You missed the best language learning video ever

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I'm a Spanish native English teacher and I never know how to emphasize to my students enough that the only real way to learn a language it to listen to it a lot, repeat it (even though you might not really understand every single thing you're saying at the moment, also looking it up in any translator helps with that) and try to speak it at every single opportunity. Like, I can stand here for hours teaching you how certain aspects of the grammar work but it's absolutely NOT going to make you speak the language better. Assimilation and shadowing are proven to be the only real way to learn a language and that's exactly how I learned English. No other way.

Completely agree, in fact, I have a theory that if an adult were to use the same method that children do, they'd learn any language much faster than a child does. It takes kids 6 years to learn how to speak it before they learn how to write it, whereas an adult can learn all four skills at once. Being an adult has its advantages.

I appreciate your emphasis on "repetition". Most self-learners feel this sense of burden or "I should know this" when broaching a topic already learned. But nobody counts during multiplication, they just know and that knowing is based off of repetition.

This was actually so true for me. 1.5 Years into learning Korean I was probably only High A1 level to low A2 with some "decent" base knowledge of the language itself but was not conversational at all. After adapting my study to ditch grammar and word lists void of any context, I put all my energy into comprehensible input and started using spaced repetition to memorise as many sentences and words in context as I could find and within 10 months I achieved B2 level, able to talk for hours nonstop with my Korean friends about a wide variety of subjects with speed and fluidity. I would even often forget that I was speaking a foreign language because it became so comfortable. But to achieve this level this quickly I must clarify that, alongside this, I was also doing forced conversations with native speakers weekly, something I never did previously, where my goal was to have a conversation using any amount of things I can remember/have been using from my study in the past week and just did my best to express what I was trying to say and understand what was being spoken back to me. This paired with memorising thousands of words and sentences in context, through spaced repetition is just the most killer combo for language learning. I think I could have gone from beginner to "conversationally fluent" (High B2) in about 12-14 months if I had just studied in this way from the very beginning. For easier languages for English speakers like French, doing the methods outlined in this video, you could probably get to conversational fluency in half the time compared to a category 5 language like Korean. For context, I was doing around 2.5 hours of dedicated study per day and probably another 2 - 2.5 hours of consuming both audio and visual Korean content per day. Although the amount of Korean I spoke per week going from A1 to B2 was a non-linear increase (I spoke more and more the more I learned), on average across the 10 months I spoke around 8-10 hours of Korean a week and as a result got pretty good, pretty fast. I literally remember thinking for the longest time that I would never get good at Korean and thought I just didn't have the brain for it, but here I am several years later chilling at C1 level only wishing I had studied this way earlier. If I can do it, anyone can (seriously)

Man that feeling of realizing you can understand the general concept of text in your target language is so freaking rewarding bcs you’ve invested so much frustrating time on it, doubting whether youll ever be able to learn it.

So, in Jack Black style, does that make this video not the best language learning video in the world but a tribute to the best language learning video in the world?

Summary (notes for self): The general framework for learning a language applies to (virtually) all languages. Have learning goal steps realistic in size that you are satisfied with your progress. Vary your motivation intensity and direction as needed in order to reach the goal. Expose yourself the language as much as possible before you rely on using it. Repeat a short simple language part (recording, text) often to memorise certain basics. Repeat watch a section of a movie or audio book in the language to learn them by heart. Listen as much as possible to immerse yourself in the language. (More time spent = more language learnt). Use translation tools to help learn where helpful. You will need them less and less as you learn.

This is exactly how I learned English growing up all on my own. I never picked up a vocabulary/grammar book, I never took clases independently, all I did was listen to music and watch shows and movies in English repeatedly. I memorized the sound of the words and then I just picked them up naturally, the same way I learned my mother tongue. I memorized sentences and then played around with them and built new sentences with new words based on what I already knew. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to replicate that process 😢

"All French all the time would sound strange" And I took that personally as a French viewer

when I moved to Germany I already had a B2 in the language and that was a huge advantage. Some people still struggle with the language after years if they arrive with 0 knowledge and what you mentioned is so true! If people are used to speaking to you in English, they will hardly switch, even if you get better

As a person who speaks 7 languages I totally agree with you. Listening and repetition are the key elements of success. And as for me Anki is a absolute star in that considering you have a deck with audio. I remember when I was leaning Portuguese I didn't even bother to memorize all pronunciation rules. It just flew into my brain with all repetition of words and frases. In fairness, being an audio type person it's relatively easy for me. The same way I've learned some Chinese words and frases having no idea how to spell them 😁 But for some reading and memorizing is their superpower. You just have to find yours and work a bit harder on the others

this is literally how I learned English and I wasn't even aware of it I just like the language and I emerged in it unintentionally!

My Taiwanese roommate (who’d never left the island and had excellent English) told me she’d just listen to American radio like it was music when she did her housework.

About step one: my two cents are when I started a new language I watched a few episodes of a children series (those educational ones for children that teach shapes, colours, interactions in situations like "x goes to the libary"). It is something you can understand a whole episode pretty fast and intuitively because they use short sentences and visualise what is being said. Of course rewatching your favourite movie you know by heart in the new language will help as said in the video but at least for me I sometimes need the feeling of satisfaction fully understanding a dialogue and plot even if I'm only at a A1-A2 level at the new language I'm learning.

I agree! And it's weird because her video was also recommended to me randomly a few days ago, and when I watched it, it all made perfect sense. I've learned a few languages but these days there was something missing from my learning routine and when I watched her video she gave me so many good tips and reminded me of the routines I used to do.

The fact that I was able to learn what Korean is supposed to sound like purely from listening to a ton of K-pop and watching a bunch of Korean content over the course of a decade is a testament to the power of constant exposure. I barely know any of the words, but my brain parses Korean as actual language that I simply don't know very well when I hear it, not as gibberish.

This is such a strong and in-depth response video! Ilys's videos are amazing for me as I've been studying Norwegian for around half a year now; with the surprisingly limited amount of videos surrounding the language online, she's been incredibly helpful with her Youtube shorts, TikToks, and self-made quizzes through her Instagram stories. I'm glad she's gaining more traction from videos like this. It looks like I can learn just as much from you too in terms of optimizing my learning experience. Subbed!

I agree! I came across Ilys’ video about a month ago, and was quickly stunned by her depth of insight and the practicality of her suggestions! Though she likely shares here a few things, gleaned from others, I strongly sense that the majority of her tips are born of her natural intuition and her ability to quickly profit from her own experience of trial and error, as if feeling her way through the new tongue, trusting her perfect blend of instinct and intellect. Her video distills all of the web’s best language-learning advice into some twenty minutes of pure gold. Anyone committed to learning a foreign language needs to follow her lead. And every poster of language-learning content should be recommending her, passionately!

I'm so glad that you found this video! I saw this 4 months ago and absolutely loved it! She seems like such a sweet girl and you're right she has such wonderful advice! I took some of her advice and some of your advice and I have been watching the same movie about 40 times . I understand at a minimum 92% of it now and I don't even have to be looking at the TV or my screen to know what is happening in the movie. I can just tell because I understand so much of it now.