Difficulty and complexity

Luca explains his personal vision on the concept of difficulty and complexity in language learning

Category:

Education

Tags:

• language
• learning
• polyglot
• multilingual
• complexity
• difficulty
• chinese
• russian
• 中文
• 汉字
• русский
• грамматика
• complex
• easy

[mednos]

Luca, your pronunciation and your English in general is just amazing, I really would like to know how much time you have been studying English, could you please make an estimation on how many hours you have put in? I'm really impressed and even compared to your previous videos you made some 2 years ago where you speak English, you seem to made a huge progress since then which amazes me. Could you make an iteligent guess on how many hours you spend on English? Thanks.

[poliglotta80]

@mednos Dear friend, making such an estimation is not an easy task but I will try to fill you in on some details of my language story as far as English is concerned. I started learning it seriously at the age of 13. My teacher followed my progress for a little bit more than a year and then I kept learning it by myself. I watched more than 400 movies, and read countless books (I really lost count!). I also read the NY times quite often and I had american friends. Luca

[FluentCzech]

Very nice message Luca. To be honest, my limited brain often has difficulty distinguishing between the words difficult and complex, and I think this is because complex can be used as a synonym both for 'difficult', and (more positively) for 'intricate'.

My understanding of what you are saying here is that anything that appears difficult about a language is actually merely intricate, and exploring those intricacies can become a fascinating rather than frightening journey.

[poliglotta80]

@FluentCzech Dear Anthony, it is exactly the point I am trying to make on/with this video. I see the complexity of a language as a fascinating, positive and interesting concept/feature to embrace, rather than a frightening quest to embark upon. The attitude and the mentality with witch one approaches languages plays a huge role in our learning process, both in the short and long term. Attitude is the key to our success, and it also stems from the way we call things. Luca

[hendrixkixas]

When did you learn English, Luca? Your accent is so good!

[poliglotta80]

@hendrixkixas I started studying English at the age of 10 at school but it was only at 13 that this "monstrous" (in a good sense :-)) interest for English "stirred" in me an that I started learning it "for real". Luca

[Nerdicusable]

@poliglotta80

I do agree that the difficulty of a language is what makes learning so interesting. There is more of a sense of accomplishment when you learn it as well. For this reason, I always try to learn "weird", archaic languages not spoken by many people.

[WaywardWinds]

You tend to pronounce syllable like "syllub" (3:54) and completely drop the last syllable (the -abULL). Just a note!

That said, your English is better than many native English speakers haha in the sense that it is more correct grammatically. Also, you wield quite an impressive vocabulary (that is to say that you're eloquent by native standards). BEAUTIFUL message on perception of languages. Currently learning Spanish and this really "hits home." ¡MUCHAS gracias!

[sebas11tian]

this is the only video in youtube that justin bieber haven´t found lol, this guy has helped me so much

[GlottoJakub]

Very good point! Indeed, when you stop seeing certain aspects of a language as 'difficult', but rather as 'complex', it can make you feel fascinated about the language. It becomes a challenge, in the good sense.

[SaBracaSam]

Very good message!

[Ragedyrag17]

right on bra, right on.

[thelinguistblogger]

Interesting video Luca. I also like what Kató Lomb said: ...there is no “easy” language. At most, some languages may be easier to learn poorly.

[davidcarter1962]

Bravo Luca! A fantastically positive message about language learning. Thanks.