Why Can't Adults Learn Languages Like Children?

Kids learn languages really easily, don't they? There's this thing in your brain that just works it out -- but it switches off when you're an adult. Right? Well, maybe. But it's not that simple.
Written with GRETCHEN MCCULLOCH: gretchenmcculloch.com - / gretchenamcc
[Update: her book BECAUSE INTERNET is out July 2019! gretchenmcculloch.com/book/ ]
More from Gretchen at ALL THINGS LINGUISTIC: allthingslinguistic.com - / allthingsling
Directed by MATT GRAY: mattg.co.uk - / unnamedculprit
And more from me: tomscott.com - / tomscott

[@awddfg]

*_I'm fluent in several languages, american, new zealander, australian, english, canadian, and british_* Several of these I hate

[@cakeisyummy5755]

What about scots leid? Some People say it's just a dialect of english.

[@nikolasforward4272]

I'm fluent in all those languages and Greek and andestand lots of words in Cyprian

[@ronwesilen4536]

Im good at those and spanish mexican peruan argentinian puertorriqueño cuban colombian and a buttload of other countries, also galician portuguese and brazilian.

[@joshuabang1437]

You forgot jamaican with a bad accent, south african, and the second official language of india

[@MatmoeLP]

@@joshuabang1437 U think of those but not good ol' Ireland?

[@laxy3932]

Me learning English... At school: 1% social online : 99%

[@acutechicken5798]

That is the nice thing about English. Just don't use internet slang in formal papers!

[@zthreetwo9874]

Quite literally

[@laxy3932]

Actually I learned 7 language English, Italian, France, Latin, Bangla, Urdu, hindi.

[@ougi_rk]

@@laxy3932 That's so cool! I have learned only 2 (Brazilian Portuguese[my native one] and English. On my way to japanese!)

[@justyouraveragehumanbeing7411]

@@ougi_rk yea, im trying to learn japanese too. I want to learn a language with a different alphabet, but chinese is way too hard in my opinion, and so is russian... And everything else, so im trying japanese instead

[@cyb3r1]

As a Greek native speaker I struggled with distinguishing words like full and fool, ship and sheep, cut and cat because there are fewer vowel sounds in Greek and my brain had already categorized those sounds as one.

[@rushboy9039]

I’m learning Greek in school. Any tips? I hope to be fluent enough to survive a week in Greece

[@multiversetraveller3118]

Huh? Doesn't english only haave five vowel letters? Does greek have even less than that? Or perhaps I'm making a wrong assumption.

[@nuclearbomb9483]

@@multiversetraveller3118 there's five vowels but a ridiculous number of ways to pronounce them

[@rushboy9039]

@@nuclearbomb9483 there is three “i/ee” vowels, two “o” vowels, luckily one “a” vowel.

[@diegocruz5190]

@@rushboy9039 what?

[@cemadiby]

Me as child: No interest in learning Me as an adult: No brain for learning

[@Toaraja953]

Honestly, I want to go back to my childhood with an already smart mind

[@user-em3rw3im3v]

i have to admit you r definitely right.children can not realize the temporary advantage until their brain fully developed and gift totally faded😢

[@NithinJune]

Lesson: Tom Scott really wants to learn french

[@Avocado-yw4xb]

E

[@qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm2528]

@@Avocado-yw4xb E

[@wilsonanderson1415]

E

[@hanaboskova]

As far as I know, learning French is "must do" of every kid from Western Europe. I know that Dutch kids learn English, German, and French since they are little

[@midnight-show]

Wait that's illegal

[@If_Only_I_Knew_Why]

Slightly unrelated to the topic at hand, but... I had an awesome French teacher that could speak both French and English fluently and actively switch between the two any time he wanted. Well, one day he had to get his wisdom teeth removed and he was worried about saying embarrassing things as he woke up from the surgery, so before he was sedated he began to think in French. It worked! He woke up speaking French and the surgeon was a little freaked out as a patient who he only knew could speak English just woke up from HIS surgery speaking French.

[@dooplon5083]

HAHAHA! XD Nice!

[@albertohinojosa8729]

I can do the same thing with Spanish and English...I live in the Northern Mexican border, (As north as you can get, there's literally a bridge to the US in my city) I literally have no accent at all, and I can speak naturally, joke and do other stuff to the same extent as I can do in my mother language, it's literally like so deeply into my brain I can see videos in spanish and switch to another one in english, and don't even notice.

[@NovaPrima]

+Alberto Hinojosa Everyone has an accent. Americans accents are particularly strong too. So you literally do have an accent.

[@albertohinojosa8729]

NovaPrimeStyle I meant to say that my original accent doesn't exist anymore...it's gone, now I speak american-ish

[@dooplon5083]

Alberto Hinojosa Even in Spanish?

[@henrysun5660]

I learned Mandarin Chinese very quickly as a child, but over time I forgot almost all of it. It’s actually crazy when I look back at my old writing and speaking and wonder: “how did I even know that?”

[@larawabsie]

I did the exact same thing! Grew up in an English household but my mother always spoke to me in Mandarin. Unfortunately I'm out of practice, since I don't have the need for it anymore :(

[@chench1lla]

I moved to the states at 10 and forgot all my Chinese.

[@idkwhattoputhere5503]

@@chench1lla same for me but with a diff language, moved to the states at 9 and forgot all my hindi

[@nawbruhawhellnaw]

I am from Germany how you learn Englisch

[@FrozenMermaid666]

Anyway, if one really learns a language and sees the words enough times, one cannot forget the language - even though Chinese is one of the most forgettable languages with mostly short words that look the same, if one would have seen each word at least 50 to 100 times, each word would have become part of his permanent memory, and would have been a part of the passive vocabulary if the language wouldn’t have been used, so maybe the words just weren’t seen enough times, so they were only a part of the temporary memory, if the language was forgotten...

[@andersaxmark5871]

The only established advantage that children have in decades of research is: accent. Adults are actually better at grammar

[@dhshbshxbdhehe9230]

If a child were to go to school in a completely different country where they dont know the language, they would learn much faster than an adult, grammar wise aswell

[@carloscorona3143]

@@dhshbshxbdhehe9230 Adults can learn how to read faster than children, an reading is the fastest way to learn vocabulary an grammar, the advantage children have is free time.

[@kjn3350]

@@dhshbshxbdhehe9230 Probably not grammar, because I know a lot of people who are much worse than me at Greek grammar, though they have had a lot more time in Greece and with the people than I have. Perfect grammar is more of a taught trait than a learned trait, so adults will be better at it.

[@penultimania4295]

No they would not. Stop with this bs.

[@fernandoroberts3591]

i moved from brazil to the UK in 2017 (when i was 13) and learned english fluently in about a month, im going to turn 17 in 2 months.

[@max2themax]

I learned English through growing up with KZbin... almost entirely stopped watching content in my native language when I was about 13. Schools almost never taught me any English, all hail KZbin and online Movies/TV Shows.

[@Rossilaz58]

What's your native language?

[@anavila5741]

Same... it’s gotten me to a C1 level so I can’t complain lmao

[@ricplays5905]

Same

[@mikearsen4580]

Same

[@irgendwieanders2121]

@@Rossilaz58 If I had to guess: German or something nearby...

[@sporkafife]

At university, I had an Italian friend who had enough of an understanding of English to hold a meaningful conversation, but she told me she was always doing a "conscious translation" in her head, but by the end of 3 years speaking English, she said that her understanding of English was fundamentally different, and now she was intrinsically understanding the language instead of running it through a translator in her head. Kind of crazy!

[@zarblitz]

sporkafife It takes a while to get there but that's when you can really start calling yourself fluent. It took about a year of immersion for my Spanish to get there, but I knew I was close when I started dreaming in Spanish.

[@cardett75]

sporkafife the same for me, i even thought i would never be fluent in english

[@Schindlabua]

sporkafife I've been learning and speaking english since elementary school (so, for roughly 15 years) now and it's gotten to a point at which I sometimes can't even translate what I just said into german (my native language) off the top of my head if I am asked to, especially if it's idiomatic expressions or some such. My english and my german are like two completely seperate things. Totally weird!

[@Pac0Master]

AluminumHaste Nice to know that you have come in Québec. I am native from there. English is my second Language and it start to become automatic now. I almost understand everything without thinking about it. However I screw it up often when I try to speak it... Weids :x

[@luksenborg]

Schindlabua I've been learning english too for about 9 years and my native language is danish, but I feel exactly the same way.. there are some sentences in english that I fully understand, but I just can't find the words for it in danish. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one having this problem

[@bambon5568]

FUN FACT: I was born and raised in Germany and grew up hearing German and Hungarian from my parents. Since I was about 10 years old (I'm 17 now) I've spent so much time online watching videos/films, listening to music and communicating in video games in English that it's become my main language to think in. Of course I don't always have to translate in my head when I speak in German or Hungarian but when I'm alone I've completely stopped thinking in German.

[@aszher]

I have the same thing but in Spanish instead of German/Hungarian I've spent so much time learning and consuming stuff in English it's just stuck as my default language in my inner monologue. Sometimes I even feel I can express myself better in English

[@Blankult]

Same as me. I'm brazilian and portuguese is not the language i think in. I think it also helps a lot to learn the language, despite never speaking out loud (so no text) with other people my accent is fairly good, i'd say better than most brazilians who studied the language, just because i had years worth of practice in my head

[@srinidhisrinivas9434]

Grew up in India and English is my best language mostly because of Internet :) (and schooling, but many people still speak their local language mainly despite it)

[@hiierophnt]

Same. I live in Italy but I hear both Italian and Romanian on a daily basis. I am very interested in English so I spend my time listening, reading and writing in it. I cannot stand listening to Italian and Romanian as I got used to English

[@catalinaa766]

But do you still live in Germany? Because if you do, I don’t understand how it’s possible for English to become your dominant language

[@michoislost]

i learned English as a dumb kid watching cartoons with subtitles online and honestly it took me about 4-5 years to actually start integrating myself into the English-speaking internet. It takes time! so don't get demotivated if you're not learning fast enough because trust me, you are. The thing about learning another language is the more you know the faster and easier it is to learn. Don't give up!

[@alwynwatson6119]

Even if a dyslexic person magically knew over 100 somehow it would be impossible to learn a new one.

[@michoislost]

@@alwynwatson6119 what are you talking about lmao

[@alwynwatson6119]

@@michoislostSome people just can't learn any kind of language under any conditions.

[@KarlRock]

Thank you, Tom. Learning languages just takes hard work

[@antonjust]

tjoijojojojowtojojojojotjojojojwjojojotjojojowjojojtojojojwtoj jotwojwtjotwojwtjowjowtjottjwojotjtojtowtjowwottowjwowjowjtowtjowtjowjtjtowjtwotjojtwtojwtjowtojwtjotwojtwjowtjowtjojowtjowttojtwjotowjwtjowtjowtjotwjowtojwtjowtjowtjowtojwtojwtjowtojwtjowjowjotojwtjowtojwtojtwojtwjowjtotjwojotjot rwrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[@YashSharma-wu7kr]

आपने इस मुश्किल काम को अच्छी तरह पूरा किया है, कार्ल भ्राता।

[@rumnavogopal7722]

Arey kal rock!! Nahi chahiye ji😂

[@osku2290]

Joo

[@markzucc4480]

Scammer!

[@DailyFlux]

I'm fluent in 3 languages. C#, Java, VBnet..

[@nnslife]

C# - 👍 Java, VBNet - 👎

[@sodiboo]

I’m fluent in JavaScript, patriotism and ikea

[@BrownOpsLeak]

Игорь Коняхин why you don’t like java????

[@nnslife]

@@BrownOpsLeak because it is (or at least used to be, I don't follow Java) underdeveloped C#. C# devs basically took Java and made it much better. Unless you have specific library/framework which forces you to choose Java, I would advice to look elsewhere (C# for GameDev, Python for machine learning, etc.)

[@sodiboo]

Игорь Коняхин but what about making minecraft mods

[@harshbarj]

I'd argue that's it's not actually "easy" for children to learn languages. Much like it's not actually easer for children to pick up new skills. It's all a matter of free time. Something children tend to have plenty of.

[@jankisi]

Nah, when making kids learn instruments for example they make a lot of progress although they don't practise a lot. Adults in contrast have to practise longer and more frequently for the same progress.

[@jankisi]

@@polecat3 Okay, I guess. When I started (I wasn't forced) I practised three times a week maximum. Usually only once a week and I learned quite fast (started with seven). Though I guess adults practise more efficiently

[@longbeardbobson4710]

Its not even necessarily a free time thing so much as childrens time is all about learning. A baby doesn't have any choice but to listen to those around him and try to talk. And it still takes them years.

[@JustinK0]

adults tend to spend much less time listening than babies thats why its harder for adults. sure they can memorize things faster but thats not really language and communication but just regurgitate words.

[@gizmo3728]

In the world of chess people usually If not always become good as childs and not if they pick up the game as adults

[@3lsibob426]

I low key remember like 10 years ago I was rejected from Spanish class for being too “old” I was 6

[@flaglag7672]

Chinny reckon.

[@1gorSouz4]

what the hell hahaha

[@3lsibob426]

@Devin Dewitt yes.

[@Acro_LangLearn]

What

[@BigAssNigga311]

@@3lsibob426 Damn that's ducked🦆 up.

[@lrdalucardart]

Main difference between Children and Adutls is... as as kid you learn cause you need it, meanwhile as an adult, you learn it because you want to. This makes a huge difference.

[@yusurkassem4174]

Unless you move to a country and start needing that language

[@pickk90]

@@yusurkassem4174 then it depends on how much effort you are willing to put once you manage to get comfortable. It's easy to depend on you kids or to learn just enough to get by

[@Deepa-fq8xk]

Most underrated comment

[@Whillyy]

@@pickk90 agreed, i had a korean friend that helped her parents to translate even though they lived in france for years. The girls didn't even had an accent nor anything, the parents just didn't care to learn the language. while some people(like Dogen for japanese) can sounds like natives just because they put the effort in it

[@lilia3944]

Another point is that young children aren't as easily embarrassed as most adults. Kids start with little skill in a language, and they read children's books and they talk to people, while adults often start with easy, but insanely boring material and don't speak the language for fear of embarrassment.

[@sable5689]

I am a 13-year-old german, lived my whole life in Germany, but i think in English very often. I often even forget the german word for something.

[@saboo_tage]

same with me and norwegian. globalisation at its best.

[@TheRooster1337]

Yeah don't worry, you're not unique, the majority of people who has english as a second language does it.

[@thevoidreturnsnull62]

As a native English speaker, that's not so unusual -- I (and many other native speakers) forget the English word for things even though we don't speak a second language. In fact, maybe it would be an advantage to have 2 words for the same thing so that you have a better chance of still being able to speak. ;) Us monoglots merely sit there trying desperately to remember the word we're looking for, because we only have one language to remember it from.

[@TheLadysAtelier]

I'm 14, live in germany too, but russian is my mother tongue and I think interchangeably in all three languages, really. Though I do find myself mostly thinking in english

[@shatteredpitch9182]

how did you learn English? I'm a U.S. kid who only knows one language so I want to learn German

[@Nojah_Kruskie]

I’m surprised that there has never been a study to replicate a child’s experience with language and culture in an adult. If there was someone who has no familiarity with a certain language and they went to live in that country for let’s say 4 years with two native speakers of that language to help the subject out with day to day stuff while only speaking in their native language, that would be an accurate portrayal of a child’s experience and give them a chance to pick up on language and social norms. If something like this was done, I’m sure it would answer a lot of questions we have about this topic.

[@thekoifishcoyote8762]

The tricky part there is ethics

[@angeloszenelaj5338]

@@thekoifishcoyote8762 What ethical concerns would this experiment raise?

[@thekoifishcoyote8762]

​@@angeloszenelaj5338 Off the top of my head: 4 years is a very long time to be forcefully isolated from everyone you know pre-experiment, including whatever job(s) that person had. Had, not has, because there's almost no way someone's keeping their job after that long away.

[@dorol6375]

@@thekoifishcoyote8762 I can think of solutions to this: 1. Do it with a community where the person can speak only 1 language, but all of his friends and family happen to be bilangual/get taught the language by the researchers. Even though unlikely, it is possible. 2. The person could be given a new job/supported by the researchers.

[@theblinkingbrownie4654]

​@@thekoifishcoyote8762naturally it should be volunteer and they should be able to quit any time

[@arri6267]

2:37 "have a distinction between p and p^h" *Proceeds to aspirate both P's*

[@chandanadutta9962]

Pappu Loser wala Edit: I'm not a BJP or Congi supporter. Don't attack.

[@thevalarauka101]

​@@blazybb6872 to be fair, English usually weakly aspirates voiceless stops (p, t, k) at the start of words or stressed syllables, so I think he may have done the English thing and aspirated it a little also, I can easily pronounce p^h. my trouble is saying the unaspirated p and telling it apart from b and p^h

[@antopolskiy]

The thing is, adults are rarely in a situation where they are FORCED to learn the language like kids are. When I started to work in a lab abroad and had to other ways of communicating, I picked up English from lower intermediate to fluent in a space of 3-4 months, and I was 22 at that, long past my language acquisition critical period. It was a hell of a stress, but it beats all the language courses out there: it didn't cost me a thing and I learned to speak close to a native level.

[@4evarwithU]

I hope I could afford surrounding myself with native English speakers but I only get that from chat apps. So while I type in decent English, I'm not really sure about how I sound if I were to speak it with a native.

[@rawr51919]

Sergey Antopolsky Meh, to a native speaker like me, you can tell the difference between the fact that you either speak it well or stumble through the language and you're not sure what to say because you don't know the word for it... That happens to us a lot.

[@antopolskiy]

Colton Rushton I am sorry, what is your point exactly? I don't quite get it.

[@shatteredpitch9182]

if you're an adult and are put directly into a new country with a new language with no form of translation, I'd believe you'd learn the language very similarly to a kid

[@frenchimp]

I think the idea is: there is no "critical period for language acquisition". I suspect this has been invented as a bad excuse to explain why the school system is so ineffective when it comes to teaching languages (let alone maths...). If it's of critical import for you to learn a language, you're going to learn it all the same. And you will reach the level of command you need. You will activate learning abilities you never suspected you had, because the school system has been busy deactivating them for years on end. But the good news is - they are still there.

[@Trolligarch]

That old Duolingo logo looked creepy as hell.

[@arro2546]

You’re.. everywhere

[@dani_mite7320]

Ikr o_o

[@mohammednajl5950]

Duo changed its appearance _to gain your trust..._

[@kinelchino3043]

i want to know why is an smiling face on your comment

[@NerdyCatCoffeeee]

@@blueknight4652 the logo is not but the constant "iiiiiiiiiiiiiiIIII ssssSeeeeeeeeeeeEE YyyyyyyoooooooooooUU!" is a bit annoying. I get it duo! F*ck off, i'll learn japanese tomorrow!

[@deadman746]

I'm a linguist and a credentialed TEFL guy. Adults *can* learn languages like children, and faster than children. They just *don't,* because not learning a language is a lot less challenging. Consider learning language as a child. It is literally a life-or-death experience, but the brain is gentle and merciful, and you forget. Very few adults are in the position of dying if they cannot express themselves. So they don't. I'm well aware of the hundreds of papers trying to 'splain this, but none of them addresses the social expectations according to which a child who does not learn a language is at much greater chance of dying. If there are papers that do so, I'd be happy to read them

[@ajpeustace]

Excellent point. I taught myself and became fluent in a few languages as an adult. I was motivated and put in the time. But if you believe you can't, you can't...

[@idkrossplay]

It takes babies about 2 years of nonstop emersion in a language to start understanding sentences, an adult can study 2 hours a day and be very competent in a language in the same amount of time. Babies learn differently, not more easily

[@Hanatash]

Learning a new language is hard because people are doing it wrong. Yes, there are certain factors making it a bit more challenging as you get older, but if you immerse yourself in some other language and culture as a small child does, it's going to be almost as easy. As long as you're not too worried about sounding like an idiot for a while.

[@isaackemp2151]

I once knew a guy that, after knowing as much French as I do now, became a foreign exchange student in France. He left the US confounded by the craziness of their grammar and the rapidity of foreign speech, then came back the next year speaking fluently. I'd say that, more than anything, the amount of time spent dedicated to learning a language is what matters most.

[@ryansmith6308]

You can't just go there and expect to just. pick it up. You still have to actively study it.

[@Hanatash]

Ryan Smith That depends on your predisposition to learning and understanding languages. Yeah, if you wish to master a language, you will have to study it, but for basic proficiency, it's often unnecessary, beyond putting some effort into it, much like a child does when he tries to communicate with grown-ups around them. That's especially true if you already have some foreknowledge of similar languages. Building on existing foundations is much easier.

[@FrostMonolith]

I think *everyone* is doing *everything* wrong. There's always anyone complaining about what we do.

[@pthiago_s5075]

Hanatash Damm awesome commentary

[@TheFailOrNot]

I am a 17 year old non native English speaker. I'm close to fluent, I'd say, and contrary to popular belief I have never learned anything but the basics of understanding a simple sentence in school. Starting in third grade, when I was 8, up until the age of around 12 my English was terrible. I didn't quite understand it and learning vocabulary from a book seemed very much pointless to me. That was when I started to get in touch with the Internet a little more, especially KZbin. I gradually, for lack of a better word, transferred from content in my native language, German, to the more wide spread content in English. After only a year of listening to people on the Internet I had picked up proper grammar, a wide vocabulary and a more fluent style of speaking. Fast forward another two years and I had completely lost the internal translation most people default to when learning a new language. And this is something I tell everybody who asks me about my English skills. Forget about learning with books and exercises constructed for questioning your skills in a very narrow part of the language. Instead focus on learning the language like a child would; listen to native speakers and gradually get rid of translating words you don't know because you didn't know them in your native language to begin with. Learn what they mean not what they translate to. Nowadays my only struggle is that I am periodically forgetting words which I then can't find in neither English nor German.

[@rachaelkelly8949]

Your English is great!

[@Timon-IrishFolk]

I feel you. I am 15, currently and I was horrible at the english language when I was 13. Then I was on vacation in Dublin, bought an english book and started to really get into the whole thing. My problem however is, that I do only understand advanced physics and chemistry in english thus I am pretty useless in class, as I have to force myself to translate everything into german in my head. Take as an example quantum physics, which I am a huge fan of. I do still have two years until we do it in the 12th grade but I am only learning something in english, in my free time so there's really no hope for me. I know your real problem, too. I am always forgetting the german word for something and then I need someone to translate them, if they don't want me to try it like two or three minutes 'till I succeed. Horrible things these languages are! :3

[@Joey28P]

+Pika ^_^ you absolutely do not have to learn the Japanese scripture before being able to move over to the semantic and vernacular aspects of the language. I'm half-japanese, half-german and I've spend half of my life speaking in Japanese fluently without really knowing how to read properly. It's very beneficial to at least know hiragana and katakana but it's definitely not a requirement of any sort.

[@heinrichb]

+TheFailOrNot Ah yes, forgetting words is certainly an annoyance. Better yet is when you forget something in your native language and people think of you in a "is he mentally challenged" sort of way, though that rarely happens.

[@minoxs]

+Heinrich Berndovsky i forget words from my native language all the time XD even though i remember most english words easily... perhaps i really am mentally challenged?? :p

I think that someone who wants to learn x subject "the easy way" it's already setting him or herself up for failure. Learning is a process and sooner or later you've got to put effort into it. If you're not willing to do that, then you'll likely to stay in the basics forever. Just because everything else is "not easy".

[@agatamarszalek5493]

I actually wrote my BA thesis on this exact topic. Now this video popped up on my page, it brings so many memories. Great video!

[@Julian-tf8nj]

what conclusions did you come to, in your thesis?

[@QuackersMcCrackers]

Has anyone thought that it's just because kids... have more free time?

[@essennagerry]

YES, YES, YES. Seriously, kids have so much free time and it takes them like between 7 and 10 years to get to fluency. Adults are essentially more effective learners. :D Still, kids have an advantage becauae of how their brain develops during that time. It makes for the difference between an adult's knowledge and _feeling_ of their native tongue and the language they just reached a native-_like_ level of fluency in.

[@ivanastojanovic2698]

I was 10 when I could fluently speak 2 languages

[@smirkypants]

I mean doesn't the level of immersion matter? Kids are immersed in their native language. If one were to go to Thailand and end up in a Thai prison, he or she would learn the language pretty well after a couple of years and in a while probably even be thinking in it. I bet after 5 years you'd be speaking Thai better than a 5 year old Thai kid.

[@taithai9909]

Me

[@ivanastojanovic2698]

smirkypants True dat

[@TheParadiseParadox]

A lot of it is about "skin in the game". When you're a child, you have a strong desire to understand and be understood. As an adult, today, even when you're in a foreign country, you don't necessarily need to know the foreign language to communicate... especially if you speak English. The stakes just aren't that high. If you went to a foreign country and shut off your social media, stopped calling friends at home and stopped communicating in your native language, you'd be more likely to pick up the native language... because you want to communicate. It's also about the fact that many people are very bad listeners. They've never been taught how to listen, many people are unaware that listening is even a skill, and they're not willing to expand their preconception of what is worth listening to.

[@patrickwaldron1794]

Two great points here... - Desire to communicate, if you have no alternatives, you're forced to learn. - Listening.... hugely under-appreciated and under-developed skill

[@Finn-rj7hz]

This is probably why people that do not speak English as a native language often learn it well, while those that do tend to not learn other languages well and tend to not put the effort in as much.

[@TheParadiseParadox]

@@Finn-rj7hz yes indeed. I know many expatriates who don't put in the effort to learn the local language. I find it such a shame, because of everything they have to gain. Another thing I think about is the commitment to excellence. Many people reach a certain level and are satisfied, while others are determined to go deeper into a language and find what's there - even to the extent of writing poems and songs in their target language. That is rarer still... and more valuable still.

[@henrygod69]

One more thing to add is children don't know many things yet so there isn't much they have to think about so picking up a language isn't too hard. Adults know a language and if they were to learn another one it would be hard because they already have a perception of what things mean from one language plus a whole lot of things to think about making it hard to learn a language.

[@TheParadiseParadox]

@@henrygod69 yes, what do you think the solution would be? Or to put it another way, what is the opposite attitude

[@AdityaKadamMechanical]

99.5% of all French language learners I know gave up & eventually forgot 😂 I completed B2 level

[@None-Trick_Pony]

I tried my hand at French last school year; I didn't proceed this year. It was way too difficult for me. I can't even begin to imagine what it's like for a non-Native English speaker to learn the abomination of a language that is English.

[@fernandoroberts3591]

I got a B in french GCSE and forgot most of it ;v

[@fernandoroberts3591]

@@None-Trick_Pony i moved to the uk at the age of 13 in 2017 with almost no english knowledge, learned the language fluently in less than 2 months ;v

[@Jademoonx]

English is so easy to learn

[@joshr24]

@@fernandoroberts3591 2 months?

[@sid98geek]

2:47 : I was surprised that Tom was able to pronounce "फ" despite being a monolingual person (to the best of my knowledge).

[@philipcooper8297]

Want to learn a language? Do something useful with it. Watch films, play video games, try to impress a lass/lad, read books in foreign languages. Don't just learn something, because it is expected or cool.

[@Aksuloid]

Yeah. I have hard time learning languages. But just simply using them in video games which I find interesting I speak excellent English, and a bit of korean. Admittably I am 16 so I might be still on the learning part, butlooking how well my swedish classes are going (mandatory in finland) its just the lack of interest.

[@carlosdemare1599]

I've heard people say this many times why? what is wrong with learning for learning sake, I mean sure exercise your abilities when you can but doesn't mean you need a motivation to learn other than wanting the ability that's like saying "don't learn how to kick a football unless you are going to go pro"

[@007MrYang]

I don't think it matters why you learn as long as it keeps you motivated. Yes games, anime, novels, manga and movies help me stay interested in learning Japanese, but that doesn't mean that someone can't learn this just for the sake of learning. Sometimes learning for learning's sake is enough motivation.

[@philipcooper8297]

***** Yes, but I'm done with that. Reading misleading translations that kill the jokes and puns and just ruin the whole experience.

[@youactivaterinomytrapcarde4872]

Thanks mom

[@M1412B]

I didn’t even know “Children” is a language

[@justsomeguy892]

I was gonna comment something like this

[@fasebingterfe6354]

"Do you speak children?"

[@robintrongdio9704]

Ok dad

[@therevenge192]

Tarif Wasi can you translate that to English please?

[@gokaytaspnar1355]

@@therevenge192 [Confused Unga Bunga]

[@christiannordvall4021]

Luckily, learning new languages gets exponentially easier the more of them you know, since you are likely to encounter features from a previously learned language. The jigsaw puzzle gets filled in, as it were. For example, I had no trouble understanding the concept of aspect in Russian because I'm already used to aspect in Chinese, whereas other speakers of Swedish will struggle to understand the difference between aspect and tense.

[@Timmzy27]

Spent 5 years at school “learning” French, when my spoken exam came along I couldn’t say much other than Bonjour and count to 10. Shouldn’t try and force a language onto someone when they clearly are not learning it

[@DustMug]

I'm a sophomore taking Latin and I can barely make a sentence. Meanwhile, I've taught myself Russian for just over a year now and understand it perfectly.

[@artifacts118]

Bah ouais les gars fallait pas prendre français 😅

[@marzenakawalec1797]

I know, I could be doing things that I actually want to i stead of Spanish, like im not gonna speak it, ever, I know they so it so we know two languages, but its too bad that I already do know two languages, English and Polish, so this really doesnt work out for me

[@torsuk]

@@DustMug смелое заявление

[@marzenakawalec1797]

@@ccox7198 nie

[@arcadegamesify]

My grandpa grew up speaking only French. Then he had to learn English. He says these days he thinks in English.

[@dooplon5083]

Cool!

[@aedegroot94]

+Yawning Gull Similar story here - I'm native Dutch but my boyfriend is English, and by now I speak so much English that I'm not even sure what language I think in anymore

[@Jeremy974]

+Yawning Gull Like me, since I'm born we speak French at home and one day I stared learning English, now I think in English, not in French anymore and I tends to Englishify French a lot which makes me un-understood in French. That makes my family a little nervous because sometimes I speak in English to them...

[@sekgo1265]

+Yawning Gull I think in English even though I am danish. I have no idea why, english just makes more sense inside my head.

[@dooplon5083]

Mikkel Ljungberg Huh, that's interesting.

[@erictaylor5462]

I have encountered non-native English speakers so many times who apologize for their low skill, even if they speak just fine. I tell them, I understand you, which is more than you would do if I was speaking YOUR language."

[@appleslover]

I wish you were my friend

[@SadButter]

Hi. (sorry for bad english)

[@erictaylor5462]

@@SadButter "Hi" I think that is Japanese.

[@erictaylor5462]

@@appleslover I could be your friend

[@hiveminddestroyer51]

Self-evaluation just isn't reliable, and when you get someone(or something) from outside to test you, they can't test all your knowledge within a reasonable amount of time. Reasonably long checks only cover a part of a language and can't say much about other parts. There's no easy way for most of us to accurately tell whether we suck and apologizing is a safe option. Sorry for bad English and punctuation.

[@nananina98]

I'm learning a language now and I use KZbin. And I got that recommended. Why is KZbin that one toxic friend who always critiques you and brings you down, I can't..

[@aidenbagshaw5573]

"How do children aquire language?" I think I've figured it out. They listen to it.

[@bumpjammy]

What I find insane about learning a language from birth is you learn rules that you don't even realize. I was in high school by the time I found out that if the next word starts with a vowel, you use "an", otherwise, you use "a". I was following that rule my entire life but didn't know it, I just used what felt right.

[@heatherhanlon2799]

Dude wait until you find out that there's a specific order that adjectives go in. Blew my mind

[@nemureru_tanuki]

bruv me too

[@misslovedog8177]

same, but for conjugations in Spanish. I've spoken spanish my entire life (my parent's only speak spanish), but I had never had a proper spanish class until high school (I live in the US). Despite that, I could properly conjugate verbs by just going for what sounded right. It wasn't until I took a spanish class my freshman year that I realized, wait, there's actually a system to this?

[@davidm.johnston8994]

What about the difference between English sounds ee and i, like in leave and live? Do you know how hard it is for a French person to insult you without telling you you're a beach?!

[@4evarwithU]

And then there's the 'near' and 'bear', how come the '-ear' sound different when it spells the same. How about 'chandelier' spoken with a 'sh' but a 'chapter' begins with a 'tch' sound.

[@davidm.johnston8994]

Ruka Saotome Those are easier because you just got to learn them, whereas the "live" / "leave" difference you can't make without learning to pronounce a whole new sound.

[@4evarwithU]

Maybe I missed the point earlier, but here's my take, the Malay friends I had actually have trouble differentiating between 'three' and 'tree' cause they don't know how to pronounce the 'th' english sound. 'three tree' is pronounced 'tree tree'.

[@davidm.johnston8994]

Ruka Saotome Yes that's what's so hard. Maybe I don't have difficulties with the th sound because I've learned it when I was like 10 whereas the e/i difference I've heard about it when (and didn't notice it until) I was approximately 20...

[@rawr51919]

David M. Johnston I noticed it when I was little, so that just proves (yet again) people learn at different rates. This video made a reference to that statement...

[@supersophisticated9943]

This is very inspirational, thank you Tom.

[@geraldspoonsman8411]

As a 16 year old, this makes it feel like the clock is ticking for me to learn German

[@patricksnoring4739]

Start as soon as you can, don’t put it off. Regardless of how fast/slow you think you learn, the more work you put in today, the closer you are to seeing results tomorrow. Im 3 months into Swedish (probably one of the easiest languages to pick up) and I’ve still got a few years of work ahead of me. So don’t expect instant results, but you’re gonna have to get the ball rolling and commit. Good luck!

[@EmoMart]

@@patricksnoring4739 Thank you snoring Patrick

[@chungusfungus9779]

@@patricksnoring4739 how do I learn it in like a day cuz I will give up after 5 minutes as I will get bored

[@patricksnoring4739]

@@chungusfungus9779 for me, it’s about finding purpose. I never got good at Spanish in high school because I didn’t care, it was a box to check to graduate. Now I study languages because their structure fascisantes me. And it’s also nice to be able to listen to/understand music in other languages. You just gotta find why you wanna learn a language, and most importantly do it for yourself

[@keithklassen5320]

You *can* learn at any age, but it will probably be easier before you need to have a job to live.

[@calamitycubed]

Me: *tries to learn Japanese* Kanji: I'm bout to end this man's whole career

[@Jamie-tx7pn]

Luckily you're not supposed to "learn" (/memorize) kanji

[@ryanstarlight8018]

@@Jamie-tx7pn You are.

[@Stratelier]

@@Jamie-tx7pn Not all kanji is accompanied by furigana aids... The relationship between a given glyph (in ANY language) and its verbal pronunciation is ultimately arbitrary and memorized.

[@HilbertXVI]

@@Jamie-tx7pn Uh that's exactly what you're supposed to do. Break them up into smaller radicals/components and you can learn to recognize ('memorize') any kanji imo. Readings are a separate issue, but still manageable using mnemonics.

[@wzvy]

You won't write kanji a lot.. most of the time you'll just talk and listen to it, so you should only learn kanji if you will actually go to Japan and read stuff there

[@Kevin-cm5kc]

I've always thought it was funny that people comment on how fast kids learn languages as though they are fully fluent and articulate at 1 year old. If i went to France and heard nothing but French for about 10 years i'm sure i'd have at least the same understanding of French as a 10 year old French kid! (Ps i think kids do have a particular aptitude for it but i suspect its a bit overblown)

[@A_A828]

jim bob I completely agree. People seem to forget children only start speaking a language fairly fluently around the age of 4 I'd say. Within 4 or 5 years an adult with consistent exposure and training in a foreign language would surely speak that language quite fluently as well at that point. I think the easiest way to learn a language is by simply forcing yourself to completely rely on it. For example, if you want to learn French, don't fall back on your English all the time if you're having a difficult time there, but try to explain your way around your problem, and allow yourself to struggle in French itself. Which is also another reason why I think children seem to learn languages more 'easily', it's because they have to. They can't fall back on another language they already know. They are forced to learn the language in order to communicate and develop properly (to some extent). Plus, children aren't as afraid of making linguistic mistakes, whereas adults are, probably out of a fear of seeming uneducated or so. Which is a problem children aren't really confronted with.

[@ArgoIo]

jim bob I moved to Portugal at the age of seven and it took me about two years to learn the language and get on a level comparable to my peers. I’m happy my teachers gave me this time, because it is quite challenging for a child. There is no “Children learn languages with ease.” It is hard work.

[@Kevin-cm5kc]

Houston Sterling Exactly, people would be more patient with a child struggling with speech. If an adult wants to immerse themselves fully in a language they might need to go to the foreign country and try to be self-sufficient with language skills that will initially be weak. Kids don't need to get jobs when they are still learning to read and write of course! :L

[@Valosken]

jim bob Given their underdeveloped brains, it is a miracle. If you were put in France, you'd learn it quickly because, yes, immersion is the best teacher, but because it's relatively similar to English. Put you in China with no Chinese knowledge and you'd take a lot longer than any child, most likely.

[@Rainsofchange]

jim bob Well...yes and no. What's interesting is that, before a child can fully communicate themselves, they're perfectly capable of understanding a language they've been exposed to since birth(and even before birth). They haven't yet mastered the ability to articulate their mouths the way they need to in order to speak, and yet they react to and respond to what people around them are saying. Parts of the brain that control the mouth and the mouth itself have to catch up to what a child has learned. They'll respond to and carry out tasks their parents ask of them without being able to talk themselves. I feel like that's a big difference right there. Even when they begin to speak, their mouth doesn't fully cooperate. They'll muddle words like "spaghetti" and call it "scetti" or something. Some sounds are easier to produce and put together than others. They have to work on perfecting how they make sounds even if they know the words.

[@quora-wd4yk]

in middle school studying as homeschooled i had to take a french course for half a semester literally didn't learn many phrases but- as an adult I've had many times and events when i was around ppl that spoke french and I instantly understood their meanings solely based on the basic words (plus knowing english and spanish) that I was in shock to how my brain autmatically understood their sentences even though I had not studied french any years afterwards. Its incredible how the brain absorbs like a sponge knowledge when we're kids.

[@andrewjones575]

I feel sure that a major reason is that adults' brains are usually filled with a load of stuff, whereas children tend to have less knowledge & less complicated lives, so it's easier for them to absorb new info.

[@albertjackinson]

"Less complicated lives". That's debatable. Though I guess it depends what age you are referring to.

[@CHAZZPRINCETON]

Well I mean kids are more adapted to knowledge to help them in their later lives however adults on the other hand are more used to their habits and do them automatically and unlike kids don't usually have time to learn inputs and it's harder to replace them than to create a new one

[@azraphon]

Brains aren't hard drives.

[@xylophone897]

My theory is that adults aren't actually less capable of learning than children, but they just blame it on their age.

[@NuevoVR]

The Gidews Channel and the other 15%

[@hryank33]

xylophone i think adults don't learn slower than kids but it will be a lot more difficult to reach advance level of a language if you study it as an adult.

[@NetAndyCz]

Because kids seemingly get great accent in few years, yet adults can take over decade and still sound very foreign and struggle a lot. The thing is that being immersed in the language 16 hours a day, and having a lesson three times a week, makes for a very different 10 years of learning.

[@gileee]

If you move to a different country, and are constantly surrounded by people speaking a different language and are put into situations where you are forced to speak that foreign language, will get you fluent real quick.

[@ihsahnakerfeldt9280]

This is not true. Easily shown false by the fact that no person learning a foreign language can 100% match a native speaker, whether in pronunciation, intonation, fluency etc. Language learning by children is a very different process than that by adults.

[@FireFox2000000]

I actually believe that we're learning in the wrong way, and that the way children learn language and the way most adults learn language (schools, courses etc) are different, and that simply the adult methodology is a really bad way to learn. For example, I did Japanese for 4 years in high school. I had completely forgotten everything by the fourth year and was failing by the end of it. For about a year I've taught myself Japanese instead, and I've learned so much more and retained things a lot easier for it than I ever did in those 4 years, because I decided to emulate how a child would learn. Bear in mind I was extremely lazy in this 1 year period and could have gotten the same result in half the time if I had actually put some effort in. But that just goes to show how ineffective the adult way of learning is. Children don't 'automatically' pick up language, hell I doubt they're giving it any attention at all. Because children are so involved with the language they are constantly learning and forgetting, learning and forgetting, and it's this kind of process that sticks in the mind, without ever putting a lick of effort into the learning part. For example, watching a TV show in Japanese the Japanese word for 'gemstone' would come up every now and again. It comes up once, I look it up, immediately carry on with the show and forget it. It comes up a second time, I look it up again, and immediately forget and move on. I hear it again, and I still haven't recognised it so I look it up, and forget it again. Now, on a part of the show where a diamond shows up, this random word comes into my mind, "houseki". I have absolutely no idea where this has come from or even if it's correct or not, so I look up and sure enough it's the word for 'gemstone', and I haven't forgotten it since. As adults we haven't lost this 'automatic' learning process either. Every now and again I'll use a word or phrase (in English) that I've never ever used and barely even heard before. This happens because I'm in a particular situation or context for when I've heard that word or phrase before, and my brain will pick it out because of that. The brain loves to memorise the context a particular sound or set of sounds was used, which is how children would learn, by associating different sounds to different situations, no matter what the real meaning is. If anything the meaning is acquired by where a word is used, which is a technique I also use for Japanese, whereby if I don't understand a word I'll move on and wait for it to come up again is another instance, and there are many words I know by will never be able to describe because of that, the same way as if I'd try to describe English words. I'd completely fail as it's all intuitive. This is also why learning for textbooks is such a horrible idea. As you said in a previous video, people just assume you can open a language dictionary, find and equivalent word and just stick it in, because that's how we're taught in textbooks and schools. It is so inefficient to learn a new word by going "houseki" -> "gemstone" -> [picture of gemstones], rather if we skip the English equivalent and just go straight to the picture it is far faster and far more natural. Textbooks teach this inefficient manner and expect 'automatic' memorisation from adults, which is why most adults fail at learning a new language, because they motivation diminishes because this expectation can never be met. If children really did have an easier time learning languages than we'd all be bilingual through learning a language in primary school. Alas clearly this is not the case because they'd using the adult methodology there. Children don't study the language, they play in the language, the one thing adults don't do. I'm way better off in Japanese (and even starting Spanish) because I've been playing in Japanese, listening to music, playing video games, watching TV, reading short passages and books (currently going through the Japanese version of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire). Recently, despite putting literally no effort into memorising Kanji, I looked up the Kanji Japanese children learn and I could read all of the first year Kanji except about 5 of them, and I knew I knew more Kanji even more Kanji than that, sprinkled throughout all the other years. Kids are just immersed in the fun of the language, something that gets lost as we grow up. Society gets it into our heads that language is dusty old grammar books, pointless exercises and repetition, making language all the more difficult, when really we all just need to do is to learn like a kid.

[@_____._..--_]

FireFox Thanks for the motivation

[@TheRedFoxMcCloud]

so i should stop trying to learn through translation? and see if that would workout

[@mae_day3189]

very inspiring !

[@TheRozeinator]

FireFox I know I’m hella late on this, but this is exactly how I’ve been learning Korean for the last two years. Listening to music, watching tv and videos, reading books.. I was able to learn the alphabet fairly quickly, so now I just really need to broaden my vocabulary. Living in Korea for a few months also helped a ton since I was immersed and there wasn’t a lot of English around for me to use as a crutch.

[@lunarleaf]

meanwhile ive been learning japanese for almost 2 years and the most i can really say is 僕は日本語が本当に下手だよね 🙃

[@henrykaung9064]

This guy is the Wikipedia for KZbin that gives knowledge you can learn easily!

[@retsreinyrelgeinthrelaveri1456]

Bruh I'm 11 and i didn't even know children can learn languages easily, well time to learn russian.

[@the.invincible.9542]

Mostly below the age of 9, but good luck on that!

[@Stallander]

Ты уже начал?

[@dhshbshxbdhehe9230]

Im 13 and i easily learnt english at around the age of 7

[@evorty9179]

@@Stallander лол. А ты?

[@Stallander]

@@evorty9179 Да, я учусь русский язык, но я ещё не знаю его очень хорошо.

[@CertifiedSlamboy]

I think a big thing we ignore when looking at children vs adults learning languages is: It's less of an issue when a kid makes a mistake. If a kid who is around 5yrs old gets a few words wrong, it's no big deal, it's a kid. They're supposed to do that. It's all about learning. If you take 35yr old and take him to France from England and do the same, he will become embarrassed quickly and more is "expected" of him as he is an adult.

[@selohcin]

Exactly right. The consequences of failure as an adult are far more severe than they are for a child. The child has much more leeway in learning.

[@lance3635]

EASIEST WAY TO LEARN A LANGUAGE: Best way to learn a language as an adult is to go prison that speaks that language.

[@cakeisyummy5755]

Some guy actually learned spanish that way. (The prison was in colombia.).

[@cryinghuman2964]

Lmao you'll forcibly learn the language if you want to survive, this is quite an effective method.

[@raymartcarreon6069]

Other way is to listen to desired languages War March songs.

[@ggb123_17]

Or just living in a country that speaks another language

[@theblackryvius6613]

@@cakeisyummy5755 Which guy? What was his name?

[@dimitri_tsm]

0:41 **baby is flooded constantly with linguistic inputs** What Baby learned: *Mama*

[@elixir6793]

i wish i can go back to being a baby and surround myself with many languages so that i can speak them all. learning languages now is so difficult

[@Acro_LangLearn]

The closest way you can learn “like a baby,” is by immersing in your target language.

[@RockGodFuck]

A big factor when it comes to grammar for example, is that kids accept grammar as a simple fact (unconcious) while adults try to always see a "why" which slows learning down. Just take grammar as it is, or better try to ignore grammar as far as it is possible and try to learn patterns which in the end form your grammar naturally. But in the end everyone has their own learning style and imho it's a huge plus if you already know what your strenghts are when it comes to learning.

[@Valosken]

Tagæyan I'm afraid learning grammar consciously is the best way. You can't just pick it up unconsciously anywhere near as fast as you would if you studied it.

[@RockGodFuck]

Valosken That might be true in your case, but I can speak for myself that in my experience learning sentences in context (don't even bother learning vocab without context, such as those long vocab lists) is the absolute best way because you learn vocab and on the same time the grammar unconsciously through the patterns. You just delevop the "sense" way faster if you don't bother trying to understand grammar but just accept the fact that such and such pattern is expressed in such and such way. I used the method for 3 languages now and had great success. That's also why I would differenciate between learning a language and studying a language. I don't have activly think about the grammar but I just know the speech pattern for the thing I want to express which in return makes speaking a lot more fluent. But again that's my experience and other people surely have different experiences.

[@Valosken]

Tagæyan You're an anomaly then, because studies have been done to confirm what I said. You must do a lot of studying.

[@RockGodFuck]

Valosken I would LOOVE to see that study actually (Because frankly I don't believe so) and neither do I believe to be an "anomily". I used this method with a lot of students with much greater success than the conventional way and this method is very well known and accepted in the polyglot scene. Please link me to this study.

[@CasperJoosten]

Valosken what research are you referring to? I have to agree with Tagæyan here, experiencing the language seems to be the best way. Language is very context-driven and grammar can't account for that.

[@robmckennie4203]

I'd wager that if you took an adult who has never heard a word of and a new born baby, and dropped them both into a life where everybody speaks that language and nothing else, the adult would be conversational before the baby.

[@robmckennie4203]

***** That's pretty much my point.

[@Hans-gb4mv]

Well yes, however, after 10 year that kid's gonna be better than the aging adult ...

[@robmckennie4203]

Hans Roes I'd be skeptical of that claim. I think an adult who has spent 1 year immersed in the language would likely be as good as, if not better than, an average 10 year old. Even if that's not true, I think it would definitely take an adult less than 10 years to match a 10 year old.

[@Hans-gb4mv]

Well, I'm following some vloggers who moved from all over the world to different areas and they simply admit that even after all those years they still miss a lot of words in their vocabulary. We aduts will be quick to pick up on basic sentences and we will be able to build on that basic knowledge. But most will start to strugle with the more advanced things, even if you lived in that language area for a decade.

[@Duecethedog]

True-however, the baby would be a natural native speaker long before the adult ever was

[@darkfent]

I already know this from linguistics classes but still need a refresher before work

[@Cheshire_Cat_]

The idea that "Kids learn new languages easy!" was really hard on me as a kid. My parents really wanted me to learn to speak Spanish, but I couldn't for the life of me pick it up. I tried for years but never got the hang of it. I felt terrible about it. I still kinda do. Maybe if I just worked harder? But I worked my butt off at it and it never stuck like it did for others.

[@philiprivers669]

I wouldn't worry about it, some people just don't pick up second languages as easy as others, it's the same with anything else. Like reading for example. Some kids pick it up just like that, others never really get the hang of it. Does it mean they didn't try hard enough? No, it just means reading wasn't something they could learn very easily, no matter how hard they tried. Honestly, you don't need to feel bad about it, everyone learns at a different pace and some people just learn quicker than others. Again, that doesn't mean you're stupid, or incompetent or not trying hard enough, it just means you might learn things more slowly :)

[@samotten9874]

How many of those red t-shirts does Tom have?

[@vytah]

Sam Otten Those shirt are in fact all different colours, and he uses chroma key in his video editing software to make them all red.

[@El_Guapo74]

vytah Does he do that with the grey hoody too?

[@jazzpi]

El Guapo No, there was only one grey hoodie. Until he burned it, that is, then it was red too. No chroma key involved.

[@afivey]

Sam Otten Actually there's only one red t-shirt in the entire universe, Tom owns it and chroma-keys everyone else's. He made a video about it, you must have missed it.

[@MinecraftEpicPlayer]

Sam Otten He owns one for every day of the week. Once, he accidently wore Friday's red shirt on Thursday! How embarrassing!

[@victoriamaakulmamerijarvi9036]

Every time I look at these videos I go "whou, wouldn't it be amazing to speak and think in multiple languages" Then I remember that I _am_ fluent in multiple languages because this video is in English and I'm a native Finnish speaker

[@SillyFunnyDummy]

2 languages arent multiple languages bruh

[@lucabralia5125]

obi multiple means many 1 language is not multiple, 2 is multiple

[@lguffee4930]

@@SillyFunnyDummy Does your brain even work?

[@psiangel]

@@SillyFunnyDummy do you know what multiple means

[@claire98]

Lmao, same xD

[@riquelmeone]

Love your videos and I like the clear message you are giving that there is no consenus on why or how exactly we pick up languages differently based on our age. Surely, there are more factors than just age. Languages have their own history and have related languages like the Latin or Germanic languages. WIthin them it is much easier to learn another one. As a German it is really easy to learn English. Another aspect is how much you are surrounded by languages. Again, English is so easy to learn as you constantly hear it in songs. Then there is script. Surely I will have a harder time learning Greek, Russian, Japanese or Arabic as their script is just completely different. And finally, apart from the actual hours you need to put into learning, what is the motivation behind someone learning a language. This one goes in the same direction as the myth of talent. Really interesting subject.

[@astronut3830]

very interesting vid tom!!

[@Aeybiseediy]

I think immersion is one of the most important factor too.. im a bilingual, and english is my second language. Ive learnt english since kindergarten but im really bad at it because i rarely interact with people using english, but when i was abt 16-17years i had a friend who constantly speak english with me and from that point onwards my english started to improve a lot and i can speak more fluently

[@thegardenofeatin5965]

Sometimes I think they work too small. They work at the word level. "Un chat. A cat. Un chat. A cat." I wonder if I could pick up a language just by watching Blues Clues in that language. Think about it. Whole phrases and sentences, nauseatingly repeated, married to the action or thing they refer to. "Let's check the mail!" every single episode. I wonder if that's worth trying?

[@fernvalemusic269]

When I took french immersion in grade 6, I watched kids tv in french for homework

[@seanpaulson8846]

did it help? its hard to find those in other languages though

[@francesatty7022]

@@seanpaulson8846 I'm trying to become fluent in french, and I found looking up children's shows in your target language really help! (e.g. I've been watching TroTro)

[@RadeticDaniel]

@@francesatty7022 My father learned french this way too. edit: not with the same show, but you got the idea =) As for me I try replaying games in another language from time to time xD

[@keric3730]

Spaced repetition is the way to go really. That way you can focus on words you haven't mastered yet, and let yourself nearly forget words that you have almost mastered.

[@sergegirard864]

Learning a language is not only learning words and grammar. It is also about historical (with both capital and lower case letter H) and cultural references. I remember when I was learning English being shown a cartoon with a few rocks with a bird sitting on each of them. The legend read: Not a stone unterned. At the time I did not know that bird called a Tern. Took me a while to get it. And there has been numerous instances where I understood things that I had heard or read years after I did, when I came across an event or a piece of literature that provided me with the missing reference.

[@faithfuljohn]

I had to learn 5 languages by the time I was 8, and I find probably the most underrated part of this debate (adult vs kid) is that kids just try harder to be fluent than adults. If you say a word in a funny way as a kid you'll be made fun of. Adults may or may not hear accents worse, but they also don't try as hard to get it right as almost every child does.

[@scythium4703]

As a Lithuanian, I learnt to speak English so well that I'm not that good at speaking Lithuanian anymore.

[@glorytoukraine5890]

TheUltraScythe sometimes, me too. I am Thai native and sometimes can't think of a Thai word.

[@deepdarkmidnight]

It happened to me as well during a certain period of time when I was completely invested in English, I used to forget words in my native language. Now it happens with German, as I'm very focused on the language, and it's messing with my English. It has happened a few times that I can only remember the German word for something and then the English word or the Spanish one comes into mind.

[@therealbobmayo5065]

TheUltraScythe nice pfp, 6/10. custom made, though not a fitting background.

[@lord_khufu]

Worra Mait Kosit Paiboon and when i see someone write thai i just confused on how to pronounce them, like in my language that word suppose to be thái

[@vilniusuzlango1776]

Nežinau, ar gyveni Lietuvoje, ar užsienyje, bet kalbėti lietuviškai yra tarsi mūsų „super galia“ ir apskritai kiekviena kalba yra didelis turtas. Linkiu neapleisti nei lietuvių, nei anglų :)

[@DownFlex]

This is why I started to learn languages. I always was against this hypothesis that adults have such a hard time with languages. It is partially true, but I am now starting my 6th and it get easier every time I start a new one. So I encourage everyone (who is sufficiently motivated) to learn new languages. I had so many great experiences and after a few years people wont even hear a strong accent. You can never sound like a native, but you can get REALLLY close. ;)

[@Andrew-ug2cy]

DownFlex did you immerse or did you use apps?

[@DraoxxMusic]

I disagree. It's actually easy to sound perfectly like a native if you do proper phonological training, but most teachers or courses don't really care to do this or don't know how to.

[@DenisG631]

it get easier every time because you see similar patterns/grammar rules/pronunciation/vocabulary etc. You are not studying from scratch. And even if you were. You already have the experience of learning language itself. You know what the problem points are and you have more confidence since you have successful previous experience ;) It's not magic And as @Mr. Spook said, you can sound like a native, it just takes time and you can not really do it alone (unless recording and analyzing yourself)

[@NetAndyCz]

I sucked at French so much at school. My English was not great for a long time, and I still struggle with some obscure grammar rules, that are heavily tested, though I have build such rich and immense vocabulary through reading... I have read like 100 books in English by now, so, I had to pick up some things:) Still I learn a new word every now and then, it is a never ending process, but I do learn new words in my native language as well. Anyway, I had to think for a while how I have managed to tackle on English and what my goals with French are. I was studying French myself for two years now and I can comfortably read and watch TV series without subtitles. I would not do well in French grammar tests and my production is still low, but I do not need that skill now. I can have fun and build my vocabulary now, I think the best way to learn a language is to find a way to enjoy the process. The rest is easy.

[@ryanstarlight8018]

@@Andrew-ug2cy Apps are the worst things to use if you want to learn a foreign language.

[@justyourregularboyscout9613]

We're born with the potential to speak any human language. But after a while, surrounded by jut a few languages, or maybe just one, *"we work out what we need to listen for--and we stop listening for anything else"* Idk why I really like this

[@M.Datura]

As someone who does not actually think in language I find this series very interesting because it explains things that make my communication with others difficult. I also find that I pick up on languages differently than those around me trying to learn. The majority of my time I spend listening, like a child would, and expressions are much easier for me to learn than single words, though that largely seems to be trumphed by words being connected to similar visual/inflection/emotional input. I also find sign language difficult because it requires I try to connect words to everything; (if I'm to connect images of a thing to the sign that works). Learning language "rules" makes it much more difficult for me to express things that I haven't already heard or read someone else express. I find all of this fascinating.

[@GT-tj1qg]

Thank you so much for clearly citing your sources, Tom. Other channels rarely do this, and you are awesome for raising the standard.

[@thirun4347]

2:35 The southern states of the subcontinent are separated based on their language. Each state will have a state language and they have to be taught in schools along with the two main official language of the country, i.e. English and Hindi. Now this is where it gets interesting, My family were originally from the neighbouring state and thus speak a different language than that of the state. So I was effectively raised in a Quadrolinquial environment and that's not rare. Almost all of my friends are also raised in similar environment and some can even converse effectively in 5 languages. The distinction between P and Ph occurs in my state language (Kannada) and Hindi, but doesn't exist in my native language (Tamil) and the language I mostly consume the media (English) so when I was told that the difference between 'P' and 'Ph' were very real and not a gimmick when I was studying 10th grade, I was very surprised. I had to consciously stress myself to pronounce the 'Ph' and most people when casually conversing doesn't really bother to pronounce 'Ph' as it is but take the easy way out with just a 'P'. But it's absolutely doable. There is very big difference if you listen to it, you just need to practice a lot. A lot. I still suck at it, but less compared to how bad I was many years ago. Another fun fact: only Tamil and Malayalam have the retroflex approximant 'L'. It's rolling your tongue when your pronounce the 'l'. Speakers of other language can hear it and feel the difference but it's near impossible for them to pronounce it correctly, you really need a lot of practice to reproduce that sound. And another fact: Almost all of the 4 south indian languages have the trill 'R' sound and honestly, I can't hear the difference!!! We legit have multiple character with almost similar sounding pronounciation but they have bits and pieces of difference which will absolutely infuriate learners of those language (myself included).

[@the.invincible.9542]

Languages like Konkani, Marathi, and Gujrati have retroflex approximant 'L' too.

[@kosalraman2381]

Nice to see people actually talking about South India (sick of being ignored, Tamilian here🥺)

[@multiversetraveller3118]

@@kosalraman2381 Really? Don't act like you are ignored. When the problem of jallikattu arised, almost everyone in India came to know about it. When Kerala flood came, all of India knew about it. But what about Odisha? Most people know next to nothing about them. It's just some state. Many a times festivals there similar jallikattu was banned. But there was no hullaboo or pan Indian knowledge when this was banned. Odisha has been hit by natural disasters many time. No hullaboo like in Kerala. No nationwide coverage. You lot have a huge persecution complex. It's not something special to you.

[@urlocaltannenbaum9724]

as a native tamil speaker in a german speaking country i'm still confused about why we've got ல, ழ and ள or ர and ற i lose so many points on grammar because of it 😭💀

[@curious_banda]

​@@multiversetraveller3118This tbh. The political southern exceptionalism has been too much now. Nobody hates them, but they act like everyone is out to kill them.

[@TheAaron2442]

i love these language videos, Tom saying reckon seems out of place in Canda but fine in UK and southern US

[@Rita_Arya]

Just like children spend a lot of time just listening and acquiring sounds in their mind, my way of learning a new language goes in a similar direction. Just watching and listening something in that native language gets you used to the accent and as adults we do tend to catch different words/phrases. And after that then proceeding to move on the alphabets, grammar and sentences is much easier in my experience

[@laurenconrad1799]

I met a 3 year old child from Germany whose mother was born in the US and whose father was, I believe, Swedish. The girls mother explained to me that she was growing up trilingual to some degree but often got frustrated while trying to express herself. Apparently she had German nanny who often understood her best.

[@psiheia1]

I'm 44 I've been learning English for almost 2 years and I've already reached an upper intermediate English level

[@TillyCorbin]

haha i'm 2 and i almost MASTERED ENGLISH and can now throw english soundwaves at people

[@samkad2343]

good for you!!

[@graphite30]

@Reece A American or British english. I speak British English

[@cuppacofi1129]

Glad you're doing well! It's a confusing language, so good luck

[@nibo9462]

it took 1 year for me to fully learn english when i was 9 now im trying to get as many languages in my head as humanly possible

[@PWPictures67]

I got an ad on how to learn Italian from Lingo Pie, very fitting. (I've never heard of Lingo Pie.)

[@ServeraServera0]

It is just way more easy when the language that you want to learn already has really similar vocabulary to the ones that you know Like if I wanted by just listening Italian I would already fully understand it after a few weeks

[@yaya_n1981]

Can I just say that I love love LOVE the references to the information you share in these videos. It is reliable, thoughtful and encouraging to read more! This is why I keep watching your language files :D

[@oscwavcommentaccount]

I learned English by just watching youtube videos.

[@dabiici1343]

Same here but i stil continue

[@fanshi5302]

Same, but my "technical skills" are close to none, I have no idea how to make a past simple just because idk what past simple is.

[@oscwavcommentaccount]

@@fanshi5302 Same. If someone gave me an example of what a past simple is i could make a past simple, but when learning a language technical skills are not important, being fluent is. TL;DR: Technical skills are not really important when learning a language.

[@oscwavcommentaccount]

@@fanshi5302 I don't know what past simples are, but I probably use them subconsciously.

[@MrGenius2]

It's actually the best way of learning a lenguage. I know people who studied lenguages but they don't use it, so they end up forgetting their whole career in a couple years.

[@lite_ftww]

This will add to my collection

[@JUMALATION1]

I'm multilingual (Swedish, Finnish and English) and started learning all three languages very young, Swedish being my native language. I picked up some basic Spanish by the end of elementary school during a hobby club, and that stuck with me way better than the German and French I studied later on in upper secondary school and uni :D

[@blupdaboloh]

I've been to Ireland for a couple of weeks to practice the language living in a Irish family and I remember that one of the most embarassing conversations was when the mother of the family told me her daughter was having a couple of teeth removed and I heard "tit" and was thinking of a breast surgery. Practicing is very important indeed heh.

[@terryh.9238]

gaelige or english?

[@jimaanders7527]

This sort of thing is a big pitfall in any "new" language, even if you have a few years of experience. :-) There are some differences between British and American English that can cause embarrassment.

[@pegy6384]

My completely unscientific opinion is that the only reasons kids have an edge on learning languages is that they're used to being corrected because they're still mostly in learning mode for everything, so they don't freak out as much about making mistakes as adults do.

[@MineCraftrules17]

Nóra Bánfi and that's just stupid ...

[@LinkEX]

It's definitely _a_ contributing reason, but not the only one. It inhibits the feedback towards adults, and thus the potential to improve when interacting with other people.

[@Croiisssant]

I can relate to that. I am aware it is my fault but I get nervous speaking another language because I am scared of making a mistake, especially french where I AM half french but didn't grow up speaking it fluently so I have this expectation placed on me.

[@SakifX9]

I also feel like it's harder for adults to learn English because no one wants to correct them. When I'm speaking to my friends who speak English as a second language, I am kinda afraid to correct them as I don't want to come off as rude

[@Jamie-tx7pn]

@@SakifX9 Speaking of language "Hi [insert name here] would you be okay if I corrected your [language], for the sake of helping? I've been afraid of doing so because I didn't want to come off as rude."

[@BankruptMonkey]

Adults are punished for failure, children are encouraged for effort regardless of success

[@davevanfunk8917]

Looking back on my teaching career, there are SO many factors that influence language learning/acquisition. Youth helps in many cases. I had a Norwegian classmate who came in second grade who seemed to pick up English right away. On the other hand, I taught in a school in Glendale, CA where the majority of my students were Armenian. We would have many students who started Kindergarten in the U.S.; some were still struggling in fifth grade. One of my principals blamed it on intelligence. I thought that it was too convenient for them to rely on their home language. I had another child who came straight from Armenia with minimal English. By the end of fifth grade, he could read third grade level chapter books. He functionally well in H.S. We were taught was the optimal period to learn a second language was from 8 to 12. This lad did it.

[@liviuvelichi6847]

The only foreign language I can actually speak is English

[@r_se]

Si eu la fel.

[@sonicalibur_iii]

Me too

[@Isa-cr7fd]

I can speak English Dutch and French

[@vaibhavpindikura3841]

I can only speak English.

[@myles432]

This is the case for most people in the world. They know their native language + English

[@thsxi]

When I learnt language, I learnt English and Polish Simultaneously and now I’m perfectly fluent in both

[@XanderScheyltjens]

I live in the dutch part of Belgium but started learning English when I was 5 years old (because my older brother watched mythbusters while I just sat there). Now I can speak English well and I think in it most of the time. If only I also learned French because that is giving me a very hard time in school.

[@robetheridge6999]

I am teaching myself Croatian as a 49 year old guy. I am living in Croatia for the year and learning by immersion is best. After a month here, I am beginning to think some in Croatian. I know a fair amount of Romanian and sometimes will forget the English word I need, but remember the Romanian word, and translate into Croatian from there. Our minds are quite amazing. I am learning German and French simultaneously.

[@karkinissan]

The fact that MOST children in my country can learn 4 languages at once astonishes me (I know 3)

[@karkinissan]

+Vertigo Immanotgonnatellya haha. Yes that is my real name.

[@karkinissan]

Devyn Stewart Nope. Not from Europe. Im actually from Nepal. :D

[@WillTheTimeCome2]

+Nissan Karki Then may I ask you, how well do you know all those languages? I mean, can you speak them equally, or you prefer mostly one of them? And do you sometimes confuse words and grammar from one language with another (for ex., use a word from the language 'A' in the language 'B')? If your the 'most native' language is 'A', then do you find it difficult to read and comprehend scientific literature in the languages 'B' and 'C'?

[@WillTheTimeCome2]

***** Thanks! Sometimes, I am also thinking in different languages, not always my native ))

[@karkinissan]

WillTheTimeCome2 Thats nice to hear. Glad I'm not the odd one out. :D What languages are you familiar with?

[@vladislavkaras491]

Thanks for the video!

[@SqueamishNerd]

I would say that I’m fluent in English, but I still have problems with remembering to distinguish between some sounds, for example “v” and “w”, which have the same sound in Swedish, and “sh” and “ch”, which work completely differently in Swedish and I end up almost always saying “sh” in English even when I mean to say “ch”.

[@Stephen-Fox]

The thingthat's always confused me is this assertation I keep seeing that learning vocab is easier than grammar. Grammar is easy - It's esssentially learning a bunch of systems, and patterns within those systems. Vocab, on the other hand, feels like learning trivia, with little to no rhyme or reason to what matches what, which I've always found a lot harder than learning a system...

[@Kikkerv11]

Adults are used to learning words. They sometimes learn new words in their own language. They also remember birthdays, phone numbers and whatever what written on the grocery list. If you have troubles with that, you will just have to try new methods. Adults are not used to adapting to new systems. They can, of course, but it's harder than learning vocabulary. Grammar is not always logical, btw. In Welsh, there are about 30 ways to put a noun in the plural form so you just need to learn the plural form of every word without much logic. In French, you have to learn which conjunction is followed by which tense etc.

[@Elemy69]

​@@Kikkerv11 I disagree. Grammar in general is very logical or easy to understand because it's an attempt at rationalizing a language. So everything that is grammar is in general something very definite. They're rules that apply to a variety of situations, and they're almost always consistent. However there is a lot of things in a language that aren't covered by grammar, and that's where things become very tricky. Vocabulary is often a lot harder to learn than grammar because a word's proper use isn't defined by some defined grammar rules but by the habits of the native speakers. This means that you have to learn the proper use of every new word you encounter, there is generally no rule that apply to every word that can guide you. Also words in differents language aren't perfect equivalents. Learning new vocabulary means a lot more than learning a single information for every word. A perfect example of that is mandarin chinese, where you have very little grammar, and 80% of the language is defined by usage. So everytime you want to express an idea, you absolutely need to have learned how to express it properly beforehand, there is no room for guessing or improvising. While in some other languages you just need to know the vocabulary and apply grammar rules to it.

[@Kikkerv11]

@@Elemy69 You are assuming that every language has straightforward grammar rules. Try Estonian grammar. There are 45 different ways to decline a noun and when you see a new noun, you can't tell which of the 45 inflections it will get. You have to learn by heart which noun gets which case endings. Learning Estonian words is easy, but learning which word follows which of the 45 patterns is hard, it's too abstract to memorize. Or try German plural forms. There are rules, but there are so many exceptions, you end up having to learn every plural form by heart. Same with Welsh plurals. Even languages with very simple and straightforward grammar rules, like Hungarian, are often said to be hard, simply because adults are bad at learning and applying grammar, and Hungarian has lots of grammar rules.

[@mage1over137]

So research has shown elderly people also learn languages rather easily. It turns out people with time can learn languages pretty fast.

[@ToxicBastard]

I've been learning German with an app called Memrise for a few months and it's going good, which I blame on German being very close to English and sharing many traits here and there. Then again I'm 21 and took English in collage because even though I passed in school I didn't pass by a big enough margin for my liking, people always compliment my English skills and I could hold a conversation as a toddler and STILL I misspell simple words or devolve into babbling incoherently so who knows.

[@bemon31416]

I think this has a connection to the neuro pathways development theory. Something along the lines of "the neuropathways used frequently becomes well developed and those not aren't". Possibly the same reason why some people are good at learning something and how others become master at their crafts.

[@holly7214]

I freaking love this channel.