This is an incredible story my friend. You'll want to pay
attention. You see this bottle here? It's a chemical formula but like no other.
People don't want you to know the truth about what lies inside. Big business,
pharmaceutical companies and governments around the world are trying to suppress it
because, if the truth ever got out they would lose billions and there would be riots in the streets.
It changed my life and it can change yours too. It's been around for a long time it goes
by various names; 'the elixir,' 'the formula,' 'the serum,' let's just call it 'the potion.'
What's it made of? I can't tell you that but it's organic, 100 organic.
Where did I get it? Well, a friend told me about it and kindly sent me a link to a website
where I purchased it for a reasonable price. It arrived the next day. Quite convenient actually.
Wait till you hear what it does: It cures headaches, toothaches, backaches,
pains, sprains and migraines, it's your gain. Sore throats, bunions bad breath,
sciatica take it for sleepless nights and animal bites it cures gonorrhea and diarrhea
it's a panacea men rub it on your head if you're going bald you'll feel young if you're getting old
if you're blind it'll make you see if you can't go to the toilet it'll make you pee
if you're crippled it'll help you walk if you're shy it'll make you talk just add a few drops to
your coffee or tea and you'll be irresistible to men and women you'll see it'll help you lose
weight and win friends business problems you'll make money I'm not joking this is not funny.
Are you ready to try it? And what does it cost?
The price well normally it costs a thousand US dollars but at the moment you get
a 90% discount. Yes that's right! Only a hundred dollars but only for a limited period the clock
is ticking. Can't you hear it? So buy now or you'll miss out on the bargain of the century.
Who's buying? Let's see the colour of your money. We accept credit cards, debit cards,
paypal, bank transfers don't worry my friends if you've got money we'll take it
Listen to Zeitgeist Banana our podcast all about the English language you can find it on youtube
and all good podcast platforms.
Greetings grammarians and welcome to letThemTalkTV. You know there's never been a better time to learn English.
You've got so many resources at your fingertips.
Loads of great teachers on youtube teaching English for free as well as some excellent
paid resources. You've got books, you've got online courses, you've got apps and this video is
about the best practices for learning English or another language, I guess but I also want to talk
about briefly a number of, shall we say, dubious methods that have been brought to my attention
and these methods are advertised all over the internet these are fake methods
and they are after your money so I just wanted to warn you about that. These people know little
or nothing about teaching what they do know is marketing sales and a touch of psychology and
let me show you how you can recognize these fake methods so you don't waste your money and you can
use your time on the good methods and I'll come to in a second my top tips for learning English.
First of all they have fictitious claims and unbelievable promises such as
learn English without grammar, learn English without effort, learn English without study,
learn English in just 20 minutes a day. Basically they say what you want to hear.
I'm afraid, that the truth is, you're going to have to study you're going to have to work hard
and yes learn some grammar but the good news is that if you do it right you'll enjoy it.
Avoid schemes that are fronted by a charismatic leader who claims to have invented an
incredible method with a genuine method it's about YOU it's not about them
this leader usually has an origin story and goes something like this ;one day I was learning
English, Spanish whatever and the teacher was giving us verb tables to memorize
and these lessons were a waste of time and then I left the class and I thought,
no, we don't need grammar to learn a language, a baby doesn't learn grammar and kids are fluent.'
And they might speak the language they're learning pretty well but probably, in reality,
they learnt the language in the traditional way but that doesn't fit in with the narrative so
that's why they have this ridiculous story. Avoid methods with acronyms or names such as the BIGWIG
method the XYZ method the John Thomas method the WALOB method this is to give some kind of
pseudo science to their ineffective method. Avoid methods with extraordinary testimonials ;for years
I've been studying traditional methods but then I tried the WALOB method and it's been a revelation
for me now, at long last, I can express myself confidently in English.' Beware of the pseudo
religious terms like 'a revelation' this is to give what marketers call 'social proof' but they
are often fake testimonials. There is usually a bit of psychology 'you failed in the past because
you've had the wrong mental attitude, we can fix that.' Then comes lots of platitudes like 'you
don't learn a language, you acquire a language' and other such trite remarks that they picked up
from some marketing seminar they attended in the early 2000s. Avoid the unbelievable offers the
price is high 'normally the WALOB method costs four thousand dollars but for a limited period
we're offering 90% off can you beat that? And if you buy today we'll throw in lots of other stuff
that you don't need and you don't want absolutely free.' They make you feel like you're getting a
bargain by telling you that you're getting 50%, 60% or 90% off their arbitrary full price figure
it's nonsense who makes up these figures I've even seen 97% off can you believe that 97%
off and it's strange that you never see the full price figure. If it was ever sold
at the full price it was done so perhaps for one millisecond at 4am on on Christmas day.
Avoid limited time offers. The special offers claim to be time limited
this is what marketers call 'the law of scarcity.' You're more likely to buy something
if you're pressurized to do so because it's only available for a short time and the thing is about
the time limited offers is that they're not time limited. They tell you they've only got a few
hours to decide before the 90% off deal is taken away and the clock is literally ticking and yet
come back in a week, a month and the amazing, time limited offer is still there.
Nothing has changed. Buy now or you'll miss out. No don't buy now. Spending money on education is
always worthwhile and there are many great courses out there but don't waste your money on snake oil.
Without further ado here are my top tips for learning English or any other language and by
the way I don't claim that this is a secret or a revolutionary method I think that most
good teachers or linguists will have a similar if not identical list of suggestions.
So number one; learning a language is a skill that you learn and not a talent that you are born with.
Anybody can learn in language young or old. I know that's not really a tip but it's so important that
I thought I'd better point it out. Number two; It takes time to become good. The more you study, the
more you will learn. I know this is pretty obvious but it's worth pointing out. here's a shocking
fact for you; if you study two hours a day you'll learn more than if you study 20 minutes a day.
Mind blown. If you study five hours a day you'll learn more that if you study one hour a day.
It's the same if you are learning the guitar or how to become a computer programmer the more
you practise the better you get. There are good methods there are bad methods but there are no
shortcuts let me just give you an analogy with running a marathon you can improve your time by
training by wearing good shoes but you'll never run a marathon in 20 minutes.
Learning language is a marathon and not a sprint.
To get good requires studying. Yes are you listening?
Yes you can learn English to some extent just by speaking with natives and, if your ambitions are
limited to having basic conversations then that's okay. However if you want to become
good, reach a high level and express yourself in spoken and written English with lucidity and
finesse then you'll need to study. Learn the four elements; reading, writing, speaking, listening.
If you study hard and you speak a lot have lots of interesting conversations but also read
write and listen you will make progress. In a few hours you'll be having simple conversations,
it'll take a few hundred hours to reach a good intermediate level it takes a few thousand hours
to get to proficiency in a language and it is estimated that to really dominate a language
as a native speaker does to become bilingual takes about 10,000 hours of practice.
That's several hours a day for 10 years. Of course it depends on what language you
are learning but that's a ballpark figure. Learn some vocabulary and some grammar then have good
conversations either in a class or with people who are fluent. Read things that you find interesting.
Set yourself realistic goals. Perhaps 10 words a day a point of grammar
one or two idioms and if you do that every day you'll make steady progress.
Everybody is different you have to find the rhythm that suits you/ That's another thing about
these fake methods that I mentioned earlier they try to show you that there's only one method
which is efficient and, of course, it's their method but the truth is we are all different
and we learn in different ways our brains are configured differently. I made a video about that
too. Check it out up here. However you do it you still need to do the basics; read, write, listen
and speak and yes learn some grammar. Grammar is the fifth element you will need to learn
some grammar people tell you that you can learn a language without grammar
and yes you can but knowledge of grammar will make it much much easier and quicker you can open a
door a locked door with an axe but it's quicker and more efficient to use a key. Here you are a
key, actually it's not a key it's just a card to get into my hotel room but you know what I mean.
I don't actually have a key at the moment I'm in a hotel. and I made a video about
grammar learning grammar up here. And if anybody tells you that it's not necessary they're just
peddling the snake oil that I mentioned at the beginning. Of course grammar can be taught badly
and it can be boring but if it's taught in the right way in the context of real life situations
it's a fascinated subject and it'll open the door to language acquisition if there is a magic potion
then it's grammar that's the fifth element don't learn a language without the fifth element.
If I can bring in a comparison with mathematics kids learn adding and subtraction
and division quicker if they use maths in everyday situations such as personal finance
or buying and selling things rather than learning abstract formulas written on
a blackboard but they're still learning maths. It's the same with grammar. You want to learn it
in a way that is relevant to your daily life but you still have to learn it. Now one tip that I
give is from time to time go out of your comfort zone. People don't learn language in a linear
fashion you know you start with the basic elements and you work up to the advanced that's not really
how we learn. So do something extraordinary from time to time read a page of something that is
far too difficult. Just once in a while learn a few lines of Shakespeare memorize a poem from
a famous author just to give a bit of fantasia to show you what it's like at the end of your
journey, your language learning journey. So avoid the fraudsters and those who peddle false hope and
promise miraculous results and manipulate people with high pressure marketing techniques.
Listen there are no secret methods ignore 90% discounts, ignore the glowing testimonials,
ignore unachievable promises of these charlatans. Don't waste your money. Instead be prepared for
hard work, sweat and tears and I promise you that you will be fluent in English or any other
language you're studying, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but in good time and most of all
enjoy the journey. You're travelling first class with three square meals a day and an open bar and
breathtaking views from above the plateau. When you do a job well you enjoy it twice. Once
while you're doing it and a second time when you look back and see that all that hard work
and effort has paid off. It's the trip of a lifetime and the prize at the end is
magnificent. Over to you, what do you think are the best ways to learn a language?
And have you ever seen any of these scams in the language industry? share your experiences
in the comments section thank you for watching stay healthy and mellow see you next time bye.