Learn Languages with Steve Kaufmann

🦄 Think you are a “visual,” “auditory,” "book," or “kinesthetic” learner? Think again! According to psychologists Cedar Riener and Daniel Willingham in their 2010 paper “The Myth of Learning Styles,” “There is no credible evidence that learning styles exist.” In this video, I explain more about why learning styles are a myth and the universal ways in which we ALL acquire languages (regardless of...

🚀 In this video, I share what I do at various levels in the language learning journey and the best way to get up to the delightful upper-intermediate stage where your fluency really starts to take off.

🙀 Popular entertainer and polyglot @LanguageSimp joins me to talk about why language learning should be fun and how he got started in languages, TikTok, and YouTube. He also teaches this 77-year-old language grandpa the meaning of the Gen Z term "simp" (it is NOT what I assumed)...

📚 In this video, I explain the best way to improve your speaking skills, why vocabulary tends to be more important than grammar, why second-guessing grammar harms your ability to communicate, and why you don't need to STUDY grammar rules to correctly FOLLOW them.

⏳ Some people swear by "spaced repetition systems" (SRS). Others think they are waste of time. What's my take? I've learned 20 languages so far in my life, but have only relied on spaced repetition for a few specific needs in language learning. Watch on to see what those use cases are and what approach I think is generally more effective than using an SRS app.

🧠 The brain acquires languages through lots exposure of input, NOT the conscious memorization of grammar rules and vocabulary. This is a good news! In this video, I share 3 major benefits of learning languages in a natural, non-rules-based way.

👶 Everyone knows that children are better language learners, right? Well, the truth is not so simple... While children do have SOME advantages when it comes to language learning (e.g. pronunciation), we adults run circles around the little ones in other ways! In this video, I detail the similarities and differences between first and second language acquisition and the various linguistic and psych...

📖 If we want to speak a language fluently, we first have to memorize a bunch of rules, right? Wrong! 🧠 It turns out that our brains will automatically internalize a language's underlying patterns when we get enough exposure and practice. So instead of spending all your time memorizing rules, focus on reading and listening. This approach is more natural AND more fun. To be clear, I am not saying...

🚪 Languages can unlock doors you never even knew existed, but you first have to reach out and turn the handle. The doors won't open themselves. Don't overthink decisions. Just take action and see where the language learning adventure leads you! I've made a number of pivotal decisions that completely changed the trajectory of my life, languages, and career... Hopping on a Europe-bound ship at age...

❓What is the most difficult language to learn? The short answer? It depends! The difficulty of a language depends on a number of critical factors, 6 of which I share in this video. I also explain why certain languages tend to be more difficult than others, and why ONE language has been particularly challenging for me. Later in the video, I am joined by the Chinese polyglot Zoe from @zoe.languages...

I’ve learned 20 languages so far, and I usually enjoy the process. But Korean has been a real struggle for me. In this video, I explain why it’s been such a challenge and where I went wrong.

📚 Elon Musk allegedly reads 2 books a DAY! That's over 37 million words a year! (For comparison, the average person finishes only 14 books a YEAR.)

Some people argue that you must work with a teacher to get fluent in a language, others claim that teachers are unnecessary and that you can learn on your own. So which is correct? Like most things in language learning (and life!) the answer isn’t black and white.

I have been learning languages for over 50 years. In this time there is one development in particular that has allowed me to learn more efficiently and given me access to new worlds of meaningful and interesting content: the MP3.

I like analogies, they help us understand. An analogy I thought of recently was how our knowledge of a language is like an iceberg: what we can produce or think we know at any given moment is just the tip of the iceberg and there is deep familiarity with the language underneath.

When do we know a word? Who cares? Just keep pumping words into your brain. Keep on actively pursuing words. That’s what we measure at LingQ. How many words you have grabbed and thrown into your brain. How many stick or when they stick is largely out of our control.

Language immersion doesn’t depend so much on where you are, although it can. It depends more on your attitude towards the language you are learning, and your actions as a learner.

Some people are afraid to speak in their target language. It needn’t happen. We can prepare for speaking. We can recognize speaking as a part of our learning process, not a performance to be judged by others.

The journey is the reward. As long as you are actively engaged with your target language, listening, reading, speaking or writing, in ways that you find meaningful and enjoyable, you will achieve your goals.

Travelling around Poland has made me realize that there is always more to a place than initially meets the eye. This is true for cities and also languages. When we start exploring a language we see that what we thought was the big picture was only a part of it. I love this about the language learning journey!

We need to be patient when learning languages. We will learn and forget, learn and forget over and over again. This isn’t a sign of failure but rather the natural way we learn new things. Relax into it and you will be successful.

I have always been interested in the origins of languages and the differences between languages. In my latest video I explore some world languages that share a lot in common and try to answer the question “what is a language?“.

Beginner material needs to contain lots of high frequency words and these words should repeat many times within one lesson. There should also be many lessons. The Mini Stores at LingQ check all these boxes. Watch my latest video to find out more about this fantastic beginner course and why I use it when I start out in a new language.

It’s easy to get caught up in negative thinking when learning a new language: I make so many mistakes, my speaking is so unnatural, I don’t understand when people speak to me, etc. What if we chose to break away from that thinking and believe instead that these things are part of the process and nothing to worry about? What if we chose to focus on the good instead of the “bad”?

Should seniors pay more taxes? We are, generally speaking, a bigger burden on the health system. My answer might surprise you…