A brief description of LingQ

I was just playing around with trying to explain LingQ, what it represents. Here is some doodling. I would appreciate any comments.

For most of human history, people have learned each other's languages without going to school, as people from one small tribe interacted with people from another small tribe.

To learn languages people mostly listened to each other and imitated each other. This went on for over one hundred thousand years.

Our brains kind of got used to hearing words and phrases, noticing certain patterns, and figuring out what it all meant. That is how we learned languages.

Things started to change with the invention of writing.

Writing made it possible to record what was said. That way some people could learn languages by reading, as well as by listening. But that was quite recent, maybe in the 11th hour of our existence as humans.

The invention of printing was even more recent, and it helped spread the written word. But for most people around the world, things did not change. Most people could not read until the previous century.

Our brains remained basically programmed to learn languages by listening, noticing and imitating, and that has not changed.

Somewhere along the line governments decided that everyone should go to school and read text books. Soon people thought that learning only took place in classrooms.

Gradually our view of language learning changed. School teachers, text book publishers, and linguistics theorists took over.

We stopped listening to the languages we wanted to learn. We started listening to teachers and other learners in the classroom  We started doing a lot of tests and exercizes. To a large extent we stopped learning other languages.

But our brains did not change. We still basically need to listen to a language, read it, notice it, and imitate it, in order to learn it.

Fortunately things are changing again, and fast. We are headed back to our roots, but on a global scale. We are once again going to be able to learn languages the way the brain is used to learning, by interacting with other languages, listening, reading and noticing.

The iPod, the Internet, social networking, mobile computing, and perhaps other developments we are as yet unaware of, are removing the barriers of distance and location. There is an explosion of language to listen to, read and imitate on the web. We can download it, share it, exchange it, and take it with us.

We have a chance to connect like never before, with other people and other languages. Maybe not like never before. Maybe, in some ways, like it used to be, tens of thousands of years ago.

This is the kind of language learning power that LingQ offers. Give it a try. You will find libraries of interesting things to listen to and read. You will find efficient learning functions that will help you notice the words and phrases you need, and eventually ensure you remember them.

And, best of all, you will meet friendly people,  to talk to in the languages you want to learn, and who want to talk to you in your language.

Comments

[John Fotheringham]

Well said, sir! I will add a link to this post in my review of LingQ on Foreign Language Mastery.

[Ramses]

Wow, this isn't just great as an introduction, but also as a reason why you should never go to school to learn a language. A really nice piece of text, Steve!

[James]

Wonderful Steve, just Wonderful! I had images popping into my head of the LingQ feature-length film trailer. Perhaps the thing to do now is to make a 'Michael Moore' style documentary exposing the lack of common sense applied to language learning in schools. It is after all as you often point out, a very important political issue.

[James]

In fact, why not make a short film where you interview people who have had great success with LingQ? If you put that on the front page I'm sure it would encourage more people to try it and others to persist more with using LingQ as it's intended to be used.

You should definitely get that description translated into other languages too. If my Korean girlfriend read that I'm sure it would kick start her enthusiasm in using LingQ for her English. Something needs to!

[ed]

Fantastic Steve!

[CommodoreV]

Great post, Mr. Kaufman! In language learning, like in many areas of intellectual study today, we have abandoned commonsensical principles in favor of a more "pragmatic" methodology. We are told by the intellectuals that multilingualism is impossible, impractical, and too complex, and most of us, unfortunately, buy into it. These are the "complexity-worshipers," a term I borrow from Ayn Rand, who have forgotten that the truly practical is the simple, yet principled approach. Yes, there is tough grammar, difficult sentence structures, and pronunciation issues, but how much easier it would be if you went in with a strategy and a straight-forward way of meeting these obstacles. I think that is just what you are doing with your program LingQ. You take a simple, yet principled approach, and watch as the results just compound and multiply. Great post Mr.Kaufman!

[reineke]

I don't like it. It's too long and full of difficult words and concepts. It hurts my head. And where's the audio?

[Steve Kaufmann]

I will refine this and then make a video in a variety of languages.

Yes I could interview people about their experiences at LingQ, or maybe we can ask our members to make short videos in their own language, and in English, about their experiences at LingQ.

[israel]

Incredible analysis! Now that I'm learning thanks to Lingq I can't understand why people put limits themselves in learning new languages. Like it's used to say here in Spain: "la gente está obsesionada con la 'titulitis' " which means that people are obsessed in achieving only officials degrees and not in practical and useful learning.

israel.