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Learning a language can feel
a bit like rocket science,

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something out of this world
and out of reach

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for the vast majority of us.

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This isn't a belief, however, just held by
many English monolinguals on our island.

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It's also shared
by many of our linguistic cousins

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further afield, say,
in the United States or Australia.

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Let's be honest:

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when it comes to learning languages
or speaking them,

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we are the kind of people
that likes to think

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we're fluent in a multitude
of diverse languages

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such as Geordie, Kiwi, Cockney,
or what about Canadian?

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Don't get me wrong.

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I'm very, very proud
of my Mancunian heritage,

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but I wouldn't suggest
it's a separate language just yet.

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After all, we don't need subtitles

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when we are watching
Coronation Street, now do we?

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Although I can see you two saying, "I do."

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(Laughter)

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Yet, despite this, if you were
to cross the Channel,

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or say, if you're feeling
slightly more adventurous,

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cross the Severn Estuary into Wales,

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there you would find

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that speaking another language
or being bilingual is simply a reality.

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Yet, there and further afield,

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many are still convinced of the fact

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this is a long, challenging,
somewhat painful,

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and dare I say, daunting task.

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In this room of 100 people,

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I'd guess that at least 15 other languages
are spoken besides English.

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In fact, the last census of 2011 revealed
that a staggering 22% of Londoners -

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that's 22%, one in four, almost -

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speak another language at home
apart from English.

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I myself, even as a Mancunian,
speak approximately 20 languages,

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and of those,
around half I speak fluently.

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And the question I get asked
by people the most is, "Why?"

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(Laughter)

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Well, the answer, for me
at least, is rather simple.

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I'm convinced

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learning languages, any language
per Se, is actually easy.

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And I want to show you how.

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As a linguist, a polyglot, and a lecturer,

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I know what it entails
to learn and study a language.

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And one of the biggest obstacles

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we're faced [with]
when learning are myths.

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And I genuinely believe
that we have to debunk them.

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In order to remember
these more effectively,

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I came up with the nice
and friendly sounding acronym D.I.E.

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(Laughter)

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which funnily enough, if you write it out
not pronounce, if you write it out,

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it's one of the words for 'the' in German.

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Myth number one: learning a language
is simply too difficult.

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I will never be able to
speak another language

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quite like the language I was born with.

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Technically, you're not born
with a language.

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All of us here could have ended up,
with say, Japanese as our first language.

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We were simply surrounded
or immersed in the language

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generally from a very early age.

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There are people, however,
out there - many of them, in fact -

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who started to learn a language,
the second or maybe even the third,

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much later on in life.

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And guess what?

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They're now completely fluent
in this language or these other languages

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even perhaps more so
than in their so-called mother tongue.

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Why is this?

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Because there is no cutoff date

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by which you have to have learned
another language.

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Think about how many people
you know who say,

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"Ugh! My kids are doing French in school.
I really want them to become fluent.

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But I can't, no way, it's impossible.

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I should've simply paid more attention
when I was at school."

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Well, studies reveal

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that whilst children
generally are much faster

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at picking up a new language
than people older than them,

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it's actually us - you can just
breathe as a sign of relief -

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It's us, the adults, who are
more effective at learning them.

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Why is this?

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Because we have
the experience of learning.

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We know how to learn already.

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Myth number two:
languages are simply irrelevant.

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I don't need to learn
another language at all.

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And as we hear,
and unfortunately hear quite a lot -

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I was going to do in a cockney accent,
but I won't do it at all.

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I'll spare myself
the embarrassment of doing that -

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languages ...
everyone speaks English, anyway.

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Well, besides the obvious benefits
of speaking another language -

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for example, financial benefits
and mental benefits,

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i.e., better pay, more job opportunities,
keeping us mentally fit,

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and actually helping to stave off
neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's-

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there are real hidden gems

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we can discover
when we speak another language.

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How about getting an upgrade
on your hotel room,

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as was recently the case with my uncle
before going to Turkey on holiday?

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He asked me if I could send him over

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a few phrases and greetings
in the language

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that he could try out in the hotel.

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Turns up, caught over this suitcase,

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throws out a few sentences in Turkish,

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and bam!, he's given an upgrade
on his hotel room straight away.

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(Laughter)

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You might not always get
an upgrade on your hotel room.

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I can't promise you this.

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However, I can promise
that you maybe just maybe,

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through another language,
will meet the love of your life.

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We all remember Jamie from Love Actually
learning Portuguese for Aurélia.

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And in fact,

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almost one in ten Brits
is married to someone

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who was born overseas.

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Furthermore, the Guardian
reported on research

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showing that people who are able to
speak two languages or more

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better adapt or are better equipped
at dealing with problems,

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that they're better at multitasking
and prioritizing tasks.

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This is definitely a much
sought-after skill in our day and age

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when all of us appeared
to be glued to our phones.

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I wonder how many people now
who're watching this

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will be glued to their phones,

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and how many are
actually going to bilingual?

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Myth number three:

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you have to be an expat and be in a place
where the language is constantly spoken,

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even to just get a grasp of the language.

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There's no harm in simply packing up

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and moving to a village
in the middle of nowhere,

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but it's not actually necessary.

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Now the great unknown: my brother and I -
I'll leave you to decide who's who;

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he's actually my twin brother -

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my brother and I whilst being based
in Berlin, Germany,

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decided to undertake the challenge
of learning Turkish in just seven days.

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We decided to undertake the challenge
of learning Turkish in just seven days

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in order to show what you can do
by simply putting your mind to it.

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I'm not saying

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we all need to be going out there
and learning a language in a week

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nor that it's actually possible

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to learn absolutely everything there is
in such a short space of time.

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I can assure you, it isn't.

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Perfection isn't the goal here.

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The goal, however, is to get
as good as we possibly can

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in a particular language,
in the shortest time possible.

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This means

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to the dismay of school teachers
all throughout the globe,

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"Take shortcuts."

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The best thing about these shortcuts

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is we can apply them to any language
that we would like to learn.

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And furthermore, they're so simple,
you might be left thinking at the end,

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"Why didn't I think of that?"

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So let's take a look at these shortcuts.

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Number one: analyze the similarities,
focus on similar elements.

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As speakers of English,

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we already know so much
about other languages,

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given the fact that our language itself,
essentially, is a Germanic language

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with the wealth
of influences and vocabulary

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from a multitude of different languages
as diverse as Latin, Hebrew, or Hindi.

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Doing this will help develop
patterns in the language

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and also will help us to guess the meaning
and formation of words and things

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that we don't yet know.

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As you see in this slide, for example,

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we can see how closely related English is
to fellow other Germanic languages

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and even to languages that are,
in this case, Romance languages,

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despite the fact that English is
a Germanic language essentially.

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Shortcut number two: keep it simple.

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At first sight, you might think
you're learning a language

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that doesn't have that much
in common with our own,

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but by focusing on easy elements,
we will be able to learn it much quickly

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because every language
has easy elements to it.

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Some languages only have
two or three tenses.

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For example, you end up saying
'I had,' in this one form,

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for 'I had,'I have had,'
and 'I had had,'

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and 'I am' also can be
'I will be' and 'I would be.'

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In other cases,
if we look at, for example, German,

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we have a case of advanced vocabulary

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that is derived from
a few simple words or verbs.

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In this case, we have
the verb 'sprechen' which is 'to speak,'

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which has now gone on and lent itself

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to become 'besprechen' - to discuss,
'entsprechen' - to correspond,

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'versprechen' and 'absprechen,'
and so on, and so on.

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Shortcut number three: keep it relevant.

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Especially at the beginning
of our process,

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we need to make sure
that it's relevant to us.

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Not everyone is learning German

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in order to discuss business
with colleagues in Berlin.

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Think about this.

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As speakers of English,

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we don't know every single word
in the Oxford English Dictionary.

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So why should we fret

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about remembering every single word
we encounter in the new language?

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We simply have to make it relevant
to our own specific situation right now.

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When it comes to learning a language,
perhaps the most crucial element is time.

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And by time, I don't mean
years upon years of endless learning

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as some people still like to think.

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How long does it take to learn a language?

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How about if I were to tell you

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that 30 minutes per day
are a great and effective start?

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Thirty minutes - these are
minutes we all have.

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Be ten in the morning,
ten in the afternoon,

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ten in the evening,
or 30 minutes in simply one go

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on the way to work,
to university, to school,

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out in the evening, meeting friends,
whilst we are on the train or bus.

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We all have all these minutes
that we can commit to learn.

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Furthermore, by learning for
smaller periods and regular intervals,

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we won't feel so overwhelmed
by the language.

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And even better,

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learning for regular periods
means that it's more effective,

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because chances are

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that if you're learning for
once a week or once a fortnight,

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by the time you next come to learn,

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you'll already have forgotten
what you initially learned.

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The goal therefore is

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to fit language learning
into our daily routines

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and not the other way around.

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And by doing this,

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there's no reason
why after simply one month,

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you can't get by in your new language.

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These active forms of learning,
we need to compliment them

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with what I'd like to refer to
as passive forms of learning.

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Having breakfast: switch the radio on
and listen to a station in the language,

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become acquainted
with the music of the language.

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The music will not only help you
get used to the sounds,

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to the intonation, and to the rhythm

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but the words you'll hear
will also help you associate them;

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because you know the songs,

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and you'll be able to
associate them with these songs,

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thus expanding our vocabulary.

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Had a hard day?

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Treat yourself to a TV series
or a film in the language,

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and put subtitles on, in English,

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and then, others can join
and watch with you as well.

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We all know how everyone
seems to be going crazy about

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this Scandinavian TV crime series
at the moment -

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some of which have been
dubbed into English; keep it original.

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By doing this,

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this will get you off to a great start

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to go on and to actually
master your language.

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There are three rules,

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I like to refer to them
as the golden rules of language learning,

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that each and everyone of us
should be doing

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when going about learning a language.

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The first rule is - wait for it -

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the first rule is live the language,

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speak it, read it, write it, dream in it,

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sing it even; sing to yourself.

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My brother and I
when we started learning Greek,

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we decided to write songs in the language.

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Don't worry, I'm not about
to embarrass my brother,

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and I certainly won't be singing
for you all this morning.

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That said,
in order to master the language,

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you have to make it yours,
own the language.

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So why not put your phone or computer
in the language you're learning?

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Number two: make mistakes.

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Yes, you heard me correctly.

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Make as many as you want.

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Why?

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Because we learn by making mistakes.

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It's actually the only way
we can get things right.

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As children, we're even
expected to make them.

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But as adults, we are apprehensive
because they make us feel vulnerable.

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Admitting from the beginning

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we don't know absolutely everything
there is to know about this new language

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will not prevent us from learning it.

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Furthermore, it will actually give us
the freedom to go on and to master it.

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So go forth and make
as many mistakes as you like.

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The last rule,

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and this is the most important one,
and this is essential:

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make it fun.

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Grammar rules aren't always fun.

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I mean, I love grammar,

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but I understand that not everyone
is so enthusiastic about it;

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not sure why, though.

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But remember,
whatever you can do in English,

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you can do in any other language,

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so make it fun.

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And actually, by making it fun,
by making the process entertaining,

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you're helping yourself stay motivated.

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And the more motivated you are,
the better your chances are of succeeding.

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So go out and let
your creative juices flow.

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The best thing as well

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is why not try and get people,
other people, involved?

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Say, colleagues, friends, and turn it
into a small, friendly competition.

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Actually, studies show
if you get a friendly competition going,

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that your chances of
succeeding are much better,

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and they enhance your performance.

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Languages are often perceived
to be the great unknown.

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We like to think of them
as something unfamiliar,

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and yet, we know so much about them

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because all human languages have
their own peculiar yet beautiful ways

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of expressing ideas,
concepts, and reality,

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even if we're not aware of it at first.

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By now delving into the unknown
and realizing the familiar,

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we will be able to master

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one of the most fulfilling, rewarding,
and efficient skills we possess as humans:

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human communication.

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And who could resist
wanting to learn a language

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with these linguistic pearls?

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The first one would be,
as you say in French,

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(French) Ayez Les dents longues,
(English) which is 'be ambitious.'

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It literally means, however,
'have long teeth.'

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(Laughter)

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Mine aren't that long.

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I'd like to wish you all in Italian

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(Italian) In bocca al lupo,
(English) which is 'good luck,'

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but literally means
'into the mouth of the wolf.'

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(Laughter)

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And finally, as we say in Ukrainian,

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(Ukrainian) Skilʹky mov ty znayesh -
stilʹky raziv ty lyudyna,

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(English) which means

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"The more languages you know,
the more people you are."

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Enjoy learning a new language.

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(Applause)