English Podcast 1: Learning Languages — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00Hello. Today I thought we could do a
2. 0:02longer
3. 0:03um speaking video like a podcast in
4. 0:06English to practice listening to natural
5. 0:08English. Um
6. 0:10so I'm going to speak at the normal pace
7. 0:12that I would speak if I was speaking to
8. 0:13a friend or somebody I know well. Um
9. 0:16often I find myself slowing down the
10. 0:19pace at which I talk so that people can
11. 0:22understand me. And this is because in my
12. 0:24own experience um when I've been
13. 0:26learning a language, often I don't
14. 0:28understand the first time somebody tells
15. 0:31me something. So I do appreciate it when
16. 0:34people slow down there
17. 0:35the pace and the rhythm with which
18. 0:37they're speaking so that I can
19. 0:38understand.
20. 0:40But I know as well that for more
21. 0:42advanced or intermediate learners that
22. 0:45this becomes a little bit of futile
23. 0:47after a while because you want to speak
24. 0:49natural English, right? So if somebody
25. 0:51is always slowing down what they're
26. 0:53saying, then it's not natural. And um it
27. 0:56can be infuriating if people continue to
28. 0:58speak to you um
29. 1:01like a child almost. So today I'm just
30. 1:03going to speak at the normal pace that I
31. 1:05would speak, like I said. Um and I
32. 1:07thought that would be an appropriate
33. 1:08topic to talk about learning languages
34. 1:10in general. So as I say, it's helpful to
35. 1:13hear the natural rhythm with which
36. 1:15people speak. And another thing that I
37. 1:17think is always very helpful is to hear
38. 1:19multiple different voices, to hear
39. 1:20different accents so that you become
40. 1:22used to different voices and how the
41. 1:25language actually sounds when people are
42. 1:27really speaking it and you're not just
43. 1:28listening to a book designed for
44. 1:30beginners, for example. So um
45. 1:34to talk about my experiences
46. 1:37learning languages, I've always liked
47. 1:39listening to audiobooks. Um when I first
48. 1:43start learning a language, I'll
49. 1:44obviously look for A1 or A2 content.
50. 1:47Um
51. 1:48and if I need to I'll listen to it a
52. 1:50couple of times or maybe I will slow
53. 1:52down the pace with which people are
54. 1:54speaking. It depends on the book, it
55. 1:56depends on the language, it It on how
56. 1:58challenging I find it. If it's easy then
57. 2:00obviously I don't want to listen to it
58. 2:01on repeat. This goes with films as well.
59. 2:05I recently read that one of the best
60. 2:07ways to really learn from watching films
61. 2:09is to watch it about three times. One
62. 2:12time with no subtitles, just the audio
63. 2:15in your target language, then try with
64. 2:18the subtitles in the target language as
65. 2:20well.
66. 2:22And then finally, if you still don't
67. 2:23understand, to use the subtitles of your
68. 2:27mother tongue, of your natural language.
69. 2:29Um apparently, this is a more effective
70. 2:31way of learning than just watching it
71. 2:34with the audio in your target language
72. 2:36and reading the subtitles. Apparently,
73. 2:38this is not very effective.
74. 2:40I don't know. I'm just repeating what
75. 2:42I've heard, but I can believe it. I do
76. 2:44see why that might be the case. Um
77. 2:48For example, like
78. 2:50if I'm watching a foreign movie like a
79. 2:54Korean film, I don't know any Korean.
80. 2:56So, if I'm just reading the
81. 2:59the subtitles in English, I start to
82. 3:01just
83. 3:02tune out the real audio. Like I it
84. 3:04doesn't go in. I'm purely reading, if
85. 3:07that makes sense. So, I do think it's
86. 3:09better
87. 3:10maybe it activates your brain a bit
88. 3:12more, it engages your brain so that you
89. 3:14really understand and you take the time
90. 3:16to process what you're both listening to
91. 3:18and reading at the same time.
92. 3:21Anyway, I think that movies can be a
93. 3:23really effective way to learn a
94. 3:24language, for sure.
95. 3:26Ultimately, I think the best way to
96. 3:28learn a language is to
97. 3:31choose the method that works well for
98. 3:33you.
99. 3:34People have all different kinds of
100. 3:35learning styles. For example, I
101. 3:38um
102. 3:39I think I learn best when I hear
103. 3:41something. If somebody explains it to me
104. 3:44and I listen to it, or if I listen to a
105. 3:46podcast, this helps me a lot more than
106. 3:50uh than visual cues. But, for some
107. 3:53people, visual cues are really
108. 3:54important. They they uh won't learn the
109. 3:57vocab. They don't learn from flashcards
110. 4:00unless there's a picture and something
111. 4:02you can associate it with in your mind.
112. 4:04Um so it depends on the person and
113. 4:06depends on your language style
114. 4:09or your your learning style, sorry.
115. 4:11Um
116. 4:13So everybody has their own method. And
117. 4:15if you don't know yet, then you need to
118. 4:17just experiment with different things.
119. 4:19Maybe one thing is really helpful for
120. 4:21you and another thing is not helpful.
121. 4:23And that's okay. You just need to go
122. 4:25through trial and error and see what
123. 4:27works well for you.
124. 4:29That being said,
125. 4:31as a teacher,
126. 4:32I think that it's important to kind of
127. 4:35hit all aspects of a language, to spend
128. 4:38some time on grammar, spend some time on
129. 4:40vocabulary, do reading, listening,
130. 4:43writing, speaking, hit all four of them.
131. 4:46Um maybe if you prefer to read, dedicate
132. 4:48more time to reading and less time to
133. 4:50writing. Whatever works well for you.
134. 4:53But I do think it's important to hit all
135. 4:55four skills at some point in the week.
136. 4:58Which brings me on to another thing I
137. 5:00want to talk about. Um and that's how
138. 5:02much time should you spend learning a
139. 5:04language?
140. 5:06I think again, this is highly
141. 5:08individual. Some people have a lot of
142. 5:10free time. Some people can maybe spend 3
143. 5:12hours a day learning a language. Some
144. 5:14people have a full-time job. Some people
145. 5:16have a family and they can't commit to
146. 5:19an hour a day. And in this case, I
147. 5:21think, you know, 15 minutes a day is
148. 5:23perfect. It's progress. It's the same
149. 5:26with anything in life, like any sport,
150. 5:29any hobby. If you spend 15 minutes a day
151. 5:33doing something proactively, then of
152. 5:37course over time it builds up and it
153. 5:39amounts to something and you will see
154. 5:41progress even if you're maybe frustrated
155. 5:44in the beginning that you can't dedicate
156. 5:46more time to this pursuit.
157. 5:49Ultimately, doing something is always
158. 5:51better than doing nothing. So if you
159. 5:53only have 5 minutes a day to learn
160. 5:55vocab, then do it because 5 minutes is
161. 5:58better than 0 minutes.
162. 6:00For me, I have obviously noticed a
163. 6:02bigger change if I've dedicated um 3
164. 6:06hours to learning a language a day.
165. 6:08I've noticed bigger progress.
166. 6:10For example, the first language I
167. 6:12learned after my mother tongue was
168. 6:15Italian.
169. 6:17And for a long time I didn't have
170. 6:21I was studying so I didn't have a lot of
171. 6:22time to dedicate to learning
172. 6:24Italian and I was frustrated because it
173. 6:27felt like so much time was passing and
174. 6:28every year I had the same goal to
175. 6:31improve my Italian. And every year I was
176. 6:33always so disappointed because I didn't
177. 6:36feel or notice a big difference. And
178. 6:39then one summer I
179. 6:41spent 3 or 4 hours a day studying
180. 6:43Italian and it was great. I noticed a
181. 6:45really big amount of progress in a
182. 6:48relatively small amount of time.
183. 6:50However, I burnt out because it wasn't
184. 6:53really sustainable. As soon as I started
185. 6:56I went back to my job, as soon as I went
186. 6:57back to my studies and I had a full
187. 7:00schedule, I didn't have time for 3 or 4
188. 7:03hours a day of studying a language. You
189. 7:05know, as educational and beneficial as
190. 7:08it is it's a hobby and you still have to
191. 7:10work, you still have responsibilities.
192. 7:13So in the long run it wasn't um
193. 7:16maintainable for me.
194. 7:18And so what actually happened was I
195. 7:21crashed out for a month. For a month I
196. 7:23did no Italian. So overall my progress
197. 7:26in 2 months was the same as it was in 1
198. 7:28month because I yeah, I spent a really
199. 7:31long amount of time working on it for 1
200. 7:33month and then I did nothing. And in
201. 7:36this case I think it would have been
202. 7:37better to have spent maybe an hour a day
203. 7:40or 30 minutes a day every single day
204. 7:44doing something instead of having this
205. 7:46one period where I did a lot and then
206. 7:48followed by another period where I did
207. 7:50nothing, like I say.
208. 7:52So ultimately, as of everything,
209. 7:55discipline is really crucial when it
210. 7:57comes to learning a language.
211. 7:59Because learning a language can be fun.
212. 8:02I I find it fun. That's now why I like
213. 8:04to learn languages
214. 8:06because it's very rewarding. I I feel
215. 8:08very proud of myself when I make
216. 8:10progress in a language. I love to be
217. 8:12able to communicate with people in
218. 8:13different languages, and I think you
219. 8:15discover so much about yourself. Your
220. 8:18personality changes, or
221. 8:21if you talk about a topic in one
222. 8:24language and talk about the same topic
223. 8:26in another language, sometimes you
224. 8:28realize things that you didn't realize
225. 8:29the first time round. Like you can
226. 8:32almost see it from a different
227. 8:33perspective.
228. 8:34I [snorts]
229. 8:36I don't know if this is real or not.
230. 8:37This is just my experience, but
231. 8:39sometimes if I talk to myself about a
232. 8:41situation in English in my head,
233. 8:44sometimes I feel very emotionally
234. 8:47about the issue, and I'm not really able
235. 8:49to look at it logically. I'm too
236. 8:52emotionally invested. But if I start to
237. 8:55explain the situation in its bare bones
238. 8:58in another language,
239. 9:00um
240. 9:01like Italian, for example, then maybe
241. 9:04I'll become less emotionally attached,
242. 9:06and I can start to see it more
243. 9:08rationally, see the situation as it is
244. 9:11without the embellishments of emotion or
245. 9:14attachment.
246. 9:16Um and that's really helpful. That's an
247. 9:17important skill. To be able to think
248. 9:19critically, to be able to think
249. 9:20rationally is so important, and I think
250. 9:23it's something that language learning
251. 9:24really
252. 9:25um permits you to do. So,
253. 9:27I think it's important for this reason.
254. 9:30Um
255. 9:31which is kind of in itself as well a
256. 9:34good way of learning a language, I
257. 9:35think. By speaking to yourself, by
258. 9:38um
259. 9:38cooking and explaining what you're doing
260. 9:40in your target language, or if you're in
261. 9:42the shower, talk about your day in your
262. 9:45target language, and you'll process
263. 9:48um
264. 9:49you'll process everything that you've
265. 9:51been thinking about all day, which is
266. 9:53good for you anyway, but also is great
267. 9:55practice because you'll be using the
268. 9:57words that you need in your target
269. 10:00language. And if there's a word that
270. 10:02doesn't come to your mind, you can't
271. 10:04think of something, or you don't know
272. 10:05how to explain something, then that's
273. 10:07the thing you need to learn. Now you
274. 10:09know what specifically, what vocab you
275. 10:12need to learn. Because it's all very
276. 10:14well learning like 1,000 most common
277. 10:16words or
278. 10:173,000 words to get you to level B2.
279. 10:20That's fine, but if you're not using
280. 10:23those words often, I guarantee you you
281. 10:25will not remember them in the long term.
282. 10:27So it's better to, I think, better to
283. 10:32learn the words that you will use to
284. 10:35talk about your day, to talk about
285. 10:36subjects that are interesting for you,
286. 10:38than to learn a lot of a lot of
287. 10:40vocabulary that you're not actually
288. 10:42going to use and you're not actually
289. 10:43going to remember. So that's my opinion
290. 10:46on that. Realistically, I think that
291. 10:49learning languages has so many benefits
292. 10:51and very little cons. I think the cons
293. 10:55you could really just call challenges.
294. 10:56Like time commitment is a big
295. 10:59is a big challenge because like I say,
296. 11:01everybody has commitments, everybody has
297. 11:03work. So sometimes it's difficult to put
298. 11:06time aside for a hobby.
299. 11:09And also another challenge is that it's
300. 11:12not always easy to learn another
301. 11:13language. For example, with grammar,
302. 11:16grammar can be so boring and if you're
303. 11:19not somebody that likes grammar, to
304. 11:21force yourself to learn these grammar
305. 11:23rules about another language can be
306. 11:25really demotivating. It makes you think,
307. 11:27I don't want to continue with this
308. 11:28anymore. It's not interesting for me.
309. 11:30And especially if you couple with this
310. 11:33if you couple this with the idea that
311. 11:34you've not been feeling like you're
312. 11:36making progress recently, then it can be
313. 11:38really
314. 11:39really difficult, quite like
315. 11:41it puts you down. It makes you feel like
316. 11:44you are not clever enough to learn a
317. 11:47language, which of course is silly
318. 11:48because
319. 11:50learning a language is not about how
320. 11:51intelligent you are. Anyone can learn a
321. 11:53language. Babies learn languages. It's
322. 11:56nothing to do with intelligence. I think
323. 11:57it's purely about exposure, how often
324. 12:00you hear this language, how often you
325. 12:02use this language. That's why
326. 12:05I think people that
327. 12:07people that live
328. 12:11in a country that speaks their target
329. 12:13language will learn the language more
330. 12:16quickly than somebody who is learning
331. 12:18the language um but are not surrounded
332. 12:22by the language on a daily basis. Um
333. 12:26I always think of it as like if you live
334. 12:28in a country where your target language
335. 12:30is spoken, you've really been thrown in
336. 12:32the deep end. Like baptism by fire is a
337. 12:35difficult situation in first to adapt to
338. 12:38for sure, but ultimately I think the
339. 12:40most rewarding and the best method for
340. 12:43learning.
341. 12:45I also think language courses can be
342. 12:47really um
343. 12:48helpful as well
344. 12:50because you have the incentive that
345. 12:52you've paid money to do it. So
346. 12:54um not only have you dedicated your
347. 12:56time, but you've also now dedicated your
348. 12:58finances to learning something. And I
349. 13:00think that when you have that kind of
350. 13:02commitment, it makes you more motivated
351. 13:04to learn and um more dedicated to the
352. 13:07task at hand. So I do think that those
353. 13:09are two really good methods.
354. 13:11In the future, for me personally, I
355. 13:13would love to to maybe save up and then
356. 13:15spend three or four months in a country
357. 13:18where I'm learning the language um
358. 13:20maybe working online or maybe go to a
359. 13:22language center there and learn the
360. 13:25language as an experiment for myself.
361. 13:27See how much progress I can make in that
362. 13:28time. That's really a goal of mine for
363. 13:31sure. Um
364. 13:33in terms of other ways of learning
365. 13:35languages like uh language learning apps
366. 13:37are very popular now.
367. 13:39I don't know how effective these really
368. 13:41are.
369. 13:42I think something is better than
370. 13:43nothing. If you spend five minutes on
371. 13:44Duolingo, that's better than zero
372. 13:46minutes doing anything. So obviously I
373. 13:50can support that.
374. 13:53But uh for me for me
375. 13:57I don't think they're the best. I think
376. 13:58I spend too much time on my phone anyway
377. 14:00to to excuse using
378. 14:03um language apps. I
379. 14:05It's really boring, but books are the
380. 14:08are a really good way to learn.
381. 14:10I'd either just reading a book or
382. 14:11studying grammar from a book or
383. 14:14making vocab lists from a language
384. 14:17coursebook is boring, but it's the
385. 14:20traditional method and it's been used
386. 14:22for centuries and there's a reason why,
387. 14:24because it works.
388. 14:26So, I think that this is a good way of
389. 14:28learning as well. Some apps, I think,
390. 14:30can be useful. I used to use Busuu, uh
391. 14:33which was essentially like a language
392. 14:36course in app form. So, for the same
393. 14:39reason, it would teach you like a
394. 14:40grammar lesson, then it would give you a
395. 14:42vocabulary lesson, the same as if you
396. 14:44were doing it with a a grammar book. So,
397. 14:46I think that that was quite effective,
398. 14:48but there were gaps. I don't think that
399. 14:50it explained the grammar rules very
400. 14:52well. Like, I kind of could memorize the
401. 14:55um
402. 14:56memorize the answers to the questions it
403. 14:58gave me or memorize some structures, but
404. 15:01not really understand how it works or
405. 15:03why it works or anything like that. So,
406. 15:06it was good. It was good, but it wasn't
407. 15:08great.
408. 15:09Um
409. 15:10yeah, and I'm not sure that
410. 15:12same with things like AI, AI makes
411. 15:14mistakes. Now, maybe in the future it
412. 15:16will be better, but AI does make
413. 15:18mistakes, so it's difficult to know um
414. 15:22if what you have done is actually
415. 15:23correct or if uh if it's
416. 15:26has more mistakes in it and AI just
417. 15:27isn't showing you yet, so
418. 15:30it's a little bit problematic. I think
419. 15:32some of the traditional methods, as
420. 15:33boring as they are,
421. 15:35do work and they have stood the test of
422. 15:37time for a reason. I also think that
423. 15:40communication, real talk
424. 15:42with a native speaker can be so
425. 15:45insightful and so helpful for for
426. 15:47language learning.
427. 15:48I think it can be daunting at first. The
428. 15:51first time I spoke in another language
429. 15:53with um native speakers of that language
430. 15:56was terrifying because I know that I'm
431. 15:57making mistakes and I feel embarrassed
432. 15:59because I sound like a child and I don't
433. 16:01want to sound like a child. I want to
434. 16:02sound like me. I want to be able to
435. 16:04express myself
436. 16:07and say what I want to say without not
437. 16:09knowing the word, but it's natural. It's
438. 16:12part of the program. Nobody um speaks a
439. 16:15language fluently from day one. It's
440. 16:17impossible. I think it's so revealing of
441. 16:21your character if you can spend the time
442. 16:24and have the motivation and discipline
443. 16:26to learn a language by yourself and then
444. 16:29have the confidence to talk to people to
445. 16:31to native speakers knowing that maybe
446. 16:34your grammar's not perfect or maybe you
447. 16:36want to use a better word than big, but
448. 16:38you don't know the word. It's It's
449. 16:41daunting. It's makes you feel very
450. 16:43vulnerable. So, I think you have to have
451. 16:45a lot of bravery and a lot of confidence
452. 16:47to do it and I feel very
453. 16:50proud, I guess, or I admire people that
454. 16:53learn languages
455. 16:55because I think it's a really good skill
456. 16:56to have and I think it like I said,
457. 16:59it reveals somebody's true colors if
458. 17:01they can do a challenge like that by
459. 17:03themselves.
460. 17:04So,
461. 17:06with that being said, I hope that this
462. 17:08has been useful to practice listening to
463. 17:11real
464. 17:12real English being spoken at my natural
465. 17:15pace. I've not trying to alter anything.
466. 17:19Maybe some of it is a bit challenging.
467. 17:21Maybe you need to listen to it twice,
468. 17:23but hey, that's part of the process. I
469. 17:25would need to do exactly the same thing
470. 17:26too in a different language. It's
471. 17:28completely normal, completely human.
472. 17:31Um
473. 17:32if you would like to see more videos
474. 17:34like this, please let me know.
475. 17:35I will try to make some more longer
476. 17:38videos to practice comprehensible input
477. 17:41because I think this style is really
478. 17:43useful for learners. It's useful for me
479. 17:45when I'm learning.
480. 17:46Um but that's everything. So, I hope you
481. 17:49have an amazing day.