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Everyone is Bad at Languages Until They Learn THIS — Transcript

by Olly Richards · 3,072 words · 483 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00Have you ever thought that you are just
0:01uniquely bad at learning languages? You
0:03may have been blaming the wrong person.
0:06Because look, you can learn all the
0:07words, study all the grammar, listen to
0:10native speakers, do everything you've
0:11been told to do, and still [music] feel
0:13completely rubbish at learning
0:15languages. I've seen this happen again
0:17and again over the 25 years that I've
0:19been learning and teaching languages to
0:20thousands of people. And usually being
0:23bad at languages is not the problem.
0:25There's something much more basic that's
0:26[music] missing. So, in this video, I
0:28will show you what your brain actually
0:30needs to properly pick up a foreign
0:32language, why most learners aren't
0:35getting nearly enough of it, and the
0:36ridiculously easy way to change all of
0:39that. Now, you might have heard that one
0:41of the best things you can do is
0:42surround yourself with the language that
0:45you're learning.
0:45>> [music]
0:46>> Listen to it as much as possible and get
0:47used to how real people actually speak.
0:50But when you're still a beginner,
0:51there's one giant problem with that.
0:54What if you can't understand
0:56>> [music]
0:56>> any of it? Like nothing. So, let's try a
0:58little experiment. I'm going to play you
1:00a completely normal conversation in
1:02German. Everyone is chilled, no one's
1:05speaking particularly fast, and unless
1:06German happens to be your language
1:08already, just see how much of it you can
1:11follow.
1:25Any idea what they were talking about?
1:27I'm guessing probably not. Maybe you
1:29caught a word or two. Maybe you got
1:31absolutely nothing. Either way, that's
1:33completely normal. Now, I'm going to
1:35play you some more German, and same deal
1:37here. Just see how much you can follow
1:39this time.
1:54This is Mr. Spock, yeah?
1:57Mr. Spock hat zwei Ohren. Ohren,
2:00verstehen Sie? Ohren. Er hat
2:03zwei Ohren.
2:05Okay, Mr. Spock, yeah? Ach nein,
2:08Entschuldigung.
2:09Okay.
2:10Augen.
2:12Verstehen Sie? Augen. Augen. Wie viel
2:14Augen? Eins,
2:16zwei,
2:18drei Augen. Drei Augen. Ist das richtig?
2:22Drei Augen?
2:23Nein.
2:25Wir haben nur
2:26zwei Augen.
2:28Mund.
2:29Verstehen Sie? Mund. Und da
2:32ist eine Zigarette, ja?
2:34Nein.
2:36Zigaretten sind nicht gut.
2:37>> That's it.
2:38You followed that, didn't you? Maybe not
2:40every word, it doesn't matter, but you
2:41had a pretty good idea of what was
2:43actually going on. And 5 seconds ago,
2:45German was basically flying straight
2:47past you. Same language, but something
2:50changed. So, what? Well, the man in that
2:53second clip is Dr. Stephen Krashen, one
2:55of the big guns in language learning,
2:57and probably one of the most famous
2:58language researcher in the world. And
3:00his main idea was actually very simple.
3:02>> Sure. We acquire language in one way.
3:05I told this to the guy who fixed my
3:06coffee machine in the room yesterday.
3:08So, ready to do this.
3:09>> Okay.
3:10>> I said, "Yeah, that's great." So, we
3:12acquire language in only one way, when
3:14we understand what people [music] say,
3:17and when we understand what we read.
3:19If you do that, all the grammar and
3:22vocabulary you're ready to acquire is
3:24there, and it's gradually, little by
3:27little, absorbed. The ability to speak
3:29is the result of listening, the result
3:32of reading.
3:33>> Hear that?
3:34The message, not every single word, the
3:37message. And that's the difference that
3:38you just experienced. In the first clip,
3:40you heard some perfectly normal German,
3:42but there wasn't enough for your brain
3:44to grab onto. In the second, suddenly,
3:47you [music] had clues, simple language,
3:49familiar words, things that you could
3:50see, enough to work out what he was
3:53trying to tell you. In other words, your
3:55attention is on what someone is telling
3:58you, not trying to analyze how they said
4:01it. See, just having the language around
4:04you is not enough. Your brain needs
4:06enough clues to actually follow what's
4:08going on. And there's a name for
4:10language like that, and it is
4:11comprehensible input. [music] This means
4:14basically language that you don't have
4:16to understand perfectly. You just
4:17understand enough to follow the meaning.
4:19You get the gist. And that is what so
4:22many language learners do not get.
4:23[music]
4:24So, we know what your brain needs. It's
4:27this comprehensible input stuff, the
4:28language that you can follow along the
4:30gist with. The only problem is getting
4:32enough of it. Now, if only there was
4:33some ridiculously easy way of doing
4:36that.
4:36>> So, you want to get better in another
4:38language? Listen and read. Listen and
4:40read.
4:40>> Yep, because when you read, you are in
4:43charge. You control the input. [music]
4:45And before we go any further, there's a
4:47big difference between all of this stuff
4:49here making sense while you're watching
4:50me explain it, and then actually knowing
4:53what to do with it afterwards when you
4:54sit down to study. So, I've put all this
4:56information, everything I'm covering in
4:57this video, into a free guide called how
5:00to read in any language, along with a
5:02few extra tips to help you actually put
5:04this into practice so you can actually
5:05use it to improve your languages. Uh you
5:07can grab a copy of it right here from
5:09the QR code on the screen. I'll also put
5:11a link in the description below. So,
5:14back to you controlling your own input.
5:17Think about how different that is from
5:19listening to somebody speak. And I mean
5:21a native speaker.
5:28When they talk, they just keep going,
5:30right? Meanwhile, here's you trying to
5:32follow along. You miss something, you
5:34stop for a second to work it out, and
5:36now you've missed the next bit [music]
5:38as well. The spoken language just
5:40doesn't wait for you to catch up. But a
5:43book does. With reading, you can go at
5:45your own pace. A sentence can sit there
5:47for as long as you need it to. And if
5:49something doesn't quite land, well, you
5:51can go back
5:52>> [music]
5:52>> to the line before, and you can read it
5:54again. You can use what happened before
5:56to help you work out what's going on
5:58now. And that matters because with a
5:59story, you've got all of these clues
6:01around the language. You know who's
6:03talking, you know what just happened,
6:05you know where you are. And if a new
6:07word turns up, you've actually got a
6:08fighting chance of working out what it
6:10means. Which is exactly what Krashen was
6:13talking about. You're getting loads of
6:15language you can understand
6:17>> [snorts]
6:17>> well enough to be able to keep going,
6:19and you're not having to fight your way
6:20through every sentence as though
6:22there's, you know,
6:23language test at the end. And he didn't
6:25just study this, by the way. He found it
6:27happening to himself.
6:28>> Let me tell you what I'm doing.
6:31When I go home, I've been reading.
6:34I've been [music] taking the advice of
6:35my colleague Beniko Mason, and I've been
6:38reading lots and lots of very easy
6:41Spanish. I've been reading graded
6:45readers.
6:46Graded readers are our literature.
6:49They're getting better and better.
6:50>> Well, the exact same thing happened to
6:51me with Spanish, and that experience is
6:53a big part of why I've been banging on
6:55about stories for years, and why I've
6:57written these books, I've written over
6:5830 books of graded readers in different
7:00languages. If you've never used one, a
7:01graded reader is basically just a story
7:03written in easier language for your
7:05level, so you can actually follow what's
7:07happening. And after a while, you forget
7:09that you're reading Spanish to practice
7:12your Spanish. You just want to know what
7:13happens next in the story.
7:14>> Good [music] methods now are based on
7:17interesting stories, where you fall in
7:19love with the story, you get so
7:21interested in the story that you forget
7:23it's in another language.
7:24>> And that's the sweet spot, because
7:25you're still getting all of this
7:26understandable language, page after page
7:29of it, but your attention isn't really
7:31on learning the language anymore. You
7:33are following the story, and that means
7:35you don't need to stop and learn every
7:37new word as it comes along. If you can
7:38still follow what's happening, then just
7:40keep reading. Which does feel a bit like
7:43cheating when you think about it,
7:44because if you're not stopping to
7:46memorize words, how on earth are you
7:48actually learning them? Well, this is
7:50where you have to be a bit naughty and
7:52resist that urge to learn every new word
7:54the moment you see one. I know your old
7:56language teacher at school would be
7:57mortified, because what you really need
8:00is repeated encounters with that new
8:03word. And a story gives you those
8:05without you having to go looking for
8:07them. Let's say you're reading a little
8:08story in Italian. Let's say there's an
8:10argument over dinner
8:12until the mother puts her fork down and
8:13says, "Basta." Everyone shuts up.
8:16You don't know what basta means, but
8:18from what just happened, you can have a
8:19pretty good guess. So, just trust your
8:21instincts and keep reading. On the next
8:24page, someone's pouring her a glass of
8:25wine. She watches it get fuller. It's
8:28about to overflow. "Basta, basta."
8:30>> [music]
8:30>> The
8:31wine stops pouring. Okay. So, basta
8:33means something like enough.
8:36>> [snorts]
8:36>> And the next time basta turns up in the
8:37story,
8:38something's changed, because now you
8:40don't need to stop reading at all. Maybe
8:42the dog keeps pestering the teenager and
8:43you can almost predict what's coming.
8:45Yeah, there it is. "Basta." she yells
8:47crossly. This time, you don't even have
8:49to [music] think about it. You know
8:50exactly what she means. Enough.
8:53Stop it. So, you just
8:56keep reading. Which is interesting,
8:58because when exactly did you study or
9:00learn that word?
9:02Was it the [music] argument? The glass
9:04of wine? Somewhere in between? Who
9:06knows? And also, who cares? Because you
9:08weren't just sitting there trying to
9:10hammer a definition into your head with
9:11flash cards over and over, memorizing a
9:14list of words that your teacher gave
9:15you. You were following a story which
9:17just kept bringing that word basta back
9:20in different situations. And every time,
9:22the meaning got a little bit clearer in
9:24your head. So, instead of trying to nail
9:26every word and have perfect memory the
9:29first time you [music] see it, let the
9:30words come back.
9:32>> And you'll see all those words again.
9:33Don't worry. They'll come back.
9:35>> Now, if there's one word in what you're
9:36reading that is driving you mad, then of
9:38course look it up. You know, the
9:39dictionary police are not going to come
9:41around and confiscate your dictionary.
9:43But, you don't need to pounce on every
9:45new word the second it appears. If you
9:47can still follow what's happening, carry
9:49on reading. Because while you're doing
9:50this, something else has been repeating
9:52[music] right under your nose, and
9:54you're going to love this. It's not the
9:56words this time. It's the way those
9:58sentences are put together.
10:00And this is where things get [music]
10:01really interesting. Because you know
10:04that feeling in English when someone
10:05says something like, "She go to work
10:08every day." And your brain immediately
10:10goes, "No, she goes to work." Did you
10:13stop and think
10:14to yourself, "Ah, yeah. Third person
10:17singular present tense." No, you didn't.
10:19You've heard English do it the other way
10:20so many times that this version just
10:22feels wrong. Even if you know nothing
10:24about grammar.
10:25>> [music]
10:25>> You don't remember the rule.
10:27You recognize the pattern. And this is
10:29the difference between rules and
10:31patterns. And after enough reading, this
10:33can happen in another language, too.
10:36Say you're reading French, and you see a
10:39sentence [music] like, "Je viens de
10:40manger." I just ate. And then later
10:44someone says,
10:45"Il vient de partir." He just left. And
10:47then a few pages later, you see, "On
10:49vient d'arriver." We just arrived.
10:52Different sentences, same little
10:53pattern. Now, you could stop and think,
10:57"Ah, yeah. French uses venir de plus the
11:01infinitive for something that has just
11:03happened."
11:04Or check the grammar book if you haven't
11:06the foggiest, but you don't need to. You
11:08can just keep reading because your brain
11:10is pretty good at noticing these [music]
11:12patterns all by itself. And every time
11:14that same little pattern comes around
11:15again, it gets a bit more familiar, and
11:17you start to recognize it. Pattern
11:19recognition. And with something like
11:21this, you may never need to look up the
11:23grammar [music] at all. Sooner or later
11:25that little vient de turns up somewhere
11:27completely new, and you just get it. No
11:30remembering a rule, no working anything
11:32out, so it just feels right. Now, your
11:34brain may well say to you, "I now want
11:36to go and look up the entire conjugation
11:38table and memorize every tense."
11:40That might happen, but you don't need
11:42to. And this is a big shift because now
11:45the grammar isn't only a rule that
11:47someone explained to you once, you're
11:49starting to get a feel for how the
11:50language actually works, learning what
11:52you need as it comes up rather than
11:55trying to learn everything under the sun
11:57in advance. So, rather than stopping to
11:59pull every sentence apart, let the
12:01patterns sink in and keep reading. Now,
12:04of course, not every bit of grammar
12:06gives itself [music] away that easily.
12:08Sometimes you'll keep bumping into
12:10something and think, "Well, what on
12:11earth is going on here?" And that's when
12:13you might like to look it up because now
12:15you're not trying to learn some random
12:16grammar rule that was arbitrarily taught
12:18in a textbook, you're answering a
12:20question that's already popped up in
12:22your head based on actually reading
12:24French. And then, once you've looked it
12:26up, yeah, you get it, back to the story.
12:29So, at this point you might be thinking,
12:30"Okay, great. [music] I can just pick up
12:32any book and bulldoze my way through it
12:34cuz Olly said so, that guy on YouTube."
12:36Well, not so fast because there's really
12:39one question that matters here, which is
12:41can you still follow the story?
12:44>> [music]
12:44>> This is what we mean by saying
12:46comprehensible.
12:47Right, comprehensible input means you
12:49can follow [music] the story. You get
12:51it, get the gist.
12:53A few words that you don't know popping
12:55up, that's fine. If you still know who
12:57is arguing, why the dog is in trouble,
12:59and why Javier just stormed out of the
13:01room, that's fine, keep going. But if
13:03you're getting to the bottom of a of a
13:04page and thinking, "Wait, who's this guy
13:07again? Where are they now? What's
13:08happening?" your book is too hard.
13:11And I've done this so many times. You
13:12get excited, you you buy the book you'd
13:14really love to read in Korean,
13:16you open page one and you think, "Right,
13:19maybe next year." Hey, nothing wrong
13:21with that. Put it back on the shelf and
13:23find something easier [music] because
13:24you You what you probably need right
13:26now? You just need that story from a few
13:28months ago that feels almost
13:29embarrassingly easy. Good. [music] Go
13:31and get it. Read that because you will
13:33actually read it and that's what
13:35matters. And this is why I built the
13:37StoryLearning app, for example. It's why
13:38the StoryLearning app works the way it
13:40does. You get little stories each day
13:42that adapt to your level. If it's too
13:44hard, [music] they get easier. If it's
13:45too short, they get longer. So that
13:47you're not constantly
13:49fighting the language just to find out
13:50what happens next. If you don't know
13:52[snorts] how a word sounds in the app,
13:54you can click it and hear it pronounced.
13:56And that same word will keep coming back
13:58in future stories. So words that you
13:59want to learn
14:01appear in the stories you're reading. We
14:02even have this cool feature called
14:03strict mode where if you're finding
14:05yourself getting like too tempted to
14:07click words and look them up, you can
14:08turn on strict mode and now you can't
14:10look anything up. You're forced [music]
14:11to actually read. Or you can turn on the
14:14audio and get a full narration so you
14:15can read and listen together at the same
14:17time. If you want to check out the
14:18StoryLearning app, there's a link in the
14:20description. But look, you don't need to
14:22worry about proving how good your French
14:24or Spanish or Japanese is
14:26>> [music]
14:26>> by reading a really difficult novel for
14:29native speakers. The book doesn't care.
14:31The book doesn't have feelings.
14:33Pick something you can follow. Pick
14:34something you actually like. And above
14:36all, keep [music] it comprehensible.
14:38So, remember that sneaking suspicion
14:40you've had that maybe [music] you're
14:41just rubbish at languages? You know, I
14:44think we can let that one go. Maybe the
14:46old brain just wasn't getting enough of
14:48exactly what it needed. And I think you
14:50might owe yourself
14:51>> [music]
14:51>> an apology. Yep. Okay, well, while you
14:53are doing that and apologizing, there
14:54are really only four things you need to
14:56remember. When you read, follow the
14:58meaning and go at your own [music]
15:00pace. When new words turn up, don't
15:03stop. Just let them come back in their
15:05own time. Notice the patterns naturally
15:09before you worry about having to go and
15:10learn all the grammar. And then make
15:12sure that whatever you're reading is
15:13easy enough to follow. [music] Keep it
15:16Yeah, you know the word, comprehensible.
15:18You're never going to forget this word
15:19now, are you? Do those things and you
15:21are giving your brain exactly the kind
15:22of language that Krashen was talking
15:24about while you get on with the much
15:26nicer job of finding out what happens
15:29next. Remember, this whole process is in
15:31the free guide that I produced. You can
15:32grab a link there in the description.
15:34And now you know how your brain actually
15:36picks up a language, you have to ask how
15:38long do you have to keep doing all of
15:39this before you actually stand a chance
15:41of speaking? 6 months? 2 years? 5 years?
15:44And [music] what actually determines
15:45that? Well, this is exactly what I'm
15:47going to show you in my next video
15:49>> [music]
15:49>> right over here.

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