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I Learned to Speak Four Languages in a Few Years: Here’s How

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Re: I Learned to Speak Four Languages in a Few Years: Here’s How

#61

Post by zerostar07 »

why-el wrote: post #12

I speak three languages fluently (Arabic, French, and English), and I have the same advice for anybody who wants to learn a new language: - Watch their news media. For instance, if you are learning Arabic, then watch Arabic media. It might be tough at first, but just go at it. Be a baby. Babies bombard their minds with input and eventually patterns form. - Pick a TV show you saw and watch the whole thing again using…

Babies have a unique way to acquire languages that we don't have as adults. However i find that reading newspapers and understanding the basics is quite easy (mostly because you already know most of the facts mentioned). But the stuff written in newspapers is not the language you would use in a normal conversation. The TV subtitles thing really works, especially when watching reruns of shows you like.

Re: I Learned to Speak Four Languages in a Few Years: Here’s How

#62

Post by DanBC »

This is what happens when I try to learn a language by watching movies.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-cAnFbEXY0&feature=relat...)

This is also pretty much what happens to me when I'm in the US. I think I'm talking real words, but people don't understand me.

Re: I Learned to Speak Four Languages in a Few Years: Here’s How

#63

Post by bricestacey »

ashconnor wrote: post #52
why-el wrote: post #12

I speak three languages fluently (Arabic, French, and English), and I have the same advice for anybody who wants to learn a new language: - Watch their news media. For instance, if you are learning Arabic, then watch Arabic media. It might be tough at first, but just go at it. Be a baby. Babies bombard their minds with input and eventually patterns form. - Pick a TV show you saw and watch the whole thing again using…

Can you recommend a good Arabic TV show?

For Arabic I also recommend learning songs. I learned to read and write (but not understand anything) but the phrases I remember best are Wael Kfoury songs.

Re: I Learned to Speak Four Languages in a Few Years: Here’s How

#65

Post by personlurking »

why-el wrote: post #12

I speak three languages fluently (Arabic, French, and English), and I have the same advice for anybody who wants to learn a new language: - Watch their news media. For instance, if you are learning Arabic, then watch Arabic media. It might be tough at first, but just go at it. Be a baby. Babies bombard their minds with input and eventually patterns form. - Pick a TV show you saw and watch the whole thing again using…

I'm with you on the bombardment method. In terms of fluency, my Portuguese is 95%, my Spanish is 85%, my Italian is 50% and my French is probably 20%. Of course, these percentages would be best if broken down into reading, writing, etc, in order to get a clearer picture.

I don't consider myself to be a quick language learner (ie, with a 'gift' for it) but I do believe that being passionate goes a long, long way and that bombardment and immersion are key. It's not about the time it takes, it's about your drive to reach the right level for you. Being a language lover, I never just want to "get by", I'm looking for near-fluency or fluency. It took me a good decade and a lot of commitment to reach the levels I've reached in the languages mentioned.

Btw, the OP is right about getting the accent down. To me this is just as important as any other aspect of the language.

Re: I Learned to Speak Four Languages in a Few Years: Here’s How

#66

Post by eps »

eric_bullington wrote: post #22
acqq wrote: post #16

I just don't believe his claim: "C1 fluency in French in about 5 months" if he started from 0 unless he didn't do anything but learning the language in the target country. C1 is a damn high fluency: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_European_Framework_of_Re... "Can understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts, and recognise implicit meaning. Can express him/herself fluently and spontaneously without much obvi…

Well, if he was immersed in the language, I could believe it. I got to that level in French at age 17 within about 4 months. Of course, I knew the basics before I went, and I was studying in a French school and living with a French family, which made a huge difference (although I attribute my greatest language learning to watching 21 Jump St. in French every day after school -- fortunately, since I had avoided the sh…

In five months - no way. I went as an exchange student to the US with virtually zero spoken English. I met noone speaking my language for first few months, so it was as immersive as it gets (save getting an English-speaking girlfriend), and yet it took me 3 months to just start conversing. No way in hell one can learn to C1 fluency in 5 month even if it's an 24/7 effort.

Re: I Learned to Speak Four Languages in a Few Years: Here’s How

#67

Post by why-el »

bricestacey wrote: post #63
ashconnor wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you recommend a good Arabic TV show?

For Arabic I also recommend learning songs. I learned to read and write (but not understand anything) but the phrases I remember best are Wael Kfoury songs.

Ah famous fella. :) and shares my first name.

Re: I Learned to Speak Four Languages in a Few Years: Here’s How

#68

Post by eric_bullington »

acqq wrote: post #39
eric_bullington wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See my response, but I think it's possible. When I first saw this post, my first instinct as a professional (and nationally-certified) translator and polyglot (fluent in 4 languages at some point of my life) was to brush it off. But I see he places appropriate emphasis on vocabulary acquisition, which many language learners fail to do. It's possible, at the very least. I did this in about 4-5 months at age 17 while l…

I think you're a good counter-example for what you claim. You knew the basics before -- how much was this "basics"? Couldn't it be at least four years of foreign language classes in school? Second, you were 17. Third, you were fully immersed in the country of native speakers, probably spending all the time in language learning. Fourth, you say you were evaluated to be very talented for learning languages, do you know…

What did I claim? I claimed that it was possible for someone to learn a language fluently in 4-5 months, because I did so. To be honest, your demanding tone is a little off-putting, particularly when you're asking personnel questions about my life and schooling. However, in the interest of science, I'll try to answer the questions:

1. The "basic". No, in the US, it's pretty rare to have four years of language training by age 17. I had two years of French before I left, but it was very basic French, on par with the way languages are taught in France. Not, for example, at the level at which languages are taught in Germany or Sweden. I knew the fundamentals of French grammar, but I could speak only very basic phrases when I first arrived in France. I could not carry on a basic conversation in French before my departure.

2. Yes, I was 17. I mentioned that.

3. Yes, I was immersed; I mentioned that as a mitigating factor.

4. Yes, I was in the top 1% of language learners according to aptitude tests. But my whole point in writing the post was to say that learning a language fluently in 4-5 months was possible (because I had done so), not that it had actually happened to the person in question. It may or may not have. But I tend to believe him.

5. What does a diploma have to do with this? In fact, I did not go to a French university, because I wanted to go to an American university.

Seeing the responses of some of you makes me understand a little better why some of the developers I've interviewed and worked with who have strong math/CS backgrounds are so surprised that I'm not able to immediately understand some complex algorithm. We all have different aptitudes, and just because something seems difficult for you, does not mean it is so for another person. I know some of you with strong math and CS training and aptitude are much quicker at understanding algorithms that I am (although I'm pretty quick at picking up PL syntax thanks to my natural language aptitude). I can totally accept that. Why is it so hard to believe that someone who has worked as a professional, ATA-certified translator would be quicker, even much quicker, at learning natural languages than others? If you think an average person could learn this material in a year, don't you think it's possible that a motivated individual with an aptitude for languages could do so in half that time? Isn't it possible that the blog author might be such a person?

Re: I Learned to Speak Four Languages in a Few Years: Here’s How

#69

Post by why-el »

personlurking wrote: post #65
why-el wrote: post #12

I speak three languages fluently (Arabic, French, and English), and I have the same advice for anybody who wants to learn a new language: - Watch their news media. For instance, if you are learning Arabic, then watch Arabic media. It might be tough at first, but just go at it. Be a baby. Babies bombard their minds with input and eventually patterns form. - Pick a TV show you saw and watch the whole thing again using…

I'm with you on the bombardment method. In terms of fluency, my Portuguese is 95%, my Spanish is 85%, my Italian is 50% and my French is probably 20%. Of course, these percentages would be best if broken down into reading, writing, etc, in order to get a clearer picture. I don't consider myself to be a quick language learner (ie, with a 'gift' for it) but I do believe that being passionate goes a long, long way and t…

I am actually in Brazil right now and I just started learning Portuguese a week ago. I am basically just watching How I Met Your Mother with Portuguese subtitles. Such a beautiful language. My French helps a lot though.

Re: I Learned to Speak Four Languages in a Few Years: Here’s How

#70

Post by eric_bullington »

_pferreir_ wrote: post #40
eric_bullington wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See my response, but I think it's possible. When I first saw this post, my first instinct as a professional (and nationally-certified) translator and polyglot (fluent in 4 languages at some point of my life) was to brush it off. But I see he places appropriate emphasis on vocabulary acquisition, which many language learners fail to do. It's possible, at the very least. I did this in about 4-5 months at age 17 while l…

It doesn't cost me to believe that (if you are good and dedicate a lot of time to it) you can get to B1 or B2 in 4-5 months. C1 is a completely different story though. I work for an international organization and people around here are naturally predisposed to learn new languages. It's amazing to see how much you can learn from native speakers, however C1 would require many more hours of interaction than 5 months can…

Why don't you ask some of the people you work with who are naturally good at languages if they've ever learned a language to a C1 level in 5 months? I imagine some of them will not only confirm that they learned a language to a level equivalent to C1 in that amount of time, but some may also tell you that they learned a language to C2-level fluency in around that amount of time.
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