Should you learn or acquire a language?

When I first started my language journey, I only thought there was one way of understanding a language that wasn't your mother tongue. I only thought that you could learn a language and that was it, but through some time over the last 2 years I have discovered (or you could say re-learned) how to acquire a language. After some extensive research into what is the best way of understanding a new language, I have come to know there are various ways of doing it. Lets explore together some of the YouTube channels and various resources that are out there to help you in your language journey. I enjoy watching the ones I list below because they have given me great insight into the world of languages. Lets get into it!

The school way of learning languages

As you may have been aware, if you have gone through the school system in the past or are currently going through it now, you'll know that languages like many other subjects at school is a memory test. The school system teaches you as an individual to copy lists from a template sheet, or from a text book. This is transferred into your work books for revision at home, as you are expected to remember them by actively going through lists of words or filling in the blanks in an example sentence. Now this can sometimes be an effective way of learning, and yes you now know some words and phrases, but the school system, with it's vast amount of subjects that are required for you to learn, gives you little breathing room for you to enjoy learning the language you take at school.

I remember the way languages were taught at my school, there were great teachers who were very knowledgeable in their particular language, but who were sadly sticking to the way it had always been done, by the book; via the curriculum, which isn't famous for being fun or revolutionary. The metrics of test results, of how much you got correct out of 100 can be a demoralising thing for a teenager, if that result is not what they desired, this adds pressure to a pupil on top of all the other qualifications he or she is expected to pass that year.

What I know now from experience is that, you have to want to learn a language to achieve your desired results. In school settings we are struck with an option of having to pick this route or that route, predetermined subjects with a list of requirements that must be met in order for you to progress in your "education". Many teenagers don't want to learn double german on a Wednesday morning and would much rather spend their time kicking a rugby ball about on the school field. If the education system allowed pupils to choose how they wanted to learn a subject, where in terms of location is best for them to learn it and gave them the time to decide their why for learning a subject, many more educational institutions around the world would have lower rates of absences, higher rates of achievement or satisfaction and a greater more positive environment for students and staff to flourish.

We can only dream, schools like this do exist in Scandinavian countries such as Finland, Denmark, Norway or Sweden. Whether other countries are yet to jump on board with the idea, is yet to be seen. So thats the school system in a nutshell, lets delve into how people learn languages when they have the desire to do so, on their own terms, with help from friends, family and the internet.

Learn vs Acquire

Jeff Brown a Professor of Spanish at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, California, USA released a video to the world in 2018 titled; How to acquire any language NOT learn it! which has over 2.6 million views on YouTube. This video did the job of reminding me of how we acquire our native language; our mother tongue.

How in fact did we learn it? we didn't sit exams or revise lists of words as a baby, we listened and watched, ate, slept and cried, to then listen again the next day, and again the day after that. Hours upon hours of listening, watching and copying to acquire the language I am typing in on this blog. When we speak, we don't have to consciously think of what to say next, we just do. Our subconscious mind has a file stored for English, and has the ability to run on auto pilot in the background, in this instance English is our loaded program on our mental hard drive. Through something called Comprehensible Input, we can acquire a language (like we did our native language) instead of actively learning it. This approach is expanded in the video below.

Jeff Brown over the course of a year decides to acquire Arabic through the methods demonstrated in the video above. These methods are:

Acquire language like a baby through Comprehensible Input.
Don't Study Grammar.
Use The Natural Approach - No Grammar & No Corrections of Mistakes.
Acquiring the language through Reading & Storytelling.
Find the right instructor (acting as your language parent) - in person, or on YouTube, HelloTalk or Italki.
If you can, find a Language Exchange partner - No English, 99% Target Language, Gesture & Draw.
Acquire through Commands - jump, walk, push, pull, up and down.
Read in the Target Language even when you can't read a word yet. Pre-test your brain before it understands what the new words mean.
Input +1 - Up the difficulty.
Record yourself speaking 1 minute of your target langauge, and record your language exchange by video with your partner. This way you can always revert back to the video at any time, to acquire on demand.
Study Abroad if you can, or find a native speaker locally who speaks your target language fluently.

Through this method of Comprehensible Input you can start acquiring the language of your dreams by following the steps mentioned in the video above.

To find your target language on YouTube simply type "Comprehensible Input" into the search bar followed by your chosen language, you may not find the obscure languages, but you may find some of the most popular ones.

If you are thinking of acquiring Russian in this way, I highly recommend the YouTube channel I use to naturally pick up the language. It's called Comprehensible Russian and it can be found by clicking here. I would recommend your first encounter with the language to be through the Zero Beginner playlist. Please do let me know how you get on, and we can have a chat in the comments.

Polyglot YouTube Channels you may enjoy

Now before you watch these polyglots its important to be aware that many of these people have various ways of going about either learning or acquiring a language. Be sure to pick and choose what you think will work for you from their methods, I started by actively learning then discovered the acquiring method. What you find the best is up to you.

Ikenna

Ikenna currently speaks English, Japanese, Russian, French, Dutch, Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. Check out this video and his channel above.

Victor Talking

Victor has been living in China and Korea and travelling Asia for more than five years, in his videos he shares his advice on how to learn Chinese and Korean languages, as well as just any foreign language in general. He also take interviews from Asian people on different social and cultural topics. Check out this video and his channel above.

Language Lords

Language Lords is a channel dedicated to epic language learning! Tips, Strategies, Methods, Challenges, Resources, and more. If you want to succeed in learning a language, you're in the right place! Quoted directly from the about section on his channel. Check out this video and his channel above.

Olly Richards

Olly Richards is a big proponent of learning a new language through stories. Check out this video and his channel above.

This last channel is a fairly new one on my list of subscriptions, the video below involves one friend surprising the other by learning their native language when they see each other again after 6 months apart. WARNING: Highly emotional and very motivating, you may catch the language bug.

Jannah Hossain

Hi, I'm Jannah and I after learning Japanese for 6 months I managed to surprise my best friend and have a full (littered with mistakes :D) conversation.

Check out this video and her channel above, I hope it does the job of inspiring you.

Languages are Awesome!

To close this post, I would like to mention that whether you Learn or Acquire a Language, is up to you. But I hope you find it fun and enjoyable and something that is exciting when you begin to see progress in your understanding of your target language. When you start to see results every week or month, knowing more and more words and phrases, the possibility of actually speaking the language to a conversational level of fluency will get greater. Listen and absorb, stay committed and consistent and you'll get there. I am seeing results and can speak Russian far better than I did yesterday, I am still at a beginner level, but through listening and acquiring the language, I can feel new neural pathways being built in my mind. Exciting!!

You'll notice a greater connection to people from other countries and cultures, you'll have more confidence in this language, you'll see life through a different lens and you may find that your life has been enriched, I certainly do! I wish you all the best on your language journey, thanks for reading.