How Do You Become Fluent in a Foreign Language?

0:02 We should be live guys and girls.

0:05 Uh [snorts] thanks for coming and thanks for uh

0:10 the already interesting questions that I see here in the chat.

0:13 Please write [snorts] where you are fairing from and uh

0:19 we should get started in around a couple of minutes.

0:22 I want to do a test to check if the audio works.

0:26 Please write in the chat if you can hear

0:28 me because I think that's the most important thing.

0:30 You should also be able to see me here.

0:33 Although my camera, my iPhone camera does not work.

0:35 So, I'm using this camera here,

0:37 but I think it's good enough for you to recognize my face.

0:41 So, uh this Q&A is going to last more or less an hour.

0:44 Feel free to ask all the questions you want.

0:47 Uh I'm going to answer the questions as I see them

0:50 and I'm going to try to answer as many questions as possible.

0:54 Uh, I already see here um a couple of interesting comments.

0:58 Hi, Luca says bilingual bilinguismo.

1:04 I guess it's Spanish.

1:05 We can hear you and see you.

1:08 Uh, thank you.

1:10 Meang, sorry if I butcher your names, guys.

1:13 I can barely see because I don't have my contact lenses,

1:15 so I have to be very close to the screen in order to see.

1:19 Hi, guys.

1:19 Nice to see you.

1:21 Uh, so let's get started.

1:22 I already see a couple of very interesting questions uh here.

1:26 And the first one was is in Italian.

1:28 I'm gonna No, actually it's in English.

1:31 Uh the second one is in Italian.

1:32 Tuka, most content I listen to is clear standard Italian at a moderate speed.

1:37 When you study, do you also train your ears

1:39 to tune into more difficult to understand speakers?

1:42 And the answer is yes.

1:45 Um meaning that it really depends on your level.

1:47 If you have an intermediate level, uh what I normally do,

1:50 I can give you a very clear example.

1:53 Um I have I I did this just this morning and you should be able to see that.

1:58 Though the good advantage of using this camera

2:00 is that you can actually it's pretty crisp.

2:02 It's not blurry because my iPhone blurs things.

2:05 So here you should be able to see Englishman.

2:12 This is a a very um interesting conversation

2:16 the the in Turkish and the answer the question is should you

2:19 learn a third language or keep improving your English and [snorts]

2:23 um the the people here amat speak at a normal

2:29 speed so it's just like listening to a conversation among

2:32 three friends and I think um to answer your question it's

2:37 important to start with content that you you know maybe

2:40 it's not too difficult it's made for learners that's totally fine.

2:43 But then you want to move on to content

2:46 that is more you know for native speakers

2:49 just like people how speak uh how people

2:51 speak naturally to get your ears accustomed to that.

2:55 Now notice that in order to understand this I have to have a transcript.

2:59 So I have a transcript.

3:00 I go through it.

3:01 I use multiple translation tools in order

3:03 to dissect and understand the entire um content.

3:07 And then I listen multiple times and even after that I understand

3:10 maybe 60% or 70% it doesn't matter because for you to really

3:15 get to a solid listening understanding it takes a long time because

3:19 it goes into the procedural part of our brain which requires time.

3:23 I keep saying this.

3:24 Uh if you hear people say claim that they know a language or they've

3:28 learned a language after three weeks or after three months or after three hours,

3:32 do not believe them because it's simply not possible to um develop

3:40 deep for example listening comprehension

3:42 or even speaking skills for that matter.

3:44 You can fake it.

3:45 You can fake uh the ability of conversing

3:49 by rehearsing and by memorizing certain things

3:52 but deep down your knowledge is not

3:55 very extensive nor your abilities for that matter.

3:58 So uh the answer to your question is do you also

4:01 train your ears to tune into more difficult to understand speakers?

4:04 That's exactly right.

4:05 You have to listen as much as you can um

4:08 to content for beginners to intermediates uh and also to native

4:13 speakers u as long I would say I would add

4:18 um that it's really important to consume content that you like.

4:21 I only consume content that I like.

4:22 I only choose podcasts that I like.

4:24 I only create podcasts that I like.

4:26 This is in Turkish as well as in Japanese,

4:29 the two languages I'm currently tackling actively right now.

4:32 That's the most important thing.

4:33 Focus on the process not the results.

4:37 Then you got a very interesting question.

4:44 Polyos I guess the polyos is a um is

4:48 a Greek word in also modern Greek polylos many languages.

4:52 That's where the word polygot comes from.

4:55 and uh he just asked uh I want to maintain a good

4:59 level in a language even if like I'm I'm at home I'm

5:02 not in and I can't visit Greece I guess polos you are

5:06 someone who's learning Greek as a second language [snorts] and uh the answer

5:10 to that is to really uh surround yourself with the language use

5:16 the lang it's really simple if you think about it it's create

5:19 um create an environment where you tend to use the language as much

5:22 as you can or in for example when it comes to listening,

5:25 when it comes to reading, when it comes to writing.

5:27 Replace the things you like doing in your own

5:30 native language with the with a different language with a target uh your target

5:36 language or target languages for that matter.

5:38 So, for example, do you like watching Netflix

5:40 in let's say that your native language is Italian, right?

5:43 Do you like watching Netflix in Italian?

5:45 Then why don't you watch shows in Greek?

5:48 Do you want to do you like watching or listening to the news in Italian?

5:52 Then why don't you do that in Greek?

5:55 Do you like reading?

5:56 Well, do that in Greek.

5:57 Do you like writing?

5:58 Maybe a journal.

5:59 You you keep you keep a journal.

6:01 Well, do that in Greek.

6:03 That is how I maintain a lot of languages.

6:06 Now, I don't do all these things.

6:07 I don't listen, read, write, and speak in all the languages that I maintain.

6:12 But I have at least one cool habit that is connected with something I do.

6:17 For example, at home, just to give you an example,

6:20 I talk about this all the time.

6:21 at home if I take a shower.

6:23 I'm not I'm listening to your AirPods because I don't have to wash my hair.

6:28 Then, for example, I used to I don't

6:29 do this now because I'm doing something else,

6:32 but I'm I was listening to Greek uh in the morning for 30 minutes.

6:37 You have to undress, hop in the shower, get out, grooming.

6:41 You do some grooming.

6:43 uh you [clears throat] know then you have to dress

6:45 and or and 30 minutes have already gone by and you've been listening

6:49 uh to content in Greek or watching for example the news

6:53 or listening to the news in French or in Russian while cooking.

6:56 So while cooking then sitting down then eating.

6:59 I shouldn't watch television or the internet while eating.

7:01 Shame on me but I I do it all the time.

7:04 And then after eating you're washing the dishes

7:06 and you're still listening in the background

7:08 to the news in I I still do this to the news in French or Russian.

7:12 and that is already 30 minutes.

7:13 So I have built a series of habits

7:17 and I do certain things at certain times in different

7:19 spaces that are connected with certain activities

7:22 in the languages and that helps me maintain these languages.

7:27 uh mind you as I said before I don't listen read write and speak

7:30 in all these languages um all the time because of lack of time it's

7:34 impossible to do that but if you want to maintain a language the very

7:36 first thing to do is at least passive it's at least to um start

7:43 building habits in in you know good habits of things you like doing

7:48 in that language and then when it comes to using the language well if you

7:51 have friends whether you have friends on the internet or even better you have

7:55 friends that you know in the city uh you live in, well even better.

7:58 And of course, if you live in a village in the middle of nowhere in Australia,

8:02 that's a little bit more difficult to implement.

8:05 So, let's go through uh some other questions here.

8:10 Uh let me see.

8:12 Someone asked a very interesting question.

8:21 Yes.

8:22 Um I do.

8:23 Um, if I had received this question in advance,

8:27 I would have uh prepared something.

8:30 Uh, let me see if I have maybe I can show you.

8:33 Maybe maybe I can.

8:34 Unfortunately, I wanted to um I wanted to use my iPhone actually to show

8:41 to show you my desktop today to give you a demo of what I do,

8:44 but unfortunately it was not possible.

8:46 Technical problems, not the end of the world.

8:48 But maybe, just maybe,

8:50 I can show you something here on the iPad that I prepare for my No,

8:56 this is not possible because it has 1% plan C.

8:59 So, we have plan A, plan B, and plan C.

9:03 I'm going to show you here.

9:05 So, let me let me share uh a little bit of what

9:08 I do when it comes to inonation and when it comes to pronunciation.

9:12 Right?

9:12 So the first the first rule that you have to take into account,

9:16 I'm just going to write it in the chat so you have it.

9:18 Step number one is to listen listen to the sentence.

9:24 So focus on the sentence and focus on inonation rather than pronunciation.

9:30 What does this mean?

9:31 Well, it means that normally what we do is

9:33 that we tend to miss the forest for the trees.

9:35 We tend to, as unfortunately it's done in school,

9:38 we tend to try to pronounce the single uh letters

9:42 or the single the syllables that make up a word.

9:45 So we focus on a word and then we focus on the other word etc etc.

9:49 This is not how you learn to pronounce a foreign language.

9:53 And this is because this way this way of doing things it

9:57 relies on the declarative memory or declarative part of our me memory.

10:02 Well, what do you want to do?

10:03 And that's what children do is they listen to entire sentences.

10:06 That's the very first thing to take into account.

10:08 Now, here's the interesting part.

10:10 Sentences are made of chunks, right?

10:13 This is called a chunking method.

10:15 And chunking is um is a really uh good way in which our memory

10:20 or working memory is able to process a lot of information at once.

10:25 Uh what do I mean by that?

10:26 Well, think about the the phone number, right?

10:28 If you phone number in any language, let's say in France, you have 06 06 D 52.

10:36 So it's always in batches, right?

10:38 It never comes in single digits.

10:40 That's how you also do it in uh

10:41 in language learning and when it comes to sentences.

10:44 So, um, what am I what I mean by that?

10:47 In the meanwhile, I'm I'm charging my, uh,

10:50 I'm charging my iPad because we might be able to also take

10:54 a look at this in a bit while I ramble on pronunciation, intonation.

10:58 So, the whole thing to say that when you listen to a sentence,

11:01 what you want to do is you want to break it down into chunks.

11:04 So, let me read this at the beginning

11:06 and I want you to focus on the pauses, right?

11:09 I'm gonna say this just one sentence and you're

11:13 going to see actually there's two sentences and I want

11:15 you to pay attention to the pauses even if

11:17 you do not understand what I'm saying because I'm speaking

11:20 Turkish Turkish let me say this again right you

11:34 can tell that there are pauses there so what I

11:36 normally do again let me let me read another

11:47 Bear in mind my pronunciation in Turkish is not great.

11:49 Let me say this again today.

11:58 So you can hear for example today as always we are with but we have a guest.

12:11 So there are pauses there.

12:13 So what I normally do is you should be able to see

12:16 I have these um slashes here that separate the different chunks.

12:23 Right?

12:23 And this is the very first important thing you want to do when it comes to uh

12:28 you know understanding the uh the inonation the sound

12:33 system of a language and that's the first thing.

12:36 Then what you want to do is for example you can play

12:39 the audio and you can repeat or this is a technique called echoing

12:43 which is really interesting and also we have coursing which is another

12:47 uh technique and we David and I explained this in the pronunciation master

12:52 class which by the way um is a little bit hidden so

12:56 it's not visible on my website but we are um currently selling

13:00 the recording of that because it was a huge success and people requested

13:03 that were more than 200 people uh who took the pronunciation master class.

13:08 They loved it.

13:09 Upon request, I can I can find the link for you

13:11 because normally you get it by getting into the newsletter.

13:14 [snorts] Uh but again, intonation first,

13:17 you divide you listen to a sentence multiple times.

13:19 You divide it into chunks where you hear the sent

13:22 that you hear the pauses and then you focus on these chunks.

13:26 Then you play the audio, you stop chunk by chunk,

13:29 and you simply repeat what you hear.

13:31 But you don't try to shadow it.

13:32 Shadowing is great, don't get me wrong,

13:35 but give yourself time for your auditory memory.

13:38 Listen to the sentence or better said the chunk

13:40 of a sentence and then repeat it after the speaker.

13:44 And this is a great exercise.

13:46 I can talk about this for three hours.

13:48 That's what we did in the master class.

13:50 But just to give you an idea, focus on the big picture.

13:53 Do not focus on the small uh the small things, you know,

13:58 just like missing the for you don't want to miss the forest for the trees.

14:00 And by the way, we have here our beloved David.

14:03 And I think that's his birthday today.

14:05 So we should all wish him happy birthday.

14:08 David, you're the man.

14:10 [snorts] So um let's go back to David by the way is the guy

14:17 with whom the wonderful guy in poly with whom I did the pronunciation masterass,

14:22 the vocabulary revolution.

14:24 And now we're running a Spanish sprint that people love.

14:27 So a lot of things are happening also thanks to David

14:30 and I have to thank him uh personally because he's the man.

14:34 Um so um let me see here I I I saw another question here about pronunciation.

14:43 Look in your last live you showed your chunking process in the Google Docs

14:46 but you did not explain the last two steps patterns and creating a story.

14:50 Could you quickly explain how you do those?

14:53 Um okay let me go back to this a little bit later.

14:56 Um, so um I just he just wants to become

15:14 a polygot and I just told him you need discipline,

15:17 you need courage and you need a vision or better said vision,

15:21 courage and discipline.

15:23 This is what I think are the three factors in order

15:26 to learn a language because learning a language is a long game.

15:28 You know like in everything else you

15:31 get to you sometimes you have hurdles, obstacles,

15:35 sometimes you get stressed sometimes you feel like you get

15:37 discouraged and you feel like you'll never learn this language

15:40 or that language but then it happens if you uh stay

15:43 on course and if you spend enough time with the language.

15:47 I always say if you have fun, time flies.

15:49 So make sure that you focus on the process, adjust the process,

15:53 tweak the process that you and have fun

15:55 because ultimately that's what we have to focus on.

15:58 Um, hi.

16:00 Do you know Italian language?

16:02 Uh, interesting Tanya.

16:04 Yes, I do because I am Italian.

16:07 So Italian was uh, you know, I was born born and raised in Rome.

16:12 So I do speak uh, Italian.

16:16 Um, hi Luka.

16:20 My principal problem is the grammar follow Portuguese.

16:33 Um, BN asked me to speak a little bit of Portuguese, which I did.

16:38 My Portuguese is Portugu.

16:40 And I said that some Brazilians do not understand um you know

16:45 do not understand Portuguese lusano Portuguese

16:48 from Portugal because it's so different.

16:50 Uh he said he didn't ask a question.

16:52 He just said his biggest problem is grammar and I understand that.

16:55 Uh I've I have made multiple videos about grammar.

16:58 Just write grammar lucare and you will find

17:01 a couple of hopefully interesting videos for you

17:04 about the concept of how do you learn

17:05 grammar and how to best to learn a grammar.

17:09 Okay.

17:10 So um I have dozens I guess I guess Ganesh you mean dozen?

17:15 I have tazen.

17:16 I've never heard of it but I have tousen of vocabulary but still

17:19 stuck to incorporate those to use my communication how to fix it.

17:23 Well this is uh once again um

17:25 a problem of declarative versus um procedural memory.

17:29 I will insist on this concept because if

17:31 you understand neuroscience and how the brain works,

17:33 you will understand and unravel the mysteries of language learning.

17:37 Why is it that we have a lot of words but we can't put them together?

17:40 Because you can learn as many words as you

17:42 want but it when it comes to speaking you

17:44 have to speak and you have to learn to train

17:48 your brain to put them together to form sentences.

17:51 So you can learn more words maybe making lists of words

17:55 but normally when you have this problem is because you don't speak enough.

17:59 So you have to start forming sentences.

18:02 You can do this by yourself.

18:04 You can have AI correct you or give you some sort of assistance.

18:08 Nowadays you have for example Langua, you have CHGBT, you have Gemini,

18:13 you have everything you want and then talk to native speakers.

18:16 I know it sounds trivial but that's the way it works.

18:19 In fact um while I understand Turkish more and more

18:24 and I can listen to a very complicated discussion among

18:26 three three dudes that talk about you know whether

18:29 to learn to improve your their English or learn another language.

18:33 I've never really spoken Turkish.

18:35 I know a lot of words.

18:36 I know a lot of expressions.

18:37 I've spoken with AI.

18:38 But next week, I'm going to start I will have

18:40 my very first conversation in a language exchange and I will stumble,

18:44 fumble, and mumble and that does not matter.

18:47 So, Ganesh Ganesh the only um the best

18:51 solution to this is just start forming sentences.

18:54 You take these words and start forming sentences.

18:57 It does not matter if they're wrong, the grammar is wrong.

19:00 Put things together.

19:01 It's better to speak Tarzanlike than not speak at all.

19:04 Because even if you speak Tarzanike, we're always focused on you're always

19:09 focused on impressing rather than expressing.

19:11 Remember how children learn.

19:13 They just say I to want.

19:15 Well, let me say to want, but you can imagine I I want ice cream.

19:20 I They speak in a very simple way.

19:22 They use a subject, the verb, and the object without considering articles, etc.

19:26 until they get it right.

19:27 So, they say it.

19:28 When you want to say something, say it anyway.

19:30 no matter if you make mistakes and uh then

19:34 you know with time you will improve more and more.

19:38 Um, got another question from it depends on whether you want to find people

19:56 in real life or you want to find people in like through the internet.

20:01 So if you want to find people through the internet,

20:03 I think Hello Talk or Tandem you already know.

20:05 And if you want to find people, well,

20:06 normally depending on the if you live in a big city,

20:09 there are language exchanges.

20:10 For example, here in Rome, I always go to the language exchange

20:12 in uh you know that they organize every Monday.

20:15 I go there and I got to know a lot of friends and you know,

20:19 I go there to practice languages and get to know people.

20:21 So, it really depends on where you live, etc., etc.

20:25 And whether you want to practice with a tutor,

20:28 practice with, you know, a person within a language exchange with the internet.

20:32 Now on the internet you can do and through

20:34 the internet you can do so many things but in real life that's always the best

20:38 of the best and that really depends on where you live.

20:41 You know living in a cosmopolitan city in the m

20:43 in the heart of Europe is different from living

20:46 once again in a remote village in Australia or maybe

20:49 in South America or the United States for that matter.

20:52 So that's that's important to take into account.

20:55 Um so let me see here.

21:00 Virus Vus N Zed.

21:03 Hi Luke, I've heard you reference your grammar.

21:05 You reference your grammar translation method,

21:07 but I could not find an explanation anywhere.

21:09 Is that a big part of your method?

21:10 And if so, can you break it down for me?

21:12 Okay.

21:13 Thank you.

21:13 Virus or Virus, I don't know what you pronounce it depending

21:16 on the language in which the the original name was conceived in.

21:20 But let me tell you that we don't have time to explain the whole thing.

21:24 But let me tell you this, people talk sometimes disparaging disparagingly.

21:28 Can you say that?

21:29 disparagingly um about the grammar the grammar translation method.

21:34 Some people do not like or even better they or even worse they despise

21:39 uh translation or they despise the fact

21:42 it's like grammar translation because they think

21:44 that if you translate then you're going

21:46 to necessarily translate things in your head

21:48 before speaking in your target language and then

21:50 it's going to slow down the process.

21:52 But the grammar translation method is the misunderstanding

21:56 here is that you can use translation as as a simple tool to facilitate

22:00 the understanding of the fundamental structures of a language.

22:03 to give you a very concrete example and to make it short

22:06 because we don't have much time the it works like this and you

22:11 take for example let's say that I start learning a language

22:13 let's say Japanese then I grab a material that has J Japanese

22:18 to the left or it's a bilingual let's say Japanese text uh

22:22 to the left and then the a text in Italian or English

22:26 to the right and by looking at by by comparing the two

22:31 versions then I will understand Japanese

22:33 by looking at the translation in Italian.

22:35 Now, mind you, the text also comes with some

22:38 explanations because I think that at the very beginning,

22:41 some grammar notes or explanations,

22:43 especially if the languages are very distant,

22:45 they're necessary in order to you for you to understand.

22:48 But in this way, by consuming dialogues or even stories,

22:52 you're learning grammar from language and not the other way around.

22:55 The main problem that people have is they normally learn language from grammar.

23:00 Meaning they focus just on grammar and they

23:02 completely forget that that you learn a grammar.

23:06 You learn a language organically by consuming content that you can understand

23:10 which is what Stephen Crashen famed um Steven Crashation talks and insists

23:14 on talks about and insists on which is you acquire lang

23:18 a language and better and and acquiring is a an unconscious process

23:23 right that happens below our level of awareness so to speak you

23:28 acquire language by consuming content consuming

23:32 u message watching observing to native

23:34 speakers speak or talking to someone that you can understand for example

23:38 if I say you understand this that these are my hands

23:43 but then it's more difficult to understand uh concepts like nostalgia how

23:48 do you describe nostalgia with with hands you can't but you can

23:51 leverage uh your own knowledge the knowledge that you already have

23:55 and the abilities in your own native language all that to to say

23:59 that the grammar translation method or better said the the translation

24:04 method is just using translation or using your own own native language

24:10 or a language you know well as a crutch in order

24:13 to first dissect and understand the basic structures of your target language.

24:18 After three to six months you know enough so that you

24:21 can delve more and more into monolingual texts you know or still

24:25 use translation in order to understand more and more and then

24:28 you remove the crutch and you start walking on your own.

24:32 That's what the translate the grammar translation method u is about.

24:36 But it's how you implement it that really makes a difference.

24:40 If you just focus on on understanding the grammar,

24:43 you will not be able to speak a language fluently because grammar

24:46 understanding grammar taps into once again the declarative part of our memory.

24:51 We know bits and pieces.

24:52 We know grammar rules.

24:53 We know words but we can't put them together because the other

24:57 part of the brain that or our memory system which is

25:01 the procedural part is what really counts when it comes to speaking

25:06 any language fluently that is automatic at a a non-concious level.

25:11 Okay.

25:12 So that's that's important to stress.

25:14 I don't [snorts] know if that answered your question.

25:16 Uh it would require a couple of more hours to explain all this in detail.

25:20 We do this in our school by the way.

25:22 uh a little bit of advertising here just

25:24 for those who are new here or don't know me

25:27 I think the majority do but uh you can

25:30 for example go here and you can take a look

25:33 and by the way uh what we're doing this year

25:37 is very different from um from any other year

25:41 because we have started as I said at the beginning

25:45 implementing new um new courses for specific languages So,

25:53 um, I tried to put this here, but it doesn't work.

25:57 Okay, let me see if this works.

26:00 Technical problems.

26:01 I will, if this doesn't show

26:03 on the on the chat because I'm trying to post something, but it's not working.

26:07 I will put it in the link uh below

26:11 uh once this video uh once this video gets published.

26:15 Nope, it does not work for whatever reason.

26:17 God only knows why.

26:18 Okay.

26:19 Uh, by the way, it's called uh lukanapello.com.

26:23 So, but the other link I wanted to share is not working.

26:26 I'll I'll let me I'll I'll try again a little bit later.

26:28 Okay.

26:29 So, uh today is like a lot of glitches.

26:33 We got here our beloved linguist our friend our beloved friend who's watching.

26:43 So, oh here we say happy birthday.

26:46 I didn't I was not seeing the you know the the chat evolve.

26:50 I was focused on on the question above.

26:52 Great stuff as always.

26:53 Still have David here.

26:56 So um listen to from the gym.

27:01 He's he's this guy.

27:02 David is a beast.

27:03 Uh like you should see his workouts.

27:05 Just amazing guy.

27:07 Anyway, um so let me go up uh here.

27:14 I am the lead mod of the aura language learning subreddit.

27:18 Would you be interested in doing an AMA AMA with us?

27:22 Sure, why not?

27:23 Would be interesting.

27:24 I think Holly Richards has already done one.

27:27 I don't know how it works.

27:28 I I check Reddit on and off.

27:29 I haven't checked in a long time.

27:31 But yeah, feel free to uh to send a message to my email.

27:35 you go to I unfortunately I can't post here but you can go to lucapo.com

27:40 and you can send me a message there and we can we can get this organized.

27:44 [snorts] Um so let me see here.

27:48 I'm going up and down.

27:50 If I missed some questions you can maybe repost it.

27:53 Uh but as always I try to answer

27:55 to as many um you know many questions as possible.

27:58 It's always a little bit complicated to answer

28:00 in a thorough way and satisfy everybody, but hey.

28:04 Um, so let me see.

28:09 Um, hello Luka.

28:10 I'm in college studying Spanish,

28:11 but I want to study Italian for my trip to Rome in December.

28:14 Do you recommend I focus on Spanish until

28:16 the semester ends or focus on Italian this year?

28:19 Let me read this again.

28:20 I'm in college studying Spanish,

28:22 but I want to study Italian for my trip to Rome in December.

28:25 or do you recommend I focus on Spanish

28:26 until the semester ends or focus on Italian?

28:29 It really depends on your level of Spanish.

28:31 If you already have a very good level in Spanish, then why not start Italian?

28:35 If on the other hand, your Spanish is still shaky and well then it's

28:40 only going to add more confusion or more interference.

28:43 Normally a little bit of interference is inevitable.

28:47 But if you learn two languages that are really similar at the same time,

28:50 you could from scratch then you're going to confuse

28:53 your mind because there's going to be interference.

28:55 Let's say from Spanish into Italian and from Italian to Spanish.

28:58 In other words, when you try to speak Spanish, Italian comes to the four.

29:01 When you try to speak Italian, Spanish comes to the four and they both mix.

29:04 However, if your Spanish or one of the two languages has a very high level,

29:09 then it will actually help with the other language.

29:12 So it's like having you see it like I always like this uh you know um family

29:18 metaphor language metaphor or language family metaphor

29:22 where you have a newborn but then you have a bigger brother

29:25 and the bigger brother is going to take care of the newborn.

29:28 So imagine that your Spanish is really solid.

29:30 I don't know I'm just making a hypothesis because I don't know your situation.

29:35 Then it will help Italian.

29:36 Of course, when you try to learn Italian,

29:38 Spanish will come to the four because it's a dominant language,

29:41 but Italian won't interfere with your Spanish because it's already solid.

29:45 Okay?

29:45 So, that's too important to take into account.

29:48 It really depends on your situation.

29:50 Um, but um the the question you have to ask yourself uh what

29:55 for do you want to use Italian just to to chat with people?

29:58 Do is it for life?

29:59 Uh what level do you have in Spanish?

30:01 Uh do you know other languages?

30:03 and and so there's a lot of factors there's a lot

30:08 of things you have to factor in in that in that decision.

30:11 Um oh I saw the I saw that you you say it's just a one semester Spanish class.

30:18 Well, uh, if it's just one semester of Spanish class

30:21 and you still and and and your level is still not great,

30:24 I will not recommend that honestly because it's you run

30:27 on the risk of confusing the two um the two um languages.

30:48 Well, anyway, he said, "Ask speak a little bit of of Dutch," which I did.

30:53 But if I start speaking Dutch, I can do a multilingual one if you guys want.

30:56 But the problem is I'm going to miss people if I start speaking in 10 languages.

31:00 Let me know in the chat if this is something that could be interesting for you.

31:03 I think that we want to do a few I want to do also with David,

31:08 but we want to do Spanish, Italian, uh, German,

31:11 maybe Russian, uh, live shows in Polish, which I've never done.

31:14 It's one of my favorite languages.

31:16 I can do that.

31:17 Multilingual, I can, but then, you know, we're going to lose people here.

31:21 Unless, uh, in the near future we can have subtitles in English.

31:25 Uh, if if that were the case, I would I would be,

31:28 uh, I would be very glad to do that.

31:30 Let me know if if I make another live in another language that is not English.

31:35 In which language do you want me to do it?

31:38 Most probably in April I will do uh it's going to be our Italian month.

31:44 So I will do a couple of live live shows only in Italian.

31:52 Okay.

31:53 So, um, okay.

31:56 Virus said, "I sent you a message via your contact form." Thank you very much.

32:02 Um, [clears throat] then we'll figure out how that works.

32:05 It's going to be fun.

32:07 Oh, David.

32:08 David is lurking in the shadows.

32:10 Lucas, the beast of language running inconsistencies long.

32:12 Look at the language code.

32:13 I'm I don't know if I'm a goat or sheep or whatever, but thank you, David.

32:18 You're very kind.

32:20 [snorts] Uh David and I are as of now running

32:21 the uh momentum club and it's all about consistency.

32:24 There's have now dozens of students and I I have to say

32:28 that uh I've never I mean I've I've been learning a lot of languages

32:33 uh but I've never learned languages

32:34 so consistently because our community there's more

32:37 than 1,200 I think students in the school has never been this amazing.

32:42 So David and I are having a lot of a lot

32:44 of uh of fun and we're learning a lot from our students.

32:48 I have amazing ideas just in case you're interested.

32:51 Uh unfortunately uh for whatever reason I cannot

32:54 uh share this has never happened by the way.

32:56 I cannot share anything in the chat.

32:59 Let me try again.

33:00 But I don't think it's going to work.

33:02 But at the end I'm just going to put some stuff.

33:04 Hopefully crossing fingers I can um actually put um add subtitles.

33:11 Oh, seems like it's it's working.

33:13 Wait.

33:13 Okay.

33:14 So, now it's working.

33:16 Um, as I was saying before, click on this link if you um if you want.

33:21 And what we're doing is we're doing something really different.

33:24 Before it was metalarning and it's still metalarning.

33:26 So, learning how to learn and all the techniques etc etc.

33:29 But we are starting programs in Italian, English, Spanish, French, German.

33:34 So, these are very specific that are

33:36 going to help people you know with pronunciation, grammar, vocabularies.

33:40 it and to speak people want to speak.

33:42 We're actually as of now we're running the Spanish sprint

33:45 and we're loving it both me David and the students and uh

33:50 also uh depending on also on um on the request we

33:54 have these five languages but then we have another option there should

33:58 be able to see that actually let me see let me

34:00 see if I can share my screen because today it's not

34:05 an easy day technology wise so let me share my screen

34:10 here so you should be able to see and you have Spanish.

34:21 I want to speak English fluently or other request a language for 2026.

34:25 So if you're learning Spanish or Italian or French and German,

34:28 you're you want to speak maybe you have an intermediate level,

34:30 these programs are perfect.

34:32 We're building something, but we want to build something for you.

34:35 Uh we're already running the Spanish.

34:36 The Italian is going to come next and then

34:38 we're going to have French and German and American English.

34:41 There's an English flag here, but it's going to be American English.

34:44 Uh and if you speak if you if you know you're learning any other language click

34:48 on other and then and then let us know

34:51 and um that's how we're going to discover uh

34:56 you know which language you're learning uh which

34:58 level and we will build uh some programs are

35:03 already running some others we will build uh quickly

35:06 and uh it's going to be even more fun.

35:10 So, um let me go up here and we have So, what is your uh favorite language?

35:22 Not so Russian, German, and uh Greek.

35:29 Uh Greek is my uh my favorite language, I think,

35:32 of of all, but German and Russian are up there.

35:35 And the reason uh is because they're complex languages,

35:38 but they I I love how they sound, the complexity of it.

35:42 Uh how you can express your thoughts.

35:44 It's just these these three are just amazing languages.

35:47 Complex, difficult to learn, but once you get the hang of it,

35:51 it's just a lot of fun.

35:52 It's a world of fun.

35:53 As I say, I got to drink a little bit of water

35:55 because I've been speaking non-stop for 35 minutes to a screen.

35:58 I know you guys are there behind the screen, but okay.

36:05 So um then let me go through some of the questions here.

36:15 Um Luca, you're my language teacher.

36:20 Thank you.

36:21 Uh well, I'm one of the language teachers.

36:23 I guess I maybe not even a teacher,

36:26 just a another another student, another language student who learns languages.

36:31 Um, can Italian speaker understand Romanesco?

36:35 Well, so can an Italian native native Italian understand Romanesco?

36:39 Yes, they can because Romanesco is just a light form of the ancient uh Roman

36:44 dialect that used to be spoken a century

36:47 ago and even then it was understandable.

36:49 Now you have to keep in mind that Italy is a relatively

36:53 uh new well new country is like a country that formed

36:56 160 years ago or a little bit more and uh back

37:00 in the day let's say a century ago people could barely

37:04 understand each other because very few people just the literate people

37:08 u could speak Italian and by mean Italian standard Italian most people

37:12 were illiterate that is they couldn't read or write they could

37:16 understand each other within the region but if a person from Venetsia,

37:20 Venice, spoke with one from Calabria, they would not understand each other.

37:23 But with television from the from the 50s and 60s, you know,

37:27 especially the Roman dialect is um is spread

37:31 all over and people understand it from every region.

37:33 So, it's relatively easy to understand.

37:35 There are other dialects in Italy,

37:36 they're more difficult like Napoleano is kind of tough to understand,

37:40 especially if they speak Napolano strito.

37:42 There's like to speak like that that is difficult to understand.

37:46 My grandmother for example comes from Fri and she used

37:49 to speak Folano with her sisters and I I remember I had

37:52 a mix of you know listening to Napolitano Folano and also Calabraza

37:58 because my family comes from all over Italy so I understand all

38:01 these dialects but it's difficult to understand if you're not from Napoli

38:04 for example if they don't want to be understood you're not

38:07 going to understand the thing they use completely different words for example

38:11 a donkey sumo nasino in Italian in in just completely different.

38:17 By the way, if you have questions about Italian,

38:19 u we'll again I'll do a live in Italian.

38:22 Stefan is going to join me.

38:24 Uh who knows Stephanos.

38:26 Stefan is an amazing guy and he's is

38:29 also a very cool teacher and he speaks Italian.

38:31 I think he works at Joy of Languages.

38:33 I'm pretty sure you've heard of Joy of Languages and he's an amazing teacher,

38:35 an amazing guy, an amazing everything exactly like David.

38:39 [snorts] So, uh let's go through some other questions.

38:42 How did you learn Greek?

38:43 Uh how do you learn Greek?

38:44 How do you succeed to le to learn Greek words so many and so complicated?

38:48 Well, exactly as I did with all the other languages.

38:50 I cons I I know it's it sounds trivial but it's simpler.

38:54 It language learning is simple at its core

38:57 but it's not easy because we make it complicated.

38:59 You consume a lot of content that you like

39:01 and the content has to be interesting first and foremost.

39:04 It has to be comprehensible meaning that you have to understand.

39:08 So you have a text in Greek.

39:09 If you have the equivalent text in your native language plus

39:13 some explanations that cover the obscure points scattered through the text,

39:19 then you're going to understand more and more.

39:21 And then it has to be slightly

39:23 at a slightly higher level than your current level.

39:26 Steven Crashing calls it I+ one.

39:29 Uh so that you know if you consume that content

39:31 for a long period of time eventually you start acquiring the language

39:34 and when it comes to speaking you will um you know

39:38 struggle at the beginning but then you will get better and better.

39:42 Forget about memorizing words.

39:45 Memorizing words is a consequence of getting exposed to the language

39:49 and then using it for uh meaningful communication purposes.

39:54 It's much simpler than you think.

39:56 We just tend to you know make it much more complicated focusing

40:00 on the wrong things like for example how many words should I know it

40:04 does not matter and we do not learn by memorizing things we learn

40:08 through struggle if you're struggling it means

40:10 that your brain is making an effort and as a consequence of that it's

40:13 learning it's reinforcing it's it the signapses

40:16 that link different neurons that's exactly how it works you know so go

40:22 to the gym like David is doing right now and watching And then if

40:27 your muscles are sore the following day

40:29 or you find it difficult to lift that weight,

40:32 it means that your muscles are working.

40:34 Your brain is a little bit like a muscle in that regard.

40:37 [sighs] So um someone said uh Amala, how can I increase vocabulary?

40:44 Well, that's exactly how I've described it.

40:46 Uh I've just reply to this one question before.

40:49 So again, you consume a lot of content that you like.

40:51 You keep consuming, keep having fun marking words.

40:54 It depends on also how you do it.

40:56 But the most important thing is focusing on the process.

40:58 Tweak things, you know, your toolkit,

41:01 your language toolkit until you find a routine that works for you.

41:05 It's important to stress also that you want to learn every single day.

41:09 Susan Krueger and uh I want to emphasize how important Susan Krueger work.

41:15 Susan Krueger, the pyramid of success.

41:19 Let me send it to you if I can.

41:21 Let's cross fingers and if you can actually share this in the chat.

41:26 Uh talks about the success pyramids.

41:28 Okay, let me see if this is visible here.

41:32 The success pyramid.

41:33 There you go.

41:34 Wait, let me see if this works.

41:35 Yes, should.

41:38 And basically the success pyramid says that you

41:40 need three components to acquiring any skill successfully.

41:43 The first one is your mindset.

41:45 The second one is your skill set, your strategies.

41:47 And the third is your organization skills.

41:50 Now bear in mind in school they talked about

41:54 the uh strate learning strategies and it's they're not even good.

41:57 They completely forget about your mindset and your organization.

42:02 A lot of one of the reasons why people don't learn foreign languages

42:05 is because they expect that boom I I learn a language in three weeks.

42:10 Well, it takes um it takes months, years,

42:14 and decades for you to learn any language fluently.

42:17 I'm I hate to break it to you, but that's how it works.

42:20 It takes years to acquire such a complex skill as language learning.

42:24 But the good news is that if you focus

42:25 on the process and if you focus on your minds, you have a positive mindset,

42:29 you know why you have purpose in learning a language,

42:31 not just some extrinsic uh motivation.

42:35 And then you focus on um tweaking the process.

42:38 This is what we do at at the school

42:40 at the academy at the smart language learning academy.

42:42 It's all about tweaking the process.

42:43 And students see how I do things every day.

42:45 for example, with this momentum club um that every day they see what David and I

42:50 do and we post a very thorough post of what they do and they realize, oh, oh,

42:54 the pattern is Luca sits down at 9 in the morning or 8 in the morning,

42:58 sits down for 45 minutes every day,

43:00 has a system, that's his desktop, he has his material here,

43:04 he takes it, no friction in starting because he already knows what to do.

43:07 That's the organization part.

43:09 No, it's about time folks understanding that your time is precious

43:13 and you have to find the time when your energy is on top.

43:17 So you have to design your environment and your time.

43:20 So your space and your time or your space time language learning framework so

43:26 that you sit down every day and you learn without having to think about it.

43:31 That's the first most important thing that nobody talks about.

43:34 Then it's about tweaking your strategies, finding what work for you.

43:38 And then you have the mindset.

43:39 The mindset is develop the capacity of the positive attitude towards a language,

43:43 towards yourself, knowing can I actually learn a foreign language?

43:46 Yes, you can learn a foreign language.

43:48 But you have to do it because until you um you don't until you speak a language,

43:54 any any language for that matter fluently,

43:56 then you kind of have self-doubt whether am I stupid?

43:59 maybe all these people learning foreign languages and speaking

44:02 a lot of languages and they can't even learn one.

44:04 That's only be it's a figment of your mind.

44:06 It's because you haven't reached that yet.

44:08 I I I I still remember to this day when I was 10,

44:10 I felt so stupid about, you know, sitting on the bike.

44:13 I was on the seat of the bike.

44:14 I couldn't for the life of me ride a bike and I was

44:17 crying out of frustration for two days in a row until my father said,

44:20 "Look, you insist you're just gonna do it.

44:23 It's just gonna happen." And eventually,

44:25 you know, the that magical moment where,

44:27 hey, I can actually I can actually ride a bike.

44:30 That's because, you know, trial and error.

44:34 Okay.

44:35 So, someone said Ricky, someone said, "Trust the process.

44:39 M be patient and you will get there." Manual B.

44:42 Manuel B is um an old uh Kon Konosensa meaning he's been

44:46 he's been lurking around the my YouTube channel for a long time.

44:49 Manuel, I recognize your name and thank you.

44:51 That's exactly right.

44:52 trust the process and be patient.

44:54 Uh once again in our school what happens is that people in the beginning don't

44:58 trust the processor they're not sure but what

44:59 is this stuff you know especially when

45:01 David and I introduce all these amazing tools AI tools they go like oh whoa

45:04 whoa whoa wait a second there's a lot of stuff here but then when they

45:07 realize oh these AI tools okay spent

45:09 a week figuring those out and they're changing

45:12 my life they're changing my language learning

45:14 they start trusting the process they do it

45:15 every day and we had students now speak

45:18 make videos publish videos in all the languages

45:20 and you know because they understood okay I can do that too you Uh, okay.

45:28 Asks a bunch of questions in different languages.

45:30 Interesting.

45:40 So, uh, well, how did I learn French?

45:42 In very few words, I started learning French

45:44 at school until the ripe age of, well, I remember.

45:47 Well, I started learning French when I was 10.

45:50 Then I at the ripe age of 15,

45:52 I started watching a lot of French TV and I improved a lot.

45:55 And then years and years later when I had even forgotten

45:58 that I that I spoke French because I hadn't spoken it.

46:00 I was just like listening to it, watching videos.

46:03 I met my ex-girlfriend from Par and uh well then my French skyrocketed.

46:08 I moved to France.

46:09 I lived there for three years.

46:10 I did a interpretation the conference.

46:13 So it's an interp inter interpreting school

46:16 and French has become basically my second

46:18 language meaning that I I for years I I just like breathed in French.

46:23 I I I come to a point where my mother was correct.

46:26 I was calling her and my mother said you don't say

46:28 this in Italian because I was doing the one in French

46:33 anal when you say something that is very similar in Italian

46:36 and French but you say the French way not the Italian way.

46:39 And that's that's my story.

46:41 Very short story with French.

46:42 If you're interested, you can go to my channel and there's a YouTube

46:45 video that lasts an hour where I recount my entire story.

46:49 Like I speak off the cuff in front of the camera

46:51 for an hour about how I learn, you know,

46:53 from from the origin from from dusk till dawn

46:56 or from dawn till dusk when it comes to my language learning.

46:59 I don't remember where the YouTube video is,

47:01 but I can find it for you guys if you're interested.

47:04 So, um, uh, okay, let me see here.

47:12 Let me see.

47:12 Let me see.

47:13 Uh, Alberto Pineda, to improve speaking fluence in elephants,

47:16 I use the box technique and time compression.

47:18 Are there any other languages?

47:20 Any other techniques I should focus on to reach C1?

47:23 Alberto, I don't know if you're part of the um

47:26 of your part of the vocabulary revolution uh thing because we taught

47:30 the box technique there and then the time compression but basically

47:35 uh I for those who do not know uh the box technique

47:38 is simply when you want to reach a very high level

47:42 in language you have to move from just simply speaking with your tutor

47:45 or like everyday life that's fine for fluency but not

47:48 for refining your skills for speaking more elegantly and what I suggested

47:52 in the course and it's a technique that my private students coaching

47:56 students love is why don't you prepare a speech but that speech

48:00 is structured in a in a simple way you can create

48:03 you have a visual aid like this one you have three

48:05 simple boxes and then you have these three ideas here right

48:08 so let's say that I want to talk in in Spanish about

48:12 um artificial the artificial intelligence then I will think about it

48:19 beforehand and I will write three simple ideas and For each box,

48:23 I will have maybe a couple of uh terms like vocabulary items

48:28 that maybe I don't know in Spanish and that I want to use.

48:31 And then I develop the story and then I give myself 3 minutes,

48:34 2 minutes and one minute by uh adding the time constraint.

48:38 Uh basically you force yourself to be more precise and concise.

48:42 Now this is uh in it's better shown

48:46 in practice but it's a very um very interesting exercise.

48:51 The other thing Alberto that I would suggest again here we don't have

48:55 uh the time to go through this in detail is to describe images.

49:00 So for example you can grab any image uh

49:03 that you're interested in that maybe has a story behind it.

49:06 Maybe a family picture from the 80s or from the 90s if you're 30 or 40.

49:11 And then you describe it.

49:13 Now the interesting thing is that when you describe

49:15 the image you're going to tell the story behind it.

49:17 So it's like it has a narrative component and on top

49:20 of that you can also describe the image itself.

49:22 So it has also a visual component and when

49:25 you describe a picture you will see how

49:27 complex it is to describe picture in details

49:29 and always get into the mindset of using this exercise.

49:33 Leverage this kind of exercise in order to learn more.

49:36 Right?

49:37 Maybe you're trying to say things you don't you

49:39 you don't know how to say in your target language.

49:41 Describe images in detail movement objects etc.

49:44 And as a consequence of that you will learn.

49:46 You can ask AI, hey, can you correct me?

49:48 You can record your conversation, feed into AI, and learn more things on the go.

49:53 So, um, I've never heard about intermittent English speaker.

50:00 I've heard about intermittent fasting.

50:02 If you're an intermittent English, I understand the concept though.

50:05 If you're an intermittent intermittent English speaker,

50:07 what method would you follow to reach C1 or C2 level?

50:10 Um, well, I'm not sure what you mean by intermittent English speaker.

50:14 I guess you speak on and off, right?

50:17 So sometimes you speak, sometimes you don't.

50:19 But the be I think the one of the fastest ways to or better better said the one

50:24 of the most powerful components when it comes to reaching

50:27 a the upper echelons of language learning is reading.

50:31 And if you don't like reading, well, that complicates things because in reading,

50:34 when you read novels, non-fiction, magazines, uh, whatever, um,

50:40 then you will be exposed to the so-called

50:44 low frequency vocabulary that you don't

50:46 find in everyday conversations and you don't

50:49 find even in movies or uh, in podcasts.

50:53 And Paul Nation talks about that.

50:55 Paul Nation is a guy from New Zealand.

50:57 He's a linguist from New Zealand, dedicated his whole life to acquisition,

51:00 vocabulary acquisition in a second language.

51:02 He knows what he's talking about.

51:03 And he basically says, well,

51:04 if you want to reach the upper echelons of language learning,

51:06 you have to read and you have to read a lot.

51:09 So my suggestion would be to start reading a lot.

51:13 Yes, of course you can consume content Netflix, YouTube, except podcast etc etc.

51:17 But then you want to get into a point where you have get into academic language.

51:21 You want to read non-fiction, fiction, etc., etc.

51:24 If you're not used to reading your own native language,

51:26 it's difficult to get into the habit of reading.

51:29 But you there are ways to find ways to, you know,

51:32 start reading either whether it's on a Kindle or on, you know,

51:36 maybe little by little, one page a day.

51:38 That's what I would suggest.

51:40 Again, I can talk about this for hours,

51:42 but I'm limiting myself to one aspect of this.

51:44 Otherwise, you know, we're going to I'm going to end up speaking until midnight.

51:49 So, um, let me see here.

52:04 Well, Raquel, the answer to that is to get back

52:10 into uh into exposing yourself to English every single day.

52:14 So, that's the most important thing.

52:16 Small or tiny habits.

52:18 You start by listening five minutes, then 10 minutes, then 15 minutes.

52:22 You start reading a little bit and then maybe you

52:24 can let's say accumulate or design a a a routine

52:30 where you spend at least 20 30 minutes

52:32 listening or reading or watching things that you like.

52:34 That's the first step.

52:35 And then of course you have to get back into speaking.

52:38 You can talk to yourself.

52:39 You can talk to AI and you can find someone to talk to.

52:42 That's how you get back into uh a language.

52:45 And uh speaking of which, I got back into Japanese.

52:49 I keep saying this a month ago at the beginning

52:51 of 2026 at the the 1 of of January 2026.

52:55 I'm having a an absolute blast with all the content.

52:58 I have to once again thank David

53:00 for giving me sending me some incredible material.

53:02 And John John, if you're watching this, another student

53:05 of the school for sending me some more incredible material in Japanese.

53:09 I'm having the time of my life.

53:10 The bottom line is as a Chinese proverb says uh learning is a treasure

53:17 that will be with you for the rest of your life that you take anywhere.

53:21 So those two years that I spent trying to learn Japanese are paying off

53:26 big time because once I got back into it now it's so much easier.

53:28 It's so much more fun.

53:30 I'm not learning a language as it were from scratch.

53:32 I'm just relearning a language that was here that I

53:35 hadn't forgotten but that needed to be resuscitated so to speak.

53:42 Um, Virus, do you have any ch interesting name by the way?

53:47 Did you have any challenges finding good content for beginners

53:50 and intermediates in the commonly in less commonly learned languages?

53:54 For example, Turkish.

53:56 Uh, yes, I did.

53:58 Uh, I have to say that for Turkish,

54:00 the beginning was not that difficult because I found Aimile.

54:03 Then I got you know mired in the let's say high beginner um

54:09 high beginner ground meaning that I was looking for resources on the internet.

54:14 The problem was it easy Turkish which was the natural

54:16 choice after after I thought so then it was too difficult.

54:22 It was way outside of my Goldilock zone.

54:24 And what happened is that for a month or two I was like painstakingly

54:27 going through a podcast and it took me a month to go through that podcast.

54:31 It was horrible because I I really had to ask JPD every single line.

54:36 It was it was horrible.

54:37 Then I found another resource for beginners which was

54:40 um I think teacher Hilmas or something like that.

54:43 And then slowly uh I found content.

54:47 I I started consuming easy Turkish videos, super easy Turkish videos.

54:51 And then you know little by little I

54:53 started finding um I started building my own resources.

54:58 Right.

54:58 I'm going to share my screen just to show you

55:00 now the the main difference between now 2026 let's say

55:05 from 2020 um two onwards so let's say from the advent

55:11 of chbd is that basically okay let me try to share

55:16 my screen and see if I can show you because

55:19 today there's a lot of technical issues here I don't know

55:23 what's going to if [laughter] let me let me share

55:27 my screen can You guys can see my screen in one, two.

55:34 Wait.

55:36 Okay, you should be able to see my screen now.

55:41 Uh, basically, uh, this is my notebook LM page.

55:47 Well, there's a few here.

55:50 There's a few options in a few different languages

55:51 because I was showing my students how you apply this.

55:54 But the majority of the podcasts that I created for myself are

55:58 in Turkish as you can see here and they're all some in Russian.

56:02 Uh and they're all about stuff I really really like.

56:05 So I normally have uh something that I call the YouTube sanity sheet

56:10 which is you know I always say catch create a system to catch everything.

56:16 Um and uh let me see if you can see it.

56:20 You probably can't because I'm still sharing

56:22 my uh notebook because this is different from Zoom.

56:28 Yeah, you still see that.

56:29 Let me see if I can share uh instead this one.

56:33 And okay, so I'll I'll share the sanity sheet in a second.

56:36 But basically, I have a space where I I get I save all

56:39 my YouTube stuff and then I uh I chuck it into uh into this notebook.

56:46 LM.

56:46 I don't know if you guys have ever heard

56:47 of that, but let me give you a concrete example.

56:50 Let's say how Stamford AI power creativity in um how Stanford

56:56 teaches AI power creativity in just 13 minutes by Jeremy Utlay.

56:59 So this is a YouTube video and uh I'm going

57:03 to edit here right [snorts] so I'm going to first

57:10 of all decide which language here output my my entire

57:15 thing is in Italiano for for a demo video.

57:19 Let's let's save the Italian one.

57:21 Okay.

57:21 So, let's see it this way.

57:22 So, phone to upload a source.

57:25 I'm just going to basically uh share this link

57:28 or better said I'm just going to add that link.

57:30 As you can see here,

57:31 the system is already working blah blah blah explains everything in Italian.

57:40 Cool thing is if I click here,

57:41 you have the entire um content directly in English.

57:46 So it grabs the transcript and the cool thing

57:49 about this is that you can create your own podcast.

57:52 You can generate your own podcast by clicking on the pencil here.

57:55 You can choose is that a deep dive, is that short?

57:58 Is that a critique?

57:59 Is that a debate?

58:00 Short, long, which language.

58:03 I can say max length is uh six minutes.

58:06 All right.

58:07 So I can also choose and it's very important.

58:09 The length is really important especially at the beginning.

58:11 You want to have short short podcasts.

58:15 And then it's already doing its work as you can see here.

58:17 And the other thing is that I can create an infographic.

58:19 I can create flashcards, mental maps, a report.

58:22 This this [snorts] notebook LM was a uh is

58:26 a tool that people use to study or to analyze text,

58:30 but I use it to create language learning content.

58:32 And I've created hundreds of podcasts for Turkish.

58:35 That's what I did.

58:36 I was not looking for anything else.

58:37 I was just creating my own stuff based upon things I was really interested in.

58:42 And [snorts] the great thing about this is that once again,

58:45 you can really decide the length, the style,

58:48 and I think I've done 120 podcasts in Turkish.

58:52 And [snorts] most of all, interest trumps all.

58:54 If you're interested in something,

58:56 you will go through that and you will just uh love every minute of it.

59:01 Now, let me share this is another thing

59:04 that is uh amazing that I started doing it.

59:06 Let me share what notebook LM is able to do in terms of infographics.

59:11 Now, it's taking a little bit of time to create the infographic here,

59:14 but not as much as it takes to create, for example, podcast.

59:17 And the infographic that it generates is just astoundingly beautiful.

59:21 And it's just a visual summary of the entire podcast.

59:24 Let me show you if I if I can share something that I already have.

59:29 It should be Draula here, but it got lost in the maze.

59:33 [snorts] So, I even put my own journal, you know, I put my own journal here.

59:39 Uh, and it's just amazing.

59:41 Dracula plan.

59:42 You should be able to see that.

59:43 I've already generated everything.

59:45 Let me see if I can share the uh No, this is a this is a mind map.

59:51 So, we we're not interested in the mind map.

59:53 We're interested in the infographic.

59:57 Oh, god.

59:58 Let me see if I can find it.

59:59 There we go.

59:59 Anoia delura.

1:00:01 This should be visible.

1:00:02 So, as you can see, or you should be able to see.

1:00:04 Let me double check that you're actually seeing this.

1:00:08 You should be able to see an beautiful

1:00:09 infographic that is basically the entire podcast here.

1:00:12 Now, I'm not sure.

1:00:14 Please write in the chat if you can also hear the uh the audio.

1:00:18 I'm going to play the audio here.

1:00:21 This is the version in Turkish.

1:00:29 So, this is in Turkish.

1:00:31 I'm listening to it, but I don't know if you can hear it.

1:00:32 I'm going to check the the chat here.

1:00:34 And this is in Italian.

1:00:35 Let me see here.

1:00:42 So, just to give you an idea of what's possible,

1:00:45 let me let me double check in the chat if you guys if if uh can't hear it.

1:00:50 Okay.

1:00:50 Well, uh but bear with me.

1:00:53 It's native.

1:00:54 It sound like it sounds like two native

1:00:56 speakers are talking and it's just mind-blowing, right?

1:01:00 So, um so that's that's how you create your own content.

1:01:04 You don't you can even create content for be you can create beginning content.

1:01:07 Now again here we're already spoken for an hour.

1:01:11 Maybe next time upon request I can show how I created my own stuff for Japanese.

1:01:16 Now I have it here because I print everything.

1:01:20 Uh and I basically when I restarted learning

1:01:24 Japanese what I did I created my own.

1:01:27 So this is like for beginners and I created Luca in Japan.

1:01:31 You can see here that I gave Google a studio basically I created batches

1:01:37 of 10 five dialogues for Japanese that were

1:01:40 about me in an imaginary trip to Japan.

1:01:42 I created all this in a few minutes and you

1:01:46 can see as you can see the amazing thing is

1:01:48 that these dialogues I have a a template that is

1:01:52 ready to go that I just copy and paste into Studio.

1:01:56 And thanks again uh Mr.

1:01:58 David helped me put this together because he showed me the way.

1:02:02 I create content that is highly comprehensible

1:02:04 that it has Japanese, it has the Romani, it has the translation,

1:02:09 the normal translation in my own native language and a word by word translation.

1:02:14 So just by looking at this, you understand everything.

1:02:17 And on top of that, it has grammar notes.

1:02:19 It created grammar notes and cultural references for me.

1:02:22 So I had my own asimil style for free with audio that sounds native

1:02:28 between a guy and a girl or a guy and a guy and and then

1:02:32 I developed the whole story of me going to Japan from Tokyo to Kyoto

1:02:36 and I had a lot of fun and that got me restarted in Japanese.

1:02:39 So it's incredibly easy nowadays especially for uh the most

1:02:44 common languages but even for languages that are not as common.

1:02:47 In fact, uh if you go to uh the impostion

1:02:51 on your settings and you choose the output language,

1:02:53 you can find at least I think 30 or 40

1:02:55 languages including African languages or like some obscure Indian languages.

1:03:00 It's just amazing.

1:03:00 Anyway, so sorry about the rant.

1:03:03 So, um Okay.

1:03:08 So, thank you for your insights.

1:03:09 You're most welcome.

1:03:11 Okay, guys.

1:03:11 We have 10 more minutes.

1:03:12 I don't want to um I don't want to, you know,

1:03:15 exaggerate with I don't want to take too much of your time.

1:03:18 I hope you're finding this helpful.

1:03:20 I always have great time.

1:03:22 It's energizing for me to talk to you guys,

1:03:25 especially because you have a lot of interesting questions.

1:03:28 Um and I will go through a couple of others.

1:03:32 [snorts] Um there was a question at the beginning about the Google doc.

1:03:35 if the person can re uh rewrite that got lost

1:03:39 in the maze because I promised I would get to that.

1:03:42 Um so okay so there you go in April I'll take the good bit exam.

1:03:54 How should I use these remaining two months of preparation before the exam?

1:03:56 Well, first of all, when it comes to um the exam,

1:04:00 if you have I would consume as many [clears throat] as many of these uh samples,

1:04:06 exam examples, and I would go into if David was here in this live,

1:04:11 he will suggest a very good channel.

1:04:13 Maybe David is still there, I don't know.

1:04:15 Uh but there's a very cool channel you can write,

1:04:17 for example, good institute um on YouTube.

1:04:20 I would watch some YouTube videos that describe

1:04:23 how to better prepare for the B2.

1:04:25 There's a lot of stuff on YouTube surprising and I would do the specific samples

1:04:29 that prepare you for the exam because

1:04:31 you want to prepare specifically for that exam

1:04:33 and of course that's the specific uh preparation

1:04:37 for the exam and then I would spend

1:04:39 two or three hours consuming content exposing yourself

1:04:42 to German as much as possible and using it.

1:04:46 So by using it journal in uh journal in German for maybe 10 minutes a day.

1:04:52 Then uh try to speak with yourself or talk to yourself.

1:04:56 Try to talk to someone if you have friends.

1:04:58 Try to speak with AI by getting corrections.

1:05:00 Try if you have a tutor, talk to your tutor.

1:05:02 Do as many things as possible in German.

1:05:05 Uh you have the general preparation.

1:05:07 So watching YouTube videos, consuming podcasts,

1:05:10 the things you would do normally.

1:05:11 And then on top of that, I I would

1:05:13 highly recommend that you also prepare specifically for the exam

1:05:16 by watching some specific videos on YouTube that prepare

1:05:20 you for the exam and they're totally free.

1:05:22 Plus, get as many samples as possible for the exam.

1:05:24 And if you have a preparation book,

1:05:26 I highly highly recommend I can't recommend this enough to get the B2.

1:05:30 Um, you know, for example, you have here Bit Bitfire, right?

1:05:34 I say big file um good uh institute institute exam let

1:05:43 me say book and let me see if it finds it

1:05:47 on Amazon I guess you already have it but just in case

1:05:53 and you have a lot of a lot of these I

1:05:56 actually have a couple because I did this myself and I

1:05:58 prepared I have this one um let me share on the chat

1:06:04 This I used to prepare specifically a student who passed

1:06:07 the B2 and then I think he passed the C1 as well.

1:06:12 Uh I I can't I can't share it.

1:06:16 It broke it down into well anyway if you broke it down into two links.

1:06:21 I'm just going to share this like this.

1:06:23 Just write this and you will find uh what I'm talking about.

1:06:26 I can actually share my my screen to show you.

1:06:29 Yeah, let me share my screen.

1:06:30 That's the easiest way to go about this.

1:06:37 Let's see.

1:06:38 It's this book here.

1:06:41 So is online.

1:06:47 So this is my Amazon.

1:06:48 So you should be able to see that I specifically this one here.

1:06:54 Okay.

1:06:54 So let me get to a few other questions here.

1:06:59 Um [sighs] uh so virus thanks for this.

1:07:06 So you're using Italian English resources to create Turkish content.

1:07:09 Are you finding Turkish resources and adding them in?

1:07:12 These are resources in um once again it's about my sanity um YouTube sheet.

1:07:18 It's a great question which I'm going to share right now.

1:07:20 I promised I would do that but I'm juggling with 3,000 things at the same time.

1:07:26 So let me share this once again if I can.

1:07:33 [sighs and gasps] [snorts] Okay.

1:07:36 So I'm going to share now the um my YouTube send sheet.

1:07:41 You should be able to see that in a second.

1:07:44 So this is the place where I save everything.

1:07:47 To answer your question,

1:07:49 the most important thing is the content be interesting to you.

1:07:52 It doesn't matter in what language because uh Notebook LM transforms any

1:07:56 of this into the into Turkish or French or whatever language you're learning.

1:08:02 So, uh what happens if you only drink water for 72 hours?

1:08:06 This is health YouTube strategy.

1:08:07 How to use Vid IQ to grow your YouTube channel.

1:08:10 Um fix your destructive mindset in 15 minutes.

1:08:13 You know, this was a great And great uh great author and I just chucked them in.

1:08:20 This is interesting for me.

1:08:21 second language acquisition, business and finances, AI and creativity.

1:08:24 I put everything in here, including the link.

1:08:26 So, I find some something, you know, when you go to on YouTube and you go like,

1:08:30 "Oh, I'll watch this later." Maybe you bookmark it, you never watch it.

1:08:33 I I put everything in here and some I watch and some I don't watch,

1:08:37 but I consume them anyway because I put them into Notebook LM

1:08:40 and and I've I've gone through almost all of these, you know, uh, with Turkish.

1:08:45 And the amazing thing and now I can redo it in any any other language.

1:08:49 I had um ran an experiment with my friend one day and we

1:08:53 we created a couple of podcasts in East Lens in Icelandic was just amazing.

1:08:58 So you okay you can do this with any language.

1:09:00 It's just amazing.

1:09:02 Okay [snorts] so um uh I think um I think that's it.

1:09:10 Um someone says yes there are there's a lot

1:09:16 of progress and you will see that very soon.

1:09:19 Uh I'm going to have a language exchange

1:09:21 uh with um a student of within the academy.

1:09:24 We decided to do uh tout.

1:09:28 So we're going to have fun.

1:09:30 So um I think uh I think that's it guys.

1:09:36 Uh thank you for all the interesting questions.

1:09:39 Uh It's always this English.

1:09:55 I I do these in English for for the most

1:09:58 part because English is the language that most people understand.

1:10:01 But um I think I can I I will do this for sure in Italian, Spanish.

1:10:06 I did it a couple of times.

1:10:07 We can redo it.

1:10:09 Uh, I can do that in French as well,

1:10:10 then German, and then maybe Russian and other languages.

1:10:14 Thank you so much for listening to me.

1:10:15 If I haven't replied to your question,

1:10:17 I'm sorry about that, but it's normally I try

1:10:19 to keep it within the 1 hour, 1 hour, 10 minutes.

1:10:22 I will do more of these this uh this year.

1:10:24 And as a final reminder once again, let's cross fingers here.

1:10:29 I want to remind you that we are putting

1:10:31 together some very cool stuff regardless of, you know,

1:10:34 you don't have to pay anything.

1:10:36 it just says sign up and then you see oh this is

1:10:38 some cool stuff here uh because uh once again before I

1:10:43 was doing uh more like metalarning now it's more about uh

1:10:50 specific languages so once again I'm just going to share this uh

1:10:55 if you're if you're learning it if you have an inter

1:10:57 especially if you have an intermediate level but even if you have

1:10:59 a high beginner level whatever language

1:11:02 whatever level Spanish Italian French German

1:11:04 or English and other if you can request a language for 2026.

1:11:10 Uh if [snorts] you're especially if you're learning these five but also we'd

1:11:13 like to learn to to know okay what other languages are people learning.

1:11:17 We're preparing a lot of cool stuff that is very language specific

1:11:20 and is catered towards speaking and towards

1:11:23 your mindset when it comes to speaking.

1:11:25 So we want people to succeed when it comes to speaking a language.

1:11:30 Yes.

1:11:30 But speak any language with confidence.

1:11:33 Right.

1:11:34 Start stop that's why I say stop

1:11:36 collecting words start building fluency it's very

1:11:39 important to stress that because a lot of people focus on getting a lot

1:11:42 of words you know learning better uh grammar rules say I have to know

1:11:46 the grammar I have to you know I have to know everything when

1:11:50 it comes to grammar but then if you're if your goal is to speak

1:11:54 you have to speak and speaking is difficult for an adult because because

1:11:58 we have so many limiting beliefs fears I'm going to be judged I'm going

1:12:01 to be stupid etc and when you do it in realize it's actually amazing.

1:12:05 Yes, you will stumble and mumble at the beginning, but who was,

1:12:09 you know, who started speaking a language

1:12:11 like that, a foreign language like that?

1:12:13 Nobody.

1:12:13 And not even your native language.

1:12:14 So, it's an entire system that helps you build a mindset

1:12:18 and also share show you that it's not that complicated.

1:12:22 You just have to do it, but you have to know how to do it.

1:12:26 Okay.

1:12:26 Uh, someone said it's interesting.

1:12:28 Um, logo the windows into.

1:12:31 And this is not a fake.

1:12:32 Uh, this is not a fake um, look.

1:12:35 This is not a fake background.

1:12:37 It's just a It's an IKEA um, specio.

1:12:41 What do you call it?

1:12:41 A mirror.

1:12:42 It's an IKEA mirror.

1:12:43 And then I have the ata boy, which is the You should be able to see that.

1:12:47 Wait, let me show you.

1:12:48 It's this little It's a little thing here, which I like really much.

1:12:54 Should be able to see that.

1:12:55 It's a projector, and it shows you and it projects stars.

1:12:59 So, you should be able to see that it projects all this.

1:13:03 It's I found it on [clears throat] on the I found it on Amazon.

1:13:07 I have two or three.

1:13:08 When I organize parties, I always have these little attab boys here all around

1:13:12 scattered all around the place and they make the apartment beautiful.

1:13:15 Perfect for a party.

1:13:17 Okay.

1:13:18 So, um one last thing I promise and then I'll I'll let you go.

1:13:22 It's like, would you have any tips

1:13:23 for applying your method for dead languages like Athenian,

1:13:26 ancient Greek because I'm trying to learn it.

1:13:28 Well, they I wrote an article that was for whatever

1:13:30 reason is does not appear on my blog anymore,

1:13:32 but the way you learn you use the grammar translation method

1:13:36 you can apply to ancient Greek or Latin for that matter.

1:13:39 That's how I also learned Latin and I was pretty good at it at school.

1:13:42 It's just you you just consume dialogues or content in Latin.

1:13:46 You say what dialogues?

1:13:48 Yes, there are resources that share now I have it in the other room.

1:13:51 There's uh the Padilla Institute that vouches

1:13:55 for this kind of natural natural learning.

1:13:58 You can learn Latin exactly as you learn modern languages.

1:14:02 Of course, you should have some audio if you can you can get your hands

1:14:05 on audio and audio Latin and ancient Greek is it depends on the accent.

1:14:11 It's a it's a complicated matter.

1:14:13 But you can learn these languages exactly as you would learn any other

1:14:18 modern language provided that you develop

1:14:20 the mentality and you have the right resources.

1:14:23 Um uh let me just see if I can find it

1:14:27 for you and I'm going to share this since you're interested in that.

1:14:33 I also had as a student a very a very nice guy was a professor

1:14:36 at Harvard and he he's like connected

1:14:40 with the Padilla Pada institute that talks exactly about that.

1:14:44 So uh let me share my screen one final time to share um to share the love.

1:14:52 Okay.

1:14:53 Here.

1:14:55 Um though, so this this is called um Lingua Latina illustr

1:15:04 and and and then the concept applies to Greek as well.

1:15:08 Uh and basically now we can't see the pages here.

1:15:10 I have it in the other room,

1:15:11 but basically you learn Latin uh through comprehensible input.

1:15:15 It's an entire story.

1:15:16 It's very well built where you learn basically Latin through stories.

1:15:21 And it's really really really good uh

1:15:24 because once again you don't learn through grammar.

1:15:27 You learn by you know it starts with uh a normal ro you know

1:15:31 Roman family of a guy a husband a woman and their children and then it

1:15:36 develops uh in a progressive way and you have images explaining things and you

1:15:41 learn on the go and for Greek they made this they did the same thing.

1:15:45 Now if you look um if you look in the Padilla

1:15:51 to the Pada or PEA institute you should find a lot of content.

1:15:57 You have online programs the travel uh let me see here let me

1:16:05 see see once again I'm just trying to to share the uh screen.

1:16:11 Let me see if I can share that.

1:16:13 [snorts] Yeah, you should be able to see that.

1:16:16 This is um this is a accept classic to classical tours,

1:16:20 online programs, travel programs, curricula, events, outreach, scholarship.

1:16:24 They they teach LA Latin and Greek as as you should.

1:16:29 You got the entire community.

1:16:31 You can learn in media.

1:16:32 You have Greek and Latin.

1:16:34 It's it's an amazing it's not only the website, it's the PIA Institute.

1:16:39 Take a look and uh you know, you can peruse the website.

1:16:42 There's a lot of interesting things.

1:16:44 um especially when it comes to ancient Greek and and um Latin.

1:16:52 Okay.

1:16:52 Uh I think this is it uh guys.

1:16:57 Um and someone says it possible you can.

1:17:08 Um I normally don't I mean I I do occasionally I do this I do

1:17:13 this less and less because I'm now managing

1:17:16 entire groups of uh learners within the school.

1:17:19 But if you go to lucalo do lucareo.com you can send a a message.

1:17:26 Uh the the private coaching sessions are not visible because I

1:17:31 was when I made them public I was a little bit overwhelmed.

1:17:34 So, I decided to you can send me

1:17:37 a private request for that if you're interested.

1:17:39 I I can do that.

1:17:41 Um, someone says, "Is your spreadsheet program just Google Sheets?" Yes.

1:17:44 Uh, Virus, it's Google Sheets and I built it with one click with the the AI.

1:17:49 You can literally build it in one click.

1:17:52 Literally with AI.

1:17:53 That's what I did.

1:17:54 I said, "I want this." And it just built it for me.

1:17:56 And then I filled it filled it out.

1:17:59 Um, thank you, Polos.

1:18:02 Many thanks, Lucas.

1:18:02 Been a pleasure.

1:18:03 It's my pleasure is all mine.

1:18:05 Thank you guys.

1:18:06 Uh once again, if I haven't replied to your question,

1:18:09 it's just because you know we ran out of time.

1:18:13 We'll see you next within possibly a couple of weeks.

1:18:16 Let me know please in the comments uh in which

1:18:19 language are you interested uh when it comes to a live.

1:18:22 Do you want to do it in live in Italian?

1:18:24 Do you want me to do it in Spanish?

1:18:27 Do you prefer in French?

1:18:28 Do you want one in German?

1:18:30 Would you like me to do some some live in Russian or maybe in Polish?

1:18:34 You know, uh, let me know.

1:18:36 Uh, once again, the reason why I do it

1:18:38 in English is because it serves more people in one shot.

1:18:42 Um, but you know, if you're interested,

1:18:46 I can do this in someone says in Spanish italiano.

1:18:53 Okay.

1:18:54 Spanish italiano.

1:18:55 We'll do in next is going to be Spanish and italiano.

1:18:58 And and then we're going to have fun.

1:18:59 I'm also going to invite a few guests if you don't mind.

1:19:02 So, we're going to make it even even cooler.

1:19:04 Yeah, I I I imagine that Spanish would be in demand.

1:19:09 Thank you guys uh for everything.

1:19:11 I'm going to um also leave a couple

1:19:15 of links below the video once it's published.

1:19:18 Remember to click on the link to click and to choose your language.

1:19:24 And if it's not one of those five that I've listed,

1:19:28 then choose another one and let us know.

1:19:31 And that is the link for the third time appearing on screen.

1:19:35 Click on that, choose your language.

1:19:37 You will be you will get into the newsletter.

1:19:39 And there's a lot of good stuff in there.

1:19:42 Regardless of whether you end up um you know subscribing to any program,

1:19:46 you will get a lot of value just by being on the newsletter.

1:19:49 We send a lot of good stuff.

1:19:51 I picked Italian.

1:19:52 Varys said, "I'll get to your email, Varys,

1:19:55 on Monday because I need a day off because I've been working a lot,

1:19:58 but we will arrange something soon on Reddit." Thank you very much everyone.

1:20:06 Have an amazing weekend wherever you are on this beautiful

1:20:10 planet and I will see you soon here on YouTube.