5 Keys to Learn Any Language (In Memory of Moses McCormick, aka “Laoshu”)

On March 4th, 2021 Moses McCormick, aka “Laoshu50500” on YouTube, suddenly passed away (but surely did not leave us). Following the news, it only felt right for me to share my thoughts on the topic of language learning that was almost entirely a product of Laoshu’s gift to the world. He was the man who kick-started my learning of Chinese, gave me the confidence to practice in public and learn from my mistakes, and instilled in me the joy of learning languages in a useable form. If you are unfamiliar with Laoshu, I recommend this Medium article for more information: https://medium.com/@gentryalex13/my-favorite-language-learners-series-moses-mccormick-laoshu-founder-of-the-flr-method-d81467fef152

“It’s not the length of life, but the depth.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

1. Why do you want to learn this language?

Answering the “why” before embarking on a language learning journey shouldn’t necessarily be a mandatory step, as it likely will come to you naturally. And it should! Like myself, you may have simply been so enthralled by a video from Laoshu that you knew you wanted to try doing the same thing. In addition, I had a desire to travel. Previously, I had never traveled to Asia, and I was very curious about the culture as well as being in search of some adventure. With a chunk of cash I had acquired through an engineering internship, I decided that I would book a flight to the island of Taiwan for 2 weeks the following June. This gave me a year to learn the language of Chinese, but more realistically with a semester of college in the way, 6 months. Therefore, I needed a fairly diligent process for learning to speak and listen to Chinese that would allow for me to complete basic conversation.

2. Put in the time to study

The name of the game when it comes to language learning is repetition. It is critical that during your period of learning your target language to set aside some amount of time every day. A notebook will be crucial from the start, as you will benefit greatly from physically writing down by hand the new phrases and vocabulary you acquire and reviewing it in the days and months to follow. In my early stages of Chinese, I started with watching Laoshu’s videos and constantly pausing to transcribe the conversations he had. Laoshu’s videos boil down to a single common theme: walk around in public, strike a conversation with an individual who potentially has a non-native mother tongue that matches your target language, and execute learned phrases while anticipating learned responses. You will find, probably unsurprisingly, that conversations with strangers in any language almost follow the same pattern every time and so it is easier than one might think to carry a conversation with just the basics. This activity of transcribing Laoshu’s conversations kept me very excited and engaged in the beginning, but soon more foundation was needed to progress, which brings me to the next key.

3. Consume everything

I literally acquired as many Chinese phrase books and textbooks as I could get my hands on. I went to used book stores, or bought used copies online for extremely cheap prices. I copied down vocabulary lists by category into my notebook and constantly re-read them to myself at home or on the 1 hour shuttle bus from work. I also went through chapter-by-chapter of the Living Language book series while listening to the audio and copying down new sentences that I deemed useful. There is no one way to consume language learning material, however, for speaking/listening, it is extremely important that you incorporate auditory input (whether through YouTube videos or textbook CDs). When I say learning languages in a “useable form,” I mean the ability to hold basic conversation. Part of your learning will be acquiring vocabulary, but the bulk of your consuming should be common phrases and, for Chinese, tonal accent imitation.

4. Love the process

Most would agree that constantly sticking your head in textbooks can become tiresome and demotivating. This is exactly why I kept returning to Laoshu’s videos. Not only did it serve as a mental break, but it enabled me to actually test my auditory comprehension of the newly learned words and phrases. Another huge and rewarding part of my language learning was the use of an app called HelloTalk. This app was recommended by Laoshu, and it gives you the opportunity to talk to natives through text and/or voice for free. It was in this way that I “accidentally” started learning to read Chinese characters despite not targeting that in my self-studies. HelloTalk will become your best friend as you can repeatedly practice the basics of conversation with thousands of people who speak your target language natively. With your language learning process driven by excitement and passion, the speed at which you reach a conversational level easily goes from years to 6–12 months.

5. Go LEVEL UP !

This is the part, which Laoshu calls the “FLR method,” that introverts like myself fear the most, but you HAVE to do it. I speak from experience when I say (and Laoshu says the same), no one will become upset with you practicing speaking their native language. The more obscure the language, the better really. Laoshu’s entire language learning technique revolves around this act of going out in the field and “leveling up” for a reason. You’ve the spent time at home, in the café, in the library studying, but you need an actual native to practice with. On the weekends of my internship out in a tiny desert-town of New Mexico, I would drive an hour up to Albuquerque and go to malls and Chinese restaurants to practice. Back at college, I would approach Chinese foreign students to practice. Each time, I came back having learned something new whether it related to the incorrect words I used or the way I said it. I learned the small details in how natives preferred to say certain phrases, and which ways seemed “weird” to them. In this way, a positive feedback loop was created. The more I practiced with natives, the more I began to sound like a native in the way I spoke. Initiating a “Level Up” is as simple as asking a question in English to the person such as , “Do you know where <place> is?” and then following up with a target language phrase like “你是中国人吗? (Are you Chinese?).

Learning a new language in an efficient and useable manner is essentially a matter of learning “the script” as one fan put it. Instead of spending the majority of your time on vocabulary and grammar in the beginning, one can simply study the basic/introductory sentences which can quite easily make up an entire conversation. This is perhaps the reason why I learned more Chinese in 6 months than I did Spanish in 4 years. As Elon Musk has said about education, “Teach to the problems, not the tools.” It is, then, the amazed reaction which you receive that gives the kick of motivation to keep going.