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I speak 12 languages - copy my 30 min learning routine — Transcript

by Mikel | Hyperpolyglot · 3,551 words · 538 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00Before you watch another second of this
0:01video, I need you to answer one question
0:04honestly. How long have you been trying
0:06to learn a language? 2 years? 5 years?
0:09Maybe you started in high school and
0:11you're still not fluent. Here's the
0:13brutal truth that nobody in the language
0:15learning industry wants you to hear. 90%
0:19of people who try to learn a language
0:21never even make it to a level where they
0:23can have basic conversations. 90%. That
0:26means that if you're watching this right
0:28now, statistically you're probably going
0:31to fail. Unless you do exactly what I'm
0:33about to show you in the next few
0:35minutes. My name is Michael and I speak
0:3712 languages. I developed a fast and
0:40efficient language learning system at
0:43the Innovation Center of the University
0:45of Deusto. I'm not going to waste your
0:47time with theory and I'm not going to
0:48give you some motivational speech about
0:51how you can do it if you believe in
0:52yourself and enjoy the process. None of
0:55that nonsense. I'm going to give you the
0:57exact three-step system that took me
1:00from zero to conversational in weeks,
1:03not years, over and over again. And it
1:05worked for thousands of my students as
1:07well. And if you stay until the end,
1:09I'll show you one more technique that
1:11accelerates everything by at least 50%.
1:14And by the way, this is not about
1:16learning effortlessly the lazy way. This
1:18is hard work. Most people won't do this
1:21and that's why most people fail. Let's
1:24get into it. First, I need to destroy
1:26some lies you've been told. Lie number
1:28one, you need to study grammar to speak
1:31a language. This is the biggest nonsense
1:33in language education. Think about it.
1:36When you were 2 years old, did your mom
1:38sit you down with a textbook and explain
1:40grammar rules? Did she give you
1:42multiple-choice exercises? No, of course
1:45not. You learned by listening and
1:47repeating sentences over and over again.
1:50And they constantly corrected your
1:51mistakes until you got it right. That's
1:54it. Grammar books are designed to make
1:56you feel like you're making progress
1:58without actually learning to speak. You
2:00can spend 5 years studying verb
2:02conjugation tables and still freeze the
2:04moment a native speaker asked you a
2:06question. I know lots of people who know
2:08the grammar rules in English but can't
2:10have a basic conversation. That's
2:11actually most people in Spain after a
2:14few years of English classes in the
2:15school system. It's really horrible. You
2:18don't need grammar. Grammar is a side
2:20effect of learning a language, not a
2:21prerequisite. You don't need grammar at
2:23all. Throw away your grammar books. I'm
2:25serious. If you have one next to you
2:27right now, literally throw it in the
2:29bin. Or keep it just in case people
2:31start panicking again and holding toilet
2:33paper and supermarkets run out. Anyway,
2:36stop using it. It's slowing you down.
2:38Lie number two, apps make you fluent.
2:40No, they don't. Apps are, for the most
2:43part, a massive waste of time. Except
2:45one app I'll tell you about at the end
2:47of the video. You should definitely get
2:49that one. But most of them are complete
2:51waste of time, especially if they've got
2:53animals and bright colors. You know it's
2:55not made for smart people. So, let me
2:57ask you something. How many people do
2:58you know with a 500-day streak who can
3:01actually speak the target language?
3:03Zero? Yeah, that's what I thought. Those
3:05apps are designed to be addictive, not
3:07effective. They gamify learning because
3:10it keeps you coming back, not because it
3:12makes you fluent. You're not learning a
3:14language, you're playing a video game
3:17with a language theme. The points mean
3:19nothing. The streaks you have mean
3:20nothing and the little green all means
3:24nothing. What matters is this. Can you
3:27understand when someone speaks to you at
3:29a normal speed? Can you respond in a way
3:31that makes sense and sounds natural? Can
3:33you have a proper conversation? If
3:35you've been using these apps for months
3:38and the answer is still no, that should
3:40tell you everything you need to know.
3:41Lie number three, just immerse yourself
3:44and you'll learn naturally. This is the
3:46one that is causing the most damage
3:49lately. The immersion crowd loves to say
3:52things like, "Just watch TV shows in
3:54Spanish." Or "Just listen to podcasts."
3:57"Just surround yourself with the
3:59language." Sounds nice but doesn't work.
4:01Or rather, it works incredibly slowly
4:05and not for speaking. Yes, if you spend
4:076 hours a day watching content in your
4:09target language for 3 years, you'll
4:11eventually understand it.
4:13Congratulations, you just wasted
4:15thousands of hours doing something you
4:17could have done in weeks. Passive
4:19immersion is like trying to learn to
4:21swim by watching Olympic swimmers on TV.
4:24You can watch all day and you might
4:26learn something useful but unless you
4:28practiced properly you're still going to
4:30drown when you jump in the pool. Your
4:32brain needs active practice and your
4:35brain needs a system. And that's exactly
4:37what I'm about to give you. So, here's
4:38what actually works. Just three things.
4:40That's it. Three things done correctly
4:43and you will be having real
4:44conversations faster than you ever
4:47thought possible. Step one, build your
4:49sentence list. This is the foundation
4:52that changes everything. Most people try
4:54to learn random stuff. You memorize all
4:57kinds of random words because some app
5:00you're using gives you those words. And
5:02many of those words, you'll never use
5:04them in a real conversation. So, why are
5:07you learning them before words you
5:09actually use all the time? So, here's
5:11what you do instead. You create a list
5:14of every sentence you would actually
5:15need to say in real life. Not words,
5:18sentences.
5:20Full, complete sentences that you can
5:23use immediately. Think about your actual
5:25life. What do you talk about at work?
5:27What would you talk about with friends
5:29if you had them? What do you ask for at
5:31restaurants, at stores, or at the
5:33doctor? What are your hobbies or your
5:35opinions? What stories do you normally
5:37tell? These are all your language
5:39islands. Islands of vocabulary and
5:41sentences centered around topics that
5:44actually matter to you. Here's how you
5:46do this practically. For a few days,
5:48talk to yourself constantly. Yes, out
5:51loud. Yes, you'll look a little crazy
5:53but who cares? Use a speech-to-text app
5:56on your phone to capture everything you
5:58say. Narrate your entire life. When you
6:00wake up, say what you're going to do
6:02today. When you're making breakfast,
6:04say, "I'm going to have eggs and
6:06coffee." Or whatever you have for
6:07breakfast. When you're frustrated and
6:10bored at work, say, "This meeting could
6:12have been an email." Every single thing
6:14you say or think during the day, capture
6:16it. And after a few days, you'll have
6:18pages and pages of useful, valuable
6:21text. This is your personal blueprint,
6:24your language islands. These are the
6:26exact sentences you need to learn
6:29because these are the sentences you
6:30actually use. And now, use AI to
6:32translate all of those sentences into
6:34your target language. You'll end up with
6:36a few thousand sentences that are
6:37completely personalized to your life,
6:39not some generic textbook phrases that
6:42you'll never use. You learn your own
6:43phrases. This is the difference between
6:47learning for a test and learning to
6:49communicate. Now, here's something most
6:51people miss. When you learn full
6:53[snorts] sentences, you're learning
6:54grammar as well without studying grammar
6:57rules. You're not studying lists of
6:59Spanish tenses and conjugations. You're
7:02just learning them inside hundreds of
7:04examples and your brain absorbs patterns
7:07automatically. And after a few hundred
7:09sentences, you'll already feel what
7:11sounds right, just like a native
7:12speaker. No textbook required. Okay,
7:15this makes sense but how do you actually
7:17learn the sentences? Well, very simple.
7:20Step two, flood your ears with audio but
7:23not the way most people do it. This is
7:25where most people completely drop the
7:27ball. They hear you need immersion and
7:29lots of listening to learn a language
7:31and they start binge-watching YouTube
7:33videos in the language. That's mostly
7:36noise and it's not very helpful no
7:38matter how much you do it. Here's what
7:40you should do instead. Take all those
7:42sentences you prepared and translated
7:45and create audio files. You can use AI
7:47text-to-speech for this. Just make sure
7:49you're using a natural-sounding voice.
7:51And now you have audio for every
7:52sentence you need to know. Listen to
7:54those sentences on repeat. When you're
7:56commuting, you're listening. When you're
7:58working out, you're listening. When
8:00you're doing dishes, you're listening.
8:03When you're pretending to work in the
8:04office, you're listening to your
8:05sentences. Your goal is to hear each
8:08sentence so many times that you know
8:09exactly what it sounds like before you
8:12even hear it and you're able to
8:13reproduce it as well. At some point you
8:15should be able to predict the next
8:17sentence because you heard it so many
8:18times. And this does two things. First,
8:21it trains your ear to recognize the
8:23sounds and the rhythm of the language at
8:25full speed. No slowing down, no
8:27artificial pronunciation for beginners.
8:30Real speaking speed over and over till
8:32your brain adapts. But also, it embeds
8:35these sentences into your long-term
8:37memory without you having to consciously
8:40study. This is passive review and it's
8:43incredibly powerful if done right. While
8:46everyone else is wasting their time with
8:48YouTube videos or grinding through
8:50flashcards, you're absorbing the exact
8:52sentences you want to use. Now, here's
8:55the key. You're not just listening
8:56passively. Once you understand it
8:58easily, you also start shadowing.
9:00Shadowing means you repeat out loud
9:02exactly what you hear at the same time.
9:04This connects your listening to your
9:06speaking. You're training your mouth to
9:08produce the same sounds and you're
9:10building muscle memory for
9:11pronunciation. And you're making the
9:13language physical, not just mental. Most
9:16people listen but never speak and then
9:18they wonder why they struggle to string
9:20two sentences together. Your mouth needs
9:22to practice just like your ears do. So,
9:25shadow everything. Now, I know what
9:28you're thinking. How do I know if I'm
9:29saying it correctly? Great question and
9:31the reality of it is you won't know 100%
9:34but if you repeat the same exact
9:37sentences over and over again and you
9:39pay attention to what you're listening
9:41to, you'll gradually improve your
9:43pronunciation. And if you're a
9:44perfectionist, you can record yourself.
9:47Seriously, record yourself saying the
9:48sentences and then compare it to the
9:50original audio and you'll notice the
9:52differences in pronunciation a lot more.
9:54You can also send the your files to a
9:55native speaker if you want. And you keep
9:57adjusting and repeating. And this
9:59feedback loop will help you improve
10:00quickly. But don't worry too much about
10:03pronunciation and mistakes in general.
10:06Like I said at the beginning of the
10:07video, most people never get good enough
10:09at a foreign language to have even basic
10:11conversations. You're allowed to make
10:13mistakes. The vast majority of native
10:15speakers won't care. And if the
10:17occasional weirdo has something to say
10:19about your speaking not being perfect,
10:22chances are they are way worse at
10:24foreign languages than you are. And if
10:26you think about it, the people who feel
10:28the need to point out your mistakes when
10:30you're speaking, there's probably
10:31something very wrong with them in
10:33general. So, ignore those people. You
10:35don't want to interact with them anyway.
10:36When speaking the language, focus on
10:38communicating effectively, getting what
10:40you want, and having fun. And I know
10:42most people skip the speaking part
10:44because it's uncomfortable, especially
10:47in the beginning. It's not exactly fun,
10:49but this discomfort is actually good. It
10:51means you're improving. So, embrace it.
10:53Speak as much as you can because you
10:55will only get better, and it will only
10:57get easier. And speaking of hard work
11:00and improving fast, step three, active
11:02recall. Active recall is the single most
11:05effective exercise you can do to learn a
11:08foreign language. It's a non-negotiable.
11:10This is the step that separates people
11:12who kind of know a language from people
11:14who can actually speak it. Listening and
11:16shadowing are great, but they're still
11:18kind of passive. You're following along.
11:21You're not producing language. But
11:23active recall means you force your brain
11:26to produce the language from scratch.
11:29Just you and your brain struggling to
11:32remember. Here's how you do it. Take one
11:34of your English sentences, and without
11:36looking at the translation, try to say
11:38it in your target language. Don't just
11:40think it. Say it out loud. And then
11:42check if you were right. And if you got
11:44it wrong, that's fine. Nobody gets it
11:46right the first time. That struggle,
11:48that frustration, that's when your brain
11:50is actually learning. Getting it wrong
11:52and then seeing the correct answer
11:55creates a memory that sticks. Getting it
11:57right without any effort means you
11:59already knew it. And this is why
12:01comprehensible input alone doesn't work.
12:03You need to practice your ability to
12:05form sentences quickly. It's difficult,
12:08of course, but that's how building real
12:10skills works. You need to struggle. You
12:12need to get frustrated. That friction is
12:14when learning happens. So, do this
12:17daily. And the more the better. Maybe in
12:19small doses at first if you struggle to
12:21make yourself do it because it's hard,
12:23like when working out or doing anything
12:26hard. Start small and slowly increase
12:28the amount you do per day, and every day
12:30it'll get easier. Because every day
12:31you'll get better at it. Go through your
12:34sentences one by one, forcing yourself
12:36to produce them from memory. And over
12:38time, you'll need to check less and
12:40less. And one day, the sentences will
12:42just come out automatically without
12:44thinking. That's fluency. And that's
12:46what we're building here. Now, here's
12:48the advanced move that takes this into
12:50another level. Talk to yourself
12:52throughout the day trying to use your
12:53sentences in context. When you're about
12:55to send an email, try to narrate what
12:58you're doing in your target language.
12:59When you're ordering coffee, mentally
13:01rehearse how you'd say it. When you're
13:03complaining about something, do it in
13:05your new language first. You're
13:07basically role-playing your own life in
13:09another language. This sounds strange,
13:11but it's incredibly effective. You're
13:13creating real mental situations where
13:16you actually need the language, which is
13:18exactly what you'll face in actual
13:20conversations. The more you practice on
13:21your own, the less you'll freeze when
13:23it's real. And of course, do it aloud.
13:26So, the muscles in your mouth get used
13:27to it, too, not just your brain. Okay,
13:29now let me show you how all of this fits
13:32together in a typical day because a
13:33system is useless if you don't actually
13:36implement it. So, in the morning, you
13:38wake up, and while you're getting ready,
13:40you have your sentence audio playing,
13:42and you're shadowing while you brush
13:44your teeth, while you get dressed, etc.
13:46That's already 20 minutes at least of
13:48listening or shadowing without taking
13:51any extra time from your day. And then,
13:52you go to work. If you drive, the audio
13:55is playing in your car, and you're
13:56shadowing. If you take the public
13:58transit, you have your earbuds in
14:01listening. Maybe don't repeat sentences
14:03aloud on the public transport, or people
14:05will think you're insane. Unless you're
14:07in Berlin. If you do it there, it's
14:09probably fine. Anyway, the commute gives
14:11you another 30 or 40 minutes of exposure
14:13to the language, specifically to your
14:15own sentences. And then, at work, you
14:18probably have a lunch break. This is a
14:20good time to do 10 or 15 minutes of
14:23active recall. You go through your
14:24sentence list trying to produce each one
14:27from memory. You check yourself. You
14:30note which ones are hard, and you move
14:32on. This is high-intensity focused work,
14:36efficient. 15 minutes a day is enough if
14:39you're actually pushing yourself. And
14:41it's even better if you do multiple
14:44small sessions spread out throughout the
14:46day. And then, once you leave work in
14:48the afternoon, you can go back to
14:50listening to your sentences on the way
14:52home. You can also try to speak to
14:54yourself in the language using the
14:56sentences you keep hearing. If you speak
14:58to your phone, nobody will think you're
14:59crazy. And once you get home, I highly
15:01recommend you do a serious learning
15:04session that involves as much active
15:06recall as possible. Doing another 10 or
15:0820 minutes of active recall is already
15:11really good, but an hour or two, if you
15:13can manage it, would be great,
15:14especially if you do it before bed.
15:16Research shows that reviewing before
15:19sleep dramatically improves retention.
15:21Your brain processes and consolidates
15:23during sleep. Use that. So, total extra
15:26time this has taken from your day? Well,
15:28depends on how committed you are. And of
15:31course, the more you do it, the better.
15:33But it can take as little as 30 minutes
15:36of focused practice a day to do all of
15:38this because the rest it happened while
15:41you were doing other things anyway. Most
15:42people say that they don't have time to
15:45learn a language. What they mean is they
15:47don't have 3 hours to sit down in a
15:49classroom. You don't need 3 hours. What
15:51you need is to use your dead time
15:52intelligently. And here's what happens
15:54if you actually do this consistently. In
15:56week one, everything will be very hard.
15:59You'll be struggling to remember even
16:00simple sentences, and you won't be able
16:02to say anything at all. This is normal.
16:05Keep going. Week two, some sentences are
16:07already starting to stick, and you can
16:09correctly recall maybe 20 or 30% of the
16:12sentences without checking. Your ear is
16:14also starting to adjust to the sounds.
16:17In week three, things start clicking way
16:19faster. You're starting to notice
16:20patterns. Sentences that used to take 3
16:23seconds to say now take one. And a week
16:25later, you can already do basic
16:27conversations. Not perfectly, but
16:29functionally. You can understand when
16:31people speak to you slowly, at least
16:33about the topics you've been preparing
16:35for, and you can respond with real
16:37sentences, not just yes or no. You keep
16:40working on it, and in week six, you're
16:42genuinely conversational. You still make
16:45mistakes.
16:46You still have some gaps, but you can
16:47communicate. And you can express complex
16:50ideas. And you can understand most of
16:52what you hear as well. This is what's
16:54possible when you have the right system
16:56and discipline. Now, remember at the
16:59beginning I promised to show you one
17:01technique that accelerates everything.
17:03Here it is. We can call this pre-input
17:05comprehension, and it's a complete
17:07game-changer. Usually, when you start
17:09learning a language, you can't watch
17:11native content until you've already done
17:14a lot of learning. You watch a video in
17:16Spanish, and you understand maybe 10% of
17:20what they say, and that's being
17:21generous. So, that was 10% you already
17:24kind of knew, and then the other 90% was
17:27noise. Not much learning going on there.
17:29Your brain couldn't grab onto it because
17:32you had no framework. But here's how you
17:34fix that. Before you watch or listen to
17:37any native content, get the transcript.
17:40You can get the transcript of YouTube
17:42videos from the video description.
17:44That's also how other YouTubers copy my
17:46videos. So, you take the transcript, and
17:48you study it first. You memorize the new
17:51words you see in the transcript. And
17:53then, you watch the content. Now,
17:55suddenly, you understand way more. 70,
17:5980, maybe even 90%. And every sentence
18:02you hear reinforces something you just
18:04learned because your brain is making
18:06connections. You're not guessing
18:08anymore. You're recognizing. And this is
18:10how you can use native content for
18:12language learning early on effectively.
18:14This one technique will save you
18:16thousands of hours of wasted time on
18:19YouTube pretending to learn. It will
18:21help you understand native speaker
18:23content that is actually interesting
18:26fast. It turns any kind of content that
18:28is interesting but still
18:30incomprehensible into enjoyable practice
18:33that actually sticks. Try it once with
18:36content you're really interested in, and
18:37you'll never go back to learn beginner's
18:40Spanish with comprehensible input
18:42videos. Now, some of you are thinking
18:44that all of this sounds like a lot of
18:45work, and you're right. It is work.
18:48Anyone who tells you learning a language
18:50requires no effort is lying to you. But
18:52here's the difference. This is work that
18:55actually produces results. So, you can
18:58spend 2 more years with Duolingo and
19:00language classes and still not speak, or
19:03you can do 6 weeks of focused,
19:06intelligent practice and start having
19:09real conversations. It's more effort
19:11now, but you'll get dramatically better
19:13results, and long-term you'll spend less
19:16time learning the language. The question
19:18is whether you're going to keep doing
19:20what doesn't work or switch to what
19:22actually does. I've developed a language
19:25learning app that uses all these
19:27principles I just talked about, like
19:29language islands, shadowing, active
19:32recall, to learn languages actively and
19:34become fluent fast. If you're serious
19:37about language learning, check it out.

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