Language Isn't Math

Language Isn't Math. The reason that traditional language learning programs thrive is that most people haven't been introduced to this basic idea.

***MY LINKS***

Music:
Tennyson - Lay-by (Remastered Version)
Tennyson - Melonpan

[mattvsjapan]

I made a kanji mistake in this video! It should be "ピアノを弾く", not "引く"

[lukidjano]

"Dude what the heck? Why are you getting reverse-angry?"

[addisonwalker]

“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist” that’s deep

[DragakuRandom]

I know these videos take longer to create, but I really do appreciate the videos where you express your message so clearly. Thank you Matt.

[Griffdog]

Thank god because I suck at math. Informative video as always Matt!

[thefancydancer]

"I'm proficient at my work" in my native language is "ndinobata basa" which literally translates to "I touch my job".

[LeonidZabolotin]

In Russian language we say "I want in the bathroom", we skip "go", "use" in this case because nobody wants to know what you're gonna do there.

[semansco]

Gyaku gire can be a jaw dropping experience at times in Japan. This happens most often when you attempt to correct (or chide) someone who believes themselves to be “superior” to you.
Adding Japanese subtitles to this video might help English learners in Japan. The vast majority are attempting to speak Japanese using English words.

[aidanbriscoe]

in Spanish they say "touch the guitar" and instead of "I know how to play the guitar" they say "I know to touch the guitar"

[ljdogleash]

Great points as always. As an English teacher I know this is true. I've had uncountable students who study English from school until retirement (in the traditional way with textbooks and dumbed down input for learners) and they can have a decent conversation with me but they sound so unnatural, and if I speak remotely like I do to native speakers of English then they can't understand me. And they definitely can't understand movies. Yet I'm just in my second year of MIA style learning and I'm following movies just fine. Also when I do have to output (I live in Japan) I always get surprised comments about how natural I sound. Thanks Matt for setting me on this path in the first place!

[daysandwords]

Very late to the party on this one but as someone who's only learned European languages, I would say that it's very similar, except that you will be understood almost all the time, but that this can be even more dangerous because you'll end up relying on that. Like how heaps of non-native English speakers say "I have lived here since many years".

[MobileMally]

Really vibed with this video. As when it comes to output I force myself to try saying ideas I don't know how to express which leads to a lot of stops, stumbling and misunderstandings at times. Really boils down to getting more immersion in natural situations or your immersion material.

[lutybuiati]

Most people think they know the importance of immersion, but they really don't know how much. This video is so important, because it really draws the distinction between "guessing" the language based on grammar and really "knowing the language". Immersion is not a side thing you do after learning grammar. There are things you can only truly know through immersion, no matter how good with grammar you are.

[heroesandme]

Great video! I know it's been said a thousand times before, but after living in Japan for many years, I miss not being able to express お疲れ様 and よろしくお願いします in English. We just don't really have these exact same concepts in short phrases.

[onemanenclave]

All these things I realized on my own reflecting on the differences between my native language, Spanish, and English. Thanks for crystalizing these ideas so eloquently!

[Tachibana_Tsukasa]

one difference I recently encountered was 雲泥の差, the difference between clouds and mud(figuratively earth and heavens), as opposed to the difference between night and day

[和希太陽]

i have tried to express this to others before! i notice a lot of people still thinking in a fully english framework. i'm still not great at it myself but when i manage to think in japanese it is a lot easier... but i've never had the words to express it before, so thank you!

[masao]

great vid, you look like youve practised sitting in front of the camera or something, u look way more relaxed than in other vids

[FordyHunt]

This is so important. All beginners should watch this video. Takes a lot of stress out of the initial familiarisation phase with a language.

[GypsyCurls]

I've expressed to you before on one of your other videos that I am learning Spanish. This video and others of yours have given me pause. I was approaching learning the language as if it was math, unknowingly. When I started watching your videos and thinking about the things you were expressing in them, I begin to think more deeply about how I "actually" wanted to learn the language and speak it as natives would. I had to reformulate my game plan. 
For example...there was a Korean lady, older lady, and myself in the elevator. The older lady had on all purple/lavender. The Korean lady who speaks English (L2) said, "I see you have the purple." From her facial expressions, the lady in purple, I took it to mean..."I like the color purple and you look very nice in purple." I could be wrong, but it came to mind when I watch your videos about acquiring vs learning a foreign language. Since recalling these things that I have witnessed when others speak in English from another language, it is more like what I would be doing in their language. I see the importance of regrouping and see a lot of validity of what it means for mass immersion such as listening, Vocab acquisition and pattern breaking/recognition. I no longer feel I can just learn the language all cavalier. I want to be understood and speak as closely to how the members of that language would communicate the same ideas.
Thank you for these types of videos and purviews into language learning. There is so much more to acquiring language than just being able to understand it receptively, but failing to speak it properly as a native person would.