The Ultimate Guide to Learning Languages from TED Talk Experts
TED Talks have the power to change the way we think about the world and ourselves. The trick is finding the right talk to melt into and come out of by the end as a transformed person.
Yet in a world of ever-too-much content to consume, it becomes a discouraging task to invest our time in finding the right stuff.
So we’ve done the heavy lifting for you. We have watched all the relevant TED Talks related to learning languages, and summarized their key points.
Why spend 17 minutes on a video when you could have spent 4 minutes reading the key points instead?
Let’s dive in! (note: this list is starting small, and will grow as more and more Ted Talks are summarized, so stay tuned!)
(42 minutes, 15 seconds total reading time vs. 156 minutes, 44 seconds video time!)
1. How to Learn Any Language Easily
(4:59 reading time vs. 17:04 TED Talk!)
Learning languages is easy, Matthew Youlden claims.
Learn better starting now by (1) erasing the 3 language learning myths many hold on to, (2) following the 3 keys to learning languages, and (3) remembering the 3 rules to learning languages.
Get Rid of the 3 Language Learning Myths
Myth #1 — Learning Languages is too Difficult
There is no magical date at which you simply stop learning languages effectively, and many people become fluent in a language late in life.
Contrary to popular belief, adults are actually better at learning languages than children! Why? Because adults know more tools for how to learn effectively and have greater discipline to apply those tools.
You will learn all types of tools just by reading this article.
Myth #2 — Learning Languages is Irrelevant
Let’s get the two obvious benefits of learning languages out of the way: financial and mental.
Financially, you’ll have better job opportunities, and along with those jobs, better pay.
Mentally, the benefits of language learning include fighting neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer’s. That makes learning languages a no-brainer, no pun intended.
But what about everyday benefits? Just a smile and a couple basic sentences spoken to a hotel concierge in a foreign country could put them in such a mood to give you a room upgrade!
And what about love? 1 out of 10 Brits are married to someone born overseas. By learning a new language, your pool of eligible suitors just increased massively.
Finally, the Guardian reported that those who speak more than one language adapt to problems, multitask, and prioritize tasks better than those who don’t.
So what’s the lesson? Don’t give up your learning!
Myth #3 — Being in a Foreign Country is the Only Way to Learn a Language
While it is great to learn while in a foreign country, you can use shortcuts to learn languages wherever you are, and you should!
Shortcut #1: Focus on the Similarities Between Languages
Since different languages often share common roots, this can speed up your learning between them. Example: impossible, imposible, impossivel, and impossibile.
Shortcut #2: Search for the Simplest Elements of the Language
Every language has easy elements you can master and keep as the foundation of your learning. Example, the verb “to speak” in German is sprechen, and lends itself to many other forms.
sprechen (to speak)
besprechen (to discuss)
entsprechen (to correspond)
versprechen (to promise)
absprechen (to arrange/deny)
Shortcut Three: Keep Your Learning Relevant to Your Personal Goals
Nobody knows every word in their native language, so why should you worry about knowing everything in a language you want to learn?
Choose the reason you want to learn another language. Is it for traveling to Greece? Great! Learn things related only to travel, and don’t water down your learning with marketing vocabulary. You aren’t going to talk marketing while you’re traveling Greece!
Once you’ve thrown those myths out of your mind, language learners must next realize a few keys to learning.
The Three Keys to Learning Languages
Key #1: Short, Frequent Learning is Better than Long, Infrequent Learning
Know this: it’s better to have short, frequent periods of learning rather than long, infrequent periods.
Learning English 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week will have better results than a single 2 hour class once per week with little or nothing in between.
One single, long class every week means you may get overwhelmed by the language content, and you’ll likely forget a lot of it before the next class.
Key #2: Fit Language Learning Into Your Daily Routine, Not the Opposite
A primary goal of yours must be to fit language learning into the daily routine you already have. Don’t try to change your daily routine too much to fit your language learning.
This is good news, because now you can turn your 20 minute morning commute to work into a language class. Already you’ve almost completed your daily 30 minutes!
Cramming language into your life is too disruptive. You’ll only create a more stressful situation, which can lead to failure.
Key #3: Add in Passive Forms of Learning
We are used to favoring active forms of learning, like grabbing a textbook and focusing on it for a couple hours, or having an hour-long class 3 times per week.
But what about turning foreign music on while you eat, so that you can acquaint yourself with how words dance in your desired language?
Or how about instead of zoning out after work with your usual TV show, instead watching a foreign TV show?
What parts of your life are passive now? How can you add in light learning to help push yourself to the next level in your language learning?
Okay, you’re almost there! The last part is to remember the 3 rules of language learning.
The 3 Rules of Language Learning
Rule #1: Live the Language
If you are serious about learning a foreign language, you have to be willing to immerse yourself in it to some extent.
Look at it from three angles: speaking, reading, and writing. Ask yourself, “What things do I do in those three fields throughout a normal day?” List them out.
Now think how you can turn each one from your native language to the language you want to learn.
For example, Youlden offers the suggestion that you could turn your computer’s language setting to the language you want to learn. Is it challenging? Yes! But that’s the point.
Rule #2: Have the Courage to Make Mistakes
Learning only happens from making mistakes. It’s a simple, but brilliant truth, and we usually don’t think of it that way.
Children make mistakes because they are children. However, adults become fearful of making mistakes in order to appear strong or knowledgeable to others.
What is the result? Not learning. Not being the thing you try to present yourself as to others (being strong, knowledgeable, wise, etc.)
Having the courage to make mistakes, Youlden says, is the only thing that gives us the freedom to master a language.
Find your courage and make mistakes…yes, publicly! Your fluent self from the future will thank you.
Rule #3: Make it Fun
Fun fuels motivation. Motivation powers the will to begin learning. Without making it fun, learning anything is an uphill battle, and maybe even doomed from the start.
There are tons of ways you can make learning more entertaining.
One simple way is to make it a competition with others, such as with coworkers, friends, or people in an online language class such as the ones Coursenomics offers.
2. The Secrets of Learning a New Language
(4:06 reading time vs. 10:45 TED Talk!)
What are the secrets of polyglots, asks Lydia Machova?
In case you don’t know, a polyglot is a person who is bilingual or multilingual. It comes from the root “polu”, meaning many, and “glōtta”, meaning tongue.
So Lydia traveled to a polyglot event to ask others what their secrets to success are. (Hint: she discovered fun, Rule#3 in the above TED Talk summary as the one, true secret to language learning).
What Polyglots Do to Learn Languages
At the polyglot event, Lydia talked to countless others who revealed their personal recipes for language success.
Polyglot Tip #1: Speak the Language From Day One
While reading and writing are effective forms of learning, don’t forget the point of learning a language for 99% of people: to talk to other people!
Don’t use reading and writing as a crutch to your learning. Don’t run to them because they feel safer than speaking to others.
This particular polyglot simply grabbed a phrasebook, learned a few sentences, and went into the world to speak to real humans.
And you do the same, you’ll get tons of feedback because (and this is true) people are friendly.
Is talking to people still too scary? Dip your toes in with an online video chat. You can start with leaving your camera off.
Polyglot Tip #2: Trick Native Speakers into Becoming Language Partners for Your Benefit
Machova relates an ingenious method of how one polyglot learned basic Russian.
He started two online chat rooms with two different Russians.
In one room, he typed “hi” in Russian to the first person. That person responded with a common Russian response.
Then, in the second room, he typed that common response from the first person to the second person.
This way, he learned the most common conversation starters between ordinary Russians!
Polyglot Tip #3: Do the Basics
Machova goes on to say that some polyglots focus on the 500 most common words of their desired language, while others memorize the basic sounds, while still others master the grammar.
There are many simple parts of every language. Which basic parts do you enjoy most to master?
The One Big Secret to Learning Languages
The three so-called “secrets” detailed above are all just examples different polyglots prefer. This leads us to the one true secret about learning languages.
However you decide to learn, you must prefer that method of learning. You must like it.
One polyglot enjoys mastering grammar, while another hates it. So the one who hates grammar instead speaks to strangers from day one.
Yet both achieve fluency because both enjoy the process.
What does this mean for you?
Why read a dry textbook with outdated phrases when you could be reading Harry Potter in the language you want to learn?
Why write if you dread it? Type instead if that puts learning into action.
Why buy a boring video course when you could be watching Friends in Mandarin instead of your native language?
The examples are endless, and you have to investigate your own life to see how you prefer to study. Once you know it, prioritize it. Then loving the process should become automatic!
Joy + Methods
However you find your joy in learning, it then becomes essential to combine it with effective methods for memory.
Method #1: Spaced Repetition Software
We all know that studying a set of words twice is better than studying it once. We also know studying a word we’ve mastered does little but waste time.
Enter spaced repetition software, or SRS. Think of it as smart flashcards.
SRS flashcards intelligently show words you’ve mastered less often, and shows words you’re struggling with more often.
You can get started with Anki or Memrise, two popular SRS brands.
Method #2: Use the Goldlist Method
Another popular polyglot trick is to use the Goldlist method for memorization. All you need is a pencil notepad with a handy list of words and phrases you want to learn.
For more on the Goldlist Method, visit this link.
Method #3: When in Doubt, Copy Polyglots
If you need inspiration or methods for learning, simply following the social media of well-known polyglots will reveal many tips and tricks.
Take what you find useful, and discard the rest!
Joy + Methods + System
Finally, Machova reveals that consistent systems are required daily for mastering any language.
This requires making small changes to one’s life. Just be sure to not disrupt your daily routine too much.
3 Tips for Making a Daily Language System
Here are 3 super simple tips you are add into your daily routine starting now.
Add short, daily language learning into our schedule by simply waking up 15 minutes earlier than normal.
Add passive forms of education into parts of your day that aren’t very busy, like during your daily chores.
Choosing days and times to always study in your preferred ways.
Lastly, Machova closes by reminding us that one more things is necessary: consistency. Without it, you’ll just make starts and stops, while never fully realizing the potential with language that you’re capable of.
3. How to Talk Like a Native Speaker
(2:41 reading time vs. 17:37 TED Talk!)
Marc Green compares learning a language to learning a new card game. It’s only once you learn the rules that the meaning of the cards opens up to you.
Once you understand a certain number of cards, say 25%, you have “basic fluency” of the card game. 50% knowledge gives you “fluency”, and 75% gives you “mastery”.
But there is yet that magical place we all wish to be at, and that is, “native speaker”. That’s the green arrow at the top.
Native speakers enjoy massive social benefits among other native speakers.
Natives have a shared identity with other natives, and are accepted as one of “the group”.
So Green was left wondering, “Is it possible for a foreign-born learner of a language to become native and join this exclusive group?”
According to him, the answer is yes.
The 3 Focus Points for Achieving Native Fluency
Green has 3 key areas of language to focus on for becoming a native, or as close to native as you possibly can.
Focus Point #1: Eliminate Your Accent
And if you can’t eliminate it, work hard to minimize it as much as you can.
For Green, eliminating one’s accent is the most neglected area of language training today, and also the very most important one.
There are two major benefits of getting a zero or close-to-zero accent:
first, natives speakers respond to you differently on an unconscious level, thereby letting you in “the group”
second, it allows you to form a new self-image and relax into an acceptance of high fluency
A great practice for reducing your accent is the “perfect sentence technique”. Here’s how to do it.
Find a native speaker in your desired language to help you
Pick any book in the foreign language and open it to a random page
Ask the native speaker to rate you as having: (1) an obvious accent, (2) a slight accent, (3) no accent
Have the native speaker read the same sentence back you
Listen carefully, and then you repeat step #3 again…and again…and again! Until you score a (3).
This technique takes a long time, and may result in some frustration. But if you can be persistent and patient with your progress, you will see tremendous results.
Focus Point #2: Learn Colloquial Speech
First, colloquial means language “used in ordinary or familiar conversation; not formal, literary, or academic”.
Green suggests you to use the exact same verbs and expressions used by normal people, by locals.
We all know the terrible feeling of seeing our teacher hand out the dusty, old textbook for class. Unfortunately, a lot of non-native speakers carry around old, uncommonly used words and phrases because of this.
While you may be understood using words that are no longer commonly used, you’ll still be standing outside of the “native-sounding” club.
The solution is not easy: “you actually have to learn all of these words and expressions one by one”, says Green. And this, he continues, requires talking with native speakers.
Good news is, it’s only hard in the beginning.
The more you work this colloquial “muscle”, the stronger it gets. At a certain point, you’ll pick up colloquial words and phrases in as little as a single attempt, just like a native speaker.
Focus Point #3: Adopt Cultural Traits
Frustrate an Italian, and it’s only a matter of time before you get one of these.
Sounding like a native speaker is just one part of it. You also have to look the park.
So start actively observing the culture that speaks your desired language.
This requires patience, but taking note of the manners, speech tics, facial expressions, hand movements, and other body language will put you on the fast track to joining the native-speakers club.
Green offers the example of an American, German, and French speech tics. Say each one gets hit by something. What does each say?
The American says “ouch!”
The German says “ow-ah!”
The French says “ay!”
That’s it, the 3 Focus Points for achieving native fluency.
Conclusion
All three have something in common: the need to interact with native speakers as much as possible.
Immersion in a foreign culture is best, he says. However, there is a good chance you live in or near a large city. There may even be the possibility of moving to one such city in your own country.
The globalization of the world means just about every big city has at least some small pockets of cultures mixing together. There is where you must go then!
Green leaves us with the inspiring note that the most important thing of all is having the right mindset.
Believe you can achieve native fluency and you can. A simple truth for all types of learning.
4. Why We Struggle Learning Languages
(2:54 reading time vs. 16:27 TED Talk!)
Gabriel Wyner adds onto what Matthew Youlden in How to Learn Any Language Easily above has to say about adults versus children in language learning.
We’re used to believing that children are better at learning languages than adults. You might get 4 years of French classes in university, he says, only to go to France and be corrected by a 5-year-old.
But of course this should happen, he says. The child has 15,000 hours of language exposure compared to your mere hundreds of hours!
Yet, when a 5-year-old and an adult are placed in a language environment neither knows, and both are given 500 hours of language exposure, the adult wins every single time.
Why? Adults are smarter and have already learned how to learn.
And with that in mind, you can take the key lesson Wyner has to teach about how to learn a language efficiently.
Sensory Experience: How to Learn a Language Efficiently
Wyner learned the key to learning languages while he was drinking in a Scandinavian bar.
The bartender, realizing he and his friend were foreigners, decided to have a bit of fun with them and poured them one of the national drinks.
First, a simple word. Moktor.
Second, a yellowish liquor poured in a shot glass. “Moktor,” says the barkeep.
Third, rotting fish spooned inside the drink. “Moktor,” smiles the bartender.
Third, setting it all on fire. “Moktor,” grins the barman.
Wyner saw the burning glass, smelled the rotting fish, heard every person in the bar pounding their tables and shouting “moktor, moktor, moktor!”, and finally, the taste of the overwhelming liquid.
It was burned into Wyner’s memory forever.
And that, he says, is the true key to learning any language quickly and effectively. By adding in as much sensory experience as you can.
The number one reason we struggle with learning language is because we don’t use our senses nearly enough as we should.
Wyner went on to learn many languages using this method, and became fluent in just months for each new language.
Strategize Your Senses
With this powerful learning strategy in mind, you can start speeding up your language learning by listing each sense.
sight
touch
smell
hearing
taste
Once you have that, start brainstorming ideas for each one. How can you use it to learn fast?
Let’s say you want to learn all about Japanese food. You want to travel there and you plan on visiting as many restaurants as possible when you do.
So what could you do to prepare?
You could start by going to all the Japanese restaurants in your area or neighboring cities.
Now imagine being served ramen at a local restaurant:
you see the waitress walking towards you with your food. “Thank you, ウェイトレス,” you tell her.
you pull the hot bowl towards yourself. “This 丼鉢 feels hot,” you exclaim.
you hold your head over the bowl and breath the spicy smell deeply into your nose. “This food smells 辛い,” you tell your dinner partner.
you grab a spoon and chopsticks, and they clank against each other and the bowl. “I’ve mastered using a スプーン, but not 箸 yet.”
finally, you put some hard noodles in your mouth and chew. “I’m used to eating soft 麺 with spaghetti, but the Japanese often prefer a
硬麺 style.”
One dinner, and you’ve come close to mastering 7 words, and you probably could have done a list of 20!
What if you decide to go out to a Japanese restaurant, or make Japanese food yourself 2, 3, or 5 times a week using this sensory method?
Now go out into the world and make use of your senses to learn your desired language faster than you ever have before!
5. One Simple Method to Learn Any Language
(3:08 reading time vs. 16:28 TED Talk!)
Scott Young and Vat Jaiswal co-host this TED Talk, and seek to find why people are being held back in their language learning.
They begin with a few myth-busting facts to gives us confidence.
Having the Right Study Program: we often assume the thing most holding us back is following the wrong program of study. However, out of 1,000 people who responded to the General Social Survey, only 7 of them claimed they learned it from a school.
Furthermore, the University of Maryland found that of those who followed Rosetta Stone or Pimsleur, only 6% performed more than 100 hours with the programs.
Needing to Live Abroad: while immersion in another country is truly fantastic for learning a language, what happens more often is getting close to others from your cultural circle and living in a bubble.
Example: an English businessman moves to Korea, marries a local woman, fathers children, and spends 20 years in the country. Yet, he can barely have a basic conversation in Korean!
He became comfortable early on in sticking to other expats, and he never actually immersed himself in Korean culture.
I’m Simply too Old to Learn Languages: as said elsewhere in this article, it is a long-standing myth that children learn better or faster than adults. Read article summary #1 and #5 above for more on this.
Learning Languages is Like Swimming the Ocean
Who doesn’t like a dip in the water when they hit the beach?
But, in order to enjoy calm waters and a peaceful swim, you must first swim beyond multiple wavebreaks.
You need strength to resist wave after wave crashing down on you, and persistence to not be pushed back to shore. Then, you will make it to calm waters, where swimming is a joy.
Learning a language (or anything) is exactly the same.
The Zone of Fear
To reach learning’s calmer water, brave the waves first!
The first zone (or stage) of learning is the Zone of Fear. This is when you feel anxious about speaking the language.
Commonly, this includes:
fear of embarrassing yourself in a social situation
wanting to be 100% grammatically correct before beginning
not understanding everything that is being said back to you by a native speaker
Yet, if you can gain the courage to swim past these first “waves” of fear, you’ll have an easier time “swimming”, or learning.
The waves of learning a language might include negative feedback from parents, teachers, and peers. Or personal fear of speaking.
Like real waves, they work to push you back to shore. The shore is your comfort zone. It’s your native language.
You must escape the shore, brave the waves, and find the calmer waters of learning if you are to succeed!
Speak the Language You Want to Learn
There are no easy pathways to mastering anything, including language learning. It requires commitment and discipline to succeed.
To get past the zone of fear into one of calm learning, the trick is simple:
SPEAK THE LANGUAGE YOU WANT TO LEARN! DO NOT SPEAK YOUR NATIVE LANGUAGE!
Speak your desired language as much as possible has three big benefits:
You will have to learn the most essential words and phrases for the speaking situation.
You’ll be Required to Learn the Most Useful Language
Now think about this. The speaking situation will almost certainly be a very common one. So what is the result? You will have to learn the most common, important, and colloquial parts of the language.
See #3: How to Talk Like a Native Speaker for more on how essential it is to learn colloquial language.
You’ll Make the Most Useful Language Automatic
You will overuse what you learn. Remember, most speaking situations will be very common.
By getting yourself into these common situations, you’ll be forced to use those common, important, and colloquial words and phrases again, and again, and again.
What happens next is making the language automatic. Then it can be used even in uncommon situation fluently.
You’ll Automatically Use that Language to Easily Work Around Future Difficulties
Because your words and phrases will become automatic, you will be able to use them fluently to work around what you don’t know as you move into more complicated areas of the language.
You might not know a more complex way to say something, but you will know a simpler version that works.
Plus, as you repeat steps #1 and #2, that more complex language you don’t know now will become both remembered and automatic eventually.
You are likely thinking this is extreme method, and that it is ok to include your native language into your language learning.
“Just enough of my language to get by,” you might think.
You would be right. It isn’t reasonable to expect most people to go truly 100% in their desired language.
So set a smaller goal. Find a language partner and promise to each other that for the time you’re practicing, you’ll only speak their language.
Or you could find a co-worker who has the same target language as yourself.
But you must promise to each other that 100% of the time you talk to each other at work will be in your desired language, even if it is limited, even if you have to use a dictionary or Google Translate to express yourselves.
Just remember: you must put yourself in a challenging environment where you absolutely must speak your target language, and only your target language.
6. Breaking the Language Barrier
(3:51 reading time vs. 16:26 TED Talk!)
Speaker Tim Doner begins his speech by relating much of his own life of becoming a polyglot, eventually coming to learn over 25 languages!
He proceeds to give us two powerful tips for learning languages, followed by some thoughts on language and culture.
The Method of Loki
Nearly 2,000 years ago, the great Roman philosopher Cicero invented a method of remembering things known as the Method of Loki.
It is known more commonly today as “visualization”.
Visualization is the activity of creating spaces and images in your head and having them come to life. This is done by “living” the experience in your mind as realistically as possible using spaces you’re familiar with.
For example, let’s say you want to learn 3 English vocabulary words and 1 common phrase used by native speakers. Here they are:
enormous: very large in size, quantity, or extent
accost: to approach and talk to someone aggressively
tact: skill or sensitivity in dealing with people
at the drop of a hat: easily; without delay or pausing
Now let’s imagine a popular space wherever you currently live.
It might be your city center, a busy road in town, or just outside your own house. Wherever it is, make sure you know it well and can imagine the details about it very clearly.
Get the picture in your mind. Visualize yourself walking around this space that you know so well and bring your senses to it:
see the buildings, ground, people, and other objects
feel the warm sun, cold snow, or whatever else this place might be like
hear the footsteps of others, or the sound of voices, the dogs barking or the birds chirping
smell the scent of the air, or the food shops
etc.
Now imagine you’re walking this area so well known to yourself.
You see the enormous building. You admire the height, shape, and color of it. What nice details it has.
As you’re standing outside this great building, you hear the voices of two people breaking into an argument. One person is accosting the other about something, and people begin to watch and listen.
It sees like a fight might happen! But just then, at the drop of a hat, a third person gets in the middle and calms both down with great tact.
Really now! Go back and visualize this situation. Go over it a few times in your head. Bring your 5 senses to it as much as possible and move your “body” around the space to discover things and learn the English word for them all.
This is the powerful act of visualization.
Now try bringing 5, 10, or 20 words and phrases to this practice and going over it 5-10 minutes every day.
We promise you’ll see results if you keep it consistent. If it works for memory contest champions (it does), it will work for you.
Group Similar Sounding Words Together
Doner uses the example of him learning Indonesian to share a handy trick about how to memorize words.
Takes these 3 Indonesian words:
kepala (meaning “head”)
kabar (meaning “news”)
kantor (meaning “office”)
These words have no related meaning with each other. But there is something obviously related about them, the beginning phonetic sound, ka.
These 3 words were among the first 50 words Doner learned in Indonesian, which he later became fluent in.
And so the point is clear: group words together according to their sounds to help you memorize them faster.
Nice trick, right?
The Connection Between Language and Culture
Doner leaves us with the quote by Nelson Mandela pictured.
By learning a language, you don’t just learn words and how to use them correctly, but also how the people who speak it are as people.
For example, to learn "how much is this book?” in Persian, you might easily find out how by using a dictionary.
But what you’ll be surprised to hear in response when you use it is the common Iranian phrase, “ghabeli nadaarah”, meaning “It’s worthless”.
Now why would a native Persian speaker say that? Because Iranian culture values humbleness, and that is reflected in their language.
When two people are in conversation, it is culturally appropriate to behave more humbly than the other person.
And so when you ask, “How much is this book?” and you hear the shopkeeper tell you, “Oh, it’s worthless,” they are really trying to say something more like, “Oh, for such a great person like you, that book should be considered worthless. You can have it for so little.”
So keep this in mind: when learning a language, you can dig deeper to find the meaning behind the words and know the culture of the people. And by doing that, you will communicate with them better.
7. How to Learn Any Language in Six Months
(8:44 reading time vs. 18:26 TED Talk!)
Chris Lonsdale has been asking himself one simple, practical question his entire life: “how can normal adults learn new language quickly, easily, and effectively?”
He is pressed by this question because of the state of the world today.
We live in a globalized world facing extreme challenges with climate change, war, and other things. If we cannot communicate, he asks, how can we solve these problems?
His answer to the question comes down to this statement: “find where it is already happening, and identify the principles of that work!”
This process is called “language modeling”, where you literally model after how another person or group is effectively learning languages quickly, easily, and effectively.
First, there are two myths Lonsdale wishes to get ride of in your mind before beginning:
Myth #1: You Need Talent
After failing to learn Dutch, a woman named Zoe was told by others that she didn’t have the talent for learning languages. But after moving to Brazil and applying Lonsdale’s method, she become fluent in Portuguese in just six months.
Myth #2: You Need Immersion in a Foreign Country
Both Westerners living in Hong Kong, and foreigners living in Canada and the US who don’t speak any of the local language is all the proof we need that simply being immersed doesn’t create language fluency.
This is because to learn a language, you have to learn it like a baby. Dropping yourself in a foreign country means all the language you hear will be advanced beyond your understanding. To learn it, you have to go simpler, and Lonsdale’s method does just that.
The 5 Principles of Language Acquisition
Principle #1: Focus on Language Content that is Relevant to You
Any information that relates to your survival or personal goals has the strongest relevance to your life because those two areas are what matter most to anybody.
Therefore, you must design your learning to focus on areas that have the strongest impact on your life, not anyone else’s.
Consider the tools everyone uses for work. Those tools are different for everyone because everyone has different work, right?
If you were a car mechanic, you would have to learn many tools to do your job.
But you’re probably not a car mechanic, so how well do you think you would learn to use a wrench, screwdriver, or car jack if you decided to start right now?
You’d probably learn very slowly. Why? Because it simply isn’t related to your survival or personal goals.
So why would you treat language learning any differently? Focus your learning on what you care about.
Principle #2: Use Your Language as a Tool to Communicate Immediately
When Lonsdale first arrived in China, he spoke zero Mandarin.
Soon after, he found his way on an overnight train one evening, and spoke to the guard on the train for hours and hours.
How? The guard used hand movements, picture-drawing, and body language to express what he was saying.
It was a slow process, but Lonsdale slowly pieced together meaning from all of that!
After leaving the train, he found himself overhearing others speak Chinese and was able to pick up some of it just from that one long interaction with the guard.
For many of you, this would be a scary task. But we must remember, speaking a language is a social activity. You must find the courage to speak to native speakers.
Just remember, that for the most part, people are friendly. You could find yourself someone just like that guard, you just need the confidence and courage to say hello!
Principle #3: Learn Slightly Beyond Your Current Understanding
Studies show the comprehension input method is better than a traditional grammar focus.
This principle is known as “comprehensible input”. While that seems complicated, let’s make it simple for you.
The theory is this: you learn a language best when it is just beyond what you are capable of understanding.
So for example, let’s say you have a basic understanding English.
If you were to go into a university-level class full of native speakers with your basic understanding of English, almost 100% of that class would be so far beyond your understanding, you would gain close to 0% learning from it.
This follows the swimming example in TED Talk #5 above, One Simple Method to Learn Any Language.
If you throw a beginner swimmer into the crashing waves of the ocean, you would expect them to drown.
So you start on shore and look at the ocean.
Then you step into the ocean just to feel the water.
Then you move closer and feel the first wave as you’re still able to stand.
Then you go just far enough to no longer be able to stand, but the wave will push you back to the sand quickly, where you’re safe again.
You continue this process, and eventually you’re battling the waves easily, and one day, you’re able to swim past the waves into the calmer ocean beyond.
The key is to not take on so much learning content so quickly in the beginning that you drown.
Rather, make a strategy to do a little bit more each and every day, so that you learn to “swim” a little better each and every day.
Principle #4: Muscle Training
This is a simple, but often overlooked necessity of learning any language well.
Different languages requires different facial, lip, and tongue movements to create sounds.
Your language may require little lip movement, while the one you want to learn requires a lot of lip movement.
So if you were to ignore lip movement in your language learning, you would make sounds incorrectly in your desired language, which would make you hard to understand.
It’s like working out at the gym. After squats, your legs should be somewhat sore.
If they aren’t sore, you probably didn’t work out effectively.
You should expect some facial soreness when learning a new language. That is a sign you’re using your muscles in a way they aren’t used to be used!
Principle #5: Your Psychological State Matters
Your mindset matters a great deal in effectively learning anything, including language.
Negative feelings of boredom, worry, anger, fear, or sadness will reduce your ability to learn well.
Positive feelings of relaxation, happiness, and curiosity will speed up your learning.
It may be worthwhile to explore your methods of learning right now.
Do they stress you out?
Are you worried about your performance?
Do they bore you?
This is a strong signal that you should change your learning! Remember Principle #1, make the learning relevant to yourself. This will go a long way to making learning enjoyable.
Furthermore, you have to become comfortable with not knowing 100% of everything.
Nobody can reasonably expect to know everything. But if you feel the need to perfectly know everything before you can move on, you will fail.
Get comfortable with just knowing some of what you’re hearing or reading, and keep in mind Principle #3. Just keep pushing yourself slightly beyond your current understanding, and you will achieve your goals.
The 7 Actions for Fast Language Learning
Now organize these simple 7 actions around the 5 principles above for maximum learning.
Soak Your Brain with Listening:
Put yourself in situations that you’re surrounded by your target language. It’s ok not to understand it all. You just have to expose yourself to it to give yourself the best environment for learning.
Use Body Language to Get the Meaning First
Communication is more than words, it is body language. Try to get the meaning from the language by expressing it through your body as well as your mouth.
Mix New Language Together Ungrammatically
10 nouns, 10 adjectives, and 10 verbs gives you 1,000 ways to say something. Most of it will be ungrammatical, but that’s ok!
It doesn’t have to be perfect in the beginning, it just has to work. You will learn how to say them perfectly in time, but the point for now is simply to communicate and make that language automatic.
Focus on Core Words and Phrases
Every language has words that are used more and words that are used less. In English, 1,000 words are used for 85% of daily communication. 3,000 words are used for 98% of daily communication.
So start with the first 100 most common words, then move on to the most common 200, and so on and so on.
As for phrases, start with Lonsdale’s “toolbox”. These are common phrases for helping you understand new language as you hear or read it.
What is this?
What does that mean?
How do you say ______?
I don’t understand ______.
Can you repeat ______?
Then you should also memorize the super common and simple pronouns, verbs, and adjectives.
For example: you, me, give, that, and hot
Finally, focus on what Lonsdale calls “glue words”. These are words that tie thoughts together to create more complex meaning.
For example: although, but, and therefore
Get a Language Parent
A very young child uses language simply, and oftentimes incorrectly. But parents still make and effort to them and communicate with them.
Just as a child needs a parent to create a safe learning environment for language, you need one with a native speaker.
There are 4 rules for a language parent that you should both understand before beginning, and promise to follow with each other:
works to understand what you’re saying (even if it is ungrammatical, hard to understand, etc.)
does not correct your mistakes
shows they understand what you mean (repeats or summarizes back to you what you were saying)
uses words the learner knows
Copy the Face
Tagging onto Principle #4 above, you must carefully notice how native speakers use their faces to speak. This will allow you to pick up the rules for using muscles correctly.
If you can’t find a native speaker, you can still use Youtube videos for this very important practice.
Create Mental Images
Just as Tim Doner recommends above in TED Talk summary #6 Breaking the Language Barrier, use the power of visualization in your mind to remember language.
If you want to learn the word “fire” in another language, bring all your senses to it. See the flames, smell and taste the smoke, hear the crackling, and feel the heat.
Not just that, but place yourself in a mental space you create and move yourself around to experience the fire. This way, you will rapidly learn the word.
That’s all! This jam-packed TED Talk on how to learn any language has tons of tips and tricks you should start applying now to master whatever language you want.
8. Learning a Language? Speak it Like You’re Playing a Video Game
(3:19 reading time vs. 15:30 TED Talk!)
For Marianna Pascal, how well you communicate in a language has less to do with your ability, and everything to do with your attitude.
There are people who know few words and phrases who communicate with others very well. And there are others who know many words and phrases who communicate poorly.
Why?
Pascal, who lives in Indonesia, noticed a similarity between her daughter’s attitude toward learning how to play the piano and Indonesians trying to learn English.
Her daughter hated everything about the piano because her practice time was all about “not screwing up” and being judged. Her success was tied to how few mistakes she could make. The more mistakes she made, the greater she would be judged negatively.
So she developed a fear of mistakes, which led to a dislike of the activity. So had the Indonesians.
Sound familiar to your language learning experiences?
English in the World Today
For every native speaker of English, there are 5 non-native speakers.
Only 4% of all English conversations happen between native speakers. The remaining 96% of conversations involve at least one non-native speaker.
So, what’s the point? It’s your language now.
English is not a skill to be mastered, it’s a tool to be used.
The problem is that English is still taught not as a tool to be played with, but a skill that must be mastered.
We must remember the key point of a language. To communicate! Yet students are still judged on correctness rather than communication.
For example, a student may write an English essay that clearly expresses her thoughts, but tiny grammar mistakes greatly reduces her score.
If this happens enough, she learns to associate English with pain, fear, embarrassment, feeling stupid, and other awful feelings.
This is why people hate learning languages, piano, or any skill that is so strongly attached to negative judgment.
The tragedy is that children bring their lack of confidence with their second language into the world as adults.
As adults who lack confidence in their second language, fear of mistakes attacks their ability to perform:
Listening Fails
They are so busy thinking of how to respond correctly, they miss what others are saying
Speaking Fails
Trying to think of the perfect word or phrase results in losing the language and not being able to say anything meaningful
Confidence Fails
Not only does your confidence in your second language fail, the other person may interpret this as an inability to do your job and perform as a professional
Speak Like You’re Playing a Video Game
Pascal noticed the key to language performance while at an Indonesian cyber cafe.
A boy was playing a shooting video game. He was terrible at it. He couldn’t hit the targets and continued to be killed in the game himself.
His three friends stood behind him, watching his performance just like a teacher might stand over a child.
Yet the boy playing the game was smiling, having fun, and completely free of negative judgment.
He had learned to associate the game with play, fun, and enjoyment.
Pascal noticed the key to language performance further repeated at a pharmacy.
She needed help in choosing omega pills. There were two workers.
One worker had high knowledge of English, knowing many words and phrases, but her anxiety and lack of confidence made her unable to express herself clearly.
The second worker had very low knowledge of English, but she didn’t care about what Pascal thought of her English.
In very broken English, with very few words, the second worker managed to help Pascal choose which pills to buy.
There are two types of learners to consider here:
Learner Type One
high knowledge + focus on self and performance = low effectiveness
Learner Type Two
low knowledge + focus on others and enjoyment = high effectiveness
It’s easy to say, but the key to becoming more effective in language, or anything, is to build your confidence.
A confident version of yourself with fewer words, phrases, and correct grammar, will accomplish so much more than an unconfident version of yourself who knows everything about the language.
9. Hacking Language Learning
(4:59 reading time vs. 14:11 TED Talk!)
“What if we could radically reduce linguistic entry costs?” to save dying languages, asks Dr. Conor Quinn.
In other words, how can we make language learning extremely easy to learn and hold on to?
A great part of Dr. Quinn’s work has been in exploring not just language learning, but how to learn itself.
Quinn wants to “translate the skill set of a field linguist into a form anybody can pick up quickly” and use immediately on “the scary street of real-life language use with very little fear.”
Three Logical Steps for Learning Language
The keys to learning language involve five steps, according to Dr. Quinn:
Psychology
Coping skills
Parts of the language
Psychology of Language Learning
Learning a language is a very embarrassing activity for many, many people. Why?
Because unlike small children, as we grow older we begin to measure ourselves by how well we can publicly present ourselves with words.
In our native language, this presents less of a challenge. But in a second language, we totally lose this skill that we’ve spent years mastering in our native tongue.
The result is to avoid expressing ourselves in the second language entirely.
We avoid face-to-face conversations even though conversation is, “the one thing, the only thing that’s going to make us better,” says Quinn.
The good news, he continues, is that our world has become friendlier than ever in allowing those conversations to happen.
One simple example is signing up for a live online class, or finding an online language partner.
And while those may still feel scary at first, they are made even easier by the fact that you may leave your video off.
Coping Skills for Language Learning
A variety of skills allows you to deal with the fear of language learning.
It is always easy to cope with, or manage your fear related to learning languages or speaking to real people. But like any skill, the more you can repeat them, the more strongly they become part of who you are.
Try using this list of coping skills for language learning:
Reframe Your Shame
Focusing on your embarrassment is a choice. You could instead choose to start thinking of learning a second language as an opportunity to have a “second childhood”.
Accept that you will lose control by learning a language, and you will make mistakes like a child does.
Now you can accept less than perfection and actually move forward.
Improvise
Get into the habit of using descriptions, metaphors, or analogies with the language you do know, even if it doesn’t exactly express your thoughts.
This lets you use the words, phrases, and grammar you do know to work around what you don’t know.
Dr. Quinn has an example. If you don’t know how to say “tiger” in the second language, you might instead say “that big thing, like a cat, that’s black and orange.”
Sure, the second way may use 10 words to describe the single word “tiger”, but you’ve accomplished the point of language, which is communicating with others.
Plus the other person will probably teach you how to say it correctly. Just like a child needs this, you need it too! Reframe your shame.
Importantly, it is important to reward and think positively about yourself when you do this.
The more you feel proud for effectively communicating, you make it more and more likely that you’ll improvise more and more.
Parts of the Language
This is the pronunciation, rhythm and cadence, and vocabulary of the language you want to learn.
The problems appear quickly for most because they try to balance all of these parts at once. Not to mention they seek perfection instead of communication.
Pronunciation
Stop focusing on “repeat after me” exercises, and start focusing on the steps your muscles have to make to correctly say a sound.
You can’t expect yourself to do a perfect tango dance on your first, second, or third time. But each time teaches you more and more steps for doing the perfect tango.
Then, one day, you do a perfect tango.
Pronunciation is the same. So discover what steps you must move your face, mouth, lips, or tongue for a sound, and repeat them until you get it perfectly.
Rhythm & Cadence
Every language has its own flow, tones, rises and falls, and stresses.
This is almost always ignored by learners of a second language. But by choosing to focus on this, the speed that native speakers talk in your target language slows down and becomes more easily understood.
Now you know fully where words begin and end, and can more confidently take part in a conversation.
Vocabulary
Remember how to improvise from above?
The truth is that if your goals is to communicate effectively, you don’t actually need many words in your desired language.
You just need the habit of working around what you don’t know with the words and phrases you do know.
Plus, as you get into the habit of having more face-to-face conversations more, you’ll start learning what they mean from the context of the conversation.
Finally, you should learn to be comfortable asking for help from the person you’re speaking with.
Practically speaking, the words you should learn first should be the short, linking words.
In English, these would include: and, or, but, of, the, who, what, when, where, and why.
These words will give you the most power compared to other words to express yourself. They act as frames for a conversation, so start with them from the beginning!
Once you mastered the usage of simple linking words, you can then add in more complex linking words.
In English, that would include: therefore, moreover, further, besides, regarding, otherwise, correspondingly, and others.
Lastly, Dr. Quinn repeats what a lot of the other TED Talk language experts here have already said—use the language most relevant to you first.
Don’t learn about the language of science if you’re never going to use it!
Then you can effectively tie together the linking words from above with the essential verbs, nouns, and adjectives that matter you and your life most.
10. 5 Techniques to Speak Any Language
(3:24 reading time vs. 14:50 TED Talk!)
For Sid Efromovich, who speaks 7 languages, using 5 language-learning techniques made his journey much easier.
He saw his peers struggling with and hating the language-learning process. But Efromovich came to love it.
Maybe one or two of these language-learning tips would work for you too?
1. Seek Mistakes
Every language is a combination of two things:
Your language database of native and second-languages and all the scary learning outside of what you know.
Sounds
Structure
These two things combine to make your personal “language database”, full of the sounds and structures you know.
But every language has different sounds and structures, and so outside of your personal language database exists entire families of knowledge you don’t know.
Nothing exists in your language database that can accurately tell you if you’re getting the sounds and structures right or wrong in the second language you want to learn.
Yet, in your heart, you get the uneasy feeling you’re doing it wrong.
That’s where fear, embarrassment, and even shame start to take hold.
Stop for on second!
That’s exactly where you should be recognizing the trigger for growth.
That feeling of getting a language wrong is a signal telling you that you’ve left your language database and are in an unknown area.
You are actually exploring your limits, and this is exactly where learning occurs.
The problem is that fear, embarrassment, and shame often overpower learners. Instead of seeking to make those mistakes, they seek to avoid them.
Do you really want to learn a language? Go bravely into making mistakes!
2. Don’t Use the Alphabet You Know
If you’re reading this article, you probably know how to pronounce the word “real”.
But what if you were trying to learn Portuguese and were trying to learn the word “real” in that language?
You’re probably pronouncing it wrong now.
In Brazil, where Portuguese is spoken, the real is a unit of currency. It’s pronounced like “hey-ow”.
If you relied on the alphabet you know for English, you’d say it incorrectly.
That’s because the English alphabet makes different sounds than the Portuguese alphabet, even though they use the same letters.
By using “hey-ow” to pronounce the Portuguese “real”, you give yourself much more useful information.
This will speed up your learning and make it more effective.
So try writing things as they make sense to you.
3. Find a Language Stickler
In English, a “stickler” is a person who insists on something being done a certain way, and no other way.
So find someone who cares about the details of how you use your second language, who won’t let you make a mistake without correction.
It’s important to make sure the relationship is good from the beginning.
If you want a language stickler, make sure:
They will correct you, respectfully
They will feel comfortable correcting you
They will encourage you to make mistakes
You will feel comfortable being corrected
So try finding a stickler. They could be a teacher, friend, or language exchange partner found online.
4. Make Conversations With Yourself
Become two people and converse with yourself.
This is a great exercise because it lets you practice two sides of a normal conversation.
For example, considering learning about asking for and giving directions.
Be the person who asks for directions and also the one who gives directions. You might be good at asking for them, but are you as skilled at giving them?
You could have these conversations in the shower, on your commute, or anywhere else.
And if you’re embarrassed, try wearing an N95 mask and speaking lightly!
5. Find a Language Partner
Efromovich uses one test to make sure his language partner and himself have their goals in line.
The language you want to learn should be the language you and your partner can best communicate in.
For example, if you wanted to learn English, but you and your partner both spoke Japanese well, then what would happen?
You’d probably end up using a lot of Japanese to speak and explain things to each other!
Why? Because learning English would be difficult, and there would be a strong pull for both of you to use Japanese, because it would be easier.
Then you’d no longer be focusing on your target language of English.