Have you tried a technique like the 2-Minute Rule before?

Excellent point and effective tip. Also good to remember that one never “knows” a language completely. Only a subset of it. Even your native language.

2-Minute Rule is not just for learning Spanish. It is for every learning process !!! Fantastic thing to apply in the school of life !!! Many thanks !!!

When you get old enough, you can’t remember what happened two minutes ago LOL.

I'm 73 and trying to learn Spanish so you know quite well that I needed to hear what you said about the two-minute rule. Thanks! Jack

One time, when I was just starting to learn Spanish, I was introducing myself to a Mexican gardener who was the brother of a lady I knew named Lily. I asked him, "¿Eres el hermoso de Lily?" The confused expression on his face and the embarassment I felt after Google translating what I had said was enough to deter me from speaking Spanish for a few months after.

I see some advantage to the 2 minute rule. But you can use one secret, magic phrase in Spanish, so that you will never be embarrassed by your mistakes. This phrase also gets you instant forgiveness for your mistakes. And might get you the best service in restaurants. And locals will go out of their way to help your broken Spanish like mine. The magic phrase is simply “Estudio español en Estados Unidos.” In English: “I study Spanish in the United States.” Americans are known for not caring about others’ languages. But everyone takes pride in their language. Foreigners are extremely honored to hear that an American is studying Spanish back in the US. They will look past your mistakes and you won't be embarrassed again. It might even get you better service. I've had foreigners say that they never knew that anyone in the US cares about learning Spanish.

I started learning Spanish at age 19 years old in January 2022 now I’m 20 years old and I speak Spanish beautifully

This video actually made me cry (in a good way) because it was a sort of a self reflection when it came to negative self-judgement. I’m a junior currently and am taking a Spanish class. I always wanted to learn Spanish or a second language in general because my family is Mexican-American and call speak Spanish most of the time. The reason I don’t is because my mom never really bothered to teach it to me (or my sisters) so I only have very basic knowledge of the Spanish language and have trouble with speaking and absolutely struggle reading words in Spanish. This causes me to always doubt myself because I feel bad that I can’t speak Spanish even though I feel like I should be able to (again, because I’m Mexican-American and was often teased by other Hispanics when I was younger because I could only speak English) and I get scared to speak what little knowledge I have of it. It feels like a one step forward, two steps back sort of thing. I do want to speak Spanish fluently, but the fear of messing up and just feeling bad that I can’t even speak it in general just makes me wanna give up. But watching this video gives me a sort of hope, that maybe I’ll be able to speak Spanish one day. (I’ll try to remember the two minute rule as well, thank you)

I really needed this. I have actually cried after an hour online class thinking I SHOULDN'T STILL make mistakes with es/está or tenia/tuve. It makes me feel SO stupid. Once a talked to a woman from Guatemala in a yoga class - we had a nice chat and she complimented my accent. On the way home I realized I had said a word wrong and I felt horrible and embarrassed for a long time. I will TRYYYYY to use the 2 minute rule! I think I feel a need to criticize myself as a statement that I know better! If I don't berate myself maybe I didn't really realize it was wrong? Or something?

Hi Andrew, I really appreciate this video! I speak English, Spanish, Sign Language, learned survival German when stationed in Germany and am learning French and Mandarin. I love languages and am not afraid to try to speak what I have learned. Mistakes happen and can be very funny, especially in a language I use frequently. I was in San Francisco and went to a Subway to get a sandwich. The woman at the counter greeted me in Spanish and asked what I wanted. I told her in Spanish my order and then she asked what kind of bread, to which I replied, pan de arena, she looked confused and I kept sayin pan de arena, finally, I said white bread, she shook her head and said, pan de harina, which I knew, but for some reason was stuck on the pronunciation as arena, I was quiet for a few seconds and said in English, oh, you don't have any sand bread, huh, at which we both started laughing, now I am more careful to order white bread instead of sand bread!

Me gustaba tratar de evitar hacer errors pero parece los más errors hago el más me aprendo. Tuve un profesor de matemáticas que ha dicho, "he aprendido de mis errores, he cometido muchos errores, por eso soy tan inteligente."

Agreed. Children are better at learning because they don't question so much as an adult.

Great tips Andrew. I get so frustrated when I cannot recall a meaning fast enough and feel "I should have known that". I am highly motivated to learn Spanish because I live in Chile - so I have to. But it is difficult to stay consistent when you knock yourself back. Also, living somewhere you think you it will just happen, but it does require hard work!

wow that is one great quote re: be humble in our aspirations, etc. !!

Tip I use: I type into Spanish translator the sentences I make up on the spot as I type my thoughts out and then click on English/Spanish translations to see if I have chosen correct Spanish. It is enjoyable and helpful in between reading Spanish literature and listening comprehension. The translator also has audio to assist with pronunciation.😊

Thank you Sir. I make mistakes when speaking to my mother and brother in law and it used to crush me. Your video and my husbands encouragement have helped me a lot thank you. I actually used "hoy" instead of "manana" when talking about when I needed to go to work. It was about 6 months ago and it still gets to me.

ALL THUMBS UP!! I have prepared myself for it since day 1 of studying German. There are things that children can beat us well and we have to admit that they are the ones teaching us some lessons. Thanks for sharing this insight for the language learners' community.

Wow, dwelling on my mistakes or fear of making them is definitely holding me back. I guess I see it as "why would I be motivated to fail?" I love these videos! Where have they been all my life?! Thank you!

I’ve once was told by a store associate buenas tardes and I said bien 😂😂😂😂I 100% just went into fight or flight and said the first thing that came to mind when I knew I should’ve said the same thing back. Only thing I have problems with is just being calm to think/say what I know instead of panicking

I am a Spanish teacher myself living in Jamaica and I am still struggling to learn the language, but ever since I found your channel I feel so much more confident. I love love your content. Thank you so much for sharing ❤❗

This video was in my feed. I’m an ESL teacher and I’m learning Spanish. Currently all my students are Spanish speakers, and I plan to explain some of these concepts to them. Thanks so much!

Wonderful video! Muchas gracias! I’m a 56 year old American who moved to Barcelona a year and a half ago. My learning of Spanish has been painfully slow. And when I make a very silly mistake in Spanish, I beat myself up over it for far too long and then I clam up and become afraid to speak in public. From now on, two minutes only!

Terrific video. I think that it's terrific that you address the mental challenges to tackling a foreign language. I'm glad I discovered the channel and will explore many more of your videos!

studying polish right now (although spanish started my love of language in high school), and this hits home. good stuff mate

This is brilliant, thank you for doing it! I'm also an adult foreign language teacher, and this is essential information for grown-ups. I've said these things in many different ways, but you've put it together so well! The 2-minute rule is new to me, this is great! I'll use this! Thank you.

Andrew, I loved his video... super clear and one of the few that deal head on with the fact that kids in a second-language-learning situation aren't actually learning all that much (in terms of vocab, grammar, etc). Most people have the mistaken impression that children learn a second language faster than adults. They don't realize, as you pointed out, that children are learning a tiny subset of the language. I remember a proud mom in Washington DC, the snobbery capital of the US when it comes to language learning, that announced to me that her daughter was trilingual. She insisted, contrary to what second language studies show, that children learn a second language faster than adults. When I challenged her, based on the extensive review I had done on the literature on second language acquisition, she cited her daughter as proof that kids learn faster than adults. Apparently, she spoke to her daughter in English, her husband in French, and the maid in Spanish. When I asked how old her daughter was, she said, "two." Hysterical! Because her daughter could babble a few words in three different languages, she was supposedly trilingual. BTW, you probably know that junior high kids learn faster than grade school, high school faster still, and college-age faster still. It apparently has to do with maturing of the brain and our ability to organize and use new information. People confuse the fact that there is a window of opportunity before adolescence where a child's brain internalizes the correct accent with better ability to learn the language. Adults may never develop a "native" accent, but they can acquire functional language much faster than a child, even given the very real barriers you point out. Great job! And this ability of adults to learn quickly should be encouraging. I hear so many adults say, I should have learned when I was a child when it would have been easier, so now it's not worth the trouble.

Thanks again, Andrew. Nice one.

Skip to 05:55 for the 2 minute rule.

Applicable to more than language learning! Thank you for making this

Thanks Andrew for this wonderful explanation. I was about to surrender my desire to learn your language. I am exactly on this stage.

Andrew!!! This rule making me feel so comfortable! Thanks to you! You are a the BEST Teacher! You positiveness is my encouragement!

Loving these. You have a great way about you and teach so much more than Spanish!

Voy a implementar 'la norma de dos minutos' y desarrollar la destreza de dejar ir mis errores en español. Gracias por tu aviso.👍

Affective filter in your way. I used to be nervous whenever I had to talk in my French class, for fear that I might be corrected. Then my teacher suggested me to read Le petit Nicolas aloud and it really helped. I guess what comes in your way are ego (dislike being corrected), lack of confidence (not sure about how to say it correctly), and perfectionism (not allowing yourself room for errors). Yet a part of language learning is just like life: learning from errors and mistakes. We make a mistake, learn from it, let it go, and focus on the present moment.

Thanks for this, very helpful.

Also, as an adult, I find myself wanting to converse but knowing I will fail at some point in the conversation so sometimes I will not make the attempt. The most success I have is when I pre-compose what I want to ask or say, use that composition and try to understand the flood of information that comes as a result..I used to keep a notebook while travelling so I could do that. Also ''pre-pologizing'' with ''sorry, i'm learning'' or '' I don't know much Spanish'' helps take the edge off the anxiety and people are almost always kind in response.

Thanks for this post Andrew and all your posts. I'm in a Spanish convo group (6 seniors, in total) and we meet every Friday morning for 2 hours in a local café. We all make many mistakes, but we get over them in a few seconds. We have huge fun and because no one is an expert, we correct one another. I use your posts almost every week and I'm going to forward this one to group members.

I love this . I needed to see this I feel bad for a while when I mess up or I'm around Spanish speaking people and I don't understand anything they are saying. Thank you

Great point - applies to many things in life

Hi Andrew, can't agree more with you in 'negative self-judgement' or 'should have..'. But then I smiled at your 2-minute rule. Thanks for that!

I'm going to enjoy my mistakes as I learn, that's where you learn the best lessons

This is the FIRST video I understand completely. My Spanish is coming along well. It felt like the video was in English that’s how good I felt about it. I understood it all. My first time.

Muchas gracias

Thank you for your psychology to learning another language. I was just about to quit learning Spanish. This has motivated me to continue with it.

Loved it, Andrew! Thanks! For me it doesn't show up as fear of making mistakes, but shame. Being ashamed of not being good enough, smart enough, or quick enough, or just not doing it well enough. Since I've had lots of years to come to know this negative self talk it doesn't hold the same power as it did years ago. But it's still there in my Spanish learning when I don't speak Spanish as well as I know how to or when I am looking up the same word for the umpteenth time. I have to let it go every time. Another one for me, is that I can read Spanish really well but then carry an expectation that I should be able to speak it as well. NOT. I have to let that expectation go all the time, too. I shared this video with friends. It's great.

Thankyou. You are such an evolved soul.

Honestly this is great advice for any mistake in life really.

good advice and for life in general

Really, great video! Thanks for the tip. You are really good at what you doing. Thank you for helping so many people.

Great tip thank you! Fear of making mistakes has definitely hindered my Spanish acquisition. I have tried to implement similar strategies of allowing emotions and then moving on but never with a time limit.

I have only discovered your videos yesterday. Firstly, I think you are an amazing teacher and explain things in a way which I can easily understand. It really is difficult learning a second language when older and your methodology is perfect for me. I am an Australian who moved to Lima Peru last year, I only knew the basics before arriving so I am very keen to now watch all your videos to improve my conversational skills.

LOL! Last week, on March 15, the teacher asked us what the date was. I said aloud, in class, "diez y cinco de marzo." What the heck?! I know it's quince, but in that moment, the right answer wasn't in my head, and the wrong answer felt right. I was so embarrassed! But then I laughed at myself and thought, "You're a 60 year old+ person learning a new language and taking a college-level class. You're doing fine!" :) Learning another language is probably the hardest and most rewarding project I've ever undertaken. Encouragement like this is important for when the inevitable mistakes come... and come, they will. :) Thanks for the lessons!

This is a great video just for the lesson on how helpful it is to get over your mistakes quickly

Thank you very much for this video.

I’m so glad I found your channel. I’m using Duolingo, and these videos are really helpful alongside it.

Great advice!

Love your intro lesson and your style of leadership... very empathic.

You're always so kind and patient with us.

I'll definitely try work on this. I have a major stutter when it comes to speaking any language...so that's another hurdle

Really good comments!!!!!gracias

I'm enjoying your videos and I love the 2-minute tool. I'm going to give this a try with everything; not just learning Spanish. 🙂 Thanks!

Something that I noticed about myself while learning Spanish, is that when faced with a complex sentence to translate on my app, if I get something basic wrong, I allow myself one single eye-roll 🙄because what I'm more focused on is that I got the grammar, sentence structure and trickier parts accurate. That makes me much happier and confident. Other times, I just tell myself "wow you're really off your game today; too tired; too distracted." I don't dwell on it. Where I really need help is with listening comprehension, and not translating in my head!

Love the 2 minute rule... I am going to use this for everything!

As usual, an excellent video. Some people need more practice, and time, than others in order to solidify a new word, phrase, or concept in Spanish, or whatever you're trying to master. We're only human, not machines. If you, or I, need more time, then so be it. You WILL learn what you want to learn...as long as you don't give up. Accept yourself...you're a beautiful creation, and you CAN do anything in this world if you really want to. It just takes time.

Great. Insteda of "I should have known that" I say "I know this"... because, even if because of the mistake, I now do.

This is wonderful.

That was encouragement that was really needed. After having learned 2 languages besides my mother´s tongue, I recognize some kind of struggle at the age of 70, trying to learn spanish. I already thought of giving up. Well, now I shall give it another try. Thank you so much!

This was excellent and i could apply it to so many things! I really do let ego get in the way but this suggestion will hopefully help me.

Just discovered your channel and I LOVE YOUR CONTENT!

Thank you 😊

Thanks bro!!

Muchísimas gracias Andrew. I mix up Spanish words and Italian words because I learned Italian last year, and I started Spanish in September. And I'm forever being corrected by my Spanish friends when I used Italian words by mistake, and again corrected by my Italian friends when I used Spanish words by mistake. I've developed a thick skin. I laugh a lot whenever I was corrected, and say "oh yeah of course" and corrected my mistake and move on. But afterwards, I still think "I shouldn't have.. etc etc". But I like this 2 minute rule. I will apply it in my language learning and hopefully in the future, stop berating myself internally so much 😅 I appreciate all your videos. On behalf of all quiet viewers, muchas gracias Andrew 👍

Good psychological approach to learning a new language. @ minute rule for max self-criticism is invaluable.

Andrew this session and the one on confidence was just what I needed for my stage of learning. Yes I am in fear of the face to face conversation for all the reasons. Now I am still nervous but know I can do it. Plus while listening to your confidence session I realized that in my corporate life (I am now retired) I was able to speak in front of 100s of people on financial topics and provided training to many. I remembered how I was usually nervous before things started but because I had prepared the material once I got going it went well. There were times I got sent for a toss but by making fun of that it always was a nothing in the end. Thank you for reminding me I have done things harder than this and just need to be prepared a bit. Then when I leap for the first time on video chat it will be just fine!! I subscribe to your weekly newsletter and find every bit of it so helpful too. Muchas Gracias!!

What a brilliant 💡

Andrew you make some good points and the two minute rule is a great idea. Let me share a thought. A few years back I decided to learn Spanish in anticipation of retiring to a South American country (I have done this!). I shared my plans with a friend who told me that learning a language as an adult especially at my age was horribly difficult because I'm not a child with a spongelike mind. I gave this some thought and later I realized something that I think is worth sharing. Why do children learn so quickly and absolutely?? Well if you have read Malcolm Gladwell's book "Outliers" he talks about the 10,000 hour rule. Someone who practices a skill diligently for 10,000 hours obtains mastery. Well a child hears and interacts in his/her language 12 hours a day (or more) and so 12 X 365 x 3 = 13,140 hours. So within 3 years a child has that 10,000 hours of concerted practice...is it any surprise children learn their first language so quickly?? What about my efforts trying to learn a new language? Well I was working full time so on average I would study about 1 hour a day and I had an online tutor to work with me on weekends also for about an hour each day. So, 1 x 365 x 27.4 years and I get to that same 10,000 hours of concerted practice. The key is when you. immerse yourself by living in a country where they speak the language and you need the language skills to get along, communicate etc well your learning curve ascends incredibly rapidly....because you get to that 10,000 hour level in a few years instead of 27!

Very good advice!

Thank you in that was great 👍🏼

I'm gonna be honest I've just started learning Spanish. I use duolingo to help with basic sentence forming and a small bit of vocabulary. And I mess up all the time. I never have an issue with besting myself up about it. Usually what's going through my head is "Oh well I know what that was supposed to be and I'll get it next time." I never say "I should've known" because to me that's rolling back on what you do know. I don't let things like that effect me because of the negative influence it can have on my mind. I used to be like that in the past. And it was so demotivating. Which is why I've worked to getting rid of that aspect of my personality.

I've been studying Spanish every day for the past two years and ego is definitely an issue for me. I feel like I should be to a C1 by now but still struggle understanding spoken Spanish. And when it comes to speaking - no lo se, no puedo penso como dice nada.

This lesson helped me in other areas.

I love making mistakes! It's all part of getting better! Love the process baby I'm learning 5 languages

Excellent advice, I am always kicking myself when I make mistakes.

Try this -- consider language learning to be an Easter egg hunt. What are the Easter eggs? Mistakes due to lack of rock solid knowledge. These mistakes expose what you need to work on. Just quickly document these mistakes, and then focus on them by practicing them. Anki is a great tool. Uncovering these "Easter eggs" is actually great -- it is your key to master the language. It is feedback that exposes the constraints on your way to fluency. There is no negativity here.

Thanks. This is a good rule and it works for so many other things in life. All the time I've spent over the years beating myself up I could have been using to get better, but I'm not going to beat myself up over that either! :)

It is interesting to hear your point about adults learning a new language and their Fear of Making a mistake. I found the exact same issue for adults when trying to learn a musical instrument. Especially compared to children. Adults get frustrated with the process of learning an instrument because they know how it should sound and they are not happy with their ability. This can hold them back and that 2 minute rule will likely work for this learning process.

Excellent video!! Thanks so very much! I am DEFINITELY SUBSCRIBING!!

Great point - and there are many things in life that should be guided by the Two Minute Rule - not just lanaguage learing. (When I was a child I had a fight at school. I was brought into the Principal's office and she told me that the next time I get mad I have to count to 10 before I reacted. This ten second rule resulted in me never having a fight again at school)

Good stuff this.. I have taught Spanish kids English for 20 years.. The one thing I learned at the tefl college that stands up is NEVER INTERUPT FLUENCY. If they say for example " milk glass of want I " let them continue speaking PLEASE.. you can correct the word order later.. regards , John.

a great video and it reminded me of a dream i had not so long ago - i was at a language exchange evening and a girl came and sat down to talk to me in spanish and i couldn't get my words out properly, so she just got up and left to and talk to someone else.

I was beating myself up every time I mess up while I was studying. Thanks to this tip I will give it a try.

Thank you for this video. I completely agree. I recently took an intensive Spanish class and I had a teacher who got clearly frustrated when any of the students made a mistake. Unfortunately, I constantly made mistakes and his displeasure was apparent. I eventually left the class in tears with 6 hours to go. It bummed me out because I really want to learn Spanish. It’s important to give yourself two minutes but what about the instructor? He should not make the students feel bad because they do not understand what he is teaching.

Very interesting video. I really enjoyed it.

Yep, agree Just don't focus on they mistakes or lack of words, focus on the desire to get better and learn more words so you don't get choked 👍

Excellent ❤️❤️❤️

Really great video - timely, given our world situation. I can’t meet with my teacher in-person, but I can use FaceTime. That being said, the self-doubt creeps in - “I probably will do awful - I’d rather do something else”, etc.. it’s important to practice all 6 skills and not be hard on yourself. Now, I have to keep repeating this :-)

Also, people make ”mistakes” or say the wrong thing in their native language as well. I can’t count the amounts of time when I can’t really find the words I’m looking for in Swedish (my native language) but I’m often understood anyways. And I mean, I forget my lefts and rights alllll the time in both swedish and english (my second language, started learning it when I was 7-8) You would never blame a native speaker for forgetting a word once in a while, so why would you with someone who isn’t a native speaker?!

Awesome Tips!! Thank you!! (new subscriber)

I'm an adult college student that was horrible in high school. Im often humbled by my younger peers and that's ok, because I have a rule that is similar to the 2 minute rule - always be on your own side! Forgive yourself, shrug it off, because the aspects of life outside yourself are hard enough already!