Forgetting and learning languages

[supermonk3y07]

I know that you've probably said the number of language you speak, but how many of them are they? I noticed the languages you're strongest at are the most important/widely spoken in the world (minus Japanese), and noticed your Spanish is decent/very good. With those 4 languages alone, you could probably communicate with about 90-95% of the world population. Also I wonder if you speak Hindi, Arabic, and/or any southeast asian language.

[lingosteve]

@supermonk3y07 11 and working on Czech and Korean. Arabic and Hindi, not yet but one day.

[telekinovice]

is it possible for a 14 year old that wants to learn japanese to forget english ?

[lingosteve]

@telekinovice no

[supermonk3y07]

@telekinovice why are you asking this. You are still young, while you people normally learn best at around 0-12 years old, you can still learn a lot better than someone in their 20's or 30's. If you really want to learn a language, I would recommend you to NOT WAIT. do it now or as soon as possible. Learning languages, as well as anything is better when you are young..also why do you want to forget english? Almost every person WANTS to learn it

[rtablada]

i hav this problem. Tagalog and English are both my mother tongues, but living in the UK means i'm more exposed to using the latter as my staple tongue. that in turn my ability to recognise filipino words and the rate i read filipino texts has deteriorated. My spanish is the same also so it my potuguese and japanese. it is a sad fact, but thnx for this vid, i can do something about it.

[JuliatheCoolest]

Your Russian accent is really good for a non-native speaker!

[cliveog]

Hmm, so the 'secret' of learning a language is to do an intensive course then go to a country where they speak the target language for *6 months*. Then you won't forget it. Fair enough, but, ahem, a bit obvious, isn't it?

[Chezrocksall]

Hey everybody, this is Cesare 160 and I have a new channel now called Chezrocksall. I am a polyglot like Steve is and I am fluent in 37 languages and am almost fluent in French. Please check my profile to see what languages I speak first, then if you want any lessons of any of my languages, please reply to this comment mentioning the language you want to learn and me to teach and help you. Thanks.

[ryudo2052]

Steve, acho que se você morasse no Brasil por um ou dois anos, you'd overcome a dificuldade que você tem de se lembrar das palavras e conexões de verbos e substantivos quando fala. Na escola, tanto em Portugal quanto no Brasil, a maioria das crianças tem uma certa dificuldade em Gramática por ser complexa por natureza. Aqui foi a minha dica.

[weoyondo]

This seems a bit strange to me. If you in the end are able to speak the language, does it really make any difference how you managed to do it? The way I see it, speaking the language *is* practically the diploma. Not that it is not useful to have a diploma, since it makes it much easier for employers who don't have the ability to test someone's language.

[Autodidact40324]

Wow, another unoriginal university mediocre elitist clogging up the comments!

[phonicsquest]

You have haemorrhoidsloser..

[Wakako77]

I am a native speaker of english, and I actually got a lot worse at my on language after living in another country for 5 years.

[PZCherokee]

Your Portuguese was pretty bad compared to your others languages lol! And at LingQ that's a language I'm learning so I could actually understand yu. Did you say something about reading for an hour? lol

But what if you can't go to the country to learn, could you still become fluent well without having to visit or be around native speakers?

[ryudo2052]

Yeah he said that he can't remember the words in portuguese when trying to speak but does when reading.

[FreeMusicify]

You kind of almost replied to my last comment with this video :).

[anne241163]

I understood your French, Spanish and Swedish, that was fun! Hej då from Norway! Think I will subscribe to your channel.

[lingosteve]

If you are interested in languages you should also consider joining LingQ.

[phonicsquest]

Bull..

[Idavinator]

I agree. I think that if you learn a language, it matters how utilised it is by the speaker.

By the way, your French sounds very good.

I am learning Chinese, and it is difficult, but i am determined!!

[lingosteve]

Remember to do a lot of listening and reading, be patient and work on those characters every day.

[phonicsquest]

Where did you learn that? Where are your diplomas?You are no more than a cheater...

[lingosteve]

I presume you have diplomas, and yet you are a nut case. So what good diplomas? How many languages do you speak?

[phonicsquest]

Hablo español, inglés, francés y alemán y no me considero lingüista por eso, me considero lingüista por mi titulo universitario de "Licenciatura en lenguas Romances" y por mi maestría en Generación VABUM otorgado por la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España, ese es el titulo que tu no posees, y por eso te digo que solo eres un comerciante sacándole el dinero a la gente con tu falso "método".A mi no me engañas.

[lingosteve]

Try to understand that I have no interest in your diploma and consider it irrelevant to language learning. Everyone is welcome to register free of charge at LingQ and use it, free of charge, forever if they want. If they want to pay for additional services they do.Most people who attend classes taught by people with diplomas like yours, have to pay up front, whether they learn anything or not. Most don't learn much.

[Cesare160]

Agree with you 100%. We must never try to forget all the languges that we have leanred. I know 26 languages fluently and I know that you might be thinking that it'll be easy for me to forget them, but I still remember all of them and I have not forgot any of them. In fact, I probably will never forget them.

[wolfsemihidis]

26 languages?? is it really true?

if it is, how did you managed to learn such many languages??

[ryudo2052]

11 actually.

[Cesare160]

He's talking about me, not Steve.

[ryudo2052]

26? You're a hero :D

[Cesare160]

Thanks, well now I know 28 languages fluently, when I posted that comment, it was about a month ago.

[ryudo2052]

Wow, you're an ass.

[famillioner]

A few good points were made but I don't think all of this aply to the mother tongue, I'm concerned that we have a special case there, the first language is the one most unconsciously absorbed so that's why you will allways find your way back into your native language very easily.

[merinejo]

Gracias, Steve, por este nuevo video. Espero el siguiente pronto.

[xnightxamex]

i know the world hate drills and i dont love them either but after some chapters of the platiquemos program, which is based on the fsi basic spanish program, my fluidity, use of structures, even listening improved immensely. i think doing some drills does a lot for your speaking ability, even if it can be painful.

[swevensent]

det där med att språk man använt mycket inte är lätta att glömma, det har jag lärt mig i år. det hade nämligen gått nästan tre år sen jag använde svenska ofta. för bara några månader sen var jag helt obekväm med att göra annat än läsa, men sen snubblade jag på din video om osäkerhet, fick ryck och tog upp det igen. min hörförståelse var skrämmande låg i början, men efter det att jag plundrat lingq-arkivet gav jag mig på radion igen,

[swevensent]

och nu, efter många timmars lyssnande, förstår jag typ allting. det känns bra.

men ändå är det sällan jag skriver eller pratar. förut gjorde jag det hela tiden, nu softar jag bara och låter bygga nervstrukturer. jag har märkt att när jag pratar så gör jag det på ett otroligt mycket naturligare sätt, men jag tar det ju lugnt, som sagt: den enda svenska jag pratar med svarar på svenska medans jag använder mitt modersmål. det funkar utmärkt.

[swevensent]

och nu äntligen kommer jag till det enda jag skulle skriva i början (sorry!):

en halvsvensk jag känner som åker till sverige på somrarna har sagt att det brukar ta någon vecka eller två innan poletten trillar ner och han känner sig bekväm med sitt språk, oavsett att han redan har fullständig förståelse. det gäller nog att få hjärnan att inse att ja, nu är det dags att förändra det passiva till det aktiva. tyckte bara det var lite intressant.

[swevensent]

ahhh dang, i was going for a two-parter at the most, but had to break it up even more. well, with all that said, steve, i just want to add:

thanks a ton for the vids, your site, and your passion for language learning. peace!

[uberpaine]

Haha, your Japanese was quite accented. Perhaps that's because you were switching languages so fast, though.

[laoshu505000]

Heh, so what if it was accented.

[saxquiz]

I definitely agree about knowing a LOT of the language before you go to the country. If you have a choice between going to a country when you are at the beginner level or when you are intermediate, definitely go in the intermediate to advanced stage. I went to Jordan when I was still weak in Arabic and benefited very little from my stay there. I couldn't understand much that people were saying. If I went today I would understand and learn a lot of new things.

[laoshu505000]

Yea, I think it is a great idea to be on at least an intermediate level before going to the country. You would be able to pick up things after if done so.

[daglug1]

and also how well would you say that you can read russian?

[coolsteven2]

like i dont speak much Spanish but its out of shyness =]. I have a funny story. When i went to Dominican Republic for 3-4 Months, i COMPLETELY forgot how to speak English but my fluency in Spanish was at its peak xD Im gonna start doing some Japanese videos to practice =D

[zocurtis]

Haha you forgot english? Oh man.

[daglug1]

i started speaking romanian right after i started and so far i dont think it's caused any damage. In the long run though im not sure

[laoshu505000]

No, I think you should be proud of any language you attempt to learn because not everyone has the will power to get out there and do it. It takes a lot to be able to attempt learning a language. Just because your Russian and Portuguese is probably not up to par with your other languages, you should still be proud of them. Besides, they will be up to par as time goes by right.