How To Use YouTube To Learn A Language

YouTube is often seen as the place you go to watch videos when you’re bored. Which, it can certainly be, but if you dig a little deeper it can also be one of the best language learning tools you will ever have. 

I would argue that YouTube is all you need. I think you could certainly get very proficient in a language by just using YouTube.

What Does YouTube Have To Offer Language Learners?

YouTube offers it all. It doesn’t matter what level you are at the in language, there will be something for you.  

Being a video platform, the main offering is of course input as you will be mostly listening. However, there are ways to use YouTube to assist you with output as well.

I will go through everything in more detail below, but it really has it all from the absolute basics, all the way to being fully immersed in the language.

It really is one of the best tools you will ever have, no matter what language you are learning.

Language Lessons To Cover The Basics

YouTube is full of language lessons, for free, whenever you want. It’s unbelievable. It’s like having your own personal tutor on demand.

There are loads of language learning based channels out there that are solely dedicated to teaching you languages. Just search for the language you want to learn and you will see loads of different results.

Some of these channels have hundreds of lessons available and as a beginner you should be able to cover the basics with no problem. A lot of the channels will also make videos on more advanced topics which means there is always something for everyone.   

You Can Search For The Information That You Want

You will find that most of these language channels have playlists that you can work through and this will usually give you a lot of what you need, but YouTube also allows you to search for specific things.

Let’s say you are stuck on a particular grammar point, you can just search it and there will probably be a handful of different videos covering the topic that you are looking for.

All you have to do is sit back and watch them and then hopefully you will get some clarity on whatever it was you where stuck with.

You could just look this up elsewhere online and read about it, but I find listening to someone explain it is very helpful. These video creators are very good at explaining what they are teaching.  

You Can Repeat Videos

You can also watch these videos as many times as you want. Obviously you are watching a pre-recorded video, so if you are stuck on something you can’t exactly just ask the person for further explanation.

However, being able to replay the video does help. Sometimes just repeating something a few times can help to make it click.   

You can also come back to videos after a few weeks or months and you may find that the topic now makes more sense.  

Basically just being able to repeat thing is helpful and YouTube makes this very easy for you.

Multiple Channels Teach The Same Topics

I also really like that there are multiple channels for each language on YouTube and you can watch them all. In fact, you should be watching them all.

Watching 5 different videos on the same topic may sound crazy, but hearing 5 different approaches and explanations from 5 different people can be really helpful and you can come away being very satisfied that you really understand the topic. This repeated exposure also helps you remember it better too.

You will find many different styles of teachers, some will be natives and some will be non-natives, but who are fluent. Some will be really professional and some will be more casual. No matter your preferred style, you should be able to find a channel you really like.

Even if you do have a tutor or you are learning from books, using these free online YouTube teachers is always going to be an excellent way to supplement your learning and complement the input you are getting from elsewhere.

YouTube Is Full Of Other Language Learning Resources For Beginners

YouTube is also full of videos that are aimed at learners, but are not in that classic teacher lead style lesson.

These videos are usually immersion style videos, but are aimed at someone who is still learning. This usually means they cover simple topics as well as speaking slowly and clearly.

They are sort of like a stepping stone. They are not “lessons” but they are also not full blown native level videos.

The best example of these types of video is the “Easy Languages” channels. They have multiple channels dedicated to different languages. The video concept is simple; they go out on the streets and interview natives.

These interviews will give us exposure to the language, while keeping us quite safe at the same time. The interview topics are usually simple things like “what did you have for breakfast” which will allow us hear a lot of vocabulary around this simple topic in a very natural way.

These videos are also usually subtitled which can just help you really increase your comprehension levels, which is what you really need.

Basically these types of videos are a great place to start with immersion and allow us to get comfortable with the language before moving on to full immersion and native content.  

YouTube Is Perfect For Immersion

Once you have the basics down and have gotten used to the language you can use YouTube for immersion.

Basically YouTube is popular all over the word and so there is obviously videos in pretty much every language, so finding videos in your target language couldn’t be easier.

The best part is that you should always be able to find something you’re actually interested in watching, that is aimed for native speakers

(I would like to add that you just need a rough understanding of the basics at this point, not a full mastery of them. The immersion you are about to do will solidify your knowledge of the basics)

(You can read more about – What Is Learning A Language By Immersion?)

You Can Watch Anything You Are Interested In

You can really watch anything you want. It doesn’t really matter so long as it is in the language and you find it interesting.

If you like cooking for example, there will be naive speakers making videos in your target language about cooking. Immersing in material like this is the best way to improve your skills. 

This is a great way to learn the language, while also enjoying a topic you are interested in. It is also going to keep you far more engaged and far more likely to learn. 

It doesn’t matter what you like, I’m certain there will be videos on the topic, in your target language. 

Watch TV Shows

You can also look up popular TV shows and films on YouTube. Often these will just be clips, but that is more than enough to study with.

You may also find some live channels that you can watch, such as the news. I often like to watch the news in French, but you can watch whatever you feel like. Doing this really helps you immerse yourself in the culture.

You can also switch this around and watch English speaking TV shows and films that you already know, but in your target language.

This can be really helpful as you already know the characters and story. You may even know the words off by heart, so watching them in a different language will be a really interesting experience.

Watch Vlogs By Native Speakers

Watching vloggers can also be a great way to use YouTube for immersion.  You can watch vloggers from the country you are interested in, or watch English speaking vloggers who talk about their learning journey with the same lanaguge.

Polyglot vlogs are also quite interesting as they will also talk about their experiences with the language and language learning in general.

Language Parents Can Be found on Youtube

The concept of a “language parent” is simply listening to one person …a lot. The idea is that you get very comfortable with their style of speech and their general vocabulary and this should hopefully make you see results faster.

Youtube is the perfect place for this to happen as you can easily find creators who have hundreds of videos and then all you have to do is binge on these for your immersion.

(You can read more about – What Are “Language Parents” and Do You Need One?)

Youtube Is Full Of Music From Around The World

Listening to music isn’t always the best way to learn a language, but it can have it uses. YouTube is filled with songs from all over the world in many different languages so you should be able to find something in the language you are learning.

This can be a great way to get closer to the culture and it’s always cool to have music on in the background. However,  a lot of the songs will also have the lyrics written in the description or comments, but if not they can be easily found elsewhere online and this can be a great way to practice your reading skills.

(You can read more about – How To Use Music To Learn A Language)

Learning From Kids Videos

YouTube is also filled with loads of stuff for kids. This is a little boring for us adults, but sometimes it can be useful.

The language used is of course going to be pretty simple so it can be helpful to watch these types of videos in the early days.

I usually prefer to watch the videos designed for beginners, but you should still check out the kids stuff, you can usually find one or two things that are worth watching to get some basic immersion.

YouTube Subtitles

A lot of YouTube videos will have subtitles that you can use to help you with your listening.

Often these are added by the creator, so you know they are correct, however, not always. Sometimes they may not be perfect as they are auto generated. This isn’t always the case, but it’s worth noting.

Creating Flash Cards From YouTube

The YouTube subtitles can be a great place to mine material for your flashcards. If you are creating your own flashcards then taking sentences for YouTube videos is a great idea.  You will be creating cards that have correct language, so you know that what you are learning is actually right.

You can also get pluggins for apps like Anki, which will allow you to click a button and take the subtitles from the video and turn them into a flashcard. However, you can just do it the old fashioned way of manually creating the cards from what you heard on the video.

You Can Learn A Lot From The YouTube Comment Section

Another great way to learn from YouTube is to just read the comments. They will often be in the target language and written by natives.

It can be a really interesting way to see how people write and how they phrase things. There can be a lot of slang at time, so it’s not always great for beginners, but it can be still interesting to try and read through the comments and get a feel for what is being said.

Using YouTube For Output

While YouTube is going to be primarily used for input, you can still use it to help with your output.

Shadowing

Shadowing is when you listen to some audio and then repeat it out loud. This doesn’t really teach you the language, but it certainly gets your mouth moving which can actually help you get used to speaking.

The idea is that since you are copying a native speaker, you will be saying things properly. YouTube is of course filled with videos of natives speaking, so really all you have to do is find a video you like and start shadowing.

(You can read more about – Is Shadowing Useful For Language Learning?)

Transcription

A good way to practice both your listening and writing skill is to transcribe. This is simply listening to something and writing down what you hear.

While this may seem easy it is actually very difficult and will really test you. Of course you use YouTube to watch a video and then write down what you hear.

Also, don’t cheat and put the subtitles on.

(You can read more about – How To Develop Your Language Skills Through Transcription)

Make Your Own Videos, In Your Target Language For Youtube

If you really want to practice your output,and you are feeling very brave you can make your own videos. This can be a great way to make yourself accountable and also track your progress.

We all have access to cameras now, on our phones, so why not start talking and record it? In a few months time you can do the same thing again and see how you have progressed.

Maybe if you’re proud you can share it with the world to see on YouTube.

You never know, your video might be great listening practice for someone else, or even better, give them the encouragement to keep on learning and progressing themselves.

Watch This On Youtube

I have made a video about this topic, which you can watch below. It is pretty much the same as what I have written here, but you can still check out my channel

Conclusion

As you can see, YouTube gives language learners pretty much everything they will ever need to learn a language.

You can literally start from zero and end up being pretty efficient. These may seem too good to be true, but you can do it. The only secret for success is to just do it. You can’t watch 3 videos and be fluent, you are probably going to need to watch a lot, but you can do it.

Dedicate a few hours every day and after 6 months, or even a year, you will start to see that you are making progress. I know that is a long time, but languages take a while.

It’s worth it. Stop watching YouTube videos in your own language and start using it to learn your language.

You might find this helpful – The Only Study Plan You Need To learn A Language (For Complete Beginners)