×

We use cookies to help make LingQ better. By visiting the site, you agree to our cookie policy.


image

Steve's Language Learning Tips, (34) How This Polyglot Starts Learning Languages - YouTube

(34) How This Polyglot Starts Learning Languages - YouTube

What's the ideal beginner material when you start a new language?

In my view, it's essentially what we have with the mini stories,

and I'm gonna explain why.

I think there are certain elements that you must have in an effective

beginner book or beginner material.

Number one, you have to have a lot of high frequency words, and

especially high frequency verbs, the doings, the give, take, want, need.

Absolutely essential.

So high frequency verbs, but generally speaking, high frequency words.

The second thing you need is you need to have material where the same

words repeat often in each lesson.

Okay?

All too often in the kind of, uh, beginner book that you buy, where

they take you from, uh, you know, the airport to the train station, to the

doctor's office, to uh, grocery store.

You're basically dealing with new vocabulary in every lesson.

And the, the other thing that's wrong with a lot of the other beginner material is

that they have a lot of explanation, a lot of, you know, quiz tests, drills, and

very little sort of content to learn from.

Uh, with our mini stories, it's the opposite.

It's entirely the story, but the story repeats in a way five times.

Because you hear the same story spoken in one person, like the first person or the

third person, or in one tense, and then in another tense or in another person, and

then you have a statement, then you have a question on that statement, and then you

have either a positive or negative answer.

So in all, you get five, more or less five, uh, occurrences of more or less the

same words in slightly different forms.

That's very reinforcing.

And the by the second or third time you that you hear these words, you are now in

a position you could even start imitating them because they're starting to be,

become sort of form part of your brain.

So first of all, high frequency, especially high frequency verbs.

Second of all, lots of repetition.

The third thing you need is lots of content, lots of them.

That's the other problem with traditional language books is you get a very

short snippet with a lot of exercises.

In ideal, in an ideal sort of beginner course or material like our mini stories,

you wanna have predominantly content.

Now, I'm assuming that the average person who starts in a language will

buy a book, uh, hopefully a small book.

And I'm very much in favor of buying the smallest grammar book you can find.

And this, uh, particular series, uh, Essential German Grammar, very thin.

Italian Grammar, very thin.

Uh, here's one that's Czech Grammar.

It's a little thicker and has a lot of examples.

Examples are good if you're gonna go for a book, and I think most people

should buy a book as a companion to the sort of ideal beginner material,

beginner course that I'm talking about.

In our mini stories, we don't take you to the train station and to the, uh,

you know, customs and all of the sort of traditional scenarios that most

beginner books use, because I don't believe that you will learn sort of the

script for a given scenario that's gonna enable you then to function comfortably

at the train station or at customs.

You have to kind of elevate your, your whole game.

And therefore, again, the ideal beginner material, which should have,

you know, high frequency, uh, verbs.

There should be a lot of it, like we have 60 mini stories, but it

should be about everyday life.

Things that happen all the time, things that are familiar to you, not

with the idea that you will, you know, master a script for a given situation.

I think that's an unrealistic expectation, but rather that you can get comfortable

in a wide variety of situations.

You'll hear the same structures over and over again, you'll, you'll

hear the same verbs over and over again, and that then helps the brain

to get used to this new language.

Bear in mind that my strategy with our many stories is I listen to them 20,

30 times, not at one sitting, but I end up listening to them 20 or 30 times.

I know that from our statistics.

Another thing about the mini stories, and this is why I'm fond of the many

stories, is after you've spent a fair amount of time exploring the language

with more interesting content, and you're going to be in a situation where

you're gonna have to use the language, which is now my situation with Polish.

I'm going back to the mini stories because the mini stores are like going to the gym.

And so I'm going back to the mini stories, reviewing, refreshing, uh, picking

up on some of the, sort of call them basic details that I once learned then

forgot, you know, learned again, forgot.

Now I want to go back in there and refresh my brain.

Work out, have a workout in the language.

And the mini stories are excellent for that purpose.

So, you know, your ideal, uh, beginner material should be material

that you can go back to later on as sort of a training exercise.

That means that it's not like there's a lesson one followed by two, and

that you're gradually sort of getting into more and more difficult material.

And that you start with, "hello, how are you?"

"My name is basically".

You're just put into the language.

You're put into lesson than one is a particular situation.

Lesson two is some other situation, and there's enough repetition that

even starting from scratch, as I have done on many occasions, I can cope.

I gradually start to save words and phrases, and I listen and I

read, and slowly, slowly, slowly, I become familiar with the language.

But it's not at a level of like for someone who knows nothing, it's actually

at a, call it lower intermediate level, eventually moving to a genuine,

genuine sort of intermediate level.

So when you go back to it, you're still in sort of normal language, spoken at

a normal speed so that the material, the beginner material, now becomes an

excellent, excellent training facility.

I should also add that an ideal beginner book in today's day and age

should be available in digital form.

So you can be on a computer or on an iPad.

You can click on Words to Save them.

You can click on them to hear them.

You can hear the audio for that sentence.

Uh, there's so many bits of functionality like we have at LingQ,

but not only at LingQ others as well.

There's so much functionality that's available if we're

in a digital environment.

And of course it's nice to read a paper book.

And of course it's, it's nice to have as a companion, you know, a paper

book, but primarily in order to get the language in our brain, we need

this kind of material that has audio and text and ability to find meanings

of words quickly and, and without having a thumb through a dictionary.

And, and of course if we add into that the sort of repetition, high frequency

and so forth, we have material that can give us a, a, a foothold in the language.

And from there we can then expand following our interests, more

compelling content and go as far as we want to go in the language.

But I think that beginner material is so important to get us started.

And, uh, in my view, the, you won't be surprised that I say this because I was

the one who basically, uh, specked out how I wanted the mini stories to be written.

I think that's the best way to get started in a language.

So thank you for listening.

Bye for now.


(34) How This Polyglot Starts Learning Languages - YouTube (34) Wie dieser Polyglotte anfängt, Sprachen zu lernen - YouTube (34) Cómo este políglota empieza a aprender idiomas - YouTube (34) Comment ce polyglotte commence à apprendre des langues - YouTube (34) Come questo poliglotta inizia a imparare le lingue - YouTube (34)ポリグロット(多言語話者)が語学学習を始めるまで - YouTube (34)이 다국어가 언어 학습을 시작하는 방법 - YouTube (34) Como é que este poliglota começa a aprender línguas - YouTube (34) Как этот полиглот начал учить языки - YouTube (34) Bu Poliglot Dil Öğrenmeye Nasıl Başladı - YouTube (34) Як цей поліглот почав вивчати мови - YouTube (34) 這個通曉多種語言的人如何開始學習語言 - YouTube

What's the ideal beginner material when you start a new language?

In my view, it's essentially what we have with the mini stories, 私に言わせれば、それはミニ・ストーリーと本質的に同じものだ、 在我看來,這本質上就是我們在迷你故事中所擁有的,

and I'm gonna explain why. і я поясню чому.

I think there are certain elements that you must have in an effective Я думаю, що є певні елементи, які повинні бути в ефективному 我認為您必須具備某些有效的要素

beginner book or beginner material.

Number one, you have to have a lot of high frequency words, and

especially high frequency verbs, the doings, the give, take, want, need.

Absolutely essential. 絶対に必要だ。 絕對必要。

So high frequency verbs, but generally speaking, high frequency words.

The second thing you need is you need to have material where the same

words repeat often in each lesson.

Okay?

All too often in the kind of, uh, beginner book that you buy, where あなたが買うような、初心者向けの本では、あまりにも多くの場合、次のようなことが書かれている。 經常在你買的那種,呃,初學者的書裡,

they take you from, uh, you know, the airport to the train station, to the

doctor's office, to uh, grocery store.

You're basically dealing with new vocabulary in every lesson.

And the, the other thing that's wrong with a lot of the other beginner material is І ще одна річ, яка є неправильною в багатьох інших матеріалах для початківців, - це те, що

that they have a lot of explanation, a lot of, you know, quiz tests, drills, and що вони мають багато пояснень, багато, знаєте, тестів, вправ і 他們有很多解釋,很多,你知道的,測驗,訓練,和

very little sort of content to learn from. дуже мало контенту, з якого можна вчитися.

Uh, with our mini stories, it's the opposite. З нашими міні-історіями все навпаки.

It's entirely the story, but the story repeats in a way five times. 完全にストーリーだが、ストーリーはある意味で5回繰り返される。 Це повністю історія, але історія повторюється в певному сенсі п'ять разів. 這完全是故事,但故事以某種方式重複了五次。

Because you hear the same story spoken in one person, like the first person or the Тому що ви чуєте ту саму історію, розказану від однієї особи, наприклад, від першої особи або від

third person, or in one tense, and then in another tense or in another person, and третя особа, або в одному часі, а потім в іншому часі або в іншій особі, і

then you have a statement, then you have a question on that statement, and then you потім у вас є твердження, потім у вас є питання до цього твердження, а потім ви 然後你有一個陳述,然後你有一個關於那個陳述的問題,然後你

have either a positive or negative answer.

So in all, you get five, more or less five, uh, occurrences of more or less the つまり、全部で5回、多かれ少なかれ5回、ええと、多かれ少なかれ、以下のようなことが起こる。 所以總共,你得到五次,或多或少五次,呃,或多或少出現

same words in slightly different forms. ті самі слова в дещо різних формах.

That's very reinforcing. それはとても補強になる。 Це дуже підкріплює. 這是非常加強的。

And the by the second or third time you that you hear these words, you are now in І коли ви вдруге чи втретє почуєте ці слова, ви вже будете в

a position you could even start imitating them because they're starting to be, Це позиція, яку ви можете навіть почати наслідувати, бо вони починають бути такими,

become sort of form part of your brain. стають частиною твого мозку.

So first of all, high frequency, especially high frequency verbs.

Second of all, lots of repetition.

The third thing you need is lots of content, lots of them.

That's the other problem with traditional language books is you get a very Das ist das andere Problem mit traditionellen Sprachbüchern: Man bekommt eine sehr

short snippet with a lot of exercises.

In ideal, in an ideal sort of beginner course or material like our mini stories,

you wanna have predominantly content. 圧倒的なコンテンツが必要だ。

Now, I'm assuming that the average person who starts in a language will Ahora bien, parto de la base de que la persona media que se inicia en un idioma

buy a book, uh, hopefully a small book.

And I'm very much in favor of buying the smallest grammar book you can find. そして、できるだけ小さな文法書を買うことに大賛成だ。

And this, uh, particular series, uh, Essential German Grammar, very thin.

Italian Grammar, very thin.

Uh, here's one that's Czech Grammar.

It's a little thicker and has a lot of examples.

Examples are good if you're gonna go for a book, and I think most people Приклади хороші, якщо ви збираєтеся взяти книгу, і я думаю, що більшість людей

should buy a book as a companion to the sort of ideal beginner material, 理想的な初心者向けの教材のようなものを買うべきだ、 варто придбати книжку як ідеальний посібник для початківців,

beginner course that I'm talking about. курс для початківців, про який я говорю.

In our mini stories, we don't take you to the train station and to the, uh, У наших міні-історіях ми не ведемо вас на залізничний вокзал і в..,

you know, customs and all of the sort of traditional scenarios that most ви знаєте, звичаї та всілякі традиційні сценарії, які більшість

beginner books use, because I don't believe that you will learn sort of the というのも、初心者向けの本を読んでも、そのようなことは学べないと思うからだ。 книги для початківців, тому що я не вірю, що ви вивчите щось на кшталт

script for a given scenario that's gonna enable you then to function comfortably そのシナリオに沿ったスクリプトを作成すれば、快適に機能することができる。 сценарій для заданого сценарію, який дозволить вам потім комфортно функціонувати

at the train station or at customs. am Bahnhof oder beim Zoll. на вокзалі або на митниці.

You have to kind of elevate your, your whole game. Man muss sein ganzes Spiel irgendwie aufwerten. 自分の、自分のプレー全体を高めなければならない。

And therefore, again, the ideal beginner material, which should have,

you know, high frequency, uh, verbs.

There should be a lot of it, like we have 60 mini stories, but it

should be about everyday life.

Things that happen all the time, things that are familiar to you, not Речі, які трапляються постійно, речі, які вам знайомі, а не

with the idea that you will, you know, master a script for a given situation. con la idea de que, ya sabes, dominarás un guión para una situación determinada. з думкою, що ви, так би мовити, опануєте сценарій для певної ситуації.

I think that's an unrealistic expectation, but rather that you can get comfortable Ich denke, das ist eine unrealistische Erwartung, sondern eher, dass Sie sich wohlfühlen können それは非現実的な期待だと思う。 Я думаю, що це нереалістичні очікування, а скоріше те, що ви можете відчути себе комфортно

in a wide variety of situations.

You'll hear the same structures over and over again, you'll, you'll

hear the same verbs over and over again, and that then helps the brain

to get used to this new language.

Bear in mind that my strategy with our many stories is I listen to them 20, Bedenken Sie, dass meine Strategie bei unseren vielen Geschichten darin besteht, dass ich sie mir anhöre 20, 私たちの多くの話に対する私の戦略は、20の話に耳を傾けることだ、 Майте на увазі, що моя стратегія роботи з нашими численними історіями полягає в тому, що я слухаю їх по 20,

30 times, not at one sitting, but I end up listening to them 20 or 30 times. 30 разів, не за один раз, але в підсумку я слухаю їх 20 чи 30 разів.

I know that from our statistics.

Another thing about the mini stories, and this is why I'm fond of the many Otra cosa sobre los mini relatos, y es por esto que soy aficionado a los muchos Ще одна річ про міні-історії, і саме тому мені подобаються численні

stories, is after you've spent a fair amount of time exploring the language це після того, як ви витратите достатньо часу на вивчення мови

with more interesting content, and you're going to be in a situation where з більш цікавим контентом, і ви опинитеся в ситуації, коли

you're gonna have to use the language, which is now my situation with Polish. вам доведеться використовувати мову, як зараз у мене з польською.

I'm going back to the mini stories because the mini stores are like going to the gym. Я повертаюся до міні-історій, тому що міні-магазини - це як відвідування спортзалу.

And so I'm going back to the mini stories, reviewing, refreshing, uh, picking Тож я повертаюся до міні-історій, переглядаю, освіжаю, вибираю

up on some of the, sort of call them basic details that I once learned then про деякі, назвемо це базовими деталями, які я колись дізнався тоді

forgot, you know, learned again, forgot.

Now I want to go back in there and refresh my brain.

Work out, have a workout in the language. Потренуйтеся, потренуйтеся в мові.

And the mini stories are excellent for that purpose.

So, you know, your ideal, uh, beginner material should be material Отже, ваш ідеальний матеріал для початківців має бути матеріальним

that you can go back to later on as sort of a training exercise. до якого можна повернутися пізніше як до тренувальної вправи.

That means that it's not like there's a lesson one followed by two, and つまり、レッスン1、レッスン2、レッスン3、レッスン4......と続くわけではないということだ。 Це означає, що не буде уроку один, за яким слідує другий, і

that you're gradually sort of getting into more and more difficult material. だんだん難しい内容になっていくんだ。 що ти поступово потрапляєш у все більш і більш складний матеріал.

And that you start with, "hello, how are you?" І що ви починаєте зі слів: "Привіт, як справи?"

"My name is basically". "В основному мене звуть".

You're just put into the language. ただ、その言葉の中に入れ込まれるだけだ。 Тебе просто занурюють у мову.

You're put into lesson than one is a particular situation. レッスンに参加するのは、特定の状況に置かれた時だけだ。 Вам дають урок, а не одну конкретну ситуацію.

Lesson two is some other situation, and there's enough repetition that Другий урок - це вже інша ситуація, і повторення достатньо, щоб

even starting from scratch, as I have done on many occasions, I can cope. これまで何度もそうしてきたように、ゼロから始めても対応できる。 Навіть починаючи з нуля, як я робив багато разів, я можу впоратися.

I gradually start to save words and phrases, and I listen and I

read, and slowly, slowly, slowly, I become familiar with the language.

But it's not at a level of like for someone who knows nothing, it's actually

at a, call it lower intermediate level, eventually moving to a genuine, auf einer, sagen wir, niedrigeren Zwischenstufe und schließlich auf einer echten Stufe,

genuine sort of intermediate level.

So when you go back to it, you're still in sort of normal language, spoken at

a normal speed so that the material, the beginner material, now becomes an

excellent, excellent training facility. excelente, excelente centro de formación.

I should also add that an ideal beginner book in today's day and age

should be available in digital form. デジタル形式で入手できるはずだ。

So you can be on a computer or on an iPad.

You can click on Words to Save them.

You can click on them to hear them.

You can hear the audio for that sentence.

Uh, there's so many bits of functionality like we have at LingQ,

but not only at LingQ others as well.

There's so much functionality that's available if we're

in a digital environment.

And of course it's nice to read a paper book.

And of course it's, it's nice to have as a companion, you know, a paper

book, but primarily in order to get the language in our brain, we need

this kind of material that has audio and text and ability to find meanings

of words quickly and, and without having a thumb through a dictionary. von Wörtern schnell und ohne einen Blick in ein Wörterbuch werfen zu müssen. 辞書を引くことなく、素早く、単語を覚えることができる。

And, and of course if we add into that the sort of repetition, high frequency

and so forth, we have material that can give us a, a, a foothold in the language.

And from there we can then expand following our interests, more

compelling content and go as far as we want to go in the language.

But I think that beginner material is so important to get us started. Pero creo que el material para principiantes es muy importante para empezar.

And, uh, in my view, the, you won't be surprised that I say this because I was Y, en mi opinión, el, no te sorprenderá que diga esto porque fui そして、私の見解では、私がこう言っても驚かないだろう。

the one who basically, uh, specked out how I wanted the mini stories to be written. derjenige, der im Grunde genommen vorgab, wie ich die Mini-Storys schreiben wollte. 私がミニストーリーをどう書いてほしいか、基本的に、ええと、仕様書を書いてくれた人だ。

I think that's the best way to get started in a language.

So thank you for listening.

Bye for now.