How are you being deliberate in your study of a language? The app I use to learn languages -> bit.ly/3TXXAlw My 10 FREE secrets to language learning -> www.thelinguist.com
I don't think you can compare language acquisition for adults and kids. Kids don't already speak any language (OK, other than baby talk, which I don't see offered on Lingq!). That's very different than adults who are trying to learn a second language.
RE: correction, no I don't want (nor see much value in) a Czech bookstore clerk correcting me. I DO want lots of correction from those I interact with more often. I appreciate correction. It definitely makes me remember.
I like Steve's videos. I'm 62 and learning Mandarin in China where I've lived for 8 years. I'm studying HSK4. My goals are to gradually improve my understanding by studying 2-3 hours probably 3-5 times per week. I can't speak Mandarin but by focusing on listening and reading hope that my speaking will improve over time.
Also you can watch videos about phonetic Mandarin, how to pronounce that couple of words more deeply. I did multiple things to improve my pronunciation and one of them was search videos about IPA (internacional phonectics and i forgot what is means the A), but you now, i'm still learning.
From my experience, for most immigrants to the US, if they don't learn English in the first 2 years, they end up figuring out how to avoid learning English and survive like that for the rest of their life.
Kids don’t even have to move to a new country to learn a language or languages. They can do it if their parents speak to them in two different languages and their country speaks another- trilingual
I am listening to podcasts daily, reading articles in Spanish, and using a couple of the language apps, also going through a Spanish grammar book occasionally. I’m going to trust the process and keep doing what I’m doing. Whenever I have the opportunity to speak Spanish, I do it. Otherwise I’m good with what I’m doing now. There are words I couldn’t remember, that when I see them now, I actively know the meaning. So far I’ve had a lot of fun ‘learning’ Spanish.
@@MK-ow3rh Since writing that post, I understand a little better when listening to spoken Spanish content, understand more while reading in Spanish, and feel more confident speaking when I need to. Far from perfect, but I’m still enjoying what I’m doing and have noticed improvement. Overall I feel more familiar with the language than ever. I am spending free time I have with the language, but can’t do hours and hours daily. When I start feeling like I’m overdoing it, I take a break.
@@J_Trask great. Imo, one can hold concentration max 2 hours... And thats on a good day. Its good to let osmosis work and dont be nervous to take plenty of breaks for you efforts as well. I pushed Spanish for 4 years, finished in 2012. I surprised myself recently that I could understand a documentary from Mexico without much effort. That's an 11 year gap and while I need to relearn how to speak it, my comprehension is even better today without further study. Also, be careful with listening. Some accents are easier then others, so don't get discouraged if you don't understand sometimes.
i think i really needed to hear “trust the process” part 😭 i’m a beginner learning korean and i’ve definitely understand like 5% more from nothing lol but sometimes i think about it and wonder if all this constant learning will actually make me known the language, but trust the process is what i need to remember cuz i see little progress every day. i just need some patience lol
being overcorrected can really harm motivation, I think one correction placed right can help, but being corrected every second sentence can just make you quit... and it might be why so many people feel like "they can't learn languages", they might have been overcorrected and also might have been doing things that are not fun to them
When it comes to teachers training. They are taught to correct the student immediately after making a mistake. There argument is: „If the students says it ones wrong, he will have the habit making the same mistake." Yeah but in general being corrected every 30 seconds because of a slightly wrong word order, wrong word, wrong ending or article usage may rob the student's confidence. But that's how many people language acquisition works.
@@rasheedololade5439 yes my hubby (18 years together) is German. Now we have moved to Germany and I'm attending night school to learn German. The Grammer is tough but I love speaking to people except that being over corrected is not the help its meant to be. It just makes me lose confidence
@@juliegrune1375 I understand, very tough at A1 ... I think anything involved learning has to do with deep interest, i was super interested in driving a car, I learnt to drive a stick as my first driving experience in less than 20 mins and everytime i am on the road, people ask, how long have you been driving and i reply then, less than 2 mths and the response is always like WTF or wow 😳
I'd just like to say that I'll be 60 tomorrow, and earlier this year when I found your channel and heard you say you learned 11 languages after 60, it really motivated me to finally learn Spanish. I've been off and on learning for 20 years, but can only barely communicate. Even though my wife is from Ecuador, I was born, raised, and still live in Miami, my dad spoke Spanish fluently, and my best friend is from Argentina, I never cared to learn. Thanks for showing me how to learn my way, reading, I'm learning a lot now.
If you read make sure you listen to it as well But listen without reading after you have read a few times and understand. This is when your brain has to work hard at recognising the words so comprehensible input is important for listening
@@heiwanoyume24 Yes, consistency and perseverance are the same for me, but I learned that as a dictionary meaning, continuity should perhaps be expressed with perseverance.
My children were raised with French as their first language. They learnt English by listening to me alone, and the occasional TV programme, and acquired it so easily from a young age. I contemplated for a long time whether I should sit down and help them with reading and writing, but held off doing so, and they simply acquired it by themselves, again from a young age and with no help from anybody. I could throw a word at them (often quite a complicated one) I knew they hadn't heard before, and they would spell it correctly nearly every time. They also had no problem reading books in English meant for their age range. Acquisition seems much harder as we get older, but it certainly seems like the better way to go about it.
We can. And it's the best way to do it. The problem with correction (apart from it's effect on the learner's confidence) is that you're interrupting them when they're trying to say something, so instead of listening to your correction, they're still thinking about what they were trying to say and how to finish saying it. That's why I think it's not that effective. Self-correction is much more effective in my opinion.
My approach at 66 learning French. UA-cam french lessons with Sub titles in french. Read books with INTERESTING CONTENT . Re read books 5,6, 10 times. UA-cam children's cartoons with subtitles. Re listen over and over. Songs, find the words. Listen to the pronunciation, over and over. Classes, groups, but not all the time. A 2 month course now and again. Spotify short podcasts every week. Study them. Repeat them. Come back after 2 weeks and listen again. Converse when ever and where ever possible and get in on any language speaking event. End above all, be willing to dedicate, with a firm personal promise, 3 years of striving to learn the language.
My father (49) wants to learn French as well, but he believes he can’t cuz of his age. Hopefully ur method and seeing other adults successfully learn languages can motivate him. Thanks for sharing! :)
I think for me I’ve experienced several phases of learning English. At first it was fun, I learnt a few words, I gradually built up my vocabulary and I could speak a little and make a conversation. Until I was 17 years old I met a native English speaker who came from the UK, I had some conversation with him, and I thought myself brilliant in English because I can make a conversation in English. However when I was truly immersed in English environment when I went abroad for the first time, I realized how little did I know😢. Then I lack confidence in the language which I thought I was so good at. Until today, I’m still learning and improving everyday. The more you know, the more you realized you don’t know. Well, the only thing that I know is that I know nothing.
I feel like the infant Vs adult analogy isn't really fair since an infant _is_ in fact striving to understand, whereas an adult, with background radio 'noise,' isn't really trying to understand it. You could say that an infant is actually trying harder than we adults do since his/her survival depends on it. I don't believe kids just soak it up from background noise, I think they're really putting in a tremendous effort (during the first 2-3 years) to decipher what they're hearing, it's just that none of us remember it. It might be that they're even doing it from inside of the womb? I don't know if that's been proven (kinda hard to prove), but it doesn't seem _that_ unlikely. I really think it's a myth that infants somehow magically acquire language, we just _massively_ underestimate how much effort is going on. I agree with pretty much everything else in this video. If I ever get to a C1/2 level in a language it'll be almost entirely down to you Steve - not only did you inspire me (and continue to inspire me) but you taught me about the theory of how language learning works. I'll be forever grateful to you for that.
Nice input, I agree 100%. Kids put on a really great effort to learn a language, and yes, their first language takes a quite long time to embed as they have no other reference to compare with, or no other previous experience that can help them to relate things. Let's remember that relating, matching or comparing things enforces memory. I also have another thought in terms of learning, not only a language, but any other activity. It's widely said that it's easier to learn something when you're young. I believe it holds true, but up to some extent and because of a reason: Youngsters are likely to put way more time and effort in learning something new, just because they DO have more time available than adults. For example, let's say that you and your kid start taking piano lessons twice a week with the same amount of classroom time. You both like it; therefore, you both are making an effort to learn. However, your kid will learn faster because: 1) He/she will have more time to practice at home. 2) He/she will have much more time to think about it whilst not in practice or classroom. I believe that point 2 is a quite interesting element in learning. That sort of 'offline thinking' or 'mental time' that you dedicate to the activity will also add up to the overall learning process. So, the more time you dedicate to an activity, regardless of the format (classroom, home practice or just thinking or talking about it), the faster you will acquire it. As an adult, you have too many other things to worry and think about; therefore, point 2 is quite out of the equation.
Basically was going to say the same thing. Children don't always pick up a second language from parents even if they speak a lot in that language. I am friends with a mum who speaks a lot of her second language to her child. They don't speak back, why? Because they've learned that if they only respond in their native language the mum reacts so they see no need to put in the effort to speak in that language. They have now started speaking the second language with me because I don't respond to them unless they speak. They are 6 and they have been hearing the language since they were born. I think this shows how even in children will to learn is important. Also children take years and years to be able to pronounce everything correctly in a language, can grow up to speak with grammar mistakes, because grammar changing is a natural part of language, etc. Children and adults both have strengths and weaknesses to the language learning process.
@@mavsworld1733 That's a really good point. I've raised three bilingual children in Japan. The eldest always understood what I said in English, but would respond to me in Japanese more often than not, since I understand Japanese. It wasn't until her monolingual grandmother came to visit that she changed. She couldn't communicate with her grandmother in Japanese, so she gradually started putting more deliberate effort into expressing herself in English. After her grandmother left, I could see the deliberate (if still awkward) effort she was putting into responding to me in English, and a month later she was communicating with me exclusively in English, even when it was something she could obviously have spit out far more easily in Japanese.
True. Kids are utterly enthusiastic and curious about learning and they have an open mind. The same can't always be said about adults. If anything, you need to be like a child to learn.
Legendary video, Steve, you hit a lot of key points. What matters most is how much you want to understand your input. How badly do you really want to know what the characters in your shows and books are saying? That's the key.
I have a cousin that learned Hindi from her father, English from her mother and Spanish from the nanny. Then spent time in Russia and picked that up too. All before she was 10.
I don’t know if I agree on the correction point or not. But I’ve noticed is that whenever a non-Chinese person trying to speak Chinese, Chinese people like to correct them if they say anything wrong. We see this as a kind help for that person because we are helping them to improve. However on the other hand, I’ve never encountered English natives to correct other non-English natives’ English. At first I didn’t understand why. I thought they are not willing to help, but later on I gradually realized that it’s the cultural difference. They might see correction of other’s language is rude or impolite etc. this is a big cultural difference. For me I always ask kindly in advance for whoever the English native I am speaking to to correct my English if I say anything wrong, if I didn’t ask, they very likely will ignore. I think this is a huge cultural difference
I suppose it depends on the person. In my case, I think we should follow the 80-20 strategy meaning 80% of your learning time listening to original content, and the 20% left for learning grammar, pronunciation, phrasal verbs, etc.
I count my hours of contact with the language - Persian right now, by the way! I note this down in an Excel sheet and look at it every now and then to see where I came from and where I am going. I am moving towards a time-based goal (300 hours in 2022), by having contact with the language, using mainly your application, LingQ!
Rings true to me. I have achieved maybe a level B2 of understanding spoken French mostly from listening to a variety of UA-cam videos. I have begun approaching German in the manner you are describing.
Also Steve, I really like the way you speak. Your pronunciation sounds so standard and you speak really clearly. I could almost understand each word, even if some words I didn’t know the meaning, I could easily look it up because you speak so clearly I can always guess correctly how to spell them.
I moved to Romania a couple of months ago, and while I really need to learn Romanian language, I haven’t really started yet 🫣🫢 So, I’ve never done any grammar exercises, nor have I ever read any references regarding anything connected to grammar structures. All I’ve been doing is reading and listening in Romanian (not for the purpose of studying the language, but just to ‘understand the message behind it’, just as you said in the video). What really helped me understand it all was that I already knew a lot about the subjects I was reading about. I’ve been trying to talk with Romanians about said subjects and imagine my surprise when suddenly I realized that I’m using simple tenses (past, present, future), I’m changing verbs mostly correctly - and all of this without ever starting to study the grammar 🫢
I also suggest you try LingQ for Romanian. You can start with the mini-stories and then import content of interest to use on LingQ. Good luck. I enjoyed visiting Romania and learning Romanian, much of which I have (temporarily) forgotten.
I first learnt French 30 years ago, and lived in Montreal for two years. I had good comprehension but poor speech skills. Four months ago I started using Duolingo to revise and improve my French. I had meant to take up French again but could not afford one on one lessons with a teacher, and group lessons did not work for me. It was while talking to a friend that I learnt about Duolingo (though I now have mixed feelings about the evil little owl). Language learning has been revolutionised by the internet and online apps. We can get the equivalent of one on one lessons, albeit with limitations, for small money. And we can listen to podcasts by native French speakers, real Le Monde online etc. By the way, a friend who went to Germany at age eight did have special German language lessons at school, they were designed for immigrants. Regarding corrections, my problem 30 years ago was lack of confidence, and one person did regularly correct me, often telling me stuff I knew. It had the effect of making me feel more uncomfortable. And no I did not pick up language naturally, probably because I was working to earn a living and did not focus enough. Children seem not to worry about mistakes. I have seen this with ice skating and hockey too. Children are (usually) not self conscious and they are fearless. For them languages acquisition is existential, not a hobby.
@@tommys234 I have since abandoned the evil owl, and moved to comprehensible input, and in comparison Duolingo is dreadful. I now think Duolingo is a poor way to learn. As you say, it teaches translation not understanding. And the voice actors are dreadful, they put on weird voices. Plus the phrases are often strange. The most damning criticism of Duolingo is that it is s very slow and inefficient way to learn.
Serious question: can't we (as adults) make a "deliberate decision" to learn languages like kids do? 🤔 I really do think so, and - in fact - encourage it 👧
Not really. You can try to approximate it by replicating the conditions in which infants learn their native language, but there's nothing you can do about maturational differences or the experiential knowledge you've gained. You can't go back to a time when you didn't understand simple things like gravity and when you lacked basic cognitive functions like predictive abilities, nor can you form the same kind of bond you had with your parents in early childhood. And since you're literate, you also can't go back to what your brain was like pre speech/print integration, even if you're learning a language with a script you don't understand. So anyway, you can try to approximate it, but it's impossible for an adult to fully replicate the exact process of first language acquisition.
And might I add, who is going to talk to you like a child? No body, not even a child. Further more, the idea that friends or strangers really want to help you learn is a lie. Most people just want to communicate, if you can't speak their language they will switch to yours immediately. Most people are not teachers, therefore they do not want to teach you, and never ask your family.
@@bofbob1 appreciate the scientific breakdown - you're not wrong 😉 But approximate we must!! Otherwise we'd be sending people into space without _any_ idea what zero gravity is like. Can they _actually_ experience it on Earth? Of course not, but the approximation still goes a long way! And so can simulating "natural" language acquisition by injecting the carefree love for learning in our grown-up study. Being literate does _not_ mean dictionaries and other boring texts are the only way to language 🤪
I think a lot comes down to available resources as well. For a long time, classrooms / textbooks / tapes with vocab, grammar & a few stock phrases, were all that were available to most people at the beginner level. Now, resources like Dreaming Spanish, Comprehensible Thai & others, make it possible for adults to learn with a more 'natural' method, from the very beginning.
Hi, thanks for your video. I am now 42 years old and have started learning English again. I would like to get to the level From A2 to B2 or C1. For the past six months, I have taken online courses, watched English programs, read English articles, and tried to memorize some words every day. My biggest confusion is that it's hard to feel like I'm making progress and not see how close I am to my goal. Whenever I try to speak English, I think the same as half a year ago.
It goes up and down. I'm 65 and kick started my French after 50 years. Listen and read every day. 75% listening to 25% reading. You have to be disciplined. I use flash cards (making them is lots of work) you tube videos, children's cartoons with sub subtitles, teaching videos, newspapers, books. Plenty of variety. Plus I try to speak and I never apologise for my bad French.
Honestly, I had a flatmate from Colombia: Before that she was living with Spanish-speaking people and working as a nanny. She could bearly communicate in English. After moving in with me and our 3 other English-Speakers, she was speaking competent English with ease in less than 4-6 months. I'm sure the ideal is total immersion: Eg you are hungry at breakfast and would like to eat that Croissant: You WILL learn how to say what you want in the target language when other language is not available and you learn to say the right thing and the others then try to get you to say it the right way so they FEEL better hearing you!
I've just moved to Ecuador from Canada and now making a dedicated effort to learn Español. I am shocked to meet ex-pats living here for decades and still can't speak Español.
I'm not surprised as someone who was born the US I met so many people from Mexico and they been living here for 20 to 30 years and still can't speak English
Oh wow steve, I so agree with you! I was taking a course that did all of these things, comprehension questions, quick corrections as your trying to express yourself, completely eroded the confidence that I was building. I had an excellent tutor that made me feel so good about my progress and then she moved to France so I relied on this other local class over zoom and I felt so bad about myself in their method of teaching very old school. After working with this course for the past few years I finally quit, best decision ever! I have to now figgure out how to go it alone but i'm far enough into the language i'm fine with that.
The best piece of advice I’ve had recently is not to worry about using the correct German articles. First focus on being understood, which means focusing on sentence structure. The complicated articles were getting in the way of me trying to speak.
Discipline and perseverance and immersion. One should prepare a flexible study program that fits him/herself, by looking at those of people who have completed this language learning journey before and by doing research. (This part becomes "discipline".) Then, he needs to show continuity with small steps without getting tired. (This part is "perseverance".) He should be exposed to that language as if he were swimming in a pool or the sea related to the language he is trying to learn on the subjects he enjoys every day. It should be surrounded by that language. This will lead to the development of reading, listening, writing, comprehension and speaking skills over time. In this way, the new language will permeate the person with each passing day. (This is "immersion".)
Like the video. When I try learning a new language I personally want to get to the point where I can enjoy content that I like, content I wiuld otherwise consume in either English or Spanish...but in the target language as quivkly as possible... For context, here's my current languages that I'm studying at the same time Japanese:currently studying for N1. And every day I consume regular content..Studying from English. Italian: currently intermediate, simply enjoying regular books and movies. Studying from Spanish Korean. Currently using a language learning app to get the basics (Lingodeer), then moving to regular content I like as hard as it may be (this part at the beginning can be offputting to some).Studying from Japanese. So for me, the way I usually get there studying through a language learning app...for like a couple of months...to me..this is the somewhat boring part...and after that I still study with books on grammar....still think it's boring but at the same time (on the same day) I study off of content in that language meant for natives...For me,even though how I started learning the language may be a bit boring, I just look forward to the normal content I may be able to enjoy at a later stage...I don't necessarily have to wait to reach the dreaded intermediate plateau to start enjoying content.. The whole point of what I just said above is that,at least for me, I think studying grammar is a must...as it will be easier to understand content you read way faster, even if you still can't use it in output...after all, I don't plan on moving to any of these countries so I personally am ok waiting for output to come at later stages in my learning..anyways...just my take :)
About correction, I would say I love it & I appreciate if I'm being corrected. That way I'll get more confidence knowing the correct way of saying what I mean & learn from it.
I was dating a Chinese woman for 2.5ish years. At the start, I tried to learn Mandarin for her. She was so mercilessly mean to me about it that I stopped trying at all. Full stop. Abandoned the language. Spanish is a language that I associate with friends and fun. Food and dancing and funny messages and love songs and literature. Which one do you think I learned? Learning a language puts a person into such a state of vulnerability that to be unsupportive, particularly in a hostile way, just hurts.
As tough as it sounds, that kind of treatment is absolut necessary when learning Chinese. I really wish I had a teacher like that because your tones need to be hammered into you for quite some time before you get them right most of the time
@Ragnar Bluechip there's constructive criticism, and then purposefully making someone feel as small as possible. She didn't correct me, all she did was punch down the way she knew it would hurt me the most. I'm not disagreeing, but within context, I wouldn't wish it upon anyone, let alone a student
What I find interesting is the correlation between deliberate learning and the monitor when speaking. In my experience, if I focus more on grammatical explanations then there is an inclination to monitor the rules internally as I construct sentences and thereby affecting output.
Something I did to skip the CI content at the start, is just do a lot of look ups and watch the same video 2x, and I learned pretty quick doing this paired with anki, hope this helps if you also don't enjoy CI content.
The correction point is really interesting and makes sense, as a martial arts teacher though, if I didn't correct my students they would remain at a pretty incompetent level I would have thought..but obviously some don't respond well to this and you have to be more subtle and encouraging alongside the corrections ..would you say in your opinion correction is the wrong approach for adult learning generally??
Maybe you've answered your own question: some students are more open to correction than others, and you have to adjust your teaching to their level of openness. Or find a way to open the students up to correction? Being closed to correction (losing confidence and motivation because of it) is such a handicap.
Once again, I think you're being unfair with grammar exercises. Grammar exercises/study are not a comprehensive means to learn a language, and I don't think anyone really prescribes them as such. They simply boost your comprehension and accelerate your language learning and error correction when used in combination with natural learning methods. It shouldn't be your exclusive learning method, but it is extremely useful for adults and even older kids and teenagers to be aware of grammar concepts and common errors. I found grammar study to be extremely effective for me even if it was never more than maybe 20% of my daily use of/contact with the language. For example, I didn't perfectly learn to use the subjunctive in Spanish by simply doing exercises, but I did become aware of it and payed attention to when and how it was used by the speakers.
I myself combine deliberate with natural learning. In my view, it can be more effective. Indeed, in deliberate learning, we focus on skills we want to acquire and improve, and concentration helps us design our path to achieve our goals fast and faultlessly. However, this kind of learning sounds to me a little bit "compartmentalized". That's why, when I learn a language, I sometimes "enter a cave with a maze of passages, merely curious to see or hear something. I can see paitings and hear sounds, or nothing at all." So, for example, when I do housework, I play the radio and listen to (I would say "hear" instead) whatever it is, unaware of what is going to be on next. I may not even understand what is being spoken about. You may think it is aimless and meaningless. I would agree with you if it were deliberate learning. But it is not. I am purely and simply exposed to the language without fully immersed in the learning process, like a child, and I may realize how effective it has been some time later. Anyways, I pefer this to nothing. 🙂
Acquiring a language requires effort on your part. I think it is helpful to listen to dialogs or stories that is appropriate for your level. When you listen to dialogs or stories, you will get an idea of how words are put together to form sentences. You can also learn some grammar along the way. Listening or reading a random list of words is not helpful.
Hi Steve, for me I listen everyday for almost 2 hours to audiobooks and podcasts, enjoy learning grammar everyday and reading novels in Japanese but when it comes to speaking I still cant speak well no matter how much I learn. Have you ever encountered any similar siutuations? Also thanks for the great content😀
Hey Pat (Sorry I'm not the Steve you're looking for), I have this same problem with German. I have been studying the language for almost 15 years as an American, and I can understand what I am hearing when I listen to German speakers, but formulating my own thoughts into coherent German sentences is always a struggle. My theory is that I am not in an environment where I get to regularly converse in German. So one part of my brain is getting all the stimulus it needs to remember and recall German words, phrases, and sentences, but because I don't speak it nearly as much as I listen to it, that part of my brain is too weak to be used reliably in spontaneous conversation.
@@WingZeroGWO Ah dont worry haha I appreciate the comment man. Yeah I know that if I was to say live in the country of my target language I would undoubtedly become able to speak well but I think what you're saying makes a lot of sense!
You can’t learn a language if you don’t speak it. You need to be implementing the four components of what makes learning a language which is reading, writing, listening and speaking. So try to do all of those everyday like Pimsleur is good for speaking. LingQ is good for reading and listening. Also podcasts and finding communities such a reddit in your target language helps too.
Thank you, Steve, for all tips and advice, I want to ask about the TOEFL reading section I find it hard to solve the questions, and I got 18-20 when I solve the preparation exams, so what I can do to improve my score??
I acquired basic Turkish from watching films and then series for a few years. Now I’m more intentional because I fell in love with the language by accident! In the beginning I didn’t even know that it was Turkish.
I think childrens have a lot less crutches compared to adults. Adults already have presets of concepts before they even encouter a subject coming from their past experiences no matter what this is. Working as crutches for them, they can skip stuff and not understand everything fully without it becoming a problem. Childrens have none so their margin of progression is a lot higher because they have to be filled with more information to arrive at this point.
I think content and input is really important, and fully agree that's it's important to get a lot of input. But I think the "adults can just learn languages like kids do" is misleading. Kids get thousands of hours of input, most adults will simply not be in a position to get that amount of input. Shortcuts, such as a bit of grammar help.
I am genuinely fascinated by language acquisition. I pursued a masters degree in TESOL and I am currently doing a doctoral degree researching certain aspects of language acquisition. I was hoping to find a job where I can continue doing research in this field. However, I can't seem to find any job advertisements anywhere. Did I make a mistake pursuing this career? Is the field of language acquisition research coming to an end?
In Europe, some countries learn 3 or 4 languages at school, eg Luxembourg or Switzerland: The Swiss have: German, French and Italian and of course English necessity. Now if I were to research, I'd work out what they're doing that enables learning multiple language EARLY ON IN LIFE. I believe Aboriginals in Australia were linguistic maestros knowing about 24 languages due to different tribes mingling/meeting and then they used "Songlines" as part of their geography/migration. Is the research dead? Well not by RESULTS where kids spend time at school or as adults learning and not progressing: It seems from that perspective very much an "open field". With that said, I'm not a fan of academia's approach and more a fan of practical results. YMMV. On the topic of kids learning: I remember finding learning my native tongue excruciating: I could not learn to spell despite my my mother's tears and dramas to spell "D-I-D"! Looking at parents and how exhausted they are by their children it makes one wonder what is happening in those early years where kids do end up picking up langugues despite these obvious and very real challenges! "Birds have wings with which to fly, and Humans have tongues with which to speak."
Dunno. There's a pretty strong imbalance between supply and demand when it comes to jobs in academia, so that may be what you're seeing. Language acquisition as a field of study is doing quite well, never better really. How that translates into jobs... dunno. Thing is that the topic is increasingly segregated across different disciplines, so while there are plenty of researchers in language acquisition, I honestly don't know how many there are in the specific area of instructed SLA, which seems to be what you're in. So maybe worth looking into other fields as well? Maybe also worth remembering that academia will be hit by the retirement wave like everyone else. So you should expect quite a few job openings in the upcoming decade. It might be slightly delayed compared to the private sectors just because of the tendency of old academic farts to cling to their jobs long past retirement, but they can only hold on for so long... I mean, we all die some day... If I were to go back into language acquisition research today, I'd probably go into neurolinguistics or evolutionary biology. That's where the meat of it is IMHO. In instructed SLA, I'd take a good whack at taking down dual process theory, which is the feet of clay of most theoretical giants in instructed SLA, at least among the ones I've looked into. As I see it, the entire field is plagued by either/or thinking, as if there was something magical about the number two. I'd be really curious to see what a "non-binary" (in quotes because I can't help but think of gender when I use that term, even though that's not at all what I'm talking about here! ^^) theory of instructed SLA would look like.
Hello Steve. I am learning English with lingq and I’m quite confident I have made a huge progress. My listening and reading skills are much better. For some months now I have also having English classes twice a week. I am on the verge of 20000 words on lingq and going to get there till the end of the year. But recently I am catching myself on the feeling of resisting the learning. When I notice new things in the language instead of being more motivated I feel some resistance from myself, don’t know how to explain it. For example I notice some difference in grammar from languages I know and I have some inner protest not wonting to even think about it. What is the best strategy in this situation? Maybe children have less such inner feelings of protest?
You are in the intermediate plateau where you feel you are putting in a lot of time and not progressing. You just have to keep going, and consume material of interest to you.
What is your opinion on the direct method being used to teach an adult? I'm interested in getting a Japanese tutor and one I've seen that I like the look of using this method only. I'm not big on grammar either, I don't understand english grammar and I'm a native lol. I want to just learn the reading and writing in my own time, but have speaking and listening practice with a real native Japanese person as well. At what point is a beginner ready for a tutor like that?
I am definitely no Dr. Krashen but “Direct Method” pedagogy is kind of his thing. I’m trying the most unstructured approach possible right now, aka the “literally just start going to XYZish community social events as the only non-native speaker there and do it a LOT” method. Don’t know if it is fastest, but it’s gotta be up there and it’s certainly been the most rewarding. :)
Also, look into the Middlebury College language retreats or something similar for inspiration- one of the main models for all things direct method since! :)
Kids can learn any languages naturally, but not adults. Adults have to study deliberately~ dont hope easy way if you wanna acquire any language~ learning languages is really tough study~
You're right, learning languages require a lot efforts, however, this process must be enjoyable. The brain of the an adult works different, but i do not believe that the process must be like " no pain no gain" 😂. By the way, i am from brazil and i am improving my english a lot with the Steve's tips.
@MacasGamer hmm i can't enjoy the learning process not that I dont like studying. I just keep studying to improve my english. And I don't know how you can enjoy the process. Do you happen to watch like series??
I'm native speakers of English. Does it only go for the native speakers to acquire their motherland tongue. Do you think acquire only go for the native speakers Can you tell me?
Hello Steve! I have a quick question for you: How did you learn Ukrainian? And what are your tips for learning this language? PS: I do not have any background in Slavic languages. I speak English, Spanish, French, and know a bit of Dutch, Italian, and Portuguese.
Your point about comparing children and adults is , excuse me, wrong...of course they practice AND learn the language: they don't correct themselves as you said, they go to school and are corrected by a teacher, my point being, sure we need to practice, adquire a language but we also need to study it to really master it without some mistakes we may correct...or won't Now, i agree, studying shouldn't be our main activity BUT i also don't agree that we don't need it, of course at some point we need to learn the rules by studying the grammar and so on... In my case, i learnt portuguese really easily, living in Brazil, i was speaking really well BUT i noticed after some time that i was speaking "well" a "bad" portuguese...the one i learnt "in the streets" and that, to correct my mistakes, i NEEDED to , not only, practice it anymore, but start studying it...by adding the theory to the practice, i improved a lot...and i did, and do, the same in all languages i speak: 9 today, I practice a LOT, way more than i study, BUT i also have to learn it to boost my level quicker Now, where i agree with u, we shouldn't START by studying it, we need to enjoy it first, so i start "enjoying the language" and slowly after i add some learnings to make my learning process grow faster
The guy talks about fun and confidence. Imagine this: you are native spanish speaker and you point things and mutter "azucar" in Russia. First 10 people laugh and give you sugar. One happy day someone punches you in the face. Correction is better than "screwing it up to learn". Most people, especially westerners would think that Russian is violent, not that they did anything wrong.
I bet you cant learn Albanian. Im in the environment cause I live here and 5 year, I can say just about anything, but understanding a conversation: I get lost quick. This is one of the hardest I hear.
We should teach new languanges to the kids since they were kids so that they can learn it naturally, my question is how they memorize the vocabulary words in the languange that they are learning? So lucky for the kids who learn english so early i wish i were one of them.😔
I don't tnink forvthe non native English speakers can acquire English like native speakers. Only the mother tongue can acquire English. It's utterly difficult for me to acquir it. All i can say is that i can pick up unknown vocab, but not acquire it like a native English speaker......
Thanks for correcting me, Steve. I'd though that we do need correction until you just corrected me, that we don't. After you just corrected me, I know that we don't need to be corrected to speak correctly. I'll be sure to correct anyone, who insists that we need correction that we don't need correction or to be correcte, in order to speak correctly.
This will answer your question: Steve, you are MISSING an IMPORTANT ASPECT in your reasoning WHY children acquire a second language faster than adults. It's NONE of what you stated. An adult can match the hours spent with a language and be just as uninhibited, etc. Children will always outperform an adult everything else being equal. I am surprised you cannot see the major difference between adults and children. Obviously children aren't fully developed physically, but that's irrelevant. What is RELEVANT is that children don't have a FULLY DEVELOPED First Language. Adults HAVE a fully developed first language. Guess what ? Fully developed first language DOMINATES consciousness not allowing a second language develop same as first. First language simply gets in the way. Languages COMPETE for your attention and the stronger one wins. And there ARE ways for adults to match the abilities of children. Purposely deny yourself ANY use of your native language, creating linguistic vacuum (so to speak) I mean never using your first language for a few months. It is psychologically arduous (for adults), and You will CRAVE a replacement language. You will crave and absorb a second language like a child. I speak from experience.
Ok you don't like correction and really testing the language skills in an objective manner (such as comprehension questions) at all. And that's fair for somebody who just learns for fun. But for schools it's simply not applicable. Schools have to measure skills of their students. If for nothing else, than to serve as a feedback whether the teaching method works or not. Another point will be anecdotal, but I've been learning Japanese for years and it is not until I started actually testing myself on grammar patterns and comprehension, that I've made SIGNIFICANT progress in my skill. I would have probably learned eventually with the sort of rather easygoing method, of just consuming some short texts in Japanese etc, but it was significantly slower approach. Also you say you don't think the idea of parents correcting children is valid, because children of immigrants don't have their parents correcting them. But even when you're raised in your own country, it's hardly your parents only doing the correcting. It's everyone around as well. So children of immigrants talk to other children and teachers etc. They get corrected all the time. Parents are not the only ones teaching their child a language. I think it was bit of a straw man argument, as nobody claims it's JUST the parents doing it. It's simply used as an example, because parents are usually closest to the child. Point of the argument isn't really WHO does the correction, the point rather is, that the correction is occurring.
Steve, you are MISSING an IMPORTANT ASPECT in your reasoning WHY children acquire a second language faster than adults. It's NONE of what you stated. An adult can match the hours spent with a language and be just as uninhibited, etc. Children will always outperform an adult everything else being equal. I am surprised you cannot see the major difference between adults and children. Obviously children aren't fully developed physically, but that's irrelevant. What is RELEVANT is that children don't have a FULLY DEVELOPED First Language. Adults HAVE a fully developed first language. Guess what ? Fully developed first language DOMINATES consciousness not allowing a second language develop same as first. First language simply gets in the way. Languages COMPETE for your attention and the stronger one wins. And there ARE ways for adults to match the abilities of children. Purposely deny yourself ANY use of your native language, creating linguistic vacuum (so to speak) I mean never using your first language for a few months. It is psychologically arduous (for adults), and You will CRAVE a replacement language. You will crave and absorb a second language like a child. I speak from experience.
@@hydraavux8636 I just mean in aggregate the difference is not so huge, if you factor in all the advantages adults have over babies -- they can read, make flashcards, watch youtube videos about the language, and so on.
Corrections cause me anxiety. I can speak much better language with friends who don’t correct me. If I know someone will correct me, I simply tell them I don’t speak the language.
We really need to get past this notion that we ought to learn L2 the way kids learn. It’s been disproven about 1000 times. The adult brain is completely different than a child’s brain.
completely? Do you believe humans like butterflies change to some extremely different things when become adult or what? There're enough examples of successful child-style acquisition of second+ language without rules and classrooms. I can't even imagine how the disproval of that fact should look like.
@@tamarimosh The science of this has been settled for 40 years. The only outstanding questions revolve around why the adult brain is so different from a child's. There are a variety of competing theories.
How are you being deliberate in your study of a language?
The app I use to learn languages -> bit.ly/3TXXAlw
My 10 FREE secrets to language learning -> www.thelinguist.com
I don't think you can compare language acquisition for adults and kids. Kids don't already speak any language (OK, other than baby talk, which I don't see offered on Lingq!). That's very different than adults who are trying to learn a second language.
RE: correction, no I don't want (nor see much value in) a Czech bookstore clerk correcting me. I DO want lots of correction from those I interact with more often. I appreciate correction. It definitely makes me remember.
活到老，学到老。
@@timx2023 what actually makes it inherently different besides the superstition that isn't really backed up by research?
@@jackloke7606i77😮😅😊
I like Steve's videos. I'm 62 and learning Mandarin in China where I've lived for 8 years. I'm studying HSK4. My goals are to gradually improve my understanding by studying 2-3 hours probably 3-5 times per week. I can't speak Mandarin but by focusing on listening and reading hope that my speaking will improve over time.
Also you can watch videos about phonetic Mandarin, how to pronounce that couple of words more deeply. I did multiple things to improve my pronunciation and one of them was search videos about IPA (internacional phonectics and i forgot what is means the A), but you now, i'm still learning.
活到老，学到老。
@@daydreamintheflowers6702 A - alphabet
From my experience,
for most immigrants to the US, if they don't learn English in the first 2 years, they end up figuring out how to avoid learning English and survive like that for the rest of their life.
@@daydreamintheflowers6702 Alphabet
Kids don’t even have to move to a new country to learn a language or languages. They can do it if their parents speak to them in two different languages and their country speaks another- trilingual
Yep. I'm teaching English to my niece with "fixes" (Its a cartoon) and she will be very grateful after some years,😁
She is just 4years old.
Exactly
TV as well
Yes, but their understanding of the language will usually be different than those raised in the country where the language is spoken
we aren't kids
I am listening to podcasts daily, reading articles in Spanish, and using a couple of the language apps, also going through a Spanish grammar book occasionally. I’m going to trust the process and keep doing what I’m doing. Whenever I have the opportunity to speak Spanish, I do it. Otherwise I’m good with what I’m doing now. There are words I couldn’t remember, that when I see them now, I actively know the meaning. So far I’ve had a lot of fun ‘learning’ Spanish.
Any update?
@@MK-ow3rh Since writing that post, I understand a little better when listening to spoken Spanish content, understand more while reading in Spanish, and feel more confident speaking when I need to. Far from perfect, but I’m still enjoying what I’m doing and have noticed improvement. Overall I feel more familiar with the language than ever. I am spending free time I have with the language, but can’t do hours and hours daily. When I start feeling like I’m overdoing it, I take a break.
@@J_Trask great.
Imo, one can hold concentration max 2 hours... And thats on a good day.
Its good to let osmosis work and dont be nervous to take plenty of breaks for you efforts as well.
I pushed Spanish for 4 years, finished in 2012. I surprised myself recently that I could understand a documentary from Mexico without much effort.
That's an 11 year gap and while I need to relearn how to speak it, my comprehension is even better today without further study.
Also, be careful with listening. Some accents are easier then others, so don't get discouraged if you don't understand sometimes.
i think i really needed to hear “trust the process” part 😭 i’m a beginner learning korean and i’ve definitely understand like 5% more from nothing lol but sometimes i think about it and wonder if all this constant learning will actually make me known the language, but trust the process is what i need to remember cuz i see little progress every day. i just need some patience lol
Another check in, how are things going now?
being overcorrected can really harm motivation, I think one correction placed right can help, but being corrected every second sentence can just make you quit... and it might be why so many people feel like "they can't learn languages", they might have been overcorrected and also might have been doing things that are not fun to them
When it comes to teachers training. They are taught to correct the student immediately after making a mistake. There argument is: „If the students says it ones wrong, he will have the habit making the same mistake." Yeah but in general being corrected every 30 seconds because of a slightly wrong word order, wrong word, wrong ending or article usage may rob the student's confidence. But that's how many people language acquisition works.
This is exactly what is happening to me and I'm now not enjoying trying to learn German
@@juliegrune1375 shocking cos you have a German surname, was it by marriage?
@@rasheedololade5439 yes my hubby (18 years together) is German. Now we have moved to Germany and I'm attending night school to learn German. The Grammer is tough but I love speaking to people except that being over corrected is not the help its meant to be. It just makes me lose confidence
@@juliegrune1375 I understand, very tough at A1 ... I think anything involved learning has to do with deep interest, i was super interested in driving a car, I learnt to drive a stick as my first driving experience in less than 20 mins and everytime i am on the road, people ask, how long have you been driving and i reply then, less than 2 mths and the response is always like WTF or wow 😳
I'd just like to say that I'll be 60 tomorrow, and
earlier this year when I found your channel and heard you say you learned 11 languages after 60, it really motivated me to finally learn Spanish. I've been off and on learning for 20 years, but can only barely communicate. Even though my wife is from Ecuador, I was born, raised, and still live in Miami, my dad spoke Spanish fluently, and my best friend is from Argentina, I never cared to learn.
Thanks for showing me how to learn my way, reading, I'm learning a lot now.
I need important my listening
How to Improve listening?
Top man!! Good luck in your journey!
If you read make sure you listen to it as well But listen without reading after you have read a few times and understand. This is when your brain has to work hard at recognising the words so comprehensible input is important for listening
Discipline and perseverance and immersion.
How about consistency?
@@heiwanoyume24 Yes, consistency and perseverance are the same for me, but I learned that as a dictionary meaning, continuity should perhaps be expressed with perseverance.
@@heiwanoyume24 Thank you so much for your interest.
All of these factors are primarily influenced by how much you love your immersion shows and books. So spend time to find great TL entertainment.
@@TopDogIK What is TL?
My children were raised with French as their first language. They learnt English by listening to me alone, and the occasional TV programme, and acquired it so easily from a young age. I contemplated for a long time whether I should sit down and help them with reading and writing, but held off doing so, and they simply acquired it by themselves, again from a young age and with no help from anybody. I could throw a word at them (often quite a complicated one) I knew they hadn't heard before, and they would spell it correctly nearly every time. They also had no problem reading books in English meant for their age range.
Acquisition seems much harder as we get older, but it certainly seems like the better way to go about it.
This video is very good, congratulations Steve Kaufman 🎉.
We can. And it's the best way to do it. The problem with correction (apart from it's effect on the learner's confidence) is that you're interrupting them when they're trying to say something, so instead of listening to your correction, they're still thinking about what they were trying to say and how to finish saying it. That's why I think it's not that effective.
Self-correction is much more effective in my opinion.
My approach at 66 learning French.
UA-cam french lessons with
Sub titles in french.
Read books with INTERESTING CONTENT .
Re read books 5,6, 10 times.
UA-cam children's cartoons with subtitles. Re listen over and over.
Songs, find the words.
Listen to the pronunciation, over and over.
Classes, groups, but not all the time. A 2 month course now and again.
Spotify short podcasts every week. Study them. Repeat them. Come back after 2 weeks and listen again.
Converse when ever and where ever possible and get in on any language speaking event.
End above all, be willing to dedicate, with a firm personal promise, 3 years of striving to learn the language.
My father (49) wants to learn French as well, but he believes he can’t cuz of his age. Hopefully ur method and seeing other adults successfully learn languages can motivate him. Thanks for sharing! :)
I've been working on my second language for 3 1/2 years now. And I'm always looking at ways to make my acquisition of the language more efficient.
I think for me I’ve experienced several phases of learning English. At first it was fun, I learnt a few words, I gradually built up my vocabulary and I could speak a little and make a conversation. Until I was 17 years old I met a native English speaker who came from the UK, I had some conversation with him, and I thought myself brilliant in English because I can make a conversation in English. However when I was truly immersed in English environment when I went abroad for the first time, I realized how little did I know😢. Then I lack confidence in the language which I thought I was so good at. Until today, I’m still learning and improving everyday. The more you know, the more you realized you don’t know. Well, the only thing that I know is that I know nothing.
I feel like the infant Vs adult analogy isn't really fair since an infant _is_ in fact striving to understand, whereas an adult, with background radio 'noise,' isn't really trying to understand it. You could say that an infant is actually trying harder than we adults do since his/her survival depends on it. I don't believe kids just soak it up from background noise, I think they're really putting in a tremendous effort (during the first 2-3 years) to decipher what they're hearing, it's just that none of us remember it. It might be that they're even doing it from inside of the womb? I don't know if that's been proven (kinda hard to prove), but it doesn't seem _that_ unlikely. I really think it's a myth that infants somehow magically acquire language, we just _massively_ underestimate how much effort is going on.
I agree with pretty much everything else in this video. If I ever get to a C1/2 level in a language it'll be almost entirely down to you Steve - not only did you inspire me (and continue to inspire me) but you taught me about the theory of how language learning works. I'll be forever grateful to you for that.
Nice input, I agree 100%. Kids put on a really great effort to learn a language, and yes, their first language takes a quite long time to embed as they have no other reference to compare with, or no other previous experience that can help them to relate things. Let's remember that relating, matching or comparing things enforces memory.
I also have another thought in terms of learning, not only a language, but any other activity. It's widely said that it's easier to learn something when you're young. I believe it holds true, but up to some extent and because of a reason: Youngsters are likely to put way more time and effort in learning something new, just because they DO have more time available than adults.
For example, let's say that you and your kid start taking piano lessons twice a week with the same amount of classroom time. You both like it; therefore, you both are making an effort to learn. However, your kid will learn faster because: 1) He/she will have more time to practice at home. 2) He/she will have much more time to think about it whilst not in practice or classroom.
I believe that point 2 is a quite interesting element in learning. That sort of 'offline thinking' or 'mental time' that you dedicate to the activity will also add up to the overall learning process.
So, the more time you dedicate to an activity, regardless of the format (classroom, home practice or just thinking or talking about it), the faster you will acquire it.
As an adult, you have too many other things to worry and think about; therefore, point 2 is quite out of the equation.
Basically was going to say the same thing. Children don't always pick up a second language from parents even if they speak a lot in that language. I am friends with a mum who speaks a lot of her second language to her child. They don't speak back, why? Because they've learned that if they only respond in their native language the mum reacts so they see no need to put in the effort to speak in that language. They have now started speaking the second language with me because I don't respond to them unless they speak. They are 6 and they have been hearing the language since they were born. I think this shows how even in children will to learn is important. Also children take years and years to be able to pronounce everything correctly in a language, can grow up to speak with grammar mistakes, because grammar changing is a natural part of language, etc. Children and adults both have strengths and weaknesses to the language learning process.
@@mavsworld1733 That's a really good point. I've raised three bilingual children in Japan. The eldest always understood what I said in English, but would respond to me in Japanese more often than not, since I understand Japanese. It wasn't until her monolingual grandmother came to visit that she changed. She couldn't communicate with her grandmother in Japanese, so she gradually started putting more deliberate effort into expressing herself in English. After her grandmother left, I could see the deliberate (if still awkward) effort she was putting into responding to me in English, and a month later she was communicating with me exclusively in English, even when it was something she could obviously have spit out far more easily in Japanese.
i agree, and more, the children go to school EVERY DAY, it is wrong to say that they ONLY learn "naturally"
True. Kids are utterly enthusiastic and curious about learning and they have an open mind. The same can't always be said about adults. If anything, you need to be like a child to learn.
Legendary video, Steve, you hit a lot of key points. What matters most is how much you want to understand your input. How badly do you really want to know what the characters in your shows and books are saying? That's the key.
I have a cousin that learned Hindi from her father, English from her mother and Spanish from the nanny. Then spent time in Russia and picked that up too. All before she was 10.
I don’t know if I agree on the correction point or not. But I’ve noticed is that whenever a non-Chinese person trying to speak Chinese, Chinese people like to correct them if they say anything wrong. We see this as a kind help for that person because we are helping them to improve. However on the other hand, I’ve never encountered English natives to correct other non-English natives’ English. At first I didn’t understand why. I thought they are not willing to help, but later on I gradually realized that it’s the cultural difference. They might see correction of other’s language is rude or impolite etc. this is a big cultural difference. For me I always ask kindly in advance for whoever the English native I am speaking to to correct my English if I say anything wrong, if I didn’t ask, they very likely will ignore. I think this is a huge cultural difference
I like being corrected from time to time. I also ask people to do it.
Hey, this was really excellent, succinct and it answered basically all the questions I had in mind when I searched UA-cam and a bit more. Thank you!
I think it’s a mixture of both but such an informative video thank you! Definitely helping me with my Japanese language journey 💜
I suppose it depends on the person. In my case, I think we should follow the 80-20 strategy meaning 80% of your learning time listening to original content, and the 20% left for learning grammar, pronunciation, phrasal verbs, etc.
I count my hours of contact with the language - Persian right now, by the way! I note this down in an Excel sheet and look at it every now and then to see where I came from and where I am going. I am moving towards a time-based goal (300 hours in 2022), by having contact with the language, using mainly your application, LingQ!
Rings true to me. I have achieved maybe a level B2 of understanding spoken French mostly from listening to a variety of UA-cam videos. I have begun approaching German in the manner you are describing.
You are a genius
Also Steve, I really like the way you speak. Your pronunciation sounds so standard and you speak really clearly. I could almost understand each word, even if some words I didn’t know the meaning, I could easily look it up because you speak so clearly I can always guess correctly how to spell them.
I listen and read which Is language acquisition comprehensible input.
I moved to Romania a couple of months ago, and while I really need to learn Romanian language, I haven’t really started yet 🫣🫢 So, I’ve never done any grammar exercises, nor have I ever read any references regarding anything connected to grammar structures. All I’ve been doing is reading and listening in Romanian (not for the purpose of studying the language, but just to ‘understand the message behind it’, just as you said in the video). What really helped me understand it all was that I already knew a lot about the subjects I was reading about. I’ve been trying to talk with Romanians about said subjects and imagine my surprise when suddenly I realized that I’m using simple tenses (past, present, future), I’m changing verbs mostly correctly - and all of this without ever starting to study the grammar 🫢
I also suggest you try LingQ for Romanian. You can start with the mini-stories and then import content of interest to use on LingQ. Good luck. I enjoyed visiting Romania and learning Romanian, much of which I have (temporarily) forgotten.
@@Thelinguist Thank you for the suggestion! Will try ☺️
How is it going?
I first learnt French 30 years ago, and lived in Montreal for two years. I had good comprehension but poor speech skills. Four months ago I started using Duolingo to revise and improve my French. I had meant to take up French again but could not afford one on one lessons with a teacher, and group lessons did not work for me. It was while talking to a friend that I learnt about Duolingo (though I now have mixed feelings about the evil little owl). Language learning has been revolutionised by the internet and online apps. We can get the equivalent of one on one lessons, albeit with limitations, for small money. And we can listen to podcasts by native French speakers, real Le Monde online etc.
By the way, a friend who went to Germany at age eight did have special German language lessons at school, they were designed for immigrants.
Regarding corrections, my problem 30 years ago was lack of confidence, and one person did regularly correct me, often telling me stuff I knew. It had the effect of making me feel more uncomfortable. And no I did not pick up language naturally, probably because I was working to earn a living and did not focus enough. Children seem not to worry about mistakes. I have seen this with ice skating and hockey too. Children are (usually) not self conscious and they are fearless. For them languages acquisition is existential, not a hobby.
Comprehensible input is honestly infinitely more valuable than duolingo. All duolingo teaches is how to translate
@@tommys234 I have since abandoned the evil owl, and moved to comprehensible input, and in comparison Duolingo is dreadful. I now think Duolingo is a poor way to learn. As you say, it teaches translation not understanding. And the voice actors are dreadful, they put on weird voices. Plus the phrases are often strange. The most damning criticism of Duolingo is that it is s very slow and inefficient way to learn.
Serious question: can't we (as adults) make a "deliberate decision" to learn languages like kids do? 🤔 I really do think so, and - in fact - encourage it 👧
Absolutely. Look at the ALG Thai program for examples.
@@coryjorgensen622 cool 💙
Not really. You can try to approximate it by replicating the conditions in which infants learn their native language, but there's nothing you can do about maturational differences or the experiential knowledge you've gained. You can't go back to a time when you didn't understand simple things like gravity and when you lacked basic cognitive functions like predictive abilities, nor can you form the same kind of bond you had with your parents in early childhood. And since you're literate, you also can't go back to what your brain was like pre speech/print integration, even if you're learning a language with a script you don't understand. So anyway, you can try to approximate it, but it's impossible for an adult to fully replicate the exact process of first language acquisition.
And might I add, who is going to talk to you like a child? No body, not even a child. Further more, the idea that friends or strangers really want to help you learn is a lie. Most people just want to communicate, if you can't speak their language they will switch to yours immediately. Most people are not teachers, therefore they do not want to teach you, and never ask your family.
@@bofbob1 appreciate the scientific breakdown - you're not wrong 😉 But approximate we must!! Otherwise we'd be sending people into space without _any_ idea what zero gravity is like. Can they _actually_ experience it on Earth? Of course not, but the approximation still goes a long way! And so can simulating "natural" language acquisition by injecting the carefree love for learning in our grown-up study. Being literate does _not_ mean dictionaries and other boring texts are the only way to language 🤪
I think a lot comes down to available resources as well. For a long time, classrooms / textbooks / tapes with vocab, grammar & a few stock phrases, were all that were available to most people at the beginner level. Now, resources like Dreaming Spanish, Comprehensible Thai & others, make it possible for adults to learn with a more 'natural' method, from the very beginning.
Hi, thanks for your video. I am now 42 years old and have started learning English again. I would like to get to the level From A2 to B2 or C1. For the past six months, I have taken online courses, watched English programs, read English articles, and tried to memorize some words every day. My biggest confusion is that it's hard to feel like I'm making progress and not see how close I am to my goal. Whenever I try to speak English, I think the same as half a year ago.
It goes up and down.
I'm 65 and kick started my French after 50 years.
Listen and read every day. 75% listening to 25% reading.
You have to be disciplined.
I use flash cards (making them is lots of work) you tube videos, children's cartoons with sub subtitles, teaching videos, newspapers, books. Plenty of variety.
Plus I try to speak and I never apologise for my bad French.
Honestly, I had a flatmate from Colombia: Before that she was living with Spanish-speaking people and working as a nanny. She could bearly communicate in English. After moving in with me and our 3 other English-Speakers, she was speaking competent English with ease in less than 4-6 months.
I'm sure the ideal is total immersion: Eg you are hungry at breakfast and would like to eat that Croissant: You WILL learn how to say what you want in the target language when other language is not available and you learn to say the right thing and the others then try to get you to say it the right way so they FEEL better hearing you!
Your English is VERY good already! I would have assumed you were already at a B1 level based on this comment!
Your English is getting close to perfect if that comment is any indication! I certainly wouldn’t have instantly recognized you as an L2 speaker. :)
By the way I would guesstimate that unless Google Translate or something was involved, that’s well into B level territory and probably B2. :)
I've just moved to Ecuador from Canada and now making a dedicated effort to learn Español. I am shocked to meet ex-pats living here for decades and still can't speak Español.
I'm not surprised as someone who was born the US I met so many people from Mexico and they been living here for 20 to 30 years and still can't speak English
Here in the Phoenix area its very common to find Mexicans who have lived here 30 or 40 years and they have only rudimentary english skills.
Oh wow steve, I so agree with you! I was taking a course that did all of these things, comprehension questions, quick corrections as your trying to express yourself, completely eroded the confidence that I was building. I had an excellent tutor that made me feel so good about my progress and then she moved to France so I relied on this other local class over zoom and I felt so bad about myself in their method of teaching very old school. After working with this course for the past few years I finally quit, best decision ever! I have to now figgure out how to go it alone but i'm far enough into the language i'm fine with that.
It was interesting that you were interested in Iran to know about 👏👏👏🙏
The best piece of advice I’ve had recently is not to worry about using the correct German articles. First focus on being understood, which means focusing on sentence structure. The complicated articles were getting in the way of me trying to speak.
This is so true, my hubby keeps correcting me while I'm trying to speak German and all it's made me do is not want to speak
Wow that sounds good I don’t need for correcting 💃💃it makes me feel more confident
Love the video 📹 ❤️
God tier video, perfect explaination of what its like to learn it on your own
Discipline and perseverance and immersion. One should prepare a flexible study program that fits him/herself, by looking at those of people who have completed this language learning journey before and by doing research. (This part becomes "discipline".) Then, he needs to show continuity with small steps without getting tired. (This part is "perseverance".) He should be exposed to that language as if he were swimming in a pool or the sea related to the language he is trying to learn on the subjects he enjoys every day. It should be surrounded by that language. This will lead to the development of reading, listening, writing, comprehension and speaking skills over time. In this way, the new language will permeate the person with each passing day. (This is "immersion".)
Tip: Use they/them or the formal one if you want to express gender neutrality.
Like the video. When I try learning a new language I personally want to get to the point where I can enjoy content that I like, content I wiuld otherwise consume in either English or Spanish...but in the target language as quivkly as possible...
For context, here's my current languages that I'm studying at the same time
Japanese:currently studying for N1. And every day I consume regular content..Studying from English.
Italian: currently intermediate, simply enjoying regular books and movies. Studying from Spanish
Korean. Currently using a language learning app to get the basics (Lingodeer), then moving to regular content I like as hard as it may be (this part at the beginning can be offputting to some).Studying from Japanese.
So for me, the way I usually get there studying through a language learning app...for like a couple of months...to me..this is the somewhat boring part...and after that I still study with books on grammar....still think it's boring but at the same time (on the same day) I study off of content in that language meant for natives...For me,even though how I started learning the language may be a bit boring, I just look forward to the normal content I may be able to enjoy at a later stage...I don't necessarily have to wait to reach the dreaded intermediate plateau to start enjoying content..
The whole point of what I just said above is that,at least for me, I think studying grammar is a must...as it will be easier to understand content you read way faster, even if you still can't use it in output...after all, I don't plan on moving to any of these countries so I personally am ok waiting for output to come at later stages in my learning..anyways...just my take :)
“When the student is ready the teacher will appear.” A correction, like any lesson, will only stick if the time is right.
another corollary: it's a waste of time to teach anybody who isn't prepared to learn or who doesn't value the subject being offered
About correction, I would say I love it & I appreciate if I'm being corrected. That way I'll get more confidence knowing the correct way of saying what I mean & learn from it.
It's so sad (even distressing) that adults pick up the habit of losing confidence and motivation when they find out they're wrong about something.
I was dating a Chinese woman for 2.5ish years. At the start, I tried to learn Mandarin for her. She was so mercilessly mean to me about it that I stopped trying at all. Full stop. Abandoned the language.
Spanish is a language that I associate with friends and fun. Food and dancing and funny messages and love songs and literature.
Which one do you think I learned?
Learning a language puts a person into such a state of vulnerability that to be unsupportive, particularly in a hostile way, just hurts.
As tough as it sounds, that kind of treatment is absolut necessary when learning Chinese. I really wish I had a teacher like that because your tones need to be hammered into you for quite some time before you get them right most of the time
@Ragnar Bluechip there's constructive criticism, and then purposefully making someone feel as small as possible.
She didn't correct me, all she did was punch down the way she knew it would hurt me the most.
I'm not disagreeing, but within context, I wouldn't wish it upon anyone, let alone a student
@@jasonjohnson6938 Thanks for clarifying. I agree, if someone corrects you in a nasty way it's unlikely to be helpful
1:20 Decision to Acquire a Language!
What I find interesting is the correlation between deliberate learning and the monitor when speaking.
In my experience, if I focus more on grammatical explanations then there is an inclination to monitor the rules internally as I construct sentences and thereby affecting output.
Something I did to skip the CI content at the start, is just do a lot of look ups and watch the same video 2x, and I learned pretty quick doing this paired with anki, hope this helps if you also don't enjoy CI content.
The correction point is really interesting and makes sense, as a martial arts teacher though, if I didn't correct my students they would remain at a pretty incompetent level I would have thought..but obviously some don't respond well to this and you have to be more subtle and encouraging alongside the corrections ..would you say in your opinion correction is the wrong approach for adult learning generally??
Maybe you've answered your own question: some students are more open to correction than others, and you have to adjust your teaching to their level of openness. Or find a way to open the students up to correction? Being closed to correction (losing confidence and motivation because of it) is such a handicap.
Once again, I think you're being unfair with grammar exercises. Grammar exercises/study are not a comprehensive means to learn a language, and I don't think anyone really prescribes them as such. They simply boost your comprehension and accelerate your language learning and error correction when used in combination with natural learning methods. It shouldn't be your exclusive learning method, but it is extremely useful for adults and even older kids and teenagers to be aware of grammar concepts and common errors.
I found grammar study to be extremely effective for me even if it was never more than maybe 20% of my daily use of/contact with the language. For example, I didn't perfectly learn to use the subjunctive in Spanish by simply doing exercises, but I did become aware of it and payed attention to when and how it was used by the speakers.
Thank for your vídeo very interesting
I myself combine deliberate with natural learning. In my view, it can be more effective. Indeed, in deliberate learning, we focus on skills we want to acquire and improve, and concentration helps us design our path to achieve our goals fast and faultlessly. However, this kind of learning sounds to me a little bit "compartmentalized". That's why, when I learn a language, I sometimes "enter a cave with a maze of passages, merely curious to see or hear something. I can see paitings and hear sounds, or nothing at all." So, for example, when I do housework, I play the radio and listen to (I would say "hear" instead) whatever it is, unaware of what is going to be on next. I may not even understand what is being spoken about. You may think it is aimless and meaningless. I would agree with you if it were deliberate learning. But it is not. I am purely and simply exposed to the language without fully immersed in the learning process, like a child, and I may realize how effective it has been some time later. Anyways, I pefer this to nothing. 🙂
Thanks professor
Acquiring a language requires effort on your part. I think it is helpful to listen to dialogs or stories that is appropriate for your level. When you listen to dialogs or stories, you will get an idea of how words are put together to form sentences. You can also learn some grammar along the way. Listening or reading a random list of words is not helpful.
Great video keep it up
Hello from São Paulo Brazil
Interesting thank you x
Be childlike and uninhibited. Communicate the best you can. Then study in between. Socialize with people who don't speak English.
Hi Steve, for me I listen everyday for almost 2 hours to audiobooks and podcasts, enjoy learning grammar everyday and reading novels in Japanese but when it comes to speaking I still cant speak well no matter how much I learn. Have you ever encountered any similar siutuations? Also thanks for the great content😀
Hey Pat (Sorry I'm not the Steve you're looking for), I have this same problem with German. I have been studying the language for almost 15 years as an American, and I can understand what I am hearing when I listen to German speakers, but formulating my own thoughts into coherent German sentences is always a struggle. My theory is that I am not in an environment where I get to regularly converse in German. So one part of my brain is getting all the stimulus it needs to remember and recall German words, phrases, and sentences, but because I don't speak it nearly as much as I listen to it, that part of my brain is too weak to be used reliably in spontaneous conversation.
@@WingZeroGWO Ah dont worry haha I appreciate the comment man.
Yeah I know that if I was to say live in the country of my target language I would undoubtedly become able to speak well but I think what you're saying makes a lot of sense!
You can’t learn a language if you don’t speak it. You need to be implementing the four components of what makes learning a language which is reading, writing, listening and speaking. So try to do all of those everyday like Pimsleur is good for speaking. LingQ is good for reading and listening. Also podcasts and finding communities such a reddit in your target language helps too.
Thank you, Steve, for all tips and advice, I want to ask about the TOEFL reading section I find it hard to solve the questions, and I got 18-20 when I solve the preparation exams, so what I can do to improve my score??
I acquired basic Turkish from watching films and then series for a few years. Now I’m more intentional because I fell in love with the language by accident! In the beginning I didn’t even know that it was Turkish.
What is your mother tongue?
Wonderful sir
I think childrens have a lot less crutches compared to adults. Adults already have presets of concepts before they even encouter a subject coming from their past experiences no matter what this is.
Working as crutches for them, they can skip stuff and not understand everything fully without it becoming a problem.
Childrens have none so their margin of progression is a lot higher because they have to be filled with more information to arrive at this point.
So I wanted to learn German, French, and Japan.
How do I start?
I think you might be confusing Treasure Island with Kidnapped, which is set in Scotland among the Jacobites.
That dictionary at 4:14 got rekt
Are you sure reading will help us acquire the language?I thought reading and writing starts when we’re semi fluent
I'm from India
LingQ doesn’t seem to have Vietnamese. Is that correct?
how to understand English slang which is quite difficult
I love you. From Bangladesh.
Hey Sir I just started learning Spanish witch UA-cam channel is better .thank a lot in advance
I think content and input is really important, and fully agree that's it's important to get a lot of input. But I think the "adults can just learn languages like kids do" is misleading. Kids get thousands of hours of input, most adults will simply not be in a position to get that amount of input. Shortcuts, such as a bit of grammar help.
Ï'm delïberately watchïng vïdeos to learn somethïng new.
I am genuinely fascinated by language acquisition. I pursued a masters degree in TESOL and I am currently doing a doctoral degree researching certain aspects of language acquisition. I was hoping to find a job where I can continue doing research in this field. However, I can't seem to find any job advertisements anywhere. Did I make a mistake pursuing this career? Is the field of language acquisition research coming to an end?
In Europe, some countries learn 3 or 4 languages at school, eg Luxembourg or Switzerland:
The Swiss have: German, French and Italian and of course English necessity.
Now if I were to research, I'd work out what they're doing that enables learning multiple language EARLY ON IN LIFE.
I believe Aboriginals in Australia were linguistic maestros knowing about 24 languages due to different tribes mingling/meeting and then they used "Songlines" as part of their geography/migration.
Is the research dead? Well not by RESULTS where kids spend time at school or as adults learning and not progressing: It seems from that perspective very much an "open field". With that said, I'm not a fan of academia's approach and more a fan of practical results. YMMV.
On the topic of kids learning: I remember finding learning my native tongue excruciating: I could not learn to spell despite my my mother's tears and dramas to spell "D-I-D"! Looking at parents and how exhausted they are by their children it makes one wonder what is happening in those early years where kids do end up picking up langugues despite these obvious and very real challenges!
"Birds have wings with which to fly, and Humans have tongues with which to speak."
Dunno. There's a pretty strong imbalance between supply and demand when it comes to jobs in academia, so that may be what you're seeing. Language acquisition as a field of study is doing quite well, never better really. How that translates into jobs... dunno. Thing is that the topic is increasingly segregated across different disciplines, so while there are plenty of researchers in language acquisition, I honestly don't know how many there are in the specific area of instructed SLA, which seems to be what you're in. So maybe worth looking into other fields as well? Maybe also worth remembering that academia will be hit by the retirement wave like everyone else. So you should expect quite a few job openings in the upcoming decade. It might be slightly delayed compared to the private sectors just because of the tendency of old academic farts to cling to their jobs long past retirement, but they can only hold on for so long... I mean, we all die some day...
If I were to go back into language acquisition research today, I'd probably go into neurolinguistics or evolutionary biology. That's where the meat of it is IMHO. In instructed SLA, I'd take a good whack at taking down dual process theory, which is the feet of clay of most theoretical giants in instructed SLA, at least among the ones I've looked into. As I see it, the entire field is plagued by either/or thinking, as if there was something magical about the number two. I'd be really curious to see what a "non-binary" (in quotes because I can't help but think of gender when I use that term, even though that's not at all what I'm talking about here! ^^) theory of instructed SLA would look like.
Hello Steve. I am learning English with lingq and I’m quite confident I have made a huge progress. My listening and reading skills are much better. For some months now I have also having English classes twice a week. I am on the verge of 20000 words on lingq and going to get there till the end of the year. But recently I am catching myself on the feeling of resisting the learning. When I notice new things in the language instead of being more motivated I feel some resistance from myself, don’t know how to explain it. For example I notice some difference in grammar from languages I know and I have some inner protest not wonting to even think about it. What is the best strategy in this situation? Maybe children have less such inner feelings of protest?
You are in the intermediate plateau where you feel you are putting in a lot of time and not progressing. You just have to keep going, and consume material of interest to you.
How deliberate should our learning activity .?
What is your opinion on the direct method being used to teach an adult? I'm interested in getting a Japanese tutor and one I've seen that I like the look of using this method only. I'm not big on grammar either, I don't understand english grammar and I'm a native lol. I want to just learn the reading and writing in my own time, but have speaking and listening practice with a real native Japanese person as well. At what point is a beginner ready for a tutor like that?
I am definitely no Dr. Krashen but “Direct Method” pedagogy is kind of his thing. I’m trying the most unstructured approach possible right now, aka the “literally just start going to XYZish community social events as the only non-native speaker there and do it a LOT” method. Don’t know if it is fastest, but it’s gotta be up there and it’s certainly been the most rewarding. :)
Also, look into the Middlebury College language retreats or something similar for inspiration- one of the main models for all things direct method since! :)
Steve ur the best
What do you mean by "deliberate learning"?
Kids can learn any languages naturally, but not adults. Adults have to study deliberately~ dont hope easy way if you wanna acquire any language~ learning languages is really tough study~
You're right, learning languages require a lot efforts, however, this process must be enjoyable. The brain of the an adult works different, but i do not believe that the process must be like " no pain no gain" 😂. By the way, i am from brazil and i am improving my english a lot with the Steve's tips.
@MacasGamer hmm i can't enjoy the learning process not that I dont like studying. I just keep studying to improve my english. And I don't know how you can enjoy the process. Do you happen to watch like series??
I'm native speakers of English. Does it only go for the native speakers to acquire their motherland tongue.
Do you think acquire only go for the native speakers
Can you tell me?
Hello Steve! I have a quick question for you: How did you learn Ukrainian? And what are your tips for learning this language?
PS: I do not have any background in Slavic languages. I speak English, Spanish, French, and know a bit of Dutch, Italian, and Portuguese.
Learn the script, then start in with the mini-stories at LingQ. Ukrainian is free at LingQ.
Hi Steve, can you help me to learn Japanese?
Can I learn English if I will watch UA-cam in English
What do you mean by (deliberate)? Do you mean grammar?
Your point about comparing children and adults is , excuse me, wrong...of course they practice AND learn the language: they don't correct themselves as you said, they go to school and are corrected by a teacher, my point being, sure we need to practice, adquire a language but we also need to study it to really master it without some mistakes we may correct...or won't
Now, i agree, studying shouldn't be our main activity BUT i also don't agree that we don't need it, of course at some point we need to learn the rules by studying the grammar and so on...
In my case, i learnt portuguese really easily, living in Brazil, i was speaking really well BUT i noticed after some time that i was speaking "well" a "bad" portuguese...the one i learnt "in the streets" and that, to correct my mistakes, i NEEDED to , not only, practice it anymore, but start studying it...by adding the theory to the practice, i improved a lot...and i did, and do, the same in all languages i speak: 9 today, I practice a LOT, way more than i study, BUT i also have to learn it to boost my level quicker
Now, where i agree with u, we shouldn't START by studying it, we need to enjoy it first, so i start "enjoying the language" and slowly after i add some learnings to make my learning process grow faster
The guy talks about fun and confidence. Imagine this: you are native spanish speaker and you point things and mutter "azucar" in Russia. First 10 people laugh and give you sugar. One happy day someone punches you in the face.
Correction is better than "screwing it up to learn".
Most people, especially westerners would think that Russian is violent, not that they did anything wrong.
Nobody likes Spanish speakers.
Duh.
Speak English.
❤
I bet you cant learn Albanian. Im in the environment cause I live here and 5 year, I can say just about anything, but understanding a conversation: I get lost quick. This is one of the hardest I hear.
We should teach new languanges to the kids since they were kids so that they can learn it naturally, my question is how they memorize the vocabulary words in the languange that they are learning? So lucky for the kids who learn english so early i wish i were one of them.😔
That's the point, children learn easily cuz their brains are being constructed and new networks are being made along the rapid development.
@@Eric-rv8ce agreed, kids has amazing brain the kids can learn lauguanges easily but never too late to learn any languanges.😊
@@ariohandoyo5973 yes for sure 😉 we're gonna improve certainly
I don't tnink forvthe non native English speakers can acquire English like native speakers. Only the mother tongue can acquire English. It's utterly difficult for me to acquir it. All i can say is that i can pick up unknown vocab, but not acquire it like a native English speaker......
Agreed!
Thanks for correcting me, Steve. I'd though that we do need correction until you just corrected me, that we don't.
After you just corrected me, I know that we don't need to be corrected to speak correctly.
I'll be sure to correct anyone, who insists that we need correction that we don't need correction or to be correcte, in order to speak correctly.
First!
So proud of you.
I dont understand. So why cant adults pick up a new language without deliberately learning it, while a child can?
This will answer your question:
Steve, you are MISSING an IMPORTANT ASPECT in your reasoning WHY children acquire a second language faster than adults.
It's NONE of what you stated.
An adult can match the hours spent with a language and be just as uninhibited, etc.
Children will always outperform an adult everything else being equal.
I am surprised you cannot see the major difference between adults and children.
Obviously children aren't fully developed physically, but that's irrelevant.
What is RELEVANT is that children don't have a FULLY DEVELOPED First Language.
Adults HAVE a fully developed first language.
Guess what ?
Fully developed first language DOMINATES consciousness not allowing a second language develop same as first.
First language simply gets in the way.
Languages COMPETE for your attention and the stronger one wins.
And there ARE ways for adults to match the abilities of children.
Purposely deny yourself ANY use of your native language, creating linguistic vacuum (so to speak)
I mean never using your first language for a few months.
It is psychologically arduous (for adults), and
You will CRAVE a replacement language.
You will crave and absorb a second language like a child.
I speak from experience.
Learning yes, acquired no, that part of the brain that acquires the language has closed way before puberty.
Ok you don't like correction and really testing the language skills in an objective manner (such as comprehension questions) at all. And that's fair for somebody who just learns for fun. But for schools it's simply not applicable. Schools have to measure skills of their students. If for nothing else, than to serve as a feedback whether the teaching method works or not. Another point will be anecdotal, but I've been learning Japanese for years and it is not until I started actually testing myself on grammar patterns and comprehension, that I've made SIGNIFICANT progress in my skill. I would have probably learned eventually with the sort of rather easygoing method, of just consuming some short texts in Japanese etc, but it was significantly slower approach.
Also you say you don't think the idea of parents correcting children is valid, because children of immigrants don't have their parents correcting them. But even when you're raised in your own country, it's hardly your parents only doing the correcting. It's everyone around as well. So children of immigrants talk to other children and teachers etc. They get corrected all the time. Parents are not the only ones teaching their child a language. I think it was bit of a straw man argument, as nobody claims it's JUST the parents doing it.
It's simply used as an example, because parents are usually closest to the child. Point of the argument isn't really WHO does the correction, the point rather is, that the correction is occurring.
Steve, you are MISSING an IMPORTANT ASPECT in your reasoning WHY children acquire a second language faster than adults.
It's NONE of what you stated.
An adult can match the hours spent with a language and be just as uninhibited, etc.
Children will always outperform an adult everything else being equal.
I am surprised you cannot see the major difference between adults and children.
Obviously children aren't fully developed physically, but that's irrelevant.
What is RELEVANT is that children don't have a FULLY DEVELOPED First Language.
Adults HAVE a fully developed first language.
Guess what ?
Fully developed first language DOMINATES consciousness not allowing a second language develop same as first.
First language simply gets in the way.
Languages COMPETE for your attention and the stronger one wins.
And there ARE ways for adults to match the abilities of children.
Purposely deny yourself ANY use of your native language, creating linguistic vacuum (so to speak)
I mean never using your first language for a few months.
It is psychologically arduous (for adults), and
You will CRAVE a replacement language.
You will crave and absorb a second language like a child.
I speak from experience.
Much harder for adults because of neurology and the way the brain develops
Not really. And adults have some advantages, too.
@@TopDogIK Takes one google search to find thousands of results proving my point.
@@hydraavux8636 I just mean in aggregate the difference is not so huge, if you factor in all the advantages adults have over babies -- they can read, make flashcards, watch youtube videos about the language, and so on.
I’d actually disagree (outside of accent)
Nobody acquires a language naturally.
We all acquire it artificially.
Corrections cause me anxiety. I can speak much better language with friends who don’t correct me. If I know someone will correct me, I simply tell them I don’t speak the language.
We really need to get past this notion that we ought to learn L2 the way kids learn. It’s been disproven about 1000 times. The adult brain is completely different than a child’s brain.
completely? Do you believe humans like butterflies change to some extremely different things when become adult or what?
There're enough examples of successful child-style acquisition of second+ language without rules and classrooms. I can't even imagine how the disproval of that fact should look like.
@@tamarimosh The science of this has been settled for 40 years. The only outstanding questions revolve around why the adult brain is so different from a child's. There are a variety of competing theories.