Learn Languages with Steve Kaufmann

Some people say they read well in a language, but struggle to speak. Solution: speak more, but don’t neglect reading. A wide passive vocabulary, best acquired by reading, enables you to engage in conversations with people on a wide range of content.

Many people think memory in language learning refers only to words you are able to retrieve when you need them. A much bigger part of your memory are words that you once learned and have forgotten. They are in your reserve waiting to be rediscovered.

When you start in a language, nothing is comprehensible. So then how do we get a toehold? Some advice for the key first three months.

Reading comprehension is crucial in language learning and in life. The faster we can read, the more quickly we understand what we’re reading, and the faster we learn. There are tricks we can use to improve our reading comprehension. I discuss them in this video.

Some people worry about which kind of Spanish to learn, Mexican, Colombian, Argentinian, or the Spanish from Spain. In my view, this is not something worth worrying about when we start out in the language. Later on, once you are comfortable in the language, you can decide which accent or version you want to focus on.

When we learn a language we focus on specific details at times, to get a clearer sense of the language. At other times we allow the language to enter our brain with less than perfect comprehension. Both help us grow in the language.

I use artificial intelligence in the way I learn languages already. I think we’re just at the beginning of what AI can do to help us enjoy language learning more, and consequently do better.

An obstacle to acquiring vocabulary is our reluctance to accept forgetting, our vain hope to hang on to vocabulary we have tried to learn. Maybe we should just let go of new vocabulary, repeatedly catch and release, until it sticks.

Language immersion sounds like magic. You go live in a country and once you are there you learn the language. In this video I explain why this isn’t necessarily the case, and what you can do to increase your chances of language immersion strategy success.

Language learning is forgiving. It allows for errors and forgetting. We slowly become better by doing mostly top down, big picture learning, but sometimes we need to look at the details. We just shouldn't expect to remember them.

You’re in charge of your language learning journey, you’re steering the boat. You go where you want to go and don’t worry about who’s behind and ahead of you.

A language teacher should first and foremost be a motivator. I don’t believe you can teach a language to someone not motivated to learn it. Motivating learners is, of course, easier said than done, but it should be the primary goal of any teacher.

How deliberate should we be in learning a language? Should we deliberately study the language or do we just acquire it naturally?

I think we should aim for authenticity in language learning. The language content we are learning from, the conversations we have, need to be as authentic and as meaningful as possible. That way we learn without noticing that we are learning.

I hear people say they want to achieve native pronunciation. A more realistic goal may be natural pronunciation where the speaker and the listener both feel comfortable. To achieve natural pronunciation you may need at first to just let go and play act a little.

Tetsuya of the YouTube channel Morite2 teaches test-taking skills for Japanese people taking TOEIC. We chatted about the state of English learning in Japan and his adventures in language learning.

Tomorrow I will do a livestream with Dr. Stephen Krashen, linguist, educational researcher and activist, where we will discuss language acquisition. Join us at 11AM Pacific Time on August 24: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7WUxvpPIKQ

In Jordan Peterson’s book “12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos” the Canadian clinical psychologist offers life advice via 12 essays. Here’s where I agree and disagree with the ideas in the book.

In English and other languages, certain words are often used with certain other words, sometimes to convey a special meaning. This juxtaposition of words is sometimes referred to as collocation. How do we learn to use collocations?

When learning a language I'm mostly motivated by an interest in the history and culture. Persian is no exception. Right now I'm listening to a podcast in Persian about Iranian identity.

To learn a language we need to look up the meaning of words. This means referring to dictionaries. Lately this has meant mostly referring to online dictionaries for me. Dictionaries are a necessary part of language learning as long as we use them effectively.

For the last four or five days I've been focusing on a Persian podcast about the Islamic Revolution. I feel that this degree of focus and concentration has elevated my Persian. I explain in today’s video.

Variety is the spice of life. Variety will help you learn. If you're in charge of your learning, you set the program, decide what you will spend your time on and set yourself up for success.

I don’t think comprehension questions are helpful in language learning. They destroy the pleasure of reading or listening. Brazilian educator Rubem Alves agrees with me. I listened to and read his thoughts while learning Portuguese. I didn’t always fully understand but I thoroughly enjoyed the process and my Portuguese improved.

What is important in language learning is whatever is important to you. You learn best from content that is important to you. You notice things that are important to you. You remember things that are important to you.