🔥 Learn languages like I do:
CC subtitles available in multiple languages.
In this video, I explain what to do if you understand a foreign language well but freeze up when it is time to speak, and why the fix starts somewhere most learners would not expect.
⏲️ TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 I understand well, but I can’t speak
1:19 Do you really understand well?
2:16 Broaden your comprehension
3:42 Narrow it down for speaking
5:34 Changing your self-image as a speaker
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❓Which language do you understand much better than you speak, and what is stopping you from speaking it?
Silencio todos, Sensei Steve está compartiendo su sabiduria astral.
¡Muchísimas gracias, Steve!
Aplicando esto desde ¡YA!
This is the most frustrating stage for any language learner – understanding everything but freezing the second you have to speak. I love that you addressed the real root cause instead of just giving generic "practice more" advice.
The timestamps really tell the story: broadening comprehension, narrowing it down for speaking, and then the self-image shift. That last part (5:34) is something almost nobody talks about, but it's probably the most important piece of the puzzle.
I'm genuinely curious: *When it comes to "narrowing it down for speaking" (3:42), do you recommend learners pick a specific topic or domain (like travel or business) and master that first, or just focus on the most common high-frequency phrases across all topics?* I'd love to hear how you approach that transition phase.
I just discovered your channel through this video and I'm already subscribed – thank you for going deeper than the typical language advice! 🙌
I'm the opposite
Which is best to be able to speak and not understand or understand a.d not speak?
I’m just learning English. Thanks for your help! I know you’re definitely more intelligent than me, but I was wondering: if this man could learn 20 languages, why can’t I learn just one? 😂
I followed the refold method specifically for a while and they were always talking about delaying output until it comes out naturally. Not only do I think this a farcical (or at least it would take so long to reach that point you may as well not bother learning the language), I think it makes your comprehensible input worse in the long run. It is very easy to lull yourself into a state of false confidence about your comprehension ability, you start getting the gist of sentences and you think you understand them. Speaking and even just listening to someone try to explain something to in real life quickly exposes how much you don’t actually know, and that you have been missing the structures that give sentences definite meaning rather than the treating them like a vague word soup you were using to guess the what the sentence was about
that's good advice Steve. A more "general" understanding of the language is a better approach than trying to prepare yourself for specific situations. You can learn all the questions about directions but you never know what the native speaker is going to say back to you. I feel like I have a "general" understanding" in both Italian and German, as I learnt them when I was quite young. I have gaps in vocab but my general comprehension skills are quite good, so I'm confident I could get through most situations even though my vocab is sometimes lacking.
That's actually a pretty good advice. Gonna use the identity part for sure. Thanks a lot
Well, actually, learning texts by heart about yourself and your life is a very good way to learn speaking.
This is an extremely necessary piece of advice for he who is learning a second linguage and has issues with speaking, a situation I think the vast majority needs to deal with. Solid advice as always, Steve — especially the fourth point. We should not take pride in not being able to talk a given language but comprehend it. We should not lie in any edge: we should not obsess over Grammar and let it prevent us from speaking nor should we accept not to talk simply because we "are the ones who can only understand the language".
Mikel who is a hyperpolyglot from Spain and has a You Tube channel as well, believes you have to start speaking from day 1. Create language islands from your own life, and repeat aloud daily. He feels that input has to have output, and speaking you activate a different part of the brain than by just listening and reading. Your mouth must be trained to form the words. He's very big on creating your own islands, so it interests you, about your own life. What are your thoughts?
I read aloud whatever I have at hand, books, news articles, etc. When I don't know how to pronounce a word, I look it up in a dictionary, such as the Oxford Learner's Dictionary. A classic example in English is the group of words thought, though, tough, thorough, and throughout.
When you read aloud, your brain is doing many things at once: reading, understanding the context, processing the sentence structure, speaking, and listening to what you're saying.
I had never come across this tip in language learning because so many of the so-called polyglots, language tutors, professors, teachers—whatever you want to call them—are always pushing you to use their apps or buy their courses. Language learning on the internet has become a big mafia.
Understanding gives us recognition; speaking needs retrieval under a little pressure. A useful bridge is to take one familiar topic and retell it aloud in simpler words before aiming for perfect phrasing. That builds the habit of keeping the message moving — and makes vocabulary available when it matters.
Looking good sir! Great video.
Confidence!
Hmm, not sure I agree with the focus of your answer here Steve. Input is important, yes, but I believe that speaking requires dedicated speaking practice, simple as that. If someone spends all of their time on input and does not have any speaking practice, then of course they won't be able to speak well. Also, as a second point, just expanding your comprehension or vocabulary will not necessarily lead to more "fluent" speech. In my experience, it is possible for someone to speak "fluently" at a 3,000 or 5,000 word level already if they really know these words and have the structure of the language internalised. By contrast, I have also encountered those who have learned a huge amount of vocabulary and have even studied in the target language at university level, but still struggle to speak fluently, perhaps because they did not spend enough time on the basics of the language?
That diplomat probably knows French. But after many years of not using language in everyday life, we loose ability to speak at a faster rate, than ability to comprehend. It happened to me many times. It may be the opposite method would work for him: to broaden not to narrow, because he already knows the language fundamentals. But you are right in that respect, that many people claim to know a language, but they don't. If somebody ''knows'' language, it is close to native level (yes, vocabulary in thousands)
Hopefully Iran will soon be free from the terror of the mullahs and we will invite Steve over and converse in Persian.
Spot on Steve! Input is great, but forcing myself to actually speak on Praktika was what finally broke that wall for me.
I see this topic come up often in language learning, but never the reverse. I am the reverse. I find it much easier to speak than to comprehend full-speed spoken language.
Hello Mr. Kaufmann,
I’m so glad to see you looking well! After hearing about your health concern in the last video, I was praying for your quick recovery. Thank you very much for your fantastic videos—wishing you all the best and strong health moving forward!
From Ethiopia 🇪🇹
It’s the exact opposite for me: I can speak English, but I don't understand the meaning at all when I hear English being spoken.
What should I do?
To speak you should know a wide variety of synonyms, because when you speaking you forget a word, you always have another in your head!
Das ist wichtig, tatsàchlich!
This is my problem, because my works deal with translation and writing. I have a few chance to speak. Hence, your advice is excellent.
I have the opposite problem! I speak far better than I understand. I'm an American English speaker who took three years of high school Spanish 55 years ago, and I've had short conversations over the years with native Spanish speakers, such as a Mexican irrigator. I know what I want to say, and so my words are there. But I don't know what the Spanish-speaking native is about to say, so a lot of that rapid speech rolls past me. Online, I can turn on English subtitles and then anticipate the Spanish, so then I understand much more.
Thank You for great advice 🎉
You should also vary the difficulties of the texts. For example on LingQ I currently read children's books. This does not mean I couldn't understand more complex texts, but it is an opportunit to improve my pronunciation and to gain a better of the grammar.
It's always so hilarious to see people claim they can understand a language but still watch TV or listen to audiobooks only in their native one.
Great video Steve! Yes, 80/20 rule is a pretty good guide. Spend 80% on comprehensible input and around 20% on practicing output. That's what I do.
You've said this in previous videos — but don't start on that 20% until you have developed a decent passive and active vocab — then go whole hog with the 80/20 rule.
I've learned to speak Portuguese and for that 20% (practicing output) I highly, highly recommend Pimsleur — I have the Pimsleur DVDs for Portuguese (bought them used for about $80) and just practice and repeat the advanced Pimsleur audio lessons (they say advanced phrases in English and you have to say them in Portuguese — and then they say the phrase in Portuguese) I do this over and over until I'm almost down to zero errors on each lesson (which is not easy) — and you can do this while taking a shower and getting ready in the morning! 🙂And of course speaking with real people if you can is a great supplement to this.
Love your videos! — you're the one that got me started — really helped me understand how to approach realistic language learning (that works) and now I'm probably advanced B2 or beginner C1 in Portuguese (hard to measure exactly where I am at, took two short unofficial sample tests that I easily passed that say I am B2. They were super easy — so I believe I'm higher than that, but not C1 yet). I can speak now — and now I'm just hiking down that long road to become a solid C1! And then another long hike to C2. It's really fun now, because I can speak to people. Yeah — now it's just a matter of reading and building up my vocab and watching video content (80%) and continue practicing output (20%).
I started to speak with my 2,5 years old grandson,he’s a native speaker,it sounds a little strange but it works.I learn English.My native languages are Ukrainian and Russian
Excellent. One of your best?
I notice I can understand almost everything from videos of Steve Kaufmann, I'm watching One Piece in English and I'm understand well too despite some moments that the characters speaks very fast. I'm very happy because I'm studying for almost 4 years and I needed to put a lot of effort in this, I think I'm B1 level (my goal is B2) but I really believe in the process I study one hour per day since I was 16 years old I'm very happy because to learn another language is possible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We can do it !!!! 😊
So. Broaden out. And focus in. Then you magically speak.