How polyglots learn languages (with Steve Kaufmann)

In this interview I speak to Steve Kaufmann, a well-known polyglot who at the age of 73 has learnt 20 different languages.
We talk about language learning, making mistakes, and why you should do the hard work to learn English. See you in class!
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[Canguroenglish]

I’m sorry I don’t have time to reply to all of your comments but I read them all and I am eternally grateful for your love and support.

[jandirarabaca]

"...the paradox is that if they aren't willing to make mistakes they will continue to make mistakes... perfection is not the goal..." Perfect! My challenge is just this point.

[dianephilipson]

This looks amazing! I'm a native English speaker, and in my lifetime l've learnt - and forgotten - French, Italian, Swedish, Indonesian and Japanese. Now at 76, l'm keen to get into them all again this way. If it works, l'll try Mandarin. Very exciting.

[BarriosGroupie]

3:01 is a profound observation: "once you discover you can do something, then you're motivated to do more of it"

[istciqd]

People like Steve ans Christian are bringing concepts of learning languages, which are revolutionary for the most of people. Please, keep spreading your knowledge! There are people who struggle with learning and they need it. YOU are my inspiration! Thank you both Steve and Christian with all my heart!

[Eric-zlkn]

At age 19 I have a child's grasp on Hebrew, Russian, and Spanish. I currently speak English and German fairly well. I needed this because I am able to start this early in my language learning career so I may standardize my language learning in a more appropriate fashion as my learning habits have been quite counteractive as I don't know what I'm missing in the language until I'm stumped

[princessana]

Well, yes i was frustrated expacting people to judge when i speak or even write comment on youtube, i was full of hopeless but wait what changed me was when i started to not be afraid doing mistake and practiced everday🌟 i know some of you wouldn't believe me what i did!
I became nearly fluent after 2 months of keeping my promise.
Here i am today🌟

[larrylac]

I’m a Cantonese speaker from Vietnam, had learned Vietnamese one period a day for 5 years, have been speaking English for 35 years. Just started to learn Spanish, Mandarin & Vietnamese 4 months ago. Thank you gentlemen for your insight.

[lucasramos]

I'm brazilian and my main language is Portuguese, but I speak Esnglish too. This video helped me a lot with many doubts and fears. Thank you guys!

[lusoentertainment]

I am now becoming a polyglot! I know English, Spanish (ES) Japanese, portuguese and a bit of Chinese! And I still believe that those who have a great will, is about to enter up to the polyglot fame hall, like Mr. Steve. He is like a inspiration for us, as young language learners! Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us!

[aoeu]

73 years old, but he still looks good holy crap...

[MiGp]

What a great man Steve Kaufmann is! Hats off for his wisdom and sharing his experience. Thank you very much!

[rokkvi]

He is so absolutely right about how backwards language teaching is (in schools at least). Pretty much any polyglot says similar things about it to what he says and I agree from my own experience, being fluent in Icelandic, English, German, Swedish and Danish and knowing some French.

[martatrznadel]

It is so true that when you learn more languages the better you become in learning languages. I'm Polish 37 years old, I speak Polish, English, French, Italian and Arabic (fusha, Syrian and Egyptian dialect and I'm learning Derja along with my kids as my husband is Tunisian), I read and understand German (I speak a little as I have never had chance to practice talking) and currently learning Chinese. When I was a kid I was also able to communicate in Russian but when I entered school in '89 it was moment when it was cancelled from schools in Poland and my parents focused in teaching me English so at the end I have not learned Russian. But I plan to take Russian after having learned Chinese.
My children are already plyglots by birth: as I am Polish, my husband Tunisian, we use OPOL and talking with each other in English and plus we live in France so our kids have 4 languages as a "starter pack" ;) Our 9 years old son, made his Cambridge flyers A2 this year with 15/15 even that he was never learning English (as a foreign language), he is also making in the same time Polish and French school at home and learns to read in Arabic (as he is speaking Derja like his father he needs to learn "new Arabic" so called Modern Standard to read). Our 2 years old daughter alread speaks 2 languages (Polish and French, which she learns in the kindergarten) and understands 2 more (Derja from father and English when we talk together)

[davidtice]

Television is one of the most convenient ways to learn a second language. I watched television only in Spanish for two straight years. I did the same thing with Italian language television.

[laurenganz]

I speak Spanish, Basque, English and Galician and I'm studying German and Norwegian by myself. I try to read books and newspapers in different languages everyday, watch movies and series in their original versions, etc. so I don't lose pace and fluency. Once you fall in love with a language, it's hard to quit.

[MinutestoRouletteFortune]

You know when you are getting the hang of a language when you start to dream in the language. I have dreams in German, Thai, and Spanish. It's funny when in the dream I'm speaking Thai to a German person and we both understand each other. lol

[josepcorretja]

I completely agree with SK when he says that "practice makes master" (not literally). I am now trying my best in writing and it goes better with the time.

[wilson]

As a linguist, language teacher and learner, I agree with everything except for one thing. I don’t think the first thing to learn is the writing system, because some systems such as English are inconsistent, especially when comparing the writing system with the sound system (e.g. “a” doesn’t always sound as /a/). So I believe the first thing to learn is the SOUND system, then after learning all the sounds, you incorporate it to the writing system.

[NAsyn-kbhh]

I'm a teenager, I'm also a polyglot. My native languages are Portuguese, English and Spanish; I learned French and I'm on a very advanced level (from now on it really is just about practicing and talking which I do a lot); I've been learning Hebrew and Galician and I'm planning Mandarin and Arabic next (I kind of started getting familiarized with Mandarin but not yet started). When Steve shared his point of view about how language teaching is upside down, I felt so related to it! I see people at school struggling with badly spoken English and that backwards method is what gets them stuck, and really, the more you learn the better you get at it. Languages are fascinating, they're beyond any translations, they're a whole different way to see the world and a whole new culture that comes with it.