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How I Learned 9 Languages (You Can Too!) | Polyglot’s Secrets for Fast Fluency! | Evolve Podcast — Transcript

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  1. 0:00How many languages do you actually
  2. 0:01speak? Spanish, French, Italian, Danish,
  3. 0:03Swedish, Croatian, Russian, German, and
  4. 0:06English. How did you actually become a
  5. 0:08polyglo? 10 hours a day doing
  6. 0:09Duallingingo, then talk to your AI
  7. 0:11friend. Never listen to the language.
  8. 0:13Guys, don't do that.
  9. 0:17Welcome back to Evolve. Today we are
  10. 0:19speaking with Will John, a polyglot and
  11. 0:22professional footballer. Will, thank you
  12. 0:24so much for coming on the podcast today.
  13. 0:26Of course. Thanks for having me. It's
  14. 0:27good to be here. Do you want to show off
  15. 0:28a little bit of those? Maybe introduce
  16. 0:30yourself uh if you've got enough time to
  17. 0:32go through. I mean I mean Yeah. And what
  18. 0:34uh I could start with the
  19. 0:38east.
  20. 0:52Okay. Okay.
  21. 0:57Okay. Okay.
  22. 1:10[Music]
  23. 1:38Yeah, that's right. The dance, man. The
  24. 1:41dance. The Danes can understand the
  25. 1:44Swedes. Okay. Swedes cannot understand
  26. 1:45the Danes. Swedish is, you know,
  27. 1:49we can feel the passion there. I've
  28. 1:50clicked on this video. I want to be, you
  29. 1:52know, a polyglot. What are the steps
  30. 1:55that you would recommend to someone who
  31. 1:57wants to follow in your footsteps? Wow.
  32. 1:59So, there's a big difference between if
  33. 2:00you want to be a polyglot or if you just
  34. 2:02want to learn one other language because
  35. 2:04they are very separate. Now, starting
  36. 2:06off, if you just want to learn another
  37. 2:07language, what I recommend is to spend
  38. 2:1110 hours a day doing Duallingingo, then
  39. 2:13talk to your AI friend for the next 20,
  40. 2:1620 minutes. Never listen to the
  41. 2:17language. No, of course, guys, don't do
  42. 2:20that. Okay, apps are a new phenomenon on
  43. 2:23Earth. Okay, people have been learning
  44. 2:25languages for a very, very long time.
  45. 2:27One of my favorite polyglotss is a is a
  46. 2:28woman named Kato Lom. She's a Hungarian.
  47. 2:30She was a translator, very, very
  48. 2:33outspoken woman. She wrote a book. It's
  49. 2:35called How I Learn Languages. She's one
  50. 2:36of my favorite for a lot of reasons. Um
  51. 2:38because she's kind of nonsense. She'll
  52. 2:40tell people, and I agree with this, if
  53. 2:41you don't have 12 hours a week to learn
  54. 2:44a language, it may not be the the right
  55. 2:46time for you to start. That's if you
  56. 2:48want to speak, you know, if if you want
  57. 2:49to dabble and play a little Duolingo and
  58. 2:51learn I am an apple that eats a dragon,
  59. 2:52go for it. That's fine. But understand
  60. 2:54that you're just playing a game, you
  61. 2:55know, that's what it is. Have fun with
  62. 2:56it. And there's nothing wrong with that.
  63. 2:58There's absolutely nothing wrong. Just
  64. 2:59don't confuse the two. And I think
  65. 3:00that's where the people have the
  66. 3:01problem. So if you want to if you want
  67. 3:03to learn a language, it's quite clear
  68. 3:05that most people understand
  69. 3:06comprehensible input. At least for the
  70. 3:08people who don't know what it is. I know
  71. 3:09people fans of you guys, you know,
  72. 3:11channel and podcast probably understand,
  73. 3:12but it's an important key element. Uh
  74. 3:15the reason for this is not necessarily
  75. 3:17because it mimics how we learned as
  76. 3:19kids, but uh also because it gets you
  77. 3:21more exposure to a language. So I want
  78. 3:23to start with an overarching principle.
  79. 3:24The more exposure you have to a language
  80. 3:26in context, the easier it will be for
  81. 3:28you to learn on the long game. I know
  82. 3:30everyone if you've clicked on this video
  83. 3:31for the how to learn a language in 7
  84. 3:33days I'm sorry or in 3 months I'm sorry
  85. 3:36that's while possible if you have
  86. 3:38nothing else to do in life I think
  87. 3:39that's possible you need to have as much
  88. 3:41exposure to the language as you can at
  89. 3:43the level that you're currently at right
  90. 3:45so big mistakes are I've already
  91. 3:46discussed the apps I won't go in on them
  92. 3:48I probably will still talk talk trash on
  93. 3:50them later but there's no need for you
  94. 3:51to to watch the news on day one of
  95. 3:53Spanish class all right let's leave that
  96. 3:56leave that alone okay there are things
  97. 3:57that are made for you right and and
  98. 3:59Bring it back to Katalom. We have graded
  99. 4:01readers now, right? So reading,
  100. 4:03listening, and watching are some of the
  101. 4:05main the main aspects. Writing less so
  102. 4:07at the beginning in my opinion, you do
  103. 4:09need to do some of this, but you need to
  104. 4:10spend a a hell of a lot of time
  105. 4:13listening, watching preferably of people
  106. 4:16talking and doing things that you can
  107. 4:17understand. Awa. Okay. Awa. Like it's
  108. 4:20going to be hard for you not to
  109. 4:21understand. The problem is we live in a
  110. 4:23society where people want to be rushed.
  111. 4:25Everything wants to be rushed. And if
  112. 4:26you don't let this repeat because no one
  113. 4:28likes to repeat anything. The reason the
  114. 4:30apps and things are everyone if you're
  115. 4:32familiar with the book called the
  116. 4:33dopamine revolution we just want to go
  117. 4:35to the next thing. Well you need to
  118. 4:36repeat if I told you awa once maybe you
  119. 4:39know if I take the aua and I smash you
  120. 4:41on the head every day you know but not
  121. 4:43even every day. I think the it's the
  122. 4:45emotion it's the emotional aspect of
  123. 4:47that your ability to tie emotion into
  124. 4:49your learning will allow you to do it.
  125. 4:51Right? If someone's beating you and
  126. 4:53punching you in the face and they keep
  127. 4:54saying this word that means stop, right,
  128. 4:56in a language, the chances of you ever
  129. 4:58forgetting that word are zero. You will
  130. 5:01remember as he's pummeling you in the
  131. 5:03face that that is the word for stop. All
  132. 5:04right? And so you have to elicit emotion
  133. 5:06and you have to have repetition. If you
  134. 5:08do those two things and you have to you
  135. 5:09have to be able to understand the
  136. 5:10context. That's the beginning, right? So
  137. 5:12that's someone wants to learn. If you
  138. 5:14want to be a polyglot, then you need to
  139. 5:15have patience because you need to focus
  140. 5:17on one language for a long enough period
  141. 5:19of time to reach I don't really like the
  142. 5:21standard things, but let's call it B1,
  143. 5:22B2. If you can reach this B1, B2, you
  144. 5:25have a less of a chance of forgetting
  145. 5:26the language. You have more of a chance
  146. 5:28of just going rusty, right? And so when
  147. 5:30you pick it up, it'll come maybe one
  148. 5:31day, two days, a week. And so you have
  149. 5:34to lay out a structure for yourself. And
  150. 5:35that's that's what I do. I mean, I'm
  151. 5:36giving you guys both options just so
  152. 5:38people have an understanding of what I
  153. 5:39mean, if you want to go deeper into like
  154. 5:41what what I would do on day one to month
  155. 5:43one, etc. We can, but that's how you
  156. 5:46would kind of need to look at things as
  157. 5:47an overarching strategy. Do you think
  158. 5:49it's possible to become a polygot
  159. 5:50without moving to the country where they
  160. 5:52speak the language? I'm literally proof
  161. 5:53of that. Yes. There's no now in modern
  162. 5:55times, you know, Katalom, it's
  163. 5:57hilarious. In her book, she's going,
  164. 5:58"Make sure you find a good dictionary.
  165. 6:01We have every dictionary that's ever
  166. 6:02been made in all this. We have now in
  167. 6:04our in our phone. There's no excuse for
  168. 6:06you to do that. You don't need to be
  169. 6:08there. You have tutors. Excuse time is
  170. 6:11over. If you're trying to learn a new
  171. 6:13language, you don't have an excuse. What
  172. 6:15is the exc what are you talking about?
  173. 6:17Like, oh, I don't Okay, if you don't
  174. 6:18have time, that's kind of on you. But
  175. 6:20that can be, you know, that can be
  176. 6:22managed. That's adaptable. But as far as
  177. 6:24needing to move to France, those days
  178. 6:26are done. Especially if we, you know,
  179. 6:28it's a blessing being in somewhere like
  180. 6:30the UK or the US. I mean, I got to
  181. 6:32fluency level in French before doing my
  182. 6:34year abroad in Reunion Island down to
  183. 6:36that obsession of every time I met a
  184. 6:38French
  185. 6:40person, you know, like we're going to
  186. 6:42speak we're going to speak in French. I
  187. 6:43tell people I don't speak English, you
  188. 6:45know, you're forced into that. I've
  189. 6:47never spent more than a couple weeks, I
  190. 6:49guess, in a Spanish-sp speakaking
  191. 6:50country, but if there's someone who's
  192. 6:52Spanish, you know, that's
  193. 6:56it. We're going to speak because that's
  194. 6:58how you improve. Mhm. So that's that's
  195. 7:00the blessing again going back to living
  196. 7:02in a diverse country. You
  197. 7:06know the discipline aspect is tough for
  198. 7:08everyone. At the one end you can say
  199. 7:10that there are no excuses. At the other
  200. 7:11end I know that our brains are being
  201. 7:13attacked every single second. Every time
  202. 7:15we pick up our phone you're under
  203. 7:16attack. Something is calling for you to
  204. 7:19do something else. And isn't that
  205. 7:20amazing though? Like if you take a
  206. 7:22second and believe you might have picked
  207. 7:23up the phone to just check an email. You
  208. 7:25were watching crazy knockout videos by
  209. 7:28the you seen the soccer the guy went to
  210. 7:30a moon like this and you put the phone
  211. 7:32down and then you realize oh yeah I
  212. 7:34didn't pick up didn't even check the
  213. 7:36email what like what are we doing you
  214. 7:39know it's that's a that's a massive
  215. 7:40that's a massive problem so discipline
  216. 7:41is needed you know you do need to have
  217. 7:44some discipline the drive the more you
  218. 7:45want it the easier it will it will be
  219. 7:47but we teach our students about
  220. 7:50eliminating if you can eliminate there's
  221. 7:52so much noise there's so much
  222. 7:53information so many things. If we can
  223. 7:55just reduce the chatter, all right, and
  224. 7:58just have okay, if I can just engage
  225. 8:00with this content here today, put it
  226. 8:02down and this is I have a plan for
  227. 8:04tomorrow, then you are making forward
  228. 8:06progress without having to second guess
  229. 8:07to concern yourself to try and get the
  230. 8:09next heart on the app to next do get the
  231. 8:11points and your original goal is to
  232. 8:13learn French. Why do you care about your
  233. 8:1430-day streak? What do you that's not
  234. 8:16the point. The point is for you after 30
  235. 8:18days to be better at speaking, you know,
  236. 8:20or reading or whatever your goal is to
  237. 8:21read this book, to watch this movie. So
  238. 8:23yeah, discipline plays a key role, but I
  239. 8:25think everyone should be aware of kind
  240. 8:27of eliminating the noise as much as they
  241. 8:29can. I made some notes based on some of
  242. 8:31your your videos of key areas that I
  243. 8:33think stood out and discipline was one
  244. 8:35of those. I wanted to ask how did you
  245. 8:37build that discipline into your routine?
  246. 8:39I know we'll probably mention that in
  247. 8:40the video about your football career as
  248. 8:42well, but I mean for me discipline was
  249. 8:44instilled a lot with the West African
  250. 8:46and Asian values. Did that come into
  251. 8:48play at all as well with the kind of
  252. 8:49Nigerian upbringing? 100% 100%. I mean
  253. 8:52yes. Yeah, that discipline plays a huge
  254. 8:54role. You understand that the right
  255. 8:56thing to do would be to do your work
  256. 8:58first and enjoy later. How does that
  257. 9:00actually translate into a language
  258. 9:01learning routine? Oh, if you want a
  259. 9:03routine, then that's very simple. I
  260. 9:05mean, obviously, like I said with kalom,
  261. 9:06if you don't have 12 hours, then forget
  262. 9:08it. I think that that can be reduced now
  263. 9:10because of what we have with our tools
  264. 9:11to something like 8 to 10, right? That
  265. 9:13if you don't have 8 to 10 hours a week,
  266. 9:15which is barely above an hour a day, all
  267. 9:17right? Then you shouldn't do it. In the
  268. 9:18morning is when I suggest to everyone
  269. 9:20that they should be at least starting to
  270. 9:22learn a language. You have you can check
  271. 9:23all the studies right some people can
  272. 9:25learn at night after they've done most
  273. 9:27people are expending energy throughout
  274. 9:28the day and then potentially trying to
  275. 9:30fit in language learning when they can
  276. 9:32after this unfocused. If you want to
  277. 9:34understand a proper routine you need to
  278. 9:36understand and this is what we do for
  279. 9:36people in our artificial immersion
  280. 9:38course. We make them understand the
  281. 9:39rules of deep work. Deep work by Cal
  282. 9:41Newport. It's a book. The phone has to
  283. 9:42go out of the room. You have to be
  284. 9:44uninterrupted. And this is a skill cuz
  285. 9:46what you're training with your phone is
  286. 9:48to be distracted. And what you're
  287. 9:49training without it is concentration.
  288. 9:50Yeah. 30 minutes to an hour in the
  289. 9:52morning, generally speaking, I like to
  290. 9:54make sure that that's your
  291. 9:55comprehensible input that you're you're
  292. 9:56taking something in. Later in the day,
  293. 9:58it's definitely fine in in the evening,
  294. 10:01etc. to be watching something on Netflix
  295. 10:02that you don't care about or stuff like
  296. 10:04that. But the bulk of your learning has
  297. 10:05to happen for me before your energy has
  298. 10:08been expended. And so that's the
  299. 10:09problem. People are trying to fit
  300. 10:10language learning in rather than making
  301. 10:12it part of their lives. The routine is
  302. 10:13to change your life, not to make it a
  303. 10:16hobby. Make it part of your life.
  304. 10:18There's no other way to do it. You
  305. 10:19forced yourself to in these
  306. 10:21conversations. I only speak,
  307. 10:24okay? You know, but yeah, that's the
  308. 10:26point of the routine. It's got to
  309. 10:27change. You have to change. All right?
  310. 10:28You know, it's not a no wishy-washy
  311. 10:30stuff, you know. It'll just take it'll
  312. 10:32make you take long. You might get there.
  313. 10:33You'll get there, but who wants to learn
  314. 10:34a language over 15 years? But I really
  315. 10:36appreciate that even the for example,
  316. 10:38you what was the term you use for like
  317. 10:39the Netflix um when you're it's not the
  318. 10:41comprehensible input. It's just uh is
  319. 10:43that passive learning? What do you refer
  320. 10:44to that as? Yeah, pass. Yeah, it's
  321. 10:45passive learning. It's passive for me.
  322. 10:47Like I was a a big gamer in the past. I
  323. 10:50replayed Pokémon in French and Spanish.
  324. 10:53But then that was part of the routine.
  325. 10:55So even though it sounds strange that
  326. 10:56Pokémon was a routine part of my
  327. 10:59language learning, if at every night you
  328. 11:01did whether it was like watched the news
  329. 11:02or did something routinely, you're going
  330. 11:04to see the gains. Whereas if it's like,
  331. 11:06oh, I watched the movie once in French,
  332. 11:09you're not going to get that. And for me
  333. 11:11it was actually the news. When I was
  334. 11:13doing uh French at university, we had a
  335. 11:15course called advanced oral competency.
  336. 11:18We had to listen to the news and then
  337. 11:19provide a summary of that. And at the
  338. 11:21start that was so difficult. So I gave
  339. 11:23myself the challenge of every day. You
  340. 11:25know, this wasn't just a once in a while
  341. 11:26thing. This every day when I got home,
  342. 11:28news goes on in French. Yeah. And then
  343. 11:30at the start it was really really
  344. 11:31difficult. But after I guess two
  345. 11:33semesters of doing that, I could just
  346. 11:35understand 90%. Um but that was there
  347. 11:37was a discipline in that passive
  348. 11:39learning skills. Definitely. Definitely.
  349. 11:40Yeah. And that's the thing is that
  350. 11:41people don't give that a chance, right?
  351. 11:42You said two semesters, that's roughly a
  352. 11:44year, right? And people to have the
  353. 11:46discipline to do that, it's almost
  354. 11:47effortless after you've done it, right?
  355. 11:50Yes. The initial charge of you having to
  356. 11:52sit and watch the news and you know your
  357. 11:54comprehension may be between 60, maybe
  358. 11:55it's 70%, maybe it's 80%, who knows? But
  359. 11:57as you do that, it's the repetition of
  360. 11:59also the same types of material. They're
  361. 12:02the news, they're going to say some of
  362. 12:04the same things. They're going to
  363. 12:05introduce themselves the same. you're
  364. 12:06going to be introduced to that those
  365. 12:07words, those key elements over and over
  366. 12:09again. And if you do that, you do
  367. 12:11eventually it does come out of you.
  368. 12:13That's one of the crazy things about
  369. 12:14using it. And we haven't touched on the
  370. 12:16big no grammar versus grammar debate,
  371. 12:18you know, and at least where I stand is
  372. 12:21at the beginning, ease up on the
  373. 12:22grammar, obviously, if you want to have
  374. 12:24a superficial glance, which is what we
  375. 12:25teach students, by all means, you know,
  376. 12:28but don't do the thing that you would do
  377. 12:30with your phone and get on the the
  378. 12:31articles. Where is this specific? And
  379. 12:34then you're now you're just studying
  380. 12:35grammar. You're not learning the
  381. 12:36language. You're studying rules, right?
  382. 12:38And you would never do that if you was
  383. 12:39going to teach someone football. I'm not
  384. 12:40going to take 20 minutes to explain what
  385. 12:41offsides. And another controversial area
  386. 12:43is vocab. You know, studying vocab. This
  387. 12:46triggers a lot of people in my
  388. 12:48experience as an online tutor. Just a
  389. 12:50quick message before we get back to the
  390. 12:51video. So Clemente and I love mixing
  391. 12:54languages
  392. 12:58[Music]
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  445. 15:23Hello video. And also, you know, working
  446. 15:26with a lot of Asians, there's I guess
  447. 15:29you got to respect the discipline of
  448. 15:30people for hours every day memorizing
  449. 15:33vocab. But where do you stand on this
  450. 15:35debate of V? I mean, I know I've seen
  451. 15:37you probably have an idea, but yeah, the
  452. 15:39thing is is that brute force works. It
  453. 15:41does work. You know, that's the thing.
  454. 15:43It It's true. the majority of people,
  455. 15:45especially the American culture
  456. 15:47specifically which we're teaching and I
  457. 15:48will keep referring to Katom, but she
  458. 15:50makes fun of Americans because they want
  459. 15:52things easy and and she goes they're
  460. 15:54lazy in this. She said not lazy as
  461. 15:55people like yes clearly they're
  462. 15:56hardworking American people but the way
  463. 15:58that things are promoted America can
  464. 16:00take some blame for the how to learn a
  465. 16:02language in 3 days, 5 days, etc. That's
  466. 16:04American marketing is almost second to
  467. 16:06none on earth, right? They push their
  468. 16:08ideas out to, you know, there's kids in
  469. 16:12the middle of nowhere. they barely know
  470. 16:13anything. They're going to recognize
  471. 16:14some American star based on the
  472. 16:16marketing, based on the push. And so
  473. 16:18vocab for me, brute force works, but
  474. 16:20it's not the best way to go about it. If
  475. 16:21you want to go about language learning,
  476. 16:23you need flow. And the way we teach
  477. 16:24people is that we give them an
  478. 16:25understanding of, let's take reading,
  479. 16:27right? A lot of your gains on your vocab
  480. 16:29come from reading. Most people don't
  481. 16:30understand this. Particularly, the
  482. 16:32amount of exposure you have to words in
  483. 16:34a movie compared to what you have in a
  484. 16:36book is night and day. All right? It's
  485. 16:37night and day. If you can just count
  486. 16:39them, count them. Watch all the watch
  487. 16:41one minute of a of a movie. You'll see
  488. 16:43that the music plays and the person
  489. 16:44walked and all this stuff and right and
  490. 16:46then they might talk and then they have
  491. 16:48some silence and then you're not hitting
  492. 16:50all of the vocab that you could be. A
  493. 16:51lot of gains come from reading and this
  494. 16:53is even in your mother tongue. There
  495. 16:54have been studies as well to see that
  496. 16:56when kids let's say go to college that
  497. 16:58reading that they have to do and all
  498. 16:59that stuff you have words that you've
  499. 17:00never taken a flash card and I go hard
  500. 17:02on flash cards because it's like yeah
  501. 17:04well you didn't do that in your mother
  502. 17:05tongue. It's really important I think
  503. 17:07that people don't count words at the
  504. 17:09beginning. However, that they have an
  505. 17:11understanding that there are
  506. 17:12highfrequency words if that makes sense.
  507. 17:14So like there are words that are more
  508. 17:15important that you should pay attention
  509. 17:16to. You should try to know but I don't
  510. 17:18want you to become obsessed with that.
  511. 17:20You don't use all the words in a
  512. 17:21language. You have a core and then you
  513. 17:23have a particular you like football, he
  514. 17:24likes basketball, he likes baseball,
  515. 17:26your vocab is better in in that and this
  516. 17:28and that and that and then you need to
  517. 17:29run down that and they're high frequency
  518. 17:30words for the things that you care
  519. 17:32about. And so the vocab thing is with
  520. 17:34extensive reading, what I wanted to say
  521. 17:35about that at least is extensive reading
  522. 17:36when you read just to read, it's great
  523. 17:38and you're just taking it in. Intensive
  524. 17:39reading, when you go to read something
  525. 17:41that's hard and then have to translate
  526. 17:42and go back and look is also very
  527. 17:44useful. It's just you should spend more
  528. 17:46time doing the extensive reading. If
  529. 17:47you're a new language learner to build
  530. 17:48on what you said, it can be quite
  531. 17:50demotivating to know that I've just
  532. 17:52spent 10 hours this week studying a
  533. 17:54bunch of words and now suddenly I meet
  534. 17:56whatever person in front of me. I can't
  535. 17:58string a sentence or like a useful
  536. 17:59sentence together.
  537. 18:08rewarding have you eaten in English
  538. 18:11isn't as I guess common a question
  539. 18:13compared to the Asian languages whereas
  540. 18:15if you meet a Chinese
  541. 18:17person in Korean
  542. 18:20orang in Thai those are common questions
  543. 18:22you ask as soon as you meet someone and
  544. 18:24you're going to get a really positive
  545. 18:26reaction from them that would motivate a
  546. 18:28new learner I think in my opinion far
  547. 18:30more than table, microphone, whatever,
  548. 18:32which you you will need at some point.
  549. 18:34But I feel like once you're in that
  550. 18:36practical situation, whereas if you're
  551. 18:38filming a podcast and we're speaking in
  552. 18:39French, again, eventually you're just
  553. 18:41going to learn that's Miko because you
  554. 18:43will hear it every day. Whereas if you
  555. 18:45work in, I don't know, as a footballer
  556. 18:46on your day-to-day thing, you're going
  557. 18:48to learn o before you learn Miko
  558. 18:50probably, you know. So the practicality,
  559. 18:52the context you're wanting to use that
  560. 18:54language in again is essential as well.
  561. 18:56you're you're touching on uh the key
  562. 18:57element of our the artificial immersion
  563. 18:59method, which is to tie it into you.
  564. 19:01Like, how is it not? That's my problem.
  565. 19:03I will continue to go in hard on these
  566. 19:04apps, but they don't know you. They
  567. 19:06don't they've never met you. They met a
  568. 19:08they met a composite of humans and they
  569. 19:11decided this should this would be all
  570. 19:12right. Do you really want that? Is that
  571. 19:13what you is that what you want? Or do
  572. 19:14you want it to be about you? Like you
  573. 19:16just said, you're in the podcast. You
  574. 19:17understand? I think that if you take
  575. 19:18things like that and you touch on
  576. 19:19another thing is the fact that in the
  577. 19:21early days before I had a structural
  578. 19:22method phrases were important for me to
  579. 19:25learn but not any phrase phrases that I
  580. 19:27knew I would need immediately and so I
  581. 19:29still recommend for some people because
  582. 19:31it gives them that win like you talked
  583. 19:32about how many people have tried to
  584. 19:34learn a language and failed right you
  585. 19:36need a couple wins at least a few
  586. 19:38interactions that feel like oh my god I
  587. 19:40did something instead of you study table
  588. 19:42and then phone and microphone and bottle
  589. 19:44and then you just like have these words
  590. 19:46there. What is that conversation? Hey,
  591. 19:48how you doing? Bottle bottle
  592. 19:51phone. Do you need a call or like what
  593. 19:53is up, you know? And so it's like, yeah,
  594. 19:55dude, there's got to be it's got to be
  595. 19:57attached to real to the real world. I
  596. 19:59think that links I mean there's a funny
  597. 20:00side of this. But again, another key
  598. 20:02point I saw you highlight in your other
  599. 20:04videos was about looking stupid and
  600. 20:06making mistakes. And I mean, for me, you
  601. 20:08can't master a language or anything in
  602. 20:10life without making mistakes and
  603. 20:12stumbling and and whatever, making a
  604. 20:13fool of yourself at some point as well.
  605. 20:15But to link it to what you said about
  606. 20:16emotion, you probably have memories of
  607. 20:19where you made a mistake in the language
  608. 20:20and said the wrong word, but now you're
  609. 20:22never going to forget that. That's like
  610. 20:24one of the best ways to solidify ah I
  611. 20:26said that that was offensive actually it
  612. 20:27should have been this word. So could you
  613. 20:28tell us about that? I can tell you
  614. 20:30what's even more interesting because
  615. 20:31yeah I constantly make I don't have a
  616. 20:33problem with that and I live a very my
  617. 20:35professional life let's say outside of
  618. 20:37football says I've a lot of professions
  619. 20:39it's very public. I'm speaking in front
  620. 20:41of people, right, in other languages
  621. 20:43that are not my mother tongue. Mistakes
  622. 20:45are going to happen no matter how much
  623. 20:46I've spent time there. Most of the time
  624. 20:48they're small and so small that I'm
  625. 20:50never going to say, you know, uh, that
  626. 20:52this is a bottle, right? That's stuff
  627. 20:54like that doesn't happen. But the stakes
  628. 20:56are much higher for me than they would
  629. 20:57be for someone who's just learning a
  630. 20:58language. So, you don't have to worry
  631. 20:59about this. Like, I actually don't care
  632. 21:01because it just turns into something.
  633. 21:02But to give you an example, I was in
  634. 21:04Milan a couple years ago. This video is
  635. 21:06on online and I'm just talking to
  636. 21:08Italian people about Italian-Americans
  637. 21:10and the the most beautiful cities in
  638. 21:12Italy. Like those are the two questions
  639. 21:14basically. I was telling a couple people
  640. 21:16I think it's several times that it
  641. 21:20was I
  642. 21:23said I think I saidim and the word is
  643. 21:27for seventh and the word isimo. Okay.
  644. 21:29Okay. I said that in the video, right?
  645. 21:31Yeah. Yeah. Barrage of comments. What is
  646. 21:34this? you don't know that it's this.
  647. 21:36Come on. Like, and then you have other
  648. 21:38people being like, "Dude, do you realize
  649. 21:39that this guy who's never he's saying
  650. 21:41that it's his seventh day in the country
  651. 21:43you guys are harping on him on this?"
  652. 21:45So, like, there's always going to be
  653. 21:46both sides. I've been a professional
  654. 21:47athlete since I was 19. You know, you
  655. 21:49miss a pass in front of like I've played
  656. 21:51in front of I don't even know how many
  657. 21:53like massive stadiums. It's like you
  658. 21:55miss some stuff, people are going to
  659. 21:56scream, "Get off the field. You suck. I
  660. 21:59hate you." Like, what? Like, you know,
  661. 22:02like all this stuff. So for me it's I
  662. 22:04understand but I do understand the other
  663. 22:06the other people like they don't want to
  664. 22:07make any mistakes but you just have to
  665. 22:09be okay with that and you know number
  666. 22:11one people forget it. They forget this
  667. 22:13and you will forget it too. And if you
  668. 22:14if once you make the mistake you
  669. 22:16remember I I know that and I even knew
  670. 22:18in that time but it's just you're moving
  671. 22:20fast and stuff like that. So mistakes
  672. 22:21happen. It's crucial to it because even
  673. 22:23in Korea with Clem, I remember we went
  674. 22:25to a restaurant, the owner came up to us
  675. 22:26and asked how the food was and I said to
  676. 22:30him and like
  677. 22:33got to be formal, you know, just use the
  678. 22:35formal word because I've got that vivid
  679. 22:38memory of him telling me off. I can
  680. 22:40never forget that, you know. So there
  681. 22:41you go. Yeah. Yeah. Cuz you were about
  682. 22:43to get kicked out.
  683. 22:45But there is often a leniency, you know,
  684. 22:47to obviously you're not, you know, you
  685. 22:49tell them you're from America. One of
  686. 22:51the most frustrating things for me in uh
  687. 22:53French and Spanish is the
  688. 22:54learn like I remember the word I know
  689. 22:58that that's you know but is it is it if
  690. 23:02I have the paralysis to analysis of just
  691. 23:05I'm not going to speak because I don't
  692. 23:06know if
  693. 23:07it's like it's yeah you're never going
  694. 23:10to get anywhere really. No one the
  695. 23:11themes on day one of our stuff seek to
  696. 23:14understand and seek to be understood. If
  697. 23:16you stay within this rule in
  698. 23:18communicating, I really don't care. Like
  699. 23:19if you have a problem with me and the
  700. 23:21fact that I missed that an article here
  701. 23:24or this that and the other, I don't what
  702. 23:25are we doing exactly? This is not I
  703. 23:27wanted to convey to you that I was
  704. 23:28thirsty and that I wanted the bottle.
  705. 23:30That's all. Right. And so the people
  706. 23:32that are the grammar police and the
  707. 23:34those that I understand and it can
  708. 23:37happen online. I have a tendency to
  709. 23:38believe that it might be some of them
  710. 23:39are kids more the comments. Yeah. I
  711. 23:41think most of the time adults are just
  712. 23:43like I understand. Oh, that's cool.
  713. 23:44That's great job. Yeah, when it comes to
  714. 23:46practice, as you said, nowadays you
  715. 23:48don't need to move to the country to
  716. 23:50become a polygot, and you're proof of
  717. 23:52that. So, what what would be your advice
  718. 23:54when it comes to practicing for someone,
  719. 23:57let's let's say, who doesn't live in a
  720. 23:58city like London where you get to meet
  721. 24:00people from different countries? What do
  722. 24:02you think would be online? Tutors are
  723. 24:04the best thing ever. The first thing for
  724. 24:06you to do is to find quality,
  725. 24:07comprehensible input. Meaning that
  726. 24:09something that you can understand at the
  727. 24:11level that you're at. That's the very
  728. 24:12first thing you have to do. We already
  729. 24:15talked about having an understanding of
  730. 24:16high frequency words. You can use
  731. 24:17chatbt. You can use Google. Find them.
  732. 24:19And one of the things that we do within
  733. 24:21our course, we we show people how they
  734. 24:22can utilize AI in a way because AI sucks
  735. 24:24right now. It sucks. It's not good. It
  736. 24:27will be good and there are aspects of it
  737. 24:29that are helpful. But if I was leaving
  738. 24:31my language learning capabilities up to
  739. 24:33AI to be like, teach me how to do. It's
  740. 24:35a disaster. All right. You can take
  741. 24:37those high frequency words, you can
  742. 24:38create stories, you can create your own
  743. 24:39comprehensible input. You said you like
  744. 24:41uh basketball, he likes soccer. Well,
  745. 24:44okay, great. Go in there and create that
  746. 24:45story on this utilizing your high
  747. 24:47frequency words. And that's one way for
  748. 24:49you to also create because now not only
  749. 24:51is it going to spit out a story for you
  750. 24:52and there's several different, you know,
  751. 24:54places you can do this, the voices are
  752. 24:55starting to sound better. It's not a
  753. 24:57robot voice that it it's not bad now. So
  754. 25:00now you have audio, you have audio
  755. 25:01within the stuff that you have. And so
  756. 25:02that's you can generate some of your
  757. 25:03comprehensive. That's what we do. And we
  758. 25:05also help people. It's ideal if you can
  759. 25:07see that all the elements are there. And
  760. 25:09it's even better if it's tactile like
  761. 25:11that. you can do it in person that you
  762. 25:13have someone a proper tutor is necessary
  763. 25:14if you're saying like how do I do this
  764. 25:16when I'm not you got to have a proper
  765. 25:17tutor but more comprehensible input than
  766. 25:19speaking at the beginning I would say
  767. 25:20you do have to speak at some point some
  768. 25:22people are going to be different than
  769. 25:23others that's the thing like there's no
  770. 25:25one way there's no one you have to learn
  771. 25:27yourself and we preach this a lot
  772. 25:29because I can't hand you and you who've
  773. 25:32grown up in different places with
  774. 25:33different circumstances with different
  775. 25:34skills the way to do I can just give you
  776. 25:36guys a guide I can and help you
  777. 25:38understand you the more you understand
  778. 25:40yourself the better it will be, you
  779. 25:42know, and based on personality types as
  780. 25:44well is that I never had a problem
  781. 25:45speaking. Whereas, imagine for someone
  782. 25:47watching this who's more introverted and
  783. 25:48shy, they're going to see that and just
  784. 25:50feel like, well, we were just in
  785. 25:51different places. During my like teenage
  786. 25:53years, I got to the point where I could
  787. 25:55just say what I wanted in French and
  788. 25:56Spanish, but when they would reply, I
  789. 25:58couldn't understand them. And I'm sure
  790. 25:59there are a lot of people watching this
  791. 26:00who can actually understand because
  792. 26:02they've been watching Korean dramas or
  793. 26:04what do they call t nollas all the time.
  794. 26:06They can understand it, but then they
  795. 26:07don't know what to say.
  796. 26:16approach. You have to kind of program
  797. 26:18the tutor, but that's the one way I'm
  798. 26:20thinking about AI. You got to instruct
  799. 26:22the tutor. Tell them your goals. For me,
  800. 26:24I actually want to improve my listening.
  801. 26:26So, I need to hear you as a tutor
  802. 26:28speaking a lot or I want to I want to
  803. 26:30speak more. So, then could you just ask
  804. 26:32me open-ended questions and encourage
  805. 26:33me? You know, there you go. That's it.
  806. 26:35You're not far off from saying
  807. 26:36programming because we like to, once
  808. 26:38again, like I said, we like things
  809. 26:39handed to us and we just kind of like to
  810. 26:40like me, you know, and it's easier.
  811. 26:42Thinking is hard. Thinking about
  812. 26:44yourself is even harder. Reflecting on
  813. 26:46yourself is very hard because we have
  814. 26:47blind spots and egos that try to trick
  815. 26:49us into thinking like you're fine. No,
  816. 26:51you're wrong. You're good until you get
  817. 26:52the real world shakes you up. And so,
  818. 26:55yeah, we have a whole day dedicated to
  819. 26:57tutors. Like that's all I have a whole
  820. 26:59day that's just there to tell you what
  821. 27:00you need to do, how you need to
  822. 27:02structure this out because some people
  823. 27:03just go into the tutor thing and they
  824. 27:05think they'll teach me the language. I
  825. 27:06paid some money here like make it happen
  826. 27:09and they put the responsibility on them
  827. 27:11and we say no you have it goes
  828. 27:12responsibility stays on you forever in
  829. 27:14all things not just in language learning
  830. 27:16and uh we show you that you have to with
  831. 27:18the tutors especially some of them have
  832. 27:20their own ways their own egos their own
  833. 27:22ways and that's not going to fit for you
  834. 27:24so you got to change that and it's a
  835. 27:26lottery as well the chances are that you
  836. 27:28just find a tutor and they perfectly
  837. 27:29align with all of your goals that could
  838. 27:31happen but the chances are very very
  839. 27:33small so very could happen I know a big
  840. 27:36thing for you is the flow state. So, how
  841. 27:38does the flow state link into language
  842. 27:40learning? Most of the time, we're trying
  843. 27:42to get people to understand that the
  844. 27:44longer periods of uninterrupted study
  845. 27:46for your passive. I'm not talking about
  846. 27:48when you're speaking to someone, but
  847. 27:49even then, you want it to be locked in.
  848. 27:51You don't want to be looking at
  849. 27:52something else. And if you do that, you
  850. 27:54will watch the flow state. First, it'll
  851. 27:55be subtle, and then it'll start
  852. 27:57happening to you where you'll notice
  853. 27:59times going by and you're just locked
  854. 28:00in, right? And we've forgotten so much
  855. 28:02about that. When I was growing up, you
  856. 28:03had flow state all the time. There was
  857. 28:05nothing to distract you from what you
  858. 28:06were doing, the present moment. And then
  859. 28:08at university having the routine of even
  860. 28:09speaking classes, I remember 11:00 a.m.
  861. 28:11we would sit in a room and there would
  862. 28:13be just three or four other students and
  863. 28:14the teacher and they would say right now
  864. 28:16uninterrupted debate. Half of the room
  865. 28:18agrees that whatever should be illegal.
  866. 28:20Half of the room believes that it should
  867. 28:21be legal fight debate. And in that
  868. 28:24moment there were no phones. You weren't
  869. 28:26really allowed to make notes because
  870. 28:27that was the speaking class. every um
  871. 28:29every week doing those classes forces
  872. 28:32you into flow because I think once you
  873. 28:34distract your brain away from okay I'm
  874. 28:36speaking in French and you get to know
  875. 28:37I'm just passionate I want to win this
  876. 28:39debate you know like like same in in
  877. 28:41football as well you're like you're
  878. 28:42using those words in a sport of uh like
  879. 28:44I I did Muay Thai so then you're you're
  880. 28:46training with the trainer and he's
  881. 28:47saying to me like which means 20 punches
  882. 28:49whatever I'm not thinking oh I'm
  883. 28:51practicing tie right now I'm in the
  884. 28:53moment I'm in the flow state but then
  885. 28:54actually you're using those words and
  886. 28:55they start getting integrated into it
  887. 28:57and you actually forget you're studying
  888. 28:59because it's that's the fun element if
  889. 29:00you're speaking about something you're
  890. 29:02passionate about extra win extra double
  891. 29:04bonus you know totally yeah you turn off
  892. 29:05your brain though I mean because you had
  893. 29:07a goal which was to just either be in
  894. 29:09flow and just study or just do do the
  895. 29:12actions that you're doing right and so
  896. 29:14any words that it's just a conveying of
  897. 29:16a message once again seek to understand
  898. 29:18and seek to be understood someone's
  899. 29:19conveying a message to me this is what I
  900. 29:20want to do I'm arguing about this debate
  901. 29:23I just want to tell them this thing
  902. 29:25sucks you know and your thing is wrong
  903. 29:27and I'm Right? And once it becomes about
  904. 29:28that, you turn off the analysis
  905. 29:30paralysis. You stop thinking about
  906. 29:32whether it's this article or that
  907. 29:34article. You try to get what you're
  908. 29:35saying to be understood. Try to convey a
  909. 29:37message. And that is the stage at the
  910. 29:39beginning. That's that it could be that
  911. 29:40first month to 3 months. It could be 6
  912. 29:43months. It could be a year, right?
  913. 29:44Before you then have to then go, okay,
  914. 29:46they keep the, you know, in Croatian and
  915. 29:49Russian, they have these pad. They're
  916. 29:51these things at the the end. So things
  917. 29:53change the accusative case the genative
  918. 29:56K all these things endings change it's a
  919. 29:58nightmare trying to study it as like
  920. 30:00like if you were trying to stud no it
  921. 30:01has to be a later thing you have to
  922. 30:02first learn some general basis before
  923. 30:05they go okay by the way the ending
  924. 30:06changes here you're being understood but
  925. 30:08like hey this is what changing and this
  926. 30:11is why so you can start to notice that
  927. 30:12and then you stick one thing I do
  928. 30:14definitely recommend for people that
  929. 30:15like to some people love to study
  930. 30:17grammar and they can it's just the
  931. 30:18turnaround is going to be different than
  932. 30:20somebody who's doing the comprehensible
  933. 30:21input way meaning that you may not speak
  934. 30:24don't expect to speak immediately but
  935. 30:26then when it does and I made that
  936. 30:27mistake when I was doing German I
  937. 30:29studied a lot of grammar because I heard
  938. 30:30that the grammar was hard in German
  939. 30:31which it it is difficult you know so I
  940. 30:33spent a lot of time there and less time
  941. 30:35speaking and engaging with the language
  942. 30:36but when I went back started doing it I
  943. 30:39can still remember you know some of
  944. 30:41these weird rules right and so it
  945. 30:43happens and people know crashen's work
  946. 30:46people I know that people bash him also
  947. 30:48for certain other other things but one
  948. 30:49thing he definitely got right is when
  949. 30:51you're writing you have the time to go
  950. 30:56okay then I can okay that's that's
  951. 30:59that's this when you're speaking you do
  952. 31:01not have that time you cannot expect to
  953. 31:03have that same level but they're
  954. 31:05different approaches you just have to
  955. 31:06know when the right time for grammar is
  956. 31:07for you and you have to stay on one
  957. 31:09grammar point for a small period of time
  958. 31:11I'm not saying a year studying the dat
  959. 31:14case this week and this time in my
  960. 31:17attention is on this now next week I'll
  961. 31:20do the accusative but Now it's justice.
  962. 31:22I still remember those moments of like
  963. 31:24memorizing in Spanish
  964. 31:29there like if I were this it would be
  965. 31:33and subjective I think yeah there is
  966. 31:35going to be some use for it but if you
  967. 31:36only memorize those without the rest
  968. 31:38it's tough but I think another huge
  969. 31:40elephant in the room and I guess a thing
  970. 31:42not always spoken about is that it
  971. 31:44doesn't matter how good to some people
  972. 31:46let's say the street interviews and
  973. 31:47those kind of like win moments we've had
  974. 31:49doesn't matter how good even your
  975. 31:50language anguage skills and competency,
  976. 31:52proficiency of the language are if your
  977. 31:55accent's not that good. I found that
  978. 31:57just from in
  979. 32:01Korean, I don't actually speak much of
  980. 32:04those languages. But the accent is what
  981. 32:06I feel like provides a lot of warmth to
  982. 32:09to people. You I've seen on the street
  983. 32:12interviews have that ability. Where did
  984. 32:14that come from? Because I feel like no
  985. 32:15matter how much we study those things,
  986. 32:17if you can't mirror that pronunciation
  987. 32:19and not not just pronunciation, if you
  988. 32:20can't mirror the accent and the
  989. 32:21intonation, you don't always get that
  990. 32:23same um kind of reinforcement. Yeah. The
  991. 32:25love is there. There is a there is a
  992. 32:27you're lucky. People tend to love the
  993. 32:29French accent or where it leaves its
  994. 32:31traces on other languages. There are
  995. 32:33some languages that feel okay, but yes,
  996. 32:36it's really bad when you hear ablo
  997. 32:38espanol, soy americano, soy de Kansas
  998. 32:41city. It's like, oh god, it sounds like
  999. 32:44Honestly, for me, this doesn't sound
  1000. 32:46good at all. I don't understand why we
  1001. 32:50still though we think in England it's
  1002. 32:51romantic, you know. He's French though.
  1003. 32:55Romantic about it.
  1004. 32:58Yeah. I I mean, it's You're right.
  1005. 33:00You're right. There's some cool things
  1006. 33:01that I've been I've actually really been
  1007. 33:03kind of looking at how I've done that
  1008. 33:05and what I what else I do cuz I don't
  1009. 33:08like it when I am am hearing. I'm okay
  1010. 33:10with it and I'm I'm I'm okay never
  1011. 33:12having a 100% perfect accent in any
  1012. 33:14language, whatever. I don't care. But
  1013. 33:16sometimes it's hard for you to see how
  1014. 33:18that person is making that word because,
  1015. 33:20you know, there's some interesting
  1016. 33:21things that happen when we grow up
  1017. 33:22learning a language. The studies show
  1018. 33:24that we have the potential as babies to
  1019. 33:27speak anything. You know, if I take you
  1020. 33:29to France, you're going to, you know,
  1021. 33:30you're going to pick that up. If I take
  1022. 33:31you to whatever, you know, to Pakistan,
  1023. 33:33we'll do, right? But what happens as we
  1024. 33:35focus as we specialize in that we start
  1025. 33:37to lose the ability to make the some
  1026. 33:39people can't go some people cannot do
  1027. 33:42you know I have friends they can't do it
  1028. 33:44you know and so they can't roll their
  1029. 33:46ars and so what will help you is also
  1030. 33:48not just hearing where are you putting
  1031. 33:50your tongue when you go you probably
  1032. 33:52never thought about it if you can do it
  1033. 33:53but if you want to learn sometimes
  1034. 33:54sometimes you'll see that their tongue
  1035. 33:56is here that their mouth is here you
  1036. 33:59know
  1037. 34:02France
  1038. 34:04Right? It's the mouth doesn't open as
  1039. 34:07much. Right. It's funny. I have French
  1040. 34:08friends as well and they said that in
  1041. 34:10their American class they were like,
  1042. 34:11"You need to open your mouth if you
  1043. 34:13don't speak like an American." We blah
  1044. 34:15cuz we're used to complaining. That's
  1045. 34:16why we Yeah.
  1046. 34:20So yeah, for the for the accent stuff
  1047. 34:21like that, you have to mimic also. Mhm.
  1048. 34:23Whatever. You can choose accents,
  1049. 34:24places, this, that, and the other. you
  1050. 34:26know, my Spanish if I'm with my friends
  1051. 34:28in America, a lot of Mexican accents
  1052. 34:31like this, watching Argentinian series.
  1053. 34:34You watch that stuff, you mimic, you do
  1054. 34:36this. There's another interesting guy,
  1055. 34:37Alexander Arguas. You know, there's a
  1056. 34:38big issue in the uh in the linguist,
  1057. 34:41let's say, world. Cuz he studied, he got
  1058. 34:43his PhD and all of his colleagues, he
  1059. 34:44was like, "You guys all study languages?
  1060. 34:46None of you speak. You guys are all
  1061. 34:48doing studies and writing papers about
  1062. 34:50how people should do that. None of you
  1063. 34:51speak." And so he got his PhD, you know,
  1064. 34:54in order because it was important and
  1065. 34:56you know that whole the whole thing he
  1066. 34:57did it but like he couldn't wait till he
  1067. 34:59was done so he could do the thing and
  1068. 35:01not live in theory. That's a huge part
  1069. 35:03of like so if you are trying to fix your
  1070. 35:05your accent mimic right watch listen say
  1071. 35:08it back see what they're doing. If you
  1072. 35:09can't say it properly look at how
  1073. 35:11they're ask them what is going on with
  1074. 35:12your tongue. What's going watch I
  1075. 35:14guarantee you with a little bit a few
  1076. 35:16days of care for that you will change.
  1077. 35:17It seems like you can't but you can. You
  1078. 35:20just are not focusing on it. you have
  1079. 35:21too much to worry about. The the
  1080. 35:23article, the this, the that, what word
  1081. 35:24is it? You can change your accent. It
  1082. 35:26can be changed. There's really no
  1083. 35:27reason. It might not be perfect, but
  1084. 35:28it's possible. I think you got to just
  1085. 35:31really take that critical approach to
  1086. 35:33yourself in terms of feedback. And
  1087. 35:34that's what helped me really is having
  1088. 35:36someone, as we say, savage your accent.
  1089. 35:39And it took me a long time, even after
  1090. 35:41studying French and Spanish, suddenly I
  1091. 35:43was in Thailand. And they have tones.
  1092. 35:45That took me I guess a year or two
  1093. 35:47before I could actually start
  1094. 35:49comfortably mimicking it. You know there
  1095. 35:51was a lot of cup mai mai no mai mai mai
  1096. 35:55mai. It's like I would get so
  1097. 35:57frustrated. I'm saying the same thing
  1098. 35:59you know but then again over and over
  1099. 36:01again one day I could just do it for a
  1100. 36:03long time. I couldn't I didn't like plan
  1101. 36:05that day was the day I could do it. But
  1102. 36:08it came after so much agony, let's say,
  1103. 36:11of going through that constant
  1104. 36:13correction process. And that's it. You
  1105. 36:15can be an academic, but if you're not
  1106. 36:17practicing, I I encourage people to sing
  1107. 36:19in the language because you've got
  1108. 36:21intonation. And I often find that when I
  1109. 36:23coach people who love karaoke or have a
  1110. 36:26musical background, their ability to
  1111. 36:28adapt their intonation is a lot better
  1112. 36:30than the average person just because
  1113. 36:31they're already conscious about it. So,
  1114. 36:33you got to dedicate separate time if you
  1115. 36:36do want to improve your accent. There's
  1116. 36:37nothing wrong with having a different
  1117. 36:38accent, of course. But if you do want to
  1118. 36:40mimic an accent better, I often say make
  1119. 36:42time for that as well because you don't
  1120. 36:44ever get successful at something often
  1121. 36:45by accident. It's got to be like, okay,
  1122. 36:47in the shower in the street, I've got my
  1123. 36:48headphones in. I'm going to sing this
  1124. 36:50Spanish song. I might look like a fool
  1125. 36:51walking down or Korean, whatever song it
  1126. 36:53is. For me, it's been the only way of
  1127. 36:55like constant obsession with the accent
  1128. 36:57as well, not only just on the other
  1129. 36:59aspects. That's another huge point
  1130. 37:00though, the fact that you number one you
  1131. 37:02you have the key of may look stupid but
  1132. 37:04uh I would I still do this but less so
  1133. 37:07because I have headphones now but back
  1134. 37:08in the day uh I would take a cell phone
  1135. 37:10and I would talk another language to
  1136. 37:12myself mainly because I'm an introvert
  1137. 37:14and people assume that I'm extremely
  1138. 37:16extroverted because they see me in
  1139. 37:17several different places and in media
  1140. 37:19but I love to read I want to study. I
  1141. 37:21like to meditate I prefer to be alone
  1142. 37:23but yeah you're not kidding like you can
  1143. 37:24walk down the street or talk you know
  1144. 37:26and repeat stuff to yourself. I mean
  1145. 37:28nowadays people have earpods. Like if
  1146. 37:29you see someone talking to themselves on
  1147. 37:31the street 20 years ago they would be
  1148. 37:32crazy. Now it's just you can't see their
  1149. 37:33AirPods, right? And so it's like not
  1150. 37:36that big of a deal. You have all these
  1151. 37:37places like I said before, no excuses,
  1152. 37:39you know? Like you should just be just
  1153. 37:41like it's so crazy what you can do if
  1154. 37:43you sit down and you're not so worried
  1155. 37:44about the end goal. Like you said,
  1156. 37:46dedicate a little time to it and just
  1157. 37:47what happened and one day comes out of
  1158. 37:49you and you're just like how did I do
  1159. 37:50that? Well, you just moved towards it.
  1160. 37:53You know, that's it. People see it's
  1161. 37:54like the what they call it the iceberg
  1162. 37:56um analogy where like in that one moment
  1163. 37:58it seemed instant but people don't see
  1164. 38:00the hundreds if not thousands of hours
  1165. 38:02before that I guess scoring a goal as
  1166. 38:04well right same how does how long does
  1167. 38:05it take to you kick the ball it's in the
  1168. 38:07net like one second countless countless
  1169. 38:10countless hours well all the training as
  1170. 38:12well that's the other thing I mean now
  1171. 38:13we have an obsession of seeing the
  1172. 38:14journey which I'm kind of against
  1173. 38:16obviously on our football channel where
  1174. 38:17we're teaching kids you know what what
  1175. 38:19it's like to actually be a pro you know
  1176. 38:20what what you need to do how you need to
  1177. 38:22train you've got kids nowadays wanting
  1178. 38:24to start record their day one and I
  1179. 38:26understand uh I'm not ignorant to the
  1180. 38:28idea there record day one and they want
  1181. 38:29to you know show their journey on that
  1182. 38:31what ends up happening just like the
  1183. 38:33phone analogy they get obsessed about
  1184. 38:34the content and how it looks and they're
  1185. 38:36at training trying to see what their
  1186. 38:37angle is and you're all this and before
  1187. 38:39you know it you're making content
  1188. 38:41instead of training you're more
  1189. 38:42concerned about how that is and in my
  1190. 38:44time there was no obviously there was no
  1191. 38:45phones at training when I was 14 13
  1192. 38:47whatever there was just nothing that you
  1193. 38:48go to training and that's it you're
  1194. 38:50you're there if someone misses it I
  1195. 38:52think the amount of goals and things. I
  1196. 38:53don't know how many Instagram followers
  1197. 38:54I would have had at 14 with some of the
  1198. 38:56goals I scored on against kids who can't
  1199. 38:58really play. You know, it just that's
  1200. 39:00there's a big difference between that
  1201. 39:01and that I think is translates over to
  1202. 39:03language learning as well, which is just
  1203. 39:06guys like you're going to the end goal
  1204. 39:08is is a beautiful thing and it and it's
  1205. 39:10and it's wonderful. Don't worry about
  1206. 39:11this journey, this stuff. Enjoy. Just
  1207. 39:14enjoy enjoy every single aspect of this
  1208. 39:16journey part. you'll get to the part
  1209. 39:18where you your words will come out as
  1210. 39:20long as you're focusing on the correct
  1211. 39:22things. You know, you can go off. I
  1212. 39:24don't want people to think that there
  1213. 39:25aren't bad things and ways to waste
  1214. 39:27time. I have a friend Stefan Syron who
  1215. 39:29is he learned Swedish. He's an American
  1216. 39:31guy. He spent four or five hours every
  1217. 39:33day doing Duolingo before he moved to
  1218. 39:35Sweden. When he got to Sweden, he was a
  1219. 39:36teacher and he was like, "Oh my god, I
  1220. 39:38don't speak Swedish." After all that
  1221. 39:40time, he was like, "Oh my god." But it
  1222. 39:42was great because he was with kids. they
  1223. 39:43don't have as much of an interaction or
  1224. 39:45they don't have high level vocab, right?
  1225. 39:47And so it was there that he actually
  1226. 39:48picked up a lot of his Swedish. We've
  1227. 39:50done some cool videos together like
  1228. 39:51where he speaks Swedish and I speak
  1229. 39:53Danish or then my Swedish after I was
  1230. 39:55there for a little bit of time and he
  1231. 39:57was the same. Now he's a Swedish
  1232. 39:58citizen, you know, and he just kind of
  1233. 39:59enjoyed the journey. Poof. You know,
  1234. 40:01it's just you have to you do have to
  1235. 40:03have discipline. You do have to stay you
  1236. 40:04have to show up every day. That's one
  1237. 40:05thing I don't think we've touched on.
  1238. 40:07You could spend an hour a day. That
  1239. 40:08would be great. Even on those days that
  1240. 40:10you can't, don't just throw the whole
  1241. 40:11thing away. M take the 15 minutes. It's
  1242. 40:14not lost. It'd be like just you working
  1243. 40:15out. Like really, like if you could do
  1244. 40:17100 push-ups in 5 minutes, should you
  1245. 40:19still do it or should you be like, I
  1246. 40:20can't go to the gym today, so I'm not
  1247. 40:21going to do anything. Really, you know,
  1248. 40:23you could you can do something. And so
  1249. 40:25that's the same for language learning
  1250. 40:26every day. The consistency is what
  1251. 40:28matters. I mean, there's a key point you
  1252. 40:31mentioned about sometimes the stronger
  1253. 40:32you affirm yourself, the more you've got
  1254. 40:34to defend. And I've told everyone, I'm
  1255. 40:36going to do this. I'm going to be the
  1256. 40:38best. You know, my French is going to be
  1257. 40:39amazing. My Spanish is going to be
  1258. 40:40amazing. Watch me. the time you spend
  1259. 40:42speaking about it and that links to
  1260. 40:44social media, right? If I told everyone,
  1261. 40:46I'm going to build a podcast, watch this
  1262. 40:47podcast, I'm going to be whatever,
  1263. 40:49whatever it is, that energy itself is
  1264. 40:51not really motivating as well because it
  1265. 40:52it feels competitive. Whereas this is
  1266. 40:55something beautiful that should be your
  1267. 40:56own personal journey. Yeah, you can
  1268. 40:57share it and encourage people, but I
  1269. 40:59find with social media, it's a
  1270. 41:00double-edged sword because it can become
  1271. 41:02a career. You can make money from it,
  1272. 41:03but that takes a lot of time as well.
  1273. 41:06building all of that time put the reason
  1274. 41:08you probably became pro is that at 14
  1275. 41:10you weren't spending 20 hours a week on
  1276. 41:12the point that's the point guys yeah I
  1277. 41:14didn't do any of that after you've made
  1278. 41:16it then you can share those gains with
  1279. 41:18people so I think it's a great message
  1280. 41:21yeah yeah yeah and the other thing with
  1281. 41:22telling people about it it's good when
  1282. 41:23you have some sort of social pressure I
  1283. 41:25mean there's some great studies to
  1284. 41:26understand that if you tell maybe one
  1285. 41:27person who you trust and respect hey I'm
  1286. 41:29going to learn Spanish that friend after
  1287. 41:30two months and be like dude you haven't
  1288. 41:32even bought a book like what are you
  1289. 41:33that's great but the social media aspect
  1290. 41:36of it is you're looking for that reward
  1291. 41:37without having done something. That's
  1292. 41:39what the kid is actually looking for.
  1293. 41:41He's looking for you to cheer me on and
  1294. 41:43get all the respect of having done
  1295. 41:45something without actually doing it. And
  1296. 41:47that's the problem. So that's why I
  1297. 41:49don't recommend be work in silence.
  1298. 41:51We'll all cheer you on once you've done
  1299. 41:52it. You know, it's going to be great.
  1300. 41:54The whole social media, everyone's going
  1301. 41:55to love how you can juggle the ball and
  1302. 41:57speak the language when you do it. You
  1303. 41:59know, if you don't need to tell everyone
  1304. 42:02necessarily that because you're getting
  1305. 42:04the reward. It's it's not good. It's
  1306. 42:06really not good for your your ego. Yeah.
  1307. 42:08I think much better to find a Spanish
  1308. 42:09speaking friend and just get obsessed.
  1309. 42:11There you go. With them, take those wins
  1310. 42:13and they're going to be proud of you
  1311. 42:14when you go out into the real world and
  1312. 42:16do what you can do. So, yeah. Could we
  1313. 42:18know some of the highlights of your
  1314. 42:19language learning experiences? I mean,
  1315. 42:22there's too many. I mean, some of the
  1316. 42:24things that are cool is when you really
  1317. 42:26need it. Now, what I do, I I run around,
  1318. 42:28I do interviews for, you know, some of
  1319. 42:30these these major uh football and sports
  1320. 42:33companies, Nike, Adidas, and etc. And
  1321. 42:35so, we're interviewing stars, you know,
  1322. 42:37for former legends like I just did uh
  1323. 42:39Raul Gonzalez, you know, Raul. Yeah. I
  1324. 42:41don't think that video is out. Probably
  1325. 42:42it may be out soon here in a second. He
  1326. 42:44feels more comfortable in Spanish,
  1327. 42:45obviously. And there's several, you
  1328. 42:47know, I did Sergio Ramos, just Sergio
  1329. 42:49Ramos, he'd rather speak Spanish. And
  1330. 42:51there's several times like that where
  1331. 42:53the player feels more comfortable. And
  1332. 42:55so normally what they'll do is have a
  1333. 42:57translator. Well, that's that's a boring
  1334. 42:58interview. Like imagine if you guys had
  1335. 43:00to have someone I talk and then we wait
  1336. 43:01for this guy over here to just tell you
  1337. 43:03what I said. It's like come on. You
  1338. 43:05know, those are boring subtitles or
  1339. 43:06whatever. And so a lot of times they'll
  1340. 43:09just say, "Okay, just do it. Just do it
  1341. 43:10in that language." You know, the real
  1342. 43:12challenge will be when I try and do it
  1343. 43:13in a language I don't really speak like
  1344. 43:15Portuguese. Like I can we can get by,
  1345. 43:17right? You know some Spanish, you know
  1346. 43:19Italian, you can get by. But if they ask
  1347. 43:20me to give an interview, I would do it
  1348. 43:22just for the challenge, you know? But
  1349. 43:24stuff like that's going to come up. I
  1350. 43:25have no doubt. Portunol, is that what
  1351. 43:27they call it? When you mix Spanish and
  1352. 43:29Portuguese, I mean they're cousins. I
  1353. 43:32always say Latin based languages,
  1354. 43:34Italian, French, Spanish. If you say
  1355. 43:35enough words over and over again, you're
  1356. 43:37probably going to understand something.
  1357. 43:39Yeah. Yeah, totally. Will, it's been an
  1358. 43:42amazing opportunity to hear all of these
  1359. 43:44different insights into why people
  1360. 43:46should learn a language, how they can
  1361. 43:48learn a language, and the passion behind
  1362. 43:50that in your case. Do you have any final
  1363. 43:52messages for anyone watching this video?
  1364. 43:55Man, you know, I it's always funny when
  1365. 43:56I get these at the end there's so much I
  1366. 43:58want to tell people, but at the end of
  1367. 44:00the day, I want to bring it back to seek
  1368. 44:02to understand and seek to be understood
  1369. 44:03as a motto for how you go about your
  1370. 44:05language learning. Because if you can do
  1371. 44:07that, that has layers, right? It's not
  1372. 44:10just in the language learning, but
  1373. 44:11that's also people to people, right? If
  1374. 44:13I try to understand you and your
  1375. 44:14language and your culture and your
  1376. 44:15stuff, like I told you, you're going to
  1377. 44:16go on the street, you're going to see
  1378. 44:17this guy's from Japan, you're going to
  1379. 44:19say something to him. He's going to be
  1380. 44:20like, "What is going on?" You have this
  1381. 44:21general human connection and
  1382. 44:23understanding. So, just enjoy every
  1383. 44:25aspect of your language learning and
  1384. 44:26forget forget all the rest. It's not
  1385. 44:29important. Your inner goal matters. Your
  1386. 44:32inner world, your inner state, that's
  1387. 44:33what matters in your language learning
  1388. 44:34ability and your journey. And that's it.
  1389. 44:36So, that's all I would say. Thank you so
  1390. 44:38much. Thank you very much.
  1391. 44:54Wow, that's really
  1392. 45:03[Music]
  1393. 45:05cool. Okay.
  1394. 45:20You have
  1395. 45:42So I lived on Reunion Island, right? So
  1396. 45:45they're French. It's an overseas
  1397. 45:46territory. But like how there's Jamaican
  1398. 45:49PWA or pigeon
  1399. 45:51English, you know, they're kind of
  1400. 45:54Nigerian English, the Crayos, they they
  1401. 45:56have their own language and identity. So
  1402. 45:58maybe we can teach you a couple phrases.
  1403. 46:01There you go. So to if you meet someone
  1404. 46:03from Reunion Island, they will say to
  1405. 46:05you instead of like they say
  1406. 46:10okay. And so
  1407. 46:12the
  1408. 46:15response that's cool,
  1409. 46:21oh instead of like
  1410. 46:24it also means like how are you? They
  1411. 46:27say like
  1412. 46:30wow. So
  1413. 46:42it's what do you want to eat? You say
  1414. 46:51so change a lot. Instead of like to say
  1415. 46:55like V, they say that's cool. That's
  1416. 46:59cool. Becomes
  1417. 47:04okay. One of my favorites to end on is
  1418. 47:06in Maician Crayo. It's an island right
  1419. 47:08next to next to Reunion Island. Yeah.
  1420. 47:10They have a word for maybe you can guess
  1421. 47:13the animal. Ka Ka.
  1422. 47:17So what animal doesn't run?
  1423. 47:21Oh, that's a good that's a good guess.
  1424. 47:23That's a great guess. But
  1425. 47:32exactly because it doesn't run. Okay.
  1426. 47:35So, but um well, again, thank you so
  1427. 47:38much.
  1428. 47:47How in Croatian do you say FA.
  1429. 47:51It's spelled H V A L A
  1430. 47:55Yeah. Great. Great. Great.
  1431. 47:58Graci Talk in both of the the Swedish
  1432. 48:01languages. Yeah. Yeah, that's it. No
  1433. 48:04problem. No worries. So, make sure you
  1434. 48:06check out Will on Gou Remy Languages.
  1435. 48:08He's on YouTube and all other social
  1436. 48:10platforms. Links are going to be in the
  1437. 48:11description below. And if you've taken
  1438. 48:13any value from this content, we'd really
  1439. 48:15appreciate if you subscribe. And in the
  1440. 48:17comments, let us know which languages do
  1441. 48:19you speak and how did you learn them?
  1442. 48:21Any tips or any things you disagree with
  1443. 48:23as well. We want to know everything. But
  1444. 48:25until next time, thank you very much and
  1445. 48:28Abanto.

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