@@dennyska2211 How do you figure that? Why would you be uncomfortable and stressed? You're fluent when it comes naturally, automatically, and as second nature. You don't have to think about it in general. If someone is stressed or uncomfortable in their native language. It's not because they lack speaking ability at a very high level. It's some other outside interference. Some other factors at play.
@@brendon2462 I think that what Denysska meant to say, considering what was being said in the video at that time and what the original commenter said, is that no one can be ~ truly fluent ~ in any language because that would require one to know everything about that language and that's impossible
@@wearelegallyrequiredtoeatd3580 I don't believe you need to know everything. Because you don't need to have the vocabulary of a dictionary. To convey feelings and thoughts. Most of it isn't necessary to know. As far as speaking fluency is concerned.
To me being fluent is being able to perform pretty much the same tasks as in your native language, i.e. read the books you want, watch the TV shows you want, and being able to express your identity in a conversation.
@Kalevipoeg Don't you mean native level. Your first language is native level. Which is a very high level of fluency. Basic fluency is just that being able to communicate easily. It's still a few levels below native ability. But the first stage of fluency reached is a basic level. If you can't watch or read the same shows in your target language. As you do in your native. The issue is likely vocabulary you need more words to understand input. After all language is words. We spend years and years acquiring vocabulary in our native language. Passive and the vocab we use ourselves. A lot of people don't do enough direct learning vocabulary in context. Ask do I know as all the words in my target language as I do in my native. I know I don't yet I bet once one does they can watch and understand equally as good.
@@AJ-fo2pl Then what do you label the early stages of communication and basic understanding? If not basic fluency then what? There are different levels of fluency. Native level is just a convenient label. That tells you that's their language and they're good at it. But not all natives are equal. There's varying degrees of skill. When it comes to native speakers. Doctors for example have a specialized vocabulary. That an average joe like me doesn't understand. So they're higher in ability with vocabulary.
Mine has always been the same as Lindie's. Being able to have a conversation about general topics without major pauses or stops in it. Also any bumps in the conversation that do arise can be ironed out in the language too. Of course the label of fluent *continues* all the way to near native, but I always thought of it as starting there. It seems to me like a more defined line of proficiency to go from awkward novice attempts, to a flowing conversation. Defining a line of "fluency" to the vague area of "near native" isn't as clearly defined for me. That's why the "generally fluid speech and comprehension" just makes more sense in my head.
"Close to native" is just as vague an idea as fluent. There's a huge range of proficiency in native language speakers. Lindie's definition at least attempts to outline an idea of what fluent actually means in practice and could just as well fit as a definition for "close to native."
That's right! I think from an outsider's view (monolinguals), it's easier to ask "what do you speak" as they don't always think about all the factors to take into account when learning and judging fluency.
I've met someone who passed the N2 in 1.5 years then the N1 in 3. But he was also a programmer and besides studying hours on end, just had a logical brain for language. I am dyslexic and have studied on and off, so getting to the same level has taken me over 10 years. It really depends on your effort but also what type of leaner you are and I don't think there's any shame in taking your time to learn a language! Also really looking forward to the polyglot conference! ^^
Don't worry about the test, it doesn't proof anything, I have friends that have N2 and don't know a kanji, or even talk. Many people copy or buy it so can jump steps faster than the ones working harder. So don't stress if you don't have a test level, learn at your pace. Whenever you can communicate and pass interviews for jobs it's enough
I believe a language being similar doesn't make it easier, my first language is Portuguese and even though I could always understand Spanish even before I've studied it, it was the most difficult language to learn because I never feel fluent enough I feel like I'm mixing the two languages all the time. English and French were way easier to learn (I know French is also a romance language, but it's not that similar to Portuguese)
I’m Spanish and I feel soooo related, I can almos understand Portuguese when reading and listening but if I try to study it’s very hard because some words I just say them in Spanish because it just canes out like that.
@@Javynejo31 French was ok to learn, Spanish was too similar to Portuguese. Have you tried learning languages that are very different from English and Spanish?
@@BemPoliglota No I haven't, I've always tried to learn languages from the same family or that at least share a similar alphabet but it hasn't been easy for me. I have tried French, portuguese and Italian still having a hard time. I'm not giving up though, but maybe that's a good idea.
@@Javynejo31 I think Italian is beautiful and I'd love to learn it but I think it would be way too difficult and it would be confusing because it's too similar to other languages I speak, I can understand some Italian even though I've never studied it. That's why now I'm trying to learn languages from different families like German and Mandarin.
yeah me too TT but I'm still a student and I'm pretty sure C2 is equivalent to a well-educated (so presumably college grad+) native speaker so I've accepted it lol
amazing video once again. you’re a great inspiration for me - i’m currently 15 years old and i can understand roughly 4 languages. your videos push me to learn more and i’m really grateful for finding your channel.
I’ve been living in Japan for four years now and I’m just now studying for the n3. My progress in Japanese has been so slow and I still struggle with speaking. I’d love to eventually learn Korean and Chinese but I want my Japanese to be at least n2 level before I attempt that and who knows how long that’ll take. Btw my husband is from Fukuoka! It is such a great city! I hope you enjoy your time there!
🦊SUMMARY 8:26 "It depends on your background, similar languages that you've learned, time you put into it, and also the amount of immersion and exposure you have in the language." Beautifully put, Lindie. The whole video was so relatable. My native language is Korean but there are some times I have to look up a dictionary, and I don't know much idioms or academically understand every topics. This does not mean my korean is bad, right? So, i think that fluency is not to be seen equal to "perfection". It's important to keep this in mind. 좋은 영상 고마워요 린디 언니 私は今日本語を勉強してます。 あなたの動画はいつも私に大切な物ですよ。
Very well explained ! I'm a Thai language learner myself and also live in Thailand for many years now. I also get asked how long it took me to be fluent in Thai. You are always learning and your view point hit the nail on the head , thanks
@@chimmyeatingkookies8419 do 10 letters per day by practising writing them down and repeat , repeat and repeat ! Then when you can read a bit all the letters come around again and again some more than others and it does eventually sink in ! Good luck mate
Thank you for this video! It can never be repeated enough: the time it takes to learn a language cannot be measured in years. Everyone has a different pace, life circumstances differ, and the biggest factor is how much time and energy you can devote to it. I admit that I've been "learning" Spanish intermittently since I was 8 years old (so, 15 years now!) but I'm still not fluent! This inspired me to change that.
I’m still learning a lot of things in my native language, learning it’s a forever process, a lot of people think it’s something bad “I need to know everything right now”, I particularly love discovering new things about the languages I learn. From a Portuguese, Japanese and English speaker, my advice: chill out!
Thank you for pointing out that many polyglots boost their numbers by choosing to study languages closely related to ones they already know. Not that it isn't still an impressive achievement, but it is way easier than choosing completely unrelated languages. And I do feel it kind of makes the polyglot community feel a little eurocentric at times.
Absolutely right about it being Eurocentric but I also think that's because we're accessing the community through English. In Asia there are big polyglot communities too but the Lingua Franca of them would be KR/JP/CN for instance. They're smaller though than the western Polyglot community on UA-cam.
One of the things that impresses me about Luca Lampariello is that his Chinese and Japanese are quite good (as far as I know), not "just" his French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, German etc.
Nog nooit van "potgooi" gehoor nie😂. Amazing! Also, this video gave me some peace of mind. I've been struggling so much with speaking Spanish and I've been pressuring myself tremendously for "fluency". Thank you! Also, welcome back😊
When it comes to writing, I think I'm fluent in English (my second language). However, every time I open my mouth to actually speak... "Yes...er...there...er...no." Can anyone relate?
maybe you just get too nervous while speaking you should try to imagine your self in diffrente situations and talk with your self in the mirror for exempel hope that i helped you and have a nice day
@@ademnouaouer9854 Yeah I definitely do get too nervous. It's difficult to speak even when I'm alone though... Thanks anyway. Recently I've been been forcing myself to practice and I believe it will get easier with time. Have a nice day too
Monika Z It’s very common, you probably believe that your English skills aren’t good enough to maintain a conversation. I’m Brazilian (my first language is Portuguese) and sometimes I mispronounce some words or I even don’t know what the word means... just because I’m native doesn’t necessarily makes me 100% fluent in Portuguese, the same thing with English, we will never be 100% fluent. So feel free to make mistakes, you’ll learn from them, hope I helped you. xx
@@ademnouaouer9854 That's a matter of practicing your pronuntiation and watching tv shows/music/videos and emulating the rythm and cadence of their conversations. The more you submerge yourself in the language, the better you get at it. I studied english for 8 years in school but when I started uni I couldn't hold a conversation. After 3 years of consuming everything in english I've gotten better. Am I perfect? No. But I can actually talk to an english speaker without crying of frustration.
This isn’t a hate comment and I don’t mean to offend anyone just looking for more views but English is my only language because I don’t get the luxury of learning two languages at school. I tried to learn Chinese & Japanese (extremely hard languages to master) and just couldn’t do it. I became burnt out after 8 months because I felt I wasn’t getting anywhere with both them. I feel envious of foreigners because a lot of them can speak two languages by the time they graduate and it’s a great skill to have because it’s apart of their learning system and not many people that aren’t from a English speaking country can say they speak two languages that’s why I’m impressed at how many languages you can speak. But native English speaking countries who don’t have that luxury have to learn it more as a hobby than a curriculum and it takes years to master especially if you don’t live in the country or have any classes locally etc. It makes me feel inferior to a lot of people who speak two languages because I’m already older than a lot of them and they can already speak two languages. But I don’t discredit the hardwork they done at school but they would of found it much harder if they never learned it outside school from scratch. They basically know everything I know except in a second language and other rich education systems in English speaking countries teach language like Chinese at school where and average school like mines doesn’t. What are your thoughts sorry it was quite long. It makes me feel wealth can create a easier path to goals and upbringing.
I've been learning Chinese for about 8 months (I'm almost at a HSK 4 level) and did it all through self-study so did I, learned English. I'm far from perfect but all you need is patience and discipline, when I didn't understand a new grammar structure I just stopped to study and told myself "I will learn it tomorrow" and it worked. I'm sure you can do it too :)
Don't give up. There's so much you can learn online in those languages even if you don't have good options at school. I knew barely anything in those languages after eight months. It sounds like they're the first languages you've really worked on and it takes a while before you figure how to learn a language. There will be lots of mistakes along the way as you try different things and see what works for you.
Thank you so much for uploading this video. I am a native Spanish speaker and my second language is English. I've been learning the language for almost 7 years and I feel that, now, I am comfortable enough to speak "fluently". At first, I was a very shy person who was afraid of making mistakes at the time of speaking. I think that's why I always though that I wasn't good enough and I was waisting time(?). I believe that these thoughs were the fence that stopped me to talk to other people. For this reason, I had several mental breakdowns. However, I kind of overcame this stage when I went abroad and I got emerged into an English speaking country. Now, I am studying Korean by my own and, with the previous knowledge that I have about learning a second language, I understand that I can make as many mistakes as everybody does when they're learning a new language. It is just part of the process. I hope I can speak it, at least, in three or four years. I wasn't sure about the time that it is actually gonna take in order to achieve this goal, but making a sort of "deadline" can help. Pushing myself can help because, as you said, having a specific objective is crucial if someone wants to speak whatever language it is. Mine is to study my masters in Korea. Let's see how it goes! Hahaha. I admire you 3000. Your videos are always inspiring. Thank you!
As soon I saw the notification, I clicked! I speak a few languages, but not fluently, ahaha. I’m mostly focused on Japanese though. But anyways, I find it hard to get motivation... A lot. I used to study everyday, but it has died down. ^^; And I actually want to be a Interpreter/ Translator in the future. But I keep getting discouraged by a few people around me, and even myself. But Lindie, your videos are so great to watch and really get me pumped! Thank you so much. I hope things are going well for you. 💓
Love your honesty! Other AHEM AHEM polyglots tried and failed at getting fluent in Japanese in 3 months. Because hey, just repeating "aahhh... hai!" is NOT Japanese fluency. And yeah, speaking like 15 languages counting 5 different Spanish dialects is like LOL.
Haha is that about Benny Lewis? I would also like to add: Uploading a UA-cam video called "I learned _____ in 7 days" is also not fluency, and nor is it honest, even if you spend the entire video backing out of that claim.
@@tofugains Actually more about Nathaniel Drew. But then I Kenna copied him. Nathaniel was like: "I learned Italian in 7 days... ...(after learning it for 18 months but nah still 7 days cos I'm going to claim I've forgotten it)."
Hi Lindie, thank you for this video. I'm trying to learn Korean by myself, and it is taking me much longer than I expected. I was starting feeling like an idiot. Perhaps I should give myself more time and study in a less stressful way. 😊
Whatever you think of Benny Lewis's methods I like his definition of fluency which is along the lines of you're fluent if you can talk about the same things in your target language as you can your native language
I don't mind Benny but even THAT definition is pretty loose. I can talk about music as if I'm an expert in English... because I am expert basically, I have Honours in music. I can't do that in Swedish because I have never studied or even played music in a Swedish speaking context. In fact I'd probably have a lot more luck doing that in Italian, and I really don't speak Italian... but this is because music vocab is often Italian (in classical music). Yet I would call myself fluent in Swedish, and some things I might even find on par in terms of comfort in talking about them, Swedish things such as St. Lucia'a day... I can totally explain them in English but I have never had to, whereas I've done it like 50 times in Swedish.
To me it doesn't make sense to have "native level" and "fluent" as interchangeable terms with the same meaning. Why even have the term fluent then, it's made useless lol. It makes more sense to me to have the term fluent denote someone who is beyond the beginner awkwardness, but not quite into advanced/deep level language use. Otherwise like I said, it's rendered useless and you end up with no term for someone at that conversationally proficient level which I think is a really important stage. You could call it intermediate but to me fluent describes that level of language proficiency perfectly because that's literally when someone becomes "fluid" in their speech and understanding.
i think i need to comment this here, i saw your photo on your IG and that inspired me to learn lots of languages. those flags on your shirt really inspire me!
This is wonderful, Lindie! I am involved with seven languages, and they are all in different places along the continuum of language proficiency and knowledge. Monolinguals--THOSE MONOLINGUALS!!!--tend ot get impatient as I explain my levels of capability in my languages. One of the things I've found to be consistent across many years now is the fact that monolinguals tend not to understand what is involved in language-learning, and tend to view linguistic ability and skill in very binary and simplistic terms--as in, "yes/no." You've explained all of this brilliantly--thank you!!!
oh my gosh thank you. i have been living and studying only japanese at school for 1 year and 3 months. i passed N3 already, but i give myself such a hard time because im not comfortable in the language yet and i always stress myself out thinking something is wrong with me, im not doing enough, etc, even though i really feel like im trying so hard. this is the first time ive finally heard someone say "roughly 4 years." people always just mention passing the higher levels of JLPT in like less than 2 years and i just dont understand how they do that, and i don't even know if they can also speak easily to that level either (maybe not since there is no speaking on JLPT), but i felt like maybe as an english speaker its just hard, but i have no one to talk to who understands my struggle. i constantly feel like a failure. i don't even know if you'll read this, but thank you. i think this can take a huge weight off of me.
Thank you SO much for your beautiful motivating videos ♥ The Idea of watching you talking about Languages and learning them makes my day ♥ Keep going please ♥
Fantastic video Lindie and a great way of answering a constant question. Squash time together I've been in Thailand in for 3 years (between 2013 and now) and only this year can finally read it without mistakes constantly. It does take time and has factors that effect how and why we learn
You're so right! Languages take different times depending on how difficult they are and any intelligible languages that you already know. For example, after learning French and Spanish, Italian was a lot easier for me to learn, and I am now also learning a bit of Portuguese. However I am still struggling with Korean and the verbs, but mostly because I haven't properly started learning them effectively (e.g. reading the words as if they were vocabulary, then covering them and trying to remember them, and repeating this process until I got it right; this has worked for French and Spanish vocabulary). This has made me frustrated with Korean itself, even though I love the Korean culture. However I hope this will change as I'm joining a Korean society at uni in the hope that I can learn Korean via cultural immersion and interactions with native speakers In studying Japanese at university, I feel like I am learning a lot quicker than Korean. This is largely due to having excellent teachers, varied learning methods (Duolingo and Memrise on repeat and books without CD's have largely contributed to my boredom in learning Korean), and elements of cultural immersion. Thanks for the video! Fluency is such a vague term; although I have my own standards of when I've reached it (I don't think that I'll be fluent in a language until I've at least lived there for a bit) Sorry for the essay btw.
I am learning languages from completely different languages families Turkish and Coptic are the main ones I focus on, but I also study Farsi, Tamazight, and Ancient Greek when I have the time.
I needed two years to become fluent in Spanish. At the moment I learn Norwegian and I think this will take me longer. I personally think it depents on your mother tongue, on which languages you learnt during your childhood/in school, how much time you can invest every day etc. It's very personal.
for the first 6 years I was learning english(in school) I was an absolute begginer in english, until I discovered youtube in english and now just 3 years later I'm C1,
In a previous video, you showed us a handful of your favorite Korean books that you own. One of them was a best-seller, I guess, that was about learning how to do away with your bad habits. I went ahead and bought that book in order to keep myself motivated, and I"ll consider myself fluent when I can effortlessly read that book without having to stop to look up words; or google the grammar online.
Estoy aprendiendo el español, francés, italiano, alemán, japonés y coreano. Mi lingua materna es inglés. Pienso que es tan importante tener una inspiración de aprender idiomas. Quería enseñarme el coreano por tres años, pero nunca podía. ¿Porque? No tenía una inspiración, no tenía una razón de aprender este idioma. Ahora, tengo una amiga que viene de Corea del Sur. Y ella aprendió inglés, pues, porque no puedo yo aprender coreano? Con el ayudo de ella, por este año, voy a aprender coreano con ella. I am still working on Hangul and stuff, but that’s the easy stuff. I have started to listen to Korean music as well, because it seems very popular in American culture. I’m not into K-Pop but I am going to exploit this opportunity! Prendo la classe d’Italiano nella scuola. Non mi piace il mio professore, ma amo la lingua. Vorrei viaggiare a Roma un giorno, e voglio insegnar ai miei figli I italiano se li ho. Ho preso la classe d’Italiano per quasi tre anni. Posso comunicare con i nativi. Una settimana scorsa ho parlato con un nativo d’italiano (in vida real). I am not confident in French, Japanese, German or Korean yet. But, maybe, check back in with me in s few months speaking one of those languages and we will see how it goes! Feel free to correct me!
About the Polyglot Conference, I heard about this too late. I’m not a polyglot but love languages. Also I live in Tokyo. This channel has been an inspiration. I’ve been toying with learning Japanese for almost 18 years. I’m still terrible. In spite of all the time lived in japan , 5 years, and all the time lived with Japanese people back in the states , 10 years, I’m still terrible. :/. I guess I’ve never gotten into the groove of study. I still make stupid mistakes like swapping 英語 with 映画.. so lame. I still live and work in japan so I guess I’m learning little by little. Thanks for making these videos.
WoW, another speaker of Afrikaans. I spoke to a guy last saturday, and I thought at first, that he is from the netherlands because im living in Münster, a german city near the border the the netherlands, but he was actually from south africa, studying in Groningen and he told me about some of the differences. Very interesting conversation. ^^
Dat klopt Lindie! Whereas German people would say Ganz genau! I've been learning German for a month by now and I'm determined to keep up the good work. It's not that easy for an Italian-speaking native but I hope I'll reap the benefits soon. Good luck to everyone who is learning a foreign language, it's worth every second! 🍀👋
Personally, I HATE how most people use the word “fluent.” Exactly what type of language level should be / is considered to be “fluent” is SUCH an overly subjective notion, and language levels/abilities that most people would agree to be considered “fluent” exist on a HUGE / extremely broad range. We need to invent another or several other new words to describe certain language level abilities with more precision/accuracy (if only once we did it would actually catch on... lol) I think a language that some is “very fluent” in, must a language where said person can think, read, write, speak (some degree of an accent is okay though) & above all understand spoken language with essentially the same abilities as one can do with their mother language. So in my opinion, fully understanding the language used in certain diverse academic areas (those words that most common people would know), politics, history, formal language, etc is an absolute MUST
when you think about it japanese's 2 alphabets that have the same sounds isn't that weird. its like english capital and lowercase alphabet, isn't it ? of course those alphabets both have different uses but still
Learning japanese 4-6 hours a day here for the last 1,5 years and I consider myself to be N2 level, I can read light novels, manga and play japanese video games by sometimes looking in dictionary if I want to understand everything Of course normal daily conversations are not a problem I’ll try the exam next year 🤔 I never studied based on the exam so I actually know a lot of N1 and non-JLPT words also
Aren't you doing MIA? I think I've seen your comments on Yoga's of Matt's videos. It really is the best way to go about learning Japanese. What do you think about the importance of how you balance your reading and listening? I have been doing pretty much only listening since I've started sentence mining (I have about 760 sentences, at the 5 month mark rn). Also, what do you think about the monolingual transition and when do you think I should do it?
Santiago Arce yeah kinda, I started with AJATT I pretty much do whatever I enjoy at the moment, most of the time I do anki for 1 hour, reading 2 hours , watching/listening for 1-2 hours Since I like reading the most as there are tons of fun materials such as manga, light novels and gaming (psn blog) I think it’s important to balance it out, but listening should be a higher priority at start because of acquiring a better pronunciation As for monolingual transitions I think it’s good to do it once you have a good grasp of grammar and a nice amount of words So probably better to do it after 1 year or so
ICEx Thanks. Since I started sentence mining pretty early I think Ill do it around 8-9 months in (2500-3000 sentences). For now, I don’t really see the point too much but it feels like everyone, after having done it, recommends it. Did it actually help you? Do you think the monolingual transition is really that important?
My parents moved to the UK about 10 years ago and they're definitely not fluent. They can get by but cannot really keep a conversation going it's unbelievable dude.
Hi and Thanks for your videos. I am starting Chinese and learning Characters and want them big, but I am totally stuck how to organize my note book but very neatly. I was looking for your first character book but didn´t see it.
I've worked on Portuguese for maybe 8 years? I studied and got a minor in it, and then did it on my own. I'm rusty now, because I want to be off of the internet, but I have videos in Portuguese--because many people claim to speak foreign languages, but when you look at their channels, you find they're liars. I've been studying Swahili for 3 years maybe? Between the two, major eye-openers!! Very different!! It's amazing how the languages opened my mind. If I travel to a Lusophonic country, the Portuguese should come back! I will!
I am bilingual - English and Cantonese. I grew up learning these languages and use them everyday. In school, I learned Parisian French but only spoke it during class. I still remember some French after 10 years of French classes. However, I have been learning Brazilian Portuguese for just over one year now. The grammar and ideas between French and Portuguese are similar. At the very least, I can introduce myself in Portuguese. Because I actually want to learn Portuguese, I know more Portuguese in just one year compared to 10 years of learning French.
So, I'm a native Russian speaker and english is my second foreighn language, which I've started, when I was at the first grade. I can't tell, that I'm fluent in english, but now I'm reading a lot of literature to pass school exams (going to take ielts for studying abroad). I understand every single word in what I read or can hear, but I am still having lots of problems (especially) with my writing skills (fucking artickles, i hate u) and a speaking part. When I was 13 y.o., me and my family moved to another country - Latvia. I've studied latvian seriously only for about two years and now I can feel, that I'm fluent, because I have a good background to study that language - lots of my friends are Latvians and I've simply felt, that I haven't got a choice and I am in a language-barrier trap. Being in Latvia, I had a weird and unlogical thoughts as a child and decided to learn !!!GERMAN, JAPANEESE, FRENCH AND LATVIAN!!! at the same time. Of course, without any background or a good opportunities to do that - just with the god's will, hope and BY MYSELF (just feel that childish flex on you)(nobody just wanted to disappoint me. thanks, ma). I was 14 and now I can say, that it wasn't such a big mistake in my life. After all -im alive-, I can understand lots of Germanand speak on it; french grammar and some phrases (mom, whats the french word for baguette); and I've figured out the fact about my huge passion for almost every language I can just SEE and kinda fall in love with it and other problems of mine (I am weird, when I am into hobbies, sorry) (And yess, one more offtop about that message. Just wanted to tell, that everything is possible and remember - practise makes lots of sense, when you are learning whatever what. I'm 17 now and I don't know what am i going to do. Latvia havent got a university for my specialization and I need to study abroad... again, but without my family. At least, I have a tiny hope on my success And yes, my english is "not there" sometimes and I have a mistakes and too mush commas)
I've lived in America all my life, and I often can't understand politics in English! I should have no trouble understanding math in Italian though. It's not any of my native languages, but French and Spanish are, and the only trouble I have with MathGurl (Portuguese) is her accent.
Hello. Nice channel, i just found it today! :) well, just my opinion...you are right about knowing about a certain topic in another language doesnt make you fluent, for example, im a native spanish speaker and you can talk to me about astrology in spanish and i dont understand anything lol because i dont know the topic, on the other hand, i went to Japan and visited a Karate dojo for training and i was able to take the lessons for one month and learn things without knowing any japanese but since i knew about the topic (karate) i was able to understand the lessons :) again, nice channel, im signing :)
I can't wait to be fluent in Spanish!!! This is my goal to aim this year 2020 and of course to my native language! And considering the English one! I also wanted to learn German and French for good! I'll go to different parts of Europe someday😊
I think you could consider yourself fluent when you are capable of having a conversation with someone about something that interests both of you. Even though that won't suffice for every situation I would still consider it to be more or less fluent. :)
Funnily enough a good friend from Brazil and me (from Venezuela) speak German with each other. We have tried each of us speaking our own native languages and we only get as far as a few sentences 😁
Awesome recommendation YT!!4:25 short answer. I think that after a certain time you are able to just speed up and have flow in a bunch of topics. Nevertheless, it can be a longer or shorter period of time according to the quality time which you have approached the language.
I support you , I have been stuyging English for almost 2 years. My english isn´t perfect yet, but I get to communicate with native speakers from around world. I get to understand English teachers talking about languages, I mean talk how to learn a language etc.. or advices for languages. In the begginer this year, I could´t undertand those things. I have knew more or less about noun to be. Now I can undertand about tips for learning, like 80 %. I started yesterday for studying by tv show, first: I watch wihout subtitles, I undertand like 25% .Secondly at same epsode with subtitles. Third I take notes on Anki. I have been spending 2 hours for stuyding by tv show. I´m watch only one epsode per day.
I'm a bit late, but I heard Hungarian in the video I knew I had to comment :D It said to be that the top 3 easiest languages to learn for hungarians are Turkish, Afrikaans and Japanese. ^-^ I had a teacher who taught us German and He said Japanese and Hungarian grammar are 99% the same, we only have to learn words and the signs. (The teacher also spoke 6 languages) Currently I'm learning Korean and will move on to Japanese once I'm halfway/advanced in Korean. Well, not even my English is fluent... :/ but i'm trying hard. Sooo much love from Hungary and thanks for all the motivation, you really helped me to begin with the learning. ❤️❤️❤️
Vaskó Dániel nem t’om :D Ne rám legyél mérges 🥺 Lehet el túlozta magát, de tény és való, hogy könnyebb egy magyarnak megtanulni japánul, mint egy angolnak vagy akármilyen más európainak a nyelvtan, ragozás, ige idő és a többi miatt mert nagyon hasonlóak. Remelem nem vagy rám mérges :D És te tanulsz valamilyen nyelvet? 😇
@@nemethmark9025 Nem vagyok mérges... annyira :D Csak elkapott a hév mert egyáltalán nem igaz. Kiejtés valóban könnyebb de csak ennyi. Ott a nagy dilemma a kanjikkal, ami miatt sose fogom rávenni magam :D Nekem csak kis próbálkozásom volt a kínaival illetve a japánnal. Meg párszor megtanultam a Cirill és az arab betűket de ennyi. Útközben elveszett a motiváció. Újabban volt egy gondolatom az északi nyelvekkel. Ott volt a norvég illetve a svéd, a részeg dánt nem elfelejtve :D Ne haragudj a hirtelen felindulásomból és hadd gratuláljak a koreai tudásodhoz! :))
Vaskó Dániel Egy kis anime után könyebb a Japán :D Habár írásban nem annyira, de kiejtésben igen. Én már évek óta nézek animét így néha belém szorul egy két szó és van amikor úgy érzem, hogy muszáj japánul beszélnem ilyenkor pár szót ki nyögök :D Amúgy nekem is volt olyan időm amikor Svédül tanultam, Franciául, Spanyolul és most az Arab ABC-t tanultam meg 1 hónapja, nem tudom hogy kell őket ki ejteni mert annyira nem érdekelt csak hogyan kell le írni azt tudom :D Viszont legalább 6-7 fontosabb/hasznosabb nyelvet én is szeretnék megtanulni ^-^ Pl Angol Spanyol Japán Koreai Arab ez az 5 amit mindenképpen és talán Francia Német Oroszról is szó lehet maaaaajd egyszer a késő jövőben :P De most az azsiai nyelvekre szeretnek koncentrálni meg persze az angol, úgy tervezem hogy Koreában élek majd tehát “muszáj” megtanulni 😊💞🇰🇷
The question I'm interested in is, how many active hours are necessary for fluency? Not yet fluent in German, but it took me around 200 hours to get to a level where I understand most in movies and books. Spread out on one hour per day, it's around half a year. I think the same works with most things you learn. Basic coding knowledge: 50 hours, playing the violin well enough to play with others: 100 hours, driving licence 80 hours.
I agree with you. But it's really bad try and try to learn a language for a long time. I'm feel frustated sometimes, I'm still learn english but it is difficult and I really don't understand the organization of senteces, because it's complete different of my language (Portuguese). But you inspire me to put more effort it. I will learn, I hope! I'm learning Korean now and I think so easy and beautiful, it's not confusing, to me it's more easy than enghish, now Korean is my favorite language. I luv U, you are cutie! 💜
You can check out the textbooks I used in this video here: ua-cam.com/video/qfWk1mKOdUM/v-deo.html Or check out my Korean resource list on my website: www.lindiebotes.com/korean-resources/
100% true. i used to have a big affinity with french as a big part of my family is francophone, but after 6 years of french at school i completely lost it. the way a language is taught at school is just so boring and not motivating at all. after a 3 year break i've been getting into french again, and it's been just 6 months but i feel like i've learned more than in those 6 years haha and it was just by movies, series, memes, music, popculture etc
I think fluency simply means that you can hold a conversation, perhaps even at only a very basic level, comfortably. So you're not hunting around for words to explain yourself. So I think someone can be "fluent" even at level A2 or B1, in that they have barely enough vocabulary to be comfortable speaking, and to be able to get the gist of what's being said. This happens faster if you are immersed in the language, but it may take a lot longer if you are not immersed in the language.
speaking of Romance languages, let's not forget Romanian, if you speak Romanian it is very easy to pick up Italian, Spanish and French and Portuguese. I never took Italian lessons and it's incredible how much I understand and how easy it has been to pick it up, same for Spanish, Portuguese and French although I did have some lessons in all of these. This from a native Romanian
I was thinking that you’re already fluent in English and Afrikaans. Why not learning Dutch (Nederlands), it would be easy for you. I’m native Spanish speaker, but I consider that I speak fluently English and German, and I’m currently learning Dutch and it has been relatively easy to me.
Hello, first of all thank you very much for the informative video. At the moment I am able to speak German and English fluently. I've made some progress in French. I also intend to start with Spanish. Since I see many comments here, I would be happy if someone can give me tips on how to improve my language knowledge and get fluent in French. Any suggestions and comments are highly apprecaited.
Great explanation!! It doesn't exist clear path to fluency. Yo need to practice and keep motivation where your learning a foreign language outside that country.
"i'm confortable speaking in /language/ and it doesn't cause me stress" well i'm not fluent in my native language then
That is true. After all no one is fluent in any language.
@@dennyska2211 How do you figure that? Why would you be uncomfortable and stressed? You're fluent when it comes naturally, automatically, and as second nature. You don't have to think about it in general. If someone is stressed or uncomfortable in their native language. It's not because they lack speaking ability at a very high level. It's some other outside interference. Some other factors at play.
@@brendon2462 I think that what Denysska meant to say, considering what was being said in the video at that time and what the original commenter said, is that no one can be ~ truly fluent ~ in any language because that would require one to know everything about that language and that's impossible
@@wearelegallyrequiredtoeatd3580 I don't believe you need to know everything. Because you don't need to have the vocabulary of a dictionary. To convey feelings and thoughts. Most of it isn't necessary to know. As far as speaking fluency is concerned.
@@brendon2462 I believe that too, my comment was just what I thought Dennyska's comment meant
To me being fluent is being able to perform pretty much the same tasks as in your native language, i.e. read the books you want, watch the TV shows you want, and being able to express your identity in a conversation.
@Kalevipoeg Don't you mean native level. Your first language is native level. Which is a very high level of fluency. Basic fluency is just that being able to communicate easily. It's still a few levels below native ability. But the first stage of fluency reached is a basic level. If you can't watch or read the same shows in your target language. As you do in your native. The issue is likely vocabulary you need more words to understand input. After all language is words. We spend years and years acquiring vocabulary in our native language. Passive and the vocab we use ourselves. A lot of people don't do enough direct learning vocabulary in context. Ask do I know as all the words in my target language as I do in my native. I know I don't yet I bet once one does they can watch and understand equally as good.
@@AJ-fo2pl Then what do you label the early stages of communication and basic understanding? If not basic fluency then what? There are different levels of fluency. Native level is just a convenient label. That tells you that's their language and they're good at it. But not all natives are equal. There's varying degrees of skill. When it comes to native speakers. Doctors for example have a specialized vocabulary. That an average joe like me doesn't understand. So they're higher in ability with vocabulary.
Interesting. To me, fluent means close to native.
Exactly.
Same.
Mine has always been the same as Lindie's. Being able to have a conversation about general topics without major pauses or stops in it. Also any bumps in the conversation that do arise can be ironed out in the language too. Of course the label of fluent *continues* all the way to near native, but I always thought of it as starting there.
It seems to me like a more defined line of proficiency to go from awkward novice attempts, to a flowing conversation. Defining a line of "fluency" to the vague area of "near native" isn't as clearly defined for me. That's why the "generally fluid speech and comprehension" just makes more sense in my head.
Same. I only consider myself fluent in English (I'm Swedish) but I can speak some German, Italian, Spanish and Norwegian.
"Close to native" is just as vague an idea as fluent. There's a huge range of proficiency in native language speakers. Lindie's definition at least attempts to outline an idea of what fluent actually means in practice and could just as well fit as a definition for "close to native."
Maybe better question(s) would be :
What languages are you learning?
What languages have you studied?
What languages do you have an affinity towards?
That's right! I think from an outsider's view (monolinguals), it's easier to ask "what do you speak" as they don't always think about all the factors to take into account when learning and judging fluency.
@@LindieBotes Yes that's true! By the way, can you do a video on how to practice languages with no native speakers? Because this is my case!
@@mohamadmerhi9277 i also want to know
@@mohamadmerhi9277
I hope she will do this video
I've met someone who passed the N2 in 1.5 years then the N1 in 3. But he was also a programmer and besides studying hours on end, just had a logical brain for language. I am dyslexic and have studied on and off, so getting to the same level has taken me over 10 years. It really depends on your effort but also what type of leaner you are and I don't think there's any shame in taking your time to learn a language!
Also really looking forward to the polyglot conference! ^^
It's simply amazing to read your comment. Thanks for sharing. Have a lovely day 😳 あなたすごいですよ
what is n1 i know a1 a2 b1 b2 or american system 1 to 5
@@tomilan6001 n1 is japanese level. It is like european c2
N1 in 3 years is very impressive. Even if he was totally test focused and lacking in other areas it's still very impressive.
Don't worry about the test, it doesn't proof anything, I have friends that have N2 and don't know a kanji, or even talk. Many people copy or buy it so can jump steps faster than the ones working harder. So don't stress if you don't have a test level, learn at your pace. Whenever you can communicate and pass interviews for jobs it's enough
love your bubble milk tea earrings :3
yu lu they’re so cute!
I believe a language being similar doesn't make it easier, my first language is Portuguese and even though I could always understand Spanish even before I've studied it, it was the most difficult language to learn because I never feel fluent enough I feel like I'm mixing the two languages all the time. English and French were way easier to learn (I know French is also a romance language, but it's not that similar to Portuguese)
I’m Spanish and I feel soooo related, I can almos understand Portuguese when reading and listening but if I try to study it’s very hard because some words I just say them in Spanish because it just canes out like that.
I speak English and Spanish and I really struggle with portuguese so I tried French and still the same problem🤦♂️
@@Javynejo31 French was ok to learn, Spanish was too similar to Portuguese. Have you tried learning languages that are very different from English and Spanish?
@@BemPoliglota No I haven't, I've always tried to learn languages from the same family or that at least share a similar alphabet but it hasn't been easy for me. I have tried French, portuguese and Italian still having a hard time. I'm not giving up though, but maybe that's a good idea.
@@Javynejo31 I think Italian is beautiful and I'd love to learn it but I think it would be way too difficult and it would be confusing because it's too similar to other languages I speak, I can understand some Italian even though I've never studied it. That's why now I'm trying to learn languages from different families like German and Mandarin.
I looked up the criteria for C2 level, and I'm not confident I've reached C2 in my first language...
yeah me too TT but I'm still a student and I'm pretty sure C2 is equivalent to a well-educated (so presumably college grad+) native speaker so I've accepted it lol
I think C1 level is fluent enough
My definition of fluent is being able to hold a conversation with a native speaker of the language on a variety of topics.
amazing video once again. you’re a great inspiration for me - i’m currently 15 years old and i can understand roughly 4 languages. your videos push me to learn more and i’m really grateful for finding your channel.
You are fantastic Lindie! =) Great info as usual. Have fun in Fukuoka!
So happy to see you here, Luca! Looking forward to meeting you soon!
Holy shoot, Luca the great commented! 🤴🏽
I’ve been living in Japan for four years now and I’m just now studying for the n3. My progress in Japanese has been so slow and I still struggle with speaking. I’d love to eventually learn Korean and Chinese but I want my Japanese to be at least n2 level before I attempt that and who knows how long that’ll take. Btw my husband is from Fukuoka! It is such a great city! I hope you enjoy your time there!
I'd love to learn Korean, Japanese and Chinese too!
Hey thanks for sharing, it's so relatable and encouraging 😊 it's so cool you have a japanese husband as well as that you are living in japan!! うらやましい😆
i want to learn Japanese too.
I've missed you so much.😳😳 Such an inspiration. God bless you!
🦊SUMMARY 8:26
"It depends on your background, similar languages that you've learned, time you put into it, and also the amount of immersion and exposure you have in the language."
Beautifully put, Lindie. The whole video was so relatable. My native language is Korean but there are some times I have to look up a dictionary, and I don't know much idioms or academically understand every topics.
This does not mean my korean is bad, right? So, i think that fluency is not to be seen equal to "perfection". It's important to keep this in mind.
좋은 영상 고마워요 린디 언니
私は今日本語を勉強してます。
あなたの動画はいつも私に大切な物ですよ。
손이 씻다
@@meowBlitz nice try 😂❤ "Hands wash"
Very well explained ! I'm a Thai language learner myself and also live in Thailand for many years now. I also get asked how long it took me to be fluent in Thai.
You are always learning and your view point hit the nail on the head , thanks
How long did it take you to learn the alphabet? It looks so confusing
@@chimmyeatingkookies8419 do 10 letters per day by practising writing them down and repeat , repeat and repeat ! Then when you can read a bit all the letters come around again and again some more than others and it does eventually sink in ! Good luck mate
Vee Siam ayeee I do thai and I’m part thai :)
Chimmy eating kookies well it varies from person to person, so there’s no official answer 🤷♀️
Thank you for this video! It can never be repeated enough: the time it takes to learn a language cannot be measured in years. Everyone has a different pace, life circumstances differ, and the biggest factor is how much time and energy you can devote to it.
I admit that I've been "learning" Spanish intermittently since I was 8 years old (so, 15 years now!) but I'm still not fluent! This inspired me to change that.
I’m still learning a lot of things in my native language, learning it’s a forever process, a lot of people think it’s something bad “I need to know everything right now”, I particularly love discovering new things about the languages I learn. From a Portuguese, Japanese and English speaker, my advice: chill out!
Thank you for pointing out that many polyglots boost their numbers by choosing to study languages closely related to ones they already know. Not that it isn't still an impressive achievement, but it is way easier than choosing completely unrelated languages. And I do feel it kind of makes the polyglot community feel a little eurocentric at times.
Absolutely right about it being Eurocentric but I also think that's because we're accessing the community through English. In Asia there are big polyglot communities too but the Lingua Franca of them would be KR/JP/CN for instance. They're smaller though than the western Polyglot community on UA-cam.
@@LindieBotes Yes, that is fair too.
One of the things that impresses me about Luca Lampariello is that his Chinese and Japanese are quite good (as far as I know), not "just" his French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, German etc.
Ahhh so soothing to hear your logical, well laid out explanations again. Welcome back! 💜
This video was such a relief! And glad to see you after a long time!
Nog nooit van "potgooi" gehoor nie😂. Amazing! Also, this video gave me some peace of mind. I've been struggling so much with speaking Spanish and I've been pressuring myself tremendously for "fluency". Thank you! Also, welcome back😊
When it comes to writing, I think I'm fluent in English (my second language). However, every time I open my mouth to actually speak... "Yes...er...there...er...no." Can anyone relate?
maybe you just get too nervous while speaking
you should try to imagine your self in diffrente situations and talk with your self in the mirror for exempel
hope that i helped you and have a nice day
@@ademnouaouer9854 Yeah I definitely do get too nervous. It's difficult to speak even when I'm alone though... Thanks anyway. Recently I've been been forcing myself to practice and I believe it will get easier with time. Have a nice day too
Monika Z It’s very common, you probably believe that your English skills aren’t good enough to maintain a conversation. I’m Brazilian (my first language is Portuguese) and sometimes I mispronounce some words or I even don’t know what the word means... just because I’m native doesn’t necessarily makes me 100% fluent in Portuguese, the same thing with English, we will never be 100% fluent. So feel free to make mistakes, you’ll learn from them, hope I helped you. xx
@@rienzib I think you're right, I really am afraid of making mistakes. It's definitely something I need to work on. Thank you!
@@ademnouaouer9854 That's a matter of practicing your pronuntiation and watching tv shows/music/videos and emulating the rythm and cadence of their conversations. The more you submerge yourself in the language, the better you get at it. I studied english for 8 years in school but when I started uni I couldn't hold a conversation. After 3 years of consuming everything in english I've gotten better. Am I perfect? No. But I can actually talk to an english speaker without crying of frustration.
This isn’t a hate comment and I don’t mean to offend anyone just looking for more views but English is my only language because I don’t get the luxury of learning two languages at school. I tried to learn Chinese & Japanese (extremely hard languages to master) and just couldn’t do it. I became burnt out after 8 months because I felt I wasn’t getting anywhere with both them. I feel envious of foreigners because a lot of them can speak two languages by the time they graduate and it’s a great skill to have because it’s apart of their learning system and not many people that aren’t from a English speaking country can say they speak two languages that’s why I’m impressed at how many languages you can speak. But native English speaking countries who don’t have that luxury have to learn it more as a hobby than a curriculum and it takes years to master especially if you don’t live in the country or have any classes locally etc. It makes me feel inferior to a lot of people who speak two languages because I’m already older than a lot of them and they can already speak two languages. But I don’t discredit the hardwork they done at school but they would of found it much harder if they never learned it outside school from scratch. They basically know everything I know except in a second language and other rich education systems in English speaking countries teach language like Chinese at school where and average school like mines doesn’t. What are your thoughts sorry it was quite long. It makes me feel wealth can create a easier path to goals and upbringing.
I've been learning Chinese for about 8 months (I'm almost at a HSK 4 level) and did it all through self-study so did I, learned English. I'm far from perfect but all you need is patience and discipline, when I didn't understand a new grammar structure I just stopped to study and told myself "I will learn it tomorrow" and it worked. I'm sure you can do it too :)
Victoria O thank you, good advice.😊
Don't give up. There's so much you can learn online in those languages even if you don't have good options at school. I knew barely anything in those languages after eight months. It sounds like they're the first languages you've really worked on and it takes a while before you figure how to learn a language. There will be lots of mistakes along the way as you try different things and see what works for you.
Nendo Akuma thank you, I’m really happy you say that😊
Thank you so much for uploading this video. I am a native Spanish speaker and my second language is English. I've been learning the language for almost 7 years and I feel that, now, I am comfortable enough to speak "fluently". At first, I was a very shy person who was afraid of making mistakes at the time of speaking. I think that's why I always though that I wasn't good enough and I was waisting time(?). I believe that these thoughs were the fence that stopped me to talk to other people. For this reason, I had several mental breakdowns. However, I kind of overcame this stage when I went abroad and I got emerged into an English speaking country. Now, I am studying Korean by my own and, with the previous knowledge that I have about learning a second language, I understand that I can make as many mistakes as everybody does when they're learning a new language. It is just part of the process.
I hope I can speak it, at least, in three or four years. I wasn't sure about the time that it is actually gonna take in order to achieve this goal, but making a sort of "deadline" can help. Pushing myself can help because, as you said, having a specific objective is crucial if someone wants to speak whatever language it is. Mine is to study my masters in Korea. Let's see how it goes! Hahaha.
I admire you 3000. Your videos are always inspiring. Thank you!
Thanks for the video, Lindie! You are always so insightful!
yess the Queen uploaded 😫❤️
As soon I saw the notification, I clicked! I speak a few languages, but not fluently, ahaha. I’m mostly focused on Japanese though. But anyways, I find it hard to get motivation... A lot. I used to study everyday, but it has died down. ^^; And I actually want to be a Interpreter/ Translator in the future. But I keep getting discouraged by a few people around me, and even myself.
But Lindie, your videos are so great to watch and really get me pumped! Thank you so much. I hope things are going well for you. 💓
Love your honesty! Other AHEM AHEM polyglots tried and failed at getting fluent in Japanese in 3 months. Because hey, just repeating "aahhh... hai!" is NOT Japanese fluency. And yeah, speaking like 15 languages counting 5 different Spanish dialects is like LOL.
Haha is that about Benny Lewis?
I would also like to add: Uploading a UA-cam video called "I learned _____ in 7 days" is also not fluency, and nor is it honest, even if you spend the entire video backing out of that claim.
@@daysandwords is that about ikenna lmao
@@tofugains Actually more about Nathaniel Drew. But then I Kenna copied him. Nathaniel was like: "I learned Italian in 7 days... ...(after learning it for 18 months but nah still 7 days cos I'm going to claim I've forgotten it)."
Hi Lindie, thank you for this video. I'm trying to learn Korean by myself, and it is taking me much longer than I expected. I was starting feeling like an idiot. Perhaps I should give myself more time and study in a less stressful way. 😊
Oh my gosh! Polyglot conference? I found my new goal! :D
Whatever you think of Benny Lewis's methods I like his definition of fluency which is along the lines of you're fluent if you can talk about the same things in your target language as you can your native language
I don't mind Benny but even THAT definition is pretty loose. I can talk about music as if I'm an expert in English... because I am expert basically, I have Honours in music. I can't do that in Swedish because I have never studied or even played music in a Swedish speaking context. In fact I'd probably have a lot more luck doing that in Italian, and I really don't speak Italian... but this is because music vocab is often Italian (in classical music).
Yet I would call myself fluent in Swedish, and some things I might even find on par in terms of comfort in talking about them, Swedish things such as St. Lucia'a day... I can totally explain them in English but I have never had to, whereas I've done it like 50 times in Swedish.
To me it doesn't make sense to have "native level" and "fluent" as interchangeable terms with the same meaning. Why even have the term fluent then, it's made useless lol. It makes more sense to me to have the term fluent denote someone who is beyond the beginner awkwardness, but not quite into advanced/deep level language use. Otherwise like I said, it's rendered useless and you end up with no term for someone at that conversationally proficient level which I think is a really important stage. You could call it intermediate but to me fluent describes that level of language proficiency perfectly because that's literally when someone becomes "fluid" in their speech and understanding.
i think i need to comment this here, i saw your photo on your IG and that inspired me to learn lots of languages. those flags on your shirt really inspire me!
This is wonderful, Lindie! I am involved with seven languages, and they are all in different places along the continuum of language proficiency and knowledge. Monolinguals--THOSE MONOLINGUALS!!!--tend ot get impatient as I explain my levels of capability in my languages. One of the things I've found to be consistent across many years now is the fact that monolinguals tend not to understand what is involved in language-learning, and tend to view linguistic ability and skill in very binary and simplistic terms--as in, "yes/no." You've explained all of this brilliantly--thank you!!!
great video! I watched many videos of yours
brilliant !!!
#love from India
To actually sound somewhat good and not unnatural will take a long time.
Go to the channel of Matt vs Japan and you will see.
I’m addicted to your channel! Actually I learning 4 languages and found your tips really interesting 🤓😁
You're the one that has been inspired me and I'm always following your videos....keep it up
oh my gosh thank you. i have been living and studying only japanese at school for 1 year and 3 months. i passed N3 already, but i give myself such a hard time because im not comfortable in the language yet and i always stress myself out thinking something is wrong with me, im not doing enough, etc, even though i really feel like im trying so hard. this is the first time ive finally heard someone say "roughly 4 years." people always just mention passing the higher levels of JLPT in like less than 2 years and i just dont understand how they do that, and i don't even know if they can also speak easily to that level either (maybe not since there is no speaking on JLPT), but i felt like maybe as an english speaker its just hard, but i have no one to talk to who understands my struggle. i constantly feel like a failure. i don't even know if you'll read this, but thank you. i think this can take a huge weight off of me.
I’m native in three languages and because of that I always mix words and grammar up, but I learn languages very easily
Let me guess: Spanish, English and German
Sabrina English, Swedish and Kurdish :)
I literally screamed when I saw that lindie posted
Thank you SO much for your beautiful motivating videos ♥
The Idea of watching you talking about Languages and learning them makes my day ♥
Keep going please ♥
i always feel so motivated watching your videos
Great video! Good luck with your speech 💞💬
Yay! You're back! Sounds like you have a lot of cool things on the horizon!
오랜만이에요! 재밌게 볼게요!
봐주셔서 감사합니다! 한글 자막 만들기엔 시간이 조금 걸릴수도 있는데 조금만 더 기다려 주세요 ㅠㅠ
Fantastic video Lindie and a great way of answering a constant question. Squash time together I've been in Thailand in for 3 years (between 2013 and now) and only this year can finally read it without mistakes constantly. It does take time and has factors that effect how and why we learn
Looking forward to your talk!
You're so right! Languages take different times depending on how difficult they are and any intelligible languages that you already know. For example, after learning French and Spanish, Italian was a lot easier for me to learn, and I am now also learning a bit of Portuguese.
However I am still struggling with Korean and the verbs, but mostly because I haven't properly started learning them effectively (e.g. reading the words as if they were vocabulary, then covering them and trying to remember them, and repeating this process until I got it right; this has worked for French and Spanish vocabulary).
This has made me frustrated with Korean itself, even though I love the Korean culture. However I hope this will change as I'm joining a Korean society at uni in the hope that I can learn Korean via cultural immersion and interactions with native speakers
In studying Japanese at university, I feel like I am learning a lot quicker than Korean. This is largely due to having excellent teachers, varied learning methods (Duolingo and Memrise on repeat and books without CD's have largely contributed to my boredom in learning Korean), and elements of cultural immersion.
Thanks for the video! Fluency is such a vague term; although I have my own standards of when I've reached it (I don't think that I'll be fluent in a language until I've at least lived there for a bit)
Sorry for the essay btw.
I am learning languages from completely different languages families
Turkish and Coptic are the main ones I focus on, but I also study Farsi, Tamazight, and Ancient Greek when I have the time.
I needed two years to become fluent in Spanish. At the moment I learn Norwegian and I think this will take me longer. I personally think it depents on your mother tongue, on which languages you learnt during your childhood/in school, how much time you can invest every day etc. It's very personal.
I absolutely agree with you.
for the first 6 years I was learning english(in school) I was an absolute begginer in english, until I discovered youtube in english and now just 3 years later I'm C1,
I’ll be there! I look forward to hearing your speech!
In a previous video, you showed us a handful of your favorite Korean books that you own. One of them was a best-seller, I guess, that was about learning how to do away with your bad habits. I went ahead and bought that book in order to keep myself motivated, and I"ll consider myself fluent when I can effortlessly read that book without having to stop to look up words; or google the grammar online.
Estoy aprendiendo el español, francés, italiano, alemán, japonés y coreano. Mi lingua materna es inglés.
Pienso que es tan importante tener una inspiración de aprender idiomas. Quería enseñarme el coreano por tres años, pero nunca podía. ¿Porque? No tenía una inspiración, no tenía una razón de aprender este idioma. Ahora, tengo una amiga que viene de Corea del Sur. Y ella aprendió inglés, pues, porque no puedo yo aprender coreano? Con el ayudo de ella, por este año, voy a aprender coreano con ella.
I am still working on Hangul and stuff, but that’s the easy stuff. I have started to listen to Korean music as well, because it seems very popular in American culture. I’m not into K-Pop but I am going to exploit this opportunity!
Prendo la classe d’Italiano nella scuola. Non mi piace il mio professore, ma amo la lingua. Vorrei viaggiare a Roma un giorno, e voglio insegnar ai miei figli I italiano se li ho. Ho preso la classe
d’Italiano per quasi tre anni. Posso comunicare con i nativi. Una settimana scorsa ho parlato con un nativo d’italiano (in vida real).
I am not confident in French, Japanese, German or Korean yet. But, maybe, check back in with me in s few months speaking one of those languages and we will see how it goes! Feel free to correct me!
steve vh - Garcias! Y “querría” es el tiempo condicional, no el futuro. El futuro es “querré”.
Intenté de decir “quería” que es el tiempo imperfecto.
Purpose of learning indeed takes us to the goal level. Some languages I just have been learning for fun and I didn’t put any vision tho.
miss you lindie! so glad you are back here!
About the Polyglot Conference, I heard about this too late. I’m not a polyglot but love languages. Also I live in Tokyo. This channel has been an inspiration. I’ve been toying with learning Japanese for almost 18 years. I’m still terrible. In spite of all the time lived in japan , 5 years, and all the time lived with Japanese people back in the states , 10 years, I’m still terrible. :/. I guess I’ve never gotten into the groove of study. I still make stupid mistakes like swapping 英語 with 映画.. so lame. I still live and work in japan so I guess I’m learning little by little. Thanks for making these videos.
WoW, another speaker of Afrikaans. I spoke to a guy last saturday, and I thought at first, that he is from the netherlands because im living in Münster, a german city near the border the the netherlands, but he was actually from south africa, studying in Groningen and he told me about some of the differences. Very interesting conversation. ^^
Dat klopt Lindie! Whereas German people would say Ganz genau! I've been learning German for a month by now and I'm determined to keep up the good work. It's not that easy for an Italian-speaking native but I hope I'll reap the benefits soon. Good luck to everyone who is learning a foreign language, it's worth every second! 🍀👋
So happy to see you there again !
I hope you will love your two weeks in Fukuoka ! I will be in Tôkyô and I am so sad to cannot be there ☹️
Personally, I HATE how most people use the word “fluent.” Exactly what type of language level should be / is considered to be “fluent” is SUCH an overly subjective notion, and language levels/abilities that most people would agree to be considered “fluent” exist on a HUGE / extremely broad range.
We need to invent another or several other new words to describe certain language level abilities with more precision/accuracy (if only once we did it would actually catch on... lol)
I think a language that some is “very fluent” in, must a language where said person can think, read, write, speak (some degree of an accent is okay though) & above all understand spoken language with essentially the same abilities as one can do with their mother language. So in my opinion, fully understanding the language used in certain diverse academic areas (those words that most common people would know), politics, history, formal language, etc is an absolute MUST
when you think about it japanese's 2 alphabets that have the same sounds isn't that weird. its like english capital and lowercase alphabet, isn't it ? of course those alphabets both have different uses but still
Learning japanese 4-6 hours a day here for the last 1,5 years and I consider myself to be N2 level, I can read light novels, manga and play japanese video games by sometimes looking in dictionary if I want to understand everything
Of course normal daily conversations are not a problem
I’ll try the exam next year 🤔 I never studied based on the exam so I actually know a lot of N1 and non-JLPT words also
ICEx 1 year and 5 months or 5 years? What do you mean by 1,5 years?
Angelo Santos 1 and a half
18 months or so
In 5 years I’d expect someone to be native level if they studied like I did
Aren't you doing MIA? I think I've seen your comments on Yoga's of Matt's videos. It really is the best way to go about learning Japanese.
What do you think about the importance of how you balance your reading and listening? I have been doing pretty much only listening since I've started sentence mining (I have about 760 sentences, at the 5 month mark rn).
Also, what do you think about the monolingual transition and when do you think I should do it?
Santiago Arce yeah kinda, I started with AJATT
I pretty much do whatever I enjoy at the moment, most of the time I do anki for 1 hour, reading 2 hours , watching/listening for 1-2 hours
Since I like reading the most as there are tons of fun materials such as manga, light novels and gaming (psn blog)
I think it’s important to balance it out, but listening should be a higher priority at start because of acquiring a better pronunciation
As for monolingual transitions I think it’s good to do it once you have a good grasp of grammar and a nice amount of words
So probably better to do it after 1 year or so
ICEx Thanks. Since I started sentence mining pretty early I think Ill do it around 8-9 months in (2500-3000 sentences). For now, I don’t really see the point too much but it feels like everyone, after having done it, recommends it. Did it actually help you? Do you think the monolingual transition is really that important?
Notification squad ,😉
My parents moved to the UK about 10 years ago and they're definitely not fluent. They can get by but cannot really keep a conversation going it's unbelievable dude.
Hi and Thanks for your videos. I am starting Chinese and learning Characters and want them big, but I am totally stuck how to organize my note book but very neatly.
I was looking for your first character book but didn´t see it.
I've worked on Portuguese for maybe 8 years? I studied and got a minor in it, and then did it on my own. I'm rusty now, because I want to be off of the internet, but I have videos in Portuguese--because many people claim to speak foreign languages, but when you look at their channels, you find they're liars. I've been studying Swahili for 3 years maybe? Between the two, major eye-openers!! Very different!! It's amazing how the languages opened my mind. If I travel to a Lusophonic country, the Portuguese should come back! I will!
I am bilingual - English and Cantonese. I grew up learning these languages and use them everyday.
In school, I learned Parisian French but only spoke it during class. I still remember some French after 10 years of French classes.
However, I have been learning Brazilian Portuguese for just over one year now. The grammar and ideas between French and Portuguese are similar. At the very least, I can introduce myself in Portuguese. Because I actually want to learn Portuguese, I know more Portuguese in just one year compared to 10 years of learning French.
So, I'm a native Russian speaker and english is my second foreighn language, which I've started, when I was at the first grade. I can't tell, that I'm fluent in english, but now I'm reading a lot of literature to pass school exams (going to take ielts for studying abroad). I understand every single word in what I read or can hear, but I am still having lots of problems (especially) with my writing skills (fucking artickles, i hate u) and a speaking part.
When I was 13 y.o., me and my family moved to another country - Latvia. I've studied latvian seriously only for about two years and now I can feel, that I'm fluent, because I have a good background to study that language - lots of my friends are Latvians and I've simply felt, that I haven't got a choice and I am in a language-barrier trap. Being in Latvia, I had a weird and unlogical thoughts as a child and decided to learn !!!GERMAN, JAPANEESE, FRENCH AND LATVIAN!!! at the same time. Of course, without any background or a good opportunities to do that - just with the god's will, hope and BY MYSELF (just feel that childish flex on you)(nobody just wanted to disappoint me. thanks, ma). I was 14 and now I can say, that it wasn't such a big mistake in my life. After all -im alive-, I can understand lots of Germanand speak on it; french grammar and some phrases (mom, whats the french word for baguette); and I've figured out the fact about my huge passion for almost every language I can just SEE and kinda fall in love with it and other problems of mine (I am weird, when I am into hobbies, sorry)
(And yess, one more offtop about that message. Just wanted to tell, that everything is possible and remember - practise makes lots of sense, when you are learning whatever what. I'm 17 now and I don't know what am i going to do. Latvia havent got a university for my specialization and I need to study abroad... again, but without my family. At least, I have a tiny hope on my success
And yes, my english is "not there" sometimes and I have a mistakes and too mush commas)
I've lived in America all my life, and I often can't understand politics in English! I should have no trouble understanding math in Italian though. It's not any of my native languages, but French and Spanish are, and the only trouble I have with MathGurl (Portuguese) is her accent.
Hello. Nice channel, i just found it today! :) well, just my opinion...you are right about knowing about a certain topic in another language doesnt make you fluent, for example, im a native spanish speaker and you can talk to me about astrology in spanish and i dont understand anything lol because i dont know the topic, on the other hand, i went to Japan and visited a Karate dojo for training and i was able to take the lessons for one month and learn things without knowing any japanese but since i knew about the topic (karate) i was able to understand the lessons :) again, nice channel, im signing :)
I can't wait to be fluent in Spanish!!!
This is my goal to aim this year 2020 and of course to my native language! And considering the English one!
I also wanted to learn German and French for good! I'll go to different parts of Europe someday😊
I think you could consider yourself fluent when you are capable of having a conversation with someone about something that interests both of you. Even though that won't suffice for every situation I would still consider it to be more or less fluent. :)
Interesting work you have. Gracias.
Funnily enough a good friend from Brazil and me (from Venezuela) speak German with each other. We have tried each of us speaking our own native languages and we only get as far as a few sentences 😁
Awesome recommendation YT!!4:25 short answer. I think that after a certain time you are able to just speed up and have flow in a bunch of topics. Nevertheless, it can be a longer or shorter period of time according to the quality time which you have approached the language.
I'm not even fluent in my native language. but I like your definnition of fluency. Thanks Lindie. you are so helpful.
I support you , I have been stuyging English for almost 2 years. My english isn´t perfect yet, but I get to communicate with native speakers from around world. I get to understand English teachers talking about languages, I mean talk how to learn a language etc.. or advices for languages. In the begginer this year, I could´t undertand those things. I have knew more or less about noun to be. Now I can undertand about tips for learning, like 80 %. I started yesterday for studying by tv show, first: I watch wihout subtitles, I undertand like 25% .Secondly at same epsode with subtitles. Third I take notes on Anki. I have been spending 2 hours for stuyding by tv show. I´m watch only one epsode per day.
That's a good thing to do (immersion and anki) but try not to output too early or you might build some bad habits.
I'm a bit late, but I heard Hungarian in the video I knew I had to comment :D
It said to be that the top 3 easiest languages to learn for hungarians are Turkish, Afrikaans and Japanese. ^-^
I had a teacher who taught us German and He said Japanese and Hungarian grammar are 99% the same,
we only have to learn words and the signs. (The teacher also spoke 6 languages)
Currently I'm learning Korean and will move on to Japanese once I'm halfway/advanced in Korean.
Well, not even my English is fluent... :/ but i'm trying hard.
Sooo much love from Hungary and thanks for all the motivation, you really helped me to begin with the learning. ❤️❤️❤️
Nagyooon neem.. már hogy egyezne meg 99%-ban?
Vaskó Dániel nem t’om :D
Ne rám legyél mérges 🥺
Lehet el túlozta magát, de tény és való, hogy könnyebb egy magyarnak megtanulni japánul, mint egy angolnak vagy akármilyen más európainak a nyelvtan, ragozás, ige idő és a többi miatt mert nagyon hasonlóak.
Remelem nem vagy rám mérges :D
És te tanulsz valamilyen nyelvet? 😇
@@nemethmark9025 Nem vagyok mérges... annyira :D
Csak elkapott a hév mert egyáltalán nem igaz. Kiejtés valóban könnyebb de csak ennyi. Ott a nagy dilemma a kanjikkal, ami miatt sose fogom rávenni magam :D Nekem csak kis próbálkozásom volt a kínaival illetve a japánnal. Meg párszor megtanultam a Cirill és az arab betűket de ennyi. Útközben elveszett a motiváció. Újabban volt egy gondolatom az északi nyelvekkel. Ott volt a norvég illetve a svéd, a részeg dánt nem elfelejtve :D
Ne haragudj a hirtelen felindulásomból és hadd gratuláljak a koreai tudásodhoz! :))
Vaskó Dániel Egy kis anime után könyebb a Japán :D Habár írásban nem annyira, de kiejtésben igen. Én már évek óta nézek animét így néha belém szorul egy két szó és van amikor úgy érzem, hogy muszáj japánul beszélnem ilyenkor pár szót ki nyögök :D
Amúgy nekem is volt olyan időm amikor Svédül tanultam, Franciául, Spanyolul és most az Arab ABC-t tanultam meg 1 hónapja, nem tudom hogy kell őket ki ejteni mert annyira nem érdekelt csak hogyan kell le írni azt tudom :D
Viszont legalább 6-7 fontosabb/hasznosabb nyelvet én is szeretnék megtanulni ^-^
Pl Angol Spanyol Japán Koreai Arab ez az 5 amit mindenképpen és talán Francia Német Oroszról is szó lehet maaaaajd egyszer a késő jövőben :P
De most az azsiai nyelvekre szeretnek koncentrálni meg persze az angol, úgy tervezem hogy Koreában élek majd tehát “muszáj” megtanulni 😊💞🇰🇷
The question I'm interested in is, how many active hours are necessary for fluency?
Not yet fluent in German, but it took me around 200 hours to get to a level where I understand most in movies and books. Spread out on one hour per day, it's around half a year.
I think the same works with most things you learn. Basic coding knowledge: 50 hours, playing the violin well enough to play with others: 100 hours, driving licence 80 hours.
I agree with you. But it's really bad try and try to learn a language for a long time.
I'm feel frustated sometimes, I'm still learn english but it is difficult and I really don't understand the organization of senteces, because it's complete different of my language (Portuguese).
But you inspire me to put more effort it. I will learn, I hope!
I'm learning Korean now and I think so easy and beautiful, it's not confusing, to me it's more easy than enghish, now Korean is my favorite language.
I luv U, you are cutie! 💜
notification squad 💜 also lindie what sources did you use to learn korean?
You can check out the textbooks I used in this video here: ua-cam.com/video/qfWk1mKOdUM/v-deo.html
Or check out my Korean resource list on my website: www.lindiebotes.com/korean-resources/
100% true. i used to have a big affinity with french as a big part of my family is francophone, but after 6 years of french at school i completely lost it. the way a language is taught at school is just so boring and not motivating at all. after a 3 year break i've been getting into french again, and it's been just 6 months but i feel like i've learned more than in those 6 years haha and it was just by movies, series, memes, music, popculture etc
Aww dam I had already booked a trip to fukuoka next month, missed it by a few weeks. Would have been cool to go.
I think fluency simply means that you can hold a conversation, perhaps even at only a very basic level, comfortably. So you're not hunting around for words to explain yourself. So I think someone can be "fluent" even at level A2 or B1, in that they have barely enough vocabulary to be comfortable speaking, and to be able to get the gist of what's being said. This happens faster if you are immersed in the language, but it may take a lot longer if you are not immersed in the language.
speaking of Romance languages, let's not forget Romanian, if you speak Romanian it is very easy to pick up Italian, Spanish and French and Portuguese. I never took Italian lessons and it's incredible how much I understand and how easy it has been to pick it up, same for Spanish, Portuguese and French although I did have some lessons in all of these. This from a native Romanian
it also depends on one's "ear" and motivation, some people really have an "ear" for languages
You are the best ❤💐keep going we are with you 👍👍🇯🇵🇯🇵🇯🇵
Thank you so much for inspiring me to learn new language..
Really Great video !!!👏 I am your subscriber from sunny beautiful Kyrgyzstan 🙋🙋🙋 .
Awesome! Thank you!
I wish I started learning languages earlier. 😔
I've always thought that I can say that I speak a language is if I'll be able to survive alone in an island where only that language is spoken
I was thinking that you’re already fluent in English and Afrikaans. Why not learning Dutch (Nederlands), it would be easy for you. I’m native Spanish speaker, but I consider that I speak fluently English and German, and I’m currently learning Dutch and it has been relatively easy to me.
Cool to see you uploading :). I got introduced to your videos by seeing you learn Hungarian. Curious: are you still learning Hungarian?
When will your Polyglot Conference talk will be uploaded onto their UA-cam channel? Looking forward to watching it.
Hello, first of all thank you very much for the informative video. At the moment I am able to speak German and English fluently. I've made some progress in French. I also intend to start with Spanish. Since I see many comments here, I would be happy if someone can give me tips on how to improve my language knowledge and get fluent in French. Any suggestions and comments are highly apprecaited.
Welcome back! Good luck at the conference. How is your Spanish coming along?
Great explanation!! It doesn't exist clear path to fluency. Yo need to practice and keep motivation where your learning a foreign language outside that country.
I started learning English since junior high school, but I still don't think that I am a fluent speaker.
Omg, I watched you videos❤️
@@belle_pomme wow hi~
It's so sad I've been studying english for one year and I don't even achieve the intermediate level yet