A Polyglot's Daily Linguistic Workout

www.babelnomore.com
Michael Erard, researching his study of polyglots, films Alexander Arguelles describing his daily language-learning regimen.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• polyglottery
• foreign
• languages
• language
• learning
• polyglots
• linguistics
• study
• strategies
• discipline

[thehuntfortruth]

I was learning 4 languages and I decided to down size to just two languages to increase the amount of retention. But do you think that learning less languages helped? Or would perhaps learning more at a time could in fact increase your lingual retention? Thank you!

[ProfASAr]

@thehuntfortruth Yes, in my experience learning multiple languages simultaneously increases your retention because you go at it in a slow and steady fashion rather than in a stop and start fashion as when you try to juggle between languages in alternation.

[sgtgiggles]

Very impressive...did you always have to structure your day in this fasion back when you first started studying or did your routine gradually evolve from a much simpler study stucture?

[ProfASAr]

@sgtgiggles I definitely had to work towards and develop the structure, but I wouldn't say it simply evolved as I conceived of the ideal of a systematic schedule years before I was able to keep one.

[adfeddon78]

I've been trying to learn Spanish off and on for years since having it in high school and I find my mind wondering when I'm studying. After watching your video I've decided to add Italian and Latin to my routine to switch it up a bit. Do you find it more interesting and easier to learn if you practice with multiple languages at a time?

[ProfASAr]

@adfeddon78 Yes, I do find it both more interesting and easier to practice with multiple languages at the same time. However, most people, particularly those without much language learning experience, find it confusing to learn three closely related languages at the same time. Before you try this, I suggest that you get a good overview of how they are related. A very good place for you to start would be by reading Frederick Bodmer's classic work, The Loom of Language.

[eco4tree]

When do you live?

[dhinz23]

Dude is my hero.

[Tennis599]

Alexander Arguelles is a tremendously voracious and zealous linguist/polyglot! 

[weurRTG]

@GriffenJC From what he said, and his daily log, I counted: English, Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Latin, Greek, Persian, Turkish, Swahili, Hindu, Urdu, Irish Gaelic, Danish, Dutch, Korean and Japanese. Just from that point in time, he knew SIXTEEN languages.

[GriffenJC]

How many languages do you speak?

[jordanrichards320]

That is truly amazing! How did you make time to learn all day for multiple days at a time?

[TheInsidiousParadigm]

Where do you get your books!!!

[Portboy]

Whats your favourite language?

[Nekni1]

I must admit, I am very impressed with your linguistic capabilities. Watching your videos have only encourage me to study harder. I had been learning Greek, Latin, Hebrew and English. I can use only English, half as my mother tongue (which is Croatian). Please, would you give me some advice on how to learn better because other three languages had given me some problems, I easily forget the vocabulary and grammar is also given me some problems of comprehension. Thanks a lot:)

[MrSpemat]

I don't focus on my "little kid" languages because they are there (English, Deutsch, Farsi) and I don't forget them and I do a big chart that is French, Spanish and Italian, I also do some in Dari since it is close to farsi... I also know American Sign Language... You got me beat...

[Eoaiyer21987rhei]

But the fundamental question remains: Is his wife Korean? I've read all I can, and the implication is that she is, but he never states it outright.

I understand that it's a bit of a weird question, but once you've become curious over something, it's hard to let it go.

[cheesejkliop]

Is it practical to learn 25 languages (give a little) at once?

Afrikaans, ASL, Arabic, Cantonese, English, German, Hebrew, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lao, Mandarin, Min Nan, Norwegian, Phoenician, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Thai, Vietnamese, Wu, and Yiddish.

I have resources to learn near all of them, though some are lacking more available material than I'd like. But, I ask, is it possible? Not all of them is speaking or writing (one or the other) imminent. Well?