How long does it take to learn a language? My wife has been learning to play the piano for a long time. She derives immense enjoyment from it. How long does it take to learn to play the piano? Maybe learning a language should be looked at in the same way. --- FREE Language Learning Resources 10 Secrets of Language Learning ⇢ www.thelinguist.com LingQ Grammar Guides ⇢ www.lingq.com/en/grammar-resource/ My blog ⇢ blog.thelinguist.com/ The LingQ blog ⇢ www.lingq.com/blog/ My Podcast ⇢ soundcloud.com/lingostevepodcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/learn-languages-with-steve-kaufmann/id1437851870 --- Social Media Instagram ⇢ instagram.com/lingosteve_/ TikTok ⇢ www.tiktok.com/@lingosteve Facebook ⇢ facebook.com/lingosteve Twitter ⇢ twitter.com/lingosteve LingQ Discord ⇢ discord.gg/ShPTjyhwTN

One of the things I enjoy the most is watching someone's face light up when you speak to them in their native language. It's beautiful.

Even in English its not like we know everything, that's why certain professionals get paid so much because they know a particular domain that others don't. Impossible to speak a single language 100%

It really depends. It took me around 10 years to get to C1 in English, but only a year to get to B2 in Portuguese

Steve's passion for learning is so inspiring! Even if I hadn't learned anything else from him, this lesson would've been enough: enjoy the process!

As Mr. Kaufmann says, it really depends on people. I also don't think we need to hurry. We have our own pace. Let's have fun with it and not stress.

I was very good at understanding english for like 10 yrs, i had no problem watching films or news broadcasts in english, and i understood everything. This was after many yrs of classroom learning and language exams. I wasnt very good with everyday communication though, because i didnt specifically practice that. Anyway, after spending a lot of time with natives, a couple of months was enough to get to a near native level. Speaking is the fastest way to learn to speak, but it helped a lot that i already knew the vocabulary.

Passed the Scottish version of the GCSE for French like 15 years ago. I don’t speak any french...all passing that taught me, was the language learning was something I was “bad at” and didn’t “have the genes” for =/ Until I stumbled butt first into Lingq, the polyglot community and Krashens comprehensive input ideas, after that I got to a confident level in German in about 4 months and am now pretty fluent and confident. Going back to french very soon to do it properly. Thanks Steve

Steve-san, nice to see you, I'm a middle-aged Japanese guy who have been interested in learning languages. "Enjoying the process of learning" is what refreshed my mind. As you might know, we, Japanese, want to be so perfect in everything. We're afraid of making mistakes, being a laughing stock, and in schools from 12yo, we've learnt English as if we could have learnt to decode Enigma. I've been interested in Russian. In my juvenile days, Mr. Gorbachev's speech fascinated me. His voice was so powerful as changed the world. But as soon as I saw the conjunction chart of nouns and adjectives, my mind was broken. 6 ways of conjunctions by three sex and plural, 6*(3+1)=24. I'll continue to learn Russian again, though it might be like a walk of a turtle.

I know its a frustrating question for language learners, but I do think that giving a number of hours needed for language goals is useful. When I started Japanese evening classes a few years ago I had no idea how hard it would be - after struggling for a while I came across the 'official' figure of 2200 classroom hours and it was quite a shock to me (but it did explain why I wasn't getting anywhere!). For me, having a reasonable total number our hours per day/week/year gives me a target and has helped me settle down with a realistic study pattern, and has helped me avoid the frustrations in not being able to read/communicate as much as I'd like - I know I'm a year or two away from that, and I'm comfortable with that now.

I am English teacher in Brazil and use many tips given by Steve in my own classes. His knowledge is a present for someone who likes to learn languages.

I began to get so discouraged in learning Korean. I've been learning for 2 years slowly but surely. I haven't engaged in Korean seriously for almost a month now. But after watching this it really encouraged me to continue 🙂

Got it ✔️ the secret to learn a language without stress is to enjoy the learning process

Excellent advice Steve, it is wonderful hear you, thank you.

Thanks so much for this inspiring video steve !

Hello Steve!! Thank you so much for the great video!

Thanks a lot for your videos, Steve. Much appreciated.

Steve, your ideas about languages are superb

Excellent!! My friend Steve, thank you for sharing about your experience.

This video felt like a breakthrough for me, I went from using the books (or a whole YEAR with not much success) to doing the things I wanted to (actually talking to natives of my target language) I struggle a lot but I'm getting more exposure to the language and more confident everyday and am learning it on my terms. Thanks Steve!

Wow, thanks Steve. Your words are so encouraging! I often pressure myself for not learning faster...or not speaking as well as I'd like to. I think i get it now. It shouldn't feel like a duty.

Thank you so much for these videos, Steve. I have been learning Mandarin for about a year and a half now, and I really have fallen in love with the process. I often still feel like a small child when trying to speak with others (lol), but it really hasn't deterred me. Thanks for all of the inspiration and insight!! Language learning will be a journey that I will walk for the rest of my life.

"Enjoy the process of language learning." J'avais besoin d'entendre ça. Je vais enregistrer cette vidéo pour la motivation. Merci Steve !

说得非常好，学无止境，终身成长，不断进步。

I listened to your answer word by word and I totally agree with everything you've said. Indeed at some point it feels like it's never ending but the sparkle of hope that you get when you feel that breakthrough is incomparable, that's the only thing for me that can fuel your motivation to keep moving even if you know that's an endless journey; and this video was somehow very promising to me as it got my hope back again, thanks for the informations you're sharing Steve.

Great video as always Steve! I just want to say that I have been learning Spanish now for about a year and a half, and I still can't "speak" it as fluently as I like. But I am still learning words every day! Eventually I will do it!

I like so much watching videos like that because it's helpfull to build a sense of what we need to focuss on to really improve your golas. Thanks!

Thanks Steve. Even I can't understand all vocabulary and sentence that you say but I enjoy to listening to you.

Totally agree, it's mostly about the journey itself. I feel that language learning is just like sports, you always exercise to stay fit, and most importantly, enjoy it 👌 Thanks for sharing your thoughts, insightful as always! 🙏

Thank you for the great video! From my own experience I can say that consistency and building a habit of everyday studies is really a key. It's really like learning playing an instrument. For instance, the Russian torfl standard states that you need approximately 100 hours to reach the A1 level. But in reality it's realistic only if you study 1 hour every day consistently and with a right approach. I'd say 100 hours is a minimum in reality. But ultimately it's just better to relax and study every day, and not think about big goals. This often turns out to be more efficient.

I love " what's the hurry" because it's true, everything takes time, also I'm just enjoying my language journey, learning Korean for about 2 months now. 😊 I'm along for the ride ❤❤ thank for videos!

Good valid points, enjoy the journey, what's the rush along with outside the classroom are so important. I'm learning Thai and teaching myself and not beating myself up with how slow I'm going.

I really appreciate your videos. They are great at keeping me motivated. I have recently had the "treading water" feeling as well. Thank you

I very much enjoy listening to your wisdom and your enthusiasm. I needed this. Now, instead of just doing some DuoLingo before bed, I'm going to do some grammar. Thanks for your videos, Steve Kaufmann.

You suggested several times Lernen: I bought it!!! I look forward to receiving It.

Hi Steve, I'm Mary from Uruguay ,many thanks to share your experience with languages with all of us, you are great, you really inspire everybody, you are admirable! Big huge from South América!🙏🙏

Thank you steve.This video teach me a lot and give me confidence.

How an intresting and practical recommendation. Thank you, indeed.

I really enjoy listening to your voice and your accent Steve :) It's been so many years , when I found you on the KZfaq for the first time. Since then I didn't make a huge progress in English to be honest, but I did some! :D. I think that the reason why my progress isn't huge is that because I listen to English too rarerly. Greetings from Poland :)

Wonderful teacher admire his knowledge

I break language acquisition down to the number of hours I've spent in active and passive learning. It took me 2000 hours to be highly conversational in French (native American English speaker). I'm at 1650 hours in Turkish and need at least another 800 hours to be highly conversational in Turkish

I learnt some Spanish from watching the end credits of Community, Season 1, Episode 2. Donde esta, la biblioteca - Where is the library? Me llamo T-Bone la arana discoteca. - My name is T-Bone the disco spider. Discoteca, muneca, la biblioteca. - Disco, doll, the library. Es en bigotes grandes, el perro, manteca. - Is in big moustache, the dog, butter. Manteca, bigotes, gigante, pequeno. - Butter, moustache, big, small. Cabeza es nieve, cervesa es bueno. - Head is snow (cocaine?), beer is good Buenos dias, me gusto papas frias - Good morning, I like cold potatoes. Bigote de la cabra es Cameron Diaz. - The goat's moustache is Cameron Dias.

Your arguments are amazing. I hope someday I can look back and talk about my language learning experiences, as you do! I wish I could help you with your Persian as it’s one of my mother tongues. من عاشق ویدیوهای شما هستم :)

You are one of the best teacher s thanks so much

As I was talking to myself this morning in Polish, I realized that I finally know more Polish--and am much better at speaking it--than Spanish. I had 3 years of Spanish in high school. I have been learning Polish (a language that the Foreign Institue says takes about twice as long to learn as Spanish) on my own for 1.75 years. So it's really hard to gauge how much time It will take to learn a language because it depends on 1, how much practice you do daily. I am now doing an average of 1 hour of Polish a day, which is a lot more time than I ever spent on Spanish. 2, the quality of your learning. I have used Duolingo, flashcards, and now LingQ. I think all are better than traditional classroom methods that emphasize grammar first. And 3, prior languages are a factor. Because I had learned verb conjugation in Spanish (which took a while because it was such a foreign concept), I recognized it in Polish and learned the present tense conjugations in a day. In other words, because I already understood the concept, all I had to do was look and see what letters Polish does to accomplish the same thing. When I get to the point that I understand cases in Polish, then it wouldn't take me long at all to learn another inflected language, like German or Russian, because I will have already mastered the concept (which is what takes time); I will just need to learn the letters the new language uses to do the same thing. There's also the fact that the act of learning, especially a foreign language, rewires your brain and makes it easier/faster to learn more. And you figure out what technique works best for you, so you learn subsequent languages faster because you don't have to waste time again on things that don't work well.

Thanks for your words.

Thank you for the video 💕

Your videos are so amazing and it help for me so much because I haven't lose my motivation ☺️

I saw the title and my response was “it takes as long as it takes”. And unfortunately having learned two languages to a B2 level doesn’t mean I’m going to get there with my third 😂. It’s still just as painful and I question myself just as much. Learning Japanese kanji I don’t know how many times I googled how long does it take to learn kanji?? The answer is that it takes a long time. It will probably take you longer than anyone says on KZfaq.

2:50 This is absolutely the main advice someone can get from an experienced learner, we need to enjoy the process, enjoy making mistakes although sometimes it can be frustrating. I can remember how anxious I used to feel when I just started to learn English, it was always like there's someone holding a chronometer in front of you when actually there wasn't. But then when I just learned how to be quiet and enjoy the everyday process I realized that I was finally able to learn. It's been like 4 years since I decided to start this journey and currently I'm able to have amazing conversations on Cambly and to meet incredible people from all around the world.

Thank you for the video.

What's the hurry - the best explanation. Couldn't agree more.

Great analysis! Not only in the classroom (travel), never ending (tao of life), enjoying the process (singing, meeting people, movies...), don't focus ou your mistakes... Immersion in the country is a great tool too to stay motivated but you have to be well prepared and have a nice experience when travelling, no so easy to achieve... Especially for languages like Russian, Chinese, Croatian... an immersion is a must to trigger the desire to go on! Time is not so important, opportunities are! For instance, as I have new Chinese neighbours, I have resumed with learning Chinese for the third time in my life. My project to move to Croatia made me start learning Croatian at over sixty years old.

as usual it's an inspiring teacher for his students.

love your advice

You just made me remember how much they drilled je jouer au foot and je jouer du piano. The GCSE didn't get me far after 5 years of learning in school. Just after starting to self learn I'm realising how slow the classes were. Also thanks for the mini stories and lingq in general

Its great to see you and hear your voice,I can't wait for the new version of lingq

Excellent ideas!!

You are amazing teacher

I love your english class is great the way that you teach is great thanks a lot bye best wish

Thanks for the video

Great video as usual

great topic and video

Top man Steve 👍

Hi Steve, I live in the UK and have experience of GCSE language learning. Perhaps my school was particularly bad but in order to pass the spoken test, the schoolteacher took us as students one by one out of the classroom and into the corridor with a tape recorder. She then proceeded to tell us exactly what questions she was about to ask AND gave us the answer in French which we should parrot back to her. After two years of studying towards GCSE french I could say nothing more than je voudrais un orangina, sil vous plait.... The amount of time spent on foreign language instruction through outdated, ineffective and inefficient techniques is borderline criminal. I have friends who studied German for 7-8 years through school and then college who insisted that they just translated word for word (with the same word order) between the two languages.

I have been learning Spanish for 2 months now through combination of grammar book, a book that shows similar words in English and Spanish, language learning app, Spanish music only, Netflix in Spanish with English subtitles and practicing each day with native speakers for a few minutes per day. I am enjoying it but I realize it will take me likely one year or more before I will feel confident with conversational Spanish with native speakers.

Thank you so much!

It's interesting. Always when I hear from some stranger mentioning Czech, I just start paying attention more, cause it's not often to see someone learning my native language.

Interesting. I’m a native English speaker. I began learning Turkish whilst watching Turkish films 3 years ago. I recently started working with a tutor. The language hasn’t clicked yet, but I’m understanding more of how the language works.

Whenever I get gloomy, I watch one of your videos, and they inspire me to keep going. I chuckled at the comment about the GCSE bureaucrat deciding which grammar rules to test the student upon - it's practically Kafka-esque and very true in the modern world. Seems that we've lost our way from being a learner-oriented society to now a teacher- and bureaucrat-driven society fixated on artificial gatekeeping. The idea of learning for pleasure now seems alien and foreign in the industrial world - almost as if it's self-indulgent or dilettante-ish; but then you remember that that's how children learn and how normal brains function - it's enjoyable, it's life-long, it's Taoist, and there's no bureaucrat to stamp something on your forehead at the end of the journey. Anyway. You are an inspiration. Never stop fighting the system. Thank you for your amazing wisdom and amazing content.

Great advice! :)

After studying Latin and classical Greek I found learning many other derivatives from said languages easier. If you have a base in some of the classical languages modern languages come a lot easier.

Firing on all cylinders! : ) Probably one of your best videos. : )

I’m a Japanese learner of English. I’ve been interested in languages since I was a junior high school student. I’m good at reading and writing English. But I’m poor at listening to and speaking English.😇 Sometimes I study, sometimes I’m tired and then quit studying. However, I’ve wanted to comprehend and speak English someday since that day. I often struggle English but I believe your words and I continue learning that language with joy😊

I'm Iranian . I'm really glad to hear you learning Persian .☺️☺️☺️

great one

To enjoy the journey not the destination. No words ring any more true.

As someone who plays piano (as an amateur), that analogy was clarifying.

Merci mon professeur

You are very right, I agree with thee.

Good stuff👍👍💯

Exactly! It's small goals that you reach a long the way that you need to savor and look forward to. It's the "I can now order in x language at a restaurant." Be excited about little things. Even if you can do it roughly, who cares? You're improving. Some think that language learning is pointless until you can hold a lengthy conversation, without making mistakes, with a native speaker. That's not true. Enjoy the little successes along the way.

Yeah, I think this depends a lot on the target language, on what languages we already know and on how much learning intensity we can realistically achieve. For example: Indonesian is grammatically simpler (thus easier) than Korean or Polish - that's just a kind of immutable characteristic. And a Spanish speaker will almost certainly find it much easier to learn a related language like Italian than would someone who only knows, let's say; Japanese. If a learner is deeply immersed in the target language (typically by having heavy contact to native speakers through force of circumstances) he or she can get more contact time per day with the language than someone studying more remotely. I guess one can use satellite TV or the internet for remote immersion - but there would have to be the mother of all motivation to replicate actual physical immersion, in my opinion.

I started learning Russian 4 months ago (again!). I take private lessons 4 hours a week, I moved to a country where Russian is spoken (Uzbekistan) and I watch youtube videos in Russian. So far, I have learned a lot. I am able to communicate basic stuff, i can easily go to the restaurant and order food, take a taxi etc.

Спасибо. Интересно.

I like this old man, he is clear and wise

انا مصريه اعيش بكندا وبحاول اتعلم اللغه الانجليزيه من عام تقريبا والان اجد نفسي افهم واتحدث بشكل صحيح الي حد ما I'm an Egyptian, living in Canada, and I've been trying to learn English for about a year, and now I find myself understanding and speaking correctly to some extent. Thank you so much Steve I’m always trying to lesson to your Accent is very useful for me ❤️❤️

Hi Steve big fan! At the moment I'm studying Japanese and I know a good amount so far. My only issue is that I'm afraid to speak to natives because i hate running out of topics to talk about and Im not exactly sure what to do. Normally i prepare topics beforehand but I've almost run out of things to say. How do you go about speaking to natives when you learn a new language?

The hurry is, you need to pass important language tests for which you are given 2 years max. That is the hurry. Still appreciate all the advice.

Omg you know czech :') That genuinely made me smile

I'm a DLI-FLC grad, so I can explain the FSI numbers that you see. Firstly, students take an attitude test and are placed in languages that they are most likely to get working proficiency in in the allotted time. The length of the course is based on stats of previous grads and whether they made it to working proficiency. (This level is not particularly proficient, but higher than beginner.) Students generally study a couple of hours after the six hours a day of class.

I’m curious what you feel about Arabic vs Chinese in terms of difficulty so far.

Big respect sir kaufmann

It is possible to learn a minimal conversational layer of the language. But to learn a language deeply, you need to accept the cultural code of the country whose language you are learning, otherwise it will not work. Plus, the language changes and evolves, new words and expressions appear - and you can't "learn" the language until the end, once and forever even if you devote 20,000 hours to it.

the moment I see the notifications, my brain is like voilaa some enjoyment.

What's the hurry? There are thousands of languages in the world. If we could learn fast, we could learn more languages.

thanks

受教了. 谢谢 :)

im a beginner in self learning korean, 3 months. Im struggling a little bit. i love listening to people talk in different languages, sence i was young. im enjoying myself in the process even if i cant get out of beginner and move up to elementry stage.

This is true is a continue process I agree