The Fastest Way to Learn a New Language: The Video Game Map Theory

How video games helped me rethink language learning.

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Johnny Harris is a filmmaker and journalist. He currently is based in Washington, DC, reporting on interesting trends and stories domestically and around the globe. Johnny's visual style blends motion graphics with cinematic videography to create content that explains complex issues in relatable ways. He holds a BA in international relations from Brigham Young University and an MA in international peace and conflict resolution from American University.

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[davidchidester]

The way language is taught in schools is like if you were taught to play guitar by learning how to play every chord, but never played a song.

[stegotron]

My Dad always used to say he was "fluid", not fluent when speaking German. The more beer he drank, the better the German sounded and the easier the conversation was. Being too worried about making errors when speaking means you're less likely to try.

[JamesJohnson-odkd]

One of my college English professors started her class by telling us "I am here to teach you academic English. This is not the English you speak, it is not the English you read in a novel or a newspaper. It is the English used in an academic environment to write academic papers and nothing more." That line was a lightbulb moment for me that I have always carried with me since.

[freflam]

As an Italian, I am actually impressed of how good you can speak Italian in so little time, I had zero problems understanding even the clip of six weeks in

[abdulsayed]

This makes so much sense when you realise that this is exactly how people learn their mother tongue. You don't begin with the rules, you begin by learning how to communicate

[jamietate]

I spent 14 years learning French at school. Forgot most of it at uni. Decided to switch my PS4 to French for fun. I learnt more usable French in 3 months of gaming than 14 years in class

[eirianjames]

I teach English as a foreign language, and have studied Spanish, Catalan, French and Italian to varying levels ranging from full degree at university to functional holiday level, and here are some observations (apologies in advance for this self-indulgent essay):

One of the misunderstood concepts in language learning is "being fluent" - some people think it means speaking "like a native"; for others (myself included) it means "being able to express what you want / need". I’ve taught people who are very fluent but make a load of small mistakes, and on the other hand I’ve taught people who can write an incredible essay and understand a complex text but struggle to express themselves in more spontaneous situations.

I’m often asked "How long does it take to learn a language?", to which I answer: “What do you mean by LEARN?” "How long are you willing to study every day? How are you going to study? What are your aims? Do you want to go on holiday to an English-speaking country every summer or do you want to work in an English-speaking environment?”

Speaking to yourself is a great way to get better, as that’s when you notice all the things you don’t actually know. You practice forming ideas in your head and expressing them out loud, which is what you need to be good at when speaking to an actual person.

Never neglect listening skills – you can memorise all the phrases you want, if you can’t understand what someone says, it’s not worth that much. And always remember that not all speakers of a language are as good at grading their language as the Italki teacher in the video. Anyone who has ever asked for a train ticket in another language can vouch for that.

Don’t pay too much attention to the internet polyglot community – they often pride themselves on being insanely good at languages above anything else. I’m ok at playing the guitar, but I don’t need John Frusciante or John Meyer to tell me I’m not as good as them – I just don’t need to be.

Learning a language is a long and arduous journey, but the beautiful thing about it is you’re constantly learning, and being able to communicate with someone in another language is the best thing ever.

It’s also like everything else in life, you get out of it what you put in.

Once again, apologies for this rambling, I’ve just never felt the urge to post anything sensible on a YouTube video until now.

[clayhamilton]

Just came here to recommend setting Animal Crossing New Horizons to your target language and starting a new file. There are so many random objects and various every day conversations. I learned so much Japanese vocabulary from that game alone.

[TheBaronVSP]

A few years ago my company started hiring seasonal workers from Mexico. They didn't speak English, and my coworkers didn't speak Spanish. Management wanted everyone to use translation apps, but I found it to be inefficient and both parties were unsure if the app actually used the correct words for the context. So I took the most important words used in my department, and turned it into a game of repetition with my crewmate. He would say the word in Spanish, I would say it in English, and the rest of the day I would say it in Spanish and he would say it in English. After the 2nd week of work, we could clearly and neatly convey what needed to be done for each job, and we were able to get to know each other and work comfortably. The biggest hurdle is overcoming the fear of sounding awkward.

[naylinnoo]

Son : "Two plus two equals 22"
Johny : "No son, that's wrong"
Son : "No dad, I'm speaking in JavaScript"

[igorporfiirio]

I would agree that what you have is not fluency but the thing is, it's enough, and also, it can be a base for learning more, it's way easier to learn more of the language when you can understand it well, so you can watch movies, youtube, talk with people, etc. In my opnion, this isn't "the new way to learn languages" it's the "new first step to learn languages".

[hannahrothwell]

I’m an ESL teacher with experience teaching learners in Uzbekistan and Jordan and a masters degree in Educatuon and innovation. What he’s talking about is called “communicative language learning” where your main goal is just communicating your ideas in the target language. Nowadays, communicative language teaching is becoming much more popular in the academic literature, but educational innovations are generally lagged by about a generation because the you need to wait until the university students who are learning these methods become teachers and start using them before you see results.

[napoleonibonaparte]

“Lasagna Bolognese”

Ah yes, everyday Italian words.

[j.j.]

Something worth keeping in mind is that, in some places, if you can't speak the language "properly", the locals will just switch to English (Germany, Austria, Sweden, Norway, etc.) or pretend they don't understand you (France).

[praetoriancorps]

When I was learning a language a long time ago, I used a mix of yours and the conventional method. I bought a textbook that explained all the basic grammar rules and I used that as a base to practise the non-conventional way mostly by talking to as many natives as I could. Thinking of trying to learn a new language again, but I'm not sure yet which one i'd want to learn.

[clinton]

Well let's be honest. He said he speaks Spanish fluently due to his mission in Mexico. I learned Spanish over the last 10 or so years and am very fluent as well. Switching over to Italian was almost as if I had like 60 percent of this new language under my belt. Both being Latin languages gave me a massive head start in my Italian journey.

[RaskalinoHtesHoomans]

As an Italian, I find him fluent and can understand everything he's saying. He sounds like a spanish guy speaking italian.

[Stonehawk]

At the end of the day, "i no speek gud" is just as useful as "Pardon me, my friend; I am not terribly skilled at the language of English yet."

[spiritualzorro]

Completely true. While my friends loved to play videogames in Spanish, our native language, I did it in English. I also watched movies/series in English until I started to do it without subtitles. And I only did it that way because I like it. It was subconscious. I was having fun and learning at the same time. I make mistakes, sure. Lots of them. But I am more or less fluent. Now I even read novels in English. And people around me were surprised. I never talked regularly with an English speaker, so I lack a lot of practice in that painful area, but I agree with your video.

[JayFolipurba]

I love how Duolingo saw this video and made an update that completely goes in the opposite direction. They actually used to do it the way you propose and then changed it into the variant you describe as bad