HackerTube.dev

How to learn any language in six months | Chris Lonsdale | TEDxLingnanUniversity

TEDx Talks · 37.8M views · 2013-11-20 · 18:27

Open on YouTube ↗

If playback is restricted in your region, try opening the original video. Use Mark watched to add it to your marked videos.

Overview

Chris Lonsdale presents a TEDx talk on how adults can learn a language in about six months, centering on immersion, comprehensible input and a practical learning methodology.

On Hacker News

HN recommends it as an efficient, practical approach to adult language learning, with one commenter saying it changed their life.

Recommended by 5 HN people across 5 months · HN mentions 2014–2019

Topics

Search by tags

What people said

getsat · 2015-05 · Strong recommendation

TEDx might be largely garbage, but it has this talk which actually changed my life: [VIDEO] Strangely, this guy does not even promote his book. His book completely changed my mental approach to language learning. I highly recommend it to anyone who is learning a language.

Read the original HN comment ↗
HerrMonnezza · 2019-08 · Recommendation

This talk by Chris Lonsdale gives some practical advice on learning new languages fast. Most of it is along the lines of what the article says, but seems to say that the key part is to get a "language parent", whom you can have conversations with and will try to understand and reply to you, no matter what (like parents do with small children): [VIDEO]

Read the original HN comment ↗
Kaiyou · 2019-04 · Recommendation

If you learn a language through memorization of words you're being very, very inefficient. Very. Learning a language requires next to no effort (compared to 30 words per day) and can be done at any age within six months. The strange thing is that nearly everyone does language learning wrong. I think it's because schools set everyone up for failure by teaching how to learn a language in a way, that's just so very inefficient. If you care for the easier way: [VIDEO]

Read the original HN comment ↗

Sources

Video by TEDx Talks, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

HN summaries and labels may contain AI errors. HN dates refer to discussions, not video publication.

HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

Views, duration and playback status refresh separately from the published catalog. When an update fails, existing data remains visible.

Selection checks
  • SaaS & AI candidates: Topic keywords do not match
  • Editor-approved picks: Editorial review is required

Rule matches identify candidates. They do not guarantee video quality or financial results.

About the library and its sources