As a polyglot, I second all of this! People think I'm a genius when I tell them I learn langauges in 6 months NOPE -- it's about core words, connecting words and verbs first! I always say, how many times a year do I use the word "cantaloupe" in English?? Stop with learning vocabulary by categories and focus on the core top-used vocabulary instead:)
I achieved reading fluency in German in around a month and a half by making an anki deck of the 5000 most common words. I coded a webscrapper that takes the text from a website (mostly used wikipedia and newspapers), parses it, gets an example of use, and provides a route translation (just with Google's API). Went through a hundred new words a day (just for recognition, can easily just go from german to english), and was able to read novels within a month. Language learning can be really quick if you target what you want to do.
@Corpsefoot Gaming Personally, as I said, I just set up a web-scrapper and mined ~5 mil words of modern German. For mass amounts of written text, I would suggest checking news websites, wikipedia (you'll need to filter for the specific topics) or finding written literature (though, these can be quite old fashioned). If it's something that doesn't have as much as an online presence, you might have to turn to twitter, Reddit, or local forums (many cities have something that has a significant amount of text). People use modern vocab and if you filter well enough (age of account, native speaker, average length of posts), it's competently written. This does often mean you have to dig for APIs, or brute force the stuff, though. You can also use things like opensubtitles (film and movie scripts) or youtube for getting an idea of spoken language vocab use. Unfortunately, for listening comprehension, you kind of just have to jump into it. I started listening to some german podcasts after a few weeks (once I knew around 1-2k works), and made sure to pause after every sentence to ensure that I understood it (takes direct work).
Sounds like having a target of learning commonly used things in languages is best way to learn. But I never seems to continue doing any language, thus I learnt none.... 😓
@@frogstereighteeng5499 can you share the words you came up with for German? Would really appreciate it, if you could upload the list somewhere online so all of us could access it
That sort of sentence is more about teaching you sentence structuring, which is very important and sometimes more useful than learning a handful of words. You could learn any animal and replace it and the sentence makes sense.
I’ve witnessed people learning a language in 6 months up to a conversation level and then forgetting it entirely within the next 6 months. To learn some language is one thing but to retain it, is a totally different one.
Absolutely. My mom knew 11 languages when she lived in Brazil (she was a translator for the United Nations) but then when she moved back to her home country in Bangladesh, she forgot all those languages within a year. To retain those languages, she had to keep conversing in said languages in order for her muscle memory to kick in. Though unfortunately, no one in Bangladesh spoke anything foreign back then so she didn’t have the chance.
This is so true. I knew fluent spanish when i was a kid, but now i can barely hold a conversation. However when vacating in spain it all of a sudden pops right back in, and im fluent. Then it decays uintill i can barely recall anything.
I love how this has shifted from learning languages to learning how to drive stick so seamlessly without losing my interest/attention. The best storyteller I’ve seen by far.
This is how I learn languages as well, I start by learning the 100 most used words in a language, then I focus on sentence construction and tenses. So far I am fluent in 4 languages and learning a 4th
@@jakubtvaruzek4097 definetely, I am now working on language 5th for the last 6 months + and 6th for the last month or so. I also work with tutors so it does help a lot.
@@circejanuary do you learn 100 words and then their construction and tense and then add another 100 and learn its tense construction too? Also i would like to know your method too!
@@LLastRose hi, yes an no when you lean the construction for English it would be subject +verb+object to make a basic sentence right? Then what can be a subject? Nouns, pronouns, nominal groups. You can find list with the most common nouns pronouns and adjectives. Then the second element is a verb, so you learn a few verbs from lists of most common words. Finally for our basic sentence we have objects which are usually the same components than for the subject. After that you can start learning how to conjugate in the present tense. How nouns and nominal group works. Then more components : adverbes, circumstancial complément. Négative and interrogative firm. Then more tenses (first past, then futur) At the same time spend time reading children books in the target language.
The community of your channel is so wholesome. I feel comforted just by reading thoughts and experiences in this comment section. Hope everyone is holding up okay
So true, I love the comment section here. All the people are amazing here. Reading comments after watching Nathaniel's video act like supplements which boost my understanding and give decent food for thoughts. Love u guys💗💗
Even though I'm terrible at learning other languages I can still appreciate the hard work and effort other people put towards it. To be perfectly honest, I still gain a lot of value from the cinematography and storytelling of this video. I have always appreciated quality over quantity. Well done Nathaniel.
:) there is not such a thing as being terribile at learning languages, there are only bad methods that are used - and this is what we should adjust to get the process of learning more effettive :) 💪💪💪
You only need one thing for language learning and it's a reason. If you find an important reason it will only be a matter of time that you learn that language.
@@barbara4142 there actually is such a thing. There are different kinds of language and learning disorders. Some may be truely bad at it, but many of them can indeed still learn it, allthough it will take them a significant longer time then others and that might be a good reason to not undertake it. Language learning takes already quite a good amount of time, but is still manageable for people without any dissability that really want to learn it. Someone with a dissability will have to work more and harder for often times lesser results , no matter how good the method is they use. (But offcourse for them it's even more helpfull to use the most efficient method and it would be sad that they wasted time and effort on the inadequate method most schools still use.... a method that even keep people without language-learning problems away from learning a language even if they would love to be able to speak a certain language.... sigh...)
@@Blueberryminty @Blueberrymint thank you for insightful response. I did not go so much in detail and didn't take any disabilities into account. Sorry. I was thinking about people who I know who are moaning and yawning about not being able to learn any foreign language but they only expect to be thought the language without any effort from their part and it doesn't work like this. The process of aquiring the language is long, sometimes tedious, with lots of ups and downs but we need to find our pleasure in it and enjoy the process however it is. I didn't want to offend anyone with my previous message it was just my thought that came across my mind while reading. But I still believe that with a good approach, good method that siuts us, no other people, literally everyday exposure to the language we are able to achieve results much more faster. This is happening to me. Have a good day ☺️
“Language learning is one of the most intensely personal journeys you can undertake. You are going into your own mind and altering the way you think.” ― Gabriel Wyner, Fluent Forever. Currently learning Spanish! This video was motivating to keep going :)
*Your* top percent: commonly used words based on the target language and target language structure + personal interests + other personalization such as what *you* need to know.
But that is what language schools focus on. 4,300 words gets you to everyday fluency in German. And guess what, they are the most commonly used words in everyday life.
I view learning languages like solar system too But in a different way inner circle is verbs and tenses of verbs Next circle is questioning words which where what how etc . pronouns prepositions The next is adjectives hot cold pleasant offensive etc Last come nouns Grammatical construction of sentences comes last And learn as you go usually the grammatical construction matches a language you already might know so it's as easy as substituting the words with the known language Learning a new language to survive in a foreign county takes a few hours rather than days or months
Honestly, it's just a pleasure to watch you getting better and better. Love how the editing is always on point and really adds depth to the video. Love the way you approach certain subjects, and how you always show so much of your perspective through just one video! Keep up the good work, I love your content!
C’est très incroyable! I’ve been learning French for a while now but I haven’t put much effort into speaking or writing so what I got now is an amazing reading level while speaking worse than a toddler.
Hey I'm French, have you made any progress? Do you watch videos or movies in French? Or listen to music? If you're used to reading but not hearing french I think the accent comes naturally when you hear it a lot and practice speaking. Do you want me to recommend you French youtubers in any topic you're interested in? If you have social media I can eventually help you with learning french
@@scarychek5492 I’ve been learning French just for a bit now, but I’m fully committed. Those youtubers and a little help/tip would be very helpful. Thanks!
@@scarychek5492 I can make a good ass pronunciation. My problem is that I forget almost EVERYTHING. I can read and pronunciate good, but do not ask me what it means 😅
I knew how to speak French, English and Swedish fluently by the time I was 12 because I found it a lot of fun to learn new languages. I didn’t have a particular method, but the key was to really speak the language every day and doing lower grade real school classes from that country, including things like learning English in a french school to learn the words in both languages
ayoooo we have the same language combo!! i grew up in france with a swedish mom and a french dad so i've been native in both languages from the moment i could speak and i kind of picked up english as i grew up becoming more than conversational at 10 and completely fluent by the time i was 12-13!! I love languages so i'm studying spanish atm and hopefully i'll manage to become fluent in 4 languages!!
As someone who unvoluntarily learned a new language for being a lot in contact with it, this is so accurate. I'm looking back at my learning journey and this was exactly what happened with me. And funny enough, when I think of learning a new language my first thought is "but there are so many words.. where do I start?". I needed this video to realize this. I'd even say the best part of learning a language is when you're in the outter circles of the solar system and you get to give each single word you learn your full attention and love. It's like when you find a new word, all of a sudden it's everywhere and it's following you and patiently waiting for you to finally use it one day. It's lovely.
@@Pook-ql1zf Coming back here because of your comment 3 years later 🥺 I didn’t even remember I once commented something like this! So glad it made your heart smile. It made MY heart smile again 3 years later :’)
I am trying to learn 2 languages everyday. By day, its Javascript because I'm going to Germany for my masters in Computer Science this year and by night, its german because I'm going to Germany for my masters in Computer Science this year. Haha
@@spncr777 Thanks a lot, Spencer. I already do that, with some people here in Brazil. But I didn't know these app/site that u recommended. I'll look for it. Thanks again.
my man really was exploring southern Portugal ( where I live btw ) with his Belgium friend while learning to drive stick with a Beetle car. Also living in France and speaking french with some belgium slang. YOU ARE LIVING THE EUROPEAN LIFE LMAO
Yes!. I currently live in Spain and have been here for almost 3 years, its been a bit challenging learning Spanish but I'll put what I've learnt here into perspective going forward
I always hated learning foreign languages in high-school. My grades were terrible and I could never keep my focus while being in class. I honestly believed that I was just not made for it. But now I realise that I never had any motivation because I never saw the use of the word-lists school provided. At the time I never really wondered why, but when I look back it is clear as day that learning really specific words do not add a lot of value to my vocabalery. Your amazing video's inspired me to start learning foreign languages, reading books, meditate and all kind of amazing stuff I never would've considered doing three years ago. I want to thank you deeply from my heart for sharing your thoughts on different topics, and making me a better person. Keep up the great work and... Thank you.
www.conversationexchange.com is great to chatting to natives btw- I have just started chatting to people from around South America to improve my Spanish as even after 7 years I am not confident with speaking Spanish on holiday. It’s great that u have continued learning and I think during COVID it’s a way to connect with the outside world. Nathaniel helps to haha
It's soo weird to me that Americans can't drive with stick. Here in Germany you make your driving license almost always in a car with stick (and I'm a teen still learning how to drive, and to be honest, every other car seems like an autoscooter in comparism, but I admire people attempting to learn it if they have never done that before)
@@_the_ its the same in the u.k iv seen 2 automatic cars in my life and they were both really recently because they were electric cars and I think that's how they are going to make them, but stick isn't hard anyway
@@JinxedG Thank you so much! It's really relieving to know that it's not just me. I just hope I figure out how to do it properly one day. Driving really isn't fun currently.
I both agree and disagree. i think efficiency is entirely the wrong way to approach language learning, but personal interest and enthusiasm and fun and immersion is the best. My psycholinguistics professor said ( and this wasn't on the exam :) ) the best way to learn a language is through love. Love for someone or something, the place the people, some thing you're a fan of. But nothing beats having a "language parent" around, willing to gently correct you and help you out with words and showing you things. and hunkering down with a dictionary every now and then. so basically if you can, move to a place where the language you want to learn is spoken and all around you and try to learn what you want to say and understand, and you will get ten times further in a month that way than six months in a class
I gotta say I started learning French about 9 months ago after watching one of your videos and I was doing my best to try to enjoy the process and I still am.. The French section in this video was like a confirmation for me especially when I was picking up on multiple sentences and phrases. I'm grateful that I'm learning a lot from you dude, so thank you!
I believe that the French teachers are ‘precious’. They appear to want to teach a language but fail to teach communication. Is it so important that my table is female (unless it identifies as a different gender 😂)? If a French person said to me The table she is laid I doubt it would concern me.
I just have to say that you've inspired me so much in the last year, not only in language learning and travelling, but in living in general. You helped me accept that it's okay for me to want something different and be different, and not just follow the same path as everyone else. Thank you
Yes, this is how people acquire a language efficiently. Remember that at my university our 1st arabic words were corn, impacable manners, rocket, monument, atom, hemorrhage. And our teacher really couldn't get why his students were loosing their motivation.
I retired at 48 and moved to Bordeaux France for a year. Never having spoken a word of French or visiting France. Tried soooo hard to learn the language but struggled. Thanks for your help I will be back to learning the language and back to my travels.
as a teenage polyglot who is currently self learning Italian I love learning new methods! and this one is actually one of my favs ❤️ thanks for sharing!
I'm stuck in france doing my undergrad and I cannot speak almost any word of french. the way you expressed excitement in french while driving really really inspired me to learn french!
I absolutely agree with your opinion about traditional language teaching methods in school. It’s sooo annoying to have to do all the unnecessary essays when all you want to do is be able to talk with people. UA-cam is genuinely more helpful than traditional language courses.
His experience in tackling new things really shows when he is learning to drive stick. The fact that he is able to smile and persevere through the mini meltdown was really cool.
You're awesome Nathaniel! I speak 5 languages, and trying to add 2 more this year ... I'm only totally fluent in 3, the other ones are basic conversational, but it brings me so much joy everytime I'm able to make a full correct sentence on my own in any of the new languages. I share your passion! Please keep sharing your experiences with us! 💕
May I ask how you go started with language learning? Is there any tips you could give? I really want to start learn a new language but it feels so overwhelming.
@@crisannebraham1241 once you start with your 1st new language, the excitement will make you want to learn more. Nowadays we have many options to learn languages. Online on our own, in person school/class, through friends/social activities, etc. In order to get excited & encouraged to continue, I would suggest trying out the different free language apps depending on what languages you want to learn. I learned Italian & Spanish through apps & youtube lessons. I speak english & french because I live in a bilingual city so we learn them in school by default. This year I started learning Mandarin & Korean through apps & dramas/movies ... I find the more you expose yourself to a language the better your learning, word recgnition & pronounciation will become. Listen to podcasts in a language of choice while you cook/do dishes. Even if you don't understand a word, your brain will register those words & sentences, and when you come across them through a lesson, you will understand & remember them a lot easier. Some people like to write to learn. I'm visual and verbal. So I prefer to see, hear & repeat. You have to find out what works best for you. You have to make it fun, not a chore. If it becomes something you enjoy, you will not see it as an overwhelming task, but rather a hobby, a me-time activity that you will look forward to in your day. I actually schedule my language learning as part of my daily activity like eating & sleeping. It's a must for me. Select a time that you can stick to, and make it a part of your daily schedule. Start with 10-15 minutes per day & do it when you're relaxed. Like first thing when you wake up, or last thing before bed. Hope this helps. Let me know if you need more tricks 😊
@@EvaMariposa omg thank you so much for the in-depth advice!! I’m extremely thankful, I only have on more question to ask. The language I’m trying to learn is French because I live in a bilingual country and the part I struggle the most in is speaking in French because I find it very difficult to form sentences off the top of my head. Do you have any tips on how to improve on that skill or overcome the fear of speaking?
@@crisannebraham1241 certainly! I find the best way to get comfortable in a language is by practice. I learned french as a 2nd language so I can tell you from experience, the best way to master french is to immerse yourself in the language as much as possible. Since you live in a bilingual country, it'll be easy to expose yourself to many situations where you can practice. Watch french tv/news/shows. If you have any children (even if you don't), children's educational shows/books are the fastest & easiest way to get basic vocabulary in. Once you are comfortable with simple sentence structures, you can move up to adolescent/adult shows & books. What helped me a lot is repeating what i hear. So let's say when you are watching a french movie/tv show, put the subtitles in french when possible & listen & read at the same time. Your brain will register the sounds, words, structures & intonations in a practical way. Then I would repeat what I hear sometimes outloud, sometimes in my head, and make sure I sound as close as possible to what I hear. I actually do this with all my languages. I try to repeat what I hear so that it registers better & words are used correctly in the right context. Learning French for an english speaking person is difficult if you try to compare the sentence structure & match the equivalent. I would suggest not to compare english & french & just learn French like you would teach a new born child. They have no point of reference. They point at objects, memorize the word. Then make short sentences. Then more complex at they grow. Same thing works for us adults. Start with simple conversation & work your way up. And the more you Practice, the more comfortable you will be. Don't hesitate if you have more questions 😊
@@EvaMariposa again, thank you so much! You’ve helped me so much already and thank you for taking the time out of your day for the detailed response😊. The ONLY other thing I’ll ask you is how long did it take you to be fully fluent (C1/C2 level) in French ?
it's amazing how someone can inspire you and really dig deep into your heart and make you realise life can be beautiful, can be so much better. I started learning Italian recently, it's been hard but your video has motivated me to keep going. the second part of the video is simply enlightening because I was very uninspired and mindlessly living my life. thank you nathan, you sure are changing lives of many. you are.
Good thoughts, I’ve been trying to learn French for the past 8 years and I relied on the school system for the first 7 years. Over the past year I’ve been with a teacher ba making much more progress. I think this video will really help many people learn a language faster and more effectively
Top Takeaway: -Focus on word frequency (words used the most) -Focus on 80/20 rule I recommend reading "Fluent Forever" to people who want to learn a language :)
that you take the time to have Spanish subtitles for most of your videos makes them that much more valuable since you can be watching something incredibly deep and interesting while simultaneously improving your Spanish (my 3rd language, so far) thanks Nathan love your work, inspiring and much appreciated! 💚✌️
The thing people always miss about word frequency is that frequency is inversely proportional to the amount of information transmitted. The most frequent words are the least important for understanding.
Incredible video as always! I’d love for you to keep this style of video up. The beginning is a great lesson with steps to action and the second half felt like “This is what your language learning experience can lead to.” It’s amazing that the only thing that stops us from making millions of friends is a language barrier. I’d argue there are even some ways around that hurdle!
Of course you can skip gears when shifting manually. It all depends on your speed, really. If you're decelerating quickly, for example, just keep your foot on the clutch or switch into neutral until you're moving at a steady speed again and then choose the best gear for that speed. You'll eventually get a feeling for which range of speeds corresponds to which gear. Similarly, if you're accelerating quickly you might first shift down one gear, max it until you reach your desired speed, and then skip one gear to get back to steady driving.
Hey Nathaniel, could you please talk about how you find the confidence to put yourself out there and talk to people in a foreign language, and dealing with making mistakes in language learning? I'd love to hear your input, and hopefully be inspired in my own language learning journey. Thanks :)
A tip about driving manual: Understanding what is going on under the hood (with the clutch, gears, and so on) helps a lot! It allows you to understand what are you doing wrong and how to avoid it next time.
Thank you for the tips and techniques. I cant remember how I learned english and while I was watching your video, I realized that your right. I searched the top 100 english words and I'm surprise that I know all of them. We really must start at something. Step one maybe the hardest part. Knowing nothing at something makes me want to quit immediately. It is so overwhelming.
What I learned in this video is that you only need to learn the common words and phrases then you can start to mix and match them. Also, watch vlogs of your target language and read kid's story books for they have words and phrases that are used daily. It's okay if it's wrong grammar, they'll still understand it and continue on with your conversation with them.
Honestly I find this concept pretty applicable to learning anything. Focus in on importance and core principles in the beginning and as skills grow you get into more depthful topics of any given subject. I also agree on learning language in school it never worked for me. I learned Spanish from friends, TV, traveling, and honestly just over time you also find what works for you and makes it exciting that you want to study it everyday. Love your videos keep them coming!
Yes and no. For example you can manage English pretty well without using both 'the' and 'a'. It won't be correct English but most people will understand you and you will understand most people. This is one of the most common mistakes made by for example Slavs. And in case of most common 100 words - most of them are functional words. They make sense only when you understand grammar. Learning that 了 means 'finish' is useless as it is mostly used as a functional particle, not a word.
I'm 15 And speak 4 languages And next month i have to star learning Sanskrit Most folks In My state Telangana(India) Speak 4 languages, which is insane it's mandatory! 😤
@@shreyabahirat I'm from Spain so let me give you a tip. If you want to move to Spain to learn Spanish, consider moving to Catalonia or Madrid (they have a clear accent and it's easy to understand). Avoid the south of Spain and remote towns (I don't understand them and I've been born in Barcelona and lived here my entire life)
In terms of Romance Languages, start with Spanish... then Italian (or Romanian). Later French and perhaps Portuguese. The book, Loom of Language explains the value of learning languages with shared vocab (Romance, Slavic, Tuetonic/German). Also the vid, "How to learn a language, dont study it" is good.
@@4himsanctified I disagree with you. DeepFriedLemonWedges should learn whichever language they want to learn first. And after that , in any order they want to.
The simplicity of how Nathaniel approaches such a delicate subject, and in such an authentic way to the point that my eyes shine and a tear almost drops, is insane. Knowledge has a fascinating power, continue Nathaniel, a hug, from Brazil.
Always been fascinated by this concept. It's super important in Chinese where you have to learn the characters (汉子) as they're so difficult at first. In Chinese the most common word is 的, which kind of translates to the "'s" used to denote possession in English, but not really. It's used almost 4x more than the second most common character.
Me encanta como se nota a veces el acento argentino cuando hablas francés. I've literally spent the past 6 years of my life watching youtube in english (2-7 hours a day) and now I have a C1 without having ever talked with a native speaker, that is weird.
I do have the certification. For the accent I think watching videos may probably be better than living in the country, I just repeat words and expressions that appear in the video. Some people have told me that I have a very good accent but I still have trouble with the entonation of the sentence.
I’m trying to learn Italian & have been for many years, I’m at an intermediate level now, around a level B1, but they have so many verb conjugations for past, present future, different genders & how many people are in the room etc... I’m obsessed with Italy & so my passion lives on
Seriously love the French language and just listening to you and Greg talk while you were learning to drive. We recently spent 3 months in France and loved every moment of experiencing the French culture 🇫🇷❤️
Of all the language learning apps, Pimsleur seems the closest to what you’re talking about though I would love to hear the experiences of fans who took your special course too!
That's a great way of seeing the journey as a solar system. From my experience as a teacher for Non-Germans learning German is to encourage the students to talk and interact with each other in German.
This is SUPER helpful,I’ve been trying to learn Italian for several months now,and I’m making progress,but it’s slow,I’m going to try to follow your method more closely
Incredible filming of this, engaging and I completely agree how language has been frustrating through formal education, I'm a 23 soon to be graduated University student, who has spent the last 16 years straight in formal education and learning French and Irish, but also I chose to learn Spanish in my final year of University. Spending 9 years in total with French, I couldn't speak it now really whatsoever, I wasn't able to go on an exchange unlike others, and I think that was the one error to curbing my interactions with locals. Also, I'd a shocking teacher! But for Spanish, even though it's been all online the last year, I have genuinely been interested and engaged with it, and for Italian, currently learning basics so I can take up a job this summer while living with a host family. Thank you for making this content Nathaniel !!!
Funny thing is, that when we, the native speakers of slav languages, learn Eglish, we generally are not using articles (a, an, the). We don't have anything similar in our languages, so we don't feel a need to use them (and perhaps lack of understanding of their role in a language). I am saying that because of the comment at 2:08
This video brought back great memories for me. I learned french while in the foreign legion and got to travel around France, a lot of southern France especially. So, the latter half of this episode really brought back great memories, and with them, the joy of remembrance, and the sorrow of adventures and friends lost to time.
I admire anyone who fearlessly learns languages. I have a huge interior battle with myself on learning language as I fear mistakes and I find it difficult to recall words, especially under stress but what you say here is very useful to consider. It’s work to learn a language so it’s got to be made fun or you risk giving up
I think getting familiar with common English phrases , and words don't just create simplicity,. but it also creates a foundation for the learners to explore and learn more sophisticated and less common words or phrases of a language.
I will admit. More than most things, to see you speaking so confidently and learning something in another language really did inspire me. Thanks for that.
Oh! I loved this 💞. European French is so much lovelier sounding than Canadian/Acadian French. I don’t know how to drive stick, it was fun to tag along in your adventure. Certainly made me want to travel or simply go exploring the world around me. I liked your theory on learning new languages, I would like to learn Hebrew. Love your videos and personality. Blessings.
I am just about to start learning Dutch with this method, you've inspired me, thankyou :) I once was a music teacher and prior to this, was a classically trained violinist. When I first began teaching, I realised how painful it actually was to teach a bunch of slightly disinterested kids how to play a scratchy, difficult stringed instrument. Don't get me wrong, there are some people who do require traditional, strategic education, however for the other 95% this just isn't necessary. For this 95% it is not about becoming a professional musician or teacher. For them, it's about the joy of music, a new way of expression, enjoyment and a good way to connect with their peers. For this 95% of kids, I found, the best thing to do was to remove the 'hard stuff' and get straight to the art of playing. I removed music reading, theory and notation. I colour coded, a physically wrote out the letters of the notes rather than pushing them to learn the art of reading music. To me, the joy for them would come by playing in an ensemble, without the scratchy sounds. So we focused on aural training and muscle memory. Within 12 months, these 8 year olds were playing in an ensemble together performing modern pop songs - mind you, they were not the greatest, but they sure as hell had the best time. In comparison, it took me 3 years of traditional education (daily practice for 30 mins) to perform the same piece. Perhaps I played it with better technical ability, and I probably sight read the music. However, I do believe my students 15 years later, learning how to perform the same piece behind a different learning method still found the end goal, joy! I can see the connection between the way you described the learning of a new language with how I taught my students how to play a fiddle tune. The older I get, the more I realise what luck it is that we live now, in the 21st century. We get to question the 'traditional' methods and call out when and where things are necessary. It's not one box fits all, we can tailor our learning to an end goal. Want to be a professional musician playing at the royal opera house? Great, I've got just the thing for you. Want to use music to connect with others and bring art into the world? No worries, here is an alternative path to take.
i originally clicked on because of the title, and i was just curious, but omg your cinematography is FANTASTIC it made me happy and it felt like i was at peace, thank you, i really appreciate it :)
As an European, I learned to drive an automatic for the first time this week! 😃 It was a funny feeling to drive without a stick, haha. But I think it's harder the other way around, for those that are used to drive automatic suddenly changing to a stick. Anyhow, GREAT JOB Nathaniel!
You captured quite well my problem with my French classes. The overabundance of content and lack of context made everything.... wishy washy. I'm planning to continue studying on my own but personalized, using the theory you stated and a journal. Plus, immersion. Books, videos and podcasts about topics that actually matter to me, in French. Between casual immersion and intentional, personalized, study, I expect great results. Thank you for your insight
I am currently learning my 4th language.. And I noticed that the brain is really good noticing patterns! You just have to put important words (input) into your brain and it does the rest
This is such a cool video. I learned French in school (and college) but I recently decided to start learning Spanish online and it's such a different experience! I just posted a video sharing my Spanish progress after two months. I have a lot of work left to do with Spanish, but this Solar System Theory is a great idea!
Amazing video! I agree with your language learning method. I don't know if I got it all, but there's a 10% of each language that it's the core of communication. And over the time, the more you study, the "jump" (distance between the circles representing the amount of knowledge and progression) reduces. Here in Brazil, most of the cars have a manual transmission. Everyone here has to learn how to drive manually to take the driver's license exam.
Just starting to learn Spanish and this was very helpful. Also love the part of learning to drive a stick shift. My cousin taught me, here in San Francisco (on the hills!), in her Volkswagen bug. One of my fondest memories of my cousin Suzie who passed away some years ago.
As a polyglot, I second all of this! People think I'm a genius when I tell them I learn langauges in 6 months NOPE -- it's about core words, connecting words and verbs first! I always say, how many times a year do I use the word "cantaloupe" in English?? Stop with learning vocabulary by categories and focus on the core top-used vocabulary instead:)
I achieved reading fluency in German in around a month and a half by making an anki deck of the 5000 most common words. I coded a webscrapper that takes the text from a website (mostly used wikipedia and newspapers), parses it, gets an example of use, and provides a route translation (just with Google's API). Went through a hundred new words a day (just for recognition, can easily just go from german to english), and was able to read novels within a month.
Language learning can be really quick if you target what you want to do.
totally agree on this Sarah, after learning 4 languages I can resonate with that!
@Corpsefoot Gaming Personally, as I said, I just set up a web-scrapper and mined ~5 mil words of modern German. For mass amounts of written text, I would suggest checking news websites, wikipedia (you'll need to filter for the specific topics) or finding written literature (though, these can be quite old fashioned).
If it's something that doesn't have as much as an online presence, you might have to turn to twitter, Reddit, or local forums (many cities have something that has a significant amount of text). People use modern vocab and if you filter well enough (age of account, native speaker, average length of posts), it's competently written. This does often mean you have to dig for APIs, or brute force the stuff, though.
You can also use things like opensubtitles (film and movie scripts) or youtube for getting an idea of spoken language vocab use.
Unfortunately, for listening comprehension, you kind of just have to jump into it. I started listening to some german podcasts after a few weeks (once I knew around 1-2k works), and made sure to pause after every sentence to ensure that I understood it (takes direct work).
Sounds like having a target of learning commonly used things in languages is best way to learn. But I never seems to continue doing any language, thus I learnt none.... 😓
@@frogstereighteeng5499 can you share the words you came up with for German? Would really appreciate it, if you could upload the list somewhere online so all of us could access it
The irony: I procrastinate as I binge watch productivity videos
Lol 😂
motivation are hard to come by
You're not alone.
Watch productivity vid may procrastinate, but it gain your value, so it's still worth tho
@@Harley411 Motivation is a flaky friend. It's great when you get to hang out with them but they never seem to be around when you need them most.
"I only learn languages to connect with other people and to understand their way of seeing the world and living life". ♡ somos dois
Somos 3
somos milhares
c'est vrai...
somos milhões
Hahaha sim
Nathaniel Drew: learn the most used words
Duolingo: Il tuo leone mangia la mia scimmia (Your lion eats my monkey)
Yeah but sentences like these help to remember the words. How often did I have to say (as a man) Sono una ragazza.
@@Skyscraper21 I know, it's just completely random sometimes but it makes the sentences funny so easier to remember :)
Hey are you learning italian? If yes I'm italian so tell me if you have any questions or need help! :)
100% hahaha
That sort of sentence is more about teaching you sentence structuring, which is very important and sometimes more useful than learning a handful of words. You could learn any animal and replace it and the sentence makes sense.
I’ve witnessed people learning a language in 6 months up to a conversation level and then forgetting it entirely within the next 6 months. To learn some language is one thing but to retain it, is a totally different one.
Absolutely. My mom knew 11 languages when she lived in Brazil (she was a translator for the United Nations) but then when she moved back to her home country in Bangladesh, she forgot all those languages within a year. To retain those languages, she had to keep conversing in said languages in order for her muscle memory to kick in. Though unfortunately, no one in Bangladesh spoke anything foreign back then so she didn’t have the chance.
definitely right
because they didn't learn sh... it's like memorizing your speech for a political debate in your classroom.
@@tonystark6585 translation is not knowing a language, they don't retain any information from what they translate.
This is so true. I knew fluent spanish when i was a kid, but now i can barely hold a conversation. However when vacating in spain it all of a sudden pops right back in, and im fluent. Then it decays uintill i can barely recall anything.
people who actually know how to learn languages: rank words by importance
public school french: hold my kitchen utensils and zoo animals
Puis j’aller au salle de bain?
@@melanie_meanders Peux je aller au le toilette sil vous plait?
As a Spanish speaker, my favorite saying from non-Spanish speakers "Tengo un gato en mis pantalones" 🤣🤣
yo tengo los ojos cafes is all I remember from spanish class
@@minssosa3989 you should writing je peux aller aux toilettes (I’m french)
*"Pain of regret is so much worse than pain of discipline."*
Dang
Damn.........
Oh my... 🤯
@@marolcasaroli 🙏🙏
Your name is very beatiful...
I love how this has shifted from learning languages to learning how to drive stick so seamlessly without losing my interest/attention. The best storyteller I’ve seen by far.
This is how I learn languages as well, I start by learning the 100 most used words in a language, then I focus on sentence construction and tenses. So far I am fluent in 4 languages and learning a 4th
Well done! I'll try to utilise this strategy as well, thanks for the tip!
@@jakubtvaruzek4097 definetely, I am now working on language 5th for the last 6 months + and 6th for the last month or so. I also work with tutors so it does help a lot.
circe can you explain a little more of your method?
@@circejanuary do you learn 100 words and then their construction and tense and then add another 100 and learn its tense construction too? Also i would like to know your method too!
@@LLastRose hi, yes an no when you lean the construction for English it would be subject +verb+object to make a basic sentence right? Then what can be a subject? Nouns, pronouns, nominal groups. You can find list with the most common nouns pronouns and adjectives.
Then the second element is a verb, so you learn a few verbs from lists of most common words.
Finally for our basic sentence we have objects which are usually the same components than for the subject.
After that you can start learning how to conjugate in the present tense.
How nouns and nominal group works.
Then more components : adverbes, circumstancial complément.
Négative and interrogative firm.
Then more tenses (first past, then futur)
At the same time spend time reading children books in the target language.
- Can you imagine trying to have a conversation without using the word 'the' ?
- *Laughs in Latin
which gender of the word "the"?
English speakers: "huh??"
German/Spanish speakers: "lol"
このみんなはばかだね。。。。。
@@adriangjonca680 אני שמח קי אני יודע ללמוד מה אתה אמר.
Laughs in English, oh wait
@ हिन्दी 👀😭
The community of your channel is so wholesome. I feel comforted just by reading thoughts and experiences in this comment section. Hope everyone is holding up okay
So true, I love the comment section here. All the people are amazing here. Reading comments after watching Nathaniel's video act like supplements which boost my understanding and give decent food for thoughts.
Love u guys💗💗
Navigating through London lockdown blues here, but pushing through :) hope you're holding up well too :)
Iam into you @niela
Even though I'm terrible at learning other languages I can still appreciate the hard work and effort other people put towards it. To be perfectly honest, I still gain a lot of value from the cinematography and storytelling of this video. I have always appreciated quality over quantity. Well done Nathaniel.
me too, I can wait longer, but I know the experience of watching an excellent video will be worth it.
:) there is not such a thing as being terribile at learning languages, there are only bad methods that are used - and this is what we should adjust to get the process of learning more effettive :) 💪💪💪
You only need one thing for language learning and it's a reason. If you find an important reason it will only be a matter of time that you learn that language.
@@barbara4142 there actually is such a thing. There are different kinds of language and learning disorders. Some may be truely bad at it, but many of them can indeed still learn it, allthough it will take them a significant longer time then others and that might be a good reason to not undertake it. Language learning takes already quite a good amount of time, but is still manageable for people without any dissability that really want to learn it. Someone with a dissability will have to work more and harder for often times lesser results , no matter how good the method is they use. (But offcourse for them it's even more helpfull to use the most efficient method and it would be sad that they wasted time and effort on the inadequate method most schools still use.... a method that even keep people without language-learning problems away from learning a language even if they would love to be able to speak a certain language.... sigh...)
@@Blueberryminty @Blueberrymint thank you for insightful response. I did not go so much in detail and didn't take any disabilities into account. Sorry. I was thinking about people who I know who are moaning and yawning about not being able to learn any foreign language but they only expect to be thought the language without any effort from their part and it doesn't work like this. The process of aquiring the language is long, sometimes tedious, with lots of ups and downs but we need to find our pleasure in it and enjoy the process however it is.
I didn't want to offend anyone with my previous message it was just my thought that came across my mind while reading.
But I still believe that with a good approach, good method that siuts us, no other people, literally everyday exposure to the language we are able to achieve results much more faster. This is happening to me. Have a good day ☺️
“Language learning is one of the most intensely personal journeys you can undertake. You are going into your own mind and altering the way you think.”
― Gabriel Wyner, Fluent Forever.
Currently learning Spanish! This video was motivating to keep going :)
Hi Soo, Why did you decided to learn spanish? Which dialect of Spanish are you learning? (Country)
how's it going?
Dude same, I am self learning Spanish
I am learning Spanish too!
I tried to learn Spanish for decades. I chose the wrong parents
*Your* top percent: commonly used words based on the target language and target language structure + personal interests + other personalization such as what *you* need to know.
But that is what language schools focus on. 4,300 words gets you to everyday fluency in German. And guess what, they are the most commonly used words in everyday life.
I view learning languages like solar system too
But in a different way inner circle is verbs and tenses of verbs
Next circle is questioning words which where what how etc . pronouns prepositions
The next is adjectives hot cold pleasant offensive etc
Last come nouns
Grammatical construction of sentences comes last
And learn as you go usually the grammatical construction matches a language you already might know so it's as easy as substituting the words with the known language
Learning a new language to survive in a foreign county takes a few hours rather than days or months
Honestly, it's just a pleasure to watch you getting better and better. Love how the editing is always on point and really adds depth to the video. Love the way you approach certain subjects, and how you always show so much of your perspective through just one video! Keep up the good work, I love your content!
At this point, Nathaniel is basically my unpaid therapist.
hahahahahah YES!
he kinda gets paid
That doesn't sound very healthy
He is paid, by your data
FACTS FACTS FACTS
two minutes in and i’m already in awe of the editing
Ya, its so beautifully done
Really creative
This guys videos are always amazing
I was trying to figure out how to skip because I thought it was an ad! 😂 Top notch quality IMHO
Literally i'm in love this is the first video i saw for him and i never subscribed that fast in my life
C’est très incroyable! I’ve been learning French for a while now but I haven’t put much effort into speaking or writing so what I got now is an amazing reading level while speaking worse than a toddler.
Hey I'm French, have you made any progress? Do you watch videos or movies in French? Or listen to music? If you're used to reading but not hearing french I think the accent comes naturally when you hear it a lot and practice speaking. Do you want me to recommend you French youtubers in any topic you're interested in? If you have social media I can eventually help you with learning french
@@scarychek5492 I’ve been learning French just for a bit now, but I’m fully committed. Those youtubers and a little help/tip would be very helpful. Thanks!
@@scarychek5492 I am interested please
@@scarychek5492 I can make a good ass pronunciation. My problem is that I forget almost EVERYTHING. I can read and pronunciate good, but do not ask me what it means 😅
@@scarychek5492 Hello I am interested, could you please help me?
I knew how to speak French, English and Swedish fluently by the time I was 12 because I found it a lot of fun to learn new languages. I didn’t have a particular method, but the key was to really speak the language every day and doing lower grade real school classes from that country, including things like learning English in a french school to learn the words in both languages
ayoooo we have the same language combo!! i grew up in france with a swedish mom and a french dad so i've been native in both languages from the moment i could speak and i kind of picked up english as i grew up becoming more than conversational at 10 and completely fluent by the time i was 12-13!! I love languages so i'm studying spanish atm and hopefully i'll manage to become fluent in 4 languages!!
As someone who unvoluntarily learned a new language for being a lot in contact with it, this is so accurate. I'm looking back at my learning journey and this was exactly what happened with me. And funny enough, when I think of learning a new language my first thought is "but there are so many words.. where do I start?". I needed this video to realize this.
I'd even say the best part of learning a language is when you're in the outter circles of the solar system and you get to give each single word you learn your full attention and love. It's like when you find a new word, all of a sudden it's everywhere and it's following you and patiently waiting for you to finally use it one day. It's lovely.
I really loved this comment. The idea of a word following me around and waiting for me to give it life, made my heart smile.
@@Pook-ql1zf Coming back here because of your comment 3 years later 🥺 I didn’t even remember I once commented something like this! So glad it made your heart smile. It made MY heart smile again 3 years later :’)
Wow, such an amazing video. I especially love the second part.
Your passion for learning new languages is contagious!
What language are you learn, Dr. Faisal Jamshaid?
I am trying to learn 2 languages everyday. By day, its Javascript because I'm going to Germany for my masters in Computer Science this year and by night, its german because I'm going to Germany for my masters in Computer Science this year. Haha
Where to? If you need any help from a future German teacher let me know :)
@@Lynnithx i dooo
@@Lynnithx I need, but in English Speaking. Can u help? :)
@@jessicaferreira7520 não jessica
@@spncr777 Thanks a lot, Spencer. I already do that, with some people here in Brazil. But I didn't know these app/site that u recommended. I'll look for it. Thanks again.
my man really was exploring southern Portugal ( where I live btw ) with his Belgium friend while learning to drive stick with a Beetle car. Also living in France and speaking french with some belgium slang.
YOU ARE LIVING THE EUROPEAN LIFE LMAO
Yes!. I currently live in Spain and have been here for almost 3 years, its been a bit challenging learning Spanish but I'll put what I've learnt here into perspective going forward
Same here
Hey Ihuoma, Which spanish dialect are you learning? Why did you decided to learn Spanish?
I always hated learning foreign languages in high-school. My grades were terrible and I could never keep my focus while being in class. I honestly believed that I was just not made for it. But now I realise that I never had any motivation because I never saw the use of the word-lists school provided. At the time I never really wondered why, but when I look back it is clear as day that learning really specific words do not add a lot of value to my vocabalery. Your amazing video's inspired me to start learning foreign languages, reading books, meditate and all kind of amazing stuff I never would've considered doing three years ago.
I want to thank you deeply from my heart for sharing your thoughts on different topics, and making me a better person. Keep up the great work and... Thank you.
www.conversationexchange.com is great to chatting to natives btw- I have just started chatting to people from around South America to improve my Spanish as even after 7 years I am not confident with speaking Spanish on holiday. It’s great that u have continued learning and I think during COVID it’s a way to connect with the outside world. Nathaniel helps to haha
@@emmaridley_youtube thanks! I will give it a try ;)
Same honestly. I’ve learnt more myself in 5 months than 6 years of school. It’s crazy!
mad respect for keeping it together while learning how to drive shift i would have had a mental breakdown lmaoo
It's soo weird to me that Americans can't drive with stick. Here in Germany you make your driving license almost always in a car with stick (and I'm a teen still learning how to drive, and to be honest, every other car seems like an autoscooter in comparism, but I admire people attempting to learn it if they have never done that before)
@@_the_ its the same in the u.k iv seen 2 automatic cars in my life and they were both really recently because they were electric cars and I think that's how they are going to make them, but stick isn't hard anyway
I learned on stick and I'm here to tell you that there was a lot of crying. But now there's a lot of driving.
@@JinxedG Thank you so much! It's really relieving to know that it's not just me. I just hope I figure out how to do it properly one day. Driving really isn't fun currently.
@@_the_ i really wanted to learn on a stick but i couldn’t find anyone who had one and would let me borrow it to learn lol they are so rare in the US
The best way to advertise your course. Really respectful and not trying to sell the shit out of it
I both agree and disagree. i think efficiency is entirely the wrong way to approach language learning, but personal interest and enthusiasm and fun and immersion is the best. My psycholinguistics professor said ( and this wasn't on the exam :) ) the best way to learn a language is through love. Love for someone or something, the place the people, some thing you're a fan of. But nothing beats having a "language parent" around, willing to gently correct you and help you out with words and showing you things. and hunkering down with a dictionary every now and then.
so basically if you can, move to a place where the language you want to learn is spoken and all around you and try to learn what you want to say and understand, and you will get ten times further in a month that way than six months in a class
🤡
I gotta say I started learning French about 9 months ago after watching one of your videos and I was doing my best to try to enjoy the process and I still am.. The French section in this video was like a confirmation for me especially when I was picking up on multiple sentences and phrases. I'm grateful that I'm learning a lot from you dude, so thank you!
Bro, can I too get an idea from you that from where to start to begin with?
T'as posté ton commentaire il y a 1 an mais j'espère que le français t'intéresse toujours autant et bon courage ! ❤️
@@maudzilla1798 Je m'intéresse toujours à la langue française.. même si je dois admettre que je ne l'ai pas pratiquée...
I have been trying to learn French and is not that easy 😢
I believe that the French teachers are ‘precious’. They appear to want to teach a language but fail to teach communication.
Is it so important that my table is female (unless it identifies as a different gender 😂)?
If a French person said to me The table she is laid I doubt it would concern me.
I just have to say that you've inspired me so much in the last year, not only in language learning and travelling, but in living in general. You helped me accept that it's okay for me to want something different and be different, and not just follow the same path as everyone else. Thank you
Yes, this is how people acquire a language efficiently.
Remember that at my university our 1st arabic words were corn, impacable manners, rocket, monument, atom, hemorrhage.
And our teacher really couldn't get why his students were loosing their motivation.
I retired at 48 and moved to Bordeaux France for a year. Never having spoken a word of French or visiting France. Tried soooo hard to learn the language but struggled. Thanks for your help I will be back to learning the language and back to my travels.
Hey shane why do you feel you struggled and what did you struggle with?
as a teenage polyglot who is currently self learning Italian I love learning new methods! and this one is actually one of my favs ❤️ thanks for sharing!
Your french is just next level.
You're hearing this from a guy who started learning french when he was 5 years old.
I clicked for the cutie in the thumbnail 😁- Thomas
hahaha my dude!
You guys need to make a vid. together. PLEASE
@@nathanieldrew do you have a list or newsletter with the 1000 most commonly used Italian words?
sus
💀
The second half of this video was so freaking fun. Thank you for this, Nathaniel!
Ya, its beautiful
I thought the same!
Learning languages truly is such a magical part of connecting with people!
I'm stuck in france doing my undergrad and I cannot speak almost any word of french. the way you expressed excitement in french while driving really really inspired me to learn french!
I absolutely agree with your opinion about traditional language teaching methods in school. It’s sooo annoying to have to do all the unnecessary essays when all you want to do is be able to talk with people. UA-cam is genuinely more helpful than traditional language courses.
His experience in tackling new things really shows when he is learning to drive stick. The fact that he is able to smile and persevere through the mini meltdown was really cool.
You're awesome Nathaniel! I speak 5 languages, and trying to add 2 more this year ... I'm only totally fluent in 3, the other ones are basic conversational, but it brings me so much joy everytime I'm able to make a full correct sentence on my own in any of the new languages. I share your passion! Please keep sharing your experiences with us! 💕
May I ask how you go started with language learning? Is there any tips you could give? I really want to start learn a new language but it feels so overwhelming.
@@crisannebraham1241 once you start with your 1st new language, the excitement will make you want to learn more. Nowadays we have many options to learn languages. Online on our own, in person school/class, through friends/social activities, etc.
In order to get excited & encouraged to continue, I would suggest trying out the different free language apps depending on what languages you want to learn. I learned Italian & Spanish through apps & youtube lessons. I speak english & french because I live in a bilingual city so we learn them in school by default. This year I started learning Mandarin & Korean through apps & dramas/movies ... I find the more you expose yourself to a language the better your learning, word recgnition & pronounciation will become. Listen to podcasts in a language of choice while you cook/do dishes. Even if you don't understand a word, your brain will register those words & sentences, and when you come across them through a lesson, you will understand & remember them a lot easier.
Some people like to write to learn. I'm visual and verbal. So I prefer to see, hear & repeat. You have to find out what works best for you. You have to make it fun, not a chore. If it becomes something you enjoy, you will not see it as an overwhelming task, but rather a hobby, a me-time activity that you will look forward to in your day. I actually schedule my language learning as part of my daily activity like eating & sleeping. It's a must for me. Select a time that you can stick to, and make it a part of your daily schedule. Start with 10-15 minutes per day & do it when you're relaxed. Like first thing when you wake up, or last thing before bed. Hope this helps. Let me know if you need more tricks 😊
@@EvaMariposa omg thank you so much for the in-depth advice!! I’m extremely thankful, I only have on more question to ask. The language I’m trying to learn is French because I live in a bilingual country and the part I struggle the most in is speaking in French because I find it very difficult to form sentences off the top of my head. Do you have any tips on how to improve on that skill or overcome the fear of speaking?
@@crisannebraham1241 certainly! I find the best way to get comfortable in a language is by practice. I learned french as a 2nd language so I can tell you from experience, the best way to master french is to immerse yourself in the language as much as possible. Since you live in a bilingual country, it'll be easy to expose yourself to many situations where you can practice. Watch french tv/news/shows. If you have any children (even if you don't), children's educational shows/books are the fastest & easiest way to get basic vocabulary in. Once you are comfortable with simple sentence structures, you can move up to adolescent/adult shows & books.
What helped me a lot is repeating what i hear. So let's say when you are watching a french movie/tv show, put the subtitles in french when possible & listen & read at the same time. Your brain will register the sounds, words, structures & intonations in a practical way. Then I would repeat what I hear sometimes outloud, sometimes in my head, and make sure I sound as close as possible to what I hear.
I actually do this with all my languages. I try to repeat what I hear so that it registers better & words are used correctly in the right context. Learning French for an english speaking person is difficult if you try to compare the sentence structure & match the equivalent. I would suggest not to compare english & french & just learn French like you would teach a new born child. They have no point of reference. They point at objects, memorize the word. Then make short sentences. Then more complex at they grow. Same thing works for us adults. Start with simple conversation & work your way up. And the more you Practice, the more comfortable you will be. Don't hesitate if you have more questions 😊
@@EvaMariposa again, thank you so much! You’ve helped me so much already and thank you for taking the time out of your day for the detailed response😊. The ONLY other thing I’ll ask you is how long did it take you to be fully fluent (C1/C2 level) in French ?
it's amazing how someone can inspire you and really dig deep into your heart and make you realise life can be beautiful, can be so much better. I started learning Italian recently, it's been hard but your video has motivated me to keep going. the second part of the video is simply enlightening because I was very uninspired and mindlessly living my life. thank you nathan, you sure are changing lives of many. you are.
if you think about it, this is exactly how kids learn their first language
Good thoughts, I’ve been trying to learn French for the past 8 years and I relied on the school system for the first 7 years. Over the past year I’ve been with a teacher ba making much more progress. I think this video will really help many people learn a language faster and more effectively
I want to learn French these days but I'm afraid to do it because I never continued and learnt any of the languages I started
Top Takeaway:
-Focus on word frequency (words used the most)
-Focus on 80/20 rule
I recommend reading "Fluent Forever" to people who want to learn a language :)
that you take the time to have Spanish subtitles for most of your videos makes them that much more valuable since you can be watching something incredibly deep and interesting while simultaneously improving your Spanish (my 3rd language, so far) thanks Nathan love your work, inspiring and much appreciated! 💚✌️
The thing people always miss about word frequency is that frequency is inversely proportional to the amount of information transmitted. The most frequent words are the least important for understanding.
Incredible video as always! I’d love for you to keep this style of video up. The beginning is a great lesson with steps to action and the second half felt like “This is what your language learning experience can lead to.” It’s amazing that the only thing that stops us from making millions of friends is a language barrier. I’d argue there are even some ways around that hurdle!
Of course you can skip gears when shifting manually. It all depends on your speed, really. If you're decelerating quickly, for example, just keep your foot on the clutch or switch into neutral until you're moving at a steady speed again and then choose the best gear for that speed. You'll eventually get a feeling for which range of speeds corresponds to which gear. Similarly, if you're accelerating quickly you might first shift down one gear, max it until you reach your desired speed, and then skip one gear to get back to steady driving.
I love how you document your learning and the process. It’s inspiring to see how we can get to the end goal, and that it is possible!
Hey Nathaniel, could you please talk about how you find the confidence to put yourself out there and talk to people in a foreign language, and dealing with making mistakes in language learning? I'd love to hear your input, and hopefully be inspired in my own language learning journey. Thanks :)
A tip about driving manual: Understanding what is going on under the hood (with the clutch, gears, and so on) helps a lot! It allows you to understand what are you doing wrong and how to avoid it next time.
Thank you for the tips and techniques. I cant remember how I learned english and while I was watching your video, I realized that your right. I searched the top 100 english words and I'm surprise that I know all of them. We really must start at something. Step one maybe the hardest part. Knowing nothing at something makes me want to quit immediately. It is so overwhelming.
What I learned in this video is that you only need to learn the common words and phrases then you can start to mix and match them. Also, watch vlogs of your target language and read kid's story books for they have words and phrases that are used daily. It's okay if it's wrong grammar, they'll still understand it and continue on with your conversation with them.
Honestly I find this concept pretty applicable to learning anything. Focus in on importance and core principles in the beginning and as skills grow you get into more depthful topics of any given subject. I also agree on learning language in school it never worked for me. I learned Spanish from friends, TV, traveling, and honestly just over time you also find what works for you and makes it exciting that you want to study it everyday. Love your videos keep them coming!
Yes and no. For example you can manage English pretty well without using both 'the' and 'a'. It won't be correct English but most people will understand you and you will understand most people. This is one of the most common mistakes made by for example Slavs.
And in case of most common 100 words - most of them are functional words. They make sense only when you understand grammar. Learning that 了 means 'finish' is useless as it is mostly used as a functional particle, not a word.
Absolutely genius editing skills! Content and delivery keeps my attention and intrigues me. Many blessings to you.
The way this video is produced is absolute class! The shots, angles, transitions..
10:55 that level of joy that I may never experience in my life, I'm so happy for you man, you deserve it
I'm 15 And speak 4 languages And next month i have to star learning Sanskrit Most folks In My state Telangana(India) Speak 4 languages, which is insane it's mandatory! 😤
You will be thankful to your past you in the future. Congrats bro, keep going :)
I’m from Telangana too, and I’ve just started learning Spanish too. 😌
@@shreyabahirat I'm from Spain so let me give you a tip. If you want to move to Spain to learn Spanish, consider moving to Catalonia or Madrid (they have a clear accent and it's easy to understand). Avoid the south of Spain and remote towns (I don't understand them and I've been born in Barcelona and lived here my entire life)
well done Steven! Keep it up! From another language fan!
That's awesome kid. Good luck
i too want to learn languages like german, french, spanish, italian
I can speak italian and german
In terms of Romance Languages, start with Spanish... then Italian (or Romanian). Later French and perhaps Portuguese. The book, Loom of Language explains the value of learning languages with shared vocab (Romance, Slavic, Tuetonic/German). Also the vid, "How to learn a language, dont study it" is good.
@@4himsanctified I disagree with you. DeepFriedLemonWedges should learn whichever language they want to learn first. And after that , in any order they want to.
My advice: don't sit around thinking about how to do it. Just START.
Ik filipino.
"Imagine having an entire conversation without using THE word "the"" -there you go
The simplicity of how Nathaniel approaches such a delicate subject, and in such an authentic way to the point that my eyes shine and a tear almost drops, is insane. Knowledge has a fascinating power, continue Nathaniel, a hug, from Brazil.
I like how you document your learning and the process. It's inspiring to see how we can get to the end goal, and that's possible 👍🏻
Always been fascinated by this concept. It's super important in Chinese where you have to learn the characters (汉子) as they're so difficult at first. In Chinese the most common word is 的, which kind of translates to the "'s" used to denote possession in English, but not really. It's used almost 4x more than the second most common character.
Me encanta como se nota a veces el acento argentino cuando hablas francés.
I've literally spent the past 6 years of my life watching youtube in english (2-7 hours a day) and now I have a C1 without having ever talked with a native speaker, that is weird.
You have the qualification like Cambridge or you think you have a c1 level in english ? How did you manage for the accent part ?
I do have the certification. For the accent I think watching videos may probably be better than living in the country, I just repeat words and expressions that appear in the video.
Some people have told me that I have a very good accent but I still have trouble with the entonation of the sentence.
@em ! What good will immersion do without basic understanding?
Title: How to learn languages faster
Nathaniel: Watch me drive this car for 5 minutes straight!
I'm following you from Egypt, i learned many things from you
, really like your way of thinking. And i suggest your channel to all my friends
I’m trying to learn Italian & have been for many years, I’m at an intermediate level now, around a level B1, but they have so many verb conjugations for past, present future, different genders & how many people are in the room etc... I’m obsessed with Italy & so my passion lives on
Seriously love the French language and just listening to you and Greg talk while you were learning to drive. We recently spent 3 months in France and loved every moment of experiencing the French culture 🇫🇷❤️
Your videos are SO well put together, we seriously respect the amount of effort that goes into each of your videos 👏🏼
Of all the language learning apps, Pimsleur seems the closest to what you’re talking about though I would love to hear the experiences of fans who took your special course too!
I'm a fan of Pimsleur, too, and have used it for Japanese. I'd like to take this course to see if it really helps.
Pimsleur was mid, how do people not get bored?
That's a great way of seeing the journey as a solar system. From my experience as a teacher for Non-Germans learning German is to encourage the students to talk and interact with each other in German.
This is SUPER helpful,I’ve been trying to learn Italian for several months now,and I’m making progress,but it’s slow,I’m going to try to follow your method more closely
Success is a journey, not a destination; the doing is often most important then the outcome.✌️✌️
Love from a small youtuber 🖤
Incredible filming of this, engaging and I completely agree how language has been frustrating through formal education, I'm a 23 soon to be graduated University student, who has spent the last 16 years straight in formal education and learning French and Irish, but also I chose to learn Spanish in my final year of University. Spending 9 years in total with French, I couldn't speak it now really whatsoever, I wasn't able to go on an exchange unlike others, and I think that was the one error to curbing my interactions with locals. Also, I'd a shocking teacher! But for Spanish, even though it's been all online the last year, I have genuinely been interested and engaged with it, and for Italian, currently learning basics so I can take up a job this summer while living with a host family.
Thank you for making this content Nathaniel !!!
That second part was the best crossover I'll see in a month
Funny thing is, that when we, the native speakers of slav languages, learn Eglish, we generally are not using articles (a, an, the). We don't have anything similar in our languages, so we don't feel a need to use them (and perhaps lack of understanding of their role in a language). I am saying that because of the comment at 2:08
This video brought back great memories for me. I learned french while in the foreign legion and got to travel around France, a lot of southern France especially. So, the latter half of this episode really brought back great memories, and with them, the joy of remembrance, and the sorrow of adventures and friends lost to time.
Hi Ben, In your opinion, which part of France is better? Northern France or Southern France and why?
@@nathanaelfra
northern france looks like belgium, while southern france looks like a mediteranean country…
Can i just say how inspiring your videos are? The hard work you put on them really shows off! Much love from Greece x
I admire anyone who fearlessly learns languages. I have a huge interior battle with myself on learning language as I fear mistakes and I find it difficult to recall words, especially under stress but what you say here is very useful to consider. It’s work to learn a language so it’s got to be made fun or you risk giving up
I think getting familiar with common English phrases , and words don't just create simplicity,. but it also creates a foundation for the
learners to explore and learn more sophisticated and less common words or phrases of a language.
seeing you have that meltdown driving was beautiful truly an experience i can feel through the screen
I will admit. More than most things, to see you speaking so confidently and learning something in another language really did inspire me.
Thanks for that.
Oh! I loved this 💞. European French is so much lovelier sounding than Canadian/Acadian French. I don’t know how to drive stick, it was fun to tag along in your adventure. Certainly made me want to travel or simply go exploring the world around me. I liked your theory on learning new languages, I would like to learn Hebrew. Love your videos and personality. Blessings.
I am just about to start learning Dutch with this method, you've inspired me, thankyou :)
I once was a music teacher and prior to this, was a classically trained violinist. When I first began teaching, I realised how painful it actually was to teach a bunch of slightly disinterested kids how to play a scratchy, difficult stringed instrument. Don't get me wrong, there are some people who do require traditional, strategic education, however for the other 95% this just isn't necessary. For this 95% it is not about becoming a professional musician or teacher. For them, it's about the joy of music, a new way of expression, enjoyment and a good way to connect with their peers.
For this 95% of kids, I found, the best thing to do was to remove the 'hard stuff' and get straight to the art of playing. I removed music reading, theory and notation. I colour coded, a physically wrote out the letters of the notes rather than pushing them to learn the art of reading music. To me, the joy for them would come by playing in an ensemble, without the scratchy sounds. So we focused on aural training and muscle memory. Within 12 months, these 8 year olds were playing in an ensemble together performing modern pop songs - mind you, they were not the greatest, but they sure as hell had the best time.
In comparison, it took me 3 years of traditional education (daily practice for 30 mins) to perform the same piece. Perhaps I played it with better technical ability, and I probably sight read the music. However, I do believe my students 15 years later, learning how to perform the same piece behind a different learning method still found the end goal, joy!
I can see the connection between the way you described the learning of a new language with how I taught my students how to play a fiddle tune. The older I get, the more I realise what luck it is that we live now, in the 21st century. We get to question the 'traditional' methods and call out when and where things are necessary. It's not one box fits all, we can tailor our learning to an end goal.
Want to be a professional musician playing at the royal opera house? Great, I've got just the thing for you.
Want to use music to connect with others and bring art into the world? No worries, here is an alternative path to take.
Haha never thought to see my native language in a comment somewhere, maar goed zo! ☺️
Hoe gaat het leren tot nu toe? 😌
Nathaniel: imagine how difficult it would be to have a conversation without using the word "the"
Russians: hold my vodka
As somebody who knows Russian,
Да
Thank you so much Nathaniel for sharing and creating this art piece living your fullest. It is an honor to be part of this.
i originally clicked on because of the title, and i was just curious, but omg your cinematography is FANTASTIC it made me happy and it felt like i was at peace, thank you, i really appreciate it :)
As an European, I learned to drive an automatic for the first time this week! 😃 It was a funny feeling to drive without a stick, haha. But I think it's harder the other way around, for those that are used to drive automatic suddenly changing to a stick. Anyhow, GREAT JOB Nathaniel!
You captured quite well my problem with my French classes. The overabundance of content and lack of context made everything.... wishy washy.
I'm planning to continue studying on my own but personalized, using the theory you stated and a journal.
Plus, immersion. Books, videos and podcasts about topics that actually matter to me, in French. Between casual immersion and intentional, personalized, study, I expect great results.
Thank you for your insight
Your cinematography and editing just makes all of us look bad by now hahaha soo good!
I am currently learning my 4th language.. And I noticed that the brain is really good noticing patterns! You just have to put important words (input) into your brain and it does the rest
This is such a cool video. I learned French in school (and college) but I recently decided to start learning Spanish online and it's such a different experience! I just posted a video sharing my Spanish progress after two months. I have a lot of work left to do with Spanish, but this Solar System Theory is a great idea!
Incredible videography , great content amazing dude keep it up
Can you read my mind? This is the content I oh so need
Amazing video! I agree with your language learning method. I don't know if I got it all, but there's a 10% of each language that it's the core of communication. And over the time, the more you study, the "jump" (distance between the circles representing the amount of knowledge and progression) reduces.
Here in Brazil, most of the cars have a manual transmission. Everyone here has to learn how to drive manually to take the driver's license exam.
Just starting to learn Spanish and this was very helpful. Also love the part of learning to drive a stick shift. My cousin taught me, here in San Francisco (on the hills!), in her Volkswagen bug. One of my fondest memories of my cousin Suzie who passed away some years ago.
Thank you so much Nathaniel for sharing and creating this art piece living your fullest. It is an honor to be part of this. 🌱🦋