Learn Languages with Steve Kaufmann

Some of my best language learning material came from a random book I pulled off my library shelf. A history of Portugal, a book about Prague, a Swedish novel. A little Portuguese here, a little Czech there, a little...

Someone told me they can speak their second language but cannot understand what people say back to them. I know this one well, because my wife can hold a social conversation in French and Spanish while missing most of...

I meet a lot of people who tell me, almost with pride, that they understand a language well but can't speak it. Usually two things are going on. Their comprehension isn't as broad as they believe, because they only...

When I start reading in a new language, I accept that I am not going to understand most of it. My brother compared it to mowing a lawn: if the grass is high, you set the blades high on the first pass and lower them the...

Spanish is spoken across three continents, and learners worry constantly about picking the wrong version. But compared to English or Portuguese, the variation is surprisingly small. The vowels stay consistent whether...

I have somewhere between 60 and 70 shelves of books in this house, well over a thousand of them, in several languages, and I have finally started cataloguing the lot. Going through them reminded me why paper still...

I was with some Canadians recently who all agreed that French would help them professionally. Within a few minutes I had heard three reasons why they hadn't learned it: I can read but I can't speak, the Montreal accent...

Reading is a huge part of how I learn languages, but it is not equally easy in every language. In Spanish or Turkish I can sound out almost any word the first time I see it. In Arabic and Persian I often cannot, so I...

Friction is what reduces our enjoyment of language learning, so in this video I go through the nine forms it takes and what I do about each one.

Should you focus on words or grammar? Here's how I approach grammar as an input-based learner, and why most corrections never stick.

In this video I'll you how I'm getting ready for my trip to Portugal by using point-of-view stories, circling questions, and AI to create custom lessons.

Today I want to talk about the fifth language skill — the one nobody teaches alongside reading, writing, speaking, and listening, and the one that might matter just as much.

Today I want to talk about the state of flow — that feeling of being completely absorbed in what you're doing — and how you can use it to become a better language learner.

Vocabulary is the clearest measure of your level in any language, so here is how I acquire and review words, and why I skip most of the popular methods.

At 80, I'm still learning languages every day, and I'm convinced it does more for your brain than any Sudoku puzzle ever could.