Hey guys - it's not about how many languages you speak, rather about what you learn along the way. What are some things that you are hoping to improve in 2020?
Hello. I want to learn German. Currently I'm using busuu premium and I'm in middle of the B1 lessons, also using Lingvist Premium and listening to German podcasts and watching TH-cam videos. Maybe later I can start learning Spanish.
French, only French. I can't even think about to learn other languages. Swedish is my fourth language and I just listen swedish news and watch tv shows, but not try to learn it like I do with French. Your video nails a lot of these polyglot things. We can memorize a language in a day and make a video of it, easily, and then say I learnt Italia in a day, haha!
I am learning Arabic! It’s hard but I love it. When people ask me why I want to learn it, I don’t have a good answer other than “It’s a beautiful language and I love the culture”. But its so fun and I love it.
I'm right at the beginning of my Spanish journey. I'm using Duolingo Premium (which I kind of regret paying for, but I guess it helps to build vocabulary) and Busuu Premium (which seems far better). A major annoyance for me is that Duolingo uses American English, and soy de Escocia :-) I also have Coffee Break Spanish Premium Seasons 1 and 2 - I bought those years ago, and never got around to actually using them. So, this year I intend to get more organised with my language learning and the use of the resources I already have.
As an example of why American English is annoying if you are from the UK and using Duolingo: if I say "Estos son mis pantalones.", am I talking about my trousers? Pants in UK English are not trousers (not sure how that works in Australia) LOL
Nah the polyglot would probably understand that. Most people with any knowledge of French would xD. I understand that and my French is drop down terrible. Help! Je besoin aller à l'hôpital My attempt at translation (Donno help) I'm not sure why he used the example but that'd be actually hilarious. Maybe he meant they wouldn't know exactly why she'd need to go?
So happy there is a language enthusiast that didn’t grow up with multiple languages as is the case for most of us in the community. It’s fresh and l hope this can motivate others in your position.
Actually I think if you look at the stats of certain groups like members of the polyglot gathering, most of the people that speak a lot of languages grew up monolingual. How well they know their languages though, I have no clue
I couldnt stress that out more, those “i speak 20 languages” polyglots are very much annoying Specially because they give people the false impression that this is achievable quickly. I would only consider saying “I speak this x language” if i were at least a b2 level. Otherwise, you DONT speak the language. Some exceptions such as Luca the polyglot, who has been learning for several years and dedicates his inteire life for it. Love your videos man, keep em going
Thank you. Even Luca admits that his level kind of drops off in his less used ones, like Swedish. I think his Swedish is probably only around the same level as mine (B2) which is pretty good considering all the other languages he speaks, but there are some people who suggest (and I tend to agree with them) that more than 5 languages to a C level is so rare that it's basically impossible, or at the very least you'd have to make it your life's work.
@@daysandwords Absolutely, a C1 level takes massive work, and I completely agree with you, its better to really master a language than to know 30 in a2. th-cam.com/video/gogi0PNhMOU/w-d-xo.html Check this video out, no description needed
@@psychedelicmanicincarnatio2731 Hmm, I'm not an expert in bilingual children but I do know that it isn't the magic path to complete understanding of that language that a lot of people assume it to be. Studies have found kids who are raised in a bilingual environment have on average, a smaller vocab in both languages than monolinguals of the same age (but a higher vocab as a total of both languages). They also generally only attend SCHOOL (the secret deliberate practice that happens under our noses) in 1 language. My basic philosophy is that you have 1 fully native language. I have watched more than one Swedish TH-camr who claimed to be completely bilingual (raised in an English speaking household, and Swedes obviously have English in school from an early age) - and they always say something that gives their English away and makes it sound weird. Would it be C1? Probably, but that's a Swede who was raised bilingual. I think most "bilinguals" don't reach C1 in the language unless they attend school in it. So yes, including "native" languages, I think 5 to that level is basically a lifetime's work.
@@henriquerezende5106 Yeah that idiot came to my channel a few months back claiming to speak 10 languages and I challenged him to make a video, and he did and all the comments were like "I am ____ and I can't understand a word you said."
I'm in the same position as you: I'm not a polyglot, I just had to learn a couple of languages at school and for my business (English and French) and I developed an interest for languages that led me to learn a couple more (I'm studying German, at the moment). Your TH-cam channel is a breath of fresh air in a world of difficult challenges (try Japanese, Chiese or Korean...) and unreacheable gurus. You are a lovely travel companion for many of us. Thanks for being here.
@@gamermapper Absolutely not! While it may be easier for a native English speaker to pick up, say, Spanish or German over a language like Japanese, it is still very possible to learn. If you're passionate about a language, regardless of its difficulty level, you should try to learn it, because you'll be happier doing so.
Let me just tell you - From all the language leaning channels I love yours the most cause you say it like it is and don't sugarcoat language learning. I know how hard learning a new language can be cause I spent 2 years on German and still ended up with a rather low and demotivating level of understanding it. I'm Bulgarian and leaning English to a C2 level took me literally 15 years ( started at 4 ) so I will never believe a person can become proficient in 3 months lol The struggle continues.
Thank you! The thing is, that sugarcoating it doesn't make it easier. It's actually freeing to say "This takes 10 years of hard work" because once you acknowledge that, then you are free to give it that time or not to give it that time. Thanks for your support.
@@daysandwords You hit the nail on the head! 🔨 I've been learning English for more than thirty years, although not in a steady way, and I'm still learning a lot. Thirty years ago, I studied French just for three years, and now I'm taking it back.
I totally agree. I actually call myself an emotional learner. Because of how stress or stressful people slows down my studying. I mediate now as a part of my studying process.
I don't think many people would NOT be like this, I think it's just some people ignore the fact that they can't learn when they are stressed or angry. If people make me angry when I want to study or something, I then get even more angry that they've ruined my study haha - so then I have to listen to music.
Yes! I’m so for this movement of more TH-camrs sharing their journeys rather than “polyglots” telling you how they did it. I think I’m going to start vlogging my Spanish learning journey
Also I’ve learned a ton from you and other learners. I want to know about tools and systems that are working for you whether I may adopt them or not. I want to learn from LEARNERS not experts.
This is so refreshing. Finally someone not claiming to learn 12 languages in one summer or to be able to speak 1 language usefully in a week. It's so ostentatious and misleading, and I'd bet those people will forget 90% of it just as quickly as they learned it.
Although I study multiple languages and have been for quite some time, I have to say I find your channel very refreshing, many people feel the need to 'catch up' so to speak, comparing themselves, when it's definitely no race :) Decided to not be a lurker as this video deserves a thumbs up! I believe you'll have many subscribers in no time!
I really appreciate your honesty. I’m an A2 Spanish-speaker and I’m just hoping I can get to B2 by this time next year (using a combination of Pimsleur, Busuu, Flashcards and random media). At some point in the next five years, I would love to get French under my belt, as well. This video has given me inspiration because you make language-learning feel the way it feels to me; it’s a lifelong process of refinement. It’s a disservice to aspirational viewers to claim to have become fluent in a few short months. Thank you all the way from Chicago!
Thank you. A process of refinement is a very good way to put it. I speak French yes. It sounds good to non-French speakers. It sounds OK to French speakers. But I can't claim that it's excellent or that it took a week or even three months. Good luck with your Spanish... be like Dory and just keep swimming!
Always talk about the time it takes in hours. This always gives a better idea than the number of months it takes. 120-200 hours of classroom instructions supplemented by reading and watching videos.
@@diariosdelextranjero Time in hours can also be misleading or obscure to interpret. Classroom instruction hours (depends on the class - teacher, materials, techniques and methods, attention, concentration, dedication, assignments, homework, etc.) and not to mention the supplements.
My native language is Portuguese.right now im trying to learn italian even tho it's a relatively similar language it's taken me quite a while to learn.great video.
Yeah, just because they are "similar" doesn't always make them easy. French is closer to English than Swedish, but linguistically it's definitely harder for an English speaker. Thanks for the comment!
i am an native italian speaker ( and even native and native is not the same, i grew up in germany and my native italian level is much lower than a regular italian native speaker... so you couldnt even put that in the same bin) and i tried to leanr portuguese. it is similar but that can make it even harder, because you will try to copy your native language with an foreign accent or words... this is what i did with french as a teen in school. it was good to get around with in speaking situations but i never really learned which words were masculine and feminine in french because i just tried to get around it by using the italian genders for these words... it is just too tempting in romance languages to do something similar.
@@intarc0giotto That happens with similar languages (same family or close related). The first steps are easy because similarities help. Nevertheless, regarding mastering the language is the other way around: similarities are a misleading burden.
Great vid. I am a language learner but also not a Polyglot. I never liked those videos of people claiming to speak 10 languages but they say two sentences. Your channel is quite refreshing, keep it up!
Wow. Thanks so much for this. I have never commented on a video like this, but I just found this video and your video about "How to learn a language for real". These have been the most useful language learning videos I have ever watched (and I've watched a lot). Your point about having task based goals was so helpful- just yesterday I was still sitting with the lofty and vague goal of "I will be conversational in French by August". Now I'm going to put some thought into task based goals like making a recording of myself every fortnight and a diary entry every day. And the fact that you started learning your second language at 30- that is so encouraging, because I'm 23 and have only just really got into language learning. I've been feeling quite discouraged by hearing how young other successful language learners were when they began. So thank you so much for sharing! Subscribed!
Thank you so much for being real! I saw your last video about quitting French and I felt so relieved to not to be alone. I felt like a failure after moving to France and still struggling with the language and pronunciation, I thought I knew everything I needed to know about French and I was sooo wrong. Learning languages is like a rollercoaster for me, sometimes I'm loving it and sometimes I don't even want to hear a word in my TL, so after watching TH-cam videos like "I learnt French in one week" "How to speak 7 languages" I felt so discouraged. So thank you for being honest and keep motivating people around you!
I love your channel, it's so honest! I'm a native spanish speaker that knows english (I work for an american company), and I'm trying to learn french right now. Thank you for making these videos, your channel should (AND WILL!) have more views!!! Stay consistent!!
I can’t thank you enough for giving me the confidence I needed, so very badly to try again for the 100th time to learn German, ty ty ty 🤗 I’m almost 50 and up until this point, I really thought I wasn’t smart enough to learn another language, as soooo many channels and courses are always promising that you can learn a language in a week, I never could, so felt so dumb, but you have explained exactly what I needed to hear to get me started again 😊 I really can’t thank you enough, love your channel 🥰🙏
I find it really difficult to say "I think I'm fluent in this language" - Even in English I make stupid mistakes all the time (more often then not re-reading takes care of that - but still: the vast majority of native speakers wouldn't make those mistakes) - and yet here I am using more English than German (my native language) in my everyday and professional/academic life. So to gauge my own progress I completely ommitted the words "fluent", "level", "proficient" and "good". I also try to not use them when others ask me about my progress with a language (if the question in a questionnaire is how proficient I am and the choices are based on the CEFR then, well, can't do anything about that). Instead, I like to evaluate myself and my skills with a set of categories: (1) How much do I struggle reading a) fiction, recipes, social media b) non-fiction, newspapers, research articles c) subtitles, real-time chats (2) How much do I struggle listening to a) cooking shows, vloggers etc. b) news and speeches c) podcasts, discussions, tv-shows, audio-books etc. c) live discussions with many people, random audio mid sentence (3) How much do I struggle writing a) a comment on e.g. youtube b) a summary / comment / mini-essay / opinion on a movie, discussion point etc. c) in a real time-chat with many participants (4) How much do I struggle with speaking when a) reading out loud b) giving short replies to questions c) formulating my opinion or participating in a discussion (=being given the floor) ( d) throw in a comment in a discussion (=taking the floor) (5) How often do I find myself thinking in the target language by accident? How often do I know what a word/sentence in the target language means but don't actually know the dictionary/text-book translation?
If you say it like that, no one is fluent in a language. Fluency, in my opinion, is to be able to speak, understand, read, and write in the language with minimal mistakes. Every speaker, no matter what the language is, has to back track at times because they think faster than their mouth can talk.
@@あなたがすごいだよ agreed. I think we can say we're fluent in so and so language, but that doesn't mean we've mastered that language. I'm definitely fluent in my native language, but I haven't and most likely won't ever master it.
Yoooo, shout outs to my man Matt vs Japan. I found him recently, and I really like how he's extremely real about the language learning process, and only wants to help people learn. I'm a Japanese-learner, so obviously anything about language learning interests me. So I subscribed! Hope you have a great day
Thank you for making this video. I feel like getting your systems in place and actually bringing yourself into a position which enables you to continuously work on something is necessary and not talked about enough in the language learning discourse. Last year, I stumbled upon Refold and started imemrsing in French, after a few weeks I lost motivation. I'm back and currently studying regularly. Even though I'm still at the start, I've noticed that everything becomes easier once you have specific goals and motivations and above all, once you're able to take better care of your mental and physical health.
I have just discovered your channel and really appreciate this message. I am a very weak language learner, with hardly any natural ability, but do struggle along and make eventual progress. Despite these many limitations, I have learned a few things that might help out others, and have tried to share some of them in the past. It is delightful to hear somebody else with an equally well grounded position.
Meh, everything comes down to your personal goals and how high your standards are. I personally only claim to know a language when I have at least a solid B1 in that language, I think that's fair. In general, it is a bit "toxic" to compare each others' language abilities, but I agree that we should call out those polyglot wannabes who care more about self-promotion than language learning.
Recently subscribed! Looking forward to watching the rest of your videos. I've been "learning" Greek for about a year and a half but only more intensively the past month. Definitely my test run for language learning.
I appreciate your focus on figuring out what's needed to speak languages reallllly well rather than knowing a bunch of phrases and hand gestures and filler words in a bunch of different languages. That's what I'm going for too
I've seen this video a couple of times before, but I just wanna say this video has one of my favorite thumbnails. I smile every time it pops up on my feed.
Hi, I just wanted to let you know how much of an inspiration you have been to my journey of learning languages. I'm a Spanish native speaker so I often watch English speakers TH-camrs for practice my second language. Lately, I got really interested in learning more languages so I started watching TH-camrs that claimed to have learned a language in 2, 3, 6 months and so on, or the ones that explain their plan for studying 12 languages in 2020 (are they even humans? Lol). So I started to get really stressed thinking about my A1 french that I reached in 6 months and how I wasn't good enough for this... and then I found your channel and I basically binge-watched all your videos regarding language learning and man just a huge THANK YOU, you help me focus in my own progress rather than thinking how everyone else is doing. Keep the good content, you deserve way more subscribers, can't wait to see your channel grow :)
Absolutely agree. I am also a binge watcher of this channel and I am so happy to have found him. I was doubting my language studies as well. All these super polyglots out here.
Well, I do think you are a successful language learner, as you can communicate your ideas both in Swedish and in French. I used to say that I'm not good enough in English, although I've been studying it for quite a long time. Then I realized all the amazing things I can already do in this language (like following your channel, talking to my friends from abroad, performing tasks in English at my job). The thought of "I'm not good enough" isn't healthy. Congratulations from Brazil!
It's actually very relaxing to listen to you sharing your experience. When I started watching language learning videos on TH-cam I felt really motivated, until I noticed it could also have adverse effects on how much I enjoyed actually learning the language (and it seems you may have been a victim of that as well). Don't get me wrong I still use youtube a lot for language learning but you need to be careful about how you approach it. My experience is similar to yours: I started getting into language learning at 30 (Japanese - difficult enough to not even think about another one!), and it had been almost 10 years since the last time I actively studied a language (English). After 2 years I'm quite happy where I'm at, but I know I could easily feel like I didn't do enough and I didn't study the right way and I should have reached this level much faster and blablabla, if I were to focus on these thoughts and to compare myself to youtube polyglots. When I started japanese I thought to myself "it's gonna be at least a 10 year journey to reach a point where I feel a real sense of achievement", and I'm sticking to that. Actually if you compare yourself to real life people with day jobs learning the language on the limited free time they have, you will see that you're making a ton of progress. Anyway, thanks for your honesty and stay motivated!
Honestly, I choose your channel over any polyglot any day. Maybe it's because I don't want to be a polyglot myself, my life goal is to become fluent in both Welsh and Italian. Welsh because simply, I am Welsh and I'm very proud of it. And Italian because I adore the Italian culture, and I recently found out I have Italian in my blood. So that's my motivation. But beside that, I honestly have a lot of respect for you and your videos because you are very genuine, fair, and you have a lot of knowledge on this subject. That in itself has brought me back to your videos and I'm sure that is the same for everyone else too! Basically, I feel like you are just like all of us, we are all on the same journey with our languages, no matter what stage we're at, you make us feel like we're all equal. So keep being you buddy and keep making great content! Much love :)
I love your channel because you are relatable and realistic. I don't need advice from language geniuses. I need advice from someone who has similar challenges to me. Thank you so much. And now I need to go watch some French videos...
I loved this video. I also really value being able to speak a language to a high level instead of knowing 5 or 6 at a very basic level. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it was great to see a video talk about that.
You can learn the basics of any language and a couple of the most important vocabulary in two weeks with little more than an hour daily. Why do I know? Because I “learned” Italian while on vacation in Italy for two weeks during the siesta hours. I do not speak Italian, but it’s enough to order a drink and to pull a trick at a party. Really learning a language is way harder and needs a tone of commitment!
I learnt enough Tagalog in 2 weeks, while in the Philippines to convince a native speaker I was fluent - until we got to the end of my knowledge that is. There is something special about learning while in the country that speaks that language. It's an added motivation, but that's not the same as spending that 1 hour a day back home where you aren't surrounded by the language all day.
I’ve just recently stumbled upon your channel and I really love how honest you are about language learning experience. I’ve been watching a bunch of polyglot videos and I would get this feeling that they’re only true to some extent. They were definitely inspirational at first until I realized that either I simply wasn’t talented enough or my criteria for ‘speaking a language’ was a bit different. I started learning English at school about 20 years ago and my level is still far from perfection because I’ve never been to an English speaking country and I rarely get to talk to a native speaker. Then I started learning German and I can speak it on a simple level, I also got into Japanese and I talk like a small child rn, and all of that definitely doesn’t make me a polyglot. Of course, there are people who are truly fluent in several languages but I can hardly imagine their journey and the amount of time it took. Keeping your goals and motivation in check is also an issue. And if defining a reason for speaking English is simple because you can’t do without it in the modern world, with the other languages you have to really think hard. I still have no idea why I need German and Japanese, I just like the idea of speaking them. Idk maybe that’s the problem that slows me down in my studies or it’s just that I don’t know how to study more efficiently. Sometimes I also get the feeling that polyglots spend all of their waking hours studying languages XD Anyways, thank you for sharing your thoughts, definitely subscribing to your channel!
Spanish and English are my main languages from childhood. I've been learning Portuguese and french for a while now. I plan on learning arabic because i'm passionate for it and know the alphabet and travel basics. For me is basically "adopting" a language for life. I closed the door for any other languages, because with these five i have a lot to learn, live and sing. I am a singer and sing in those languages. I dont want to be a youtube polyglot, the reality is i'll learn throughout the years. My goal is to function in the five languages by the time i turn 40 (I'm 20). I have a lot of time! But especially arabic will take me my whole life.
Thanks for being real. Long story short, I studied French in school (America) for 5 years, and would have rather spent that time learning to tolerate walking on hot coal. 17 years later (September 2019) I decided to return to French. Your channel is why. I watched your French speaking video and your honesty with your struggles connected. Thanks for not being a polyglot.
Nice vid man. I'm from Melbourne, started learning my first foreign language this year at 27yo. Channels like yours are way more relatable than many of the polyglot channels out there which is why you have such a fan-base already. Another example to highlight your point is like a beginner athlete taking advice from an olympic champion. Pro athletes are SO FAR AHEAD that can't even relate to the struggles of the beginner. I've heard polyglots dismiss common beginner questios (such as "how do i retain new words better?" etc) with "oh it's not that hard". And many of the time, these guys learned 2-3 languages before they were teenagers and literally don't understand the challenges that monoglot adults have to face in order to improve. It's also a big misconception that someone has to be elite to share wisdom or value. Although you "only" know two foreign languages and although you've "only" been studying for 3 years, you have plenty of wisdom and value to deliver. So thanks for your channel my dude, please keep posting regularly.
I consider myself a polyglot, my mother tongue is portuguese. I'm C1 in english., B2 in japanese (Kanji is very hard so yeah), and B2 in spanish. Now I'm learning italian and french! :)
Polyglots say that learning a language is useful, fast, and easy. But I wonder if culture, make friends, knowledge, understand music lyrics and films are enough to bother learning a language or if you still can do all this without knowing the language at all. What they don't tell you is that learning any language is hard and takes a lot of effort and time, let alone being a polyglot, which becomes quite an addicting idea after listening to them. What most often forget is that the language has to be incorporated into the daily routine consistently, and it's a lifelong process that takes you years to master it. Before deciding what you want to study, you might consider the efforts and benefits from it, your plans to live in the country or doing business with them, and so on. You're bound to be demotivated sooner or later if you don't have reasonable reasons in the first place. In short, be realistic, choose two or three languages tops, and go for it. The most important thing is to know that you're learning something you're gonna use and that makes you happy.
I agree... almost. Firstly, not all polyglots say the same thing. Secondly, regarding how many languages to study or why, it is a matter of individual choice and goals. The usefulness of a language for others might be beyond our particular scope. Not to mention happiness. 🙂 I love to compare how different languages have solved the same problem in quite different ways, as in "there is/are" (to be), "il y a" (to have), es gibt (to give), "hay" (from "haber" different from "tener" but both "to have"), or that "to be" can be "ser", "estar" and even "ir" (I have been to) or "tener+n=estar/ser+adj" (I am hungry, I'm ... years ).
Thank you for pointing this out. You've earned my subscription. I had one year anniversary of studying spanish last month and realized that youtube polyglots just wants to monetize their business selling the idea of an asap recipe. Btw im swedish and your swedish is very good!
I tried learning french and spanish for years and years and I got so frustrated. I could barely communicate in Spanish even in Mexico. Started learning norwegian and I feel refreshed. I want to learn swedish after getting to decent level of norwegian. Mastering a language and being able to speak about politics and philosophy in it is better being able to order some tacos in 3 languages.
When I was in university I thought I spoke such good French... until I actually moved to France had had to speak to French people all the time. I thought my Spanish was really solid, until I moved to Spain and actually had to try to understand Spanish being spoken by Spanish people. It took me yeeeeaaaaars of living in the countries and struggling to communicate at times before I got “very fluent”. That’s what it takes. I don’t even know why someone would want to be fluent in 10+ languages. The learning process is supposed to be savored and done carefully, not something done in a rush in order to get views on TH-cam videos.
Thank you so much for this video! I consider myself just like you.. now I try to concentrate in one language at the time. coz I was frustrated for so long trying to study 3 languages at the same time, and on top of it, those are Russian, German, and Chinese. What it made me improved was the luck I had of having the chance of living in the countries of these languages. So, I can say by now I speak a really decent Russian, I would say B2 with mistakes.. German C1.1 but it took me so much time, frustration and hard working to reach these levels and I don’t feel I’m fluent enough, in terms of I what I consider being a fluent in a foreign language. And well.. my chinese has dropped down by the fact that I’ve been focused on my German and practicing my Russian as well. Honestly I find your channel super motivational because you say the true story, thoughts, and journey of what it’s learn a foreign language like.. I wish you all the best on your learning journey.
I refuse to say I speak a language until I know it fluently, or at least to a conversational level. I get annoyed with all the people saying "I speak 10 languages", but then that can barely say anything in either of them.
Thank you for your honesty and authenticity! I get annoyed with those popular-pretend polyglots here on TH-cam. I do believe there are true polyglots but they are rare. These popular TH-camrs are just giving false hope with their prepared videos.
Will try to do that. It (my language learning schedule) is becoming more regular but honestly it's still a long way from where I'd like it be, and still pretty random. Two days in a row with nothing and then 4 hours of listening and an iTalki lesson haha.
I am on your same line. I speak English but I am trying to master it at an high level. Of course my primary interest is Estonian because I live here (currently I am attending B2 classes). Meanwhile for my pleasure I'm into the conversational japanese and arabic (but those are just during relaxing time very causally through Busuu).
Starting at the age of 30 is no problem. I only started learning languages at 29, and now speak Spanish well enough that I've taught classes to natives in Mexico and Chile, and done television interviews. I also speak French and Portuguese at a B2 and B1 level respectively. I don't go crazy with study, either, just a little bit of each language each and every day.
I've learned French for almost seven years (school included, so most of this time wouldn't really count as full dedicated learning) and Italian for about two years, and I felt pretty comfortable and fluent in both of them, and was 'ready to move on to the next language', until I decided to read more of some deeper french and italian literature and and write my own texts, I realized how much vocab is still missing. For a moment I was very frustrated, because I thought I had a good level of fluency, but I accepted it and now I continue learning and improving to reach a much higher level :) Your videos help keeping it real!
i think it comes down to a realistic view of your goals, the time and effort you can realistically put in, and to simply not expect to have the language skills you have in your native tongue anytime soon. lets just say your 30, and english is your first language. thats thirty years of practicing english a whole usually 12 years of english schooling and you are still likely to run into words you dont know. i think it is also worth considering that Days of French n Sweedish has recently tried an extreamly difficult task of learning 2 languages at the same time and found himself unhappy with the results. there are probably diminishing returns even if you do devote all of the time to be fair to both. so he might be down mentally or emotionally not that this is not a great video to reality check people setting insane goals. (i dont think his goals were crazy but maybe just too high for learning 2 languages at once.)
Haha, unlikely. More like Days of French n Swedish n Finnish n Serbian. But I like the ring of Days of French n Swedish. It's sort of a play on Days of Wine and Roses.
this video was recommendet for me and i like your thoughts. just grounded. it's true, sometimes one should come back to the roots and not try everything at once and try to be lindie or steve, as you say... :)
thats for sure. I mean, their lives revolve around learning languages while most of us have this as a hobby. I cant even fanthom how lindie doesnt get burned out with so many languages lol
You don't have to be a polyglot to help us learn languages. You have given a lot of encouragement to me, especially to persist in learning a couple of languag es. Marco beaucoup.
I'm from Guatemala, as of May 2020 I've been studying two languages which are English (obviously) and Russian and even though I've gotten fairly good at them I always felt as if I just wasn't good enough. Why? The answer is quite simple, sometimes I falter in my languages and make some errors from time to time despite having been studying for years by now, but even worse is that I constantly watched all those people claiming to be polyglots on the internet. I sincerely felt bad but thanks to your video I understand that the most important thing is to be understood and be functional even if some mistakes let themselves be known from time to time. Thanks for the motivation, good luck.
Jaguar Chicago я даже не знаю, сначала я хотел попросту хвастаться тем что умею говорить на некоторых разных языках перед друзьями но оказалось я в конечном итоге влюбился в этот язык. Конечно, ошибки всеё-таки бывают но я работаю над ним ))
I want to be a reservist polyglot. Currently I can converse in Spanish and English at a moment's notice. Since I tend to forget most vocab and then the grammar because I never use the languages I learn, I just revise them once and a while to keep the grammar up. I can confidently revive my Portuguese and Italian to conversational level within 10 days to mobilise my rusty skills.
I subscribed because of this video. I really appreciate your openness and honestness as far as how polyglots are and how the fake polyglots act. I definitely appreciate your truthfulness and realness. I'm looking forward to your future content
Never dismiss a message based on some "authoritative magnifiers" of the person delivering the message. Not everyone who most consider an expert, actually knows everything. All they can offer is their point of view and what worked for them. Whereas, a person not considered an expert by the masses will often have a take on it that is different. And that different take might be just what someone needs. Eg, I accept Krashen's take on things even if could only speak English because it resonates with my own analysis of language learning. You do not need to be a polyglot for your information to be valuable to me, and I appreciate the time and effort you take out of your own learning to share with us.
This is very true. But didn't Krashen actually speak German quite well? I could be wrong. Honestly I find some of his theories to be whack but I have not yet analysed them all enough to fairly respond to them.
@@daysandwords yes Krashen speaks German. My point was, even if he did not speak another language, that would not take away from his theory. Meaning, not to judge the information based on who is delivering the information, but judge the information on its own merits. In this regard, I get more value from your videos than from Lidia Mocha-something, who seems like all she wants to do is sell me her many hundreds of Euros course that teaches me how to develop my own makeshift course from other materials for my chosen language.
@@MisterGames This is highly debated topic. If people display skills to a great level in another language, then the advice they give related to learning languages, has a high likelihood to hold water. That's theory backed up with practice. Just my $.02
@@diariosdelextranjero we have been conditioned to give authority to the written word and pushed talking heads. If it is in a book it is gospel. Bill Nye is to be trusted as a science Guy even though he is merely a talking head on subjects he has no authority to speak on. A beginner has no idea if anything they hear from someone else on language is right or wrong. Someone watching someone do a "I speak X languages and here is me speaking in them", has no idea if it is true or if they just learned those bits or if they truly know the language to the extent shown. Let me give an example. This trusting mechanism to accept the words of the authoritative is built in to us. It is what makes the child accept the lessons of the parent. Else being told the berry is poison would be ignored and the child would eat it anyway and die. So from a survival point of view we have this. You even see it in the young of other animals as they learn what to eat and not eat. Ok, this makes sense, but you have no idea if what I said is true or not even though it makes sense. You have no idea if I have evidence to back it up even if it makes sense. But because it makes sense you are likely to believe it. I might not be like most people, or maybe I am and have no idea, but for me, just because some authority says something is no reason to accept it without question. People accept what Benny Lewis says about 3 months, but noone flat says, hang on, 8 hours times 90 days is 720 hours! Nothing special here then. Noone flat out says, showing a video of him speaking X after a few hours is meaningless, could be rehearsed lines, and we have no idea if he can chat like that again in 12 months? I learned German at University back in the late 80s early 90s. There was no public internet then. I trusted the lecturers to know what they were doing and their own German was exceptional. It was only when I completely self taught Dutch with my own made up method, did I realise the university way was garbage. If I blankly say University method is garbage but this is better, noone will believe it. But if I tell me story, throw in some of my realisations that make sense, and build my case, then it makes sense and people will believe what I say. But they won't know if my evidence is true or not, just like you truly don't know if I have even been to university or not or am just saying I have.
Honestly I don't think anyone is, unless they a) live in the country b) refuse to speak any other language c) study outside of their normal life and d) are already quite lingustically able.
He who has a why can bear any how. I wanted to learn french because I live in bilingual Belgium and I wanted to be able to understand the french part, and for more work opportunities. After studying it on and off and back on again for a couple of years, I’ve been able to get a job where I need to speak french a couple of times per week at least. This has completely lit a fire under my my ass and now I want to be fluent more than ever just to avoid embarrassment lol
You are very cool. I have english since 11 years at school and always been very bad. I just started to like languages a few monts ago. How I know a lot of wonderful people they have another native language. I want to learn more and start spanish now. I don't want to be like a native. My gool is to be able du understand the most, read normal difficold stuff and can express myself, even if I make misstakes. (Like in this text I guess xD)
This is a good video.Tto give an example I've been studying russian quite intensively every day for three months. I have a much more solid base with Bulgarian having lived there(my level in Bulgarian could charitably have been called B1 when I left, but I haven't practiced it for a few months so my vocab has gone to shit). Also, there are a few useful structural similarities and phrases that you can, so to speak, transfer from Bulgarian to Russian. So I can express myself in those and other phrases and structures I've learned quite well. But there's no way, as you say, if confronted with an ordinary Russian speaker who doesn't have any english, my vocabulary would be big enough to meaningfully talk about most things. We could communicate effectively, but not because of my Russian ability - more because I would be able to get the gist from my experience with slavic languages + a bit of Russian. I like what you say about appearing to speak another language, because I think ppl get v. excited when they see that someone can speak in a certain way and pull of some idiomatic and interesting, perhaps even complex, phrases. However, said person might not be able to follow a slightly non-standard conversation in the same way. The most important thing is to praise all people who participate in language learning, even if they can't seem to make any progress or they're struggling, and not hold up anyone as an idol or a god or get sucked in by false promises.
I had an experience like you described. I was at 13-14 fluent in French as I lived in Quebec, Canada. Jump forward 10 years later and living in the UK, my boss has a French footballer asking for someone that speaks French, he says " Nando does!" I froze on the spot 🤣.
Apart from the videos, I've often wondered if the polyglots could read books in the languages they speak or write an essay in those languages. Would they be able to speak to join in a conversation with a group of native speakers and speak spontaneously in the language? Do they really have 100% understanding of everything they hear and read?
Very unlikely. Since they learn so many languages, at one point they have to sacrifice quality for that quantity, but maybe they just have different goals and don't care about fluency. However, I wouldn't say I 'speak' a language if I don't have at least a solid B1. But that's just my opinion.
I am just as impressed-if not more-with people who speak one foreign language extremely well as I am with someone who speaks 5 languages to a moderate degree. I mostly had to learn languages for reading (research). I did learn Spanish to B1, and I could give impromptu speeches and hold some conversations, but I was never satisfied with that. I struggle to speak Spanish and German. As one of my professors said, he can read complex theological texts in German, but he can’t order a cup of coffee. Similarly, I can do research in 3 or 4 foreign languages, but I am fluent in none of them. I’d rather be highly fluent in 1 or 2 of them.
Well I think it's all valuable depending on your cicumstances. e.g. I can now read most stuff with realtive ease in Swedish, and speaking is OK but not amazing, but for now, I'm happy with just being able to understand everything said to me, because if worst came to worst, there'd be a few Swedish people chatting with each other and I'd be able to be involved in the conversation. But I would also be interested in knowing enough to read signs and stuff in 10 languages. I just don't like then trying to speak them.
@@daysandwords I agree. And I do understand the appeal of learning several to a moderate degree. I’ve thought of doing so myself in the past. I only mean that for me, personally, at this moment (subject to change), I would like to be a fluent speaker of at least one or two foreign languages. After that, learning several to a moderate extent would be okay. Most of my languages were of necessity for research anyway, and to meet degree reading requirements where dictionary use was still allowed. That made me want to learn to speak, and being able to was frustrating. Being able to speak at B1 after only 8 weeks through a language course made me realize how inefficient my prior instruction had been in the States.
What he said about Mandarin is correct. I studied Mandarin for 13 years (90 minutes every school day) and I'm going to get to my level in Mandarin as with Portuguese and I've only had over 560 hours of studying, learning, and exposure because English is my strongest language and Portuguese is nearer to that compared to Mandarin. Plus you can't do context clues for Mandarin, it's either you know it or not.
Learning a language is like scaling a mountain at your own pace. Someone who has been rock climbing for decades obviously knows how to scale a mountain way faster than you do, but it doesn't really matter. If you work on your goal and your method of reaching that goal (study techniques etc.) regularly, you will succeed. It of course also means that you must put the work into it, I have an Australian friend who lives here in Sweden who talks about his desire to learn Swedish. I offered him some easy tips to learn vocabulary but after a few days, he just said that he didn't really have the energy to follow through. (which is understandable since everyone can speak English anyway).
Here’s the problem I’m facing. I’m learning Samoan, there is very few resources that can be efficient for self study, I’m blessed to have a native speaker in my family through my wife but there isn’t ever any very useful “programs” or teachers online for the language it just isnt available from what I’ve found. Samoan isn’t on the “difficulty scale” on the language learning scale either
Amen! You say what I think watching other youtubers, but it's stuff I wouldn't expected to get views. I thought you had to frame it the way they do to get people's attention.
Not to mention I'd trust the advice of someone who clearly knows a lot on the subject but is humble enough not to claim expertise than the other way around.
@@chiliconcaro Deshalb sagte ich ja "fast perfekt". Ich denke dass "bereit sein etwas zu tun" aber die korrekte Grammatik wäre. Du hast recht, man kann das andere schon auch sagen, Deutsche sprechen ja auch kein perfektes Deutsch. Aber es ist doch immer praktisch zu hören, wie etwas noch besser ginge, vor allem wenn man es selbst nicht so einfach überprüfen kann. Aber du hast absolut recht dass man das andere definitiv auch sagen kann, dabei verwendet man "Deutschreden" dann halt als Substantiv.
Im not sure what it truely means to be a polyglot so i cant say that i want to be one but i do want to learn many, many languages. I know french (first language) and english(fluent) learning spanish since 2 and a half years. But i havent done much i was studying about 30 minutes per day on average. Even though im not yet fluent in spanish, i started german AND russian. It motivates me. And i have a feeling of urgency as if I needed to at least understand all those languages fast even though im not done with spanish yet. And even english i need to maintain a bit. But i am really motivated.
@@danieltemelkovski9828 i was very motivated but im slowing down in russian but i love that language i dont want to give it up but i dont do much i am concentrating in spanish and german first. I am not scared that someone would be better than me. There already are so many people better than me but I am competing with myself.
One thing I am trying to decide is I get to go to study aboard in Russia in my junior or senior year of college and I am a sophomore right now. I want to have a solid base in the language about B1 and I am not sure how long it will take too reach it. I also have been learning Czech past 8 months and in January put Czech aside to start french and now I am in love with french and want to keep studying it but I know I have to start Russian soon, so I am not sure if I should stop my french now and go right on to Russian. Or wait until I have three months under my belt in french to move then to Russian. Once I come back from studying aboard in Russia I will then go back and refine my Czech and french up to b2. And hopefully have my Russian at C1 from studying aboard there. Thoughts?
@@MisterGames Does the brain still take in two languages as fast even if you give each 1 hour a day with right methods? Or is it better to do one and then do another? I have the time as a college student so I could I just wanna know if it works.
What Jemmo said is totally correct (although I thought Korean was a bit easier than Chinese and Japanese) but here's what I would do: Sit down and map out (like with a literal pen and paper) what you want to achieve in your languages and how you might go about it. Do you have two peaks in your day? e.g. First thing in the morning and then right after dinner? If so then maybe you can study the different languages at the two peaks. The brain cannot take in 2 languages like it can take in 1. One is always better, but the problem is motivation. But if you've already done some French and now you want to learn Russian, then your French will always be ahead (because it's heaps easier and you've already started), so that's a good sign. Maybe watch my video in French about learning 2 languages at the same time - just check my channel for "Learning 2 languages at the same time" (sorry I can't grab the link right now).
@@daysandwords Thank you for your detailed and helpful response. if I might add your editing quality and video skills is on par with any of the pro's, I see your success written in stone. Keep up your work and I hope to keep learning more from you. Languages are freaking awesome.
Similar situation. I started studying languages 18 months ago at age 31. Studied Spanish 3 months and French 10 months. I would be helpful in French in the situation described in this video, but not Spanish. Possibly could help in Spanish if the hypothetical women in distress wrote her issues down. Written communication is always easier to understand.
It's exactly a talk to what I finally have come up to. It is seductive to try to pick up new languages as many as you can and to say that you have become a polyglot, but in the end it's a way to nowhere; you will not be able to order food or to ask a way you wont to go, not even make a small talk except "hello" and "see you soon". The real test which shows that you have learned a language, is a lively energetic conversation among a group of natives where you feel yourself as the one among equals, and not mumble like a sheep. If you will not have been able do that in the end, then all your multiple language studies are like filling up a gap in your leisure like doing macramé. But that thing requires time and concentrated effort.
That's a bit situational, I'm studying French and Spanish two languages extremely close to my native language and I'm studying quite a bit. 2 Hours for each a day, plus I'm am also watching a bit of French and Spanish TV, if you take in this and the similarities (not just the vocab a lot of the Grammar is similar) So in six months I could be at a very decent level, not fluent of course For the rest yeah you're right you'll need to practice it a lot more than six months, especially if the language is not that easy and similar to one you already speak Btw thanks for recommending me Busuu it's helping me a lot
It's like when u are struggling with a subject and when u ask ur teacher about it he explains it as if it were the most simple thing in the world because for him it is and u still don't have a clue of what he is talking about then a classmate of urs come over and explains it in simpler way bc he was struggling in the same thing a while back.
Is "Lamont" a first name or surname? I'm mentioning you in an email. I'll just say "Lamont". You have some good ideas -- I've already heard a lot from Steve K and Luca L, and now I'm learning from you. I'm currently studying Chinese. I'm at "less than conversational level" in French and Spanish, which I studied many years ago. All I need is another 15,000 words in each and I'm fluent! Meanwhile, I'm enjoying studying 普通话. Thanks for all the good ideas.
Ive called out polyglots for this all the time. People call me a hater, those people are idiots. Theres also a difference between understanding a high level and speaking it. with the latter being much, MUCH harder. If most of them on this platform, got stuck in one of their target language countries... with say, a broken down car. 95% of them would be stuck.
or with me, a native german, learning vietnamese. im great on paper (reading, writing), speaking is "okay", but hearing understanding is the worst haha im on B1 level and i still cant watch anything on TV. i can hear known words and phrases, if im lucky, but thats it. but i start to understand written public signs and message boards~
I’m a polyglot I suppose, native Spanish and english, fluent french, and intermediate to advanced Japanese. Currently studying german, nahuatl and sign language. Sometimes I watch those videos with the “15 languages polyglot!” And after watching I start to feel like I’m behind and I need to speed up and learn more, but then I stop myself and think “what am I doing? Do I want to learn languages to experience another culture, to enrich my own knowledge about another form of communication? Or is it to show up some TH-camrs who may or may not be genuine?” If you’re learning something to show off or to prove something to others or to “beat” someone else then maybe it’s not really worth learning.
@@daysandwords thank you! ive been watching all of your vids and find them extremely motivational and helpful. hope your language learning process has been going well so far and hope to see more vids soon
Hey guys - it's not about how many languages you speak, rather about what you learn along the way. What are some things that you are hoping to improve in 2020?
Hello. I want to learn German. Currently I'm using busuu premium and I'm in middle of the B1 lessons, also using Lingvist Premium and listening to German podcasts and watching TH-cam videos. Maybe later I can start learning Spanish.
French, only French. I can't even think about to learn other languages. Swedish is my fourth language and I just listen swedish news and watch tv shows, but not try to learn it like I do with French. Your video nails a lot of these polyglot things. We can memorize a language in a day and make a video of it, easily, and then say I learnt Italia in a day, haha!
I am learning Arabic! It’s hard but I love it. When people ask me why I want to learn it, I don’t have a good answer other than “It’s a beautiful language and I love the culture”. But its so fun and I love it.
I'm right at the beginning of my Spanish journey. I'm using Duolingo Premium (which I kind of regret paying for, but I guess it helps to build vocabulary) and Busuu Premium (which seems far better). A major annoyance for me is that Duolingo uses American English, and soy de Escocia :-) I also have Coffee Break Spanish Premium Seasons 1 and 2 - I bought those years ago, and never got around to actually using them. So, this year I intend to get more organised with my language learning and the use of the resources I already have.
As an example of why American English is annoying if you are from the UK and using Duolingo: if I say "Estos son mis pantalones.", am I talking about my trousers? Pants in UK English are not trousers (not sure how that works in Australia) LOL
French girl screaming hysterically: "Help! I need to go to the hospital!!!"
TH-cam Polyglot: "Let's eat a lot together"
Nah the polyglot would probably understand that. Most people with any knowledge of French would xD.
I understand that and my French is drop down terrible.
Help! Je besoin aller à l'hôpital
My attempt at translation (Donno help)
I'm not sure why he used the example but that'd be actually hilarious. Maybe he meant they wouldn't know exactly why she'd need to go?
@@imanrustemkyzy977 *Au secours! Je dois aller à l’hôpital!
@@imanrustemkyzy977 if you say besoin always say: I have need of.
Exemple:
J’ai besoin de
@@imanrustemkyzy977 lmao have you seen the ones Frank was referring to
@@imanrustemkyzy977 Nah, they wouldn't understand it. Case in point.
So happy there is a language enthusiast that didn’t grow up with multiple languages as is the case for most of us in the community. It’s fresh and l hope this can motivate others in your position.
Cheers!
Actually I think if you look at the stats of certain groups like members of the polyglot gathering, most of the people that speak a lot of languages grew up monolingual. How well they know their languages though, I have no clue
I couldnt stress that out more, those “i speak 20 languages” polyglots are very much annoying
Specially because they give people the false impression that this is achievable quickly. I would only consider saying “I speak this x language” if i were at least a b2 level. Otherwise, you DONT speak the language.
Some exceptions such as Luca the polyglot, who has been learning for several years and dedicates his inteire life for it.
Love your videos man, keep em going
Thank you.
Even Luca admits that his level kind of drops off in his less used ones, like Swedish. I think his Swedish is probably only around the same level as mine (B2) which is pretty good considering all the other languages he speaks, but there are some people who suggest (and I tend to agree with them) that more than 5 languages to a C level is so rare that it's basically impossible, or at the very least you'd have to make it your life's work.
@@daysandwords Absolutely, a C1 level takes massive work, and I completely agree with you, its better to really master a language than to know 30 in a2.
th-cam.com/video/gogi0PNhMOU/w-d-xo.html
Check this video out, no description needed
@@daysandwords By 5 languages at C level, do you mean native languages included or exclusively foreign languages? (I agree btw)
@@psychedelicmanicincarnatio2731 Hmm, I'm not an expert in bilingual children but I do know that it isn't the magic path to complete understanding of that language that a lot of people assume it to be. Studies have found kids who are raised in a bilingual environment have on average, a smaller vocab in both languages than monolinguals of the same age (but a higher vocab as a total of both languages). They also generally only attend SCHOOL (the secret deliberate practice that happens under our noses) in 1 language.
My basic philosophy is that you have 1 fully native language. I have watched more than one Swedish TH-camr who claimed to be completely bilingual (raised in an English speaking household, and Swedes obviously have English in school from an early age) - and they always say something that gives their English away and makes it sound weird. Would it be C1? Probably, but that's a Swede who was raised bilingual. I think most "bilinguals" don't reach C1 in the language unless they attend school in it.
So yes, including "native" languages, I think 5 to that level is basically a lifetime's work.
@@henriquerezende5106 Yeah that idiot came to my channel a few months back claiming to speak 10 languages and I challenged him to make a video, and he did and all the comments were like "I am ____ and I can't understand a word you said."
I'm in the same position as you: I'm not a polyglot, I just had to learn a couple of languages at school and for my business (English and French) and I developed an interest for languages that led me to learn a couple more (I'm studying German, at the moment). Your TH-cam channel is a breath of fresh air in a world of difficult challenges (try Japanese, Chiese or Korean...) and unreacheable gurus. You are a lovely travel companion for many of us. Thanks for being here.
Thank you Alessandro!
You are completely right!!!
Does it mean it's bad if I learn Japanese? 😭
@@gamermapper Absolutely not! While it may be easier for a native English speaker to pick up, say, Spanish or German over a language like Japanese, it is still very possible to learn. If you're passionate about a language, regardless of its difficulty level, you should try to learn it, because you'll be happier doing so.
lovely travel cringePanion*
Let me just tell you - From all the language leaning channels I love yours the most cause you say it like it is and don't sugarcoat language learning.
I know how hard learning a new language can be cause I spent 2 years on German and still ended up with a rather low and demotivating level of understanding it. I'm Bulgarian and leaning English to a C2 level took me literally 15 years ( started at 4 ) so I will never believe a person can become proficient in 3 months lol The struggle continues.
Thank you!
The thing is, that sugarcoating it doesn't make it easier. It's actually freeing to say "This takes 10 years of hard work" because once you acknowledge that, then you are free to give it that time or not to give it that time.
Thanks for your support.
@@daysandwords You hit the nail on the head! 🔨 I've been learning English for more than thirty years, although not in a steady way, and I'm still learning a lot. Thirty years ago, I studied French just for three years, and now I'm taking it back.
I respect your positive attitude and humility. Very humble.
I totally agree. I actually call myself an emotional learner. Because of how stress or stressful people slows down my studying. I mediate now as a part of my studying process.
I don't think many people would NOT be like this, I think it's just some people ignore the fact that they can't learn when they are stressed or angry.
If people make me angry when I want to study or something, I then get even more angry that they've ruined my study haha - so then I have to listen to music.
Yes! I’m so for this movement of more TH-camrs sharing their journeys rather than “polyglots” telling you how they did it. I think I’m going to start vlogging my Spanish learning journey
Also I’ve learned a ton from you and other learners. I want to know about tools and systems that are working for you whether I may adopt them or not. I want to learn from LEARNERS not experts.
This is so refreshing. Finally someone not claiming to learn 12 languages in one summer or to be able to speak 1 language usefully in a week. It's so ostentatious and misleading, and I'd bet those people will forget 90% of it just as quickly as they learned it.
Although I study multiple languages and have been for quite some time, I have to say I find your channel very refreshing, many people feel the need to 'catch up' so to speak, comparing themselves, when it's definitely no race :) Decided to not be a lurker as this video deserves a thumbs up! I believe you'll have many subscribers in no time!
Awesome! What language/s are you learning?
@@daysandwords Currently my focus is Spanish and Icelandic :)
I really appreciate your honesty. I’m an A2 Spanish-speaker and I’m just hoping I can get to B2 by this time next year (using a combination of Pimsleur, Busuu, Flashcards and random media). At some point in the next five years, I would love to get French under my belt, as well. This video has given me inspiration because you make language-learning feel the way it feels to me; it’s a lifelong process of refinement. It’s a disservice to aspirational viewers to claim to have become fluent in a few short months. Thank you all the way from Chicago!
Thank you.
A process of refinement is a very good way to put it. I speak French yes. It sounds good to non-French speakers. It sounds OK to French speakers. But I can't claim that it's excellent or that it took a week or even three months.
Good luck with your Spanish... be like Dory and just keep swimming!
Always talk about the time it takes in hours.
This always gives a better idea than the number of months it takes.
120-200 hours of classroom instructions supplemented by reading and watching videos.
@@diariosdelextranjero Time in hours can also be misleading or obscure to interpret. Classroom instruction hours (depends on the class - teacher, materials, techniques and methods, attention, concentration, dedication, assignments, homework, etc.) and not to mention the supplements.
My native language is Portuguese.right now im trying to learn italian even tho it's a relatively similar language it's taken me quite a while to learn.great video.
Yeah, just because they are "similar" doesn't always make them easy. French is closer to English than Swedish, but linguistically it's definitely harder for an English speaker. Thanks for the comment!
i am an native italian speaker ( and even native and native is not the same, i grew up in germany and my native italian level is much lower than a regular italian native speaker... so you couldnt even put that in the same bin) and i tried to leanr portuguese. it is similar but that can make it even harder, because you will try to copy your native language with an foreign accent or words... this is what i did with french as a teen in school. it was good to get around with in speaking situations but i never really learned which words were masculine and feminine in french because i just tried to get around it by using the italian genders for these words... it is just too tempting in romance languages to do something similar.
@@intarc0giotto That happens with similar languages (same family or close related). The first steps are easy because similarities help. Nevertheless, regarding mastering the language is the other way around: similarities are a misleading burden.
Great vid. I am a language learner but also not a Polyglot. I never liked those videos of people claiming to speak 10 languages but they say two sentences. Your channel is quite refreshing, keep it up!
Wow. Thanks so much for this. I have never commented on a video like this, but I just found this video and your video about "How to learn a language for real". These have been the most useful language learning videos I have ever watched (and I've watched a lot). Your point about having task based goals was so helpful- just yesterday I was still sitting with the lofty and vague goal of "I will be conversational in French by August". Now I'm going to put some thought into task based goals like making a recording of myself every fortnight and a diary entry every day.
And the fact that you started learning your second language at 30- that is so encouraging, because I'm 23 and have only just really got into language learning. I've been feeling quite discouraged by hearing how young other successful language learners were when they began. So thank you so much for sharing! Subscribed!
Thank you so much for being real! I saw your last video about quitting French and I felt so relieved to not to be alone. I felt like a failure after moving to France and still struggling with the language and pronunciation, I thought I knew everything I needed to know about French and I was sooo wrong. Learning languages is like a rollercoaster for me, sometimes I'm loving it and sometimes I don't even want to hear a word in my TL, so after watching TH-cam videos like "I learnt French in one week" "How to speak 7 languages" I felt so discouraged. So thank you for being honest and keep motivating people around you!
I love your channel, it's so honest!
I'm a native spanish speaker that knows english (I work for an american company), and I'm trying to learn french right now. Thank you for making these videos, your channel should (AND WILL!) have more views!!! Stay consistent!!
Je viens de découvrir ta chaîne, j’apprécie beaucoup ton honnêteté et ta transparence ! Merci beaucoup de partager tes pensées et tes méthodes !
I can’t thank you enough for giving me the confidence I needed, so very badly to try again for the 100th time to learn German, ty ty ty 🤗
I’m almost 50 and up until this point, I really thought I wasn’t smart enough to learn another language, as soooo many channels and courses are always promising that you can learn a language in a week, I never could, so felt so dumb, but you have explained exactly what I needed to hear to get me started again 😊
I really can’t thank you enough, love your channel 🥰🙏
I find it really difficult to say "I think I'm fluent in this language" - Even in English I make stupid mistakes all the time (more often then not re-reading takes care of that - but still: the vast majority of native speakers wouldn't make those mistakes) - and yet here I am using more English than German (my native language) in my everyday and professional/academic life. So to gauge my own progress I completely ommitted the words "fluent", "level", "proficient" and "good". I also try to not use them when others ask me about my progress with a language (if the question in a questionnaire is how proficient I am and the choices are based on the CEFR then, well, can't do anything about that).
Instead, I like to evaluate myself and my skills with a set of categories:
(1) How much do I struggle reading a) fiction, recipes, social media b) non-fiction, newspapers, research articles c) subtitles, real-time chats
(2) How much do I struggle listening to a) cooking shows, vloggers etc. b) news and speeches c) podcasts, discussions, tv-shows, audio-books etc. c) live discussions with many people, random audio mid sentence
(3) How much do I struggle writing a) a comment on e.g. youtube b) a summary / comment / mini-essay / opinion on a movie, discussion point etc. c) in a real time-chat with many participants
(4) How much do I struggle with speaking when a) reading out loud b) giving short replies to questions c) formulating my opinion or participating in a discussion (=being given the floor) ( d) throw in a comment in a discussion (=taking the floor)
(5) How often do I find myself thinking in the target language by accident? How often do I know what a word/sentence in the target language means but don't actually know the dictionary/text-book translation?
If you say it like that, no one is fluent in a language. Fluency, in my opinion, is to be able to speak, understand, read, and write in the language with minimal mistakes.
Every speaker, no matter what the language is, has to back track at times because they think faster than their mouth can talk.
@@あなたがすごいだよ agreed. I think we can say we're fluent in so and so language, but that doesn't mean we've mastered that language. I'm definitely fluent in my native language, but I haven't and most likely won't ever master it.
By the size of you comment i can tell you, you are fluent in english, you are probably better in english than i with my own language.
Yoooo, shout outs to my man Matt vs Japan. I found him recently, and I really like how he's extremely real about the language learning process, and only wants to help people learn. I'm a Japanese-learner, so obviously anything about language learning interests me. So I subscribed! Hope you have a great day
You can check out my video with Matt if you haven't already. :-) I think it's my 3rd latest.
Thank you for making this video. I feel like getting your systems in place and actually bringing yourself into a position which enables you to continuously work on something is necessary and not talked about enough in the language learning discourse. Last year, I stumbled upon Refold and started imemrsing in French, after a few weeks I lost motivation. I'm back and currently studying regularly. Even though I'm still at the start, I've noticed that everything becomes easier once you have specific goals and motivations and above all, once you're able to take better care of your mental and physical health.
I have just discovered your channel and really appreciate this message. I am a very weak language learner, with hardly any natural ability, but do struggle along and make eventual progress. Despite these many limitations, I have learned a few things that might help out others, and have tried to share some of them in the past. It is delightful to hear somebody else with an equally well grounded position.
Meh, everything comes down to your personal goals and how high your standards are. I personally only claim to know a language when I have at least a solid B1 in that language, I think that's fair. In general, it is a bit "toxic" to compare each others' language abilities, but I agree that we should call out those polyglot wannabes who care more about self-promotion than language learning.
Recently subscribed! Looking forward to watching the rest of your videos. I've been "learning" Greek for about a year and a half but only more intensively the past month. Definitely my test run for language learning.
Awesome! Thank you!
I appreciate your focus on figuring out what's needed to speak languages reallllly well rather than knowing a bunch of phrases and hand gestures and filler words in a bunch of different languages. That's what I'm going for too
Yeah in fact I've recently put French on hold to focus on Swedish because I'm not happy with my level.
I've seen this video a couple of times before, but I just wanna say this video has one of my favorite thumbnails. I smile every time it pops up on my feed.
Hi, I just wanted to let you know how much of an inspiration you have been to my journey of learning languages. I'm a Spanish native speaker so I often watch English speakers TH-camrs for practice my second language. Lately, I got really interested in learning more languages so I started watching TH-camrs that claimed to have learned a language in 2, 3, 6 months and so on, or the ones that explain their plan for studying 12 languages in 2020 (are they even humans? Lol).
So I started to get really stressed thinking about my A1 french that I reached in 6 months and how I wasn't good enough for this... and then I found your channel and I basically binge-watched all your videos regarding language learning and man just a huge THANK YOU, you help me focus in my own progress rather than thinking how everyone else is doing.
Keep the good content, you deserve way more subscribers, can't wait to see your channel grow :)
J'aime cette commentaire !
I don't have time to respond properly (have to go to work hehe) but this is lovely, so nice of you to say!
Absolutely agree. I am also a binge watcher of this channel and I am so happy to have found him. I was doubting my language studies as well. All these super polyglots out here.
Well, I do think you are a successful language learner, as you can communicate your ideas both in Swedish and in French. I used to say that I'm not good enough in English, although I've been studying it for quite a long time. Then I realized all the amazing things I can already do in this language (like following your channel, talking to my friends from abroad, performing tasks in English at my job). The thought of "I'm not good enough" isn't healthy.
Congratulations from Brazil!
It's actually very relaxing to listen to you sharing your experience. When I started watching language learning videos on TH-cam I felt really motivated, until I noticed it could also have adverse effects on how much I enjoyed actually learning the language (and it seems you may have been a victim of that as well). Don't get me wrong I still use youtube a lot for language learning but you need to be careful about how you approach it.
My experience is similar to yours: I started getting into language learning at 30 (Japanese - difficult enough to not even think about another one!), and it had been almost 10 years since the last time I actively studied a language (English). After 2 years I'm quite happy where I'm at, but I know I could easily feel like I didn't do enough and I didn't study the right way and I should have reached this level much faster and blablabla, if I were to focus on these thoughts and to compare myself to youtube polyglots.
When I started japanese I thought to myself "it's gonna be at least a 10 year journey to reach a point where I feel a real sense of achievement", and I'm sticking to that.
Actually if you compare yourself to real life people with day jobs learning the language on the limited free time they have, you will see that you're making a ton of progress.
Anyway, thanks for your honesty and stay motivated!
Honestly, I choose your channel over any polyglot any day. Maybe it's because I don't want to be a polyglot myself, my life goal is to become fluent in both Welsh and Italian. Welsh because simply, I am Welsh and I'm very proud of it. And Italian because I adore the Italian culture, and I recently found out I have Italian in my blood. So that's my motivation.
But beside that, I honestly have a lot of respect for you and your videos because you are very genuine, fair, and you have a lot of knowledge on this subject. That in itself has brought me back to your videos and I'm sure that is the same for everyone else too! Basically, I feel like you are just like all of us, we are all on the same journey with our languages, no matter what stage we're at, you make us feel like we're all equal. So keep being you buddy and keep making great content! Much love :)
I love your channel because you are relatable and realistic. I don't need advice from language geniuses. I need advice from someone who has similar challenges to me. Thank you so much. And now I need to go watch some French videos...
I loved this video. I also really value being able to speak a language to a high level instead of knowing 5 or 6 at a very basic level. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it was great to see a video talk about that.
It's good that you're honest about your experience.
You can learn the basics of any language and a couple of the most important vocabulary in two weeks with little more than an hour daily. Why do I know? Because I “learned” Italian while on vacation in Italy for two weeks during the siesta hours. I do not speak Italian, but it’s enough to order a drink and to pull a trick at a party. Really learning a language is way harder and needs a tone of commitment!
I learnt enough Tagalog in 2 weeks, while in the Philippines to convince a native speaker I was fluent - until we got to the end of my knowledge that is. There is something special about learning while in the country that speaks that language. It's an added motivation, but that's not the same as spending that 1 hour a day back home where you aren't surrounded by the language all day.
LOL. In those two weeks, did you also learn that siesta is not a word in Italian?
I’ve just recently stumbled upon your channel and I really love how honest you are about language learning experience. I’ve been watching a bunch of polyglot videos and I would get this feeling that they’re only true to some extent. They were definitely inspirational at first until I realized that either I simply wasn’t talented enough or my criteria for ‘speaking a language’ was a bit different. I started learning English at school about 20 years ago and my level is still far from perfection because I’ve never been to an English speaking country and I rarely get to talk to a native speaker. Then I started learning German and I can speak it on a simple level, I also got into Japanese and I talk like a small child rn, and all of that definitely doesn’t make me a polyglot. Of course, there are people who are truly fluent in several languages but I can hardly imagine their journey and the amount of time it took. Keeping your goals and motivation in check is also an issue. And if defining a reason for speaking English is simple because you can’t do without it in the modern world, with the other languages you have to really think hard. I still have no idea why I need German and Japanese, I just like the idea of speaking them. Idk maybe that’s the problem that slows me down in my studies or it’s just that I don’t know how to study more efficiently. Sometimes I also get the feeling that polyglots spend all of their waking hours studying languages XD
Anyways, thank you for sharing your thoughts, definitely subscribing to your channel!
Spanish and English are my main languages from childhood.
I've been learning Portuguese and french for a while now.
I plan on learning arabic because i'm passionate for it and know the alphabet and travel basics. For me is basically "adopting" a language for life. I closed the door for any other languages, because with these five i have a lot to learn, live and sing. I am a singer and sing in those languages. I dont want to be a youtube polyglot, the reality is i'll learn throughout the years. My goal is to function in the five languages by the time i turn 40 (I'm 20). I have a lot of time! But especially arabic will take me my whole life.
Thanks for being real. Long story short, I studied French in school (America) for 5 years, and would have rather spent that time learning to tolerate walking on hot coal. 17 years later (September 2019) I decided to return to French. Your channel is why. I watched your French speaking video and your honesty with your struggles connected. Thanks for not being a polyglot.
Merci, vraiment. C'est cool de recervoir ces genres de commentaires. 😊
Nice vid man. I'm from Melbourne, started learning my first foreign language this year at 27yo. Channels like yours are way more relatable than many of the polyglot channels out there which is why you have such a fan-base already.
Another example to highlight your point is like a beginner athlete taking advice from an olympic champion. Pro athletes are SO FAR AHEAD that can't even relate to the struggles of the beginner. I've heard polyglots dismiss common beginner questios (such as "how do i retain new words better?" etc) with "oh it's not that hard". And many of the time, these guys learned 2-3 languages before they were teenagers and literally don't understand the challenges that monoglot adults have to face in order to improve.
It's also a big misconception that someone has to be elite to share wisdom or value. Although you "only" know two foreign languages and although you've "only" been studying for 3 years, you have plenty of wisdom and value to deliver. So thanks for your channel my dude, please keep posting regularly.
I consider myself a polyglot, my mother tongue is portuguese. I'm C1 in english., B2 in japanese (Kanji is very hard so yeah), and B2 in spanish. Now I'm learning italian and french! :)
Polyglots say that learning a language is useful, fast, and easy. But I wonder if culture, make friends, knowledge, understand music lyrics and films are enough to bother learning a language or if you still can do all this without knowing the language at all. What they don't tell you is that learning any language is hard and takes a lot of effort and time, let alone being a polyglot, which becomes quite an addicting idea after listening to them. What most often forget is that the language has to be incorporated into the daily routine consistently, and it's a lifelong process that takes you years to master it. Before deciding what you want to study, you might consider the efforts and benefits from it, your plans to live in the country or doing business with them, and so on. You're bound to be demotivated sooner or later if you don't have reasonable reasons in the first place.
In short, be realistic, choose two or three languages tops, and go for it. The most important thing is to know that you're learning something you're gonna use and that makes you happy.
I agree... almost.
Firstly, not all polyglots say the same thing.
Secondly, regarding how many languages to study or why, it is a matter of individual choice and goals.
The usefulness of a language for others might be beyond our particular scope. Not to mention happiness. 🙂
I love to compare how different languages have solved the same problem in quite different ways, as in "there is/are" (to be), "il y a" (to have), es gibt (to give), "hay" (from "haber" different from "tener" but both "to have"), or that "to be" can be "ser", "estar" and even "ir" (I have been to) or "tener+n=estar/ser+adj" (I am hungry, I'm ... years ).
Thank you for pointing this out. You've earned my subscription.
I had one year anniversary of studying spanish last month and realized that youtube polyglots just wants to monetize their business selling the idea of an asap recipe.
Btw im swedish and your swedish is very good!
The honesty is so refreshing, as usual.
Simple answer: being A1 level doesn't mean you "speak that language"
Scream that louder for the people in the back
I tried learning french and spanish for years and years and I got so frustrated. I could barely communicate in Spanish even in Mexico. Started learning norwegian and I feel refreshed. I want to learn swedish after getting to decent level of norwegian. Mastering a language and being able to speak about politics and philosophy in it is better being able to order some tacos in 3 languages.
When I was in university I thought I spoke such good French... until I actually moved to France had had to speak to French people all the time. I thought my Spanish was really solid, until I moved to Spain and actually had to try to understand Spanish being spoken by Spanish people. It took me yeeeeaaaaars of living in the countries and struggling to communicate at times before I got “very fluent”. That’s what it takes. I don’t even know why someone would want to be fluent in 10+ languages. The learning process is supposed to be savored and done carefully, not something done in a rush in order to get views on TH-cam videos.
I want to reach a high level in my target languages too. Great video! 🤓
Thanks for the support!
Thank you so much for this video! I consider myself just like you.. now I try to concentrate in one language at the time. coz I was frustrated for so long trying to study 3 languages at the same time, and on top of it, those are Russian, German, and Chinese. What it made me improved was the luck I had of having the chance of living in the countries of these languages. So, I can say by now I speak a really decent Russian, I would say B2 with mistakes.. German C1.1 but it took me so much time, frustration and hard working to reach these levels and I don’t feel I’m fluent enough, in terms of I what I consider being a fluent in a foreign language. And well.. my chinese has dropped down by the fact that I’ve been focused on my German and practicing my Russian as well. Honestly I find your channel super motivational because you say the true story, thoughts, and journey of what it’s learn a foreign language like.. I wish you all the best on your learning journey.
Thank you, Danke... Spatsiba or whatever it is they say... and yeah I have no idea what the Chinese is haha!
I refuse to say I speak a language until I know it fluently, or at least to a conversational level. I get annoyed with all the people saying "I speak 10 languages", but then that can barely say anything in either of them.
Thank you for your honesty and authenticity! I get annoyed with those popular-pretend polyglots here on TH-cam. I do believe there are true polyglots but they are rare. These popular TH-camrs are just giving false hope with their prepared videos.
This is a great video I would love to see a break down of your language learning schedule
Will try to do that. It (my language learning schedule) is becoming more regular but honestly it's still a long way from where I'd like it be, and still pretty random. Two days in a row with nothing and then 4 hours of listening and an iTalki lesson haha.
I am on your same line. I speak English but I am trying to master it at an high level. Of course my primary interest is Estonian because I live here (currently I am attending B2 classes). Meanwhile for my pleasure I'm into the conversational japanese and arabic (but those are just during relaxing time very causally through Busuu).
What a lovely programme you have there!
Starting at the age of 30 is no problem. I only started learning languages at 29, and now speak Spanish well enough that I've taught classes to natives in Mexico and Chile, and done television interviews. I also speak French and Portuguese at a B2 and B1 level respectively. I don't go crazy with study, either, just a little bit of each language each and every day.
I've learned French for almost seven years (school included, so most of this time wouldn't really count as full dedicated learning) and Italian for about two years, and I felt pretty comfortable and fluent in both of them, and was 'ready to move on to the next language', until I decided to read more of some deeper french and italian literature and and write my own texts, I realized how much vocab is still missing. For a moment I was very frustrated, because I thought I had a good level of fluency, but I accepted it and now I continue learning and improving to reach a much higher level :) Your videos help keeping it real!
i think it comes down to a realistic view of your goals, the time and effort you can realistically put in, and to simply not expect to have the language skills you have in your native tongue anytime soon. lets just say your 30, and english is your first language. thats thirty years of practicing english a whole usually 12 years of english schooling and you are still likely to run into words you dont know.
i think it is also worth considering that Days of French n Sweedish has recently tried an extreamly difficult task of learning 2 languages at the same time and found himself unhappy with the results. there are probably diminishing returns even if you do devote all of the time to be fair to both. so he might be down mentally or emotionally not that this is not a great video to reality check people setting insane goals. (i dont think his goals were crazy but maybe just too high for learning 2 languages at once.)
when he becomes an actual polyglot that understands things well.
Days of French ‘n’ Swedish ‘n’ Chinese ‘n’ Japanese ‘n’ Spanish ‘n’ Thai
Haha, unlikely.
More like Days of French n Swedish n Finnish n Serbian.
But I like the ring of Days of French n Swedish. It's sort of a play on Days of Wine and Roses.
this video was recommendet for me and i like your thoughts. just grounded. it's true, sometimes one should come back to the roots and not try everything at once and try to be lindie or steve, as you say... :)
Exactly. You can't be like those people if you're always worried about who you are not.
thats for sure. I mean, their lives revolve around learning languages while most of us have this as a hobby. I cant even fanthom how lindie doesnt get burned out with so many languages lol
You don't have to be a polyglot to help us learn languages. You have given a lot of encouragement to me, especially to persist in learning a couple of languag es. Marco beaucoup.
I'm from Guatemala, as of May 2020 I've been studying two languages which are English (obviously) and Russian and even though I've gotten fairly good at them I always felt as if I just wasn't good enough. Why? The answer is quite simple, sometimes I falter in my languages and make some errors from time to time despite having been studying for years by now, but even worse is that I constantly watched all those people claiming to be polyglots on the internet. I sincerely felt bad but thanks to your video I understand that the most important thing is to be understood and be functional even if some mistakes let themselves be known from time to time. Thanks for the motivation, good luck.
Привет. Почему ты решил учить русский?
Jaguar Chicago я даже не знаю, сначала я хотел попросту хвастаться тем что умею говорить на некоторых разных языках перед друзьями но оказалось я в конечном итоге влюбился в этот язык. Конечно, ошибки всеё-таки бывают но я работаю над ним ))
Всё-таки*
@@alexchavake3185 молодец👏👏👏
I want to be a reservist polyglot. Currently I can converse in Spanish and English at a moment's notice. Since I tend to forget most vocab and then the grammar because I never use the languages I learn, I just revise them once and a while to keep the grammar up. I can confidently revive my Portuguese and Italian to conversational level within 10 days to mobilise my rusty skills.
(not all)Polyglot youtubers be like: "LoOok At Me IaM A PoLyGlOt, Ic cAn SaY HeLlO iN 20 DiFfErEnT LangUaGeS"
I subscribed because of this video. I really appreciate your openness and honestness as far as how polyglots are and how the fake polyglots act. I definitely appreciate your truthfulness and realness. I'm looking forward to your future content
Jag ville bara säga att jag älskar din kanal! Om du skulle vilja ha hjälp med svenska får du gärna höra av dig☺️☺️
Never dismiss a message based on some "authoritative magnifiers" of the person delivering the message. Not everyone who most consider an expert, actually knows everything. All they can offer is their point of view and what worked for them. Whereas, a person not considered an expert by the masses will often have a take on it that is different. And that different take might be just what someone needs. Eg, I accept Krashen's take on things even if could only speak English because it resonates with my own analysis of language learning. You do not need to be a polyglot for your information to be valuable to me, and I appreciate the time and effort you take out of your own learning to share with us.
Thanks for the comment, I've gotta get to work now but thank you!
This is very true. But didn't Krashen actually speak German quite well? I could be wrong.
Honestly I find some of his theories to be whack but I have not yet analysed them all enough to fairly respond to them.
@@daysandwords yes Krashen speaks German. My point was, even if he did not speak another language, that would not take away from his theory. Meaning, not to judge the information based on who is delivering the information, but judge the information on its own merits. In this regard, I get more value from your videos than from Lidia Mocha-something, who seems like all she wants to do is sell me her many hundreds of Euros course that teaches me how to develop my own makeshift course from other materials for my chosen language.
@@MisterGames This is highly debated topic.
If people display skills to a great level in another language, then the advice they give related to learning languages, has a high likelihood to hold water.
That's theory backed up with practice.
Just my $.02
@@diariosdelextranjero we have been conditioned to give authority to the written word and pushed talking heads. If it is in a book it is gospel. Bill Nye is to be trusted as a science Guy even though he is merely a talking head on subjects he has no authority to speak on. A beginner has no idea if anything they hear from someone else on language is right or wrong. Someone watching someone do a "I speak X languages and here is me speaking in them", has no idea if it is true or if they just learned those bits or if they truly know the language to the extent shown.
Let me give an example. This trusting mechanism to accept the words of the authoritative is built in to us. It is what makes the child accept the lessons of the parent. Else being told the berry is poison would be ignored and the child would eat it anyway and die. So from a survival point of view we have this. You even see it in the young of other animals as they learn what to eat and not eat. Ok, this makes sense, but you have no idea if what I said is true or not even though it makes sense. You have no idea if I have evidence to back it up even if it makes sense. But because it makes sense you are likely to believe it.
I might not be like most people, or maybe I am and have no idea, but for me, just because some authority says something is no reason to accept it without question. People accept what Benny Lewis says about 3 months, but noone flat says, hang on, 8 hours times 90 days is 720 hours! Nothing special here then. Noone flat out says, showing a video of him speaking X after a few hours is meaningless, could be rehearsed lines, and we have no idea if he can chat like that again in 12 months?
I learned German at University back in the late 80s early 90s. There was no public internet then. I trusted the lecturers to know what they were doing and their own German was exceptional. It was only when I completely self taught Dutch with my own made up method, did I realise the university way was garbage. If I blankly say University method is garbage but this is better, noone will believe it. But if I tell me story, throw in some of my realisations that make sense, and build my case, then it makes sense and people will believe what I say. But they won't know if my evidence is true or not, just like you truly don't know if I have even been to university or not or am just saying I have.
I'm sick of those click-bait "polyglot" youtubers :')
"I LEARNED FRENCH IN 1 DAY" like... bye.
@Luicius Vanegas Dude, you don't become fluent in 2 months. That's some severe bullshit.
Luicius Vanegas 2 months??? No dude i don’t believe it, language learning comes with more time...
Good video! Ive studied languages but I'm not that one who learns a language in 3 months..
Honestly I don't think anyone is, unless they a) live in the country b) refuse to speak any other language c) study outside of their normal life and d) are already quite lingustically able.
He who has a why can bear any how. I wanted to learn french because I live in bilingual Belgium and I wanted to be able to understand the french part, and for more work opportunities. After studying it on and off and back on again for a couple of years, I’ve been able to get a job where I need to speak french a couple of times per week at least. This has completely lit a fire under my my ass and now I want to be fluent more than ever just to avoid embarrassment lol
You are very cool. I have english since 11 years at school and always been very bad. I just started to like languages a few monts ago. How I know a lot of wonderful people they have another native language. I want to learn more and start spanish now. I don't want to be like a native. My gool is to be able du understand the most, read normal difficold stuff and can express myself, even if I make misstakes. (Like in this text I guess xD)
Thanks for the comment!
Great points. It takes many years to learn multiple languages. Keep going forward :)
That's so true !
This is a good video.Tto give an example I've been studying russian quite intensively every day for three months. I have a much more solid base with Bulgarian having lived there(my level in Bulgarian could charitably have been called B1 when I left, but I haven't practiced it for a few months so my vocab has gone to shit). Also, there are a few useful structural similarities and phrases that you can, so to speak, transfer from Bulgarian to Russian. So I can express myself in those and other phrases and structures I've learned quite well. But there's no way, as you say, if confronted with an ordinary Russian speaker who doesn't have any english, my vocabulary would be big enough to meaningfully talk about most things. We could communicate effectively, but not because of my Russian ability - more because I would be able to get the gist from my experience with slavic languages + a bit of Russian. I like what you say about appearing to speak another language, because I think ppl get v. excited when they see that someone can speak in a certain way and pull of some idiomatic and interesting, perhaps even complex, phrases. However, said person might not be able to follow a slightly non-standard conversation in the same way. The most important thing is to praise all people who participate in language learning, even if they can't seem to make any progress or they're struggling, and not hold up anyone as an idol or a god or get sucked in by false promises.
I had an experience like you described. I was at 13-14 fluent in French as I lived in Quebec, Canada. Jump forward 10 years later and living in the UK, my boss has a French footballer asking for someone that speaks French, he says " Nando does!" I froze on the spot 🤣.
I love this channel!
Apart from the videos, I've often wondered if the polyglots could read books in the languages they speak or write an essay in those languages. Would they be able to speak to join in a conversation with a group of native speakers and speak spontaneously in the language? Do they really have 100% understanding of everything they hear and read?
Very unlikely. Since they learn so many languages, at one point they have to sacrifice quality for that quantity, but maybe they just have different goals and don't care about fluency. However, I wouldn't say I 'speak' a language if I don't have at least a solid B1. But that's just my opinion.
Love you Lamont~!
I am just as impressed-if not more-with people who speak one foreign language extremely well as I am with someone who speaks 5 languages to a moderate degree. I mostly had to learn languages for reading (research). I did learn Spanish to B1, and I could give impromptu speeches and hold some conversations, but I was never satisfied with that. I struggle to speak Spanish and German. As one of my professors said, he can read complex theological texts in German, but he can’t order a cup of coffee. Similarly, I can do research in 3 or 4 foreign languages, but I am fluent in none of them. I’d rather be highly fluent in 1 or 2 of them.
Well I think it's all valuable depending on your cicumstances. e.g. I can now read most stuff with realtive ease in Swedish, and speaking is OK but not amazing, but for now, I'm happy with just being able to understand everything said to me, because if worst came to worst, there'd be a few Swedish people chatting with each other and I'd be able to be involved in the conversation.
But I would also be interested in knowing enough to read signs and stuff in 10 languages. I just don't like then trying to speak them.
@@daysandwords I agree. And I do understand the appeal of learning several to a moderate degree. I’ve thought of doing so myself in the past. I only mean that for me, personally, at this moment (subject to change), I would like to be a fluent speaker of at least one or two foreign languages. After that, learning several to a moderate extent would be okay. Most of my languages were of necessity for research anyway, and to meet degree reading requirements where dictionary use was still allowed. That made me want to learn to speak, and being able to was frustrating. Being able to speak at B1 after only 8 weeks through a language course made me realize how inefficient my prior instruction had been in the States.
Your view is like a breath of fresh air
What he said about Mandarin is correct. I studied Mandarin for 13 years (90 minutes every school day) and I'm going to get to my level in Mandarin as with Portuguese and I've only had over 560 hours of studying, learning, and exposure because English is my strongest language and Portuguese is nearer to that compared to Mandarin. Plus you can't do context clues for Mandarin, it's either you know it or not.
Learning a language is like scaling a mountain at your own pace. Someone who has been rock climbing for decades obviously knows how to scale a mountain way faster than you do, but it doesn't really matter. If you work on your goal and your method of reaching that goal (study techniques etc.) regularly, you will succeed.
It of course also means that you must put the work into it, I have an Australian friend who lives here in Sweden who talks about his desire to learn Swedish. I offered him some easy tips to learn vocabulary but after a few days, he just said that he didn't really have the energy to follow through. (which is understandable since everyone can speak English anyway).
Here’s the problem I’m facing. I’m learning Samoan, there is very few resources that can be efficient for self study, I’m blessed to have a native speaker in my family through my wife but there isn’t ever any very useful “programs” or teachers online for the language it just isnt available from what I’ve found. Samoan isn’t on the “difficulty scale” on the language learning scale either
Good work man! Keep it up!
Amen! You say what I think watching other youtubers, but it's stuff I wouldn't expected to get views. I thought you had to frame it the way they do to get people's attention.
Not to mention I'd trust the advice of someone who clearly knows a lot on the subject but is humble enough not to claim expertise than the other way around.
Me all happy that I was able to understand the absolute bare minimum amount of German that you spoke :D
2:57 Almost perfect!
"Ich bin immer bereit, Deutsch zu reden"
Edit: great video by the way :)
"Ich bin immer bereit zum Deutschreden" is valid as well. I would hear that a lot and I myself would use that without feeling it's weird about it
@@chiliconcaro Deshalb sagte ich ja "fast perfekt". Ich denke dass "bereit sein etwas zu tun" aber die korrekte Grammatik wäre.
Du hast recht, man kann das andere schon auch sagen, Deutsche sprechen ja auch kein perfektes Deutsch. Aber es ist doch immer praktisch zu hören, wie etwas noch besser ginge, vor allem wenn man es selbst nicht so einfach überprüfen kann.
Aber du hast absolut recht dass man das andere definitiv auch sagen kann, dabei verwendet man "Deutschreden" dann halt als Substantiv.
Solid reality check! Thank you!
I like your attitude!
Im not sure what it truely means to be a polyglot so i cant say that i want to be one but i do want to learn many, many languages. I know french (first language) and english(fluent) learning spanish since 2 and a half years. But i havent done much i was studying about 30 minutes per day on average. Even though im not yet fluent in spanish, i started german AND russian. It motivates me. And i have a feeling of urgency as if I needed to at least understand all those languages fast even though im not done with spanish yet. And even english i need to maintain a bit. But i am really motivated.
I'm just curious, why the "urgency"? Are you afraid someone else will beat you to it or...?
@@danieltemelkovski9828 i was very motivated but im slowing down in russian but i love that language i dont want to give it up but i dont do much i am concentrating in spanish and german first. I am not scared that someone would be better than me. There already are so many people better than me but I am competing with myself.
One thing I am trying to decide is I get to go to study aboard in Russia in my junior or senior year of college and I am a sophomore right now. I want to have a solid base in the language about B1 and I am not sure how long it will take too reach it.
I also have been learning Czech past 8 months and in January put Czech aside to start french and now I am in love with french and want to keep studying it but I know I have to start Russian soon, so I am not sure if I should stop my french now and go right on to Russian. Or wait until I have three months under my belt in french to move then to Russian. Once I come back from studying aboard in Russia I will then go back and refine my Czech and french up to b2. And hopefully have my Russian at C1 from studying aboard there.
Thoughts?
Truth Serum
Russian is 2200 hours used very wisely.
Chinese, Japanese and Korean 4400 hours
IMO, start Russian right away.
@@MisterGames Does the brain still take in two languages as fast even if you give each 1 hour a day with right methods? Or is it better to do one and then do another?
I have the time as a college student so I could I just wanna know if it works.
What Jemmo said is totally correct (although I thought Korean was a bit easier than Chinese and Japanese) but here's what I would do:
Sit down and map out (like with a literal pen and paper) what you want to achieve in your languages and how you might go about it. Do you have two peaks in your day? e.g. First thing in the morning and then right after dinner? If so then maybe you can study the different languages at the two peaks.
The brain cannot take in 2 languages like it can take in 1. One is always better, but the problem is motivation.
But if you've already done some French and now you want to learn Russian, then your French will always be ahead (because it's heaps easier and you've already started), so that's a good sign.
Maybe watch my video in French about learning 2 languages at the same time - just check my channel for "Learning 2 languages at the same time" (sorry I can't grab the link right now).
@@daysandwords Thank you for your detailed and helpful response. if I might add your editing quality and video skills is on par with any of the pro's, I see your success written in stone. Keep up your work and I hope to keep learning more from you.
Languages are freaking awesome.
Similar situation. I started studying languages 18 months ago at age 31. Studied Spanish 3 months and French 10 months. I would be helpful in French in the situation described in this video, but not Spanish. Possibly could help in Spanish if the hypothetical women in distress wrote her issues down. Written communication is always easier to understand.
Strongly agree on MattvsJapan as well, its beautiful!
It's exactly a talk to what I finally have come up to. It is seductive to try to pick up new languages as many as you can and to say that you have become a polyglot, but in the end it's a way to nowhere; you will not be able to order food or to ask a way you wont to go, not even make a small talk except "hello" and "see you soon".
The real test which shows that you have learned a language, is a lively energetic conversation among a group of natives where you feel yourself as the one among equals, and not mumble like a sheep. If you will not have been able do that in the end, then all your multiple language studies are like filling up a gap in your leisure like doing macramé. But that thing requires time and concentrated effort.
Ever heard of Language transfer? Would love to see a review on the app or even an interview with Mihalis the creator of it.
Your honesty. I like it.
I appreciate that!
That's a bit situational, I'm studying French and Spanish two languages extremely close to my native language and I'm studying quite a bit. 2 Hours for each a day, plus I'm am also watching a bit of French and Spanish TV, if you take in this and the similarities (not just the vocab a lot of the Grammar is similar)
So in six months I could be at a very decent level, not fluent of course
For the rest yeah you're right you'll need to practice it a lot more than six months, especially if the language is not that easy and similar to one you already speak
Btw thanks for recommending me Busuu it's helping me a lot
You italian or portuguese, right
@@CrazeeFy yes, I'm Italian
This is so commonsense.
Thanks.
Thank you too!
It's like when u are struggling with a subject and when u ask ur teacher about it he explains it as if it were the most simple thing in the world because for him it is and u still don't have a clue of what he is talking about then a classmate of urs come over and explains it in simpler way bc he was struggling in the same thing a while back.
Yep.
Examples my French teacher and math teacher in senior high school.
Is "Lamont" a first name or surname? I'm mentioning you in an email. I'll just say "Lamont". You have some good ideas -- I've already heard a lot from Steve K and Luca L, and now I'm learning from you. I'm currently studying Chinese. I'm at "less than conversational level" in French and Spanish, which I studied many years ago. All I need is another 15,000 words in each and I'm fluent! Meanwhile, I'm enjoying studying 普通话. Thanks for all the good ideas.
Lamont is my first name.
Ive called out polyglots for this all the time. People call me a hater, those people are idiots.
Theres also a difference between understanding a high level and speaking it. with the latter being much, MUCH harder.
If most of them on this platform, got stuck in one of their target language countries... with say, a broken down car. 95% of them would be stuck.
Yep, exactly. Even I would struggle with that in French (not much in Swedish), but I speak much better French than some so called polyglots.
Intermediate level in the language is just fine as it gives you ability to have conversations and understand most contents on TV.
or with me, a native german, learning vietnamese. im great on paper (reading, writing), speaking is "okay", but hearing understanding is the worst haha
im on B1 level and i still cant watch anything on TV. i can hear known words and phrases, if im lucky, but thats it. but i start to understand written public signs and message boards~
I’m a polyglot I suppose, native Spanish and english, fluent french, and intermediate to advanced Japanese. Currently studying german, nahuatl and sign language. Sometimes I watch those videos with the “15 languages polyglot!” And after watching I start to feel like I’m behind and I need to speed up and learn more, but then I stop myself and think “what am I doing? Do I want to learn languages to experience another culture, to enrich my own knowledge about another form of communication? Or is it to show up some TH-camrs who may or may not be genuine?”
If you’re learning something to show off or to prove something to others or to “beat” someone else then maybe it’s not really worth learning.
whats the name of the second background song? its lit. anyway, love your content!
Ha, thanks.
It's from Soundstripe (stock music) and it's called Duromina, by Chelsea Gough.
@@daysandwords thank you! ive been watching all of your vids and find them extremely motivational and helpful. hope your language learning process has been going well so far and hope to see more vids soon