0:41 - Not committing to languages for a longer period of time 1:36 - Not developing a reading habit earlier 3:12 - Not devoting time to learn each day while abro ad 4:40 - Not learning to read and write characters (japanese & cantonese) 6:15 - Not spending time to know yourself & aligning study methods with own personality 8:42 - Pushing too hard when it's the wrong time 9:53 - Linking self-worth with language performance

@paul-laurienelson4127

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for annotating this video Mohammad. Super helpful!

@d.lawrence5670

11 ай бұрын

Thanks, Ilham. I kinda of love you right now.

My regret so far is I underestimate the power of my ears when it comes to listening. I’m not sure if you guys notice that feeling when at first you start with hearing dialogues in your target language that don’t make sense (since you’re just starting out), but after reaching a tipping point all of a sudden the dialogue becomes clearer. On the way to better listening comprehension, it felt like I could give up anytime because I feel no progress from listening. No one told me however that it all starts to click only if you stay in the game long enough. Because the truth is I do treat language learning like a game. I enjoy myself because otherwise, why should I learn the language in the first place?

@jorgecollado6948

2 жыл бұрын

Could not agree more. It was frustrating when i first started learning French. I felt as if I wasn’t able to “push” my brain to understand so I felt defeated …. As if we actually have the power to flip that switch at will. I however powered through, but not my myself. I had Olly and a few other you tubers who helped encourage me to continue and that only time and perseverance were the best teachers. When I realized that I could read through a sentence, paragraph or chapter and understand what was being said I was literally filled with joy, excitement and literal goosebumps. At that point that alone was the only encouragement I needed. I appreciate Olly and all those who kept me going. Today, although far from fluent, every bit of new knowledge keeps me going farther. Merci à tous et bonne chance pour votre voyage linguistiques.

@alexandra.v

2 жыл бұрын

Regarding listening, at the beginning I had a very strange story. I like Greek language very much and at the very beginning of my "listening journey", (meaning long pieces of native speaking, not music), I would just listen to it without understanding anything, except a few words here and there maybe. Just enjoying the sounds. I just picked up the rhythm in this phase. But with time and quite slowly I began to understand more and more. Now I can feel the satisfaction to know *at least* what is the topic of the certain discussion is about. Sometimes you have to like how the language sounds too.

@TheSpecialJ11

2 жыл бұрын

@@jorgecollado6948 I had the exact same experience with French. I dabbled with Spanish in high school and never had listening problems, other than the classic "They're speaking too fast." but with French I had more trouble distinguishing sounds and pulling strings of syllables out into words and putting them back together as sentences. Eventually it all clicked and now I can listen to formal French fine. Still working on casual, "street" French.

Great video. My biggest regret is wasting time with college language classes. Self study is better in every way.

@AfroLinguo

3 жыл бұрын

For real. But I feel like college language classes being free in my University, I can use them to learn a lot, by making ask questions regularly to the teacher, or write essays and give the teacher to correct.

@samuelemmanuel9384

3 жыл бұрын

I congrue

@silvamayflower

3 жыл бұрын

Now as a language teacher with the Workers' Educational Association, that makes me sad, although I have had students (all adults) who have tried to learn at college and found classes very hard-going and full of grammar. Often, colleges have to satisfy a particular curriculum, and it doesn't always mean the best ways of learning, whereas I take advice from guys like Ollie and Steve Kaufman for my own classes. Self study is hard, but effective if you have the discipline, and yes, you can be more choosy. I learned Spanish - and I'm still learning: 3 years with classes similar to my own, with the emphasis on communication, with grammar in its rightful place, as a backup, then 2 years following classes such as Ollie's, simply to keep 'ticking over'. Our Spanish tutor left, and I found I was able to take over teaching beginners, because in 'tick-over' I had learnt so much more - and enjoyed doing so. Of course, teaching gives me the reason I need to get better, so now I've taken on a Spanish online teacher to improve my conversation. What I say to my students is: learning on your own is tough, but learning in a class doesn't always give you what you want. In an ideal world, you get the balance of both - a good local class, and plenty of self-learning in between - read, watch youtube, maybe even follow an online class. But then, that's just me - I wish I had a local class to support me into reviving my Russian after 40+years! Planning just how to get there on my own is hard work.

@nailer1216

3 жыл бұрын

I didn’t mean for my post to be a dig on hard working teachers such as yourself. I think having some structure in the beginning of learning a language is very helpful. With that said, the classes that I have taken for learning Japanese were not particularly helpful after an absolute beginner phase for a couple reasons. For example, the use of vocabulary, grammar, kanji were restricted to things we learned in the classroom. This discouraged students from learning outside of the classroom. Also, the assignments for the classes did not replicate real world use of the language (reading, writing, speaking, and listening). These assignments instead relied on conscious grammar rules, such as “explain this grammar rule in your own words”. I have other criticisms but the last one I’ll put in writing is that language classes generally do not taken into account the interests of their students. An example of an assignment that did take interests into account would something like “Pick any written work and read for at least one hour every day and record all unknown words. After one week summarize what you have read and submit your list of unknown words”. Again, I didn’t mean for my post to be a dig on teachers, I know most teachers have their student’s interests at heart and language learning is just a difficult challenge to tackle for both teachers and students. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with Stephen Krashen and his hypothesis of language acquisition but I think it is relevant to this discussion and I’d highly recommend checking it out.

@silvamayflower

3 жыл бұрын

@@nailer1216 Hi Nailer. Let me reassure you that I didn't take it that way at all. It's just that I too can criticise the traditional classroom approach - and I hope my students are learning from my adventures with people like Ollie, as well as comments such as your own. Yes, I'm also familiar with Stephen Krashen, and I'm sure that could warrant a whole long discussion about my feelings both for and against his approach. I am most certainly on the side of 'acquisition', but supported by grammar rules that are also acquired, but not to recite in class, but to support your language. I find it a comfort to know that verb endings have a pattern to them, and I teach them as patterns for those who have minds like mine. I also encourage my students from an early start to try to find subjects they're interested in, and to acquire vocabulary that is useful to them personally, and also to listen to that 'backcloth' of sound, and gain confidence in NOT being able to understand it. But above all, I try to teach enjoyment - if indeed you can teach that. I love that my classes are full of enthusiastic learners, and I hope to keep it that way. btw, I am, as I said, an active language learner, and have neither the time nor the classes available to help me, so must go it alone in that respect. Thanks for your response.

One of my regrets is not focusing on pronunciation earlier. I've been learning German for close to three years now and in the beginning I didn't care about it. I thought being understood was good enough, but I feel a lot better now that I don't have such a strong American accent. I had to go and remove bad habits and form new ones instead of just focusing on forming new ones.

A very genuine video Olly. We can all learn from each others mistakes and regrets. Also, cool jacket.

@storylearning

3 жыл бұрын

29.99 from H&M :)

My main regret is that I restricted myself to learning only Russian and Greek. I am 68 now, and I am trying to catch up on my languages. I have hired a French tutor, and we translate from your French book. Then I bought an online course, Spanish with Claude. I never seem to have enough time to study it, and it is getting harder. I wish I had studied these languages earlier. I also feel the same about the time I spend. I have to spend 2 hours daily to feel a sense of accomplishment.

@AnimaLibera

Жыл бұрын

It is not true that older people can't learn a language as well or as fast as children or younger adults. What often makes us feel like we are taking so much longer and what we are learning appears so much harder is that we just have a thousand other things on our minds. As we get older (well, most of us anyway), we are more focused on what we are trying to achieve, we know our strengths and weaknesses and we are more disciplined. I learned two of my six languages after the age of 60 and now, at age 66 I'm still at it. The fact that the children are out of the house and I don't have to work anymore is another advantage. I can work on my languages as many hours during the day or travel as much as I like. I'm finding that spending 2+ months in a country where my target language is spoken is usually enough to get me started. Other than that, KZread is my best ally. Soap operas and the News in my target language work wonders. The news are particularly helpful because you can get the information in your own language first which makes it easier to understand what they are talking about in the language you are learning. Have you ever wondered why people in Sweden are usually at least bilingual and many speak three or four languages without ever having taken a lot of time to study them? It is because they watch everything on TV in the original language with subtitles, and before too long they don't need the subtitles anymore. It probably takes years to become fluent this way but you can't beat the result.

@shamicentertainment1262

3 ай бұрын

@@AnimaLibera I think adults have a much better headstart because they already have the framework of their native language to build upon. Sure, the rules might be very different, but you have reference points such as nouns, verbs, sentense structure. All of which is new to babies. You can also maximise the efficieny of your learning as an adukt. Kids are thrown in the deep end and have the benefit of constant immersion for years and help from parents and schools. Even when they hit 4 years old they do not speak the language fantastic. Takes a long time for kids to learn a language.

I agree with the first part of this so much. I've spent so long learning languages that I really don't speak to any competent level anymore because it's impossible to lead a normal life and commit to the hours in a day necessary to keep them all active. I have made the decision not to learn anymore languages unless I am genuinely interested in where the language is spoken and want to have a 'relationship' with that place. It's not enough anymore to just be interested in the language for itself.

@storylearning

3 жыл бұрын

I love this, thank you!

@user-wb1vm9ex4k

2 жыл бұрын

This has confirmed that I should stick to french and Spanish

@TheSpecialJ11

2 жыл бұрын

@@user-wb1vm9ex4k Yes. For most Anglophones this is the way to go. If you have a close friend or partner who speaks and their family speaks a different language (like go on vacation with them close) or find yourself with opportunities to travel somewhere that doesn't speak French or Spanish I say go for it, but if you're just an Average Joe in a generic American/British city, the easiest connections to other cultures are generally French and Spanish.

@matteosposato9448

2 жыл бұрын

What was the threshold for you? I mean, in numbers

Yeah, pretty much all of them, except thankfully for less time. I think the trick is really to find a balance between what you like to do, but also to acknowledge when you might have to do something that you don't like to do, e.g. learning kanji. At this point, I won't get to the level that I am hoping to inside 10 years unless I do a little bit stuff that I "need" to. But I need to remember that it's only 10% of the time. 90% of the time I can just do whatever I would do anyway.

I agree totally with what you’ve said. I myself regret wasting a lot of time trying to learn grammar when I first started learning Italian. I should have invested all that time in learning vocabulary first. That’s why I love the story-learning method. Thanks for sharing Olly.

@storylearning

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

@AfroLinguo

3 жыл бұрын

I feel like putting in a lot of time at the beginning for learning script when learning a language with different script is also something that wastes a lot of time.

@silvamayflower

3 жыл бұрын

@@AfroLinguo I'm not sure about that. It's difficult for me to say, because I learned Russian to an intermediate level many years ago. Returning 40 years on, I decided that my first step must be to re-teach myself the script, and then the writing. This enabled me to a) read words, and then b) write words that I could go back to. My Arabic studies came to a grinding halt because the online course I was following moved into script, which I could not follow. If I return to Arabic, I will put some effort into learning the script as well. But each to his own, and I do learn with my eyes as well as my ears, so maybe that's why I do what I do.

@AfroLinguo

3 жыл бұрын

@@silvamayflower I think learning the script is important, but making not focusing as much on writing it in the beginning as compared to focusing on reading it.

Pushing too hard was my worst mistake. I felt frustrated and tired so often. I’m an English learner. Thank you. 🙂

Thank you 😭 I'm really stuck with my Japanese, since I am always exhausted after all day work at the factory. Somehow this video gave me a boost! I'll try to learn Japanese after work even only a minute!

@luketruman3033

3 жыл бұрын

Have you tried learning before work?

@TheLittleRussian2

3 жыл бұрын

I second Luke's point. You can go to sleep and wake up even just a half hour earlier and study first thing in the morning, or as soon as you're up and running.

@coconutpineapple2489

3 жыл бұрын

Studying for 8hours on your days off works too.

@TheLittleRussian2

3 жыл бұрын

@@coconutpineapple2489 It's useful to have a daily habit, but if he can combine short morning sessions with longer periods of studying on his days off, it's not a bad idea. Of course, some people might want to rest on their days off.

@coconutpineapple2489

3 жыл бұрын

Genetic Flotsam I can't wake up early hahaha. So I imagined my case. Yes. People are fine in the morning😉

Learning languages fast is important to me because it allows me to consume content in that language. ( I derive enjoyment from consuming the content rather than just consuming it for learning the language)

@loreleihillard5078

2 жыл бұрын

I'm early on in my language journey, but I've found it helpful to read folklore that has been rewritten to a standard that children can follow

Great video man! I'm continually getting tempted to try and learn every other language ever instead of continuing to focus on improving my Spanish to a point where I can maintain it throughout the rest of my life

@storylearning

3 жыл бұрын

It's so worth sticking with it!

Thank you for painting a realistic picture for how long it takes to really learn a language. From all the promotional videos you would get the impression that one can learn a language in a few weeks, at most a few months, and if you don’t then there’s something wrong with you. Not my experience.

Yes, to all the regrets, but gladly I found my best way of learning too. It's with stories, but they are stories about my life, so the vocabulary is very personal to me.

OMG!! I have taken the decision of focusing on languages as long as they take me to learn, so I can have them with me for the rest of my life. I learned German and now I am living in Germany and working as well while using German. I have learned Mandarin to B1 level but I am still learning it and I told myself that even if I need 5 years to reach a high level of mastery, I will do it. Furthermore, I also read in my languages and mainly content that interest me.

Don't be so hard on yourself, you're still young, I'm old (and beginning to sound like Cat Stevens😂) and still enjoy language learning. I think your personal motivation is the most important thing, why do you learn a language and boosting your self worth by doing it is in my opinion not a good reason: for me it was always a mix of pragmatic and idealistic reasons: wanted to read books in the original language, needed it for my job, had a partner and a bilingual child, lived in the country, wanted to share the worldview of the people whose language I learned, loved the beautiful sound of the language etc. My regrets were: too early try (mostly in vain😅) to speak and secondly to be depressed and envious when co-learners were faster and better than me since I let go of this competitive attitude and/or only challenge myself I enjoy learning so much more P.S.:( I really sound old now😂): I recently found out about your channel and like it very much

Hey Olly! Thanks for sharing these :) My biggest regret is letting the burnout I felt after learning Mandarin in Taiwan for three months become permanent. I burned out and didn't touch Mandarin for five years. I wish I had given myself the time off I needed and then gone back to it. It's hard not to feel bad about all that time I lost and where I would be now had I stayed with it.

Great discussion -- I love what you said about thinking about it more like "this language is something that will be a part of my life for the next 5, 10, 20 years;" it's the difference between making lots interesting acquaintances, versus having a few lifelong friends. Very easy to let the ego to take over and make it about numbers (how many languages, to what level, how quickly) rather than the experience (I just read a book I really enjoyed in my TL).

Oh Olly; where does one begin? My first language 'class' was with my now best lifelong friend of 70 years. He cam from Germany with little knowledge of English and I with little knowledge of German. We met in parochial school and began 'trading words and phrases' and repeating the speaking part and writing the written parts. Mostly we (I) wrote the english words etc for him and spoke them slowly. He later helped me with the same. If he was not from an airforce family and not transferred all over the world we might have completed our language exchange! Next I bought a primary german text and privately read it over and over. Next I was faced with latin in high school, then spanish; next I was in college and took 2 years of spanish and 2 years of german. My work took me worldwide and these helped me a lot. Tours of Japan got me nowhere as their characters all look alike to me. Now I am reading your primary spanish and french readers; spanish for a few weeks at first, then I will begin the french one and alternate the two morning and evening. I will resume writing my diaries in foreign languages. most of my peers are with our ancestors and my friends are still employed mostly. I love your videos, and all your stories. Please don't give up and try to find time to read foreign newspapers for those languages that use our script. I'm sure London has access to all european editions. Reading IS the very best way to go - - until you run into someone you know can speak to you in french, russian or whatever. Bless you lad.

Just began learning Italian after a few years singing as a tenor. I find I'm much better at reading it than speaking it. Because I'm so used to seeing the language in the music scores. Speaking it though, I struggle to recall the words. I can read and speak but not speak from my mind. Bought your short story books with some books on grammar, vocabulary and speaking exercises! Thank you so much for still putting great free content online!

I relate to so much of this! Super useful and relatable! Thank you!

Great video and an even better line to end on!

My man, laying down some serious wisdom. Thank you!

What a good video! It really made me realize about certain aspects I'm not doing that well.

Words of wisdom. Thanks a lot for sharing🙏🏼

That last one..... yes. Thank you so much foe pointing that out before I do that. ❤

If it wasn't for these videos i would of quit learning italian, i immerse more and try to read more.i will get there slowly but surely.

extremely useful and great... THANKS, Olly!

*Linking self-worth with language performance* - I'm not glad that someone else experienced this but I am glad that someone at least was able to articulate it. This is why I quit trying to learn one language at one point in my life and why now, years later, when trying to learn a different one, the same feelings are hitting - hard. "I'm doing it wrong. I'm not doing enough. There's no way that I can do this." It's easy to say "don't link self-worth with performance" but it's a lot harder to do when you have personal history working against you. The worst part is not knowing what will work for me personally because I have no positive experience on which to make such a judgment, just negative ones. I know what doesn't work for me that is trying to learn in a group setting because I would judge myself compared to how others were progressing. That would definitely lead me to give up and quit.

these points really did resonate with me. thank you for the video

Thanks for taking the time to put this video together. As others have mentioned, it's inspiring to hear from a person who has, "Walked the Walk!"

Thanks for the video!

Totally agree about learning about yourself through the process. I found I was often confused or frustrated with how I was expressing myself and it was because my study wasn't reflecting my interests or how I generally speak. So, I started tailoring my study around these and I feel so much more relaxed, excited and motivated on how I am progressing (in language and as a human) within my target language.

Excellent considerations, which become valuable advice! Great Olly!

You’re right; consistency is key. I need to double down on my language learning, so thank you for reminding us all. :)

Good thoughts! The right habits is crucial in order to have success.

I knew his channel five years ago and now I can finally to understand your subjects and claims on your videos

I'm same age as you olly and also live in London. Unlike yourself I only began learning French last year at the age of 39. So you can't have much regret. Wish I started much younger.

Thank you, Olly. Your advices reinforces my conviction to learn kanji right from beginning of learning Japanese. It's a struggle but kanji is just such a huge threshold to reading. And I know how important reading is from my learning English by myself after not making much progress in high school and university.

This is golden! 🙌🏻👏

Thanks a lot for this video. It is very instructive and informative. What I actually noticed is that there's too much seriousness in all the content of your videos and that's really very helpful .

Thank you Olly, one of the most valuable videos I've watched and that I hope language students will encounter. We should aspire always to see any kind of forward motion as evolution and a reason to celebrate, and every setback as a stepping stone towards improvement!

Very helpful, Olly. Many thanks for this video.

wow. its the most insightfull and deepest video in this field EVER. thank you! :)

Olly it's pretty interesting, I've been studding English about 1 year and half, I understood almost everything that you speak, it's awesome, congrats helps a lot aways.

@samuelcoates3339

2 жыл бұрын

👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾😁

@Woodman-Spare-that-tree

2 жыл бұрын

“said” not “speak”.

great honest tips, I am happy that I have listen to this. thanks very much you are a great person, I am happy I found you.

Timely and very fitting video. Thank you for sharing your reflections Olly. 👍🙏😌

@storylearning

3 жыл бұрын

you're welcome!

Iam so glad you are sharing this.

Pure wisdom! Cheers for this video Olly, it taught me a lot and opened my eyes to things I'd never even considered.

@storylearning

3 жыл бұрын

really glad it had the intended effect!

Hi Olly Great video.. Thanks for being so honest. I've tried learning Spanish but I think I just got overwhelmed with stuff,but I think I'm going try your reading method. Cheers mate

I really appreciate your honesty in this video, this is one of the most interesting videos I've seen from you in a while, keep up the good work Olly

@storylearning

3 жыл бұрын

thanks man

One of the best videos on you tube ever. So many wise pieces of advise

@storylearning

3 жыл бұрын

☺️

muchas gracias por tu consejo,,lo aprecio mucho,,ahorita estoy aprendiendo español yo mismo porque me gusta mucho el español y quiero mejorarlo,,lo antes posible ..con amor wali ❤❤❤

Thanks for this Olly. I’m doing Spanish Uncovered and fell out of the habit. This video is the prompt I needed. Will get back on it!

@storylearning

3 жыл бұрын

Get back to it! :)

You still have a friend in Hiroshima, Japan Olly~ Let me know when you’d like to study Kanji :) Loved the video~ !

What a wonderful video! None of this superman polyglot stuff, just a personal and believable vid. Good stuff!

Olly there’s your new course idea sitting there ready for exploration. “Learn about yourself to learn languages better.”

@storylearning

3 жыл бұрын

I think it would be a fantastic course. However, I don’t think most people really want to learn about themselves. It’s easier not to!!

@boabysands123

3 жыл бұрын

@@storylearning Yes, that’s true to an extent for maybe the majority of language learners, but maybe less so for independent learners. For that group a difficulty would be that for this learning about yourself for language learning you currently have to find test and try out some ways or practices to learn about yourself and then use them to do so. So this is asking people to take on two extra projects on top of learning a language. That’s not gonna work.

@DNA350ppm

2 жыл бұрын

@@storylearning My experience is that most people are very interested in learning about themselves - not learning about what's wrong with them and "shame on you for your faults and mistakes" - but the opposite, to learn about their strengths, what's interesting about them, what their possibilities are, experiences, feelings, dreams, and "kudos to you for what's good, nice, what you've overcome, learned and your potential". I suggest a look at Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg and For the Good of the Earth and the Sun by Georgia Heard, or any other books by them, on how to open the channels inwards and outwards with the help of language to express oneself instead of putting up a mask. Anyone who can speak in one's mother-tongue can really do it. But I haven't seen anyone apply it to foreign language learning, so I support that you'll do it, Olly!

Yeah, so true about the reading and writing. I was once a pretty fluent conversational Japanese speaker, but I never put in the time with the kanji. Now, many years later, I understand the importance of reading, and if I study Japanese again I'll do it right.

Hi Olly! Just writing to say that I enjoyed this video. I admire your ability to be vulnerable in sharing your regrets. It takes a brave person to do that!

@storylearning

3 жыл бұрын

thank you:)

i appreciate your sincerity. I relate to your number 7 regret. I think it stems from a sensitivity to self-image. high self-esteem but vulnerable at the same time.

@storylearning

3 жыл бұрын

interesting!

I can tell you're speaking from a great deal of personal experience, so this was a truly insightful video. Thank you so much for your content Olly. I totally agreed with your first two points, and am actually putting it into practice. The small number of languages I plan to learn will be part of me for the rest of my life, at least that's my perspective on it. I also completely agree with the reading point. Reading has been boosting my spanish like mad. Learning just one new word every page is amazing in and of itself. 10 pages = 10 new words, imagine what happens in a year! Thanks again.

@storylearning

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for such a nice comment Shane!

Thank you for this very honest and awesome list. Especially your first point absolutely resonates with me. I've always had the same thoughts and you are the first individual that I've heard voicing this openly. It is easy to fall into the traps of this shiny-object syndrome when it comes to new languages and it feels really exciting, but what I truly aspire to is reaching high native-like levels. A) This doesn't come overnight. B)Everyone who doesn't make languages their profession needs to find other meaningful ways to integrate these languages into their daily lives and the more languages you add to your little language zoo, the harder it gets to keep up with them.😂 Greetings from Germany.

I really appreciate this video. A few of the items make me feel better about re-learning Spanish with my wife. We have a 15 year dream to eventually visit Spain and perhaps retire there. Practicing a little every day. I will have to keep the last suggestion in mind because I do sometimes get frustrated when I some rule doesn’t make sense to my mathematical mind.

I agree especially with the reading. Need to do more of that. And my Spanish is a life quest as I love the Latin America and my heart is there. Have made great progress with Spanish. Tried French and really did not have a serious interest for the future and basically wasted four years of university study then never looked at it again. That’s my regret. Should have gotten a French girlfriend. Cheers thanks for the video.

@stuartspinner2655

2 жыл бұрын

No rendirte de tu francesa. He estado estudiando español durante los últimos cuatro años y siento como tú que es un estudio para toda la vida. Pero, tambien como tú, estudiaba francesa en la universidad (solo por dos años, hace treinta años). Para divertirme, decidí la semana pasada empezar a escuchar al podcast InnerFrench. Estoy sorprendido que comprendo mucho más que me había pensado. Si usas lingq.com, la serie entera, la audio y los transcritos, está allí.

Muy útil. I'm trying to learn Spanish while teaching my own language to Spanish speakers.

Linking self-worth to a progress in language learning; literally me right now. THANKS!!

Oily, I truly enjoy your commentary. I relate to virtually all of your insights in this piece but particularly the self-esteem part. I can be having a delightful day in my never ending journey to learn Italian. By the way, the only language that I am acquiring. I might have read some Roman history, read some of your short stories, listened to a fascinating Italian podcast...and then I run into an Italian waiter here in Los Angeles, attempt to speak casually and I catch a frown or hear a correction and my day is ruined, my confidence thrashed. There are times when I simply lose perspective or my treasured sense of humor. You sharing this, another kindred soul on the same path, brightens my day. Grazie mille.

@storylearning

3 жыл бұрын

You're very welcome Jay

Thank you for this video, it's kind of motivating to hear the struggles and regrets of people you want to imitate

@storylearning

3 жыл бұрын

pleasure!

These are gold.

You don't know truly how much this video spoke to me, especially regarding your last couple points. I've taken Korean for almost 8 years, starting in middle school and going through junior year at college. But by sophomore and junior years in college, the courses I was taking were very difficult and that difficulty was exacerbated because the style of teaching was extremely disparate from my own style of learning. This, on top of my frustration at not being "perfect" at any of it, and exhaustion from plugging away at this one language for so long lead to a huge burnout. I've stopped enjoying learning Korean, and I've lost a lot of my enthusiasm for the culture as well. For so long, I've been following a language learning method that just hasn't worked for me, and trying to fit it by forcing myself to be a type of person, and language learner, that I'm not. It's freeing to hear you illustrate these things that I'm feeling and encourage me that I shouldn't change myself to fit the teaching, I should alter the teaching to fit my own learning. Beyond that, you've (unintentionally) given me a much-needed permission to stop berrating myself for letting go of my Korean. My language study plans at college were derailed due to Covid, and it's been hard to muster up the enthusiasm for Korean while stuck in my room for a year and a half, especially after such a long period of taking difficult Korean language classes with no satisfying reward. I keep telling myself I'm being stupid for letting go of the years of work I've put into this langauge, that I just need to open a book or my old notes and study. I keep getting discouraged when I realize how far I've fallen in my skills, and angry at myself for letting it happen. But the reality is that, at this point in my life, studying Korean just doesn't make me happy anymore. The thing with Korean is that I truly do love the language. I love all the people I've met and friends I've made because I was learning Korean. The places I've been, the food I've eaten, the experiences I've had. I know that I will come back to Korean over and over again in the future, but right now, I think I need a break. And it can't be the kind of break I've had for the past 18 months- one where I'm not working on Korean at all and consequently disappointed with myself over my failings 24/7- it has to be a real break, where I encourage myself to do something else, and do it knowing that it's what I need, and that it's okay to stop. But I do love languages, so I think I'll be taking some inspiration from your Italian journey and try out something new for a while! And learn that language in a method that fits me instead of me trying to fit it. Thank you for this video. Seriously.

Holy fuck you are wise as hell. Super grateful to have found this channel :)

Thanks for the tips Olly. I'm learning Russian language and English is already my second language. I relate so much to what you said about personality, I love reading novels and poems in English and I love talking about them with another person in English. Honestly whenever I use English it effects the way I think and see the world, it's fascinating and satisfying as well. but it also turned me into a perfectionist trilingual, because whenever I struggle with Russian or even see strange words in English I loose my confidence, though it's getting better. thanks again. have a beautiful day.

Many good lessons in your seven regrets post, Olly. I spent 4 years in China and tried to learn the language using solely Pinyin. I was also not very consistent in my learning, studying it for a week or two and then taking one to two-month breaks (due to work obligations). The result was confusion and learning considerably less than I thought I should have. Only during my final 5 months there I decided to give learning the Mandarin (simplified) characters a chance and witnessed a great improvement. Also, for the first time I could read street signs, which was helpful and gave me great satisfaction. So, I generally agree with your seven regrets and have one or two of my own along those lines. Thanks a lot for posting this.

@storylearning

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for your comment, glad you found it useful

Everyone wanting to learn languages should watch this video first. Excellent advice!

I can relate your regret #7 re: self-worth. I've got a suggested future topic for you to explore with somebody via interview, and that is to interview people who are learning their 'heritage language'. For me, I'm learning Māori (New Zealand). My language journey differs from all the polyglot videos i see because I'm not exploring a 'new world' rather I am exploring my own identity and heritage. I'd like to hear from a Welshman about how their journey has been learning Welsh for example, or somebody else from another part of the world doing doing something similar.

a lot of useful knowledge. Thank you, or as I would swear I heard the Brazilians saying to me, "gobble gobble" .

I like the idea of a life language. These, for me, were the first two languages I learned. Experiences later in life (including figuring out how I like to work and why my favorite bands were no longer together), have me thinking of learning other languages as a project. For example, I am going to visit the place where they are spoken. I need to be able to read certain publications in the language. Or, I am just curious about a particular language or culture. This takes the pressure off and makes language learning fun. This way, I can say, I have learned N languages in my life (all those projects, including languages in which I have very little competency any more), am currently working on language "X" (current project), because I..., but really love language "A" (life language). Great video, mate!

@storylearning

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks, that’s exactly how I feel too

Great video...

Hallo Olly, das war ein sehr interessantes und informatives Video. Ich versuche auch meine Art Sprachen zu lernen zu optimieren. Aktuell versuche ich es, indem ich eine Kombination bestehend aus der App "Glossika", deinen short stories und KZread Videos. Diesen Sommer geht es nach Frankreich, dort hoffe ich dann mit den Franzosen direkt ins Gespräch zu kommen.... :-)

Totally relate with the last one.

Very interesting. I would love to know which languages you would choose to focus on it you had your time again or perhaps what you think is the optimum number of languages for you.

Yes, reading is the way, I totally agree.

Your StoryLearning method -- "some people hate it, but those who like it really love it". That's so powerful! Your videos continue to impress me.

@storylearning

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you Ted!

+1 to the serious learning. I think there are times/situations that learning language should be taken seriously, but most of the time, taking it too seriously (at least for me) impedes my ability to learn. It's why although I believe in trying to create a more immersive environment, I can't get into the "Mass Immersion Approach" wholeheartedly. There is a lot of seriousness with this approach, but it's not one that works for me due to my other life commitments. I take pleasure in taking some time and balancing my life and I think the benefits of that outweighs the benefits of Mass Immersion. Anyways, my own experiences aside, thanks for being so vulnerable and sharing your experience :)

@storylearning

3 жыл бұрын

So important to figure out what works for us personally

And I'd like to add that you come across as the sort of person whose regrets are not worth regretting or fretting over at all if that makes sense. Every single 'regret' brought you here, as a person with so much knowledge and insight to share.

I can definitely agree with reading. My Russian got better when I started reading more and expanding my vocabulary.

great video. If you're like me, you learn best from your mistakes. I speak Spanish and English natively, and portugese and italian at a c1 level, but I'm stuck on french and haitian creole. I'm at a b2 level but can't crack c1. I'd like to move to indonesian, but I'm putting off that temptation so as to solidify my base with french and creole. Thanks for your perspective. Came at the perfect moment for me

@PuffPuff279

3 жыл бұрын

I'm supposed that you're struggling with Français and Français Kwéyòl, because of the similarities between French (and French Kwéyòl) , Spanish Italian and even Portuguese. I thought that after already 3 romance languages, learning French would be easy peasy for you. Keep at it. You'll get there soon.

Commiting is difficult. Not because I lose interest, but because I have many passions and interests and I have hard to fucus on more than one or two things at the same time, but I aslo don't want to give any of them up. Most of all, my every day life is disorganized and I have always had great difficluties wtih mysel. I rarely have good daily routines for food and I rarely sleep well at night at get up at irregular times. This makes it even harder. I'm 44, so I'm not exactly young either anymore. But I'm musch more confident and relaxed than I used to be. My biggest passion is to compose music in classicistic style.

Spot on!

When I was a beginner of English. I had lived in a guest house in Japan for two month. I made three native friends. But it's important the content or having fun not learning language. I had fun days. I couldn't think about learning language when I was with them. When I speak English, I can't think of grammar. So after all, I didn't improve back then. I just had improved using broken English. Now I don't have any opportunity to talk with English speakers. But I make progress day by day . Because I write a diary. And I check grammar and how native speakers express on the internet.

@appreciatereciprocate5748

3 жыл бұрын

Native speakers teach grammar in unhelpful ways. Natives speak expertly, not expertly teach. Native speakers teach with convolution. You acquire English from inference; listen to English speakers' grammar. Get educated from foreigners' English experience. Most Native speakers' mindfulness of grammar is low. Another way a Native would say my comment. "Native speakers do not teach grammar in a helpful way. They may be expert speakers, but they are not expert teachers. The way they teach can be convoluted. Acquiring English comes from inference. Listen to natives' grammar. Be taught by non-native speakers. Most people rarely speak with grammar in mind." "is not, are not, do not, was not, did not, to not, be convoluted(verb or adjective??)" "People in general, or native speakers?" adjective. Native speakers.

@Iron-Bridge

3 жыл бұрын

@@appreciatereciprocate5748 This is correct. I picked up English speaking it around other native speakers as a child. I couldn't for the life of me tell you why something is incorrect in the language but I know instinctively if it doesn't sound or look right.

Thank you for the video! It's kind of refreshing to know an English native speaker of Japanese who feels bad if he doesn't perform well in Japanese because I'm a Japanese native learning English who feels the same way when I don't perform well in English. I know I shouldn't be so self-conscious but this happens all the time.

Olly, you are a superstar!

Can definitely relate to the last one. It is becoming a terrible habit of mine to yell at myself that I am an idiot when making the same mistakes and forgetting the same words when reading, writing, and speaking German. Taking yourself too seriously, though understandable when sinking a lot of hours into learning a language, also sucks the fun out of the experience and kills motivation to learn each day.

I really want to move to Korea, which is why I'm learning Korean... I'll move once I'm confident in my Korean... I learned the 한굴 before I started learning words, and it really made it easier to learn the words

Oh my word yes. My Japanese experience was practically the same and unfortunately I don't think I would've done it differently simply because I was so young and immature.

@storylearning

3 жыл бұрын

Hindsight is a wonderful thing!

I think the key thing is getting focused on what it is you want from the language, and that's very personal, and to get focused on that goal, kind of almost to make the language not the point. It's kind of an extension of the principle within a lesson or any learning activity, where, because the language is a conveyance of meaning and generally for some purpose, the focus needs to be on that meaning and purpose, and merely VIA the language. The language itself in a sense can never really be a goal. There needs to be more. I've had plenty of opportunities which I have seriously 'wasted', or thrown away even, to practice the main language I speak (Russian) and to some extent the other (German) and also to learn other languages, which is of interest to me too (I did a little Mandarin, and little French). I do enjoy meeting people, but constant acquaintance-level interaction seems empty to me quite quickly, so any deliberate setting up of situations to 'practice' was often a non-motivator for me (though, if you could find a good friend that way...). And also any deliberate engagement in specific language-learning materials or even classes. As a teacher I find the only satisfying lessons to be where the students get to at least learn about and think and communicate about something real and of relevance to them via the language. They seem mostly to agree. In the end even really the question should be there of, 'Do I REALLY want to learn this?'. It can seem attractive, desirable, to learn the language, but maybe you're doing it because it seems cool in theory, you imagine something coming of it, or you feel it will boost your confidence or something, but DO YOU REALLY have a use for this language? So, if there was a passion to read German philosophy, or Russian literature, or to watch Anime or to play music with Cuban folk musicians or become a Sumo wrestler or even just simply live and work somewhere, that would be an actual reason, a focus from which meaning needs to be derived via the language, and towards which meaning needs to be expressed via the language. Relationships are a big thing too, of course. In retrospect I understand a girl who left our university course early on because she wanted to read literature deeply, and all the focus on language in general and on speaking and on all areas that the language could be applied to, and language practice for the sake of it, etc., etc., was boring to her. I kind of agreed already. My Russian improved most via simply being interested in the open culture I found to engage in in the 90s. Initially even very general culture was of interest, because it was different, I'd listen to pop music, whereas I wouldn't in the UK; the cinema, the literature to some extent, seeing what TV they watched and the characters and celebrities that were important to them and learning about their past and present and their general view of things. But I think the main thing was this general reality of a culture going through something serious, and all the human questions it brought up. And I was among those people, and it was relevant to life anywhere, and the world in general. So it was mainly that human interest, so watching the quite free debate shows they had then, reading the papers, and just being with people and talking to them, but about what mattered and was inspiring. I didn't do it for the language at all really. The language was the means, and when that's most been the case I improved the most. I've always found it very hard to focus on a language for the sake of it. As life changed in the country in general, and for me personally, these things faded. Also much of the media culture seems less and less relevant to real life, so is not motivating. There's less and less of meaningful purpose in engaging in the language. So I could have learned Russian to a far better level if I'd done all the usual things; studying specifically, language classes, language partners, seeking practice for practice's sake, etc., etc. but language for language's sake seems empty, and maybe ultimately is. To me I realise now that I need to have serious motivations, so, relationships, practicalities maybe, but the main things that languages can offer to me are the ability to understand important situations, questions and ideas in different contexts and from different perspectives, and even with the bonus that comes via engaging in ideas and knowledge using the different tools of other languages. So, for me, doing most of what is a good idea in language learning is a mistake, all that chatting and listening and reading for the sake of it. What matters is the knowledge and meaning that could come via it, and that I maybe could actively interact with, or even contribute to, via it. So, it's like: here's a language's place in the world; is there something meaningful for you in that world to engage with via the language? So, if you are actually going to travel, fine, general language is motivated via that, if you like just chatting to load of people, fine, but if you want some serious relationship with it, maybe counterintuitively, for example, as difficult and unadvisable it is to many, it might be better to start with some difficult philosophical text, because you want to understand those ideas as well as possible and engage with people who know those ideas well, or reading broadsheet newspapers and understanding the political and cultural ins and outs very well, because, again, you want to understand it and be involved in it. But again, are you working in those fields? What are you doing? There always needs to be an aim. I think most language learning fails because it's a nice idea, but lacks real reasons for using the language that are embedded in the person's own motivations. For there to be a lot more language learning in the world there simply needs to be a lot more meaningful and real exchange of knowledge and conversation in the world. People will learn more not when they decide they want to pursue a language, but when they pursue an aim that will be achievable via that language.

To be honest I think life regrets and even language regrets are completely normal but you're right, if we can do something better, then why not? I regret not learning Chinese characters either. I only really started learning Chinese after 3 years ( when I had already left China)

I'm in my 40's so I'm an older learner too and there's a lot to reflect on as I got the language bug in college and it never went away. I was really happy with how my German studies worked out in general in my 20's. There was no Anki and I just did immersion: reading and listening and more and more. It was good fun and effective. I didn't have any good language exchange partners but I think that's more due to the Internet being smaller and slower etc. I studied Japanese in my mid 30's and went all out on it. It was stupid hard and slow and I never gave up which I'm proud of. I failed to immerse effectively until after I actually moved to Japan though. I tried reading Harry Potter early on and after several years finished book 1 but it felt like a failure. I had to use Rikai-Chan, a pop up dictionary in my browser to read it and I felt a huge disconnect with the text and I don't know if I learned any vocabulary at all in the whole book. Aside from on manga series I didn't successfully read anything in Japanese before going to Japan. After going to Japan I tried to read books desperately. I was unemployed or a self studying student if you will for a year and tried to read books in Japanese but it just didn't work well. I slowly got better really thanks to Anki. I looked hard for a tool that would take e-books and add furigana to it but didn't find anything. I guess I was turned off from LingQ due to it's pricing and it's many flaws like no real built in dictionary rather a user created dictionary that is really messy and the app seemed a mess. But they add furigana to text. I wish I had used LingQ for Japanese for this reason. That's my big language learning regret lol. After 8 years of Anki I am now very good I think at Kanji and starting Chinese. I'm finding simplified Chinese characters really stick well for me thanks to years spent on kanji. I plan to rectify the Japanese mistake and read extensively from the beginning to supplement my Chinese. When you do extensive reading, you don't just learn stuff from reading, but all the other stuff you do like maybe some flash cards or reading a grammar book etc., all that other stuff sticks so much better. Reading is key.

@valorzinski7423

3 жыл бұрын

Lol I'm learning Japanese in my early 30s now but it's going super well despite doing everything online. Learning enough to watch anime without subtitles and writing basic stuff is one thing, but learning more complex sentences, watching news, and others is a bit hard for now.

@faithbwire9164

3 жыл бұрын

What about korean???

Yeah, nice one Olly! My biggest regret is that I regretted anything at all! At the same time, I also regret that I did not regret something... :) I shouldn't keep regretting regretting things... I also regret that I did not warn others not to regret anything except regretting regretting or regretting not regretting things enough! :) Keep up the good work Olly, regret nothing... :)