How To Master Any Language: Comprehensible Input

Comprehensible input is the only way to truly acquire a language. Trying to learn through conventional memorization techniques is just not enough.

Huge thanks to Larry, Hilary, Nathan, Mark, Taylor, Brendan, Ryan, Joltrast, Tobi, INK-Konkurso, and Breanna for supporting my channel on Patreon!

Kaj egan dankon al Interkultura Novelo-Konkurso (INK) pro ilia subteno! Jen kelkaj informoj pri la konkurso:

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Welcome! I am an aspiring polyglot with a degree in Linguistics. I speak English, Spanish, French, and Esperanto, and I'm currently working on Thai. I make videos twice a week to talk about my methods of learning languages and to try to help others make language learning faster, easier, and more fun.

[itachiuchiha-xjov]

I never learned English in my entire life, when I was a kid I used to watch movies and TV shows with subtitles, and played a lot of video games in English, such as GTA SA, God of War, God Hand. and used to listen to a lot of music in English, used to go and search for lyrics and try to sing even though I didn't understand anything they said, but still I did it anyway, but the impressive part about this (at least for me) is learning English was never something I wanted to do, it just came naturally, and as time goes by (doing these things) I was able to understand and speak English, which comes to the point of making this comment. if you wanna learn a language (any language) make it a fun and an entertaining experience, because when you combine fun and learning it becomes more affective.

Edit 2024/01/24: Wow. I cannot believe it has been two years since I've wrote this comment. It's almost surreal how time quickly flies by. And my original comment contains quite few grammatical errors, lol.

The idea is still pretty much the same. Comprehensible input is the only way to acquire a language and become efficient at it. While I understand the need for grammar and "formal" learning, it's important to acknowledge and admit it won't do you any good except clarifying some concepts and rules in the language. The real battle, so to speak, is within the content the language has to offer. Books, movies, games, podcasts, music... etc. That is where the real language happen, not in textbooks.

[davidbrisbane]

I've acquired several langauages. They are all sitting on my bookshelves 😀.

[Azeltix]

I never made so much progress in English than those last 4 years, listening to content on YouTube in English with no subtitles.
I struggled a lot at first but as I only watched content I liked, it was interesting and I acquired the language.

Now I can even understand words or expressions I never heard before.

[fernandafefe]

😱That is awesome, and I agree absolutely cause I 'm acquiring english, I didn't study grammar, nor rules and I can understand your words about 85% and the message in context 100%. And could to write this sentence without translation, it isn't perfect but if you can understand me, I'm happy 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻Our brains are incredible. Hugs 🤗 from Brazil 🇧🇷

[taylordiamond]

I tried hundreds of times to learn a second language and nothing clicked for years until finally one day I understood that there's a difference between studying something and knowing something. Studying is hard and the effort can get in the way of yourself being able to acquire it through having fun and just saying "Ooh, I know this one easy". Study, be patient and don't stress. You can do it!

[BlackSeranna]

My mom lived in Mexico for two years. When she came back, she was fluent in Spanish, right down to her accent matched that of the locality she was in. I know this, because as a teenager in Indiana, I saw her help some Mexicans who were looking for masa in the grocery store (but didn't know where to look). She told them what aisle, and one of them said, "Where in Mexico did you say you're from?" So, this comprehensible method works, for sure.

[jean]

To acquire a second or third language requires motivation. This works for learning a language too. But, as this video believes, it is better to want to acquire a language because the understandable messages should not be boring. I acquired Spanish because at age 14 I was taken to a corrida by my dad and I wanted to understand it more. I ended up buying books about toros. Now I have the nerve to speak the language in Spain. Secondly, I taught history and I had an interest in pre- and post-WWII Germany. So, as a student I visited the Deutsche Demokratische Republik where I picked up my very first words from a border policeman. "Ihren Reisepass, bitte. Wo ist Ihr Visum?" Eventually I was making sentences which I had never heard! I do not know where I got the nerve to raise my voice to a Berlin policeman who did not want to bother with me. "Ich möchte Hilfe!" Where did that come from? Is it even correct? Straight away a different policeman got up from his desk and brought me to the right place. Imagine. I gave an order to a policeman in Berlin using German. I was acquiring the language!

[jamestandy]

I've been looking for a good video that I can send to people about the input hypothesis and this is one of the best and most succinct I've found! Thanks for this!

[ukcliffjones]

Great video. I realised watching this that you don't understand a new sport by learning the rules, you learn it by acquiring it, by watching the sport and learning the rules in context with the input.

[yohanryoo]

Thanks. This removes a lot of burden on learning. Great to have this articulated.

[NoNamesWereAvailable]

Gotta love coming across one of these videos and learning that you've been doing it entirely correct this whole time.

[AuthorBDGorman]

Excellent strategy to acquire language. Trying to do this with my current attempt at picking up Italian. Working great so far!

[uchuuseijin]

Dude, what an amazing video! One of the best breakdowns of comprehensible input I have seen. Breaks down exactly what Comprehensible Input is in an easy to understand way, clears up a lot of the misconceptions people seem to have about it, and it's delivered in a way that's clear, to the point, and interesting enough to hold attention.

[waaagh]

I agree. Most of my time is spent on it. But I also find that doing the top 400 most frequent words at the same time I'm doing comprehensible input gives me a nice boost.

[curtismak]

Very important information for study a foreign language, Thanks for sharing.

[joyyyy]

Thank you for providing the good method! Actually, I have watched the professor's method of learning a language but this was a fantastic reminder. Currently, I learn English and I'll keep in mind the only one way of acquiring - Comprehensible input

[kimcuongtran]

Abosolutely true, now I'm convinced reading and listening are the keys to succeed when it comes to learning a new language. In the past I feel hopeless when I wanted to speak or even write, but now I able to get my ideas across and all of that happened because I read and listen a lot. I still use some books for English learner when I have encountered somthing I don't understand but I spend most of the fime just for reading and listening. In my opion the best method may differ from person to person. But in the end if someone wants to speak a target language fluently they have to somehow gain a lot of input, I have never met anyone who can speak a language well if they don't gain a lot of input. On the other hand, if you don't gain a lot of input you are likely to ask yourself like how can I stop translating in my head. You should understand interviews, presentations, ... With ease before you think about speaking fluently. In my opinion what you produce is just a reflection of your input, there is no way around it.

[hunnerdayEDT]

I’m at the beginning of my goal to learn Spanish so I found Yoga flows on YouTube by Spanish speaking teachers. It’s helping a lot with my comprehension. Plus, I signed up for Spotify to get access to popular Latin music in my favorite genre. Fingers crossed for success.

[charlesurdy-barnes]

Excellent point! I have met several foreigners who told me they learned English by listening to the radio, primarily music.

[jimprice]

Thank you, Fingtam, for this wonderful video. I thought I recognized a Krashen influence as soon as I read its title, & it turned out I was right. I found it very gratifying, in fact, to see him pictured & referenced right at the start. I had lunch with Stephen once at a conference he hosted at my alma mater, and we spent part of our time flipping grapes onto each other's plates!

When I have this discussion with my students, I like to begin the learning vs. acquisition discussion by asking the class, "When did you learn to have shoulders, and when did you learn to have pubic hair?" This generates a bit of amusement, to be sure, but I go on to explain that one of those acquisitions occurs naturally at its own time in the womb, that the other one occurs naturally at its own time some number of years later, & further, that language, operating in exactly the same manner, occurs naturally at its own time and is no more "learned" than either of the others.

To put it more succinctly : barring medical or social tragedy, every child on Earth acquires his or her native language(s) at the appropriate developmental time without overt or directed teaching or learning at all. There is first a stretch of input only, then slow movement toward output, & finally a raging torrent of output that grows rapidly & generally achieves full native acquisition around 5 or 6 years of age. This is true in all cultures, whether they actively encourage young children to speak or not.

I've always been amused by one of Stephen's favorite methods of getting his learners interested in reading, that being giving them steamy romance novels to read, which he said tripled their acquisition rate. Real page-turners, eh? To this very day, it makes me laugh, just to think of it. Comprehensible input, indeed!

Finally, as if this video weren't enjoyable already, you closed it out with a reference to *that* video, which I've referred people to a fair number of times over the years. If anyone reading my note here wonders whether or not it's worth 57 minutes of viewing -- IT IS. It's sheer magic. Do check it out!

Again, thanks for this wonderful video. Cheers.