📲 The app I use to learn languages: bit.ly/3W80O81 🆓 My 10 FREE secrets to language learning: bit.ly/4bTMNAG ❓What do you prefer: reading or listening? Let me know in the comments!
@@xxyl-y1e Keep trying. It's the best strategy, believe me. Being fluent in a language takes time. Enjoy the process. If you don't give up, I'm sure you'll be fluent one day.
@user-oh3dv7iv4e personally I feel is better to learn all the 1,000 words more importants to learn your pronunciation is more important and use elsa speak you can speak very fine And other advise use not grammar I've never use grammar and I can give me to understand my ideas With that I have learned 3 langue in 2 years other advise is use all in inglish youtube or other , I have 3 month with inglish and you look me I can use the language already for all because I've meorized all the words more important your pronunciation and how to write them I think to I have done wrongs of grammar but I not mind, the objetive the a langue is the communication Just study 1or 2 hours in the day words and watch inglish how insane all in inglsih in time out daring you wash the dishs podcast movie etc, try each time out to be with the language and recognize the words you study and you gonna see the adqutition is fast And you use TH-cam comment in videos like this and you already practice the write xd you found a words that you would use in the real world with natives Now I'm practicing my write xd You look me all I have write , I do that how 15 time in the day sometimes the people answer me and I already answer too, with each language do the same If you want have 1 level of inglish more native by the grammar after of you can understand and speak , write the language 90% you already can to be foucus in the grammar beacuse that is a waste time but in a proof is important
Combining reading and listening at the same time is a game changer, even in your native language. I'm able to get through really long books faster by listening to the audio book at 2x or 3x speed as I read along with the book. For foreign languages, I listen at 0.5x or 0.75x speed and read a little bit ahead and listen to confirm the pronunciation of words.
Hey Steve, thank you for the video. I am a Turkish guy living in St. Petersburg, Russia. I am more of a reader and a grammar guy. I can tell you this: as I do not consume audiovisual content like I read and study grammar, I feel like my understanding of the language on the street level is just pathetic. Of course, as an intermediate Russian speaker, I understand when people talk to me, I reply to them, no problem. People basically lower their speaking level when they talk to me because I am a foreigner, obviously. In addition, nobody speaks on the street the way I read, they swallow the sounds, words, use slang, etc. Even those language learning podcasts are different than what people actually speak. It is just another level, and I don't think you can get there without consuming audiovisuals that the native speakers themselves consume. Thank you for encouraging listening as well as reading, it made me realize I need to focus more on audiovisuals. Thank you!
@@VrajFram merci :) I am talented when it comes to languages, yes, but unless you work regularly on a language, talent is absolutely useless. Also, there is no limit to any language, mastering a language is harder than people assume. The way is daily persistence, a sense of exploration, and paying deep attention. Thank you.
After getting about 14,000 words I decided to start listening more. You have to get used to hearing the words over and over again in different contexts and to get used to the speed people talk. I don't want to go to the country and have to ask people to please slow down.
Hi, Steve, a new subscriber here! I'm an Uzbek 🇺🇿 linguist currently living in the States and raising a trilingual child. I'd long been following your son's fascinating research and then I found out about your amazing channel! What an incredible family you have! If you ever decide to dabble into Uzbek (perhaps after Turkish), I'd be delighted to help you with finding high quality reading and listening materials that might help. In any case, good luck and I'm really hoping your interest in Central Asia leads you to one of the languages spoken in the region!!
Wow, that's a good video! The book by Yuriy Ivantsiv “ Polyglot Notes. Practical Tips for Learning Foreign Language” had a profound impact on me, opening new horizons of understanding the diversity of languages and cultures. The author's ideas that learning foreign languages not only broadens one's horizons but also contributes to spiritual development became a real revelation for me. I realized that every language is not just a system of signs, but a whole world with its history, traditions and way of life. Thanks to this book, I learned to see language learning as a path to self-discovery and a deeper understanding of others, which in turn enriched my worldview. Inspired by Ivantsiv's approach, I became more conscious of my learning, integrating the author's practical advice into my daily life. This opened up opportunities for me not only to improve my language skills, but also to develop a personal philosophy based on mutual understanding and empathy. Immersing myself in languages has allowed me to see the world from different angles and realize the importance of cultural exchange, which has been the foundation for my spiritual growth. Reading this book and applying its advice has helped me to become a more open and tolerant person who seeks harmony in my relationships with others.
People watch Mr Kaufmann's video non-stop to make themselves feel better. Just go ahead and start! Pick one and then branch off! Reading, writing, speaking... just get started!
Listening comes first in language learning for pronunciation but reading is much more important as you are more likely to understand what you read than what you listen to. Also in listening you may miss even most of what you know very well for your ear is not used to hearing connected speech, intonation and low or high stress on syllables etc.
I'm in my 20s but the way you sustain your curiosity and keep on making an effort is how I want to live my life! I'm learning korean and have started to move onto chinese. I've been following you for a long time and really love your content, app, and mindset! Love from Pakistan!
Both are important and have their place and of course negotiating spoken langauge with real communicative context is the most important step in creating meaning in your language skills. Nonetheless, I would say that reading and listening to audio are very similar. If you are reading at a level appropriate to your competence, and it is essential that you understand what the words you read sound like, your inner voice will read to you and you can slow down and speed up the reading pace as necessary to your needs. So I would place reading over listening to audiobooks in terms of being able to negotiate the language. Being able to adapt the tempo of your reading and repeated reading of passages that you don't understand on first reading will help comprehension emerge. Listening is linear event based (meaning related to the passing of time) and it is harder to repeat listening events than it is to reread something in a book. I live in the country of my target language and it is really hard to learn from speakers who expect you to understand like adults, never adapt their speech to enable you to understand, just expect you to understand. Asking someone to repeat several times becomes embarrasing after a while. This was my reality as an adult learner learning from scracth so it took longer than I expected or hoped for. Reading is massive. Inner voice is essential here!!!
I find great pleasure in the act of reading. Whenever I engage with written material, I experience a heightened sense of joy, self-assurance, and drive. Conversely, I do not derive the same benefits from listening alone. I am uncertain whether this is a personal quirk or a more universal phenomenon. I would greatly appreciate your insights and experiences regarding both reading and listening, and how they impact you.
Hi Steve, your insights are really valuable. It's beneficial to employ various methods to acquire material in the language we're studying. Different approaches allow us to frequently encounter the same content and establish connections.
I like both but I prefer listening. I don't know why but when I hear a new word or phrase I can not only remember it better but often remember the context in which I learned it. If I come across a new word in a text I struggle to remember it and if I do where I came across it. But it's important to also remember that written language is nearly always more complex and has a greater range of vocabulary than unscripted speech. Which is why understanding films and plays can be hard because a script is just written language performed.
What I found really uplifting in Steve videos is the thought of not worrying about forgetting words over and over. It just puts the pressure and frustration off of one shoulder. And the second thought is that you can not control your brain speed in terms of learning pace - just allow it to take you a couple of years 😂
Learning through immersion is better for this reason because it doesn't remind you (as much) of how much you're forgetting but if you do flash cards all the time all you see is how much you're forgetting and it's really demoralizing.
Couldn't agree more. I started with Friends I watched it three times then other series as I sharpened my ears. I finished watching Peppa pig recently. And now I go for a Ben & Holly Little Kingdom. I would also recommend books, in my case, novels like Dark Matter. The whole book was written almost in simple present tense. + It's a bestseller. The hardest thing is the beginning, to find an engaging and comprehensible content to listen and watch. Take care : )
Listening is fleeting, so while it's basically the cornerstone of communication, for the purposes of learning, it can be difficult to capture. This has improved with the Internet, where people can have far more control over the pacing and repetition of bits of audio as well as subtitles. Whereas with reading, it's there permanently. You can go at your own pace. However, it still relies on you having a fairly good grounding of the sounds of a language, particularly with something like English where you might regularly meet words that could be pronounced one of several ways. In English, for someone with bad pronunciation, extensive reading can be very problematic, because their phonological loop is all over the place and if they don't know how the words are supposed to sound, they can't say them in their head, even if they know the meaning. However, the main issue is that there is just far more written material out there at levels suitable for learners. It's quick and easy to make and with the advent of AI, you can grade written material quickly to make it easier to read. So in terms of getting vast amounts of input, reading is still the best, particularly after those initial stages of learning. I don't know many people who reach C1 or C2 level who don't read a vast amount.
If you constantly listen and read at the same time, your listening is lagging behind, because you focus more on reading.... It was the same for me, if I understand 90% while listening to English with English subtitles, it can drop to 30-50% only when I listen, and if it is long, I get lost... If someone whose listening is developed enough, even if he only reads, his listening also improves a lot.... Of course, everyone may be different, but I think it is necessary to listen a lot without adding reading into the work... Even if the sound and subtitles are in the same language, when you get used to the subtitle, you have difficulty when you just switch to listening...So it was with me.. How are your experiences, friends?
I use LingQ so I do both at the same time, also I increase the speed of some courses just to exercise my brain to get better understanding of different accents and conected speech.
I've been using a slightly different approach. I've been trying to learn French and Russian for the last year and a half and I focused only on listening. I started from scratch, watching movies and series, with subtitles in the target language and also in my own language. It is now, after this year and a half, that I feel confident to start reading. I ask chatGPT or any other AI to create short stories at an advanced level in both languages and I do what is called extensive reading. I get the main idea of the stories even though I still don't know all the words. So, it seems that only listening from the very beginning has worked for me. I think listening is the hardest part so it seems reasonable to invest more time into that.
I always found reading first to be best, as when I read first I have learned what the person is going to say. Then I listen to what they say to improve my listening comprehension.
Reading vs listening has been an on going internal debate for me but I come back to the same answer: reading is better for anything that's at all above my level and where looking up words would make noticeable difference which is every foreign language for me. But reading does take a bit more concentration and so sometimes I opt for listening instead anyway. And there's definitely something to be said for getting a minimum amount of listening practice in so that your inner monologue when you read is correct or at least pretty good. Having studied Korean for many years now I can better hear the Korean in my head when I read versus several years ago when I had a lot less listening practice. I think if you're starting a new language having both the audio and text to review at the same time is really ideal.
Today I am on page 96 of the 1,250 page Kindle edition in Spanish of Harry Potter book 5 (of 7). I read at the same time I listen to the Audible Book of same. This system guarantees I hear correct pronunciation. A 40 minute chapter takes maybe 120 minutes because I frequently ask chatGPT to explain coloquial expressions or definitions of magical incantations or biographies of characters (Sirius Snape, Ojoloco Moody, Ron & George Weasley, etc etc). And of course Google translate is indispensable. The Harry Potter series is perfect because each successive volume has more advanced vocabulary and grammar.
Have you considered EXtensive reading instead of what you do, intensive one? It seems to have greater yields in the long term. You would simply read a book like you would in your native language, without using Google translate or ChatGPT to explain some phrases. You would understand new words and phrases eventually, when they would come up in the book a bit later. Since you got to the 5th book, it seems like your reading comprehension is quite high already, so I don't think you'd have any real problems reading extensively. The main benefit is progressing in the language "naturally" (what sticks, basically), leading in better retention in memory. Plus, it would be 3x faster, as you mentioned
Thank you so much, Steve - great advice! I am enjoying combining the listening and reading on Linq as well as Audible with Kindle and Apple Books.:). Also TH-cam and podcasts - there are so many resources available nowadays for language learning!
It depends on the person and the situation...some people learning of things more strongly audio and others more strongly visual, some use both about equally. Also the language matters. For me as an english speaker who wears hearing aids, using speech and reading concurrently (esp in a language such as French) works best to both know how to pronounce the words and remember them by how they appear written. Hard to explain, but I need both together. Then again, I once knew someone who only remembered things heard but never remembered things written, so would read school texts out loud while recording, then review the info by listening at a somewhat faster replay, so then could pass a test. Everyone is different.
I am a hearing aid user too, learning French. I really get frustrated without reading the audio's transcript. I am anxious about this method's effectivement. Doesn't this dependency inhibit listening module progress? Thanks
@@s.j4606 Since I tend to be a stronger visual learner, picturing a word in my mind's eye helps me remember it more easily. I also tend to remember tunes, so sometimes combining visual and tune memories helps. But I hate mnemomics... for me it's like trying to remember 2 separate things and they don't link well. But then a friend uses them for everything. Everyone learns differently... each person just has to figure out what methods work best for themselves.
I think that learning depends on both the person's mother tongue and his characteristics. I have an auditory memory, so I learn a language best if I hear it while reading.
Hi Steve, thanks for the content! I have a question: if I'm only interested in speaking and listening in a new language, is it worth also learning how to read to help me with the speaking and listening skills I'm actually interested in?
Steve I recently reading the central Asia history book I already learned about the central Asia history including the silk road the time of revival is so amazing actually I am different Country history culture or society enthusiast language is culture basic So Now I am every day progress leaning Japanese language I hope I can fast inprove My Japanese level I am eighteen years old Is so younger So future I will related to learning different countries language Never give up because I like communicat with different countrie people forwafer Myself Not feeling communicat is embarrass because I feeling learning or research different Country language and then communicat can make more Experience So I don't care communicat with different Country people so this is My Adventure through My memory is so good So I believe I can speak more language this is My confidence
Thanks, Steve. I'm sure that you're right about the reinforcement given to comprehension by both listening and reading. I continue to be befuddled by the difficulty of buying ebooks in countries with my target language. For some reason, while payment by, say, Mastercard or Visa may be requested, it will often be rejected unless one actually has a bank account in the country of the seller. Doubtlessly there are reasons, but this is a major stumbling block. Thanks again, and best wishes to you.
"Vojna a mír" - I had a reaction I don't know how to describe. First, it's in Latin letters; second, the conjunction is "a". The Russian title is "Война и мир". "А" exists in Russian as well; it's somewhere between "and" and "but".
Hi steve! First of all I want to thank you for help me on lingQ ❤❤❤ Actually we very need a video about how to make a kid learn a language because you know the kids very hate learning and studying so it's hard to teach them the language so that make a lot of problems for us especially when they very need that language . And that is my question. Again I really thank you for help me ❤
I'm really good at memorizing song lyrics, even if I don't understand the language, I just pick up the lyrics if I listen to it enough. I learn lyrics of songs I don't even like, just because people around me are listening to them aloud. And that's not only the lyrics, but the instruments being played as well. I try to use that to my advantage when learning languages in order to quickly absorb the words and grammar patterns.
You need to do both. I like to listening and then reading after that I reading while listening...And during activities as washing the dishes I like listening english radio or podcast....
Hello, when I watch your videos I am reading and listening at the same time, and I also learn the pronunciation of some words that I don't know in English, I am a native speaker of Spanish, and I am learning English and other languages, it is strange but I feel that I do both activities at the same time both reading and listening because I can activate the subtitles in English and Spanish and other languages which are available in several languages. Thank you and see you. 👍
Good day mr Kaufmann,. i am going to Corfu soon and plan to visit some bookstores. Do you have any tips on some good but quite simple books to buy? Thank you for yet another helpful video. Juliette from Holland xxx
I have never been to Corfu, just Crete and Athens. If you mean languages resources, you can check LingQ for what we have in our library for Greek. I also have lots of books for learning Greek at home which I found on the internet. You just have to search. I have nothing in particular to recommend. Good luck.
@@Thelinguist i know you haven't been to corfu. I mean paper books to read, no need for them to be about learnng the language per se. Thank you for for answering 🤗
Thanks to you, I am studying without stress. However, I always have a question when it comes to listening practice. Which is more effective: practicing listening with content from newspapers, articles, or books, or practicing with conversation videos where real dialogues occur? I think that since the ultimate goal is to engage in real conversations, it might be more efficient to focus more on listening practice with actual dialogue videos. What do you think?
How about reading along as u listen ti the audio version I get ebook ahd audio version of the sane book As I read along as I listen Is it the best way ?
I easily get distracted when I listen to audiobooks, so I prefer reading books. However, I do have some favorite audiobooks, such as Harry Potter read by Stephen Fry.
Japanese is for sure much harder to start enjoying reading since it's so hard to read it, need to know the infinite kanjis. Though I think there's a lot of learning boost left on the table if we ignore it. I'll personally force myself to start reading. Downloaded some light novels and Imma use yomitan to instantly look up the meaning of each word.
but that’s because after one year Japanese you are not able to read, right? (other than mostly hiragana made for students boring sentences). Once you get to the 1000 Kanji range and start reading native materials, novels, manga or short stories by Murakami etc. it’s a game changer!
I love both reading and listening. Im American, but i have to say that I love Russian so much. To me its the most beautiful language in the world. There i said it!
As an Italian I have to say that Promessi Sposi is NOT written like current spoken Italian It is an old book so we Italians do not talk or write like that, but it's still a great book that many people love and an average Italian would understand it easily even though there are many unused words they wouldn't know
@@Thelinguist Yeah it's still a great way to learn some Italian and an important piece of Italian history Also, you're probably learning some florentine dialect which is great
Before international travel became common (somewhen in the 20th century) there was this young woman who decided to travel to Italy for her studies (she was a singer if I remember correctly). She had learned Italian.. from Dante. There were some issues with language development since then, as she found out.
Greetings, Mr. Kaufmann, any possibility of learning Austronesian languages in the future such as Malay, Indonesian? I will try to help out by offering some resources in LingQ for these particular languages.
hello everyone, please help me figure out what I'm doing wrong. I can't take English speech by ear. Because of this, it seems to me that I cannot speak English. I don't hear the difference in the sound of many English sounds. the same sound can be transmitted by a different combination of letters and this is my nightmare for me. It's easier for me to understand Spanish than English. Please give me some advice on how to overcome this barrier?
📲 The app I use to learn languages: bit.ly/3W80O81
🆓 My 10 FREE secrets to language learning: bit.ly/4bTMNAG
❓What do you prefer: reading or listening? Let me know in the comments!
Read first, look up the new words, then read and listen at the same time. If you do that consistently, you'll learn a new language much faster.
that is what i have been doing resently. it really helped me a lot.but i still cant speak fluently that really frustrated me🙃
@@xxyl-y1e Keep trying. It's the best strategy, believe me. Being fluent in a language takes time. Enjoy the process. If you don't give up, I'm sure you'll be fluent one day.
@@solange.moraesthanks.i will keep with it and hope that day will come soon.
@@xxyl-y1e Do this and you won't regret. This day came to me and will come to you as well.
@user-oh3dv7iv4e personally I feel is better to learn all the 1,000 words more importants to learn your pronunciation is more important and use elsa speak you can speak very fine
And other advise use not grammar I've never use grammar and I can give me to understand my ideas
With that I have learned 3 langue in 2 years other advise is use all in inglish youtube or other ,
I have 3 month with inglish and you look me I can use the language already for all because I've meorized all the words more important your pronunciation and how to write them
I think to I have done wrongs of grammar but I not mind, the objetive the a langue is the communication
Just study 1or 2 hours in the day words and watch inglish how insane all in inglsih in time out daring you wash the dishs podcast movie etc, try each time out to be with the language and recognize the words you study and you gonna see the adqutition is fast
And you use TH-cam comment in videos like this and you already practice the write xd you found a words that you would use in the real world with natives
Now I'm practicing my write xd
You look me all I have write , I do that how 15 time in the day sometimes the people answer me and I already answer too, with each language do the same
If you want have 1 level of inglish more native by the grammar after of you can understand and speak , write the language 90% you already can to be foucus in the grammar beacuse that is a waste time but in a proof is important
Combining reading and listening at the same time is a game changer, even in your native language. I'm able to get through really long books faster by listening to the audio book at 2x or 3x speed as I read along with the book. For foreign languages, I listen at 0.5x or 0.75x speed and read a little bit ahead and listen to confirm the pronunciation of words.
the only reason ive made it anywhere as a grad student
But can you savour books that way?
@@magicmofy2871ikr
When I learn a new language, I always feel listening much harder than reading and so I will put a lot of effort into listening. That's it!!!
how is your level now
Hey Steve, thank you for the video.
I am a Turkish guy living in St. Petersburg, Russia. I am more of a reader and a grammar guy. I can tell you this: as I do not consume audiovisual content like I read and study grammar, I feel like my understanding of the language on the street level is just pathetic.
Of course, as an intermediate Russian speaker, I understand when people talk to me, I reply to them, no problem. People basically lower their speaking level when they talk to me because I am a foreigner, obviously. In addition, nobody speaks on the street the way I read, they swallow the sounds, words, use slang, etc. Even those language learning podcasts are different than what people actually speak. It is just another level, and I don't think you can get there without consuming audiovisuals that the native speakers themselves consume.
Thank you for encouraging listening as well as reading, it made me realize I need to focus more on audiovisuals. Thank you!
Tu es tellement talentueux(se) !
@@VrajFram merci :) I am talented when it comes to languages, yes, but unless you work regularly on a language, talent is absolutely useless. Also, there is no limit to any language, mastering a language is harder than people assume. The way is daily persistence, a sense of exploration, and paying deep attention. Thank you.
Depends on what you prefer. If I have to read a boring book, it's not going to happen. Audio and taking notes works best for me.
After getting about 14,000 words I decided to start listening more. You have to get used to hearing the words over and over again in different contexts and to get used to the speed people talk. I don't want to go to the country and have to ask people to please slow down.
Hi, Steve, a new subscriber here! I'm an Uzbek 🇺🇿 linguist currently living in the States and raising a trilingual child. I'd long been following your son's fascinating research and then I found out about your amazing channel! What an incredible family you have!
If you ever decide to dabble into Uzbek (perhaps after Turkish), I'd be delighted to help you with finding high quality reading and listening materials that might help.
In any case, good luck and I'm really hoping your interest in Central Asia leads you to one of the languages spoken in the region!!
Reading will make our mind open, with better vision 🥰🌸
Wow, that's a good video! The book by Yuriy Ivantsiv “ Polyglot Notes. Practical Tips for Learning Foreign Language” had a profound impact on me, opening new horizons of understanding the diversity of languages and cultures. The author's ideas that learning foreign languages not only broadens one's horizons but also contributes to spiritual development became a real revelation for me. I realized that every language is not just a system of signs, but a whole world with its history, traditions and way of life. Thanks to this book, I learned to see language learning as a path to self-discovery and a deeper understanding of others, which in turn enriched my worldview. Inspired by Ivantsiv's approach, I became more conscious of my learning, integrating the author's practical advice into my daily life. This opened up opportunities for me not only to improve my language skills, but also to develop a personal philosophy based on mutual understanding and empathy. Immersing myself in languages has allowed me to see the world from different angles and realize the importance of cultural exchange, which has been the foundation for my spiritual growth. Reading this book and applying its advice has helped me to become a more open and tolerant person who seeks harmony in my relationships with others.
listening is the most important thing ,if you want to communicate in the language
Whichever we do first LATER, we have to LISTEN to Steve’s videos first!
You raised the point🎉
Indeed
People watch Mr Kaufmann's video non-stop to make themselves feel better. Just go ahead and start! Pick one and then branch off! Reading, writing, speaking... just get started!
@@jaylang382 Most excellent advice!
Im From UZBEKISTAN 🇺🇿 in central Asia . Your videos are very usefull , thanks a lot
Listening helps to enhance pronunciation while reading helps to enhance understanding. Both are important in their sectors.
Listening comes first in language learning for pronunciation but reading is much more important as you are more likely to understand what you read than what you listen to. Also in listening you may miss even most of what you know very well for your ear is not used to hearing connected speech, intonation and low or high stress on syllables etc.
I'm in my 20s but the way you sustain your curiosity and keep on making an effort is how I want to live my life! I'm learning korean and have started to move onto chinese. I've been following you for a long time and really love your content, app, and mindset! Love from Pakistan!
Both are important and have their place and of course negotiating spoken langauge with real communicative context is the most important step in creating meaning in your language skills. Nonetheless, I would say that reading and listening to audio are very similar. If you are reading at a level appropriate to your competence, and it is essential that you understand what the words you read sound like, your inner voice will read to you and you can slow down and speed up the reading pace as necessary to your needs. So I would place reading over listening to audiobooks in terms of being able to negotiate the language. Being able to adapt the tempo of your reading and repeated reading of passages that you don't understand on first reading will help comprehension emerge. Listening is linear event based (meaning related to the passing of time) and it is harder to repeat listening events than it is to reread something in a book.
I live in the country of my target language and it is really hard to learn from speakers who expect you to understand like adults, never adapt their speech to enable you to understand, just expect you to understand. Asking someone to repeat several times becomes embarrasing after a while. This was my reality as an adult learner learning from scracth so it took longer than I expected or hoped for. Reading is massive. Inner voice is essential here!!!
I find great pleasure in the act of reading. Whenever I engage with written material, I experience a heightened sense of joy, self-assurance, and drive. Conversely, I do not derive the same benefits from listening alone. I am uncertain whether this is a personal quirk or a more universal phenomenon. I would greatly appreciate your insights and experiences regarding both reading and listening, and how they impact you.
Hi Steve, your insights are really valuable. It's beneficial to employ various methods to acquire material in the language we're studying. Different approaches allow us to frequently encounter the same content and establish connections.
I like both but I prefer listening. I don't know why but when I hear a new word or phrase I can not only remember it better but often remember the context in which I learned it. If I come across a new word in a text I struggle to remember it and if I do where I came across it.
But it's important to also remember that written language is nearly always more complex and has a greater range of vocabulary than unscripted speech. Which is why understanding films and plays can be hard because a script is just written language performed.
That’s interesting, I feel exactly the same way but for reading! I think it makes sense that there might be personal differences
Do them both. Strongest when reading, listening and speaking is done at the same time. Two input and one output simultaneously.
always find something new and useful in your lessons. Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge with us!
What I found really uplifting in Steve videos is the thought of not worrying about forgetting words over and over. It just puts the pressure and frustration off of one shoulder. And the second thought is that you can not control your brain speed in terms of learning pace - just allow it to take you a couple of years 😂
Learning through immersion is better for this reason because it doesn't remind you (as much) of how much you're forgetting but if you do flash cards all the time all you see is how much you're forgetting and it's really demoralizing.
Couldn't agree more. I started with Friends I watched it three times then other series as I sharpened my ears. I finished watching Peppa pig recently. And now I go for a Ben & Holly Little Kingdom. I would also recommend books, in my case, novels like Dark Matter. The whole book was written almost in simple present tense. + It's a bestseller.
The hardest thing is the beginning, to find an engaging and comprehensible content to listen and watch. Take care : )
Listening is fleeting, so while it's basically the cornerstone of communication, for the purposes of learning, it can be difficult to capture. This has improved with the Internet, where people can have far more control over the pacing and repetition of bits of audio as well as subtitles. Whereas with reading, it's there permanently. You can go at your own pace. However, it still relies on you having a fairly good grounding of the sounds of a language, particularly with something like English where you might regularly meet words that could be pronounced one of several ways. In English, for someone with bad pronunciation, extensive reading can be very problematic, because their phonological loop is all over the place and if they don't know how the words are supposed to sound, they can't say them in their head, even if they know the meaning.
However, the main issue is that there is just far more written material out there at levels suitable for learners. It's quick and easy to make and with the advent of AI, you can grade written material quickly to make it easier to read. So in terms of getting vast amounts of input, reading is still the best, particularly after those initial stages of learning. I don't know many people who reach C1 or C2 level who don't read a vast amount.
If you constantly listen and read at the same time, your listening is lagging behind, because you focus more on reading.... It was the same for me, if I understand 90% while listening to English with English subtitles, it can drop to 30-50% only when I listen, and if it is long, I get lost... If someone whose listening is developed enough, even if he only reads, his listening also improves a lot.... Of course, everyone may be different, but I think it is necessary to listen a lot without adding reading into the work... Even if the sound and subtitles are in the same language, when you get used to the subtitle, you have difficulty when you just switch to listening...So it was with me..
How are your experiences, friends?
It was the same with me 😅
You are right. For me too. But when we don't know a lot of words, we get obliged to use the transcripts. Any solution ?
I use LingQ so I do both at the same time, also I increase the speed of some courses just to exercise my brain to get better understanding of different accents and conected speech.
I've been using a slightly different approach. I've been trying to learn French and Russian for the last year and a half and I focused only on listening. I started from scratch, watching movies and series, with subtitles in the target language and also in my own language. It is now, after this year and a half, that I feel confident to start reading. I ask chatGPT or any other AI to create short stories at an advanced level in both languages and I do what is called extensive reading. I get the main idea of the stories even though I still don't know all the words. So, it seems that only listening from the very beginning has worked for me. I think listening is the hardest part so it seems reasonable to invest more time into that.
�� Your enthusiasm for trading is contagious! I love watching your videos and learning from your experiences
Thank you sir, I love your phrase and apply for me too. The apetite is more than I can digest.
I always found reading first to be best, as when I read first I have learned what the person is going to say. Then I listen to what they say to improve my listening comprehension.
Reading vs listening has been an on going internal debate for me but I come back to the same answer: reading is better for anything that's at all above my level and where looking up words would make noticeable difference which is every foreign language for me. But reading does take a bit more concentration and so sometimes I opt for listening instead anyway. And there's definitely something to be said for getting a minimum amount of listening practice in so that your inner monologue when you read is correct or at least pretty good. Having studied Korean for many years now I can better hear the Korean in my head when I read versus several years ago when I had a lot less listening practice. I think if you're starting a new language having both the audio and text to review at the same time is really ideal.
Today I am on page 96 of the 1,250 page Kindle edition in Spanish of Harry Potter book 5 (of 7). I read at the same time I listen to the Audible Book of same. This system guarantees I hear correct pronunciation. A 40 minute chapter takes maybe 120 minutes because I frequently ask chatGPT to explain coloquial expressions or definitions of magical incantations or biographies of characters (Sirius Snape, Ojoloco Moody, Ron & George Weasley, etc etc). And of course Google translate is indispensable. The Harry Potter series is perfect because each successive volume has more advanced vocabulary and grammar.
Have you considered EXtensive reading instead of what you do, intensive one?
It seems to have greater yields in the long term. You would simply read a book like you would in your native language, without using Google translate or ChatGPT to explain some phrases. You would understand new words and phrases eventually, when they would come up in the book a bit later.
Since you got to the 5th book, it seems like your reading comprehension is quite high already, so I don't think you'd have any real problems reading extensively.
The main benefit is progressing in the language "naturally" (what sticks, basically), leading in better retention in memory. Plus, it would be 3x faster, as you mentioned
Thank you so much, Steve - great advice! I am enjoying combining the listening and reading on Linq as well as Audible with Kindle and Apple Books.:). Also TH-cam and podcasts - there are so many resources available nowadays for language learning!
I think both are so interesting!
Thank you very much. Your content is really helpful. I also love your eyeglasses! Could you please share the model?
Both!
What an amazing vid ❤🎉🎉🎉
Amazing content! Thank you Steve!
It depends on the person and the situation...some people learning of things more strongly audio and others more strongly visual, some use both about equally. Also the language matters.
For me as an english speaker who wears hearing aids, using speech and reading concurrently (esp in a language such as French) works best to both know how to pronounce the words and remember them by how they appear written. Hard to explain, but I need both together.
Then again, I once knew someone who only remembered things heard but never remembered things written, so would read school texts out loud while recording, then review the info by listening at a somewhat faster replay, so then could pass a test. Everyone is different.
I am a hearing aid user too, learning French. I really get frustrated without reading the audio's transcript. I am anxious about this method's effectivement. Doesn't this dependency inhibit listening module progress? Thanks
@@s.j4606 Since I tend to be a stronger visual learner, picturing a word in my mind's eye helps me remember it more easily. I also tend to remember tunes, so sometimes combining visual and tune memories helps.
But I hate mnemomics... for me it's like trying to remember 2 separate things and they don't link well. But then a friend uses them for everything.
Everyone learns differently... each person just has to figure out what methods work best for themselves.
Emotional connection and non verbal information make it easier for me to remember vocabulary. So I prefer listening.
I think that learning depends on both the person's mother tongue and his characteristics. I have an auditory memory, so I learn a language best if I hear it while reading.
Hi Steve, thanks for the content! I have a question: if I'm only interested in speaking and listening in a new language, is it worth also learning how to read to help me with the speaking and listening skills I'm actually interested in?
Steve I recently reading the central Asia history book I already learned about the central Asia history including the silk road the time of revival is so amazing actually I am different Country history culture or society enthusiast language is culture basic So Now I am every day progress leaning Japanese language I hope I can fast inprove My Japanese level I am eighteen years old Is so younger So future I will related to learning different countries language Never give up because I like communicat with different countrie people forwafer Myself Not feeling communicat is embarrass because I feeling learning or research different Country language and then communicat can make more Experience So I don't care communicat with different Country people so this is My Adventure through My memory is so good So I believe I can speak more language this is My confidence
Special thanks for providing links to sources!
Thanks for your exquisite lesson.God bless you
Always a Master class. Thanks!
Thanks, Steve. I'm sure that you're right about the reinforcement given to comprehension by both listening and reading. I continue to be befuddled by the difficulty of buying ebooks in countries with my target language. For some reason, while payment by, say, Mastercard or Visa may be requested, it will often be rejected unless one actually has a bank account in the country of the seller. Doubtlessly there are reasons, but this is a major stumbling block. Thanks again, and best wishes to you.
I have the same problem. It is often the lack of a local address or postal code or something. Hopefully this will change in the future.
"Vojna a mír" - I had a reaction I don't know how to describe. First, it's in Latin letters; second, the conjunction is "a". The Russian title is "Война и мир". "А" exists in Russian as well; it's somewhere between "and" and "but".
Hi steve!
First of all I want to thank you for help me on lingQ ❤❤❤
Actually we very need a video about how to make a kid learn a language because you know the kids very hate learning and studying so it's hard to teach them the language so that make a lot of problems for us especially when they very need that language .
And that is my question.
Again I really thank you for help me ❤
Why not both?
Both of them are effective depending on the content of what we read or listen to. As long as it's engaging for us it's going to come in handy
I'm really good at memorizing song lyrics, even if I don't understand the language, I just pick up the lyrics if I listen to it enough. I learn lyrics of songs I don't even like, just because people around me are listening to them aloud. And that's not only the lyrics, but the instruments being played as well. I try to use that to my advantage when learning languages in order to quickly absorb the words and grammar patterns.
You need to do both. I like to listening and then reading after that I reading while listening...And during activities as washing the dishes I like listening english radio or podcast....
I would like to read.
Hello, when I watch your videos I am reading and listening at the same time, and I also learn the pronunciation of some words that I don't know in English, I am a native speaker of Spanish, and I am learning English and other languages, it is strange but I feel that I do both activities at the same time both reading and listening because I can activate the subtitles in English and Spanish and other languages which are available in several languages. Thank you and see you. 👍
Thanks you for your English. God bless you......
So the best way can help you to learn a new language is listening ❤
Thank you Steve !
Primarily, listening to a foreign language ebook will help to improve pronunciation and accent...!
The best way is to speak and write! Active vs passive.
You never miss 🔥
Good day mr Kaufmann,. i am going to Corfu soon and plan to visit some bookstores. Do you have any tips on some good but quite simple books to buy? Thank you for yet another helpful video. Juliette from Holland xxx
I have never been to Corfu, just Crete and Athens. If you mean languages resources, you can check LingQ for what we have in our library for Greek. I also have lots of books for learning Greek at home which I found on the internet. You just have to search. I have nothing in particular to recommend. Good luck.
@@Thelinguist i know you haven't been to corfu. I mean paper books to read, no need for them to be about learnng the language per se. Thank you for for answering 🤗
Good luck very true thank you
Thanks to you, I am studying without stress. However, I always have a question when it comes to listening practice. Which is more effective: practicing listening with content from newspapers, articles, or books, or practicing with conversation videos where real dialogues occur? I think that since the ultimate goal is to engage in real conversations, it might be more efficient to focus more on listening practice with actual dialogue videos. What do you think?
Awesome video!!
Brilliant!
thanks for your video
How about reading along as u listen ti the audio version
I get ebook ahd audio version of the sane book
As I read along as I listen
Is it the best way ?
I like your videos ❤❤❤
Thank you very much for this Great video
I easily get distracted when I listen to audiobooks, so I prefer reading books. However, I do have some favorite audiobooks, such as Harry Potter read by Stephen Fry.
As a 1 year japanese learner, listening is what i prefer😅
I think listening helps a lot more than reading when it comes to learning an unknown language
Me too
Japanese is for sure much harder to start enjoying reading since it's so hard to read it, need to know the infinite kanjis. Though I think there's a lot of learning boost left on the table if we ignore it. I'll personally force myself to start reading. Downloaded some light novels and Imma use yomitan to instantly look up the meaning of each word.
@@Katatonyayou can enjoy a lot of content in furigana through Satori Reader, Todai, any manga with furigana and ocr manga reader
but that’s because after one year Japanese you are not able to read, right? (other than mostly hiragana made for students boring sentences).
Once you get to the 1000 Kanji range and start reading native materials, novels, manga or short stories by Murakami etc. it’s a game changer!
I love both reading and listening. Im American, but i have to say that I love Russian so much. To me its the most beautiful language in the world. There i said it!
As an Italian I have to say that Promessi Sposi is NOT written like current spoken Italian
It is an old book so we Italians do not talk or write like that, but it's still a great book that many people love and an average Italian would understand it easily even though there are many unused words they wouldn't know
True of course but I like 19th century literature and history.
@@Thelinguist Yeah it's still a great way to learn some Italian and an important piece of Italian history
Also, you're probably learning some florentine dialect which is great
Before international travel became common (somewhen in the 20th century) there was this young woman who decided to travel to Italy for her studies (she was a singer if I remember correctly). She had learned Italian.. from Dante. There were some issues with language development since then, as she found out.
@@tohaason Yeah Italians can understand Promessi Sposi, but Dante? Definitely not. It's a whole other language lol.
Greetings, Mr. Kaufmann, any possibility of learning Austronesian languages in the future such as Malay, Indonesian? I will try to help out by offering some resources in LingQ for these particular languages.
We have Indonesian, Malay, Tagalog at LingQ. Please let us know of more resources for these languages.
Listening > Speaking > Reading > Writing
I struggle with English, is enough for me to focus on one language and be proficient in it
The best answer for the video's question is the last sentence { thank you for Listening 🎧😊}
Read as more as you can
It is read as much as you can, grammatically speaking.
@@marvelouss719 then you should read mucher, not more )
You can read in hiragana
Steve, How long does it take you to learn 100 words in one day?
Listening with CI first and after maybe 1000 hours then combine reading and listening 👍
Приезжайте в Кыргызстан.
😅 Live in Central Asia 👍
I've been studing English since 2 years, but when I want to speak I miss the words.
With Lingq I import podcasts, I get the AI generated transcripts and I do both at the same time.
Win win
Mr Steve For me I prefer listening ''reading is very boring for me
I’m learning Thai and I need to listen to pick up the tones. I don’t know the rules to get the tones from the script.
Where do you live in Vancouver? I also live in Vancouver.
Splendid 👍👍❤️
thanks you sir
Sir, I have a question do we have to read loudly or in silence, please tell me thank you!
Whatever you prefer. I tend to read silently but actually pronounce the words in my head.
I want to read but I can't find books fit level A2
hello everyone, please help me figure out what I'm doing wrong. I can't take English speech by ear. Because of this, it seems to me that I cannot speak English. I don't hear the difference in the sound of many English sounds. the same sound can be transmitted by a different combination of letters and this is my nightmare for me. It's easier for me to understand Spanish than English. Please give me some advice on how to overcome this barrier?
I understand the most of the Words on english, but now i need to accustom my ear, its some tough to me
Reading: 80% > Listening: 59%
감사합니다....
Hi Steve, have you ever learned any Celtic languages like Irish?
Sorry. no
I think listening first
The best way is to teach it.
It depends on your learning style.
I think reading is the best because while reading we can see and speak our own voice so we will get extra benefits than listening.
@@succeedsishir2081 I agree. I don’t mind audiobooks, but I’m more of a reader. It’s a better way for me to digest and interpret the information.
Excelente!