Learn Languages with Steve Kaufmann

Aristotle's Metaphysics begins: "All men by nature desire to know". Languages are among the most useful and rewarding things we can learn and get to know. I discuss this in this video.

14 Des 20229min

Ksenia, from Russia, learned Ukrainian in Ukraine. I asked her how much Ukrainian a Russian speaker, with no previous exposure, understands. Answer: 40%.

9 Des 202220min

Someone sent me a few video clips recently of Joe Rogan discussing language learning with his guests. There is something in the attitude in these clips that bothers me as a language learning enthusias...

6 Des 20229min

I recognize that writing can be a way of improving your ability in the language, a way of getting to more output. For some people it’s important to their academic and professional aspirations. So what...

2 Des 202211min

Emotion is an important part of learning languages. Cognitive research has shown that we learn better when we have positive feelings towards what we are learning. This is particularly true when it com...

30 Nov 20226min

Reward yourself for what you can do in your target language. Don’t criticize yourself for what you can’t do. There are moments when you feel disappointed. Ignore these moments of self-doubt. Give your...

24 Nov 20228min

If you Google “Pareto’s Principle” You will find all kinds of examples of how a small number of any series of events will account for the lion’s share of the results of effects of these events. People...

22 Nov 20229min

Pronunciation and spelling can both give problems to learners of English. They are connected. Unfortunately, however, the spelling is not a reliable indicator of how words are pronounced. It takes a l...

15 Nov 202213min