A Polyglot's 10 Secrets to Language Learning

Hi there, Steve Kaufmann here again in Palm Springs. Um, today I want to talk about the 10 secrets to language learning success. Uh, I even have a series of emails on this subject, which you can subscribe to and get into more detail on this subject. Uh, remember if you enjoy my videos, please subscribe to my YouTube channel and click here for notifications.

And by all means, join me at LingQ. Uh, I just wanted to mention too that, uh, one thing that I discovered in Vancouver was these, uh, aloo bukhara Persian or Iranian dried plums or prunes that are a little sour, a bit like the Japanese umeboshi, and they are delicious and they're very healthy and they're popular from, I don't know, Georgia, Turkey through to India.

And, uh, I bought them down here and I really enjoy them. I just had a couple of before making this video. So, you know, I can't rem... quite honestly, first of all, when people say that there's 10 secrets to doing this, or six secrets or seven secrets or three secrets, these are ways to grab people's attention.

So that it's very common on the internet. And if you Google, you're going to find three, six, seven, 10 secrets doing this, that, or the other. And they are quite useful. You know, they got 10 ways that you can use baking powder or six ways to, uh, keep moths out of your closet or there's all kinds of these.

And typically it's, it's very useful. You can click through them one after another and it gives you ideas. So even though it may seem a little bit sort of, uh, the term now is clickbait. Uh, I find that they're quite useful. So I do encourage you to subscribe to my, uh, email series of 10 secrets. Uh, there aren't just 10 secrets. There

aren't just 10 hints on how to study better. There might be five, there might be 20. But I hope that each of these would stimulate some thinking and maybe each person finds their own 10 secrets to language learning, things that they, uh, find help them become more effective language learners. But the absolute first one is the famous three keys that I often quote the, uh, again, I don't remember her name, but she was the director of the languages department at the San Diego, San Diego state university.

And, and she said, you know, language learning consists of three things, your attitude or the attitude of the learner, the time spent with the language. In other words, not sitting in a classroom, listening to explanations in your own language about the language, but actually being with the language, listening, reading, speaking.

So time with the language, attitude, time with language, and then this ability to notice what's happening in the language. Some people will hear the language and just not notice how it's pronounced. They'll continue pronouncing it the way they think it should be pronounced maybe based on the writing system in their own language or whatever.

So we do have to be a little attentive to the language. So that's secret number one is really, you know, buy into these three keys to language learning. The second thing is, you know, you got to take charge of your own language learning. You can't be dependent on a teacher or expecting a school to teach you.

You have to drive the program. What are you interested in? Why are you doing it? And then, you know, find things that you find, uh, worthwhile doing and then do them. The third thing is words are the key to language learning. And that's why at LingQ we track how many words, you know, how many words you have looked up,

how many words you've read. Because again, when I was correcting people's English, it wasn't find points of grammar that made their English less effective. It was how they used words. They didn't have enough words. They didn't know which words belonged with which other words, the whole thing about languages is acquiring words.

And then getting used to how they work, getting a sense of, you know, the patterns of the language. And that's all based on words, words, and phrases, but phrases are patterns, which consists of words. Uh, also when you go to speak. Again, you're speaking words, you're speaking. Meaning don't worry about how close to native pronunciation you may have.

Of course, you're paying attention to how the native speak. You're trying to imitate it. Some people get closer, some people aren't quite as close. It doesn't matter if you're using words skillfully. If you're using words, if you're developing that feel for how words are used in the language time, I mentioned time, make the time, find the time.

And in that sense, listening is such a powerful activity because it's helping your brain get used to the language. And it's also something that you can fit in almost at all times of the day, while in the car, on public transit or washing the dishes and so forth and so on. Find ways to motivate yourself.

Okay. It might be the kind of content you're doing. Maybe you're motivated by doing spaced repetition systems, find things that motivate you. Another thing is don't worry too much about how long it's going to take. If your focus is on enjoying the process, then that how long it takes will take care of itself.

You will move along more quickly if you're focused on enjoying the process, rather than if you're focused on how quickly, you know, can I learn the language. Another secret I think is to not be too focused on how much you can say at the beginning. It's fun to speak. It's fun to get feedback. It's fun to interact with people in a new language.

It's fun to try to put some words together in a language that we're learning, but ultimately what matters is how well can you speak in six months or 12 months. And that sense of major focus on input, acquiring words, is going to be more effective than using the limited vocabulary that you've acquired over and over and over again. You have to expand beyond that limit range, limited range of vocabulary in order to engage with, uh, native speakers in meaningful conversation.

Uh, and, and finally, you know, learning a language is a, it's a process of immersing yourself in a new environment. The really, as I've said before, I'm not sure there is a chapter one, chapter 10. Yes. Obviously, if you have more repetition, it's going to be easier. But at some point you're at, you're looking at this lake or this swimming pool, you just have to get in and get wet, start somewhere, start listening and reading, start using the little bit that you can. Immerse yourself.

And if you do those things, I think you'll be successful as a language learner. In the meantime, for more detail on the 10 secrets of language learning, and again, I'm not sure I've covered all 10, but please subscribe to my 10 secrets, uh, email course. All right, then. Thank you for listening. Bye for now.