Today I'm excited to bring on Steve Kaufmann. Steve is one of the most popular polyglots in the language learning community and regularly updates on his blog and Youtube.
Back when this podcast was still in the planning stages I knew I had to get Steve on to pick his brain on language learning and hear more of his amazing story.
If you are new to the language learning world, or have lived under a rock, Steve is from Vancouver and speaks over 12 languages.
Recently he took on a challenge to learn as much Korean as he could in 90 days, with only a brief encounter with it 7-8 years earlier.
Apart from learning languages he is also heavily involved with LingQ.com a website that helps you learn a language through reading and listening.
During the interview, Steve shares a LOT of valuable tips and insights on how to learn a language.
This is an episode you do not want to miss.
The Episode
Show Notes
In this episode you will hear about:
- Steve's first foreign language experience and what got him into learning more
- How he learned Cantonese in 10 months (no tricks!)
- Some of his best tips and advice on language learning
- How he created LingQ.com and the philosophy behind
- How he uses interests to motivate himself to learn a language
- His 90 day challenge in Korean
- What language is next for Steve Kaufmann?
Resources mentioned in the Episode
- LingQ.com
- Steve's Blog and YouTube
- Kim Youngha's Literature podcast (in Korean)
- Anki / Memrise (flashcard software)
- Odesk / Fiverr (for outsourcing tasks like transcribing a podcast)
- Steve on Twitter
Kris is the founder of Actual Fluency, and has spent the last 8 years becoming an expert in language learning software, methods, and techniques.
He lives in Denmark and speaks 5+ languages at varying levels. His other interests are Wine, Online Marketing, and Travelling.