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Steve's Language Learning Tips, Productivity Hacks for Language Learning

Productivity Hacks for Language Learning

Where I have done really well in language learning is when I have had that sort of dedicated time. Hi there, Steve Kaufmann here and today, I want to talk about productivity hacks and language learning. And remember if you enjoy these videos, please subscribe, click on the bell for notifications. And if you're following me on a podcast service, please leave a review.

It's always appreciated. So I was thinking about productivity because something that I saw on the web somewhere talked about productivity hacks. And so I thought to myself, well, maybe there are some, some hints there, some hacks about... with regard to general productivity, that can be useful for language learning.

So I Googled and if you Google, you'll find lots of them and they're very similar, basically, you know, make a to-do list, limit distractions, uh, get enough sleep, eat well. I mean, they're all quite similar and largely things that we could think up ourselves. One of the interesting things I found there though, was a thing called the pomodoro technique. Pomodoro Is Italian for tomato and the jist of that is that you should work in 25 minute batches and you get a little timer so that at the end of 25 minutes, you stop whatever you're doing, get up, stretch, take a rest and go back to it again. So as I looked at these, I realized that actually, uh, none of this really applies to my form of language learning because my form of language learning is actually recreational. So I do it for fun whenever I have the time, uh, I'm not actually working at a job where I have to keep other distractions away. The language learning is my distraction. I enjoy doing it. I can try doing it in 25 minutes, uh, batches, but if I'm enjoying, uh, reading something on the iPad, I may go on for 40 minutes or I might stop after 15. My major learning activity is just plain listening. So in a way I... so, I, I, I don't, I'm not sort of totally committed because I'll listen while exercising, listen, while doing the dishes, listen while in the car. And that's giving me my language learning time, however, to be fair, um, where I have done really well in language learning is when I have had sort of dedicated time.

So for example, when I learned Chinese, uh, in a year, I became fluent enough to do interpreting, translating, uh, translating newspaper articles from Chinese in English, from English into Chinese. I've spent more than two years on Arabic and Farsi, a little bit of Turkish, a little bit of this and that. Uh, and I'm nowhere near as far ahead.

So I thought about that, where I really developed quickly was in my Ukrainian because I went to Lviv and for a week I had six hours a day of instruction with my tutor. So, and, uh, we would meet for a coffee and we would spend three months, uh, three hours chatting or visiting a cathedral or a church or a, you know, a cemetery or castle or whatever it was in Lviv, or a museum.

And then I'd get notes from her and I would review them in LingQ and we meet again in the afternoon. So I had six hours and in the case of my Chinese, I had three hours a day. One-on-one, every day and we have to talk and I had to try to produce the language and really what I am now doing in my Arabic and Farsi in a way is, is the things that I did away from my class, listening and reading.

Um, and not in a very, you know, I'm not, I don't have any assignments. I sort of do what I want to do. So I thought about that and I said, you know, if I were to design, so ideal scenario is I go off to Iran or I go off to Egypt and I have a teacher for three hours a day, and then I spent the rest of the time listening and reading and going to bookstores and immersing myself in the environment.

Then after three months or six months, uh, I will probably progress quite quickly and I'll make friends and I'll have opportunities to use the language and stuff. However, I'm not in a position to do that. So what's the next best thing? So I thought to myself, if I had, if I could set up three hours a day with a tutor in Arabic or Persian, and so that is a commitment. So we've got like a five minute break in between, and maybe I would have three different tutors, uh, which I could arrange, uh, then, and we would have the sessions sort of, they would be kind of like when I toured Lviv. So we would either go to different cities in Iran or different areas of Egypt or visit, you know, the pyramids or visit Luxor, Iran or whatever it might be, or we might say we're going to talk about history for a certain period of time. So there would be the sense that I am touring the culture or the country and of the three hours, maybe one hour would be spent on just plain the structures of the language. Uh, one of the things I did for Romanian was I had a bunch of these patterns in English using, you know, if, therefore, because, uh, on the other hand, like a whole bunch of different conjunctions, different verb tenses, different prepositions, and then a series of phrases, patterns that kind of get triggered by those conjunctions or those words or that, uh, typify how the different tenses are used. And so. Uh, I hope I'm not losing you here, but if I spend one hour of the three hours, one-on-one with my tutor going through these patterns, different pattern each time, which I could then review later on again, and then two hours touring the country geographically, or touring the country from a cultural or historical point of view or food or carpets or whatever it might be, so that there would be a sort of a focus, there would be a focus of our conversation, uh, it would bring some discipline into what I'm doing. I would then have the rest of the day, um, to listen and read and do other things. This was what I did with Chinese. It was like six, seven hours a day. The problem with that is I'm not prepared to do it because my wife and I enjoy golfing.

We enjoy other activities. We enjoy our leasurly breakfast. We enjoy so many other things that we're doing that I kind of have to try hard to sneak my language learning in there. When I was working for the Canadian government learning Mandarin, that was my job. They were paying my salary. So I didn't think of doing anything else.

I just showed up at nine o'clock at my school. And in the afternoon I went home and I studied, and that was my job. So, uh, obviously the degree of motivation, you know, uh, that I had at that time was, was much stronger than what I have now. Uh, many of you who are learning languages, you may be either in the dilettante mode, which is what I'm in, in my Persian and Arabic, or have been in my other languages that I've been learning.

Or if you are in a position where you can dedicate yourself, then my suggested productivity hack is that you set aside three hours a day one-on-one with a tutor. One of the three hours is on structure patterns, that kind of thing. And two of them on discovering the culture and the history and the country.

And then in the afternoon, if you have that much time to spend on the language, spend that time listening and preparing for that next focused, uh, lesson that you're going to have with your tutor, which focusing therefore either on patterns or some aspect of the culture. So that then brings some structure into your life.

Uh, I think all of that would be very useful in terms of increasing your productivity, assuming you have the time, but in the meantime, you can also Google productivity hacks find the Pomodoro technique, and you may find some things there that, uh, helps you increase your level of productivity in your learning activities.

So there you have it. I hope that was useful. Bye for now.

Productivity Hacks for Language Learning Produktivitätshacks für das Sprachenlernen Trucos de productividad para aprender idiomas Les astuces de productivité pour l'apprentissage des langues Trucchi di produttività per l'apprendimento delle lingue 語学学習の生産性ハック Hacki zwiększające produktywność w nauce języków Hacks de produtividade para a aprendizagem de línguas Хаки продуктивности для изучения языка 语言学习的生产力技巧 語言學習的生產力技巧

Where I have done really well in language learning is when I have had that sort of dedicated time. Where I have done really well in language learning is when I have had that sort of dedicated time. 私が語学学習で本当にうまくいったのは、そのような献身的な時間を過ごしたときです. Hi there, Steve Kaufmann here and today, I want to talk about productivity hacks and language learning. Hi there, Steve Kaufmann here and today, I want to talk about productivity hacks and language learning. こんにちは、Steve Kaufmann です。今日は生産性ハックと語学学習についてお話ししたいと思います。 And remember if you enjoy these videos, please subscribe, click on the bell for notifications. And if you're following me on a podcast service, please leave a review.

It's always appreciated. 常に高く評価されています。 So I was thinking about productivity because something that I saw on the web somewhere talked about productivity hacks. 私が生産性について考えていたのは、どこかの Web で生産性ハックについて話しているのを見たからです。 And so I thought to myself, well, maybe there are some, some hints there, some hacks about... with regard to general productivity, that can be useful for language learning. Así que me dije a mí mismo: bueno, quizá haya algunas pistas, algunos trucos... en relación con la productividad general, que puedan ser útiles para el aprendizaje de idiomas. それで、言語学習に役立つ可能性のある一般的な生産性に関して、いくつかのヒント、いくつかのハックがあるのではないかと思いました。

So I Googled and if you Google, you'll find lots of them and they're very similar, basically, you know, make a to-do list, limit distractions, uh, get enough sleep, eat well. だから私はググってみました。あなたがググれば、それらの多くを見つけることができ、それらは非常に似ています。 I mean, they're all quite similar and largely things that we could think up ourselves. つまり、それらはすべて非常に似ており、主に私たちが自分で考えられるものです. One of the interesting things I found there though, was a thing called the pomodoro technique. Una de las cosas interesantes que encontré allí, sin embargo, fue una cosa llamada la técnica pomodoro. そこで見つけた興味深いものの 1 つは、ポモドーロ テクニックと呼ばれるものでした。 Pomodoro Is Italian for tomato and the jist of that is that you should work in 25 minute batches and you get a little timer so that at the end of 25 minutes, you stop whatever you're doing, get up, stretch, take a rest and go back to it again. ポモドーロはイタリア語でトマトのことで、25 分間のバッチで作業する必要があり、25 分の終わりに小さなタイマーが表示されるので、何をしていても停止し、起き上がり、ストレッチし、休息します。そしてまた戻ってください。 So as I looked at these, I realized that actually, uh, none of this really applies to my form of language learning because my form of language learning is actually recreational. これらを見てみると、私の言語学習の形式は実際にはレクリエーションであるため、これらのどれも実際には私の形式の言語学習には当てはまらないことに気付きました. So I do it for fun whenever I have the time, uh, I'm not actually working at a job where I have to keep other distractions away. だから、時間があるときはいつでも楽しみのためにやっています。 The language learning is my distraction. 語学学習は私の気晴らしです。 I enjoy doing it. 私はそれを楽しんでいます。 I can try doing it in 25 minutes, uh, batches, but if I'm enjoying, uh, reading something on the iPad, I may go on for 40 minutes or I might stop after 15. Puedo intentar hacerlo en tandas de 25 minutos, eh, pero si estoy disfrutando, eh, leyendo algo en el iPad, puedo seguir 40 minutos o parar a los 15. 25分で試してみることもできますが、iPadで何かを読んで楽しんでいる場合は、40分続けるか、15分後にやめるかもしれません. My major learning activity is just plain listening. 私の主な学習活動はただ聞くことです。 Mijn belangrijkste leeractiviteit is gewoon luisteren. So in a way I... so, I, I, I don't, I'm not sort of totally committed because I'll listen while exercising, listen, while doing the dishes, listen while in the car. Así que, en cierto modo, no estoy totalmente comprometida porque escucho mientras hago ejercicio, mientras lavo los platos o mientras voy en el coche. ある意味で私は... そう、私は、そうではありません。私は完全にコミットしているわけではありません。なぜなら、私は運動中に聞いたり、皿洗いをしたり、車の中で聞いたりするからです。 And that's giving me my language learning time, however, to be fair, um, where I have done really well in language learning is when I have had sort of dedicated time. それが言語学習の時間を与えてくれますが、公平を期すために、私が言語学習で本当にうまくいったのは、ある種の専用の時間を過ごしたときです.

So for example, when I learned Chinese, uh, in a year, I became fluent enough to do interpreting, translating, uh, translating newspaper articles from Chinese in English, from English into Chinese. たとえば、私が中国語を学んだとき、ええと、1年で、新聞記事を中国語から英語に、英語から中国語に翻訳するのに十分なほど流暢になりました。 I've spent more than two years on Arabic and Farsi, a little bit of Turkish, a little bit of this and that. He pasado más de dos años estudiando árabe y farsi, un poco de turco, un poco de esto y aquello. 私はアラビア語とペルシャ語に 2 年以上を費やし、トルコ語も少し、これとあれも少し。 Uh, and I'm nowhere near as far ahead. ええと、私はどこにも遠く及ばない。

So I thought about that, where I really developed quickly was in my Ukrainian because I went to Lviv and for a week I had six hours a day of instruction with my tutor. 私が本当に急速に上達したのはウクライナ語でした。リヴィウに行き、1 週間、家庭教師から 1 日 6 時間の指導を受けたからです。 So, and, uh, we would meet for a coffee and we would spend three months, uh, three hours chatting or visiting a cathedral or a church or a, you know, a cemetery or castle or whatever it was in Lviv, or a museum. それで、ええと、私たちはコーヒーを飲みに会い、3か月、ええと、3時間おしゃべりしたり、大聖堂や教会、墓地や城など、リヴィウにあるものなら何でも訪れました。美術館。

And then I'd get notes from her and I would review them in LingQ and we meet again in the afternoon. そして、彼女からメモをもらい、LingQ でそれらを確認し、午後に再会しました。 So I had six hours and in the case of my Chinese, I had three hours a day. ですから、私には 6 時間、中国語の場合は 1 日 3 時間ありました。 One-on-one, every day and we have to talk and I had to try to produce the language and really what I am now doing in my Arabic and Farsi in a way is, is the things that I did away from my class, listening and reading. マンツーマンで、毎日話さなければならず、私はその言語を作ろうと努力しなければなりませんでした。私がアラビア語とペルシア語で現在行っていることは、ある意味で、クラスの外で行ったことです。リスニングとリーディング。

Um, and not in a very, you know, I'm not, I don't have any assignments. ええと、そうではありません、私はそうではありません、私には割り当てがありません。 I sort of do what I want to do. 自分のやりたいことをやる程度です。 So I thought about that and I said, you know, if I were to design, so ideal scenario is I go off to Iran or I go off to Egypt and I have a teacher for three hours a day, and then I spent the rest of the time listening and reading and going to bookstores and immersing myself in the environment. それで私はそれについて考えて、もし私がデザインするなら、理想的なシナリオは、私がイランに行くか、エジプトに行くことで、1日3時間教師と一緒に過ごし、残りは私が過ごすことです。聞いたり、読んだり、書店に行ったり、環境に浸ったりする時間の。

Then after three months or six months, uh, I will probably progress quite quickly and I'll make friends and I'll have opportunities to use the language and stuff. それから 3 か月か 6 か月後には、おそらくかなり早く上達し、友達ができたり、言語などを使う機会が得られるでしょう。 However, I'm not in a position to do that. しかし、私はそれを行う立場にありません。 So what's the next best thing? それで、次善の策は何ですか? So I thought to myself, if I had, if I could set up three hours a day with a tutor in Arabic or Persian, and so that is a commitment. それで、アラビア語またはペルシャ語の家庭教師と一緒に1日3時間を設定できれば、それがコミットメントであると自分自身に考えました. So we've got like a five minute break in between, and maybe I would have three different tutors, uh, which I could arrange, uh, then, and we would have the sessions sort of, they would be kind of like when I toured Lviv. その間に 5 分間の休憩があり、3 人の家庭教師を手配することもできます。リヴィウを見学。 So we would either go to different cities in Iran or different areas of Egypt or visit, you know, the pyramids or visit Luxor, Iran or whatever it might be, or we might say we're going to talk about history for a certain period of time. つまり、イランのさまざまな都市やエジプトのさまざまな地域に行くか、ピラミッドを訪れるか、イランのルクソールなどを訪れるか、または特定の期間の歴史について話すつもりだと言うかもしれません。時間の。 So there would be the sense that I am touring the culture or the country and of the three hours, maybe one hour would be spent on just plain the structures of the language. ですから、私は文化や国を旅しているという感覚があり、3 時間のうち 1 時間は言語の構造を単純に理解することに費やされるかもしれません。 Uh, one of the things I did for Romanian was I had a bunch of these patterns in English using, you know, if, therefore, because, uh, on the other hand, like a whole bunch of different conjunctions, different verb tenses, different prepositions, and then a series of phrases, patterns that kind of get triggered by those conjunctions or those words or that, uh, typify how the different tenses are used. Uh, one of the things I did for Romanian was I had a bunch of these patterns in English using, you know, if, therefore, because, uh, on the other hand, like a whole bunch of different conjunctions, different verb tenses, different prepositions, and then a series of phrases, patterns that kind of get triggered by those conjunctions or those words or that, uh, typify how the different tenses are used. ええと、ルーマニア語のために私がしたことの1つは、英語でこれらのパターンをたくさん持っていたことです。さまざまな前置詞、そして一連のフレーズ、それらの接続詞や単語によってトリガーされるパターン、またはさまざまな時制がどのように使用されるかを象徴するパターン。 And so. Uh, I hope I'm not losing you here, but if I spend one hour of the three hours, one-on-one with my tutor going through these patterns, different pattern each time, which I could then review later on again, and then two hours touring the country geographically, or touring the country from a cultural or historical point of view or food or carpets or whatever it might be, so that there would be a sort of a focus, there would be a focus of our conversation, uh, it would bring some discipline into what I'm doing. ええと、ここであなたを失っていないことを願っていますが、3 時間のうちの 1 時間を家庭教師と 1 対 1 でこれらのパターンを毎回異なるパターンで行うと、後でもう一度確認できます。それから 2 時間、国を地理的にツアーしたり、文化的または歴史的な観点から国をツアーしたり、食べ物やカーペットなど、それが何であれ、ある種の焦点があるように、会話の焦点があるでしょう。ええと、それは私がしていることにいくらかの規律をもたらすでしょう. I would then have the rest of the day, um, to listen and read and do other things. その日の残りの時間は、ええと、聞いたり、読んだり、他のことをしたりします。 This was what I did with Chinese. これは私が中国語でやったことです。 It was like six, seven hours a day. 1日6、7時間のようでした。 The problem with that is I'm not prepared to do it because my wife and I enjoy golfing. 問題は、妻と私はゴルフを楽しんでいるので、その準備ができていないことです。

We enjoy other activities. 私たちは他の活動を楽しんでいます。 We enjoy our leasurly breakfast. ゆったりとした朝食をお楽しみください。 We genieten van ons rustig ontbijt. We enjoy so many other things that we're doing that I kind of have to try hard to sneak my language learning in there. 私たちは他にもたくさんのことを楽しんでいるので、言語学習をそこにこっそり忍び込ませるために一生懸命努力しなければなりません. When I was working for the Canadian government learning Mandarin, that was my job. カナダ政府で中国語を学ぶ仕事をしていたとき、それが私の仕事でした。 They were paying my salary. 彼らは私の給料を払っていました。 So I didn't think of doing anything else. だから、それ以外のことは考えていませんでした。

I just showed up at nine o'clock at my school. 私はちょうど9時に学校に現れました。 And in the afternoon I went home and I studied, and that was my job. そして午後、家に帰って勉強しました。それが私の仕事でした。 So, uh, obviously the degree of motivation, you know, uh, that I had at that time was, was much stronger than what I have now. ですから、明らかに当時のモチベーションは、今よりもはるかに強かったのです。 Uh, many of you who are learning languages, you may be either in the dilettante mode, which is what I'm in, in my Persian and Arabic, or have been in my other languages that I've been learning. ええと、言語を学んでいる皆さんの多くは、私が習っているディレタンテ モード、ペルシア語とアラビア語、または私が学んでいる他の言語を使用している可能性があります。

Or if you are in a position where you can dedicate yourself, then my suggested productivity hack is that you set aside three hours a day one-on-one with a tutor. または、あなたが自分自身を捧げることができる立場にある場合、私が提案する生産性のハックは、家庭教師と1対1で1日3時間を確保することです. One of the three hours is on structure patterns, that kind of thing. 3 時間のうちの 1 時間は、構造パターンに関するものです。 And two of them on discovering the culture and the history and the country. そのうちの 2 人は、文化、歴史、国を発見しました。

And then in the afternoon, if you have that much time to spend on the language, spend that time listening and preparing for that next focused, uh, lesson that you're going to have with your tutor, which focusing therefore either on patterns or some aspect of the culture. そして、午後にその言語に費やす時間があれば、その時間を聞いて、チューターとの次の焦点を絞ったレッスンの準備に費やします。したがって、パターンまたは文化のいくつかの側面。 So that then brings some structure into your life. そうすれば、あなたの人生に何らかの構造がもたらされます。

Uh, I think all of that would be very useful in terms of increasing your productivity, assuming you have the time, but in the meantime, you can also Google productivity hacks find the Pomodoro technique, and you may find some things there that, uh, helps you increase your level of productivity in your learning activities. ええと、時間があるとすれば、生産性を上げるという点では、これらすべてが非常に役立つと思いますが、それまでの間、Googleの生産性ハックでポモドーロテクニックを見つけることもできます。 、学習活動の生産性のレベルを上げるのに役立ちます。

So there you have it. だからあなたはそれを持っています。 I hope that was useful. お役に立てば幸いです。 Bye for now.