It's great to see you add the caveat that the subtitles are what you *meant* to say, not what you actually said. Most of the people who see this probably don't speak French (statistically speaking) and a lot of KZreadrs use that fact to pretend they're a lot better than they actually are. I also learned French largely through comprehensible input. You're right, 100 hours is nothing compared to the amount you'll need to actually become fluent. But, how hard is it to spent 100 hours watching videos or reading books? Really not hard at all, especially compared to drilling grammar, or conjugation tables, or other nonsense that causes everyone to give up. My recommendation for anyone who wants to try this method is to spend about 80-90% of your time on comprehensible input and the remainder on studying grammar or memorizing flashcards. You should start speaking lessons with a tutor when you 1. have reached at least a B1 level of oral comprehension (according to the CEFR scale) and 2. you have a real-world reason to speak french in the next 3 months. Until both of those things are true input is probably a better use of your time. Bon courage !

Yes, your spoken French needs some more practice. But you did lots of listening and reading, so you can understand French. And that is probably more important than speaking. I am a French teacher and I speak French fluently. But most French learners have 3 big problems. 1. They haven't spent much time listening so they don't understand anything. 2. Their vocabulary is too small so they can't understand anything. And 3. Their pronunciation is horrible so no one can understand them. You need 1,000 hours of listening just to understand common spoken French. I agree that doing lots of comprehensible input is super important. But to speak, you do need to practice speaking some. And if you are an adult learner, I would also do a little pronunciation practice with a teacher or native speaker. Comprehensible input works better than a traditional approach because you can at least understand people. With a traditional approach, you can't understand anything, so it is not useful.

@MethodMarcus

9 ай бұрын

You're professional opinion is super appreciated here! I agree, I think amongst the hardcore Comprehensible Input only community, I hear pretty often that you don't need to practice speaking at all, but clearly that isn't true for me. My speaking lagged behind while my comprehension grew. You may not need speaking practice to learn to phrases, but since I did start practice speaking since this experiment, It certainly has helped me get comfortable actually USING the phrases that I learned through input.

@DaveHawthorne-lk9mz

9 ай бұрын

Mon Ami,your experiment is meaningful and valid. I am studying Spanish but grew up hearing French in Montreal. I am at a B1 level in Spanish and listen to 2-3 hours of Spanish per day. I also study sentences, select grammar points and use Anki for conjugation. May I suggest a deck called 'Ultimate French' due this September. The creator,Andy,used Python to create a conjugation deck I am using for spanish.I now know 25 verbs in 4 tenses and 3 moods. My Spanish is accelerating in a way I could not have imagined a .month ago. I started doing glossika French again and am very happy with doing an hour of that a day. I believe Romance languages reinforce each other; learning one helps the other. I am 4 months from B2 in Spanish and expect to be at B2 in French by next September. Listening, reading and speaking are all powerful tools. Grammar has a place and conjugation study cannot be avoided; I will not accept blind spots. Continue forward and finish the job Carpe diem and congrats.

@AsifSaifuddinAuvipy

9 ай бұрын

Great insight. What is your opinion about learning german who know english c2 level

@Alesti5

9 ай бұрын

@@MethodMarcuspersonally I’ve found that not speaking early only works if you’re listening very carefully to the way native speakers speak. At a beginner level that means listening multiples times to the same sentence in order to hear every syllable clearly as well as the intonation and melody of the language and doing some kind of shadowing on top of that. For this method to work best I recommend focusing on one accent/dialect particularly in the early stages.

@VIEW-ut3bu

8 ай бұрын

I say it has been a SUCCESS!!

I think that the best method is... combining diffrent methods. Comprehensible input is great, but adding a little bit of active practice and, importantly, speaking, will help you to get rid of mistakes and learn new concepts much easier. I've been learning almost solely with comprehensible input for a very long time and above a certain level it starts to become very hard to progress.

@yuvanshapillai

7 ай бұрын

Most learners have the wrong idea about comprehensible input. You have to start speaking after 1000 hours.

Really interesting. I did a similar thing with Icelandic, but I gave myself two years of around 2 hours/day. With that much CI, I was actually able to speak fairly "fluently," though haltingly at first. The good thing was, when I went to Iceland, my accent and grammar were good enough that native speakers never switched over to English with me (which they typically do if your Icelandic is not excellent). So, yes, CI for speaking absolutely does work.

@MethodMarcus

8 ай бұрын

That's an intense schedule! Well done! Native speakers not switching to English always makes you feel like a king!

@Drachenschnauze

7 ай бұрын

Where did you find that much CI in Icelandic? Im currently learning it and the harðast thing was to find content

I am French. And everything you said in your clip would be totally understandable to any native speaker. So to me, it is a big success. The only two limits I see for this method is, firstly, learning to write things and read them. Presently, I am learning Japanese and you can't learn kanas and kanjis by listening. Same for Greek, for example. The second limit is : french is closer to english than peope think. Both are part of the same language group and something like one third of the words in english come from old french. So obviously, it won't work with languages that are structurally different from your native language and have words that look a lot different, sometimes even expressing concepts that are different from your own culture. Like japanese. Or geogian, which has a totally different grammatical structure. Take a look at it and you will see what I mean 😁 Great video. Thank you for it !

@MethodMarcus

9 ай бұрын

This is high praise! Thank you! I completely agree. Doing this with a language that has a different script and different sounding words will have a MUCH steeper learning curve.

@lartrak

3 ай бұрын

It can work with languages more distinct from your mother tongue, though obviously you will have to spend A LOT of separate time on just the writing system with languages like Japanese. There's a number of people who have done this with Thai for instance, one of the first major proponents of the method is the AUA school in Thailand. But, important note here, languages like Thai or Japanese will take a lot longer. They currently estimate it takes at least twice as long to learn Thai this way for an english speaker as, say, Spanish or French - and generally speaking, Japanese is considered more difficult than Thai. So I'd image it's doable, but expect it to take well over twice as long.

@joeyfiuza

3 ай бұрын

@lartrak Spot on. Add to your point Japanese is ranked as the fifth hardest language to learn in the world by UNESCO. I am learning Japanese myself currently, have Japanese friends. I also know people who taught, learned Japanese, one of them got married with a Japanese woman. They all lived in Japan from one year to three years and some of them still work with Japanese people. I might add I am a French and English teacher myself, by the way. So, yeah, I can vouch for all of that being said here, by you or me.😉

@jeremybuckets

8 күн бұрын

Reading is also considered input. However with French I would suggest you should have a decent level of oral comprehension before you start reading. As you know, the orthographe is so much different from the spoken language, so it would be very easy for a beginner to learn a bunch of incorrect lessons about written text before they really know how French should *sound*. If you're very diligent about learning the phonemes or you have a tutor who can correct you in real time it can work, but for the average self-learner I think it's better to wait.

One important tidbit about those FSI hours - they expect you to do several hours of daily homework too, and those time estimates are only class time. It's thus really more like 1000+ hours for French.

Language learner on youtube that is honest about his progress. You sir have just earnt a subscriber.

@MethodMarcus

9 ай бұрын

Thank you! That's actually my hidden agenda haha, to show people real life progress so that they don't get so easily discouraged when they can't get fluent after studying for 3 hours.

@joeyfiuza

3 ай бұрын

You are so right. So many language learning Youtubbers are full of it.

French is my native language and actually I find it quite pleasant to hear you speak it.

@MethodMarcus

8 ай бұрын

I am honored haha

I'm French/American, really impressed by what you've already achieved. Don't know where you're going in France but I'm in the south. Welcome!

@MethodMarcus

9 ай бұрын

Thank you! I'm going to Paris first to do a language class there!

@morganmcmillin2735

9 ай бұрын

@@MethodMarcus Awesome! Well if you find yourself in Montpellier don't hesitate to send a message and I'll show you the culinary specialities here.

@joeyfiuza

3 ай бұрын

@@MethodMarcus Yes, definitely try and go to Montpellier. It is a nice city with a lot of students where you can a lot of things by foot.

Fantastic experiment! I'm glad some folks are doing this kind of thing: this kind of anecdotal/experimental data will be very helpful going forward as CI/input theory becomes more widely known. 8 mos and 105 hrs comes out to ~3.25 hrs a week (or approx 1/2 hr per day) -- I love this experimental design because 1/2 hr a day is a great number to talk about in terms of language learning: any regular person can devote that much time and effort ! And what your video doesn't reveal is that your listening and reading comprehension are undoubtedly much more 'impressive' than your speaking (Input theory after all classically teaching that speaking should be delayed anyway). Great work Marcus, thanks so much for doing and recording your experiment - very helpful for all of us!

@MethodMarcus

5 ай бұрын

Thank you! I had a great time doing it! And thanks for pointing out that it’s about half an hour a day, it would be great to see busy folks see that learning a language is possible in such a manageable amount of time

Hi bro, I'm french and I'm amazed by your presentation in our language. It definitely convinced me to try the method you described. Thank you for this video and looking forward for the next ones.

@MethodMarcus

9 ай бұрын

Wow! That means a lot to me! I wish the waiters thought the same when I try to order coffee in Paris! Haha, just kidding, They can understand me just fine. I'm super happy to hear that you're giving it a shot. May I ask which language you're learning?

I'd say that to learn a foreign language, you must try everything you possibly can: read aloud, listen to podcasts or watch movies in the target language, study the grammar with a book, learn vocabulary with an app like Anki, find a parter to talk with, etc. Consider all possible options and try them. I think people often become too dogmatic about certain methodologies, just don't pay attention to them.

I think a better way to show your progress would have been you watching a clip of complex, normal speed dialogue on tv without subtitles (visible subs for us) and then proceeding tell us what the dialogue was about. It would show you understand it in detail and maybe that you are even starting to think in french.

Great video, thanks for sharing

You did really very good -- i think i may have to try it.

Keep going !!! 🔥

Wow, at first I was going to slam you for acting like you could learn French eight months or so. I’ve been learning French with mostly comprehensible input for about three years and I am far from fluent. But when I saw what you meant, I’m glad I watched. Your level is fine for the amount of study, or the amount of time that you spent listening and reading. and it will get better and better over time. And at times you will feel like you’ve made sudden jumps. Exposure to the language inevitably leads to learning the language. That’s the beauty of it. You don’t really have to study you just have to acquire.

Yeah, within that time, this result is expected. I use comprehensible input in my language learning, and usually it is 2 years, when I can speak confidently about everyday things and at the end of year 3, I can usually speak about things like astro-physics. But it also depends the availability of the language. For example, in Spanish/French, it is much easier to find a lot of interesting materiel than in Norwegian.

Thank you for your sharing. Is it possible you could do a walkthrough for your materials throughout the journey?

Well done!

This is really interesting. I’m currently learning French and Japanese and I’m hoping to start soon with Korean using comprehensible input only. The main problem of course with CI is the difficulty in getting appropriate material, especially for a more difficult language. But increasingly there are individual teachers creating really interesting material. But a point about ‘comparing’ systems. In reality, it’s very difficult to compare learners skills as there are so many individual skills involved. One system may be better for passing standard exams, another produces greater speaking fluency, etc. From my reading of the research and talking to lots of learners, I think its vital that you use lots of native audio when inputting - this is what allows you to develop an ear for the subtle sounds of a language, and ultimately leads you to conversational fluency.

@Tome-xf7hi

5 күн бұрын

I start acquiring japanese last month and yesterday I started learning french would you mind give some advice based on your experience since it seems you are 8 months on the past :-)

Habit forming is so key, no matter the language. I'm doing French learning. Apps downloaded but got rid of a few I tested and disliked, including Duo. So I have around 4 apps using which I like. Been 2 weeks, it's manageble but fun as I like the apps I chose. I may try easy french next on KZread, translate, parrot the sentences. I don't like pods listening or news watching etc in that language as a learner. Not yet, I feel it's too much if I don't understand nothing. It's effort. And currently I'm Habit forming so it needs to be fun, relaxed and interesting. Small gains at moment.

That’s definitively a win. By the way your accent is almost good, this method seems to work. As you know between 40 and 45% of the english vocabulary is coming from french (because of the Normands invasions) it helps even if you want to learn English being a French speaking person or french being an English speaking person. That’s why almost all the words ending by ION can be used in both languages. Bravo, et bon courage à vous, vous êtes sur la bonne route !

My new favourite language YTuber. Keep going! Respect bro.

@MethodMarcus

9 ай бұрын

This is super flattering, thanks so much for watching!

Given that you did 100 hours out of the 750 recommended. Your French is about where you would expect it to be after 100 hours study. The difference has to be in the effort levels, active study, including the likes of listening to audio instruction is mentally taxing and tiring. Just listening can also be tiring but not to the same degree.

I would've liked more details on the things you read and used for that 108 hours

I've had a fantastic experience with something like the Refold method. Which combines very specific intensive study in the service of immersion working much more efficiently. There is no way that was not a win. After 8 months, most people cannot speak that well with such an internalized accent. Most college learners are thinking in English or their native tongue and don't know idioms and other language differences. My N=1 is that I failed time and again in high school and college language learning. Now, about over three years in and 3K hours of Spanish with a mix of study and immersion, I'm conversationally fluent (low level C1 not C2 at all yet) but I subvocalize fully in Spanish when I read and Spanish just pops out of my mind more and more. I've began some German on the side and I'm finding myself talking to the videos on comprehensible German in Spanish, like I'm having a whole conversation to her in Spanish about what the German is meaning. It really works, but I'm no purist like some ALG people and others are. Intensive study, such as some apps, Anki, LingQ, graded readers and more really do accelerate CI and immersion.

@MethodMarcus

9 ай бұрын

Wow, that’s a fantastic result. You know you’re winning when you’re kind living part of your life in your target language.

Super interesting. Exaclty as you said, great result for 100 hours for what you were trying to achieve. Ive personally found compréhensible input a bit harder to start. So if that applies generally might see more in the next 100 hours. Ive settled on doing course like assimil (which is based on those principles anyway) to get me started and then this method.

@MethodMarcus

9 ай бұрын

Thank you! That's a great method. Some sort of jump start to make more of the input ACTUALLY comprehensible is a great use of your time. I suspect it would let you skip the painful early stages where MOST of the native-like content you're using is gibberish!

Dude, nice fantasy/sci-fi collection over there. Since you love reading, I encourage you to read these genres in French (french authors, not only translations). You could also try extensive reading, it's a very interesting approach for learning foreign languages.

@tommybinson

3 ай бұрын

Good advice, thanks. Best wishes. 😊 Mountaineering interests me, so I read French climbing magazines and make linguistic progress.

The measure is for average learners of the language, it doesn't mean it takes everyone the same time. The comparison to those numbers says nothing at all. Knowing a Romance language beforehand, could easily take those measures down to half. Knowing several languages also helps in learning a new one, even if unrelated. Even being exposed more than average to French can help. My bet is that even by the same methods being measured, you'd be above the average.

Pas mal, very 👍

First of all, this is not bad at all! My mother tongue is French and I understood EASILY everything you said. Yes there are some mistakes, yes talking and practicing your French would be a good idea but please, let's be supportive here! You can even correct yourself i.e "pour donner vous" corrected to "pour vous donner" which is something that takes time. I have been teaching French for a few years now and putting yourself out there for the world to see and comment takes guts! Bravo and good luck! To everybody saying his spoken French is a train wreck, well, this is why people are afraid of speaking. Why not support instead??? I am all for giving ideas and constructive comments but come on...a train wreck? no way :)

Im in my final week of 7 weeks of classroom study (32 hours a week) in France. I think you should record how much time was meaningful. I found a lot of teachers were whittling down the time with useless activities. But might've been my school. I found only about 50% of my time in the classroom was effective. So I found myself not recording a ton of those hours in time tracker.

Your French maybe tough to hear for some, but I think it’s terrific you can speak so well and be understood

tbf the one way I learned a bit of Spanish and still have basic understanding is because I saw images plus heard the teacher read it in Spanish also breaking down small sentences helped I think this is THE easiest way because you can relax just gotta make sure you are actually paying attention/ listening otherwise you wasted 30 minutes of your time.

For 100 hours it's phenomenonal. If you continue you'll get better!

@MethodMarcus

4 ай бұрын

Thank you thank you!

It doesn't sound that bad at all, you are able to express yourself and you obviously understand much more, it looks like a great result!

@meta4972

8 ай бұрын

I mean, yes, it does sound very bad actually. But interesting results and video!

@yana_1547

8 ай бұрын

@@meta4972 Depends on where you are looking from

It's a good video! My brother studied languages at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center in California. The pace of study was intense. Students had to master the language course in 36-64 weeks. Psychologically it was very difficult, but fortunately he was helped by Yuriy Ivantsiv's book "Polyglot Notes. Practical tips for learning foreign languages”. The book " Polyglot Notes" became a desk book for my brother, because it has answers to all the problems that any student of a foreign language has to face. Thanks to the author of the channel for this interesting video! Good luck to everyone who studies a foreign language and wants to realize their full potential!

I think you’re doing pretty well. I started French 10 months ago, and I feel like a pretty confident communicator, but I think I have done probably 250 hours. Also, it’s really key the quality of the comprehensible input. Alice Ayel, French Comprehensible Input and French in Action are amazing sources.

@MethodMarcus

5 ай бұрын

Thank you! Totally agree, Alice ayel is awesome

@FrenchComprehensibleInput

5 ай бұрын

Nice to see you here Jon! 😀

@jontarry121

5 ай бұрын

@@FrenchComprehensibleInput Likewise 😃

One more thing that would be useful to understand is whether the amount of time measured by FSI includes all the time spent on homework and basically getting input just as you did. At first glance, it doesn't as they're referring to "class hours". Though I'm not sure if any of the homework is included in their curriculum

bravo à toi , bon courage pour la suite, Le français est définitivement une langue difficile à apprendre, indeed you need to put tremendous efforts to catch the nuance of the sounds with all these accents, it can be a nightmare from time to time, but it's definitely worth it :) J'espère que ton séjour en France s'est bien déroulé, que tu as pu découvrir des choses intéressantes et pu interagir ( interact in english) avec des gens sympathiques t'ayant donné envie de revenir en France, pour approfondir la culture et la connaissance de notre beau pays. Keep up the good work and if i may help you , let me know for sure , si le puedo ayudar, lo haré con muchas ganas, es cierto, seguramente . Salut à toi camarade, et salutations de notre pays bleu blanc rouge:)

Anyone criticizing this method based on your video is insane. This video shows that CI works. You’re literally proving it. After only 100 hours this is a crazy amount of progress. I guarantee if you keep this method up and only used CI for the recommend 750 hours your French would be stellar by the end of it and I intend to do exactly that now that I’ve seen this video

@MethodMarcus

4 ай бұрын

A healthy amount of criticism is totally fine! But yeah, great to hear that you're interested in trying it out!

I'm going to guess that the classroom experience will take you backwards a bit. Hopefully, you won't forget the input you've learned so far. Good video. It reinforced my own belief in Comprehensible Input, particularly with French. I studied for years the various classroom methods (grammar, etc) and this method is by far the best for me. I truly feel like I "get" the language far better than I ever have. By the way, I also speak several other languages and I wish I had known this method years ago.

@MethodMarcus

8 ай бұрын

I actually have my video up with my thoughts of how it went! And some before and after results. I actually went into my class thinking the same thing because I like more 'natural' input approaches more as well. But coming out of I felt that I did receive a lot of benefit. It was nice to solidify some ideas that were previously just 'hypothesis' floating around in my head. But now that my class is over, I will return to mostly input and then looking up grammar or things that I'm curious about as I go.

108 hours over 8 months, that's nearly 27 minutes a day ... No effort at all ! But the aquired langauge to the effort spent ratio is so much high compared to traditional learning ! Now if you add grammer lessons you will achieve much higher level in a short amount of time. I'm a firm believer of Comprehensible input in the first phase of langauge learning because it gives you the bricks of a language then comes after the grammer which teachs you how to use these bricks efficiently !

One thing to keep in kt is they specified "classroom" hours and not total hours. They were actually given 1 hour of homework for every class hour. So the more accurate figure is likely double that.

Please tell me where to find the best resources for CI.

Your French is understandable. Your main problem is mostly just accent and pronunciation. I think this is great for 100 hours. I'm sure it works

I somewaht do the same with japanese. Although you won't be able to translate what they're saying, that's not your main goal. Just let the language flow and understand it in that language

That's how I decided to learn French , I change my Netflix into French and try to listen to the language daily. Learning the grammar can be confusing, it' s hard to remember everything in order. I started by learning the pronunciations first and now I'm learning the accent. Not easy if we don't live in the French environment!

Where did you find the French graded readers to read? We’re you able to find them at your library, on Amazon, or somewhere else?

@MethodMarcus

8 ай бұрын

I use the ebook versions of olly richard’s story learning

I'm curious how much your comprehension has improved, and if so, whether it was linear, fits and starts or maybe just waking up one day and understanding? I'm just starting my own Comprehensible Input experiment (also French, coincidentally enough), and I'm hearing sounds better but not much else for progress. Not that I'm experimenting miracles after a week, but it would be interesting to know when the videos and audiobooks start making sense, for a lack of better term. As an aside, I'd be very happy to match your progress after 100 hours!

@MethodMarcus

9 ай бұрын

It definitely wasn't linear. At first I couldn't understand any audio. But graded readers we're a good boost early on because of recognizable cognates. That made it a lot easier to read. That being said, I went months before I felt like I was confidently following a story being told in a podcast. Now, I'm not at the point where I can easily understand a native speaker out on the street, but I'm more comfortable with movies and shows, and MUCH more comfortable with podcasts like innerFrench and Little Talk in Slow French.

@smithyq6335

9 ай бұрын

@@MethodMarcus Thanks for this, helps set some realistic expectations. It's kind of a leap of faith, listening to so much content in a different language for weeks / months to start seeing results, though I guess getting those odd "Aha!" moments probably helps. Native speakers are a definitely a step up from media content. Will be interesting to see how spending time in France jump starts that. Good luck!

@MethodMarcus

9 ай бұрын

@@smithyq6335 Thank you! Make sure to congratulate yourself for all of those aha moments, it helps keep the motivation up and they really do signify progress.

I'm curious about what specifically you watched as finding listening resources is very difficult at the early stages.

@MethodMarcus

9 ай бұрын

I totally understand, I started with KZread videos like innerfrench while reading along with the French subtitles. For listening only, my favorite podcast is little talk in slow French. Just so you know, I didn’t understand MOST of it when I first started, it started off slow and required a bit of effort to get going. My comprehension ramped up over the course of a few months. Best of luck!

This is how I learnt English. I must say that I did study grammar in high school. And I guess I was at a B1 level after high school. Ever since, my English input has come exclusively from KZread videos, TV shows, series, movies, podcasts, books and such. Eventually living in the UK for a couple years. After 5 years of doing this I got a C1 from TOEFL. That is not to say that it took me 5 years to reach that level, it's just that I took the test 5 years later in order to study abroad. It's been 12 years now, and learning English is the best decision I have ever made. I ended up making a Spanish Games app for English speakers and I live off it now. 😊 I'm also learning French through comprehensible input now, but as a Spanish and Catalan native speaker it is not an incredible feat to be honest, it's almost too easy compared to learning English or Japanese, which I learnt for a couple years and dropped after almost making it to an N3 level. kore wo yonda nihonjin ni owabi shimasu 😅

@MethodMarcus

9 ай бұрын

Now that's freaking cool, well done! Languages unlock opportunities for us and you exemplify that perfectly! Don't sell yourself short, my American monolingual brain is very impressed by that!

@learninghistory4397

9 ай бұрын

​@@MethodMarcus I didn't notice you were still a small channel. That's a good thing, because one can usually tell! So it must mean you're good at doing this. I know how hard it is to make it, so I subscribed and liked your video to help you a bit with it. Best of luck with the channel! Remember that it will only be a failure the moment you quit. It took me 3 years to start making a bit of money. Until then everything felt like a waste of time and money... Had I quit, it would have been just that!

@MethodMarcus

9 ай бұрын

@@learninghistory4397 This makes me so happy! Thank you!

@andybliss5965

8 ай бұрын

Funny you say that about Japanese. I learnt and narrowly failed the old n2 in 2005 so reached a bit higher than B2 maybe. Now back to French which I hadn't done for 20 years. I was expecting it to be much easier considering its so much more similar to English but you know what, in Japanese no verb conjugation! Its really easy to say a lot quickly in Japanese but I think when you get to a higher level then you get more blocked trying to construct longer sentences due to the fact you have to thi nk backwards. I think with French(and maybe Spanish) its more about drilling all the tenses(subjunctive too) then if you get over that its all downhill as you can think in the same way as English and much of the vocab is the same. For me though it's all about the challenge

@learninghistory4397

8 ай бұрын

@@andybliss5965 Yeah, Japanese is quite easy until you dive into the N3 realm, and the deeper you go the harder it gets, or so I've heard, since I didn't make it that far... English does have a 27% lexical similarity with French, but both Spanish and Catalan are said to have around an 80% similarity with it, so for us speakers of romance languages it is way easier to learn French than to learn Japanese. I just understand tons of words without needing to learn them first. Of course, it is one thing to understand and another to speak... I can't speak much yet, but I'm getting there. Anyways, the thing that put me off the most with Japanese is actually the culture. I just don't like the way they socialize, and it shows in the way they speak. French feels way more familiar, and the same goes for Italian, Portuguese and even English. These are the languages that I intend to master during my lifetime. I feel super European after all, can't help it... haha

This may sound like I'm patting myself on the back, but I came to the conclusion that if I ever learned a language it would have to be a method very similar to what you describe. Sitting down with a textbook and trying to remember vocabulary lists and grammar would be simply too boring and I would never do it. I'm glad to hear that it worked as well as it did.

@MethodMarcus

8 ай бұрын

It definitely does keep me entertained! Give it a shot if you're the least but curious!

Sounds like comprehensive input works for the beginning level of learning a new language. I'm expecting your new video telling us the new level of French after attended the class in France. I just wonder if you could change your habit or error you learned from comprehensive input method. 😅

@beanpasteposts

4 ай бұрын

It works for all levels - advanced learners should probably be doing nothing but comprehensible input and speaking practice at that point, but yeah, it's probably most painless for beginners of a new language.

After spending 1000 hours in input, you have to practice speaking for hundreds of hours to reach fluency. Simply understanding will not translate to speaking ability.

I didn't know there was something called comprehensive input.. But I think I was applying it, it also was an experiment so I decided to learn turkish only by listening 100% I was noting the expressions tho and no grammar study but I noticed that I picked up a looot of rules only by listening. On the other hand I was studying German for months studying vocabulary and grammar etc but if you ask me which one I got more progress on I'll say the first method was more effective in my case

@MethodMarcus

9 ай бұрын

Wow! Impressive. Assuming that you're a native english speaker or perhaps a romance language speaker, learning Turkish is a WHOLE different ball game! Did you learn to read the script so that you could get input from reading as well?

@seymahaznedar7249

9 ай бұрын

@@MethodMarcus What script? Turkish uses Latin letters.

@MethodMarcus

9 ай бұрын

@@seymahaznedar7249 You right

When you watch Netflix in French, do you refer to the subtitles?

@MethodMarcus

9 ай бұрын

Sometimes I do, and other times I turn them off to specifically challenge my listening. I do consider reading the subtitles to be perfectly valid input thought!

@nyc-exile

9 ай бұрын

@@MethodMarcus That made a fast reader. Read the subs then listen to the actors. Also learning songs was very powerful.

Even if it wasn't perfect, I did understand everything (without reading the subtitles). And btw, my French is very bad :D. I understand the basic if someone is speaking clearly and not too fast. I'm also fascinated that this method is so popular now. Because that was actually what I was always saying. Almost 40 years ago I've learned already one language this way. As a 12 year old, I came to Germany and didn't know a single German word. I went to a German "preparation" school with a German teacher who was telling us stories with basic words while showing us pictures. And I was watching simple TV shows in the evening. That's how I've learned the language pretty quickly. I have switched to a normal German class after 6 months and I've made only German friends. I didn't have any language teachers who translated between my native language and German.

@MethodMarcus

8 ай бұрын

Fantastic Story! Amazing how naturally you picked up German!

mi propio experimento con aprender español apoya lo que has encontrado. mas que nada input comprensible es mas divertida que estudiar la gramática y tal, por lo tanto puede continuar aprender en lugar de rendirse edit: hope you're having fun in France! went for the first time last fall and it is certainly a magical land

@MethodMarcus

9 ай бұрын

Muchisimas gracias! Francia ha sido fantástico! Estoy de acuerdo, me gusta más el input comprensible, pero claramente me vendría bien un poquito de práctica con hablando en voz alta lol.

What kind of content did you consume? which channels/podcasts can you recommend?

@MethodMarcus

8 ай бұрын

Olly Richards's graded readers, Inner french on youtube with French subtitles, and the little talk in slow french podcast are my favorites.

Hey Marcus, I've really been struggling with this because every video I've watched on comprehensible input never discuses how to make input comprehensible in the first place. Like how much "basic" knowledge do I need to start reading something? Where do I find that knowledge? Do I need to know certain key words and verbs, and how they're conjugated? NO ONE TALKS ABOUT THIS!

@MethodMarcus

3 ай бұрын

Hey there! I have a video listing some resources but “Alice Ayel” and and “French Comprehensible Input” on KZread are awesome for beginners. You’ll pick up that “basic” knowledge and key words in context in their videos. And to add to that, I think no matter what level you’re at, a really important skill is sitting with the discomfort of not understanding everything at first. Hope that helps!

I try to watch cartoons/anime or play video games I’m already familiar with that have uncomplicated dialogue because I already know generally what is happening.

For me the problem with comprehensible input was to find such amount of comprehensible content. Watching all the elementary videos hardly gives 10 hours. Then I do a step up and the videos become not so easy to understand. So the whole process becomes less effective

@Aprendiendo2023

9 ай бұрын

I agree - I found there are a lot more resources in more Spanish than Brazilian Portuguese for example but you may have to look outside the box/just YT search (which is def helpful) and try dubs/subtitles in your target language of shows/films you’ve already seen or stick to books (See TPRS) What language are you learning by the way.

So would you watch KZread videos and Netflix without any subtitles at all? Which presumably means you didn’t understand any of the Netflix content at all at the start?

@MethodMarcus

5 ай бұрын

To start, I would have the subtitles on in French. But later on I would take them off to specifically challenge myself to practice listening.

On average, it comes out to 20 minutes per day. I am puzzled by another question. What would your French be like if you studied more. Or more precisely, WHAT IS THE OPTIMAL amount of time? I will console you that I learned English just like you and enjoyed listening to your video. So this method works. I will add that you will make progress logarithmically. PS - it's a pity that you didn't learn with 500-1000 zl first so normally. It would have been easier for you to start learning.

I'm starting to think that learning a language is the same as body building. Everyone claims to have the best, proven method and have a method they claim is the worst, and yet someone with equally splendid results using that 'worst' method claims it is in fact, the greatest and that the opposite method mentioned is entirely fruitless. Underlying principles in bodybuilding: Put in genuine work at a reasonable frequency, using a methodology that you feel sucks you in. Eat well, sleep well, rinse and repeat. Underlying principles of language learning: Put in genuine work at a reasonable frequency, using a methodology that you feel sucks you in. Eat well, sleep well, rinse and repeat.

@MethodMarcus

9 ай бұрын

Great analogy haha! And getting sucked in is critical.

When you are watching videos and movies, are you using subtitles or no?

@MethodMarcus

8 ай бұрын

Yes, I always start with subtitles in the target language.

@Alexander-rq9he

8 ай бұрын

Oh so subtitles in the target language and not receiving any translation just receiving input. That’s interesting. Okay thank you!

Languages like English or French depends a lot on pronunciation. So in some places native speakers will request a high degree of perfect pronunciation to understand you. Very frustrating. Spanish does not have that problem.

@sledgehog1

9 ай бұрын

Not in my experience. Both my parents and I have been to Spain and even though the pronunciation wasn't perfect it should have been more or less okay, in my opinion. Yet, the only things that the Spanish people said were "No comprendo". So, to my understanding, it looks like you need a native-perfect pronunciation of the Spanish phonemes, perfect prosody(rhythm at which a native Spanish speaker would talk) and the absolute perfect set of words for whatever situation. No synonyms or anything of the sort. They put 0 effort in even trying to understand, it's either perfect or don't bother. I would hope not every Spanish speaker is like that, because that comes across as very snobbish, off-putting and demotivating when you're trying to learn the language or going to the country.

thats how i learned english

And by the way, where are you from?

The effort and experiment is admirable, but your speaking does not demonstrate this method is any more useful. And titling this with the claim you’ve ‘learned’ French is super misleading once you watch your sample ‘off the cuff’.

I'd like to hear you speak more, a good exercise to show your level would be to pick a random video on youtube in french and explain in french what you understand of that video. If in 100 hours you can understand a video and talk about it, even with mistakes, yes it is a great achievement. Then I miss a necessary information: for how long you conducted the experiment? because 100 hours in 3 weeks is not the same as 100 hours in 3 months

@MethodMarcus

9 ай бұрын

Interesting idea…in taking notes haha. It’s over the course of 8 months.

How old r u?

Hello. I'm in need of help. But first, I want to point out that you learned a second language NOT in the lazy way, BUT in a NATURAL way. That's how babies learn a primary language, perhaps without the benefit of using a language from their previous birth to help guide them in understanding the language of their new birth family. PLUS, at some level, acquiring the mother language from the parents IS an instinct, just like it is an instinct for birds to build nests or land animals in digging out or levelling out some form of shelter or to hunt. We just have higher-order instincts not available to animals beyond their rudimentary ability to communicate with sounds and move their bodies, like mating rituals, etc. Anyway, I'm in a linguistically bad, BAD situation. I am profoundly deaf all my life and didn't START to learn my first language until I was 7.5 years old (I'm 57, so yes, even mistakes in diagnosis was possible in America back then). Even with this delay compared to other deaf children who were diagnosed properly several years prior to my meeting them, I was able to zip through a 4-year deaf program in less than a year and a half and had to be mainstreamed leaving those kinds behind. Still, I was in between these kids and children who weren't deaf. I did better than the former kids, but had to struggle a bit to catch up to my hearing peers in the early years. By the time I was in high school, I was reading novels and flipping pages fast enough to make teachers ask me if I was skimming pages (no). I have tried to learn a second language all my life. I tried with Spanish, Esperanta, Sanskrit, Hindī, and Gujarātī. The weird thing is, I get stuck in the vocabulary stage, and I bail out before I even get to the basic grammar stage simply because I don't remember vocabulary, which can go out of my head in just one day. I've always been like this, so it isn't an age-related thing. I was like this as a musician, too. Give me sheet music, and I can learn the song within a few days, but take it away, and I don't remember much. I struggled to memorize songs, and after the sheet music was taken away, like on the field or in parades, and I had to work daily to remember it, but after a month or two of not playing with the songs in the band, I would forget the songs entirely and have to relearn it, though it would be faster the second time around. I never took second language classes in a school setting, period. I was even allowed to take electives in place of the language requirement because it was perceived that I would never graduate if I was required to pass this requirement. I'm currently living in India for the last 5 years, and despite the fact that I'm around people daily who speak Hindī and Gujarātī, I don't learn anything from listening to them because I can't hear the sounds of the language. It is more complex just from the sound perspective because these languages have dental and retroflex counterparts, like d and ḍ, as well as non-aspirated and aspirated counterparts, like j and jh, etc. Even I can't understand my own people speaking English in a group setting. I'm about 97% deaf, so all the consonant sounds are not audible to me, to the point that I cannot tell if I am hearing k, kh, g, th, etc. within a word. I don't know what to do, because I intend to spend the rest of my life here in India, but the language barrier gets me a lot. There are things I wish I could communicate with them and learn from them. Am I cursed to never learn a second language fluently? I can read the writing system of languages like Hindī, Nepalī, Marāṭhī, languages which use the Devanāgarī writing system. I just don't know what it means, though I recognize names of people and some places, and very few other words. I'm stuck, stuck, STUCK!

@cpnlsn88

4 ай бұрын

Some people such as Stephen Krashen strongly promote reading as a path to learning a 2nd language and seeing reading already worked for you then that might be a suggestion. Key is to get reading material that is compressible for you and then start the process. Integrating speech and listening might come at a later point. It might be an idea to settle on one of the languages and then seek easy content to start with.

@stephanieellison7834

4 ай бұрын

​@@cpnlsn88 Let's clarify "reading as a path to learning a 2nd language and seeing reading already worked for you". That never worked for me in becoming fluent in the language. I NEVER became fluent in ANY second language (I tried with 5 different languages). I've been reciting (verbally sight-reading like you would sight-read sheet-music in a concert contest) Sanskrit and Hindī on a regular basis since 2017, and I still can't speak the languages fluently simply because I can't remember the vocabulary. Yet, that is a responsibility I have as a Hindū, and because of that, I have to recite the English translation as well. Once in a while a word about every 3rd or 4th month gets permanently embedded into my mind. I didn't start learning to talk until I was 7.5 years old, and I had to learn to read and write all at the same time. Talking, reading, and writing. I can't acquire language through listening and watching movies. People's speech sounds like combinations of 16th and 32rd notes. Almost NEVER do I hear people slowing down to 8th notes. I only can pick up the one or few words I'm familiar with, and everything else is a drum corps blur. I'm not even supposed to be able to speak and read English as well as I do, period, so probably I simply don't have "room" for second languages. What's probably happening is that my "hard drive" is full, and any second language knowledge is kept inside virtual memory, stored in memory cards. Fortunately, that stays alive for as long as I am living in this body. A massive amount of brain power is required to lip-read Indians speaking British English. I've been living here in India for a few years now.

@cpnlsn88

4 ай бұрын

@@stephanieellison7834 yes, but you became a fluent reader of one language, so a second is possible. Words tend to stick in memory after 20 encounters so you may need a less advanced text to work on.

@stephanieellison7834

4 ай бұрын

@@cpnlsn88 Even that doesn't work. I don't remember vocabulary of even nouns and verbs easily, either. I'm 57. See, I have recited about 5,000 pages of texts in Sanskrit, and less than that in Hindī. That's the problem. I don't remember anything. I was always like this as a child. Only English sticks.

@cpnlsn88

4 ай бұрын

@@stephanieellison7834 to not remember anything is a significant burden

"Comprehensible input"? Never heard of it, but it sure does sound hip! Well, whatever works ! (probably not for Classical Greek or Latin, but that's another story). And, 😉yes, your performance in French was pretty awful, so it can only get better. Keep the faith !

@MethodMarcus

9 ай бұрын

Yes haha, "awful" is only honest. But! It is usable and makes for a great foundation for progress to come.

1000 hours of CI and maybe some crosstalk before speaking

I can’t express the level of disappointment I have for this type of post - buy a book/go to a class, the hard work will pay off.

@MethodMarcus

8 ай бұрын

Oh man, you're going to LOVE my next video...

@Moshie71

8 ай бұрын

@@MethodMarcus Fair play to you, a man’s gotta eat … 😉

Your pre comprehensible video speaking french sounded like a proficient speaker purposely trying to sound terrible!

@MethodMarcus

9 ай бұрын

That is hilarious lol. Confirming that I am a terrible speaker accidentally sounding terrible.

Your French was terrible but at least I'd understand what you want to say

Seems like bull to me!