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The secrets of learning a new language | Lýdia Machová | TED

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The secrets of learning a new language | Lýdia Machová | TED



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Want to learn a new language but feel daunted or unsure where to begin? You don’t need some special talent or a “language gene,” says Lýdia Machová. In an upbeat, inspiring talk, she reveals the secrets of polyglots (people who speak multiple languages) and shares four principles to help unlock your own hidden language talent — and have fun while doing it.

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47 thoughts on “The secrets of learning a new language | Lýdia Machová | TED”

  1. I started using chat GPT to learn English. I start an informal chat with the AI and talk to him about everything… It’s like an imaginary friend. When I finish the chat I ask to AI to correct me. Also, I listen English podcast when I’m doing my morning walking. I don’t try to memorize words, because I don’t want that my learning become boring and tiring, I just let it go. Also I’m watching movies in English with English subtitles. I’m trying to make the learning fun and not tiring.

  2. I tried and i gave up , but now i'm going to learn english again , and it's my first comment in english , I can do it💗

  3. im learning english 8 year from grade 4 to 12 but i can speak english and then when i''m 21 year old i decide to try learn it again and i just started 18 day ago, i hope some day i can join a conversation with native speaker fluenty

  4. As a Mandarin speaker, I've learnd English for almost 20 yrs but stuck in B2 class for a long time, which makes me really struggle. Recently I try to watch Eng video without subtitles, then I found my listening ability improve dramatically! I always think that I didn't have talent to learn languages before, but now, with this video and my own experiance, I realize that I certainly have language learning ability, perhaps I'll try to be a polylinguist in the future! Thanks to TED working crew and Lýdia.

  5. you know, i’ve been searching for the best way to learn english since i learned it in my own hands. i even didn’t know if there were so many methods to learn (i only know some). and finally i found out this video. and so, my own method to learn is taking a note of the words i don’t know and try to figure out afterwards. and then, i also try to have a conversation with native speaker but i can’t enjoy the conversation because i’m afraid to make mistakes (that’s my problem). when i watch this video, there is a method that tells about trying to describe anything like picture or else. i’ve been using that method to improve my english skill and the result is not a joke, from the 3 methods i’ve mentioned above, the one that really helps me is the last one. my english is a little bit more better now. however, i still need to learn more for a better understanding and being more advanced. hihi keep learning!

  6. I am learning Spanish, but I find most other people that are learning languages are very obnoxious and annoying including you. Just someone about you rubs me the wrong way.

  7. This is my first comment in English on YouTube platform without Google translator. I could understand almost everything with English subtitles and I am proud of myself. For me it's hard to speak in English and I want to speak fluently, but I'm shy to speak with native speakers(

  8. I'm from India. My mother tongue is Malayalam, we learn two three language from school, like reading and writing, etc . After putting some efforts now I'm fluent in Tamil, Hindi and English, English was the toughest among these, learning English as a subject for so many years I couldn't make anything. Then I started to watch YouTube, practice with myself.. Now I m improved alot

  9. My english language level is B2 and I start to develop it in my own methode, i see my self enjoying when i watching podcasts, interveiw and movei so i turn into opportunity to learn english and im middle of my journey.

  10. I started learning English from scratch four years ago when I was 35. I got 6.0 score in IELTS one year later. I hope I will improve more now. I have two kids and work hard for my regular job, so it’s difficult to manage time for all of my tasks, but I don’t want to give up and don’t say complain anything until reaching my ideal English level. Taking time is the new motivation to learn English, because I put several thousands hours into English so far. If I gave up, it means it would waste time. My aspiration is to work and live abroad with my family. I know I will make it happen.

  11. 日本語訳もしかして更新されましたか?
    わかりやすく頭にすっと入ってくる訳でとってもいいなぁと思いました😊

  12. i learn the alphabet first then vocabulary. its fun for me that way.
    And another thing I made friends from that country that's why I'm motivated but if you're not it feels like a drag.

  13. Navy 我對豐田的告訴成立 NAvy立刻對豐田追繳碳稅六佰億美元 Navy立刻查封世界所有豐田的財産 豐田人員如不服從 開搶 他媽的 全世界全部一直再喊 極端氣候 氣候變遷 而不採取任何有力行動 這回和泰的車子撞我 謀殺我 變造假文件勒索我 我就炸豐田給你們看

  14. Portuguese is my mother languege. I've learned English because of its importance as the "universal language", but it was just 2 months ago since I decided to start learning Spanish and, man, I'm having a blast! I'm on a 56 days streak on Duolingo, since I've stablished myself I'll study the language for at least 30 minutes a day. I'm really excited to be fluent on Spanish and then jump on the next language! I'm thinking about learning French next. Oh, I already bought 3 books in Spanish and I'll start the first one soon (Memoria de Mis Putas Tristes, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez).

  15. Perhaps I'm one kind of polyglot that Lydia mentioned because I enjoy and feel happy learning languages.

    I learned several languages (French, German, English) by attending courses. I use English for reading textbooks at school and university so it became my working language. Then I learned Chinese just informally, I attended some short courses before but because it's too expensive then I stop attending courses.
    Now I am working in a full Chinese speaking environment. I learned by communicating with my colleagues, it's very difficult and stressfull at beginning but I managed to get it. I found that for informal communication it is still ok, but for formal correspondence I still have to learn a lot by practice.

  16. Reading books you allready readed in your own language is with out makaing any sense of it is amazing way to learn language.. like you said you learn german with arryportr books …this is my method in learing language

  17. It was very interesting to hear from a polyglot person that thereisn’t just one way to learn a languaje, or a single recipe to get the expected fluency. I’m agree when She say that is very important enjoy the language-learning process and find a methodology for Us. In my case, I have studied english many times and in different places. I have used several methodologies where I working with books has not helped me, however others like interacting with other people or watching series have helped me a lot. I’m going to continue with my process, every day and I will take expert advice and I will be very patient.

  18. Excellent video, I think it inspires many people to start learning a new language or to continue this journey of constant learning to learn a new language, enjoying the process, with methodology, system and patience. I think another key point to learn a language is to be constantly motivated, that there is a reason why we want to learn a new language and that guides us to maintain that goal during the journey.

  19. In my case, I work with the English language, and I have seen the importance of English for growing professionally, at least in our country Chili.
    I think it is very important to have want to do it, because you must leave maybe other activity for study the english, for example I love to hear music in my on the way to work, because it helps me to selft me very happy and star my day with more energy :-), but now I´m thinking maybe to ear my favorite series The Peaky Blinders in english language, I saw in spanish and now Im going to hear in english. Thank Lydia Machová for sharing your experience.

  20. In real life, at least in my case, learning English is a journey that requires dedication, commitment, motivation, financial resources and enjoying the process of course, but all these keys are not found all at the same time in your life, when I had the money, I didn't have the time, when I had time I had no motivation, and so on. The most important thing for me is the system, which reminds me of the book Atomic Habits. If you really want to learn a language you can start with small things, a couple of words per day, a couple of minutes, and here is where patience comes in. If you are constant you’ll achieve it. Great video

  21. For a long time I thought that learning different languages ​​was a skill that not all people had. But I think I was wrong, maybe everyone can do it.

  22. I was feeling so frustrated for not learning English after several years of studying. Then, I watched Lýdia's videos and gained some inspiration to continue towards my goal. I realized that I need to be patient and make a plan to achieve success. This video is very motivating, and the advice that I learned was that I need to be consistent and do something to learn English every day. Maybe read a book, watch a series or a movie, or study more vocabulary.

    In a year, I'll come back to watch this video to remind myself how far I've come.

  23. I’ve been trying to learn sign language for years, being deaf makes it hard, but I’ll keep trying I’ve got nothing to lose.

  24. Me too. İ want to learn English. My Reading, Writing and Listening Skills good 👍 but I can't speak 🙊 because i haven't English friends and i don't know how to find them 😶 Who can help me ?😊

  25. Thank you for the video! Really inspirational. I am one of the people who struggle to speak with others, I think I am too shy to speak with Skype and look out for native speakers 🙁
    It is really dissapoimting that after English in school and uni I cannot speak English.

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