#AskSteve

This describes a period in my life which was important to my continuing interest in language learning. Recommended reading : How long does it take to learn French? https://www.lingq.com/blog/2018/12/19/how-long-does-it-take-to-learn-french/ Timelines: 0:30 My French background. 5:26 The major problem learners who have never learned a second language face. 5:58 My Spanish background. 8:24 Sources I used for learning Spanish. 11:17 Reading is the most effective way of building up your vocabulary. 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

Learning Swedish? Check out LingQ's free Swedish grammar guide: https://www.lingq.com/en/grammar-resource/swedish/ I will do these videos in the order of the requests. French to follow, then Spanish, Russian and Italian. Timelines: 0:15 My Swedish background. 3:55 Sources I used for learning Swedish. 6:08 My gaps in Swedish. 7:01 People enjoy speaking their native tongue to you. 7:37 A few gourmet things I enjoy about Sweden. Learn a language at: http://www.lingq.com Visit my blog: http://blog.thelinguist.com

Basically a lot of reading and listening at home, and eventually speaking when I got the chance to visit Germany on business, mostly in the early 1990's. Timelines: 0:15 My German background. 4:55 Reading materials I used for learning German. 6:20 Listening materials I used for learning German. 7:28 Visiting Germany. 8:21 I don’t bother about German grammar. 8:45 Thirty Year’s war tour. 9:26 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 Get your free German grammar guide here: https://www.lingq.com/en/grammar-resource/german/

It all happened around 11 years ago. Timelines: 0:14 Lack of motivation to learn Cantonese. 1:19 Hacking Cantonese tones. 2:25 The reason I wasn’t motivated for Cantonese. 2:42 Simplified approach to Cantonese tones. 3:22 Mini Disc players and lots of listening. 5:20 Audio sources for Cantonese. 6:15 Debunking Raymond Chan. 8:23 Learning Cantonese stands at the origins of LingQ. Learn a language at: http://www.lingq.com Visit my blog: http://blog.thelinguist.com

I was asked how I learned Japanese, so here it is, as well as I can remember. Get LingQ's free Japanese grammar guide: https://www.lingq.com/en/grammar-resource/japanese/ For some more tips, you can check out the LingQ blog: https://www.lingq.com/blog/2018/10/22/learning-to-read-japanese/ Timelines: 0:59 The way I studied Chinese. 2:43 How I ended up in Japan. 3:46 How I started learning Japanese. 5:44 Why I struggled with Kana. 6:56 The materials I used. 8:59 My ideal Japanese language partner. 9:59 Dealing without looking words up in a dictionary. 10:35 TV shows, soap operas and baseball games in Japanese. 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

どうして日本で英語の勉強はつまらないか。 Timelines: 1:10 言葉の勉強は楽しい事ですね。/ Learning a language is fun. 1:49 日本では日本語と英語しか存在しないような雰囲気。/ It seems only Japanese and English exist for Japanese. 2:25 TOEIC本, TOEFL本と単語本は効果低い。/ Books on TOEIC, TOEFL and vocabulary are inefficient. 3:30 短期的の勉強対長期的の勉強。/ Short-term VS Long-term learning. 4:53 興味がなくても面白いやりかでやれば学ぶ。/ You can learn it if you find a fun way of doing it. 6:11 最初はたくさん読むと聞きく、文法はあと。/ Lots of listening and reading first, grammar comes second. 8:54 忘れたら事構いません。/ I don’t bother if I forget things. 10:18 単語が豊富にあればTOEICは問題ない。/ If you know abundance of words, TOEIC is not a big deal. 11:11 要約。/ 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 need some advice on what to see and where to go for a trip down under with my wife in March. All advice welcome. Learn a language at: http://www.lingq.com Visit my blog: http://blog.thelinguist.com

The book is well written, like an adventure or treasure hunt. A number of well known speakers of many languages, hyperglots as Erard calls them, from history to the present day, are described or interviewed. "What makes them tick" is the question and there are no simple answers. Learn a language at: http://www.lingq.com Visit my blog: http://blog.thelinguist.com

Pimsleur is popular with many people, but not with me. I explain why. Basically not enough words, and not a way I like to spend my learning time. 0:15 Phrasebook false promises. 2:02 What you can do after 100 hours of practice. 2:48 Where do you get with Pimsleur approach? 3:40 Big thing in learning languages. 4:21 2 crucial drawbacks of Pimsleur. 4:56 Number of hours for language input matters. 5:55 Pimsleur gets people started. 6:11 It doesn’t really matter what we do for language learning. 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

It is amazing what some groups get away with saying. Here I quote from an article by Dr. Sawraj Singh, MD F.I.C.S.who is the Chairman of the Washington State Network for Human Rights and Chairman of the Central Washington Coalition for Social Justice. He can be reached at sawrajsingh@hotmail.com or 509-962-3652. Learn a language at: http://www.lingq.com Visit my blog: http://blog.thelinguist.com

I think I am out of touch when it comes to the kinds of claims people make for language learning systems. Here I offer my views on Pimsleur, the promotional video and the system. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-ZCNIHYQ1M 0:53 Pimsleur immodest claim. 1:16 Reason to use Pimsleur #1: 100% audio based. 1:44 Reason to use Pimsleur #2: Short and manageable lessons. 1:53 Reason to use Pimsleur #3: Learn anytime anywhere. 2:10 Reason to use Pimsleur #4 It’s fun. 2:29 Reason to use Pimsleur #5 Learn most common words and phrases. 3:02 Reason to use Pimsleur #6 No rote memorization. 3:39 Reason to use Pimsleur #7 You’ll sound like you were born there. 4:10 Reason to use Pimsleur #8 Based on 50 years of scientific research. 4:25 Reason to use Pimsleur #9 Learn quickly and intuitively. 5:07 Reason to use Pimsleur #10 Designed with adults in mind. 5:40 Pimsleur key principle 1: graduated interval recall. 6:03 Pimsleur key principle 2: principle of anticipation. 7:37 Pimsleur key principle 3: organic learning. 8:31 Pimsleur key principle 4: core vocabulary. 9:46 Pimsleur’s criticism of Rosetta stone. 10:32 Alternative usage of Pimsleur materials. 11:34 Pimsleur hucksterism. 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 "Steve's Cafe" Channel: http://www.youtube.com/c/SteveKaufmann

It depends on your goals, amongst other things. Check out the 6 levels of the Common European Framework for languages to see what your goals are. http://bit.ly/9eDHp Timelines: 0:14 Necessary conditions for becoming fluent in 3 months. 1:00 Common European framework for languages. 1:48 A2 level description. 2:18 B1 level description. 3:18 B2 level description. 4:33 C1 level description. 5:08 C2 level description. 5:43 You won’t get to the «C» area only through talking. 7:35 People who read a lot perform better in life. 8:37 «Rich gets rich» concept in language learning. 10:01 What will get you to the «C» area. 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