5 Language Learning Secrets NO ONE Tells You (part 1)

[Music] it's me Joe bringing you another video about language learning because I love them and right now I'm learning Dutch so I have this insurmountable amount of inspiration Flemish is not a language I ever thought I would learn let's be honest okay Z and it's like starting to come into my brain but it's not clicking as easily them in them out let's go I've also been scrubbing videos online and I'm like dang I want to talk about the things that no one ever really talks about when it comes to learning a language because you'll see

tons of videos I've even made one myself of how to learn a language fast how to learn language in 24 hours and like I've done this enough times to know that that is not how it works it's not going to be fast it's not going to be pretty it's not going to be painless so if you're on a language learning Journey first of all good for you boo boo and congratulations you're about to open up your world tfold but let's be honest it gets hairy scary and ugly before it gets pretty here are five things

no one's really talking about when it comes to learning a language number one there's no actual one way to learn a language it depends so much on your learning style your experiences how your brain absorbs material neurodiversity maybe you're dyslexic maybe you don't learn in a specific way maybe you have ADH D it doesn't mean that you can't learn a language it just means that the formulas that are out on the internet might not apply to you and that's okay that's a good thing I'm actually linking language learning resources for all languages and all different

approaches this is a living breathing document you could sign up it's in the language learning starter kit so I'll give you many documents but one of the most useful is the language learning resource guide that you can get and on that guide you'll see different platforms that I recommend flashcards versus speaking materials versus reading materials there's so many cool ways to engage with language and you must design your own learning pathway because what I do and what they do might not work for you you could pick and choose and learn from people's methods but odds

are you're going to want to develop Your Arsenal of tools as opposed to just saying like I'm going to learn with this one resource and what's funny too is that in learning a bunch of languages the resources that I use for Dutch right now I'm learning femish it's not the same list of resources that I use when I'm learning Italian or Greek or brushing up on my French or Spanish or even refreshing my Portuguese like right now behind me I have books in all different languages and it's funny because I have books about like financial

literacy in Portuguese I have books that are novels in Italian and then now I'm learning Dutch and I'm subscribed to a newspaper that's called W that is about Belgian news for beginner level Dutch speakers and I don't have a newspaper subscription in France so every language that I've learned has its own arsenal of tools and I think it keeps things fun because with new languages you discover new materials and then you get access to different content around the world that you wouldn't have access to otherwise so whether you're learning your first foreign language or your

10th make it more fun by looking for different resources that you haven't used and again my resource document will give you some inspiration if you don't know where to start number two you don't need to be in the place where it's spoken you can design your own language learning Temple or as I like to call it your fluent dojo and you can get your mojo on in your dojo here's the thing I actually couldn't travel for 12 years because I was an undocumented kid growing up in the states I am originally from Brazil so I

learned English as a 5-year-old the minute that I learned the superpowers of language learning I was like damn I want to keep doing this so then and also in my house in Connecticut so like Italian then became my next domain and all of that was done in Connecticut in a place very far from International Airport and that is the point that I'm trying to convey when I started learning Egyptian Arabic it was because of a pandemic I couldn't travel anymore yes while it's very important to immerse yourself in the language that doesn't necessarily mean that

you must buy a plane ticket to do that you could design your house your space and make it an International Hot Spot and this tip applies even when you're like missing travel and you feel like simulating the travel experience I need to make a video on that where some days I wake up here in the middle of nowhere Connecticut and I simulate a day on but but I'm still here and I walk through the steps of what I would do if I were traveling I just do it from my tiny little town and the days

are always more memorable so this is a state of mind that's also going to help with your languages and you can do this by looking up new music new content finding new ways of using the language throughout your day maybe you want to integrate learning language and speaking and practicing your new vocab when you're doing your makeup in the morning like I do it could go as crazy as you wanted to go but the point is you don't need to be where it's spoken to speak it also if you're living in a major city there

are so many pockets of multilingual life that you might not even know exist so right now here I am in Connecticut I could probably find slivers of all major cultures in my vicinity even though at first glance it pretty much looks monolingual when you have your linguistic filter on you you start looking for these things that are basically hiding in plain sight so a homework assignment is to find maybe a grocery store or a restaurant or a place that has the language that you're trying to speak represented somewhere near you language is also such a

cool way to explore new cultures even if it's in your own culture don't be shy go outside and go look for it tip number three find your tutor you can self-study all you want and I've done that in the past but you could get stuck in your ways as in you can actually learn mistakes and you can memorize Mis pronounced words so I always find my tutor and I want to give a big shout out to today's sponsor prep Ley which is an online platform that hosts over 50 languages and you can find your tutors

online you can pick a schedule that works for you you can also see where the tutor comes from so you know that you're learning the accent that you're striving for I've used preply for Greek for Italian for Spanish and now I'm using it for Flemish AKA Dutch and it's been a game changer angle yeah maybe you've heard that tutoring is important but what you might not have heard of is that looking for your language tutor it's almost like dating you need to have chemistry with your teacher and I'll talk about that kind of chemistry where

you woke up having a terrible day everything's going wrong but after an hour of speaking to your tutor you genuinely feel better that kind of good Feelgood chemistry where you feel like you've made a genuine connection if I don't have that chemistry with a tutor is not my tutor but have a good weekend do the kind okay bye I love her the good news is that hasn't happened very often usually I could just see by the reviews and their video like I'm a good vibe consultant on that regard I can check if they're like going

to be silly and funny I want to be playful during the lessons because learning a language is tough which brings me to the next point no one is going to tell you you will be knacked in the British words like exhausted completely tired and drained your brain will be working can overd dry this is the face of a woman who was studying a lot oh my God oh my God this is how today's going just crazy I have a preply lesson starting in 1 minute you're all gungho and then you hit that wall when you

hit that wall that wall hits you back oh my God everything is a mess and I wanted to cancel but I said nope I'm going to stick to it where the heck is my preply window it's like the context switching of changing the activity that you were doing that's what's really hard and I think most people focus on the intellectual sides of language learning I always like to look at it as like a physiological experience too though because anytime I'm really digging into a new language I need to take naps like your girl's taking two

naps this week why because I'm really going hard on Dutch and I think that's natural and so some days I'm more motivated than others I'll be honest with you right now my general schedule is that I watch a show in Flemish at least once a day cuz I love it maybe I'll read my news paper in Dutch too so those are the things that have become habits those are things I don't even have to work hard to do anything that I add on top of that like the days that I have a lesson I'm exhausted

but I know that it's the work that needs to be done for all of the other things that I'm doing to glue if you're feeling exhausted it's cuz it's working take a nap and keep going and lastly I I'm passionate about this one this one is real and this one I might be throwing some shade at some people while I do love the language learning apps I do I'm a fan I used to hate on them but I started actually getting into them for vocab and for just like daily exposure to the language I must

tell you if you really want to learn a language doing the apps alone will not do the trick however this is a polarizing concept because the polyglots that I know they're like hardcore linguist they'll be like screw the apps I'm not that extreme I'll say use the apps just know that's not going to be enough and some apps are good at certain things that other apps are not as good at and vice versa for instance I can use an app to speak and be actively using the language verbally but I don't know what the words

actually look like on paper which is when I'll use another app that shows me vocab written down on paper but if I'm only using one of the apps that shows me vocab on paper or I'm only using the one that shows me verbal language do you see how there's a disconnect there you need a combination of things to learn a language which takes us back to the reality that I started this video with which is that you will not learn a language in one specific way that doesn't mean you need to shun all apps it

just means that you cannot rely on apps alone it's almost like a balanced diet like I look at language learning like you should look at your food pyramid you can't just have sugar you can't just have sweets you need to have the meat the grains the veggies so look at your language learning resource list as a pyramid and make it as balanced as possible to use the things that we use in everyday life you need to read you need to write you need to speak you need to consume you must have input every single day

there there needs to be input you need to have that language refreshing your mind I have so many more things to share but I think I'm going to save it for part two otherwise this video is going to get a little too crazy what are some things that you wish you knew about language learning sooner leave it in the comments and if you want to sign up for your trial lesson with prle I'm giving you a 50% off discount in the link click in the show notes and grab that trial lesson look for your teacher

don't forget to find that chemistry like we vibing or what cuz if we're not vibing we're not learning languages together goodbye