Learn Languages with Steve Kaufmann

Aristotle's Metaphysics begins: "All men by nature desire to know". Languages are among the most useful and rewarding things we can learn and get to know. I discuss this in this video.

Ksenia, from Russia, learned Ukrainian in Ukraine. I asked her how much Ukrainian a Russian speaker, with no previous exposure, understands. Answer: 40%.

Someone sent me a few video clips recently of Joe Rogan discussing language learning with his guests. There is something in the attitude in these clips that bothers me as a language learning enthusiast.

I recognize that writing can be a way of improving your ability in the language, a way of getting to more output. For some people it’s important to their academic and professional aspirations. So what do I have to say on the subject of writing?

Emotion is an important part of learning languages. Cognitive research has shown that we learn better when we have positive feelings towards what we are learning. This is particularly true when it comes to the culture of the language we are learning.

Reward yourself for what you can do in your target language. Don’t criticize yourself for what you can’t do. There are moments when you feel disappointed. Ignore these moments of self-doubt. Give yourself credit for staying active with the language, a guarantee of eventual success.

If you Google “Pareto’s Principle” You will find all kinds of examples of how a small number of any series of events will account for the lion’s share of the results of effects of these events. People say this also applies to language learning. In this video I question this.

Pronunciation and spelling can both give problems to learners of English. They are connected. Unfortunately, however, the spelling is not a reliable indicator of how words are pronounced. It takes a long time to get used to this.

In every language I have learned there are certain usage patterns that tickle my fancy. They are usually handy in expressing my thoughts. The French pronouns "y" and "en" are good examples.

If we engage in physical exercise, we have the feeling that we have done something, improved our fitness. We may even have tightness or soreness in our muscles. The same is not true with language learning. Often we don’t know if, in fact, we’re learning.

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.