New profASAr video

A new video. He’s been away for a while.

One highlight: he distinguishes between polyglottery, and multilingualism. The former includes having a good grasp of how to learn languages.

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Thanks for posting this!

I found this video interesting for many reasons and will comment when I have time. One observation that I heartily support is that effective language learning is mostly an autodidactic process. People just have to learn how.

The video is quite long. I jotted down some notes of what I took from the video which I provide here with some of my own comments. I would be interested in comments from others.

I will presume to call the good professor Alex for short.

Alex makes the point that we should have faculties of polyglottery or institutes of polyglottery, where the subject can be pursued in an academic or scholarly fashion.

He points out that while there are many multilingual people in the world, there are fewer polyglots. A multilingual person happens to speak two or more languages, by reason of circumstances. A polyglot deliberately studies many languages. In this way polyglots develop experience, skills and techniques. These are transferable. This could be an academic discipline, a scholarly pursuit.

Alex then says that to devote oneself to learning many languages means sacrificing other activities. Unfortunately, however, he says the return on investment is low. Here I don’t necessarily agree with him. I think that learning many languages, even deliberately, can be done as a part-time activity, a hobby that we pursue like golf, birdwatching, or bridge. The return on investment is great, in that we discover different cultures, histories, and make friends in different languages.

However, I believe the point is that the professional opportunities for polyglots are limited. This is probably true. However, if we had institutes of polyglottery, and more people devoted themselves to learning many languages, things might be different. If I look at how unsuccessful language instruction is in the diplomatic corps, at least in the case of Canada, I am sure I a healthy dose of polyglot instruction would do these people are great deal of good. Foreign correspondents, international business people etc. are further examples of careers were polyglottery would be an advantage. I think polyglottery is a better option then having everyone speak English.

Alex points out that developing polyglot skills is largely a matter of autodidactic interaction with the language. This is a skill that needs to be learned. The would be polyglot needs to learn how to use his/her own time and space in order to learn effectively. The nuts bolts of autodidactic learning, not only how to learn languages but also how to maintain languages, can be learned from successful polyglots…

Alex says, and I agree, that languages learned the autodidactic way are less easily forgotten. He also points out that language learning is good mental exercise. Therefore beyond the obvious benefits and rewards of learning other languages, this activity is also good for our mental health.

Alex wants to avoid quantification, counting how many languages he or others speak, or trying to evaluate our skills with proficiency tests. Instead, we should focus on qualitative issues, how learn efficiently and how to retain and maintain what we have learned. I also agree with him there.

I wish him luck in his attempt to create the academic discipline of polyglot training. If potential language learners were taught how to learn and encouraged and guided in their self learning, I am sure many would learn better then in the traditional language classroom. Trying to bring about change in our educational institutions will probably be difficult.

On the other hand, I would love to run a seminar or clinic for a group of diplomats, together with Alex, on how to learn on your own. I suspect we would have to sidestep the existing language teaching bureaucracy in order to do so.

As to what are the most efficient techniques of self learning, I am sure that successful polyglots have many techniques in common, and others where they disagree. Much depends on our goals, and the time we have available to devote to the pursuit of language learning.

At any rate, if you watch this long video, I would appreciate your comments.

A Russian teacher once told our class of students: “Learn Russian, learn it well and it will advance your careers and enrich your lives, but master another subject or topic. Mastering Russian will not help you in life without other skills or abilities, so learn Business, engineering, finance, or economics, and study Russian as a secondary skill, and opportunities will open up for you.”

The problem I see with Dr. Arguelles’ institution is that the studies wouldn’t be profitable for people who go into a long 4 year program that he laid out. What I believe would be a far more successful business model that would spread “polyglottery” is a summer institution, that lasts 2-3 months of intensive learning, teaching the skills, and then having people go back to their work/study with their new acquired habits.

As far as the quantification of languages goes, I know polyglots don’t like to do it, but for the general population it’s a normal question. The majority of the populace can state with a specific number how many languages they speak (usually 1-6). I’m sure if a polyglot wanted to, he could say a number of languages that he could have a spontaneous conversation in without brushing up, but maybe I’m wrong.

“A Russian teacher once told our class of students: “Learn Russian, learn it well and it will advance your careers and enrich your lives, but master another subject or topic. Mastering Russian will not help you in life without other skills or abilities, so learn Business, engineering, finance, or economics, and study Russian as a secondary skill, and opportunities will open up for you.””

A wise man. I always tell people that they need to have something else to offer an employer, not just language skills. The languages are a bonus, and mostly for the person who speaks them.

@Steve: “…I would love to run a seminar or clinic for a group of diplomats, together with Alex, on how to learn on your own. I suspect we would have to sidestep the existing language teaching bureaucracy in order to do so…”

If Prof A. manages to get this project off the ground, I believe he is on the record as saying he wants to bring in other well known polyglots to give master classes to his students. It seems likely he would be delighted to include Steve on his list of “master polyglots”.

It strikes me that an institution of this kind would also need a kind of general dogsbody to help out on the more down-to-earth and utilitarian side of things. (Let’s face it, after all that shadowing there would be a lot of shoes to get good and clean each evening!)

Christophe Clugston would fit the bill very nicely for that! :slight_smile:

Of course people can become translators or language teachers but generally they need other skills and qualifications to build up a career. And even as translators they need specialized knowledge in at least one field and as teachers they need pedagogical knowledge. So having only language skills in many languages and nothing else wouldn’t work on the job market.

Fasulye