Do You Really Need a Teacher to Get Fluent in a Language?

Do we need a teacher to learn a language?

That's what I wanna talk about today.

Uh, you know that I'm a person who does, who enjoys, uh, self-study.

I'm a self-motivated language learner.

What do I think of the role of a teacher?

Well, I guess the quick answer is do we need a teacher?

The word "need" is strong, but if the question were can

we benefit from a teacher?

To me the answer is yes.

And I'm gonna tell you when we need the teacher or when the

teacher can most benefit us.

Uh, but there are polyglots like the famous Hungarian polyglot, uh, Lomb

Kato, who essentially learned on her own.

There are a lot of very successful polyglots who learn through reading,

through listening, and who don't require the services of a teacher.

Most people who think of learning a language, think of finding a teacher.

Uh, most people in the world, not the sort of very active, self-motivated

polyglots, but most people who have sort of a casual interest in learning

Spanish or Chinese, they think they have to go to a classroom or find a teacher.

So upfront, I will say you don't need a teacher.

Like you can learn a language without a teacher.

However, the teacher is very useful, and there are two sort of situations:

one is the motivated learner and the other is the unmotivated learner.

So when I was in my teens, I was an unmotivated learner of French.

At school, I had a teacher, a professor at McGill University, who triggered my

interest in French and which subsequently became an interest in other languages.

And he taught a course in French civilization.

And the textbook was great and the way he made it interesting, and he was a little

bit sarcastic, which we all enjoyed, and he was just a very stimulating teacher.

So for the unmotivated learner, a teacher can be the trigger.

A teacher can be the person who gets you going.

So in that situation, if you're not motivated, you need a teacher unless

you have some other motivation.

Might be, uh, you know, a spouse or a girlfriend or a boyfriend or something

else, but something has to trigger that interest and very often it's a teacher.

Teacher can trigger an interest, a teacher...

you wanna then learn the language to show the teacher, teacher becomes a source of

feedback, a source of encouragement, uh, somebody that you want to show that you

are, you know, learning the language.

So that's for the unmotivated learner.

For the motivated learner, I think a teacher can still

be of tremendous benefit.

However, the role of the teacher is not to explain the language.

The teacher's not necessarily the source of the language because

there is an abundance of sources of language, especially today.

Uh, on the internet, wherever podcasts, eBooks, audiobooks,

there's language everywhere and there's an abundance of explanation.

You can Google anything you want.

Subjunctive in French or, you know, cases in Slavic languages or whatever you want.

So the teacher doesn't have to be the source of knowledge about the language.

Doesn't have to be an explainer.

In fact, explanations are are rel...

are not that tremendously useful.

If you haven't had enough exposure to the language, the explanation kind of passes.

You buy a lot of the sort of how the language works, you're gonna get used

to it and figure it out on your own.

It is sometimes useful to have that explained.

So here's where I think the teacher is most useful for the motivated

learner and that is at a later stage.

Because initially the motivated learner can find content at his or her level,

uh, which could be the many stories at LingQ, which as you know, I push them

because there's a lot of repetition.

But there's, there's Duolingo, there's, uh, you know, uh, Pimsler, there's all

kinds of different systems that offer you, uh, content at your level, which you

can listen to, and you can read, and you can get, you know, your feet wet in the

language and you don't need a teacher to explain the language to you at that time.

I think the teacher is least, if you're motivated, is least

necessary in the early stages.

In the early stages, you actually have to get in there and start

experiencing the language.

However, as you progress in the language, and I have had this experience, as

you have some sense of the language, you've, you've got these words building

up in your mind, vocabulary ,phrases.

You're listening to it, you're understanding it better and better.

Now you wanna speak.

And when you wanna speak, you need a teacher or a tutor or

someone to speak with you.

But when you start speaking in the language, you're not very good.

So anyone that speaks with you has to be tolerant, has to help

you build up your speaking skills.

You can't just approach, I mean you can, but I find it less useful to,

to deal with sort of random people 'cause then you repeat the same few

words that you have all the time.

You need a teacher who is gonna help take you past, you know what you're comfortable

using and push you sort of beyond your comfort zone, get you to learn more words.

You are gonna hear more words from that teacher.

Hopefully the teacher doesn't spend too much time explaining things to

you or telling you that today we're gonna teach you the colors or, you

know, the parts of the body that, that the teacher is responsive

to your interests and your needs.

And, and I've had this experience with teachers where I just, they just lead

me along and I speak more and more.

And of course at LingQ the teacher sends me a report with all the

words and phrases that I had trouble using, and I go over those and.

Uh, gradually, gradually, gradually, my ability to speak improves.

So at that stage, which I would call sort of, I, I, if we go back to the

European Framework of Reference, where you got A1 and 2, B1 and 2, C1, and 2.

So A1is beginner.

I think at the beginner level, you really don't need a teacher if you're motivated.

If you're not motivated, as I said, that's a different story.

Once you reach the B level, you are now ready to start engaging with a

guided speaking partner by def...

by definition in my mind, a teacher, you may pay that person or you might have a

language exchange with that person, or that person for some reason or other is,

uh, willing to patiently work with you to help you along in your speaking ability.

And, uh, I call that person a teacher.

Amateur teacher, paid teacher, freebie teacher, it doesn't matter.

You need the teacher at that point.

And the more you speak at that sort of intermediate level, the faster you're

gonna improve your speaking ability.

But you still have to continue with your input activities.

So the conclusion is we don't need a teacher, but it's great to have a teacher.

I've had some great teachers.

I mentioned the teacher who, you know, started me off in my interest in French,

and then therefore in other languages.

I've had teachers who guide me, who find me fascinating content of interest to

me in Ukrainian, in Persian, in Polish.

Uh, so the teacher can have a, a tremendous role uh, in, in being your

language learning support and inspiration.

Uh, and I think the benefits are greater the more we progress in the language, at

least through that sort of B1 to B2 stage.

Once you're past B2, once again, you're on your own.

So there you have it.

My view on whether we need a teacher and how the teacher can most help us.

Thank you.

Bye.