Here’s how HE became FLUENT and moved ABROAD (tips from a language learner)

hello guys and welcome back to my YouTube  channel this video is going to be pretty  

interesting exciting because it's a completely  new format and I'm actually so excited to talk  

to Nate from spash with NES yooo it's so crazy  talking to you in person and like filming a  

video in person just because I feel like for a  lot of people because of the pandemic we got so  

used to recording everything remotely you know  via Zoom all those collabs and stuff like that I  

have never done a collab in person so now like  just talking to you like this in person feels  

amazing surreal so I'm so happy to be talking to  you today I'm happy to be here thanks for having  

me yeah so I wanted to ask you the first question  is why are you in Mexico that is a great question  

I am here for the chief I am here mainly to be  with my girlfriends believe it or not she's from  

Mexico City um and Yeah we actually met during  the pandemic because of YouTube videos which is  

crazy anyways uh yeah I moved out here to be  mainly with her and then you know also as you  

know I teach Spanish and I make YouTube videos  about Spanish so uh it just kind of made sense  

and it was time for me to move out so I'm like  I'm just going to go to Mexico and uh and before  

you decided to move to Mexico did you already  speak Spanish how did it work for you like  

this language learning journey in Spanish great  question yeah so I started learning in high school  

so I had already been learning for essentially  9 years which is crazy uh so by the time I got  

here I was you know really comfortable and I'm  from Southern California and we have a lot of  

Smash peers there so I felt like home when I came  here to Mexico so the transition was really smooth  

for me of course there's weird little things  I had to get used to like elas like laasa you

know oh the the camote whistles  like yeah I what is that it's  

like some guy selling sweet potatoes  you're like what the heck yes I know  

when I learned that the guy was  selling sweet potatoes who doing

that guys we're going to include all of the  like videos for you to understand who who are  

not from Mexico City cuz I know it's going to be  hard because when I first moved here and I like  

started hearing all of these sounds and music and  like the whistles and I was like what is going on  

yeah it's it's a Melting Pot of sounds or like C  you know it's like the Mexico City National Anthem

[Music]

but U but anyways yeah so I had already learned  Spanish basically I had you know I had lived in  

Spain for 3 months I studied there in s which is  the best part of SP in University or yes that's  

correct at Community College actually it was my  first year of college and I went out to to siia  

and I studied there and I lived there with a  host family I live with this Spanish woman who  

was like in her 70s Mama Carman she was amazing  she was so funny she like every day we come home  

from school and she'd be like sitting in her like  reclining chair like this like on her phone and I  

would like I would like open the door slowly and  I'd kind of peek in she be like and I'm like I'm  

like oh you know she was so cute anyways um yeah  so uh you know I had been learning but most of my  

learning was done in the US you know like 95%  of all the Spanish I've learned to this point  

was at home in the US mhm okay and did you notice  like any difference in terms of how people speak  

Spanish the US versus how they do here in Mexico  City absolutely and of course as you know like  

it it varies between uh you know regions here in  Mexico for example like people in north kind of  

have their like they're like they're more singing  whereas like people in the South much different  

back home in the US like for example you hear more  and you hear it in some places in Mexico but like  

Lun tra um things like that whereas here like if  I say tra to my girlfriend she's like what are  

you talking about I'm like oh right like kamona  she's like oh okay like what like you know that's  

so like us thing so American or like there's a  funny YouTube channel it's like better like and  

that is like something funny you hear in uh back  home in the US or like um like if I hear a smash  

speaker and I'm speaking with them like you know  straight up like they're they're Mexican speaking  

but then I hear them say um I'm like oh they're  they're probably like living in the US or like so  

like um or like so you know that that's actually  it's very cool that you like mention it because I  

remember when I was working on my American ACC  and I try to like learn more things about the  

American culture I learned about this um like how  Americans think when like when they have to think  

and it was like it sounds so obvious that like oh  you make these sounds but like for me in my native  

language Russian we never like make this specific  um sound for us it's a little bit different for  

us we usually say no like when we think about  something like so um instead of all of this we  

say no V stuff like that it's completely different  and once I started learning more about these  

little things that you guys use I was like oh I  feel like now my English is becoming like more  

American thanks to those little little moments yes  I mean when I remember when I first started saying  

Estee like uh it's instead of saying um and that  was like I was like oh yeah i' I've made it like  

you know what a funny story is that one time I was  talking friend moriset who's Mexican-American and  

we're talking she speaks me in English this is in  high school then she switched to Spanish and then  

switched back to English and then switched back to  Spanish she did that I was like I've made it I'm  

like if a native speaker is like switching that's  how you know you've like kind of gotten into the  

club so cuz like back home like people who grew  up speaking English and Spanish that's like kind  

of the thing yeah you know I was at the superas  and then I like saw my buddy you know you were  

just like what Spanglish yeah exactly the Spanish  when when someone like spoke to me in Spanglish I  

was like I made it I made it yeah wow this is so  cool yeah so what was the most difficult thing  

for you about learning Spanish what was the thing  you struggled with the most maybe something that  

you only realized once you started dating your  girlfriend uh because you started interacting  

in Spanish more yeah what was maybe maybe there's  something that you're still struggling with right  

now that's a great question I think using the  subjunctive in the past tense So like um you

know BB in Mexico oh my God if I hadn't met my  girlfriend then I wouldn't live like that was  

really hard for me and also like sometimes like  uh understanding when certain words you'd think  

would be masculine would be feminine or vice  versa so likea right because you can't have  

the double a sound so you can't say itwa right  it's but then it's weird because you wouldn't  

Sayo you'd sayia so that was like for a while  oh my gosh like oh I can't yeah I remember when  

I first started learning about like all those  like Fe like masculine and feminine like stuff  

in terms of nouns in Spanish I remember I struggle  a lot with the word problem because I always want  

to say la because it ends on a and I'm like it's  so like dumb why should it be and I I always had  

to like remind myself no much so it was funny  yeah yeah totally you sometimes like it's funny  

because I think something that a lot of students  struggle with and I definitely did sometimes you  

just have to accept that this is the way it is  which for me I was like I don't accept it like  

I need to know why I need to understand exactly  where I'm like sometimes like like sometimes I  

try to explain something to students and they're  like you know I still don't really understand this  

but I'm just going to accept that this is just  a language and like just move on exactly exactly  

yeah so what is helping you right now in terms of  Spanish are you actively learning the language or  

it's it's more just like whatever happens happens  that's a great question honestly no and I haven't  

been for years now the same thing for me with  English actually sure yeah at this point it's  

just living the language I mean especially living  in Mexico of course that's like so helpful but I  

will say I mean as you know here in Mexico City  it's very easy to just communicate with like xats  

or people living here um but I will say and this  s might sound kind of silly but honestly having a  

Spanish speaking partner has been a game changer  because you learn all the weird phrases and all  

like the the little nuances that you might not  pick up you know through just like listening to  

music or talking to random people but like when  your girlfriend says you like amigi you're like  

amigi she's like yeah it's like friends but it's  like cute you know you're like oh like okay you  

know like I'm me voice you're making it's like  friends but it's cute so anyway so um yeah having  

a spash ping partner is huge but I think at this  point it's really just living the language which  

I I I even tell my students now I'm like hey you  know like how can you start living the language as  

soon as possible how doing doing stuff that you  actually enjoy right so like if you're driving  

instead of like listening to music in English  try listening to music in Spanish or exactly  

you know make it that it's something that is  just like if you had been born and raised in  

Mexico you would be listening to music in all the  time you'd probably see the news in Spanish you  

know the people around you be speaking Spanish so  how can you recreate that as a non-native speaker  

mhm yeah absolutely it's also something that I  always do every time I'm learning a new language  

how can I surround myself with this language as  much as possible and of course as you said yes  

like if you're dating a person from this culture  a person who speaks this language if you guys only  

communicate in this language obviously it will  help you uh improve your language skills a lot but  

also something that I I told Nate and something  that I only learned like a few months ago is uh  

probably some of you guys watching this video  maybe you are dating a person from a different  

culture who speaks a different language try not  to make this person your teacher like don't think  

of this person as okay my boyfriend my girlfriend  they're my teacher now you know they have to teach  

me this language because they're not they're not  your teachers they're your partners right because  

you're in this romantic relationship with them so  once you like change the not change the roles but  

like understand understand like what roles you  guys have so that's also something that that is  

going to it's going to benefit your relationship  a lot and it's going to calm you down a lot too  

because sometimes when you're in this kind  of relation room you start thinking okay I  

have to teach this person my language and this  person has to teach me their language no I mean  

if it happens think of it as a bonus right it's  nice it's a bonus you're learning something new  

and it's amazing but obviously if you want a  teacher go get a teacher totally totally call  

me guys yeah call him text him yeah so um have  you ever thought about learning another foreign  

language yes so I'm very big on not trying to  learn a bunch of languages cuz the thing is  

I find lots of languages interesting you know I  was in Europe a couple years ago I was in Italy  

like kind of Getting By because I knew Spanish  it actually really helped or like Portuguese  

or like German or French I don't know like all  these are very interesting and I love learning  

about the new languages and the new cultures  come with them but my whole thing is like okay  

how often am I realistically going to speaking  be speaking this language and am I interested  

in the culture that comes along with it so for me  that was Mandarin Chinese now I've been trying to  

learn Mandarin for like a couple years now and  I've just literally been the most lazy language  

learner ever like don't even ask me my method guys  because I've have just been so lazy I don't have  

a method cuz I L just like I'll go on this app  called hello Chinese which is fantastic by the  

way I go on there and I'm just like oh yeah Will  seean true I know and I'm just like that's great  

I speak Chinese you know and like that's kind of  what I've been doing but yeah I've been learning  

Mandarin Chinese so fun the grammar is very simple  but the the tones are like really the grammar is  

so simple in Chinese it's just like it's so easy  if you guys are thinking of like what language  

to learn next in terms of how easy it is to learn  the grammar Chinese very easy but obviously there  

are other things about Chinese that are extremely  hard yeah like the tones like I remember going to  

Community College there a lot of native manner  speakers that went to my school and I remember I  

made friends with this guy and I was trying to say  the word video which I'm going to butcher it again  

but it's like sing or something like that and he's  like no no no you're saying food I'm like what do  

you mean he's like no no no it's suing and I'm  like that is literally the same thing dude he's  

like he's like no no no it's and or something like  that you know and I'm like what okay got it got it  

but it's fun I love it I love the challenge and  yes and like I always tell my students you know  

we just talked about in the video we just filmed  on my channel by the way you should go check it  

out like I was I was just telling you in the  video we recorded it's really important that  

you view language learning as something like fun  and a lifelong thing because the second you take  

it really seriously and you try to put like a  deadline on yourself it just sucks the fun out  

of it and then like yeah it would be cool that you  can speak the language well but ultimately you'll  

have just like missed out on all the fun like it  really is about the journey not the destination  

um yes and I still tell people as a Spanish  teacher and someone who's been learning Spanish  

for 10 years I'm like I still consider myself a  learner and I think I will always be a learner  

and that's like really cool that's really fun mhm  exactly yeah that's how I think of myself too I'm  

a learner of English even though like I haven't  been actively studying English in a while however  

I actually still learn some words here and there  I still use Anki to memorize some words in English  

just because I like it I just like using Anki  like and again as you said make sure it's still  

fun right if for you anky is not fun then don't do  it right so like you don't as I always say like my  

channel I feel like the same thing with Nate our  channels are there to tell you and teach you a  

lot of different strategies and what you take from  those videos is something that you know will work  

for you you don't have to like take every single  strategy and then think okay this didn't work I  

hated this it's great it's actually the part  of the learning process and you realize that  

okay for example I didn't like using ankey right  let's say it's fine then it's just not for me or  

I love using Anki so thank you for recommending  this app to me you're just you know yeah trying  

to use a lot of different resources I love  that because students will say to me like well  

Nate I heard this guy say that listening is more  important than speaking but you said speaking is  

more important than listening I'm like well in my  opinion yes and that worked for me yes but you're  

the student you're the one learning so like you  said go out and see you're like okay actually yes  

I'm learning more effectively this way fantastic  it's like if you're a visual learner great if you  

learn by listening great you know ex like yen  to each their own you know exactly yeah yeah  

yeah yeah there's so many different strategies  you can Implement so many different things and  

also something that I've noticed too is sometimes  for different languages I might be using different  

strategies um do you think you're going to want to  try something new for Ming Chinese good question I  

mean I think what I realized with Spanish is when  I speak to people and have conversations I feel  

great and I feel motivated perfect so I'm trying  to do that more with mandarin because the other  

day I was at a Hot Pot restaurant with my roommate  who's Chinese American and I'm like how do you say  

uh like enjoy your meal like B bricho he's like  I'm like great I'm like literally I walk in the  

restaurant everyone like everyone they're like oh  wow this this white dude is like speaking Chinese  

this cool you know like I'm feeling good and then  like that kind of makes me feel more confident so  

then you know I think that's I something I  needed to do more cuz it's really motivating  

like I had this 30 minute ey talkie lesson a  couple once ago and I didn't know how much she  

was going to understand whatever and she's going  in she's doing her thing and I'm like wow I'm like  

actually understanding you you know I be a little  English here and there but I was like I'm actually  

doing the thing and that's really cool so I think  speaking more for Mandarin will be um important  

for me to like stay motivated and excited yeah  because I like that like you know what makes you  

excited what makes you motivated and what makes  the fun for you because I know that for a lot  

of people speaking is extremely scary totally so  for them like if they're going to start speaking  

from the very beginning it's going to be very  intimidating they're going to feel very scared  

so if this approach doesn't work for you maybe  find something else but I think there are people  

for whom speaking like starting to speak put  yourself out there like go to a restaurant and  

start saying you know have a good meal and stuff  like that like to all the people if it works for  

you and I know there are people like that so  I I just know there are so many like videos  

where people people say that language Learners are  afraid to speak and it's not really true like not  

every single language learner is afraid to speak  you are a language learner and you're not like  

you get your energy from that and if you do if  you get your energy from Reading if you get your  

energy from listening to rap music I don't know  then be it you know it's great totally yeah and  

actually I what you said about people are scared  to to have conversations to speak with people  

very normal it's one of the most common things I  hear from my students I always tell people okay  

see if you can start off slow cuz at the end of  the day we learn languages to speak with people  

I mean maybe you have a slight different reason  but at the end of day that's kind of the whole  

idea right like connect with people and have  conversations so I always tell people okay like  

just start by talking to yourself when I first  started learning Spanish I was like a psychopath  

I would like be in the shower and be like having  these like full-blown conversations myself oh yeah  

you know I want to cook the fish and I'm like you  know saying like weird stuff to myself I want to  

cook like in my head in my head I'm like what am  I like crazy like I have this weird thing which  

I don't talk about often but like I don't know  what it is about me exclusive content yeah this  

exclusive content just yeah like break breaking  news yeah but I will like latch on to things and  

I would it would just be on repeat in my brain so  like I'll hear something that I like or like for  

whatever reason catches my attention it yes it'll  be in my brain and it will just like get ingrained  

just like a song gets stuck in your head same  thing with me and it' like be weird like I'm you  

know I'm like I'm sitting on the toilet I'm like  you know like in the shower like just like anywh  

and I'm like thinking like and they're like Nathan  like what are you who are you talking to I'm like  

talking to myself like like a crazy person but I  always tell students if you if you are struggling  

with motivation and feeling nervous and speaking  to people just try to talk to yourself at first  

it sounds silly but actually talking to yourself  trying to talk to yourself helps you learn your  

vocabulary CU like how would I say that exactly  and then you're like oh okay I'll look it up and  

that kind of takes the pressure out of it because  it's literally just you then I tell people okay go  

online find a language Community online you know  like a tandem Discord whatever wherever you can  

find go meet people and just text them and like  start to build your confidence up that way and  

then do like voice messages like you know all  that and then maybe do a little calls here and  

there and then video calls and then you go out in  the real world and speak with people and you can  

like slowly build your way up to that but starting  off like a psychopath and talk to yourself it's a  

great way to start yeah but I like I like what  you said about like this helps you understand  

what vocabulary you need and like for example for  you it's speaking for me what really helps me find  

out what vocab ulary I need is writing because I  genuinely like writing I like journaling so when  

I journal in like English Spanish whatever each  language I'm learning I'm like okay I don't know  

how to say this word and then I think about it do  I know how to say like more words that are related  

to this word or maybe the topic because recently I  realized that I'm lacking vocabulary when it comes  

to hair like hair treatments hair textures and  styles and stuff like that so I was like okay I  

need like a lesson about it maybe I need to watch  a few YouTube videos about it I need to ask my  

teacher to prepare some materials for me and yeah  and writing helped me identify that problem or  

being like in real life situations cuz I actually  went to a hair salon and I couldn't explain  

anything yeah so yeah but anyway when I write  I still can like be okay I'm just writing about  

my day today so like I went to the gym I did I  don't know push-ups how do you say push-ups right  

so like all of these words yeah helps me so much  expand my vocabulary and expand my vocabulary in  

really good useful ways yeah I love that like like  you say right k each their own like we each have  

our different ways and like that's really cool and  that's kind of fun thing yeah exactly yeah so my  

final question to you Nate is going to be like a  what if question right so if you could speak any  

language in the world or languages which ones  would you choose and why gosh probably Spanish  

you can already speak okay it's good Spanish  okay English I would say English too I think  

it's pretty useful um definitely Mandarin okay  gosh I mean honestly it would be every language  

I know it's like a terrible response but i' let's  do five let's do five I've told people this for  

years now it's like if I can have one superpower  it would not be flying or invisibility it would  

be speaking every single language perfectly that  would literally like you would just be the coolest  

person ever I would say definitely Mandarin I  think Arabic as well so cool yeah really widely  

used Tai I love Tha food oh my gosh so that's why  you would like to learn Tha you abely absolutely  

like I learned how to say cold water like ice  water and ties so every I swear to you guys every  

time I go to a thae restaurant now the I always  try to say which I'm going to butcher right now  

but it's like nen or something or something along  those lines like oh yeah can I get some n they're  

like what they're like um I don't speak Tai like  dude we're in Mexico City man like I'm Mexican um  

yeah so yeah so Tai maybe Greek G is hard I know  like uh G is hard I try to I actually have a video  

on my YouTube channel guys you can check it out  later where I tried to learn a foreign language in  

24 hours and guess which language I was learning  Greek so hard it was horrible it was like so so  

hard it actually it's actually a pretty difficult  language to learn I originally I thought when I  

was doing this challenge cuz I decided to like  use like this uh random wheel picker situation  

online so I just like inserted a a bunch of  different languages and I chose Greek too and  

I was like yeah like if I get Greek it's fine it's  not a problem and then once I actually started to  

learn Greek I realized that maybe I actually have  like a bit a bit of an advantage Advantage here  

because my native language is Russian and some of  the things there are similar so I was like oh this  

letter is like similar to this Russian letter like  something like that but for I feel like when I was  

doing that challenge uh my biggest takeaway was  Greek is like a mixture of Russian and uh English  

and geometry so it's like yeah so it's like those  three things and I was like okay it's hard yeah it  

is hard I mean literally okay I went to Greece and  it is Awesome by the way Greek food is better than  

Italian food that's a hot take that's a really hot  take I'm going to get a lot of hate for that one  

but I love my pasta I love I'm so sorry everyone  how about lasagna okay I'm not going to lie yeah  

okay anyways love Greek food all I remember Isa  and AF or something like that but I thought it  

was cool I thought Greek was cool anyways Greek  and then maybe polish uh I have polish roots and  

so do yeah and it's weird it's not that I feel  like ashamed that I don't know polish [ __ ] I'm  

kidding well it's funny because like you know  my dad didn't grow up speaking my grandpa like  

kind of so anyway so that might be cool as well  but anyway that was a very long response to your  

question no no great I think you actually so to  sum up Spanish English mandering Arabic Greek  

and polish and Thai and Thai can't forget Thai all  right I love the food the food yeah we got it okay  

so it's a little bit more than five but it's fine  seven I'm so sorry five yeah seven languages wow  

great yeah thank you so much for the conversation  thank you so much for being here yeah for all your  

tips and advice I appreciate it Gra yeah guys if  you like the conversation you can also check out  

our conversation on Nate's YouTube channel  where I share a lot of things about how I'm  

learning languages my strategies it was an amazing  conversation as well so make sure to use the link  

below and check it out bye guys bye recording  recording recording yeah it's fine it's sorry  

I know guys very exciting this is the glamorous  YouTube YouTuber lifestyle okay I'm just going to

barely okay three two one boom  oh okay okay should I do it all  

in Mandarin should I respond to  everything in [Laughter] [Music]

Mandarin okay explosion