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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

#81

Post by WildUtah »

swang wrote: post #71
WildUtah wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That list is misleading. 1. Mandarin Lots of people, but spoken in only two countries (China and Singapore) and essentially nowhere else. 2. Spanish With only half the number of speakers of Mandarin, Spanish is the second most widely spoken language in the world. The people of over twenty countries on three continents prefer it. 3. English Only third in speakers, but the most widely spoken language, number one in bot…

You forgot Taiwan/ROC under Mandarin. Also there are a lot of cities in the US (or at least in California) where you can get by just speaking Mandarin/Cantonese. Also, how is that list misleading? The title is, "List of languages by number of native speakers" and not, "List of languages by some specific importance"

1. There is only one China. The pretenders in Beijing will be overthrown soon enough.

2. The list is misleading if used, as suggested, to prioritize languages to learn. It seems accurate enough as far as sheer numbers go.

3. California should just be marked as an exception to every list of facts. (The only country where you can comfortably live you life speaking only Vietnamese, except California; the first twenty digits of pi, except in California; &c)

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

#82

Post by virtualeyes »

eps wrote: post #66
eric_bullington wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

absolutely agree, I would LOVE to hear the C1 French speakers demonstrate their savoir faire with la belle langue NOW, with further years of practice post-C1 mastery.

I can guarantee that: 1) you will sound nothing like a native speaker 2) I will laugh

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

#83

Post by acqq »

virtualeyes wrote: post #80
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…

5 months without living/breathing the language amongst native speakers, fluency, methinks NOT ;-) I took 8 years of French growing up (10-18) and I understood nothing, literally nothing when I visited Quebec for the first time (that's a joke, do you get it?) Anyway, the point is, fluency cannot be gained without living in the culture where the language is spoken. Book learning, reciting phrases, etc. will not give yo…

> learn a language is through your significant other

That's a common misconception, and I have personal experiences: actually spoken communication with different native speakers improves your capabilities much more than the communication with only one, given the same amount of time.

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

#84

Post by eric_bullington »

acqq wrote: post #75
eric_bullington wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

We obviously have different ideas what C1 and C2 are. I'm sorry, I know only what exams look like here in this German speaking country for the purpose of obtaining B2 in order to get the right to study and I know how much harder C1 is (as much that a lot of native speakers not trained to write organized texts wouldn't pass it without targeted preparations), and it matches the specification I've linked, see the top po…

If it really matters to you, you see my real name. Get in touch with me, and I'll put you in touch with university professors from Europe who will vouch for my progress in the language. But only if you promise to come back on here with your real name (like I'm using mine) and admit you were wrong.

Otherwise, I'm sorry we've both lost this amount of time arguing past each other, when you've clearly made up your mind that no one can learn a language fluently in 5 months, to and even beyond the C1 level as described in the standards posted (the CEFR had not yet been adopted when I was in school).

PS -- And to be clear, I'm not unique, or particularly unusual in my abilities. I've known many other language learners who have learned a language fluently in under 6 months. In fact, most of my translator and interpreter colleagues probably can learn a language in about that amount of time.

PPS -- I'm offline to play with my kids. Good luck.

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

#85

Post by godDLL »

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…

As a fluent speaker of Russian, and to some extent English; having Ukrainian and Hebrew do well enough for business conversations – I can confidently second that.

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

#86

Post by acqq »

eric_bullington wrote: post #84
acqq wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We obviously have different ideas what C1 and C2 are. I'm sorry, I know only what exams look like here in this German speaking country for the purpose of obtaining B2 in order to get the right to study and I know how much harder C1 is (as much that a lot of native speakers not trained to write organized texts wouldn't pass it without targeted preparations), and it matches the specification I've linked, see the top po…

If it really matters to you, you see my real name. Get in touch with me, and I'll put you in touch with university professors from Europe who will vouch for my progress in the language. But only if you promise to come back on here with your real name (like I'm using mine) and admit you were wrong. Otherwise, I'm sorry we've both lost this amount of time arguing past each other, when you've clearly made up your mind t…

You admitted you haven't learned French in five months but in at least two years and five months and you're a top 1%. I never doubted you progressed and the results were really good.

You never wrote clearly, have you passed any exam immediately after these five months in France? If so, how was it categorized then?

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

#87

Post by virtualeyes »

_pferreir_ wrote: post #36
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…

I totally agree. 5 years living in France would be already very difficult, 5 months is just impossible. Unless OP has a special gift for languages, in which case the whole post about the method becomes irrelevant.

I come to France in the autumn and spring, have been doing so for 5 or 6 years; studied French as a kid, and lived off-and-on in Montreal for about 5 years.

I would not consider myself anywhere near fluent; that is, compared to how I am able to express myself in my native language, Scala. Hah, how clever, I actually am a rank amateur in Scala, but its hot, maybe you'd like to hire me?

Anyway, the point is, I've met anglophones who have lived here full-time for several years and, wow, sometimes the accent is just painful, all the words are there, but the ability to articulate themselves in French just isn't happening.

Really, language acquisition has to occur at a young age, the earlier the better. Furthermore, building up a vocabulary is helpful, but you can't think phrases in your native native language and then speak them in another language without creating confusion on the part of your listener(s)

I'd really love to hear the C1s, I think I might have a good laugh -- Skype anyone?

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

#88

Post by virtualeyes »

acqq wrote: post #83
virtualeyes wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

5 months without living/breathing the language amongst native speakers, fluency, methinks NOT ;-) I took 8 years of French growing up (10-18) and I understood nothing, literally nothing when I visited Quebec for the first time (that's a joke, do you get it?) Anyway, the point is, fluency cannot be gained without living in the culture where the language is spoken. Book learning, reciting phrases, etc. will not give yo…

> learn a language is through your significant other That's a common misconception, and I have personal experiences: actually spoken communication with different native speakers improves your capabilities much more than the communication with only one, given the same amount of time.

Well, I'm not saying never leave the bedroom ;-)

I'm also talking about living abroad, not hooking up with a foreigner in NYC and she plays teach the American to butcher X language

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

#89

Post by njs12345 »

virtualeyes wrote: post #87
_pferreir_ wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I totally agree. 5 years living in France would be already very difficult, 5 months is just impossible. Unless OP has a special gift for languages, in which case the whole post about the method becomes irrelevant.

I come to France in the autumn and spring, have been doing so for 5 or 6 years; studied French as a kid, and lived off-and-on in Montreal for about 5 years. I would not consider myself anywhere near fluent; that is, compared to how I am able to express myself in my native language, Scala. Hah, how clever, I actually am a rank amateur in Scala, but its hot, maybe you'd like to hire me? Anyway, the point is, I've met a…

> Really, language acquisition has to occur at a young age, the earlier the better. Furthermore, building up a vocabulary is helpful, but you can't think phrases in your native native language and then speak them in another language without creating confusion on the part of your listener(s)

This is a pretty controversial assertion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_period_hypothesis

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

#90

Post by [deleted] »

virtualeyes wrote: post #87
_pferreir_ wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I totally agree. 5 years living in France would be already very difficult, 5 months is just impossible. Unless OP has a special gift for languages, in which case the whole post about the method becomes irrelevant.

I come to France in the autumn and spring, have been doing so for 5 or 6 years; studied French as a kid, and lived off-and-on in Montreal for about 5 years. I would not consider myself anywhere near fluent; that is, compared to how I am able to express myself in my native language, Scala. Hah, how clever, I actually am a rank amateur in Scala, but its hot, maybe you'd like to hire me? Anyway, the point is, I've met a…

[deleted]
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