What Language(s) am I Learning Now/Next?
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- Опубліковано 7 кві 2023
- As people are always asking me this question, I was inspired this morning to do a quick video FAQ response. Although I cannot add to my plate, I try to balance what I have on it, and I aspire to give more time to some other exotic tongues in the future.
If you enjoy learning from my videos, then you might also enjoy learning by interacting with me in my virtual academy: www.alexanderarguelles.com/ac... You can join me next week to follow the Path of the Polyglot; read French, German, or Spanish literature; learn to read Medieval languages; practice spoken Latin at various levels; participate in Great Books seminars; study the comparative history of religion; or get support for guided self-study of languages.
If you are in a position to support my educational efforts, please consider making a contribution at: ko-fi.com/alexanderarguelles
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If you enjoy learning from my videos, then you might also enjoy learning by interacting with me in my virtual academy: www.alexanderarguelles.com/academy/ You can join me next week to follow the Path of the Polyglot; read French, German, or Spanish literature; learn to read Medieval languages; practice spoken Latin at various levels; participate in Great Books seminars; study the comparative history of religion; or get support for guided self-study of languages.
Glad you are making short informal videos- that way we will see more of you- even when you are busy! Thank you for your content and thoughts.
You are so welcome!
Spoken like a true philologist and lover of letters.
Thank you kindly!
I am impressed by your russian literature collection, I see some familiar editions
Russian is a language that I got to the very edge of true literacy, then did not put enough time in to sustain at that level...
I like your modest answer. There are limits to human learning and we need to ration our time.
Thank you for the appreciation!
Very realistic answer. There is only so much time in a person's life to devote to language learning and eventually, there comes a point where other priorities supersede the desire to learn and maintain numerous languages.
Indeed!
Professor, thank you for answering my question despite it being asked so often! It's a big part of being a polyglot to explore new languages but some day you must end the exploration and stop to build your own settlement, a proper foundation of 5-6 languages, which you can actually maintain. Going beyond 5-6, you risk it becoming somewhat of a simple party trick. I think that subconsciously all of us suffering from polyitis are aiming to reach this stage. I'm still in the exploration stage to find my own place and the set of languages to build my settlement on, but once I find them it's reassuring to know that the greatest thing about language learning is that there's always more to learn - especially when you focus on polyliteracy.
You are very welcome! And thanks for the substantive comment.
And you are doing a great deal to pass on your intense interest in language learning. I thank you for that.
You are very welcome!
This is a very reasonable answer! Can't wait to get to that stage myself! I would also really love to get to create new material in the languages that I love most, especially bilingual books or books which mix languages. Are you engaged in any creative endeavours of that sort, Professor?
Hello Yan! Yes, I have written some stories with multiple languages. You are missed in Latin - hope to see you again soon!
"Having learned so many languages that learning new ones from zero isn't possible anymore".Such an wonderful problem to have Dr. Arguelles! I can only imagine having such mental landscape: my discipline and years of training didn't got there yet.
I am interested in producing literature in my target languages, as well as using native literary artistic devices in it. However, producing books is far from what I want. What I really want is to just be able to produce poetry and talking about my own interests in a more elaborated way , sounding more literary. Can you make a video about some practices that could help achieving that? And a video on "how to make studying grammar at an advanced level without letting it be a dry subject"would also be appreciated.
Hello William, good to hear from you again. Thanks for the suggestions - I will consider them in the near future.
Personally, I consciously stick to languages I am going to use, so I don't waste time studying something new (even if it interests me), but not practicing what i already know, and becoming more proficient. Sure, I am most interested in Old English, but whom am I going to practice with? I would do better taking that time to improve my Italian skills, as an example. In the martial arts world, there are people who like to study many different styles, but there are people who say to study two or three styles and become an expert in those few styles, rather than a dilettante in many styles. OK, best to you and kitty. Take care.
Thanks for sharing. Merlin says thank you as well.
Interesting. I sense a weariness in the voice which I think anybody who has pursued something for a lifetime well knows. It's always the case that what obsessed you in your twenties, even thirties isn't quite the same as you get older. I now can't stand contemporary art and prefer textiles, the British Museum and things like that, even studying languages. The "mastering" of something, some skill always comes at the expense of other things that you aren't doing. Wasn't that Faust's lament? Having said that society encourages specialisation. Alexander has spoken before about developing the whole personality. I think that's a good goal to pursue in the case of language learning and other endeavours.
Thank you so much for the understanding and substantive comment.
Nice to see so many books in Russian languages on backstage. I want to say this: I myself wanted to learn many languages and be a polyglot when I was inspired by polyglot community such us: Luca Lamparelo, Steve Kaufmann, Tim Doner and others. Now I lost interest in studying and don't know how to rise it up. I would love to continue. 👍
I don't know if the time suits you, but the Language Learning Support Group in my academy meets weekly to discuss issues like motivation for burgeoning polyglots.
Do you have any good advice for exploring non-European languages? Although my native language is Chinese, I went to school mostly in Europe where I learned French, German, Italian, Latin, and Ancient Greek, all of which I have later improved considerably both by reading and travelling (Latin and Greek really are surprisingly useful for vacations, one can learn so much from reading those inscriptions in the churches). I also studied Russian, Spanish, and Portuguese myself through bilingual readings, though they are not at the same level (yet) as those studied in school. As a result, I know roughly nine European languages, and hoping to explore the world outside of Europe, and indeed to connect with the Kulturraum of my root, I started learning Japanese and Thai two years ago (about the same time when I started Russian), but there has been hardly any appreciable progress (especially in comparison to Russian, which I can now read almost fluently). It is quite a shame since I know Westerners who have progressed far more than I in Japanese, with none of the advantageous knowledge of kanji which we possess as Chinese. I now think that non-European languages may require a different methodology, as they in generally also don’t fall into the same Indo-European grammatical system for which a lot of language programs are designed.
Absolutely, but that is much to complicated a topic to discuss in a comments section to a video. Please submit it in detail to my Q&A and I will write something there.
Another helpful video, thank you Professor as always! Actually, I took Ancient Greek and Latin for personal interest at Uni and it was fun because there was a good balance between the linguistic/language-only content and occasional/relevant information on ancient history, society and culture to help one contextualize. However now that I’ve graduated I find it hard to re-create the experience I once had. Only studying the language or reading literature in its original languages, both of which I love the most, makes me feel not well-informed enough when it comes to ancient tongues; on the other hand I do lack motivation or interest to spend much time approaching ancient history and society merely through secondary sources in modern languages I'm comfortable with. I was thus wondering, dear Professor, if you have encountered similar sets of problems before and if so, have you come up with any useful solutions to them? Thanks!
Have you taken a look at the professor's Academy offerings? There might be something that takes your fancy there.
Thanks for pointing that out, Christopher.
that brings up the question --- how many languages can one learn and maintain at the highest level, that is reading and writing literature in it?
Perhaps another FAQ video in the near future can treat this.
Prof. Argüelles,
Do you use any particular methods for learning highly inflecting languages with abundant declensions (Latin, Greek, Russian, etc.)?
Deliberate practice on the declensions when need be.
Уважаемый профессор, вы восхитительный человек с широкими взглядами! Ваш кот - чудесен.
Да, он замечательный.
Salve Magister, considerasne libros scribere ad hodiernas linguas discendas per latinam ipsam?
Bonum conceptum! Fortasse...
Aside from English, what languages or language would you say that you know the best? Thank you professor.
Another FAQ video may treat that soon!
@@ProfASAr Would love one on that!
Hello Professor
May I ask what is your opinion on comprehensible input. Is it the most important part of language learning? Is it essential?
It is just one way to approach learning.
CAn you do a new intermediate plateau video on steps to take to continue...?
I think he's said before: regularity, focus, discipline and preparing for the long haul.
Indeed!
Are you going to the polyglot conference in Poland?
I have no plans as of yet.
What age did you start language learning?
11
Ah.....so much to learn, so little time.....!
Indeed!
Learn Tamil , a difficult language. A living language after 2 k years . Great World class literature.
Indeed it is!
I thought all the time:"Say Finnish, say Finnish!"
I did a two-week 100% Finnish immersion program back in 2019.
Finnish😆
Ben Horowitz spoke briefly on "Passion" vs. "What we are good at" for the 2015 Columbia University graduation. I think that speech is relevant to your evolving language goals.
The graduation is on UA-cam and entitled "Don't Follow Your Passion." Part of his thesis is that #1 passion is hard to choose, changes over time, something we are not necessarily good at, and ego-centered.
Thanks for the recommendation - I will watch that.
I am learning japanese
Good luck in your studies!
So, the gaelic, dispermia.....
Dispermia?
My wife is Ukrainian, and I like to speak at B1 level. What practices can I take learning a language to get that level? How many hours a day should I study?
I would need more details in order to give you a real answer. If you care to write to my website on the Q&A section with those details, I will try to answer this there.