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Channel / Source:
TEDx Talks
Published: 2015-04-24
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1RRbupCxi0
we want to start off with a question for you I sure of hands how many of you will put in time and effort into learning another language maybe took a high school Spanish class or maybe you took borrows that its tone had haunted we speak that language right now okay that's most of you here are some of your reason both of your hands so we've tried
learning %HESITATION a few languages ourselves and talk about that well let's talk about what is the problem what is the main issue that is holding up with could it be that you're using the wrong program of study and if you were to you perfect program are the application be able to learn the language well I hear the track record isn't too good I have a thousand
people thousand Americans responded the general social survey only seven claim they could speak another language very well and had actually learned it well if you consider self study programs like was that a stoner insular where they can work some of the time but they have another problem huge drop out rates after meals in the university of Maryland is studied enthusiastic group of volunteers and found that
only six percent we more than a hundred hours program which is far less than what you would need using these programs to become fluent in any line okay well maybe then the problem is that you don't live in the country if you were to move there well you have to agree with you about living in the country that speaks a language definitely helps provides motivation and
an opportunity for immersion but it's not the answer to all of you all you go to the country you don't yet speak the language what you gonna do or you're gonna rely on other expats and locals who speak English to help you get by not going to create a problem with English it's gonna insulate you from rumors so we know an extreme example you know in
American businessman who went to Korea married a Korean woman children increase living crea for twenty years still could not anything conversation react Sir living any other country helps but it's not a soul report it will answer all of your problems okay well finally made the problem is that yours all try learning we're just a kid because right this is actually a pervasive myth even brown of
Youngstown universe you Jennifer Larson holler Kyushu university view the literature and found it dull actually learn languages faster than children in the short run it's only when we talk about reaching native like levels pronunciation and grammar where children start to show an upper hand over it all definitely if you want to just be able to communicate with people have conversations there's no reason you can't learn
a second language at any okay so if those are not the core issues what is the core each we have a completely I thought explain this concept I want to look at this image now if you look at the water you're gonna see two distinct zone at the bottom where the waves are breaking the zone at the top the waters of relatively I want you to
match in your standing on the shore and you want to swim out into the ocean when you first start swimming out into the ocean you're gonna mean this first song where the waves are breaking and swimming in the zone is incredibly difficult feel this incredible resistance the waves come crashing down on you and they constantly try to push it back to the however you were to
push through the zone and get to the second round suddenly when becomes a lot easier and more importantly the waves aren't trying to you back you know longer fuel this we believe that language learning works very similar to when you first start learning a language you're gonna be in this first zone which we call the zone of fear zone of frustration because this is where you
fear using the language where you fear sakes this where you fear embarrassing yourself and learning a language in this song is very difficult the waves represent this negative feedback constantly try to push it back to the however if you were to push past the zone get to the second zone where the waters are calmer suddenly language learning becomes a lot easier a lot more fun mind
you I'm not saying that you're perfect when you reach the second sock or maybe you only know a few words but you're able to use them because confident if you are able to have some ample conversations and language learning goes from being always frustrating to now being rewarded most of the so the court issue we believe that a lot of the people have is that people
get stock in this zone fear and frustration for longer than they have to and for some people for ever and if all you see is negative feedback it's very hard to motivate yourself to learn further and improve yourself and learn the language that so ideally you do you a different method a method that allows you get past the zone very quickly very efficient you get to
the part where language learning is finding each so we believe we have this a method that cuts through the waves gets it easier part of language learning as quickly and efficiently as possible it's very simple don't in English and that my son will obvious or simplistic but it's actually really powerful you force yourself to speak the language you're trying to learn you learn words and phrases
by necessity not order comes up and attacks and you're automatically you learn the most frequent vocabulary and most important words for your situation next because you don't know many words and phrases you're gonna over use what you do know this results in effect psychologists call over learning draws you to access that information automatically you don't have to get tongue tied or has it eating when you're
using basic words and phrases finally because you're not allowed to speak in English you're gonna easily develop conversational workarounds handle situations there about your level asking to be from learning simple phrases like what is this mean and how do you see this in the language relatively early on to being able to efficiently use things like Google translator and dictionaries integrate new words and phrases into your
conversations while you're happy okay so how do we know that this method works all we know this method works because we've tried it for ourselves so last year Scott nine did an experiment we try to learn four different languages and we went to four different countries to learn these languages over a year we use the selfsame no English rule to learn the languages so first we
went to Spain to learn Spanish over three months and we went to Brazil to learn Portuguese over three months then over to mainland China to learn Mandarin over three months finally over to Korea learn Korean over three and we found that this no English will work to credibly well as a matter of fact nearing the end of her travels in each we were confident we able
to have conversations with me beakers he much about any subject and Goldwater daily lives sing the language that we were trying to so we actually have a short video that would like to show you captures the kind of progress that we were able to make using this knowing the fool just under three months free all we know I is that I don't hello yeah I sit
and young people in the news and I'm gonna E. intensities it's great to they're cute I'm attracts you not bad veal I think yeah scenario it's about secret was about so so I do my name really on these nights yeah we on pages help you hope we room seek and I don by the and she lives which examines and that and that becomes I bitch would
you would you become pop I so this might seem a little bit extreme after I would not be a lot easier to speak some English when you're trying to learn the language even if it's not quite as fast it's knowing which will we actually believe that this is a misconception to argue that why it's a misconception I like to reference an experience that I had see
yours before we did this challenge I had a different opportunity learn a second language I was in university and I had the opportunity to study abroad for a year and like this trip I was very eager to learn the local language I bop lyrics high downloaded podcasts I really wanted to become fluent in French only difference they had no specific rule against speaking in English I
figure I'll go there and I speak as much English as I need to know just try to practice French whenever I hear after years of living in France and pushing myself to study every single day you get to a point where I could have commerce but it was never easy it always felt difficult it always felt like I was a little out of the now contrast
that to that my more recent experience in Spain once again you have the motivation and opportunity at this time yet knowing virtual from the very first day we came to Spain we decide we're only gonna speak Spanish had probably about it imagine with limited Spanish skills it was very difficult to begin we had to communicate to each other almost exclusively throw dictionaries for those first few
days after two weeks something change or to get a bit easier after a month even easier and by the third month we were in Spain it becomes so easy living our lives entirely in Spanish was automatic we do not think about studying or practicing with completely invisible airline and what's more after just three months in Spain our Spanish both of our Spanish was much better than
my French was after a year of living in France and deliberately study so when you're evaluating the difficult you have a method particularly in learning languages it's not really fair to look at that initial sliver of difficult because you have to look at how much effort you're going to be putting in not just the beginning but day after day month after month in order to finally
be able to learn this I what we found is not even just that and knowing this was faster but it when you take it over this longer view it's actually easier than any other method we tried learning a language and I'd like to speak about another misconception that a lot of people have is that you'd somehow be able to come avoid making mistakes when you first
start learning a language that's we not true actually making mistakes is very good because it single language eventually helps you get confident when Scott and I were doing challenge we made mistakes everyday so in the beginning everything we step across but that's okay and in China and in Korea because Chinese and Korean are so much harder than the European languages we attempt that are we often
Dublin broken no English with a couple times as well but it didn't matter it's not about stakes how many mistakes are making it's more about that time you make a mistake try again so remember the whole goal of this process and this method push past that zone of frustration and fear can get to the part where language learning because fine and ideally the way you would
do this is you would move to the country that speaks this language and go one hundred percent margin from the first day and committed knowingly obviously that's a bit extreme and a lot of you here might not have the opportunity do that but I'd like to point out that the beauty of the no English rule is that it doesn't have to be a hundred percent no
English all the time everybody can also work in a limited context so let me give you an example if you are trying to learn Spanish you have a coworker a colleague that Spanish maybe you commit to the no English rule every time you see this person every time you're going to see them only commit to speaking expats you work to bump into them at the water
cooler and you want to make small talk you want to say let's say you were busy at work and you want to say well I'm so busy today it's okay to pull up your dictionary translate the entire sentence you don't have to feel ready to say this the goal is to just try and and what this really helps you do is it helps you out with
two very important things first one helps to remove the ambiguity of which language should because a coworker let's say you can see Spanish obviously you're gonna default to speaking in English because it's so much easier by committing to the knowing which role saying every time I see this person I know it's practice time there's no doubt in my mind that now have to speak even if
I let my Dick second thing it helps you out with is helps you develop the habit of speech in the language even at a very low level of this really helps you out built that confidence that you actually I need start speaking language to a higher level do you heard about our challenge now we like the issue you want and I hope we're not asking you
to sell all your stuff and go live in a faraway country we're gonna ask you to do something a lot simpler but if you follow through on it it will still be very effective you wanna finally start having conversations not language you've been learning all your life just three steps step one find one person it could be a native speaker of this language or can be
another language learner someone that you already know a friend or colleague your spouse or it could be someone that you find online their service is that I talk I don't harm life mocha to find conversation partners online if you can't find this person in your life right now tools for finding them online step two image the non English with this person every time you see them
just speak in this line which you're trying to learn tell them that you know even though you're not too great the language yet gonna hafta use Google translator in dictionary a lot the beginning that's okay step three start speak once again it's not something you have to be perfect that you might slip up and break in knowing this will you try again hello your phone downloadable
transmitter out you can type in a whole sentences if you don't feel comfortable yet speaking the language a girl is to get you to start speaking you start building not knowledge of the words start practicing those or freeze what we're hoping is that by showing you this method when courage in you to get started with some not to be and maybe even date to decide that
