Hey naturals, what's up Gabby here from gonaturalenglish.com To help you to learn a language more fluently. Yes today we're talking about hacks that every language learner every lazy language learner should Know now, I'm not calling you lazy, and I'm not calling myself Lazy, but who doesn't want to learn a language? faster better more Easily with more fluency in less time. I think that's everyone's dream. So that's what we're talking about today I've discovered 25 hacks. Yes 25 hacks or tips or strategies that can help Anyone to learn any language? faster and better so if you're curious Let's talk about them. So we're gonna jump right in I just want to let you know that if you are learning English You should totally check out the audio ebook from go natural English called the English fluency formula you can click right up there to learn more about how to get it and you Can read and listen to the first chapter for free to get started right away. So check that out right up there Alright, so these 25 hacks are divided into five different sections I thought it would make sense to divide them up because there's a lot of them but we're gonna make sure that we go quickly, and you understand each one they're divided up into pronunciation vocabulary fluency strategy and Motivation I think I switched them around I think motivation is first and then strategy so I put pronunciation first because Number one is you have to start with pronunciation why because let's think about it if you have bad pronunciation but great grammar People are not going to understand what you're saying. Now. We're talking about conversation. We're not talking about doing well on your grammar test We're talking about actually Communicating with people which is my goal. And I think it's your goal as well So if you want to speak fluently like native speakers do and communicate and express yourself then start with pronunciation because if you have good pronunciation But poor grammar people will still understand you and let me tell you a lot of native speakers have horrible grammar And I'm not saying that you should not learn grammar. I'm saying grammar. It is important, but Because we all have limited time and we have to start somewhere start with pronunciation learn to Make the words sounds Like native speakers say them so that native speakers will understand you start with pronunciation Number one now, of course to start with pronunciation. You have to also learn some vocabulary because we're not gonna just make random sounds like if you're learning English, you're not just gonna make random sounds like crap Those are difficult sounds in English, but that is not a word We need words, so we'll talk about vocabulary when we get to number three but number two is to really focus in on a regional dialect or standard a standard Dialects for example, if you're learning English, you might want to select the standard American dialect, which is what I speak but focus on one accent that you can really copy and get good at so learn that accent and focus on pronunciation and intonation Pronunciation is how we say the specific individual sounds in a word and Intonation has to do with whether our voice is rising or falling And this is very key to sounding fluent as well So number one and number two are about pronunciation so start with pronunciation and then really work to sound more and more like a native speaker by focusing on individual sounds especially the ones that are difficult for you and Intonation, this is something that's really advanced even for me Like I'm learning Portuguese still and intonation is quite difficult. Sometimes I don't have the right intonation So you have to listen to the new language as if it were Music as if it were a song and really listen to when people's voices go up and down maybe when they're asking questions or when they're surprised or Asking for Help or I guess that would be a question or making a statement maybe their voice goes down or in the middle of a sentence like in English when we have the end of a phrase our voice goes down, so intonation is super important to improving your Fluency in the language and you can always learn more grammar as you go. You can fine-tune your advanced grammar But again for me learning Portuguese, my advanced grammar is horrible But people ask me all the time if I'm Brazilian because I've worked on my pronunciation a lot and it's not perfect But it at least leaves some doubt as to whether I am Brazilian or not. I could be proud of that number three let's talk about vocabulary so vocabulary and pronunciation go together because we're gonna practice pronunciation of Specific words right? So when you're learning vocabulary Don't try to overwhelm yourself thinking that you have to memorize all the words in the dictionary even native speakers Don't know all the words in a dictionary I'm constantly learning new words in English and in other languages and I think that's the beauty of learning a language is there's always Something more you can learn. But anyway, let's not think about Learning about all the words for the rest of our lives. Let's think about starting with a very specific group of words or list of words something contained for example I love learning the words of songs that I like so I can Select a specific song that I enjoy and I can enjoy Learning the words so I can sing along to it you could do this, too if you like music find a song in English that you really like and learn the words look them up online and Memorize the and this is a great way to learn vocabulary and improve your pronunciation By singing along with the song now if music is not your thing or you think this isn't gonna be helpful for you for some reason then try starting with a specific group of vocabulary words so for example Maybe if you really like sports you could learn about how to talk about the different Like in soccer like the different positions or the difference types of moves or Different things that happen during a game and how to talk about them in the language that you're learning I just did a video on soccer vocabulary for the World Cup We can probably link to it right up there if you're curious, but stay specific and take small bites out of The vocabulary in your new language. Don't try to learn everything Don't be a generalist start as a specialist and learn something specific that you're interested in You could go by subjects like sports or you could choose words depending on a skill that you want to learn For example, if you want to learn how to order coffee in your new language then that's a very specific set of words and questions that you need to know number four learn Similar words which are called cognates in your language and in language you're learning There's probably some words that are similar. So for example car and car row in Spanish are quite similar and they both mean car now, of course There are things called false cognates like embarrassed and embarrass allah in spanish are not the same Meaning we have embarrassed and pregnant totally different meaning but focus on the words that do sound alike in your language and the new language and Those are going to be much easier for you to remember because you already know the meaning in your own language So use cognates to your advantage to learn a lot more vocabulary faster number five You're not gonna like this one, but I'm gonna say it anyway learn to think in your new language don't Translate avoid translation because it makes your mind do things that native speakers don't do like When you're a native speaker, you understand what a word means through context and the situation and that's what you need to do when you're learning a new language to Native speakers don't stop and think about how to directly translate the word to another word in another language This is not a kind of natural way to learn a language So we need to go back to the way that we learn a language as children maybe how we learned our first language and really understand the vocabulary based on its use So we're gonna talk about copying and pasting Vocabulary. This is more of a strategy But this goes back to really looking at how native speakers and fluent speakers of the language are using the words and so when I'm learning a language, I really try not to translate too much especially because you know, there's expressions in your new language that may not really translate very easily in your Native language like in Portuguese. There's this word saudade G, which is a very beautiful word one of my favorite words But it's very hard to translate in English. It's just not complete to say that it means Nostalgia, or sadness or missing something? Those are all only partial definitions and they really don't translate the entire meaning of the word and then of course when we talk about idioms or slang like you're a Chicken well that has a whole nother meaning or idioms like you Can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink That has a whole other meaning that is not direct and not literal, so maybe there's a different way to translate it in your language But it's kind of difficult. So I highly recommend that you learn the meaning of words phrases idioms slang According to the situation and the way that native speakers use them Number six repetition is still important and yes repetition takes time but you can really speed up the learning process when you Make an effort to consume a lot of the language every day. So read a lot in a language every day listen to music and news and podcasts and Conversations every day the more you consume in the language the more you're going to hear the same words that are high Frequency words over and over of course You can also use techniques that are kind of old school learning techniques like keeping Flashcards or a vocabulary journal and you can review that but I do think the best way especially if you're an intermediate to advanced learner of the new language is To consume a lot of the language listen a lot and read a lot you can expand your vocabulary and remember a lot more words faster by using mnemonics a Mnemonic device is when you create some connection in your mind For example, I remembered the word in Japanese for the check or the bill by using a mnemonic because there's one way to say it which is why so which kind of sounds like an eyesore an Eyesore is something painful no one wants to see the check or the bill when you go to a restaurant and it's time to pay so an Eyesore makes me think of a wise soul and helps me remember that word So you can create your own mnemonics based on what makes sense to you in your mind The idea is to make a connection between the new vocabulary word. That sounds very different from anything you know, it's not a cognate make a connection between that and A word or concept or sound that you do know already. This is how your brain makes? Connections and you will more easily remember a new word and you can expand your vocabulary a lot using mnemonics Now, let's talk about motivation our third section Don't try to learn the same way that teachers generally teach in a traditional classroom You don't have to follow the order in a traditional textbook. The best way to learn is to follow your own Curiosity, I mean it you have to become passionate Obsessive in love with the language and in order to do this, you have to follow your interests so if you're super interested in cars or fashion, or Music or whatever it is that you really truly love Follow your curiosity and your passion in the language I learn a lot of Portuguese and Spanish through music because I love music and I love learning the words to songs I know a lot of words about food and ordering food Especially in Japanese because I love Japanese food But there's other things that are more difficult for me to talk about in other languages like politics, for example Because I don't enjoy talking about politics so much So this might leave you with some gaps in your vocabulary, but you can fill those in later It's important to start with what you're passionate about because that will keep you motivated and the most Dangerous thing as a language learner is to lose your motivation. So let's think of ways to keep it up you can motivate yourself in a lot of ways, but following what you're naturally interested in is a Free and effective way to keep your motivation going now. Let's talk about fluency a Great way to improve your fluency in any language And your motivation actually is to connect with the native speaker of that language that you're learning try not to only connect with that person because they Speak the language. You're learning try to connect with them because you have some shared interest. So I mentioned that I really love music So a lot of my Brazilian friends are also musicians Or dancers or artists and we connect through our passion for the Arts not only because I want to improve my portuguese and maybe they want to improve their english but also Because we can become friends because we have shared interests So connect with the native speaker But keep in mind that it's gonna be way better for everyone if you connect in a real way through your true interests number Eleven is a little weird, but trust me here Talk to yourself. It's so important to speak the language and I know not Everyone has a friend who speaks the language that they're trying to learn So in the meantime, you should talk to yourself You should tell yourself what you're going to do today what you're going to eat for lunch What are your hopes for today? What did you do yesterday? Sing to yourself read a poem to yourself You can talk to yourself in so many different ways. You can even talk to yourself about Affirmations like I'm doing really great. I'm learning a little bit each day And this is also a strategy that I use to stay motivated is to say some Positive thoughts about your language learning like I am learning Every day I'm becoming better every day I'm improving little by little next number 12 create a self immersion in your home country It is great if you can go visit a country where they speak the language you're learning but Not everyone can just go do that any time. So in the meantime Here's a tip for you If you're feeling sad that you can't go travel right now create a self immersion in Your home country now, of course, you've probably heard before that You can read in the language. You're learning you can listen to music in the language You're learning watch TV shows but here's two things that are a little bit new and unique Look on Spotify for Trending artists and songs in language that you're learning I love doing that because it helps me keep current with pop culture and Look on YouTube for trending videos in a country where they speak the language you're learning These are both great ways to stay current and actually understand what people are talking about when they talk about pop culture There's so much online that we can learn that you're never gonna get in your textbook in your classroom You're never gonna know what people are talking about today when your text book was written thirty years ago Number thirteen is create Using the language you are learning now. I know you're gonna make mistakes. I know It's fine. Don't worry. You have to start creating. What do I mean by create? Well, you can speak you can talk to yourself. You can create a conversation so to speak but what I'm saying even More than have a conversation is create something like a poem Create a song create a an article something shorts, if you're more of a beginner or something longer write an email to someone in the language leave a comment in the language create your own dialogues, maybe you end up writing a Screenplay or a piece for the theater, you know, it doesn't have to be a masterpiece but we need to create in order to master the language and to have the words that we want and the way to express ourselves that we want at our fingertips We have to always practice the Creation of the language by speaking and writing and there's a lot of ways to do that like I mentioned writing a short poem I even have an Instagram account That's all in Portuguese because I am practicing my Portuguese and yes, I make a lot of mistakes I know but the great thing is is that I can see my mistakes because I am creating in the language and That means I can improve them so you can do the same thing create media in the language. You're learning Okay, I mentioned copying and pasting Vocabulary. So this is another tip for fluency when you listen to native speakers having a conversation in the language that you're learning Notice phrases that you find interesting and copy those to use them or aah them in your own conversation So for example, you know, I hear the way people respond to a simple question like hi. How are you? And You know in Portuguese, for example, it might say bang. I'm fine. It's still bang. Oh, that's kind of boring though Some people that speak in a more colorful way might say ah through the bellezza. It's beautiful I don't know. We would never say that in English. So it sounds weird to even translate it to Oh everything's beautiful I mean, maybe someone would say that but it's not common So anyway, I copy that phrase and I use it in my own conversations ballets So it sounds like maybe more natural than just saying it's still bang Both are fine, of course, but what I'm saying is try copying what you hear and using it in your own Conversations and you can feel how other people react when you say that does it work for you? Maybe yes, maybe no, but keep trying new phrases that you hear native speakers using 15 learn to think in the language without Translating now. I made an entire video about this which we can link to up there in the corner You can click right up there to see how to think in English But this is super important So I wanted to mention it again because who do you talk to the most in your life? You think it's your friends your family? Mmm. No, it's actually yourself in your head So the best way to make an immersion for yourself in the language you're learning is to think in that language And at first it's not gonna feel natural. You're gonna feel like your brain is melting or on fire But you have to train yourself to think in the language little by little Try to think about what you're going to say in in the next situation And the next opportunity that you have to speak the language. Think about what you're going to do talk to yourself give yourself Compliments. Oh, I'm looking good today in the language that you're learning Okay, this is all to get yourself used to learning Alright and think and speaking the language that you want to speak. Okay Finally, let's talk strategy number 16. It's simple we cannot stay in our comfort zones if we want to learn so every day try to create a Challenge for yourself to learn at least one new word my new word today in Portuguese was said there because I was talking about how to compromise and The word in Portuguese is a false cognate compromiso is a little bit different So anyway, I learned a new word today I encourage you to Try to learn a new word whether you're living in a country where people are speaking the language or not You can always learn a new word every day because we have at our fingertips So many resources we can read the news we can hop on skype with a tutor we can Listen to new music. The possibilities are endless for learning new words But make sure that you focus and you add that new word to your consciousness to your vocabulary I think about how you might use it in a sentence in the future Don't just hear it and then let it go write it down Think about how you can use it in real life the next time you have a conversation Number 17 for who can travel try visiting the country where they speak the language that you're learning, of course This one is obvious, but it's true that when you're surrounded By native speakers of the language you will improve as long as you don't spend all your time with people from your country you're gonna improve because you're gonna observe and listen and Hear how people express themselves in the language naturally on a daily basis So it's almost impossible not to improve as I mentioned as long as you're not spending all your time with people from your country 18 learn to be culturally adept what this means is understanding how people communicate according to the culture how people dress You know communication can be visual how people use the language You know how fast their speaking how long to pause between phrases orbit words? How long do you pause between Speakers when you and a partner are speaking. What is appropriate or inappropriate? To joke about or to talk about what topics are taboo and not taboo These are all super important to ask yourself and to understand about the language you're learning Because if you're totally inappropriate in the language Or you look like totally different people will have a hard time believing that you're a native speaker And of course, it's good to be diverse and look different and have different Topics and different opinions, but what I'm saying is try to understand if there's any differences between your culture and the culture Where they speak the language that you're learning, right? So for example, like in Brazil people Seem to be very open about talking About plastic surgery in the United States not so much in Japan People were very open about saying you know about how much someone weighs like if they look a little bit heavier a little bit thinner this would Probably not be appropriate in the u.s. These are just my experiences Maybe your experience will be different according to what language you're learning and where you go number 19 This is huge. Don't be afraid to make mistakes mistakes are not bad unless you repeat them over and over and over and never change them in fact mistakes are like little clues on how to improve so when you make a mistake It means that you're trying it means that you're attempting you're experimenting with the language. And that is the first step So when you notice your mistake the little clue to improve That's where you can focus next in order to get to the next Level in order to open that door to the next level of fluency So make mistakes, but pay attention to them So you can improve them 20 learn a language as an adult. Yes. There's this myth that children learn language faster so children have some time is a more open mind They jump in and they start speaking the language without fear that's different that's having a low effective filter which I'm gonna talk about in a minute, but Children don't know about grammar They don't know about life and they don't know how to guess What people are going to be talking about in a situation as an adult, you know? These things most educated adults know about grammar concepts. We know about how people Generally communicate as humans and that's a huge advantage when you're learning another language. So learning a language as an adult is Actually a hack for becoming fluent in a new language number twenty-one create SMART goals. What's a SMART goal? It's specific measurable attainable reasonable and timely now, I'm not gonna talk too much about SMART goals, but basically what you need to know is Don't say something really general that you can't measure the most important thing is to be able to measure it and that there's a deadline so take a Small bite out of the language think about one skill that you'd like to be able to do for example ordering a coffee or buying a subway ticket or maybe having a conversation about Politics which is not something that I want to do but maybe you want to do that think about specifically what you want to do in the language and then create a goal around that with a deadline SMART goals are Amazing for your motivation and for looking at how far you've come. It's important to celebrate your victories and how far you've come in learning and if you don't make any specific small goals It's hard to know how much you've learned number 22 Don't wait for anyone not your teacher. Not your tutor. Not your friends to create some Assignment for you to learn the language make your own practice activities make your own challenges It could be anything that you find interesting like talk to a stranger today or write a poem So make your own assignment. This is really important as an independent language learner and Someone who wants to become fluent because you have to make your own way You can't depend or wait on anyone else or it's gonna take a much longer time and the great thing about making your own Challenges is that you can make something that's interesting to you Practical for you number 23. I talked about your effective filter. This is a concept made by linguist stephen krashen This means basically that in order to become fluent in a language in order to learn you need to be relaxed So if you're feeling stressed out if you're feeling fearful of speaking another language then try to put yourself in a relaxing situation try to Do whatever you need to do to relax do some exercise Practice with people who are easygoing and positive and helpful don't Don't put yourself in a really stressful environment if you can help it So basically, that's all is to lower Your stress is what this means when he says lower your affective filter and a lot of language classrooms are very stressful places, so maybe give yourself a different kind of place to learn maybe on your own or maybe in Go natural English course Next number 24 pretend you are someone else if you are a very shy person This is super useful. You can pretend that you are actually becoming a new person Different from your original self through your new language you could pretend that you're someone that you admire movie star or an action Movie hero or someone who wouldn't be afraid of speaking another language That's the point really so pretend that you are acting as Someone else when you're using the language, especially when you're learning and you're trying new things and afraid that you might make a mistake Finally number 25. This is super important Be patient with yourself language learning is not really about the destination. It's about the journey it's an evolving process and there really is no end unless you have a very Specific goal like you want to take a test or you just want to be able to have a basic level of fluency? It really never ends and that's a good thing It's a beautiful thing because it's a journey it's an adventure and you should enjoy every moment So be patient with yourself if you make mistakes and understand that your mistakes are Actually helping you to advance if you feel one day like your brain is melting and you Cannot study and you cannot advance Take a deep breath and be patient with yourself and understand that this is part of the learning Process and we all have difficult days when we're learning a language. So try doing something. That's just fun Listen to music do a dance talk with someone who you really love Try using a language to write them a love poem do something from your hearts. And before you know it you're gonna be Fluent in the language that you want to learn I hope you enjoyed this 25 hacks for lazy language learners. I know you're not lazy. I know you're dedicated. I know you're awesome If you've watched this whole video you are not lazy at all Thank you so much for watching if you enjoyed it Make sure to subscribe to go natural English If you are an English language learner Click up there to get the English fluency formula audio ebook and you can click down there to keep watching more English Language learning videos here at go natural English. Thanks so much for watching I'll see you next week in our new video every Monday at 7 a.m. Eastern Standard Time Bye for now
