How to Use YouTube to Learn a New Language

In this video I want to underline why YouTube is a great resource to learn a new language and how you can do that too step by step.

Plus, you'll learn how to avoid the paradox of choice and how to make sure that YouTube does not become a distraction.

Stay tuned!

Filmed and edited by Pierluigi Siena

Music:

[johanna]

Luca: Don't get distracted while you watch the video!
Me: Reads all the comments while the video is playing 🙄

[Eruptor]

Tip: Create a separate youtube account and only subscribe to channels in the language you want to learn, this helps so you don't have your content mixed up.

[mariom]

To summarize the entire video!
1. Choose your content
2. Watch the video and rewatch it multiple times.
1a: Put video in full screen, watch and rewatch - watch the entire video


2b: Focusing on the English subtitles


3c: Focusing on the Spanish subtitles


4d: Watch it and write down, things you don’t know or expressions you would like to search up.


5e: Watch the entire video to fully understand it.

3. Save what you have learnt!

[Espiritu_Santu]

Final step: download the video as audio and listen it as a podcast doing your everyday routine.

[nicnierozumiem]

I follow a very similar process as Luca but one very important step for me is to "sleep on it". After 2 - 3 days, I come back to that same video and re-watch without subtitles. My comprehension is even better than at the end of the first day and I find it rewarding and a great motivational tool.

[CedricIII]

Don't forget that you can slow YT-videos down too, if people speak fast. Just click on the settings wheel and choose between 0.75, 0.5 or 0.25. Very useful.

[easylanguages]

This is an awesome video Luca! Thank you so much for sharing your experience and methods. 😃

[marloncastro]

The summarize:
1. Pick the content of your interest (you focus in the message more than the language itself, so you unconsciously learn the language TO UNDERSTAND THE MESSAGE)
2. Watch the video first in the target language, then rewind it now focusing on your mother language.
-Take your time to write down the vocabulary you find interesting.
-Watch the video again once you gathered some word, phrases, etc.
3. Make sure you save your notes into a logbook in order to review them later or consult a lesson in case your don't remember something.
-It also reminds you of the amazing work you've made and keeps you motivated.

[batgirlp]

There is a woman named Laura that reads elementary Spanish books slowly entirely in Spanish. It's excellent comprehensible input that I use daily.

[Theyoutuberpolyglot]

This is an excellent way to learn foreign languages.
My method is similar.
I learn the structure of some sentences by heart, and then I try to formulate other sentences with the same structure.
For example
My sister lives in Spain with her daughter- I learnt this sentence by heart- Now, it's my turn to formulate another phrase based on the same structure.
My brother lives in Germany with his dog.
The sentence is the same, but I changed some words.
Vocabulary is crucial. There are no shortcuts.
You have to learn words by heart. Words in many sentences, not isolate words like in School.

[EasyFrench]

That's such an interesting and effective way to watch Easy Languages videos, thak you for sharing !

[alexmga]

THIS IS AWESOME! Luca has always been my favorite polyglot. He’s one of the reasons I started to learn languages

[EntrepreneurDrive]

I think about 90% of my language learning comes from YouTube. The remaining 10% comes from supplementary items that I found out through suggestions in YouTube videos. So yeah, YouTube is teaching me a lot!

[stefaniecarina]

My routine when I watch Netflix episodes to learn Italian:
first: just Italian (see how much I can understand)
second: Italian with subtitles, write important sentences down, translate them, create a little dialog
third: watch in german (my native language)
fourth: watch it in Italian

this way I teach myself to understand the fast-speaking language, I learn new vocabulary and also sentence structure.
It makes more fun watching a series you really like.

Thanks for your videos! I love learning languages and you help me out with your many good videos.

[amstabomitdembabo]

My tip for advanced learners: Watch the video for the first time without subtitles and then a second time with subtitles to take note of the things you missed out.
For me this is absolutely enough.

[mothman]

I gave up on tracking my progress, saving vocabulary, etc. for one very simple reason: I've done that for years, but the fact is I've hardly ever gone back to look at the material again. So now, I learn what I learn, don't learn what I don't learn, grudgingly accept that I have little or no control over what gets deposited in my long-term memory anyway, and that's that. The idea of having notes you can go back to is still great, but to me it's 99% added stress, 1% perceived profit.

[carpediem]

I had no idea you would be such a nice guy, Luca Was thinking, when i learned a language, there was no internet, no YouTube. I do remember writing words down to remember them. Only problem for todays' learners is keeping to a schedule, but it's made acquiring a language available for most everyone.

[MaikLitoris]

I am glad to see "Atomic Habits" in the background. What a great book!

[neverstoplearning]

This video is GOLD to me because I'm learning American Sign Language, so I use YouTube a lot. Thanks!

[evanfont]

Awesome advice. I appreciate that you point out that the "Easy" Languages channels are really more for intermediate to advanced learners. I made that mistake in the early days of my Spanish studies and felt so defeated haha. Now they have become an invaluable part of my Spanish studies.


I'd love to see a video focus on ways to improve speaking skills when you don't have access to native speakers. Nothing is worse than when somebody speaks to me in Spanish and I can't say anything meaningful back because my brain melted :/