Lesson Transcript

Welcome to The Inner Circle. I'm Keijin, and I'm joined by my co-host, the founder of innovative language, Peter Galante.
Hi everyone, Peter here.
For those of you who are new to The Inner Circle.
The Inner Circle is a monthly series on how to learn a language, and so each year, it's a brand new year,
so each year I usually pick a language to learn, and sometimes Keijin picks a language, sometimes Keijin teaches a language, or sometimes...
We talk about language learning strategies together.
Yes.
So we go month by month until the end of the year, right?
That's correct. And every month you'll discover tools and strategies on how to learn a language that Keijin or I use that will help you master your language that you're learning.
Great. So Peter, what language are you learning this year?
So I went back through the last, what do you have, 10 years? And it seems like each year it's a different language.
So Keijin, I was thinking this year, maybe we should revisit a language that we've already studied.
Which is English.
I studied English.
It could potentially work.
Or French or Japanese.
Yeah, I will go back. So picking a new language is fun in a way. It's a brand new slate. So those are what many of these languages are.
But in reality, a lot of times we go back and study language we have experience with.
Yeah, that's true.
And so we study, then we take some time off, then we study again, then we take some time off. So it's kind of start and go, start and go.
So, you know, we were thinking about this year and that seems to make a very good topic for this year, how to restart a language.
Yeah, that's a very interesting topic.
Because as you just said, I know many people actually learn the language when they're at school, but then they stop, then they want to learn again.
So instead of learning a new language every year, yes, let's restart the language, yes.
So I would choose Chinese.
Wow, is it a cheating? It's not cheating? I know your Chinese is very good.
Cheating. I don't know if I go say as far as cheating, but it's about actively pursuing progress.
So even in your native language, you have a vocabulary that you're used to.
So if you take time to learn new vocabulary or study a certain area, for example, politics or law that you're not very familiar with,
you're kind of expanding your knowledge in that language versus reading the same newspaper every day, using the same words.
So I think actively targeting progress we can define as restarting.
So right now my Chinese is in maintenance mode.
I study one hour a week with a tutor and I don't actively try and learn.
I just try and maintain or not lose anything, but if you only speak once a week, the vocabulary slips away and things don't go as well.
Yeah, so that's a very interesting point.
So how do we start?
Wait, what about you?
Oh, you didn't ask me. Actually, that's a good question.
And I'm cheating too. I'm thinking about Japanese this year.
That's super cheating.
Not super cheating. You know, I noticed a lot of things.
I learned the Japanese in just a textbook or in the learning materials.
And in real life these days, I realized something.
I don't know how to say something.
For example, yesterday I went to the clinic and I got a blood test.
So after the test, I said arigato gozaimasu.
But then my friend said it's weird after this.
So I didn't ask what should I say after that.
But there are a lot of situations like that.
I say something which makes sense, but a lot of people say, oh, it's not natural.
So I want to study more natural language too.
Got it.
But there are many vocabularies.
You said even native language for your own native language.
There are a lot of vocabularies that are the same for my Japanese.
I can't have a conversation without problems, but my vocabulary is quite small, I would say.
Interesting.
Very sad.
So the one element too that I like that you included is a test.
Have you passed any Japanese tests?
No.
Ever.
Interesting.
Yeah.
That's why.
So we can maybe incorporate a test too.
Exactly.
That could be very interesting.
Okay, so we agree that restarting a language is quite interesting.
It's very actually similar to starting a language in many respects.
When you start a language, you're simply starting from zero.
When you restart a language, you don't know where you are.
True.
So I think for both, the starting point could be the same.
So I think in my case and many users, for example, I had studied French in high school.
In the early 90s.
And then there's a 20-year gap.
So often there's not much remaining.
So kind of restarting French is almost like starting from zero.
Yeah, I think that's the same for many language learners.
Yeah.
So a lot of times when you restart, it's pretty good to understand, well, restart or start.
So I think in a lot of ways we can use them interchangeably for now.
So restart or start a new language.
So if you're starting or restarting, good point is to start with an assessment.
Okay, why assessment?
I think that helps you understand where you are as far as listening, reading, writing, and speaking.
I see.
So you mean we know our level.
We could be a beginner or intermediate learners, upper beginner.
Yeah.
To understand where you are, I think that's a really important step to getting yourself on the right learning path.
I see.
So now if you're restarting, you may learn much faster.
Things might start to come back.
Yeah, I remember that or remember this.
But starting, figure out where to start.
That's the key first step.
I see.
So what should we access?
Just where we are, our level?
I think we could kind of focus on three things, right?
First is you've got to know your level, so an assessment test.
We have an assessment test on our site, so you come, take the test, get the results, kind of understand where you are.
Then what do you think is next after that?
Next?
Well, when I think about my schedule, what time can I learn it?
In what routine?
So knowing where you are to start and then figuring out how learning can fit into your life, into your routine, that's another thing.
Call it a routine test, not in the sense of a test that you are taking like a weekly quiz,
but rather where in your routine do you have the time to fit language learning.
Then, but inside of that, don't we have these five questions we want to answer, right?
When can you fit it in?
Where?
What's next?
What?
What are you going to study?
So if we give you an example, it's like when, okay, I have a daily commute in the morning,
I'm going to study on the train from, I'm going to study from seven to eight where I take the train, so I'm going to listen,
I'm going to study on the train for one hour, and then what?
It's like the train's very crowded, I prefer listening to something, so I'll listen to music, sorry, a podcast.
So it's like when, seven to eight, where, on the train, and what, listening to some audio podcast.
So the third thing to assess is how, right?
How you study.
Yeah, it's interesting.
Let's take this example of French.
So I studied French in high school many years ago, and then several years ago as a challenge, I studied French.
And how I studied in high school was very different, talking early 90s versus studying now.
How did you study?
In high school, you go to class, you listen to the teacher, you have a textbook, you didn't have YouTube,
you didn't have Netflix, you didn't have podcasts, you didn't have online learning.
They had a language lab you can go to with a very slow computer.
It's like, so I didn't have a choice on how I studied, really.
I could go, I'll rephrase that, the choices were very limited.
I could study in school, I could study with my textbook at home, I could go to the library and get some cassette tapes,
I could take out some books, but finding the information and using the information was very different than my journey
Three years ago, with how far the language tools have come, and even now they continue to change as we speak.
So how you study is one of the most interesting things about learning a language and a language journey these days.
I see. So for Chinese, you already chose the way to learn it?
Well, before we go there, we're talking about this assessment.
Your language ability, you have to understand.
And second, you have to understand your routine.
And third, you have to understand how you like to learn.
Like your learning style.
Are you a visual learner, audio learner, do you like to study all at once,
do you like spaced repetition, learning bit by bit.
So understanding how you like to study is a very challenging thing in itself.
Yeah, I guess so.
In my case, I prefer reading. I think reading is the most powerful way to learn, so I know that.
But that was very different than many, many years ago.
And it's constantly changing. I actually enjoy learning with video now in a very powerful way.
Although it's kind of cheating, it's more a relaxing, passive way to learn, but I do enjoy as part of my learning tools.
So understanding what you like is quite important too.
I see.
So these three things you have to test.
So you have to try the different tools to see which way you like to learn.
Okay, that's good to know. So what's after the assessment?
Well, I think it's the goals.
Once you understand where you are, where your language skills are,
where, when, and with what tools you're going to study, and how you like to learn.
Once you understand this, now you're going to have to set some goals.
Okay, so how can you set up some goals?
Is it okay if I say, I want to speak like a native speaker?
Yeah, I think those type of goals are very vague.
I mean, Keijin, you're very good at this. I mean, tell us how you set your goals.
Actually, my goal is very often with the date, and mostly about the exam date.
Because without the exam, I don't know if I reached or not.
For example, if I say I want to be an intermediate language speaker,
and even if I continue learning, I'm not sure if I reached my goal.
Yeah, so if I take a test, it shows the result.
At least it says it's B1, B2. Then I know I've reached the goal.
Yeah, so this is, Keijin's very advanced.
My own goal.
Yeah, it's a comprehensive goal of when you're testing with a standardized test of each skill.
Now, you might have a different goal. You might be planning a trip to Europe in the summer,
so you just want to be able to speak a certain amount by that trip.
But writing down your goal with a deadline is powerful, very powerful.
And then, so you want a deadline, you want to write it down,
and you want to have measurable goals before your deadline.
So if your deadline is summer, you want to have something before summer.
Otherwise, you know, the progress probably won't be there.
I see.
So, for example, we could do something like a small measurable goal each month.
Okay, for example.
So, for example, these days, in the past, I would do, I'd want to speak a certain amount of time per month.
So that's quite a nice way to do it. That's one way to attack a goal.
Another way is to talk about how much progress you want to make.
So, for example, I want to finish 15 lessons or 10 lessons this month.
And in those 10 lessons, there's a total of 60 vocabulary words.
I want to remember these 60 vocabulary words.
And I want to do 10 AI practice sessions inside of this.
So, by doing the 10 lessons and getting everything out of them, listening to them,
practicing with them, memorizing everything into them,
this is another powerful way for you to progress and measure your progress.
And you know if you don't finish 10 by the end of the month, you're behind.
I see. Yeah, I think it's a very good goal.
It's small, so it doesn't overwhelm you, and it's measurable, so you know you can reach it or not.
And you set the monthly goals, right?
You set 15 lessons by the end of the month. That means there will be another goal next month.
So, Keiji, now you're going to be doing Japanese, right?
Yes.
How many languages have you studied?
I studied English. After that, I studied Japanese and French.
Just three. I know you studied many languages, so to you, it's only three.
Yeah, but your results are much better than mine, so it's good to do a small amount, but well.
Well, I tried.
I do a wide amount, but not so well.
It's actually good, yeah.
I was actually looking back on my results, and the results are not that good.
I'm not crushing my results like you are.
What was your goal? Your goal was to reach 30 minutes conversation.
Yeah, these were a little different, and then remember we had the French goal, which I couldn't achieve.
Yeah, and also you tried for a year, right?
Yeah.
My goal is usually the same for every year, so same language for many years.
This is interesting. The reason I bring this up is, first let me ask you, will your strategy change this year?
Maybe you can give people an idea of what your first month of language learning with Japanese is.
You're currently studying Japanese now, right?
I am not. I haven't studied Japanese for many, many, many years.
I don't think I've studied Japanese more than five, six, seven years.
Okay, but you're currently using Japanese.
Yes, and I feel I always use the same expressions.
I don't use advanced words, or I always use the same structures.
Also, there are better ways to express, but I don't write it down and try to memorize, so I feel I don't improve. I feel like I've stopped.
Would you say though your Japanese is staying the same at a high level, slightly improving each day, or slightly getting worse each day?
At least it's not getting worse, but it's not getting better.
It's the same.
And your Japanese is higher intermediate, upper intermediate, or advanced?
I don't think it's advanced.
Okay, so when you restart this Japanese, is there anything you're going to try different now?
First, I will actually start studying, because I don't study right now.
And the second thing is I also want to take some course.
So if you say differently, I think it's the same as what I have done, because that's my favorite way, and I know that that always works.
So when you say course, would this be an in-person course?
Yes.
Okay, so you'll do online plus in-person?
Yes, it could be online too, but I just want to have a conversation one-on-one.
Okay, so maybe you can create this kind of go through what we did, like we'll do an assessment, and then we will try to tell us where this fits in your calendar, what you were doing before, and what got replaced.
Okay, yeah, I'll try the assessment.
And then lastly, we could try the how, right?
And then, so would you have a goal for this first month?
First month, well...
Just doing those three things can be a very good goal, that assessment.
Assessment, sure.
Yeah, I'll do the assessment, and I want to start learning from our pathway.
I want to choose it.
First, I need to take the assessment to know if I need to take level three or level four, but yeah, I want to start learning, taking the lessons from our pathway.
Okay, and you'll take a course.
Okay, excellent.
Exciting.
I'll do the same for Chinese.
I think that assessment step is very, very important.
First, seeing your language skill, what's left and whatnot.
Similarly, as I mentioned, I study Chinese once a week.
I have a lot of ingrained mistakes, mistakes I constantly make and lack of vocabulary, but I'm able to talk to my teacher about kind of topics that I want to.
So I would say intermediate or up intermediate.
So I'll do this assessment, test where I am, followed by where it can fit in my schedule, and then how I like to learn.
So what new tools are out there that I want to incorporate into my learning?
And also, I want to try one more thing, and I want your opinion on this.
So what do you like about your course?
You want to do a course in person.
I will do an online teacher with my tutor.
What do you like about a course, an in-person course?
Oh, why do I like the 101 course?
What do you like about an in-person course?
In-person.
You mentioned that you're going to do an in-person.
Well, then it was my mistake.
I'm sorry.
Like 101.
Well, in-person is great, actually, but I find it difficult to find a teacher.
Yeah, so it's easier if I meet online.
Okay, but online, you're still going to have an online component?
Yes, one-on-one teacher.
One-on-one teacher, okay.
But actually, in-person is very nice.
Yes, yes, yes.
A tutor, right?
So what's one of the benefits of a tutor?
Or a few benefits?
Yes, I can maximize my speaking time.
So when I go to the class, actually, during one hour, I think I only speak about like
five minutes or ten minutes.
Most of the time, the teacher speaks or the other students speak.
We have to share the speaking time.
But then with a teacher, I can maximize my speaking time.
I can ask any questions I have.
And there are certain things that I really want to learn this time.
So hopefully, yeah, I can make good use of these one-on-one classes.
So yeah, I think the teacher is good for motivation.
I think the teacher is very, very, makes learning more fun.
So it's motivational.
There's another element called accountability, right?
Showing up for that class, right?
Yes.
But unfortunately, a teacher's job is to teach.
Yes.
And that's their main job, right?
Some teachers are very good at accountability.
And accountability is part of their job, but it's not their main job.
Right.
So this time, I'm going to try a coach.
Okay, coach.
Yes, a success coach.
Okay.
And fundamentally, what the success coach is helping me to do is to stay on track.
How do they do that?
They make a plan for you, and if you don't do that, they call you and say,
Peter, why didn't you do that?
Pretty much, yes.
Really?
Yes, yes.
Exactly like this.
Really?
It was a half joke, but okay.
Yeah.
I mean, if you think back to school, one of the biggest things about school,
the benefit of school, is the accountability.
You have to show up or you get marked absent, and they call your parents.
You have to do well, and if you don't do well, you're going to get grades,
and then your parents will say, there's an accountability system.
Yes.
And a lot of times later in life, because we're professionals and we're paying
for things, that element is very hard to enforce.
Someone, if they're, okay, I'm not making progress, I'm too busy for this,
I'm not going to cut my subscription.
I'll study more later.
I do this so often.
Hey, I can't make the class today, I'm so sorry.
I'll study more next week.
Yeah, it happened to me too sometimes.
I'm tired, I skip today.
Yeah.
So this accountability, though, is probably the most, let's summarize like this,
helping me stick to my routine.
Interesting.
Learning language is not easy.
It's not easy.
And it's a function of time.
If you want to speak a certain amount, you've got to put in a certain amount of hours.
If you want to have success in the gym, you have to put in a certain amount of hours.
So these are the kind of really important things that sometimes get lost.
Because we're adults now, no one, you can't hold me accountable in a whole lot of ways.
It's hard to hold the paying customer accountable.
However, in order to have the success people want, that's where a coach can really come in.
So a coach is going to help me stick to the schedule.
They're going to give me tips and advice on learning faster.
And they're going to help me reach my monthly goals, which should translate into reaching all my goals.
Yeah.
So are you going to share their tips during our Inner Circle 2?
Of course.
Wow, I'm looking forward to it.
That's awesome.
So the interesting thing about Coaches 2 is that they're not specific to a language, right?
That's more of your teacher's job.
It's like, well, here, there, so that.
And I think there is a lot of...
You could probably, like, if you're studying Japanese and you have a Japanese expert coach, it might help.
But it could also kind of harm you because they probably, the way they learned, right, might not be the way you learn.
So they may or may not factor that in.
But I think the real benefit here is helping you stick to the routine, helping you make sure you reach the goals you say you are.
Making sure your progress is going.
Yes.
And if you don't do your progress, reaching out and saying, hello, you got a deadline coming up, make sure you get your work done before that.
Wow.
What do you think, AJ?
That's very interesting.
And I think, I think that will be very helpful for you.
I thought it was for us.
Like, you don't want the coach?
Am I getting one too?
Well, I think that's my point is that I don't think, I think my theory is probably like if you had a Japanese specific coach,
it'd probably be a little more beneficial to you.
But I think for, in general, but for practical purposes, I think a success coach, a language coach can be very, very effective.
Yeah.
I'm so happy to hear that.
I thought that's only for you.
And I was like, wow, I envy you.
I'm jealous.
But then, me too.
Sure.
So shall we try?
Yes.
Yes, please.
OK.
All right.
So here we go.
So I think we have a pretty good plan.
Get everyone our assessments, get everyone our plans, and then start on our ways.
Pick a course and then start on our ways.
And we can see how the coach helps us.
Yeah.
OK.
I have a question, very quick question.
So for our viewers, what kind of goal would you suggest?
So I think they should follow along with what we had, we've spoken about today.
Assessment.
Assessment for your language level.
Assess your current daily routines.
Figure out where you are in life and how language learning can fit into your busy life.
And finally, figure out how you like to learn.
Yes.
Watch some videos, listen to some podcasts, use the apps, check other things.
Figure out what really motivates you.
Once you have all this information, then you're going to apply it to figure out what goal you want to achieve.
Yes.
And the goal should be small and measurable.
And you should set the goal monthly.
I think Keijin's goal is quite advanced in taking a test.
So your goal could be simply doing five lessons for the month, complete lessons.
Your goal could be speaking with your tutor for more than 50% of the lesson.
And again, if you measure for the first time, if you have a tutor and you measure for the first time,
I only speak 10% of the class, then maybe your next goal is 15%.
And then each time, small and measurable, you can measure these goals.
And for everyone watching, let us know what your small, measurable monthly goal is.
Email us at inner.circle at innovativelanguage.com.
Bye, everyone.
Thanks for watching and see you next time.

Comments

Hide