You CAN’T Memorize A Language

@Thelinguist 10 ай бұрын

The app I use to learn languages -> surl.li/iimqz My 10 FREE secrets to language learning -> www.thelinguist.com Do you try to deliberately memorize words in your language learning?

@yassineidlaeraj4046 8 ай бұрын

❤شكرا لتطانك

@PDE2020 10 ай бұрын

As a teenager in the 80s, I struggled with memorizing the vocabulary of each lecture in our English book. I looked at the English word and at the German translation and tried to remember it. Learning grammar was even worse, I always had very bad grades in grammar tests. Then I subscribed Time magazine and because we lived close to a US Army base I had our TV adjusted so that we could receive the AFN TV Signal. I am not quite sure how long it took excactly, but I turned out to be the one of the best students in English and I solved grammar tests without knowing the rules, just knowing what sounds right.

@harfiyatkamyonu7786 10 ай бұрын

I guess it's called intuition. You develop an intuition in yourself and when you listen to something over and over and over and over after awhile your brain is perceiving it as it is. When you see it or hear it somewhere in a wrong usage then your brain gives you some signals like it doesn't look right you have to fix it. And you feel like I can't explain why it is not correct but I know it is not correct :D I'm sorry I couldn't explain enough but as I said I guess it's called intuition. When you develop an intuition while learning a language then it helps you a lot. This is how native people learn a language without learning grammar rules.

@__ocram__ 10 ай бұрын

I'm a native Italian speaker and I went through the same process. Except I used the internet instead of TV because I'm young. I became decently good right after middle school.

@ispeakmandarin 10 ай бұрын

Good, you get the right way, speaking a foreign language based on what sounds right, you can unconsciously correct the mistakes, but you need to input lots of language stuff before that(immerse in this language)

@gandolfthorstefn1780 10 ай бұрын

...Then I subscribed TO Time....

@chadbailey7038 10 ай бұрын

Oh wow! Thanks for sharing your story.

@beyondthebasicsinpolish 10 ай бұрын

“Neuron’s that fire together, wire together”… right on Steve!

@Dareios074 10 ай бұрын

Trying to memorize words you don‘t have any reference to is for sure the hardest way and probably waste of time. Even a native speaker who is a doctor will have a hard time trying to memorize the components of an aircraft. But for an English learner who is an aircraft engineer it makes sense.

@differentworld988 10 ай бұрын

Whenever watching this man, he gives me sort of motivation and inspiration for not giving up or shying away from the language learning process.. Everyone should have such as source of triggers and stimulation as this man constantly affords.

@tobikrutt 10 ай бұрын

I so love your videos because they are so validating for me. Being a "vagabond" is the perfect way to describe my messy learning process, and I am so glad to hear that I am not alone in this approach. I watch KZbin and listen to podcasts, read things I'm interested in, do fun things like playing verb conjugation games, learn grammar as I need it, and find online language partners and tutors. That is how I learned Spanish, starting when I was 59, and being able to speak that language completely changed my experience of travel in Spanish speaking countries. Now, I'm 67 and last October I decided I want to learn Italian, and I'm doing it the same way. I'll be going to Italy for five weeks this coming October and can't wait to put it to good use!

@sanlfeng 10 ай бұрын

Respect!! I'll do the same thing that you did!!

@MrGeronimo300 10 ай бұрын

Good job

@Kender591 6 ай бұрын

Great!

@ignacioduran5993 9 ай бұрын

To put it shortly, it's the distinction between learning and studying. I don't like to study, I like to learn. And rather than "abstractly" studying stuff (lists, definitions, conjugations, etc.), it's much more effective, meaningful, playful or enjoyable to learn stuff IN CONTEXT.

@user-oo2bs3md2k 10 ай бұрын

Vagabond experience (遊走經歷) exploring vagaond type of learing =interleaving= grazing, 不要費力去記字，重蕧在新舊。易與難的材料，遊戲字卡間反覆練習，腦神經聯結會慢慢學到

@anitawaters4745 9 ай бұрын

I totally agree!!! I’ve been “grazing/interleaving” but didn’t realise it had a name! 😊

@zachscully 9 ай бұрын

The connecting of disparate things gives me an energy burst from learning and enjoying! (The opposite of demotivating rote memorization; meaning and passion killing studying of the leaves without connecting to stem, branches, the tree, let alone the forest!; or *shudder* ‘learning’ to find the bad, as some traumatizing education inflicts)

@wilsons2882 8 ай бұрын

learning requires reinforcement and exposure. its discipline. you can only connect the dots after you make all the dots. the making of dots is very hard but it has to be natural and self centered otherwise it feels painful and you wont have the discipline to do it everyday. this makes sense. thank you.

@gristen 10 ай бұрын

this makes me feel alot better about my learning experience. i never feel like i study enough compared to other language learners, i mostly just go the immersion route and watch videos and listen to podcasts 😅

@Carolina-cb6hp 10 ай бұрын

Yep, that's more useful to me, than anything else.

@maricociram 10 ай бұрын

Since a few years, I have learned a few languages and I totally agree with your propositions about the way our brain is learning. I experiment it and it's fascinating! Thank you for the informations ❤

@someperson9536 10 ай бұрын

With enough exposure, you'll start to remember many words. Listening to dialogs and stories is helpful.

@kriogen8720 10 ай бұрын

"The Marquess of Dufferin and Ava, when British Ambassador in Paris in 1895, taught himself Persian and noted in his diary... for that year ... he had learned by heart 24,000 words from a Persian dictionary, “8,000 perfectly, 12,000 pretty well, and 4,000 imperfectly.”

@Gustavo07771 10 ай бұрын

Muchas gracias profesor, tiene toda la razon, definitivamente la exposicion al idioma nos hace aprenderlo, yo aprendi en solo 3 meses portugues, me gusto mucho y ahora lo he mejorado solo con practicarlo, no es forzar a mi cerebro, es exponerme y practicar, hay que aprender reglas y eso pero no forzarme a aprender.....tiene toda la razon, excelente!

@evolve5409 10 ай бұрын

Hey steve I personally think this is an amazing way to learn anything in general like for example people dont study the places that they are driving if they drive in the route a few times they will start to just know which way to drive

@jon9103 9 ай бұрын

Not the best analogy, navigating the roads is easy. Before GPS just took a couple minutes of studying a map to figure out a reasonable route, no need to even drive it to have it memorized. Learning even a single new word takes a hell of a lot more effort.

@itchyPoncho 7 ай бұрын

but you can just ride in a car with someone enough times on a route and you can learn the route with little to no intention@@jon9103

@LearnEnglishwithCamille 10 ай бұрын

So good! 🔥🔥this is encouraging to me as I’m struggling to learn Turkish right now.

@magyarbondi 10 ай бұрын

This is true for any other subjects. We all had to suffer memorisation where we forgot most of it after questioning/tests, because we only learnt how to recite information to get a good mark or pass a test. Unfortunately, schools still won't change this method, unless it's some posh education where they actually care about efficiency.

@ispeakmandarin 10 ай бұрын

Maybe the best method will make many teachers lose their jobs haha

@tomatoclark 7 ай бұрын

Steve, thanks for this. I thought I knew this info on vagabond learning. Now I have a name for it and I hope to rewatch this periodically. It apples to so many fields of learning I think.

@eduardomonteiro6863 10 ай бұрын

I think that this approach can be applied to everything we try to learn. "não forçar a barra" helps a lot.

@rogeroliveira7542 8 ай бұрын

I think,this rule runs in every languages

@abel9 10 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for this incredible true advice. We need to take the necessary time to let our brain learn without being focused on memorizing. Learn a new language must be done in a natural way without forcing ourself l. We need to accept that our brain need time, it need repetition, and novelty as you wonderfully said. We must accept to do mistakes without paying too much attention to that. I'd love to speak as good as you do, your way to explain the learning process is inspiring, so thanks for all your efforts for sharing with us all those precious advices

@ijansk 8 ай бұрын

Memorising is part of learning a language. You cannot avoid it, but that is not the only or main step. The main step is once you learn new vocabulary you must use it.

@ralfj.1740 9 ай бұрын

This is pure gold, totally correct, I experienced just that

@nargespourali-rt 6 ай бұрын

You've been very helpful to me in learning english:) As an Iranian student، thank you.

@johnvienna3422 10 ай бұрын

I have a great Anki deck. Text, sound, image, example sentence. All you could want. But. It. Just. Won't. Go. In. However, if I encounter a word or phrase in just a couple of different contexts, it goes in just fine. I kept telling myself that mid-50s was too late to learn a challenging language like Japanese, but you're such an inspiration, Steve. Real, varied input is the key.

@arccosinusopinion2323 10 ай бұрын

I would say Steve does use the space repetition technique since he himself has mentioned multiple times that he would have a bunch of stories at the start he would go back to every once in a while thus executing this very technique

@gristen 10 ай бұрын

its similar but the difference is the level of emotional engagement i guess. with standard space repetition its mostly just boring flash card stuff. doing it the way he does seems more natural and can also function as entertainment. dont know if theres been any proper studies on this but id bet money that our neurons are probably able to connect more efficiently when the activity is something we're enjoying.

@arccosinusopinion2323 10 ай бұрын

@@gristen agreed

@ShockyCz 10 ай бұрын

@@gristen I definitely agree with what you said. I was forced to learn German language for 8 years during my school years and till this day, oh boy I don't even know how to tell someone to turn right. I probably didn't enjoy a single day of learning it. Right now though, I'm studying a language which I'm totally passionate about, all voluntarily. And I just enjoy the process so much. I love it. Compared to the German, just in 9 months of learning I managed to handle an hours long conversation in the new language. Therefore, if you don't enjoy the process, the brain won't absorb informations as effectively.

@thetrueoneandonlyladyprinc8038 10 ай бұрын

Spaced repetition and long lists / 2.000 words vocab videos are really helpful, especially if one is trying to get it done as fast as possible and doesn’t have patience and if one has a facility for learning lots of new words fast - I have a facility for that and am very impatient and want to learn my target languages as fast as possible, so this method is very good for me, especially until I learn the first 6.000 words, and then I start watching more videos with subs in the target language, because I usually learn new words from the context when I get close to a C1 level! Another important thing is, that I always choose a pretty language with almost only pretty words, as it is a hobby for me, because one tends to remember prettier and more distinctive words faster, and this explains why I learned Dutch to an advanced level (over eight thousand base words) so fast, in only about three or four months of focusing on Dutch, because almost all Dutch words are just so pretty, as pretty as English / Norwegian etc words, and all other Germanic / Nordic languages are also gorgeous, including Icelandic / Faroese / Danish / Swedish / Luxembourgish / West Frisian / North Frisian / East Frisian / Limburgish / Afrikaans etc and the other types of German and the other Dutch-based languages such as the West-Vlaamse dialects etc, followed by the 6 Celtic languages, namely Welsh / Breton / Cornish / Manx / Irish / Scottish Gaelic, and the Latin languages, namely Gallo / Portuguese / Galician / French / Catalan / Spanish / Occitan / Latin / Esperanto / Italian and all other Italian-based languages, and Hungarian, and the older versions of these languages, including Old Norse / Old English / Old Dutch / Gothic / Old French / Norn etc, they are all so pretty, too pretty not to know, like, the words are just gorgeous, so I want to know them all! I usually start by memorizing as many thousands of words as fast as possible (it usually takes three to ten repetitions for most words to become part of my permanent memory, and for most Dutch words it only took 3 to 6 repetitions as Dutch words stick to my hern like glue) and watching all sorts of vocab videos multiple times and then watching them again after a few days and after a week / month etc, until I can remember each and every word, esp the words that aren’t usually used in videos, while most used words I keep seeing in videos because I watch everything with Dutch / Norwegian / German etc subs, so every time I see the words, it reinforces them, bringing me one step closer to developing an automatic Dutch mode, and I sort of have like an automatic Dutch mode at the moment, but it’s a lot more limited, so I need to learn more words and to see most words I know more times, but hopefully I will reach that level by the end of this year, because I’m planning to do two more weeks of intensive Dutch studying in July, because I’ve been focusing more on German / Icelandic / French and Norwegian lately - watching all videos with subs in the target language is very useful, especially if one is at least intermediate level in a language and knows at least three thousand words, and once one knows over 5.000 words, one will start picking up lots of new words from context, and it gets easier and easier!

@thetrueoneandonlyladyprinc8038 10 ай бұрын

That being said, I must admit that I always watch all sorts of videos, even as a beginner (including lots of videos on grammar, which are very important when one learns Dutch / German because these 2 languages have very different sentence structures and have specific word orders, unlike most other languages that don’t have a certain word order and are more flexible, and I only learned the word order in Dutch, so now I can understand the word order in German because it’s the same sentence structure as it is in Dutch basically) or intermediate, so I don’t stick to just one method, but I combine multiple methods and watch different types of videos etc, tho I try focusing mostly (85%) on vocab in the beginning, and as an intermediate I try to do about 50% vocab and 50% other types of videos until I reach an upper intermediate level, then I start watching more videos with subs in that language when I feel like I know enough words to be able to figure out the meanings of most of the words that I don’t know from the context - typing lots of words in different sentences in a Draft or something like that will make the hern remember the words even faster because it creates some sort of a muscle memory, and I did this a lot when I learned Dutch, but now I’m too lazy to type sentences in Drafts, so I’ve only been watching videos over the past few months, and using the words in comments also helps a lot, so I think might start mixing Dutch or Norwegian words with English more when I comment, and reading eBooks and watching movies with subs in the target language are really good for advanced learners that know over 8.000 words in the language, maybe even for B2 learners, especially if it’s a simple eBook or movie!

@PolyglotSecrets 10 ай бұрын

100% agreed. I always think back to the French scrabble player that memorized the entire French dictionary to play scrabble, but can't speak a word of French. Memory is so overrated when it comes to languages. Speaking a language is a skill - so is understanding it.

@alejandracorcega4398 10 ай бұрын

Woooww!! Vielen Dank für den Beitrag! Vor zwei Jahren habe ich intensiv Deutsch in einer Sprachschule gelernt (Muttersprache Spanisch) und es war wirklich eine große Herausforderung. Allein hätte ich es nicht geschafft, denke ich. Ich lerne selbstverständlich immer noch. Aber, was Sie gerade in diesem Video erzählten, zählt nicht nur, um eine Sprache zu lernen, sondern fast für alles was wir lernen möchten bzw müssen 😅, fürs Studium,.. Uni, Schule, Weiterbildung, fürs Leben einfach. Auf jeden Fall habe ich es super toll gefunden und mir ein paar Notizen gemacht, um meinem Gehirn Zeit zu geben und es gleichzeitig mit allen Neuigkeiten zu versorgen, die es braucht. Vielen Dank 😊⭐

@Jayinjapanese 10 ай бұрын

I recommended everyone I communicated with to your channel to help with strategies and tips on learning a Language

@anthonyrobertson2011 8 ай бұрын

I've realized it doesn't work well at all if I put too much pressure on my brain to understand. Trying so hard to remember what a word means. Trying so hard to understand dialog. It works better if I relax and just embrace when I don't understand or remember. I just let it go if this happens. Now sure I still look up words and try to learn them, but I found I was just trying a bit too hard, which just was making my comprehension even worse, or just much slower going than it could be otherwise.

@user-dn6yd4wv4g 10 ай бұрын

You're an amazing teacher .

@christellearth 10 ай бұрын

Hi Steve, I am French living in the UK. At school I unsuccessfully learned English, German and Latin. I was very motivated in learning German and Latin but for both of them it was death by Grammar. It’s been such a painful experience, it really put me off those languages. I became good in English when I went to Ireland in a language exchange for 3 weeks, but, I forgot it as soon as I left school and had to relearn everything from scratch when I came to the UK. Today I am learning Norwegian for the fun of it and also because I am going on holiday there in a few weeks. I totally agree with you that grammar is secondary. I spent time taking notes of anything I find interesting. It helps me slowing down and paying attention. I tried making lists of words but now I write groups of words such as “den hunden er vår”. I am sure that once in Norway, people will notice that I am smiling and trying rather than getting angry because I said “en eple” rather than “et eple”. I can’t wait to meet people who speak Norwegian. Thanks for your video

@bzylarisa 10 ай бұрын

I speak three languages, working on a fourth and a five. I hate memorizing vocabulary. I tried spaced repetition, but it just doesn't work for me. Well, it does...in a way, but I just don't enjoy the process. What I've done is exactly what Steven had mentioned. Repeated exposure will gradually build up my vocabulary. This is the way it works for me. I don't like to study grammar, either, especially at the beginning. I'd like to learn it naturally with a lot of input. Grammar makes a lot more sense after you got familiar with the language to a certain level. However, I know that many people prefer more structured study. Anki or similar apps are popular because they do work for memorization. I won't say no to all these methods, as long as you enjoy it, and if it works for you. However, I do think it shouldn't be the core part of your language approach. The Input done with wider context, consumed in a natural manner, will always lead to a deeper understanding, and it would be beneficial in the end.

@putinisakiller8093 10 ай бұрын

The proper input is the hardest part. :)

@yassineidlaeraj4046 8 ай бұрын

شكرا لك على تعليمك أنا أشكرك جدا ❤😊

@david_oliveira71 10 ай бұрын

0:33 - Memorization techniques; Jim Kwik if anyones interested

@davidbrisbane7206 10 ай бұрын

During my career in IT, I must have lear 5:43 ned and forgotten how to write SQL code at least three time. It took a while to learn it the first time, but it got progressively easier to learn it the other two times. It also took a while to learn my first proper programming language, but then the next three languages we easier to learn, as I'd 'learned how to learn' a programming language.

@abeer8733 10 ай бұрын

I've been trying to learn korean for some time now and have come to realize how hard it is to get appropriate levels of material online. I just purchased a month of lingq, hoping it helps me improve significantly!

@justinsauer6740 9 ай бұрын

LingQ is a huge help, however Korean takes a lot of time to learn if you're an English speaker. LingQ is a great way to have beginner material that you can listen to over and over again. I also heard "talk to me in korean" is very good and its free. I've never studied Korean but that's where I would start. People highly recommend both of them.

@abeer8733 8 ай бұрын

Yup, i feel like I'm slowly getting the hang of it. I'm also trying to start arabic and I can see that I've progressed in korean because i barely know ANY words for the same arabic lingq stories@@justinsauer6740

@user-yf9ve3ib7j 6 ай бұрын

love your videos

@user-cn5gs9ge1f 9 ай бұрын

Thank you 😊🖐️

@ruiseartalcorn 10 ай бұрын

Good advice. Many thanks :)

@luanluanluan- 7 ай бұрын

Rubem Alves

@ThomateMaligno 9 ай бұрын

The title of this video alone made me change the whole outlook of my perceived fluence in the languages I learn. I was constantly doing SRS in Anki for many different japanese words every day, worrying that I wouldn't be fluent if I didn't. After watching this video, I went on to take a shower and I carried a whole japanese imaginary situation of me talking to a stranger in japanese in my mind. That fictional conversation took approximately 5 minutes. I went out of that shower convinced that I'm now officially fluent in japanese!

@muskyoxes 8 ай бұрын

Step 1: magically reach intermediate level Step 2: use recommended language learning methods I can't listen to Persian news! It's because I don't know Persian

@gandolfthorstefn1780 10 ай бұрын

Don't read things to memorize but enjoy and know especially grammar.

@chadbailey7038 10 ай бұрын

“You can only learn things that you already know” 😮. Oh wow, I like that one!

@Bloopi__1 7 ай бұрын

감사합니다 ☺️

@thought2007 10 ай бұрын

Certain things can be memorized efficiently by repetition. Songs, poetry, for example.

@hewasfuzzywuzzy3583 8 ай бұрын

People that try to learn a language through memorization are in a huge hurry in learning that language. We learn by exposure especially repetitive exposure: just like children learn their native language as they grow and especially grow accustomed to the various ways they're exposed to that language. I've been gradually learning Spanish. But I've been learning by exploring and exposure. By having fun with it as well. I'll attempt to read a book in Spanish. Then listen/watch a cartoon, a toddlers TV show, or listen audiobooks in Spanish. I also have some bilingual Spanish and English books for beginners and intermediate. I would love to already be fluent in my target language. But if I already knew then I would miss out on all of the fun in discovering my appreciation and love for that language.

@hewasfuzzywuzzy3583 3 ай бұрын

@@fabian-rutter LOL 🤣 it juuust might work.

@michaelsamazingenglish8580 10 ай бұрын

Using mnemonics in learning words in a given language has been proven to be very effective when used together with other aspects/techniques of learning (such as comprehensible input or compelling input). Dr. Richard Atkinson, formerly of Stanford University, tested what he called the 'keyword method' which utilizes fundamental mnemonic techniques in vocabulary learning. What he found was that after being tested the next day after introducing new words (I think it was 120 Russian words) about 40% more of the students who'd learned words with his mnemonic keyword method, could recall the words and meanings compared to a group that used no method to learn the words. After several weeks, he found that about 35% more of those using his keyword (mnemonic) technique compared to those who used no technique, were still able to recall words they'd learned. Now, this is only one aspect of language learning, but, per Mr. Kaufman and others, learning vocabulary is an extremely important part. (which I think is obvious to most people).

@fatememoosavi6717 8 ай бұрын

You are the best I have ever seen

@robertflint2549 10 ай бұрын

I basically agree with your title, Steve; but still, engaging one's memory at times in language learning is essential. A lot of people these days want to learn languages without any memory work at all, presumably because they think that sort of study boring. This I feel is a mistake. As with the old dictum: no pain no gain.

@jimmorrison2657 10 ай бұрын

I agree that Steve's approach almost sounds too good to be true, but I believe that it really is true. I don't know, it works for me anyway. I am using it to learn Greek✌️

@KnightOfEternity13 9 ай бұрын

Also, there're people who used to keep going through pain and insist that everyone should do the same, or they will feel cheated.

@user-wp1bv1xn5h 3 ай бұрын

Thnaks

@jonah92861 10 ай бұрын

Siempre tienes toda la razón Steve

@benjiang9789 10 ай бұрын

Great minds think alike!

@rlrihards948 9 ай бұрын

Understanding.

@mariamyaka6363 Ай бұрын

Thanks

@lugo_9969 10 ай бұрын

As an adult, I lived in a houseful of Spanish people. I never ever read a Spanish grammar book. Imagine my surprise when I realised I knew much of the irregular ( and difficult) grammar....the same way a baby learns it.

@ispeakmandarin 10 ай бұрын

Irregular grammar is always a headache for language learners, but if you want to acquire the irregular grammar in a comfortable way, just immerse in this language environment

@EnglishwithSam685 10 ай бұрын

Best English teacher in YT❤🎉

@ivanherrero6968 10 ай бұрын

Hola Stiv, yo personalmente ulilizo tu método de aprendizaje en combinación con el método de la curva del olvido. Creo que la combinación de estas dos estrategias puede ser una gran idea, pero no sé recientemente estoy empezando a descubrir diferentes estrategias de estudio. La lógica me dize que todo lo que tú expones en tus vídeos es probablemente uno de los métodos más eficaces de estudio, y no solo en el aprendizaje de un idioma, en general.

@AndyGneiss 10 ай бұрын

This mindset or practise reminds me of "Don't try to study a language; get use to a language", or something like that.

@ispeakmandarin 10 ай бұрын

Infant babies don't try hard to acquire their mother tongue, they acquire them effortlessly

@wyverntheterrible 10 ай бұрын

This is daft - Memorising (and attempting to memorise) is just another way to build a mental connection, a neural pathway if you like. It's not the be all and end all, and of course, in isolation won't work as any linguistic competency, but it DOES help as a method. It's like saying push-ups won't make you a better boxer. Of course, if it's all you do it won't. You still need to train boxing / speak the language, but they will for sure help.

@JCtheMusicMan_ 10 ай бұрын

This would explain why I have memorized many words in many languages and yet am not comfortable holding a conversation in any of the languages. I frequently find myself recalling random words and phrases from various languages but can’t remember what they mean 😅

@thetrueoneandonlyladyprinc8038 10 ай бұрын

I guess it depends on the learner and on the technique - if one rewatches a vocab video that shows both the word in the target language and the English translation at the same time multiple times, over a period of time, and if one is very focused on the words and goes through each letter and also pays attention to the English translation, the words should become part of one’s permanent memory after seeing them enough times and the translation should be remembered along with the word! If random words are recalled, but the meaning cannot be recalled, it means that the learner focused only on the word in the target language, but not on the meaning / the English translation, so in that case, one should check what the words mean, and focus on the meanings a few times, because the association between the word and its meaning must be created in one’s hern! However, one won’t really be able to hold a random / complex conversation if one isn’t at least a B2 or C1 level - one needs to know many thousands of words to be able to understand what others say, usually over 10.000 base words, which is native speaker level, like, I am native speaker level in Spanish since childhood (I learned it 100% passively by just watching a lot of TV series and movies in Spanish and by listening to a lot of songs with lyrics in Spanish for fun, so I didn’t even try to learn it) and now I can understand what they say in videos in Spanish without subs and I have an automatic Spanish mode, just like I have in English, where I don’t need to think before typing or saying something because it just goes automatically!

@thetrueoneandonlyladyprinc8038 10 ай бұрын

Spaced repetition and long lists / 2.000 words vocab videos are really helpful, especially if one is trying to get it done as fast as possible and doesn’t have patience and if one has a facility for learning lots of new words fast - I have a facility for that and am very impatient and want to learn my target languages as fast as possible, so this method is very good for me, especially until I learn the first 6.000 words, and then I start watching more videos with subs in the target language, because I usually learn new words from the context when I get close to a C1 level! Another important thing is, that I always choose a pretty language with almost only pretty words, as it is a hobby for me, because one tends to remember prettier and more distinctive words faster, and this explains why I learned Dutch to an advanced level (over eight thousand base words) so fast, in only about three or four months of focusing on Dutch, because almost all Dutch words are just so pretty, as pretty as English / Norwegian etc words, and all other Germanic / Nordic languages are also gorgeous, including Icelandic / Faroese / Danish / Swedish / Luxembourgish / West Frisian / North Frisian / East Frisian / Limburgish / Afrikaans etc and the other types of German and the other Dutch-based languages such as the West-Vlaamse dialects etc, followed by the 6 Celtic languages, namely Welsh / Breton / Cornish / Manx / Irish / Scottish Gaelic, and the Latin languages, namely Gallo / Portuguese / Galician / French / Catalan / Spanish / Occitan / Latin / Esperanto / Italian and all other Italian-based languages, and Hungarian, and the older versions of these languages, including Old Norse / Old English / Old Dutch / Gothic / Old French / Norn etc, they are all so pretty, too pretty not to know, like, the words are just gorgeous, so I want to know them all! I usually start by memorizing as many thousands of words as fast as possible (it usually takes three to ten repetitions for most words to become part of my permanent memory, and for most Dutch words it only took 3 to 6 repetitions as Dutch words stick to my hern like glue) and watching all sorts of vocab videos multiple times and then watching them again after a few days and after a week / month etc, until I can remember each and every word, esp the words that aren’t usually used in videos, while most used words I keep seeing in videos because I watch everything with Dutch / Norwegian / German etc subs, so every time I see the words, it reinforces them, bringing me one step closer to developing an automatic Dutch mode, and I sort of have like an automatic Dutch mode at the moment, but it’s a lot more limited, so I need to learn more words and to see most words I know more times, but hopefully I will reach that level by the end of this year, because I’m planning to do two more weeks of intensive Dutch studying in July, because I’ve been focusing more on German / Icelandic / French and Norwegian lately - watching all videos with subs in the target language is very useful, especially if one is at least intermediate level in a language and knows at least three thousand words, and once one knows over 5.000 words, one will start picking up lots of new words from context, and it gets easier and easier!

@thetrueoneandonlyladyprinc8038 10 ай бұрын

That being said, I must admit that I always watch all sorts of videos, even as a beginner (including lots of videos on grammar, which are very important when one learns Dutch / German because these 2 languages have very different sentence structures and have specific word orders, unlike most other languages that don’t have a certain word order and are more flexible, and I only learned the word order in Dutch, so now I can understand the word order in German because it’s the same sentence structure as it is in Dutch basically) or intermediate, so I don’t stick to just one method, but I combine multiple methods and watch different types of videos etc, tho I try focusing mostly (85%) on vocab in the beginning, and as an intermediate I try to do about 50% vocab and 50% other types of videos until I reach an upper intermediate level, then I start watching more videos with subs in that language when I feel like I know enough words to be able to figure out the meanings of most of the words that I don’t know from the context - typing lots of words in different sentences in a Draft or something like that will make the hern remember the words even faster because it creates some sort of a muscle memory, and I did this a lot when I learned Dutch, but now I’m too lazy to type sentences in Drafts, so I’ve only been watching videos over the past few months, and using the words in comments also helps a lot, so I think might start mixing Dutch or Norwegian words with English more when I comment, and reading eBooks and watching movies with subs in the target language are really good for advanced learners that know over 8.000 words in the language, maybe even for B2 learners, especially if it’s a simple eBook or movie!

@thetrueoneandonlyladyprinc8038 10 ай бұрын

It also helps a lot when one watches vocab videos that also show the image that is associated with each word (instead of only showing the English translation) and, these might be very helpful for learners that have difficulty remembering the meanings of certain nouns / things etc, because it’s easier to create an association between an image and a word, and it’s also the way children learn the first language - remembering random words means that those words have become part of one’s permanent memory, so it’s a good thing, but the association between the word and its meaning must also be created now, so that the words can be used in sentences, so the meanings should be checked again and again, until they can be remembered, and I highly recommend image-word videos for new words because the meaning will be remembered easier that way!

@Vytautas99 10 ай бұрын

When I was an undergrad learning German in my American university, I would take the time to read a lot of the material to get a good overview of the language, but I didn't have time to speak it with my peers, so I overcompensated by reading and writing alone, and so my professors eventually noticed my progress and gave me good grades as a result of my solitary dedication to that vagabond experience of language learning at my university.

@valentinaegorova-vg7tb 10 ай бұрын

MANY THANKS! Your videos are always extremely inspiring, truly motivating! BRAVO!!!!

@straytonox1492 10 ай бұрын

merci

@kylewit 9 ай бұрын

I agree we shouldn't memorize (more than necessary, sometimes yes). I also think it's important we expose ourselves to as much comprehensible input as possible, then through repetition and novelty build up vocab and internal understanding of grammar use. However, in my own experience in learning German I had great success, and I first began by making lists of the most important noun vocab words, digging into verb conjugation charts and seeing for myself where the changes were made and how across tenses, and checking general overview Learn German websites for hours getting brief explanations of almost all major grammar rules, many of which at the time were new to me (such as dative, genitive inflection; verb at end of sentence). In that way I got a general grasp at what would be my major problems (subjunctive, das/der/die, separable verbs, the fact that they speak to you in English, etc) and I learned what I would need to memorize, and also what would probably come more easily and naturally (regular verbs, common vocab), and got explanations early on for what later would have baffled me-simplifying when and how to put second verb at the end, simplifying case inflections, explaining use of particles like 'noch' 'halt' and 'eben'-had I not gotten explanations and had the case-endings clear early on.

@user-dn6yd4wv4g 10 ай бұрын

Wonderful

@smarthydroponics 6 ай бұрын

Hi Steve Im Australian and learning bahasa Indonesian I think your correct as i tried many times going over lists of words when im on the train but the words themselves are still difficult to add in a conversation I think when im reading things like Indonesian news papers my mund picks up words i already know and i slowly keep adding more words to my Indonesian language as i go Cheers Steve ,you have so much knowledge 😊

@Hanya_Mengingatkan 6 ай бұрын

Wah keren bang Semangat belajar bahaasa indonesia hehe

@GenkoKenja 10 ай бұрын

I personally dont think it’s as simple as “it’s just not efficient” I think it depends on the language and your level in it….using myself as an example, when I started learning Japanese I had to learn using anki, looking at grammar books, looking at kanji resources etc while still consuming a limited amount of content daily. Being that I only spoke English and Spanish at the time, Japanese was super hard for me so this was a necessity. About 3 years (8-12 hours daily) into the language I dropped any form of “actual studying” and just focused on cultivating that knowledge…through mainly just input. When I started learning Italian, I started using anki…but very quickly I realized it was just too easy because of my Spanish background…so I dropped it almost instantly..in favor of just consuming content daily. When I started learning French, I didnt even try to use anki or look up any grammar rules…I saw the similarities to italian almost instantly… My point is, memorizing works when your target language is very different from your native language…and only during the beginner/early intermediate stages. The closer the TL is to your NL (or any other language you might decently know) the easier your time will be with it and you will not need to do any rot or mnemonic memorization.

@StillAliveAndKicking_ 10 ай бұрын

That’s a very interesting comment and it makes a lot of sense.

@tohaason 10 ай бұрын

I've been at Japanese for years and memorizing definitely doesn't work for me. I've found that what works is exactly what worked for learning English - which is: "getting" what a word means. Then, and only then, can I remember it. I can memorize words until the cows come home, day after day, testing to check that I know them, and take a break of a couple of weeks - and they're gone. Heck, songs I tried to learn that way since childhood - still can't remember them, if I let up a bit. But words, expressions etc that I "get" - they stick forever. Turns out to be true for Japanese as well.

@seenonyt2210 9 ай бұрын

3 years 8-12 hours daily... wow!

@GenkoKenja 9 ай бұрын

@@tohaasonmakes sense. Although to be fair (and looking back at my comment I can see how it may have been misunderstood), people can’t really “memorize” a language. For me in particular, anki was more of a gateway to getting more familiar with a world that was 1000% different from mine…all this kanji that seemed like hieroglyphics, all this grammar that made absolutely no sense to me because of my “western-like” (if that makes any sense) way of thinking….all of these words that can have a million different meanings depending on context and that sometimes may be entirely different words but sound the same (although are written with different kanji)…. Anki…or more specifically rot memorization or even mnemonic memorization will not get you to remember anything forever….as I’m sure you know, language learning is about forgetting and relearning….each time you can keep the knowledge for a longer period of time until eventually it will stay in your long term memory….when I was using anki, it did manage to achieve the goals I set out to at the time.…thanks to it I can now 1. Recognize grammar patterns up to N1 - but “recognize” here does not mean that I will 100% know what it means or even how it’s used…it only means I have a chance to understand it if I see it in use and at the bear minimum I can recognize that it is a grammar pattern and will be easier to look up again. 2. Recognize kanji up to N1 - Again, “recognize” here does not mean I can 100% of the time “guess” the right pronunciation of a word or always remember readings or meanings…it just means if I see a that kanji again, I will remember I have seen it…and at the very least I can usually remember at least one fact about the kanji that would help me decipher things faster than if I had never seen it. 3. Recognize enough words - In here, “recognize” means I am familiar enough with vocab and at least have a decent amount of words in my passive vocabulary, or vocab that I can recognize through input, but can’t necessarily use during output. I should have specified I was using the term “memorize” very loosely in my original comment :D. Also I do recognize anki is not for everyone, and people can get to the same level (or even higher) as someone who uses anki without it….but in my personal experience while you can’t “memorize” a language, anki is a tremendous help when learning a very difficult language and (at least for me) it does help speed up the learning process initially :)

@GenkoKenja 9 ай бұрын

@@seenonyt2210yup…that was back when I had time lol…now with 2 jobs I’d be lucky if I get half that time…although I always find time to sneak in some Japanese here and there…but the 8-12 hour daily for 3 years did help get all the basics down so I can’t argue with the results :D

@larax09 10 ай бұрын

I agree wth you.

@StillAliveAndKicking_ 10 ай бұрын

I think this is a false dichotomy. We need lots of comprehensible input (CI), but learning words in parallel using spaced repetition aids our use of CI. Plenty of respected polyglots mention that they use tools such as Anki alongside other tools and CI. In my own case, hearing words is useless if I do not know what they mean. I find that Anki works best for nouns, where meaning maps to an object, or concept. With verbs it is less effective, listening is key there. And here is one point. How do I find CI that covers the basics of a particular subject? I know the French for dashboard, windscreen and spark plug thanks to Anki. Today in a podcast in French, an undercover FBI agent described how a Mafia member removed the dashboard of his car to search for bugs. I recognised the word for dashboard immediately thanks to Anki. I can only say that in my case it works well, and efficiently.

@vantrox 10 ай бұрын

I needed to listening this content, I think yours words makes me a big sense, until currently I try to memorize all content in english, and I understand now that I didn't be learning english, but I did be to try memorize it

@gandolfthorstefn1780 10 ай бұрын

The best way to learn a language is casually. Don't approach your lessons or activities as study. I sometimes watch KZbin while reading a grammar book or draw pictures while I'm reading Harri Potter in Welsh. It's not like a separate activity. If you go to a shop to buy something say hello or how are you in your target language even if they aren't native speakers as that will not only piss them off but you'll start to feel like your in the country. When I catch transport I try to think in the language. Faint o'r gloch 🕒mae'r bws🚌 yn dod?

@swiftie10 10 ай бұрын

I often say that I have a terrible memory, but still chose to try to learn Japanese. Your approach is reassuring, especially since it makes complete sense. I am currently trying to learn Japanese using LingQ and the options it provides helps to expose me to different settings that fit your approach quite well.

@benjiang9789 10 ай бұрын

I am Chinese. Learning Korean, Japanese or Vietnamese seems to be so easy, as 70% of the vocabulary is shared in Chinese.

@PlaxonX 10 ай бұрын

Yeah true, if you are constantly exposed to a language and also try to actively think, speak and watch things in your target language, eventually you will just acquire the language.

@ilexcookii2627 10 ай бұрын

Я люблю ролики Манфреда Шпіцера й мені дуже подобається дізнатися про процес вивчення й застосовувати цю інформацію, вивчаючи помічати як мозок працює, це дивовижно. Дякую за гарну працю)))

@allodyn 10 ай бұрын

You are amazing 🎉 najlepsze pozdrowienia!

@english5638 10 ай бұрын

I appreciate your advice .i am spending a lot of time trying to memorize a bunch of hell words!

@thezeroconditional2287 10 ай бұрын

I would say that for me personally, though I agree with you absolutely that this grazing is how any meaningful learning happens, spaced repetition using Anki software has helped me enormously with the recognition process in a way that I would describe as accelerating the neural firing you describe when I encounter the words again in other contexts. I have particularly found this to be true with recognising various kanji readings in context so that I don't need furigana to read many kanji now in their different relationships. However, I still get in trouble reading without furigana in more advanced text.

@anos346 10 ай бұрын

I am learning Japanese but I find it hard to remember the kanji even the kana when I am reading a text any advice to improve my Japanese learning journey?

@thezeroconditional2287 9 ай бұрын

@@anos346 If you're having trouble even remembering the kana when remembering text, then it sounds like you're still in the very early days of your journey with Japanese. If you google kana games and activities, there are lots of fun ways to practice them. You'll definitely find katakana is harder to remember, largely because it appears less often and also the ways that words are changed from foreign languages to Japanese is very counter-intuitive for us. As for kanji, I spent about a year and a half learning to write all of the JouYo kanji using James Heisig's 'Remembering the Kanji', and thereafter constantly reviewing for several years using the Anki app. This is something that the vast majority of learners don't do, and many would say that it's unnecessary, and they may be right. It depends what your goals are. It's certainly a lot of effort to do, but I also think it's given me a big advantage down the road with my reading, because as you learn to write them, you become familiar with a general meaning that each kanji holds, so later when you see them in words, you can often figure out the meaning of the word from the kanji that are used. Also, using Anki for vocabulary review has helped me to learn how to read the sound of the kanji without having to study on-yomi and kun-yomi readings, so that I can just recognise the sound of the kanji from it's context in a word. I don't know if it's the best way to do it, and it's certainly labour-intensive, but I've managed to learn Japanese to a pretty high-level almost entirely outside of Japan. I've also had a couple of Japanese girlfriends, which helps, and I try to speak it with natives at every opportunity. Good luck!

@dbuc4671 10 ай бұрын

I've known abt this guy for like 3 years now and tho I already knew hes lives in my country, I just now found out that he lives in the exact same district as me as well lol. not city, cuz most cities are formed from smaller districts that are grouped together, but, yes, _district_ . i live literally a 7 minute drive from his LingQ school 😭

@annasamek5179 10 ай бұрын

Hi Steve! When you said that the brain learns slowly, it reminded me of how my software engineer husband always considers our human brains as terribly "underpowered" :)

@thetrueoneandonlyladyprinc8038 10 ай бұрын

Things such as speed and number of new words learned per day depend on the learner and also depend on the technique, and also depend on the language, because pretty languages that have almost only pretty words such as Dutch and Norwegian and English and other Germanic languages can be learned super fast in a few months, because one’s hern remembers pretty words faster, while languages that don’t have mostly pretty words take ages to learn, and, it also depends on how many hours a day one spends learning languages, and I spend all day learning languages, so I’m kind of like a full-time language learner at the moment - for me, learning languages etc is a very fast process, so I usually get to an advanced level (6.000 to 8.000 base words) in about 3 months of focusing on that language or around 300 hours of study usually, but I also watch a lot of entertaining videos every day, so I don’t watch language learning videos only, but if I did, I would probably learn them even faster, but it would be way too stressful tho...

@thetrueoneandonlyladyprinc8038 10 ай бұрын

Spaced repetition and long lists / 2.000 words vocab videos are really helpful, especially if one is trying to get it done as fast as possible and doesn’t have patience and if one has a facility for learning lots of new words fast - I have a facility for that and am very impatient and want to learn my target languages as fast as possible, so this method is very good for me, especially until I learn the first 6.000 words, and then I start watching more videos with subs in the target language, because I usually learn new words from the context when I get close to a C1 level! Another important thing is, that I always choose a pretty language with almost only pretty words, as it is a hobby for me, because one tends to remember prettier and more distinctive words faster, and this explains why I learned Dutch to an advanced level (over eight thousand base words) so fast, in only about three or four months of focusing on Dutch, because almost all Dutch words are just so pretty, as pretty as English / Norwegian etc words, and all other Germanic / Nordic languages are also gorgeous, including Icelandic / Faroese / Danish / Swedish / Luxembourgish / West Frisian / North Frisian / East Frisian / Limburgish / Afrikaans etc and the other types of German and the other Dutch-based languages such as the West-Vlaamse dialects etc, followed by the 6 Celtic languages, namely Welsh / Breton / Cornish / Manx / Irish / Scottish Gaelic, and the Latin languages, namely Gallo / Portuguese / Galician / French / Catalan / Spanish / Occitan / Latin / Esperanto / Italian and all other Italian-based languages, and Hungarian, and the older versions of these languages, including Old Norse / Old English / Old Dutch / Gothic / Old French / Norn etc, they are all so pretty, too pretty not to know, like, the words are just gorgeous, so I want to know them all! I usually start by memorizing as many thousands of words as fast as possible (it usually takes three to ten repetitions for most words to become part of my permanent memory, and for most Dutch words it only took 3 to 6 repetitions as Dutch words stick to my hern like glue) and watching all sorts of vocab videos multiple times and then watching them again after a few days and after a week / month etc, until I can remember each and every word, esp the words that aren’t usually used in videos, while most used words I keep seeing in videos because I watch everything with Dutch / Norwegian / German etc subs, so every time I see the words, it reinforces them, bringing me one step closer to developing an automatic Dutch mode, and I sort of have like an automatic Dutch mode at the moment, but it’s a lot more limited, so I need to learn more words and to see most words I know more times, but hopefully I will reach that level by the end of this year, because I’m planning to do two more weeks of intensive Dutch studying in July, because I’ve been focusing more on German / Icelandic / French and Norwegian lately - watching all videos with subs in the target language is very useful, especially if one is at least intermediate level in a language and knows at least three thousand words, and once one knows over 5.000 words, one will start picking up lots of new words from context, and it gets easier and easier!

@thetrueoneandonlyladyprinc8038 10 ай бұрын

That being said, I must admit that I always watch all sorts of videos, even as a beginner (including lots of videos on grammar, which are very important when one learns Dutch / German because these 2 languages have very different sentence structures and have specific word orders, unlike most other languages that don’t have a certain word order and are more flexible, and I only learned the word order in Dutch, so now I can understand the word order in German because it’s the same sentence structure as it is in Dutch basically) or intermediate, so I don’t stick to just one method, but I combine multiple methods and watch different types of videos etc, tho I try focusing mostly (85%) on vocab in the beginning, and as an intermediate I try to do about 50% vocab and 50% other types of videos until I reach an upper intermediate level, then I start watching more videos with subs in that language when I feel like I know enough words to be able to figure out the meanings of most of the words that I don’t know from the context - typing lots of words in different sentences in a Draft or something like that will make the hern remember the words even faster because it creates some sort of a muscle memory, and I did this a lot when I learned Dutch, but now I’m too lazy to type sentences in Drafts, so I’ve only been watching videos over the past few months, and using the words in comments also helps a lot, so I think might start mixing Dutch or Norwegian words with English more when I comment, and reading eBooks and watching movies with subs in the target language are really good for advanced learners that know over 8.000 words in the language, maybe even for B2 learners, especially if it’s a simple eBook or movie!

@thetrueoneandonlyladyprinc8038 10 ай бұрын

Anyways, ppl cannot say things such as my or love related words like husband, and cannot be in ‘reIationships’ and there must be a distance between all ppl at all times - love only exists for me the only lovable being aka the only bride / gf / wife etc and the only Owner / Possessor / Leader etc, whilst my pure protectors aka the alphas are the only lovers / bfs / friends / husbands etc, and reIationships are only meant for us pure beings (me & the protectors) who were blessed with a pure body that doesn’t gx one out and that has a good smëII / no smėII aka an enjoyable presence, and were never meant for ppl!

@kimoshoheeb5402 9 ай бұрын

I had a delay in memorizing lately, but Its getting better, It's more about concentration. I watched a show on a Dutch TV like a Year ago , Taking about the burned White blood cells that effects our memory delay. But it was in dutch and I couldn't understand it well 🧠

@TheCompleteGuitarist 10 ай бұрын

Language (context) has to be meaningful to be worth retaining.

@willyblondehair8070 10 ай бұрын

このビデオは私な助けました、スティーヴさん。ありがとうございます

@mrcv4 9 ай бұрын

I don't understand what you are saying, because I remember you said previously that space repetition is useful for language learning. I remember that was in context of Kindle having an option for exporting words to anki. Not only that, but I'm using anki for about 9 months and I saved around 3k words. And it's working ... When read books, I remember the word that I put in anki. Yes, the process is slow, and you forget words that are difficult for you. Obviously is just expanding your passive vocabulary size, and you still have to train listening, speaking and writing skills.

@viewercjg 10 ай бұрын

thank you! I always rebelled at having to memorize anything in school, preferring to just practice it over and over until it sunk in. biggest disadvantage was in timed arithmetic tests, but hey, they invented calculators so now I'm in the clear!

@edgarperez8949 10 ай бұрын

Memorizing for the sake of memorizing is not super helpful, just another form of exposure. You have to approach the material from different contexts, be ok learning forgetting and re-learning. It takes years to master something like a language. Studying the grammar helps a lot if you have a mathematical mindset, otherwise it is better to practice conversation.