[00:13] I love learning foreign languages.
[00:16] In fact, I love it so much that I like
to learn a new language every two years,
[00:20] currently working on my eighth one.
[00:22] When people find that out about me,
they always ask me,
[00:25] "How do you do that? What's your secret?"
[00:27] And to be honest, for many years,
my answer would be,
[00:30] "I don't know. I simply
love learning languages."
[00:33] But people were never
happy with that answer.
[00:36] They wanted to know why they are spending
years trying to learn even one language,
[00:40] never achieving fluency,
[00:41] and here I come, learning
one language after another.
[00:44] They wanted to know
the secret of polyglots,
[00:46] people who speak a lot of languages.
[00:49] And that made me wonder, too,
[00:50] how do actually other polyglots do it?
[00:53] What do we have in common?
[00:54] And what is it that enables us
[00:56] to learn languages
so much faster than other people?
[00:59] I decided to meet other people
like me and find that out.
[01:03] The best place to meet a lot of polyglots
[01:05] is an event where hundreds
of language lovers
[01:08] meet in one place
to practice their languages.
[01:11] There are several such polyglot events
organized all around the world,
[01:14] and so I decided to go there
[01:15] and ask polyglots
about the methods that they use.
[01:19] And so I met Benny from Ireland,
[01:21] who told me that his method
is to start speaking from day one.
[01:26] He learns a few phrases
from a travel phrasebook
[01:29] and goes to meet native speakers
[01:30] and starts having conversations
with them right away.
[01:33] He doesn't mind making
even 200 mistakes a day,
[01:36] because that's how he learns,
based on the feedback.
[01:39] And the best thing is, he doesn't
even need to travel a lot today,
[01:42] because you can easily have
conversations with native speakers
[01:45] from the comfort of
your living room, using websites.
[01:48] I also met Lucas from Brazil
[01:50] who had a really interesting
method to learn Russian.
[01:53] He simply added a hundred random
Russian speakers on Skype as friends,
[01:58] and then he opened
a chat window with one of them
[02:02] and wrote "Hi" in Russian.
[02:05] And the person replied, "Hi, how are you?"
[02:07] Lucas copied this and put it
into a text window with another person,
[02:12] and the person replied,
"I'm fine, thank you, and how are you?"
[02:15] Lucas copied this
back to the first person,
[02:18] and in this way, he had two strangers
have a conversation with each other
[02:22] without knowing about it.
[02:23] (Laughter)
[02:24] And soon he would start typing himself,
[02:26] because he had so many
of these conversations
[02:28] that he figured out how
the Russian conversation usually starts.
[02:32] What an ingenious method, right?
[02:34] And then I met polyglots who always start
by imitating sounds of the language,
[02:38] and others who always learn the 500
most frequent words of the language,
[02:43] and yet others who always start
by reading about the grammar.
[02:47] If I asked a hundred different polyglots,
[02:49] I heard a hundred different
approaches to learning languages.
[02:53] Everybody seems to have a unique way
they learn a language,
[02:57] and yet we all come to the same result
of speaking several languages fluently.
[03:02] And as I was listening to these polyglots
telling me about their methods,
[03:06] it suddenly dawned on me:
[03:08] the one thing we all have in common
[03:11] is that we simply found ways to enjoy
the language-learning process.
[03:17] All of these polyglots
were talking about language learning
[03:20] as if it was great fun.
[03:21] You should have seen their faces
[03:23] when they were showing me
their colorful grammar charts
[03:25] and their carefully handmade flash cards,
[03:28] and their statistics
about learning vocabulary using apps,
[03:31] or even how they love to cook
based on recipes in a foreign language.
[03:36] All of them use different methods,
[03:38] but they always make sure
it's something that they personally enjoy.
[03:42] I realized that this is actually
how I learn languages myself.
[03:46] When I was learning Spanish,
I was bored with the text in the textbook.
[03:49] I mean, who wants to read about Jose
[03:51] asking about the directions
to the train station. Right?
[03:54] I wanted to read "Harry Potter" instead,
[03:57] because that was
my favorite book as a child,
[03:59] and I have read it many times.
[04:00] So I got the Spanish translation
of "Harry Potter" and started reading,
[04:04] and sure enough, I didn't understand
almost anything at the beginning,
[04:07] but I kept on reading
because I loved the book,
[04:10] and by the end of the book, I was able
to follow it almost without any problems.
[04:14] And the same thing happened
when I was learning German.
[04:16] I decided to watch "Friends,"
my favorite sitcom, in German,
[04:20] and again, at the beginning
it was all just gibberish.
[04:23] I didn't know where one word finished
and another one started,
[04:26] but I kept on watching every day
because it's "Friends."
[04:29] I can watch it in any language.
I love it so much.
[04:31] And after the second or third season,
[04:33] seriously, the dialogue
started to make sense.
[04:37] I only realized this
after meeting other polyglots.
[04:40] We are no geniuses
[04:41] and we have no shortcut
to learning languages.
[04:44] We simply found ways
how to enjoy the process,
[04:48] how to turn language learning
from a boring school subject
[04:51] into a pleasant activity
which you don't mind doing every day.
[04:55] If you don't like writing
words down on paper,
[04:57] you can always type them in an app.
[04:59] If you don't like listening
to boring textbook material,
[05:02] find interesting content on YouTube
or in podcasts for any language.
[05:06] If you're a more introverted person
[05:08] and you can't imagine speaking
to native speakers right away,
[05:11] you can apply the method of self-talk.
[05:13] You can talk to yourself
in the comfort of your room,
[05:16] describing your plans for the weekend,
how your day has been,
[05:19] or even take a random
picture from your phone
[05:21] and describe the picture
to your imaginary friend.
[05:25] This is how polyglots learn languages,
[05:27] and the best news is,
it's available to anyone
[05:30] who is willing to take the learning
into their own hands.
[05:34] So meeting other polyglots
helped me realize
[05:36] that it is really crucial
to find enjoyment
[05:39] in the process of learning languages,
[05:41] but also that joy in itself is not enough.
[05:45] If you want to achieve fluency
in a foreign language,
[05:48] you'll also need to apply
three more principles.
[05:51] First of all, you'll need
effective methods.
[05:55] If you try to memorize a list of words
for a test tomorrow,
[05:58] the words will be stored
in your short-term memory
[06:01] and you'll forget them after a few days.
[06:03] If you, however,
want to keep words long term,
[06:06] you need to revise them
in the course of a few days repeatedly
[06:09] using the so-called space repetition.
[06:11] You can use apps which are based
on this system such as Anki or Memrise,
[06:15] or you can write lists of word
in a notebook using the Goldlist method,
[06:19] which is also very popular
with many polyglots.
[06:21] If you're not sure which methods are
effective and what is available out there,
[06:25] just check out polyglots'
YouTube channels and websites
[06:28] and get inspiration from them.
[06:30] If it works for them,
it will most probably work for you too.
[06:34] The third principle to follow
[06:36] is to create a system in your learning.
[06:39] We're all very busy and no one
really has time to learn a language today.
[06:43] But we can create that time
if we just plan a bit ahead.
[06:47] Can you wake up 15 minutes earlier
than you normally do?
[06:51] That would be the perfect time
to revise some vocabulary.
[06:54] Can you listen to a podcast
on your way to work while driving?
[06:58] Well, that would be great
to get some listening experience.
[07:01] There are so many things we can do
without even planning that extra time,
[07:05] such as listening to podcasts
on our way to work
[07:07] or doing our household chores.
[07:09] The important thing is
to create a plan in the learning.
[07:12] "I will practice speaking
every Tuesday and Thursday
[07:15] with a friend for 20 minutes.
[07:17] I will listen to a YouTube video
while having breakfast."
[07:21] If you create a system in your learning,
[07:24] you don't need to find that extra time,
[07:26] because it will become
a part of your everyday life.
[07:29] And finally, if you want to learn
a language fluently,
[07:33] you need also a bit of patience.
[07:36] It's not possible to learn
a language within two months,
[07:39] but it's definitely possible to make
a visible improvement in two months,
[07:43] if you learn in small chunks every day
in a way that you enjoy.
[07:47] And there is nothing
that motivates us more
[07:49] than our own success.
[07:51] I vividly remember the moment
[07:53] when I understood the first joke
in German when watching "Friends."
[07:57] I was so happy and motivated
[07:59] that I just kept on watching that day
two more episodes,
[08:02] and as I kept watching,
[08:03] I had more and more of those moments
of understanding, these little victories,
[08:08] and step by step, I got to a level
where I could use the language
[08:11] freely and fluently to express anything.
[08:14] This is a wonderful feeling.
[08:16] I can't get enough of that feeling,
[08:18] and that's why I learn
a language every two years.
[08:21] So this is the whole polyglot secret.
[08:23] Find effective methods
which you can use systematically
[08:26] over the period of some time
in a way which you enjoy,
[08:29] and this is how polyglots learn
languages within months, not years.
[08:35] Now, some of you may be thinking,
[08:36] "That's all very nice
to enjoy language learning,
[08:39] but isn't the real secret
that you polyglots
[08:41] are just super talented
and most of us aren't?"
[08:45] Well, there's one thing
I haven't told you about Benny and Lucas.
[08:49] Benny had 11 years of Irish Gaelic
and five years of German at school.
[08:55] He couldn't speak them
at all when graduating.
[08:58] Up to the age of 21, he thought
he didn't have the language gene
[09:02] and he could not speak another language.
[09:04] Then he started to look
for his way of learning languages,
[09:07] which was speaking to native speakers
and getting feedback from them,
[09:11] and today Benny can easily
have a conversation in 10 languages.
[09:17] Lucas tried to learn English
at school for 10 years.
[09:20] He was one of the worst students in class.
[09:23] His friends even made fun of him
[09:24] and gave him a Russian textbook as a joke
[09:27] because they thought he would never
learn that language, or any language.
[09:31] And then Lucas started
to experiment with methods,
[09:33] looking for his own way to learn,
[09:36] for example, by having Skype chat
conversations with strangers.
[09:40] And after just 10 years,
[09:42] Lucas is able to speak
11 languages fluently.
[09:47] Does that sound like a miracle?
[09:49] Well, I see such miracles
every single day.
[09:52] As a language mentor,
[09:54] I help people learn
languages by themselves,
[09:56] and I see this every day.
[09:57] People struggle with language learning
for five, 10, even 20 years,
[10:02] and then they suddenly take
their learning into their own hands,
[10:05] start using materials which they enjoy,
more effective methods,
[10:09] or they start tracking their learning
[10:11] so that they can appreciate
their own progress,
[10:14] and that's when suddenly
[10:16] they magically find the language talent
that they were missing all their lives.
[10:21] So if you've also tried
to learn a language
[10:23] and you gave up,
thinking it's too difficult
[10:26] or you don't have the language talent,
[10:28] give it another try.
[10:29] Maybe you're also
just one enjoyable method away
[10:32] from learning that language fluently.
[10:34] Maybe you're just one method away
from becoming a polyglot.
[10:38] Thank you.
[10:40] (Applause)