You know I'd like to say,
I'm very hard-working,
but I'm not.
I'm very lazy.
I always tell people,
Hey everyone it's Manav here at Glossika,
and we're really happy to have another conversation.
So, here's my friend Claire.
Hi!
and we're gonna learn a bit about languages
That's right.
Claire, I've gathered that you're a polyglot
meaning you speak, and learn, or you can
read, and write, and speak in multiple languages.
So, I am fluent in six languages.
Six languages?
That's all?
And i'm learning Mandarin.
I'm getting there.
To learn at a later age in life,
A later stage in life, rather than that elementary.
Have you found Mandarin to be one of the tougher ones?
I would agree with that.
Yes.
For people who grew up speaking a Western European language,
it is extremely difficult,
because it is just completely different
from what we know about languages.
How we understand a language,
and I think that's the difficulty.
So, I was born in the Czech Republic,
and I was brought up monolingually.
What was your second language?
English.
English?
Okay.
So, I started watching American TV
As we all do.
And somehow by the age of 13,
I was fluent.
And I had a pretty good accent.
And I guessed, it was a bit strange
because nobody around me spoke like that.
So, your English was self-taught via entertainment.
In general, I have a lot of issues
with the way languages are being instructed.
Classic language instruction in schools is counterproductive,
because it traumatizes people,
because they get corrected too much,
and subconsciously, they get scared of speaking.
It's not math, it's not sciences,
it's something that's a little more loose.
Like as long as we can communicate, understand each other,
Absolutely!
There should be an opportunity or some window right?
For you to use a new language in the less standard
like lower than standard,
kind of way just to get your message across.
So, you have Czech, English
I would assume French is in the roster right?
Spanish?
Spanish.
Yeah.
And there's a lot of similarities in French and Spanish.
French and Spanish.
When learning Latin-based languages,
So, I'm assuming Italian would be easy for you to pick up,
if you do know it already.
Yeah.
So now the six would be either
I'm gonna guess something like Germanic,
So, be either Germany itself,
Dutch or...
German
Yeah
What makes the most sense right?
Right.
I think it's really easy to learn European languages
because once you know one,
you're like, oh yeah
it's kind of works the same
you know like it's a similar logic.
Like you have a similar concept.
You speak six languages.
I'm assuming for you, there must be a certain
Like you seem like a very hard-working individual.
if you've attained this breath of knowledge
then, do you have a standard for yourself?
Where you have to be able to read and write
or do you say to yourself,
if I can communicate, I can have a good chat at a bar,
at a restaurant.
I can get around.
That's enough for me.
You know, what makes you tick with this language?
Yeah, I'd like to say I'm very hard-working,
but I'm not.
I'm very lazy,
Just like okay, I would like to learn Italian.
How do I go about it?
So, how about I just spend some time in Italy,
and you know get used to the sound of it.
I feel like a lot of,
a lot of people
who travel they want to learn a new language
they want to be able to use it,
but there's a part of their brain that says
you are not good enough.
You are not doing this well,
and they just stutter and they freeze.
Would you mind talking a bit about that?
Like I feel like there's something in us,
Absolutely
That's just like "no".
Absolutely
You're not. Don't even.
So, that's something that I
I really emphasize.
When people say "Oh, I don't have good
memory or like oh like I'm not good at languages,
like oh you know just this and that"
So, first of all, that's the story, you're telling yourself
Right
Just like everything.
And the more it becomes your truth.
So like, my memory is not good
and that's something you're constantly telling your brain,
and your brain is always listening
and so that's the first thing.
Like what story do you tell yourself,
about yourself, and what do you choose to believe
I always tell people
it's not about memory,
it's not about talent
it's about your personality
or your willingness to act.
To like play a role, be somebody else.
I believe, it really depends on how comfortable you are
with making a fool out of yourself.
Right
Right?
Like how,
So,
There's elements of pride in that,
sense of embarrassment that you have to embrace.
Being in theater in the performing arts
you get that out of the way at a younger age.
You know?
In the early stages in life,
At the end of the day, it can't be so bad
Like we're here to communicate,
I'm hoping to understand one another,
and learn more and you know let's not freeze-up
for no reason right?
I think there's a different me for every language,
and that's why I really enjoy it.
When I,
especially when I don't get to speak a language
for a very long time,
and then after like
you know many months
I'm like oh like I get to speak French again.
And like the French Claire
gets to come out,
and um...
and I don't know like complain a lot maybe
you know like
be very ironic.
At the end of the day,
you are your own kind of obstacle here
Yeah
Like there's nothing really stopping you.
There's apps available.
There's books.
There's new adventures,
and once the COVID lockdown
kind of situation hopefully subsides,
you can travel right right?
Right
And I think yeah,
I think that's the message right?
Like
the reason why I learn languages
is because I want to communicate with people
I want to communicate with the world
and speaking a foreign language allows me to make friends
with people from different countries
and it allows me to go to a new country
and experience the country truly.
So, thanks to everyone for tuning in and
加油！
Please do remember to like comment, and subscribe to
the Glossika's YouTube channel
下次見！