8 ways polyglots learn languages fast

Hey, it’s Ollie. Okay, I thought I’d have a bit of fun here and tell you about eight ways that polyglots learn languages fast, including one way in particular that they don’t want you to know about and will virtually never confess to, certainly not on video and only to fellow language learners and close friends. That’s coming up towards the end of this list.

I’m lucky enough to know a lot of language learners, a lot of polyglots who speak up to 20, 30, 40, even 50 languages for real. But I also know a lot of language learners, people who are starting out learning their first or second foreign language. I can tell you that polyglots do things very differently when it comes to learning languages. So, I’m going to tell you about some of those things here on this list.

Number one: One of the most important things that polyglots do when they learn languages is that they know exactly why they’re learning a new language and they have a goal in mind. This is important because often when people learn their first language, they kind of take a passing interest in the language or the country and they approach learning in a rather half-hearted way. But when polyglots learn a new language, they know exactly what they’re doing and they have a specific goal in mind. For example, when I first started learning Spanish back in the day, my best friend in London at the time was from the Canary Islands, where they speak Spanish. My goal was very clearly to be able to communicate with him and later with his friends and family as well when I went to visit the Canary Islands. This was a very clear driver for me and something that really sustained me and pushed me forward in a way that I wouldn’t have had if I just wanted to be able to speak a few phrases on holiday.

Number two: The second thing you’ll see about polyglots is that they tend not to enroll in language classes or language courses; rather, they learn by themselves. The reason they do that is because polyglots, having learned a number of languages already, they develop their own way of learning. This is different for everybody, but they know what works for them and they trust in the process. You will never see polyglots just spending time browsing around on YouTube looking for language tips and things like that. You won’t see them constantly questioning, ‘Am I doing the right thing? Is this working for me?’ which a lot of new learners do. They always worry about whether something is working for them. Polyglots have a method, they have a system that they trust in, and they very doggedly stick to that and use that to learn new languages.

Number three: Polyglots don’t usually worry about grammar all that much. Now, that doesn’t mean they don’t take it seriously or that they don’t learn it, but they tend not to obsess over it. They don’t sit there doing lots of grammar activities and things like that, which newbie learners always do. A new language learner will always think, ‘Well, how can I start speaking until I’ve mastered all the grammar?’ Polyglots don’t tend to worry about it that much; they have trust, I think they have faith the grammar will kind of learn itself over time. The more that you do with the language, the more that you speak, the more that you read, the more that you listen, the more time you spend with the language, the more the grammar will work itself out.

Because new learners tend to really work themselves, tie themselves up in knots about learning grammar, this can really paralyze you. But polyglots very rarely have that problem. They carry on with the method that works for them and they just trust and have faith the grammar will learn itself over time.

Now, the fourth thing that polyglots will generally do is commit to languages for longer periods of time. I think it’s kind of a myth that polyglots learn languages super quick. You can develop a kind of competence in a language in two or three months; I’ve proven that over and over again with my Italian project, my Thai project, for example. But actually learning a language well, to learn to be learning to speak it fluently, whatever that means, that takes learning over time, a long time.

Polyglots know that, and they tend to commit for periods of years. My friend Lydia, for example, she has a thing where she says she learns a new language every two years. Now, I don’t know why it’s necessary to specify the timeframe. I’m not that strict. I, you know, I like my way of thinking from one year to the next is completely different, so I would never stick to a regime like that. But the point is, it’s two years, and that’s quite a chunky period of time, especially when you take this approach of what the polyglots do, which is to have complete focus on their language. They take responsibility for learning; they’re not dependent on a teacher, they’re not waiting for anyone else to give them something to do. They take complete responsibility for learning, they drive the learning project forward by themselves, and they commit to it over a period of years. And that is how they end up getting very, very good in the language and reaching high levels.

Number five: Polyglots are very, very good at proactively creating social groups around them so that they can practice speaking the language that they are learning. Now, not everybody has this goal; I have a lot of introverted polyglot friends as well. But generally speaking, polyglots know that in order to get to a very good level of fluency in the language, you’ve got to speak it a lot.

So, rather than just kind of wait for these opportunities to happen, polyglots are very good at creating these social groups. Whether that is at home, finding a group in your local community, going out there and making friends, and proactively doing that – not just sitting around, but going and seeking out these people.

Or else, moving abroad, getting into a group of some kind there. I also know friends, people who make lots of friends over apps like WeChat, and just texting and things like that. And whatever it may be, because there are lots of different ways to do this, polyglots don’t sit around and wait.

For opportunities to speak, they go out and they create this environment around them. This gives them not only lots of opportunities for regular speaking, which propels them forward, but it also gives them a very good reason to keep learning. Because when you start to have friends who speak the language, you know what better reason to keep learning?

The sixth thing that polyglots do very well is find creative ways to learn. Learners tend to be very reliant on textbooks, on teachers, or external sources to dictate when you learn something and in what order. But polyglots don’t like sitting around and waiting; they like to go out and grab the bull by the horns and learn on their own terms. So, people are very good, generally, polyglots, at finding creative ways to learn when no other method exists.

For example, when I was in Hong Kong and trying to learn Cantonese, I found it really difficult to find material I liked. It was just awful. I don’t know what it’s like these days, but material to learn Cantonese is either just not there or, if it is there, it’s just not helpful at all. I found it incredibly boring, so I went off and created my own material to learn with. I actually ended up making this into a course, which is available now called Cantonese Conversations. I gathered a bunch of people, sat them down, recorded them, filmed them, recorded the audio, got it transcribed and translated – all these things.

This course consists of people just speaking to each other in regular, everyday conversations, which is exactly what I wanted to learn in Cantonese but couldn’t find material for. Anyway, this gave me months and months of study material after that. This is a trait that I’ve noticed among polyglots: they don’t sit around and just kind of wait or get depressed because they can’t find the material they need. They go out and find creative ways to keep learning.

The seventh thing that polyglots invariably do is read a lot. Now, this can come at different stages in the process. Some people like to read right at the beginning; you can do it later on as well. But find someone who’s reached a high level in a language where they really know the language world, they speak it well, and I guarantee you they’ve spent a lot of time reading.

The reason that reading is so powerful – and I talk about this all the time – is because reading gives you massive exposure to the language that you can’t get from speaking. You know, when we speak our native language, we use only a tiny amount of the vocabulary that we actually know. So, what that means is, if you’re getting all your practice just from speaking, you’re not getting exposure to most of the language. The way you get exposure to that is by reading.

So, by reading a lot, you learn lots and lots of new words and phrases. You learn about the more beautiful ways of expressing yourself in the language, with good-quality grammar – all of these things. Reading is your ticket to the highest levels.

Levels in a language, polyglots know this. So, if you find people who have gotten to higher levels in the language, I guarantee you they spent a lot of time reading.

Romance. Now, number eight: this is the one that people won’t tell you. They won’t confess to this. I mean, if you pin them down, they will, but they generally don’t volunteer this information. Among all of my friends who speak lots of languages, do you know how most of them have learned their best languages? What invariably is because they’ve had a girlfriend or boyfriend in that language.

Now, they won’t generally confess to this because that is a difficult thing for you to go off and replicate. It’s not that easy just to say, I want to learn French, so I’m going to go and get a French girlfriend. For many people, it’s completely impossible.

But nevertheless, if I think among my friends who speak a lot of languages, invariably, especially when they were younger, they’re really good – languages they got good because they had relationships or romance in that language. So basically, for a period of like, however long – one, two, three, four, five years – they were speaking that language with their romantic partner day in, day out. And that’s how they got it to such a good level.

The reason that that is such a powerful way of learning languages is – I mean, it’s not just because you’re speaking; you have the opportunity to speak it every day. But it’s also because you’re engaged on an emotional level. And always when you’re learning a new language, the more that you can engage with it emotionally, the more you’re going to learn.

And so, the obvious thing about a romantic partner is that you are engaging so many different parts of your brain. This is someone who you want to communicate with on a very, very meaningful level. And this kind of communication ultimately leads to a really, really good level of fluency and competency in the language.

So there you go, do with that what you will. But I have noticed that it tends to be true wherever you look. So, there we go – eight ways polyglots learn languages quickly.

What I’d like to hear from you in the comments is: Is there one of these tips which you think you could do more of in your language learning to learn faster? Let me know in the comments. And if you enjoyed this video, please like it and please subscribe to the channel.

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