19 Facts About Steve Kaufmann

Steve Kaufmann was born on October 8,1945 and is a Canadian internet personality known for his language-learning content on YouTube, and his online language-learning platform LingQ, which he co-founded.

Steve Kaufmann grew up in Montreal, Canada, after he and his family moved there in 1951 when he was five.

In June 1962, Steve Kaufmann quit his construction job and worked aboard a German tramp steamer in exchange for passage to Europe.

Steve Kaufmann studied politics at the Institut d'etudes politiques and studied French in Paris.

Steve Kaufmann hitchhiked through Europe, picking up basic language skills in Spain, Italy and Germany.

Steve Kaufmann went on to join the Canadian diplomatic service, where he began learning Mandarin Chinese in Hong Kong full-time in 1969.

Steve Kaufmann eventually learned more languages, mostly later in life.

Steve Kaufmann appears at conferences to speak on his language learning techniques and abilities.

Steve Kaufmann has social media channels where he discusses language learning, primarily to assist learners.

Steve Kaufmann was a founding organizer of the North American Polyglot Symposium.

Steve Kaufmann has been a regular contributor to the Huffington Post.

Steve Kaufmann is particularly fond of reading books on the history of the country or region of the language he is learning, written in that language.

Steve Kaufmann prefers not to have a fixed study schedule and enjoys listening to content in his target languages while performing other tasks.

Steve Kaufmann believes that age does not impede learning a new language and that older people can learn languages as well as younger people.

Steve Kaufmann believes mistakes are a natural part of the learning process, and that people can be considered fluent despite making mistakes.

Steve Kaufmann started learning Russian, his ninth language, when he was 60.

Steve Kaufmann has said that he rarely writes in the languages, and that speaking languages he has not used for a while can be initially challenging.

Steve Kaufmann has learned some Greek and Turkish and is currently learning Arabic and Persian.

Steve Kaufmann is the father of political scientist Eric Kaufmann and ice hockey player Mark Kaufmann.