- Hello, hello.
Once again, I am Daniel,
and on the beautiful island of Tenerife in Spain,
and I'm here with a very, very, very special guest today,
her name is Lydia. Lydia?
- Hi, everyone, hello.
- Would you like to tell us a little bit about yourself?
- Sure, I'm Lydia from Slovakia.
I have a website called Languagementoring.com.
And I help people learn languages the way that polyglots do.
I also organize the big conference
called Polyglot Gathering in Bratislava,
so that's how I get to know hundreds of polyglots, actually.
And I like to adopt their ways
of learning languages to other people out there.
- Yeah, so that's what we wanted to talk about today,
is the secrets that polyglots use
to learn so many languages.
So, you're an interpreter.
- Yes.
- That is-- - A conference interpreter.
- A conference interpreter.
That sounds like one of the most difficult jobs.
I've never even attempted something like that.
I've done translations, like on paper,
but that's real easy 'cause you can sit down
and think about it as long as you want.
- It's a bit tricky, but it can be learned.
(both speaking in Spanish)
- Whatever, yeah, whatever they say down there.
(both speaking in Spanish)
- Great.
(both speaking German)
(Daniel speaks French)
- How do you say this in French?
(both speaking French)
- [Daniel] Great, and what other languages?
- So we did not mention English (laughs),
Polish, Russian, Esperanto, now I'm learning Swahili,
and I also have the basics of the Slovak sign language.
- Slovak sign language.
- Right.
- Okay, which has nothing to do with your vocal apparatus.
- No, no, exactly it's just for, it was really interesting
to learn that and get to understand a new culture.
- Great, beautiful.
Okay, so that's about all.
I didn't understand anything she said there,
but I am not a polyglot.
I am a bilingual guy and I know little bits
of other languages.
But I wanted ask, because I teach English on my website
all the time, and I figured if somebody
knows nine languages, like you do,
that they would be pretty good at picking up new things
and they probably have some secrets--
- Yeah, they do. - That they could share.
So, you have five things, I think,
you're gonna tell us, right?
- Yep, exactly. - Okay,
well, hit it.
- Okay, so basically I think the most important thing
that is really crucial to learning any language
is to really want to learn it by yourself.
So I think the mistake that most people do
when they want to learn a language is just give
the responsibility to someone else.
So you want to kinda go for a course,
you have a teacher, and you want the teacher
to teach you, right?
I don't believe in teaching,
I don't think that exists, or is possible.
And basically all the polyglots I know,
and all the languages I've learned,
I've learned them by learning by myself.
So this is my first advice.
You really should change your mindset from,
okay, I need to find someone who teaches me the language,
to how can I learn this by myself.
- I've been thinking that every day recently,
because I have so many people who write to me saying,
teach me English.
And it's like...
- It's impossible.
- I would love to, but it doesn't really work that way.
- I tried it for 10 years.
I taught in language schools, companies, the university,
and it's just not possible to teach anyone anything.
- I would love to just wave my magic wand
and teach someone something,
but yeah. - Doesn't work.
- The question is, you gotta sit down and learn the stuff.
- That's right.
But, we are getting to number two,
which is good news actually,
because language learning can be fun.
And I think this is the thing
that polyglots really know how to do.
They try different methods, you know,
they don't go for one method that someone tells them to.
But instead they try to find something
that they find interesting.
And when you make it fun, it's not like,
uh I'm learning this language,
but it's actually a nice pastime activity.
Its a great time to spend your time,
and you're doing something really useful.
So for example, I found out that,
when I was learning Spanish, I wanted to read something.
But all these books were so boring, you know,
all the materials, text.
So instead I found the Spanish translation of Harry Potter,
my favorite book from the childhood.
An e-book and an audio book at the same time.
And every day I would listen to them
and read the book at the same time for twenty minutes.
And this helped me enormously.
At the beginning of the book,
I barely ever understood anything.
By the end of the book, I was almost reading
it like in Slovak.
So that was a great thing, and it was fun for me.
So that was a life changing thing.
- Yeah, that sounds brilliant.
I've been saying this for years, too.
Find something you like doing in the language, do that.
When I started with Spanish, I was, you know,
conversing with the people who I worked with,
who are really fun guys.
I was reading, you know, poetry in Spanish,
because in those days I was really excited about poetry.
And I was reading in the Spanish newspapers about politics,
which was something I was, politics and like, world news.
- That's pretty high level, I mean, poetry and politics.
- Okay this is not, maybe when I was starting with Spanish.
- This is exactly what it is.
I mean, you like it, so please do it.
If you give the general advice to like,
oh you need to read about the newspapers, or something.
For most people, this is really boring,
so I wouldn't, you know.
- Well, the fact that it was fun, made it so I could spend,
you know, half an hour trying to read one page.
It was like, difficult, but it was fun--
- It was fun. - So, you do it.
- Yeah, exactly.
So that's the mighty number two actually.
Make it fun, anyway, look for the method you like,
you really enjoy.
Look for the materials you really love working with,
and it will be so much more easier, you know.
- So what's number three, in your language learning
sequence of polyglots?
- So, I basically believe that what polyglots do differently
as well is that they spend a lot of time
with the given language.
And they do a lot of these fun activities.
Which is something many people don't realize,
if they sign up for a language course, right?
They go twice for a language lesson,
in a language school, and then they think that's it.
And maybe they do homework, like for five minutes,
10 minutes, and they usually do it five minutes
before the next lesson because
the teacher will check, or whatever.
- I'm guilty, I've done that.
- Yeah, everybody's done that.
But it's because how these courses are said.
They really make you believe that if you sign up
for that course, and you do the little homework,
that's all you need to do.
But it just doesn't work like that.
So what I tell people is, you need to,
if you find a book you like, read it all,
you know, read the whole book.
If you listen to a podcast, listen to all the episodes.
If you find a series that you like,
listen to all the episodes of that series, right?
These are the things that will get you so much input,
and so much practice, of course, by speaking, et cetera,
that is necessary for learning a language well.
- I like that you use the words like input and output.
Input being just like, I would call it stimulus,
or something, and not language, you know,
material and not language.
There's a lot of information in a language,
and the more time you spend in contact with it,
the better you're gonna do.
- Like many people actually think that I have
a perfect memory for remembering words or something.
And the truth is, my secret is,
that I just get exposed to it more often.
So if I read a book, Harry Potter, you know,
the most important words will be repeated there every time,
many, many times, and that's how I learn them.
I'm actually not very good if you tell me
a new random word now, in a language I don't speak,
I will not be able to say it to you tomorrow.
- Okay, so you don't have a perfect memory, you just--
- No, no, I just expose myself to the language
in a fun way, a lot.
So, really spending a lot of time with the language
is totally crucial.
- Great.
What do you think about the methods that promise people
they're going to learn a language in two weeks, or
four weeks. - Forget it.
It's a perfect marketing technique, you know,
it works amazingly.
People buy courses, you know, like crazy.
But it's really impossible.
- It just breaks my heart.
Like, I think of what my bank balance would look like
if I just started telling people,
learn English in two weeks.
And it'd be like, that would be the easiest thing to sell.
- I mean, for me it's actually quite simple.
It's like, if someone tells you that and promises you that,
then ask them how many languages they've learned.
I mean, if they really need two weeks for that,
they should be like, super polyglots right now, right?
They'd normally haven't learned
any foreign language, at all.
If you look at the people who actually have learned
a lot of languages, polyglots, right,
I think is the best example, then how did they do it,
and how much time do they take?
It takes me two years to learn a language to a level
where I'm comfortable using it.
- There's a guy here in Spain who's a memory champion.
We don't need to name him, but he has claimed
that he learned German in an hour and 40 minutes,
on his flight to Germany.
- Oh, that's beautiful, and I want to speak German to him,
you know, I really, really would love to do that.
- Yeah, his method is learn English in a week.
And I've looked all over the Internet for videos
of this guy actually speaking English.
I cannot find anything, so.
- These people never prove anything, they can't.
You can even do a certificate in like three months,
two months or something.
You can kind of fake it, you know,
you can learn something fluently
and say a few impressive sentences in perfect pronunciation.
Everybody's like, wow, you speak the language.
But for me to speak a language means I can have
a conversation with anyone about anything that I like,
you know, I'm interested in.
I want to read a book in the language,
which I do often in all my languages.
I want to watch a film without subtitles,
this is the level I'm aiming at.
- So that's number...
- Three.
- Three, so what's number four.
- Number four is using effective methods.
And this basically is also quite related
to the usual traditional school method,
which I'm not a big fan of.
For example, learning vocabulary for a test tomorrow.
So I put it in a book, and I try to read it out loud,
many times, and I kind of cram it into my short term memory,
and then I think I had it, because, you know,
I got an A, so I've learned the vocabulary,
which doesn't work, clearly.
I've noticed that polyglots use a lot of methods
which are longterm memory.
So that means, for example,
space repetition system, using flashcards.
I personally love the gold list method.
- Gold list
method. - Method, yes.
- I just heard about this from you yesterday,
I'll look it up, and
I will tell you - It's a beautiful method.
- All about it very soon.
- Yeah, it's really, really cool.
And for example, so this reading and listening
at the same time, shadowing technique, you know,
there's a lot of techniques which are really effective,
but mostly people don't know about them
because they are not taught at school.
- I have a couple of books about...
Well, a couple of books with texts that I also read,
and so you can read and listen at the same time,
I think it's a good method.
Could you explain shadowing a little bit?
- Sure.
Shadowing basically means you're listening to someone,
for example on a podcast, or a TV series.
And you're shadowing, that means you're repeating
exactly what the speaker is saying, and you're imitating it.
As much as possible, with the melody, intonation, whatever.
And this is very good practice for pronunciation,
but also improves your listening skills in general,
and speaking skills.
Basically, this enables you to speak before you actually
have content to speak, you know?
So you practice your muscles, your speech organs,
which are getting used to pronouncing these new things.
Because every new language has new sounds,
which you need to learn.
And this, yeah, it's really useful.
It's quite difficult, I mean you need to know how to do it,
not do too much of it at once, but it's pretty useful.
- Cool.
So what's number five?
- So number five is creating a system in your learning.
And this is really important because if you're learning
by yourself then, you know,
maybe you don't have the discipline
to do everything every day, et cetera.
So you need some kind of plan.
Like, you need to tell yourself, okay,
I'm going to listen to this podcast.
Every day I'll listen to the 10 minute episode.
If you don't say that, and you say like,
ooh, from now on I start learning.
You're super excited, motivated.
But then one week later you go like,
eh, I didn't really have time today, you know.
Maybe for reading and listening at the same time,
is like ah well, when I have time I'll do that.
And that's a very dangerous thing to say,
- [In Unison] When I have time.
- Oh God yeah, when I have time is the death
of so many good plans.
- Exactly, yeah.
So instead if you make a plan, like okay,
I put this book on my bedside table,
and I will read two pages every night before going to sleep.
That's so simple to do, right?
And you have a system there, that you can easily apply.
And it's even better if you can maybe create a little chart
where you actually tick something off.
You know, like, okay, I did this, and I see how many days
I've been doing it.
So, you know, if you create this system,
then language learning becomes a part of your day,
those little habits doesn't cost you any energy at all.
- I always tell people that you have to design the game
so that you can win easily.
Rather than doing the thing where it's like,
I'm going to study eight hours this weekend, or whatever,
or I'm going to study all day.
You do that, you know, maybe once, and you're tired
and you are bored with the language.
It's like, no, don't do it.
Just, you know--
- Small steps.
- Do you think something like 10 minutes a day is useful?
- 10 minutes is a great start, for sure.
I personally recommend half an hour, to one hour a day,
if you want to make progress which is very visible
within a few weeks.
Like, I have experienced with my clients,
if they start learning for a half an hour
to one hour a day, really within even one month
they tell me, like, wow, after so much listening,
I've improved incredibly.
- Yeah, I think you're right.
I think that 10 minutes a day is way better than nothing,
and so I encourage people - Definitely, that's a
great start. - to start
as small as you need to start.
If it's five minutes, do five minutes.
Just try to make a long sequence of days
when you've been improving.
By the time you've done five minutes,
you just might wanna do 10 minutes.
- Exactly, this is what usually happens, right?
Like, you actually find, this is actually quite fun,
why don't I do it for another 15 minutes.
And then you find yourself doing it for half an hour a day,
you know, with these activities you like,
and you don't even know how.
- I do the same thing with exercise, actually.
If I'm working out, if I don't feel like working out,
I give myself permission to say, alright,
I'm gonna work out for five minutes.
Then, if I wanna quit, I'll quit.
And generally what happens is--
- You don't wanna quit.
- Yeah, after I have warmed up a little bit,
I feel like I wanna do the whole work out.
But you know, it's like giving yourself mental permission
to do something small, rather than having a big, ambiguous--
- Absolutely.
- Big, ambiguous goals kills
so many people's ambitions, too.
- If it's too ambitious, it won't work.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I love the idea of ambitious goals,
but in my mind the best thing that works for me
is just like, what can I do today.
Or hopefully, what can I do today before lunch,
in the next hour.
- Right now, yeah, and have some result that you can
be proud of and that is usually the most motivating factor.
- Absolutely.
Okay, number five is create a system.
Create sort of a routine to help you
learn more every day, advance towards your goal every day.
- So you don't have to decide every day
whether you feel like doing it or not, it's already decided.
Now this is a tricky question, you know.
This is the mental energy that it costs you,
if you go like, well, I will read a book when I have time.
Then every day you need to decide, do I have time today?
Do I feel like reading?
If you have the plan, you just follow it,
doesn't take any energy.
- Yeah, I think...
Yeah, I don't feel like it is another one of these sentences
that I just don't like hearing,
because there's so many things in life,
that it's like, whether or not you feel like it
is the least relevant--
- Well, I mean, you need to ask yourself
why you are doing this, why you want to learn the language.
If your motivation is good, if you really want to learn
the language, and need it, then with a plan
you can easily do that.
- Okay, so we are filming this in April, 2018,
and you have a big announcement coming up.
- Yeah, actually a very good announcement for everyone
who would like to learn the way polyglots do,
and maybe follow my advice, and my tips and tricks.
I'm launching my course, which will have the best know how
of learning languages that I used in learning
seven languages fluently, and that thousands of people
have used in Slovakia successfully.
And I'm going to launch it in English soon.
- Beautiful.
So, up till now, all of your courses have been in Slovakian,
or Slavic, sorry. - Slavic.
- Slavic, and you're going to be finally launching courses
in English, so that the wider world--
- So people who have these courses can then join
my two month challenges, where they can learn
the language by themselves, but with my help.
This is my position as a language mentor.
- Language mentor, not language teacher, because you must
learn the language yourself.
- That's right.
And I make sure that people actually keep their plans.
Like we have a beautiful system to check, you know,
an accountability sheet, motivational quotes,
a beautiful community group.
Like, it's really, really effective.
So if you feel like learning a language, you know,
maybe using these methods, then feel free to give it a try.
- If I understand correctly, you don't give a lot of actual
material in language, you give general advice.
- I give links.
So if you're learning one of the European languages,
then I will have a lot of resources for you
that you can use.
But then you pick the resources that you want,
and apply it in the methods there.
- Okay, and if I wanted to learn something non-European,
if I wanted to learn Korean or something?
- I would tell you I'm no expert in that.
I don't have any experience with Asian languages,
but I've had people in my courses learning Japanese,
you know, Chinese, et cetera,
and they did pretty good progress.
Because the methods actually apply to any language.
I can always find materials, asking my polyglot friends.
- So your website once again is...
- Is languagementoring.com.
- Languagementoring.com.
And if you want to meet Lydia in person,
you could probably do it at the polyglot gathering?
- That's right, it's a huge polyglot event
coming up in Bratislava at the end of May,
beginning of June.
- This is 2018, so if you're watching this in five years,
things might have changed, but is there a website for that?
- Yes, polyglotbratislava.com.
- Polyglotbratislava.com.
- Or even polyglotgathering.com as well,
will direct you to ours anyway.
- Great, I was at the polyglot gathering in Berlin,
two years ago, I think this was before you were involved.
- Yeah, exactly.
- But it was a lot of fun.
And I would highly recommend if you are into languages
in a serious way, that you should check that out.
- And you don't need to be a polyglot, okay?
There is no limit of languages that you speak.
Many people get scared of the name polyglot.
- I was worried, 'cause I speak two and a half languages
and I was worried that people were going to laugh at me
for not being a real polyglot.
- No, no one laughs. - No.
They're all very nice people.
They'll tell you about their seven languages,
and nobody, nobody's worried.
- It's like really no problem, and basically the idea is,
if you like learning languages,
then you're the perfect person for the polyglot gathering.
- Great, so, languagementoring.com, polyglotgathering.com.
- Yes.
- And as usual, my websites, they're all over the place.
Madridingles.net, expatmadrid.com, et cetera.
Well, thank you Lydia for being on the show.
- It was a pleasure. - The show.
- And not much else.
Until next time, I am Daniel,
and greetings from beautiful Tenerife.
- Bye, everyone.
- See ya soon, bye.
- Bye.