That’s/It's all very nice

[brian&me]

So this is the whole polyglot secret. Find effective methods which you can use systematically over the period of some time in a way which you enjoy, and this is how polyglots learn languages within months, not years. Now, some of you may be thinking, “That’s all very nice to enjoy language learning, but isn’t the real secret that you polyglots are just super talented, and most of us aren’t?”
Source: Lýdia Machová – Language Learning Secrets (TED) - Language mentoring

In ‘That’s all very nice to enjoy language learning’, does the author use the pronoun ‘that’ correctly? What about using ‘it’ instead?

 

[heypresto]

They both sound fine to me.

 

[dojibear]

In ‘That’s all very nice to enjoy language learning’, does the author use the pronoun ‘that’ correctly?

Yes. Here "that" refers to the thing said before now. It refers to the ideas expressed in this text:

Find effective methods which you can use systematically over the period of some time in a way which you enjoy, and this is how polyglots learn languages within months, not years.

What about using ‘it’ instead?

I would not write it using "it":

It’s all very nice to enjoy language learning

Here "it" is a forward reference to the phrase "to enjoy language learning" in this sentence.
So changing "that" to "it" changes what is being refered to.

 

[brian&me]

Yes. Here "that" refers to the thing said before now. It refers to the ideas expressed in this text:



I would not write it using "it":

Here "it" is a forward reference to the phrase "to enjoy language learning" in this sentence.
So changing "that" to "it" changes what is being refered to.

I thought the author uses "that" to refer to the phrase "to enjoy language learning" and that's why I asked if she uses it correctly. But dojibear thinks "that" refers to the thing said before now. Now my new question is what function the phrase "to enjoy language learning" is in the original sentence.

 

[Loob]

Interesting! I'd have said "That" there is a definite error.

I can't see any way in which the "That" refers back to what has been said before. You'd have to interpret the sentence as "Finding effective methods which you can use in a way you enjoy is all very nice in order to enjoy language learning", which doesn't really make sense.

The idea I think the speaker wants to convey is
To enjoy language learning is all very nice, but...
=
It's all very nice to enjoy language learning, but...

........
Added. I suppose it might work with a particular intonation:

That's all very nice - to enjoy language learning - but...

.

 

[sound shift]

If "That" refers to the previous sentence, the meaning of the sentence beginning with "That" effectively becomes "Finding methods that you enjoy is a way of enjoying language learning". That's clearly nonsensical. I would have used "It" instead of "That".

[Cross-posted]

Later: I wouldn't have much faith in that article if I were you: there are some mistakes in it, such as "how do actually other polyglots do it?"

 

[dojibear]

Added. I suppose it might work with a particular intonation:

That's all very nice - to enjoy language learning -

That is the way I interpreted it. But that may be incorrect.

You definitely lose something, reading a written transcript of speech.

 

[CaptainZero]

“That’s all very nice to enjoy language learning, but ..."

Isn't this just a variation of an "all very well" statement? (Cambridge Dictionary)

"It's all very well to enjoy language learning, but ..."

 

[dojibear]

I watched the video at the iink. The text quoted in post #1 starts at 8:12. There was a clear pause after the word "nice". So there should be a comma there in writing:

That’s all very nice, to enjoy language learning, but isn’t the real secret

This can also be correctly written these two ways:

That’s all very nice (to enjoy language learning), but isn’t the real secret

That’s all very nice - to enjoy language learning - but isn’t the real secret

Written either way, the phrase "to enjoy language learning" is a parenthetical commment. It is not part of the sentence grammar, which is:

That’s all very nice, but isn’t the real secret

 

[Loob]

I've just watched it, too.

I agree with doji's post 9. The transcript as written is misleading.

 

[brian&me]

If "That" refers to the previous sentence, the meaning of the sentence beginning with "That" effectively becomes "Finding methods that you enjoy is a way of enjoying language learning". That's clearly nonsensical. I would have used "It" instead of "That".

[Cross-posted]

Later: I wouldn't have much faith in that article if I were you: there are some mistakes in it, such as "how do actually other polyglots do it?"

The adverb "actually" should be put after "polyglots" like this:
"How do other polyglots actually do it?
Am I right?

 

[sound shift]

Re. #11

Yes.