How to use videos to learn any language
The best materials for language learning:
You understand the gist of it
You find it interesting, better if it’s very interesting
You can find a lot of content like this
This is called “optimal input” by Stephen Krashen.
Now you have found some good videos that you can understand with ease and that you actually enjoy. What's next? How could we make the most out of it?
You might not know how much time you need to listen every day, how many times you should watch each video and when to start speaking etc. The founder of Dreaming Spanish, Pablo, and I will answer your questions.
Hi everyone! My name is Suqing and I am the founder of Lazy Chinese and for this blog, I invited the founder of Dreaming Spanish Pablo who has learnt Japanese, Thai, and Chinese using comprehensible input. I also use this method to learn Spanish and French. So we will talk about how we use videos differently and you can decide what works best for yourself.
1. How much time should I spend watching comprehensible videos every day?
Pablo: You can spend as much time as you have available, since more time results in faster progress. As long as you are not too tired and can pay attention to the input, you are acquiring. Even a small amount of input will allow you to make progress since language acquisition takes much longer to be forgotten than most people think. That said, being able to see progress is important for motivation, and for a language like Chinese, I recommend at least 1 hour of input a day so you can see your progress week to week.
Suqing: I only try to watch 15-30 mins a day. Learning languages isn't my priority now. I learn the languages to understand my students and the method better. And I am okay if this takes many years.
2. How many times should I watch each video?
Pablo: Once. But if I can't find enough content, I might rewatch it after some time.
Suqing: Many many times until I get bored. If I were a total beginner, I would even watch a video 20 times just to bring myself from a total beginner to a beginner.
3. When I watch a video, should I try to analyse the sentences in the video?
Pablo: No.
Suqing: Yes I love noticing the patterns, despite hating grammar lessons when learning Japanese in uni. But when I encounter a pattern by myself, I love it!
4. What about speaking? Do you try to speak or do shadowing (copy a native speaker or say it with a bit of delay)?
Pablo: No. Why not? Click here for a detailed explanation.
Suqing: Yes I do. I actually agree that without enough input, speaking isn't necessary and can absolutely wait. But even with my limited language ability, I still hope to use the language when I am travelling, so I want to get my tone rolling. Also, I feel speaking a bit makes my learning more accountable.
5. Do you watch videos that are too easy or too hard?
Pablo: If it's too easy, I will watch it if it's interesting. If it's too difficult, then no.
Suqing: I would definitely watch easier videos to build my sense of the language, even if there are no new words. If it's too difficult like a movie, I might watch it but it's only for fun and it won't count as my listening time.
6. Do you turn on the subtitles?
Pablo: Generally I avoid them but because I know characters sometimes subtitles help me understand.
Suqing: I don't mind it either way. If it helps me understand the video better then definitely.
Do you want to know how Pablo learnt 2000 characters in 50 days?
Pablo's secrets
Do you want to know how to get started with Chinese characters?
Do you want to start listening to Chinese now? Click here!
