The app I use to learn languages -> shorturl.at/aemxI My 10 FREE secrets to language learning -> www.thelinguist.com How do you practice slow learning when it comes to languages?

As a retired translator, I can say that he is 100% on the money. Use the language and DO NOT be afraid to make mistakes. Learning a language is the most natural thing in the world, but remember that language changes constantly, so one never really "learns" a language. It is a lifelong process, even in our mother language.

As someone who fell prey to the “learn a language in 3 months” thing-and who then wasted 7+ years being burnt out on language learning and feeling like a failure-I can say: Take this man’s advice. I wish someone had told me back then that the best thing to do was just take it slow and steady, making small gains each day, and not concentrating too much on results. If I’d adopted that attitude seven years ago, I’m pretty sure I’d be fluent in my target language now. As it is, I’ve lost a lot of time! Going slower would have been much faster. And more enjoyable. Go figure!

Yup. I would almost suggest that letting go of the metric of "fast or slow" enables direct noticing, which is actually the fastest way to learn. The analogy that comes to mind is riding a bike. If you attempt to ride a bike while constantly measuring your "ability to move straight" and "the number of degrees you turn the handlebars", then you will be so focused on such artificial metrics that you can never get a feel for the flow of the ride. The flow of the ride will account for ALL of that. You don't have to ever consciously pay attention to how much to turn the handlebars. After you know how to ride, it will be obvious how much to turn. To consciously overfocus on how much to do these things just gets in the way. You learn how to bike the fastest by letting go of "needing to learn fast", and instead, feeling the bike directly and completely. In the same way, you learn a language the fastest by letting go of needing to learn fast and instead, directly experiencing the language immersively.

LingQ is helping me. Polish is a language I learned as a child to understand fluently as a second language only when people are talking about everyday life. I always had a lot of trouble speaking the words. The last three months I have been studying Polish to increase my level. What gave me a boost was LingQ which I have been using the last two weeks. Learning to understand the written text especially through the sixty short stories has helped me learn the language better. I noticed that I can more easily watch Polish KZfaq videos and understand a more complicated level than I would have last year without heavily relying on English subtitles. I just keep reading stories with the same words I didn’t understand before and I am slowly remembering them. I do not have the best memory so I’m not forcing myself to memorize vocabulary. I use other language learning resources to give me different aspects of learning Polish which is indeed one of the hardest languages in the world to learn. I’m not pushing myself and this more relaxed way is helping me. I hope you enjoy Poland. I am sure you’ll enjoy Krakow as much as Warsaw. I have been there four times. I can’t wait to go back because this time I’ll be able to have conversations with my relatives and not just listen. Thank you for all your help in my language learning journey. I also can get by in German and Spanish when I visit those countries and I plan to learn them better after learning Polish using LingQ. This will then make me officially a polyglot!

До зустрічі завтра! Дякую за ваші відео. I listen your content as material for comprihensible imput. And also i apply all of your advices for my learning system.

I come back to this idea time and time again. There’s a graphic I’ve saved to my camera roll for encouragement and as a reminder: someone saying “I’ve been studying for a year and I have only an eight-year-old’s grasp of the language” and the answer is: “how long do you think it took the eight-year-old?”

Finding LingQ, Krashen's ideas, and your channel has been some of the most impactful things in my life. I thnk I've always been passionate about language learning, I just never knew how to go about it. Almost to 5k known words in Spanish now, and loving the process.

Thank you so much! I've been feeling so stressed with my language journey lately because people think I'm more fluent than I actually am. I have been learning Korean for 4 years but don't feel even remotely close to fluent yet due to the fact that I get too shy and find it difficult to speak to native speakers when I come across them. I want to be able to speak at a near native level someday but it takes time and patience. :)

Muchas gracias por todo el esfuerzo en traernos videos aun cuando está de viaje! Muchos éxitos allá en Polonia!

I use to have a teacher who would say "The slower you take to learn something, the faster you will master it."

Bellissimo Steve, grazie. I strongly agree with your vision and your tips. Appreciate it

I really appreciate the level of honesty in the teaching. I would feel guilty as to why I didn’t learn the language by the end of the book. What’s wrong with me? Now, I learn slowly, but I am remembering. Learning.

I actually like this video format a lot! and i like how candid you are about forgetting and getting interference

Timeless advice. In a way this is just as important as (if not more important than) the specific method you use. Slow repetition, and not seeking instant gratification, compounding your knowledge over time. Thank you for this!

I think switching between languages is a skill in its own. If you don’t do it often it takes effort to “switch gears”. That being said LingQ is the only tool I’ve really stuck with over the years and the most useful I think (for me at least).

That's so true. Impatience is such a strong feeling..

Thank you for this relaxing video, and for arranging translation into 33 languages!

Gracias Steve. Muchas gracias por tus palabras ♡ Solo los mejores deseos para vos y tus seres queridos! Saludos desde Argentina!

Thanks Steve, much appreciated for the reminder!

Thanks for this message!

What you said at the end resonated with me. I tried ordering something at my local Mexican restaurant . . . in Polish. Then, for a couple of seconds, I couldn't remember the word for "yes" in either Spanish or *English*. Mind you, I haven't studied any Spanish in over a decade. But sometimes when my mind goes to reach for a Polish word, a Spanish word I haven't seen since high school 25 years ago will pop out instead . . . unless I'm trying to order in Spanish, at which point only Polish comes out.

Couldn’t agree more! Excellent message, Steve!

You are fantastic!! Your learning motivation really inspires me each time I watch … hope I can start to learn another language! Right now 😂😂 thanks ❤

Have a great trip! Thanks for sharing with us.

I’ve been a long time subscriber to LingQ and didn’t really get a sense of how to use it best until recently. I think to some degree I have finally pushed hard enough with the mini stories and kept reading for a couple hours every day until I can finally enjoy some basic stuff. I literally just started to scan in books I want to read and I have made such progress. This is the best app for language learning. You’ve made a lifetime subscriber. I’m so excited to read this afternoon I can’t describe it. Thank you so much Mr. Kauffman

Muy buenos videos, por fin pude entender ingles, gracias!

So true, it happens by itself. Which doesn't mean not studying..it means we learn or acquire outside the classroom, which is shocking and annoying to some people.who paid thousands of dollars for their schooling.

your amazing! thank you for your content!

Powodzenia z nauką języka polskiego! Greetings from Poland!

Magnificent advice.

I'm over 5k words learned in Greek in just 2 months. I'm on LingQ at least 4 hours every day and since I can see and feel myself improving it's making me not want to get off of it haha

Good advice! :)

Very good points on switching languages Steve. I’ve seen it with my best friend who is living in France and when she comes to the states, it takes her a while to switch between French to Spanish when she speaks to my mom

thanks for the vid Steve!

So glad to see everyone going to travelling around the world. Hope i can do that.

I really love Steve advice...Also the last part of the video reminded when i went to Amsterdam, a friend told me don´t worry everybody speaks english, my native language is Spanish, and to my surprise everywhere we went people spoke spanish. But in Paris for some reason people were reluctant to speak in English or Spanish, and my french is pretty basic, so the first day it was so stressful, but then when i started to relax, my basic french started to work and was able to order food, buy stuff and ask for directions. So what i learned is that you have to put yourself out there, relax and use the language even if you are wrong people will be more willing to help you and from your mistakes you will eventually learn more.

I agree with you Steve. We will learn language the best we can by going easy on ourselves and having a passion for language learning, not rushing to get to results. I believe that to become great at something such as languages...it has to be a lifestyle, not something you do as an occasional hobby.

Steve, your comments about the importance of slow language learning made me recall an old Latin expression that I had learned in high school Latin class many decades ago: festina lente (hasten or make haste slowly). Sound advice in language learning; sound advice in many things in life.

I loved what you said about learning a language and then in the moment it goes when you need it. What I often find is that so often circumstances will make you need any language other than the one you’re working on. I used to be really good at Polish but the past two years I’ve neglected it for Romanian. Last week I unexpectedly needed to use my Polish! Last year, out of the blue I was asked to interpret over the phone for somebody using Czech, a language I haven’t studied properly for over eight years. This always happens. But the truth is we are harsh on ourselves always comparing our performance to what it could have been at one time rather than with someone who doesn’t know a word of the language.

I'm surprised by your visit to Poland! 😮 Tatra mountains are truly a breathtaking destination that you shouldn't miss😊

Phrases A few Phrases a Day. Hard languages I do 10-20 phrases a day (plus the other languages) Over a year or so I also add the News (subconscious background noise) while doing other things. It becomes an Easier language. Then I use it more whenever I can. (You Tube, Netflix etc.)

People really need to be reminded how important it is not to rush when learning a language, among other things. 🎉

Food tastes better from being cooked in a slow cooker, not a microwave. 💪

Pozdrawiam Pana z którym zacząłem przygodę z nauką języka .niesamowita siła ,charyzma i motywacja

Yes, slow leaning is the right , because creating the language scheme in the Consciousness you need time. Braind needs time and constant repetition for creating the language model. You can learn some "Needy" phrases Fast for some communication, but for best result you need time and it is slow process.

This is gold

Thank you.🎶💥🌸

i agree. ive been learning Spanish for a few months now and i just decided to get happy at every single step of progress i make and it’s more fun. To your point of watching stuff you like, i was watching an interview of a Spanish rapper i like and i caught maybe 10-20% but it’s something i WOULD watch so i felt like i enjoyed it more than reading some boring stuff i would never read for leisure. Enjoy and consistently learn!

Thanks @Steve Kaufmann Have you ever considered giving a TED talk?

I really enjoyed everything that you had to say at 2x speed ;)

Schöne Reise!!

I like Steve's sleepy voice more than the normal one 😅

I love the music background

I started learning Mandarin 2 years ago, with admittedly low expectations as I thought it was impossible for me to learn another language. So I prioritised 'fun' over 'fast'. I am currently confidently HSK3 level (HSK used only as a common unit for guidance) and working my way to HSK4. Could I have got this far quicker? Perhaps. But I am still enjoying the process, and always get a kick out of understanding a phrase. Why is everyone in such a hurry? Slow learning is so much better!!

Dear Steve, hello! Many thanks for your video! I admire your determination and power of will. You are doing a great thing. Your true enthusiasm is extremely inspiring, truly motivating! Many thanks indeed for mini-stories in LingQ. I am learning Turkish and German listening to them. BRAVO!!!!

You are true

I used to have the goal of learning to speak Spanish as quickly as possible, which lead me to only a very basic level in the language and still had a hard time "listening fast". Now my goal is to have the ability to hear every word in the language even if I don't understand it. It's to read as many books as I can until I can read a 300 page book on a B2/C1 level without looking up words and understand 98% of what I've read. My goal is to pick up my reading speed so I can finish novels faster WITHOUT sacrificing comprehension. Once my reading speed is faster, I can read more pages in a day and more books in a year. By that time I think speaking will just be a by-product. I also think by that time I can hold better and more meaningful conversations instead of trivial small talk the way you would when you are trying to learn the language in 3-6 months.

I tried LingQ before I "relaxed"and didn't like it either. I thought it was stupid and I'll never remember anything. Then i started watching videos and relaxed my attitude. Now i use LingQ and I am trusting the process. I'm enjoying the jarring regardless of how far i get. Only thing that makes me impatient now is that i want to get done with Russian and do Norwegian!

Hey @Thelinguist is the name of the book The Slow Down Diet?

Steve around the world ❤❤

what's that book about slow living called??

instead of learn a language in 3 months it should be learn a language in 3 decades.

Yo look so serene.

For me sometimes Steve's preview names looks so weird. It looks like he gives absolutely opposite advices like : learn language fast by learning slow or to learn the language don't study basics. "Like what? What a nonsense " - this can come to your mind first when you see these names but in the reality Steve's advices are extremely useful and fun . They are unsurpassable, it's a treasure in nowadays language learning situation. I'm always glad to watch Steve's videos and follow his advicrs. Sorry for such a long text. Just wanted my thoughts out somewhere

slow is smooth, smooth is fast

Norah Jones in the background. I’m noticing things.

Casi que no llego para ver el video

Poland seems like a beautiful place… is it?

What does this look like, slow learning? Aside from time itself, can anyone explain a proper example of what slow learning looks like??

An intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex...it takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction - Albert Einstein. So, take complexity and find ways to make it simple. With language learning...make it simple for yourself.

Good to know SK isn't a vampire.

Less is more and slow is fast.

Linqg is bad app 🤬🤬🤬

Do you think you’ll be visiting the UK at some point soon?