Episode 176
50 Years, 17 Languages with Steve Kaufmann
March 23rd, 2020
1 hr 12 mins 5 secs
Your Host
Special Guest
About this Episode
"In languages, when you want to learn, you learn."
Steve Kaufmann is a language learner from Canada who has studied over 17 languages so far. He is an advocate of reading in other languages, even from the start...and turns out this is something he did even back in the 60s.
I've met Steve in person a few times at events like the Polyglot Gathering and Langfest, and he is ALWAYS full of energy and excitement about the opportunity of learning another language.
"It's all about getting your brain used to reading and hearing the new language."
What I loved most about this interview is the sheer enthusiasm that Steve brings to the topic of language learning. It's evident that he loves to learn and enjoys access to every single new word that he can get.
Steve's attitude is something that I have heard from polyglots and language lovers very often: He approaches languages fearlessly, saying that it doesn't worry about whether he can do it. Anything that he can't figure out, he'll get there eventually.
"Some people wanna learn it NOW, but they can't learn it now."
This level of trust and self-confidence was so much fun to witness in the interview -- listen out to how Steve discusses mistakes and slow learning, emphasizing that immediate progress is not part of language learning. His advice? Have a positive attitude and be grateful about what you can do now.
Check out LingQ
Steve is the co-founder of language learning app LingQ, and they're currently sponsoring this show. So if you enjoy his attitude, check it out today and learn a language with LingQ for free at www.fluentlanguage.co.uk/readmore.
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