Hi there, Vladimir here, with another video on how to learn English
The amount of time and money people waste because of bad advice or false beliefs is staggering
There are so many myths about learning a foreign language
It's what I talk about in the first chapter of my book Virtually Native
All those myths cloud your mind, waste your time and ultimately kill your motivation.
We need to dispel them in order to clear your mind, so you can focus on what really works
in terms of learning a foreign language
Let's dive right in.
Myth #1 Practice makes perfect
It's not just about quantity, it's also about quality
Study Hard vs Study Smart
It's about not wasting time doing things that are ineffective
please watch my video about Effective vs Efficient language learners
Myth #2 Too old to learn, The age myth
They say that it is very hard and even impossible to learn a foreign language past a certain age
past puberty
There is truth and untruth in this belief
I talk a lot in my book about age and the limitations of age
The gist of it is
acquiring a foreign language has 3 main aspects pronunciation accuracy fluency
In my experience age only matters for pronunciation accent
There are no limits on fluency and accuracy
I'm the proof
Myth #3 You need to have Talent for Languages
The language gene, does it exist, is it a myth?
how much is genetics and how much is hard work?
I guess we'll never know for the simple reason that it's very hard, even impossible
to draw a line between hard work and talent
The main thing is that it's not an excuse, it's like saying that
God doesn't want you to learn English
It doesn't make any sense
Myth #4 Better go abroad, the only way to be fluent in a foreign language is
to live in the country where it is spoken
No, that's not true I am a living proof of that
I learned English outside an English speaking country
and I've been living in Japan for over 12 years
and my Japanese is not even half as good as my English
In all fairness, the belief that studying in the country where the language is spoken
was kind of true until very recently, before the invention of this thing called
the Internet
In the pre-Internet era there was very limited access to foreign books, radio, TV and movies
one really benefited from living abroad
But today it makes virtually no difference where you live and especially with regard to English
Myth #5 Native speakers = the best language teachers
The myth is in the equal sign.
Many learners equate the term native speaker with the term the best language teacher
This myth is something I am quite passionate about, it is the subtitle of my book
by a non-native for the non-native
Okay, let me say just this
Knowing something and teaching something are 2 very distinct, separate areas of expertise
Teaching a language is so much more than just being a human dictionary
Please watch my video on native vs non-native language teachers
Myth #6 It's okay to make mistakes
And this is something native language teachers say all the time
No, mistakes are not okay
There is a difference between something being inevitable and okay
We are bound to make mistakes but it doesn't mean that they are okay
Myth #7 Strong motivation is essential
Strong motivation is the most important factor in language learning success.
Of course, motivation is important
We need motivation
We need motivation to exercise, to go to work, to go to school, we need motivation
to breathe and live
We need motivation for everything
The problem with strong motivation is that if you are not using the right method
you will fail to get results and you will most likely lose your motivation.
On the other hand, you might get good results even with low motivation
as long as you are using the right method
You need a bit of motivation, no doubt about that, but what you also need
is a smart way of learning
I believe that successful learning can actually increase motivation
In other words, motivation helps learning, but successful learning can also improve and strengthen motivation
do you really need motivation to learn English?
at least a little bit of English
Do people really need convincing, need a reason to learn to speak the only true global language?
Myth #8 Understanding is Everything and Memorization is Bad
This is one of the biggest myths about foreign language acquisition
Destroying it is central to my method of smart learning
It's something I talk a lot in my book Virtually Native
Save yourself time and money and read my book which is available on virtuallynative.com and Amazon
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