WEBVTT

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My story starts in Moscow.

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I was 15 years old.

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My best friend and I, we were part
of a group of Westerners,

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visiting the Soviet Union.

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This was in 1987,

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a few years before the fall
of the communist regime.

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We were given an official tour guide
who was assigned to us.

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And the tour would start in the morning,

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and we were checked in
to our hotel rooms for the night.

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My friend said to me,
''Let's go outside and look at the city.''

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I thought it was a great idea.

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Dumb idea.

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So we grabbed our coats, and we snuck out
past security and into the street.

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We found the entrance to the metro.

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The Moscow underground transportation
system is the deepest one in the world.

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The ride down the escalator
took a full minute.

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Once we were down there,
my friend headed right to an open train,

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and I pulled him back and said, "Wait!

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Let's write down the name of the station
so we can find our way back."

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So I had a notepad, and I took a notepad,

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and I wrote down
the letters of the station,

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and we hopped down the train
and went on train hopping.

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And that was fun because -

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Well, actually, it was weird.

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There were a lot of people,
probably all coming home from work.

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They were all dressed
in brown and gray clothes,

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and it looked very, very different
from what we were used to at home.

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But the stations were lovely.

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There were stations with statues,
with paintings on the wall,

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and glass displays.

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It was really like museums.

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We would never have expected that.

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And everything was perfectly clean.

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Well,

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what was weird though is that the people -
nobody seemed to speak,

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and everyone seemed to be looking at us
and it kind of weirded us out.

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So after about 20-30 minutes,

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we'd had enough
and we wanted to go home.

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I showed my note to someone
and they directed me over there.

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Then over there, I showed my note
to another person,

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and they directed us to the other way.

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And then a third person
directed us sideways.

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That was a little confusing.

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Aw, then I saw it.

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Over the stairs, the sign.

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It turned out I had written down
the Russian word for "Exit."

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(Laughter)

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So we headed upstairs and we found a taxi.

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That was great.

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And we told the driver,
you know, "Intourist Hotel,"

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and then he was willing to take us.

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And I remember sitting
next to the driver, handing him 50 rubles.

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And he looked at me and he said,

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(Russian) No, dollar!

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(Laughter)

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Fifty dollars?

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That was like I don't know
20 times that amount or something.

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That was not an option for us.

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So we had to get out of the taxi,

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and he drove away,
leaving us standing there.

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It was a cold night,

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and you know everything
was strange for us,

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and we were teenagers,

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and we were pretty nervous,
didn't know what to do.

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Well, we started walking.

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We walked to the end of the block.

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We turned the corner.

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And 200 yards in front of us,
the Intourist Hotel.

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(Laughter)

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Well, this experience
affected me in two ways.

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The first is that anytime after this trip
that I would hear anyone speak Russian,

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I was just cringe.

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(Laughter)

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And the second one is that
it taught me the importance

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of understanding the local language
when you're traveling.

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And it actually led to me learning
another four languages fluently

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over the following years.

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Now, before I go on,
I'd like to know in the audience -

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Can we have a little bit of light
maybe in the audience?

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I'd just like to know who's -

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By a show of hands,
who is not a native English speaker?

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It must be 99%.

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(Laughter)

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Anyone who doesn't speak
English, stand up!

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(Laughter)

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Alright, so I can assume

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all of you have, you know, gone through
the process of learning a language.

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Anybody who speaks
three or more languages?

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Wow, that's maybe 70%.

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Four or more languages, anyone?

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That's still quite a bit.

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Anyone speak five or more languages?

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Wow, come see me during the break.

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(Laughter)

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To me, learning a language is...

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For me, it's like a deck of playing cards
lying faced down on the table.

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As you start learning and understanding,
the cards start opening up for you.

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Now there's no standard way
of classifying this.

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But as you learn,
you reach certain milestones.

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And the first one would be
when about 25% of the cards are turned up,

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you reach like a basic level.

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At this level, you have a base
vocabulary, some grammar,

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and you're able to have
maybe very simple conversations

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and communicate a little bit.

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And your study goes on until you reach
this magical point of fluency,

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what we call being fluent in the language.

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Now what does it mean,
being fluent in a language?

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It means that you've turned up
more than 50% of the cards in the deck,

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and that is the point where you have -

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where the language
becomes part of your subconscious

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so that even if you don't use it anymore
for 10 years or longer,

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you will not forget it.

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You can get back into it
within a very, very short time.

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So this is a level where you're
comfortable thinking in a language,

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and comfortable
communicating in a language.

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Now, some people go on
and, you know, reach like a mastery level.

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By that time, you know classic literature
in the other language

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and have maybe in-depth knowledge
of specialized fields.

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That's often the point taken in academia.

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For me, when I learned
my first foreign language,

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I had a head start

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because I was born to a German-speaking
mother and an American father.

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Now, when I was a baby,
I didn't really understand

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that what my parents were speaking to me
were two separate languages.

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But by the time I was two years old,
I had figured it all out.

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Women speak only German.

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(Laughter)

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Men only speak English.

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(Laughter)

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Imagine the fun my parents had
when they introduced me to couples.

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(Laughter)

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Being a bilingual was actually pretty
helpful in learning my first language.

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It definitely helped.

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If you're -

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But it also gave me something else.

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It gave me two identities and the ability
to switch between them.

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When you're a native speaker
of more than one language,

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then your personality, your humor,
your value system,

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they change as you switch languages.

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This can have huge advantages.

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I mean, some studies have shown
an increased problem-solving ability

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or even a higher resistance
to Alzheimer's disease.

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But what I'm almost interested in

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is that it's actually given me
a lot of social benefits.

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When you're a native speaker,

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then you feel at home
among native speakers or in a culture,

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and also native speakers
accept you as one of theirs.

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Now is this only relevant
to native speakers?

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And that's the big question.

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But wouldn't it be cool

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if a person learning a foreign language
could actually develop another identity

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and actually enjoy the social benefits
of a native speaker

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that go beyond communication skills?

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Well, that's what happened to me.

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I was able to do that,

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and I want to show you from my experience
how I think this can be achieved.

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So if we say this green area here
is the level of the native speaker,

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the first thing to note is
that on your way to reaching fluency,

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there is not really any shortcut.

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There are some methods that you can use
such as the Burrito Principle

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where you identify 20%
of the most effective materials to study.

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There are some apps,
like stuff for time-spaced learning,

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that increase vocabulary retention.

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They save a little time,

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but in the end, there's no way around
working with the material, practicing it,

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until you reach the fluency level.

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But the second thing to note

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is that going from fluency to mastery
is a much slower process,

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and it requires
proportionally more effort.

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That's why most people -
they just stop at fluency.

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They know how to speak
English, good enough,

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and they don't even attempt to venture on,

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and I can understand it.

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But the good news is,

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to get the benefits of a native speaker,
at a native-speaker level,

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you don't have to go through mastery
in the academic sense.

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In fact, you can skip
this step altogether.

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So if you think about it,

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there are many native speakers
do not have an in-depth knowledge

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of specialized fields
or sophisticated vocabulary.

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So, that's not really what is required.

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So how do you do it? What is required?

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Well,

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I want to give you three areas to focus on

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when you're learning
and interacting with native speakers.

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The first is: work
on eliminating your accent.

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I'm aware I said eliminating.

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It should be at least minimizing it.

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This is, in my opinion,
the most overlooked aspect

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of language learning today,

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but it's also the most important one

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to reach what I call a native-speaker
level or a speaker-like level.

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If you communicate without an accent
or almost without an accent,

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this changes how natives behave
towards you unconsciously,

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and it also gives you an ability
to adapt to a new self-image.

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The best way that I've found -

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the best exercise I've found
to improve your pronunciation

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is what I call the
perfect-sentence technique.

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What you do is you find
a native speaker to help you,

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and you take a book
in the foreign language,

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you open it at a random page,

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and you read the first sentence.

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Then, you ask a native speaker to rate you

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on obvious accent,
slight accent, no accent.

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Then the native speaker
will read this sentence back to you.

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You have to listen carefully
and then you repeat.

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And you repeat this process over and over
until the native speaker tells you

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that he can no longer hear an accent
when you read the sentence.

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Now, I realize it can take
a very long time

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even just to get one sentence right.

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But I promise you

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if you are persistent,
and if you patiently work on this,

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you'll be amazed
by what happens to your accent.

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The second area to focus on is using verbs
and expressions that locals use.

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Now, we all know the situation
that vocabulary can be region-specific.

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Like, in the US, you use "stand in line."

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In the UK, you "queue."

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That's all good.

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But sometimes,
the spoken word is so different,

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the speech is so different
from what you get in textbooks,

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that the books are almost useless
if you want to converse with natives.

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I want to give you an example.

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In the French language,
there are words like "le travail,"

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which is "my work."

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A French person talking to his friend
would probably say "mon boulot,"

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which is a completely different word.

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The same for "the clothes,"
"le vestments,"

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but you'll hear "le fringues."

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Or money is "l'argent,"

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but people say "le fric," "le sou,"
or many other expressions for this.

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So, obviously I'm only scratching
the surface here.

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But here you actually have to learn all
of these words and expressions one by one.

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And of course, you have to interact
with natives to do that.

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But after you reach a critical mass
that you're comfortable with,

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it'll actually be easier
when you encounter something new.

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You'll just pick it up in one go,
like native speakers would,

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who hear words or expressions
that they didn't know before.

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The third area to work on
is adopting cultural traits.

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What do I mean by that?

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So let me ask you:

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what does this gesture mean to you?

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Any Italians here?

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(Laughter)

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OK, now, depending
on what culture you're from,

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this could mean something rude,

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or it could just mean
it's something incredulous,

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like, "Why did you do that?"

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Or, "How could you?"

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Or it could just be
signaling food, "Give me food!"

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Interesting!

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In the Middle East,

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this is just a standard way
of signaling "Please, wait!"

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So these kind of traits
you have to internalize,

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and sometimes, they're hard to spot,

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and it takes a lot of active listening.

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I want to give you a few more examples.

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So imagine I am with three of my friends:
an American, a German, and a Frenchman.

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And, like, we're walking and maybe
the American bumps his head,

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and his initial reaction might be, "Ouch!"

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That's how you say it in English.

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But the German that, you know,
gets, I don't know, elbowed in the crowd,

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he would say, "Ow-ah!"

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(Laughter)

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And the French person
might step on the nail and say, "Ay!"

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(Laughter)

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So this, of course,
in your target language,

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this is something you
have to observe and also internalize,

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and it has to become part of you.

00:14:08.306 --> 00:14:09.377
If...

00:14:10.214 --> 00:14:12.832
Again I'm with these three friends,
and I sit with them,

00:14:12.842 --> 00:14:14.335
and let's say I serve them tea,

00:14:14.355 --> 00:14:18.520
and I ask the American,
"Would you like a biscuit with your tea?"

00:14:18.531 --> 00:14:21.477
And if he answers in the affirmative,
he might say, "Uh-huh!"

00:14:22.040 --> 00:14:24.765
And I can ask the German,
"Do you know what tea this is?"

00:14:24.790 --> 00:14:25.901
He'll say, ''Mm- hmm!''

00:14:27.215 --> 00:14:30.943
And then I ask the Frenchman,
"Do you like this?"

00:14:30.968 --> 00:14:31.975
He'll say, "Hmm!"

00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:33.140
(Laughter)

00:14:33.160 --> 00:14:37.713
So these difference,
they really require active listening.

00:14:39.062 --> 00:14:42.591
So all of these three things
that I told you

00:14:42.611 --> 00:14:44.061
which is pronunciation,

00:14:46.189 --> 00:14:49.697
and colloquial speech
and adopting cultural traits,

00:14:50.453 --> 00:14:54.994
they all require that you interact
with natives as much as possible.

00:14:55.486 --> 00:14:58.454
Ideally, you should
fully immerse yourself in the culture.

00:14:58.530 --> 00:15:02.022
Now if you have the chance to live abroad
for a while, that will be great.

00:15:02.047 --> 00:15:04.598
Or maybe live among natives
in your hometown.

00:15:04.974 --> 00:15:07.388
Perhaps just have a romantic relationship,

00:15:07.421 --> 00:15:10.970
or even just spend time,
you know, with co-workers.

00:15:10.995 --> 00:15:13.998
So, romantic relationships,
I could do a whole talk about that.

00:15:14.023 --> 00:15:15.023
(Laughter)

00:15:15.042 --> 00:15:18.412
That works really well for these things.

00:15:18.442 --> 00:15:19.906
But yeah -

00:15:19.926 --> 00:15:22.676
So this will be different
for everybody, of course.

00:15:25.046 --> 00:15:28.578
But even when you're not around natives,
your learning must not stop.

00:15:29.459 --> 00:15:32.601
Because what you can do
is you can watch TV shows and films,

00:15:32.626 --> 00:15:34.211
you can mimic the characters,

00:15:34.229 --> 00:15:37.010
you can write down anything
that you haven't heard of before,

00:15:37.032 --> 00:15:39.150
and practice that.

00:15:39.697 --> 00:15:44.297
I also want to encourage you
to learn the lyrics of songs.

00:15:44.322 --> 00:15:46.694
Songs are really great
because they tell stories.

00:15:46.714 --> 00:15:50.812
And they not only help your
pronunciation when you sing them,

00:15:50.822 --> 00:15:52.653
but if they're emotional,

00:15:52.673 --> 00:15:55.620
they can anchor these expressions
into your active vocabulary.

00:15:55.650 --> 00:15:59.367
And it's like speaking all day and really
using the expressions unconsciously.

00:15:59.377 --> 00:16:00.379
It's a great way.

00:16:00.409 --> 00:16:01.856
So music, definitely.

00:16:02.477 --> 00:16:06.561
The other thing you need
to move towards native-speaker status

00:16:06.586 --> 00:16:08.508
is the right mindset,

00:16:09.261 --> 00:16:13.080
and a belief that
if you sound like a native,

00:16:13.092 --> 00:16:14.819
express yourself like a native,

00:16:14.844 --> 00:16:16.992
talk like a native and act like a native,

00:16:17.473 --> 00:16:20.876
you'll actually achieve
a native-like level.

00:16:24.381 --> 00:16:28.243
So if I could only leave you
with one thing today,

00:16:28.268 --> 00:16:30.920
it would be: work on your pronunciation.

00:16:30.945 --> 00:16:32.857
Because pronunciation

00:16:34.946 --> 00:16:37.536
helps any stage of the learning process,

00:16:37.556 --> 00:16:38.884
even in the very beginning.

00:16:38.904 --> 00:16:40.279
It'll speed up everything.

00:16:40.764 --> 00:16:45.955
And it also is the key
to reaching a native-speaker level,

00:16:46.421 --> 00:16:48.780
or almost-native-speaker status.

00:16:49.628 --> 00:16:51.417
So before I go,

00:16:51.437 --> 00:16:56.281
I'd like to tell you how I was able to
overcome my fear of the Russian language.

00:16:56.894 --> 00:16:59.385
It was a very, very elegant solution.

00:16:59.884 --> 00:17:01.388
I married a Russian girl.

00:17:01.413 --> 00:17:02.515
(Laughter)

00:17:02.538 --> 00:17:05.999
And I now have little kids in my home
that speak Russian to me every day.

00:17:06.023 --> 00:17:07.055
(Laughter)

00:17:07.844 --> 00:17:09.483
So I want to thank you.

00:17:09.508 --> 00:17:10.508
(Applause)

00:17:10.532 --> 00:17:13.388
And before I go, I just want to wish you

00:17:13.418 --> 00:17:16.304
(Spanish) A lot of success
with your language studies.

00:17:16.462 --> 00:17:19.550
(French) It was a pleasure
to present for you today.

00:17:20.064 --> 00:17:22.887
(Hebrew) I wish you lots of success
with your studies.

00:17:23.641 --> 00:17:25.313
(Yiddish) Thank you for listening.

00:17:25.338 --> 00:17:26.646
Good luck to you all and...

00:17:26.672 --> 00:17:27.924
(Russian) Thank you.

00:17:27.948 --> 00:17:30.440
(Applause)