How to learn a language | Jack Barsky and Lex Fridman

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GUEST BIO:
Jack Barsky is a former KGB spy and author of "Deep Undercover: My Secret Life and Tangled Allegiances as a KGB Spy in America".

PODCAST INFO:

SOCIAL:

[BenWilson]

I had a Russian coworker at a machine shop that definitely showed me the challenge with English synonyms. He once told me a lathe tool was 'stupid' when he meant 'dull'. Someone told him to hit something lightly and he said he was hitting it 'maximum easy'. He would also talk about delivering his boy to school. One of my favorite people ever, but I definitely enjoyed witnessing the the phrases that would come out of that struggle lol

[chad]

This method is the best one. Shocking how fast your brain can mark down so many new words this way, and it dosent even feel like you're trying. Feels more like a game

[VoicyZA]

I speak 4 languages, all of them poorly. I could never learn from books, all were learned by watching movies and living in the respective countries. An integral part of learning a language is understanding its humour. Trevor Noah said it best when he described an accent as "Someone speaking your native language using their native rules."

[MigakuOfficial]

This sounds a lot like what we promote. Immersion in the language you want to learn, along with Spaced Repetition as a supplement will allow you to efficiently become highly fluent in any language.

[alfred-johnbayaton]

Woah.. this guy intuitively used Anki without using Anki. Lol.

[mattgoodmangoodmanlawnmowi]

Matt’s dad. Grew up in Florida later NYC. Picked up enough to travel, ear in restaurants etc. But finally went full tilt on it for about five years. Now I can communicate at a high business & social level and I am glad I put in the work. But you MUST put in some real work no matter how smart you are.

[jonathanparnell]

Yeah this is just spaced-repetition learning, he was using it intuitively. I tried to convince my students and family members to learn this way using Anki, but they are stuck in their own ways.

Spaced-repetition should be combined with interleaving, so make sure to mix up topics instead of learning all of one topic before moving onto another.

In the case of languages, that would mean study clothes vocab along with food, sports, jobs etc. Instead of doing all of clothes then moving on to another topic once mastered.

[zeppelinmexicano]

This idea of shuffling cards to certain piles based upon results/memory is very smart.

[gjosh]

Love Lex, after watching the Joe Rogan interview it put me in the same addiction as finding JRE many years ago. Keep it up man!

[Adiyasa]

If someone is interested in the method, the program Anki does exactly that

[dosgos]

Piotr Wozniak has been a leading memory scientist since the 1980s. His algorithm is used by most SRS programs. He would be a great guest.

[jaxonmattox]

Vocabulary is the key to learning a new language. If you speak with bad grammar it is almost always comprehensible, and it is rare that you will hear extremely complex grammar that you can't understand or least get the gist of. As for learning grammar, direct translations to your native language is the best way to genuinely understand how a language works, despite what many language teachers say about how you can't translate certain things, you practically always can

[joshc]

Wow. Lex, that explanation of how you taught yourself was impressive. You really are a smart dude. I really dig your style, man. (Not only your suit, but also your general disposition).👍

[JaneHasGame]

Love this! I studied German ...now onto Latin and then romance languages.

[drnoalcohol]

There are some problematic points in learning new vocabulary.
One of them is to differentiate between words, like, either they are derivatives(adjective, adverb forms etc.) or not: for example, it should be counted as one, the words ''to derive'' and ''a derivative''. It is called ''family words''. When grouped into categories, they are one and the same word.
Another point is the usage. To really know a word means to be able to use it actively. You can know and remember it when heard, but using a word like your own property is another level.
Even if you are native fluent speaker, no person on earth can speak on every variety of topics. Every topic under the sun has its own almost unique expressions and usage. And context is the king.
By the way, as a student of the English language, I can speak of the problems of philosophy, but I cannot tell you how to cook any kind of cuisine from my own culture...
And there are some topics I know that I can speak of them like reading from a book, like from heart...Because I have thought about them so much that I have almost memorized.

[JoeIsOutlunch]

When I was India I remember hearing “I’m paining” meaning “I’m hurting” of “I’m in pain” “I’m hurt”.

[bschaum]

thats actually the exact way we were taught languages at school in germany. worked like a charm

[amir]

Also thinking In that language ( that you want to learn ) helps

[anapimentel]

One year 365 days right so one word a day and practice all day you must be good I love it

[jossetishauser]

Spaced repitition, retrieval practice and abd being aware of Cognitive Load (John Sweller et al) is very helpfull in language and knowledge aquisition. As difficult as it is, we will always need teachers. The amount of knowledge within a domain is what determines how much learning will happen. And unfortunately skills are and have always been highly domain specific so we can forget about transfer between skills.