Language learning is a video game. Here’s how to win.

8,502 views ・ 2025-04-03

English with Veronika Mark


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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i used to think that when you're learning a  language you can't do any of the fun stuff like  
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watching movies reading books or playing games  i always thought I had to wait until I'm finally  
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advanced to enjoy language learning and to enjoy  all of those things but the truth is you don't  
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have to wait and because I love making language  learning fun I created a free language learning  
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game plan for you guys it includes fun challenges  a progress tracker and also all of my favorite  
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resources to turn studying into a game all you  have to do to get the guide is click the link in  
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the description and share your email with me and  you'll get the guide straight to your inbox okay  
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so let's think about why you're actually learning  a language in the first place it's definitely not  
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because you want to memorize all of the vocabulary  in all of the dictionaries and finish every single  
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unit in your textbook it's so you can visit new  places talk to other people read books and order  
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matcha at a cafe these are the fun moments that  we all as language learners dream about but the  
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problem is we think we need to get the basics down  like grammar drills vocabulary lists before we can  
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actually enjoy language learning and years of  hating language learning doesn't sound fun to  
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me at all it is not something I want to be  doing instead what I propose is minimizing  
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the gap between all of the fun end goals like  traveling abroad working in your target language  
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dating people from that culture and all the  boring stuff you have to do right now and that  
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is honestly something that is helping me stick  with the languages I'm learning right now English  
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and Spanish because I'm doing things that I love  like 99% of the time I'm doing everything I love  
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and the things that I know I don't like that much  for example grammar drills i think how I can make  
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those boring things more fun maybe it's going to  be asking Chad GBT to explain this one particular  
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super boring grammar rule in a fun way to me if  any of you guys love car racing you probably know  
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that right now is Formula 1 season i love Formula  1 so I watch the races in English and I also  
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listen to a podcast about Formula 1 called the Red  Flags podcast okay now let's actually talk about  
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how we can make language learning more fun and  the first thing you can do is obviously you can  
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play video games one game that is really great for  learning is Stardew Valley it's simple you don't  
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have to understand a lot of rules and there is no  failing when you collect an item it shows the name  
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and image of that item so you can use it to learn  new vocabulary you can also talk to NPC villagers  
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in the game and most of the dialogue is short and  super simple plus you can always pause the game  
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if you need more time to read the actual dialogue  or look up some words you don't know another game  
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that a lot of language learners enjoy is The  Sims it was literally the game of my childhood  
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of my teenage years and I still love it with all  my heart it's honestly one of the best games to  
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practice learning a language because a lot of  people are already familiar with it you'll pick  
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up everyday words by playing this game especially  like all of the objects you have around the house  
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because you're going to be building a lot of  the things it's also like an online simulation  
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of real life so you're learning practical words  in a super fun way the second thing you can do  
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is watch videos specifically made for language  learners the key here is to actually understand  
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the content otherwise it's just noise to your  brain you can watch shows and movies you always  
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liked as a kid for example but now you're doing  it in English you're already familiar with a plot  
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you kind of know what's going to happen and a lot  of the words you can guess them from the context  
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you can also watch content for kids is something  that I did a lot when I was learning Chinese at  
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the very beginning of my Chinese journey I was  watching Peppa Pig in Chinese just because my  
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vocabulary was very small my grammar very small  like I really didn't know a lot of Chinese yet  
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and so Peppa Pig was something that was making my  language learning fun i didn't feel like my brain  
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was on fire and that led me to make this natural  transition towards content that was a little bit  
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more difficult and yes it's not a secret that  watching interesting shows is one of my favorite  
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ways to learn a language and that's where today's  sponsor Lingo Pie comes in i've always believed  
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that language learning should be fun not just  grammar drills and textbooks that's why I use  
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Lingo Pie every single week now it's like Netflix  of language learning you get access to thousands  
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of real TV shows movies music and even podcasts  in 11 different languages and the best part is  
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that everything is designed to help you learn as  you watch and you're probably wondering what's  
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the difference between LingoPi and just watching  Netflix with subtitles lingo Pie is interactive  
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you can click on any word in the subtitles get  an instant translation and it automatically  
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saves to your personalized flashcards there are  also quizzes pronunciation exercises and even a  
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say it feature to practice speaking you're being  intentional about your show watching experiences  
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and that eventually pays off recently I have  been watching traveling around Mexico because I  
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love traveling and I love watching travel content  it's a really fun way for me to explore new places  
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while practicing my Spanish so if you want to try  out LingoPie they're giving you 7 days completely  
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for free and a special discount just click the  link in my description or the pin comment to  
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start learning languages in a fun way because  let's be honest if you're going to watch TV  
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anyway why not learn something in the process the  next thing that is going to make language learning  
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feel like playing a video game is learning with  other people as humans we're social creatures  
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and having this support network is so freaking  important when you're learning foreign languages  
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because sometimes you might feel like you're not  improving you're not making any progress and if  
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you have someone to share this with someone  who's in the same boat this is going to make  
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you feel so much better and also learning with  others just makes it harder to quit because you  
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feel accountable you feel like everyone else is  learning so I should be learning too there's no  
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reason to quit so what are some ways that you can  learn with other people the first one is you can  
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join an online community for example Reddit has a  lot of language learning communities like language  
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learning and language specific Reddits like learn  Spanish where people share helpful info ask for  
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advice on their grammar vocab where you can ask  questions or even find a buddy to study with and  
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you can also go to in-person events it's something  that I did a lot when I was a college student  
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i would go to speaking clubs and I actually  used to have my own speaking club and I know  
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that some of the members of the speaking club are  still talking to each other when I moved abroad I  
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would find those language learning communities on  meetup.com i would go to those networking events  
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to meet people to practice my English and to  have fun instead of just sitting in front of  
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my textbook doing all of those grammar drills I  actually wanted to speak to real people to hear  
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different accents different perspectives so that's  why I highly recommend attending in-person events  
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the next thing you can do is you can play word  games one game that is really popular is Scrabble  
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and I even saw someone on Reddit mentioned that  they learned cerillic by accident by playing  
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Scrabble i think it's pretty cool i think word  games in general just make learning vocabulary  
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less boring because you're playing a game and  you're not really studying because you're focused  
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on playing and winning the game they're also  amazing for practicing spelling especially if  
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you're learning French or German where spelling  can be quite tricky and it's a fun way to pick up  
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new words and add them to your vocabulary without  feeling like you're studying the next approach you  
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can try to make language learning feel more like  playing a video game is making a private YouTube  
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account or maybe a Tik Tok account to document  your language learning in my case for example when  
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I watch my very first YouTube videos it's such an  amazing experience for me because I immediately  
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feel so grateful for all of the work I have put in  over the years because I can see how much progress  
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I have made when it comes to my English when it  comes to how I speak in front of the camera when  
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it comes to my setup my audio everything but  obviously all of those things are important to  
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me because I'm a YouTuber if you don't want other  people to see your content just make your videos  
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private and keep them for yourself to just track  your progress your first video could be something  
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super simple like introducing yourself in your  foreign language as you get better you can start  
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talking about whatever it is you want to talk  about like your daily routine the reason why  
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you're learning your target language or even  practice some situations like ordering coffee  
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or matcha if interacting with other people makes  you feel a little bit stressed trust me guys if  
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you actually stick with learning the language  if you stick with the process of making videos  
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of yourself you know saying something in your  target language looking back and watching all  
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of those videos is the best thing ever i mean you  can even do it now on my YouTube channel scroll  
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all the way down or sort by the oldest to see  my oldest content and you can compare how much  
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I have improved how much my English has improved  because we are in 2025 right now the next thing  
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you can do to make language learning feel more  fun is talk to AI like Chad GBT for example i just  
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started learning English and I only understand  a few basic words can you talk to me in a very  
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simple way of course I will use simple words let  me know if you need help with anything specific  
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or if you want to learn new words well you get it  guys it's very simple chad GPT can talk to you in  
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a very slow way if it's needed it can explain  absolutely everything to you and because you're  
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kind of using your phone you're talking to AI it  does feel more fun there's no pressure to speak  
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and you can stop at any time you can even use AI  to quiz you on stuff like vocabulary and grammar  
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pretend we're in a cafe and you're the barista  help me practice ordering a coffee in English sure  
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let's practice imagine you walk up to the counter  you can say "Hi I'd like a coffee please." Then I  
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might ask "What size would you like?" Or "Would  you like any milk or sugar?" You can answer with  
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a small coffee with oat milk please or any other  preference give it a try i would like a small  
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coffee with oat milk excellent job Veronica you're  doing really well if you'd like to change your  
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order you can say "Actually can I have coconut  milk instead?" Or "Could I also get a little sugar  
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please?" Practicing these small changes will help  you get more comfortable with ordering in English  
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what if I want to say that I want my coffee cold  great question you can simply say "I would like an  
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iced coffee with oat milk please." Or if you  prefer to emphasize the temperature you can  
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say "Can I have a cold coffee with oat milk?"  This way they will know exactly how you want  
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your drink okay and finally something that I do  super often to practice my languages English and  
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Spanish is journaling journaling to me is very  beneficial for my mental health but it's also  
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fun like it feels like fun i'm just writing  about my life i'm using all of the vocabulary  
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that I need and I practice everyday language that  I would actually use in a normal conversation if  
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the idea of journaling sounds super complicated  to you all you can do is just journal about your  
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day what did you do today that's it that's all  you have to write about and your sentences can  
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be super simple and super short you don't have  to use super advanced grammar academic words no  
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you're just writing your thoughts obviously if  you're more advanced if becoming more advanced  
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is your goal you can try practicing different  expressions maybe asking AI again to help you  
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rephrase a certain sentence give you alternatives  maybe give you some slang or some idioms phrasal  
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verbs to help you journal and express your  thoughts in a more complex way and yes I know  
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that for those of you guys who are learning a  language with a completely different alphabet  
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like when I was learning Chinese when I was in  college journaling in Chinese was so freaking  
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hard i mean if I compare journaling in Spanish in  English to journaling in Chinese it was a struggle  
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but I just gave myself a few minutes to write a  very simple characters to start small and make it  
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as simple as possible for myself and then build up  eventually i think that's all I wanted to mention  
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today so thank you so much for watching this video  if you liked it please don't forget to give it a  
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thumbs up and subscribe to my channel before you  go don't forget to get your free language learning  
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game plan it's a perfect addition to this video  and it's completely free all you need to do is  
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click the link in the description and I'll send  it to your inbox a lot of you guys ask me in the  
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comments why can't I understand native speakers  i actually answered this question in this video  
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right here so if you want to know why and what to  do about it click right here and keep on watching
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This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

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