate the peanuts). Using the latter, "Kinain ng ardilya ang mga mani" or "Kinain ang mga mani ng ardilya" (The peanuts were being eaten by the squirrel). It's a subtle difference... I guess active vs passive voice? That's how I understand it anyway.

[@Pat-Van-Canada]

@@justmejus Me too, thanks for your posts :) I personally don't like the terms actor focus vs object focus. The passive voice you describe is also the normal way people talk about this but it didn't help me much. I can't map it to English because we rarely use the passive. I just think of it as a chain reaction. There can only be one "ang" in a sentence so if the direct object is marked by an "ang" class marker(si, sila, ang etc) the actor has to be marked with a "ng" class marker(ni, nila, ng etc) and if the actor is a ng class there has to be another verb that means the same thing but has the ng marked object as the actor. Does this make sense? I joined a Tagalog forum one time and I was pretty much shouted out of the forum :) I don't know if everyone agrees with me but the way that the books lay the language out makes no sense what-so-ever to me. Thanks again!

[@nadiasabbah5042]

well organized ; مرتبة جدا👍

[@yourfirstsecondlanguage4782]

I really really need to start doing this!

[@lijae3900]

Your videos really help me to stay motivated :)) Thank you Lindie! Have a nice day and stay healthy and happy!

[@ana.elolivero]

BIG FAN! JUST THE VIDEO THAT I NEEDED. THANKS A LOT ❤👑

[@Flauschbally]

Thank you for this interesting video. I really liked the way you keep track of your language learning progress. Especially the journals/notebooks and the diaries in your target languages. Thx for all the ideas. I love journaling but haven't really used it for languages. I will have a try on it. All the best and have a lovely weekend. See you soon. 😊

[@amadeusmalonje8263]

You're so organized, I dig it

[@lucasleroux706]

I use the application 番茄ToDo, it’s perfect for me. It tracks the number of hours I spent on learning a certain language. Sometimes I am busy learning all the time but there are a lot of distractions. With this app it’s impossible to cheat.

[@Niervs]

I’m so excited to hear that you’re learning Filipino. Good luck Lindie! Laban lang sis!

[@wayfarexx]

Thank you for sharing 💖☺️ I love your video contents. God bless and stay safe.

[@lijae3900]

I just use a notebook where I write my goals for the day down and later in the evening I check what I actually achieved and what I didn't do. (I hope my sentence was understandable haha)

[@ChrisBadges]

Perfectly comprehensible/understandable. Well done!

[@hasyaamj]

what kind of goal do you write? like "understand when to use 감사합니다", and so on?

[@lijae3900]

@@ChrisBadges Thank you. 😅

[@lijae3900]

@@hasyaamj Yes ☺️

[@missdblogs3311]

I'm learning both French and Korean. I'm beginner in Korean and I'm an intermediate in French. Is it doubtful to learn two languages at the same time ???

[@tessa8147]

In your case, I don't think it is since Korean and French are very different languages and you speak them at different levels, so normally that should work :)

[@nelloed]

not at all! they’re both hard, yes, but i recommend mainly focusing on one for a set time (ex: korean on one day and french the next) rather than both at once. i’m learning korean, mandarin chinese, italian, and spanish and i basically do that. it helps a lot in not jumbling it all together

[@CassRudolph]

I speak fluent French and intermediate Korean and you’re going to find it a bit easier to pronounce Korean because you know French! There’s some sound crossover that doesn’t happen in the English language.

[@Sarah-tq2jx]

So many people say it is, but if you don’t mind progressing slightly slower in both languages, it’s fine. I studied French, Spanish and Catalan at the same time during university and never had any problems.

[@emrebennett2857]

It's all about time. If you learn 2 languages, you either need to study twice as much or study the same amount and move at half speed. I study Arabic (B2), Turkish (b1), mandarin (A2), Bangla (A1), darija (A2 - b1).. if I just focused on 1 language I would progress a lot faster. But I spend 2-3 hours a day studying and it is enough to progress in all of them

[@sharmainekoh1751]

I really love your contents! It's always worth to watch! Thank you for keeping us motivated and good luck with your Tagalog!

[@kenkaneki4926]

Wow im happy she is interested in tagalog language .....im from Philippines

[@Akira-ut2vr]

Thank you so much for this! Your tagalog is very good too

[@fuchsadler]

I'm currently learning Italian and Hindi, with focus on Italian and I keep track of the progress with a calendar-colour-system. If I've done everything or at least most things planned on a day I'll colour it green, If I've done something I'll colour it yellow and if I've nothing I'll colour it red. And although red means "nothing done today" it's not bad

[@_Astrogirl_]

That’s cool I never heard of the combination good luck🤗👍

[@alobo_78]

Thanks for sharing Lindie! Have a good weekend.... 😊

[@hectorulisescarrillovazque43]

I love this idea I"ll try it thank a lot ☺️☺️

[@philippepires1159]

Great video Lindie as usual. If I may bring a correction: 4:42 "J'ai écouté bcp DE musique en français aujourd'hui" (the article is unneeded). Keep it up!

[@luciazito5239]

Thanks for the video! I love your handwriting :)

[@Erika-pq7ip]

I love how you wrote 생리 사작 RELATABLE😂

[@itsyuraaaa]

hi Lindie! i love this video so much, i never would've thought of writing diary entries in the language you're studying! i'll definitely start doing that ^^ could you perhaps do a video on using keyboards for languages with different scripts like Korean & Japanese sometime? take care!

[@viniciusps01]

Thank you, Lindie. You've provided a great content :)

[@monskie1111]

Woaaaah a lot of languages to learn.. while I'm here, still an english tomatoooo

[@krisztasiko1146]

Hey! I'm hungarian, thank you for learning our language :) It's pretty difficult, but good luck, you got this!

[@Limonada_RC]

I love you a Lot, You inspired me to learn more Languages and motivation know another people to study Languages it is amazing, Hug from Panamá. I study french and english.

[@giulianovara7884]

Thanks Lindie ! I have just had my first japanese language

[@JonathanOlelo]

Hi Lindie, Great ways of tracking your progress! I personally believe that tracking the progress is A MUST when learning a language. There is no (reliable) way of knowing when you stand, and how far are you from your goals without doing that

[@FernandaLopes35]

Não entendo nada do que ela fala nós vídeos,pois às vezes tem legendas em português. Mas amo esse canal!!

[@lisalilly4529]

Oi! Você é brasileira? Estou aprendendo potugues e falo um pouco.

[@ildikomelindacsabina3291]

Hello Lindie! Tök jó olvasni a magyar bejegyzéseidet. Nem tudom jól láttam-e de egy helyen az volt hogy hájra (hajrá helyett) ezt lehet szeretnéd javítani, mert eléggé mást jelent. Remélem nem sokára én is tudok majd így írni koreaiul és hollandul is. Vigyázz magadra.

[@naldozero]

Wow you’re also learning Tagalog. Galing!

[@celinaduguay6484]

I date all of the notes I take, I make videos and upload them to my KZbin channel to document my progress and I have a couple different Instagram accounts for different languages I learn where I post things I learn. I recently started sharing my language journey on Twitter.

[@iosebdzamukashvili5360]

Tracking and this stuff takes so much time. I'd rather invest this time in studying. I have been doing Spanish everyday for 4 months at least 1-3 hours a day and I have got B1+ already. Success in learning languages to me is all about constant motivation and willingness. Tracking would put me under immense pressure. Learning language should be more relaxing and not something one "has to do". Just my viewpoint.

[@lauren808]

But you can learn through “tracking”. What she was talking about with keeping journal entries and videos, that helps you practice and also track. Also, going back and looking at them helps you learn from your mistake and learn what works, which helps you learn :)

[@juciaralutz2182]

Thanks for all the inspiration

[@alexandraennis4075]

I was curious on how you feel about the "Natural Approach" and TPRS way of learning a language? It advocates no grammar, but a lot of listening, reading and learning "command words". Their take on it is you should learn like a small child learns to speak and then learn grammar later in school after they can speak the language. I really enjoy all your videos and have decided to add some languages to the ones I already can speak - French and Spanish. Afrikaans and Italian are next.. :)

[@monikaz8739]

In case you don't mind I'll share my opinion as well. After finding out about Natural Approach I tried to learn a language without studying grammar first and it worked great with German. I got to a B1+ level just from listening A LOT and reading the whole Harry Potter series without translating anything or even without actually trying to understand - I know the story anyway. I did look up the rules for pronunciation. I started taking grammar lessons a few months ago (about 1.5-2 years after I started) and it's so much easier to understand the grammar when you already undestand the sentences. Surprisingly I can actually hold a conversation but I started regular conversation lessons as well to improve. I have had good results with learning Spanish this way too. On the other hand, this lazy version of this method doesn't seem to work for learning Korean, it's just too different from what my brain already knows and can work with. It'd probably work much better if I actually had someone who would talk to me and teach me naturally. I still believe that lots of input and not overdoing it with grammar at the beginning (if you're not someone who particularly enjoys learning grammar - I kinda have a feeling that Lindie is) are the most important things when learning any language.

[@astre_armor]

I need to find a bookshelf this great 😭