r/languagelearning

I've been watching cartoons in spanish and realized I can understand everything going on, but I don't precisely understand every word. Sometimes it goes too fast, I miss what they said and just ignore It, assuming it will show up in another dialogue and make sense later. I get a lil paranoid it won't, tho

I've seen people saying watching without taking notes all the time (as if you were a little kid learning) is a better way of absorbing the content, subconsciously. Have you tried this? If so, what would you recommend?

(TL)

I see so many posts asking about where this or that is better and whether this or that is more efficient. And a lot of that is surrounding ideas of what you should do, that might not be something they'll actually stick to long term. Like watching children's shows because that's what your (TL) is at, but not even thinking about whether you'll find that too boring to actually do regularly. Also a lot of this discussion seems to be around the same generic advice. Which yes it's generic for a reason, it'll work for most, but it's worth thinking about whether that's the best route for you.

I’m Polish-American and speak advanced Polish (TL) and English fluently. However, I have a bit of an American accent when I speak Polish and make grammar mistakes often because I learned it through speaking with my family/ no formal education. I used to be more comfortable striking up conversations with tourists from Poland and immigrants but I had so many experiences of people making fun of my accent or grammar I feel defeated. I do think part of it was just meeting rude people. I haven’t visited Poland in years for fear of being made fun of while speaking. How do I get over my fear and have you experienced something similar? Also, I feel like I’m given less grace with mistakes because my parents both speak the language :/

You have to embarrass yourself and make mistakes to effectively learn a language (TL)

I am atheist but god knows how many times I've practiced some phrases and words before saying them and when I tried to say it the natives were completely confused, or when they spoke I wasn't able to understand them so I switched to English, easy way out huh, and made no progress

But I've stopped beating myself up over it, I say things even if it's bullshit, I listen even If I don't understand anything. It's part of the process, its the journey of learning

I say the wrong words, use the wrong grammar, phrases don't make sense, pronunciation is terrible, I misunderstand words, but this is what language learning is about man

Language learning community is full of egocentric people who will make you feel bad about yourself, but any real polyglots who master multiple languages will tell you that they have gone through this humbling phase where you feel like crap. You don't have to try to be perfect, just do it, say it, and then it will get better.

Hello, ive just seen a video of a person speaking 7 languages and while 2 of those languages are their mother's languages, the rest is learnt (TL). I dont know how fluent they are in the other languages but they do seem to hold a grasp of it and im wondering how is that possible? I can barely handle learning one language consistently while leaving the other languages by itself until i get actually get myself to sit down & learn it

I've always hear that every day you go without speaking a language, you get worse at it. It's logical — this is basically how memory works. The more you study, the better you learn. Long periods of not studying mean forgetting.

But here's the thing — I've had completely different experiences learning languages.

For instance, I learned Spanish for around 7 years. Most of it school years, but I also lived with native speakers for six months. By the end, I was pretty good at Spanish. I could hold my own in one on one conversations with clear speakers, though I still couldn't follow group conversations, or people who spoke fast or with heavy accents. I was nowhere near native speaker level, but I didn't feel like I was "learning" Spanish anymore so much as using it.

Then I ended up not using Spanish at all for like 4 years. I go on an international trip and find myself surrounded by Spanish speakers. And here's the weird thing: in the month I was there, my Spnaish improved far faster than it had in say, a month of time I spent living with Spanish speakers 4 years before. All of a sudden, I could follow group conversations. I could understand people with all different accents.

So as far as I can tell, the 4 year pause didn't hurt. If anything, it helped.

Today, I'm learning a different TL. I studied for two years, and then more or less stopped. For the last six months or so, I have continued to watch Youtube videos in my TL every day or two, usually for five minutes or so. Have the odd conversation in it every few months.

So in theory, I should be getting worse at my TL. But I think I'm getting better, or at least staying stable. I understood a group conversation for the first time after I stopped studying, and I had a fairly long and elaborate conversation with someone in my TL a month ago.

So I'm wondering if this assumption that you automatically get worse at languages each day you don't speak them isn't the whole story. I even wonder if pauses could help with language learning, since as far as I can tell, that's what happened with me.

Now, I'm talking about two languages I was pretty good at when I stopped. I don't think that would would for languages where I was earlier in the process. In fact, it didn't — I gave up a TL after getting to a low/intermediate level, and I just got worse at it as time went on, today only remember pieces.

What do you think? Have any of you had experiences like this?

Hello, i've seen a lot of people give advice to 'Start speaking from day 1' when learning a new language(TL) and I dont understand the advice because how can you speak from day 1 when you dont know any vocabulary words?

Does it mean you just memorise basic vocabulary and just start speaking to others? And how do you (or anyone whose tried this tip) mange? How did the anxiety go away (or the 'fear of making mistakes') and do you think it worked for you with the new language?

(TL): Turkish

I realized that in order for me to obtain full fluency in my Turkish, my heritage language, I literally have to learn thousands of different ways to construct sentences and phrase things. It feels like an insurmountable task for me, like how do I learn and remember all of that? I’ve begun to inspect my own native language, english, on a deeper level and every day I just notice so much nuance and detail that I wouldn’t even know about in Turkish. I know that native Turkish speakers make grammar mistakes too and that I will never be perfect, but I just don’t want to sound like a complete non-turk or someone who makes mistakes all the time when they’re speaking. Other diaspora kids that speak fluently tell me I “speak Turkish with English logic” and I honestly feel very shameful and bitter about it. I’m still in my mid teens. Is it too late for me to sound natural? How do I figure out how to phrase things naturally and construct complex sentences at a similar level that I do in English? I’m currently at around B1 speaking and can hold every day conversations comfortably from my exposure at home.

Please note: I understand that for a lot of people here, native podcasts are not the best usage of your time, because there are better resources, but my TL's resources are quite limited so I am of the mindset of extracting as much as I can from what is available rather than giving up because the resources are not as efficient as more in-demand languages. And in this case, there are no podcasts that are perfectly appropriate for my level in my TL - only beginner and native. I am no longer a beginner, so now I want to tackle native podcasts.

Also, please keep in mind that this is for times I am unable to listen intensively. I want to be able to still extract value from podcasts when I am doing mundane things such as chores.

My listening skills are great. Different accents, fast speakers - you name it, I can understand them if it's within my vocabulary. And even if I can't understand what they're saying, I can transcribe easily. However, I have a lower intermediate vocabulary.

So this is my question:

1. At my level, if I pick like a 20 minute podcast or something, and play it over and over, will I understand more and more eventually?

I know multiple languages and I have a high level in all of them regarding Reading, Writing and Listening and yet I still can't figure out how to learn how to Speak.

I've tried it all (TL)

—Shadowing ( works great for accent but nothing more )

—Multiple Italki / Language Exchange Partners ( at best I can survive a lesson rather fine, and then at worst, it's as if I'm a beginner taking my first lesson with a tutor I've had MANY lessons with and whom I know very well; it's so embarrassing and I can tell they also don't understand what's wrong with me )

—I've joined in person language exchange events in my city ( they can be fun but I find it hard to speak in general since everyone is trying to speak and practice all at once, and then when it's my turn I just end up stuttering over my words among people who have been learning for less time than me )

—I've consistently recorded video diaries ( some improvement but I don't trust myself to actually catch all my mistakes therefore I fear that I'm just cementing mistakes )

—I've mapped out whole conversation maps of common phrases and run through them ( I end up forgetting everything in two weeks as if these aren't phrases that I've been learning since day one )

—I've had oral chats with AI ( I don't like this and I've stopped doing this )

—I've even had jobs where I'm forced to use specific languages daily ( little improvement despite constant pressure and a necessity to interact with customers and coworkers, still make basic mistakes as if I'm a beginner )

Again, my written production is advanced ( from everyday texts to friends to academic papers ) therefore you would think that would just transfer over. Every time I feel like I'm making minimal progress it's as if my brain just keeps resetting at the end of each month.

Also, I only focus on one language at a time—this is just a constant theme in my long life of language learning. I've never been able to speak for longer than five minutes at best!

At this point it's actually very demoralizing. Anything I'm simply just missing?

After a few months of study I felt like I hit a hit a point where progress was ramped up and feeling consistent. It was pretty motivating. Then after a month or so, it was feeling stagnant. Like my input wasn’t advancing, I wasn’t picking up new vocabulary, and I kept feeling stuck in my speaking sessions. Then, in the last week or so, I feel another surge of increasing skills, easier retrieval for output and remembering new vocabulary. What I’m realizing is that, as they say, progress is not linear. You may feel like you’re not making progress, but pushing through the “stuck” is part of the process to get to the next step in the journey. In other words, try not to get discouraged, it all accumulates toward the overall progress, and we’ll continue to get where we’re going.

Since joining this and other languages subreddit, I have seen many people say things like, “I went from A0 to C1 in six months,” or, “I learned English in one year just by passive exposure.”
I do not necessarily think these people are lying or deliberately trying to brag. I think many genuinely remember their experience that way. However, when they provide more context, the story often becomes very different.

Someone says they learned French in six months, but later mentions studying it for five years in school. They insist that this does not count because they had forgotten everything. However, feeling as though you remember nothing is not the same as having no previous knowledge. Relearning vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar you encountered years ago is very different from starting entirely from scratch. (TL)

My own experience with English is a good example. I started learning it at school when I was three. At around sixteen, I began watching a lot of English language tv, and my comprehension suddenly improved enormously. If I compressed that memory, I could say that I became fluent by watching tv for a year.
But that would leave out thirteen years of classes, homework and regular exposure. Watching television may have created the breakthrough, but it did not build the entire foundation. I think people often remember the breakthrough and forget the many less exciting years that made it possible.

There is also a lot of imprecision around language levels. Some people describe themselves as A1 because they could not speak comfortably, even though their passive knowledge may already have been closer to A2 or B1. Then they claim to have jumped from A1 to B2 in a few months. Others use C1 or fluency to mean being comfortable in everyday conversations, even without having formally assessed all four skills.
Of course, genuinely rapid progress is possible. Someone studying intensively every morning, receiving structured instruction and spending several additional hours practising can make enormous progress in six or twelve months. Some people are also exceptionally talented language learners.

What I find harder to believe without further context is someone starting completely from zero, while studying or working full time, and reaching a genuine fluency through casual exposure within six months. In those cases, I suspect there is often previous education, a related language, much more study time than mentioned, or a generous interpretation of fluency.

Again, I do not think most people are intentionally being dishonest. I think memory compresses years of gradual learning and makes the final breakthrough feel like the entire process.
Do you think most “fluent in six months” stories leave out important context? Have you ever realised that your own language learning story was more complicated than you initially remembered?

Hi! I’ve been teaching languages for over 34 years. I have two Master’s degrees in Education, I’m a certified ESOL teacher, a certified reading literacy teacher, a trained Cambridge examiner, and a former student of Stephen Krashen, among other things.

To date, I’ve taught more than 2,000 students, and I still get “thank you” cards from my students all the time. My students consistently pass exams such as IELTS, TOEFL, and Cambridge with flying colors. And when it comes to developing speaking skills, I have a 100% success rate. I make students fluent.

Some of my former students have even gone on to become language teachers themselves. That makes me particularly proud because it means they didn’t just learn a language from me. They also learned how to help other people learn languages.

So, based on my experience, here’s what works and what doesn’t.

What DOES NOT work

1. Grammar exercises

If any books deserve to be burned, it’s the ones full of grammar exercises. (I’m also a stand-up comedian, so please don’t take that literally.) In my experience, grammar exercises often do more harm than good.

There is one important caveat: if you’re preparing for a test, you need to know the format. It’s very difficult to pass an exam if you don’t understand the format.

That’s exactly why I don’t recommend taking tests or studying specifically for them. Studying for a test is not the same thing as learning a language.

2. Attending grammar classes and formally studying grammar

The main reason you need grammar is to write well. So yes, you need to learn some grammar rules if you want to write. I usually teach writing through modeling. Once I provide enough examples, my students become excellent writers. It’s more challenging when a student is dyslexic, but there are specific methods that can help overcome those difficulties.

As for grammar rules, you can learn hundreds of them from a book and still be completely unable to speak the language fluently. Some students actually love learning rules, especially those who are very logical. The funny thing is that the more rules they know, the less fluent they become.

In fact, it’s impossible to learn every rule because there are simply too many, and real language use is much more complicated than a list of rules.

3. Hiring a private teacher or tutor who doesn’t know what they’re doing

The tricky part is that if you’re not a language-teaching professional yourself, you may have no idea whether your teacher actually knows what they’re doing.

Here’s a hint: if your teacher speaks less than 90% of the target language during the lesson, makes the lessons boring or incomprehensible, or bases the entire curriculum on grammar, they probably don’t know what they’re doing.

What DOES work

1. Surround yourself with a target language but keep it comprehensible.
2. Make friends with people who speak your target language.
3. Participate in activities where people speak your target language, are friendly toward you, and use language you can understand.
4. Stay with a family / group where the other members speak your target language.
5. Watch and listen to easy-to-understand programs, movies, podcasts, cartoons, or anime in your target language. Use subtitles if you need them. Subs in your native language for A0, in target language A1-B2.

The important part is that you actually understand what they’re saying.

6. Listen to audiobooks while reading the text. Use side-by-side translations if you need to.

7. Stories. Lots of compelling, emotional stories.

8. Use the right kind of instruction for your level.

For example:

A0 to A2: TPRS, a special method based on storytelling and comprehensible input

A2 to B2: CI-based CLIL classes

B2 to C2: Authentic materials / classes for native speakers

So what should an ideal language class look like?

In my opinion, it should have at least these three features:

1. Tons of compelling comprehensible input

Ideally, there should be two or more teachers who speak the target language most of the time, articulate clearly, speak slowly enough for students to understand, and ask students tons of personal questions.

2. Make this input comprehensible

The input should be at the student’s level or just slightly above it. You should understand most of what you hear while still being exposed to new language.

Any unfamiliar words should be translated in writing only, on the board, in your native language, or illustrated with pictures. The goal is to make the language comprehensible without constantly switching to your native language.

3. Interesting, engaging activities

There should be plenty of movement, interaction, laughter, and positive emotions. Learning a language shouldn’t feel like sitting through a three-hour grammar lecture.

And that, basically, is what works for my students based on my 34+ years of experience.

The most important rule to remember is this: we learn other languages when we want to understand what is being said and when we want to belong and be understood. Meeting these needs is enough to learn any language in the world, no matter how difficult it may seem.

The only reason I’m writing all of this is that I’m waiting for a furniture delivery and have one more hour to kill.

You’re welcome!

Happy learning!

_____
Edit: My furniture is here, so I’m going to take off for now. Whether you agree with me or not, I honestly don’t care. My purpose isn’t to change your mind. You’re free to believe whatever you want. My purpose is simply to share my 34+ years of experience and research.

To everyone who claims that grammar is essential to learning another language: get a master’s degree in linguistics first. Then get a teaching degree. And only then come back and argue your point of view.

So I'm trying to learn my NATIVE language (it's called Kumam (TL) and spoken in the East of Uganda). But due to being such a small clan/tribe there are NO online/written resources (beyond hi and bye greetings). I am very willing to make my own resources, in fact I made my own basic word flashcards but I question how effective that is because forming sentences and holding conversations are different! So beyond having very very basic conversations with family (which I currently do)... WHAT CAN I DO? My long term goal is to be fluent. I'd love to hear from people who learnt native or niche languages fluently without pre-existing resources!! :) What can I do? How should I go about making resources? Should I even be making resources? (I have read the FAQs for this community :)

Just thought about this the other day, but if you think about how a millennial aged European learned English as a second language, it's basically all input?

The approached they used to acquire English as a second language is very different to the approach used in language learning subreddits.

I often see Brazilian, South Koreans, looking for language exchange partners to practice speaking English. I'm not trashing this method, but how helpful is it really?

If you're a 30 something year old German or Swede, chances are you're extremely fluent in English. Yet, you never really spoke it?

These countries run on their native languages. A German living in Germany hardly ever speaks English. A Swede living in Sweden hardly ever speak English (maybe it's different for Gen Alpha).

In fact, the only time a Swede/German ever really speaks English is if they're out traveling abroad or they're gamers and talk on voice chat. Tons of people aren't bothered with it /too shy to do it. Yet, they're all fluent AF.

What they did instead: MASSIVE amounts of input. Tons of these kids have been on twitch/youtube hours a day everyday for 10-20 years. Listening to mostly American English. We're talking 40k+ hours of input or more.

Nowadays you also have tiktok and stuff. In smaller languages like Swedish, the content is farily limited/boring as well so the route to just consuming English media is super low because of the small population. But if you'er a Spanish native, you have access to a billion speakers.

Basically to me, it seems like it's basically all input. Yes you have some English classes in school, but you talk super little/they don't force you to talk. It's no different than a Vietnamese person learning English in school really.

Also I just wanna mention. I'm not saying that production/producing English is worthless, and it should all be input. Most of these people did a ton of production (despite orally speaking it very little). Tons of these people played games like Runescape or whatever where typing English is super important. Typing on reddit. Producing papers for school etc. They just spoke extremely little.

I used to teach English abroad and even though I knew how to speak the student's native language, the school administrators forbid me, and even asked me, to "pretend" I didn't know it.

The reason they gave me was that they didn't want the students to fall back on using their first language to communicate with me. I feel like if I were to explain certain concepts in the student's language, things would go a lot smoother and they would understand better.

As an adult, I'm constantly using my own native language to learn new languages. I constantly look up grammar, vocabulary, and definitions and understand them a lot better.

Why are schools abroad so obsessed with this "total immersion" method? I feel like some concepts are impossible to explain clearly with just visuals or gestures alone. Do you learn languages using your first language?

Those who learned a language to a reasonable high level and then started with a different language right away: Did your approach to language learning change, and if so, how and why? Was it related to the experiences you gained in the previous language(s), or was it something language specific?

The reason I'm asking is that I need to start with another (TL) for work, and I'm hoping for ideas on what to look out for.