Learn a Second Language | Advice of Polyglots

3. Stay Within the Same Language Family

Most Languages belong to a “Family”, having stemmed off of another “main” language. For example the “Romance Languages” all stem from Latin. If you stick to learning only Romance languages your efforts will be greatly reduced, since many of these languages share the same words and grammatical structures. Learning Spanish and then Portuguese or Italian is one of the easiest “jumps” to do, to learn a third language, because they are so similar. This also gives you great satisfaction to be able to jump right into your third language so easily, since you will be able to use it almost right away due to so many similarities. Learning Chinese after having learned Spanish could be frustrating since you already put so much effort into learning your first foreign language that you almost feel like you have to start all over, due to the amount of differences between the two. Make it easier on yourself and stick to the same family tree, taking advantage of the huge amount of vocabulary and grammar structures shared between the third language learned and what you already learned with your second language.

4. Read the Same Book in Multiple Languages

If you really loved a book that you read in your native language when you were younger, read it again in your second language and again in your third. You won’t have to struggle too much with understanding since you already know what the book is about. It will be less of a challenge when there is vocabulary that you are unfamiliar with, since you can use your knowledge of what is going on in the storyline to decipher the meanings of new words. And lastly, the fact that the book would have been written for a younger audience, will meet you at your level, avoiding frustration with material too advanced for your beginner or intermediate level. This is a great way to build a large vocabulary bank, and also to fall back in love with an old favorite book.

5. The Immersion Method

It might not be possible to completely immerse yourself in the new languages. It is expensive to pick up and move a year to another country where the language is spoken, but there are small things that we can do throughout our day to provide more immersion in the languages we are learning, setting us up for success. One great tip for creating immersion is to set all of your electronic devices in the new languages for a few days. Monday and Tuesdays can be Spanish days, Wednesdays and Thursdays French and so on. Between this tip and attending language classes, reading books in the target languages, and setting up time to speak with native speakers, you are slowly immersing yourself as much as possible in the language, ultimately setting yourself up for success. You no longer have to wonder how polyglots “do it”. This article does not deny that it is hard work and requires effort and consistence, but with a good strategy you can make the learning process so much more effective and fun, and at the same time reducing the work load. Grab those life opportunities, widen your cultural awareness and, just be cool, by becoming a polyglot.