"There's a guy in Cambridge who teaches multiple languages simultaneously to his students. He claims to speak over 70 languages fluently. I can't see how that is possible. Here's the link:
http://www.tonguesinteractive.com/ "

"I forgot to mention that I went to his office one time some years ago because I was curious. He did say then that he speaks over 70 fluently. I took a sample class and it was strange. The format might work for some people, but I was confused. We were practicing Arabic, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian at the same time. I don't know how well he speaks those languages, but he was really good at switching with no problem."

I was wondering if anyone has reliable information about this guy and/or his methods apart from these extracts from how-to-learn-any-language forum


pd: mi intencion no es hacer ningun tipo de publicidad a este sujeto. de hecho, me encantaria saber si lo que dice es cierto o no, y si lo es, lo ideal seria llegar a conocer alguna de sus tecnicas y de que tambien puede llegar a funcionar

I smell something very fishy here. Don't mean to be a hater, but it takes 2-3-4-5 years just to get _1_ language to a semi-decent degree of proficiency. What I think is happening here, is that after taking his course you will be able to order coffee in 130 languages.

Maybe Click and Clack could go there, that would be hilarious. They are two hilarious Italian-American guys who give advice about automobiles on the radio. The location of this school is very close to their office overlooking Harvard Square.

"Don't mean to be a hater, but it takes 2-3-4-5 years just to get _1_ language to a semi-decent degree of proficiency. What I think is happening here, is that after taking his course you will be able to order coffee in 130 languages."

I agree that it takes time to get to a semi-decent level of proficiency. Most people are too impatient when it comes to learning languages.

How about some other quotes from the actual home page:

"Lee K. Riethmiller, honed his fluency in the twenty-six languages he currently speaks" - OK, still a lot of languages, but not the same as 70/113/130.

"By 1976, he was teaching 150 students a week in seven languages - Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, German, Greek, and Arabic." - Not a rare collection of languages for somebody who knows more than half a dozen.

"We currently offer 114 languages including Accent Reduction for American English speakers." - 'We' probably refers to several tutors using the method developed by Riethmiller. I don't see where it says that _he_ is the one teaching them all.

Twenty-six languages doesn't sound outlandish or impossible.

I am very disappointed that I didn't know about this teacher when I visited Cambridge recently.

My parents took lessons from a teacher who taught two languages at once. My Dad loved the class! Also, I wonder if this is really novel or not. I know that one major US university offers/offered something like a sampler class for languages.

I have always thought that children should be taught several languages in elementary school, but purely on an input basis. This would prepare them for more in depth learning later.

So, we should wait several years and by then if his program works there will be dozens/hundreds of people (depending on his class size) that should ostensibly speak 70+ languages. haha.

yuriythebest
"I smell something very fishy here. Don't mean to be a hater, but it takes 2-3-4-5 years just to get _1_ language to a semi-decent degree of proficiency."

I do agree with your statement; 2 to 5 years are required most of the time... but:


yuriythebest
"What I think is happening here, is that after taking his course you will be able to order coffee in 130 languages."

according to the next extract, it would be very LSD style coffes

http://www.celebratebrazil.com/brazil-language....
"I've had several wonderful teachers over the years who have been so helpful to me. The first was Lee Riethmiller of the Intercontinential Language School. He's quite gifted and I think speaks 26 language fluently himself!! He created these hilarious "verb dances" with funny phrases you can't help but remember!

Our group used to attend classes together and to this day I can still remember one of the phrases I found most hilarious:

O pepino grita e caia de joelhos

Which means....

The cucumber screams and falls to its knees !!!!

LOL, so you can see why I've always remembered my first Brazil language instructor!! :-) "

not
"Maybe Click and Clack could go there, that would be hilarious. They are two hilarious Italian-American guys who give advice about automobiles on the radio. The location of this school is very close to their office overlooking Harvard Square."

I'm not sure if you're referring to an actual member or what but, yeah, it would be amazing if there's anyone available to get some reliable information about him or his methods. in fact, I'm just interested in his methods


like I wrote in other forum, I've got kinda crush on "multilanguage" approaches

yuriythebest
"So, we should wait several years and by then if his program works there will be dozens/hundreds of people (depending on his class size) that should ostensibly speak 70+ languages. haha."

maybe we should not. he's been teaching languages for a long long looooong time (like forty years or something). maybe his methods aren't as effective as they could be, or maybe there aren't enough people interested

it's been a while y sigo sin mayor informacion sobre el caso :(