I've certainly found that when I've committed myself to doing X hours of a language on a day that I want to do it immediately - its actually quite mentally freeing when you've quickly chalked off a key task for the day. I knock off two tasks with one stone - my iPad is 'Japanese only', and on a morning I do one hour on my exercise bike with the iPad and Japanese. Its feels really good to have two things (fitness and language) done before starting work.
Wow, good work! Yeah, it does feel like a big tick in the box once it's done and you know you've invested some time in it that day. I'll have to get an exercise bike and the dog can have a treadmill next to me 🤣
Fantastic insights on language learning! 📚 I love the idea of habit stacking and tracking your progress. It's so true that making time for language can transform your experience. Excited to implement some of these strategies in my own journey! Thanks for sharing!
My only problem is wanting to do too much. Trying to balance a 9 to 5 work, training to compete, learn a language, spend time with friends and family… Sometimes I even have to choose between all of that and eating dinner😅
I’ve recently come back to learning French and reached for low hanging fruit for the first month - I went on Duolingo and allowed it to push me to do a session in the morning and in the evening and that was great because I only did it for a month, and then because I was bored witless by the endless repetition of the same material I quit Duolingo but I now have a French language learning habit. So it now feels natural to study some grammar and read my French novel every day.
Hmmm conversation. As a native English speaker I didn't really have a lot of conversations in my life. Just the average amount, maybe less as I am quite introverted, and I actually converse quite well in Spanish already anyway. I teach in Spanish too. But that's not where one builds rich vocabulary of words or an ability to express oneself deeply.
I’m the same like you, i’m quite an introvert and i don’t even usually an extended conversation to talk about. Even though I’m mainly learning languages to be able to talk with people it could be hard to find topics for me (i even more afraid of not finding an interesting topic for the others compared to making mistakes when i speak).😅
@@ATREIDESDUNCAN88 If you learn without a guiding teacher and without being in the target language country we have youtube. Find very basic stories for children to start. There are a lot in most common languages I have seen them in German, French, Spanish Japanese. Build on that. As the video suggests, form a habit, do it every day. Read a lot, watch anything that you enjoy in the target language. Finding things that you like is really important because you will want to negotiate the meaning and you will enjoy the process. Time is the key. You cannot learn a language quickly despite what anyone says.
The Power of Habit is the best non-fiction book I’ve ever read-great add! Its lessons work for everything. Mine is tagged and highlighted to death. Glad to see you’re course correcting, Matt. Understanding the habit loop is like giving yourself the tools to hack your life (except the hack works). Here’s to hoping people hear what you’re saying and work it out for themselves. Too bad there’s no real hack for language learning. Cheers, Matt! Great production value as usual.
I was surprised it was as good as it was actually. Although I will say it could probably have been half the length if there were fewer anecdotes. Glad you liked it!
Great video! Way off topic, but I love the Feng Shui paint color in your study room/office. Happen to know the brand and color? It's a nice cream/off white. At the start of a bedroom remodel and suffer through a lot of PTSD and medical malpractice stress. This looks calming. Thank you!
It’s Lick White 03 in Matt. It’s a really lovely colour - you’ll only need a couple of coats too. I really like it. Slightly warm and looks very good with plants next to it too
I like to clock my hours spent on Spanish. I use Dreaming Spanish which was great right at the start when I knew nothing. I’m at 90 hours now and have hit a wall. The beginner videos are now too easy and boring as hell. The intermediate stuff, at least the videos I want to watch, are just a little too difficult. This comprehensible input method has a lot of appeal but it’s difficult in the early stages. I don’t really know what to do now. I even briefly considered flashcards to try to boost my vocabulary 😮. I got over that.
I know what you mean. I guess the other side of it is that you've got used to being able to understand more stuff and each time you go up a level in DS it feels like a step backward as your comprehension drops. I found sticking with videos from one speaker helped. They'd use the same vocabulary and accent. I'd then move on to other speakers of that accent after. You can totally do flashcards if that's your thing. You can make Comprehensible Input content with ChatGPT or try reading using something like LingQ. It's hardest in the beginning I think as you can't really enjoy the language quite so much yet. It will come though!
This is a very inefficient way of acquiring language. Reading, listening... All passive. Have you considered actually working on it? Practising? Building vocab lists, drilling them? Do that one hour a day for 66 days, it will benefit you more than 6 months of your current routine.
It depends what you mean. I have hours of online classes a week where I have fantastic conversations and we often talk about things I've watched or read. You can definitely drill if you fancy it. Each to their own!
I have been reading graded readers in Japanese. I try to read them aloud as much as I can, at the very least first time I am reading a particular story. I am used to reading faster in English so if I do without, my eyes will get tired sooner and I tend to miss more characters. Reading aloud keeps me engaged and I do two tasks at once. For listening, sometimes I will shadow. But a TH-camr on here had suggested a process I have found useful. I think it was termed "washing" or "laundry." You pick a video/podcast in your target language that is less than 20min, though ideally around 10 but more than 5. Then, you put it on repeat. You aren't listening at first to understand what is being said. Instead, you are letting it wash over you. The intonation. The phrases and parts of language you will begin to notice. It can't be the only thing you do but it makes you more aware of certain aspects. I usually do this when walking to make better use of my transit time or some light exercise.
I've certainly found that when I've committed myself to doing X hours of a language on a day that I want to do it immediately - its actually quite mentally freeing when you've quickly chalked off a key task for the day. I knock off two tasks with one stone - my iPad is 'Japanese only', and on a morning I do one hour on my exercise bike with the iPad and Japanese. Its feels really good to have two things (fitness and language) done before starting work.
Wow, good work! Yeah, it does feel like a big tick in the box once it's done and you know you've invested some time in it that day. I'll have to get an exercise bike and the dog can have a treadmill next to me 🤣
Fantastic insights on language learning! 📚 I love the idea of habit stacking and tracking your progress. It's so true that making time for language can transform your experience. Excited to implement some of these strategies in my own journey! Thanks for sharing!
My only problem is wanting to do too much. Trying to balance a 9 to 5 work, training to compete, learn a language, spend time with friends and family… Sometimes I even have to choose between all of that and eating dinner😅
Exactly this 👆. Man, I totally feel you! Add a third and fourth language to the list maybe 🤣
I’ve recently come back to learning French and reached for low hanging fruit for the first month - I went on Duolingo and allowed it to push me to do a session in the morning and in the evening and that was great because I only did it for a month, and then because I was bored witless by the endless repetition of the same material I quit Duolingo but I now have a French language learning habit. So it now feels natural to study some grammar and read my French novel every day.
Building the habit is key. Optimise second (if you want to)
Hmmm conversation. As a native English speaker I didn't really have a lot of conversations in my life. Just the average amount, maybe less as I am quite introverted, and I actually converse quite well in Spanish already anyway. I teach in Spanish too. But that's not where one builds rich vocabulary of words or an ability to express oneself deeply.
What would you recommend in how to learn a language?
I’m the same like you, i’m quite an introvert and i don’t even usually an extended conversation to talk about. Even though I’m mainly learning languages to be able to talk with people it could be hard to find topics for me (i even more afraid of not finding an interesting topic for the others compared to making mistakes when i speak).😅
@@ATREIDESDUNCAN88
If you learn without a guiding teacher and without being in the target language country we have youtube.
Find very basic stories for children to start. There are a lot in most common languages I have seen them in German, French, Spanish Japanese. Build on that.
As the video suggests, form a habit, do it every day.
Read a lot, watch anything that you enjoy in the target language. Finding things that you like is really important because you will want to negotiate the meaning and you will enjoy the process.
Time is the key. You cannot learn a language quickly despite what anyone says.
Nice video! I will also switch to working from home and this is spot on
The Power of Habit is the best non-fiction book I’ve ever read-great add! Its lessons work for everything. Mine is tagged and highlighted to death.
Glad to see you’re course correcting, Matt. Understanding the habit loop is like giving yourself the tools to hack your life (except the hack works).
Here’s to hoping people hear what you’re saying and work it out for themselves. Too bad there’s no real hack for language learning.
Cheers, Matt! Great production value as usual.
I was surprised it was as good as it was actually. Although I will say it could probably have been half the length if there were fewer anecdotes. Glad you liked it!
thank you. a new subscriber
Thank you! 🙏
Great video! Way off topic, but I love the Feng Shui paint color in your study room/office. Happen to know the brand and color? It's a nice cream/off white. At the start of a bedroom remodel and suffer through a lot of PTSD and medical malpractice stress. This looks calming. Thank you!
It’s Lick White 03 in Matt. It’s a really lovely colour - you’ll only need a couple of coats too. I really like it. Slightly warm and looks very good with plants next to it too
@@matt_brooks-green Thank you Matt
So listening to the language for 2 hours 5x a week helped? Not studying but consuming.
Yep. Starting from easy stuff and slowly building it up from there!
I like to clock my hours spent on Spanish. I use Dreaming Spanish which was great right at the start when I knew nothing. I’m at 90 hours now and have hit a wall. The beginner videos are now too easy and boring as hell. The intermediate stuff, at least the videos I want to watch, are just a little too difficult. This comprehensible input method has a lot of appeal but it’s difficult in the early stages. I don’t really know what to do now. I even briefly considered flashcards to try to boost my vocabulary 😮. I got over that.
I know what you mean. I guess the other side of it is that you've got used to being able to understand more stuff and each time you go up a level in DS it feels like a step backward as your comprehension drops. I found sticking with videos from one speaker helped. They'd use the same vocabulary and accent. I'd then move on to other speakers of that accent after. You can totally do flashcards if that's your thing. You can make Comprehensible Input content with ChatGPT or try reading using something like LingQ. It's hardest in the beginning I think as you can't really enjoy the language quite so much yet. It will come though!
Where did you get the low table?
Chop legs down? 😁
@@David-cm4ok 😀
Yeah, old Ikea table from Facebook Marketplace and then chop it down. I did a few tests on the height before I did the chop!
What Spanish podcasts do you recommend
Good luck!
Some good ideas, nice video, but for me, the title doesn't really reflect what it is about.
Hi, welcome to TH-cam 😂
Can you train your dog in Spanish? 🐶
(I'm not kidding; try it! Your dog won't mind)
🤣
🔥The summer sale is now over but you can still get StoryLearning courses here: geni.us/StoryLearning 🥳
THIS IS AN ADVERT 👿
This is a very inefficient way of acquiring language. Reading, listening... All passive. Have you considered actually working on it? Practising? Building vocab lists, drilling them? Do that one hour a day for 66 days, it will benefit you more than 6 months of your current routine.
It depends what you mean. I have hours of online classes a week where I have fantastic conversations and we often talk about things I've watched or read. You can definitely drill if you fancy it. Each to their own!
I have been reading graded readers in Japanese. I try to read them aloud as much as I can, at the very least first time I am reading a particular story. I am used to reading faster in English so if I do without, my eyes will get tired sooner and I tend to miss more characters. Reading aloud keeps me engaged and I do two tasks at once.
For listening, sometimes I will shadow. But a TH-camr on here had suggested a process I have found useful. I think it was termed "washing" or "laundry." You pick a video/podcast in your target language that is less than 20min, though ideally around 10 but more than 5. Then, you put it on repeat. You aren't listening at first to understand what is being said. Instead, you are letting it wash over you. The intonation. The phrases and parts of language you will begin to notice. It can't be the only thing you do but it makes you more aware of certain aspects. I usually do this when walking to make better use of my transit time or some light exercise.