9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I love learning foreign languages. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In fact, I love it so much that I like[br]to learn a new language every two years, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 currently working on my eighth one. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 When people find that out about me,[br]they always ask me, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "How do you do that? What's your secret?" 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And to be honest, for many years,[br]my answer would be, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "I don't know. I simply[br]love learning languages." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But people were never[br]happy with that answer. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They wanted to know why they are spending[br]years trying to learn even one language, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 never achieving fluency, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and here I come learning[br]one language after another. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They wanted to know[br]the secret of polyglots, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 people who speak a lot of languages. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And that made me wonder, too, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 how do actually other polyglots do it? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 What do we have in common? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And what is it that enables us 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to learn languages so much[br]faster than other people? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I decided to meet other people[br]like me and find that out. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The best place to meet a lot of polyglots 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is an event where hundreds[br]of language lovers 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 meet in one place[br]to practice their languages. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There are several such polyglot events[br]organized all around the world, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and so I decided to go there 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and ask polyglots about[br]the methods that they use. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And so I met Benny from Ireland, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 who told me that his method[br]is to start speaking from day one. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 He learns a few phrases[br]from a travel phrasebook 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and goes to meet native speakers[br]and starts having conversations 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 with them right away. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 He doesn't mind making[br]even 200 mistakes a day, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because that's how he learns,[br]based on the feedback. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And the best thing is, he doesn't[br]even need to travel a lot today, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because you can easily have[br]conversations with native speakers 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 from the comfort of your living room 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 using websites. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I also met Lucas from Brazil 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 who had a really interesting[br]method to learn Russian. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 He simply added a hundred random[br]Russian speakers on Skype as friends, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and then he opened[br]a chat window with one of them 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and wrote "Hi" in Russian. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And the person replied, "Hi, how are you?" 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Lucas copied this and put it[br]into a text window with another person, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and the person replied,[br]"I'm fine, thank you, and how are you?" 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Lucas copied this[br]back to the first person, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and in this way, he had two strangers[br]have a conversation with each other 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 without knowing about it. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 (Laughter) 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And soon he would start typing himself, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because he had so many[br]of these conversations 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that he figured out how[br]the Russian conversation usually starts. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 What an ingenious method, right? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And then I met polyglots who always start[br]by imitating sounds of the language, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and others who always learn the 500[br]most frequent words of the language, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and yet others who always start[br]by reading about the grammar. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If I asked a hundred different polyglots, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I heard a hundred different[br]approaches to learning languages. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Everybody seems to have a unique way[br]how they learn a language, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and yet we all come to the same result[br]of speaking several languages fluently. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And as I was listening to these polyglots[br]telling me about their methods, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 it suddenly dawned on me: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the one thing we all have in common 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is that we simply found ways how to enjoy[br]the language-learning process. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 All of these polyglots were talking[br]about language learning 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 as if it was great fun. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You should have seen their faces 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 when they were showing me[br]their colorful grammar charts 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and their carefully handmade flash cards, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and their statistics about[br]learning vocabulary using apps, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 or even how they love to cook[br]based on recipes in a foreign language. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 All of them use different methods,[br]but they always make sure it's something 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that they personally enjoy. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I realized that this is actually[br]how I learn languages myself. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 When I was learning Spanish, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I was bored with the text in the textbook. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I mean, who wants to read about Jose 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 asking about the directions[br]to the train station. Right? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I wanted to read Harry Potter instead, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because that was[br]my favorite book as a child, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I have read it many times. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So I got the Spanish translation[br]of Harry Potter and started reading, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and sure enough, I didn't understand[br]almost anything at the beginning, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but I kept on reading[br]because I loved the book, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and by the end of the book, I was able[br]to follow it almost without any problems. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And the same thing happened[br]when I was learning German. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I decided to watch "Friends,"[br]my favorite sitcom, in German, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and again, at the beginning[br]it was all just gibberish. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I didn't know where one word finished[br]and another one started, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but I kept on watching every day[br]because it's "Friends." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I can watch it in any language.[br]I love it so much. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And after the second or third season, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 seriously, the dialogue[br]started to make sense. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I only realized this[br]after meeting other polyglots. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We are no geniuses, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and we have no shortcut[br]to learning languages. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We simply found ways[br]how to enjoy the process, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 how to turn language learning[br]from a boring school subject 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 into a pleasant activity which[br]you don't mind doing every day. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If you don't like writing[br]words down on paper, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you can always type them in an app. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If you don't like listening[br]to boring textbook material, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 find interesting content on YouTube[br]or in podcasts for any language. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If you're a more introverted person 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and you can't imagine speaking[br]to native speakers right away, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you can apply the message of self-talk. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You can talk to yourself[br]in the comfort of your room, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 describing your plans for the weekend,[br]how your day has been, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 or even take a random[br]picture from your phone 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and describe the picture[br]to your imaginary friend. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 This is how polyglots learn languages, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and the best news is,[br]it's available to anyone 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 who is willing to take the learning[br]into their own hands. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So meeting other polyglots[br]helped me realize 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that it is really crucial[br]to find enjoyment 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in the process of learning languages, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but also that joy in itself is not enough. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If you want to achieve[br]fluency in a foreign language, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you'll also need to apply[br]three more principles. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 First of all, you'll need[br]effective methods. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If you try to memorize a list of word[br]for a test tomorrow, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the words will be stored[br]in your short-term memory 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and you'll forget them after a few days.