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I've learned 2 languages, English and German. The most important thing that has changed is how I understand being fluent in speaking. It's not about advanced and fancy vocabulary. It's about clearly expressing yourself and fully understanding other people, that's all. The key to the best communication is simplicity. It took me a while to understand this because I was thinking that I need big words to prove that I am fluent.
@kanyaw Wshyar I had german classes in my secondary school and high school for around 7 years. If goes about English I took me around 3 years to be on C1 level :)
That's true! And also being realistic about learning new words you're actually going to use, for example I'm not a medicine student, so I don't need to know very specific vocabulary about that topic. When you already become fluent, then you can start learning fancier words.
@Franco Well, true, but another thing must be noted is that by translating seperate words one can get some context since its long anyway and has some or quite some words
When I studied words I would include example sentences that they came from and then also connect the characters in the new word to ones I already knew (or new combinations). Combining and recombining kanji really sped up my vocab learning process.
True like when it come to my korean lessons, some words/empressions (like 꾹 gog) just don't make sense in English/Arabic so I don't understand what it mean, i will have to memorize/study sentences and see how that empression/word works and I end up thinking in that language cause I associate the empression with sentence and not another language :D
I heard it as meaning "the fourth" ("csütörtök" is from Slavic "четвёрток" from the word for "fourth"). In some Romance languages, March and Tuesday are easy to confuse (Tuesday is mardi, martes, etc.).
I completely agree with your thought to skip numbers as a complete beginner. I’ve never understood why so many textbooks want to introduce you to a language with numbers, days of the week and months, and _very_ extended family member vocabulary. I focus on useful verbs, pronouns and connecting words to describe routines and everyday life. If I haven’t used “my great aunt’s sister-in-law” in English in the past 10 years, I don’t need to know how to say it in a foreign language :)
Extended family member vocabulary is the worst 😂😅😂 escpecially when you discover that your aunty from your mother's side has a different name as your aunty from your father's side. lol
@@AfroLinguo I know!!!!!!!! I can't stand that chapter. I have so few relatives (lots of only-children in my family, and people moved to different countries) that I hardly know the family relation words in my own target language.
i love math so the number and math related lessons made me really happy at the beginning but i agree about the family vocab and the like xDD i guess the important part on my experience is that i actually was interested in that type of simple vocabulary, but not everyone is, so is much better to simply go for the type of topics you enjoy specially at the beginning, and if you need it you will learn the other more boring things later on anyway!
When you use a Chinese character as a note to self about potential forms of Hungarian verbs, you are officially certified as a bona fide nerd. Congrats, Lindie. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
ideograms are one of the best ways to organise concepts that ever existed. they should be taught to people trying to learn foreign languages jsut to really open up the concept of language itself to its full capacity. chiense and japanese native speakers have such an incredible set of hardware for linguistics more broadly, they should all be polyglots! yay ideograms!
I remember in my college Chinese class, the teacher would make us memorize passages and dialogues from the textbook each week and perform them in front of the class. We were graded pretty harshly on this so there was a big incentive to get it right. At the time I remember thinking “how inefficient, this is never going to help. Memorization is so archaic.” I was so wrong! Because after all these years (that was about 10 years ago), I haven’t kept up with Chinese, I’ve forgotten most of what I learned, but what sticks in my head still after a decade are those dialogues I memorized. I think that ties in with you approach to memorizing vocab in context. We were memorizing full, useful sentences. Sometimes I can’t recall Chinese vocab until I think of the sentences in my mind and then it comes to me. Context makes memorization so much easier!
that's basically how my kids have learned chinese. Watching a short dialogue clip that focuses on a grammar construct so many times that they memorize it. Then they practice what they learned with a tutor. After 2.5 years they have full conversations in chinese with their tutors and do classes in chinese like art lessons or science classes.
same thing; learnt texts in italian 17 years ago and still remember them entirely. Too bad I was starting spanish because I had to stop in order to focus fully
Hi, Lindie. It's funny, because I have heard this story many times, about people realizing that vocabulary lists or flashcards are not as useful as they thought. But my experience was a bit backwards: I kept trying to focus on immersion and exposing myself to the language, always using interesting resources and books and videos and music, etc., focusing on sentences and all that, and... yes, it does work. But there was always this group of words (in every language I learned) that I kept encountering over and over and for some reason never really took in. I tried Anki, didn't like it (maybe I just didn't understand it), I then tried Brainscape (kind of like Anki for dummies) and it's working its magic wonderfully. It's filling this horrible gap that I always had in every language. I realized I need a combination of methods: I do need to expose myself to the language, read, listen and use the words in sentences, but then also writing down all the new words in flashcards and trying to memorize them in lists is making the process waaaaaaay faster. After a couple of months of doing this, I suddenly started understanding TH-camrs I couldn't understand before (in Greek) and my speaking confidence just got a mega boost. So now I'm starting to do the same with other languages. Also, it's true that textbooks are not everything, but the good thing about them is that they are usually very good at giving you all the vocabulary most people do use, so you don't spend tons of time searching for what you need. I recently realized my Russian was chaos, and so I ended up getting a bunch of textbooks from A1 to B2, and I'm reviewing/studying them by myself, and it's working, pretty much because it's giving me structure and, again, filling many gaps I had/have. Love your videos. Peace :)
I completely agree. "there was always this group of words [...] never really took in" it happened to me too and I think the reason for that is once we've created a base in a foreign language and start understanding more and more content (which obviously is cool but...) we also tend to skip new words because we already kinda get the meaning of something that's being said without understanding every single word. I might say we become a bit lazy and don't worry too much about unknown words anymore. I think in such cases it really helps to just learn some vocabulary by heart for some time to, as you've said, fill those gaps.
@@danialex13 omg I'm sorry, I thought I had already replied 😅 I love Easy Greek, for example. But for Greek I usually follow TH-camrs who don't have anything to do with language learning, especially because I already have a certain level and I need to practice my listening comprehension. So for instance I like Konstantina Adamaki, The Mythologist, Vibrator, it really depends on your taste.
I understand the struggle. I tried Flashcards for a couple weeks and then kinda gave up on them unconsciously. I know they are helpful but they aren't very fun.
You can actually do sentence flashcards. I actually do sentence mining with those cards. I use anki and most of my flashcards are in context some have pictures and audios too attached. Also when I create my own flashcards it's from movies, youtube videos, a book or convo I had with a native speaker. So you can definitely combine contect with flashcards. It depends on how you use the flashcards.
@@AfroLinguo TPRS changed my way to learn vocab. it’s the only way I can actually memorize it. I try to search for stories that will use the same words, maybe in slightly different way/sentences. It’s really good. Plus you’re practicing your ears listening to the story. I even end up practicing pronunciation cause I keep repeating everything (wrongly or rightly) 😂
Lindie, I watched A LOT OF videos giving language learning advice and I can easily say that this video is THEE BEST ONE I've ever watched and that is a hard thing to say for someone like me who's not impressed by ANYTHING
I did anki vocabulary 45 min a day. Adding 10 new words a day and did that consistently for 9 months. I hated doing that but was convinced it was helping me. It became unsustainable. I then stopped completely all anki and just decided to just read and use Learning with Texts. I then set a goal to just mark at least 50 new words. And thats it. Because i enjoy reading, i actually do 100-150 new words. To my surprise, I began to learn so many more words passively. Amazing how that works.
Totally agree with you on that. The amount of times I have reset my Ankidue to the fact that I can't keep up with it. Also it starts to feel like a chore after a while and you feel like if I just get through it, I will become fluent.
I bet your anki journey made your reading practice much more fluid and easy, because of the vocabulary you attained. At least by my experience, I never face a best way to learn new words than SRS, especially if you are a begginer in the language, because you'll won't be able to dive headfirst into read.
Lindie, what you mentioned about fluency reminded me of the difference between process-based learning and performance-based learning. The first is concerned with just making progress and enjoying the learning. The second leads to unnecessary stress, in my personal opinion. I enjoy the learning without a performance-related goal, which makes me feel freer and allows me to learn more effectively.
After my chinese A.2 course ended a month ago, I decided to take a jump into the icecold water and just try to talk to native speakers. So I downloaded Tandem, to find learning partners whose English is just as bad as my chinese, to just kind of struggle through it together. And it's been great. It's such a different thing than looking at texts and translating them word by word in my notebook. Or doing grammar exercises. I used to for example not be able to remember what the word for need is (it's 需要）, and I'd always look it up. But now both I and my learning partners have used it so many times and in such different and funny occasions, that it stuck to me.
Thanks for sharing. I'm learning Korean with people who's korean is just as bad as mine lol but I need a chinese partner who Understand the struggle of Learning. The tutors I had were too pretentious and pompous
@@nicoleraheem1195 Do you use Tandem app for learning Korean too? If yes how do you find it? I’ve tried Hello Talk and didn’t like it. Will try Tandem ☀️. I learn Korean in an online group and it could be super boring at times.
This is probably the second time I've watched this video, but I really like how you explain the difference between "being fluent" and "being fluid." For my goals, I think being fluid is more important than being fluent, because others may judge fluency based on certificates, or as you said, reading an academic journal. If I can go to somewhere like France, Germany or Italy and get around to restaurants or museums, or just having nice friendly conversations about my interests, I'd say that being fluid is more appropriate than fluency.
As a child, everyone learns to speak a language before they ever learn the alphabet, words, or grammar. First step is to experience and listen to the new language, a lot! Then, engage with native speakers. And finally, begin working on the reading and writing. This is my method and has worked flawlessly for me.
@@lexiesanders929 saaaaame 😂 I often have to ask my teen brother and other family members, cos I can't translate my thoughts back to my native language quickly or just forget words sometimes lol It's so annoying! 😅
I'm forgetting a lot of words in English (native language). It is kind of crazy how often this is happening. My brain goes into search mode looking for the word, just like I do in my target language. But then my brain gets lost into a cloud!!!!! Driving me nuts!!!!!!!!! I hope this all sorts out in the end!!!!
I always acquired vocabulary from interesting texts written in our school books. This is how I was taught at school and since then I have continued using this method. Nowadays, guidebooks are usually divided in 12 themes with respective texts. I don't believe in learning a language by using flashcards and a bunch of similar stuff. Better to read interesting texts. This way you learn words super fast that way and in a lot of ways broaden your knowledge on certain things too.
@@r.s.fletcher7066 I watch films and TV. Currently learning Spanish. The good thing is that I live here too and I interact with people a lot. So, once I got an A2 level, I directly started to apply my language knowledge to practice through listening, speaking, watching programmes, etc.
Memorizing word lists was the worst because the teacher would just give a test with blanks and expect the class to use the words from the vocabulary sheet...only I’d forget the exact words from the vocabulary list (even though I knew what they meant), and sometimes would know other words that would fit the context (such as synonyms) but they weren’t the ones we were supposed to use. I think my teacher’s method would work better at lower levels, but at higher levels there are so many words that could work in a sentence that it’s much more difficult to fill in the blanks with _the_ words from the vocabulary list one’s given.
At my second year studying japanese, during the exam, the professor asked me TWO TIMES 'what time did you wake up today' and I was so STRESSED that I answerew both times 'it's june the second' ... the third time I finally understood and she laughed a lot. So, you're not alone ahahah Great tips btw, I changed my mind a lot like you these lastfew years
I really love this kind of videos like debating and talking about learning languages as a Korean teacher who teaches a language to foreigners. I totally agree with you about vocabs! I memorize tons of vocabs everyday whether it's Japanese or English, but what I remember at the end is the words I heard from natives during the conversation lol And there are so many free videos and materials these days on internet so I don't go to the classes anymore but still I need something arranged totally. This is why I still use textbooks for learning languages :D
I completely with what you were saying about being fluent. English is my native language and I would not say that I am fluent at all. I still grasp for words at times and can't express myself the way I would like. To me it is more important that you are able to communicate with others than use extensive vocabulary. On the other hand I do appreciate having a bigger vocabulary range and I never want to stop learning new words in either my native language or a new one.
Where I go to school we have the same system with reading a text and then get a bunch of vocab which we have to memorize in order to be good at a test. Luckily in my new school we have books which are not 10 or more years old. They are pretty up to date and we had a text and the new topic: Waste to be more specific plastic waste and recycling. And I love my teacher for what she did next, so on of my classmates asked if we could talk about the fact that not enough plastic is recycled. The teacher said sure and we discussed this topic for a bit but the we realized nobody of us is really a expert or knows enough to make a opinion. So she gave us the homework to research on our own and the discuss the topic again. I love my teacher for being open to new/different topics and not only forcing us to memorize this lists of words we will never use or now how to use
If you're interested in trying a new platform, I agree with you and highly recommend Clozemaster! It still gives you the spaced repetition, but it's about words in context. It's a great way to find new sentences you can write down, helps with looking at agreements and prepositions, and you can choose text input for a better challenge. I don't pay for the premium version, but I would consider it. Best of luck!
I once tried an app with more than 100 languages and while it was cool to see that many languages, the fact that it were just repetitions without context it made me not follow through it
Yeah I think this is why I can never keep up an Anki habit. It's not that I don't think it works, or that I don't want to do it... It's that I am subconsciously turned away by the idea that it will "punish" me with more reps whenever I don't do it for a while. I want to have a solid habit of some kind of SRS in place before I ever attempt a completely foreign language, e.g. Chinese. With my language/s it works well enough to just listen and read.
Ahh no ways, another person who isn't really into Anki! For some reason I have this impression that most TH-cam polyglots really love Anki. Not that there's anything wrong with that - I just don't like it xD
@@LindieBotes I have (somewhat correctly) been accused of being too big a fan of Matt vs. Japan before, and as you probably know, he can't live without Anki, so for a long time I wrestled with this idea that I needed to use it in order to get to a really high level... But eventually I made peace with the fact that I might just need to read like 500 Swedish books in order to have a robust passive vocab, and that that's OK. P.S. I'm definitely not a polyglot haha. My whole thing nowadays is "not a polyglot... trying to get good at ONE foreign language".
@@daysandwords I feel like you can be a "fan" of a TH-camr in the sense that you admire what they do and acknowledge their method's worth, without having to then copy and paste it into your life. I like watching Matt vs. Japan videos and find his approach interesting, but it just TOTALLY does not work with my personality. Anki and other tools that rely heavily on habits/"streaks" just become an obligation to me, and then I lose my excitement and motivation. But it works for him, and many other people, and that's cool.
I've been creating and learning my courses on memrise for the past 4 years I think, and whenever I "took a break" it was like an ultimate punishment... Thousands of words that I had to review.. In the end I believe that I am still in this "trap" that I don't want to fall out of. Cause I'm scared of forgetting all these "memorized" words I've been accumulating. It's rather become a method to clear my conscience rather than actually learning vocab.. :X
I agree with you! Anki works best for sentence mining ^_^ I often switch between Anki and Quizlet depending on how much energy I have in a day. I think a lot of language learners aren't efficiently utilizing Anki for vocabulary. I hope this is brought into light more
As a native, i really enjoy watching hungarian language related videos. It’s one of the languages that you’ll never need irl unless you’re a native. Still, i’m glad you started learning hungarian. Keep going!
I love your channel and your insight about learning in general, Lindie. I've read several comments saying they feel kind of alleviated or understood when you addressed that flashcards can be stressful. And I want to say two things about it: First, I am on that boat as well, I agree to the extent that I have never used flashcards apps. But second and most important: it doesn't matter what we think or say if it works for you! (Whoever *you* are) Nowadays we have the power to damage the reputation of trends, approaches, etc. very fast. Life is more organic. And this takes a lot of trial and error. We need to practice knowing ourselves while learning, it's never I have achieved or I haven't. It is present continuous. I do bad with traditional grammar study, I am like a parrot and an observer. I need to expose myself constantly and imitate natives until I suddenly don't have to study because it became second nature. But if you do well with grammar, books, flashcards, totally go for it! We are all different.
That's absolutely true Manuel! The last thing I'd want to do is be perscriptivist about methods - whatever works for you works for you and that's the beauty in language learning - we all do things differently! Really agree with you about life is more organic and we should acknowledge this trial and error mindset a lot more :D Thanks for watching!!
I totally agree with your view on fluency making a parallel with fluidez. As long I can 'flow' a conversation with little to no problems I consider it "my fluency goal" or that "I am fluent" in that language. And, honestly, if I take some peoples concept of fluency I wouldn't even be fluent in my native language
OMG!! Someone actually understands!!! I'm a nurse and I read medical textbooks in my target language and the vocabulary is so much more meaningful for me! I've learned grammar so much faster too.
TH-cam videos and TikToks with vocabs and context really helps me everyday, definetly sticking to them instead of the boring demotivating Anki flashcards. great video x!
I feel the “be fluent” this is similar to perfectionism and “toxic working culture”. If you can speak, even if not “fluently”, as long as people can understand you and you can understand them, that’s an achievement. Like bro, that’s what language is meant to be in essence. It’s a tool of communication. 💖
Gonna type what I learn for my future reference heheh: 1. Study words that you know you will use mostly 2. Translate paragraph and accumulate the vocabularies you do not know and will need to use 3. Potential forms (grammar + vocab) 4. Expose yourself with the language as much as you can 5. Learn vocabularies in context 6. Tutors :( 7. Practice speaking skills
if you dont want a tutor then dont get one! you have to learn a language the way YOU want to stay motivated. Motivation is one of the most important things to get started. Find ways to make learning a language fun.
I think it's amazing how different polyglot customs are when it comes to learning new languages. And it works for them. In my opinion there's no one size fits solution to learning languages. Every person is unique... Maar dankie dat jy ons wys hoe jy jou tale leer, ek glo ons kan 'n ding of twee hier uit leer :D
I totally agree with the vocabulary in context and learning words that you actually want to use! Being able to talk about things I'm interested in keeps me motivated so I like to learn words related to my job/hobbies.
Lindie you may not realize it but in actual TESOL (teaching ESL) teacher courses, we are told to teach our students in this exact format! No more than 10 new vocab words at a time, and ALWAYS with the combined context of a grammar structure! The human brain can't make real-life connections otherwise. This is excellent advice! When I watch your videos I learn how to be a language student AND a language teacher!
your energy in this video is so great, literally like, enormous, youre so yourself and thats just so lovable, thank you for sharing what passionates you from who you truly are
I squealed when I saw your Spanish notebook (I also have dedicated notebooks for each language I learn)! I didn't realize that there are so much people who self-study languages as a hobby! Thank you for the inspiration
16:35 there is a famous polyglot on youtube who said he always srudy from a textbook He said something like: "when I complete studying the textbook and I go back to take a look at the index of the book, I can clearly see what I do know in that language the text book guides you systematically throughout the grammar and gives you new vocabulary consistently as you move forward" I mean, when you look for random content on youtube you may be taking the risk of not being able to advance at some point and not to know where to go, what to study... Books have already thought of that for you It worked for the guy that speaks so many languages. I think it works for me too
Thank you so much Lindie for the tips. They are so helpful!! I started French, and Russian recently and I wasn't sure of how I gonna learn vocabulary. With your tips is like a lightbulb turned on. :):)
Hello! I'm Hungarian and I am very glad because you want to learn that language what is my mother language 😊! It is really interesting while you are speaking hungarian your voice is deeper 😄. And what was surprising for me is that you can say the letter ,,a"...and you don't say it like ,,á" (as you say it in your language). Nagyon ügyes vagy 😄!
You're such an inspiration to us all, Lindie. 🥰 I'm planning to work on my vocabulary much like you demonstrated in the video - by writing by hand instead of just relying on flashcards and my PC. I believe that the process of writing by hand will greatly enhance my learning, more so than just using computer-based tools. Thank you so much.
I agree with you sooo muuuuuuch! Thanks a lot for talking about this as I still from time to time feel the pressure to get to the next "HSK" level versus prioritizing how comfortable I am in talking, listening to my family's conversation, etc.
The big change for me was going from the belief that language needs to be studied through apps and lessons to focusing more on comprehensible input and immersion.
As a hungarian native, I really liked your english and hungarian. Your tempo is very good. Fast, but not too fast and you use a little pause just when it needed. Your voice is also like a song, i enjoyed hearing you. Not to mention your radiant personality, cute little bomb of enthusiasm. :)
I started learning Mandarin because I watched a C-drama and got hooked. I started with Duolingo and HelloChinese, and that gave me a pretty good foundation. Now that I’m done with those apps, my vocab comes from C-dramas, variety shows, awards shows.... I also listen to Chinese songs almost exclusively. I’m also learning to navigate Weibo (what a black hole that is😂). I’m basically immersing myself, but I don’t follow any lesson plans. This works well for me, because it’s something I enjoy, it doesn’t feel like “learning”, and I’m more used to how people actually talk. I watch clips from my favorite shows over and over and memorize lines. I also read graded readers now😀 I tried the books for HSK 2, but got soooo bored and frustrated.... I quit because it sucked the joy out of the language, and I have no reason to take any tests at this point. I think sometimes you just have to let go of the guilt you feel over quitting something that isn’t working.
How I use anki is by writing down a word that I found, while reading something I was interested in. The sentence I found it in comes as part of the answer (as a note under the translation). I believe that's quite an effective way to memorise and understand the word in context.
Great video. Definitely my favorite language YTer and the one I respect most. You keep it real, work hard, get results, and don't pretend to be something you're not. I don't personally really care about "fluency" in terms of a test certificate (not hating those that want those things and I can understand the need in certain cases, like attending school or working in a different country). I like your idea of fluidity. If I can understand normal every day conversations, consume media (books/movies/shows/podcasts), and communicate my thoughts/feelings/ideas, then that's fluent enough for me as well.
Been in a studying slump recently. Watchinh this made me feel so much better. I felt like a friend was talking to me, encouraging me not to be so hard on myself. Thank you, Lindie😭😭 Your videos have helped me over the years
I agree 100% with you about vocabulary acquisition - and still, word lists/flashcards are extremely popular, and most people don't seem to care much about context, correlations, etymology, references... all the things that can help a lot to really understand and remember those words.
Because that's not the purpose of flashcards. Flashcards are for repetition. Repetition is essential for memorisation; those others can greatly help but can't do it all.
Your tips were really helpful for me, I can speak French, Arabic, English, and Indonesian fluently, and currently I'm starting self studying my self Spanish and your tips really make me motivated to get starting....thanks a lot....
I always get motivated from watching you enjoy learning to get back to that place of enjoying this process rather than trying to rush it and comparing my progress to others 👍🏾👍🏾
this was so interesting to hear, content like this is especially useful if someone explains how their mindset changed and why. by the way the chubby rilakkuma in the back is the most stunning thing i've ever seen in my entire life
Disfrute bastante su video y gracias por compartirlo. Me interesaría mucho poder hablarle un día acerca de su jornada enfrentándose con y descubriendo profundamente a los varios idiomas distintos que ha estudiada. Estoy curioso saber porque seleccionaba los idiomas que ya habla. Mi primer idioma estudiar fue Japonés y lo tomó pero no tan seriamente en el secundario empezando hace ya 29 años, y sólo empezó probarlo otra vez hace tres semanas. Empezó a aprender Español cinco años después viviendo en California y trato de hablarlo un poco cada día cuando puedo. Por seis meces he estado explorando Ruso cada día y también hace tres meses he empezado con Alemán e Italiano y me siento un gozo nuevo en la vida cómo que no lo he tenido en mucho tiempo. A lo mejor ya soy adietado al estudiar idiomas. Me parece que Usted ha desarrollado los métodos mejores en sus estudios y le doy mis mas sinceros felicitaciones. Cuídese bien y espero escuchar de Usted un día al futuro cuando tiene suficiente tiempo. Gracias!
Regarding vocabulary, I recommend watching Cure Dolly playlist. Some videos are repetitive, but her approach to learning vocabulary is something that's been very useful to me, and it's pretty much what Lindie talks about here but expanded. Two basic steps: 1. Learn core vocabulary (300~500 words would be ok, don't need to go for 6000. Also talks about how "core vocabulary" lists are sometimes excessively, unnecessarily and inefficiently longer than what's actually needed) and grammar; 2. Start the immersion. Watch videos, watch anime, series, movies, listen to podcasts, and grasp new words and expressions. Use flashcards to consolidate knowledge. Get used to the actual language.
What a useful video, thank you! I'm not a polyglot (yet), but I just wanted to say that is a real pleasure to watch and listen to your videos because of the fact that, as a french girl, I understand everything you say without subtitles! So it's kind of a little victory in my learning language's journey 😭 (actually learning Spanish and Korean from myself, in addition to "entretener" my English 😅)
Like you, Lindie, I prefer Quizlet over Anki. WIth German, I'm trying to avoid flashcards completely, but with Indonesian, I seem to need them. My philosophy is that flashcards only improve my speed of recall. I can't learn from them. As you said, I need to use the words in order to learn them. Therefore, I have no problem with memorizing words outside of context as long as I checked them in context first so I know when to use them. If I need extra help to use them correctly, I'll memorize short phrases instead of sentences or individual words. And I try not to memorize anything I don't think I'll say anytime soon. I started out as a textbook learner, but over time, abandoned books and now start off with audio courses. My preference is Michel Thomas and similar courses because they prepare me for conversation. (I use Innovative Language podcasts for listening practice.) If this kind of course isn't available (as in the case of Indonesian), I'm starting to fall back on a modified Mass Sentence Method using lists of sentences with English translations (50 Languages, for example). But whatever course or method I learn from, my actual method is to make a lot of my own sentences aloud, and eventually talk to myself in my target language. Once I can do that, I start hiring italki tutors for conversation practice.
I also prefer Quizlet and I use Michel Thomas, both for Korean. On the topic of sentences I have been trying to memorize vocabulary by type of phrases (noun phrase, a verb phrase, and adjective phrase), basically groups of words that “travel together” so when I see them in a sentence is easier to recognize those constructions, and to remember their meaning. In Spanish we call them sintagmas, I find in English the word “phrase” is a bit misleading if you don’t know it has a different meaning in sintaxis than how we regular people think about a phrase. This method has helped a lot because it’s learning vocabulary and grammar at the same time.
@@calmontes651 I tried learning that way and found that, as a complete beginner, memorizing anything longer than single words was difficult and tiring. As I get better in the language, memorizing phrases gets easier--but the shorter, the better, for me.
It really is fascinating to see the different approaches of different people and the reasoning behind it. That's perhaps the most interesting part: not which methods are used but why they are used. Everyone who set out to study a language outside the school-classroom format and turned it into a hobby seems to know exactly why they pick one approach or strategy over another.
Lindie, thank you for inspiring me! I LOVE your videos ❤ I also wanted to share that I've been learning French for 6 months and I already see a progress! While I'm writing a text in my French diary I don't need to check every word in dictionary, it's wonderful😄😍
I just recently stopped Anki about a month ago for my Russian studies for the very reason you said. I would stress out about finishing them everyday. Sometimes I'd only have 90-100 reviews which is no problem, but other times I'd have 300. And since many are full phrases, it was very daunting, and if you don't finish, they just stack on the next day's cards. So now I'm mostly reading short stories which is so much more enjoyable.
I agree on some points, like learning new words and grammar in context. And I also thought I can pick up a language without a book or a course. But now I am on a very tight deadline to pass a Finnish language exam and I started appreciating the textbook SO MUCH. If you use them properly, they can be a blessing (same goes to a structured online course). The textbooks usually have chapters with texts and dialogs, vocab list which is drawn from those texts, new grammar that is also present in the texts, or is tightly related to the topic, and then exercises. Good books also come with audio recording. I read and listen the texts, make the flashcards and study by heart the words, often within whole phrases if I find them useful for me. I study grammar also by making flashcards with several examples of the same rule and case. I listen again and read aloud. Then I do the exercises to test myself and to use all the stuff I just learnt. It is going super well. I wish I did this work years ago..
Always knew this method. I learnt Spanish and Greek simply talking with native friends. Never read a book but the basic rules (sentence structure, suffixes for present, past and future, etc.)
Being an Anki user I find that it’s very useful. It gives me a hook so that I can now notice it in movies, books, conversations, or maybe use it myself if I’m lucky. Flash cards in themselves probably won’t make that word yours but they’re helpful in giving you a chance to build that connection.
Really inspiring your journey, currently I'm living in Lithuania and after 3 years I can't speak a full sentence 😔and all the motivation of the beginning has fade away. I hope being able to apply some of your tips and comunicate freely to locals ☺️
I changed my methods by just putting myself out there and just speaking. Instead of waiting for the perfect moment to speak the language, I just do it despite all the mistakes I can potentially make. If I don't speak, how will I ever get better? I even created a separate language-learning channel to track my progress and get feedback from others on my tones & pronunciation. I'm working on speaking Cantonese at the moment - not so much reading & writing. Once I get better at Cantonese, I'll move on to Mandarin. Thank you for the encouragement, Lindie! My brother is trying to learn French, so the resource list will definitely be helpful. (: No rush though & take care. ^^
I'm doing the same, trying to speak as much as possible. I also made this channel for that. It's really coool that you learn Cantonese. I want to try it in the future toooo hahaha
@@cynnnthiaaa HI CYNTHIA!! We actually have the same name. Cyndy is short for Cynthia. Let me befriend you on my language channel. Thank you so much for replying & your kind words. I grew up listening to Cantonese, but I forgot a lot of it, & you're right. Canto is harder than Mandarin, which is why I'm doing it first. xD
@@estherandherlittleworld7821 HI ESTHER!! That's awesome! I'm glad we have TH-cam as a resource. I will check out your channel and befriend you on my other account. Speaking the language is definitely important. We get better along the way. For Cantonese learning, I recommend Speaking Cantonese with Miss Winnie and Cantonese with Brittany.
When I was relearning Indonesian after not speaking it for years (and now learning malay), I found that learning the news REALLY helped to learn vocab casually within context. Watching dramas and variety shows often dont help because informal slang can be absolutely confusing. The news has been depressing recently though, so I end up reading tabloid news about kpop. 😂 Thankfully im quite the kpop stan so its entertaining too!
Flashcards can be so useful provided you come up with a tailored approach for yourself and for your language. I use them very differently for the 2 languages I’m learning (one of my methods was insanely effective for An Asian language but a total flop for a European language)
Native Norwegian speaker here. I’ve been learning English since I was seven (outside of school). I often speak English with my mom and my sister(English is not the native language of either of my parents at all). To me, fluency is when you’re just as comfortable speaking and talking in your target language, you can be mistaken for a native speaker based on your pronunciation. What I use as a marker for the first one is when you forget a word in your native language (but remember it in your target language) as often as you do the opposite.
I'd suck at vocabulary tests in school and I used to really hate this kind of stiff and weird way of learning a foreign language, which made me really hate the language I was learning at the time (english and spanish). it was only until I started to talk to native speakers and people around the world in English that it became a fun and exciting thing: looking up a word to use it in a discussion with a friend is WORLDS more efficient and great than trying to remember single words floating around in your head.
I hope that happens to my daughter. She is 17 and doesn't like her Spanish classes. She is so extroverted and gregarious and sociable, I hope that once she actually has a use for it, she will suddenly like it.
Your videos are truly life saving! I also tried flash cards but it didn't work out for me. I loved your method of taking a word you don't know and learning grammar with it, super cool!
immersion is the best way to learn vocab and grammar, sentences decks is the best way to do vocabulary flashcards. outputting early can create bad habits. but immersing with whatever content you like, without understanding much, helps with the repetition needed to learn things and reinforced the memories of those new things.
I'm inspired so much by these awesome fun language videos! I've recently gotten back to a language I was particularly good at (lots of self reviewing) and am learning a new language I feel very passionate about! I definitely will need to integrate language videos into my channel. Thank you for the wonderful videos ^_^
This is a great idea, I think I will try out your vocab/grammar sentence idea. One of my weak points have definitely been with remembering vocab. With languages that I come across in my day-to-day, I often come across unfamiliar words, ask people what they mean, then forget it after. I think keeping a note book and doing this would probably help with making the new vocab stick.
ive learned that too about vocabulary. for korean and Japanese both i dont memorize vocab at all. i just use the words in example sentences and thats how i eventually memorize it. 1 thing my spanish 2 teacher got right was making us memorize sentences. you not only get vocab in context, but learn grammar too. so noting sentences is definitely helpful. so i was lucky to have that experience in school so i could apply it to my self study~ everything you mention is helpful and interesting^^ thanks for the video!
Salamat sa inspirasyon 😣✊ nakakatuwa kasi sa tuwing nawawalan ako ng gana mag aral ng ibang lenggwahe nakikita ko ang mga videos mo. Good luck in your Tagalog journey! 頑張ってね、ありがとう！
In French we would say "Parler couramment une langue" which means being able to use the language in a context (every day life, at work...). I like this because it means your fluency is linked to the context you want to use the language.
You have to know that you are my inspiration. I get so frustared many times when i study my languages and because of you i added up Hungarian on my list because you make the language easy hahaha. You are a really nice woman and super smart as well. God bless you my dear Lindie
So glad I watched this... Always informative. Now I'm on the search for terms used in my patterns to take and translate my most used crochet and knit patterns from English to Japanese... That way I will see it and internalize the words and kanji as I read the patterns... Great idea!
Everyone always seems to say that duolingo is useless. But personally I’ve found it one of the best learning methods. I use it as sort of the starting point for learning the vocab and sentence structures as the repetition helps me remember words better. And then what I do is write down the vocab in a notebook and try form my own sentences etc. I know 4 languages but only started using duolingo for my most recent language so i still use my old methods too which are reading basic literature and copying down any words I don’t know and translating them later. Or listening to music and trying to see how much of the lyrics I recognise/can translate. This is particularly great as I can track my process by how much of the songs I understand!
Thank you for your tips! i'm learning english since last year and I'm kinda stuck with learning new vocabulary! And the comments here are really helpful too!
Thanks for this video. I am in the level right now where I feel so unmotivated and feels like I already know a lot but fails to talk to people. I asked myself what my actual goal is and Im failing horribly at it at the moment. But since I already identify it as *to communicate and have fun* I should stop stressing about grammar and just talk and connect
Im hungarian and i need to admit it i fall in love with ur writing style, i just love how u wrote hungarian letters :> the video was very helpful, thank u ✨🧡
Listening to music in the language I want to speak has been an incredible resource for me, and after watching your video I've realized it's because it gives context, rather than just memorization. I've always hated flashcards, but whenever I listen to a new song I end up learning (and remembering) a lot of new words!
@@gerlautamr.656 I studied Spanish in school, but it's gotten pretty rusty since then. And I haven't been able to find any music in Spanish I really connect to. Can you recommend a few artists/ songs I should check out? :)
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I've learned 2 languages, English and German. The most important thing that has changed is how I understand being fluent in speaking. It's not about advanced and fancy vocabulary. It's about clearly expressing yourself and fully understanding other people, that's all. The key to the best communication is simplicity. It took me a while to understand this because I was thinking that I need big words to prove that I am fluent.
@kanyaw Wshyar I had german classes in my secondary school and high school for around 7 years. If goes about English I took me around 3 years to be on C1 level :)
@Gabriel Carmona Viel Erfolg, du schaffst das!❤️😊
@Gabriel Carmona yes, I am
Cześć! Jesteś z Polski?
That's true! And also being realistic about learning new words you're actually going to use, for example I'm not a medicine student, so I don't need to know very specific vocabulary about that topic. When you already become fluent, then you can start learning fancier words.
Great tip: Don't study separate words, study entire sentences. This mindset is helping me a lot in Japanese. Great video.
Yes great tip, but its great to know the context or possible context of a sentence
@Franco Well, true, but another thing must be noted is that by translating seperate words one can get some context since its long anyway and has some or quite some words
When I studied words I would include example sentences that they came from and then also connect the characters in the new word to ones I already knew (or new combinations). Combining and recombining kanji really sped up my vocab learning process.
True like when it come to my korean lessons, some words/empressions (like 꾹 gog) just don't make sense in English/Arabic so I don't understand what it mean, i will have to memorize/study sentences and see how that empression/word works and I end up thinking in that language cause I associate the empression with sentence and not another language :D
Woah. Makes sense. Is it bad to learn sentences from songs?
Language tutor : What month are we in?
Lindie: Umm... Thursday
Me: why is this so relatable👁💧👄💧👁
I do this in English and I'm a native speaker.
The pandemic has done a number on time perception, so Thursday as the answer seems oddly appropriate :)
I heard it as meaning "the fourth" ("csütörtök" is from Slavic "четвёрток" from the word for "fourth").
In some Romance languages, March and Tuesday are easy to confuse (Tuesday is mardi, martes, etc.).
Hónap (month) and nap(day) are such similar words. Honest mistake. I love when you speak Hungarian! ❤️
Well at least she answered with a time word...
I completely agree with your thought to skip numbers as a complete beginner. I’ve never understood why so many textbooks want to introduce you to a language with numbers, days of the week and months, and _very_ extended family member vocabulary. I focus on useful verbs, pronouns and connecting words to describe routines and everyday life. If I haven’t used “my great aunt’s sister-in-law” in English in the past 10 years, I don’t need to know how to say it in a foreign language :)
Extended family member vocabulary is the worst 😂😅😂 escpecially when you discover that your aunty from your mother's side has a different name as your aunty from your father's side. lol
@@AfroLinguo I know!!!!!!!! I can't stand that chapter. I have so few relatives (lots of only-children in my family, and people moved to different countries) that I hardly know the family relation words in my own target language.
@@lynntfuzz for real. There is also this chapter on vegetables and fruits. They show even the ones I ain’t never eaten lol
Wow now i realize why i never learned French in school...
i love math so the number and math related lessons made me really happy at the beginning but i agree about the family vocab and the like xDD i guess the important part on my experience is that i actually was interested in that type of simple vocabulary, but not everyone is, so is much better to simply go for the type of topics you enjoy specially at the beginning, and if you need it you will learn the other more boring things later on anyway!
When you use a Chinese character as a note to self about potential forms of Hungarian verbs, you are officially certified as a bona fide nerd. Congrats, Lindie. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
also shows the similarity between my language and chinese ^^
ideograms are one of the best ways to organise concepts that ever existed. they should be taught to people trying to learn foreign languages jsut to really open up the concept of language itself to its full capacity. chiense and japanese native speakers have such an incredible set of hardware for linguistics more broadly, they should all be polyglots! yay ideograms!
I remember in my college Chinese class, the teacher would make us memorize passages and dialogues from the textbook each week and perform them in front of the class. We were graded pretty harshly on this so there was a big incentive to get it right. At the time I remember thinking “how inefficient, this is never going to help. Memorization is so archaic.” I was so wrong! Because after all these years (that was about 10 years ago), I haven’t kept up with Chinese, I’ve forgotten most of what I learned, but what sticks in my head still after a decade are those dialogues I memorized. I think that ties in with you approach to memorizing vocab in context. We were memorizing full, useful sentences. Sometimes I can’t recall Chinese vocab until I think of the sentences in my mind and then it comes to me. Context makes memorization so much easier!
that's basically how my kids have learned chinese. Watching a short dialogue clip that focuses on a grammar construct so many times that they memorize it. Then they practice what they learned with a tutor. After 2.5 years they have full conversations in chinese with their tutors and do classes in chinese like art lessons or science classes.
same thing; learnt texts in italian 17 years ago and still remember them entirely. Too bad I was starting spanish because I had to stop in order to focus fully
@@pumpkinsandme6238 hi, sorry my English is not really good ... do you know where I can find those dialogue clips?
@@andreasmeier7728 little Fox Chinese online
@@pumpkinsandme6238 thank you :)
Hi, Lindie. It's funny, because I have heard this story many times, about people realizing that vocabulary lists or flashcards are not as useful as they thought. But my experience was a bit backwards: I kept trying to focus on immersion and exposing myself to the language, always using interesting resources and books and videos and music, etc., focusing on sentences and all that, and... yes, it does work. But there was always this group of words (in every language I learned) that I kept encountering over and over and for some reason never really took in. I tried Anki, didn't like it (maybe I just didn't understand it), I then tried Brainscape (kind of like Anki for dummies) and it's working its magic wonderfully. It's filling this horrible gap that I always had in every language. I realized I need a combination of methods: I do need to expose myself to the language, read, listen and use the words in sentences, but then also writing down all the new words in flashcards and trying to memorize them in lists is making the process waaaaaaay faster. After a couple of months of doing this, I suddenly started understanding TH-camrs I couldn't understand before (in Greek) and my speaking confidence just got a mega boost. So now I'm starting to do the same with other languages. Also, it's true that textbooks are not everything, but the good thing about them is that they are usually very good at giving you all the vocabulary most people do use, so you don't spend tons of time searching for what you need. I recently realized my Russian was chaos, and so I ended up getting a bunch of textbooks from A1 to B2, and I'm reviewing/studying them by myself, and it's working, pretty much because it's giving me structure and, again, filling many gaps I had/have.
Love your videos. Peace :)
which yt channels for learning/practicing greek do you recommend?
I completely agree. "there was always this group of words [...] never really took in" it happened to me too and I think the reason for that is once we've created a base in a foreign language and start understanding more and more content (which obviously is cool but...) we also tend to skip new words because we already kinda get the meaning of something that's being said without understanding every single word. I might say we become a bit lazy and don't worry too much about unknown words anymore. I think in such cases it really helps to just learn some vocabulary by heart for some time to, as you've said, fill those gaps.
@@danialex13 omg I'm sorry, I thought I had already replied 😅
I love Easy Greek, for example. But for Greek I usually follow TH-camrs who don't have anything to do with language learning, especially because I already have a certain level and I need to practice my listening comprehension. So for instance I like Konstantina Adamaki, The Mythologist, Vibrator, it really depends on your taste.
@@danialex13 also "do you speak Greek?", That's a good channel for learning vocabulary
@@MiztonPixan hello! thank you for your reply! I will watch them
just gotta say your tips have definitely helped me learn HOW to study languages, and your videos in general keep me inspired, so thank you!!
These tips are so helpful! As someone who hates flashcards and can't keep up with them for more than two days, context learning is a lifesaver. 😭
I am glad we're on the same page with that xD
I understand the struggle. I tried Flashcards for a couple weeks and then kinda gave up on them unconsciously. I know they are helpful but they aren't very fun.
You can actually do sentence flashcards. I actually do sentence mining with those cards.
I use anki and most of my flashcards are in context some have pictures and audios too attached.
Also when I create my own flashcards it's from movies, youtube videos, a book or convo I had with a native speaker.
So you can definitely combine contect with flashcards.
It depends on how you use the flashcards.
@@k.5425 okay I'mma definitely try this out.
Thankies for sharing your experiences y'all stay safe please 😭💕
@@AfroLinguo TPRS changed my way to learn vocab. it’s the only way I can actually memorize it.
I try to search for stories that will use the same words, maybe in slightly different way/sentences.
It’s really good. Plus you’re practicing your ears listening to the story. I even end up practicing pronunciation cause I keep repeating everything (wrongly or rightly) 😂
Lindie, I watched A LOT OF videos giving language learning advice and I can easily say that this video is THEE BEST ONE I've ever watched and that is a hard thing to say for someone like me who's not impressed by ANYTHING
Thank you so much, that's really encouraging! I'm glad it helped!
I did anki vocabulary 45 min a day. Adding 10 new words a day and did that consistently for 9 months. I hated doing that but was convinced it was helping me. It became unsustainable. I then stopped completely all anki and just decided to just read and use Learning with Texts. I then set a goal to just mark at least 50 new words. And thats it. Because i enjoy reading, i actually do 100-150 new words. To my surprise, I began to learn so many more words passively. Amazing how that works.
Thank you for doing the experiment and saving me lots of time! 😅
Totally agree with you on that. The amount of times I have reset my Ankidue to the fact that I can't keep up with it. Also it starts to feel like a chore after a while and you feel like if I just get through it, I will become fluent.
I bet your anki journey made your reading practice much more fluid and easy, because of the vocabulary you attained. At least by my experience, I never face a best way to learn new words than SRS, especially if you are a begginer in the language, because you'll won't be able to dive headfirst into read.
Lindie, what you mentioned about fluency reminded me of the difference between process-based learning and performance-based learning. The first is concerned with just making progress and enjoying the learning. The second leads to unnecessary stress, in my personal opinion. I enjoy the learning without a performance-related goal, which makes me feel freer and allows me to learn more effectively.
so true! I'm going to search more on this topic.
Fluency is being able to tell a joke in the desired language.
Yep maybe I only speak 0.5 languages 🙂
Funny enough, you were able to make a joke just now
This comment deserves more likes.
Just say what ur trying to say in that language. Almost guaranteed to be seen as funny 😊
I feel Thisssssssssssss
Okay, imma tell a joke in Portuguese: Minha vida.
After my chinese A.2 course ended a month ago, I decided to take a jump into the icecold water and just try to talk to native speakers. So I downloaded Tandem, to find learning partners whose English is just as bad as my chinese, to just kind of struggle through it together. And it's been great. It's such a different thing than looking at texts and translating them word by word in my notebook. Or doing grammar exercises. I used to for example not be able to remember what the word for need is (it's 需要）, and I'd always look it up. But now both I and my learning partners have used it so many times and in such different and funny occasions, that it stuck to me.
Woww, I'm doing the same but I've been learning 8 months only so it's really hard but I love Tandem it's the best app to meet language partners 😍😍
Thanks for sharing. I'm learning Korean with people who's korean is just as bad as mine lol but I need a chinese partner who Understand the struggle of Learning. The tutors I had were too pretentious and pompous
@@nicoleraheem1195 Do you use Tandem app for learning Korean too? If yes how do you find it? I’ve tried Hello Talk and didn’t like it. Will try Tandem ☀️. I learn Korean in an online group and it could be super boring at times.
This is probably the second time I've watched this video, but I really like how you explain the difference between "being fluent" and "being fluid." For my goals, I think being fluid is more important than being fluent, because others may judge fluency based on certificates, or as you said, reading an academic journal. If I can go to somewhere like France, Germany or Italy and get around to restaurants or museums, or just having nice friendly conversations about my interests, I'd say that being fluid is more appropriate than fluency.
As a child, everyone learns to speak a language before they ever learn the alphabet, words, or grammar. First step is to experience and listen to the new language, a lot! Then, engage with native speakers. And finally, begin working on the reading and writing. This is my method and has worked flawlessly for me.
"Hmm how to english?"
me: is this a thing about being a polyglot?
I get that a lot
Yes, for example I often forget how to speak my native language 🙈
@@lexiesanders929 saaaaame 😂 I often have to ask my teen brother and other family members, cos I can't translate my thoughts back to my native language quickly or just forget words sometimes lol It's so annoying! 😅
I'm forgetting a lot of words in English (native language). It is kind of crazy how often this is happening. My brain goes into search mode looking for the word, just like I do in my target language. But then my brain gets lost into a cloud!!!!! Driving me nuts!!!!!!!!! I hope this all sorts out in the end!!!!
Yess
I always acquired vocabulary from interesting texts written in our school books. This is how I was taught at school and since then I have continued using this method. Nowadays, guidebooks are usually divided in 12 themes with respective texts. I don't believe in learning a language by using flashcards and a bunch of similar stuff. Better to read interesting texts. This way you learn words super fast that way and in a lot of ways broaden your knowledge on certain things too.
I also recommend listening to an audio book whilst read said book.
@@r.s.fletcher7066 I watch films and TV. Currently learning Spanish. The good thing is that I live here too and I interact with people a lot. So, once I got an A2 level, I directly started to apply my language knowledge to practice through listening, speaking, watching programmes, etc.
Memorizing word lists was the worst because the teacher would just give a test with blanks and expect the class to use the words from the vocabulary sheet...only I’d forget the exact words from the vocabulary list (even though I knew what they meant), and sometimes would know other words that would fit the context (such as synonyms) but they weren’t the ones we were supposed to use. I think my teacher’s method would work better at lower levels, but at higher levels there are so many words that could work in a sentence that it’s much more difficult to fill in the blanks with _the_ words from the vocabulary list one’s given.
At my second year studying japanese, during the exam, the professor asked me TWO TIMES 'what time did you wake up today' and I was so STRESSED that I answerew both times 'it's june the second' ... the third time I finally understood and she laughed a lot. So, you're not alone ahahah
Great tips btw, I changed my mind a lot like you these lastfew years
I really love this kind of videos like debating and talking about learning languages as a Korean teacher who teaches a language to foreigners.
I totally agree with you about vocabs! I memorize tons of vocabs everyday whether it's Japanese or English, but what I remember at the end is the words I heard from natives during the conversation lol And there are so many free videos and materials these days on internet so I don't go to the classes anymore but still I need something arranged totally. This is why I still use textbooks for learning languages :D
I completely with what you were saying about being fluent. English is my native language and I would not say that I am fluent at all. I still grasp for words at times and can't express myself the way I would like. To me it is more important that you are able to communicate with others than use extensive vocabulary. On the other hand I do appreciate having a bigger vocabulary range and I never want to stop learning new words in either my native language or a new one.
Where I go to school we have the same system with reading a text and then get a bunch of vocab which we have to memorize in order to be good at a test.
Luckily in my new school we have books which are not 10 or more years old. They are pretty up to date and we had a text and the new topic: Waste to be more specific plastic waste and recycling. And I love my teacher for what she did next, so on of my classmates asked if we could talk about the fact that not enough plastic is recycled. The teacher said sure and we discussed this topic for a bit but the we realized nobody of us is really a expert or knows enough to make a opinion. So she gave us the homework to research on our own and the discuss the topic again.
I love my teacher for being open to new/different topics and not only forcing us to memorize this lists of words we will never use or now how to use
Repetition without context is the worst punishment for me, that's why thinking about using Duolingo really upsets me.
I found Duolingo not that bad, but it sounds like Drop would definitely not be for you
If you're interested in trying a new platform, I agree with you and highly recommend Clozemaster! It still gives you the spaced repetition, but it's about words in context. It's a great way to find new sentences you can write down, helps with looking at agreements and prepositions, and you can choose text input for a better challenge.
I don't pay for the premium version, but I would consider it. Best of luck!
Duo lingo is trash.
I once tried an app with more than 100 languages and while it was cool to see that many languages, the fact that it were just repetitions without context it made me not follow through it
The amount of apps show there is no one best way to learn a language.
Yeah I think this is why I can never keep up an Anki habit. It's not that I don't think it works, or that I don't want to do it... It's that I am subconsciously turned away by the idea that it will "punish" me with more reps whenever I don't do it for a while.
I want to have a solid habit of some kind of SRS in place before I ever attempt a completely foreign language, e.g. Chinese. With my language/s it works well enough to just listen and read.
Ahh no ways, another person who isn't really into Anki! For some reason I have this impression that most TH-cam polyglots really love Anki. Not that there's anything wrong with that - I just don't like it xD
@@LindieBotes I have (somewhat correctly) been accused of being too big a fan of Matt vs. Japan before, and as you probably know, he can't live without Anki, so for a long time I wrestled with this idea that I needed to use it in order to get to a really high level... But eventually I made peace with the fact that I might just need to read like 500 Swedish books in order to have a robust passive vocab, and that that's OK.
P.S. I'm definitely not a polyglot haha. My whole thing nowadays is "not a polyglot... trying to get good at ONE foreign language".
@@daysandwords I feel like you can be a "fan" of a TH-camr in the sense that you admire what they do and acknowledge their method's worth, without having to then copy and paste it into your life. I like watching Matt vs. Japan videos and find his approach interesting, but it just TOTALLY does not work with my personality. Anki and other tools that rely heavily on habits/"streaks" just become an obligation to me, and then I lose my excitement and motivation. But it works for him, and many other people, and that's cool.
I've been creating and learning my courses on memrise for the past 4 years I think, and whenever I "took a break" it was like an ultimate punishment... Thousands of words that I had to review.. In the end I believe that I am still in this "trap" that I don't want to fall out of. Cause I'm scared of forgetting all these "memorized" words I've been accumulating. It's rather become a method to clear my conscience rather than actually learning vocab.. :X
I’ve found Anki most helpful when I use it for sentence mining, not just memorising individual words. Totally agree, context is so important!
I agree with you! Anki works best for sentence mining ^_^ I often switch between Anki and Quizlet depending on how much energy I have in a day. I think a lot of language learners aren't efficiently utilizing Anki for vocabulary. I hope this is brought into light more
As a native, i really enjoy watching hungarian language related videos. It’s one of the languages that you’ll never need irl unless you’re a native. Still, i’m glad you started learning hungarian. Keep going!
I love your channel and your insight about learning in general, Lindie.
I've read several comments saying they feel kind of alleviated or understood when you addressed that flashcards can be stressful. And I want to say two things about it:
First, I am on that boat as well, I agree to the extent that I have never used flashcards apps.
But second and most important: it doesn't matter what we think or say if it works for you! (Whoever *you* are) Nowadays we have the power to damage the reputation of trends, approaches, etc. very fast. Life is more organic. And this takes a lot of trial and error. We need to practice knowing ourselves while learning, it's never I have achieved or I haven't. It is present continuous. I do bad with traditional grammar study, I am like a parrot and an observer. I need to expose myself constantly and imitate natives until I suddenly don't have to study because it became second nature.
But if you do well with grammar, books, flashcards, totally go for it! We are all different.
That's absolutely true Manuel! The last thing I'd want to do is be perscriptivist about methods - whatever works for you works for you and that's the beauty in language learning - we all do things differently! Really agree with you about life is more organic and we should acknowledge this trial and error mindset a lot more :D Thanks for watching!!
I totally agree with your view on fluency making a parallel with fluidez. As long I can 'flow' a conversation with little to no problems I consider it "my fluency goal" or that "I am fluent" in that language.
And, honestly, if I take some peoples concept of fluency I wouldn't even be fluent in my native language
I like the little octopus plush sitting there 🥺
Yeah, and I think it can change its facial expression if you turn it inside out.
@@heidiloesti3267 yeah it can I've seen it somewhere before
@@heidiloesti3267 LOL you're right ... I googled "reversible octopus plush" HAHAHAHA 🤣
OMG!! Someone actually understands!!! I'm a nurse and I read medical textbooks in my target language and the vocabulary is so much more meaningful for me! I've learned grammar so much faster too.
TH-cam videos and TikToks with vocabs and context really helps me everyday, definetly sticking to them instead of the boring demotivating Anki flashcards. great video x!
I feel the “be fluent” this is similar to perfectionism and “toxic working culture”. If you can speak, even if not “fluently”, as long as people can understand you and you can understand them, that’s an achievement. Like bro, that’s what language is meant to be in essence. It’s a tool of communication. 💖
Gonna type what I learn for my future reference heheh:
1. Study words that you know you will use mostly
2. Translate paragraph and accumulate the vocabularies you do not know and will need to use
3. Potential forms (grammar + vocab)
4. Expose yourself with the language as much as you can
5. Learn vocabularies in context
6. Tutors :(
7. Practice speaking skills
if you dont want a tutor then dont get one! you have to learn a language the way YOU want to stay motivated. Motivation is one of the most important things to get started. Find ways to make learning a language fun.
I hope the language community never loses you. You are quite simply an inspiration.
I think it's amazing how different polyglot customs are when it comes to learning new languages. And it works for them. In my opinion there's no one size fits solution to learning languages. Every person is unique... Maar dankie dat jy ons wys hoe jy jou tale leer, ek glo ons kan 'n ding of twee hier uit leer :D
I totally agree with the vocabulary in context and learning words that you actually want to use! Being able to talk about things I'm interested in keeps me motivated so I like to learn words related to my job/hobbies.
Lindie you may not realize it but in actual TESOL (teaching ESL) teacher courses, we are told to teach our students in this exact format! No more than 10 new vocab words at a time, and ALWAYS with the combined context of a grammar structure! The human brain can't make real-life connections otherwise. This is excellent advice! When I watch your videos I learn how to be a language student AND a language teacher!
your energy in this video is so great, literally like, enormous, youre so yourself and thats just so lovable, thank you for sharing what passionates you from who you truly are
I squealed when I saw your Spanish notebook (I also have dedicated notebooks for each language I learn)! I didn't realize that there are so much people who self-study languages as a hobby! Thank you for the inspiration
OK BUT LINDIE YOUR HAIR LOOKS SO GOOD IN THIS VIDEOOMG esp at 4:18
16:35 there is a famous polyglot on youtube who said he always srudy from a textbook
He said something like: "when I complete studying the textbook and I go back to take a look at the index of the book, I can clearly see what I do know in that language the text book guides you systematically throughout the grammar and gives you new vocabulary consistently as you move forward"
I mean, when you look for random content on youtube you may be taking the risk of not being able to advance at some point and not to know where to go, what to study... Books have already thought of that for you
It worked for the guy that speaks so many languages. I think it works for me too
Thank you so much Lindie for the tips. They are so helpful!! I started French, and Russian recently and I wasn't sure of how I gonna learn vocabulary. With your tips is like a lightbulb turned on. :):)
Hello!
I'm Hungarian and I am very glad because you want to learn that language what is my mother language 😊!
It is really interesting while you are speaking hungarian your voice is deeper 😄.
And what was surprising for me is that you can say the letter ,,a"...and you don't say it like ,,á" (as you say it in your language).
Nagyon ügyes vagy 😄!
You're such an inspiration to us all, Lindie. 🥰 I'm planning to work on my vocabulary much like you demonstrated in the video - by writing by hand instead of just relying on flashcards and my PC. I believe that the process of writing by hand will greatly enhance my learning, more so than just using computer-based tools. Thank you so much.
I agree with you sooo muuuuuuch! Thanks a lot for talking about this as I still from time to time feel the pressure to get to the next "HSK" level versus prioritizing how comfortable I am in talking, listening to my family's conversation, etc.
The big change for me was going from the belief that language needs to be studied through apps and lessons to focusing more on comprehensible input and immersion.
I find that studying a language helps me when I’m a beginner, but is pretty much useless for me personally after that.
Your current method to learn vocabulary and grammar is amazing! I will try it!
As a hungarian native, I really liked your english and hungarian. Your tempo is very good. Fast, but not too fast and you use a little pause just when it needed. Your voice is also like a song, i enjoyed hearing you. Not to mention your radiant personality, cute little bomb of enthusiasm. :)
I started learning Mandarin because I watched a C-drama and got hooked. I started with Duolingo and HelloChinese, and that gave me a pretty good foundation. Now that I’m done with those apps, my vocab comes from C-dramas, variety shows, awards shows.... I also listen to Chinese songs almost exclusively. I’m also learning to navigate Weibo (what a black hole that is😂). I’m basically immersing myself, but I don’t follow any lesson plans. This works well for me, because it’s something I enjoy, it doesn’t feel like “learning”, and I’m more used to how people actually talk.
I watch clips from my favorite shows over and over and memorize lines. I also read graded readers now😀
I tried the books for HSK 2, but got soooo bored and frustrated.... I quit because it sucked the joy out of the language, and I have no reason to take any tests at this point. I think sometimes you just have to let go of the guilt you feel over quitting something that isn’t working.
How I use anki is by writing down a word that I found, while reading something I was interested in. The sentence I found it in comes as part of the answer (as a note under the translation). I believe that's quite an effective way to memorise and understand the word in context.
Great video. Definitely my favorite language YTer and the one I respect most. You keep it real, work hard, get results, and don't pretend to be something you're not.
I don't personally really care about "fluency" in terms of a test certificate (not hating those that want those things and I can understand the need in certain cases, like attending school or working in a different country). I like your idea of fluidity. If I can understand normal every day conversations, consume media (books/movies/shows/podcasts), and communicate my thoughts/feelings/ideas, then that's fluent enough for me as well.
I like your idea of being ‘fluid’ in a language.
Been in a studying slump recently. Watchinh this made me feel so much better. I felt like a friend was talking to me, encouraging me not to be so hard on myself. Thank you, Lindie😭😭 Your videos have helped me over the years
I agree 100% with you about vocabulary acquisition - and still, word lists/flashcards are extremely popular, and most people don't seem to care much about context, correlations, etymology, references... all the things that can help a lot to really understand and remember those words.
Because that's not the purpose of flashcards. Flashcards are for repetition. Repetition is essential for memorisation; those others can greatly help but can't do it all.
Your tips were really helpful for me, I can speak French, Arabic, English, and Indonesian fluently, and currently I'm starting self studying my self Spanish and your tips really make me motivated to get starting....thanks a lot....
I always get motivated from watching you enjoy learning to get back to that place of enjoying this process rather than trying to rush it and comparing my progress to others 👍🏾👍🏾
this was so interesting to hear, content like this is especially useful if someone explains how their mindset changed and why. by the way the chubby rilakkuma in the back is the most stunning thing i've ever seen in my entire life
Disfrute bastante su video y gracias por compartirlo. Me interesaría mucho poder hablarle un día acerca de su jornada enfrentándose con y descubriendo profundamente a los varios idiomas distintos que ha estudiada. Estoy curioso saber porque seleccionaba los idiomas que ya habla. Mi primer idioma estudiar fue Japonés y lo tomó pero no tan seriamente en el secundario empezando hace ya 29 años, y sólo empezó probarlo otra vez hace tres semanas. Empezó a aprender Español cinco años después viviendo en California y trato de hablarlo un poco cada día cuando puedo. Por seis meces he estado explorando Ruso cada día y también hace tres meses he empezado con Alemán e Italiano y me siento un gozo nuevo en la vida cómo que no lo he tenido en mucho tiempo. A lo mejor ya soy adietado al estudiar idiomas. Me parece que Usted ha desarrollado los métodos mejores en sus estudios y le doy mis mas sinceros felicitaciones. Cuídese bien y espero escuchar de Usted un día al futuro cuando tiene suficiente tiempo. Gracias!
Regarding vocabulary, I recommend watching Cure Dolly playlist. Some videos are repetitive, but her approach to learning vocabulary is something that's been very useful to me, and it's pretty much what Lindie talks about here but expanded. Two basic steps:
1. Learn core vocabulary (300~500 words would be ok, don't need to go for 6000. Also talks about how "core vocabulary" lists are sometimes excessively, unnecessarily and inefficiently longer than what's actually needed) and grammar;
2. Start the immersion. Watch videos, watch anime, series, movies, listen to podcasts, and grasp new words and expressions. Use flashcards to consolidate knowledge. Get used to the actual language.
What a useful video, thank you! I'm not a polyglot (yet), but I just wanted to say that is a real pleasure to watch and listen to your videos because of the fact that, as a french girl, I understand everything you say without subtitles! So it's kind of a little victory in my learning language's journey 😭 (actually learning Spanish and Korean from myself, in addition to "entretener" my English 😅)
Like you, Lindie, I prefer Quizlet over Anki. WIth German, I'm trying to avoid flashcards completely, but with Indonesian, I seem to need them. My philosophy is that flashcards only improve my speed of recall. I can't learn from them. As you said, I need to use the words in order to learn them. Therefore, I have no problem with memorizing words outside of context as long as I checked them in context first so I know when to use them. If I need extra help to use them correctly, I'll memorize short phrases instead of sentences or individual words. And I try not to memorize anything I don't think I'll say anytime soon.
I started out as a textbook learner, but over time, abandoned books and now start off with audio courses. My preference is Michel Thomas and similar courses because they prepare me for conversation. (I use Innovative Language podcasts for listening practice.) If this kind of course isn't available (as in the case of Indonesian), I'm starting to fall back on a modified Mass Sentence Method using lists of sentences with English translations (50 Languages, for example). But whatever course or method I learn from, my actual method is to make a lot of my own sentences aloud, and eventually talk to myself in my target language. Once I can do that, I start hiring italki tutors for conversation practice.
I also prefer Quizlet and I use Michel Thomas, both for Korean. On the topic of sentences I have been trying to memorize vocabulary by type of phrases (noun phrase, a verb phrase, and adjective phrase), basically groups of words that “travel together” so when I see them in a sentence is easier to recognize those constructions, and to remember their meaning. In Spanish we call them sintagmas, I find in English the word “phrase” is a bit misleading if you don’t know it has a different meaning in sintaxis than how we regular people think about a phrase. This method has helped a lot because it’s learning vocabulary and grammar at the same time.
@@calmontes651 I tried learning that way and found that, as a complete beginner, memorizing anything longer than single words was difficult and tiring. As I get better in the language, memorizing phrases gets easier--but the shorter, the better, for me.
It really is fascinating to see the different approaches of different people and the reasoning behind it. That's perhaps the most interesting part: not which methods are used but why they are used. Everyone who set out to study a language outside the school-classroom format and turned it into a hobby seems to know exactly why they pick one approach or strategy over another.
I just want to thank you Lindie for your wonderful work. I’ve only just found you recently but your material has been a real blessing and inspiration.
Lindie, thank you for inspiring me! I LOVE your videos ❤ I also wanted to share that I've been learning French for 6 months and I already see a progress! While I'm writing a text in my French diary I don't need to check every word in dictionary, it's wonderful😄😍
I just recently stopped Anki about a month ago for my Russian studies for the very reason you said. I would stress out about finishing them everyday. Sometimes I'd only have 90-100 reviews which is no problem, but other times I'd have 300. And since many are full phrases, it was very daunting, and if you don't finish, they just stack on the next day's cards. So now I'm mostly reading short stories which is so much more enjoyable.
I agree on some points, like learning new words and grammar in context. And I also thought I can pick up a language without a book or a course. But now I am on a very tight deadline to pass a Finnish language exam and I started appreciating the textbook SO MUCH. If you use them properly, they can be a blessing (same goes to a structured online course). The textbooks usually have chapters with texts and dialogs, vocab list which is drawn from those texts, new grammar that is also present in the texts, or is tightly related to the topic, and then exercises. Good books also come with audio recording. I read and listen the texts, make the flashcards and study by heart the words, often within whole phrases if I find them useful for me. I study grammar also by making flashcards with several examples of the same rule and case. I listen again and read aloud. Then I do the exercises to test myself and to use all the stuff I just learnt. It is going super well.
I wish I did this work years ago..
You went to school in Pakistan?? Can you make a video about that, sounds very intersting!
I second that. That sounds very interesting!
Always knew this method. I learnt Spanish and Greek simply talking with native friends. Never read a book but the basic rules (sentence structure, suffixes for present, past and future, etc.)
Being an Anki user I find that it’s very useful. It gives me a hook so that I can now notice it in movies, books, conversations, or maybe use it myself if I’m lucky. Flash cards in themselves probably won’t make that word yours but they’re helpful in giving you a chance to build that connection.
Really inspiring your journey, currently I'm living in Lithuania and after 3 years I can't speak a full sentence 😔and all the motivation of the beginning has fade away. I hope being able to apply some of your tips and comunicate freely to locals ☺️
I changed my methods by just putting myself out there and just speaking. Instead of waiting for the perfect moment to speak the language, I just do it despite all the mistakes I can potentially make. If I don't speak, how will I ever get better? I even created a separate language-learning channel to track my progress and get feedback from others on my tones & pronunciation. I'm working on speaking Cantonese at the moment - not so much reading & writing. Once I get better at Cantonese, I'll move on to Mandarin.
Thank you for the encouragement, Lindie! My brother is trying to learn French, so the resource list will definitely be helpful. (: No rush though & take care. ^^
Hongkonger here! So happy to hear that you are learning Cantonese ^^ It’s more complicated than Mandarin, so props for doing Canto first🙌🏼
I'm doing the same, trying to speak as much as possible. I also made this channel for that. It's really coool that you learn Cantonese. I want to try it in the future toooo hahaha
@@cynnnthiaaa HI CYNTHIA!! We actually have the same name. Cyndy is short for Cynthia. Let me befriend you on my language channel. Thank you so much for replying & your kind words. I grew up listening to Cantonese, but I forgot a lot of it, & you're right. Canto is harder than Mandarin, which is why I'm doing it first. xD
@@estherandherlittleworld7821 HI ESTHER!! That's awesome! I'm glad we have TH-cam as a resource. I will check out your channel and befriend you on my other account. Speaking the language is definitely important. We get better along the way. For Cantonese learning, I recommend Speaking Cantonese with Miss Winnie and Cantonese with Brittany.
@@CyndyTangerineyyyy That's really coooool 😍😍 thank youuuu you great
When I was relearning Indonesian after not speaking it for years (and now learning malay), I found that learning the news REALLY helped to learn vocab casually within context. Watching dramas and variety shows often dont help because informal slang can be absolutely confusing. The news has been depressing recently though, so I end up reading tabloid news about kpop. 😂 Thankfully im quite the kpop stan so its entertaining too!
I just wanna say, i like your videos and content, i'm a B1 level on English and i can understand you very well, even without caption ☺
I always find difficult in vocabulary. But thanks to you.I feel like it is really easy to study vocab. :)
Flashcards can be so useful provided you come up with a tailored approach for yourself and for your language. I use them very differently for the 2 languages I’m learning (one of my methods was insanely effective for An Asian language but a total flop for a European language)
Native Norwegian speaker here. I’ve been learning English since I was seven (outside of school). I often speak English with my mom and my sister(English is not the native language of either of my parents at all).
To me, fluency is when you’re just as comfortable speaking and talking in your target language, you can be mistaken for a native speaker based on your pronunciation. What I use as a marker for the first one is when you forget a word in your native language (but remember it in your target language) as often as you do the opposite.
I'd suck at vocabulary tests in school and I used to really hate this kind of stiff and weird way of learning a foreign language, which made me really hate the language I was learning at the time (english and spanish). it was only until I started to talk to native speakers and people around the world in English that it became a fun and exciting thing: looking up a word to use it in a discussion with a friend is WORLDS more efficient and great than trying to remember single words floating around in your head.
I hope that happens to my daughter. She is 17 and doesn't like her Spanish classes. She is so extroverted and gregarious and sociable, I hope that once she actually has a use for it, she will suddenly like it.
I was really surprised when I heard you are learning Hungarian! Great pronunciation, best of luck! Kitartást! Magyar az egyik legnehezebb nyelv :)
Your videos are truly life saving! I also tried flash cards but it didn't work out for me. I loved your method of taking a word you don't know and learning grammar with it, super cool!
immersion is the best way to learn vocab and grammar, sentences decks is the best way to do vocabulary flashcards.
outputting early can create bad habits. but immersing with whatever content you like, without understanding much, helps with the repetition needed to learn things and reinforced the memories of those new things.
I'm inspired so much by these awesome fun language videos! I've recently gotten back to a language I was particularly good at (lots of self reviewing) and am learning a new language I feel very passionate about! I definitely will need to integrate language videos into my channel. Thank you for the wonderful videos ^_^
Love having watch you grow over the years.... such a great video thank you!
This is a great idea, I think I will try out your vocab/grammar sentence idea. One of my weak points have definitely been with remembering vocab. With languages that I come across in my day-to-day, I often come across unfamiliar words, ask people what they mean, then forget it after. I think keeping a note book and doing this would probably help with making the new vocab stick.
ive learned that too about vocabulary. for korean and Japanese both i dont memorize vocab at all. i just use the words in example sentences and thats how i eventually memorize it.
1 thing my spanish 2 teacher got right was making us memorize sentences. you not only get vocab in context, but learn grammar too. so noting sentences is definitely helpful. so i was lucky to have that experience in school so i could apply it to my self study~
everything you mention is helpful and interesting^^ thanks for the video!
Salamat sa inspirasyon 😣✊ nakakatuwa kasi sa tuwing nawawalan ako ng gana mag aral ng ibang lenggwahe nakikita ko ang mga videos mo. Good luck in your Tagalog journey! 頑張ってね、ありがとう！
Hi Lindie. Always a pleasure to learn your language learning strategies! I hope you're making a steady progress in Tagalog ! 💪🏼
Thank you Lindie for posting this video. I always don't know how to start, but your video helps me SO MUCH. Thank you!
Very much neededddd 🕺
Thanks for watching!
@@LindieBotes You’re welcome!
In French we would say "Parler couramment une langue" which means being able to use the language in a context (every day life, at work...). I like this because it means your fluency is linked to the context you want to use the language.
You have to know that you are my inspiration. I get so frustared many times when i study my languages and because of you i added up Hungarian on my list because you make the language easy hahaha. You are a really nice woman and super smart as well. God bless you my dear Lindie
So glad I watched this... Always informative. Now I'm on the search for terms used in my patterns to take and translate my most used crochet and knit patterns from English to Japanese... That way I will see it and internalize the words and kanji as I read the patterns... Great idea!
Not going to lie, my anki reviews do control my life 🙃
Everyone always seems to say that duolingo is useless. But personally I’ve found it one of the best learning methods. I use it as sort of the starting point for learning the vocab and sentence structures as the repetition helps me remember words better. And then what I do is write down the vocab in a notebook and try form my own sentences etc. I know 4 languages but only started using duolingo for my most recent language so i still use my old methods too which are reading basic literature and copying down any words I don’t know and translating them later. Or listening to music and trying to see how much of the lyrics I recognise/can translate. This is particularly great as I can track my process by how much of the songs I understand!
Thank you for your tips! i'm learning english since last year and I'm kinda stuck with learning new vocabulary! And the comments here are really helpful too!
Thanks for this video. I am in the level right now where I feel so unmotivated and feels like I already know a lot but fails to talk to people. I asked myself what my actual goal is and Im failing horribly at it at the moment. But since I already identify it as *to communicate and have fun* I should stop stressing about grammar and just talk and connect
Im hungarian and i need to admit it i fall in love with ur writing style, i just love how u wrote hungarian letters :> the video was very helpful, thank u ✨🧡
Listening to music in the language I want to speak has been an incredible resource for me, and after watching your video I've realized it's because it gives context, rather than just memorization. I've always hated flashcards, but whenever I listen to a new song I end up learning (and remembering) a lot of new words!
hi, what language are you learning?
Mostly German, but I've done this with French, Italian, and Russian too!
@@stephanieneal5942 I have an extense list of songs in Spanish, that's why I asked.too bad that's not one of your languages.
@@gerlautamr.656 I studied Spanish in school, but it's gotten pretty rusty since then. And I haven't been able to find any music in Spanish I really connect to. Can you recommend a few artists/ songs I should check out? :)
Hey, I've been very very busy today, but in a few hours I'll be able to send you that list of songs 😄
Merci beaucoup pour cette vidéo!!! Very helpful and inspirational 😄 can’t wait to keep following your language learning journey