How to Learn a Language on Your Own | Learn English From Zero to Fluent at Home

hello guys and welcome back to my youtube  channel today i wanted to talk to you about  

how you can learn a language on your own it's  a very interesting video for me to make because  

i'm currently learning my fourth foreign language  spanish when i was a little kid i studied french  

and then obviously english and chinese in college  i studied chinese in college and right now because  

i'm living in mexico city i have to study spanish  and it is my fourth language which i'm learning  

on my own and basically in this video i wanted to  give you guys concrete steps that you can take to  

learn english or any other foreign language  on your own a quick disclaimer here i do  

take classes with a spanish teacher once a  week so every single sunday in the morning  

at 8am yes i wake up pretty early every single  day even on sundays i have my spanish classes with  

an amazing teacher she's actually my student from  my english speaking club and i don't know it just  

makes the whole process even more enjoyable but  the guys here the most important thing you have  

to understand is that this class is only an hour  long even like 45 minutes long and i only take it  

once a week so the main progress happens when  i study by myself because if you really want to  

learn a language fast you need to study every  single day and i try to study spanish like  

an hour each day sometimes there are days when  i don't study spanish at all and it's absolutely  

fine but i want you guys to remember this one  thing a tutor is not gonna magically make you  

master a language they're not gonna magically  open your brain and put all the knowledge there  

it's not possible you have to do something and the  main progress happens when you study a language  

on your own so i guess let's start with me and  my spanish learning journey because i love using  

myself as a guinea pig so basically what i do  right now is i'm a complete beginner i read a lot  

because my goal right now is to acquire as much  vocabulary as possible to learn as many new words  

as possible and the reason why i do this with  books and stories is that i genuinely love reading  

i think you guys probably know like i always  talk about it especially on my vlogging channel  

every single time i'm like oh guys look i read a  new book i read this book and that book obviously  

when i read in english i feel very comfortable  but in spanish for me it's pretty uncomfortable  

because i'm not yet familiar with the language and  there are so many words i don't know the second  

thing i do is i try to listen to podcasts for  spanish learners because obviously podcasts for  

spanish speakers are too hard for me and i'm a  true believer that listening is actually the most  

important part of language learning because not  only do you learn new words but you also listen  

to how native speakers use them in context which  is extremely important the third thing i do is i  

do grammar by using basic grammar books i actually  downloaded one from the internet because for me  

grammar helps me understand the structure of a  language and that's basically the whole reason  

why i do grammar i realize that i'm a very fact  oriented person and i need to be able to explain  

why this sentence is structured this way or  that way and so that's why for me grammar is  

important personally i don't think grammar is  boring i enjoy doing grammar so that's why i do  

it and guys i think you already noticed this one  pattern i always say i enjoy doing something and  

that's why i do it and this is a very important  part of anything really of language learning  

of learning anything of having any kind of job  you really have to enjoy doing what you're doing  

or else it's just gonna be a torture for you  and thing number four that i do or actually  

don't do is i don't rush to speak obviously  sometimes i have to communicate with native  

speakers living here in mexico city but i say  very basic words such as gracias buenas tardes  

things like that i always joke that my  favorite phrase in spanish right now is  

macho frio con leche de which means cold matcha  with coconut milk because every single time i go  

to a coffee shop i order matcha because i don't  drink coffee and also i'm vegan so i don't drink  

regular milk and this is you know the phrase i've  mastered on like basic levels like using words  

i can't communicate but for me it's not my top  priority because i know that i need to learn  

more vocabulary because i don't want to sound  like a kid you know i don't want to just say  

cash card and that's it i actually want to be  able to make full sentences and to be able to  

do that i need to listen a lot i need to read a  lot and learn more and more vocabulary so right  

now once i've shared my spanish learning journey  you've heard me speak spanish a little bit you're  

probably laughing right now but basically right  now i'm ready to share some tips that will help  

you study english on your own the first tip as you  guys have probably guessed is only do something  

you enjoy doing so again it's for you reading is  not an option you hate reading even in your own  

native language then don't read there are so many  other ways you can learn new words for example  

if you like listening to music you can just you  know listen to music in this language and then  

translate and then learn new vocabulary this way  my tip number two is try to make it into a habit  

it's very hard for a lot of people to start doing  something for example for me i'm definitely one  

of those people it's hard for me to begin doing  something anything really for example filming this  

youtube video you know i'm putting off i feel lazy  but once i sit down once i turn on my camera and  

start talking it gets easier and the same thing  with languages once you make it into a habit it  

will become a part of your life and you know every  single day you'll be like okay right now i need to  

learn english or okay right now i need to learn  spanish and you're gonna be totally fine with  

it and you're gonna be ready for it because it's  your habit now tip number three if your english is  

not high yet you should focus on learning as much  useful vocabulary as possible and if you do enjoy  

reading i highly recommend graded readers for  example i really like the ones by ollie richards  

and i actually have an interview on my channel  webcam where we talked about reading and graded  

readers and basically graded readers are the books  for english learners or for any language learners  

that are a little bit simplified and this way  you don't feel demotivated because the book is  

not hard at all tip number four is find a native  speaker to ask them questions you can do that by  

taking just one class a week with a native speaker  on italki for example and i teach in italki as  

well so you can book a class with me and ask  me any questions about language learning or you  

can also do a language exchange where you find a  person who's gonna be willing to teach you english  

but in return you're gonna teach them your native  language and this way is gonna be free for both  

of you tip number five is watch and listen as much  as possible if you do live in an english-speaking  

country try to notice how people greet each other  what they usually say because actually right now  

living in mexico i try to notice how people speak  i try to memorize some of the expressions for  

example a couple of days ago i was only saying  gracias all the time but then i started hearing  

people say muchos gracias and i was like maybe i  should say muchas gracias too and then yeah this  

is basically how i learn if you don't live in an  english-speaking country it's totally fine because  

you can still listen and observe when you watch  a movie or listen to a podcast for example and my  

tip number six is actually the one that i really  really like basically if you feel like you're a  

shy person and you're not ready to communicate  with people yet you can talk to yourself  

or you can try to name objects in your apartment  or just talk about your day so for example you can  

say what you're doing right now like right now  i'm watching a youtube video it's a great practice  

because this way you'll immediately notice the  words that you're lacking and you'll be able to  

use google translate or any other dictionary to  look them up and then memorize them and now as  

a bonus thing let me actually give you a concrete  study plan that i personally use to study spanish  

and you can use to study english or any other  language really as i mentioned at the very  

beginning of this video i usually dedicate around  an hour of my time every single time to spanish  

and the reason being is that i'm a beginner for  me still it's pretty hard so i can't just you know  

sit and watch a show in spanish and just relax and  not think about it so basically i divide this hour  

into three different parts i start with grammar  because it requires me to be the most focused and  

i do some exercises i try to learn maybe make some  notes but the most important thing for me is to  

actually you know get the hang of it understand  the rule and then try to apply it in real life  

after that i do around 20 minutes of reading  because i love reading and for me it's a great  

way to learn new vocabulary i'm testing a new  way of memorizing vocabulary right now sometimes  

i write all the new words down for example in my  notebook but sometimes i don't do anything because  

i realize that i don't really revise the new  vocabulary that often but if you do like actually  

revising new vocabulary you can use anki because  anki is a great app and i use it a lot when i was  

actively learning chinese so i highly recommend  this app to all of you guys and i spent the last  

20 minutes listening to a podcast or watching a  super easy video in spanish and i really hope you  

guys will try it because for me it works because i  really like having those 20 minute intervals when  

i focus on a specific task and before i wrap this  video up i just wanted to tell you guys real quick  

about my patreon page patreon is a wonderful  website where you can support your favorite  

creators for example me and in return you will get  early access to all of my youtube videos you will  

get transcripts to every single one of my youtube  videos you'll be able to chat with me anytime any  

day and also i upload useful links to resources  to study english and i create my own personal  

worksheets and all of this is included in one  membership so make sure to check out my patreon  

page in the description so yeah thank you guys  so much for watching this video as usual don't  

forget to subscribe to my channel and follow me  on instagram and i'll see you next time bye guys

you