10 Myths About Language Learning DEBUNKED

On this top ten list we will identify and talk about the most common myths realted to language learning. Have you heard of any of these? Let me know in the comments!

#metatron #mythsbusted #debunked

[tylercoon]

Actually, the ‘learn while sleeping’ actually does work, but only for the French phrase ‘Omelette Du Fromage’

[rdand]

As a native English speaker, i learned grammar as a child simply by reading books written for adults. I had no idea what the rules were at that time, but when it came time to study English grammar formally, the rules made perfect sense to me once they were presented. I actually understood the basic terms (noun, adverb, etc.) because on the weekends, there was this thing called Schoolhouse Rock between the cartoon shows, which were essentially animated educational music videos. They covered a number of subjects, grammar being one of them. Who would have guessed that there would be thousands of six-year-olds in the late 1970's who could recite the preamble of the American constitution by heart? We had no idea what the words meant, but by golly, we knew what those words were!

[murilocaruy]

Here are my rules for learning any language:
1- Have faith that you will learn it!
2- Remember: languages can only be learned, not taught.
3- Have fun with it!
4- Create a habit, learning needs to be addictive.
5- You learn languages by understanding messages.
6- Find a method that applies #5 that works for you (books, TV, comics, apps).
7- Don't worry if bits and pieces are hard to get, they'll make sense later. Just check grammar or dictionaries if those are coming often.
8- Hierarchy of skills in language learning by importance: listening, reading, speaking, typing and writing.
9- Use shadowing to practice pronunciation.
10- You'll make mistakes, don't worry, be cool and move on.
11- Use the language as much as possible.

[skeptigal]

I’m an older person working on learning Italian as my third foreign language, having studied Spanish and German in the 70’s. Back before smartphones I carried around huge dictionaries and it was very hard to find appropriate and interesting programs to watch. Now choices are virtually limitless and my multilingual dictionary fits in the palm of my hand. With my background in Spanish, I was able to understand Italian videos almost perfectly within a few weeks.

[andrzejsielaszuk]

people who say things like they are not talented enough or" i'm too stupid" drive me crazy because they forget that THEY ALREADY KNOW ONE DAMN LANGUAGE

[Emielio]

Fun fact: this new channel of yours is gradually building up my excitement to get involved with language learning again... and I think I might pick up Swahili once more (a language which I studied for about 2 years... which was also the reason I couldn't finish my bachelor in African languages and cultures since I couldn't pass the last few courses on Swahili). I then went on to study European languages and cultures with Italian as my major and managed to pass... and the reason I chose that was also sort of thanks to you, so yeah, grazie per tutto, signore! Getting through that BA programme enabled me to land a government job here in the Netherlands, so you probably did more for me than both of us realise :P

[yanneyanenchannel]

Regarding becoming fluent without moving to a country where the language is spoken: When I was in high school, I hadn't met a single native English speaker in my life before I went to study for a year in Japan (I'm from Finland).
I was mainly there for Japanese, of course, but we had an assistant English teacher who was from the US, and I was able to have long conversations with him in English without a problem, without ever having set foot in an English-speaking country (I still haven't, come to think of it). My English abilities have only improved since then, so yes, it is absolutely possible (granted, English is probably the easiest language to do this with, simply because of how prevalent it is all over the world, and how much immersion and study material there is in the language).

[FlagAnthem]

10:20 the myth I hate the most is that exposing a child to multiple languages will just cause "confusion"

Not only we loose our local linguistic heritage but we preclude entire generation to multilingualism.

[danielroy]

learning while you sleep
"omelet du...fromage"

[jan_kisan]

7:00 i'm now learning Mongolian while living in Mongolia, and i have to admit the most effective things i'm doing are still coming from YouTube and eBooks, and a bit of zoom calls — none of which you need to live in the country to have access to.

[mollof]

If you gonna learn a gendered language, learn the genders with the words.
In my German class we learn the vocabulary only. They treated the genders as part of the grammar but I think would be far better to treat it as a part of the vocabulary.

[СветаНовикова-эы]

My mom repeatedly discouraged me from learning Chinese because I don't have perfect musical pitch and that Chinese people are more patient, hardworking and dedicated so there's no point of learning it because they will know my native language better than I theirs. So it's pointless to learn it for work or business. It kinda worked for me for a while but someday I tried to learn Chinese pitches and its actually not that bad. Still I'm more interested in learning Japanese at the moment.
My tip for learning languages especially on at the start is not to be afraid to sound dumb. Yes you will make mistakes but you don't have sound perfect for people to understand you. Main idea of the language is communication so if you're understood and you understand other the main goal is kinda fulfilled. Say for example
"I at school, do now English"
This is completely grammatically uncorrect but you still can get that this phrase has something to do with being in school and probably learning English. I don't say you need to abandon the grammar altogether but fixating on this too much will give you more harm than good. I saw foreigners completely mixing up case system or grammatical gender and I still could understand them. So don't be afraid to do mistakes and if someone tries to shame you for them this is not the best person to listen to.

[FiliusFidelis]

yeah that's one thing I really remember from school. WAY too much focus on grammar.

[_PM_]

That sleep thing is so stupid. Sleeping is when your brain is resting. It's not going to process any input that requires higher brain functions.

[thorthewolf]

I like watching videos about language learning, and Im currently learning spanish, but I feel like if I spent the time learning a language I did watching videos about language learning I would be so much further... this is not a knock on you, Metatron, I very much enjoy your videos and will continue watching them!

[Runningtail]

Thanks, Raf! I believed for a long time that I just didn't have the talent to learn languages. I'm going to put more earnest effort into learning Japanese

[BartAnderson_writer]

Very good! Your points mostly match my experiences learning languages on my own. Some thoughts:

1. "Fluency" needs to be broken down into the various skills - colloquial conversation, reading, writing, formal speech, different subject areas.
People have different goals, so there's no one standard.
2. Reading and conversation are two separate skills, that can be pursued separately. I do think some work on pronunciation is important even if reading. And vice versa.
3. Familiarity with grammar is a big help learning a language. True, one can "pick it up" but that's a long and inefficient path.
4. Adults have certain advantages over children learning a language. We already know the concepts (like "universe" or "legality") - we just have to learn the new word. Children have to learn the concepts.

[ivanakristo]

Do you know how sympatetic and charismatic you are 😉? I watched a few your videos and I really enjoyed in it! I will definitely keep watching your channel.

[staying_Afrosty]

in my opinion one of the reasons kids will always have an advantage...is free time....most adults are busy doing life while kids can be at home all and learn.

[sernis]

I love your history channel so much! I am trying to learn Japanese and i found this second channel. Im so happy. More Japanese content please!