Palmistry 

A person who knows all languages. Secrets of polyglots: truth and fiction. English as a brain trainer

Learning another language not only allows you to communicate with foreigners, travel and get more money, but also expands the capabilities of the brain, delays senile dementia and increases the ability to concentrate. Read on and you'll understand why.

Notable polyglots

It is known that Leo Tolstoy spoke and read fluently in French, English and German, read in Czech, Italian and Polish, and had a reasonable command of Ukrainian, Greek, Church Slavonic and Latin. In addition, the writer has study Turkish, Dutch, Hebrew and Bulgarian languages.

We assume that he did this not at all in order to boast of his abilities or to be able to talk with a foreigner, but to develop his mental abilities, and simply because he could not remain in idleness, live even a day without mental labor. Until his advanced years, Tolstoy worked, happily communicated with every person and thought deeply about many phenomena.

Other famous polyglots People: Empress Catherine II (5 languages), statesman commander Bogdan Khmelnitsky (5 languages), inventor Nikola Tesla (8 languages), writer Alexander Griboedov (9 languages), Pope John Paul II (10 languages) and writer Anthony Burgess (12 languages).

It should be noted that there are a lot of polyglots among scientists, and especially linguists. The capabilities of the human brain are demonstrated by people who know several dozen languages ​​and dialects. So, our contemporary Willy Melnikov, a researcher at the Russian Institute of Virology, knows more than 100 languages, and Rasmus Konstantin Rask, professor at the University of Copenhagen, linguist Rasmus, spoke 230 languages ​​(and knew their grammar and linguistics perfectly).

English as a brain trainer

In 2013, an experiment was conducted at the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) that revealed the ability to concentrate among 38 monolingual and 60 bilingual people under the age of 19 years. It is not clear whether young people learned a language because they were able to concentrate, or whether they acquired this ability because of language, but the fact is that people who know two languages ​​performed better, regardless of when they started learning or in high school.

If theoretically accepted language learning for the cause, and the ability to concentrate for the effect, this can be explained as follows: when the brain needs to readjust to a second language, it must concentrate on the most important and discard the unnecessary. This helps to quickly translate the necessary phrases in your mind and more accurately understand the interlocutor, not being distracted by unfamiliar words, but perceiving the entire phrase as a whole.

But the ability to concentrate is not the only “bonus” for a polyglot. Scientists have concluded that the tension of certain parts of the brain at any age contributes to the formation of new neural connections and their adaptation to existing chains. Moreover, this occurs both in childhood and at a young or mature age.

The above is confirmed by an experiment carried out at the Academy of Translators in Sweden. Newly admitted students were offered learning foreign languages high complexity (Russian, Arabic or Dari). The language had to be studied every day for many hours. At the same time, scientists were monitoring medical university students who were also studying hard. At the beginning and at the end of the experiment (after 3 months), participants in both groups underwent MRI of the brain. It turned out that in students who studied medicine, the structure of the brain did not change, but in those who intensively mastered the language, the part of the brain responsible for the assimilation of new knowledge (the hippocampus), long-term memory and orientation in space increased in size.

Finally, or any other language has a positive effect on the preservation of mental abilities in old age. This was confirmed by the results of a study that lasted from 1947 to 2010. The 853 study participants completed an intelligence test at the beginning and end of the experiment, after 63 years. People who knew two or more languages ​​showed higher mental and psychic abilities than their peers who spoke only their native language all their lives. In general, the state of their brain was better than is usually considered normal at this age.

Important conclusions can be drawn from these studies:

  1. Our brain needs exercise just like muscles and ligaments. If we want to maintain good mental faculties into old age, we must constantly occupy the mind with something. And one of the most effective means is foreign languages.
  2. A well-functioning brain almost always means a fuller and happier life, and certainly success in life. Therefore, if we want to achieve wealth, self-realization and respect for people, we need to learn languages ​​or, if we can already read in a foreign language, start in-depth study of English and learn to communicate freely with its carriers.
  3. It doesn’t matter at all when we start learning a foreign language: at any age, the brain is rebuilt, new neural connections are formed in it, as well as an increase in its individual parts, which leads to a more complete perception of reality, an increase in mental abilities, including memorization and concentration.

On October 7, the outstanding linguist, semiotician, anthropologist Vyacheslav Vsevolodovich Ivanov passed away

Photo: Rodrigo Fernandez Wikipedia

AT Yacheslav Vsevolodovich Ivanov is a truly legendary figure. He belonged to that now rare type of scientists who can confidently be called encyclopedists. Few can compare with him in terms of coverage of cultures, in the variety of interdisciplinary connections revealed in his semiotic and cultural studies. It is difficult to name a humanitarian science to which he did not make one or another contribution. He is the author of more than a dozen books and more than 1200 articles on linguistics, literary criticism and a number of related humanitarian disciplines, many of which have been translated into Western and Eastern languages.

Vyacheslav Vsevolodovich was born on August 21, 1929 in Moscow in the family of the writer Vsevolod Ivanov, a man with a wide range of interests, a connoisseur of poetry and oriental cultures, a bibliophile who paid great attention to the comprehensive education of his son. Already in our time, Vyacheslav Ivanov recalled: “I was lucky, just because of my family, because of my parents and their friends, from childhood to be in the circle of many remarkable people,” who had a significant impact on the formation of a young man. And it is no coincidence that a significant part of his scientific research is devoted to people whom he knew from childhood.

He constantly turned to Russian literature of the 20th century, with which, so to speak, he was connected by family ties. He is interested in the ratio of poetic manifestos and artistic practice of representatives of the Russian literary avant-garde, the parallels and connections between the writers who remained in Russia and the writers of the Russian diaspora. Of particular interest to Ivanov is the biography of Maxim Gorky, whom he knew in childhood and saw more than once. In his historical essays, Ivanov seeks to understand the history of the relationship between writers and authorities during the Soviet period. He was interested in the unofficial literature of the Stalin era, the last years of Gorky's life and the circumstances of his death, the relationship between Stalin and Eisenstein.

Cuneiform and semiotics

In 1946, after graduating from school, Ivanov entered the Romano-Germanic department of the Faculty of Philology of Moscow State University, from which he graduated in 1951.

And already in 1955, Ivanov defended his Ph. happens in the humanities. However, the Higher Attestation Commission did not approve the doctoral degree under a far-fetched pretext. And the new defense was hampered by Ivanov's involvement in human rights activities. Only in 1978 did he manage to defend his doctoral thesis at Vilnius University.

After graduating from graduate school, Ivanov was left at the department at Moscow State University, where he taught ancient languages, taught courses on comparative historical linguistics and introduction to linguistics. But the boundaries of a traditional academic career were narrow for him. In 1956-1958, Ivanov, together with the linguist Kuznetsov and the mathematician Uspensky, led a seminar on the application of mathematical methods in linguistics. In fact, he stood at the origins of a new discipline that arose in those years - mathematical linguistics, to which he later devoted many of his works.

And then he showed his stormy public temperament, expressing disagreement with

Ivanov, together with the linguist Kuznetsov and the mathematician Uspensky, led a seminar on the application of mathematical methods in linguistics. In fact, he stood at the origins of a new discipline that arose in those years - mathematical linguistics.

By attacking the novel Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak and supporting the scientific views of Roman Yakobson. And for this in 1959 he was fired from Moscow State University. This decision was officially canceled by the university leadership only in 1989.

So that today's reader can appreciate the courage of Vyacheslav Vsevolodovich's behavior, we note that in those years he, apparently, was almost the only one who allowed himself to openly express his disagreement with Pasternak's defamation.

But the dismissal, in a certain sense, played a positive role both in the fate of Vyacheslav Vsevolodovich and in the fate of science. Ivanov headed the machine translation group of the Institute of Fine Mechanics and Computer Engineering of the USSR Academy of Sciences. And then he became the founder and the first chairman of the linguistic section of the Scientific Council of the USSR Academy of Sciences on Cybernetics, headed by Academician Axel Ivanovich Berg. Ivanov's participation in the preparation of the problem note “Issues of Soviet Science. General Questions of Cybernetics" under the leadership of Berg played a big role in the history of Russian science. On the basis of the proposals contained in this note, the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences adopted a resolution dated May 6, 1960 "On the development of structural and mathematical methods for the study of language." Thanks to this, numerous laboratories for machine translation, sectors of structural linguistics and structural typology of languages ​​in academic institutions, departments of mathematical, structural and applied linguistics in several universities of the country were created. Ivanov participated in the preparation of curricula and programs of the Department of Structural and Applied Linguistics of the Faculty of Philology of Moscow State University, and in 1961 he delivered a plenary report on mathematical linguistics at the All-Union Mathematical Congress in Leningrad.

An exceptionally important role in the development of domestic and world semiotics was played by

The works of Vyacheslav Ivanov on the subject of semiotics laid the general ideological basis for semiotic research in the USSR and the world-famous Moscow-Tartu semiotic school.

Symposium on the structural study of sign systems, organized by the Scientific Council of the USSR Academy of Sciences on Cybernetics. The preface written by Ivanov to the abstracts of the symposium reports actually became the manifesto of semiotics as a science. Many experts believe that the symposium, together with the surge in research that followed it, produced a "semiotic revolution" in the field of all humanities knowledge in our country.

Ivanov's work on the subject of semiotics laid the general ideological basis for semiotic research in the USSR and the world-famous Moscow-Tartu semiotic school.

Humanitarian Accuracy

Ivanov was constantly interested in the connection of linguistics with other sciences, especially with the natural ones. In the 1970s and 1980s, he took an active part in experiments conducted in contact with neurophysiologists on the localization of semantic operations in different parts of the brain. He saw his task as creating a unified picture of knowledge so that, as he said, "the humanities would not be such outcasts against the backdrop of those flourishing sciences that use exact methods." Therefore, his interest in the personality of prominent natural scientists, to whom he dedicates separate essays, is not accidental: the geologist Vladimir Vernadsky, the radio engineer Axel Berg, the astrophysicist Iosif Shklovsky, the cybernetics Mikhail Tsetlin.

It is no coincidence that Vyacheslav Vsevolodovich saw the similarity of linguistics and mathematics, emphasizing the mathematical rigor of phonetic laws and the proximity of the laws of the functioning of language and the laws of natural science.

Ivanov's linguistic interests were extremely varied. These are general problems of the genealogical classification of world languages ​​and Indo-European studies, Slavic linguistics and the ancient languages ​​of the extinct peoples of the Mediterranean in their relation to the North Caucasian languages, the languages ​​of the natives of Siberia and the Far East, the Aleut language, Bamileke and some other languages ​​of Africa. He said about himself: “I am not a polyglot at all, although I speak all European languages. I can read a hundred. But it's not that hard."

But he didn't just study languages. His track record includes dozens of translations of poems, stories, journalistic articles and scientific works from various languages ​​of the world.

He said about himself: “I am not a polyglot at all, although I speak all European languages. I can read a hundred. But it's not that hard." But Ivanov not only studied languages. His track record includes dozens of translations of poems, stories, journalistic articles and scientific papers from various languages ​​of the world.

Thanks to the work of Vyacheslav Vsevolodovich Ivanov in the mid-1950s, Indo-European studies were actually revived in our country, one of the outstanding achievements of which was the monograph “Indo-European Language and Indo-Europeans. Reconstruction and historical-typological analysis of proto-language and proto-culture”, created jointly with Tamaz Gamkrelidze. This book was awarded the Lenin Prize in 1988 and caused a great resonance all over the world.

For more than half a century, since 1954, Ivanov has been systematically summing up the current state of comparative linguistics in the form of an updated version of the genealogical classification of the languages ​​of the world. Since the 1970s, this scheme has included Nostratic kinship, and since the 1980s, Dene-Caucasian kinship. And each time it turns out that we are getting closer and closer to proving the hypothesis of the monogenesis of the languages ​​of mankind, that is, of their origin from a single source, since more and more new connections between language families are being discovered.

From 1989 until recently, Vyacheslav Vsevolodovich was the director of the Institute of World Culture of Moscow State University. Since 1992 he has been a professor at the Department of Slavonic Languages ​​and Literature at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Since 2003 - Director of the Russian Anthropological School at the Russian State Humanitarian University. Vyacheslav Vsevolodovich - Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, member of the American Academy of Sciences and Arts.

In recent years, Vyacheslav Vsevolodovich had a hard time experiencing the problems of Russian science. In one of his last speeches, he said: “Recently I have been surprised to read all sorts of attacks on our science and on its current situation. Believe me, for more than a year I have been reading every day what is written on the Internet in serious messages and in the scientific press. And the main thing, nevertheless, is the discussion of the works of our scientists, who enjoy worldwide fame and recognition anywhere, but not in our country ... But I am sure that it is not the lack of money that is given to science, although this, of course, takes place, not some minor troubles like the wrong form of the exam, but a much more significant thing is taking place: science, literature, art, culture in our country have ceased to be the main thing to be proud of. It seems to me that the task that my generation was trying to fulfill in part was that we wanted to achieve a change in this situation, and to some extent, maybe some of us have achieved.

On October 7, Vyacheslav Vsevolodovich passed away.


If you're an English student, you've certainly heard of the polyglots who managed to learn 5/10/30/50 languages. Which of us does not have the thought: “Surely they have some secrets, because for years I have been learning only one and only English!” In this article, we will present the most common myths about those who successfully learn foreign languages, as well as tell you how polyglots learn languages.

A polyglot is a person who can communicate in multiple languages. Some of the most famous polyglots in the world are:

  1. Cardinal Giuseppe Mezzofanti, according to various sources, spoke 80-90 languages.
  2. The translator Kato Lomb spoke 16 languages.
  3. Archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann spoke 15 languages.
  4. Writer Leo Tolstoy spoke 15 languages.
  5. Writer Alexander Griboedov spoke 9 languages.
  6. Inventor Nikola Tesla spoke 8 languages.
  7. Writer Anthony Burgess spoke 12 languages.
  8. Luca Lampariello
  9. Sam Jandreau
  10. Ollie Richards is contemporary and speaks 8 languages.
  11. Randy Hunt is a contemporary, speaks 6 languages.
  12. Donovan Nagel is a contemporary and speaks 10 languages.
  13. Benny Lewis is a contemporary, speaks 11 languages.

It should be said that basically all polyglots know 2-3 languages ​​at a high level, and the rest they speak at the level of "survival", that is, they can communicate on simple topics.

Another interesting feature is that the first foreign language is always the most difficult and takes a long time to learn, while subsequent ones are mastered much faster and are easier. It is especially easy to learn the languages ​​of one group, for example: Italian, French and Spanish.

7 common myths about polyglots

Myth #1: Polyglots are people with a special aptitude for languages.

Some people believe that polyglots do not need to strain at all: languages ​​themselves are assimilated in their heads without effort and practice. There is an opinion that those who know many languages ​​have a different brain structure, they easily perceive and reproduce information, grammar is given to them without studying, by itself, etc.

Truth:

A polyglot is an ordinary person who likes to learn several languages ​​and does his best to do so. There is no such person who could not become a polyglot, because this does not require any special knowledge or mindset. All you need is hard work and dedication.

Don't be in a hurry to be fluent (you'll frustrate yourself). Just enjoy the process. It's slow and not always easy, but it can be enjoyable if you take the pressure off yourself.

Don't rush to freehold right away (you'll only get upset). Just enjoy the process. It will be slow and not always easy, but it can be fun if you don't push yourself.

Myth #2: Polyglots have unique memories

It is believed that all polyglots have a phenomenal memory, so any language is easily given to them. People believe that polyglots memorize the meanings of absolutely all unfamiliar words and grammatical constructions from the very first time, therefore, subsequently, they easily speak the language they are learning.

Truth:

Polyglots do have a good memory, but many people confuse cause and effect: it is the study of languages ​​that develops memory, and not the unique innate abilities that make it possible to learn a language. Indeed, there are people who can boast of a unique memory, but this does not make them polyglots. The fact is that simply memorizing words or phrases for a full-fledged study of the language is not enough.

Myth #3: Polyglots started learning languages ​​at a young age.

Another popular myth goes something like this: “Polyglots are people who were taken to language courses by their parents from childhood. It is easier for children to study, so today these people can easily speak several foreign languages.”

Truth:

For the most part, polyglots are people who are in love with foreign languages. And this love came already at a conscious age. Those who learned foreign languages ​​in childhood do not have any advantages over adult learners. Most linguists and psychologists are convinced that languages ​​are even easier for adults, because an adult, unlike a child, consciously takes this step, understands why you need to read texts or translate sentences. Read the article "", you will see that adults have their own advantages over children in learning foreign languages.

Myth #4: Polyglots can learn any language in 3-5 months

The question of the need to learn English and other languages ​​is especially relevant today, so almost every day we read another article or watch an interview with a polyglot. These people sometimes claim to have learned a foreign language in 3-5 months. At the same time, many polyglots in their interviews or articles immediately offer you to buy a language course that they themselves invented for money. Is it worth spending money on it?

Truth:

In fact, polyglots rarely specify what they mean by the phrase "I learned the language in 5 months." As a rule, during this time a person manages to learn the basics of grammar and basic vocabulary in order to explain himself in everyday communication. But in order to speak on more complex topics, for example, about the life and structure of the Universe, any person needs more than 5 months. Those who speak several languages ​​really well will tell you that they have been studying them for years, constantly improving their knowledge. Therefore, if you plan to move beyond the level of “reading, translating with a dictionary”, get ready not for 3-5 months, but for at least 1-2 years of learning the first foreign language “from scratch”.

Myth #5: Polyglots have a lot of free time.

When we read articles about polyglots, it seems that all they do is give interviews from morning to night and tell how they managed to achieve success in the field of learning foreign languages. From this arose the myth that those who do not work learn languages, they say, they mastered English simply “from nothing to do”.

Truth:

To confirm our words, watch this video by polyglot Ollie Richards, he talks about life hacks that will help even the busiest people learn the language:

Myth #6: Polyglots travel a lot.

Many people believe that “really” learning a foreign language is possible only abroad, in the country of native speakers of this language. There is an opinion that abroad you can completely “immerse yourself” in the subject being studied, create an ideal language environment, etc. It turns out that in order to become a polyglot, you need to constantly travel around the countries.

Truth:

In fact, most polyglots say that they communicate a lot with native speakers of the language being studied, are interested in their way of life, culture, etc. However, this does not mean at all that people who study foreign languages ​​travel 365 days a year. Technology allows each person to communicate with people from any country without leaving home. Visit the language exchange sites listed in this article. On them you can find an interlocutor from the USA, Great Britain, Australia, any other country. Polyglots use the same opportunity and successfully learn new languages ​​for themselves. In the article "" we have given 15 tips for creating a language environment for learning English in your native country.

You can recreate an immersion environment at home, by streaming movies, listening to podcasts, playing music, and reading in your target language... all you need is an internet connection.

You can immerse yourself in the language environment at home by watching movies, listening to podcasts and music, reading in the language you are learning... all you need is an internet connection.

Myth #7: Polyglots have a lot of money

This myth is closely related to the previous two: people believe that polyglots do not work, but only travel. In addition, people think that polyglots constantly spend large sums on learning materials: they buy self-study books and dictionaries, take expensive lessons from native speakers, travel abroad for language courses. People believe that polyglots have a lot of money and therefore opportunities to learn foreign languages.

Truth:

At the time of this writing, "millionaire" and "polyglot" are not identical concepts. As we have already found out, polyglots are not on a continuous journey, and among them there are many ordinary working people like you and me. It's just that those who want to know many languages ​​use every opportunity to gain knowledge. It should be said that we have a lot of such opportunities: from various courses to thousands of online learning resources. For example, you can learn English online for free, and to make it easier for you to find the sites you need, we constantly write articles with collections of tips and useful resources for developing certain skills. Subscribe to our newsletter and you will not miss important information.

Secrets of polyglots: how to learn foreign languages

1. Set yourself a clear goal

Learning a foreign language "because everyone is learning it" won't last long, so decide why you need to know it. The goal can be anything from serious, like getting a position in a prestigious company, to entertaining, like “I want to understand what Sting is singing about.” The main thing is that your goal motivates you and in every possible way strengthens the desire to learn English. To strengthen your desire to learn a language, we advise you to read our articles "" and "".

2. Take at least a few lessons from a teacher at the beginning of your studies

We've all read about how polyglots learn any language on their own. However, many polyglots blog and often indicate that they started learning the language with a teacher, and after learning the basics, they moved on to self-study. We recommend that you do the same: the teacher will help you lay a solid foundation of knowledge, and if you wish, you can build the next “floors” yourself. If you decide to follow this advice, we suggest you try it with one of the experienced teachers of our school. We can help you "advance" English to any level of knowledge.

3. Speak out loud from day one of learning a new language

Even if you are learning your first ten words, say them out loud, so you will better remember the vocabulary. In addition, you will gradually develop the correct pronunciation. From the very first day, look for interlocutors for communication. For beginners, a professional teacher will be an ideal “partner” for the development of oral speech, and from the level you can look for an interlocutor on language exchange sites and hone your speaking skills with a native speaker. Please note: almost all polyglots claim that the most effective and interesting method of learning a new language is communication with native speakers. At the same time, polyglots say that during communication, words and grammatical constructions are easier to remember: you do not force yourself to study them, but memorize them in the process of an interesting conversation.

My absolute favorite language learning activity is talking to people! And it turns out, that’s pretty convenient, because that’s the whole reason we learn languages ​​anyway, right? We learn the language in order to use it. And since language is a skill, the best way to learn it is by using it.

My favorite activity in language learning is talking to people! And it turns out that this is quite convenient, because this is the reason why we learn languages, right? We learn a language in order to use it. And since language is a skill, the best way to improve it is to use it.

4. Learn phrases, not single words

Watch this video by Luca Lampariello, he tells how to learn new words (you can turn on Russian or English subtitles in the settings).

5. Don't get into theoretical grammar

But this advice must be understood correctly, because recently the opinion that English grammar is superfluous knowledge has been actively discussed on the Internet. Allegedly, for communication it is enough to know three simple tenses and a lot of words. However, in the article "", we explained why such an opinion is fundamentally wrong. What do polyglots mean? They urge us to pay less attention to theory, and more to practical exercises, the use of grammatical structures in speech and writing. Therefore, immediately after getting acquainted with the theory, proceed to practice: do translation exercises, grammar tests, use the studied constructions in speech.

6. Get used to the sound of a new speech for you

I love to listen to podcasts, interviews, audiobooks or even music in my target language while walking or driving. This makes efficient use of my time and I don't feel like I'm making any particular kind of effort.

I like to listen to podcasts, interviews, audiobooks, or even music in the language I'm learning when I'm walking or driving. This allows me to use my time effectively without feeling like I'm putting in any special effort.

7. Read texts in the target language

While reading texts, you see how the studied grammar “works” in speech and new words “cooperate” with each other. At the same time, you use visual memory, which allows you to remember useful phrases. On the Internet you can find texts in any language for beginners, so you need to start reading from the very first days of learning the language. Some polyglots are advised to practice, for example, to read the text in parallel in Russian and English. So you see how sentences are built in the language being studied. In addition, polyglots claim that this allows you to unlearn the habit of translating speech verbatim from your native language into the target language.

8. Improve your pronunciation

9. Make mistakes

"Get out of your comfort zone!" - that's what polyglots call us to. If you are afraid to speak the language you are learning or try to express yourself in simple phrases in order to avoid mistakes, then you are deliberately creating an obstacle for yourself to improve your knowledge. Feel free to make mistakes in the language you are learning, and if you are so tormented by perfectionism, take a look at Runet. Native Russian speakers write words like “potential” (potential), adykvatny (adequate), “pain and numbness” (more or less), etc. without a shadow of hesitation. We urge you to take an example from their courage, but at the same time try to take into account your own errors and eradicate them. At the same time, polyglots remind us of how children learn to speak their native language: they begin to speak with errors, adults correct them, and over time the child begins to speak correctly. Do the same: learning from your mistakes is okay!

Make at least two hundred mistakes a day. I want to actually use this language, mistakes or not.

Make at least two hundred mistakes a day. I want to use this language, with or without errors.

10. Exercise Regularly

The main secret of polyglots is hard work. Among them there is not a single person who would say: "I studied English once a week and learned the language in 5 months." On the contrary, polyglots, as a rule, are in love with learning languages, so they devoted all their free time to this. We are sure that everyone can find 3-4 hours a week for learning, and if you have the opportunity to study for 1 hour a day, any language will submit to you.

11. Improve your memory

The better your memory is developed, the easier it will be to memorize new words and phrases. Learning a foreign language in itself is a great memory training, and to make this training more productive, use different ways of learning a language. For example, guessing is a fascinating and useful activity for both learning and memory. - another good idea for training: you can learn the lyrics of your favorite hit by heart, so you will remember a few useful phrases.

12. Take a cue from successful people

Polyglots are always open to new ways of learning, they do not stand still, but are interested in the experience of other people who successfully learn foreign languages. We have dedicated several articles to one of the most eminent polyglots, you can read about the experience of learning languages, or study.

13. Moderate your appetite

A variety of materials allows you not to get bored and enjoy learning a foreign language, but at the same time, we advise you not to “spray”, but to focus on some specific methods. For example, if on Monday you took one textbook, on Tuesday you grabbed the second one, on Wednesday you studied on one site, on Thursday on another, on Friday you watched a video lesson, and on Saturday you sat down to read a book, then by Sunday you risk getting "porridge" in the head from the abundance of material, because their authors use different principles for presenting information. Therefore, as soon as you start learning a new language for yourself, determine the optimal set of textbooks, websites and video lessons. There should not be 10-20 of them, limit your “appetite”, otherwise disparate information will be poorly absorbed. You can find ideas for choosing the materials that suit you in our article "", where you can download a list of the "best" materials for learning a language for free.

14. Have fun learning

Among the famous polyglots, there is not a single person who would say: “Learning languages ​​is boring, I don’t like to do it, but I want to know many languages, so I have to overpower myself.” How do polyglots learn languages? These people enjoy not just understanding that they know a foreign language, but also the very process of learning. Do you think studying is boring? Then use interesting language learning techniques. For example, or hardly anyone will find it boring.

Languages ​​are not something one should study, but rather live, breathe and enjoy.

Languages ​​are not something to be learned, but rather something to live, breathe and enjoy.

Now you know how polyglots learn languages. As you have seen, everyone can learn foreign languages, regardless of "giftedness" and the number of banknotes. There is nothing complicated in the advice of polyglots for learning languages, all techniques are available to any person and are easily applicable in practice. Try to follow the given recommendations and have fun learning.

In general, he says that he knows "only" 100. But he is being modest. In the course of the conversation, we calculated that Sergei Anatolyevich, head of the department of the Russian University for the Humanities, Doctor of Philology, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, is familiar with at least 400 languages, including the ancient and languages ​​of small endangered peoples. It takes him only three weeks to learn the language. Among colleagues, this 43-year-old professor has a reputation as a "walking encyclopedia". But at the same time, he is distinguished by ... a bad memory.

The most difficult question for me is: "How many languages ​​do you know?". Because it is impossible to answer it exactly. Even 10 languages ​​cannot be known to the same extent. You can know 500 - 600 words and be able to communicate perfectly in the country. For example, I know English very well, because I have to travel and talk all the time. But I think that my German is better in my passive. And you can speak badly, but it's great to read. For example, I read the ancient Chinese classics better than most Chinese. Or you can not read and not speak, but know the structure, grammar. I can't speak Negidal or Nanai, but I remember their vocabulary well. Many languages ​​go into passive, but then, if necessary, they return: he went to Holland and quickly restored the Dutch language. Therefore, if we count all the languages ​​​​that I am familiar with at different levels of knowledge, then there will be at least 400 of them. But I actively speak only 20.

Do you feel your uniqueness? - No, I know a lot of people who already know several dozen languages ​​for sure. For example, an 80-year-old Australian professor, Stephen Wurm, knows more languages ​​than I do. And he speaks fluently in thirty. - Collecting languages ​​- for the sake of sports interest? - It is necessary to distinguish between linguists and polyglots. Polyglots are people who specialize in absorbing a colossal number of languages. And if you are engaged in science, then language is not an end in itself, but a working tool. My main activity is the comparison of language families with each other. To do this, it is not necessary to speak every language, but you need to keep in mind colossal information about roots, grammar, and the origin of words.

Are you still in the process of learning languages? - In 1993, there was an expedition to the Yenisei, they studied the Ket language - an endangered language, 200 people speak it. I had to teach him. But I learned most of the languages ​​at school and university. From the 5th grade, for five years at the Olympiads at Moscow State University, I was a winner: I could write a sentence in 15 Indo-European languages. At the university, he taught mainly oriental. POLYGLOTS ARE BORN.

Are you born with the ability to speak languages, or is it achieved through the efforts of constant training? - I thought about it a lot. Naturally, this is heredity: in my family there are a lot of polyglots. My father was a well-known translator, edited Doctor Zhivago and knew several dozen languages. My older brother, a philosopher, is also a great polyglot. The older sister is a translator. My son, a student, knows at least a hundred languages. The only member of the family who is not passionate about languages ​​is the youngest son, but he is a good programmer. - But how can a person store such an array of information in memory? - And, paradoxically, I have a very bad memory: I don’t remember phone numbers, addresses, I can never find the second time the place where I have already been. My first language, German, was given to me with great difficulty. I spent a lot of energy only on memorizing words. In his pockets he always carried cards with words - on one side in German, on the other - in Russian, in order to check himself on the way on the bus. And by the end of school, I trained my memory. I remember that in the first year of university we were on an expedition to Sakhalin and studied the Nivkh language, which is also dying out. I went there without prior preparation and just like that, on a dare, I learned the Nivkh dictionary. Not all, of course, 30,000 words, but most. - In general, how much time do you need to learn a language?

Three weeks. Although the eastern, of course, is much harder. Japanese took a year and a half. I taught him at the university for a whole year, my grades were excellent, but one day I picked up a Japanese newspaper and realized that I could not read anything. I got angry - and learned it on my own over the summer. - Do you have your own learning system? - I am skeptical about all systems. I just take a textbook and study from beginning to end. This takes two weeks. Then - differently. You can tell yourself that you have become familiar with this language and, if necessary, you will take it off the shelf and activate it. There were many such languages ​​in my practice. If the language is needed and interesting, then literature should be read further. I have never taken a language course. To speak well, you need a native speaker. And the best thing is to go to the country and live there for a year.

What ancient languages ​​do you know? - Latin, ancient Greek, Sanskrit, ancient Japanese, Hurrian language, in which in the II century BC. e. spoken in ancient Anatolia. - And how do you manage to remember dead languages ​​- there is no one to talk to? - I'm reading. Only 2-3 texts remain from the Hurrian. There are languages ​​from which two or three dozen words have been preserved. HOW ADAM AND EVE TALKED.

You are looking for the parent language of mankind. Do you think that once all the people of the world spoke the same language? - We are going to discover and prove - all languages ​​were one, and then fell apart in the thirtieth or twentieth century BC. Language is a means of communication and is transmitted as an information code from generation to generation, so errors and interferences are sure to accumulate in it. We teach our children without noticing that they already speak a slightly different language. Their speech has more subtle differences from the speech of the elders. Language inevitably changes. 100-200 years pass - this is a completely different language. If speakers of one language once went in different directions, then in a thousand years two different languages ​​will appear. And we have to find out - did the 6,000 modern languages, including dialects, have a starting point? We are gradually moving from modern languages ​​to ancient ones. It's like linguistic paleontology - step by step we reconstruct sounds and words, approaching the parent languages. And now the stage has come when it is possible to bring together several large language families, of which there are now about ten in the world. And then the task is to restore the proto-languages ​​of these macrofamilies and see if they can be brought together and reconstruct a single language that Adam and Eve probably spoke.

LAUGHING CAN ONLY IN RUSSIA. - Which language is the most difficult and which is the easiest? - Grammar is easier in English, Chinese. I learned Esperanto in an hour and a half. Difficult to learn - Sanskrit and ancient Greek. But the most difficult language on earth is Abkhazian. Russian - medium. It is difficult for foreigners to assimilate it only because of the complex alternation of consonants (hand-pen) and stress. - Are many languages ​​dying? - All languages ​​in the Urals and beyond the Urals, Nivkh and Ket from the Yenisei family. In North America, they are dying out by the dozen. Terrible process. - What is your attitude to profanity? Is it trash? These words are no different from other words. The comparative linguist is accustomed to dealing with the names of the sexual organs in any language. English expressions are significantly poorer than Russian ones. Japanese is much less littered with swear words: they are more polite people.

Sergey Anatolyevich Starostin (March 24, 1953, Moscow - September 30, 2005, Moscow) is an outstanding Russian linguist, polyglot, specialist in the field of comparative studies, oriental studies, Caucasian studies and Indo-European studies. The son of a writer, translator, polyglot Anatoly Starostin, brother of the philosopher and historian of science Boris Starostin. Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the Department of Literature and Language (linguistics). Head of the Center for Comparative Studies at the Institute of Oriental Cultures and Antiquities of the Russian State Humanitarian University, Chief Researcher at the Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Honorary Doctor of the University of Leiden (Netherlands).