Language Learning Free, Fast, and Easy (A listening-based approach)

I tried out LingQ a few years back, but it wasn’t the right method for me. I have nothing against it. If it works for you that’s great!

I spent the last 6 years trying out a lot of methods while looking for faster and more effective ways to learn Korean, Japanese, and languages in general. After extensive reading and much experimentation, I was able to make a program that works for me, and maybe a few of you might find it helpful. This video offers a listening-based approach that is free and easy to do. This is an active listening routine with a simple way to test yourself and improve. It’s about comprehensible volume. What is that and how does that make you learn faster? Take a look.

Tell me what you think. Don’t be afraid to ask questions.

Interesting video. And amusing! But do you learn to speak a language just by listening to sentences and repeating them?

I don’t think anyone would but one can learn some spoken language but most probably this person will be talking with grammar mistakes and once you get used to them it would be quite hard to get rid of them, just like of nasty habits. I think when you know some grammar, can understand the language a little bit, you can watch some videos or even movies and tv shows. That’s the way I’m learning English and it’s pretty cool when you are talking and when trying to think of some phrases, they just pop out and those are the phrases you heard in a movie or video. You may not have remembered them but subconsciously you did. And when you need them, they just pop out. I personally experience it lots of times, and not only when talking but writing. Of course when I write (which is the job I do for a living here at http://acewriters.org/), I usually double-check, and in most cases the phrase is what I’m looking for but sometimes I may have remembered it incorrectly (but that always can be corrected). Oh, and here is an interesting article about this method: https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/how-can-film-help-you-teach-or-learn-english

Of course you’ll need more to speak a language. This self-study approach is to streamline listening practice while easily and quickly reviewing the hundreds and thousands of vocab, grammar points, and sentences you have learned in the past. A conversation partner or tutor can help with speaking.

You killed it for me when you called it “easy”. Super annoying. Anyway, I tried to listen, but just couldn’t handle more than 2 min. Sorry about that.

I think this is a really great corrective approach for people who want to follow the LingQ way but who are constantly frustrated with losing context and interest when listening to hard or boring material. I actually think there are other ways that are less laborious for Japanese (IE check out the anki addon that automatically generates example sentences) but the idea is great. Points I particularly like are: “Speed up your ears, don’t slow down the audio”. This is so true yet so many insist otherwise. Also “Fail faster” yep. Your language learning experience should be cascades of failure, get used to it.

I think you Japanese pronunciation shows that you listen. The pitch accent was correct and it was not too foreign sounding at all.

I subscribed.

This “anki addon that automatically generates example sentences” is it only for Japanese or for all languages? And what can I do to get it?

Download ANKI and navigate to addons. The directions are pretty clear but let me know if you have trouble. The add on I have is only Japanese but I do not know all the add ons.

Thank you, I will try!

The method relying only on listening is a fallacy advocated by podcast sellers. Listening the same podcast many times is not tedious, it is deadly boring - the brain simply refuses to focus on it. On top of that it turned out to be inefficient and led many credule learners to great frustration. The balance between listening, reading and writing is one of the prerequisites. Albeit it doesn’t ensure a great progress if some other important factors are neglected.

Thank you for the kind words :slight_smile: There might even be faster ways with that anki addon. I will check it out.

Right. Stop listening to the same thing over and over and trying to understand it better. That’s why I propose that we test ourselves using listening flashcards. Every new sentence you encounter can be turned into a flashcard using Text-To-Speech and Anki.