
Deutsch Lernen wie Kinder: (04’ 30” - 07’ 56”);
Quiz by Chris Gomez
Tag the questions with any skills you have. Your dashboard will track each student's mastery of each skill.
if you learn 'Apfel' to mean 'apple' as an adult
you're essentially creating a detour in your brain
because the impulse then has to travel through your native language first
you're forcing the impulse through the language centre of your native language
before it's allowed into German
this takes time and leads to that typical stuttering
principle four is the sheer amount of repetition through complete immersion
and the fifth is the strongest neurological principle: the emotional connection
do you have an example from the sources?
take the word 'hot'; a child doesn't learn that from a book
she learns it the moment they accidentally touch a hot cup
... gets extremely frightened, and her mother shouts 'HOT!'
I assume that adrenaline is released then
and this neurochemical reaction literally burns the word indelibly into the synapses
if you break it down like that, the thought naturally arises …
we don't stand a chance as adults anyway
how did you come to that conclusion?
we don't have parents to look after us all the time
we have to work
and we're no longer discovering the world for the first time
we might as well just give up
that's the fundamental misconception that holds so many people back
the research in our sources clearly shows
that adults theoretically learn significantly faster than children
we have a head start — a huge one, in fact!
we already possess a complete understanding of the world
we already know all the concepts
a child first has to grasp the abstract concept of time —
of future and past — before they can even apply the grammar to it
as an adult, I already know what the past is
I know what taxes are, what melancholy means
you don't have to learn new concepts
you just have to put new labels on existing ones
so we're using our tools incorrectly
if we combine our capacity for conscious learning with the childlike principles of immersion ...
we have a tremendous neurological advantage
we only get in our own way because of our adult mental blocks
now, I have to play devil's advocate for a moment
in theory, that sounds incredibly liberating
just let go of your ego and make mistakes
but let's look at the reality of our listeners
imagine you're a project manager or a doctor
you're sitting in a meeting and being judged on your competence
this is an extremely typical situation
if you start spouting off incomplete sentences like a three-year-old …
you’ll come across as unprofessional
for adults, deliberately being imperfect is a real threat
and that's the crux of the problem
perfectionism is the absolute archenemy of the adult language learner
because it blocks progress in these stressful situations
something very physical happens
our brain releases cortisol — the stress hormone —
and cortisol has been proven to block the hippocampus
which is responsible for memory
it's what retrieves vocabulary
your fear of appearing stupid literally prevents you from remembering the words
in other words, the fear creates the very problem you're afraid of