To Improve Comprehension DON'T Try to Understand
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As you are progressing in your target language there will be lots of times when you are not going to understand. To reach your goals you need to accept this and keep moving forward.
0:00 Listening and reading comprehension are the most important goals in language learning.
1:11 My biggest tip when it comes to improving your comprehension.
2:16 Learning a new language is like mowing a lawn.
4:02 Don't force yourself to try to understand.
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What are some ways you are currently working on your comprehension in your target language? The app I use to learn languages -> bit.ly/3xB8Cms My 10 FREE secrets to language learning -> www.thelinguist.com
I use Deutsch lernen mit Video by DW which are on a variety of topics and are all under 5 minutes which is manageable. For longer stuff, currently I’m reading Terry Pratchet.
@@Liliquan is this an app or you use the website version ?
@@Aliraza10107 App.
Dear Steve, do you believe all input has to be comprehensible? If so then what about in the case of videos/movies with subtitles in your target language that's above your level? Having to pause every few seconds to look up a word can disrupt the enjoyment and be slower and it'll probably show up in your vocabulary deck later on anyway right? I guess there should be a balance of intensive and extensive reading/listening.
I swear by face-to-face conversations with native speakers who want to practice my native language. I have several weekly convos with the same people on Skype. When conversing with the same people every week the conversation evolves rather than repeating the same first convo every time. This helps us both in speaking, comprehension and grammar. We both speak in one language and then switch to the other.
I made this mistake.. read a book, wanted to understand every single word.. took me ages to finish a book in a foreign language ;)
Sounds like me ,extensive reading is more practical
Sounds like me ,extensive reading is more practical
I think no one should try reading a book in a foreign language before learning around 1000 words or so considering it's not a children's book or a beginners reader sort of book And even at 1.000 words, one should choose a simple book to start
I did that too. Had to read Flyga Drake (The Kite Runner) for Svenska som andraspråk. Wrote down and found the translations for every word I didn't understand. The list was 300 words long after a few chapters! So I bought the English language version too, but only compared them if there was a whole paragraph or section that I couldn't comprehend. After that experience I have mostly read books that I have previously read in English (though not recently) so that I know the main plot points. Then I only look up a word if not understanding it prevents me from understanding something vital in that chapter. It still takes me much longer to read things than in English, but it's more enjoyable.
Me too
Came for comprehension advice, stayed for the lawn-mowing advice.
The biggest breakthrough I had with listening was when I trained myself to not stop listening at the first word or sentence I didn’t understand. That’s common when you start: you listen and listen and then suddenly there’s something you don’t know, so you stop and try to work it out. This means you miss what comes next and you lose the thread, including info that may have actually helped you understand that confusing part. Also, and this is the key part to train yourself, I realized that if I didn’t understand something it’s because I hadn’t learned it. It didn’t matter how long or hard I thought about it, I was never going to work it out because it simply wasn’t in my head anywhere. I didn’t have that language at all yet, so I wasn’t ever going to find it. Once I realized this obvious point, I became comfortable ignoring what I didn’t comprehend. I trained myself to spend no more than a second processing a word and if it didn’t come to me in that time, drop it, move on and keep up with the speaker.
your seggestion is good
I listened to lots of 3 - 5 minute videos by "Lucrezia" while learning Italian. I wrote every word in the captions in Italian, also watched the translation. This really helped. I wasn't totally ignorant of Italian at the time but certainly not fluent. I kept this up for about a year, reading, writing, creating conversations with myself. Having studied French helped. The main this is keeping at it
Thanks for the suggestion
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@@DrOrsonim learning italian rn lol
I agree 100%. Creating resistance and forcing yourself is a progress killer. Trying to understand at all costs is like trying to fall asleep - the more you try, the harder it gets.
Its not. People are like 'yeah! she's right! the more you try to sleep the harder it is!' Forgetting the first sentence. Take it to the extreme, do you think if you just sit there for years listening and not engaging that you'll learn quickly/at all? Then imagine you engage with everything you hear, forever. Neither extreme is optimal but to say that just zoning out and letting it all seep in is a load of bull.
@@tsampson6660 I didn't say anything about not engaging. Please, don't put words in my mouth and distort my comment like that. Both Steve and I have talked about the importance of noticing and paying attention to patterns. But that can be done without creating resistance. It's all about noticing without stress, resistance etc.
Physics books have to read this way, my friend. It's hard, doesn't mean it's not right.
AA
I understand your point regarding understanding. As for the sleeping thing, many people fall asleep almost immediately after seconds or minutes of trying, myself included, so it's not a good example.
I'm learning Spanish and I often catch myself "trying a little to hard" versus just letting my brain absorb what it can and then come back later for a "second pass" to absorb more. The lawn mowing analogy was perfect - thank you!
Yo también, no más
I watched Rick and Morty 5 times and always get a bit more.
Yo hablo español!!
Hey Chuck, would you like to do a language exchange? I'm a Spaniard learning English and French. If you like the idea let me know, we could talk via whatsapp, telegram or whatever app you prefer.
I'm learning English, we must be practice !
I’m a 9th grader and I watched this on the bus to school to take my Language Arts Final Exam. I am done with the exam now and I got 100 for the first time everrr,🎉🎉
Well done!!
Congratulations!!
yeahh sure
Diss tha' haters, fantastic job young lady 👏 🥳🥳🥳 keep it up.
Ok lol
I learned Italian when my parents moved to Italy for a year, and put me into an Italian public school. I was in the 4th grade. It was all so weird and different that I didn't think of it as learning a language. I understood most of what people were saying within three months, without any real effort. I wasn't really paying any attention to the learning process. I was just sitting there soaking it all in. No one at school knew any English, not even the teacher.
@ Steven Eardley. Yup! To communicate with specific people I didn't try to "learn their language." Instead I tried to figure out how to communicate with them -using whatever means I could. If that turned out to be "learning a new language" then it turned out to be learning a new language. It was easier for me if I thought of it just as learning some new words. That, however, doesn't seem to be much use if I a planning to go somewhere where people don't speak much English and they typically speak some other language and if I want to learn how to communicate with them - before I go there - so I don't have to learn while I am there. .
Well I had the baptism of fire when I was 5 years old and went to school. I was brought up by my Hungarian mother and only spoke that language at home. At school in England I was forced to learn quickly when I did not know the word to go to the toilet! Consequently I wet my pants and was given a heavy serge replacement 😊 Thereafter I quickly learned key phrases useful for a 5 year old boy😏
I totally agree. Sometimes I would listen to an audio or video and try to understand as many words as possible and in the end I would realize that I hadn't paid much attention to the main topic because of that. One day, while walking, I was listening to a podcast without forcing myself to understand the specific words, but paying attention and imagining what the person was saying. In the end I understood much of the podcast.
Yes sir, so true, that is the mistake that language learners make.
An interesting exercise is to listen to a podcast in your own native language and focus on understanding all the words. When I try that, I find it's hard to follow the message because my attention is in the wrong place. And that's in my native language!
Yes! I've found just before sleep, listening to something and not trying to translate, I suddenly see pictures of everything being said, even words that I don't really know.
yea, that is awesome. It works exactly like that and also It is much enjoyable the process of learning a new language
Thanks for your experience. I'll try to listen podcast whitout to try understand every single Word. Thanks so much.
I like to analogize comprehension to a puzzle game. if you start with the easy pieces, the difficult ones will eventually solve themselves.
that is exactly how the grammar is aquired, it falls in place naturally
I really appreciate that analogy. I guess the key word that I miss/forget is EVENTUALLY. I need to be patient. Especially when I question if any progress is being made... Like with the puzzle, I just can't see it yet, but EVENTUALLY I will. 🤯
that's one great analogy
I have found that Steve's advice applies to learning Calculus, and Physics where memorization is not the key skill but practice is. I dare say Stever's approach is useful for any subject.
That's so interesting. I was thinking about seeing if it applies to other subjects as well
That's really interesting. A new way to comprehend such difficult subjects. Thank you for sharing man.
coming from a physics student per se.Yeah all this time i couldn't figure it out what's the culprit that causes severe effect in my learning and development , and this is just what i need
also business ;)
I am studying for civil services and this is how I approach the preparation. I have to read a lot from economics to geography to history to polity and this advice holds true for all those subjects.
This is why music works so well for me. You can listen to a song in another language and be fine not knowing a single word. But over time you start to recognize words you learn from other mediums, and then how they string together etc.
Real talk! Comprehension doesn't happen overnight no matter how hard you try... it's a process, an everyday thing... thanks man
My teacher is 60 years old and he kept telling me, "I needed 60 years to speak at my level."
@@josepmariaalcoverropons9186 He's absolutely right!
A year ago, I was stuck in English reading until I stopped trying understand every single word, only then I starts learning rapidly and I shocked by my comprehension level! I found that novels is within my reach so I quit Oxford stories and forced myself to - finally - read what I want, which is Sherlock Holmes's adventures, I finished them all few days ago. Unforgettable journey!
ليش تركت قصص اكسفورد ؟
@@saeedyahya9020 قصص اكسفورد مبسطة لمن يتعلم اللغة الإنجليزية، تركتها لأنني تجاوزت هذه المرحلة وصرت قادر على قراءة القصص العادية مثلي مثل من لغته الأم هي الإنجليزية.
@@TheESMAT07 نصائحك عن مهارة الاستماع اريد اطور مستواي من مبتدئ الى متوسط افهم
Awesome 👌 try the audiobooks on youtube ;)
Only reading??
I'm finding this is particularly true as I'm learning Korean. With French and Spanish, sentence structure is quite similar to English, but with Korean I have to constantly remind myself to just let the whole sentence wash over me before I check if I understand it. Because actually, context is a big piece of comprehension even for our native languages! There are homonyms and different meanings within English even that get cleared up if you just keep listening for the whole sentence or paragraph or more of the conversation-language is about more than grammar and vocabulary, so while we do have to learn these things, this video is a good reminder that PATIENT persistence is key.
What is your purpose in life ? Learning Spanish , French , Korean , Hindhi etc has any impact on your career!!
I think this point applies to learning mathematics, too. I'm studying a very mathematical university course and too many times I have tried to really understand each line of a textbook and made slow progress. Much faster to keep pushing on and not getting hung up on what you don't understand right away. Very interesting.
Hey Colin! Thanks for sharing. This was an answer I was looking for, cause I'm learning Python, etc now and sometimes struggle to get a full grasp of things. But does this approach really help? What's your experience? Eveuntually you manage to understand things deeper?
@@grandpraline hi! Yes, I think with learning Python you have to try and push past the parts you don't understand as well and try and get code working. You need to immerse yourself in the language just like maths I think. It will take time but it will make more and more sense with time. Hope that helps :)
@@grandpraline Yes, just keep coding and don't worry too much about what others tell you is the right way. Either you will appreciate why they said that later by making the mistake or after you do try their way you understand why they are wrong. Code and keeping coding. Learning is like a tree growing. You don't see it grow. But come back next year and you will see a difference.
Nice analogy. I’ve had to move away from my old perfectionist mindset and realize that language is learning something, forgetting it, learning again, forgetting again, over and over but with each relearning it gets stronger until it’s set in our brain.
This 'don't try too hard' is actually true. Sometimes I'm beating my head against the wall trying to 'understand' a certain piece in one of my languages and end up giving it up. But then I come across that again eventually and it clicks! That's because acquisition happens unconsciously. You do your part and take your time. The brain assimilates things during sleep.
Sleep is critical.
Very well said! As a non-native English speaker, when my English skills were at their lowest I used to watch English youtube videos and barely understand 5% of what was being said, and I just kept watching regardless, and now that you made me think of that, I think that is what helped me get better the most. My skill is still far from perfect however, as you might've noticed. 😅
Your writing skills are excellent my friend!
I think this is great😂
Very true. I went through the military's language school many years ago, and the pace and length of that course washed out a lot of people. One of the biggest reasons was that students would get frustrated and give up because they felt they weren't understanding everything. I think those of us who made it through just accepted that we wouldn't get everything and just needed to hang on. Read/listen to something, grasp as many essential elements of information as possible given time constraints, and just move on. Full comprehension, especially at first pass, can take years to develop.
As a kid I learned way more english through videogames and TV shows than in the classroom at school. I used to watch Tarzan on Disney Channel with either English or Spanish (my nativa language) subtitles, and quite often those episodes would be repeated. I think that is exactly the phenomenon you're decribing. I need to get on to doing the same with Russian, my current target language.
I had this thought about what he said: when learning a new language try to listen the same way you listen to music. I say this as a non native english speaker.
The lawn mower analogy is really helpful. I’ve been studying languages for the last 10+ years, and I found that several passes over the same material really helps to reinforce my studies.
Very nice analogy. I'm an English teacher and I always say something similar to my students. The key to learning is repeatetion. Every time you repeat you understand a bit more. Also sometimes students want to understand every single word and then forget to listen what is being said.
I somehow hate repetition, it's like programming something you might not use even in hundred years time.
Frequency is the best ally when it comes to language learning, assuming people expose themselves to their target language a lot. While exposing yourself to the language you are trying to learn, some words will repeat themselves a lot and will be learned easily and automatically. As for other words they will not repeat with the same number or frequency, some of them will stick and others will be forgotten.
if your seeing new words, should you try and translate them or just expect to understand their meaning after repetition in different contexts?
@@joyfulburger2395 If you are advanced enough in your learning journey you can use your target language's dictionaries to define words you encounter, otherwise if the word refers to an abstract concept you can translate it to your native language. If it's referring to a concrete concept it is preferable to just google it and find the meaning through an image.
After trying myself to “force the mower” I can relate to this … and I understood this concept some the first time I thought about, but now I understand it a little more after watching this video ;)
This is so true even in other types of learning and life in general as well. Perfection is the enemy of progress...
I'm doing Classics at university at the moment. I had a surgery earlier this semester that meant I had to miss a tonne of content in both Greek and Latin, it was crazy. It's meant alot of self-teaching and this week I was feeling really down about my skills and progress. I was also really feeling the pressure that comes with learning these languages quickly. This video really calmed me down and settled my mind. Thank you!
Hi Steve I’m from Brazil and hereby to thank you for all your work and effort dedicated in teach and advise us for free on yt. I’ve been learning English for about 2 and half years and, thanks to you, I’ve been improving so much that I can’t measure or describe this improvement. I’m really proud for my little achievement’s and now I can read read and understand any book or even series and podcast effortlessly. I wrote all this above from the top off my head and sorry if I got some mistakes. Thank you again!
I'm a gay Lithuanian man and I want to visit Brazil. I want to go to the beaches in Rio De Janeiro, eat açaí, and have fun with gay handsome Brazilian men.
@@lukasbalchunas1272 lol I’m not from rio and am not gay as well. But surely you’ll be welcome in our country. Rio is a very lively and bustling city.
Your English is great! Congratulations on your progress!
@@theocurtis02 thank you so much, bro. I appreciate your feedback. Even though I don’t feel like that fluent and sometimes I struggle with the language, especially when it comes to speaking, i feel like getting better and better. Take care!
@@cesarchiarelli8039 let matters take their course! I'm a native Spanish speaker and I think I've reached an English proficiency level in which I feel comfortable interacting with other people and in general just using the language as any other person would. Just keep immersing yourself in the language, talk to other people (in English ofc), and without you noticing, time will take care of things and you'll just keep getting better! I wish you success in your journey, learning another language is not an easy task. Be proud of the progress you've made so far, your English is great!
Lawn mowing is a brilliant and lucid analogy. The second run is the fun one.
Just stumbled across this video and channel. I don't speak multiple languages, but I find this fascinating because it's a direct analog to something I do work with - teaching mathematics. Students who try to "understand" everything upon the first lesson before any practice tend to do worse, or at least take longer to fully grasp the material. Students who push forward through the practice and repetition while accepting their initial lack of understanding will usually develop that understanding much quicker. I think it speaks toward the way the human brain works in general across different disciplines. Thanks for the great material!
Similar experience with coding!
This is generally good advice for nearly all non-linear subjects. Or better put, any subjects that relies on ability rather than simply knowing. Anything you can "work a muscle" for.
That lawnmower analogy was fire, and it's exactly what I do. Know your limits. Push hard, but don't let yourself get bogged down by pushing too hard the first pass.
What this video boils down to is: you need to switch what you're studying repeatedly to force your brain to store things in long term memory. If you just keep studying the same thing until you "Master it" it'll be stuck in short term memory and you'll almost never move on.
My Polish tutor has been off for a while due to having a baby and I've been doing nothing but reading Harry Potter using LingQ. Occasionally I will practice having a conversation with myself and I'm amazed at how much more I can say. I think my tutor is going to be surprised at how much my speaking has improved doing nothing but reading. I hit level B1/Basic Intermediate back in March. Right around the time I hit it, I found it was easier to read and I was starting to get to the point that I could read for fun/because I wanted to enjoy the story, instead of reading because I needed to do my daily slog of language practice. Now I often read way more than my goal and I can make up to 20 known words per session (as opposed to the handful I used to do). I'm on the 3rd Harry Potter book, and I think that helps because authors have a style of writing and words and phrases that they will repeat. And, of course, there's HP-specific words that get repeated all the time, like wizard, wand, cloak, cauldron, etc. So there's a lot of repetition that I wouldn't necessarily get if I bounced between unrelated books.
So true. I have been telling my students the same thing for ages. After all, babies and little children don't understand everything... but that doesn't stop them at all, they keep going! In many ways, we need to become like children to learn a language
I am so happy that I am not a native speaker and I have eventually the full comprehension of that video! Learning the language is an amazing stuff. I have been learning English for so long and finally I begin to really enjoy English-langunage content without my dictionary opened. So amazing. Learn the languages!
Very important video!! I need to have this imprinted in my brain cause i keep falling into the bad habits of pushing that lawn mower through the high grass
Love the metaphor, quite clever. Also funny that you took pictures lol. I'd like to figure out why is it that now it takes me so much to tolerate uncertainty. I learned English pretty well and I seemingly navigated uncertainty well, I had some outside encouragement but I was mainly motivated internally, English just became a part of what I use to interact with things and I cannot remember how I dealt with uncertainty back then
I'm dealing with uncertainty I don't know how to compete this issue .
I love that this not only applies to learning languages but also for material in your own language irrespective of the topic. Great advice
This is good advice. Learning a language is not a linear process. It's more like something cyclical. It's also good for students if teachers keep this in mind. It's a mistake to think that if you have studied something or taught something that it is then done without the need for revisiting the same material several times. Each revisit is likely to expand the understanding, because what you might have learned later will enable you to grasp what you could not first time around.
Wise words. Repetition is the key to learn any language.
thank you for motivation boost ! My experience after two years: The more I want to understand everything the weaker the motivation gets and I stop for a long period of time. The more I dont care about understanding everything then I keep on moving and accept my level of where I am right now.
the “ don’t try to hard” really helped me open up and get better terms grades and now because of this video a better student, so thank you so much 🎉😊
Lol that was a fine mowing the grass analogy, especially for some one who’s never mowed a lawn in their life ☝️🌞🫠
interesting perspective. To me, learning a language feels like growing something in my head, which indeed requires mainly patience, a kind relaxation, repetition, and novelty. I would never have thought of a mowing analogy.
You can actually go to extreme degrees with this method I learned English by playing video games, listening to music, watching KZhead. Basically I started by playing games that had Russian (my native) text, but English voice and just pointing out some words from the context. I've extended my dictionary a bit while learning lyrics for the songs I like and sometimes their translation, but I haven't done this a whole lot and only when I already somewhat solid base. I started watching KZhead completely in English like four years ago and this was the biggest boost to me. I started with videos on video games, so I had bigger part of the required words and now I can easily watch anything (almost, but I think rocket science will be hard for someone like me even in his native language) The problem with that is the fact that I understand (almost) everything, but speaking is still a bit problematic to me
I fully agree with what this man is saying, to not force the process so much to get the result. Russian is my target language, and I struggle with comprehension mainly because I have to admit that I’ve been trying to base my language learning skills off the way one would learn in a military academy. Unfortunately that’s now I learned as a boy, and as a young adult. There’s even a specific word in Russian for someone who just memorizes things and doesn’t comprehend at all. It’s on the tip of my tongue now. Learning to let go and accept where our comprehension level is, is a big deal. Not getting caught up in trying for example, watch a presidential speech or listen to a full conversation on эхо Москвы, when you are an upper beginner like me :)
This is so true. The moment I understood that I don't need to understand every single word in a book to enjoy reading it, the process has become much easier and I learn more.
I think you're exactly right! Your analogy to cutting the lawn is brilliant! Thank you! It will help me in my Italian language learning journey for certain!
Steve, you are always spot on. Amazing content and tips! Thank you for the amazing work you do for the language learning community!
I love these ! what this brother is teaching is so true ! i seen that i have good experience teaching english for beginners in los Angeles to adults 30 + years of age. and i always tryed to show them that a big key to learn yo speak english a little quicker is to listen well i gave them that like one of the best tips and listening well goes to started understanding better or more and to comprehend so and like he said keeping in mind that is a prosses and is little by little and requires practice. Greetings Everyone. ❤
This advice really hit the nail on the head for me personally - I feel like someone moved a huge rock off my shoulders… thank you.
I started doing this with books I’ve read in English, would look up a few words I didn’t know but didn’t worry about searching every word/grammar point I was confused on. Since it’s something I’ve already read, it’s not like I’m missing any big ideas! This has helped immensely by using books with audiobooks at the same time.
I am currently learning my third language and you managed to say what I experienced learning english, not trying to be perfect is the way in almost any stage of learning a new language, thanks for reminding me that.
What you said was refreshing and makes sense! I read in English without consulting a dictionary, mostly because it prevented me from enjoying a book. I find myself slowly getting a vague picture of the English language. I didn't "learn" English within a period of time but improved it over years.
I totally agree. When you struggle to comprehend something, just move to another one and other one...and then come back to try again. Repetition and novelty are the most important things when you learn a language.
It was so pleasant and positive to meet you again, Sir. As I just read few notes below, many people are completely agree with your viewpoint. There are dozens of appreciation notes there! Stay healthy and keep encourage people loving foreign languages. Thank you.
This is quite inspirational. I always burn myself on trying to understand too much and ends up giving up.
wow, honestly I just develop my comprehension just by listening what you're saying without worrying about every words just chill and analyze the key words and points
Steve, você está minha inspiração. I am learning Portuguese and your videos give me freedom to learn what I want. Consequently I am learning for hours per day because I love my process(‘s) so much. Many thanks 🙏
I did this for English, French and Latin and I still do. It works quite well. It doesn’t make any sense to make the process painful for nothing, learning a language is fun and I always try to enjoy it as much as possible.
I like the lawn mower analogy with language learning, it makes a lot of sense!
I´m learning English and I´m going to do it way. Thanks! And I´ll be commenting on my evolution in your vídeos, congratulations for them!!
Thank you Steve! This is something I learned through the course of learning languages as well and its good to hear that what i felt is important for progression and having fun is to simply keep going. being brave at being bad and keeping it going. Thanks for your input!!
When I was a kid, I was a "slow" reader. Most everyone in my class finished reading assignments before I did - every time. We used some color-coded resding materials, and I progressed more slowly than my classmates. Not sure what passed as reading "instruction" in those days, but it seems likely that my teachers took me to be an average or lesser reader. My SAT Verbal score turned out not to be below average, and, in college, I regularly read some very challenging material with no problem except that I took more time perhaps than many readers. Once I started taking pedagogy courses to become a teacher, and learned more about learning & teaching reading, I realized that my habit was to go back & read every sentence until I understood it. Sometimes once or twice was enough, but occasionally I might have read more complicated sentences 3-4 times for full comprehension - as I then understood the term. This lead to my realization that slow readers might have better comprehension, but their exposure to material & ideas could have limitations. Indeed, sometime after college, I performed well on the GRE & entered grad school, where I performed well enough - but reading, for me, took extra time, as I expected good comprehension. As I look back, I see that, while my reading comprehension was high, it was at the cost of slower volume of reading. Now, as an ESL/ELL teacher, I use shorter selections & lower-level reading materials to help students learn comprehension, which skills students can then apply to longer or more complicated selections. This approach of disregarding some of the concern over comprehension, and instead pushing through more material, is also very relevant, so I will begin blending or alternating these two approaches for further student development & success.
Terrific story & growth in self awareness. Even today, I fear, and maybe there’s actually a regression in this regard, for all the talk of different learning styles and the uniqueness of each student, I think there’s a rather brutal one size fits all approach that ends up valuing only certain kinds of learners… with the rest left to feel somehow deficient. A terrible disservice with incalculable human cost
I thought that as you read more the better you get at it and therefore the faster you can read the same material while retaining a good level of comprehension. Btw do you have any advice that has struggled his entire life to get into reading? I'm pretty fluent in English but I've always struggled with developing the habit of reading. No one in my family nor my social circle is fond of reading and as a kid I always hated reading even though I was good at math. Probably the environment has a lot to do with my perception and as result it's so hard for me to read for pleasure
@@TheAnarchist99 You & I are very similar in background, talent, and experience! Read topics that INTEREST you. Your own interests should guide your reading & you will find it more relevant & pleasant. For example, there are some very good topics in math that one can read & learn about. You could choose a known topic & read deeper about it - or pick a new topic in math or a related skill (such as economics) to broaden your knowledge & practice your reading skills in context.
@@TheAnarchist99 I realize this comment is old by now, but maybe this'll still be helpful. I'm someone who was an avid reader as a kid but struggles badly with it as an adult. See if your local library has a collection of audiobooks! If the time commitment is a hurdle to sitting down with a paper book, throw one on while you do something else. There's this weird stigma around it that it doesn't count but it absolutely does. It's got me into reading again, maybe it can get you into reading in the first place :)
It's nice to hear you saying this. I'm going to be quoting your line that "experienced learners accept uncertainty." I haven't been able to articulate it so concisely to my students. I have also used percentages when talking about this idea with students. The way I frame it is that ideally in the future, we want to get as close to 100% comprehension as we can. However, if we're starting from 0% comphrension as beginners, then any increase in comprehension, even if it's just from 10% to 15% is progress we should be happy with. This is how I try to get them comforable with the idea that they don't need to try to understand everything.
Thanks for this piece of advice, Steve. Keeping a certain momentum and avoiding this idea of a "fail state" in which you reprimand yourself for not understanding everything on the first go was not just more pleasant, it got me better results too. In my case it has worked well with language learning, but also other things, like math and programming.
you solved my half of the problem, I really need it. Thanks Man
I'm a native Spanish speaker, and I really like to hear you speak, Steve. I utilize your videos as a listening practice, and I must tell you that I understand 99% of everything you say. I feel happy because I can confirm that I'm now at an advanced listening level.
The problems start when you try to speak your vocabulary adquired out loud :( , it becomes all like if you never learned anything as if you had just a few begginer words . That happens to me , i understane too much but if i try to speak what i wrote here it becomes a hell for me . What do you say about my problem ? , does that happen to you too?
@@ChristoChristo03 Yes brother, it is normal, but as Steve has said in several videos, you must first listen a lot, read and finally read aloud and gradually imitate the sentences in English, you must be patient, and enjoy the trip brother
@@pablojure3550 thank you very much my friend for your help :D, God bless you .
The lawn is a good analogy, but I think the biggest problem is impatience with oneself. I would say " leave the lawn longer, it's nicer on bare feet rather than prickly short grass "
When I was young, I was given a book and told to read it. Nobody related this very simple strategy. I gave up on reading because I would never fully understand the pages I had already seen. I kept reverting and reading sentences over and over. I guess the fatal habit was based in study fear reading material for school. I thought I needed to understand the material fully on the first pass, so I could pass an exam. I fear this revelation has come 65 years late. The one bit I can comment on, is the relationship between reading and speaking. I speak so well that people think I am university educated - but I did not even graduate from high school. My language reflects the way those around me spoke while I was growing up. I just absorbed it. So I am old, uneducated and cannot read a book. Then I raised two children on my own and could not help them read. One does read and is a successful professional - probably had the best teachers. The other might be like me. I have a little dyslexia, but she has it intensely. I will share your video.
bud i have been mowing that neglected lawn on the lowest setting all my all life, your theory makes perfect sense. i wish i would have heard this 50 years ago but late is better than never, thank you
I cannot agree with this more! It's more than just getting little by little though. What I've noticed is that the stress of trying to understand more actually hinders the brain's natural comprehension and acquisition. I heard Stephen Krashen mention this as well. When I forget about whether or not I'm understanding, and just enjoy the content, while trying to understand without stress, I understand so much more!
I would agree with this, Steve, but I'd caveat it by saying it's fine to want to understand everything if it's completely engrossing/compelling content. Straining and struggling to understand something you're not that into will lead to burn out fairly quickly, but if you're loving the content and you don't want to miss even a single word, I think it's completely fine. On the subject of allowing yourself to go without understanding some things, I believe this to be the most natural and legit way to learn a language, it's how we all learned our native language. You can reach fluency just from understanding parts of sentences (obviously, eventually you'll understand full sentences), hearing patterns over and over is all that matters, by doing so, the grammar will click in eventually, and the vocab will come, albeit slowly. I watched a video not so long ago (I believe it was a Lingq vlog) where a lady was feeling 'guilty' about not finishing books she'd started to read. I thought about that, and commented that actually you could probably reach fluency by reading just the first page of thousands of different books. I don't see why not.
I also feel guilty about not finishing a book I've started, so I usually just flip through the rest if it doesn't interest me any more. Strange mindset. It's probably due to the amount of time already invested in reading the book.
Perfect example of learning move on don't hesitate it but with good mind.
You are totally right. It matches my own experience in language learning. Unfortunately many people give up just because they don't understand.
Thank you for all this insight! I find your videos very useful. Keep up the great work! Blessings.
Once I accepted my imperfections, I flourished!
Go with the flow. Get the overall meaning, gist, not individual words or the grammar structure. That will come later. Naturally. I grew up speaking three languages fluently - English is my third - and learned eight more - more or less - and would go from melody to meaning to words, top down. When I was first learning French, I knew how to order a coffee and simple phrases but did not know how the phrase - the array of sounds - broke down into individual words, but it worked, got the job done. When speaking, I would ram through making all kinds of grammatical mistakes, but that was better than stopping, trying to get the sentence perfect in my head first before speaking because by then the conversation would have advanced and I would never have said anything. Above all, relax, have fun, and if you have the chance to be immersed in the new language, in a place where everyone speaks it, it will come. I never learned a language without being in the country where it is spoken. German I learned by reading comic books in German - Tintin - with at first an English translation of the same story to check things I didn't understand, and later moved on to German fairy tales, Märchen der Gebrüder Grimm, and then American films dubbed into German. And then going out and doing my best in society. Instead of a lawnmower, I liken it to learning how to ski. Enjoy the slope and the snow even if you're not a very good skier. If you stay at it, relaxed, you will improve over time.
That lawnmower lesson applies to a lot more than understanding languages. Thank you for this. I'd like to use that analogy in my own teaching work.
As someone who was raised with 3 languages at home and then went on to learn a few others, I believe the best way to learn a language is to "doodle" with the language's quirks for some time. Have a couple of thoughts about the language constantly in your mind. Funny features or sounds. When learning, understand the in the spoken language, word breaks in sentences are different than your native language. You need to consider the rhythm, something akin to jump roping at a new speed. A double edged sword often occurs when you learn a language similar to one you already know IE: English to German or Spanish to Portuguese. You end up piggy backing off of the one and then creating a mess in your mind; eventually, though, you'll be able to detach the new language from your native vocabulary. ... I always try to find how things just don't translate perfectly. I find it fascinating and it keeps me wanting to learn more. As an example: humming bird in Portuguese is beija-flor (flower kisser). And although both identify the same animal, the nuance makes the exact same animal take on a new dimension in every aspect; from art, to poetry, to double entendres etc. A private conversation in French is a tête-à-tête, but lyrics to a song played with that and said "c'est tête-à-text" which means this private conversation now written in song. Andrew Bird wrote a song saying "legionaries with two by fours as if they're marching on to war", which some would understand soldiers heading to war, but those that lived in the US will know that a 2x4 is a piece of wood used in basic construction, and those pieces of wood are also used in parades as pretend rifles. Andrew Bird was talking about a parade and not war. I could go on and on.
can I just say you're my type of language nerd! that comment was such a delight to read \
I admire you Steve :') Thanks for sharing with us
At a certain point during French classes last year I came up with a rhyming motto for this idea: “pour mieux comprendre, il faut se détendre” - to understand better, you must relax!! Because I had noticed the very same thing. Now lately every third book or so that I finish is in French. Is my understanding 100%? Of course not. But I’ve noticed I’ve started to recognize and (when I practice speaking or writing) think of vocabulary I never studied specifically.
I think this advice can apply to any area of study, and I do love the lawn-mowing metaphor. Be easy on yourself and enjoy studying.
I am not buttering you up, Sir, but I'd like you know: whenever I need recharge my battery while learning my English, I prefer to watch YOUR video, especially like this. According to my understanding, this is kind of learning strategy, encouraging and quite therapeutic. Stay healthy and keep guiding us. Thank you again.
thanks Mr.Kaufmann.actually,I'm Persian and glad to see that you like Persian language . the point you mentioned is of utmost importance.I'm not perfect in English but I've completely realised that for better comprehension you most just keep going and this is a day in day out process. I'm always thinking about it and good to hear that from you .
I have been learning Polish the last 12 years. I have been listening and reading Polish without trying to understand everything. And it works, after 12 years I still don’t comprehend anything when reading or listening.
I took understanding approach learning English when I was young, the result was it took me a little more than a month to master English grammar. In some cases it just works.
I think I’m one of the biggest beneficiaries of comprehensible input. I learned English from scratch in 2014, and because of comprehensible input, mostly I spend my time on watching KZhead and reading BBC news, I achieved an overall band score of 7.5 (L8, R8, S7.5, W6.5) in IELTS just last month. I think my English proficiency got improved immensely during the past 3 years because firstly I turned off subtitles on KZhead regardless of if I understand it and secondly I read a lot on BBC everyday, which enabled me to gain a lot of new vocabulary. I remember that when I just turned off the subtitle, I did not fully understand every single word but I still kept the subtitle off because I was able to understand the general meaning. As time passes by, now I can understand at least 99 percent of news lated videos and 100 percent of everyday life related videos. I do not know why but I assume that it’s all because of comprehensive input.
So how u get the meaning wt actually they try to say. Do u listen them repeatedly
Could you tell me how much u dedicated specifically to listen English In the past 3 years without subtitles? Am curious cuz am trying to learn or understand Norwegian and am just interested in the stats
@@NSh-xn9en if you don't get it's okay just keep listening, eventually you'll figure it out
@Aditya learning any language takes time. If you plan to be extremely proficient pretty much immersing yourself everyday for hours is the way to go. At least that's what I do for japanese
Hi Steve - this is encouraging as I struggle with comprehension in French. I have an on-line tutor and I think even she is a little baffled at my struggles to understand. She gives me stuff which I feel is too difficult for me and I find this demotivating. I prefer the comprehensible input approach but I know I'm making slow but constant progress so I'll just keep at it. Thanks for your tip on the subject.
Learning to comprehend spoken French is so hard, because the spoken version of the language is very different from the written version.
I`ve been learning french for a year now and I can by now watch most french KZhead videos and understand pretty much everything. It took me a lot of time tho just listening, re-listening and re-listening. Maybe a few content tips that I love: - InnerFrenchPodcast (probably the most known one for learners. It has over 100 episodes right now and every episode is transcipted, so that you can read as well as listen to it. The difficulty increases slowly from episode 1 so that you dont even realize it. I almost exclusively used this podcast for the first say 3-4 months just listening to it ALL THE TIME until I got kinda "bored" and wanted to increase the difficulty even more with content for natives.) - Nota Bene (pretty big histoy channel with A LOT of interesting videos of wich most are subtitled by humans. Can be hard to understand sometimes tho. I just download the subtitles, import them into Lingq and read them like a book.) - Mamytwink (also pretty big history channel thats focused mostly (but not only) to the second world war with very interesting storys that fit the small story in the big context. Almost all videos are subtitled by humans and I think pretty easy to understand. They talk in slow, precise sentences) - Questions d'Histoire (history channel as well with a lot of their videos subtiteld) - Secrets d'Histoire (about 2h long videos about history, not subtitled tho) - Colas Bim (funny animated videos. Hard to understand as a beginner. He talks pretty fast but the videos are funny even if you dont understand lol. I sometimes found them even more funny when I didnt understand :D) - quoi de neuf docteur (big french streamers taking a pretty long interview in the form of a (fake) psychiatry session. I like it because they mostly have the same structure and questions. So you know at least about what they are talking about and if you dont understand, there will be a next question soon. They all talk naturally and without soundeffects or other distracting things in the background. Just hours of pure talking. No subtitles tho. - Joachim Mouhamad (chess channel with a guy on his quest to become a grandmaster. As I'm learning chess as well right know its pretty useful to do both (french and chess) at the same time. - Koinsky (Lets Player with games I like. Great tip if you like lets plays. Just watch a lets play with a game that you know and you will understand a lot from that context alone) - french comprehensible input (a lot of videos with varying difficulty. Can be nice for beginners because he has a lot of very basic stuff.) You see these are a lot of history realated stuff because I love history. A big part in learning a language is finding content that you love in that language. Its hard to learn with content that you dont like or that you consume just because its in your target language. Dont rely on your tutor to provide you with content. When you are intrinsicly motivated to understand, it will be a lot easier to stay motivated even if you dont understand everything. Also notice that there are still videos that I dont understand anything even tho in others I understand almost a 100%. LAnguage learning is just like this but it gets easier the more time you spend with it. And its not only getting easier, its becomes fun to watch stuff in french and learning on the go while you have fun. Trust me its worth it. (sorry for long post and teacher-like attitude)
@@Tighris Thanks for taking the time to share your French learning experience with me and also the various French websites and You Tubers - I have been listening to the InnerFrench podcast and find it very good although I'm sure he talks slowly for us learners but that's okay. I will check out the others and will I'm sure fine some useful content. My tutor gives me TV5 B1 oral comp exercises but I find these difficult and they take (me) quite a bit of time to do. So I tend not to do them. I prefer to listen to a longer piece with no interruptions, that I can understand (75%) and I think I get more out of my listening this way. Thanks again.
@@Tighris many thanks for your suggestions . I am also on a journey of learning and being fluent in French. I live in ontario canada and just a few hours drive to Quebec . After reading your message I subscribed to 3 of the you tube channels and the pod cast. Thanks again
When I was learning English, I told my teacher I was going to read a John Lennon interview that was five pages long from Rolling Stone Magazine, and that's the advice she gave me . To read the whole thing not trying to understand every single word. I uderstood about 35%. Years later when I was fluent I read it again. That was the best advice anyone has ever given me. Now I teach English and I tell my students the same thing. Thanks for the video.
I love your lawnmower analogy! It fits surprisingly well with the experience of language learning.
Love this! Now I can relax more when watching Spanish series and just enjoy the flow of the language.... duh..... it just takes time...........
Don't be surprised how quickly that comes. I was alone for 3 weeks in Spain one year and watched the same TV documentary series every night, different episode each time. My street comprehension improved about 300%.
There were times when I tried to understand, espa. when reading textbooks in English. But, reading fictions made me realised, imagination and thinking while reading is the effective way. It works the same at the end with non-fiction textbooks. Still, dictionaries are the best friends 😁
Tbh this feels like a good idea for studying as well not just for language learning. Dont understand something? Dont stay stuck on it, go over it then move onto the next thing. Let it be in the back of your mind and when you come back to it it will make much more sense
Yup, the method I tell people time and time again of how I improved my Japanese listening and comprehension basically goes like this. Watch a drama in Japanese and expect to understand about 10% of it. Watch it again with subtitles and now you understand the content, maybe not any more of the language, but at least now you know what to listen for. Watch a third time with no subtitles again (you could also add a viewing with Japanese subtitles as well if you like), and now you'll probably understand about 25% of it. Don't worry about the other 75%, just go on the next episode of the drama. If you finish the drama you can come back to that first episode and by that time you'll likely understand 60% or more of it. *This is of course meant to be a compliment to regular language study outside of these viewings as well. And actually if the drama is based on a manga, you can read the manga in between episodes and take notes on the vocabulary that comes up as well.
I think this advice applies well to beginners and intermediate learners. But for advance learners one needs to challenge oneself with difficult content or else one would feel that they are making too little progress.
B1 to B2?
@@marcelosilveira7079 B1 Low intermediate B2 Upper Intermediate C1 Advanced C2 Native level
Read challenging books.
@@MG-ln1yw The vast majority of natives don't have a C2 level. C2 is an academic level.
@@aquarius4953 Why would "academic" be considered a higher level?
I LOVE the lawn mowing analogy. I can relate to that.
Thank you so much! Your contents are much helpful and well-equipped. May everything ease in your life, Steve. You are so talented and willing to share your knowledges and experiences through this platform!
The idea that came to mind for me here is “what you learn from one thing can be implemented into others” You said (basically) 1- we need a simplified approach to learning so that we get hands on experience. This frees up our mind to later analyze the skill further. 2 - we need novelty If you sit down and think about those two and deliberately plan to apply them to multiple areas of life it should theoretically improve the process!
Supongo que la mayoría de los estudiantes están tratando de leer textos demasiado difíciles, porque cuando leemos un texto interesante y que está bien adaptado a nuestro nivel de comprensión, los problemas desaparecen y no tenemos que interrumpir nuestra lectura con cada frase o cada párrafo. Simplemente disfrutamos con el texto, porque es divertido, curioso o algo inesperado pasa en la historia, etc. y como leemos sin interrupciones, leemos más : terminamos antes el libro y podemos empezar antes el siguiente.