I started to learn english for about 9 months only to understand some foreign english channels, because I realize that there're a lot of english channels very nice and its content is very interesting for me to learn about science and other things :)
Vi um de seus vídeos falando inglês, que coragem cara parabéns!! Eu acompanho o Steve Kaufmann e Mairo Vergara e digo que esses dois são feras, aprendi muito esse ano. Ainda me enrolo muito na hora de fala e por isso estou na fase de input everywhere rsrs. !!
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Esther and her Little World Haha thank you :) Are you studying english as well as me?
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Rodrigo Siqueira haha também acompanho eles, concordo contigo e eu também aprendi muito esse ano hahaha muito obrigado :)
I'm currently teaching English at a high school in Japan, and a lot of the students have this idea that they can't learn to speak English. I've seen some of my worst students go to become the best students when they find something they're interested in in English. For example, one of my kids absolutely loves some of the movies I've shown in class, and since getting interested in English movies about a year ago his English has gone from almost non-existent to pretty good. He speaks slowly and makes a lot of mistakes, but I can have a conversation with him, whereas before we had difficulty getting past "Hello, how are you?". It also helps that we have the movies to talk about.
@Livin Gunk Why? What language are you trying to learn? And more importantly how? I live in Finland so my native language is Finnish. We start learning English in 3rd grade (about 9 years old) and for first two 2 years I was just a average student but then I started watching so much television and I was basically living in my own fantasy world where I was repeating phrases and in 3 years I understood everything. And I got great grades in comprehension tests listening and writing but spelling was bad. By the time I finished my school 6 years after starting to learn English I could speak about as well as today but my spelling was still bad. Today my spelling is still my weakness but it has gotten a lot better over the years. Funny thing is I NEVER tried to learn English but with school video games, internet and television I did learn it (now I´m learning Spanish). For a Finn I SPEAK pretty good English better than our prime minister or president because the way most people try to learn languages is wrong. Few years ago I was in vocational school and I had to take English starting level test and out of about 20 students I got the highest grade that anyone got (2 got the same grade) I was kinda mad because our teacher said before the test that if anyone gets the max points from the test the course is passed of course I didn´t get max points because some misspellings (I had also been awake for 24 hours before the test so I made some mistakes because of that) the stupid thing is that we never had to SPEAK any English at all yeah same like driving test without having to drive. That is why Finnish people can´t pronounce English very well because the spoken language does not matter for some reason.
As I was stuck, and not finishing learning everything with some of the more basic books that I was reading in the language I was learning, French, I took your advice, and started to read a "proper" book, and found that although I didn't understand every single word, I could follow quite well, what was happening. Thanks Steve
When I turned 55 the other day, I decided to buck against commonsense and take a novelty approach for the time being, dividing my time between Japanese, French and Polish, with no pressure to do anything, except to jot down what I do. I've easily put in 25 enjoyable language hours since, so I think the novelty thing is promising.
In my opinion you cant even say that some people will do better than others. People that claim they re bad at learning languages just need other ways of learning than they experienced so far. Language is an integral part of our thinking so everyone is able to do it easily, when introduced to the right methods
Wrong. I’ve been studying Portuguese for 9.5 years now and I’ve visited Brasil 18 times but I still can’t read or converse. I have to translate everything into English to understand and I practice every day with my girlfriend who only speaks Portuguese and we’ve been practicing for 6.5 years now. I can’t understand her yet. It’s very frustrating because I’ve been doing everything that teachers have suggested.
I think the problem people have with learning languages isn’t that they can’t learn it, it’s that they want to be fluent in 12 months and that just doesn’t often happen. It’s a long process and the only way to speed that up is to increase your studying.
I have to disagree. I've tried to learn several languages and I just can't grasp any of them, not even Spanish. Nothing about other languages makes any sense nor can anyone explain "why" behind certain fundamental concepts of the language, the answer is always, "That's how it just is".
@@brandon9638I’ve been studying Portuguese for 9 years now and I’ve visited Brasil 18 times but I still can’t read or converse. I practice every day with my girlfriend who only speaks Portuguese but after 6 years now I still can’t understand her and have to translate everything into English to understand. Even basic words have to be translated into English so I can understand. It’s frustrating.
I agree with a lot of this. I had a lot of trouble learning Japanese in the past. I spent years on it and couldn't get very far past beginner level even though I was studying it at university and school. I was so upset because I felt like I just couldn't do it because I was "language learning impaired" but it was my dream to speak it. I always forgot everything I learned and difficult grammar seemed even impossible to comprehend. I spoke to someone and he recommended I studied abroad. It was my last effort before I would completely give up. The most I got out of this experience was I learned there were lots of ways to learn a language than I imagined and the way I was learning at university was just not for me. The "ideal learning image" I had was it needed to be facedown in a book. But I learned that I learn far more from conversation, listening- repeating and interactions with people than doing exercises in a textbook where I got virtually nowhere- yet I was also studying along side people who spent their noses stuck in books and didn't go outside to talk to people but were also doing very well haha! Definitely agree with the spaced repetition thing for everyone though. It also suits my short attention forgetful brain- and was taught to me during exchange which worked really well for me.
100% bs I have tried learning other languages for several years and can’t have the most simple conversations passed “hi how are you I’m ok thanks for asking and you” I am living proof not everyone can learn another language
my parents say i knew spanish as a young child. my nanny spoke it to me, before i moved across the country and forgot it. despite me learning it quite quickly as a toddler, i nearly failed spanish class in high school. i tried so hard, it just didn’t click.
The majority of people around the world speak more than one language. I don’t say anything to the people I meet abroad who say “oh I’m not very good at languages therefore I won’t even try” but I do think to myself, “so much of your not being able to learn is just your attitude.” I’m not great at learning languages. I do have a reasonably good ear and can emulate pronunciations pretty well but I think everyone has at least one ability that can serve them well in language learning. I get excited and I go into it with a growth mindset and sometimes I’m frustrated but I try try try again. It really irks me too when these people who don’t even want to try claim I’m “good at languages” and then claim that’s why I know a language better than them. Hell no, I’m better than you at the language because I take hours worth of classes each week, study, do homework, write notes, try to use what I know and watch/listen to media in that language and repeat it. Like yes there are people I have met who are naturally SUPER adept, but with most people it’s work, studying, repetition and use.
I am Russian and in my country only 4% of people can speak English. I started learning English since I was 21 and now I am 23. I speak better than most in my country but I need to improve yet. Most in my country even young people from big city don't want to learn English. They tell they cannot learn, have no capacity and so on. But I am sure they don't have big motivation. If they wanted to study abroad or to travel more or to read their favorite writers before somebody tranlates this they will learn English very quickly.
Анна Муляр привет! Let me know if you want people to practice English with, I'm learning Russian and can help with English. I'm on Hellotalk and Hello Pal as well.
Since childhood, I've dreamt of mastering several languages. Throughout my life, I've repeatedly attempted to learn a foreign language, but each time, I encountered failure-a seemingly invisible barrier that separated me from those who progressed further, while I remained stagnant after a year or two. Every instance was disheartening and belittling. At the age of 48, I was diagnosed with dyslexia, dysgraphia, and ADHD(ADD), which made me realize why I struggled with language learning. This revelation stirred feelings of resentment and anger within me. However, it also became a powerful motivator for me to once again embark on learning a new language and attempt to fulfill my dream. In my case, my diagnosis makes learning a foreign language practically impossible for me. Despite this, I have set an ambitious goal for myself: to achieve a basic level of proficiency in a foreign language within a year. Even if I fail to meet this goal within the set timeframe, I have resolved to persist until the end, even if it takes the remainder of my life. This will be my response to the conditions that led to my past failures.
Its like any skill.Some people learn very fast and easy, whilst others learn painfully slow, and there is a limited amount that can be done to bridge the gap. Intelligent people will learn faster than less intelligent people.Intelligence is largely inherited, and cannot be altered after the onset of adulthood. A smart person can learn 4 languages fluently.A person with cognitive decline or some memory disorder might spend a lifetime to learn 1 language to reasonable level. It just depends on natural ability more than anything else.
I have a different theory.. Look I will compare it to playing the guitar.. You can buy a guitar and learn 10 songs, by learning, I mean to memorize the order/sequence of chords and the notes in order... This kind of knowledge will quickly disappear, the moment you put down your guitar for a month, you will have forgotten those 10 songs. If you somewhat understand how chords are built and the theory behind those songs, years later, you will be able to reconstruct those songs from your understanding of music Theory which is not something you memorize, but an essence a feeling that you grasp of something.. I might not remember chemistry, but I remember how electrons interacts and the basics laws of matter.. Proper learning should look like this Well Understood Theory -----> Practice ----> Well Understood Theory Level 2 ----> Practice ---> Well Understood Theory Level 3 ------> practice.. People who can't learn are in 3 categories: 1- Speaks without understanding what he says, merely repeats after the teacher. 2- Tries to much to understand without speaking or putting his knowledge into practice. 3- Does not push forward with new content and new challenges.. (If you keep playing the same 10 songs on guitar, youl never get better, you need to learn new, uncomfortable at first- concepts) There is nothing more inefficient than to memorize something as a series of numbers or words.. The brain discards such information.. It needs to be understood.
@@jimsykes6843 I remember watching this video and no I wasn't joking. Language learning is mostly a talent and very specific genes can be attributed to the ability. Of course people without this talent can learn a language, granted it would be difficult and take several years and would only have a sufficient vocabulary up to a certain point. People with the genes necessary to truly learning different languages might only take two years to speak fluently and are usually able to learn multiple ones at the same time.
I have a very strong interest in Japanese literature and poetry, but I have always gone about learning the language the wrong way because I had no idea how to go about it. So my ability got to about the level of reading and sending emails between a friend I made doing language exchange. Maybe I would have gotten proficient by now if the chinese characters hurdle wasn't there, seemingly insurmountable. Now I am making a deliberate effort to learn the characters through RTK, and I've done 1000 so far, but of course it's not in order of frequency because it's RTK. But when I get the 2000 joyo, I want to go back to reading and hopefully make use of all your great suggestions. I want to believe it's possible to read literature for me, even though I know you need more than 2000 characters to really be literate, I am hoping I can just pick up the rest along the way / comprehend 60% or so.
Really ?? I have been trying to learn French for over 20 years. I have been married to a French woman for 10 years, I can't learn a single word or remember anything. I have been completely emersed in the French language for 10 years and can't even remember simple words. So I firmly agree there is people who can't learn another language.
maybe you didn't find the right way which works for you to learn french. the most difficult part to learn a language is to find the way that suits you to learn.
Everyone's brain is wired different, some people can do math, and some people can't. Learning a new language is no different. I a living proof of that.
So far I am enjoying it greatly. I am also reading a history of Ukraine in Ukrainian by Orest Subtelny, as well as histories of Czech and Poland in those languages. So I am getting quite an exposure to Slavic history from different perspectives.
Thanks for the video, it's so true ! I was one of these people who thought learning a new language is almost impossible. I was traumatized by years of unefficient language courses at school. But during quarantine, I decided to learn English more seriously. I began with non-ambiguous videos on youtube such as science videos (I studied sciences and I love that) and then I diversified my input. Now, I understand almost everything in English videos. I am still very surprised today because I don't put really efforts to learn the language.
Yes, that's correct. Some adults, perhaps most adults, simply cannot learn a foreign language. Second language acquisition is usually attainable only if you begin in childhood. Majority of adults cannot progress speaking beyond A2-B1
Haven't watched the video yet (just listening as I write this comment haha), but here's my POV on the question in the video title. I feel like everyone can learn languages. I mean, a lot of people who are not gifted at languages immigrate to a new country and are able to learn the language, so I think it'd be wrong to say that there are people who "can't" learn a language. That being said, I do feel like many people find it a lot easier than others. The same way that some people are naturally good at math, some people are naturally good at languages. My POV :)
@Char Char Binks I really don't understand this negativity of yours. You shouldn't generalize just because you couldn't do it. At least that's what it looks like.
@@yugidragon1 Your response contradicts itself. If someone claims that everyone can learn a new language, then if even one person can't learn a new language, the statement is false. Therefore, if Char Char Binks couldn't learn a new language, like you claimed, then he managed to disprove the statement that everyone can learn a new language.
I have been teaching English for nearly 15 years . I have come across students, that for some reason never seem to progress past A basic level or B1 tops. I would be interested to hear why you think some students seems to have problems acquiring fluency and accuracy? Some students I come across just have really bad study habits , but i do wonder if there something blocking them accepting a second language?
@@Coleyjp0716 i personally sometimes struggle even using my own native language. I am neither dumb or low iq.. i have always struggled with communication, especially story telling.
I’ve been studying Portuguese for 9 years now and I’ve visited Brasil 18 times but I still can’t read or converse. I’ve been practicing every day with my girlfriend who only speaks Portuguese but after practicing every day for six years I can’t understand what she’s saying. I have to translate everything into English to understand. Even basic words have to be translated. It’s frustrating. I have classes, read books, use apps and watch movies and TH-cam videos.
I’ve been studying Portuguese for 9.5 years now but I still can’t read or converse and I have to translate everything into English to understand. I’ve visited Brasil 18 times and I study and practice every day with my girlfriend who only speaks Portuguese and we’ve been practicing for over 6.5 years now but I still can’t understand her. I need to find a way to learn Portuguese without translating everything into English. Portuguese words don’t mean anything to me until I translate them.
Hello Steve, great video, thanks! I agree with you, totally. Not only we can learn languages but also people with much lower intelligence level, down syndrome etc are able to learn foreign language and there are researches about it. I will look for authors and write it here later.
I’ve been studying Portuguese for 9.5 years now and I’ve visited Brasil 18 times but I still can’t read and I haven’t had a conversation yet. I have to translate everything into English to understand. English words have meanings connected to them but Portuguese words have English words connected to them it seems and have to be translated
I’ve been searching around why it seems some people can’t learn a foreign language well. I’ve learnt Latvian (living in Latvia), but more educated smarter people I know don’t seem to be able to learn. I’ve assumed they just can’t bring themselves so low to speak as a child therefore they never learn. Having said that, math to me is more foreign to me than a foreign language, no joke. But your reasoning makes it sound like I could learn higher maths. P.S. Don’t compare Swedes learning English to English speakers learning a foreign language. They, and Latvians start learning English in kindergarten AND the overwhelming amount of English material, especially films and pop culture is like a hurricane that everyone get deluged with. Don’t get me wrong, I’d like to agree with you…but I’m not so sure of your conclusion.
Having some material in the language that you care about is indeed important. I think my German ability may be kept alive primarily by me enjoying playing a particular video game in it.
There are many versions of Steve's book on LingQ in different languages and I would recommend if you are learning a language, to try and read it in that language, rather than English. I read it in Russian just after I started the language and found it very interesting and it wasn't too hard to understand. I actually found it hilarious when Steve was describing having trouble remembering 3 forms of each adjective in German. All I could think was "only 3?", because there are 12 adjective endings in Russian.
I can't link to all of them, there are some listed on the book's site: www.thelinguist.com/book/ If you just search for: "linguist" in your language of choice, you should find it.
It depends on what you do in that country. I've met a guy who when to England and has lived there for almost two years. He just worked there and ten hours plus weekends with no human interaction (besides Good morning, goodbye and yes sir). After two years of living there he returned with no language skills. (he told me he went there only for the money)
I disagree. I have tried French, German, Spanish, Italian, and even Irish. I have wasted over half my life trying to learn anything other than my native language to no avail.
Learning difficulties stop you learning. I have ASD and my memory sucks. I also don’t have great expressive language in my own mother tongue whilst conversing.
Hi Steve. I have a very important question for you. Here in Poland there's a language school. They claim that their methid is the best of the best, and the method is listening only! How do you think - is it possible to learn a language only by listening?
Let's Polish Ja jestem przekonana, że nie jest to możliwe. Żeby mówić trzeba ćwiczyć mówienie. Na pewno słuchanie jest w stanie pomóc Ci w rozumieniu ale to jest nauka pasywna. Jak dla mnie to tak jakbyś chciał nauczyć się jazdy na łyżwach przez samą obserwacje. Mówię w 3 językach a rozumiem w miarę dobrze 5 ale ponieważ ich nie ćwiczę to nie jestem w stanie się wypowiedzieć w pozostałych dwóch.
Jestem przekonany że działa to właśnie tak jak mówisz, stąd chcę zrobić mały research wśród poliglotów. Nie lubię / nienawidzę tych wszystkich ściemniaczy którzy gwarantują naukę angielskiego w tydzień, angielski metodą tego i tamtego, a ludzie to łykają i myślą, że nie trzeba nic pracować, wystarczy sobie włączyć płytę, najlepiej jeszcze w samochodzie, albo przed snem i po tygodniu umiesz na pewno.
Hehe:) no dokładnie, naciągane na kasę przecież. Myślę że każdemu odpowiada też nieco inna metoda, różnimy się, wiadomo. Np jeden uczy się więcej z książek, drugi słuchając, trzeci mówiąc, ale na pewno należy łączyć wszystkie bufory poznawcze, nie da się tylko jednym.
I agree with you to a certain extent. There are people who lack some linguistics talent. Why do you speak so many languages? Why don't you study physics, Chemistry Maths? Can you draw? How well can you draw? Can you repair a computer? Can you sing? Do you think we are capable of everything? Can I have a gift for numbers, even though I dislike them in the first place? Is everything about effort, effort and good resources? Why do some people struggle learning languages? I know some people who live in Germany for years and they don't speak the language properly. Steve, we can't be good at everything. I am trying to understand Maths, however, my brain finds them quite dull and boring. Not everyone in the north of Europe is bilingual, trilingual or polyglots.
Have you ever noticed it's always people that speak more than one language telling those that can't learn languages that anyone can learn a language. The evidence is right before their eyes in the form of the person who can't learn a language telling them so. In my experience most of these "anyone can learn....." It's just really the most arrogant and bizarre behaviour.
That belief sounds really pretty. I wish it were true. Some people can't learn languages. Unfortunately for me, I'm one of those people. I had the interest, I had the consistency, I had the drive, I had shows and novels and videogames I wanted to understand, I had people I could speak the language with, and I spent 20+ years trying to learn one language. I tried a school setting, I tried Rosetta stone, I tried Memrise, I tried anything I could think of. Nothing would go into long term memory, I could only remember as long as it stayed in active memory. So I could get through a few exercises, but anything that I didn't practice daily was immediately lost. After 20 years of effort I can introduce myself and that's all. I want to learn, I do. It's just not going to happen for me.
Lots of people here say "Everyone can learn a new language if they are interested." I had an eight grade teacher tell me that anytime someone makes statements with words like "nobody", "everyone", "all", "none", "always", and "never" it is usually wrong. That is because those words mean that there are no exceptions and that is very rarely the case. For example, if I made the statement, "Everyone knows that bleach is unsafe to drink." that would be false because if we search all 7 billion people on Earth, I am sure we will find at least three idiots that think that bleach is safe to drink. Likewise, do you people believe that of the 7 billion people on Earth, there isn't a single person that can't learn a new language. Does that include all the people with late stage Alzheimers, Parkinsons, or people that have massive brain damage? What about people that have such a big learning disability, that they can't even learn to tie their own shoes? You guys claim that anyone can learn a new language and yet people in the comments (including myself) are proving you wrong by telling you the opposite. They claim that they studied a language for years and still aren't fluent in it. Do you think we are lying? Your repsonse to them is that they weren't trying hard enough and need to expose themselves to the language more. However, some people claimed that they spent many hours a week, for years, trying to learn a new language and they still aren't fluent. In fact, some people including myself, claim that they even live in the country that natively speaks the language they want to learn and it still doesn't work. For example, my parents are Maltese so I heard them speak it all my life and picked up a few words. I have lived in Malta for over two years now. English is spoken a lot here but every day I am exposed to Maltese by hearing it or by reading something. I learned a lot but I am not close to being fluent. You may also claim that we aren't fluent because we are not interested in learning it, which is not true. I would love to learn Maltese and have been trying for over two years. Some of you might claim that people never learned the language because they were learning it the wrong way, which might be true for some people.However, what if a person tried different techniques and even followed your advice, but they still failed to learn the language. Are you still going to claim that anyone can learn a new language? I guess if every person can learn a new language and we can't then logically we are not people. I am not claiming that Lingosteve's program won't work. It might help a lot of people even those that have difficulty learning a new language. In fact, imagine if the success rate of this program is 95% which is very good. I am just saying that I don't like it when people say everyone can learn something because 95% is still not everyone.
Many people in Malta told me that I should learn Maltese because it would be very helpful and I remain polite but inside I get so mad at them. They act like I could easily learn the language, but just never bothered to which is very insulting when I spend many hours a week trying to memorize new words and read many news articles in Maltese. They don't give me any actual helpful advice, but just say that I should learn it. In my opinion, that would be like if a short person couldn't reach something on a high shelf and you tell them, "I have some advice for you. Grow taller and you can reach the items on the shelf." While that may be true, it isn't exactly helpful.
If a rule does not apply to a very few people, it means that the rule itself is true. In my language, we have a proverb: "L'exception qui confirme la règle" (or "the exception which confirms the rule"). In no way, "exceptions" destroy a rule. So, if there are only 3 people among 7 billion people (like you said), it means that the terms "anyone" or "everyone" are true, because the exceptions are totally invisible. Anyway, if someone is able to learn his native language, unless he has brain damage, there is no reason that he could not learn another language. If it does not work, he has to understand why (e.g. bad learning method, no motivation, no daily study, not enough data in learning language...), so that he can indeed achieve in learning another language.
@@Rudolphhhhhh I think the disagreement between us is because I am taking the statement, "Everybody can learn a new language." literally, while you are taking it as an exaggeration. I don't mind people exaggerating when they are joking, but if a person is being serious, then they shouldn't exaggerate. It is one of my pet peeves. I often argue with my mother because she often claims that I never call her, while I am in the middle of a call with her. I told her that if she thinks I should call her more often, then she should say that, but don't say I NEVER call.When people say, "Never give up." I reply, "So, if I ask a girl out and she says no, should I continue to harass her until she says yes? " If someone says, "Believe in yourself and you can accomplish anything." I reply "so if someone believes that they can drive home safely when they are drunk, does it mean they can?" If there are thirty kids in a classroom and a teacher claims that all of them passed an exam, then, if I take it literally, it means that thirty students passed the exam. If only 29 students passed then the teacher is technically lying if he says that all students passed. Now, imagine if there was a foreign language teacher that was so good that he could teach people that other teachers couldn't teach. Imagine if he was able to teach a foreign language to 95% of all students that followed his advice. If the teacher said that he could teach MOST students that followed his advice, then I would completely agree with him. If he said that his method was the best method, I would also agree. However, if he said the he could teach ALL students, then that is an exaggeration because 95% is still technically not all and 5% is not technically 0%. Imagine if you are one of the 5% that tried the teachers class, but still failed even though you tried to do everything that the teacher told you to do. How would you feel if you hear people say that everybody could learn? To quote from Bob's Burgers "It's not a good feeling when people say everyone, but they don't mean you."
I'd like to ask some questions: -Is it possible to forget a language? Since I want to forget English...well, atleast I stopped speaking it, I only speak it 5 times a week and only for like 10 minutes -I honestly can't get track of your languages...are you planning to learn hungarian? Just curious!
I'm not satisfied with English! I began Swedish 2 years ago and now I'm really good and I'm satisfied since I gave my best effort to it, english on the other hand, I gave zero effort on the language and I learned it anyways....without deep study...dissapointing....Jag det är jag, ganska besviken och missnöjd
Mark Tom Enlish is not that great or important if you live somewhere it's not widely spoken. And there are plenty of places where that is a reality for those living there.
How many hours of studying did it take you to learn German to a decent level? I've been trying on and off for years (have big pauses when frustrated) and I'm still probably A2. It's so frustrating, I want to learn, but can't commit all hours of the day to it for little progress.
It’s all about will - I find English speakers to have the least will generally because they either consciously or not feel they don’t NEED to learn languages since theirs is the Lingua Franca of the world .
Steve, could you give the rest of us a Christmas gift and post in the About section of your TH-cam channel all of the languages that you speak from most fluent to the least. Also, date the entry and update once a year. Thanks.
I'd like to hold of that book if i still fit in the 10 people or is it too late?i'd prefer paper book if it's possible but if not E book will do just as good. Congratulation on ur korean, by the way , i was absolutely impressed by ur progress. if you want to refresh your korean from time to time let me know
what annoys me is that teaches keep making you repeat the words or sentence heaps of times by go three theremebrance is fading for me, and also as I am musical pronunciation is not a problem, just remembering the words and sentences and no I cannot learn because I AM old and cant remember
I think the original commenter was sort of right. I see it as a matter of working fluency vs. true fluency. There are some ppl who don't have enough drive to get to fluency let alone working fluency. They will endlessly flashcard words or phrases and never be able to connect them in "novel utterances" or rather which I consider the threshold of working fluency and even then it's just a threshold.. which does not guarantee true fluency unless you spend copious amounts of time with the language..living and breathing through it. It's kind of like programming. It would be like someone endlessly flash-carding all basic programming terminology and keeping up on tech culture yet never being able to create a program of their own. It happens and its sad. Some people just don't have the interest or drive or knowledge to overcome anymore than that with language, yet they somehow have enough of an interest to "try" to study mainly because of fun/random cultural encounters they have had (vaguely related to the language, but not actually the content itself) I think.
You basically described my case with japanese. I really like some aspects of the japanese culture, like the pop music for example. But I bailed out from studying the language still at beginner level, since I found it too difficult, considering the differences from it compared to my native language and therefore my lack of interest.
I've been trying to learn Spanish for about a year at this point. Here in the US, it seems that everyone has just somehow learned basic Spanish so every class I take skips it. I have never really been exposed to anything Spanish related until 9th grade. Now 10th grade Spanish 2 seems like I can't learn because literally everyone I've ever met speaks basic Spanish while I struggle to say hello.
I think I would probably disagree with you about everyone being able to learn a language, I have always wanted to speak nihongo , I have seriously practiced for over two years, had 94 one to one lessons, read books, watched anime practiced daily on memrise (space repetition) and tried every trick in the book, yes I can say the usual greetings morning hello etc, however my brain just doesn't except the language, I know maybe 600+ words but when trying to put them into sentences it just doesn't work for me , I really have tried hard I think I am just wired differently. I actually work for a Japanese company so have plenty of opportunity to embarrass myself and do regularly, and yes I always try to make it fun, but it just don't work for me.your thoughts Steve on what you think I might being wrong would be appreciated,
I have been trying to learn my mother tongue Punjabi for 10 years now. I have been unable to learn the language at all. I was able to learn to read and write in the first couple of months (learn the alphabet and vocabulary). Its really just put me off. So i have to disagree that anyone can learn a language.
Truide 10 straight years, or on and off for 2 months, then two weeks, then 5 weeks, etc. over a period of ten years? The latter is what people usually mean when they speak of learning a language for several years. There are lots of things that may be holding you back - among them motivation, method, consistency, and attitude. There are lots of ways to learn and it's likely there is at least one that will work for you. So don't be so defeatist; you'll find a way!
Indeed, the whole "I can't learn languages" is so stupid! Everyone has learned at least one language right, so why would it be impossible to learn another one? Of course someone with a higher IQ might have an advantage when trying to grasp advanced grammatical concepts but that is not the essence of language learning.
@Char Char Binks Foreign, ok, you do realize your native tongue was once a foreign language right? You were not born knowing any of it. We are all born without a language. Yet somehow we all successfully aquired it. A language is only foreign because you don't know it yet. If you can learn one word. Then you can learn five thousand words. Through the same process you learned that first word. It's all about exposure and input. You have to do it everyday though.
Dear Steve you are our greatest teacher ever!!!! I see each video that you doing and it s always so inspiring and so helpful for me!!! I have just one more wish to you namely please do the same and do it more!!!! I wish I had this book but I think it s too late to get to first dozen!!! Anyway I would like to get it through Amazon or through whatever it is and I would so much like to have it with your signature!!! If it possible can you write me comment how and where can I get it with your signature!!! Thank you so much DEAR FRIEND AND TEACHER!!!! I am bending my head down before you!!!!!!!
I have been learned English about 8 years. only understand english obout 90% but cant speak. I have learned also at www.lingq.com about 2 years and marked 10 000 known words. English dosent stick to my head. Speaking english fluently has been my old dream. Every day I face with english, watch movies, watch interviews in english almost everyday and understand almost everything, but when I try to speak then nothing comes into my mind. I can write letter because I can think in english it takes time to remember words.....I dont know what kind mental disability I have.
what you describe is quite normal. You just have to continue speaking more and more and not worry about the mistakes you make, the words you can't remember and all these other problems. If you continue, you will only get better.
I have a question about learning multiple languages. Many people claim that in order to learn a new language, you shouldn't waste time trying to memorize new words or study the grammar. They say that if you want to learn the language, you simply must speak it. You will sound bad at first but eventually you will get better. Many of the people who tell me this know multiple languages so it might be hard to argue but the problem is that their advice doesn't make sense. A language is made of words so if you don't know any words how can you speak it? In fact, even if you know a hundred words in a language that won't be helpful since that is probably less than 1% of the words necessary to be fluent in any language. If you don't believe me, then pick a language that you and your friend know no words to and try to talk to each other in that language. In fact, even if you know a thousand words in a language that still will make it hard to express yourself because that is still only a small percentage of the words of any language. For example, imagine if you wish to say, "I go to the store to buy milk." in Maltese but you don't how to say the words, "go", "store","buy" and "milk" in Maltese. How do you make that sentence? Now, imagine if you actually know how to say every word in that sentence except milk. It is only one word but it is important to the sentence. What do you do? It seems that you have a few options: 1) Don't use the sentence because you don't know all the words.If you don't know a word in the sentence, look it up first. 2) Say the word "milk" in English but say the rest of the words in Maltese , but look up the word for "milk" later. 3) Try to replace the word "milk" with a word you know in Maltese. For example, say, "I go to the store to buy a white liquid." However, that won't work if you don't know how to say the alternative words either. If you don't know how to say milk, white liquid, cow juice, or any other alternative in Maltese then what do you use? If it is impossible to learn a language without speaking it then how do people who are born mute (but can still hear), learn to understand any language? I also heard people say that many people learned new languages, simply by listening to it and reading it as much as they can. It seems to be contradictory. I am curious to know how you all feel on this subject.
best of all that English isn't simple language to learn it's the most unphonetic language plus there's rich vocabulary idioms etc. I think only Chinese can compare to English
sorry! but you are completely wrong I'm a native Portuguese Speaker and I haven't wasted one minute of my life learning Spanish and still I can undertand at least 50 per cent what they say, because both languages are very similar in vocabulary and grammar. Without any doubt it would take at least 2 or 3 years of dedication to be able to understand the same amount in Japanese cause I would have to learn all the words and totally different grammar aspects.
*_Français, Deutsch, Español y Spanglish..._* *_English,_* of course. *_Quebecois Français, Eastern German, El Michoacán dialect, LA style Spanglish and SW Ontario English._* Are they perfect? *_God no!_* I learnt: French -> Canadian. German -> Rammstein. Spanish -> 🤭 ...El Mijo del ¢@₹73£... 🤭 Spanglish -> 🇲🇽 East Los! 🇲🇽 English: The |)1¢k of Canada. Bonus: ✨RAS.✨ *_Rapid aggressive SPANISH:_* *_Speak loudly, quickly, keep walking forward and do not break eye contact._*
I disagree with you because I have some friends since 2015 until now they have not learn Dutch by the way no everyone his dream will become truth I’m sorry 😐
You said the magic word at 3:04 "Polyglot", that is not an average person, regardless of the national origin, they (like yourself) have a brain language aptitude that allows for it, that is NOT the average person struggling to learn a new language after 5 years old.
"We learn best when we're using the language to explore sth else." amazingly said!
who is Hannable?
@@dominic2446 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannibal
Alright James Cook
I started to learn english for about 9 months only to understand some foreign english channels, because I realize that there're a lot of english channels very nice and its content is very interesting for me to learn about science and other things :)
foreign english youtube channels*
Wow,just 9 months and you're already writing like that?! I took some time to be confident to write something on internet, congrats!
Vi um de seus vídeos falando inglês, que coragem cara parabéns!! Eu acompanho o Steve Kaufmann e Mairo Vergara e digo que esses dois são feras, aprendi muito esse ano. Ainda me enrolo muito na hora de fala e por isso estou na fase de input everywhere rsrs. !!
Esther and her Little World Haha thank you :) Are you studying english as well as me?
Rodrigo Siqueira haha também acompanho eles, concordo contigo e eu também aprendi muito esse ano hahaha muito obrigado :)
I'm currently teaching English at a high school in Japan, and a lot of the students have this idea that they can't learn to speak English. I've seen some of my worst students go to become the best students when they find something they're interested in in English. For example, one of my kids absolutely loves some of the movies I've shown in class, and since getting interested in English movies about a year ago his English has gone from almost non-existent to pretty good. He speaks slowly and makes a lot of mistakes, but I can have a conversation with him, whereas before we had difficulty getting past "Hello, how are you?". It also helps that we have the movies to talk about.
@Livin Gunk Why? What language are you trying to learn? And more importantly how? I live in Finland so my native language is Finnish. We start learning English in 3rd grade (about 9 years old) and for first two 2 years I was just a average student but then I started watching so much television and I was basically living in my own fantasy world where I was repeating phrases and in 3 years I understood everything. And I got great grades in comprehension tests listening and writing but spelling was bad. By the time I finished my school 6 years after starting to learn English I could speak about as well as today but my spelling was still bad. Today my spelling is still my weakness but it has gotten a lot better over the years. Funny thing is I NEVER tried to learn English but with school video games, internet and television I did learn it (now I´m learning Spanish). For a Finn I SPEAK pretty good English better than our prime minister or president because the way most people try to learn languages is wrong. Few years ago I was in vocational school and I had to take English starting level test and out of about 20 students I got the highest grade that anyone got (2 got the same grade) I was kinda mad because our teacher said before the test that if anyone gets the max points from the test the course is passed of course I didn´t get max points because some misspellings (I had also been awake for 24 hours before the test so I made some mistakes because of that) the stupid thing is that we never had to SPEAK any English at all yeah same like driving test without having to drive. That is why Finnish people can´t pronounce English very well because the spoken language does not matter for some reason.
Languages are not possible for some. Brains don’t work that way.
As I was stuck, and not finishing learning everything with some of the more basic books that I was reading in the language I was learning, French, I took your advice, and started to read a "proper" book, and found that although I didn't understand every single word, I could follow quite well, what was happening. Thanks Steve
When I turned 55 the other day, I decided to buck against commonsense and take a novelty approach for the time being, dividing my time between Japanese, French and Polish, with no pressure to do anything, except to jot down what I do. I've easily put in 25 enjoyable language hours since, so I think the novelty thing is promising.
❤
In my opinion you cant even say that some people will do better than others. People that claim they re bad at learning languages just need other ways of learning than they experienced so far. Language is an integral part of our thinking so everyone is able to do it easily, when introduced to the right methods
Wrong. I’ve been studying Portuguese for 9.5 years now and I’ve visited Brasil 18 times but I still can’t read or converse. I have to translate everything into English to understand and I practice every day with my girlfriend who only speaks Portuguese and we’ve been practicing for 6.5 years now. I can’t understand her yet. It’s very frustrating because I’ve been doing everything that teachers have suggested.
We all can speak in mother tongue. So our mind was masterfully created for learning any language.
I think the problem people have with learning languages isn’t that they can’t learn it, it’s that they want to be fluent in 12 months and that just doesn’t often happen. It’s a long process and the only way to speed that up is to increase your studying.
Fluent in 12 months is totally doable if you're dedicated and put the hours in every day!
I have to disagree. I've tried to learn several languages and I just can't grasp any of them, not even Spanish. Nothing about other languages makes any sense nor can anyone explain "why" behind certain fundamental concepts of the language, the answer is always, "That's how it just is".
@@brandon9638I’ve been studying Portuguese for 9 years now and I’ve visited Brasil 18 times but I still can’t read or converse. I practice every day with my girlfriend who only speaks Portuguese but after 6 years now I still can’t understand her and have to translate everything into English to understand. Even basic words have to be translated into English so I can understand. It’s frustrating.
@@patfromamboy I’ve seen your comment everywhere…
@@brandon9638 good, do I make money from that?
I agree with a lot of this. I had a lot of trouble learning Japanese in the past. I spent years on it and couldn't get very far past beginner level even though I was studying it at university and school. I was so upset because I felt like I just couldn't do it because I was "language learning impaired" but it was my dream to speak it. I always forgot everything I learned and difficult grammar seemed even impossible to comprehend. I spoke to someone and he recommended I studied abroad. It was my last effort before I would completely give up. The most I got out of this experience was I learned there were lots of ways to learn a language than I imagined and the way I was learning at university was just not for me. The "ideal learning image" I had was it needed to be facedown in a book. But I learned that I learn far more from conversation, listening- repeating and interactions with people than doing exercises in a textbook where I got virtually nowhere- yet I was also studying along side people who spent their noses stuck in books and didn't go outside to talk to people but were also doing very well haha!
Definitely agree with the spaced repetition thing for everyone though. It also suits my short attention forgetful brain- and was taught to me during exchange which worked really well for me.
I can’t stick to one language. 😢
I learnt French by reading and listening about linguistics.
100% bs I have tried learning other languages for several years and can’t have the most simple conversations passed “hi how are you I’m ok thanks for asking and you” I am living proof not everyone can learn another language
my parents say i knew spanish as a young child. my nanny spoke it to me, before i moved across the country and forgot it. despite me learning it quite quickly as a toddler, i nearly failed spanish class in high school. i tried so hard, it just didn’t click.
The majority of people around the world speak more than one language. I don’t say anything to the people I meet abroad who say “oh I’m not very good at languages therefore I won’t even try” but I do think to myself, “so much of your not being able to learn is just your attitude.” I’m not great at learning languages. I do have a reasonably good ear and can emulate pronunciations pretty well but I think everyone has at least one ability that can serve them well in language learning. I get excited and I go into it with a growth mindset and sometimes I’m frustrated but I try try try again. It really irks me too when these people who don’t even want to try claim I’m “good at languages” and then claim that’s why I know a language better than them. Hell no, I’m better than you at the language because I take hours worth of classes each week, study, do homework, write notes, try to use what I know and watch/listen to media in that language and repeat it. Like yes there are people I have met who are naturally SUPER adept, but with most people it’s work, studying, repetition and use.
I started learning swedish, then found a reason to keep going: I want to understand Swedish stand up comedy
I am Russian and in my country only 4% of people can speak English. I started learning English since I was 21 and now I am 23. I speak better than most in my country but I need to improve yet. Most in my country even young people from big city don't want to learn English. They tell they cannot learn, have no capacity and so on. But I am sure they don't have big motivation. If they wanted to study abroad or to travel more or to read their favorite writers before somebody tranlates this they will learn English very quickly.
Анна Муляр привет! Let me know if you want people to practice English with, I'm learning Russian and can help with English. I'm on Hellotalk and Hello Pal as well.
yeah you need to improve your english a lot.
You are right .you think good and don't care about them and getting there in improving your English and motivate people living around you .
Майкл I wanna improve my English you will get through to me .
Since childhood, I've dreamt of mastering several languages. Throughout my life, I've repeatedly attempted to learn a foreign language, but each time, I encountered failure-a seemingly invisible barrier that separated me from those who progressed further, while I remained stagnant after a year or two. Every instance was disheartening and belittling.
At the age of 48, I was diagnosed with dyslexia, dysgraphia, and ADHD(ADD), which made me realize why I struggled with language learning. This revelation stirred feelings of resentment and anger within me. However, it also became a powerful motivator for me to once again embark on learning a new language and attempt to fulfill my dream.
In my case, my diagnosis makes learning a foreign language practically impossible for me. Despite this, I have set an ambitious goal for myself: to achieve a basic level of proficiency in a foreign language within a year. Even if I fail to meet this goal within the set timeframe, I have resolved to persist until the end, even if it takes the remainder of my life. This will be my response to the conditions that led to my past failures.
Its like any skill.Some people learn very fast and easy, whilst others learn painfully slow, and there is a limited amount that can be done to bridge the gap. Intelligent people will learn faster than less intelligent people.Intelligence is largely inherited, and cannot be altered after the onset of adulthood. A smart person can learn 4 languages fluently.A person with cognitive decline or some memory disorder might spend a lifetime to learn 1 language to reasonable level. It just depends on natural ability more than anything else.
I have a different theory.. Look I will compare it to playing the guitar..
You can buy a guitar and learn 10 songs, by learning, I mean to memorize the order/sequence of chords and the notes in order... This kind of knowledge will quickly disappear, the moment you put down your guitar for a month, you will have forgotten those 10 songs. If you somewhat understand how chords are built and the theory behind those songs, years later, you will be able to reconstruct those songs from your understanding of music Theory which is not something you memorize, but an essence a feeling that you grasp of something.. I might not remember chemistry, but I remember how electrons interacts and the basics laws of matter..
Proper learning should look like this
Well Understood Theory -----> Practice ----> Well Understood Theory Level 2 ----> Practice ---> Well Understood Theory Level 3 ------> practice..
People who can't learn are in 3 categories:
1- Speaks without understanding what he says, merely repeats after the teacher.
2- Tries to much to understand without speaking or putting his knowledge into practice.
3- Does not push forward with new content and new challenges.. (If you keep playing the same 10 songs on guitar, youl never get better, you need to learn new, uncomfortable at first- concepts)
There is nothing more inefficient than to memorize something as a series of numbers or words.. The brain discards such information.. It needs to be understood.
Learning different languages is a talent. It's an ability that just appears at random in the gene pool. Some people have this talent and most don't.
@@liltoaster7308 Did you watch the video? Hopefully you're joking!
@@jimsykes6843 I remember watching this video and no I wasn't joking. Language learning is mostly a talent and very specific genes can be attributed to the ability. Of course people without this talent can learn a language, granted it would be difficult and take several years and would only have a sufficient vocabulary up to a certain point. People with the genes necessary to truly learning different languages might only take two years to speak fluently and are usually able to learn multiple ones at the same time.
After studying a second language on and off for 10 years, and still cant remeber more than 300-400 words, I agree with Robert.
I have a very strong interest in Japanese literature and poetry, but I have always gone about learning the language the wrong way because I had no idea how to go about it. So my ability got to about the level of reading and sending emails between a friend I made doing language exchange. Maybe I would have gotten proficient by now if the chinese characters hurdle wasn't there, seemingly insurmountable. Now I am making a deliberate effort to learn the characters through RTK, and I've done 1000 so far, but of course it's not in order of frequency because it's RTK. But when I get the 2000 joyo, I want to go back to reading and hopefully make use of all your great suggestions. I want to believe it's possible to read literature for me, even though I know you need more than 2000 characters to really be literate, I am hoping I can just pick up the rest along the way / comprehend 60% or so.
Really ?? I have been trying to learn French for over 20 years. I have been married to a French woman for 10 years, I can't learn a single word or remember anything. I have been completely emersed in the French language for 10 years and can't even remember simple words. So I firmly agree there is people who can't learn another language.
maybe you didn't find the right way which works for you to learn french.
the most difficult part to learn a language is to find the way that suits you to learn.
Everyone's brain is wired different, some people can do math, and some people can't. Learning a new language is no different. I a living proof of that.
Good choise! Boris Akunin is one of the best modern authors in Russia.
So far I am enjoying it greatly. I am also reading a history of Ukraine in Ukrainian by Orest Subtelny, as well as histories of Czech and Poland in those languages. So I am getting quite an exposure to Slavic history from different perspectives.
I speak primarily English and I know a little bit of Spanish, Russian, and French.
Thanks for the video, it's so true ! I was one of these people who thought learning a new language is almost impossible. I was traumatized by years of unefficient language courses at school. But during quarantine, I decided to learn English more seriously. I began with non-ambiguous videos on youtube such as science videos (I studied sciences and I love that) and then I diversified my input. Now, I understand almost everything in English videos. I am still very surprised today because I don't put really efforts to learn the language.
Yes, that's correct. Some adults, perhaps most adults, simply cannot learn a foreign language. Second language acquisition is usually attainable only if you begin in childhood. Majority of adults cannot progress speaking beyond A2-B1
My my, you can't get enough of your 90 day challenges. Wish you success for this one, the task sounds very interesting!
Haven't watched the video yet (just listening as I write this comment haha), but here's my POV on the question in the video title. I feel like everyone can learn languages. I mean, a lot of people who are not gifted at languages immigrate to a new country and are able to learn the language, so I think it'd be wrong to say that there are people who "can't" learn a language.
That being said, I do feel like many people find it a lot easier than others. The same way that some people are naturally good at math, some people are naturally good at languages.
My POV :)
@Char Char Binks I really don't understand this negativity of yours. You shouldn't generalize just because you couldn't do it. At least that's what it looks like.
@@yugidragon1 Your response contradicts itself. If someone claims that everyone can learn a new language, then if even one person can't learn a new language, the statement is false. Therefore, if Char Char Binks couldn't learn a new language, like you claimed, then he managed to disprove the statement that everyone can learn a new language.
There are several people who move to other countries and never pick up the language and rely on their children
I have been teaching English for nearly 15 years . I have come across students, that for some reason never seem to progress past A basic level or B1 tops. I would be interested to hear why you think some students seems to have problems acquiring fluency and accuracy? Some students I come across just have really bad study habits , but i do wonder if there something blocking them accepting a second language?
It’s because he is lying not everyone can learn another language there are people who can’t even learn 1 language
@@Coleyjp0716 i personally sometimes struggle even using my own native language. I am neither dumb or low iq.. i have always struggled with communication, especially story telling.
You're capable but are you willing to put in the work needed to learn a new language?
(people who think they can't learn a new language): "Nah"
I’ve been studying Portuguese for 9 years now and I’ve visited Brasil 18 times but I still can’t read or converse. I’ve been practicing every day with my girlfriend who only speaks Portuguese but after practicing every day for six years I can’t understand what she’s saying. I have to translate everything into English to understand. Even basic words have to be translated. It’s frustrating. I have classes, read books, use apps and watch movies and TH-cam videos.
I’ve been studying Portuguese for 9.5 years now but I still can’t read or converse and I have to translate everything into English to understand. I’ve visited Brasil 18 times and I study and practice every day with my girlfriend who only speaks Portuguese and we’ve been practicing for over 6.5 years now but I still can’t understand her. I need to find a way to learn Portuguese without translating everything into English. Portuguese words don’t mean anything to me until I translate them.
Hello Steve, great video, thanks! I agree with you, totally. Not only we can learn languages but also people with much lower intelligence level, down syndrome etc are able to learn foreign language and there are researches about it. I will look for authors and write it here later.
MANY THANKS! VERY USEFUL AND MOTIVATING. BRAVO!
I’ve been studying Portuguese for 9.5 years now and I’ve visited Brasil 18 times but I still can’t read and I haven’t had a conversation yet. I have to translate everything into English to understand. English words have meanings connected to them but Portuguese words have English words connected to them it seems and have to be translated
I’ve been searching around why it seems some people can’t learn a foreign language well. I’ve learnt Latvian (living in Latvia), but more educated smarter people I know don’t seem to be able to learn. I’ve assumed they just can’t bring themselves so low to speak as a child therefore they never learn. Having said that, math to me is more foreign to me than a foreign language, no joke. But your reasoning makes it sound like I could learn higher maths. P.S. Don’t compare Swedes learning English to English speakers learning a foreign language. They, and Latvians start learning English in kindergarten AND the overwhelming amount of English material, especially films and pop culture is like a hurricane that everyone get deluged with. Don’t get me wrong, I’d like to agree with you…but I’m not so sure of your conclusion.
Having some material in the language that you care about is indeed important. I think my German ability may be kept alive primarily by me enjoying playing a particular video game in it.
Es cierto!
There are many versions of Steve's book on LingQ in different languages and I would recommend if you are learning a language, to try and read it in that language, rather than English. I read it in Russian just after I started the language and found it very interesting and it wasn't too hard to understand. I actually found it hilarious when Steve was describing having trouble remembering 3 forms of each adjective in German. All I could think was "only 3?", because there are 12 adjective endings in Russian.
Can you link me to them please?
I can't link to all of them, there are some listed on the book's site: www.thelinguist.com/book/
If you just search for: "linguist" in your language of choice, you should find it.
SoftcoreTuna thanks!
Would you say I want to learn Japanese so I can play untranslated games is good motivation? Sadly that is all I have but I am trying really hard.
Also: Drop someone off in a foreign land and anybody 'Will' learn the language if you are stuck there.
It depends on what you do in that country. I've met a guy who when to England and has lived there for almost two years. He just worked there and ten hours plus weekends with no human interaction (besides Good morning, goodbye and yes sir). After two years of living there he returned with no language skills. (he told me he went there only for the money)
SI.SI.SI.SI. QUIERO ESE FANTASTICO LIBRO.
I disagree. I have tried French, German, Spanish, Italian, and even Irish. I have wasted over half my life trying to learn anything other than my native language to no avail.
Learning difficulties stop you learning. I have ASD and my memory sucks. I also don’t have great expressive language in my own mother tongue whilst conversing.
Thank you sooo sooo much. you give me wo much motivation 😊
Hi Steve. I have a very important question for you. Here in Poland there's a language school. They claim that their methid is the best of the best, and the method is listening only! How do you think - is it possible to learn a language only by listening?
Let's Polish Ja jestem przekonana, że nie jest to możliwe. Żeby mówić trzeba ćwiczyć mówienie. Na pewno słuchanie jest w stanie pomóc Ci w rozumieniu ale to jest nauka pasywna. Jak dla mnie to tak jakbyś chciał nauczyć się jazdy na łyżwach przez samą obserwacje. Mówię w 3 językach a rozumiem w miarę dobrze 5 ale ponieważ ich nie ćwiczę to nie jestem w stanie się wypowiedzieć w pozostałych dwóch.
Jestem przekonany że działa to właśnie tak jak mówisz, stąd chcę zrobić mały research wśród poliglotów. Nie lubię / nienawidzę tych wszystkich ściemniaczy którzy gwarantują naukę angielskiego w tydzień, angielski metodą tego i tamtego, a ludzie to łykają i myślą, że nie trzeba nic pracować, wystarczy sobie włączyć płytę, najlepiej jeszcze w samochodzie, albo przed snem i po tygodniu umiesz na pewno.
Hehe:) no dokładnie, naciągane na kasę przecież. Myślę że każdemu odpowiada też nieco inna metoda, różnimy się, wiadomo. Np jeden uczy się więcej z książek, drugi słuchając, trzeci mówiąc, ale na pewno należy łączyć wszystkie bufory poznawcze, nie da się tylko jednym.
Badania naukowe
Co badania naukowe?
I had a teacher who spoke French and Italian
I agree with you to a certain extent.
There are people who lack some linguistics talent.
Why do you speak so many languages?
Why don't you study physics, Chemistry Maths?
Can you draw? How well can you draw?
Can you repair a computer? Can you sing?
Do you think we are capable of everything?
Can I have a gift for numbers, even though I dislike them in the first place?
Is everything about effort, effort and good resources?
Why do some people struggle learning languages? I know some people who live in Germany for years and they don't speak the language properly.
Steve, we can't be good at everything. I am trying to understand Maths, however, my brain finds them quite dull and boring.
Not everyone in the north of Europe is bilingual, trilingual or polyglots.
Have you ever noticed it's always people that speak more than one language telling those that can't learn languages that anyone can learn a language. The evidence is right before their eyes in the form of the person who can't learn a language telling them so. In my experience most of these "anyone can learn....." It's just really the most arrogant and bizarre behaviour.
hey i can help you to learn Arabic im very interested in languages
I'm going to pick up my own copy of the linguist but wonderful holiday spirit there!
Thanks, so glad to hear this! I'm just starting to learn Spanish and sometimes struggle and wonder if I'm to old (53) , your videos are inspiring!
Julie Goodwin are you using lingq or duolingo? Have you been practicing ?
That belief sounds really pretty. I wish it were true. Some people can't learn languages. Unfortunately for me, I'm one of those people. I had the interest, I had the consistency, I had the drive, I had shows and novels and videogames I wanted to understand, I had people I could speak the language with, and I spent 20+ years trying to learn one language. I tried a school setting, I tried Rosetta stone, I tried Memrise, I tried anything I could think of. Nothing would go into long term memory, I could only remember as long as it stayed in active memory. So I could get through a few exercises, but anything that I didn't practice daily was immediately lost. After 20 years of effort I can introduce myself and that's all. I want to learn, I do. It's just not going to happen for me.
SAME
你好我有个问题，我想学一种外语，但是我完全对跟别人交流没兴趣，我也不想开口说这话语言，我只是想无字幕的看懂这种语言的电影，听懂这种语言的录音，对于这种特定目的，你有什么特别的学习建议吗？
一点儿都没有问题。 加油。
如果一点基础都没有，先用罗塞塔石碑入门，然后大量输入吧。看电视剧貌似算是最好的大量输入了（没有语伴和外教等其他条件下），总之就是对准自己的兴趣点加大量输入。我一个朋友看日剧和动漫，硬生生地学会了日语（他自己说看日剧完全不用字幕）
这样的话，你只是想练听力，那也可以。更好是找有外语字幕的电影，先看有字幕的，然后再看一次没有字幕的，试一下你能不能听得懂多少。当然你必须先找学那种外语的资料。
I totally agree!
Lots of people here say "Everyone can learn a new language if they are interested." I had an eight grade teacher tell me that anytime someone makes statements with words like "nobody", "everyone", "all", "none", "always", and "never" it is usually wrong. That is because those words mean that there are no exceptions and that is very rarely the case. For example, if I made the statement, "Everyone knows that bleach is unsafe to drink." that would be false because if we search all 7 billion people on Earth, I am sure we will find at least three idiots that think that bleach is safe to drink. Likewise, do you people believe that of the 7 billion people on Earth, there isn't a single person that can't learn a new language. Does that include all the people with late stage Alzheimers, Parkinsons, or people that have massive brain damage? What about people that have such a big learning disability, that they can't even learn to tie their own shoes?
You guys claim that anyone can learn a new language and yet people in the comments (including myself) are proving you wrong by telling you the opposite. They claim that they studied a language for years and still aren't fluent in it. Do you think we are lying? Your repsonse to them is that they weren't trying hard enough and need to expose themselves to the language more. However, some people claimed that they spent many hours a week, for years, trying to learn a new language and they still aren't fluent. In fact, some people including myself, claim that they even live in the country that natively speaks the language they want to learn and it still doesn't work. For example, my parents are Maltese so I heard them speak it all my life and picked up a few words. I have lived in Malta for over two years now. English is spoken a lot here but every day I am exposed to Maltese by hearing it or by reading something. I learned a lot but I am not close to being fluent. You may also claim that we aren't fluent because we are not interested in learning it, which is not true. I would love to learn Maltese and have been trying for over two years.
Some of you might claim that people never learned the language because they were learning it the wrong way, which might be true for some people.However, what if a person tried different techniques and even followed your advice, but they still failed to learn the language. Are you still going to claim that anyone can learn a new language? I guess if every person can learn a new language and we can't then logically we are not people.
I am not claiming that Lingosteve's program won't work. It might help a lot of people even those that have difficulty learning a new language. In fact, imagine if the success rate of this program is 95% which is very good. I am just saying that I don't like it when people say everyone can learn something because 95% is still not everyone.
Many people in Malta told me that I should learn Maltese because it would be very helpful and I remain polite but inside I get so mad at them. They act like I could easily learn the language, but just never bothered to which is very insulting when I spend many hours a week trying to memorize new words and read many news articles in Maltese. They don't give me any actual helpful advice, but just say that I should learn it. In my opinion, that would be like if a short person couldn't reach something on a high shelf and you tell them, "I have some advice for you. Grow taller and you can reach the items on the shelf." While that may be true, it isn't exactly helpful.
If a rule does not apply to a very few people, it means that the rule itself is true. In my language, we have a proverb: "L'exception qui confirme la règle" (or "the exception which confirms the rule"). In no way, "exceptions" destroy a rule. So, if there are only 3 people among 7 billion people (like you said), it means that the terms "anyone" or "everyone" are true, because the exceptions are totally invisible.
Anyway, if someone is able to learn his native language, unless he has brain damage, there is no reason that he could not learn another language. If it does not work, he has to understand why (e.g. bad learning method, no motivation, no daily study, not enough data in learning language...), so that he can indeed achieve in learning another language.
@@Rudolphhhhhh I think the disagreement between us is because I am taking the statement, "Everybody can learn a new language." literally, while you are taking it as an exaggeration. I don't mind people exaggerating when they are joking, but if a person is being serious, then they shouldn't exaggerate. It is one of my pet peeves. I often argue with my mother because she often claims that I never call her, while I am in the middle of a call with her. I told her that if she thinks I should call her more often, then she should say that, but don't say I NEVER call.When people say, "Never give up." I reply, "So, if I ask a girl out and she says no, should I continue to harass her until she says yes? " If someone says, "Believe in yourself and you can accomplish anything." I reply "so if someone believes that they can drive home safely when they are drunk, does it mean they can?"
If there are thirty kids in a classroom and a teacher claims that all of them passed an exam, then, if I take it literally, it means that thirty students passed the exam. If only 29 students passed then the teacher is technically lying if he says that all students passed.
Now, imagine if there was a foreign language teacher that was so good that he could teach people that other teachers couldn't teach. Imagine if he was able to teach a foreign language to 95% of all students that followed his advice. If the teacher said that he could teach MOST students that followed his advice, then I would completely agree with him. If he said that his method was the best method, I would also agree. However, if he said the he could teach ALL students, then that is an exaggeration because 95% is still technically not all and 5% is not technically 0%.
Imagine if you are one of the 5% that tried the teachers class, but still failed even though you tried to do everything that the teacher told you to do. How would you feel if you hear people say that everybody could learn? To quote from Bob's Burgers "It's not a good feeling when people say everyone, but they don't mean you."
@@Daviddaze I know I sound cynical but what did I say that was technically wrong? An argument isn't wrong just because it is inconvenient to hear.
I'd like to ask some questions:
-Is it possible to forget a language? Since I want to forget English...well, atleast I stopped speaking it, I only speak it 5 times a week and only for like 10 minutes
-I honestly can't get track of your languages...are you planning to learn hungarian? Just curious!
why do you want to forget English?!Are you crazy it's most useful language in the world plus you should enrich your vocabulary
I'm not satisfied with English! I began Swedish 2 years ago and now I'm really good and I'm satisfied since I gave my best effort to it, english on the other hand, I gave zero effort on the language and I learned it anyways....without deep study...dissapointing....Jag det är jag, ganska besviken och missnöjd
Mark Tom
Enlish is not that great or important if you live somewhere it's not widely spoken. And there are plenty of places where that is a reality for those living there.
How many hours of studying did it take you to learn German to a decent level? I've been trying on and off for years (have big pauses when frustrated) and I'm still probably A2. It's so frustrating, I want to learn, but can't commit all hours of the day to it for little progress.
I would recommend an hour a day of listening while doing other things, and then another 30-60 minutes or reading, hopefully on LingQ.
It’s all about will - I find English speakers to have the least will generally because they either consciously or not feel they don’t NEED to learn languages since theirs is the Lingua Franca of the world .
Steve, could you give the rest of us a Christmas gift and post in the About section of your TH-cam channel all of the languages that you speak from most fluent to the least. Also, date the entry and update once a year. Thanks.
I'd like to hold of that book if i still fit in the 10 people or is it too late?i'd prefer paper book if it's possible but if not E book will do just as good. Congratulation on ur korean, by the way , i was absolutely impressed by ur progress. if you want to refresh your korean from time to time let me know
I want to learn English. I can't speak or write in correct form.
what annoys me is that teaches keep making you repeat the words or sentence heaps of times by go three theremebrance is fading for me, and also as I am musical pronunciation is not a problem, just remembering the words and sentences and no I cannot learn because I AM old and cant remember
me with dyslexia and learning disabilities, still struggling to learn russian after 10 years of trying... still not b1.
AAAAAAA
I think the original commenter was sort of right. I see it as a matter of working fluency vs. true fluency. There are some ppl who don't have enough drive to get to fluency let alone working fluency. They will endlessly flashcard words or phrases and never be able to connect them in "novel utterances" or rather which I consider the threshold of working fluency and even then it's just a threshold.. which does not guarantee true fluency unless you spend copious amounts of time with the language..living and breathing through it. It's kind of like programming. It would be like someone endlessly flash-carding all basic programming terminology and keeping up on tech culture yet never being able to create a program of their own. It happens and its sad. Some people just don't have the interest or drive or knowledge to overcome anymore than that with language, yet they somehow have enough of an interest to "try" to study mainly because of fun/random cultural encounters they have had (vaguely related to the language, but not actually the content itself) I think.
You basically described my case with japanese. I really like some aspects of the japanese culture, like the pop music for example. But I bailed out from studying the language still at beginner level, since I found it too difficult, considering the differences from it compared to my native language and therefore my lack of interest.
Is this the book that was translated and read in Russian on LingQ for language learners?
Spent a month on apps n vids, then spend a month immersed in the country. Still didnt learn a single phrase. Other languages make 0 sense to me.
Am I too late for the free book? 😁🤷🏻♂️
I've been trying to learn Spanish for about a year at this point. Here in the US, it seems that everyone has just somehow learned basic Spanish so every class I take skips it. I have never really been exposed to anything Spanish related until 9th grade. Now 10th grade Spanish 2 seems like I can't learn because literally everyone I've ever met speaks basic Spanish while I struggle to say hello.
Get on LingQ
I think I would probably disagree with you about everyone being able to learn a language, I have always wanted to speak nihongo , I have seriously practiced for over two years, had 94 one to one lessons, read books, watched anime practiced daily on memrise (space repetition) and tried every trick in the book, yes I can say the usual greetings morning hello etc, however my brain just doesn't except the language, I know maybe 600+ words but when trying to put them into sentences it just doesn't work for me , I really have tried hard I think I am just wired differently. I actually work for a Japanese company so have plenty of opportunity to embarrass myself and do regularly, and yes I always try to make it fun, but it just don't work for me.your thoughts Steve on what you think I might being wrong would be appreciated,
I have been trying to learn my mother tongue Punjabi for 10 years now. I have been unable to learn the language at all. I was able to learn to read and write in the first couple of months (learn the alphabet and vocabulary). Its really just put me off. So i have to disagree that anyone can learn a language.
Truide 10 straight years, or on and off for 2 months, then two weeks, then 5 weeks, etc. over a period of ten years? The latter is what people usually mean when they speak of learning a language for several years.
There are lots of things that may be holding you back - among them motivation, method, consistency, and attitude. There are lots of ways to learn and it's likely there is at least one that will work for you.
So don't be so defeatist; you'll find a way!
Indeed, the whole "I can't learn languages" is so stupid!
Everyone has learned at least one language right, so why would it be impossible to learn another one?
Of course someone with a higher IQ might have an advantage when trying to grasp advanced grammatical concepts but that is not the essence of language learning.
@Sudhish Bangarusamy Genetics determine how intelligent you are. Your level of intelligence determines how easily you learn a language.
@Char Char Binks Foreign, ok, you do realize your native tongue was once a foreign language right? You were not born knowing any of it. We are all born without a language. Yet somehow we all successfully aquired it. A language is only foreign because you don't know it yet. If you can learn one word. Then you can learn five thousand words. Through the same process you learned that first word. It's all about exposure and input. You have to do it everyday though.
はい、誰でもは言葉を勉強することができる
Dear Steve you are our greatest teacher ever!!!! I see each video that you doing and it s always so inspiring and so helpful for me!!! I have just one more wish to you namely please do the same and do it more!!!! I wish I had this book but I think it s too late to get to first dozen!!! Anyway I would like to get it through Amazon or through whatever it is and I would so much like to have it with your signature!!! If it possible can you write me comment how and where can I get it with your signature!!! Thank you so much DEAR FRIEND AND TEACHER!!!! I am bending my head down before you!!!!!!!
go to his blog you can find his book there in a ebook version LOL
What does "opening your mouth widely" mean?
It means you have to vocalize properly, or don't be afraid to open your mouth as much as you might need to!
I have been learned English about 8 years. only understand english obout 90% but cant speak. I have learned also at www.lingq.com about 2 years and marked 10 000 known words. English dosent stick to my head. Speaking english fluently has been my old dream. Every day I face with english, watch movies, watch interviews in english almost everyday and understand almost everything, but when I try to speak then nothing comes into my mind. I can write letter because I can think in english it takes time to remember words.....I dont know what kind mental disability I have.
what you describe is quite normal. You just have to continue speaking more and more and not worry about the mistakes you make, the words you can't remember and all these other problems. If you continue, you will only get better.
Tarmo Vassilenko try pimsleur and use italki
I' m from México brother and i have the same problem ,i wish you lucky 👍👍👍👍
what about people with intellectual disabilities? some people can’t learn a single language.
I have a question about learning multiple languages. Many people claim that in order to learn a new language, you shouldn't waste time trying to memorize new words or study the grammar. They say that if you want to learn the language, you simply must speak it. You will sound bad at first but eventually you will get better. Many of the people who tell me this know multiple languages so it might be hard to argue but the problem is that their advice doesn't make sense. A language is made of words so if you don't know any words how can you speak it? In fact, even if you know a hundred words in a language that won't be helpful since that is probably less than 1% of the words necessary to be fluent in any language. If you don't believe me, then pick a language that you and your friend know no words to and try to talk to each other in that language.
In fact, even if you know a thousand words in a language that still will make it hard to express yourself because that is still only a small percentage of the words of any language. For example, imagine if you wish to say, "I go to the store to buy milk." in Maltese but you don't how to say the words, "go", "store","buy" and "milk" in Maltese. How do you make that sentence? Now, imagine if you actually know how to say every word in that sentence except milk. It is only one word but it is important to the sentence. What do you do? It seems that you have a few options:
1) Don't use the sentence because you don't know all the words.If you don't know a word in the sentence, look it up first.
2) Say the word "milk" in English but say the rest of the words in Maltese , but look up the word for "milk" later.
3) Try to replace the word "milk" with a word you know in Maltese. For example, say, "I go to the store to buy a white liquid." However, that won't work if you don't know how to say the alternative words either. If you don't know how to say milk, white liquid, cow juice, or any other alternative in Maltese then what do you use?
If it is impossible to learn a language without speaking it then how do people who are born mute (but can still hear), learn to understand any language? I also heard people say that many people learned new languages, simply by listening to it and reading it as much as they can. It seems to be contradictory. I am curious to know how you all feel on this subject.
best of all that English isn't simple language to learn it's the most unphonetic language plus there's rich vocabulary idioms etc. I think only Chinese can compare to English
Finally I found someone that agree with me.
Mark Tom Linguistically speaking, no human language is more simple or complex than others.
sorry! but you are completely wrong I'm a native Portuguese Speaker and I haven't wasted one minute of my life learning Spanish and still I can undertand at least 50 per cent what they say, because both languages are very similar in vocabulary and grammar. Without any doubt it would take at least 2 or 3 years of dedication to be able to understand the same amount in Japanese cause I would have to learn all the words and totally different grammar aspects.
But that's not because Spanish is easy, it's because Spanish is easier for Portuguese speakers. See the difference?
Of course! that's exacly what I meant.
I watched TPR videos, i fell it's good but less tpr videos
I have lerned 53 laguages and right perfect in all of it.
I'm skeptical.
David Woodward Why that was clearly the worldz language?
I don t believe it!!! Sorry!!! Especially after LERNED
I think it was sarcastic...
А ну-ка черкани чего-нибудь по русски. Я проверю.
*_Français, Deutsch, Español y Spanglish..._*
*_English,_* of course.
*_Quebecois Français, Eastern German, El Michoacán dialect, LA style Spanglish and SW Ontario English._*
Are they perfect?
*_God no!_*
I learnt:
French -> Canadian.
German -> Rammstein.
Spanish -> 🤭 ...El Mijo del ¢@₹73£... 🤭
Spanglish -> 🇲🇽 East Los! 🇲🇽
English: The |)1¢k of Canada.
Bonus: ✨RAS.✨ *_Rapid aggressive SPANISH:_* *_Speak loudly, quickly, keep walking forward and do not break eye contact._*
看美国电视剧 学英语是否可行？
I am stupid that's why I can't learn languages!
Some people can’t. It’s from your genes.
Ratio
I CAN NOT LEARN TO SPEAK SPEECH MY BRAIN DO WORK LIKE I SEEK IT DO NOT WORK
到底该怎么学英语！
I disagree with you because I have some friends since 2015 until now they have not learn Dutch by the way no everyone his dream will become truth I’m sorry 😐
What's their method?
Good luck with Ukrainian~
Акунин 🤦
"Отец русской демократии" 😁
You said the magic word at 3:04 "Polyglot", that is not an average person, regardless of the national origin, they (like yourself) have a brain language aptitude that allows for it, that is NOT the average person struggling to learn a new language after 5 years old.
Yep you are right. Polygots just have a gift for learning languages
First :D