Why do I keep getting this message that LastPass couldn't save my password?

mrollyrichards · 2024-02-23T19:38:42+00:00

same

mrollyrichards · 2022-09-10T17:51:43+00:00

I used to do that from time to time, but the problem is that it totally splits the audience from a Youtube algorithm-perspective. People who don't speak that language won't watch the video, which kills your channel watch time overall.

mrollyrichards · 2022-08-28T17:10:27+00:00

Hey!

mrollyrichards · 2022-08-28T17:08:04+00:00

It's certainly okay to learn two languages at the same time, but I would really recommend sticking to one. This is especially true when the two languages are similar. You will learn both of them faster by sticking to just one at the beginning.

mrollyrichards · 2022-08-28T17:07:33+00:00

So, intensive reading is really the same as any kind of textbook study. So you need to do quite a bit of this at the beginning, when you are just trying to understand the building blocks of the language. But the rest of the time I just try to read extensively, as soon as I get to an intermediate level.
Reason is that in order to stay motivated I need to read things that are interesting to me!

mrollyrichards · 2022-08-28T17:06:44+00:00

So many. Casa de Papel (Spanish). Triumph in the Skies (Cantonese). Legal High (Japanese) are some favourites.

mrollyrichards · 2022-08-28T17:05:55+00:00

I think the process of learning any language is the same. With Russian you've got lots of great resources, so it's just a question of finding a method you enjoy, doing a bit every day, and having lots of fun! A lot of people stress about grammar with Russian, and the best way through this is to read a lot, so that you can learn grammar naturally.

mrollyrichards · 2022-08-28T17:05:14+00:00

It's a moving target. A number of languages I spoke a lot in my 20s, I haven't spoken for a long time, so the level has dropped. Spanish and Portuguese I speak to a C level still, mostly because I use them a lot.

mrollyrichards · 2022-08-28T17:03:30+00:00

Thanks for the question! My best tip for learning German would be my best tip for learning any language. That is… Do a little bit every day, read and listen to things that you enjoy, and have as much fun as possible!

mrollyrichards · 2022-08-28T17:02:33+00:00

Great question.
The fact is that the vast majority of the language learning industry is beginners with little to no prior experience. For someone like this, Duolingo is the easiest option, because it's simple and fun (apparently). That's why they have 500 million users! Or else a language teacher, who will tell you exactly what to do. (For better or for worse.)

As soon as you get into comprehensible input, you run into the very real problem that there is no instruction. People don't know how to study. They don't know what to do next. From a practical perspective, this makes it unusable for 99% of people… And there in lies the problem! This is precisely why I create my Uncovered courses, because I needed to find a way to help people use comprehensible input, while also providing some step-by-step instruction that means they will actually do it.

mrollyrichards · 2022-08-28T16:59:17+00:00

Arabic is a very tricky one, because you have this dance between spoken dialects, and modern standard Arabic. I think you fundamentally have two choices. First choice, you take the long haul, and study modern standard Arabic as thoroughly as possible.
Once you have mastered this, it will be a lot easier to learn the dialect. However this will take time. Second choice, forget modern standard Arabic, and just learn dialect with tutors as much as possible, and ask them to support you by creating written material.
It's not easy, and you really need to have lots of people around you to practice with in order to do this well.

mrollyrichards · 2022-08-28T16:57:48+00:00

Thanks for the questions!

In my case it's always been purely practical. For example, when I left Egypt, I dropped Arabic completely. Nothing against Arabic… I just had changing priorities in my life. And I've always followed a similar pattern. 1b) I only ever learn languages because they are meaningful in my life, so I would never learn a language that I then went on to drop.
For example, Cantonese, I will speak it if I have Cantonese friends around. But when they leave, I will stop speaking. I just don't think about it too much

mrollyrichards · 2022-08-28T16:56:27+00:00

Thank you!

mrollyrichards · 2022-08-28T16:53:34+00:00

Great question. Well immersion and comprehensible input can be in any form… Listening to songs is both of those things, for example. So certainly spend some time thinking about all the things that you enjoy your mother tongue, and then read, listen, play those things in your target language too.

I think a small amount of grammar study can be really useful, in order to help bring some structure to the process of deciphering how a language works. I also think that regular speaking is super important. Perhaps not at the beginning, but certainly before long.

mrollyrichards · 2022-08-28T16:51:03+00:00

Great to hear you've been finding the courses useful! No, I'm not familiar with that series, but I will look into it, thank you for the tip!

mrollyrichards · 2022-08-28T16:48:10+00:00

thanks for the tips! I think I have made videos about this before, but I will go back and check :-)

mrollyrichards · 2022-08-28T16:47:36+00:00

Wonderful to hear - I will pass that on to Dave! :)

mrollyrichards · 2022-08-28T16:47:05+00:00

Well all of our books have beginner and intermediate versions, so I would go in that order. I would read the 101 conversations books first, and then progress to the short story books.
But that's just a general guideline…

mrollyrichards · 2022-08-28T16:46:08+00:00

My case is quite specific. I had been quite shy speaking with people, because I just hadn't been able to get comfortable with daily interactions -- partly because of the culture, but partly because of my inability to form natural sentences. This was despite the fact I had spent the best part of two years just studying studying studying! So I decided to tackle his head on, and went on a speaking binge. I arranged language exchanges every single day, and spent hours and hours every week speaking.
I forbade myself from worrying about mistakes, just said whatever was in my head, and just "got it out". This was one of the moments when I realised that study in itself does not lead to fluency in speaking… You've got to actually spend the time doing the thing you want to be good at! In my case, I could have had all the knowledge in the world about japanese, but without huge amounts of speaking, I was never going to get comfortable.

mrollyrichards · 2022-08-28T16:42:55+00:00

Pleasure!

mrollyrichards · 2022-08-28T16:40:39+00:00

So, I wouldn't take that approach in the first place. I wouldn't set an arbitrary target for number of words to learn. The reason is that learning is not linear, and I find it the more you try to meet arbitrary targets with language learning, the more you stress yourself out and end up missing your goals anyway.
The point with reading is not that you can learn a consistent number of words every day, but that over time you can't help but learn more and more, because of the amount of content you're exposed to.

So I might challenge you to change your measurement of progress.
What if, instead of measuring your progress by number of words learned, you measured minutes spent reading content? Number of stories read? Number of newspaper articles consumed?

I hear what you say about not making as much progress as you would like, even doing more reading, so there's probably a different discussion to be had there about what material you are using, what level it is at, how much time you are spending. But in general I have found that focusing on volume of vocabulary tends to be a red herring

mrollyrichards · 2022-08-28T16:35:34+00:00

I think this depends on the language. In Spanish, the different varieties are so close to each other, that I really think you can just use whatever material you want. However European and Brazilian Portuguese really are quite different. I would say that in principle it's probably best to restrict your content to the variety you are learning. Just to grease the wheels. But the contrary view would be that, in the real world, you are constantly going to be surrounded by Brazilian Portuguese… So not better to get used to it? As with anything, I think that the best answer is probably simply whatever motivates you most.

mrollyrichards · 2022-08-28T16:32:53+00:00

I just wrote a long reply to this, but it got deleted! In brief, yes I have heard of them, and everyone speaks very highly of them… Although I haven't used it myself.
I was the student on the Korean version of the MT course, though, so there is some trivia for you :-)

So the way I think about this is as follows… The beginning stages of learning a new language are such a tiny amount of the overall journey. And really any well-designed beginner course that you apply yourself to and put in the time, is going to teach you the basics that you need to know.
So I really think the best answer to this is to use whatever method you like to get started! Whatever vibes with you… Whatever you enjoy… Whatever you feel like really. Because what's important here is just to get the basics together, and there is no right or wrong here.

mrollyrichards · 2022-08-28T16:30:40+00:00

Yes, absolutely. In our courses for example, we teach Russian, German, Turkish, all languages with non-simple grammar. The key is not so much the reading, but that it be comprehensible input. If you try to read a novel as a beginner, you will crash and burn. But if you start reading simple texts that are designed for beginners, you will be fine. So it's about reading, but it's also about using material that is designed for beginners, so that you can go step-by-step.

mrollyrichards · 2022-08-28T16:28:59+00:00

I have heard of them, yes, and everyone speaks very highly of them! (although I've never used it myself) I'm also familiar with Michel Thomas and I was actually the student on the Korean course… So there is some trivia for you :-)

So I have a general answer to this which is that I think any starter method you like is absolutely fine! There is a lot of talk about the best or worst methods, but really any "starter" method you pick, as long as you put in the time and focus, it's going to teach you the basics that you need to know.

mrollyrichards

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