How to begin learning a language

[doveign]

I basically learned French with LingQ, and Skype. :)

[amanogawamakoto]

Bad luck that I chose Chinese!

[gild102]

@6:37 Bless you! :)

[markingflash]

Thanks for posting this vid

[ExperimentLife]

I know 6 languages and I'm 16..... Dude it's not that hard.

[TheNonsubscribable]

I think the lingq method require you make a lot of mistakes when learning, you could us a word one way when its really suppose to be used another way and think that's right when really its not, you need someone who speaks the languages to tell you when you're wrong and when you're right.

you can't learn without learning mistakes and being corrected

[lingosteve]

@TheNonsubscribable In the LingQ method you are mostly listening and reading at the beginning with the help of online dictionaries and other tools to help you learn words. You may misunderstand some things, but eventually your understanding gets better. I find this process much more effective then waiting for someone to explain everything. There is too much to explain. There is no problem being wrong, you will eventually get it right if you keep listening and reading, and eventually speaking.

[drp9341]

yo steve, I have the same computer chair as you

[theEdTechInsider]

Thanks for the great tips!

[ignac27]

Wie lange brauchst du eine Sprache zu erlernen!1 2 oder3 Jahre!????

[SubjectAlpha100]

Does the Assimil system teach in English or in a foreign language? I'm not sure. I watched Prof. Aguelles' video on the Assimil books and I've heard from most people say that they are good. But what are they really like? Are there modern editions of Assimil books or are they no longer in print?

If you have the time, Steve, could you make a video where you flip through an Assimil book just to explain it, if you have one that is?

Thank you so much!

[lingosteve]

@SubjectAlpha100 The Assimil books I have seen are all based on French. I will try to do a video on Assimil in the near future.

[Sarmatique]

Michel Thomas is another good system. It won't teach to speak with confidence, that must be achieved with input, but you will still achieve working knowledge of sentence building and some vocabulary. As to FSI courses I find them useless given I really hate matching the audio with a textbook. Otherwise it's a decent system and it's available for free, I'm just not a kind of person that could benefit from it. Oh, and there are many languages taught only in TY and/or Colloquial series.

[Sarmatique]

I love Assimil however, I believe it is much better than both Colloquial and Teach Yourself. The other thing is, if you actually split audio that comes wit TY and Colloquial into single dialogues, the number of dialogs will somehow approach that of Assimil. Still, I believe Assimil is just a different league, it has also the advantage of audio material not being filled with people talking English and trying to make me identify myself with some UK tourist trying to leave a Balkan airport.

[lingosteve]

@Sarmatique Fully agreed re UK tourist!!, Assimil has the disadvantage that there are, to my taste, too many notes and irrelevant explanations,and they rely on full text translation rather than a glossary. The Russian Assimil was good, the Korean not at all.

[Sarmatique]

@lingosteve Sure, I feel they would be better off without those abundant grammar notes. The Spanish course has a serious disadvantage of replacing many dialogue based lessons with packs of unrelated sentences. I like listening to the audio till I know it by heart and it's much easier when you have a meaningful dialogue. Glossary won't be a bad idea, but it would ruin the so called second phase.

[Sarmatique]

Hi Steve. I had some experiences with Rosetta Stone and I'm pretty sure this is not a system I could learn anything from. I expose myself to input while doing something else just like you do. Sure, I could cut the audio into pieces and put it into my mp3 but, you know, I'm tired of doing the work people who made the software should have done. I

[lingosteve]

@Sarmatique Rosetta Stone forces you to be glued to your computer , has limited content and relies on gimmicks, in my view. And then there is the cost.

[knuddel123]

I want to spend time (6-7 months) in China or Taiwan to learn Mandarin (I'm a beginner). Which school do you recommend? I've researched the ICLP (apparently the best school there is), Taipei Language Institute and Beijing | Hutong School...

What learning approach do you recommend for maximum output (speaking, reading and writing)?

[lingosteve]

@knuddel123 I don't know anything about different schools and approaches, other than my own approach and LingQ.

[MaricaAmbrosius]

Do you ever plan on putting rarer languages (than Japanese and German) on your site?

[lingosteve]

@MaricaAmbrosius It is not too far away, and it will depend on what content our community provides.

[MaricaAmbrosius]

I am trying to learn North Sámi.

[ppk89]

You are a gorgeous boy anyway.

[Hephaestus02]

Hello Sir Steve! I'm Kim Jones from the Philippines and I can speak in English, Filipino and 2 Filipino dialects. I am studying Spanish now and I want to be fluent in it.. I decided to learn Spanish because Filipino is partly Spanish.. Ahmmm... I just want to ask for some advice from you on how for me to learn my chosen language fast.. Just please send me a message, sir.. Thanks and more power.. ^^

[zzukizzz]

I love Pimsleur - it is the best to start learning a new language from scratch. Especially the more exotic languages which are really tough to start.

[OhWhatASleight]

A bit of british football hooligan humour for your pleasure:

1. In a foreign country ask the local bar man "Do you speak english?".

2 . if you still cant understand...shout it louder

3. if that doesn't work .... Trash the place.

[keesdecrip]

i'm a student in tourism and we learn languages all day from books, but it's useless. just move to a foreign country for like 4 months, et voila you speak the language..

btw the trick is not your vocabulary it's the accent that will make you look as an advanced speaker.

[phonicsquest]

coctel? That is wiskey!..are you alcoholic?

[mrlasns973]

universal sign language in a short form might be great

[mikeshepherd]

This presentation is interesting, but could be better presented as text. The foreign accent isn't too distracting, but it takes a long time to say what could be read in a couple of minutes.

I had the impression that there might be an interesting set of conclusions, but by half-way, I'd had enough and switched it off.

[modis15]

is that piano in the background?

[lingosteve]

@modis15 Yes, my wife

[becca0668]

em im going to try learn a new languages, what is the best software ect , to use ?

[MonotheistDoucheBag]

@becca0668 They all have strengths and weaknesses, and the more you have the better. What is paramount is to understand yourself and how you prefer to learn.

[MonotheistDoucheBag]

@MonotheistDoucheBag Children understand grammar, but they can't explain how it works. The same thing will happen to you. This has to do with patterns and melody. Even Russian, which I've studied, has a melody to it. I didn't hear it right away, as one can plainly hear in Italian, but I did hear it eventually. The point is that syntax with a pattern or melody is more easily imprinted on the brain, rather than random words or attempting to memorize things without a context.

[MonotheistDoucheBag]

@becca0668 Kaufmann's idea to listen for a month or two is a good one. Perhaps even three or four months if you are an absolute beginner. I am listening now with Hebrew. I am listening and repeating - I don't mind repeating right away because I have some background in Hebrew, much of it is still review at this point. Don't rush and don't worry about anything. Eventually your brain will begin to reproduce patterns in the language.

[MonotheistDoucheBag]

@becca0668 Deep breathing, yoga, walking, and staying in good shape is also good for language learning.

[Polyglot1990]

I agree, Living Language is horrible.

[sirwizardoflight]

There are some very good video tutorials on youtube, with a good search, and a little luck, you may find the language you want. TuTubusLatinus is a good one for Latin.

[HollyFlower1207]

I'm currently learning Japanese, but besides the point, has anyone ever told you that you sound a little like Laurence Olivier.. ? Very soothing voice!

[erikthereader]

Mr Steve you should check out Terra Linguas. Give a try!

[matreshka4u]

Dear Steve. I like all your thoughts, but I tried to get a point about scores for known words at LingQ site and I had a very big resistance to all this stuff. I like to be independent.. I don't care how many words I know, and I believe that the only way to get known another language is to remove innermost complex for learning and be perfect. I just enjoy watching English TV Shows, and listening audiobooks, but I would never count scores..

[skeppsbrogatan]

For an intermediate learner, how do I learn more vocabulary ? Should I read the news paper or a book and translate "every" word that I do not know or should I just select a few that I seem to have seen a few times in order to learn the more common words first. Or should I just open some pictionary website and learn all the names and words in a specific context? I learn words easier in context and sentence structure than opening a dictionary and going through random words. What would you suggest?

[robertogan]

Herr Kaufmann, ich weiss nicht, wie Mango ist. Haben Sie es schon ausprobiert?

[lingosteve]

@robertogan Nein, nie.

[RapidLL]

Then memorize the text, read it out aloud in a deliberate, exaggerated manner, repeating sentences and phrases that you stumble over until you can say them without thinking (speaking is all about muscle training). Then have the text recorded and listen to it over and over again until you can hear every word at natural speed.

Oddly enough, news stories are not so complicated (only at first). The same words and topics crop up over and over again so that it becomes quite easy to follow in time.

[PaulSLambeth]

@RapidLL Yeah, I find news stories to be actually simpler to follow than bedtime stories designed for 4-year-olds ( ... obviously sometimes) as they don't use flowery language, made-up compounds and odd concepts like sleepy flies. I read through newspaper articles online quite a lot with a dictionary at the ready. It also helps contextualise grammar and it tells you that those odd rules actually do apply. (... I might have to make a video on that)

[RapidLL]

Stories... definitely! I learn a language by starting with a simple, interesting story (usually involving friends and relationships, because that's one of the first thing you'll want to do with the language: make friends).

The most effective strategy is to analyze the vocabulary closely (yes it's slow at first) and then get a teacher/native speaker to explain the meanings of the sentences. The words on their own often don't make sense.

(to be continued...)

[sintje21]

im learning hebrew and biblical greek, thats kinda hard to listen too, modern greek i want to start watching (cartoons :P, the way i learned spanish etc.), any tips?

[p90xNick]

I've been living in France for a year and I'm still not fluent :'(

[QaisRAK]

iam in france n iam learning french for more than 2 years n still i cant speak as i should even my accent is strange for the french people n i cant remember the words n i cant even listen to this vid any more cuz am fed up with learning languages

[rfwelsh]

@QaisRAK I understand your frustration. Not all people learn at the same speed, and some of us require alot more effort to achieve the same results. I'm learning Korean and I spend hours and hours going over words only to have them slip away. Slowly, I am building up my vocabulary but it's a painstaking process. I can't say it's overly enjoyable but it's a necessity so I continue. That and I just want to be able to know that I was able to learn Korean!

[beautifuldreamer80]

idk any sign language. As aperson as mysellf wakes with blood coming out of my ears and benig deaf for 7 or mo+r mnthes.don't want to be,are there any american viseos,i'm ia sight learner (duh)

[banayioti]

if you can say hello how are you wheres the bathroom you wont understand the language anyway HAHAHA so true so true I know this from experiance LOL

[banayioti]

@banayioti I mean you wont understand the answer anyway haha

[pvrhye]

Know any similar resources for korean? Language learning is a hard thing to make yourself do, so I'm trying different things to see if I can get something to stick. I had one book I studied at the beginning and ravenously chewed up, but thereafter it's been much harder.

[Bearod35]

Your youtube page is great thank you for all the great information...I am fluent in Spanish and German.And im currently studying Danish and Icelandic....

Thanks again.

[Codylangaugesblog]

is that your wife playing piano in the background? haha.

I do not like living language either.

[OldfashionGirl90]

can you please write your blog so that i can join and learn because i am really interesting in learning languages :)

[lauraleesmithagain]

I think that LingQ is great, but I understand y people think it's only good for intermediates and above (even though in reality it's great for the complete beginner.) We've all been brainwashed into thinking that learning a language is impossibly difficult. So when most of us go to lingq and suddenly WHAM there's a whole 3 paragraphs that we're asked to listen to the immediate reaction is fear. "wait, wait, I'm not ready for this!!" But if one can get past this fear conducing brainwashing....

[lauraleesmithagain]

Then it's easy to see that this is the perfect way to learn and a beginner is absolutely ready to listen to such content.

[halfstepdown88]

I'm currently doing Pimsleur Spanish. I'm almost done with the second disc. I'm planning on going to Chile this summer for 5 weeks to immerse myself.

After that, I am interested in Mandarin, Hindi, Russian. I think I'm going to learn Mandarin next.

Any tips? All I've been doing is Pimsleur, but I've learned quite a bit for 30 min a day (took a placement test last week, almost tested into 2nd Semester Spanish in University)

Any ideas? I would love to know both spanish and mandarin well.

[stagesix6]

do you know portuguese?

[evelioto]

.....你不超过一个骗子谁是在赚傻子的钱谁进入程序，根本没­有就发明了你，因为你是一个业余爱好者，谁在使用互联网来赚钱，­和其他人谁知道不到你进入你的你的方法陷阱...假....

[akumie]

Speak more then 1 language then plz post a video response here watch?v=k52bQSleLNg the more videos the more fun it will be :)

[nihilistopher]

Glad to see that there are multilingual anglophones out there! Kudos.

[Fuzbutter]

...five words or phraises that you saw repeated. Get an understanding of their meaning and DRAW A PICTURE. As much as you can avoid writing an English translation of the word. Then get someone proficient in the language to read the news paper or magazine article as you follow.

This does wonders for your confidence.Comprehension is now secondary, and action is your primary goal. This is exactly how you learned your first language. In fact you did not even know about understanding yet you learned

[Yusuke1096]

Yeah...this worked real well for me when I tried to learn Farsi for a job. I got pretty far into then the position was eliminated. Had some good times drinking with Iranian-American girls

[Fuzbutter]

The best advice I ever received was from an English professor who came here during the Mariel Boat Lift of the early eighties. Both of his parents had immigrated to Cuba from Greece. So he learned both off the cuff and academically.

His recommendation was to copy Spanish directly from magazines and newspapers as fast as you can. In fact you only want to focus on speed and wrestle with not thinking in English. You do this on one side of the paper. On the other side you write the four or ...

[keithbc98]

Thanks so much for your videos Steve. I found lingq about a week ago. I had been using the FSI course for Spanish but am just sick of the drills. I'm now using Lingq and love it so far. Keep up the great work.

[lingosteve]

Be patient. Do not expect to remember anything when learning a language. Things eventually become clearer and clearer. You should also get a little book for learning the characters.

[kissthewon212]

Do you have any advice on how to learn Nepali? I am working with native speakers in person for only 30 min a day, and then I try to listen to it, but I dont know how to come up with a system or regimine so that I can understand the symbols? I am so confused about the symbols then the americanized alphabet?

[superdog797]

Hey Mr. Kaufmen - I'm trying to use "Who is She?" right now, but for Mandarin. Do you have any particular suggestions for learning Mandarin? I'm doing what you recommended and it seems to help. But the symbols continue to be a problem for me. I can remember them in the context of a lesson, but if I am asked to recall them, it is often difficult for me to picture them in my head.

[scooterdelmar]

How about Thai?

[TheOmniMaster]

There is actually yet another way, Steve. Simplified books. They have limited vocabulary, simpler grammar and interesting stories. The books come (with CDs) in various stages, which determine the difficulty of the story in general. I'm using some right now for my French and after dealing with the text, I can listen over and over again to the same (parts of) the story. The quality of such books is excellent. The narrative is truly suberb. I highly recommend them. Very enjoyable.

[polishenglish4u]

I am really happy with that news :). I will let you know when my website starts. Of course I am very interested in providing materials for LinQ. I have already started to work on scripts for all the conversations I recorded in Polish language. There are real conversations within families and friends. I hope it will be useful. I am an English teacher and I teach English to beginners. I use natural methods. What do you think about TPR? I use it very often.

[polishenglish4u]

Hi! What about Polish language at LingQ? I am going to open a website which will allow to learn Polish language with natural methods. I would be happy to see Polish language at LingQ and I can help with materials.

[lingosteve]

We have had quite a few requests for Polish and it will certainly be one of the first we add. I would love to work with you on Polish. You can provide some content for LingQ with URL links back to your site. I am sure we can work something out that benefits members of both your community and ours.

[17mathieu]

Incredibly interesting, Steve! Really logical approach to language learning, and I'm surprised that it is not more commonly practiced. Are you planning on adding a Hungarian LingQ to the site?

[lingosteve]

We hope to open LingQ to many more languages within a few months. If people contribute Hungarian we will have it.

[kasana]

Do you have arabic or urdu?

[lingosteve]

Not yet but give us a few months.

[kasana]

Wow a quick answer, thanks

[lingosteve]

The beginner texts are available in Romaji, Kana and characters in many cases. Yes the Japanese version can be improved but it is still a useful resource.

I found Romaji and PinYin helpful in the beginning stages of learning Chinese and Japanese, the first few months.

[blabityblabblab]

if lingq taught japanese learners kana first, then had stories translated into kana.. they could eventually work up to reading kanji.. i am trying to learn japanese & i find that learning the alphabet is really important. i wouldn't like to use romaji, because it's not really learning the language. it's good to know if you need to know how to type in japanese on the computer, but outside of that, it's pretty useless (at least in my opinion).. i hope you will get the japanese issues sorted out.

[BMTH0084]

Hello.......So you basically recommend if starting a new language with "lingq", you would recommend listening to the story of "Who is she?", listening to each dialog many times, and then basically comparing the transcripts in the target language to your native language, right?

[lingosteve]

I must have missed this question, sorry. Yes that is what I would recommend. Mostly listening and word review.

[blindside70]

I think Rosetta Stone maybe be the worst language learning system that every existed..

[stjepanzero]

@blindside70 i think that rosseta stone is the bets software leaning on earth but still books are better

[blindside70]

@stjepanzero which language did you learn from rs?

[stjepanzero]

@blindside70 russian,italiy,improved german on lvl 3 and nothing more

[ubny1]

@blindside70 and they're making SO much money off of it. It's ridiculous.

[jocylinbsings]

@blindside70 why?

[slavesbydesign]

@blindside70 It worked for me.

[konstigasaken]

i think the best way for a beginner beginner is rosetta stone. Its a good way to begin picking up words and associating words with real life and connecting them. LingQ really works better for people who already have a grasp on the language.

[RemsUnheardofArmy]

I'm learning portugese using lingq and its something I enjoy doing I'm still a beginner.

thanks for the advice

[Thesmitster]

I agree with your opinion on Primsleur. I'm not arguing with the concept of how that method works, and I'm sure many people have benefitted from using it. But I can't use it. The English constantly interrupts my train of thought in the target language. Assimil is much better in that respect. One criticism I have of Assimil though, is that in the early lessons, the speakers are too slow. It may help with pronunciation, but the ultra-slow speech around the first third of the audio just bores me...

[MashaGu]

sometimes I procrastinate more than i learn :(

[findmads]

Steve Købmand:) a mi me gustas Mucho ,what I´m trying to say:  I LIKE YOU A-LOT!

[findmads]

Steve Kaufaumann...I like you, I LIKE YOU A-LOT!

[oborogin]

Hajimemashite Steve san.

You are really awesome!!

I was really surprised at your Japanese.

Please, keep up making vids from now on as well.

Have a good one!!

[nachomancer]

As a Japanese learner, I can see how LingQ could be difficult for beginners. I've personally begun reading through 「我輩は猫である」 via LingQ, with a varying degree of success. My reading level is roughly lower-intermediate, so it's definitely a challenge, but as I listen more and more and follow along to the text, I'm picking up quite a bit.

My only real complaint is that LingQ's interface is a little cumbersome and looking up words can be slow, but it's a great resource all around.

[lingosteve]

It is more difficult for languages like Japanese and Chinese were an effort is required to learn the writing system, and that has to happen outside the system for now. Things are easier in the other languages. Still we have quite a bit of good beginner content in Japanese, with separate kana, Romaji and regular texts. The dictionary is on a separate site, although we are building a learner generated dictionary which will make things faster.

[Tko101488]

Hmm I wrote a random nonsensical story (to be interesting that is), where do you think I should send it to make sure it is appropriate and all?

[GirlyVoice]

What do you think about watching movies subtitled in english (or that you already have seen)? It seems like one entertaining way to supplement learning a language.

[lingosteve]

Movies are fun, but to me they are not as effective as listening and reading.

[FadedStardust]

I disagree. When I first started learning Chinese, my main source of input was (and still IS) watching TV dramas. At first, I watched with English subtitles but I found myself picking up words and phrases. Later, I started listening to podcasts such as ChinesePod and ChineseLearnOnilne and of course LingQ. Now, I no longer need the English subtitles to watch dramas and I've found that I use them to pick up new vocab more than the podcasts. It depends on your interests, really.

[lingosteve]

De gustibus non disputandum est,

[cathrynm]

This works for some, but I'm not for me, I don't think think I've picked up anything watching Japanese TV, though I've been watching shows off and on since the 80's.  I have done better with word lists, grammar and textbooks, though I'm still not that conversational. Also I used Pimmsleur for a bit, and found that to be helpful.

[FadedStardust]

I personally HATE word lists because there never seems to be real context behind them so I'm not motivated to memorize them, and I'd rather intuit grammar than try to learn it from a book...

For me watching dramas has been invaluable because I get real conversations at real speed that are not meant for learners at all. Learning through context.

Hmm... maybe I'm just an oddity though. Well, I guess then my advice is: find what works for you and stick with it!

[cathrynm]

Not that odd. I run into people like you all the time, and I totally believe you guys can learn this way. My grandmother told me she learned English from television and radio. I suspect the target language and the person's innate ability are factors.

[VeryPolitical]

Thanks for the help! I joined lingq. I appreciate the prompt response to my email as well.

[lingosteve]

Because there is no sound, at least for me. I think I did something wrong.Can you hear it?

[zocurtis]

How come you privated the last video?