How to learn a language in 2024

Looking to learn a language in 2024?
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This one was edited by @MakaiLegister - I think he did a great job!

Refold's video about ways to use AI in language learning:

Benjamin Keep's video on focus:

Eric Wen's (great personality YouTuber, and good Spanish speaker) prompt for AI to help you improve your output of the language (it's long so make sure you get all the paragraphs until you see "end of prompt".)

Hi,
I'd like you to now be my Spanish Tutor. Your goal is to help me practice my Spanish, improve my vocabulary, correct my grammar mistakes and give me suggestions on how my ideas can be expressed in a more natural way. You will follow the following process:

1. Your first response will be to give me an easy prompt to respond to. Please wait for me to provide my answer.

2. Based on my input, you will then generate 4 sections:
a) Corrected Response. (Please correct everything, even small grammatical errors or article agreements.)
b) Explanations of every correction
c) Suggestions (give me ways I could improve my answer to sound more natural and fluent. If appropriate, introduce me to new vocabulary or phrases which I could use to enrich my responses or express my ideas more naturally or concisely. If there was a part of my writing that seemed especially fluent or natural, please highlight that to me. With your suggestions, if appropriate, please give me example sentences in Spanish to illustrate what your suggestions could look like if implemented.
d) Follow-up (Write a couple sentences in response to mine. Then give me a new follow-up question related to my answers and your previous questions.)

3. We will continue this iterative process with me giving you more written responses and you correcting my Spanish and giving me feedback.

4. When I say “Done.”, I want you then to give me a summary of:
a) The errors I made during our practice session (list the instances as bullet points)
b) A bullet point summary of all new vocabulary, structures or phrases that you introduced me to
c) a quick summary of how it seems that my Spanish skills are improving.

- END OF PROMPT -
Check out Eric Wen's channel:

Videos are often released up to a week early to channel members at just 3 AUD a month (about 2 USD). Membership also comes with longer and alternative cuts of some videos and some other little goodies such as members' only polls etc. We're almost at 200 members! Join here:

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 The first 4 things
02:28 The next 4 things
06:14 AI and other things
10:26 Five more things
14:31 Nos. 18, 19 and 20
16:40 The last 4 things

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This part is here to show people who correct my use of "Lo quiero".
Lo quiero is what I say at the end of every video. It's like the YouTuber who says "Hey guy" at the start of his videos, despite it not being correct. I know it's "wrong", but it's right because it's what I intend to say (and often people forget one of its meanings, which would be "I love you" but in a formal context.) It's a reference to a film that I watched in Spanish 50 times, thus essentially memorising the Spanish script for.

[daysandwords]

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[citygirljace]

My spanish skyrocketed in 2020 when I switched to comprehensible input. Now that I speak at an advanced level, getting nerdy about grammar and moods makes more sense. If you’re a beginner in a language, don’t force yourself to speak. Shutting up was one of the best things I ever did for my language learning.

[nataliasouza]

I love that the fist step is "get out of social media", after I uninstall social media apps I stay much more consistent at my learning routine

[tadahead]

I love this time of year. I get all the "how to learn a language in XXXX year" videos together and I can get the algorithm back on language learning.

[notcrediblesolipsism]

But, you didn't mention watching hundreds of videos on YouTube about how to learn a new language.

[JamesJ.Collins]

On a completely unrelated note, this channel really helped inspire me to get into starting my own, haven’t posted in a year, editing new videos as we speak.

So cool to see the production value in these videos skyrocket. Thanks for all the advice for the years, and all the best to you in 2024!

[MakaiLegister]

Soooo many good tips here it’s crazy! Proud I got to edit this ☺️

[ntatenarin]

I agree with walking. When I listen to Pimsleur, Podcasts, or anything, I get restless and need to do something (or I get a bit sleepy). So I take a 30 minute walk or do chores while listening to my target language and saying the phrases in my target language out loud. Because I'm moving, my brain and body just feels healthier, and the sun makes me happier as well!

[philipdavis]

Thanks for including ‘not speaking’. It’s so counterintuitive that talking early is not helpful (and is arguably counterproductive) that it’s very hard to persuade people to drop it as part of their studies, especially in the early stage. It particularly annoys me that so many language classes insist on speaking exercises for beginners. They are very stressful for those who are shy and they have no merit whatever. Somehow, everyone seems to assume this is what you have to do.

[lesdyxiatoo]

A lot of great tips here, but I’ll add another one which I personally use: there’s an accessibility feature on iPhones where (if enabled) it can read highlighted sentences to you, it has quite a few languages available for the Siri that reads the highlighted sentences to you (and a few speakers per language) and there’s not really a limit on how much you can highlight and request the Siri to speak. I’ve found it very reliable for my TL (Italian) and anytime I’m confused at how something is pronounced or I’ve forgotten, I’ll highlight and request the “speak” option and after a few times of listening and imitating the highlighted area I feel just a bit more confident in saying that word or phrase going forward. Hope that helps somebody, it’s been a big help to me 😊

[ErykKrzeminski]

I did a fairly in-depth dive into Silbo Gomero, which is a whistled language used in the Canaries. I originally was just really curious, but a lot of the articles/videos about it were actually in Spanish. I got a nice refresher from it and also learnt some Silbo Gomero.

Great vid!

[yanaracatalan]

YESSS, comprehensible input is exactly how i learned English, and i didn't even know i was doing it at the time!

[kastanie]

Hands down best VPN ad I've ever seen. Actual video also top notch as always, your production quality, humor, information provided - just all around probably the best language learning channel out there ❤

[lucasjohnston]

Love the presentation style you have in these videos, very similar sense of humour to myself and how I aspire to come across in videos I create. Great job as always! Best wishes for the new year

[AmyD-vgnk]

Thank you for introducing me to the idea of reading a book and listening to its audiobook at the same time. Not only does it make reading easier and more enjoyable it also has given me a very effective way of improving my upper intermediate Spanish. I will definitely be coming back to this video when I start learning German!

[dups]

Your video production keeps getting better and better, and the points youre making are excellent!

[odytimesthree]

Goated tips:
#5, 2:33
#6, 4:43
#13, 10:27

#14, 11:09 -- I love the idea of this. When you have those "sprints", you also look back to them with feelings of accomplishment and happiness, going at it with your passion. It's both enjoying the process of those "intense" periods and also gaining skills for the long term that are great about it.

[tylermacneill]

The editing and jump cuts in this video were fantastic, great stuff

[athenagreen]

I thought Evan's video was aggressive, cultish, and condescending. If that is how he takes criticism of an app for a community he claims to not even be a part of, he needs therapy. Your channel genuinely is helpful. I'm on my third book in my TL and even without the audiobook (I plan to listen to them a bit later), my listening comprehension has markedly improved. People can cry about comprehensible input and immersion all they want but they are the ones holding themselves back because certain ideas are unfashionable (maybe because input theory is heavily associated with Japanese?). While I don't personally find all of the tips in this video applicable to me, I think its one of the best videos on language learning for serious learners. Thanks for staying strong despite the hate and negativity thrown at you by a much larger creator. This channel was a big motivation in me finally buying TL books and actually sitting down to read. I want more people to have good and effective tips like this.

[Andrea-egro]

Merci, so many good tips! I really enjoy listening to your advice, now I’m off to listen to an audiobook!