#AskSteve

The three golden keys “All that really matters in language learning” Attitude Time Attentiveness In my language learning over the past 10 years, I have spent thousands of hours reading and listening to content that fascinated me. This was content that I chose and which maintained my interest in conquering the language. If you want to go into further detail - read my New Years Blog, where I talk about The Three Golden Keys in more detail http://blog.thelinguist.com/ Timelines: 0:01 Happy 2015. 0:26 The three keys are so important I have even made a slide show for them. 1:27 The three golden keys. 2:06 Your Attitude. 2:46 Spend the time with the language. 3:30 Attentiveness. Visit https://www.LingQ.com My Blog: http://blog.thelinguist.com/ My Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/lingosteve My Twitter: https://twitter.com/lingosteve Follow the new LingQ channel: https://goo.gl/WVnzRS Follow "Steve's Cafe" channel: http://www.youtube.com/c/SteveKaufmann

Hello everyone. I made video this a couple of days ahead of time because some people celebrate Christmas on the 24th and some on the 25th. Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays. I promised to make my videos shorter going forward, but it’s not going to happen this time. Today I’m going to talk about Christmas, traditions, and ramble on a bit. Christmas is an amalgamation of a number of ancient traditions from all over the world, for instance; the idea of a virgin giving birth stems from Middle Eastern traditions, whereas lights on the Christmas trees come from Northern European countries, where big bonfires used to be a part of celebrating the winter solstice. Everything in this wonderful cultural human tapestry in which we live today, is the accumulation of what people did before us. Without even realizing it, much of our current traditions come from everywhere around the world; Everything from technology that wouldn’t exist without Hindu mathematics, Chinese and Arab technology to the food we eat such as a typical Irish potato dish or the Italian cuisine’s use of tomato both of which came from the new world. Everything that we enjoy today is a part of this increasing globalization; a fusion and mixture of traditions. The phenomenon of Christianity is quite spectacular. It started in the Middle East, but today the number of Christians in that area is relatively small. Today Christianity represents 1/3 of the world, speaking a variety of different languages. There’s a very heavy presence of Christianity in the Americas speaking English, French, Portuguese and Spanish. There has been a tremendous growth of Christianity in Africa where people speak a wide variety of languages, as well as in Asia and the Pacific Islands. In that sense Christianity (and religion) unites a lot of people from all over the world. And although I am not a religious person, the basic message of Christmas is a very positive one; it’s about peace, helping the less fortunate, being tolerant and being forgiving. This message of Christmas really is a message that is common to all religions whether it is Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, or Buddhism etc. In all these religions people are expressing the same need for human solidarity. Sometimes people fight because of religions, the religions are not at fault rather it is part of human nature to find things to squabble about. All this relates to my favorite topic of language learning because Christianity – and therefore Christmas - is celebrated by so many different people all over the world, which means that the range of languages spoken by Christians is enormous. To learn about religion and languages is to learn about human beings. Finally, Christmas is an opportunity for families and loved ones to get together. Christmas is a message of peace. Whether you are celebrating Christmas or any other holiday at this time – I hope you enjoy it and think of the year to come with optimism and enthusiasm, I know I do. Happy Holidays everyone.

Hello everyone As promised; here's an early video from The Linguist days. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEOUmBYrjuw I have decided that it is time for a change, first of all my videos are going to be slightly shorter. I am going to talk about language learning in more detail and give specific advice, and I will do this in various different languages. I would also like to start providing you with a transcript and/or a translation when the videos are in other languages. I have been doing videos since 2007, that is a long time and I think a change is due. My involvement with the language thing came about when I started learning Cantonese at the age of 55. I was learning by listening to the radio. Later on a Cantonese immigrant came to help me and together we came up with The Linguist – a predecessor to LingQ. I wrote a book in 2002 called The Linguist – it was later published in Chinese. It is about my experience in language learning. It is about my experiences me as a language learner, and what has worked for me. Since the book was written, I have learned three Slavic languages; Russian, Czech, and Ukrainian. As well as Portuguese, some Romanian and some Korean. In my videos I will continue to talk about how I have used the method from LingQ and the book to learn these additional 6 languages. I am looking forward to turning over this new leaf, and I hope that with this new approach I will get to interact more with everyone. Thank you and see you soon.

Get LingQ's free Russian grammar guide: https://www.lingq.com/en/grammar-resource/russian/ We had a discussion at our Forum at LingQ on whether it was possible to achieve fluency at LingQ, starting from scratch. Much depends on your definition of fluency, but here is what I have achieved. Timelines: 0:07 Can you learn a language from scratch only through lingQ? 1:20 Am I capable of speaking on topics other than language learning? 2:04 Я выучил русский через сайт LingQ. / I have learned Russian through LingQ. 3:13 Что значит свободно владеть языком. / What does «fluency» imply? 4:21 Я могу говорить на разные темы. / I can talk on various topics. 5:10 Россия и Украина по-разному понимает ситуацию в восточной Украине. / The perspective of Russia and Ukraine on the conflict in Eastern Ukraine differs. 6:47 Моё решение для этой проблемы. / My solution for the problem. 8:52 Майдан - мнение Украины и России. / Maidan - vision of Ukraine and Russia. 10:44 Участие России в конфликте. / Russia’s participation in the conflict. 11:45 Нужно обосновывать любое заявление. / Any statements must be backed up with facts. 14:17 Нужно искать точки соприкосновения. / One should seek for common grounds. Visit https://www.LingQ.com My Blog: http://blog.thelinguist.com/ My Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/lingosteve My Twitter: https://twitter.com/lingosteve Follow the new LingQ channel: https://goo.gl/WVnzRS Follow "Steve's Cafe" channel: http://www.youtube.com/c/SteveKaufmann

Language meet-ups, online language resources etc. can all help, as long as we take charge of our own learning.

How I use modern technology to improve in multiple languages. Timelines: 0:02 Modern technologies enable me to learn 3 languages at once. 0:52 Sources I use for learning Korean. 2:35 How I read Korean with different gadgets. 3:45 Idle waiting helps me out with doing flashcards. 4:46 Speakers, earphones and other gadgets. 6:09 Sources I use for learning Ukrainian. 7:22 Sources I use for learning Russian. 7:59 The way I listen differs. 8:58 Minor listening. 10:17 In order to progress one needs not only audio but a transcript. 10:56 Dedicated time is for reading, not listening. Visit https://www.LingQ.com My Blog: http://blog.thelinguist.com/ My Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/lingosteve My Twitter: https://twitter.com/lingosteve Follow the new LingQ channel: https://goo.gl/WVnzRS Follow "Steve's Cafe" channel: http://www.youtube.com/c/SteveKaufmann

Our sense of identity influences how we reason and, in my view, how well we learn languages. http://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/i-dont-want-to-be-right

How well does Mark Zuckerberg speak Chinese? How much Chinese can you learn in 2-3 years? I give my views. The most important thing, however, is that Mark Zuckerberg is learning Chinese and used in front of a group of students in Beijing. 0:02 Mark Zuckerberg speaks Chinese. 0:50 Does Mark Zuckerberg speak Chinese well enough? 1:30 Human to Human communication importance. 2:29 My opinion of his speaking level. 2:50 What are Mark Zuckerberg’s weak spots in Chinese? 3:07 My recommendation for mastering Chinese tones. 6:07 You can just talk all the time. 6:46 Can one achieve more in 2-3 years of learning Chinese than Mark Zuckerberg? 7:29 Can you even achieve a lot in 1 year? Visit https://www.LingQ.com My Blog: http://blog.thelinguist.com/ My Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/lingosteve My Twitter: https://twitter.com/lingosteve Follow the new LingQ channel: https://goo.gl/WVnzRS Follow "Steve's Cafe" channel: http://www.youtube.com/c/SteveKaufmann

I am often asked this question. I don't worry about this number myself. I just know that I need a lot of words to understand what people are saying, in order to have meaningful conversations. 0:02 We need a lot of words. 0:43 How many words do you need to know in English? 1:31 Wrenched back, dishes and learning Korean. 2:12 Additional 15-20% of vocabulary is key words. 3:04 The way we could words at LingQ. 4:08 Ratio between word families. 4:50 I don’t worry how many words I need, I LingQ them. 5:24 Word-count is a milestone of learning. 6:12 The biggest problem for me in language learning. 7:34 The problems in language learning are caused by not knowing words. 8:42 Perfect is the enemy of good. Visit https://www.LingQ.com My Blog: http://blog.thelinguist.com/ My Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/lingosteve My Twitter: https://twitter.com/lingosteve Follow the new LingQ channel: https://goo.gl/WVnzRS Follow "Steve's Cafe" channel: http://www.youtube.com/c/SteveKaufmann

When pressure prevents you from speaking in the language, remember that this anxiety is not real and not you. Reference.http://www.amazon.com/The-Mind-Brain-Neuroplasticity-Mental/dp/0060988479 Timelines: 0:06 Everyone has anxiety blocks preventing from speaking. 2:01 Your mood and relation to people matters. 2:36 Listening and reading is the best remedy for the anxiety. 3:29 Anxiety is in fact not real. 4:00 «The Mind and The Brain» book by Jeffrey Schwartz. 4:42 I did well, I will get only better. 5:50 How do you remove the anxiety? Visit https://www.LingQ.com My Blog: http://blog.thelinguist.com/ My Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/lingosteve My Twitter: https://twitter.com/lingosteve Follow the new LingQ channel: https://goo.gl/WVnzRS Follow "Steve's Cafe" channel: http://www.youtube.com/c/SteveKaufmann

Learn more than one language at a time, or focus on one? I prefer to tackle them one at a time, even if only for months at a time. I explain why. Timelines: 1:04 It’s hard to withstand the temptation of learning other languages. 1:51 Addictive language learning. 2:57 Confidence is essential. 4:23 For me personally two languages is maximum. 5:43 Forget and relearn again and again. 8:22 Summary. Visit https://www.LingQ.com My Blog: http://blog.thelinguist.com/ My Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/lingosteve My Twitter: https://twitter.com/lingosteve Follow the new LingQ channel: https://goo.gl/WVnzRS Follow "Steve's Cafe" channel: http://www.youtube.com/c/SteveKaufmann

I try to be optimistic. Optimism is a source of power for individuals and for society. It also helps in language learning. Steven Pinker's book is "The Better Angels of our Nature. The author of the Rational Optimist is Matt Ridley.