My Advice For Learning Languages As An Adult

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Hey guys! Many of you know that I can soeak three languages but I didn’t actually start learning Thai or Japanese until I was 20 years old. Learning new languages as an adult is tough so I wanted to share my experience learning langauges with you and also give you some advice that might make your language learning journey a bit smoother.

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[PerthNakhun]

Personalized 1-on-1 language lessons with native teachers on italki🎉 Buy $10 get $5 for free for your first lesson using my code PERTH.

[hellomello]

Tips from the video:
1. Identify your needs/goals
-You don't have to be perfect for your language skill to work well for you
-"Whatever works for you is the best"
-You don't need to all be high level if you're not using them
2. You get better at a skill by doing it. Repetition, repetition, repetition.
-Pronunciation is a physical skill. I have a whole speech about this.
3. Don't worry about mistakes. (This ties to "you don't have to be perfect from 1)
- YES. This is my number one message as a language teacher
4. Identify what kind of learning process works for you.

Thai/Japanese advice
1. Don't ignore tone and intonation/practice the language with all of the elements from the beginning
-Train your ears to distinguish tones

Counter points:
Non native speakers can be great teachers. The best ESL teacher I've met so far learned English third (Portuguese, then Spanish then English. She got a law degree in English. Super impressive). As a native speaker, I helped her with idioms, listing "common ways to start a story", slang, connotations of uncommon words...

I have a master's in Applied Linguistics and Teaching English and have taught English.

[moonsidewatch]

I don't usually comment, but i just wanted to say that that tip about falling in love with the language is so true. I have had the opposite, I moved to another country with my mom and now I've been forced to learn a language I don't care about in a culture where I feel left out, so even though I've lived here for some years now I've tried anything and everything NOT to have to learn their language. As I've grown older and had to find a job here, not being able to speak the local language has been such a problem that I've been forced to learn it. And it truly is so hard, specially when I've always wanted to learn a different language (Chinese, as I had some Chinese friends growing up and their culture/food/TV always interested me). Thankfully after some months fully immersed working a retail job and being forced to speak/listen/understand to clients every day I've learned a lot more than some off courses I've had throughout the years, and I am getting to a place where I feel comfortable speaking even if I'm aware I'm making mistakes (lord sentence structure while speaking is HARD). Also i feel after being forced to immerse myself in this culture I find it less scary or intimidating as I used to before, and gradually it feels like maybe I do have a place here. I'm glad to hear it will get better, and that eventually these efforts will pay off :)

[shoshimonster]

the language I am currently trying to study is Korean and while I was studying abroad (not in Korea) I ran into this music group of around 40 people from teenage to around 60 years old singing and at the end I made eye contact with one of them and thanked him in Korean. he was very surprised, and I saw the way his eyes lit up hearing his language from someone who he wasn't expecting to hear it from in a place neither of us spoke the language very well. we continued the conversation in English and we are still friends to this day, three years later.

[debobo]

i'm french, and i'm currently learning thai on my own, it's a bit difficult but so satisfying when i manage to understand some sentences :) I don't plan to be fluent, but being able to have a little chat will be a good goal!

[MrsSaeta]

Motivation is so big. For 3 of the 4 2Ls I have learned, I was highly motivated and it was fun. The most recent one, I have very little motivation beyond the utility of the language and it really has made learning harder.

[ELFy]

Just noticed there's that Japanese Magazine of him and Talay in the background XD

[wileko]

Learning in context is REALLY helpful. Watching shows or movies helps with that. Even if you forget a word or sentence, it can come back to you in that same situation that you would need to use it in.

[zammich]

I saw you on Japanese TV a few months (?) ago and I was surprised by how good you were! I knew you had been studying Japanese, but you seemed very comfortable listening and speaking. It was pretty inspiring!! Hope you appear on TV here more!!

[milis]

motivation is the most important thing I guess. I started to learn japanese at 20 y.o. at uni and the desire to get a chance to study at japan as an exchange student helps me a lot to not give up

[Patricio_Marcel]

I totally resonate with this video. I think it is so easy to overlook the fact that really thinking about the 'WHY' before you start can make the language learning process a lot easier, and help to set reachable goals.

[mossea]

I am also a half Thai who only speaks English, some basic survival Thai, and is learning Japanese for fun now! At age 27!! And signed up for Thai language course

[markqalvarez]

I love this kind of videos. I am 31 years old, and speak 4 languages: Spanish, English, French and Portuguese; not I'm studying Italian. I am also certified to teach Spanish and English, and my dream is to learn around 10 languages (including Chinese, Thai, Japanese and Korean). Greetings from Guatemala.


BTW, I teach Spanish, and study with French and Braziilians tutors on italki. I love it.

[JapaneseSoundscapeJourneys-jw]

Learning foreign languages has always been my passion. I am especially drawn to the different sounds of languages. My tip is to take up the language that sounds soothing to you.

[ravere]

I definitely agree with the teacher that you have to fall in love with a language. I learned French and Korean when it would make more sense to learn Spanish since a lot of people in my area speak it but I didn't really have anything that I was interested in with Spanish culture (except mayb the food 😅) While with French I was interested in the culture and watched some shows/Youtubers and for Korean my love for Kpop and Kdramas made me interested in the culture and language more. Also, Perth is so right about speaking it often. Don't be afraid to have a conversation with yourself guys it actually works 😂

[monochromeUji]

I'm trilingual as it is, since in India it's normal to know Hindi and your regional/state language, plus English cause it's common at school level. I've wanted to learn another language for quite some time, but I've definitely used my age (28) as the biggest excuse to not even start picking up a new language. This video is a great help. Perth, my man, you're a gem.

[gaemlinsidoharthi]

Thanks for the encouragement. Good to know that I’m not the only one that struggles.

[AV-ksgp]

When I was a kid the first thing my dad taught was how to swear in Norwegian and I mean SWEAR. Luckily you don't find a lot of people who have Norweign as a second language so I got to swear at a lot of kids in my mother tongue lol. My piece of advice though, is to find someone who knows the language, or is a native speaker and make it a thing to always talk to them in that language, I found that helped me immensely in learning.

[schmittgetsreal]

This was SO HELPFUL! Thank you for making this! 😘

[Fernandapsventura]

Thanks for this video Perth! I am an ESL student and an English teacher for Portuguese native speakers and your tips are really useful, especially to those beginning the learning process. This thing about the goal is real: my goal was to be able to speak fluently and I'm really good at it, but my writing skills on English are not the best ones, and when I realized that I started practicing more day by day but it remains difficult to remember the words' spelling and this kind of stuff. Anyway, I loved your video!