Lesson Transcript

Welcome to Inner Circle.
I'm Kyejin, and I'm joined by my co-host, the founder of innovative language, Peter Galante.
Hi, everyone.
Peter here.
So Kyejin, last time we talked about the seven skills you need for language mastery.
And today...
So today we'll talk about two unlikely tricks that will get you speaking faster and learning faster in your target language.
Wow, you prepared two, not just one.
And they're not apps, they're not courses, but they're approaches to learning a language.
So mindset.
Sounds interesting.
Kind of mindset and kind of a skill.
But they're approaches, whether you want to kind of use them or not, that's up to you.
Okay, so Peter, what are these tricks?
So shall we give them both tricks or go by one by one?
Well, why don't we give just two very quickly and go into the details one by one?
Okay, we'll go with one.
So let's go.
Let's do that.
Yes.
So the first one we'll talk about is my absolute favorite.
It's language profile.
A language profile.
Yeah, that's what we called it.
We've been talking about this concept for many years now, but a language profile is essentially the phrases and words that you choose to use in a language.
But let's take one step and not even talk about target language, but let's just talk about your own native language.
Even in your own native language, you have a vocabulary of words that's unique to you, maybe phrases and grammar that you use that gives you your own language profile.
So everyone has one even in their own language.
So for example, I know Peter often use vocabulary related to your sons.
Correct.
So I have three sons and so I use their names so often in the day.
Yeah, which I don't use the vocabulary, right?
Correct.
That's like the clearest example.
And then, you know, where you live, that defines another set of vocabulary.
Kyejin, which train lines or buses or how do you get to the office?
Yeah, I take a train, a subway to come to the office.
And that's a different line that I take.
So there's another set of vocabulary words.
You're right.
And I am going to be 50.
So this is the words I use are kind of much different than my son's vocabulary.
True.
Yeah, I remember you started learning Japanese when you are in 20s, right?
And I'm pretty sure that time you use a different vocabulary than from now.
Well, yeah, so let's maybe we should say frequency of word use, right?
So when I was 20, I didn't use son, I didn't use wife.
And now we fast forward and I'm using these.
Also my position in the company and in society was I use the very polite form often and I still do.
But it's amazing how things change, right?
So a language profile is very relevant to you and your life.
Correct.
So constantly, not constantly, but kind of behind the scenes, constantly changing.
But it does change over time, too.
I see.
So how does it help you learn faster?
Well, the quickest way is, you know, if you take your language profile and think about the words that you'll use, as my kids say, in the day, in the olden days, in the olden days, I had a textbook and I was kind of limited to the words that they introduced, Mr. Suzuki from Canada and the vocab that the writers and the authors chose.
But now when I start a language, I write down my words that I use in my native language and then I translate those.
So I instantly have my language profile in another language.
And these are the high frequency words that I need to talk about my situation.
Yeah.
And the frequency is all different depending on the person, right?
Correct.
So, yeah, if I learn random words like penguin, elephant that I do really use in daily life, then probably I still wouldn't use in the target language that I'm learning.
So it's very important to learn the language that I frequently use.
Very well said.
But if you work at a zoo, you could, you might need those high frequency words.
Maybe I'm a penguin lover, so I talk about it every day, then it works.
But that's not me.
That's another person's story, I guess.
But yeah, everyone has a different story, I guess.
So well said, Kyejin.
So this is the essence of a language profile.
So you start with the vocabulary and then you kind of expand out to phrases that you might use.
Did you ever have anyone in your family, maybe an uncle that would use these phrases every time you met them, the same phrases?
Yeah, I think actually everyone has that kind of phrases, right?
They have some phrases that they use often.
Yeah.
How about you?
What phrases do you use often?
So not me, but like going back to like, let me back up once.
So when I grew up, when someone was surprised, we said something like, seriously?
But I don't know, maybe YouTube or something, my kids say, actually?
So for me, it's always like, is that correct?
But apparently, like, that's a generational thing, right?
So that would be an instance, like, where I'm like, seriously, and they're like, actually?
So it's like, it's something that I say, it probably seems very old when I use it in their context.
But it makes more sense to me, it's...
Interesting.
Then did you have your language profile when you studied Korean?
So the good question is, Kyejin, how does one make their own language profile in their own language?
Interesting.
I will probably make a list of questions that I probably come on here or ask, and find my own answer.
Yeah, this is interesting.
That's a good way, right?
But I did it a slightly different way, and the first time I did it, it was terrible.
So I recorded my daily life.
So like, I brushed my teeth, I had breakfast, I go jogging, like that?
Not like that, but so when I did a phone call, I would put down a tape recorder, and I would record the call.
Oh, okay.
Yeah, hey, Kyejin, how's it going?
Yeah, what you doing?
What's going on?
Oh, where are you now?
And then I would transcribe it.
Oh, okay.
And translate it to your native language?
Well, this was in my own language.
So target language.
English and English.
So I always start with my own profile.
It was terrible, Kyejin.
I had to listen back and write down all the words, and then figure out, and some of them were just nothing very special, but then count the frequency of the words.
However, nowadays, it's very, very easy.
You can simply record yourself on the iPhone, then have that transcribed.
Yeah, and then you can, I mean, now with the AI, you can figure out, hey, which words do I use a lot?
Hey, tell me what's going on with this.
So very quickly, you can create your own language profile.
Okay, so do you have any examples in Korean?
I'm actually really curious about that.
Okay, so this is the basic foundation, right?
You're going to get the words that you use, and you're going to get the phrases you use, and the talking style that you use, the grammar points that you use.
You're going to start with a little bit.
Once you have this base, this is step one, and step one should take, now with the modern tools, you can probably do this very quickly.
You just need some time to record yourself and run this through, get the translation.
Then you start studying those words.
Then what you want to do is you want to find the person whose talking style you like.
So this is a bit of a stretch one, but this is very important.
So when I first came to Japan, and when I first studied Japanese, many of the teachers were 40-year-old women, and it was much easier to understand, they were used to teaching.
So how do you think my speaking style was?
So you speak like a 40-year-old woman.
As all my friends continually pointed out as I was speaking with them, it's like, you sound like kind of an older woman.
So you have to find, so I was like, hey guys, can I record you?
Now we're talking about 30 years ago, and then we had a conversation, and then I would go home and write down and listen to what they said and practice that over and over.
Very easy nowadays.
So easy.
Because there are a lot of like, for example, like YouTube videos or like Netflix.
YouTube videos, Netflix.
So what I do is I tend to pick a character that I identify with in a show.
And I like their speaking style in English, so then, or I like their speaking style in the target language, and then I will take notes, I will record them, and then get the transcription of what they're saying and then use it.
Okay.
That's interesting.
So to answer your question, for Korean, did you ever see this drama called Master's Son?
Master's Son?
Oh no.
No.
I wish I knew it.
So the guy, one of the main characters had a great speaking style, kind of a little condescending, a little arrogant, so I kind of wrote down all of his interesting lines, then I added that to my existing language profile, and I would practice them over and over.
Okay, and how old is the character around your age?
Mid-30s.
Okay.
And, but I had my foundation, and then I started to expand, and then I adapted these phrases and these grammar points into my speaking style, and I grew my language profile.
You chose an interesting character, arrogant.
Yes, yes.
How about you, Kyejin?
Have you done this language profile?
Actually, yes.
Yeah, I learned English and Japanese, and I realized there are certain patterns that I often use.
So when I learned French, I started to pay attention to these patterns and started with those first.
So I think maybe for experienced learners, they will unconsciously build their own language profile, and they learn faster than before.
Yeah, it's a very, very good point.
And some people say the more languages you learn, kind of, the easier it is, but maybe what you just said there, it's like you're kind of familiar with the words you use, and the patterns you use, and what you talk about that you know what you want to talk about.
Exactly.
So I kind of know what's important, even if I have no idea about, I knew no idea about French, I still know, this is something that I must remember.
This is maybe I'll go over next time, like, I can kind of distinguish which is more important.
Yeah.
And one other reason this language profile is very important and interesting is, I spoke when I first started studying Japanese, I spoke like an older Japanese woman, a woman, and who do you think I wound up spending most of my time with, Kyejin?
Well, I heard from many people that they spent talking a lot with old people.
Yeah, so I was...
Old woman or old man, I'm not sure, but old people.
Yeah, so it's kind of like, it was the way I spoke was reflective of the people I spent the time with, so I realized that.
And sometimes the good point about having, you know, a language profile and the way you speak is that that can be who you wind up spending your time with.
So yeah, and it's interesting, I think we all have our own language profiles inside of a language.
You know, if you're in business, you're not going to talk to your boss the way you kind of talk to your friends.
But yeah, understanding and being able to apply these language profiles is also very powerful.
Yeah, very interesting.
So can our members get access to your language profile or any examples?
Yes, I think we can have...
We can share access.
Now, just before you take a look, I just want to give you a little warning.
So I...
For me, being older now, actually, I should go back to find the older women to speak with and older men.
I tend to choose phrases that are kind of...
They can be interpreted as interesting.
And so what I'm looking for in a teacher is a teacher who will understand that the language
I'm using is meant to be cynical and funny.
So if the teacher doesn't get it, then it's good.
It helps me quickly find the more like-minded teachers and people.
I see.
So you're giving a warning to viewers.
Yes, that sometimes I take...
You know, I can give you an example.
So when I studied Korean, and Kyejin was my teacher for a bit, I kind of chose very not so usual answers to the question like, how are you, right?
So you should just expect kind of not just interesting responses to this.
Yeah, I mean, as you just said, the language profile reflects you or your life or what you like.
So, well, if you like that kind of phrases, well, that's about you.
So that's okay.
So it doesn't always apply to everyone in the world.
It's just an example.
Thank you, Kyejin.
Well said.
This is the first trick.
Okay.
So are you going to include these phrases in the PDF as an example?
I would love to see them.
Yeah, let's include some.
Awesome.
I think my updated list will even surprise you.
Okay.
Do you have an example?
One example I can give you is, so kind of the response like, how are you? It's, you can, 사랑은 있어요.
사랑은 있어요. I think that's the phrase that you often use even in English, right?
Yes, so it's, but, so for translation, it's like, if someone asks how are you, it's like, still alive at least, hanging in there barely. But for Korean people, do, this is kind of maybe a bit of a, not such a typical response.
No, it's not typical. But at least I think they will ask you follow question, many, many questions so you can have a fun conversation. They will be a little bit surprised, like, what? Is everything okay? Are you okay?
Yeah, and a lot of the, like, selections I make are meant to extend the conversation, so they're intentional. So, these are the type of things, but if you say this to the wrong person, they can be genuinely concerned, or they're like,
Are you okay? Like, what's wrong?
Yeah, they're a little serious, they won't, it sometimes, it's one of these things, you have to know your audience.
True. Okay, so I look forward to these phrases in the PDF then.
Okay, so shall we talk about your second secret then?
So, this is an interesting one, and I think a common thing is, a common thread between the first tip and the second tip is knowing how you speak and knowing your own native language. So, this language profile is an extension of understanding, like, self-awareness of yourself and how you speak. The second tip is more technical, but an understanding of grammar in your native language.
Grammar of our native language. Okay, so how does it help you learn faster?
Well, it helps, like, I think most of the native speakers kind of, we understand, we're using the language, but we never think about the technical components that we learned in elementary school. You learn it, but it's like, you kind of forget it as time goes by.
But understanding the grammar and having a deeper understanding of the grammar allows you to understand the technical parts of a different language.
I see. So, what is a verb in one language may be, may not be a verb in another language.
That's right. I see a lot of things like this between English and Japanese or English and Korean. Yeah, and so if you don't have this deep understanding of your own language, then when you're reading the explanation, you're not going to understand the target language grammar.
True, and since you're more familiar with your native language, it's definitely easier to understand the grammar in the target language instead of the new language that you're learning.
Yeah, and so many things like native speakers can understand, like, what's the difference between the present continuous and the past perfect? It's like, what? It's like, well, like, you know, I'm studying and I have studied. It's like, well, yeah, no, I use I'm studying when I'm doing it now and I have studied, yeah, when I did it yesterday.
But that's understanding the deeper difference will allow you to understand the target language and that some of these concepts don't exist, but how to say the same like how to express yourself in using techniques. I'm going to pause here. So, okay, so by understanding what you want to say in your own language, you need to understand the target language for some of these deeper like expressions. So when you first start, it's okay, but as you progress and you want to say more complicated things such as conditionals, if you're going to use very little more complicated grammar without a deeper understanding or a deeper understanding of your own grammar, you cannot begin to comprehend or understand how to apply that in another language using that target language grammar. I see. So does that mean we have to stop learning the target language and start learning the grammar? I think that's a good question. I think that's a start learning the grammar of our native language. Okay, this is good news for you to get a good grasp of your own native language, the grammar in your native language takes about a few hours.
If you really sit down and go through it, you can cover 80 to 90 percent of what you need to really get effective in a target language. So it's just a few hours. But you have to do that.
Yeah, it definitely helps. Yeah. I mean, if I also learn my own grammar, then first, I get used to some grammar concept, for example, like verb, adjective, or even the tenses, then that helps to understand the other language too. And the other one, second is, I see some sentence patterns or grammar that I often use, then I know which grammar to learn in the target language first.
Yeah, very, very well said. So Katie, is this the approach you use when you or you have, when you started to study different languages? Did you have a very good grasp of the grammar?
Actually, yes, it's not what I intended at the beginning. But when I learned the language in English or Japanese, often I used some certain grammars, which I noticed. And when I learned the next languages, then I started focusing on these grammar or sentence patterns. So that actually helped. And if you talk about this, then I think, yeah, I totally agree with you. Knowing the grammar of your native language definitely helps. Yeah. So this is like a very important concept, but they're both tied together by the self-awareness. So the important thing is, what matters to you? Yeah, sometimes the starting point is looking at where you are, right? Where you're starting from. That's how you actually get a starting point.
So understanding, like, so if you're starting a language, even now, if you're studying a language, now think about, do you think about how you're using language in your own native language?
And how does that apply to the language you're studying? And same, do you understand the difference between the different grammar points in your own language? So for example, a native English speaker, I'll give you two phrases, right? I'm studying and I have been studying.
Now, as a native English speaker, I was like, oh yeah, studying, I'm doing it now.
Having been studying is a little more complicated. I can explain it, but can I explain it clearly?
That takes time, but having gone back and understand the grammar. So I've been studying means I'm doing it right now. There's a point in the past and a point in the future, and I'm in the middle. I have been studying means I started in the past, but it hasn't stopped or it just stopped.
But that's like having a very good grasp of grammar. But if you ask a native speaker, maybe two out of 10 can give you a clear explanation. But in my case, before I learned the grammar properly, when someone asked me, I was like, well, you just use it like that. I know why in my head. I know how to use it properly in my head, but I couldn't express the technical aspects of it. Yeah, that's I think the same for everyone. Actually, I'm teaching Koreans, out of curiosity, I sometimes ask grammar to my parents or like my friends and they know in their brain, they sense it, something is different, but they cannot explain it. Exactly. Yeah, they didn't learn it. So I think that's natural for not only for native Korean people or native English speakers, but everyone who use their native language and didn't study the grammar. Yeah. And actually, English grammar is quite complicated. And sometimes trying to apply something that you just know into another language that doesn't have that structure leads to a lot of confusion. Yeah.
So understanding the English and all the different grammar. And okay, I want to say this in the target language. The grammar may exist, may not exist, but you need to first understand what you want to say. Then understanding the target language grammar can help you adjust because you're just trying to communicate concepts with language. Yeah, you're right.
So that's what we mean by know the native language, know the grammar of the native language, then that will help you understand the grammar. And at first, a lot of languages share similarities, but even Japanese has past and non-past. Future and present are kind of treated the same. Yeah.
So if you don't, in English, it's like, wait, no, there's three tenses, there have to be three. Or I want to use the perfect tense. Yeah. Then it's very difficult to make it in Japanese or in Korean. Yeah. So by first understanding your own language well, the grammar, that technical aspect will give you a very big advantage in helping to express yourself better in the target language.
Yeah, that's a great advice. Thank you. Okay. So do you have any examples of some basic grammar that you usually start with? So I think I start with most of the normal ones, just the present and future and past. The past is a big one, but I always try to work towards the conditionals. If that's always a big turning point in the studies, but the way I like to speak, I need the conditionals very early. So I usually skip ahead to the conditionals. Like I start studying conditionals right away because I want to be able to express these things.
If something is this, I will do this. Yeah. So this is an example of a language profile.
In English, I like to joke a lot, so I'm using these conditionals quite often. So I need it right away to try to joke in the target language. I see. In my case, definitely I start with the tense to, and also the negation to, negation and questions, because I want to continue the conversation. So I often ask questions to others first. Yeah. Okay. So one good thing about knowing grammar is you just need to know, study once, right? Because it's your native language and that helps. Your own language, you can get fast. The target language, that takes a little more time.
Yeah, it takes time. Yeah. Okay. So do you have another example how you actually use this grammar when you learned the language? How did you personally apply this? So I think what I do is study a grammar point, then listen to some lessons and see how it's used in context. So I'll use the website to listen and see how things are used in the dialogues or in the videos. But the key thing is to understand which grammar points you want to learn and why. Another one that I try to find quickly is because compound sentences. That's right. Like the conjunctions and what, but, like, and, and, but. And so these are like, I always kind of fast track these so I can learn them very fast so I can speak in longer sentences. Yeah. I remember one more thing. I also learned filler words in earlier stage too, because as a beginner, I need more time to speak, but I don't want to just pause too long. So I put something like, well, I think, you know.
So smart. Yeah. So maybe we can see your language profile too. Sure. So Kyejin, why don't we help build kind of like, let's give everyone a way to build a starter language profile. There's lots of questions you could kind of start with. Yeah. So if you're an absolute beginner, I would definitely start with a name because I want to say, my name is blah blah. My name is Kyejin. My name is Peter. Okay. What's next? How about I live in blah blah. I live in Tokyo. I live in Japan. I live in Korea. Yeah. So country, state, prefecture, city, town. These are all like, very important things to know. Yeah. And how about this? I'm from Korea and you're from the states.
Nationalities and countries are good. How about age is a good one? Oh, age is a good one. But in some countries, I heard it's not, it's not really good manner to ask age. Is it right?
Ah, this could be true. Okay. So then you just need to know 19 or 29. Like just stop there.
Or at least I know how to answer these questions. Like that's secret. So in Korean, that's not the case, right? Yeah. In Korea, we have to know the age to decide the speech level.
Got it. What you like as far as food goes can be very important. Sports teams, music, TV shows, things like pop culture is another great area to start. True. That's a great conversation topic.
Family is another one. So right there, you have a really good starting kind of, kind of platform, like a kind of a kind of a good starting point right there. Yeah, I think it's a perfect language profile for beginners. Yeah. And once you create yours, then you can reverse that and ask questions to your teacher or your language partner. And that should help you understand that person much better. Ah, that's true. Okay. Okay. So for anyone who is watching this, if you're following our pathway or taking our lessons, you're actually getting the grammar indirectly through the lesson dialogue. So don't worry about that. And if you want to learn faster, do you have any other advice? I think this language profile is a very powerful way to learn much faster and surround yourself with like-minded people. If you like soccer, you like baseball, you like sports. If you're talking, if you know how to talk about sports, that's going to help. If you like politics, knowing how to talk about politics is very important.
Yeah. Language profile and knowing the native language is grammar. Interesting. Okay, Peter.
So if our viewers only remember one thing, what should it be?
Understand how you speak in your own native language. Lots of people are constantly trying to improve how they speak in their own native language. So it's applicable even if you're just learning English. People have subscribed to Word of the Day, meaning in English, right? Like, I'm going to even speak like new vocabulary words to sound more intelligent or different ways of expressing things and intonation. So there's so many things you can do in your own language, not even related to words. There's words, there's vocab, there's intonation, how you speak. So there's all different ways that you can improve your own way of speaking your own language profile.
Yeah, that's true. Okay, so thank you. And for everyone watching, let us know your small measure of a monthly goal is. And actually, I didn't ask your goal for next month.
Do you have any language goal for next month? Yeah, I think my goal will be to write down my language profile, like update my language profile because it has changed. Yeah. And as you said, you're turning to 50. So maybe there's something different, I guess.
No kidding. I meant the words. Yes, I was joking. Yes. Good joke.
Okay. So feel free to email us at inner.circle at innovativelanguage.com.
Okay, so thanks for watching and I'll see you. We'll see you next time. Bye bye.

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