How to Become a Polyglot
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- Опубліковано 1 чер 2024
- 🔥 Learn languages like I do with LingQ: bit.ly/3FXTMdp
CC subtitles available in: English, Italian, Russian, German, Vietnamese, Spanish and German.
I'd like to thank the volunteers who created this video's translations:
Sara
Sergey / @speakenglishyourself
PhoL Huỳnh / @pholhuynh6561
Fernando Arancibia
Chantal www.linkedin.com/in/chantal-k...
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To become a polyglot, you have to start by wanting to learn just one language. If you do so you may find you're motivated to learn another language, because you enjoyed the experience, the cultural enrichment, and the sense of satisfaction of becoming fluent in a new language. You're on your way.
0:00 Learning some of the language before travelling abroad.
1:59 The mentality of a polyglot.
3:08 I didn't set out to be a polyglot.
4:37 To be a polyglot you cannot be afraid.
7:00 The secret to becomming a polyglot.
8:14 The languages I am thinking about learning moving forward.
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How motivated are you to become a polyglot?
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Grande motivation pour ma part, j'ai commencé à utiliser lingq cet année avec le roumain, maintenant j'y reviens pour apprendre l'alphabet cyrilique en Bulgare 👍 as tu une idée de quand sera disponible lingq version 5 avec le urdu ? Contenu super intéressant, j'ai beaucoup appris et améliorer ma façon d'apprendre grâce à ta chaîne, bonjour d'un français qui vit en Angleterre 👍 bonne continuation
In my point of view the simple way to become a polyglot is just study a new language or learn a new one
@@jov8036 Je veux apprendre l'hindi/urdu aussi mais avec l'alphabet angles. Il y a des films de Bollywood qui utilisent des sous-titres en hindi avec cet alphabet.
My comment seems to have immediately vanished. I'll try again.
I wonder if I could make a slight aside. I went looking for a coffee before catching a bus, without luck, at a small restaurant, but happened to have noticed the office list of other establishments, including the curious entry "The Linguist". Now I expect to see lawyers, doctors, dentist and the like, but this piqued my curiosity. So this evening I track down who/what this might be and discover it's the guy whom I'd seen from time to time on the internet and whose method I gave a try. Funny coincidence; but more intriguing is its being a half mile from where I grew up, and across the water from the university from where I got (acquired?) my linguistics degree.
Hi mister, if you want to learn Bahasa Indonesia, I will be more than happy to help
The main thing I learned over the years on how to accomplish something is to stop watching videos on *how* to do something, and just do it
You kind of have a point. There are some people who for example watch videos all day on how to finally take control of your life, reach your goals and become successful. But those who actually do these things don’t watch such videos.
You know thats some really good advice. But Ill still keep procrastinating :,)
Guilty!
@@sauceboss7165 Yea, I agree with both of you. We must learn to spend our precious time wisely, no question about it, if we are able to learn a new lenguage. Greetings from the underground.
I feel attacked hahaha. I was literally just telling myself this while cruising the comments. I had stopped watching my Spanish input content to watch videos (in English) about language learning when I could simply just be learning my language. I've seen a million of these and know what to do at this point so why I keep watching them, idk lol.
I haven't seen anyone whose main reason to learn languages was "I want to be a polyglot" actually be successful at speaking multiple languages. You get fluent at several languages, because you learn one language you're really interested in. And then another one, and so on.
A better way of putting what might drive that statement would be something like, "I want to connect with as many people as I can by becoming a polyglot." :)
After all, connection might be what drives the most successful polyglots.
@عطاالله heeyy i'm from brazil :)
It's my main reason lol
I want to feel smarter.
I don't really want "a connection with people" or anything else.
@@johnmartinez9220update? How is it going?
Hi Steve 80 years old here and work a little bit every day on Spanish and German. Not perfect but can get by with what I have learned. Your channel is motivating
Thank you from Yuma Arizona.
Nice to hear from you. My wife and I are heading down to Palm Springs next week for some sunshine. 80 years old is young. Lots yet to discover.
Bravo !!
Stay motivated it would help delay dementia by a decade if you keep at Spanish and German. Adios und Auf widersehn bruder.
@@sleepsmartsmashstress740 gracias und vielen Dank
It's not relevant that you're 80 - stop boasting.
You are an inspiration to me, usually people say you can't learn new things when you are old. I show them your channel then they start thinking and just divert the topic
As most people do. I think it's just an excuse for being lazy.
hahaha EXCUSES and DISINTEREST... anyone can learn anything at any age IF THEY WANT TO is the key :)
This guy isnt even old to me. His passion makes him feel 20 or 30 years younger.
Lmao!
Confirmation bias is often at the root of it.
They’ve learned certain conditioned beliefs and confirmation bias leads them to only notice that which they already believe…and discount any evidence countering them.
Neuroscience helps explain this. Interesting too, is if you try to convince someone (evidence, rationales) of another view, the more deeply entrenched a belief is, it will only become more deeply entrenched.
It takes introspection and metacognition to consider that one’s beliefs may be distorted!
Being a polyglot or learning multiple foreign languages is absolutely not a competition of you to the others, but to yourself only. The mentality needs to fix correctly or else it is unhealthy to compete with others. No need to rush. You just need to listen to your gut of your preferably kind of method or technique that you always pinned for. It should be fun as well! It is not about how perfect you're good at that foreign language, it's about the process of learning and the result will be utterly fantastic. You do you! 💯
Exactly. Improvement is competing with yourself.
"I learned one language then after wanted to learn another"
You hear that? Language learning is a gateway drug
Yes, I totally agree. I think being a Polyglot means learning different languages, always thinking of languages, and knowing that you can never be finished with language learning. It is a lifelong process, and there are so many possibilities. Thank you Steve Kaufmann for all the inspiration :)
Haha, the comment "of course, I was gonna push LingQ, you know - which I did, of course" is golden. Had me laughing. xD
I love your style, Steve.
I love learning languages, the idea of connecting with other people in their native language was non-existent to me last year and I can’t imagine going back to that mindset. I’ve come so far with Korean , Japanese, and Chinese ( I’m still a beginner in all of them ) but I love learning them all and I also study a bit of Spanish and French occasionally as well.
Wow I prefer to go one at a time but that's just me
@@CCQ75How many do you speak? How many with expert level in fluency?
You’re completely right about the “English language disease”; and this is outrageously conceited when you think about it. To assume that others will bend to your spoken language and not even attempt any basic words/phrases is both unbelievable and maddening to me. British people (I am also British) are particularly guilty of this, especially in places like Spain where there is a lot of British tourism. It’s disrespectful - when in Rome, do as the Romans do! Plus native speakers are usually far more forgiving than people realise and just appreciate the attempt, even if its basic or you make a lot of mistakes. I went to Thailand recently and made every attempt to speak very basic Thai, and made sure I did the wai (bow with hands together) to everyone I met; people were pleasantly surprised and asked if I lived in Thailand. To see them smile and congratulate me on my (very limited lol) Thai was very gratifying.
Finally someone said it🙌. If it's about showoff, then 3 months(or even less) worth of learning will get you to a show off point, no biggie. However being somewhat fluent in a language is actual hard work and it takes time, no shortcut. And that is what I believe to be the mindset of a polyglot.
Either way, Totally agree with all that you said Steve.
Exactly!! Really learning a language to a high degree is a long and difficult (and fun) journey. There are few who travel it.
@@jeff-8511 True
My grandparents spoke cajun french, and later when we moved in my high school there were cuban students speaking spanish. I though it was the coolest thing to be fluent in more than one language. When I speak spanish I feel like my personality is different and thats fun. Its like you have the code or free pass to a secret society when you speak another language especially when traveling. In addition I enjoy the process because when I watch a french or spanish movie and work through it on lingQ, my entertainment is not a waste of time. I'm learning at the same time as being entertained.
Good advice. In my youth, people always asked me if I were French. At 24 having "learned" it in school and University, I still couldn't speak it. So off I went to Paris to be an au pair. Worked like a charm. Came back got a job at the French Consulate General for 5 years, quit to have kids and traveled there many times once they grew up. I've had the opportunity to speak it here and there, so I think I will always have it, or so it seems so far. I then thought that since I took Latin and Spanish in high school, I could probably learn Italian as we were going there. Did night school (intermediate twice a year apart), and went a couple of times. I did pretty well, I think. Boy they speak fast! Had to get directions out in the country and it took a while, but we got there!. Took a garden tour a couple of years ago in Japan and learned at least a few phrases. You have to there. Apart from the hotels, it's tough to find someone who speaks English. For me the motivation is travel. I don't think you really get a place unless you speak the lingo. I also think it is only polite to have a few necessary words in your arsenal. They may laugh, but they love it.
I just read about you in the papers. I was very skeptical, how can one person become fluent in 20 languages. However, after listening to this, I get you can converse and read in many languages, so you can communicate with people. It was a bit of an assumption on my part that polyglot meant high fluency in many languages.
im malaysian and i learned chinese, english and some malay. 3 of my language are not fluent, but at least i could understand most of the words in my daily language
i learn 3 of them together and i started learning my fourth language japanese.
your channel gives me motivation to learn language, and i found its fun to learn.
Thank you! I was always afraid to write or speak in another language, but I want to become a polyglot to broaden my world. This video has made me not scared anymore to learn a new language.
I am fourteen years old and I am a bilingual, I feel so realized and successful, because my biggest dream was to become fluent in English and nowdays I can be able to communicate me in English!
T’was I that you referenced on Twitter. I was really more pointing out that because you’ve decided to go on a bike ride somewhere shouldn’t mean you need to learn the language. If a Spaniard went for a bike ride in Hungary you wouldn’t think they had a disease because he didn’t learn Hungarian.
I went to Spain about 8 years ago for school for just about 5 weeks. We travelled to many cities including Madrid, Segovia, Toledo, Granada, and Santander. From my experience, English was not widely spoken which really helped to improve my ability to understand Spanish. I felt like English was more widely spoken on my trips to Italy and France where I could get by okay in big cities, but this wasn't the case in Spain where I could only really speak English with the other American students.
Well, in Spain it's suppose people speak spanish. We have to respect this
@@peterjames232 I'm not saying people shouldn't speak Spanish in Spain. Mr. Kaufmann said he met a couple about to travel to Spain who didn't think they needed to learn Spanish. They believe they can get by on just English. I'm simply saying that is not the case.
@@condyland2630 Sorry, I didn't express properly. I comment for those who travel to another country, which people speak their own language, and expect them to be bilinguists. Btw, thanks for share your travel experience with us.
Not here in most Latin American countries where very few people speak anything other than Spanish. I once ran into this tourist who had gotten lost in my city and was desperately asking everybody if the spoke English but no one did until He asked me. He almost cried out of joy and relief when I said I did
I am sooo happy that you are going to make Urdu available!!
Tagalog is the next language i want to learn, currently know spanish and english. i was so happy that you mentioned tagalog will be added to LingQ because i love using LingQ for my spanish learning.
May I ask why you want to learn Tagalog?
That's so interesting to me that anyone would like to learn Filipino 😀 I'm thinking of making videos in Filipino.
Yoginirunner well the main reason is that i want to be able to talk with my girlfriend’s family and i also just love learning languages and see it as an interesting one to learn
That should be easy since you already know spanish! They have some similarites in them
@@highlife8038 Well, maybe just in my expirience.
In language learning you kind of have to choose between quality and quantity. Speaking a few languages to a very high degree, or speaking many languages to a lesser degree. What ever you prefer, it’s your choice.
It depends in what do you wanna use the languages you're learning. For example I spent 4 years learning english (my native language is spanish) and now I'm in my third year learning russian, I speak it good enough, but it's still not useful for what I want to use russian language, to work in certain places you have to speak it fluently without mistakes
@@imadivergentandantinormiep7877 Of course it depends on the circumstances and your goals. In your case, Russian is a very high priority.
You can have more quality and quantity if you increase the time spent.
@@J_H72 Of course. But at some point there will be a conflict between those two. But that’s okay. There is nothing wrong about that.
Added to that is the fact that it's quite hard to maintain say 5+ languages simultaneously, especially if you don't have enough time because you have family and of course work. I try to maintain and practice roughly 4-5 languages at the same time. Besides my native Hungarian I'm into English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian, maybe some German that I studied back in high school, but no more. Sometimes I feel it's more than enough for me. Some hyperpolyglots think they speak a language but actually they only know a couple of phrases in that language. That's not knowledge, you barely scratch the surface, lol. I had a conversation with a so-called polyglot the other day. She was Russian, and she thought her English was excellent. Well not even intermediate level with plenty of grammar mistakes and messed up word order. That's not being a polyglot for Christ's sake!
You are fantastic Steve. Thank you for your awesome videos!! :)
Steve is such a force of motivation, truly. Love watching these videos
Editing getting better Steve! Great content 👏🏾🇧🇷
I speak 6 languages too
Thanks for video
I wish you all the best!
Awesome content per usual steve, and it’s gotten a lot better ever since I realized you were on spotify 😁
Hi Steve! It was such an interesting video. Thank you!
Thank you for your videos. Inspiring!
Very interesting video I like it am I'm a Kenyan,I have been to Arabic countries and now I'm learning French, and German. thank you AM💖🙌.
Just got some books from the library to start learning Dutch. I'm learning alongside Français
aussi. This video came at the perfect time when I'm motivated and inspired again. Wish me luck guys! And good luck on yours🙏🏾
I just find out of your UA-cam channel today in one of your interview and really enjoyed it specially when you said not to worry about accent
Every new video by you teaches me something new and helps me become a better learner. Some of my favorite ones are about your mindset. Transformative stuff! Keep them coming!
Always love your approach in your videos Steve. My mandarin is coming along now after 8 months. I'm hoping to do Italian in another couple of years but want to get into some more Cantonese first. Then Vietnamese after Italian
Amazing content and view on the topic! I agree
Great video Steve!
Very interesting to listen to you. You really inspire me to continue to improve my language skills.
Thank you steve for these videos. As a musician fluently conversant in Baroque, Romantic period and contemporary music, I agree with everything you said, and your advice is remarkably applicable to my profession. I also try and learn spoken languages, but that is a different story.
Thank you so much. Congratulations from Brazil.
Ever since I was young I loved languages and cultures, but it was too expensive to learn languages at the time, but with apps and etc, I love to learn! Going to try it 😆
Hi Steve - thanks for yet another great video and for your thoughts on how to become a polyglot! You mentioned that attaining near perfection in a foreign language is impossible, and it made me laugh: I am Danish but lived more than half my life in English speaking countries, which means that my English is at "native speaker" level, as is my Danish. After almost 30 years in the US, I can honestly say that Americans master their own language. So many sentences trail off into foggy territory, both in spoken and written language, and so many written messages are rife with mistakes in grammar, spelling and punctuation. My point is, language, any language, is a living, breathing organism which continuously evolves. It's an adventure for those who chose to get on the bus, not knowing exactly where it's headed. The people who show no interest whatsoever in foreign languages probably have a really good chance of getting to their chosen destination, but they miss out on great adventures along the way! I am nearing 60, and about half a year ago, I decided that I want to become a polyglot, so I am working on French and will add Italian afterwards. After that, I will go to France and Italy and learn how to work with chocolate (cakes, pralines, ice cream etc) - and THEN I will probably learn something about how to loose al the weight I gained...! At any rate - thanks so much for your videos: you are an inspiration!
These vidios are my motivation. Thank you from Nicaragua.
Steve, you’re an inspiration. And blue is a very nice color on you!
Agreed Steve! My much lesser experience; Latin and French at school (3 and 5 years at secondary school UK but never was ignited). 50 years later... now read and speak French (15+ years and loving it).... some Italian (3 years and adore it). Now learning Greek (2 years and struggling but find it so intriguing and can't wait to try it out!). Such fun to delve into another language!
خیلی عالی، تشکر بسیار زیاد، از موضوع مهمی که تعریف کردید.
Algerian woman from barcelona
.love your videos i am thankful
Excellent content as usual Steve!! The moment you realize you can learn languages while enjoying every single minute of the process, the whole thing changes and off you go!!
Right now I’m learning Dutch, Spanish, and German with plans to learn many more and it’s so fun!
Thank you, Steve, for your sincere talks and for sharing. I enjoy speaking simple conversations in the native language of the people whose country I visit. This led me to learning Thai, Chinese, French, Italian, German, Spanish but I have a huge problem. As soon as I leave the country and do not have real people to talk to, I lose motivation to move on up. Hope that your site and method will help me to progress. Love your passion.
Thanks
I am learning my first language now - French. But I really am wanting as well to eventually start Spanish and Italian. It is good to know one can learn a second language without losing the first. I suppose I really want to learn because of the culture and people and travel. I love your perspective on speaking. I also like the idea of always having a new world to explore.
you´re an amazing human beeing !
Hi Steve, thank you so much for inspiring me to learn new languages and enjoy the process. I'm 17 and sometimes I think it's too late to learn a foreign language (that's crazy, I know, but it happens). From Brazil 💙
I'm a learning English and I knew you through my professor Mairo Vergara in Brazil. Congratulations!
Thank you so much I really needed this, my level in English is b1/b2 and I always wanted to know all the Scandinavian languages starting with danish which is the place where I wanna live for the rest of my life by the way, so I was really on this but at the same time i didn't want to rid of english at all but now i just realized that i have to be fluent in english first so thank you a lot💓
01:39 "to me that would be fun" 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
La mayoría de la gente no entiende esto de que nos pueda resultar divertido aprender idiomas...
I'm currently focusing my efforts on learning Icelandic for a few reasons but some of the main motivating ones are because I have a native speaker friend and to visit the country. Iceland happens to be a popular tourist destination, yet it seems like many who visit the country do not learn the language because pretty much all the locals (unsurprisingly) speak English very well, and the language has a reputation for being difficult (in my opinion it's harder than Japanese, so yeah). Some people who I've heard try their hand at the language seem to go no further than an elementary level where they can say some things, but where most natives would then switch to English so save you trouble.
Unfortunately, it's not exactly popular nor widely spoken, but since I want to be a part of the movement to keep this fascinating yet challenging language alive, my goal is to be one of the few to reach a level where I can speak comfortably (fluency if you will) so that I can settle down with an Icelandic woman. A level where most natives won't just switch to English and even if they do, ask them to converse in Icelandic so I can prove to them my passion for getting better at it so everybody can take me seriously. In my very limited experience online and with my native friend, Icelanders love it when you at least try to speak their language and it goes rewarded. Once they see how driven you are, they'll support you on your learning journey and treat you like a member of their (close-knit yet passionate) society.
Very happy to hear that you may learn Tagalog 🙂
It's true, it's very difficult to "master" another language without living your life almost totally in that language. Last Christmas I had this idea (totally naive in retrospect) that I was going to "polish" my already fairly fluent French by reading 10k pages this year. A couple months in I realized I misjudged it by a lot lol (not to even mention listening). There's just soooo many words, it's a never ending rabbit hole.. I'm going to finish my challenge, I've learned all sorts of lesser used vocab, but I accept that my French will never be perfect. On to to Mandarin once my 10k page goal is reached! (maybe squeeze in a telenovella to derustify my Spanish)
Great editing and advice, I can’t wait to be fluent in Germany 🎉
I think your explanation of the polyglot mindset is spot on. My mother tongue is German, I am pretty fluent in English and Spanish, can hold a good conversation in Romanian and used to be much better in French than nowadays. I once started Turkish and Arabic, but that's hidden somewhere in my brain ...
The thing is: it's not about perfection, but each person has to set a personal goal and once that's achieved he or she can know: I am good enough.
For me, perfection in languages means understanding poetry fully and being able to solve a crossword puzzle in a particular language.
My personal goal - far from perfection - is being able to hold a coloquial conversation without the use of these tiny pocket dictionaries and especially being able to converse through the phone (wo you can't see the other person's mouth and read lips).
When do you know you know enough?
Was looking for methods and techniques, a bit too much talk about motivating here, I'm already motivated.
I love learning to the point of feeling comfortable within the confines of the language, where I can talk my way around words I don’t know or get the native to say them by explaining (not always possible with more abstract things), and also just being able to get the gist and understand even if there’s words I don’t know. Don’t aim for perfection or knowing everything, aim to feel comfortable and natural within the language.
Chinese makes me never want to go through this again lol. I think it's like giving birth. The growing and birthing is hard work but it's worth it in the end.
I don't want to give birth. Guess I'll be dropping Chinese then
It's similar to giving birth in one more way, it's easier the second time, even easier the third time, etc. So it is worth learning "one more language," it won't be as tiresome, it'll be easier and easier each time you learn a new language.
@@objectivistathlete who said pregnancy and giving birth get easier? lol. It actually gets worse the older you are. My 3rd pregnancy was my worst.
@@pumpkinsandme6238 I've heard from many women the opposite. Especially that the first one is the worst.
🤣 Chinese is a lifetime commitment, Im still learning after 13 years of it in school
8:10 We love you and respect you. I also use your methods because they are sincerely helpful and I hope i'm going to begin Arabic soon, thanks a lot. Steve, sen iyi polyglot sensin :D
gentlman steve i spent years trying to learn english fluently and i'm still trying .. no give up
One thing about learning 20 languages is that you tend to forget some the names of the languages you speak. hahaha
So true I speak 6 and it’s hard to remember
You can also mix them. If they are close languages.
First, I love your videos! And I love language learning, but not necessarily language forgetting. At the end of the video you discussed becoming rusty in some of your languages. Do you strive to maintain a certain fluency in at least some of the languages you have learned? I have been working on German for the last few years, and before that, Italian. I got to a pretty high level in Italian, but now, although I can still understand it, I cannot speak it anymore. That makes me sad, so I have been using Duolingo to not completely lose the Italian. I eventually would like to learn Spanish too, but don't want to sacrifice my German or Italian. Any advice?
É agradável ouvi-lo
I’ve been plateaud (is that a word?) in Russian for a few years. I’m new to LingQ and I think it is going to help me a lot. I am at A2-B1. I am hoping to be fluent enough in a couple of years to add Spanish to the mix. I took Spanish for 2 years in high school, but that was over 40 years ago. Thanks for your work.
Plateau*
Interesting. I am fluent in three languages just by chance/moving, but was always interested in more. Took a new one in college and enjoyed it, practiced it with friends who spoke it. I remember running into a few natives who assumed I was fluent, I wasn’t.
Years later, come pandemic, I finally started tackling two more that were on my mind. One of the two new ones became of more interest than the other.
I was just enjoying the progress I was making in this new language and then started wondering how much have I actually retained after 1.5 years of tinkering around with a language learning app. Picked up a book in that language and as expected I am not ready for reading just any book. Now looking for ways to get to a more conversational level than worrying about perfection. I know that I am still far from being fluent but I am enjoying the learning regardless. Can’t wait to use it irl
Interferences and getting rusty. True. I noticed that in my native language I got rusty and have a harder time reading novels like before. It worried me a bit but I chose to keep moving forward because I can always converse in it and would like to converse with a more diverse population so building new skills is more important to me than perfecting old ones right now.
Thanks for the video Steve. I wanted to ask, have you thought about learning an ancient language like Latin? Would be great to see you doing it, but I suppose you prefer living languages to interact with people 😊💘
there are so many languages to learn. I'm not gonna say that I won't learn an ancient language, but it's not high on my list right now.
I'd be very excited for Swahili to show up on Lingq!
Steve, any pointers for learning Levantine Arabic? I have been at it for approximately 2 years, it’s a slow and steady process, but I think I’m ready to learn at a faster pace.
Interesting
Yes sir!!
Oh man, I understand what ,"Learn another language" it means , whether I know 2 languages I have to learn another one so thanks this is a good motivational vid to Proceed in learning my 4th language or 3rd actual language Spanish.Though it might seem as I skipped this step even to him, I acquired fluency in the most traditional way possible of asking in my native language to have a basic vocabulary and soon listen to the language and learn and now I am fluent this process takes time but not a lot it takes 1-3 months for a language if it's quite easy or just at a normal rating for your native
Edit3:This is true perfection is not polyglot it's about learning at least the bare minimum of a language that it is considered that you are quite fluent and can have intermediate or slightly more complex conversations with a languages you learn
Edit4:Please don't call the language of Philippines Tagalog , Tagalog is the Base of our international language and The name Of the International language you can learn is Called Filipino which also means people of Philippines in the Philippines
HibSteve, my question is I consider my English is intermediate to speak Swedish I have round lesión sin English with Swedish do you think is good to learn in this way? Or I have to understand to learn first English and then Tarts with Swedish?
Hi, Steve, thanks for your videos, very useful.
Could you explain how and which way is it better to make subtitles for the videos, especially when it is not written through our native language (mother-tongue)? The reason for this question is (personally for me) that I am going to study German, do not know anything at all. Thinking to use your content. Thanks in advance, anyway!
Hi Steve! Just wondering when you are learning a new language, do you start with study material writen and spoken in your mother tongue or via another language? This just came to my mind because i'm trying to learn french from material writen for english speakers.
Swahili is a good one. please how do you fast track learning to be able to speak? e.g. if I pick up one language, do i learn 2000 most used words, the basic gramma, some phrases, and try to talk to people?
We can also still learn new things in our own native language, this amazes me all the times
Any tips/advice for learning a new writing system?
Hi Steve, I just burst out laughing when you compared all of your languages being on a stove and getting out of hand. I couldn't help imagining you having 20 rib eye steaks on your stove and some of them will get dry and black as a brick of coal :-) You are the most inspiring and humble polyglot on this planet I dare say. All the best to you on your further path to hyperpolyglottery and happiness.
You mentioned learning Turkish, Arabic, and Persian. Kurds and Kurdish culture cover all of those areas, and I think it would be really interested for you to learn Kurdish, and see how the history and languages match up to the other surrounding cultures.
we'll see
Steve, what are your thoughts on "language stacking"? For example I am an English speaker learning Spanish. Once I am at a competent level in Spanish the next language I want to learn is French. Once I am learning French would it be good to learn French with Spanish as my reference language rather than English as a means to maintain my Spanish skills?
I tried keeping up with Spanish as I began French after hearing that it was a good method and somehow it felt annoying. I still play around with one but decided to immerse myself in one language at a time.
from 0:55 >> instant reminder to like the video :)
Hello! I’m from Thailand and I’m practicing Japanese. I’ve not heard about the word “polyglot” before. I first saw you on a Japanese UA-cam and I thought, what?! 20 languages?! that’s crazy, you know. I am also interested in learning other languages, like Korean, Russian, and Hindi or Arabian. I am fond of writing the alphabets and would like to know the structures of them and how they work to pronounce as a symbol of pronunciation. The structures of each language is so interesting, as well. Still, I am too afraid to get into the forth language because I think I will lose my Japanese, especially Korean, which is very close to Japanese. Since I have watched your UA-cam, this one, I need to accept that my Japanese skill would be down (maybe not that much?). (そんなに得意ではないですが）And this mindset help me to open my skill to the forth language. It’s not bad, I suppose. Thank you for making this VDO. This can inspire many people, including me, who’s worried about learning another language.
GOOD
Steve at what point do you switch from one language to another? Do you insist upon reaching a certain level? B2 or intermediate etc?
Is it true that the more languages one learns the smaller vocabulary one can maintain per language? There is a finite amount of total vocabulary one can carry at any time?
I have seen no evidence of this. I have the feeling that the more languages learn the easier it is to acquire new vocabulary.
@@Thelinguist Thank you Sir.
@@seramer8752 If I may interject, I'm not buying that theory at all, about supposedly being able to carry only a finite number of words. Kind regards.
I think we tend to forget things we don't use. But there is no limit to total vocabulary -- in one language or multiple languages.
@@seramer8752 as Ted say, I think we tend to forget things we don't use. But then there's also the fact how we sometimes may explore new things in that new language, that we haven't really done in - lets say - our native language. I run into exactly that all the time myself. My gamer, watercolor/art and biology vocabulary is greater in English than it is in Swedish (my native language), simply because I've mainly done research, watched content, read books, played games, in specifically English on those subjects. I'm currently learning Japanese, and when I run into new words/phrases I want to learn it's mixed whether or not I write down the translation in Swedish, English or both even. Depends on what makes more "sense" for my brain. If I have a stronger connection to the English translation, as in I instinctively "get it" better? Then I will use that.
I do however sometime feel as if I am loosing some of my Swedish, but honestly? I don't think that's odd, and it leads back to what Ted wrote. During the past 10+ years or so I've been watching and reading, consumed really, content/entertainment in predominately the English language. 9 out of 10 books have been in English. No wonder then that I've lost (or temporarily forgotten) some parts of my Swedish vocab.
You mentioned we'd never master another language, and funny enough, I think of myself as a very proficient, higher than average level English speaker, and I still learn new English stuff at least a few times a month, whether it's a new word, a new way to think of an idea, or a grammar rule that I've perhaps used but never knew why. I feel like trying matching this level of proficiency in another language is a huge barrier for people, because they won't think they're good enough until they're as good as their first language.
Definitely a role model , however you have to admit some people just don't have the knack for languages
So hear me out. To be fair, as an English native, I've heard many non-native speakers use the language and you rarely really see the natives losing their minds whenever someone speaks it well, myself included. If we were to find out someone is a non-native, the most likely reaction you'll get is something of a casual "oh cool, you speak it pretty well" response despite being only the 3rd most spoken language. Anybody could be an English native and you may not even realize it, because we may assume this person was born and raised in an English-speaking country and is therefore a native themselves. The same can happen anywhere else so once people find out you're a native without "looking the part", is it really a reason to lose your minds?
I've said this before but learning a language is just an add-on to who you are; a bridge to another world so to speak, but it's not necessarily an automatic pass of acceptance because even if it's impressive to natives, after those 5 seconds you know nothing about each other right off the bat, and they don't owe you anything just because you speak the same language. You wouldn't just befriend a native of your own language because of that one thing in common, right? It takes time to form those connections, and you need more on the table to relate with others, or else you won't be making a lot of friends if they realize you don't do much in life, so make sure you have a life besides language learning or else there's not much of a point to it now is there? You may just end up with one-off interactions with everyone you meet and doesn't want to keep in touch.
Thank you! As a non-native english speaker, it's funny to see how people often over react when they ran into an american speaking another languages as if it was a super power while, at the same time, they're not impressed at all with a mexican speaking english, because for me, somehow, it's an obligation. A lot of them even make fun of your accent or grammar and say "haha lol bro speak proper english is not that hard" even though they only speak one language and don't know how hard it is to learn a completly new language. Ik this comment is long asf but I had to vent lol.
@@dego9246 you learn English at a language school or at high school right?
from my experience most people who aren't native speakers of English tend to appreciate whenever someone takes interest in their language/culture
I always looked at learning many languages like juggling balloons, you can hit them up in the air and they fall slowly, but you have to sort of try to keep them all up without hitting the ground, though it may take a while... You will get worse in a few, potentially if it's harder or you had suffered any set backs.
I started to become polyglot because I am Swiss. Speaking Swiss German, I had to learn Standard German at age 7, Then French at age 12 and English at age. Which all is compulsary at school!
As I was -and still am- interested in languages I also learned Italian- another language in Switzerland, and Latin which helped understand all romanic languages. Plus I had private lessons in Dutch.
Idkwhy, but I struggeled most with English.
I wanted to study languages, but at the end of college I was so fed up, that I studied medicine. Where a lot of words are Latin and Greek. As I often go to Greece on holidays, I learned basic modern Greek.
When going abroad I try to learn some basics. Indonesian was quite simple as they use our latin letters and it is not tonal.
Now I try Chinese. Struggeling a lot, it is just too different from European languages. But I am trying.
Very nice video, thank you. I have however observed that 99% of Germans, Swedes, Dutch etc who go to Spain on holiday, just speak English to Spanish people. They must think that once they have learned English well, they would expect other people to do the same. Which of course makes sense to them. It therefore destroys the idea of the "English language disease" being only native English speakers but also applies to people who speak English well as a second language. This is just my observation and my personal experience may be different.
True. I didn't say it was an English disease I said it was an English language disease. In other words people who speak English don't feel they need to learn any other language. As a result they miss out on a lot. This is in no way direct to the people from English speaking countries.
For me, Portuguese is my first foreign language because I was also one of the people who thought English is all you need. And yes maybe that's true.. it's what you NEED perhaps, or it's helpful at the very least if you know it. However I started talking to a Brazilian girl and I had and still have a giant crush in her (even though she doesn't feel the same) but I figured what the heck, I'll learn her language. 2 years later I am still terrible.. but I had my first conversation on the phone with her with a goal of 5 minutes. We got to 23! Her goal was 5 minutes anyway. Mine was just talking to her 😂. My Portuguese was just absimol.. but she and I both enjoyed it and it was fun and I'm in love with Brazilian culture now and I will some day visit there when I am able to 🥲. It has been very fun (also irritating at times) learning Portuguese. My skills in each category are absolutely terrible.. but.. That broken conversation is what I needed for a big boost ☺️ and a few months ago I almost started italian and I really want to, And I will maybe a year from now.. we'll see.. however exactly 2 years ago I started Portuguese and had that English only mindset