Hi there steve kaufman here today

i want to talk about how to learn

languages on your own [Music] so
it doesn't really matter whether
you're at a school or entirely on
your own to my mind to be a
successful language learner you
have to be independent it is you
and the language so it i think the
first part of learning languages on
your own is to have that
independent mindset i'm going to
learn this language and so that it's
my responsibility all the things that
happen during my journey to
fluency are going to be you know
dependent on me the learner that i
think that's that's the first thing
that's very important to be
independent so this is going to
affect the language learning
 material that you search for the
grammar rules that you look for
explanations about whatever you
do is going to be dependent on you
the learner and remember i've
mentioned this before the sort of
three keys to language learning that
i once heard from a professor at
san diego university in the states
language learning success depends
on three things your attitude the
time you spend with the language
and your ability to notice now the
ability to notice will develop on its
own if you have the right attitude
and if you spend enough time so
enough of the theory and i should
say too that the importance of
being independent and responsible
for your own actions doesn't just
apply to learning languages it
 applies to so many things in life
you have to take charge whatever
happens to you are things that may
be beyond your control what is
within your control is how you
react to these things and so with
language learning you know it can
be lonely it can be a bit frustrating
therefore anything that makes it
easier uh obviously is a good thing
so i i want to digress a little bit by
mentioning you know how link
helps me be an independent
language learner one feature is the
playlist or in my own case i tend to
go to you know listen to the course
audio so that i always have the
audio of whatever course i'm on
with me i can be listening in the
car on sort of bluetooth through my
car radio i can be listening on my
 airpods while i'm working out
while i'm doing the dishes so it
makes me sort of my own language
learning you know language lab
with me all the time i think that's
important okay you may want to
sort of say well now how do i get
started i know nothing i know don't
know the language i know nothing
well because you're going to be an
independent language learner you
have to make investments so you
are going to invest in books at least
i do so you know i have not ever
tried learning dutch we have dutch
at link one day i think i will tackle
dutch and so i saw this book
essential dutch grammar it's in the
uh dover i believe series and these
are excellent grammar books
because they're very small very
 thin no exercises no drills which i
avoid like the plague i just want a
brief overview initially of the
language which i can flip through
and then i need this as a reference
from time to time i go back to it so
that's one investment you can also
invest in starter books which also
will give you a bit of an overview
of the language and some sort of a
bit of content second thing about
language learning is the need to
find content all the time major
activity is looking for content when
i was a language student in hong
kong i spent a lot of time in the
bookstores and in behind me here
lots of books chinese books
chinese with glossaries after every
chapter but i was constantly
looking for new material even
 though i had material already i
would buy stuff that i think i'm
going to need in the future because
you can never get enough you
know content in terms of starter
books it to me it almost doesn't
matter which starter book you use
you can use several starter books
one common theme as an
independent language learner is it's
good to cover the same material in
different books it's good to cover
you know sort of grazing
interleaving it's good to you know
do typically these starter books
have you at the restaurant and the
post office and stuff like that do it
in different books and this is again
it's true for studying anything if
you're doing history you're better
off to read three different books
 about the same period in history in
order to finally have the sort of get
an understanding and remember
some of the key events and so forth
if you've covered them from
different perspectives the same is
true in language learning now i
have a preference now for our
many stories but i do believe that
they're typical of the kind of story
that is a great way to get started as
an independent learner but if you're
learning polish you could use
pyotr's material at realpolis.pl if
you're learning english aj hogue is
a wonderful source of these kinds
of stories or content with you know
different points of view circling
questions lots of repetition you're
listening to it over and over again it
becomes almost hypnotic you're
 listening to it and slowly this
material is washing over your brain
and getting the brain used to the
language you're not worried about
writing exams you're not worried
about doing drills answering
questions you're just letting the
language come in listening and
reading every so often if you're
curious about the point of grammar
you can look it up you can google
the conjugation of a particular verb
if you're unlinked you can when
you look up the the word in the
dictionary we also have a
conjugating dictionary so you can
look at the conjugation and then
forget it don't try to ace anything or
master anything or remember
anything just keep letting the
language wash over you so as an
 independent learner that's sort of
the initial period now if you if
you're in a a classroom
environment the learning still is
done by you as an independent
learner and what you do outside
the classroom is at least as
important as what you do inside
the classroom because inside the
classroom the teacher decides what
you're going to study the teacher
decides what they're going to teach
you you may not be interested in
what they're teaching you ready for
that particular point of grammar as
an independent learner after the
classroom you go home and you're
curious about a certain tense or a
certain you know declension you
can look it up so you the attitude of
an independent learner doesn't
necessarily mean that you aren't in
a formal class it just means that
you are determined you have made
the decision that you are going to
learn this language uh so so the
initial period i i definitely
recommend repetitive listening to
relatively simple stories with high
frequency vocabulary now the next
stage and i've said this many times
is to find material that is now
interesting authentic but not too
difficult there is a shortage of that
kind of material but it does exist
and so here again you've got to
look on the internet search for the
material you can get on our forums
at link and see what other people
have recommended very often
anything that's of a conversational
nature podcasts these kinds of
 things are going to be easier than
more formal material like a book
or something and even when you
move towards authentic material
like books i have found because
i'm interested in history non-fiction
for example history is easier than
literature i'm more familiar with
the subject matter the vocabulary
used is sort of more relevant to
things that are of interest to me
than more literary language but as
an independent learner you have to
move from the sort of relatively
easy call it sheltered protected
material with lots of repetition uh
you have to move from that to uh
you know genuinely authentic
material where you are going to be
driven more by your interest in the
subject matter than uh the sort of
 effort to learn the language after a
while you're not saying i want to
learn the language i want to learn
the language which is how you're
motivated at the beginning but
rather i'm interested in what they're
talking about and therefore i am
learning the language because i am
pursuing my interests now learning
a language can be a lonely activity
it can be all-consuming uh if you
are spending an hour a day it's not
too bad if you're spending two or
three or four hours a day you get
consumed in this thing and it starts
to take a space in your brain which
can lead sometimes to a sense of
frustration and so you sometimes
you have to take a break from it it
also helps in my view to have some
sort of very specific goals like here
again at link we have you know uh
goals in terms of number of of
links created in other words
number of words you have saved
number of words you have learned
number of words you have read so
that as you're in this fog of trying
to you know come to grips with
this language and sometimes
feeling as if you're not making
progress if you can see that
actually i have read so many words
i have you know learned so many
words these very concrete goals or
milestones can be motivating and
help keep you moving when you're
in the doldrums and make no
mistake that there will be periods
as an independent language learner
where you're doubting yourself
doubting your ability feeling a
 sense of frustration and you just
have to persevere you have to keep
going through that and that's where
obviously your original
commitment as well as your
interest in the subject matter so it
doesn't matter if i'm improving
because i'm enjoying what i'm
doing but also some of these
specific you know concrete goals
uh can help you okay i'm kind of
i'm fighting the language right now
but at least i i saved a hundred
words or i i read so many words or
these kinds of things that can kind
of confirm to you that you actually
are moving because make no
mistake as long as you continue to
spend time with the language
listening reading speaking writing
and uh if you remain motivated
 and even if the motivation flags a
little bit the more time you spend
with the language the better you
are getting the brain is absorbing
all of this uh stimulus and forming
patterns out of it and sometimes
you have the impression that you're
not making any progress and all of
a sudden surprisingly you know
three months later certain things
come together for you so to that
extent i think being in a classroom
can be motivating because you're
with other people you have a
teacher hopefully stimulating you
you have other people that you
meet it's a social it's a get-together
opportunity uh learning entirely on
your own for some people can be a
bit of a lonely experience although
i think it's it's the more efficient
way to learn is to do it on your own
listening reading writing and then
getting online you know if you're
not in the classroom i mean
eventually you have to speak but
you can find people online there's
italki and or a link we have tutors
so you can get on and talk to
people because every so often you
know you can't just be listening
and reading totally in your own
little cocoon you you want to
connect to people you want to see
what you can say get some reaction
from other people and so therefore
i think it is important to connect
with people online in my own case
two or three times a week would be
a lot uh and and then i get of
course the reports from my tutor
which i analyze and slowly i i
 improve my accuracy in the
language so thank you for listening
bye for now .

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