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Steve's Youtube Videos - General Language Learning, Learn Effortlessly

Learn Effortlessly

Hi there, Steve Kaufmann. I want to follow up my previous video, which talked about how the most important thing in language learning was to have fun or to enjoying it and that whatever was enjoyable was effective. Now, I must admit, in some cases that's not always the case, but it's a good rule of thumb, it works a lot of the time. Related to that is the idea that in language learning I always try to do the things that are the least amount of work, I like to do effortless language learning.

I borrow the word ‘effortless' from two sources. One is AJ Hoge, who is a great teacher of English via the Internet. Hello, AJ, if you ever have a chance to see this video. A great man and his channel and website are called Effortless English. My other source is Taoist philosophy or Daoist philosophy.

When I wrote my book The Linguist: A Personal Guide to Language Learning about, gosh, it's got to be eight or nine years ago, I began it with what I called ‘The Parable of the Crooked Tree' because _, a Taoist philosopher whom I refer to in my book, his basic principle in life was to just follow what was natural, what was effortless and don't try and force things.

Typically, the Taoist philosophy was in opposition to Confucius, which had a whole bunch of rules of what you should do and shouldn't do in order to be a great person. had this parable of the crooked tree where his friend says, this tree is crooked and this lumber is not good for anything and your philosophy is not good for anything either. replied, well yeah, that's because you have to make use of it for what its nature is.

A crooked tree, you can sit underneath it in the shade. I'm in the lumber business and sometimes some of those gnarly old trees produce very decorative lumber that's very expensive. Anyway, Taoism is also about effortless _. In other words, no effort, you're not fighting it. I believe you learn better in that way, so I'm going to talk about all the things that I do that are easy and effortless and, therefore, in my opinion, more effective.

So the first thing is, normally, if I'm reading in a language where I read well enough to read away from the computer I don't look up the words, it's too much trouble. On the other hand, if I can't read well enough it's too much trouble to look words up in a dictionary because the minute you close the dictionary you forget the meaning, therefore, I read on a computer where I have an online dictionary. Once I've looked the word up, as in LingQ, it's then highlighted so the next time I see it and the next time I see it in any subsequent material I can see that I've looked it up before. I can see the meaning and so forth, so I'm not just looking words up in a dictionary and then having to forget them.

Another thing that's effortless, when you read grammar and I believe we should read grammar rules, it kind of helps give us a sense of the language, don't try to remember anything. Don't try to learn anything, don't try to understand anything, just treat it as a spark, an exposure of something that might help you, eventually, get a sense of the language. So don't worry about grammar.

Don't do questions. As I mentioned, I did find an old Teach Yourself Czech here that I had bought many, many years ago when I thought I would try and learn Czech. I found it kind of useful, I go through it. It has questions, grammar drills, I never do them. However, what is very useful is to go to the back of the book and at the back of the book you'll find the answers. So rather than having to try to answer the question, wracking your brain to come up with the right answer, just read all the answers because then you'll get concentrated examples of whatever they're trying to test you on, whether it be the dative case, pronouns or anything else.

So I find it useful, more than once, to read the answers to these questions. Again, it's effortless. I don't like doing the questions because it's too much work. By the same token, when I read something I don't like answering comprehension questions. I would rather have misunderstood the text, have my own interpretation of the text, then have to answer somebody's question where I have to think about why this, that and so forth.

I have mentioned before the great Brazilian educator who said that nothing destroys the pleasure of reading as much as being asked questions about what you have read or being asked to analyze what you have read, so I avoid all of that. I mentioned the other day that Russian textbook on history, which was a wonderful textbook, where they had 20 sort of pre-reading questions and I don't know how many post-reading questions. All of that is effort, I don't do it. It spoils the pleasure of reading and/or listening.

Flashcards, again, I didn't use flashcards very much, but I do find them a break. They're easy to do, as long as they can be made as easy as possible. So I don't have the flashcard with say the Czech word on the front and then the answer on the back, I put everything on the front. So the Czech word, in our system we have the English translation and the captured phrase. I just look at the front and I go through them very quickly. I don't have to think, I'm just being exposed to them. There again, effortless.

Another one is this Gold List that I mentioned previously. I'm not convinced that it's effortless, but there are elements of it that are effortless because you only write the words down. You write them down and you leave it for 14 days. You don't try and wrack your brain. You don't try to go over it again and again forcing your brain to try to learn something that it isn't going to learn. The brain will learn naturally with enough exposure. It will learn some things naturally and it will learn all things on its own schedule and you can't force it.

Here's another thing, too, you sometimes get the purists that tell you that you must only use a monolingual dictionary. I never use a monolingual dictionary. It's much easier to use a bilingual dictionary. If I'm starting out in a language and I have no words, rather than ‘book', whatever, _. If I don't know many words in Czech a monolingual dictionary is useless, but even when I'm quite advanced I just find that a bilingual dictionary, here's a word, bingo, I get this beginning of hint of what that word might mean.

I know that only through a lot of exposure will I eventually get the hang of that word, but I don't want to spend my time trying to figure out what the Czech to Czech dictionary definition of that word is. I find it easier to use a bilingual dictionary, to me it is more effortless and whatever is effortless to me is good.

The other thing, too, don't worry about things that you don't understand and don't worry about elements of the new language that are, basically, very strange to you. One of the things I find, especially in Asian languages but not only, there's a tendency to introduce the names of every possible relative early on. English, actually, is quite poor in terms of defining family relationships, but other languages have many more words to denote your cousin, brother, your wife's mother, your father's father, a third cousin, older brother, younger sister, whatever, in Korean or in Czech and so forth. I can't be bothered with it. Those are concepts we don't have in English, it's very difficult for me to understand. It doesn't really matter, him or her, it's good enough.

Similarly, if you're in a language where they don't have articles, like Russian or Japanese, you're going to find articles difficult in English. Don't worry about it. It's going to take a long time before those things sink in. Conversely, I still don't understand all the explanations about the aspects of verbs in Russian, but I kind of naturally get it more. Some of the time, some of the time I don't. I am aware that this thing exists, I've read the explanations. Nah, don't worry about things that are so very different. Similarly, in Japanese don't worry about polite language at first because it takes a lot of exposure in order to have a sense for that.

All I'm saying is when you're learning I do believe in this sort of Taoist approach. Do what's easy. Do what's effortless. Don't answer questions. Don't force yourself to learn things. Don't cram things into your brain. Just do it easily, exposure to the language, trust the brain and I think you'll end up learning at least as well.

So there you have it, effortless language learning. Thank you for listening.

Learn Effortlessly تعلم بسهولة Mühelos lernen Aprender sin esfuerzo Aprender sem esforço Учитесь без усилий Zahmetsizce Öğrenin Навчайтеся без зайвих зусиль 轻松学习

Hi there, Steve Kaufmann. I want to follow up my previous video, which talked about how the most important thing in language learning was to have fun or to enjoying it and that whatever was enjoyable was effective. أريد متابعة الفيديو السابق الذي تحدثت فيه عن أن أهم شيء في تعلم اللغة هو الاستمتاع أو الاستمتاع به وأن كل ما كان ممتعًا كان فعالاً. Now, I must admit, in some cases that's not always the case, but it's a good rule of thumb, it works a lot of the time. الآن، يجب أن أعترف، في بعض الحالات لا يكون هذا هو الحال دائمًا، ولكنها قاعدة جيدة، فهي تعمل كثيرًا من الوقت. Musím přiznat, že v některých případech to neplatí vždy, ale je to dobré pravidlo, které většinou funguje. Related to that is the idea that in language learning I always try to do the things that are the least amount of work, I like to do effortless language learning.

I borrow the word ‘effortless' from two sources. One is AJ Hoge, who is a great teacher of English via the Internet. Hello, AJ, if you ever have a chance to see this video. A great man and his channel and website are called Effortless English. My other source is Taoist philosophy or Daoist philosophy.

When I wrote my book The Linguist: A Personal Guide to Language Learning about, gosh, it's got to be eight or nine years ago, I began it with what I called ‘The Parable of the Crooked Tree' because _______, a Taoist philosopher whom I refer to in my book, his basic principle in life was to just follow what was natural, what was effortless and don't try and force things. Cuando escribí mi libro The Linguist: A Personal Guide to Language Learning hace unos ocho o nueve años, lo empecé con lo que llamé "La parábola del árbol torcido", porque _, un filósofo taoísta al que hago referencia en mi libro, su principio básico en la vida era seguir lo que era natural, lo que no requería esfuerzo y no intentar forzar las cosas.

Typically, the Taoist philosophy was in opposition to Confucius, which had a whole bunch of rules of what you should do and shouldn't do in order to be a great person. عادة، كانت الفلسفة الطاوية تتعارض مع كونفوشيوس، الذي كان لديه مجموعة كاملة من القواعد حول ما يجب عليك فعله وما لا ينبغي عليك فعله لكي تصبح شخصًا عظيمًا. ________ had this parable of the crooked tree where his friend says, this tree is crooked and this lumber is not good for anything and your philosophy is not good for anything either. كان لديه مثل الشجرة الملتوية حيث يقول صديقه هذه الشجرة ملتوية وهذا الخشب لا يصلح لشيء وفلسفتك لا تصلح لشيء أيضا. ________replied, well yeah, that's because you have to make use of it for what its nature is. فأجاب: حسنًا، نعم، هذا لأنه يجب عليك الاستفادة منه على حقيقته.

A crooked tree, you can sit underneath it in the shade. I'm in the lumber business and sometimes some of those gnarly old trees produce very decorative lumber that's very expensive. Anyway, Taoism is also about effortless _________. In other words, no effort, you're not fighting it. Jinými slovy, žádné úsilí, nebojujete s tím. I believe you learn better in that way, so I'm going to talk about all the things that I do that are easy and effortless and, therefore, in my opinion, more effective.

So the first thing is, normally, if I'm reading in a language where I read well enough to read away from the computer I don't look up the words, it's too much trouble. První věc je, že pokud čtu v jazyce, ve kterém čtu dostatečně dobře na to, abych mohl číst mimo počítač, nehledám slova, je to příliš velký problém. On the other hand, if I can't read well enough it's too much trouble to look words up in a dictionary because the minute you close the dictionary you forget the meaning, therefore, I read on a computer where I have an online dictionary. Once I've looked the word up, as in LingQ, it's then highlighted so the next time I see it and the next time I see it in any subsequent material I can see that I've looked it up before. Jakmile si slovo vyhledám, například v LingQ, je zvýrazněno, takže při příštím setkání s ním a při dalším setkání s ním v jakémkoli dalším materiálu vidím, že jsem si ho předtím vyhledal. I can see the meaning and so forth, so I'm not just looking words up in a dictionary and then having to forget them. Vidím význam a podobně, takže nemusím hledat slova ve slovníku a pak je zapomenout. 私は意味などを見ることができるので、辞書で単語を調べて、それを忘れなければなりません。

Another thing that's effortless, when you read grammar and I believe we should read grammar rules, it kind of helps give us a sense of the language, don't try to remember anything. Další věc, která je bez námahy, když čtete gramatiku, a já věřím, že bychom měli číst gramatická pravidla, pomáhá nám to tak trochu dát smysl jazyka, nesnažte se nic zapamatovat. Don't try to learn anything, don't try to understand anything, just treat it as a spark, an exposure of something that might help you, eventually, get a sense of the language. Nesnažte se nic naučit, nesnažte se ničemu porozumět, berte to jen jako jiskru, jako seznámení s něčím, co by vám mohlo pomoci, abyste se nakonec v jazyce zorientovali. 何も学ぼうとせず、何も理解しようとせず、ただそれを火花、あなたに役立つかもしれない何かの露出として扱い、最終的には言語の感覚をつかんでください。 不要尝试学习任何东西,不要试图理解任何东西,只需将其视为火花,暴露一些可能会帮助您的语言,最终使您对语言有所了解。 So don't worry about grammar.

Don't do questions. As I mentioned, I did find an old Teach Yourself Czech here that I had bought many, many years ago when I thought I would try and learn Czech. Jak jsem se zmínil, našel jsem zde starou učebnici Teach Yourself Czech, kterou jsem si koupil před mnoha a mnoha lety, když jsem si myslel, že se zkusím naučit česky. I found it kind of useful, I go through it. Přišlo mi to docela užitečné, procházím to. It has questions, grammar drills, I never do them. Jsou tam otázky, gramatická cvičení, nikdy je nedělám. However, what is very useful is to go to the back of the book and at the back of the book you'll find the answers. So rather than having to try to answer the question, wracking your brain to come up with the right answer, just read all the answers because then you'll get concentrated examples of whatever they're trying to test you on, whether it be the dative case, pronouns or anything else. Takže místo toho, abyste se snažili odpovědět na otázku a lámali si hlavu nad správnou odpovědí, prostě si přečtěte všechny odpovědi, protože pak získáte soustředěné příklady toho, z čeho vás zkouší, ať už jde o dativ, zájmena nebo cokoli jiného. Así que, en lugar de intentar responder a la pregunta devanándote los sesos para dar con la respuesta correcta, basta con que leas todas las respuestas, porque así obtendrás ejemplos concentrados de lo que sea que estén intentando ponerte a prueba, ya sea el caso dativo, los pronombres o cualquier otra cosa.

So I find it useful, more than once, to read the answers to these questions. Proto považuji za užitečné si nejednou přečíst odpovědi na tyto otázky. Again, it's effortless. I don't like doing the questions because it's too much work. By the same token, when I read something I don't like answering comprehension questions. وعلى نفس المنوال، عندما أقرأ شيئًا ما، لا أحب الإجابة على أسئلة الفهم. Ze stejného důvodu, když něco čtu, nerad odpovídám na otázky týkající se porozumění. 同様に、何かを読むとき、理解の質問に答えるのは好きではありません。 I would rather have misunderstood the text, have my own interpretation of the text, then have to answer somebody's question where I have to think about why this, that and so forth. أفضل أن أسيء فهم النص، وأن يكون لدي تفسيري الخاص للنص، ثم يجب أن أجيب على سؤال شخص ما حيث يجب أن أفكر في سبب هذا وذاك وما إلى ذلك. Raději bych text špatně pochopil, měl svůj vlastní výklad textu, než abych musel odpovídat na něčí otázku, kde bych musel přemýšlet, proč to, ono a tak dále.

I have mentioned before the great Brazilian educator who said that nothing destroys the pleasure of reading as much as being asked questions about what you have read or being asked to analyze what you have read, so I avoid all of that. وقد ذكرت قبل ذلك المربي البرازيلي الكبير الذي قال إنه لا شيء يدمر متعة القراءة بقدر ما يوجه إليك أسئلة حول ما قرأته أو يُطلب منك تحليل ما قرأته، لذلك أتجنب كل ذلك. Již dříve jsem se zmínil o velkém brazilském pedagogovi, který řekl, že nic neničí potěšení ze čtení tolik, jako když se vás někdo ptá na to, co jste četli, nebo když vás žádá, abyste četbu analyzovali, takže se tomu všemu vyhýbám. ブラジルの偉大な教育者の前で、読んだものについて質問したり、読んだものを分析するよう求められたりするほど、読むことの喜びを損なうものはないと言ったので、私はそれをすべて避けます。 I mentioned the other day that Russian textbook on history, which was a wonderful textbook, where they had 20 sort of pre-reading questions and I don't know how many post-reading questions. Nedávno jsem se zmínil o učebnici ruštiny, což byla úžasná učebnice, kde bylo 20 otázek před čtením a nevím kolik otázek po čtení. All of that is effort, I don't do it. To všechno je námaha, nedělám to. It spoils the pleasure of reading and/or listening. Kazí to požitek ze čtení a/nebo poslechu.

Flashcards, again, I didn't use flashcards very much, but I do find them a break. Flashcards, opět, nepoužíval jsem moc flashcards, ale považuji je za přestávku. They're easy to do, as long as they can be made as easy as possible. Jsou snadné, pokud je lze co nejvíce usnadnit. So I don't have the flashcard with say the Czech word on the front and then the answer on the back, I put everything on the front. Takže nemám kartičku s českým slovem na přední straně a odpovědí na zadní straně, ale všechno dávám na přední stranu. So the Czech word, in our system we have the English translation and the captured phrase. I just look at the front and I go through them very quickly. I don't have to think, I'm just being exposed to them. Nemusím přemýšlet, jen jsem jim vystaven. There again, effortless. Opět bez námahy.

Another one is this Gold List that I mentioned previously. Dalším je tento zlatý seznam, o kterém jsem se již zmínil. I'm not convinced that it's effortless, but there are elements of it that are effortless because you only write the words down. Nejsem přesvědčen, že je to bez námahy, ale jsou tam prvky, které jsou bez námahy, protože si jen zapisujete slova. You write them down and you leave it for 14 days. Zapíšete si je a necháte je 14 dní ležet. You don't try and wrack your brain. Nesnažíte se lámat si hlavu. You don't try to go over it again and again forcing your brain to try to learn something that it isn't going to learn. Nesnažíte se to opakovat znovu a znovu a nutit mozek, aby se snažil naučit něco, co se nenaučí. The brain will learn naturally with enough exposure. Mozek se to naučí přirozenou cestou, když se tomu dostatečně vystaví. It will learn some things naturally and it will learn all things on its own schedule and you can't force it. Některé věci se naučí přirozeně a všechny věci se naučí podle svého vlastního plánu a vy ho nemůžete nutit.

Here's another thing, too, you sometimes get the purists that tell you that you must only use a monolingual dictionary. Další věc je, že se občas objeví puristé, kteří vám tvrdí, že musíte používat pouze jednojazyčný slovník. I never use a monolingual dictionary. It's much easier to use a bilingual dictionary. If I'm starting out in a language and I have no words, rather than ‘book', whatever, _________. Pokud začínám v nějakém jazyce a nemám žádná slova, místo "kniha", cokoli, _. If I don't know many words in Czech a monolingual dictionary is useless, but even when I'm quite advanced I just find that a bilingual dictionary, here's a word, bingo, I get this beginning of hint of what that word might mean. Pokud neznám mnoho slov v češtině, je mi jednojazyčný slovník k ničemu, ale i když jsem dost pokročilý, stačí mi dvojjazyčný slovník, tady je slovo, bingo, dostanu takovou počáteční nápovědu, co by to slovo mohlo znamenat.

I know that only through a lot of exposure will I eventually get the hang of that word, but I don't want to spend my time trying to figure out what the Czech to Czech dictionary definition of that word is. Vím, že jen díky velkému množství kontaktů se nakonec s tímto slovem seznámím, ale nechci trávit čas tím, že budu zjišťovat, jaká je česko-česká slovníková definice tohoto slova. Sé que sólo con mucha exposición acabaré entendiendo esa palabra, pero no quiero perder el tiempo intentando averiguar cuál es la definición de esa palabra en el diccionario de checo a checo. I find it easier to use a bilingual dictionary, to me it is more effortless and whatever is effortless to me is good.

The other thing, too, don't worry about things that you don't understand and don't worry about elements of the new language that are, basically, very strange to you. Další věc je, že si nedělejte starosti s věcmi, kterým nerozumíte, a netrapte se prvky nového jazyka, které jsou vám v podstatě velmi cizí. One of the things I find, especially in Asian languages but not only, there's a tendency to introduce the names of every possible relative early on. أحد الأشياء التي أجدها، خاصة في اللغات الآسيوية ولكن ليس فقط، هو الميل إلى تقديم أسماء كل قريب محتمل في وقت مبكر. Jednou z věcí, kterou zjišťuji, zejména v asijských jazycích, ale nejen v nich, je tendence uvádět jména všech možných příbuzných hned na začátku. English, actually, is quite poor in terms of defining family relationships, but other languages have many more words to denote your cousin, brother, your wife's mother, your father's father, a third cousin, older brother, younger sister, whatever, in Korean or in Czech and so forth. اللغة الإنجليزية، في الواقع، ضعيفة جدًا من حيث تعريف العلاقات الأسرية، لكن اللغات الأخرى بها كلمات أكثر بكثير للإشارة إلى ابن عمك، أو أخيك، أو أم زوجتك، أو والد والدك، أو ابن عم ثالث، أو أخ أكبر، أو أخت أصغر، أو أي شيء آخر، باللغة الكورية. أو باللغة التشيكية وهكذا دواليك. Angličtina je vlastně na definování rodinných vztahů docela chudá, ale jiné jazyky mají mnohem více slov pro označení bratrance, bratra, matky vaší ženy, otce vašeho otce, bratrance ze třetího kolena, staršího bratra, mladší sestry, ať už v korejštině nebo v češtině a tak dále. I can't be bothered with it. لا يمكن أن أزعجني ذلك. Nemůžu se tím zabývat. Those are concepts we don't have in English, it's very difficult for me to understand. To jsou pojmy, které v angličtině nemáme, je to pro mě velmi obtížné pochopit. It doesn't really matter, him or her, it's good enough. Na tom nezáleží, jemu nebo jí, stačí to.

Similarly, if you're in a language where they don't have articles, like Russian or Japanese, you're going to find articles difficult in English. Stejně tak pokud jste v jazyce, kde se články nepoužívají, jako je ruština nebo japonština, budete mít s články v angličtině potíže. Don't worry about it. It's going to take a long time before those things sink in. Bude trvat dlouho, než si tyto věci uvědomíte. Conversely, I still don't understand all the explanations about the aspects of verbs in Russian, but I kind of naturally get it more. على العكس من ذلك، ما زلت لا أفهم كل التفسيرات المتعلقة بجوانب الأفعال باللغة الروسية، ولكن من الطبيعي أن أفهمها أكثر. Naopak stále nerozumím všem výkladům o aspektech sloves v ruštině, ale tak nějak přirozeně mi to více dochází. Some of the time, some of the time I don't. Někdy ano, někdy ne. I am aware that this thing exists, I've read the explanations. Jsem si vědom, že tato věc existuje, četl jsem vysvětlení. Nah, don't worry about things that are so very different. Similarly, in Japanese don't worry about polite language at first because it takes a lot of exposure in order to have a sense for that.

All I'm saying is when you're learning I do believe in this sort of Taoist approach. Chci jen říct, že když se učíte, věřím v tento druh taoistického přístupu. Todo lo que digo es que cuando estás aprendiendo creo en este tipo de enfoque taoísta. Do what's easy. Do what's effortless. Dělejte to, co je snadné. Don't answer questions. Don't force yourself to learn things. Nenuťte se do učení. Nemojte se prisiljavati da učite stvari. Don't cram things into your brain. Nepřeplňujte si mozek věcmi. Just do it easily, exposure to the language, trust the brain and I think you'll end up learning at least as well. Prostě to udělejte jednoduše, vystavte se jazyku, důvěřujte mozku a myslím, že se nakonec naučíte přinejmenším stejně dobře. 簡単にやれ、言語に触れ、脳を信頼すれば、少なくとも同じように学習できると思います。

So there you have it, effortless language learning. Thank you for listening.