The Seven Secrets of Successful Language Learning: #1 Spend The Time

[LeiaAlexis]

Thankyou for your video :) Im trying to learn German and ive come to a bit of a stand still atm but im hoping this phase will pass lol. Its good to know that having a number of German songs on my ipod etc will help me, I also managed to get hold of a German novel too so im trying to read that to speak more fluently X)

[supermonk3y07]

Is it good to study 3 languages at once? I am a Mexican American, I am fluent in English and Spanish, it will be 1 year this September since I last enrolled in Japanese class. I have done a little bit of individual study, gotten most words from Anime and Manga. I hope to make Japanese my 3rd language and I have actually started learning Korean and Mandarin Chinese not long ago. I find little similarities between the 3 languages.

[lingosteve]

@supermonk3y07 I think it is best to focus on one language at a time until we achieve a fairly good level.

[rfwelsh]

Steve, I think you need to rethink your position on this one: Fluency within a year or two by spending an hour a day?? Cmon. Fluency is not achieved within 365 to 720 hours of study. And you were speaking about difficult languages as well (those quite different).

[lingosteve]

@rfwelsh I cannot remember saying that you can achieve total fluency with 365 - 720 hours of listening, but you can achieve a comfortable level.

[rfwelsh]

@lingosteve At 3:10 you say: "Depending on how difficult the language is ... it might be years. If you can only spend an hour a day, it could be six months to a year to two years. If you can spend three hours a day that it might be less than a year. But it does take time. There's no short cut to fluency."

So yes, the implication is that fluency can be reached within less than 1000 hours for DIFFICULT languages (those different from your native tongue).

To this I must disagree.

[lingosteve]

@rfwelsh Then we disagree but it all depends on many factors and what is wrong with disagreeing?

[hubomba]

Would it be best to ballance the time with actual book learning and immersion as you say here? I am native English speaker from the US and am pedestrian level in Spanish, but I have decided to learn Korean as my 3rd because of my cultural interest. Being a category 3 language from English, should I try to find a balance between immersion and traditional book learning?

[lingosteve]

@hubomba You have to do what you feel comfortable doing. Getting a little grammar or beginner book certainly is helpful. You need to build up your confidence through input based learning activities, rather than grammar or traditional learning methods. The immersion works best when you a base of words and familiarity with the language which is most easily acquired through input.

[mgraysmith1]

Do you see any benefits to speaking the target language with yourself when opportunites to speak it with others aren't available?

[lingosteve]

@mgraysmith1 I am sure this can be beneficial in terms of building up confidence and practicing the sounds and practicing finding the words. Speaking to others is much more difficult.

I don't speak to myself much other than when making youtube videos in foreign languages which is also a good training for speaking.

[elvein1]

How do you learn anything fromjust listening andreading if you don't know what's being said?

[lingosteve]

@elvein1 You start with simple texts, look up the words and gradually learn more and more. Join LingQ and you will see.

[erichami]

@elvein1 I agree, listening to the radio isn't helpful unless you have some context and understand at least some of the vocabulary already.

[cbncb777]

Thanks! :)

[verapamil07]

Thanks Steve

[LaurenzoFang]

我十分同意你，我真喜欢你这个影片。

[hayyalife]

The song part is very true. If I remember anything...its a song!

[alkantre]

COMO SIEMPRE, APRECIAMOS MUCHO TUS VALIOSISIMOS CONSEJOS. VOY A APLICAR TUS IDEAS A MI NUEVA PASION, EL APRENDIZAJE DEL GRIEGO CLASICO.

[Codylangaugesblog]

You're brilliant, just in case you didn't know ;)

I hope you write more books on language learning, more detailed and concise, I would be the first to buy them.

[kos37ter96]

great stuff steve. cant wait to hear the rest of the secrets. i hope to be like you one day. knowing so many different languages, but even more important, using those languages to communicate with locals. to understand their lifestyles and they way they think.

[TheMick419]

@Francydpp this video is not just for anglophones, but non-anglophones. So he speaks clearly

[koolibrii]

@Francydpp Well, he might repeat himself sometimes. so what?

[CyrusFun]

so true..I do it...one thing I do is to listen to Vlogs posted by native people as that represents how they speak in their everyday life and it's pretty helpful...

[SOGN0]

thanks steve, looking forward to your next installment. and i definitely feel shy with classmates who are better and annoyed with ones who are worse (dont want to admit the annoyed part or the shy part for that matter) lol. i attend to my growing languages daily on my own. if i miss one day (rarely) i feel it. glad to see your new videos coming.

[skhuynh13]

Fantastic video, Steve. Can't wait for the next one!

[Dacud]

That's clear, thanks!

[Chezrocksall]

Great video Steve! Best of luck with your Korean studies! :)

[F3rnando666]

Muchisimas gracias por tus videos Steve!!.. esperare con muchas ganas los proximos secretos!! it´s so good to see you again!! :D

[mrhesham119]

If I learn about 150~200 words and their usage every week is that a good rate ?

I am studying Chinese right now and my method is studying through watching series which I like so much

every week I watch an episode, look up the new words then I keep reviewing the new words every day and watch the same episode 2 or 3 times a day ( the episode is 45 minutes long so that would be about 1:30~2 hours of listening every day) until I am able to get 100% of what is being said

[mednos]

"10000-Hour Rule"

30 years of 1 hour per day

10 years of 3 hours per day

5 years of 6 hours per day

[raydenovo]

@holomaxi this happens for me too!

[cashernandes1]

Thank you, Steve. Looking forward to the upcoming tips.

Greetings from Brazil!

[tias90]

I agree. Study is like an investment; one doesn't get significant returns in the short-term. I am looking forward to watching the following six videos!

[loki2504]

Merci bcp pour tous ces conseils ! Je les trouve particulièrement efficaces !!! J'espère pouvoir visionner la prochaine vidéo très prochainement !!!

[raydenovo]

I just joined Lingq! It's been so useful.

[5Language]

First! Nice to see you back Steve. Great video series! This will help alot of people.