The Pareto Principle & Language Learning

CC subtitles available in English.

If you Google “Pareto's Principle” You will find all kinds of examples of how a small number of any series of events will account for the lion’s share of the results of effects of these events. People say this also applies to language learning. In this video I question this.

0:00 What is the Pareto Principle?
2:51 Just learn the most common 100 words in your target language?
3:49 My language learning statistics.
7:35 There is no shortcut because language learning is about learning words.
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My Podcast:

#languagelearning #paretoprinciple #polyglot

[tedc]

Great video. Explains why there is no "quick solution". You (and nobody else!!!!) have expressed this idea before: that 700 words might give you the most common 95% of the words, but not 95% of the common sentences. That info made a huge difference for me not getting discouraged (I'm in my fifth year of learning Mandarin part-time, 1-2 hours a day). Today you confirmed this with your own LingQ numbers.

[USHISTORYBUFF]

I have never had a problem with the sound quality of your videos.

[naturallanguageacquisition]

The way that I'm applying the Pareto principle is in regards to the types of content I engage with in light of my personal goals.

If my main goal is to be able to have conversations in day to day social situations then I should not be spending time engaging with fantasy fiction (Harry Potter), cartoons about super heroes etc. If I do that I'll just spend a bunch of time learning words that I will likely never use in a real conversation (wand, laser, spaceship etc.). In stead I should spend time on content that contains language I'm likely to encounter or use in real life.

I understand people have different goals. Some people want to be able to watch shows and movies, or read literature in the native language. In that case they should consume the relevant content. Always keep in mind what your goals are and try to 80/20 the content you are engaging with.

[Algazhan]

I am very amazed how Steve can keep making videos just non-stop😮😮😮😮 it is unbelievable. Huge respect to our language grandfather

[Suhnik]

I believe to specially focus on the most common words may speed up the beginning of the language learning process. To have a large bulk of common words early on might make it easier to understand certain patterns you encounter more quickly and through that increase the amount of intake you can manage per time spend studying.

[Tehui]

I've never encountered any difficulties with Steve's videos regarding the sound. No problems again with this video too.

[williammr]

The ones of us complaining, I guess, are the ones with the worst phones or the hearing impaired. Steve thanks for doing your darndest effort.

[richardhartung]

The quality of your audio is absolutely perfect.

[peggylopipero-langmo]

Sounds great! And to be honest, I have never noticed a sound issue. Thanks for all you do and happy holidays!

[huxleyalexandresidari]

hi steve! i recently got a subscription to lingq for my french learning, and i can honeslty say that it has changed the way i approach languages!! thank you so much for making platforms that make immersion 1000 times easier :)

[Bueroartikel]

Hey Steve, if you're interested in upgrading your audio the number one thing is actually the room you're recording in. You may use the best mic in the world but it will never sound as good it could if you record in an untreated room.
There is a number of ways you can improve your room. The easiest, cheapest and most accessible way is to hang up acoustic panels on the wall that absorb the sound that travels past your mic, gets reflected on the wall and therefore bounce back into your mic.
You can find a huge amount of diy tutorials for those, which most of the time use rockwool as the main absorbent. For recording purposes you can hardly go with too many. That's why some people build whole sound booths. (There is a great channel called "Booth Junkie" that has some tutorials on how to build one for yourself if you're interested)
If you happen to be interested and have any further questions I'd love to help out :)

[lorenaguerini]

The audio is perfect, and your classes too! Thank you very much!

[renestellwagen]

Hello Steve. I think the pareto principle hits the most in speaking. You can say a lot with a couple hundred words and would be able to communicate. But you don't understand enough, therefore you need a lot of words. That's my opinion. Cheers René

[Elusive_Chicken]

The audio wasn't bad before but this does sound a bit nicer to my ears 👍

[estrafalario]

The audio in this video is perfectly OK. Also the volume.
I would ask for better quality if it was the Philarmonic Orchestra, but that's not the case :)

[anajovanovic]

I think this principle only applies to areas where solving problems allows you to work smarter, "quality over quantity", but in language learning you need a lot of quantity and there's no way around it.

[tommyhuffman]

Thanks for making this video. I was told often as an early language learner. Ten years later, it's not that it isn't technically true, but it's pretty unhelpful, at least the way it's often presented.
I think a better way to make use of it would be to spend less time on the most common words, since you're going to keep seeing them anyway. Then spend more time on the second most frequent words or just specialized vocabulary of interest.
Spending more time on the most common words definitely doesn't help.

[SirJack-lrvm]

I think the audio sounds amazing in all videos.

[felipebraganetto]

The sound is great. Congratulations on the always excellent content!

[robertknull]

The audio is clear. The important thing is for people ( including tutors ) is to use a remote mic ( "NOT" the web cam mic ). The web cam mic's are placed to far from a persons mouth! I am not impressed when I see a tutor using a mic from their lap top or a web cam mic!