I changed my mind about language methods - how I learn vocab, grammar and speaking now 💡

Hi friends 🥰 In today's video we're talking about changing language learning methods to find what really works for you. Vocabulary, grammar, speaking, textbooks, tutors, flashcards, fluency... it's all here 👏🏻

Over the years I've changed my methods to work better. There are some other things I've grown out of and changed my mindsets about - so grab some tea and snacks and let's chat!

Happy studying 💖💖💖

Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:06 Vocabulary acquisition
04:08 How I learn vocabulary from conversations
06:02 Learning vocabulary & grammar together
07:57 Self study vs taking lessons
09:36 Lingoda Sprint (CLOSED)
12:19 How to start speaking a new language
14:01 When are you fluent in a language?
16:35 Can you learn without a textbook?
17:52 Endddd

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💕SOCIALS

✨GOODIES

💕ABOUT

Welcome to my channel! My name is Lindie and I share my love for languages through my polyglot progress and language learning tips here. South African by birth, I spent most of my life in France, Pakistan, the UAE and Japan. Now I work as a UI/UX designer in Singapore. I'm a Christian and strive to shine God’s light in all I do. May this channel inspire you to reach your language goals!

💕BOOKS I USE

🎥EQUIPMENT

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Some links are affiliate links, and a percentage goes towards supporting my channel.

[LindieBotes]

Regardless of which level you are in the language(s) you're learning, this guide will be useful as it's packed with 112 writing prompts and activities, writing tips, a 7-step guide to success, and resources that will help you get the most out of your writing.
What you'll get
- Background information on the importance of writing in a foreign language
- Tips for writing if you're not just ready yet
- A 7-step guide to writing long-form pieces in a new language
- 112 writing activities and writing prompts for beginner, intermediate and advanced learners of any language
- Information on the relationship between writing and other language skills
- Resources and ideas on where to get corrections on your writing
- A discount code to book a personalized language coaching call with me to discuss your writing or general language learning methods

[vanessameow]

Language tutor : What month are we in?
Lindie: Umm... Thursday
Me: why is this so relatable👁💧👄💧👁

[karolinaszymanska]

I've learned 2 languages, English and German. The most important thing that has changed is how I understand being fluent in speaking. It's not about advanced and fancy vocabulary. It's about clearly expressing yourself and fully understanding other people, that's all. The key to the best communication is simplicity. It took me a while to understand this because I was thinking that I need big words to prove that I am fluent.

[fivetimesyo]

When you use a Chinese character as a note to self about potential forms of Hungarian verbs, you are officially certified as a bona fide nerd. Congrats, Lindie. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[farrellwilson]

"Hmm how to english?"
me: is this a thing about being a polyglot?

[thegreatsalad]

Fluency is being able to tell a joke in the desired language.
Yep maybe I only speak 0.5 languages 🙂

[osonhodeleon]

Great tip: Don't study separate words, study entire sentences. This mindset is helping me a lot in Japanese. Great video.

[soundlyawake]

just gotta say your tips have definitely helped me learn HOW to study languages, and your videos in general keep me inspired, so thank you!!

[PumpkinMozie]

I remember in my college Chinese class, the teacher would make us memorize passages and dialogues from the textbook each week and perform them in front of the class. We were graded pretty harshly on this so there was a big incentive to get it right. At the time I remember thinking “how inefficient, this is never going to help. Memorization is so archaic.” I was so wrong! Because after all these years (that was about 10 years ago), I haven’t kept up with Chinese, I’ve forgotten most of what I learned, but what sticks in my head still after a decade are those dialogues I memorized. I think that ties in with you approach to memorizing vocab in context. We were memorizing full, useful sentences. Sometimes I can’t recall Chinese vocab until I think of the sentences in my mind and then it comes to me. Context makes memorization so much easier!

[josephphelps]

I completely agree with your thought to skip numbers as a complete beginner. I’ve never understood why so many textbooks want to introduce you to a language with numbers, days of the week and months, and _very_ extended family member vocabulary. I focus on useful verbs, pronouns and connecting words to describe routines and everyday life. If I haven’t used “my great aunt’s sister-in-law” in English in the past 10 years, I don’t need to know how to say it in a foreign language :)

[MiztonPixan]

Hi, Lindie. It's funny, because I have heard this story many times, about people realizing that vocabulary lists or flashcards are not as useful as they thought. But my experience was a bit backwards: I kept trying to focus on immersion and exposing myself to the language, always using interesting resources and books and videos and music, etc., focusing on sentences and all that, and... yes, it does work. But there was always this group of words (in every language I learned) that I kept encountering over and over and for some reason never really took in. I tried Anki, didn't like it (maybe I just didn't understand it), I then tried Brainscape (kind of like Anki for dummies) and it's working its magic wonderfully. It's filling this horrible gap that I always had in every language. I realized I need a combination of methods: I do need to expose myself to the language, read, listen and use the words in sentences, but then also writing down all the new words in flashcards and trying to memorize them in lists is making the process faster. After a couple of months of doing this, I suddenly started understanding Youtubers I couldn't understand before (in Greek) and my speaking confidence just got a mega boost. So now I'm starting to do the same with other languages. Also, it's true that textbooks are not everything, but the good thing about them is that they are usually very good at giving you all the vocabulary most people do use, so you don't spend tons of time searching for what you need. I recently realized my Russian was chaos, and so I ended up getting a bunch of textbooks from A1 to B2, and I'm reviewing/studying them by myself, and it's working, pretty much because it's giving me structure and, again, filling many gaps I had/have.
Love your videos. Peace :)

[sana_fanboi]

Lindie, I watched A LOT OF videos giving language learning advice and I can easily say that this video is THEE BEST ONE I've ever watched and that is a hard thing to say for someone like me who's not impressed by ANYTHING

[clara]

These tips are so helpful! As someone who hates flashcards and can't keep up with them for more than two days, context learning is a lifesaver. 😭

[CrisOnTheInternet]

Repetition without context is the worst punishment for me, that's why thinking about using Duolingo really upsets me.

[timothydouglas]

Lindie, what you mentioned about fluency reminded me of the difference between process-based learning and performance-based learning. The first is concerned with just making progress and enjoying the learning. The second leads to unnecessary stress, in my personal opinion. I enjoy the learning without a performance-related goal, which makes me feel freer and allows me to learn more effectively.

[thisisnotmyrealname]

You went to school in Pakistan?? Can you make a video about that, sounds very intersting!

[noctusion]

I like the little octopus plush sitting there 🥺

[alysimone]

Memorizing word lists was the worst because the teacher would just give a test with blanks and expect the class to use the words from the vocabulary sheet...only I’d forget the exact words from the vocabulary list (even though I knew what they meant), and sometimes would know other words that would fit the context (such as synonyms) but they weren’t the ones we were supposed to use. I think my teacher’s method would work better at lower levels, but at higher levels there are so many words that could work in a sentence that it’s much more difficult to fill in the blanks with _the_ words from the vocabulary list one’s given.

[e.l.f.teacher]

I really love this kind of videos like debating and talking about learning languages as a Korean teacher who teaches a language to foreigners.
I totally agree with you about vocabs! I memorize tons of vocabs everyday whether it's Japanese or English, but what I remember at the end is the words I heard from natives during the conversation lol And there are so many free videos and materials these days on internet so I don't go to the classes anymore but still I need something arranged totally. This is why I still use textbooks for learning languages :D

[daysandwords]

Yeah I think this is why I can never keep up an Anki habit. It's not that I don't think it works, or that I don't want to do it... It's that I am subconsciously turned away by the idea that it will "punish" me with more reps whenever I don't do it for a while.
I want to have a solid habit of some kind of SRS in place before I ever attempt a completely foreign language, e.g. Chinese. With my language/s it works well enough to just listen and read.