I would be impressed if someone could read high school level Chinese after 3 years. Another thing you didn't mention about Chinese is that there are a lot of historical figures and old stories that come up in daily speech. You can't learn them in 3 months. And as you mentioned, knowing the characters doesn't necessarily mean that you'll know the meaning of a new word. Instead of setting a goal to be "fluent," I think it's better to set a goal like "read Harry Potter" or "understand a TV show."
I don't think Benny's approach and claims are accurately told in this video (check out is blog). He doesn't claim that it only take 3 months to be fluent and C1 level of Mandarin in 3 months is a GOAL. I think when we are listening to Steve or Benny or anyone else in the language community we should take what we can use and leave what we don't. (SN: I'm not for or against either of these guys just tried of see language people bicker.)
While I don't agree with you (nor with Benny) on several points, I particularly disagree that reading is important to learning vocabulary. True, Benny will need to get a lot of reading input to learn to understand newspaper headlines, but there is no reason that a lot of listening/conversation wouldn't be enough to learn to converse fluently (whether or not it takes more than 3 months). Do you think it is impossible to achieve fluency in languages that aren't written? Maybe I'm misunderstanding.
@Nachtfechter Children who read a lot have much larger vocabularies than children who do not read a lot, and the latter never catch up, seriously handicapping them in today's information society. These are statistically verifiable facts, although it does not mean everyone. Reading is an excellent way to learn words, and to achieve a large vocabulary. In languages without writing you do not learn words from reading, yes. What is your point, that reading does not help us learn words?
@lingosteve I agree that reading is a great method for learning vocabulary, but it sounded to me when you said that it was important that you thought it was necessary. And while it may be true that those who read have larger vocabularies, the additional vocabulary is largely literary or formal, and does not improve their ability to effectively communicate orally (neither for native speakers nor for learners), so therefore if one's goal were only oral fluency, then listening would be sufficient.
@Nachtfechter 1)The ability to read the literature and read about the history and culture associated with the languages that I learn is a major source of enjoyment. The broader your vocabulary the better you can express yourself. 2) In our own languages, there is no more direct indicator of economic success than the degree of literacy. The people who read the best are the most economically successful and prisons are full of people who do not read well.
@lingosteve Well, I pretty much agree completely here (though I'm not sure to what extent your prison fact is true). I was merely saying that, while I agree that reading is a great method for learning and should most definitely be utilized if possible, it is not necessary for learning, which is what I gathered you were saying from your video. Anyway, I believe we understand each other now. Thank you for your replies.
What he prioritises is speaking and interacting face to face i.e. more time doing that than book learning.I think book learning is plays a decent part but is secondary after he's learned basic phrases and vocab!
Wait to see how he does at the 3 month level!He might surprise you.
@borderlord He has not surprised me after 6 weeks of mostly conventional learning of Chinese, and I doubt he will surprise me after 3 months. I said at the beginning of his Chinese mission that in 3 months of full time study it is quite feasible to reach a B1 level in Chinese but not C1. I have not seen any evidence that "interacting face to face after learning a basic phrases and vocab" has enabled him to become fluent in any language.
Reading newspapers in Chinese can be difficult if you do not specifically study the vocab of formal written Chinese aka 书面语. Even the most simple words like, 这，是，还, etc. have completely different forms of expression in formal written Chinese: 该/此，为，尚 respectively. If you are not aware of this, comprehension of the sentence will break down quickly. Unless Benny is including this vocab in his study, I think that after 3 months he will find it difficult to read newspaper headlines.
Steve, in your opinion is it possible for a native English speaker to reach a C2 level in another language? Or is c2 reserved for native speakers? Thanks. I'm starting to study Swedish and hoping for at least a b1 by the end of the year.
"You don't need to sound like a native speaker" - That, to me, is one of the most important messages to get across to people. It would take so much pressure off the entire language learning process if people realized they don't have to speak like natives to be successful. As for the specific question at issue here, I could not imagine achieving C1 level in any language within three months. But maybe that's just me. Overall, I agree with what Steve said in this video.
when I heard this whole Fluent in 3 months claim I had to laugh... I've been learning Spanish for a year including 5 months in South America, I'm really good at languages and extremely motivated and yet I am not even fluent in a simple language like Spanish. I have fairly good conversational skills but I still make mistakes sometimes and do not understand some idioms sometimes (of which there are 1000s)... and this guy claims fluency in one of the hardest languages in 3 months? Ridiculous!
It will be interesting to see how Benny will be perceived by the Chinese people, bragging as much as he does. In China it is a virtue to show humility. Part of knowing a language is also understanding the culture and fit in.
Thanks for giving a very factual opinion of this. I agree. The claims he makes may indeed be misleading to some people. It will be interesting to see what he speaks like at the end.
I am a Chinese, personally I really think there are not much you can learn in 3 month, maybe you can learn some useful words for using in travel but no way you can have real communication, I am from more west, and now working in Xiamen city, the city which close to Taiwan the most, the ways of speakings are so different between these 2 places, even we both speak mandarin, it took me half a year to communicate with local people very greatly, 3 months to speak fluent Chinese, I don't believe that.
I am in no way going to fool myself by thinking I will ever be a fluent speaker in less of a year, especially when I have to spend decent amount of time studying EACH languages in order to give them decent amount of attention to keep growing as a polyglot. The more languages you know, it appears the more you slow down in trying to get from intermediate level to fluent. 3 months in any language with hard dedication gets you to low intermediate, never C1 or C2 anything. Sorry, it ain't happening.
Currently, I am studying French, Italian and Japanese at once, but I am not new to French or Italian. I had studied them in high school and college, although the Japanese is completely new to me. In essence I am RE-learning French and Italian, because I had a decent past with this languages. But even then I know it will take me a year to RE-LEARN French and Italian, but I know realistically I will be intermediate level. Japanese? I know I will need 2 years to be intermediate.
@TheSeductiveArts Je te souhaite bonne chance dans on apprentissage du Français, ce n'est pas une langue facile et beaucoup de "natifs" ne le parle pas correctement mais la lecture est une très bonne solution (des textes simples et courts). J'apprends aussi l'Italien car j'ai la chance d'habiter dans une ville qui se situe à la frontière de ce pays. D'ailleurs, l'Italien et le Français sont très similaires !
I respect Steve a bit more, because he at least focus on ONE language for a few years before moving on to another one, instead of seeing if he can learn 20 languages within 5 years like Benny and others. And as months go on when these people do speak to native speakers, these HYPER-POLYGLOTS seems to struggle speaking with native speakers due to forgetting their passed learn language due to cram studying lots of new ones.
then how do you have the time to keep up the practice in those languages, plus keep on adding several new languages to keep on learning. Time taken to learn a new language is time taken AWAY from reviewing the old one. And if you look at guys like Benny, they speak the language so slowly. Yeah, "fluently" but slowly like they still have to think about what they want to say before saying it. For instance, look at his video of him talking to the French Canadian girl, he was slow responding.
I admire Benny Lewis, but at the same time I look down on anyone who seems to try to learn 3 to 5 different languages every year. I may be exaggerating but there are many so called polyglots on Youtube doing this. In my opinion, if you do this, you are only speaking moderately intermediate level of a language. Enough to get by in that language's country without needed to carry some sort of language book for tourists. Besides, if you are learning all these languages in a short period of time...
I have an Intermediate Mandarin level, but I passively studied that in college. If anything, BL can achieve this level in 3 months with studying, reading, writing, and just speaking in Chinese. To speak Chinese on a fluent level in 3 months, he would probably have to already have an Intermediate level in the language and then go over there. Getting to an intermediate level in a language seriously is the sweet spot for studying abroad. Chinese has a lot of depth; he'd need 1 year minimum.
In 3 months you can obtain an intermediate level in a language, but fluency in my opinion is absurd. It took me roughly 7 with Korean. The pronounciation and depth of the language along with the fact I actually teach the English language has held me back a little, but I have to make money to support my hobby. It is possible to do a lesson a day and perhaps do it in roughly a 3-4 months. However, you will not be as refined or polished unless there is focus on conversation and expression.
On the Fluent in 3 Months theme... it's incredibly misleading when it's a competent German speaker learning Dutch.
Did Benny mention during the Dutch mission that from day one he could already understand more than half of the words because of their similarity with German? The reality is that every day he should have been saying 'I can't believe how easy it is... easy for me that is... it won't be so easy for you if you don't already speak German.'
it should be more like "Fluent in 3 years". Videos like Fluent in 3 months, in my opinion, are misleading for beginners who are looking to learn a 2nd language. Learning a language to fluency takes a lot of time and hard work, have no doubts. What's most important as Steve often says is to enjoy learning it. I think if you got to level C1 in 3 years, you'd have to work hard. I hope that these critical videos don't give lingq a bad image, because it's a useful site.
Stive, I've always wanted to ask you. You know so many languages but how do you maintain the knowledge of them? I mean I spend 2 hours a day to learn and maintain English but you know 11, so you have to spend more than 11 hours a day..
This is absolutely appalling. Make your point without degrading others. This video is nothing but trolling. You sound like a 14 year old girl jealous, because someone else set a high goal and plans on achieving as much as possible regardless if he meets those goals. How about you focus on your site and language learning rather than bashing others. Listening to you rant all the time is the main reason I threw out your book and stopped paying for your lousy site. Grow up old man.
Hello Steve. I have a question. Let's say i speak my native langauge and the other language at the level of fluent[i also speak basics of others, but it's not my point] I wonder if it's just me - when i'm at home, i talk to my mom, sister, whoever, with my native language. I cought myself thinking in that 2nd language. Is it normal? I asked my sister about it and she says she also sometimes do that. How about you? In what language do you think? (since you know this much)
I liked the facepalm implied in the sad descending tone when you say "has announced that he is going to become fluent in chinese in 3 months...". Most of the things Benny Lewis says sound like a bad advertisement. If language learning was as easy and unchallenging as he tries to make it sound, it wouldn't be interesting even, would it :).
Steven, do you think it's waste of time trying to learn some accent? Cuz I would love to have british accent and i'm trying to learn it, i'm Brazilian and have some english friends so i'm trying to learn from them, i love english accent, i'm not trying to learn it cuz I don't like my accent, just cuz i think it would be nice to sound like them, even if they love my accent and find it funny and things.I think you once said that we don't need to sound like a native, but I like it you know...
@PabloFrozen If you are motivated to learn the British accent, go for it. Sounds like fun. Find some recordings of people whose voice and intonation you like, and on subjects of interest, and just listen over and over. You may not get all the way there, but you can get close.
@PabloFrozen Linguistics and Phonetics are closely related, but to do what you are wanting, you should look into voice acting. Many English accents are based on vowel sounds, so that is the first place to start. Look into phoentic dictionaries.... and *eyes narrow and glances at Steve* Learn the basics.... ROFL!
@hillerm I spoke English before I could read, so that's not really quite accurate. He can learn to speak and understand Mandarin without learning characters. But, he will not be able to read without characters. I believe he aims at learning somewhere between 500 and 1500 characters over the 3 months.
My goal is to be fluent in Mandarin, to take the New HSK Level 6 and pass it, by January 1, 2020. Even THAT goal may be unrealistic but I am going to pursue it.
@NarcissusXXIII I don't know what you mean by feud. After an initial discussion with Benny a few years ago where we exchanged views on language learning he become increasingly aggressive in defense of his approach (talking from day one) and quite dismissive of people who put a lot of emphasis on input before engaging in too much talking, calling reading anti-social etc.. He always implies that people who don't agree with him don't understand him, or misrepresent him. to follow..
@NarcissusXXIII At our Forum at LingQ he dismisses people who disagree with him as "pathetic" , or whatever insulting term comes to his mind. This is somewhat annoying, but what is more important than his unfortunate debating style, is the fact that he makes claims that are not true or realistic to support his "language hacking" methods. He does this publicly so I will also point out publicly where I think what he is saying is misleading or not helpful to language learners.
I contacted Steve first to chat/join forces to help people learning languages. He interviewed me on his site. It was pleasant even though we disagreed. Then he started blogging about me too often (16 posts over a few weeks) and getting more aggressive, and now he only mentions me negatively & inaccurately. I have theories about where his obsession with me comes from. At this stage I find him terribly annoying
@silent0watcher Not trying to imply anything creepy, but I'm not interested in starting new arguments. It's enough trying to deal with attacks against myself from this very tiny but extremely voicy corner of the Internet that follow Steve.
Some of us would rather focus on encouraging language learning, than discouraging particular language learners. I notice Steve never says anything about my successful missions, or things like my Quechua video. I wish he'd change the record.
@NarcissusXXIII Benny makes absurd / false claims about what's possible, and what hes done. This does nothing to encourage people who may be considering trying a language for the first time. Steve paints him in a better light that I would. Basically he is just a bullshitter IMO. Steve would be the most solid, no nonsense commentater on language learning I have seen around youtube. Good realistic, honest advice, based on science and his own experience.
I agree with you on this one. Another problem is that he says he uses the Common European Framework of Reference and then that he has his own definition of what fluency means so, what sense can he make when saying that he will reach a C1 level? C1 implies a high level of literacy, vocabulary and writting skills and it's impossible to atteint in such short period of time.
@5Language I find his convenient swiss cheese memory about all the retorts I've given to his attacks, and his overall obsession with me to be quite confrontational, regardless of the wording.
Rather than name calling, he'll imply that I'm a lier, which immediately invalidates anything I could possibly say. This is not to be respected.
Those of us who incorporate body language, tones and style into language learning and communication look beyond words to decide how someone is acting.
@camilomarmolejo inflected languages are those that change, add, or remove sounds to a word to add or change its meaning. for example, in Arabic, adjectives are inflected to match the grammatical number, gender, and definiteness of the noun they describe. take this "a big man and a big car", the word "big" didn't change in English, meaning that English adjectives are not inflected. But in Arabic the word "big" would change depending on the noun after it (in terms of definiteness, gender, etc).
@AysarAburrub in Arabic big is "kabeer".... "a big car" is "sayaratun kabeeratun" ... but "a big man" is "rajulun kabeerun" ... notice the extra T in the case of "car".
Great video. I'm Camilo, from Colombia, I just finished my university, I got a diploma in Foreign languages bachelor :-) I loved to hear what you say in the video.
the only language aside from my L1 (Arabic) that I can confidently say im at C2 level in is English, which I spent about 15 years with even though i've never been to an English speaking country. Now i've been learning Hebrew (a sister language of my native tongue) for about a year and a half, and I can hardly call myself intermediate, it ain't that easy period. So to say that one can achieve C1 level in a language in just 3 months, no matter how close it is to your L1, is absurd to say the least
@jjay75 I disagree. I think that many people find the issue of language learning, how long it takes, what is required for success, how much success one can expect etc. to be very interesting subjects. Benny makes himself a public figure quite deliberately and therefore people, including me, are quite justified, in my view, in commenting on his claims.
@lingosteve It's true, but I can't quite understand the rather petty attacks you each make upon each other in your dialogue here in the comments. At the end of the day you are just both language enthusiasts with ever so slightly differing methods.
@lingosteve I agree with you completely. Especially in Benny's case when he creates his videos to essentially push his product. A huge reason why he appears to do so well is because of the lack of familiarity his viewers have with the languages he undertakes and they can't completely evaluate his ability.
Not to say that what he does is bad, but I certainly wouldn't agree with what he claims is attainable in three months to try and suck in new purchases.
@irishpolyglot@lingosteve I don't believe I am going to get involved in this argument but instead of arguing over the different approaches you both have to learn languages you's should be encouraging each other.
The exception to how fast one can learn a language has to be the guy who learned Icelandic in a week and proved it by appearing on a talk show. Most people with such incredible abilities have other severe disabilities (e.g. Rain Man) but not him. I wonder what level he achieved in that week.
@maralulz I looked him up once you provided his name, and he is a "high-functioning autistic with savant syndrome," meaning he has a super-memory with synesthesia, a mixing of the senses that lets him see numbers as different shapes and colors, for example. He can memorize long strings of digits and letters but is terrible with faces, something I have a touch of myself. I've also experienced synesthesia during psychedelic drug experiences years ago, and it's fascinating!
@hznfrst The well-known language savant, Daniel Tammet, learned Icelandic, one of the hardest in the world, well enough to appear on TV and converse freely in unscripted conversation about himself and his abilities with the hosts. Apart from minor pronounciation issues, he talked easily even with in-context jokes!
On the CEFR scale that's a B1 or more in a week. Also, that's likely a comprehensive B1 (not just speech) because there's almost no other way he could have achieved enough exposure.
@utubesqueeze A little different. His French, which he had been learning for more than a week, was still pretty sketchy. Couldn't comment on Icelandic though, but I have seen the program.
@lingosteve@LearningFrenchNow Of course you would NOT Steve. You backed out of the last time I invited you to talk to me a few months back with very petty reasons.
Speaking with you will prove nothing. I've already said in the video I'll interview a native - why on earth would I want to interview an English speaker to prove my level of Mandarin? It's ludicrous, even ignoring the fact that said English speaker has an agenda.
@LearningFrenchNow I should add that I have no doubt that he will be able to converse i a limited way after 3 months. It is just the C1 goal that I find ridiculous.
I've been struggling with my Japanese still. My reading and listening comprehension are quite good. I can understand about 85% of spoken/written Japanese (that I come across daily), yet every time I go to speak (I live in the country) I struggle to come up with what to say and end up just saying a few random words. Occasionally I can spew off some sentences but more often than not I still struggle. I listen constantly. Do I just need to practice more and more? I see progress in all but speaking.
@shearoberts To speak well, you need to speak a lot. If you have good comprehension you can expose yourself to more speaking situations. And stop telling yourself that you struggle. You are what you are, and the more you use the language the better you will get. Don't worry about what others think.
I agree that fluency in 3-4 months is possible for related European languages (as long as you already know a related language), learning an unrelated language such as Mandarin, Arabic, Japanese, Korean, or a distant Indo-Euro language like Farsi is impossible in that time, no matter how dedicated one is. However, I think it is great that Benny works on his accent. Accent reduction makes listening to a foreigner more pleasant, and even if you never achieve perfection, one can always improve!
@AnAmericanlinguist I think it is great that Benny works on his languages period. I just think that he should not make outlandish claims, or imply that he can do things that he cannot do, and regularly fails do achieve. I think that improving one's pronunciation is first and foremost a matter of improving one's ability to notice how things are said, and being willing to let go and give it a try even at the risk of sounding foolish.
@PabloFrozenC1 Can understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts, and recognise implicit meaning. Can express him/herself fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. Can use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. Can produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, showing controlled use of organisational patterns, connectors and cohesive devices.
@PabloFrozen C2 Can understand with ease virtually everything heard or read. Can summarise information from different spoken and written sources, reconstructing arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation. Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations.
@irishpolyglot Also, it is highly noticeable the discrepancy between Steve's comprehensive view of C1 (i.e. all areas of language: listening, reading, writing, speaking) compared to what seems to be your strongly focussed C1 on just speaking.
It is between these views you can make unsubstantiable claims.
For example, you specifically state that you will not be trying to achieve a level of even the most basic reading for newspapers. Yet basic newspaper reading is at least B1 and at most B2!
@irishpolyglot As for your Spanish C2 oral, good for you. Steve's main point that it is highly unlikely you will ever sound native to Spanish natives and, more importantly, there is no point having these ridiculous goals anyway.
Your overall message, which is much more about your journey/process of language learning, is (highly?) positive for learning language without all the "destination" hyperbole. Surely you can understand that?
I'd be very interested to see you interview Benny in Mandarin at the conclusion of his three month adventure. However, I doubt he'd accept such an interview because it would expose what really is attainable in three months and deter sales of his "language hacking guide" as a result.
Steve, while I could criticise your ridiculous obsession with me, I'll save the laundry list of falsities in your video and focus on one:
"I've heard Benny and his Spanish is not C2" --> Well the Instituto Cervantes disagrees with you. I got 96% in my oral exam and hold the official certificate. You are waffling on about what you understand about those examinations. I've actually sat them, so I know what I'm talking about, and I do have that level in Spanish.
@irishpolyglot Even if you could do what you claim, it would be beyond extraordinary. We're talking *savant* level of capacity to learn the highest mental activity for a typical human from scratch (unless you already have had large exposure to Chinese which you choose to hide).
@irishpolyglot Benny, you are constantly seeking publicity. I am giving you publicity. What is your problem?
OK I stand corrected on Spanish. You have the C2 diploma. Is that for all skills or just for oral skills? What about your funny sounding French. Is that C2 as well? And which other languages have you obtained C2 in?
@lingosteve "What about your funny sounding French"
Steve, I recall you writing a comment on Youtube once of "soy de acuerdo" in Spanish, which is an abysmal rookie mistake. You are in no place to judge my language level, because frankly I'm not super impressed with what I've seen from you in the languages you speak that I know, although it's definitely "good" in each language. I want feedback from natives, not random Canadians who "give me publicity", that I'm not asking for.
@irishpolyglot My question was do you have C2 in all skills for Spanish, and in which other languages? Unlike you, I make no specific claims for my Spanish (C2 or C1, sound like a native) or whatever. I speak all my languages with mistakes and have always said so. I have given you feedback from natives on the subject of your funny sounding Portuguese and I am certainly familiar enough with French to judge your French .
@lingosteve For the umpteenth time I was awarded a C2 from the Instituto Cervantes! They only do this if you achieve *at least* 80% in EACH of their 5 examinations. I also worked as a professional translator from Spanish for several years. My Spanish is C2; get over it.
Yes, I remember the Brazilians you coached on a video I NEVER claimed to not have an accent in. Do I really really need to explain the nature of what I achieved with my Portuguese to you for the millionth time?
@irishpolyglot OK I stand corrected re Spanish. And the other languages you mentioned on your video where you have C2. Which are these? You claimed to sound like a Brazilian. I asked Brazilians to listen to you on your site. I can only imaging that you would post an example of this great achievement. They said you sound funny.
Part of your problem is that one's credibility is easily destroyed by just a few false claims, even if much of what one says is true.
@lingosteve "Part of your problem is that one's credibility is easily destroyed by just a few false claims, even if much of what one says is true."
Steve, my credibility is "destroyed" by you & only in your forum and Youtube channel thanks to your selective memory, and misleading rephrasing about what I tell you, not any false claim I've ever made. This occasion of you standing corrected is just one of many, & yet I doubt you'll edit the video, & you'll forget the relevant fact soon.
@irishpolyglot Le Français de Steve frôle la perfection. Il a une grammaire, une prononciation et une fluidité irréprochables. Même chose pour son Japonais, son Allemand et son Espagnol. (les autres langues, je ne les connais pas) Sans oublier son Russe qui s'améliore de manière étonnante. Inutile d'utiliser l'attaque comme moyen de défense, surtout quand les attaques sont infondées.
@Neuroneos Salut ! J'espère que tu vas bien ! Rien avoir avec le sujet mais en français on écrit pas de majuscule pour les langues (français, allemand, japonais) =) Je voulais juste te le faire remarquer (on m'a traumatisé avec ça à l'école hahaha) Bonne soirée !
@lingosteve I've already answered the "Is that for all skills or just for oral skills" question from you regarding my Spanish C2. I specified it very specifically in a blog post that you claimed to read (but as I maintain, you never really pay attention on my site).
Repeating myself in arguments with you is tedious & it's why I usually opt to simply ignore these bursts of negative focus on my projects from you.
Why bother answering your questions when you'll just ask me again?
@yuppysoul Ha! Yeah right. Should I link to the many other discussions where I answered all these questions before already here again? Repeating myself is so wasteful! Steve and the LingQers rattle my cage once or twice a year and I quickly remember how pointless engaging is and let the misleading representations of me go on unanswered.
If people commented online about you and asked the same tedious questions a hundred times you'd quickly realise that a rant is definitely required.
Then what on earth are you doing here at all? You made about 5 posts already.
I'm not getting your point. If someone asks me the same question over and over. I copy and paste my question from before and say 'I told you before dumbass'.
If you have an answer to a question it makes sense answer or it looks like you are just asserting things with no basis.
If I think they aren't worth bothering with I ignore them. Which you clearly didn't do.
@yuppysoul I ignore rants and lies from LingQ many many times. Just go over to their forum and you'll see I'm the most discussed topic there is! That's pretty damn sad you have to admit...
Once or twice a year they manage to convince me to come over. I waste an evening arguing in circles, & learn my lesson. I keep forgetting how pointless this is, the same way Steve keeps forgetting key aspects of my retorts.
We're both forgetful humans it would seem, albeit in very different ways
You just wrote three paragraphs and said nothing related to what I did.
Again you just made an assertion about "Lingq", I'm not really sure if that's Steve, some Lingq employee or forum member.
Unless you think me or someone else reading this is going to go through all steves youtube videos, forum or whatever. A reference to what you are talking about would be good.
@yuppysoul "Who exactly convinced you to come here?" I noticed that my Mandarin mission video, which I think was well edited & clearly explained, has several thumbs down on Youtube, which is strange.
So I guessed that my "good friends" at LingQ may be behind it and can see from the forum and link in this video that the source of negativity is always easy to find..
I don't think that "someone reading this" has gone through all my previous replies;the issue is repeating myself to STEVE
Are you serious? You guessed that because you got some thumbs down? Do you know how that sounds?
Your fanboys normally thumb you up, steves fanboys thumb you down, why is that strange to you?
You have been on youtube for more than 5 minutes. Steve is no more responsible for his fanboys thumbing you down as your are for yours thumbing his down.
Why wouldn't Steve link to your video? it's what he was addressing.
If you go online and claim your Spanish is excellent, native speakers and others are always going to have an opinion on it. If you can't handle their criticism, don't set yourself up for it in the first place.
Try being more humble. Try not boasting all the time about what you can do.
Good video, I think that you've highlighted some of the weaknesses in Benny's projects. You are right he does have a good message but it sometimes gets lost by implying things are more easily attainable than they are.
I completely agree with you. Spanish C2 is rather difficult. It took me 7 years get to that level of Spanish. Now they confuse me with native 80 per cent of the time.
How difficult do you find learning German for Czechs? And German in general?
@Luciek69 I am not Czech but am learning Czech. I find Czech difficult and the Russian that I learned is very helpful. German is less difficult for English speakers because of shared vocabulary. Czechs would have an advantage in that their language also has cases. In addition living in the Czech Republic you would have a lot of exposure to German just next door.
Don't promote him...leave him. He just a seller. He prefers to claim unrealistic target in order to attract people in his website. No passion just money!
I agree with EthanWyatt360, everytime I watch one of your videos, I snap myself out of whatever lazy mood I'm in and realize that language learning requires actual work - not halfassed efforts! Thanks for being such an inspiration! Keep the vids comming!!
I really can't imagine that C1 is just "social fluency", to study at university in Belgium (as a non-native speaker) you need B2, which is already more than "social fluency" - because you need to be able to follow the lectures.
Steve, your awesome. Whenever I find myself slacking off a bit you seem to always have a new video up that reminds me I'm not gonna get much done with halfhearted efforts. I then proceed to open a LingQ tab and get to work lol. Refreshing my German using LingQ as well as improving my vocabulary is great, but It seems to be a little harder when using it for Japanese. It sometimes has lacking explanations for sentence particles, other then that its awesome for listening and reading.
Well Steve is right... I trust him much more than that Irish guy, well yes he has more optimism, but I need more reality :) I will stay with Steve's method as with his LingQ system!
Good video Steve! Too many people I know misuse the term "fluent" or say they're fluent after studying the language for a brief time. Fluency takes years of language training through dedicated study and practical use. I am sure people like Benny are quite "fluent" in daily conversations about the weather, about foods, nationalities, etc. but I doubt they can discuss Chinese history or Chinese politics.
@slidplayaone Discussing history or politics is not part of fluency in my opinion. I rarely choose to talk about those topics in my native tongue, why would I do it in a foreign language? My uncles did not finish primary school, they can barely write and they won't talk about politics or history with you, but they are still considered fluent in their native language. Just my two euro cents.
@PolyglotNZ You may choose to talk about what you want, however Benny claims fluency means that the can do in another language, everything that he can do in English. In my view, fluency means the ability to discuss a wide variety of subjects. If you are not interested in politics, you nevertheless need to be able to talk about current events, music, literature, sports, in other words converse, not just ask for the bathroom and order food.
Fluency is a long-term goal and even if you do feel fluent in any language you still have more and more to learn especially in terms of Words. An Intermediate Level in any language Minus say Slavic Languages or maybe even Korean/Japanese as well as Arabic but only one can only get there by putting a good amount of hours into it even I,m not ultra hardcore on studying now however, I,m going a bit crazy on Japanese right now lol.
I admire Benny but, as much as i do admire him for his accomplishments and how much he and all the other polyglots motivate me even I say this type of statement is crazy from his part. I have been studying Japanese for 1 year and only now I,m I able to connect things and understand the particles, the grammar, etc... And I know for a fact to become fairly good in this language I will need 2-3 more years of study to get there 3 months you can get somewhere but not fluent far from it.
I agree, but I think it's a fun thought anyhow. He's not motivating because he's correct, but he's motivating because he tries and it just makes me think what could I do if I tried harder. By "trying harder" I mean spending more time with the language.
I would be impressed if someone could read high school level Chinese after 3 years. Another thing you didn't mention about Chinese is that there are a lot of historical figures and old stories that come up in daily speech. You can't learn them in 3 months. And as you mentioned, knowing the characters doesn't necessarily mean that you'll know the meaning of a new word. Instead of setting a goal to be "fluent," I think it's better to set a goal like "read Harry Potter" or "understand a TV show."
poleag 6 days ago
Whatever your thoughts, Steve is spreading love for something great. language!!! Good on you Steve!!
TheStrataminor 1 week ago
I don't think Benny's approach and claims are accurately told in this video (check out is blog). He doesn't claim that it only take 3 months to be fluent and C1 level of Mandarin in 3 months is a GOAL. I think when we are listening to Steve or Benny or anyone else in the language community we should take what we can use and leave what we don't. (SN: I'm not for or against either of these guys just tried of see language people bicker.)
MsStayPeaceful 2 weeks ago 2
While I don't agree with you (nor with Benny) on several points, I particularly disagree that reading is important to learning vocabulary. True, Benny will need to get a lot of reading input to learn to understand newspaper headlines, but there is no reason that a lot of listening/conversation wouldn't be enough to learn to converse fluently (whether or not it takes more than 3 months). Do you think it is impossible to achieve fluency in languages that aren't written? Maybe I'm misunderstanding.
Nachtfechter 2 weeks ago
@Nachtfechter Children who read a lot have much larger vocabularies than children who do not read a lot, and the latter never catch up, seriously handicapping them in today's information society. These are statistically verifiable facts, although it does not mean everyone. Reading is an excellent way to learn words, and to achieve a large vocabulary. In languages without writing you do not learn words from reading, yes. What is your point, that reading does not help us learn words?
lingosteve 2 weeks ago
@lingosteve I agree that reading is a great method for learning vocabulary, but it sounded to me when you said that it was important that you thought it was necessary. And while it may be true that those who read have larger vocabularies, the additional vocabulary is largely literary or formal, and does not improve their ability to effectively communicate orally (neither for native speakers nor for learners), so therefore if one's goal were only oral fluency, then listening would be sufficient.
Nachtfechter 2 weeks ago
@Nachtfechter 1)The ability to read the literature and read about the history and culture associated with the languages that I learn is a major source of enjoyment. The broader your vocabulary the better you can express yourself. 2) In our own languages, there is no more direct indicator of economic success than the degree of literacy. The people who read the best are the most economically successful and prisons are full of people who do not read well.
lingosteve 2 weeks ago
@lingosteve Well, I pretty much agree completely here (though I'm not sure to what extent your prison fact is true). I was merely saying that, while I agree that reading is a great method for learning and should most definitely be utilized if possible, it is not necessary for learning, which is what I gathered you were saying from your video. Anyway, I believe we understand each other now. Thank you for your replies.
Nachtfechter 2 weeks ago
I don't think Benny throws away the book as such.
What he prioritises is speaking and interacting face to face i.e. more time doing that than book learning.I think book learning is plays a decent part but is secondary after he's learned basic phrases and vocab!
Wait to see how he does at the 3 month level!He might surprise you.
borderlord 2 weeks ago
@borderlord He has not surprised me after 6 weeks of mostly conventional learning of Chinese, and I doubt he will surprise me after 3 months. I said at the beginning of his Chinese mission that in 3 months of full time study it is quite feasible to reach a B1 level in Chinese but not C1. I have not seen any evidence that "interacting face to face after learning a basic phrases and vocab" has enabled him to become fluent in any language.
lingosteve 2 weeks ago
Reading newspapers in Chinese can be difficult if you do not specifically study the vocab of formal written Chinese aka 书面语. Even the most simple words like, 这，是，还, etc. have completely different forms of expression in formal written Chinese: 该/此，为，尚 respectively. If you are not aware of this, comprehension of the sentence will break down quickly. Unless Benny is including this vocab in his study, I think that after 3 months he will find it difficult to read newspaper headlines.
RadiantMirage 3 weeks ago
Steve, in your opinion is it possible for a native English speaker to reach a C2 level in another language? Or is c2 reserved for native speakers? Thanks. I'm starting to study Swedish and hoping for at least a b1 by the end of the year.
ehngage1707 4 weeks ago
@ehngage1707 Many native English speakers have achieved it. I think I am around a C2 level in French.
lingosteve 4 weeks ago
"You don't need to sound like a native speaker" - That, to me, is one of the most important messages to get across to people. It would take so much pressure off the entire language learning process if people realized they don't have to speak like natives to be successful. As for the specific question at issue here, I could not imagine achieving C1 level in any language within three months. But maybe that's just me. Overall, I agree with what Steve said in this video.
sprachbegeistert 1 month ago
Привет Линго-Стив!
Вы знаете goldlist метод из Виктор Хулиганов? Что вы думаете о етот метод? (Вы можете отвечать по-англиский!)))))
blenderuser 1 month ago
中国語は日本語より難しいかな。 Ｃ１レベルについて 中国の新聞を読めるようにその男の人は中国の文字が４千以上知ると聞いたと思う。 ベニーさん頑張って！
カウフマンさんは中国語と日本語を勉強した経験かあるとおもった。 日本語を勉強した経験がある人は９０日間中国語でなんレベルできるの？
cathrynm 1 month ago
@cathrynm Ｃ１レベルには３，０００から４，０００漢字は必要だろう。中国語か日本語か、どちらが難しいかについて何とも言えません．私は中国語を勉強したとみに，毎日８−１０時間勉強してB１ぐらい達することができました。ベニーさんもそれをできると思います。けれども、それは毎日沢山読んだり、聞いたり、漢字を勉強したり、文章を書いたり、会話もしたりして，まじめに勉強した場合です。
lingosteve 1 month ago
@lingosteve Yeah!
DavidWoodMusic 4 weeks ago
Benny's the Steorn of language learning.
ZwolfZki 1 month ago
when I heard this whole Fluent in 3 months claim I had to laugh... I've been learning Spanish for a year including 5 months in South America, I'm really good at languages and extremely motivated and yet I am not even fluent in a simple language like Spanish. I have fairly good conversational skills but I still make mistakes sometimes and do not understand some idioms sometimes (of which there are 1000s)... and this guy claims fluency in one of the hardest languages in 3 months? Ridiculous!
sbkpilot11 1 month ago
hahahah I love how he just says it's nonsense at 2:27
watupboy101 1 month ago in playlist Uploaded videos
It will be interesting to see how Benny will be perceived by the Chinese people, bragging as much as he does. In China it is a virtue to show humility. Part of knowing a language is also understanding the culture and fit in.
skatingpot 2 months ago
Thanks for your reply to my question of: what is an inflected language. Very kind of you. Keep posting great videos
camilomarmolejo 2 months ago
Thanks for giving a very factual opinion of this. I agree. The claims he makes may indeed be misleading to some people. It will be interesting to see what he speaks like at the end.
skatingpot 2 months ago
Great video Steve. The comments are almost as entertaining as the video, though!
tias90 2 months ago
I am a Chinese, personally I really think there are not much you can learn in 3 month, maybe you can learn some useful words for using in travel but no way you can have real communication, I am from more west, and now working in Xiamen city, the city which close to Taiwan the most, the ways of speakings are so different between these 2 places, even we both speak mandarin, it took me half a year to communicate with local people very greatly, 3 months to speak fluent Chinese, I don't believe that.
reedwind86 2 months ago
A great example of C2 is Jodie Foster, she speaks perfectly French and uses sophisticated vocabulary plus her accent is perfect !
metiube 2 months ago
I think it's all about the fame of "knowing a foreign language perfeclty"...
SaBracaSam 2 months ago
I am in no way going to fool myself by thinking I will ever be a fluent speaker in less of a year, especially when I have to spend decent amount of time studying EACH languages in order to give them decent amount of attention to keep growing as a polyglot. The more languages you know, it appears the more you slow down in trying to get from intermediate level to fluent. 3 months in any language with hard dedication gets you to low intermediate, never C1 or C2 anything. Sorry, it ain't happening.
TheSeductiveArts 2 months ago
Currently, I am studying French, Italian and Japanese at once, but I am not new to French or Italian. I had studied them in high school and college, although the Japanese is completely new to me. In essence I am RE-learning French and Italian, because I had a decent past with this languages. But even then I know it will take me a year to RE-LEARN French and Italian, but I know realistically I will be intermediate level. Japanese? I know I will need 2 years to be intermediate.
TheSeductiveArts 2 months ago
@TheSeductiveArts Je te souhaite bonne chance dans on apprentissage du Français, ce n'est pas une langue facile et beaucoup de "natifs" ne le parle pas correctement mais la lecture est une très bonne solution (des textes simples et courts). J'apprends aussi l'Italien car j'ai la chance d'habiter dans une ville qui se situe à la frontière de ce pays. D'ailleurs, l'Italien et le Français sont très similaires !
metiube 2 months ago
I respect Steve a bit more, because he at least focus on ONE language for a few years before moving on to another one, instead of seeing if he can learn 20 languages within 5 years like Benny and others. And as months go on when these people do speak to native speakers, these HYPER-POLYGLOTS seems to struggle speaking with native speakers due to forgetting their passed learn language due to cram studying lots of new ones.
TheSeductiveArts 2 months ago
then how do you have the time to keep up the practice in those languages, plus keep on adding several new languages to keep on learning. Time taken to learn a new language is time taken AWAY from reviewing the old one. And if you look at guys like Benny, they speak the language so slowly. Yeah, "fluently" but slowly like they still have to think about what they want to say before saying it. For instance, look at his video of him talking to the French Canadian girl, he was slow responding.
TheSeductiveArts 2 months ago
I admire Benny Lewis, but at the same time I look down on anyone who seems to try to learn 3 to 5 different languages every year. I may be exaggerating but there are many so called polyglots on Youtube doing this. In my opinion, if you do this, you are only speaking moderately intermediate level of a language. Enough to get by in that language's country without needed to carry some sort of language book for tourists. Besides, if you are learning all these languages in a short period of time...
TheSeductiveArts 2 months ago
I have an Intermediate Mandarin level, but I passively studied that in college. If anything, BL can achieve this level in 3 months with studying, reading, writing, and just speaking in Chinese. To speak Chinese on a fluent level in 3 months, he would probably have to already have an Intermediate level in the language and then go over there. Getting to an intermediate level in a language seriously is the sweet spot for studying abroad. Chinese has a lot of depth; he'd need 1 year minimum.
needmanshini 2 months ago
In 3 months you can obtain an intermediate level in a language, but fluency in my opinion is absurd. It took me roughly 7 with Korean. The pronounciation and depth of the language along with the fact I actually teach the English language has held me back a little, but I have to make money to support my hobby. It is possible to do a lesson a day and perhaps do it in roughly a 3-4 months. However, you will not be as refined or polished unless there is focus on conversation and expression.
needmanshini 2 months ago
On the Fluent in 3 Months theme... it's incredibly misleading when it's a competent German speaker learning Dutch.
Did Benny mention during the Dutch mission that from day one he could already understand more than half of the words because of their similarity with German? The reality is that every day he should have been saying 'I can't believe how easy it is... easy for me that is... it won't be so easy for you if you don't already speak German.'
espukr 2 months ago
it should be more like "Fluent in 3 years". Videos like Fluent in 3 months, in my opinion, are misleading for beginners who are looking to learn a 2nd language. Learning a language to fluency takes a lot of time and hard work, have no doubts. What's most important as Steve often says is to enjoy learning it. I think if you got to level C1 in 3 years, you'd have to work hard. I hope that these critical videos don't give lingq a bad image, because it's a useful site.
12x 2 months ago
Stive, I've always wanted to ask you. You know so many languages but how do you maintain the knowledge of them? I mean I spend 2 hours a day to learn and maintain English but you know 11, so you have to spend more than 11 hours a day..
denmarsh 2 months ago
This is absolutely appalling. Make your point without degrading others. This video is nothing but trolling. You sound like a 14 year old girl jealous, because someone else set a high goal and plans on achieving as much as possible regardless if he meets those goals. How about you focus on your site and language learning rather than bashing others. Listening to you rant all the time is the main reason I threw out your book and stopped paying for your lousy site. Grow up old man.
drknmunky 2 months ago
Hello Steve. I have a question. Let's say i speak my native langauge and the other language at the level of fluent[i also speak basics of others, but it's not my point] I wonder if it's just me - when i'm at home, i talk to my mom, sister, whoever, with my native language. I cought myself thinking in that 2nd language. Is it normal? I asked my sister about it and she says she also sometimes do that. How about you? In what language do you think? (since you know this much)
Chikaku0Pikachu 2 months ago in playlist Uploaded videos
Rather than all the vitriol wouldn't it be better to just wait out the three months and judge then?
espukr 2 months ago 3
I liked the facepalm implied in the sad descending tone when you say "has announced that he is going to become fluent in chinese in 3 months...". Most of the things Benny Lewis says sound like a bad advertisement. If language learning was as easy and unchallenging as he tries to make it sound, it wouldn't be interesting even, would it :).
heloizyjhenifer 2 months ago
B1 en tres meses? no lo creo lingosteve.. eso solo pasa con idiomas muy relacionados al nuestro
tmp011007 2 months ago
Steven, do you think it's waste of time trying to learn some accent? Cuz I would love to have british accent and i'm trying to learn it, i'm Brazilian and have some english friends so i'm trying to learn from them, i love english accent, i'm not trying to learn it cuz I don't like my accent, just cuz i think it would be nice to sound like them, even if they love my accent and find it funny and things.I think you once said that we don't need to sound like a native, but I like it you know...
PabloFrozen 2 months ago
@PabloFrozen Why don't you do what you like, then ? ;)
Neuroneos 2 months ago
@Neuroneos but I'm doing it! :) no matter what i will do it you know.
PabloFrozen 2 months ago
@PabloFrozen If you are motivated to learn the British accent, go for it. Sounds like fun. Find some recordings of people whose voice and intonation you like, and on subjects of interest, and just listen over and over. You may not get all the way there, but you can get close.
lingosteve 2 months ago
@PabloFrozen Linguistics and Phonetics are closely related, but to do what you are wanting, you should look into voice acting. Many English accents are based on vowel sounds, so that is the first place to start. Look into phoentic dictionaries.... and *eyes narrow and glances at Steve* Learn the basics.... ROFL!
Taricus 1 month ago
@Taricus Thanks Mate, I thnk that's gonna help me a lot! I'm really glad!
PabloFrozen 1 month ago
To be able to read a Chinese newspaper, you need to know ~3000 characters. Good luck learning Chinese when you can't even read.
hillerm 2 months ago
@hillerm I spoke English before I could read, so that's not really quite accurate. He can learn to speak and understand Mandarin without learning characters. But, he will not be able to read without characters. I believe he aims at learning somewhere between 500 and 1500 characters over the 3 months.
Imyirtshashem 2 months ago
My goal is to be fluent in Mandarin, to take the New HSK Level 6 and pass it, by January 1, 2020. Even THAT goal may be unrealistic but I am going to pursue it.
Linguist1967 2 months ago
Can anyone tell me about this longstanding feud between Steve and Benny -- who started it/why it was started?
NarcissusXXIII 2 months ago
@NarcissusXXIII I don't know what you mean by feud. After an initial discussion with Benny a few years ago where we exchanged views on language learning he become increasingly aggressive in defense of his approach (talking from day one) and quite dismissive of people who put a lot of emphasis on input before engaging in too much talking, calling reading anti-social etc.. He always implies that people who don't agree with him don't understand him, or misrepresent him. to follow..
lingosteve 2 months ago 2
@NarcissusXXIII At our Forum at LingQ he dismisses people who disagree with him as "pathetic" , or whatever insulting term comes to his mind. This is somewhat annoying, but what is more important than his unfortunate debating style, is the fact that he makes claims that are not true or realistic to support his "language hacking" methods. He does this publicly so I will also point out publicly where I think what he is saying is misleading or not helpful to language learners.
lingosteve 2 months ago 11
@NarcissusXXIII Hi Narcissus. Here's my side of the story:
I contacted Steve first to chat/join forces to help people learning languages. He interviewed me on his site. It was pleasant even though we disagreed. Then he started blogging about me too often (16 posts over a few weeks) and getting more aggressive, and now he only mentions me negatively & inaccurately. I have theories about where his obsession with me comes from. At this stage I find him terribly annoying
irishpolyglot 2 months ago 4
@irishpolyglot
"I have theories about where his obsession with me comes from."
That sounds quite spooky. What exactly are you trying to say here?
silent0watcher 2 months ago
@silent0watcher Not trying to imply anything creepy, but I'm not interested in starting new arguments. It's enough trying to deal with attacks against myself from this very tiny but extremely voicy corner of the Internet that follow Steve.
Some of us would rather focus on encouraging language learning, than discouraging particular language learners. I notice Steve never says anything about my successful missions, or things like my Quechua video. I wish he'd change the record.
irishpolyglot 2 months ago
@NarcissusXXIII Benny makes absurd / false claims about what's possible, and what hes done. This does nothing to encourage people who may be considering trying a language for the first time. Steve paints him in a better light that I would. Basically he is just a bullshitter IMO. Steve would be the most solid, no nonsense commentater on language learning I have seen around youtube. Good realistic, honest advice, based on science and his own experience.
taskmasterblaster 2 months ago
I agree with you on this one. Another problem is that he says he uses the Common European Framework of Reference and then that he has his own definition of what fluency means so, what sense can he make when saying that he will reach a C1 level? C1 implies a high level of literacy, vocabulary and writting skills and it's impossible to atteint in such short period of time.
Jate0000 2 months ago
Steve thaks ...I begin the adventure with english ...
jorgeeduardojauregui 2 months ago
As a language learner myself, I have to agree with Steve. Let's be realistic.
Neuroneos 2 months ago
I love Steve's ability to disagree while not being confrontational. Whatever his views, it is his views and it should be respected as such.
5Language 2 months ago 26
@5Language I find his convenient swiss cheese memory about all the retorts I've given to his attacks, and his overall obsession with me to be quite confrontational, regardless of the wording.
Rather than name calling, he'll imply that I'm a lier, which immediately invalidates anything I could possibly say. This is not to be respected.
Those of us who incorporate body language, tones and style into language learning and communication look beyond words to decide how someone is acting.
irishpolyglot 2 months ago
I would love someone to help me out with this: What you call or what you mean to " INFLECTED LANGUAGE" and "inflection" PLEASE.!!!!!! :-(
camilomarmolejo 2 months ago
@camilomarmolejo inflected languages are those that change, add, or remove sounds to a word to add or change its meaning. for example, in Arabic, adjectives are inflected to match the grammatical number, gender, and definiteness of the noun they describe. take this "a big man and a big car", the word "big" didn't change in English, meaning that English adjectives are not inflected. But in Arabic the word "big" would change depending on the noun after it (in terms of definiteness, gender, etc).
AysarAburrub 2 months ago
@AysarAburrub in Arabic big is "kabeer".... "a big car" is "sayaratun kabeeratun" ... but "a big man" is "rajulun kabeerun" ... notice the extra T in the case of "car".
AysarAburrub 2 months ago
Great video. I'm Camilo, from Colombia, I just finished my university, I got a diploma in Foreign languages bachelor :-) I loved to hear what you say in the video.
camilomarmolejo 2 months ago
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emocrem0 2 months ago
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emocrem0 2 months ago
the only language aside from my L1 (Arabic) that I can confidently say im at C2 level in is English, which I spent about 15 years with even though i've never been to an English speaking country. Now i've been learning Hebrew (a sister language of my native tongue) for about a year and a half, and I can hardly call myself intermediate, it ain't that easy period. So to say that one can achieve C1 level in a language in just 3 months, no matter how close it is to your L1, is absurd to say the least
AysarAburrub 2 months ago
So much back and forth rage - and for so little reason too
jjay75 2 months ago
@jjay75 I disagree. I think that many people find the issue of language learning, how long it takes, what is required for success, how much success one can expect etc. to be very interesting subjects. Benny makes himself a public figure quite deliberately and therefore people, including me, are quite justified, in my view, in commenting on his claims.
lingosteve 2 months ago in playlist Uploaded videos 24
@lingosteve It's true, but I can't quite understand the rather petty attacks you each make upon each other in your dialogue here in the comments. At the end of the day you are just both language enthusiasts with ever so slightly differing methods.
jjay75 2 months ago
@jjay75 I agree with you, these back and forth arguments don't accomplish anything good.
mick1316591 2 months ago 2
@lingosteve I agree with you completely. Especially in Benny's case when he creates his videos to essentially push his product. A huge reason why he appears to do so well is because of the lack of familiarity his viewers have with the languages he undertakes and they can't completely evaluate his ability.
Not to say that what he does is bad, but I certainly wouldn't agree with what he claims is attainable in three months to try and suck in new purchases.
Reminds me of Bowflex commercials.
EscapeMonotony 2 months ago 2
@irishpolyglot @lingosteve I don't believe I am going to get involved in this argument but instead of arguing over the different approaches you both have to learn languages you's should be encouraging each other.
V1RAL1NF3CTION 2 months ago 2
The exception to how fast one can learn a language has to be the guy who learned Icelandic in a week and proved it by appearing on a talk show. Most people with such incredible abilities have other severe disabilities (e.g. Rain Man) but not him. I wonder what level he achieved in that week.
hznfrst 2 months ago
@hznfrst
No you're wrong he's Daniel Tammet, an autistic genius.
maralulz 2 months ago
@maralulz Okay, thanks for the correction.
hznfrst 2 months ago
@maralulz I looked him up once you provided his name, and he is a "high-functioning autistic with savant syndrome," meaning he has a super-memory with synesthesia, a mixing of the senses that lets him see numbers as different shapes and colors, for example. He can memorize long strings of digits and letters but is terrible with faces, something I have a touch of myself. I've also experienced synesthesia during psychedelic drug experiences years ago, and it's fascinating!
hznfrst 2 months ago
@hznfrst I had the chance to read is book, Born On A Blue Day, pretty inspiring, I have to say :)
maralulz 2 months ago
@hznfrst The well-known language savant, Daniel Tammet, learned Icelandic, one of the hardest in the world, well enough to appear on TV and converse freely in unscripted conversation about himself and his abilities with the hosts. Apart from minor pronounciation issues, he talked easily even with in-context jokes!
On the CEFR scale that's a B1 or more in a week. Also, that's likely a comprehensive B1 (not just speech) because there's almost no other way he could have achieved enough exposure.
utubesqueeze 2 months ago
@utubesqueeze A little different. His French, which he had been learning for more than a week, was still pretty sketchy. Couldn't comment on Icelandic though, but I have seen the program.
jjay75 2 months ago
Steve, would you be willing to record a video Skype discussion all in Mandarin with Benny in April, if he's up for it?
LearningFrenchNow 2 months ago
@LearningFrenchNow Of course I would but it isn't going to happen.
lingosteve 2 months ago
@lingosteve @LearningFrenchNow Of course you would NOT Steve. You backed out of the last time I invited you to talk to me a few months back with very petty reasons.
Speaking with you will prove nothing. I've already said in the video I'll interview a native - why on earth would I want to interview an English speaker to prove my level of Mandarin? It's ludicrous, even ignoring the fact that said English speaker has an agenda.
irishpolyglot 2 months ago
@LearningFrenchNow I should add that I have no doubt that he will be able to converse i a limited way after 3 months. It is just the C1 goal that I find ridiculous.
lingosteve 2 months ago
@lingosteve Thank you Steve for answering my question. Good luck with your website and your learning. Hugs from Brazil :)
PabloFrozen 2 months ago
omg you're incredible
erinl400 2 months ago
I've been struggling with my Japanese still. My reading and listening comprehension are quite good. I can understand about 85% of spoken/written Japanese (that I come across daily), yet every time I go to speak (I live in the country) I struggle to come up with what to say and end up just saying a few random words. Occasionally I can spew off some sentences but more often than not I still struggle. I listen constantly. Do I just need to practice more and more? I see progress in all but speaking.
shearoberts 2 months ago
@shearoberts To speak well, you need to speak a lot. If you have good comprehension you can expose yourself to more speaking situations. And stop telling yourself that you struggle. You are what you are, and the more you use the language the better you will get. Don't worry about what others think.
lingosteve 2 months ago
@lingosteve Thanks Steve, I always come to your vids when I feel I'm not making progress :)
shearoberts 2 months ago
I agree that fluency in 3-4 months is possible for related European languages (as long as you already know a related language), learning an unrelated language such as Mandarin, Arabic, Japanese, Korean, or a distant Indo-Euro language like Farsi is impossible in that time, no matter how dedicated one is. However, I think it is great that Benny works on his accent. Accent reduction makes listening to a foreigner more pleasant, and even if you never achieve perfection, one can always improve!
AnAmericanlinguist 2 months ago
@AnAmericanlinguist I think it is great that Benny works on his languages period. I just think that he should not make outlandish claims, or imply that he can do things that he cannot do, and regularly fails do achieve. I think that improving one's pronunciation is first and foremost a matter of improving one's ability to notice how things are said, and being willing to let go and give it a try even at the risk of sounding foolish.
lingosteve 2 months ago
ok, one question, what does C2 mean?
PabloFrozen 2 months ago
@PabloFrozenC1 Can understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts, and recognise implicit meaning. Can express him/herself fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. Can use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. Can produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, showing controlled use of organisational patterns, connectors and cohesive devices.
lingosteve 2 months ago
@PabloFrozen C2 Can understand with ease virtually everything heard or read. Can summarise information from different spoken and written sources, reconstructing arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation. Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations.
lingosteve 2 months ago
@irishpolyglot Also, it is highly noticeable the discrepancy between Steve's comprehensive view of C1 (i.e. all areas of language: listening, reading, writing, speaking) compared to what seems to be your strongly focussed C1 on just speaking.
It is between these views you can make unsubstantiable claims.
For example, you specifically state that you will not be trying to achieve a level of even the most basic reading for newspapers. Yet basic newspaper reading is at least B1 and at most B2!
utubesqueeze 2 months ago
@irishpolyglot As for your Spanish C2 oral, good for you. Steve's main point that it is highly unlikely you will ever sound native to Spanish natives and, more importantly, there is no point having these ridiculous goals anyway.
Your overall message, which is much more about your journey/process of language learning, is (highly?) positive for learning language without all the "destination" hyperbole. Surely you can understand that?
utubesqueeze 2 months ago
Another useful video. Thanks, Steve!
utubesqueeze 2 months ago
I'd be very interested to see you interview Benny in Mandarin at the conclusion of his three month adventure. However, I doubt he'd accept such an interview because it would expose what really is attainable in three months and deter sales of his "language hacking guide" as a result.
EscapeMonotony 2 months ago
Steve, while I could criticise your ridiculous obsession with me, I'll save the laundry list of falsities in your video and focus on one:
"I've heard Benny and his Spanish is not C2" --> Well the Instituto Cervantes disagrees with you. I got 96% in my oral exam and hold the official certificate. You are waffling on about what you understand about those examinations. I've actually sat them, so I know what I'm talking about, and I do have that level in Spanish.
irishpolyglot 2 months ago
@irishpolyglot yo tambien hablo espanol. A ver si tu puedes escribir algo aqui mismo.
otibed358 2 months ago
@irishpolyglot Even if you could do what you claim, it would be beyond extraordinary. We're talking *savant* level of capacity to learn the highest mental activity for a typical human from scratch (unless you already have had large exposure to Chinese which you choose to hide).
utubesqueeze 2 months ago
@irishpolyglot Benny, you are constantly seeking publicity. I am giving you publicity. What is your problem?
OK I stand corrected on Spanish. You have the C2 diploma. Is that for all skills or just for oral skills? What about your funny sounding French. Is that C2 as well? And which other languages have you obtained C2 in?
lingosteve 2 months ago 3
@lingosteve "What about your funny sounding French"
Steve, I recall you writing a comment on Youtube once of "soy de acuerdo" in Spanish, which is an abysmal rookie mistake. You are in no place to judge my language level, because frankly I'm not super impressed with what I've seen from you in the languages you speak that I know, although it's definitely "good" in each language. I want feedback from natives, not random Canadians who "give me publicity", that I'm not asking for.
irishpolyglot 2 months ago
@irishpolyglot My question was do you have C2 in all skills for Spanish, and in which other languages? Unlike you, I make no specific claims for my Spanish (C2 or C1, sound like a native) or whatever. I speak all my languages with mistakes and have always said so. I have given you feedback from natives on the subject of your funny sounding Portuguese and I am certainly familiar enough with French to judge your French .
lingosteve 2 months ago
@lingosteve For the umpteenth time I was awarded a C2 from the Instituto Cervantes! They only do this if you achieve *at least* 80% in EACH of their 5 examinations. I also worked as a professional translator from Spanish for several years. My Spanish is C2; get over it.
Yes, I remember the Brazilians you coached on a video I NEVER claimed to not have an accent in. Do I really really need to explain the nature of what I achieved with my Portuguese to you for the millionth time?
irishpolyglot 2 months ago
@irishpolyglot OK I stand corrected re Spanish. And the other languages you mentioned on your video where you have C2. Which are these? You claimed to sound like a Brazilian. I asked Brazilians to listen to you on your site. I can only imaging that you would post an example of this great achievement. They said you sound funny.
Part of your problem is that one's credibility is easily destroyed by just a few false claims, even if much of what one says is true.
lingosteve 2 months ago
@lingosteve "Part of your problem is that one's credibility is easily destroyed by just a few false claims, even if much of what one says is true."
Steve, my credibility is "destroyed" by you & only in your forum and Youtube channel thanks to your selective memory, and misleading rephrasing about what I tell you, not any false claim I've ever made. This occasion of you standing corrected is just one of many, & yet I doubt you'll edit the video, & you'll forget the relevant fact soon.
irishpolyglot 2 months ago
@irishpolyglot Le Français de Steve frôle la perfection. Il a une grammaire, une prononciation et une fluidité irréprochables. Même chose pour son Japonais, son Allemand et son Espagnol. (les autres langues, je ne les connais pas) Sans oublier son Russe qui s'améliore de manière étonnante. Inutile d'utiliser l'attaque comme moyen de défense, surtout quand les attaques sont infondées.
Neuroneos 2 months ago 3
This has been flagged as spam show
@Neuroneos Salut ! J'espère que tu vas bien ! Rien avoir avec le sujet mais en français on écrit pas de majuscule pour les langues (français, allemand, japonais) =) Je voulais juste te le faire remarquer (on m'a traumatisé avec ça à l'école hahaha) Bonne soirée !
loki2504 2 months ago
@lingosteve I've already answered the "Is that for all skills or just for oral skills" question from you regarding my Spanish C2. I specified it very specifically in a blog post that you claimed to read (but as I maintain, you never really pay attention on my site).
Repeating myself in arguments with you is tedious & it's why I usually opt to simply ignore these bursts of negative focus on my projects from you.
Why bother answering your questions when you'll just ask me again?
irishpolyglot 2 months ago
@irishpolyglot
and how exactly was this rant better than actually answering the question? I haven't read your blog posts and guess many others here haven't.
If you actually answered then everyone would know, then it would be here for everyone to see and you to refer to later If you are asked again.
This "why should I answer?" type stuff is a bit playground.
yuppysoul 2 months ago
@yuppysoul Ha! Yeah right. Should I link to the many other discussions where I answered all these questions before already here again? Repeating myself is so wasteful! Steve and the LingQers rattle my cage once or twice a year and I quickly remember how pointless engaging is and let the misleading representations of me go on unanswered.
If people commented online about you and asked the same tedious questions a hundred times you'd quickly realise that a rant is definitely required.
irishpolyglot 2 months ago
@irishpolyglot
Then what on earth are you doing here at all? You made about 5 posts already.
I'm not getting your point. If someone asks me the same question over and over. I copy and paste my question from before and say 'I told you before dumbass'.
If you have an answer to a question it makes sense answer or it looks like you are just asserting things with no basis.
If I think they aren't worth bothering with I ignore them. Which you clearly didn't do.
yuppysoul 2 months ago
@yuppysoul I ignore rants and lies from LingQ many many times. Just go over to their forum and you'll see I'm the most discussed topic there is! That's pretty damn sad you have to admit...
Once or twice a year they manage to convince me to come over. I waste an evening arguing in circles, & learn my lesson. I keep forgetting how pointless this is, the same way Steve keeps forgetting key aspects of my retorts.
We're both forgetful humans it would seem, albeit in very different ways
irishpolyglot 2 months ago
@irishpolyglot
Well, you really aren't getting my point.
You just wrote three paragraphs and said nothing related to what I did.
Again you just made an assertion about "Lingq", I'm not really sure if that's Steve, some Lingq employee or forum member.
Unless you think me or someone else reading this is going to go through all steves youtube videos, forum or whatever. A reference to what you are talking about would be good.
Who exactly convinced you to come here?
yuppysoul 2 months ago
@yuppysoul "Who exactly convinced you to come here?" I noticed that my Mandarin mission video, which I think was well edited & clearly explained, has several thumbs down on Youtube, which is strange.
So I guessed that my "good friends" at LingQ may be behind it and can see from the forum and link in this video that the source of negativity is always easy to find..
I don't think that "someone reading this" has gone through all my previous replies;the issue is repeating myself to STEVE
irishpolyglot 2 months ago
@irishpolyglot
Are you serious? You guessed that because you got some thumbs down? Do you know how that sounds?
Your fanboys normally thumb you up, steves fanboys thumb you down, why is that strange to you?
You have been on youtube for more than 5 minutes. Steve is no more responsible for his fanboys thumbing you down as your are for yours thumbing his down.
Why wouldn't Steve link to your video? it's what he was addressing.
yuppysoul 2 months ago 3
@irishpolyglot
If you go online and claim your Spanish is excellent, native speakers and others are always going to have an opinion on it. If you can't handle their criticism, don't set yourself up for it in the first place.
Try being more humble. Try not boasting all the time about what you can do.
silent0watcher 2 months ago
erm... i think someone got pwned lol. excellent video!
YangJettYung 2 months ago
Comment removed
TheMartikaa 2 months ago
You could become pretty competent in spoken Mandarin in 3-6 months if you were living in the country, but you would struggle with the characters.
jjay75 2 months ago
Good video, I think that you've highlighted some of the weaknesses in Benny's projects. You are right he does have a good message but it sometimes gets lost by implying things are more easily attainable than they are.
sing2speak 2 months ago
I completely agree with you. Spanish C2 is rather difficult. It took me 7 years get to that level of Spanish. Now they confuse me with native 80 per cent of the time.
How difficult do you find learning German for Czechs? And German in general?
Thanks.
Luciek69 2 months ago
@Luciek69 I am not Czech but am learning Czech. I find Czech difficult and the Russian that I learned is very helpful. German is less difficult for English speakers because of shared vocabulary. Czechs would have an advantage in that their language also has cases. In addition living in the Czech Republic you would have a lot of exposure to German just next door.
lingosteve 2 months ago
Don't promote him...leave him. He just a seller. He prefers to claim unrealistic target in order to attract people in his website. No passion just money!
tibido832 2 months ago
I agree with EthanWyatt360, everytime I watch one of your videos, I snap myself out of whatever lazy mood I'm in and realize that language learning requires actual work - not halfassed efforts! Thanks for being such an inspiration! Keep the vids comming!!
SubjectAlpha100 2 months ago
I really can't imagine that C1 is just "social fluency", to study at university in Belgium (as a non-native speaker) you need B2, which is already more than "social fluency" - because you need to be able to follow the lectures.
vinbelgium 2 months ago
Steve is your wife Chinese? Btw great video!
heiyin70 2 months ago 7
@heiyin70 My wife's father was Chinese and mother Costa Rican. She was born in Macao and we met in Hong Kong.
lingosteve 2 months ago 3
Steve, your awesome. Whenever I find myself slacking off a bit you seem to always have a new video up that reminds me I'm not gonna get much done with halfhearted efforts. I then proceed to open a LingQ tab and get to work lol. Refreshing my German using LingQ as well as improving my vocabulary is great, but It seems to be a little harder when using it for Japanese. It sometimes has lacking explanations for sentence particles, other then that its awesome for listening and reading.
EthanWyatt360 2 months ago
Well Steve is right... I trust him much more than that Irish guy, well yes he has more optimism, but I need more reality :) I will stay with Steve's method as with his LingQ system!
Eimantasks 2 months ago
Good video Steve! Too many people I know misuse the term "fluent" or say they're fluent after studying the language for a brief time. Fluency takes years of language training through dedicated study and practical use. I am sure people like Benny are quite "fluent" in daily conversations about the weather, about foods, nationalities, etc. but I doubt they can discuss Chinese history or Chinese politics.
slidplayaone 2 months ago
@slidplayaone Discussing history or politics is not part of fluency in my opinion. I rarely choose to talk about those topics in my native tongue, why would I do it in a foreign language? My uncles did not finish primary school, they can barely write and they won't talk about politics or history with you, but they are still considered fluent in their native language. Just my two euro cents.
PolyglotNZ 2 months ago
@PolyglotNZ You may choose to talk about what you want, however Benny claims fluency means that the can do in another language, everything that he can do in English. In my view, fluency means the ability to discuss a wide variety of subjects. If you are not interested in politics, you nevertheless need to be able to talk about current events, music, literature, sports, in other words converse, not just ask for the bathroom and order food.
lingosteve 2 months ago
@lingosteve I think my post came out wrong, we are on the same boat on this Steve. Plus I find Benny's claims a bit OTT.
PolyglotNZ 2 months ago
@PolyglotNZ Agreed
lingosteve 2 months ago
Fluency is a long-term goal and even if you do feel fluent in any language you still have more and more to learn especially in terms of Words. An Intermediate Level in any language Minus say Slavic Languages or maybe even Korean/Japanese as well as Arabic but only one can only get there by putting a good amount of hours into it even I,m not ultra hardcore on studying now however, I,m going a bit crazy on Japanese right now lol.
DarkOchestra2008 2 months ago
I admire Benny but, as much as i do admire him for his accomplishments and how much he and all the other polyglots motivate me even I say this type of statement is crazy from his part. I have been studying Japanese for 1 year and only now I,m I able to connect things and understand the particles, the grammar, etc... And I know for a fact to become fairly good in this language I will need 2-3 more years of study to get there 3 months you can get somewhere but not fluent far from it.
DarkOchestra2008 2 months ago
I can't find the video >_>
dabubbsta1 2 months ago
@dabubbsta1 Check my introduction under "show more".
lingosteve 2 months ago
@lingosteve Thank you so much for adding it to the description! I was looking all over Youtube and Google, but I didn't see anything. Thanks!
dabubbsta1 2 months ago
I agree, but I think it's a fun thought anyhow. He's not motivating because he's correct, but he's motivating because he tries and it just makes me think what could I do if I tried harder. By "trying harder" I mean spending more time with the language.
forgottenmemories21 2 months ago
@forgottenmemories21 That's called lying.
KiloSierraAlpha 2 months ago
Steve telling it like it is. Its almost like a cinematic monologue with his wife's piano playing in the background.
DopeSpace9 2 months ago 3
Steve is correct. That whole "book" is just marketing bullshit.
KiloSierraAlpha 2 months ago 14
Sorry Benny, Steve is correct.
otibed358 2 months ago 2