http://foreignlanguageexper...

I studied comparative literature as an undergraduate at Columbia University and the comparative history of religions as a graduate student at the University of Chicago because these are the closest fields to comparative philology, which sadly no longer exists as an independent discipline.

I have studied scores of languages by now, and while I did acquire a good number in the course of my own schooling, I have learned most of the languages I know by studying on my own.

I have taught languages as a college professor on four continents over the past dozen years, and for most of that time I was also either the director of foreign language education or the chairman of the department in which languages were taught.

My overall experience has been that it is extraordinarily difficult to integrate efficient language learning into the structure of most existing educational programs.

I make my videos to share my knowledge and love of languages with all who might be interested in them, and in the overt hopes of inspiring and encouraging others to study foreign languages.

In particular, I am attempting to gauge and stimulate interest in a new kind of intensive institute for language study.

The goal of my institute would not be to teach languages directly to students; rather, the goal would be to teach students how to teach themselves languages.

Thus, during a relatively brief period of exclusive focus, highly motivated and disciplined students could acquire a transferable skill that they could use repeatedly throughout their lives, and not merely a specific level of abilities in a particular language.

My long-term hope is that enough students interested in effective and intensive language study will share my own primary motivation of learning how to read classic texts in their original tongue of composition.

If that comes to pass over time, then I will succeed in founding the new interdisciplinary academic field of polyglottery, which, simply put, is comparative philology wedded to great books education.

If you would like to read more about my ideas, please visit my website: foreignlanguageexpertise.com

Please understand that I receive so many requests for advice about language learning that I cannot possibly answer them all.