how i learned 7+ languages: tips no one talks about (for some reason)

Most people fail at language learning

not because it's hard, but because they

ignore the easy stuff that actually

works. [music] Hey kids, it's me and

I've tried just about every language

learning method you can imagine and

after years, years of trial and error, I

realized the things that actually work

do not get that much attention because

they're not very glamorous. Like sure,

putting a bunch of sticky notes around

your house with Spanish words on them,

it seems like a cool life hack, but it's

kind of gimmicky. They all fall on the

floor after a couple of days. Like who's

who's cleaning that up? Not me. So, here

are a few tips that actually changed how

I learn languages. We're going to cover

things like pronunciation, vocab,

staying consistent, all that good stuff.

I'm also going to give you a sneak peek

of my language study guide, so let's

[music] get into it. So, number one,

learn words in chunks. Do not just

memorize them by themselves. And I want

you to think of this method kind of like

meal prepping, but more on that later.

When we first learn words in a language,

we often take notes or make flashcards

with just the word itself out of

context. So, for example, llorar in

Spanish, to cry. If you learn a word

like this, you have to do a lot more

thinking when you actually speak the

language because you're manually having

to apply the grammar rules every single

time. Like if you want to tell someone,

"Don't cry." You think, "Okay, I have to

conjugate llorar in the you form, which

normally ends with an S, but it's a

negative command, so that means it

switches to an E instead of [music] an

A. So, okay, I got it. No llores." And

that's great, you found it, but that

took so much work and the person already

started crying. So, so this is where the

meal prepping comparison comes in. And

yes, I love eating so damn much that I

came up with this myself. With meal

prepping, the idea is you cook once up

front and then you can eat several times

without repeating all the same effort.

Like you don't have to go shopping and

get the ingredients out and then wash

the damn pot every time. And language

learning works the exact same way. So,

like when you learn a chunk of words

like no llores instead of just the

single isolated word llorar, you're

basically pre-cooking your sentences.

[music] Like you've already done the

mental prep work once. So, when it's

time to speak, you can just grab these

like ready-made phrases that you learned

[music] and use it. You don't need to

cook the grammar every single time. So,

yeah, for example, don't practice the

French words aller, marcher, and je

separately. Just learn the sentence je

vais au marché and practice that. Like

that's how natives store language in

their brain, so why shouldn't you? Next

one. So, whenever you read in your

target language, always, always read out

loud. If you don't, you are literally

wasting free pronunciation practice.

Instead of just practicing one skill,

which is, you know, reading

comprehension, you could be practicing

pronunciation on top of that. So, I just

see it as like a missed opportunity if

you don't. But at least a missed

opportunity for what? I'm so glad you

asked. I think it has a couple of great

effects. When I speak out loud what I

read, I think I connect with the text

more and I comprehend easier because

it's not just like passive. I'm not just

glazing over the words. Like I'm

directly engaging with what I'm reading

and producing the sounds. Another thing,

reading out loud is one of the easiest

ways to build up speaking confidence,

especially if you're still like a

beginner and you don't feel like jumping

into a conversation yet. If you're just

reading out loud on your own, no one can

judge you. Yay. And you can find out

what sounds are difficult for you and

just get those [music] like micro reps

of speaking practice. I've already done

two gym bro references in this video. I

don't even work out. I definitely notice

that reading out loud always, always

transfers into my next conversation.

Like I find myself not tripping over

words so often and I just feel like a

lot more confident speaking. So,

whenever you're reading in your target

language, you might as well read it out

loud. Like it can only help. Numero

trois, shadowing. I wasn't sure if this

fits within the topic of the video

because I feel like people do talk about

this technique. I have before, but I

feel like it's only people that are

already in the like online language

learning zeitgeist community. So, like I

still think the average person doesn't

know about this method, so I'm including

it. Shadowing is one of those techniques

that feels weird, especially in the

beginning, but it works so insanely

well. [laughter] It's when you listen to

native speakers and you just repeat what

they're saying [music] in real time.

Like you just repeat after them. You

copy their rhythm, their tone, their

pronunciation as closely as you can. And

so, it trains your mouth and your ear at

the same time and it forces your brain

to like process natural speech [music]

speed instead of like textbook pace.

Even just 5 minutes of shadowing a show

or like YouTube video every day can

completely change your accent and your

flow in a very short amount of time.

Let's let's do a little demo, shall we?

I have here a French documentary and I'm

going to show you in real time how to do

shadowing. Sound good? Okay.

So, that is pretty much the short and

long of it. I kind of just wait until

the line is finished and then I repeat

after them as close as I can.

As close as I can. If you want to start

shadowing, but you don't know what to

use, I really, really recommend using

Lingopie, which is what I was just

using. It's a streaming platform with

real TV shows and movies in your target

language, so you can actually pick up on

how people speak in real life, not just

like textbook phrases. The best part is

that it's made for learners without

feeling like, you know, {quote} unquote

study time. Like they have double

subtitles and they're interactive. So,

you can just like click on a word or

phrase to see what it means, hear how

it's pronounced, and even save it as a

flashcard. It's just it's such an easy

way to get real input without like

stopping every 5 seconds to Google

something. Like if you're watching a

Spanish show and someone says, "Ah, no

te preocupes." You can click it, see

what it means, and just, you know, keep

it in mind moving forward. That's the

kind of context that actually makes

words stick. And Lingopie is perfect for

shadowing because they have all these

tools. They have speed controls. You can

also make it auto pause at the end of

every sentence. Very thoughtful and very

cool feature. I love that. So, it's

really nice. You're you're getting

pronunciation practice, listening

practice while just essentially sitting

on your butt watching TV. That's it's

really the best of both worlds. You're

learning and still relaxing at the same

time. I will drop the link below if you

want to try out Lingopie. There's a free

trial and it's just amazing. It's one of

those tools that makes learning not feel

like a ton of work, so

can't ask for more. Now, this next one

is going to be just like a cluster of

tips all relating to consistency and how

to be more consistent in language

learning. Since honestly, the question I

get the most from you guys is just how

the hell do I stay consistent? My first

thought is that you guys might be

mistaking what consistency actually is.

Like it does not mean grinding every

single day whether you feel like it or

not. It does not mean one specific

activity or like a certain amount of

time per day or per week because then

you just end up with this very narrow

definition of what counts as language

practice and you just get into this mode

of like policing yourself. Like, "Have I

done enough? Have I done enough?" And

the second you don't fall within that

like very narrow definition of what

enough is, you feel bad about yourself,

duh, which is not motivating and it just

makes you more inconsistent because you

think, "Oh, why should I try? I already

failed." So, by not being more flexible

about what your language practice can

look like, you just set yourself up to

fail. Instead, how about we redefine

what consistency is and just talk about

some ways to be consistent. Consistency

to me, it just means having a system

that works for your schedule and your

energy levels and being able to meet

yourself wherever you're at. But, what

does that look like practically? It

could look like having an energy menu

where you write down language tasks for

like high, medium, and low energy days.

For example, high energy would be like

speaking [music] for 15 minutes and

recording it or writing a short essay,

whereas low energy would be like

listening to music in the language or

just listening to a podcast while you

fold laundry. By doing this, you're

accepting that you're not always going

to wake up the same person, but you're

still committed to keeping contact with

your target language. And by the way, if

you want a pre-made energy menu along

with like a guide of over 60 fun

language learning methods explained step

by step, you should check out my

Polyglot Playbook. You can try it for

free, a little sampler version. I'll

leave you a link in the description. I

originally made this just for myself to

spice up my language studies and use it

like, you know, a study menu kind of. It

makes me so much more consistent because

I don't have to think so hard about how

to study every day. I just pick an

activity and then I do it. It's got tons

of tips and resources that I put in

there, so you don't have to look for

them. And Lisa recently sent me this

very sweet email saying that she loved

it and where can she tell people that

she loved it? So, I'm just going to put

it in this video. Link is below. Try it

for free. It's it's free. Anyhow,

consistency can also look like linking

your language practice to specific

rituals. Like after coffee, I do my

vocab practice or on walks, I listen to

a podcast. Which I've been doing this

ritual thing a lot recently. The effect

is when your brain associates something

with language learning, it just becomes

automatic. There used to be times where

I would go like 5 days without even

thinking about language learning and

then I would realize it and be like,

"Damn, I haven't time for it." But you

don't need to make time for it, {quote}

unquote, if you make it something that's

just like interwoven with your everyday

rituals. So, like in my case, for

example, in the morning when I'm washing

up and getting ready for the day, I

listen to a podcast in my target

language. Then I record myself speaking

for 10 to 15 minutes [music] after I

make myself breakfast and I eat it while

I watch the video back and I take notes

on what I could do better. So, my daily

language practice is like very

interwoven into my morning routine. And

it's so nice for a couple of reasons.

One, I've accepted that I need to do my

main language practice in the morning

cuz I know I'm not going to do it if I

wait for the evening. I get too tired.

So, I can fit that in. And since this

routine combines two things, like my

regular morning care and my language

learning, there's kind of like a tandem

accountability where I make sure that I

get both things done because I have

struggled in the past with things like

consistently eating a good breakfast in

the morning. So, yeah, I take care of

myself and I also get to be consistent

with my languages. There's like a

psychological link between these

activities for me. Now, another thing

that helps me be a lot more consistent

with my language learning is having

designated days for different skills or

languages. So, there's no longer a huge

question every day of like, "Oh, what do

I do today? What do I practice today?"

And it just gets rid of that like

decision fatigue. For me, I study French

Monday and Tuesday, so there's that.

Those are my French days and I know what

to expect. And on Monday, I do input, so

that's listening or reading, sometimes

some flashcards as well. And on Tuesday,

I do output, so speaking or writing. So,

because I'm so specific about what I do

on which days, I have a lot clearer path

to actually getting my language practice

in for the day. But all in all, the

thing that really defines consistency, I

can't say that word anymore. The thing

that defines consistency the most for me

is just doing something rather than

nothing. Like whatever you do, no matter

how little, it's always the better

decision than just avoiding it and

procrastinating it because you're

anxious and you already fell off for 2

days, so what's the point? I've played

that game and it's not fun. And it's a

lot more fulfilling to just do

something. So, if you can't do 30

minutes of listening practice, just do

five. If you can't find the time for a

speaking class this week, just review

your notes from last week and, you know,

write some practice sentences.

Consistency is not about never missing a

day, it's just about building a routine

that's realistic enough that you do not

have to quit and crumble to a million

pieces every time life gets messy, which

it will. Thank you for watching this

video. I hope it was helpful and let me

know what languages you're learning down

in the comments below. And seriously,

check out my Polyglot Playbook. You can

get a sampler version of it for free.

I've gotten a ton of rave reviews on it

and it's like all the things that you

need to learn a language on a plate.

Again, thanks for watching and à la

prochaine. See you next week. Bye.