How to Learn A Language Without Studying

no textbooks no courses no word lists you don't need to study to learn a new language and in fact it might be better if you don't because maybe like me you studied a foreign language in school Spanish or Mandarin or even English I spent years pouring over textbooks and writing papers and prepping for exams and quizzes but when I tried to speak with people in the real world I felt lost always translating in my head always two steps behind and I assumed that the problem was me that I needed to work harder and focus more

and memorize more but it never seemed to work and that's because I misunderstood something very important the truth about language acquisition language acquisition true language acquisition can't be forced it's not like learning history or biology we're not just cramming in information we're trying to teach our brains to take unfamiliar input from all kinds of different sources people and books TV shows music podcasts and then synthesize that input into something comprehensible instantly without conscious analysis that's the ideal right and to me that's pretty remarkable because it's the polar opposite of how virtually every academic subject operates

math philosophy law economics comp lit they're nothing but conscious analysis that's the whole point so if the process of learning a new language is cognitively speaking completely different than every other kind of learning that we typically do in a school setting why do we treat it the same way because it just doesn't work like that so let's talk about what does in this video I'm going to tell you about some powerful habits that will help you start learning a language on a subconscious level where the real learning happens and as you'll see we're not talking

about studying anything we're talking about real mental adaptation now some of these habits might sound a little harsh or even bizarre but when I started to integrate them into my own life I finally felt like I could speak Spanish and Mandarin and Arab Arabic in the real world with real people so whatever your language goals are I hope this video helps make them a reality let's dive in speak like a child how did children start speaking a language well first they learn the essentials mama dada milk bottle Etc and then over time they start to

make simple eye statements I want that I like that and then eventually they mimic what they hear around them that's too much that's funny oh my God and you'll notice that adults do a version of the same thing when they're forced to use a new language say when moving to another country if you live in a big city maybe you've been approached by a tourist asking something like subway station or Museum and here's why that's important that kind of speech is based out of personal necessity not any kind of academic Theory now maybe you're thinking

okay that's all well and good but I can't just pick up and move to another country for the sake of learning a Language Fair Point but there are ways to replicate that experience without traveling you can seek out a conversation group in your hometown or you can simply chat online with a native speaker and my favorite way to do that is by using preply which is an app that lets you hire a language tutor to speak with whenever you want so if you're learning French you can hire someone from France if you're learning Spanish you

can hire someone from Spain or Mexico or Argentina there are over 32,000 tutors to choose from so it's really all up to you including what you talk about you can take the more structured route and follow one of PR lesson plans or you can simply make conversation about a topic that you're interested in food movies exotic pets whatever it is later in this video we'll talk about some techniques that can help you learn a language on your own but sooner or later it's essential that you start talking to native speakers consistently and in my opinion

prle is the easiest way to do that if you use the link in the description box you'll get 50% off your first lesson so check it out and let me know what you think but here's where a lot of people do themselves a huge disservice when you're speaking with your teacher or your conversation partner it's important that you keep that sense of necessity alive in other words no falling back on English stick to your target language now I know that might sound hard but it's the fastest way to force your brain to adapt to a

new language subconsciously so whatever your level do your best to speak English as little as possible during conversation practice find workarounds use gestures or photos and when in doubt speak like a child stop being a beginner it's wonderful to dream big when you first start learning a new language where you might go and what you might do and who you might become but in Practical terms you should only have one goal at the outset stop being a beginner and what do I mean by that well realistically you're probably going to rely on some kind of

app or book or video series when you first start learning a language in fact if you're watching this video you've probably already used all three and that's a good thing those tools help you lay down a useful Foundation I'll even put a few recommendations for beginners Below in the description box but it's essential that you move beyond that phase and ultimately rely on yourself because most people who learn languages casually never make that jump they lean on apps like du lingo for far too long and think they're mastering a language when what they're really mastering

is how to use an app and the same is true for most books and courses and video series all of those tools if they're welld designed can help you acquire a language but they can only help you need to be the driver and set the agenda or you'll be my in the basics forever comprehensible input n+ one so a lot of what we're talking about in this video is based on the work of Dr Steven crosen who's probably the leading Authority in the field of language acquisition and one of crossan's hypotheses is that people who

learn languages kids adults anyone can only make progress by being exposed to what he calls comprehensible input and that effectively refers to any input speech books TV whatever that is slightly Beyond beond the individual's current level of understanding what we might call level n +1 so for a baby for instance who knows nothing that might just be hearing the word Mama because at the very beginning even that one word requires a little mental stretch right and for say a third grader it might be reading books that are written for fourth graders etc etc again the

point is that we need to be challenged but only to a degree if input is too far beyond our current understanding it's useless for example that same baby could spend 6 months trying to read catcher in the Ry and get nothing out of it although I would love to see a baby reading catcher in the Ry and the same is true for you you need to make sure that the input you're learning from whether it's speech or YouTube videos or podcasts is challenging but not absolutely mindboggling so how can you find comprehensible input well there

are a few ways first of all you can simply Google comprehensible input and then add your target language there are plenty of free YouTube channels dedicated to different levels of comprehension in basically every major language you can also use something called graded readers these are short books that are written specifically for people who are learning and again they come in different levels so you can start at level one or whatever is appropriate and work your way up over time or you can simply seek out material that feels challenging but not bewildering maybe that's a kids

TV show maybe it's a comic book maybe it's a slow tempo podcast but here's the key no English subtitles unless you're learning English of course when you come across a word or a phrase that you don't know feel free to look it up but if you're constantly reading subtitles in your native language you're probably not challenging your brain to learn something new and that's really the key love your failures what do you think is the greatest obstacle to acquiring a language for most adults it's fear because you can find the time and the motivation if

you want to but overcoming your fear is a much trickier proposition And in regards to speaking a language what I think most people myself included are really afraid of is that sense of not knowing what to say or saying the wrong thing or not understanding what someone else is saying it feels awkward and vulnerable and uncomfortable and of course children don't have this issue at all they say the wrong thing all the time and could care less which is one of the reasons they were able to learn languages so quickly but here's the thing that

discomfort that we feel when we make a mistake speaking a new language that tiny failure it hardwires a lesson into our subconscious this is wrong you should have said this and the next time you will because failure for all its yuckiness is the single most powerful means for deep learning don't get me wrong success is wonderful feeling fluent in a conversation or just breezing down the page right we all want that but if you want to get better you need to fail a lot so don't be afraid of failure welcome it and I'll also just

add that I think this is a very healthy psychological exercise generally it's abs absolutely helped me live a fuller life accept your fears love your failures Thrive selft talk let's talk about a specific technique that you can use to deepen your subconscious understanding of any language selft talk this is something I've done for years and it's helped me feel much more comfortable and fluent speaking foreign languages the concept is very simple you talk to yourself out loud in your target language now I happen to be someone who talks to himself all the time supposedly that

means I'm crazy but whatever I already knew that but if you're not someone who does this naturally the easiest way to start talking to yourself is to Simply narrate your thoughts hm what do I want to do today I need to buy groceries but I don't know maybe I'll just lie on the couch and watch law in order it doesn't need to make sense it doesn't need to be logical the only person who's going to hear it is you but what this does is develop your ability to truly think in a new language and if

you make this a habit set aside 5 or 10 or 20 minutes a day you'll find that you get into a kind of flow the words and thoughts start coming on their own and that's what we really want for this to feel like second nature and you might even find and I've always thought this was pretty bizarre that your mannerisms and even your sort of personal perspective on things can shift a little bit when you're in the mindset of a new language for instance and I know this sounds a little strange but when I'm speaking

French I tend to have a sort of Cosmopolitan Take On the World Around Me and when I'm speaking Arabic it's easier for me to see the humor and the comedy in my life if you've ever experienced anything like this leave a comment and let me know because I would love to know how other people navigate this labeling out loud and then there's another level of this which is labeling things out loud basically you look around yourself and name what you see in your target language but the best way to do this is to add some

kind of physical connection to the object so don't just point at this and say Taza pick it up hold it and label ITA and if you can add more all the better de Cafe now look you'll probably want to use something like Google translate or another Dictionary app to help you define the things that you see in your target language and that's fine you don't need to study those words in the traditional sense just look it up label it and move on and if you do this regularly you'll find that the words stick on their

own without conscious effort the big problem with AI by the time you watch this video it will be possible to have full-on spoken conversations with chat GPT that's a pretty remarkable thing and I want to be clear I think the chat GPT and platforms like it can be extremely useful tools when it comes to language learning but in terms of the kind of deep learning that we've talked about in this video those platforms have a huge drawback they are 100% impersonal they can simulate the experience of talking to a person but you as a human

being will always be aware that you are talking to a machine what does that mean no risk of failure no urgency no personal connection no physical connection so many of the principles that we've disc discust that help hardwire a new language into your subconscious don't apply when you're talking to a machine because you're not emotionally invested and that means your subconscious doesn't feel the pressure to adapt and evolved and you need that if you want to get better now chat GPT and tools like it are very useful if you're looking for specific information what's the

difference between X and Y how do I use this verb in the future tense Etc and chat GPD can also provide very useful selft talk prompts but if you want to iral language naturally it's crucial that you put yourself out there and talk to other people as much as possible for more language learning tips be sure to hit that subscribe button and if you have any questions or thoughts about how to learn a language without studying leave a comment below and let me know thanks for watching see you soon